Lemon Zest grinned, feeling the air whizz past her ears as she glided smoothly.
One moment she was descending correctly on the right glide path, the next she was cartwheeling out of control as she fell. A gigantic surge of energy flew across the sky as she tumbled.
Lemon Zest hit the side of her helmet to try and reset the HUD, but that did no good. The data on it was scrambled, meaning she had no idea what altitude she was at or how fast she was falling. Once she was briefly the right way up, she pulled on the ripcord to try and slow herself down.
The parachute failed to open.
Lemon Zest gulped, as she suddenly rolled the wrong way up. If the couldn't get herself oriented correctly, she would smack into the ground at fatal speeds. And although it was a minor source of irritation compared to her main predicament, her chest felt oddly itchy as the parachute case and housing disconnected.
The temperature around her began to drop as the zipper on her flight suit suddenly vanished, before new fabric stitched it up in front of her eyes. The collar sank into the top of it, and black trim material formed underneath it as the fabric at the front and back began to lower in height, dropping down to be in line roughly with her breasts.
Fluffy, ruffled material popped out of the front, sides, across the tops of her shoulders, and round the back of the top, leaving Lemon Zest wondering what on Earth was going on. Speaking of shoulders, the sleeves began to shrink up her arms, until they had shrunk upwards to roughly where her shoulders stopped, and the fabric faded into the new garment.
The legs on the flight suit merged into one, the fabric sliding down and consuming the separation between the legs in a similar manner to how a glacier covers and consumes land before itself. This produced a very strange dress, the entirety of which turned a very light blue, with the skirt in particular elaborate floral patterning.
Lemon Zest held on as something metal flowed down her legs as far as her feet (her boots having ben replaced by a pair of heels in the meantime). She was only slightly relieved when an underskirt flowed down underneath the metal, as she was still fully aware she was falling potentially to her death.
What happened next caught her off guard. Several more skirts moved into position underneath the top one, as it gained a considerably less lumpy texture. Then, with a flash of light, it suddenly began to inflate. The skirt grew wider and wider, the frame expanding and the fabric stretching to cover more and more space. Lemon Zest's view of the sky above her was increasingly blocked by the expanding dome coming off her clothes, and watched in surprise as it continued swelling in width.
It was probably a good thing she was not on the ground, as otherwise she would have bumped into things. The skirt had to be several feet wide by now, still growing and stretching. With absolutely no strains and imperfections on the outer fabric, the skirt was growing absolutely huge. The dome continued to swell outwards, and had to be at least four feet across now. And yet it kept going, taking up more and more space with its vast expanse.
At last, when it reached five feet it started to slow down, and at six feet it stopped. The width of the dome, and the shape itself, suddenly gave Lemon Zest an idea. It was a long shot, but it was that or smashing into the ground at several hundred miles an hour.
She shifted her body weight, trying to roll over as best she could, but the wind forces were making that easier said than done. "Come on! Come on!"
At long last, she succeeded in rolling so that her feet faced the ground. Then, with a giant WUMPH! her rate of descend slowed dramatically. Lemon Zest looked down and saw she could no longer see the ground. Her skirt had ballooned outwards like a parachute, and the fabric was stretched like latex, allowing her to float downwards at a safe speed.
"This is quite fun, actually!" she grinned, as she lazily descended towards the ground. Although she was drifting from her intended landing path, the sand below looked like quite an inviting landing spot.
"Look out below!" Lemon Zest called, and then she landed safely, her skirt deflating as she touched down, and a thoroughly baffled Sour Sweet looking at her.
"Well, I'm glad it worked for you, but I can barely move in this thing!" Sour Sweet said.
Lemon Zest looked closely. "Small steps, lean forward slightly." She grinned as she did a quick spin. "Lifesaving tool, and feels pretty nice to wear too. Seriously, why did we get rid of these things?"
"Look!" Sour Sweet suddenly interrupted. "It's Twilight!"
Sure enough, they saw Twilight passing by.
"She looks like Belle!" Lemon Zest noted.
"And she's heading for Crystal Prep!" Sour Sweet added. "Come on! She'll know about what's going on. She seems to know everything!"
"Follow that princess!" Lemon Zest cried, and both girls set off as best they could.
Indigo Zap, meanwhile, was on a stroll through the streets of Canterlot.
"The skies are looking nice today," mused Indigo as she glanced up and then down. Without further ado, she continued on her walk.
The loud sonic boom was a sudden disruption in an otherwise clear sky, and made Indigo Zap suddenly stop in her tracks and look up at the sky. "Wait, what? What's going on?"
The sky suddenly began to look like a smog, with particles floating through the air and generating gigantic sparks. Indigo Zap was in the middle of nowhere, and as such she had no clue what was going on.
One of the sparks crashed into her, knocking her closer to the riverbank. "Ow! Hey, what is this?"
She nervously looked behind her. She was rather close to the water's edge, after all, and would hate to fall in. She was out on her own, and lacked any realistic means of calling the authorities should she get into trouble.
