"My little pony, I am very sorry about what happened." Said the same voice that yelled at Rainbow Dash before. His mother didn’t seem to hear it, so Chewy assumed it was a voice in his mind rather than the physical world. "I assure you, it was not in my plans for you to end up like this. I understand you must be in great pain, please know it is not my wish to gain new unwilling subjects like this."
While in the ever-expansive dark plain of his dream, the voice seemed to echo around him, as if he was trapped inside of a metal box. “Princess Luna, is that you? What do you mean? What did you have planned for me?” Chewy looked around, a little worried by what she meant.
"I just wanted you to gain inspiration for your stories. But, Rainbow Dash forgot to change you back into a human, and there was some… strange interference. I’ve tried many times but for some reason even I cannot undo this spell. That’s why you now look like the filly known as Scootaloo. Also, it seems you might not be the only human who has been changed."
Chewy instantly remembered the strange grayscale effect that occurred before, the one that didn't last longer than a few seconds; could this be the ‘strange interference’ she was referring to? Could his ponified existence impact the world around him more drastically than he could imagine? Princess Luna did seem to make a lot of sense, but even still his mortal mind could not comprehend much of what he was told. “Is there any way to reverse this, or will you have to remove me from my world until the problem is fixed?” Chewy asked the celestial princess.
"Well, there is a problem about that as well." Luna said sounding annoyed, "Miss Scootaloo still exists in my world, and if I tried to take you there… the consequences could be drastic.”
Chewy realized the flaw in the second option too, if he and the real Scootaloo encountered each other, a paradox could form and possibly destroy the universe. He put his hoof on his muzzle, thinking of any other options, “Will I have to be kept in the dream realm?”
"No, that’s not possible, only somepony like me can actually exist in the realm of dreams and nightmares, everypony else just visits it while their body sleeps. And even I can't stay here for too long."
He saw sense in her words; he couldn’t stay asleep all day, he’d starve.
He had so many questions, the biggest being the grayscale effect;what did it mean? What will happen to his home world if this isn’t solved quickly? “What do you have planned for me? Am I going to have to keep this form forever?” Chewy asked with a saddened tone.
"My sister, myself and the elements of Harmony are looking for a way to solve this crisis. That much I can assure you. For now, try to stay inside your house, and hide from any hostile humans. Uh… WHAT?" Luna voiced then sounded angry, but not at the new pony. "Oh that rotten, good for nothing!…I’m sorry. I have just been informed of something. It seems that somepony found this situation quite amusing, and pretended to be me to both Miss Rarity and Miss Applejack. If my hunch is correct, and they both spoke to humans in their dreams as well, I wouldn't be surprised if there are two others like you in your world. If I am correct, they will now be stuck in the bodies of Scootaloo’s friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle."
Then Chewy found himself waking up. He could remember Luna’s advice vividly from the dream, “Stay indoors, and avoid any and all hostile humans,”
'Urgh, my head… something feels wrong here.'
His mom couldn’t hold back an amused giggle at the sight of an adorable filly just waking up from a deep sleep. The filly looked confused and unaware, it was just a moment she wouldn’t take a million dollars to forget. She pulled a soft-looking blanket from the other side of the couch and molded it into the shape of a bowl. Gently, she placed the bowl-shaped blanket in a basket and placed the small filly inside, placing a pillow underneath it’s small head.
Then the new Scootaloo noticed he no longer was in the couch, but in a big nest with a soft pillow in it, it kind of reminded him of Spike’s bed seen in the show, just how long had he been asleep? He also noticed his mother watching him with the same face girls have when they find something irresistible cute.
"Uh? Where did you get this basket?" Chewy asked, looking down at the small basket she was laying inside of.
"I bought it, you’ve been asleep for almost four hours, so I did some shopping!" His mother said smiling, watching the filly look over the basket.
Chewy looked up at his mother with a little concern; her expression was more ecstatic than she had even seen before. “Um, do you know who I am?” He asked her, not being very subtle with his concern for her.
“Of course I know who you are, you are Scootaloo.” His mother answered happily.
Chewy shook his head, “I am not Scootaloo, I am your son, Chewy. I was shape-shifted into the form of Scootaloo by… I don’t know for sure, but you have to believe me!”
“NO! You are Scootaloo!” She said angrily, her eyes full of a sudden rage.
Chewy reeled back,he had never seen his mother like this before. As quickly as the rage appeared, it went away, her previous sweetness returning. “Oooo… I always wanted a daughter! You can be my daughter and have my son’s room.”
He looked at her, shocked.
'Has she forgotten about the real me already? I mean I knew she was into the show, but not THIS much!'
Maybe he was insane as well? As he pondered this a flash Scootaloo’s memories flooded his head. Things they had never shown on the show, crazy adventures the CMC had shared to get their Cutie Marks.This had to be a delusion or something, and whether crazy ran in the family or becoming a pony had driven him around the bend, he wasn’t quite sure if he wasn't a bit crazy himself. He almost expected to start having visions, like a pack of nyan cat chubbies flying around the room.
"Eh… look. I am thankful for the chocolate and the nice place to sleep, but… I uh… have to find my friends?" He said questioningly, he couldn’t think of a better excuse to leave than that, he began to hope that she would buy it.
