//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Chaos of the body // Story: Madness vs. Discord. Stallion vs Mare // by lillytheomegawolf //------------------------------// In the nobel city of Cloudsdale.... Rarity daintily meandered her way through the Ponyville market place. She stopped at her usual stalls and collected all the required items. Everything had a place, every purchase and bit, safe in her stunning purple pack that looked as if it belonged to royalty. The peaceful day was certainly something to relish. The birds were chirping happily in the tree tops, the glorious sun shone, making Rarity’s alabaster coat shimmer wonderfully in the light breeze. Yes... everything was perfect. She wandered up to a stall owned by one of her good friends. The farmer was busy with a few customers so the designer chose to wait patiently in line. As she stood she hummed a sweet tune to herself and imagined the delightful dress she was soon to put the finishing touches upon back home. Suddenly an unnatural blast of magic stifled the happy banter taking place. Rarity felt a strange itch work its way across her body. She wanted to scream in pain but found herself transfixed by the unwelcome magic. She could feel it in her horn, whatever was doing this was not from their world. She fought it with all her strength and yet it was all pointless. The unnatural magic finished its business and she found herself released from the vice-grip. Her horn ached and her manly body felt peculiar. 'My body! What's happened?' Panic immediately filled her mind. With the descending haze of anxiety, she gazed around at the shocked ponies around her. After a moment she realised something was wrong. Very wrong. "What the hay!?!" Applejack's baritone voice rang out across the hush. Rarity turned his gaze to the muscular orange stallion that stood behind his stall. Rarity rushed at the surprised orange farm pony, enveloping the poor stallion in a hug and buried his face in the blonde mane. "Oh Applejack. What's happened to us?" The white stallion began balling his eyes out in front of the shocked crowd. "Ah… ah' don't know gal." The miserable fashion pony continued to soak the shoulder of his good friend. "I'm ruined! How can I be the queen of fashion now? How am I ever supposed to fit dresses onto this ugly body! Out of all the things that could happen... this is the worst possible thing!” Not knowing what else to do, AJ settled for running a comforting hoof over his friends back. "Ah, know. How about we go an' find Twilight. Ah'm sure she'll know what's goin' on." “What’s going on? Is this some game? What am I ever supposed to do now? Charm a prince with my stunning... mustache? Oh Celestia! Applejack I feel as if I am going to faint!” A faint flush overgrew Rarity’s cheeks. “Snap out of it!” Applejack’s massive muscular forelegs gripped Rarity and shook him several times. “We ain’t gonna get any better if ya’ don’t calm down!” Sudden quiet filled the marketplace. The panic in the air simmered for a few seconds as everypony absorbed the wisdom of the bold farmer. “Thinking at a time like this... I have an idea. We should panic!” Rarity exclaimed as he withdrew from his friend to stand on his own four hooves. “Come on sugarcube. We’ll go talk to Twilight and get this all figured out. Okay?” The orange stallion hoped he could still salvage some of the rapidly diminishing sanity in the situation. “Just get this preposterous facial hair off my ravaging face!” Applejack shook his head sadly, his friend needed help and fast. In one of the meadows on the outskirts of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash pulled out of a dive as her body tingled. The strange sensation rippled through her like wild fire, tearing her apart from the inside. She crashed into her loyal spectator whose soft cheering suddenly became a rich bass cry of surprise. “What was- WHAT THE?!?” She jumped into the sky in surprise. Her normally high pitched voice sounded all too masculine and deep for the tomcolt mare. Her eyes locked with her friends cyan ones and she stared at the once rounded muzzle in shock. Fluttershy well and truly looked like Flutterguy. Despite the hilarity of what she beheld before her, she couldn't’ bring herself to laugh. Something felt wrong. Her body felt alien. She raised a tender hoof to her muzzle and confirmed her fear. Both close friends were now stallions. The magic of shock hung in the still air, Fluttershy was the first to notice something else was off, the birdsong had ceased. However, the still air wasn’t the only worry on the shy pegasus’s mind. The shy animal caretaker focused his stunned gaze at his fillyhood friend in complete and utter shock. ‘This just can’t be happening... this really can’t be happening. How am I supposed to take care of my animals now? They won’t know me anymore? Angel bunny... I hope he will still recognize his mommy. I’m... I... I feel so weird. This can’t be real.’ His glazed expression shifted into focus as he looked upon his best friend. The once well toned tomcolt mare had become a beautifully toned stallion. A heated blush overcame Fluttershy's cheeks as his eyes were now unsure of where to look. Dash noticed the eyes of creamy stallion before him wander and smirked. “Like what you see?” Fluttershy immediately hid behind his well cared for pink mane, emitting a soft bass ‘eep’. Dash expelled a sigh. “Still the same old Fluttershy.” “W-what happened to us Dash?” The slender stallion began quaking in fear at the thought of the unknown. “Twilight should know. Come on.” Dash grabbed his buddy’s hoof, tugging his long time friend into the sky, unwilling to deal with the rising issues at hoof like how they had become stallions. “Wow! I’ve had an upgrade! These wings must be 20% more powerful,” he joked to his distressed companion. It fell flat as Fluttershy failed to get the joke. The distraught, timid pegasus slowly descended toward the ground below, his half hearted attempts at staying aloft falling just like his moral. With a powerful tug from his now more muscular forelegs, Dash yanked his companion back up and into his firm grip. With the timid stallion perched in his embrace as if they were colt and wife, Dash continued resolutely onward. After flying in silence for a few moments Dash attempted to break the silence once more. “You know ‘Shy, at least the only thing that’s changed is our genders.” He attempted to comfort his creamy friend. However, it was as if Discord had heard him, for just then a nearby tree lifted off and began floating as if it were encased in an antigravity field. It was soon joined by more plant life and shocked birds took off into the skies around them. However, some of the birds were now flying upside down. Pain crossed the animal caretakers face, he hated seeing his precious creatures distressed. But it hurt more knowing there was nothing in Equestria he could do right now to help them. With that knowledge, a whimper escaped. “Please... I want to see my Angel bunny.” He sniffed back tears as he gazed up into the stunning rosy red eyes of his best friend. “Please... I need to know he’s okay.” Although the thought did not please him, the athletic pegasus changed his flight path. “Okay. Lets see what these babies can really do.” With increasingly powerful wingbeats, mighty blue wings drove the duo of aerial pegasi onwards toward their new destination. “This... Spike! Check my books! Check anything!” A purple stallion rushed through a maze of recorded history with massive confusion. His rich tenor voice summoned his helper, a now female baby dragon who was quickly becoming exasperated at his older siblings' panic. “Twilight? Twilight? Twilight! How can books help at a time like this? We need to see Celestia!” “Oh shut up! You don’t look much different! Just a few eyelashes! But look at me! What is Celestia going to say? I’m supposed to be the best with magic, and I get turned into a stallion? This is not good Spike. Not good at all...” The young female dragon tossed several books towards the lavender unicorn. A select few crashed against the floor, while one impacted his head. “Sorry...” Spike said. “Wait... this isn’t probably a funny time, right?” “Funny? What part of this is funny to you?” “Your mane style hair is kinda funny...” Little girly giggles followed and Spike found himself unable to contain himself as he rolled around on the wooden floor in a fit of laughter. “I don’t have time for this! I need to see what happened to the rest of Ponyville! I need to formulate a hypothesis, test the results... Discord...” A look of sheer horror crossed his features and he stopped dead in his tracks. The thought of the greatest threat to Equestria escaping his stone prison sent chills down the purple stallion’s spine. “Huh?” replied Spike, batting her feminine eyelashes. “That’s just weird...” Twilight shrugged at the bizarre sight of Spike. “Discord is behind this! I just know!” “Twilight!” A voice that edged on masculine cried outside of the library’s door. Powerful hooves kicked the edge of the door, thundering echoes alongside several giggles. Twilight hid in shame, hoping to delay her new gender for as long as possible. “Fine! I’ll kick it down then! Here comes Mr. Bubble Berry!” An energetic muscle-bound ball of pink exploded into the room, brightly coloured streamers trailed him as he bounced toward the shocked unicorn. “Bubble Berry?” Twilight gasped at the sight before her. The moment was beyond reason, beyond logic. And for a first time in all of recorded history, it was beyond Pinkie Pie. It now belonged to Bubble Berry, or whatever