In one bungalow, at 48 Oak Street, lived Fluttershy's parents, Cirrus and Petunia Shy, with Zephyr occasionally staying around. By occasionally, I mean, most of the time anyways.
Right now, Zephyr was in his bedroom, while Petunia and Cirrus sat in the living room. Their daughter, Fluttershy, was out on a trip with her friends.
Just then, Petunia got up and went to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water.
Cirrus smirked and sneaked up behind her.
Petunia yelped as she felt someone hug her from behind. She calmed down when she realized it was only Cirrus. She turned to him and lightly punched him.
"What was that for, you goofball," Petunia said softly. "You scared the flowers out of me!"
Cirrus grinned. "Now, why can't I hug my wife this delightful afternoon?"
Petunia smiled fondly at him.
"Hey mum, have you see-aaaarrrgghhhhh!!" Zephyr Breeze groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes.
Petunia and Cirrus squeaked and jumped apart, blushing a deep red. Petunia busied herself with the kettle as Cirrus sheepishly rubbed at his neck.
"You wanted something, m'dear?" inquired Cirrus.
"Nevermind, I'll come back later," said Zephyr as he hastily rushed out of the room.
Petunia and Cirrus looked at each other, and then promptly burst out laughing.
They were, however, startled by a screech that rung out in the air. Petunia and Cirrus scrambled to clutch each other tightly.
Then Cirrus saw something that made his eyes widen.
"Um, honey," he began nervously. "Watch out for that-"
Petunia only shrieked in response as a bright ball of light came out of nowhere and hit her.
There was silence for a few moments.
The first that Petunia Shy realized of the situation was a slight change in the composition of her clothes. Particularly her shoes. Compared to usually being quite firm heels, they now seemed to have softened slightly. "Something strange is happening," she said, at a volume slightly higher than usual to her husband. However, to anybody else this was about 1 decibel above whispering.
"How so?" Cirrus asked.
"My shoes are changing," Petunia replied, as they suddenly turned golden, and the angle of the heel declined slightly, making it slightly less hard for her to walk. Make no mistake, she was very used to their current angle, but three was of course different to four.
Her white, knee length skirt was the next thing to change. The symbols on it vanished into the ether, melting into the air like smoke, never to be seen again. Her skirt then continued its process of changing by turning gold and gaining the consistency of soft silk, like something somebody would wear in high society social events.
Petunia jumped slightly when she felt something form underneath it, something slightly cold, before some more fabric appeared underneath it. This was a blessing in disguise, as it kept the cold thing off her legs. More skirts flowed down the metal thing, all stopping at the bottom of her hem.
Bird like symbols appeared all across the skirt, but they were so bunched up and squashed it was very hard to tell what they all were. Moments after that, the skirt began to grow wider, beginning to look like an extremely strange shorter skirt with a wide, triangular base. It stretched wider and wider, pushing onwards and covering more ground in all directions. So much so that Cirrus had to step backwards to leave some space, such was his concern about getting hit. Sure, he was worried about what was happening to his wife, but at the same time it did her no good if he was incapacitated by this, which in his years of work experience he knew could come from anything. Even a previously normal skirt that was somehow growing by itself.
Eventually, it expanded to quite a wide diameter, and stopped. Now then, a second is a very short period of time. About enough time for you to count from one to five extremely quickly. This should give you an idea of how quickly the next set of things happened.
Petunia's skirt suddenly surged down and hit the floor, very wide, taking up large amounts of floor space. The bird patterns, previously bunched up and stuck in one place, were now spread out properly and cleanly spaced, making their detail plain and clear to see. The other skirts flowed down and gave the skirt an ethereal look, almost as if she was floating where she stood.
Moments after that, her jacket faded into nothingness, and her yellow blouse turned gold. The sleeves, shoulders, and upper collar all shrank away into nothingness, and the fabric was quick to attach itself to the skirt, producing a dress. One far bigger and rather different to what Petunia was used to wearing.
"Oh my," was her only reaction to the entire situation, unintentionally echoing her daughter's reaction to the same situation.
Cirrus looked at his wife's dress in a mixture of amazement and astonishment. "It certainly suits you," he said. "And to see it happen with my own eyes! Fluttershy was right about magic existing in this world."
"Aww, thank you," Petunia replied. "I never thought I'd hear a weather scientist admit he believes in magic."
"Well, until other evidence presents itself, I cannot think of any other explanation," Cirrus admitted. "Shall we dance later? I'll see if I can fish my suit out."
"Are you guys done being lov-" Zephyr walked around the corner, and the words died in his throat when he saw his mother dressed up to the nines. "Uh, wow. Looks good on you, mom. Did dad get that as a present for you?"
