//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Discovery... // Story: Close Encounters of the Sixty-Third Kind // by Yoshirocks341 //------------------------------// "Where am I?" “Am I dreaming this?” “I feel a pleasant breeze.” “…I hear a voice from somewhere...” “I wonder who it is.” “Dusk, wake up!” Dusk opened his eyes to see a blurry picture of Spines shaking Dusk's head. He shook himself off and stood up. “Ugh, where am I?” Dusk questioned. “No clue. I do know though that everyone is here though,” Spines replied. Dusk panned around him to see a mess of ponies that he called his friends. Applejack had the job of pulling his head out of the ground. Butterscotch was doing his best to help Elusive stop from panicking, due to the fact that Elusive had found the best place to land, a mud puddle. Bubble was bouncing on top of a half conscience Rainbow yelling, "Rainbow wake up, Rainbow wake up you silly sleepy head! We're going to...actually I have no clue, but wake up!" “Is everyone alright?” Dusk asked the group. Applejack succeeded in his previously mentioned task and turned to speak. “Ah’m fine, mah head is ju'NO I AM NOT ALRIGHT! I’m completely covered in mud!” Elusive interrupted panicking. Rainbow Blitz, who was now awake, came over frustrated. “I would tell you to stop acting like a girl, but we all know that ain't going to happen.” Everyone fell silent as they looked to see how Elusive would respond. “What did you just say to me?” “I called you a girl, for the up-teenth time,” Rainbow replied matter-the-factly. “What are you going to do about it?” Elusive was slowly raising his front hoof, when he suddenly stopped. His logic cut in just in time to stop his emotions from overcoming him. He didn’t figure out that fighting wouldn’t do anything good (because that would be a lie), but in fact he realized that Rainbow would easily win any fight. So, Elusive decided on a different approach. “How about we make a bet?” he asked putting his hoof down. “What sort of bet?” came the response. “If I can go the whole day without doing anything ‘girly’, you have to work at my ‘girly’ shop for the next week.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What happens when you don’t?” “I’ll go around town with you tomorrow for the whole day wearing a dress. And you can call ‘Lucy the whole time.” Rainbow was stunned. He was not expecting that much man pride to be at risk. He really didn’t want to be forced to work at that stupid place Elusive called his pride and joy. But, he did want to see Elusive humiliate himself in a dress. After some quick thinking, he made up his mind. “Deal.” Rainbow raised his left hoof. “Deal.” Elusive made the handshake, which really doesn't work when hooves don’t grip. Applejack cleared his trout. “We’re done here guys?” They both turned and gave him a nod. “Good. Now, let’s figure out where we are.” Everyone started to look around them for hints. Well, everyone except for Spines, who had gone paralyzed and mind numb by the thought of her crush, Elusive, in a dress. After a short period of time, Butterscotch found something useful. “Umm, guys, I think I found something familiar.” They all gathered around Butterscotch. In the distance was a sight they were relieved to see. It was a group of buildings, with a bunch of ponies walking around. A sign that was recently placed outside read a single word. “Ponyville!” They started to walk to their wonderful hometown, when Dusk turned around and noticed that Spines wasn’t moving. “Coming Spines?” he asked her. “Whaaa?” Spines snapped back into reality, “Oh, ummm ya, yes I’m ready. Where are we going?” Dusk just laughed and put Spines on his back. He quickly ran to catch up with the others. ************************************************************************************ When they arrived in town, something was up. It wasn’t due to the fact that the town’s residents were panicking, because there was none of that. Something was just…off. “Why can’t I recognize anyone?” Elusive asked. “Ah can’t see any familiar faces either.” Applejack joined in. The group continued to walk through town, still not seeing anyone they knew. “Hey guys!” Rainbow said to get everyone’s attention. Everyone turned to look at him. “When did all these girls get here?” “You’re on to something Rainbow,” Dusk was puzzled with that thought. “And where are all the guys?” “It is almost like the ratios of people have been swapped!” Bubble stated. An idea suddenly popped into Dusk’s head, but he quickly dismissed it. “Na, that couldn’t be possible…” he thought. They had gotten into the middle of town and still hadn’t seen anyone they knew. They needed to figure out what was going on. “Ooh, Ooh, I have an idea!” Bubble shouted. “What is it?” Applejack asked. “Why don’t we just go and ask someone what’s going on?” “Bubble, that’s…actually a simple and straightforward plan!” Elusive said surprised. “When did you start making plans like that?” Bubble just shrugged. "Who should we ask?” Butterscotch inquired. “Ummm, her!” Bubble pointed to the first pony he laid his eyes on. The unfortunate pony who Bubble Berry had pointed to was a young filly. She was orange like the fruit, but did not smell like it (Bubble checked). Her hair was purple and on the short side, barely making it down her neck. Her purple tail fell lazily. Her flank was blank, encouraging the fact that she was young. Bubble walked up to her and randomly pulled a microphone from out of nowhere. “Hello, I’m from the news station P.O.N.Y, and I’m here to conduct a random interview with a member of this town. Are you one?” Bubble said into the microphone. “Ummm,” Bubble