Pinkie Pie had become. “Oh my gosh! This big magic wave came and turned me into a stallion! Just how funny is that? I’m bigger, stronger, and my hair isn’t as poofy! I have a deeper voice, and I have new priv-” “Pinkie!” Twilight dismissed his friend’s immaturity with a hasty shout. “I know! Don’t make this any more awkward than it already is!” A hot flush crossed the unicorn's face as his crossed his forehooves protectively across himself in desperation. However, as usual, there was no stopping the force of a rambling party pony on a mission. “But it’s so funny! Oh my gosh, this calls for a party! Nopony else can be Bubble Berry; I called it! What is your new name Twilight?” Bubble Berry bounced with joy, his more powerful frame propelling the lively pony into a speedy orbit around his shell shocked friend. “I’m still Twilight Sparkle!” It was all the new stallion could manage as his mind fought for control against the swirling void of confusion inside. Upon confirmation of Twilight’s name, Bubble Berry lept into the air tossing his streamers in a celebratory fashion. “Then let’s party! And Twilight, you look hot as a stallion!” Twilight’s jaw almost hit the floor at the unexpected, unwanted news. “Pinkie!” “Just saying...” Bubble Berry trailed off, saddened that he was currently unable to lighten the stormy mood that hung over his good friend. “You know... you do.” He grinned cheekily and attempted a bounce to restore his sense of well being once more. Twilight didn’t want to hear or deal with his friends complements right now. Bubble Berry’s normally joyful manner was only serving to worsen the ex-mares attitude. He wanted to be alone, to study, to figure out how to reverse Discord’s spell of madness. Remembering his previous task, the lavender stallion utilized his magic to summon the books he was studying to his side once more. Books, his safe zone. “Well Pinki- Bubble Berry,” Twilight replied whilst opening several books. “I’m just saying that we should probably check out at the magnitude of the spell here! Like really! Imagine all of Ponyville!” “They are going to be partyin-” “Pinkie!” Twilight threw his head into a pile of books. “Ugh... that is like the third time you’ve said that. It’s Bubble Berry now. Don’t make me remind you of my awesome new powers! Let’s find a solution... get rid of all this silly, funny stuff and go back to being boring. What do you have there?” Pinkie rushed forward and began to page through several books with gusto. Discord hovered above Canterlot. She gazed over the cityscape below as ponies ran around panicking. Chuckling softly to herself, the draconequus pointed to one of the majestic towers on the side of the palace. "And now you can get bent." The structure warped and twisted, slowly wobbling in the breeze "AAAAAAAARRRRHHH!!!" Discord jumped at the sound as two stallions plummeted past. "There you two went…" She chuckled as they bounced off a massive cotton candy cloud and fell onto ornate floating building below. She teleported down to meet her two fellow new females. "You!" The angry voice of Shining Armour rang out as she staggered to her hooves. "Oh yes, poor little old me. Oh look at Discord he's so bad… Really…" The draconequus teleported again, this time re-appearing seated upon the unicorns back as the other pony stared on in shock. "But look…" She held out a feminine paw, "I'm just like you." She giggled as the angry mare took a swipe with a forehoof, actively attempting to dislodge the slippery draconequus on top. This time, the lord of chaos vanished reappearing inside a cloud above smiling out through the pink puffy layers. "You know… this stuff always tastes divine. You should try it." She suggested grinning, with a mouth full of candy. Shining fired a blast from her horn into the cloud, shredding it. Puffy chunks of candy fell around the duo, revealing no sign of the elusive foe. Shining helped her companion to her hooves and the two looked around with uncertainty. Where had the trickster gone? They both knew it would be foolish to assume the draconequus had vanished. Preparing for another conflict, Shining turned and spotted a miniature figure of her hated foe siting on the windowsill. The glazed glass the supported the image cracked as the angry unicorn rammed her horn through it. "Oh you're going to have to do better than that dear. Oh bother it's stranger than I imagined it would be, stuck as a shemale and no wabbajack in sight…" The voice taunted the two guardians of Canterlot as Discord flitted from pane to pane, waving and pulling faces at them. "You know… how about we have some fun. I'll borrow your horn." Shining felt her precious horn disappear from her head as the magic of chaos took hold of her. "Don't worry. I merely want to have some fun with it." The draconequus appeared in