Petunia blushed once again and tried adjusting her glasses to hide her embarrassment. "Thanks. But you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you how I got it."
"I've seen Rainbow Dash running faster than Sonic the Hedgehog, so I'm prepared to accept some crazy stuff. Broaden your mind and all that."
Cirrus was about to speak, but then suddenly a large golden and blue blob flew out of nowhere.
"Take cover!" Petunia called, but Cirrus had no time to react before it hit him. The room exploded in a fountain of bright light.
Zephyr had dived behind a nearby desk to shield his eyes. "OK, now things are getting weird. Welcome to Crazytown!"
Cirrus was especially aware that, considering the weirdness that had just befallen his wife, the same weirdness could affect him too, and he had to be ready for that. As he quickly checked himself over, he noticed that his white shirt stayed the same length, expect the cuffs had changed to feature elaborate laced and floral designs. "Well, this is certainly odd," he said, glancing at his newly gained fashion accessories.
His jumper then split down the front, only for the flayed ends to hover next to each other. The left hand side gained a series of buttons, designed to hold a waistcoat together, whilst the other side gained an equal number of button holes. This was to allow the garment to be put back together, and as the material softened the buttons attached themselves into the holes and held the now waistcoat together. It also turned a rather odd shade of red, with golden patterning and trim to offset the omnipresent red.
Cirrus mostly regarded these changes silently, much as his wife had when she had changed. It suited him best to look and see what was going on. Rather than get agitated over a process he had no control over, he simply waited for it to finish before doing anything.
His tie also began to splinter apart, and pulled back up, out of the waistcoat, and split into two parts. The top half was what looked partially like a black bow tie, and the other was an elaborate lace thing (a cravat, he wondered?), that extended down the front of his waistcoat about as far as the breast pocket.
His pants turned the same color as the waistcoat as a large red coat, which ran from his shoulders to his knees, appeared atop his waistcoat, adorned in the same colours and patterns. They then pulled back to his knees as a set of tights suddenly formed around his feet and spread up his legs, soon covering anything down there. His shoes then sank down a bit as they shifted from work wear to something that would have looked more at home in a Jane Austen adaptation.
A giant black hat with golden trim appeared on his head as the process seemed to stop. "Well, this is rather different," he said. He then glanced to Petunia. "I'm not sure they're from the same era, though..."
"I think you look very handsome," Petunia said, smiling gently in that way she always did. "It suits you perfectly."
"Thanks, darling."
Zephyr emerged from his hiding spot and saw the pair. "You look like you escaped from the Revolutionary War," he commented. "That, or War and Peace."
"That's an interesting thought," Cirrus said. "I've always been interested in that era of history."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Could you get that, Zephyr?" Petunia asked. "It's not exactly easy to walk in this, and the skirt is a bit big for me to open the door properly."
Zephyr stepped to the door and opened it, to see Rainbow Dash on the other side. "Hey Rains! How's it goin'? You still up for that date?"
Dash looked annoyed. "Zephyr. Get. Your. Foot. Off. My. Skirt."
Zephyr did so. "Hey mom! Dad! Rainbow's gone all fancy too!" Both parents had since come to the door.
"OK, so you've got it too," Rainbow Dash said. "Right. I hope it's not too much of a bother, but could you contact the other parents and find out how they are? I'd use super speed to run between them, but any further magic could cause problems, not to mention I'd probably trip."
"OK then," Petunia said. "We'll be happy to help."
"Thanks," Dash replied. "Nice dress, by the way." And with that, she vanished.
As the door closed, Zephyr spoke next. "I wonder what Fluttershy got? Hopefully I'll get the handsomest outfit of all."
Cirrus shook his head. "Zephyr, that is not a word."
"Expand your mind, dude!"
Zephyr Breeze was outside when it hit him, and although he had some form of advance warning in that regard, he wasn't entirely sure what to do or say in response. Yes, his parents might be able to help, but with his father trying to get into contact with the Pie Mining Company's headquarters (Igneous wasn't home as the company had blasting scheduled for the weekend. I mean, seriously, who works on the weekend?) and his mother phoning every parent in her friend circle, it seemed as though they were certainly kept extremely busy trying to help fix this mess.
So Zephyr decided he would ride out the storm on his own. It had worked for him in the past, so it would work now, even if the last time he had tried it the barbershop where he worked had been forced to shut due to lack of patronage. Maybe wig making was a viable career.