had definitely caught this filly off guard, but she recovered, “Yes, yes I am.” “Let’s first start off with some simple questions. What’s your name?” “Scootaloo.” Bubble pretended to write that down on an object that didn't exist. “What is your normal day like?” “Well, I usually spend time with two other fillies my age. One is an orderly type, but a tad on the girly side. I think that’s due to the fact that her older sister owns a boutique here in town…." Elusive raised an eyebrow. "….and the other is the brave, hard-working type. She might get this from her older siblings though. They work an apple farm right outside town.” Elusive look was copied and pasted onto Applejack. More invisible notes from Bubble. “And do you like living here?” “Oh yes, of course!” she said excitedly. Her expression suddenly changed. “Umm, can ask you some questions?” “Sure you can!” Bubble replied without missing a beat. “What do you want to know?” Scootaloo grabbed the microphone. “Well, let’s first start off with a simple question, what’s your name?” Dusk was going to warn Bubble about giving his name is strangers, but then he realized the irony behind that statement. “My name is Bubble Berry ,” replied the owner of that name. “Now here’s a real question for you. If you are an interviewer, why don’t you have a camera?” The filly was getting curious. “Budget cuts,” Bubble replied. The raised eyebrow look now carried over to the young filly. “Then why do you have these people here?” Bubble looked at the group of friends behind him. Butterscotch gave a shy wave back. “They’re my posse you see. I have one because I’m famous. They get me things when I need them to and they're willingly follow my ‘suggestions’.” Now Bubble was getting looks from both directions, and they definitely weren't happy ones. “But…then why is the group so small?” Scootaloo asked, “I thought superstars had, like, hundreds of ponies following them.” “Tiny size for a tiny amount of famousness.” Bubble said with a nervous chuckle. He looked around him. He saw that this conversation was going to go nowhere. Lucky for him, Rainbow Blitz stepped in. “Umm, not-so-famous Bubble Berry, I think it is time for this interview to end.” Bubble nodded. “I agree. Why thank you for the interview…” His voiced trailed off. The orange filly’s face had suddenly turned into a giant grin, so big that it actually kind of freaked out Bubble. She turned to Rainbow and asked him, “DOYOUKNOWRAINBOWDASH?!” “No…” Rainbow was now officially freaked out. “Why do you ask?” Scootaloo’s joy had suddenly deflated like a balloon in a cactus breeding ground. “Oh…well, you look just like her…” That got everyone’s attention. “Really?” Bubble took back his microphone. “Care to explain more about this girl?” A fangirl squeal came out of the filly. “Well, where do I start? She is the most coolest pony ever! She has saved the world; pulls the best pranks ever, OH she is also the fastest pony in Equestria! She one time did….” Our intrepid heroes slowly walked away, letting the filly to declare Rainbow Dash’s splendor, to no one… ************************************************************************************* “Well, that was strange.” Dusk finally said when they got out of ear shot of Scootaloo. “That was way beyond strange!” Elusive said with a hint of panic in his voice. “You have someone running a boutique here, and I’m the only one who runs one in Ponyville.” “There’s also another farm that sprung outta nowhere!” Applejack added. “And that girl looked a lot like Scooteroll…” Spines pointed out, thinking about the young orange skinned, purple haired colt that they all were familiar with. You could almost literally see light bulbs go off over some of the colts’ heads. “It would make sense...” Butterscotch started. “It would explain why she hangs out with someone who owns a farm…” Applejack pondered. Scooteroll hung out with Applebuck, Applejack's little brother. “And why she hangs out with a relative of a shop owner…” Elusive added. Scooteroll also hung out with Sweepy Bell, Elusive's little brother. “AND why she knows so much about a girl that looks like me!” Rainbow finished. Scooteroll was a huge fanboy of Rainbow Blitz. “Hold up here,” Dusk butted in, “let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet!” Spines looked at him. “I really don’t think we've taken any jumps, more like little steps down the path of logic.” Dusk sighed. “Fine. I have a theory about what is going on here though. I just need a little more proof.” He turned to Bubble. “Ready for more shenanigans?” Bubble smiled. “When am I not?” ************************************************************************************* Dusk and Bubble separated themselves from the group. The plan was for the rest of the group to stay in earshot, but not get too close. They didn’t want suspicion to arise again. Dusk and Bubble peaked out from a nearby building. “Him.” Dusk pointed to a colt. “If my theory is correct, he should be important to us.” The mystery colt was very muscular, roughly the same size as Applejack, maybe even a little bit bigger. He had a deep coat of red that covered everything, except his toes that rebelled with a light yellow color. His light brown hair fell down his neck, stopping at a weird brown collar (a yoke). At the other end, a picture of half of a light green apple was over his red skin. A short brown tail was its nearest neighbor. He was topped off with green eyes and white freckles. “Congratulations, sir!” Bubble sprung onto the scene. “You are the winner of the random pony lottery!” The red colt blinked once before answering. “Ah didn’t enter no lottery.” His