front of the pair as a massive image on the wall, larger than life. "Now that you don't have your magic, how about we play a little game… I'll give this back." She bounced a lifelike image of the stolen horn in her claw, "if you can make it down to Canterlot again. Something nice and simple, I don't have all day." The cheeky creature appeared in reality sitting on Shining's back once more. "You know this back of yours could make a great deck chair." Twisting in a violent attempt at her enemy's removal, Shining once again removed the menace from her back. The sad faced, cheeky draconequus poped into existence in between them. "Awwww... poor little ponies... You two are only small fish to fry, I have greater things to take care of." Both mares tried to attack her again, hitting each other as the laughing lord of chaos vanished at their touch. "Silly ponies… I'll now add to your deal. If you don't make it down soonish then I'll take Canterlot with me. I have a few locations in mind that would absolutely love to have this decor." Knowing it was no good, Shining spoke for the both mares, anger clear in her voice. "Fine. We'll play your little game. I will get my horn back!" "Yes yes, now chop chop now. Please do this, I really need a pre-show party and you two are my ticket." She smiled down at them as popcorn appeared in her grasp. "Oh and one last thing… this will be our little secret. I don't need other ponies knowing I'm this warped. Ta ta." With that, the trickster disappeared, happy to leave the immediate presence of the angry mares in favour of the clouds above. Shining turned to her companion, sighing. "Lets get a move on soldier." As the two ponies searched for a safe path down through the floating buildings, two beady eyes watched from behind the draconequus's signature sunglasses. "My return… it's already so much fun!" She chatted happily to herself as she settled down upon a cloud to watch, sipping an ice cold drink of lemonade. “Although... It would be nicer if that lord Sheo could get back already. I feel the urge to become more... masculine once more. This whole being she thing has got old a lot faster than I thought it would. Oh well... at least I have some free entertainment while I wait.” She glanced down her slim form, confirming her desires before becoming enthralled in the plight of the two perilous guards below. “Oh hi gal- oh hi guys! Don’t you just love my new body? Bubble Berry here, nice to meet ya’!” An eager pink hoof was violently dismissed by a contrasting white slap. Pinkie met the new arrivals with a cheery look upon his face that was not mirrored by anypony else. “Oh come on guys! This is going to be heaps of fun. And Applejackie, you could now buck trees even harder than ever. Imagine the work you can get done on the farm now?! Rarity... I like your mustache?” Rarity burst into his third consecutive set of tears for the day. Applejack kept the drama-king on her hooves with a strong grip. “Please leave him alone. Rare is taking this... uh... badly...” The farm pony continued to attempt to sooth the waterworks. “Well jeez... it’s not like anything serious happened. I mean, think about if all of the donuts in the world disappeared! Think about it guys! That would be awful! Does that make you feel better Rarity?” Pinkie smiled with prideful ignorance. The ex-fashion mare’s tears continued. “Oh well. Um. Please come in and close the door behind you. I’d prefer it if the rest of the town didn’t have to see me like this,” Twilight asked in mild desperation. “Uh... Sugarcube... the whole towns like this ere’.” The shocking reply caused the lavender unicorn to freeze. 'This cant be real...' Before anypony could shut the door, in burst a frizzly rainbow mane. “Dashie! You look awesome!” The party pony was the first to open fire upon the newcomers, bounding toward them as if he hadn't seen them in months. Fluttershy hid behind his protector, afraid to show his new face to the others. Dash glanced down at his friend and sighed. He petted his companion with a comforting hoof, attempting to assist the creamy pegasus into the room with the others. “I feel weird.” The speedster grumbled. “But I gotta say... being a stallion isn’t all bad. I had an awesome time testing these out on the way here.” Cyan wings flicked in illustration of his point. “Does anypony else have a cool new name?” Bubble Berry asked, buzzing with his usual unstoppable energy. “How about Complete Catastrophe!” Rarity cried. “Uh... nope.” Applejack replied as he continued to rub the distraught stallion's back. The nigh berserk party pony pulled a suggestion out of thin air. “Oh I know! How about Purity?” Rarity looked unsure at the offered suggestion. “I... I don’t know darling.” “I’m thinking... Rainbow Blitz!” The athlete announced, demonstrating his point with