His shoes were the first section to be awakened by the magic spread in the giant flying blobs, and safe to say he was not especially happy to see his scruffy brown loafers somehow become noticeably less scruffy. They turned black, and hardened into a very odd set of formal shoes, that managed to at once make him look formal and rather idiotic, considering the rest of him screamed hippy.
His pants, already a little too small for him, shrank an extra size, leaving Zephyr hopping around briefly. "Ow! Whose idea was this?"
They turned black as well, complete with chalk lines. This frustrated him. How was he supposed to be seen as a productive member of society if he looked like he was stuck in a quarry for Faust knows how long.
As he was trying to figure out what to do next, his exceptionally weird excuse for a shirt, which was basically a badly maintained vest with orange colours and what looked like purple watermelons on it, was changed into a white coloured shirt with long sleeves and buttons running up and down it. This actually caused it to expand in size somewhat, and make him look less messy somehow. Unfortunately for Zephyr, as the buttons were done up and the collar and cuffs closed, it then became incredibly stiff, as if somebody had dumped industrial quantities of starch over it to glue it in place. He would not have been at all surprised if the shirt shattered if he so much as bent over. The black tie only emphasized the ludicrous whiteness of his shirt.
A black waistcoat and jacket, both of a similar cut, appeared in place upon him. Zephyr Breeze was left hopping about in confusion and frustration over what had just transpired. "Seriously? Dad gets a cool suit, mom gets a pretty dress, and I end up looking like I escaped from a travelling quack show? Is there no justice in this world?"
Just then, he saw a piano sitting on his side of the road. This was very strange, as there had been no piano there previously, and pianos are not known for their ability to suddenly appear from nowhere and be perfectly operable in terms of their condition.
Zephyr may have had a bit of an awkward relationship with gaining stable employment, but one thing he certainly was was a surprisingly good pianist. "Well, I suppose a quick test run couldn't hurt."
He sat down next to it, on the stool, and began to play. The piano was clearly old, and rather out of tune, producing the very distinctive 'jangly' noise characteristic of old strings. It didn't take him long to settle into some of the old classics, and he was so caught up in his playing that he didn't notice the rather large crowd of people who were listening from a distance and observing this rather strange man playing an out of tune piano.
So much so, he was surprised when he stopped playing, and a round of applause broke out. He looked over his shoulder to see a crowd of people had been watching him playing, but soon cleared off when a policeman appeared.
"Good moaning!" the policeman said. "What do we hove here?"
"I'm playing a piano, sir," Zephyr replied.
"And on the wring side of the stroot, no less," the policeman answered. "Pianis can only be plooyed on the side of the stroot farcing the direction of trovel, so I'm afraid that'll be a foone of twinty dellars."
Zephyr decided to try some humour to help him out of his predicament. "Begging your pardon constable, but it's an English piano. It would want to play on this side of the road. And may I ask what language you are speaking?"
The policeman nodded. "Ot is Anglish I am spooking, and neebody has ever complooned. In the cas of the pooani, whoch is indood Anglosh, that would be 14 peends, 8 shollings and sixparnce, or I may have to put the sispoct's face on the beard of the poloce stution."
Just then, with very fortunate timing, Cirrus and Petunia emerged to hear what all the noise was about. "Oh! Where did that piano come from?" Cirrus asked.
"From nowhere," Zephyr replied. "Dad, do you have... sorry, what was the sum again?"
"14 peends, 8 shollings and sixparnce for plooying a piano on the wring side of the strote."
Cirrus sighed. "That's a bit harsh for playing a piano, but the law is the law I suppose." He handed the money to Zephyr, who in turn handed it to the policeman.
"Think you. Gid day."
Cirrus blinked. "I feel like we're in the middle of a Monty Python sketch. Next somebody will be telling us to listen very carefully, as they shall say it only once."
Petunia spoke up. "That was some very good playing, Zephyr. Clearly the piano lessons payed off. And, beg my pardon, you'd certainly look the part in a saloon in all that."
"I'm not sure weather to take that as a complement or not," Zephyr replied. "Though, maybe when this mess is over, that could be my calling. Zephyr Breeze, pianist extraordinaire! Playing today's and yesterday's hits in varying degrees of tunefulness for your enjoyment and delight!"
"Here we go again," Cirrus sighed. "I hope this one actually works. How about a piano playing, singing barber?"
"If I were to do that, I'd have to change my name to Sweeney Todd!" Zephyr joked.
"Perhaps not," Petunia said. "I just got off the phone with Windy Whistles. Apparently, we're all to meet in Canterlot Park not far from here. Shall we walk?"
"Sounds good!" Cirrus said, and they set off together into the town, accompanied by occasional talking and the rustling of skirts.