southern voice was slow and deliberate. “Yes, but that’s the reason why it is so random!” Bubble's voice seemed faster now in comparison. “You don’t even need to sign up!” The muscular colt just gave a quick shrug. “What do Ah win?” Dusk pretended to start getting something out of a bag Bubble had given him. “Hold up!” Bubble told him. He turned back to the colt stranger. “We need your name and place of work, for legal purposes. You understand right?” “Eeyup,” was the reply. Mini awkward silence followed. “So… what’s your name and place of business?” Dusk asked. “Mah name is Big MacIntosh and Ah work at the apple farm named Sweet Apple Acres with mah family,” the red colt gave his answer. Dusk wrote this down on a piece of paper that did exist. “Ok. That’s all we need. Here you go!” Dusk pulled the prize out of the bag and put it into the hoof Big MacIntosh stuck out. The “big lottery winnings” turned out to be three bits, roughly the same value as a bag of apples. Big Mac just shrugged, thinking that something is better than nothing. Dusk and Bubble were about to leave when they heard the slow southern voice speak. “May Ah ask the purple one a question?” Dusk turned around, tad nervous that something was going to go horribly wrong. “Umm, sure.” “Do you happen to work in a library?” Dusk was definitely surprised. “Yes…how did you know that?” “Well, a purple pony works in our library here, and she looks mighty like you.” Big Mac spoke deliberately. “Ah figured you were related and probably had the same job.” Dusk wanted to get out of there as fast as he could now. However, Bubble had some other plans. “What’s her name?” Bubble asked him as Dusk started to walk away. Big Mac thought a moment. “Twilight Sparkle.” “Thank you!” Bubble said before being pulled away by the male purple librarian. ************************************************************************************ “Well, my theory is correct!” Dusk said. “Is it that we somehow got transported to a dimension where everyone has their gender swapped?” Spines asked. Dusk was surprised again. “How did you figure that out?” “It was pretty obvious,” Spines answered. “Ah’m pretty sure everyone was able to figure that out,” Applejack stated. “Including them!” Bubble pointed forwards. Rainbow Blitz’s eyes followed the direction of the pointing. “Who?” Bubble sighed. “No one...” Dusk cleared his trout. “Ok, we need to make a plan and I have some ideas. Plan A: Explore the town, looking for the reason of why that blue portal thing brought here. Plan B: Disguise ourselves and find our counterparts and see if they know anything. Plan B: Panic and cause massive mayhem.” The last line caused some confused looks. “Dusk…why did you say “B” twice? Elusive asked. Dusk raised an eyebrow. “What are you questioning?” “I’m questioning your amount of B’s. There should only be one plan B.” Spines grinned when she figured out where Dusk was going with this. “Two B or not two B, that is the question.” Dusk turned and returned Spines' smile. The almost brother and sister made a jumping high-five. Everyone else just high-fived their face. Dusk chuckled. “Sorry guys, I thought of that and just had to use it.” He cleared his trout again. “What do you think we should do everyone?” “Umm…why don’t we explore town disguised, looking for a way back home and the reason why we are here?” Butterscotch pitched. The suggestion spread nodding and murmurs of agreement throughout the group. “May Ah add somethin’?” Everyone turned to look at Applejack. “Should we try to avoid ourselves? That would easily cause panic.” “That’s the reason for the disguises…” Rainbow replied. “No, no, I see what he’s talking about,” Dusk stepped in. “Even with disguises, ourselves should still recognize our personality somewhat. We should try to not stay around them for too long, even if we do run into any of them. Now, what to do about the need for disguises?” “I have just the spell!” Elusive exclaimed. His horn then started to glow very bright. Everyone slowly backed away has the light grew and grew, finally enveloping them all. When they could see again, they realized that they all looked really different. “What the heck!” Not-so-rainbow Rainbow Blitz said. “What did you go Elusive?” “Why, I have used the palette swap spell on all of us,” Elusive started to explain. “It’s better if I wrote this out.” He grabbed the piece of paper that Dusk had been writing on and scribbled something down. Everyone gathered around to see this. Dusk Shine--->Applejack---> Rainbow Blitz---> Bubble Berry--->Elusive --->Spines--->Butterscotch Was: Purple/Pink Orange/Yellow Blue/Rainbow Pink White/Purple Purple/Green Yellow/Pink Now: Yellow/Pink Purple/Pink Orange/Yellow Blue/Yellow Pink White/Purple Purple/Green “I see, very clever I must say,” the now yellow Dusk said, “but why isn’t Bubble’s hair rainbow colored?” “Well, I thought that someone with rainbow colored anything would stand out!” the pink pony replied. “So, I used a common color for hair, yellow, instead.” Everyone then started to observe their new color changes. After a few minutes of doing this, their curiosity ran out and they went back to focusing on the other part of the plan. “So…umm, how are we going to figure out how to get back home?” The purple Butterscotch asked. “I say we go separately around town and look for clues.” A white Spines stated. “Sounds like a good idea. Let's split up, gang!! We should try to meet back here in about an hour.” Dusk said. Everyone started to head in different directions around town. However, if they knew what dangers were in store for them, they might have chosen to stay together…