action, gathering a startled yelp from the pony hiding under him. “Rainbow Blitz, that flies in style!” “Really darling? Such an uncouth name.” Rarity allowed the disdain to ring through in his rich tenor voice. “Hey. It’s cooler than your name, Purity.” “I did not ask to be called that.” The alabaster unicorn retorted. “But I dare say, I shan’t allow my glorious name to be marred by such a horrendous figure... so that will have to do.” The defeated tone rang out from the shattered unicorn. “Okay everypony. Now that we have that sorted I think we should try and arrange a town meeting. Maybe we can piece this together logically.” Twilight drew his attention towards Rarity, “And not panic.” “Logically? What’s logical about a magic wave that destroyed my feminine charm? Oh... woe is me!” Never before had a Ponyville town meeting been so chaotic. Gender was apparently as serious as Rarity suggested it. The title of town meeting was somewhat misinforming. A better description would be a town riot. Demands for answers, demands for original gender, and finally, demands for demands. “Everypony! Everypony! Please listen! Our best expert on magic, Ms- Mr. Twilight Sparkle has agreed to speak to us. Listen, you must remain calm at this moment, and listen to what Mr. Sparkle has to say,” the mayor of Ponyville said to the angry mob. Just like the old stallion he had become, the mayor rested on the chair behind the podium. Sugarcube corner floated peacefully along behind mayor. Bubble Berry raced out the flying building's front door and sailed into the assorted ponies like a canon ball. He deposited Pound and Pumpkin Cake beside their parents who were quick to scoop the rescued foals up. Twilight eyed the family for a moment before he spoke up, "the mayor is right everypony. I know that I myself am having quite the difficulty understand the situation, but panicking won’t help. Now, Spike, fetch me checklist!” The girly dragon threw the checklist into Twilight’s pulse of magic. “Now let’s see... I need everypony to calmly tell me what time the ‘change’ happened...” A universal consensus of answers was thrown the scholar's way and promptly written down on Twilight’s notebook. “Okay... now... we need to identify the scale. See if this only happened to Ponyvillle or it spans a greater area...” The mayor popped out of his seat. “Twilight, that’s a great idea. You and your friends should go to Canterlot and ask for help! If anypony can fix this problem, it’s Princess Celestia. All in favor?” A cheer racked the packed meeting space as the answer to mayor mare’s suggestion. “Celestia has the strongest magic in all of Equestria. You are right mayor. We are off to see the princess!” Twilight turned her vision to the six stallions beside her. “Right girl- guys?” “Ugh... can I possibly get my identity officially changed beforehand?” Purity asked in an annoyed tone. “Yea! I’m up for some action!” Rainbow Blitz shot into the air hoofpuming the sky in anticipation. “Um... I can stay here... I-if everypony doesn’t mind...” Fluttershy trailed off, locking his gaze with the ground underhoof. “No. You're with us Fluttershy. What would we do without you?” Blitz lifted his chin up. “I know Flutterguy! You're very important to us guys. And Blitzie!” Bubble Berry bounced, not realizing the insulting nature of his nicknaming. “I’m still a year older than you... even though we are boys...” Fluttershy replied with a slight edge to his deep voice, inching closer to his defender. “Come on ya’ll. Equestria ain’t gonna save itself!” “Yay! Cutie Mark Crusaders gender seekers!” Three excited young colts dashed over to the departing adventures. “Oh no ya’ll don’t. Ah’ want ya’ young troublemakers ta stay an’ watch over Granny Smith.” “Awwww... But he don’t need our help.” Cried Apple Bloom. “Girl- young colts. Ah am’ telling ya’ll to stay here.” The blond farmer put his hoof down, denying his young brother and troublesome accomplices passage. The trio of trouble wandered off to sulk as six stallions moved out, advancing towards their goal. They bore the weight of dozens of ponies responsibilities. A fern floated past, borne aloft on the magic of chaos. Purity kept close to Applejack, his eyes darting between the various floating objects that littered their path. Fluttershy mirrored his actions, sticking close to the bold Blitz. Bubble Berry bounded from tree to tree to ground then back onto a floating rock. With a cry of delight, the party pony nimbly hopped across a random wave of chocolate milk that flew past. Twilight strode ahead of the group, neither confident nor happy. Yet the spellcaster knew that somepony had to lead and he felt a burning desire to make sure his mentor and mother figure was safe. While they had tackled many dangerous adventures before, none were quite like this.