Unfortunately, her boots had sunk into the mud, making walking off rather difficult. It also did not help that her boots were beginning to change. The boots turned completely blue, any traces of their former colours and patterns vanishing as they began to shrink down her legs. They stopped when they reached her feet, leaving the entirety of her jeans and her ankles exposed (which had socks over them, of course). The top plates and sides then unthreaded, the fabric vanishing into thin air before they slid downwards, revealing the tops of her feet as far as the first joint on her toes.
"Aw, man! Those were my best walking boots!"
Heels suddenly pushed out of them, throwing the girl off balance. She quickly began cartwheeling with her arms to try and restore her balance, but the worst was yet to come. The fabric on her jeans seemed to be becoming softer, or at least did not feel like denim anymore.
They spread sideways from the bottom, briefly looking like bell bottoms before the legs merged into each other. This process of merging went all the way up to the top, meaning that before long her jeans were replaced by a rather tight and uncomfortable skirt.
Contrary to the stereotype of most tomboys, Indigo Zap had no issues with wearing skirts- she wore one as part of her school uniform, after all, an outfit she wore five days a week during term time. This, however, was a bit uncomfortable. She was rather relieved when it began to shift again, as it became less tight, reducing the pressure on her legs.
The skirt flowed down to the floor, and like the moving of the tides started to grow wider. It initially formed into a dome shape of sorts, but gradually became more and more wavy, flowing outwards like the ocean. Individual strands flowed outwards and changed colour to produce a rather spectacular pattern, not dissimilar to waves, that seemed to float and bounce gently on the waves. The strands themselves quickly changed colour, producing an alternating pattern of turquoise, dark blue, and light blue. It expanded across for quite a while, the flowing sense continuing, but Indigo Zap was certainly happy when it stopped growing. "Heh, it could have been worse."
Her yellow shirt and dark blue undershirt suddenly merged into each other and combined with the skirt, which had now gained a metal frame and some petticoats to hold it out and reduce the discomfort produced by such a wide skirt. This allow allowed the pockets, zip, and button to vanish, although any belongings that had previously been in them ended up in her hands (namely a phone).
The straps of her undershirt disconnected, and shrank down along with the sleeves of her main shirt, all of them descending to her chest line and stopping at the top of her chestline. Still secured in place, It turned the same shade of dark blue as a portion of the skirt.
As far as suddenly having your clothes changed into a princess frock goes, Indigo Zap seemed remarkably calm about it. "Hey, I remember this one! I wore it for the Crystal Gala last year!"
Unfortunately, whilst this had been going on, the ground was looking less than stable, and it and the riverbank suddenly gave way!
Indigo Zap fell towards the water, remembering that she had to stay calm and tread water when she hit the surface. However, she noticed she was falling more slowly than she would have expected. Glancing down, she saw her wide skirt had opened up into a parachute, which was slowing her fall. This gave her more time to prepare for when she hit the water, and she braced for landing.
She landed on the surface, the outer layers of her dress spreading outwards across the water. To her surprise, she did not drop down into the water to neck height, but instead floated in it, her entire upper body clear of the water.
She knew this river quite well, having taken a boat down it once or twice, but floating along by clothing was an interesting change from the normal. "The docks are this way, so I should be able to find a jetty fairly easily."
She gently bobbed down the stream, her journey pleasant, if rather surreal. Those who were on the riverbank, similarly formally attired, did double takes as they saw a young lady floating down the river in a dress.
At last, she reached the docks, and suddenly saw Surgarcoat, who was also wearing an elaborate gown. The latter waved to her, and Indigo Zap did her best to drift over to the dock, where Sugarcoat hauled her out of the water.
Sugarcoat puffed. "That dress is seriously heavy. You may want to dry it out."
Indigo Zap pointed to the sky. "That shouldn't take long! When's the wedding?"
"Very funny. I see the magic afflicted you too."
"Yes, in more ways than one! This saved my life! It must have special floating magic in it, as I floated down the river to here and didn't sink!"
Sugarcoat looked unimpressed. "That's basic physics, not magic."
"Sorry?"
"When you fell, your skirt caught an air pocket underneath it. Air is lighter than water; this is why armbands float rather than sink. The air underneath the skirt meant that you stayed on the surface rather than sink, which is what would happen otherwise."
Indigo Zap nodded. "Note to self; pay more attention in physics class. Remind me never to badmouth these things again, Sugarcoat?"
"It's called a crinoline, from a French word mean-"
"I know what they are," Indigo Zap interrupted. "I was sat next to Coco Pommel during that clothing elective I did as the two I wanted to do clashed, remember? She knows all there is to know about these things! Anyways, you don't seem at all surprised at this!"
"You live in a town with regular magical occurrences, nearly got eaten by giant plants at the Friendship Games, saw a team mate get turned into a demon, and helped prevent the collapse of reality all in one day. As far as weird things go, getting your clothes changed into a fancy dress is pretty mundane."
"Should we check on the others?" Indigo Zap asked.
"Yes, we should. I'll message them and tell them to rally outside CPA."
The two ballgowned (is that a word? It is now) teens set off for the school, one of them texting as she went along. Of course, she didn't realize that phones were not working properly due to the magic storm.