"Oh, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders?" She asked sounding more excited, probably at the chance of petting more cute little pony fillies. She held her clenched fists against her chest and squealed to herself, imagining having the CMC as her daughters.
"Yes! They must be lost in the human world too, like me. Yeah, that’s it, we did some crazy thing to get our cutie marks and we ended up here. I’m not your son turned into a pony uh… what can I do to find them?"
His mom was more than a little reluctant to go along with his scheme, “You can use the computer, and search for your friends on the Internet.” She pointed at her laptop on the kitchen table.
Chewy looked at the object in question and climbed over to it, pretended to look very confused, "Um… how do I use this thing?". If he was gonna act the part of a pony, he should pretend to know nothing about computers or the Internet, that was probably the smart thing to do.
Now… maybe he could start to think of himself as a girl, or he could at least stop freaking out about it. Since the Princesses, Twilight and her friends were looking for a way to fix his problem,it wasn’t like he was going to be stuck that way forever anyway.
"Ok, let me do this for you then." his… HER mother said and took a few pictures of Scootaloo, then uploaded them to 'his son’s' Facebook Account. Chewy was a bit angry that her mother knew her password. Then it was the turn to make a post. Something simple that could be taken as a joke.
'Hey Scootaloo here, did somepony else wake up in this strange world of humans? And is of course, totally NOT a human who got turned into a pony?
-Scootaloo'
She struggled with typing at first, but her mother offered to type it for her, saving her a lot of time and effort. After she had sent her message Scootaloo was picked up by her human mother, "Now dear, how about if I fix you up? Your mane and tail are a mess, and you would look just perfect with a nice, sparkly pink bow tied around your neck!"
Scootaloo tried to shake herself free from her capture, fluttering her small wings as well, “NO! Let me go! I don’t want to be pretty, being ‘pretty’ is just SOOOOO UNCOOL!”
"Now listen dear, I gave you food, a bed and helped you to try to find your friends. I am not asking that much, am I?"
Chewy lowered her ears and looked down, why was she feeling so guilty? Maybe.. maybe it was because she had never seen her mother so happy as she had been today. Besides, its not like anypony but Luna and Rainbow Dash knew she was really a guy, right?
"Fine, but no pictures of me looking girly."
The mother looked proud of herself and carried her to the sink, placing the filly in the silver bowl, “You’re going to look so CUTE when I’m done with you.”
“It won’t last long,” Chewy said in a low snicker, “You can be girly if you want, but leave me out of it from now on.”
"Keep that attitude going young lady, and next time, I will take pictures."
"Ok, sorry! Please don’t take pictures!”
Overall, having her mother giving her a bath, brushing her mane and tail, and generally pampering her wasn’t as bad as she first thought. In fact, Chewy felt bad with herself for somewhat liking it. What if her friends saw her looking girly and with the stupid bow; that SPARKLED, of all things?
When she satisfied her desire to prettify the little orange filly, she picked up a newspaper off of the kitchen counter and flipped through the pages slowly. She soon reached the ads section of the issue and stopped at the discovery of a ballet class being held at the local convention center; she grew very jittery and was on the verge of squealing again.
“Um… why are you so happy at a paper?” Scootaloo looked at her mother with an adorable, confused expression.
“I’m going to enroll you in…” Mom flipped the paper around and showed Chewy, “ballet lessons!”
Scootaloo looked at it with disgust, “NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
"Just kidding, I don’t think they take ponies, even if they can talk. Besides, I don't want the men in black to take you away or something like that." Her mother was laughing at the way she reacted, Chewy had kind of forgot that jokes were the way her mother dealt with strange situations, and what could be more strange than finding Scootaloo in her house?
"That was mean miss! Uh… by the way… you know my name, what's yours?" Chewy asked realising that it was weird she hadn't asked her mothers name yet.
"You can call me Starlight, thats the name of the unicorn pony I made up when I was eight."
It seemed her mother was not so crazy, she was just obsessed with My little Pony. Not that there was that much difference, mind you.
"So, miss Starlight, aren't you worried, about your son?"
"Oh, I am, but he is a guy, he is supposed to go out the house once in a while and get in trouble." 'Starlight' said as if she had no worry in the world.
“Wait.. what’s this?” Starlight approaches a plastic bag hidden underneath a chair. Chewy didn’t notice the bag before, but it was sitting in plain sight. She reached in and pulled out a bright blue rubber ball. Scootaloo’s eyes watched the ball with great interest. “You want this ball Scootaloo?” Starlight said in a voice similar to that used on a dogs you are teasing.
Chewy might have only been playing the role of Scootaloo, but deep down she had never grown up, not even when she used to be a human male. Still, even with the excuse of pretending to be a tomboy filly, she tried to play hard to get… for about ten seconds flat.
"Sure!" Chewy then played with the ball and had fun like a filly half her age would do. She didn’t bother hiding her delight, as nobody she cared was ever going to see her like this regardless. She played with the ball for nearly an hour before becoming exhausted. Dozing off, she curled up into a ball and returned to the dream world.
Instead of being greeted with the usual black landscape of a blank dream, she saw herself in Ponyville, in the middle of a field with her lifelong idol, Rainbow Dash. She stared up at her with a big smile stretched across her face.
"So, have you been doing the wing exercises I taught you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes Rainbow Dash! Do you want to see?" Scootaloo said smiling
"Okay, try to fly then."
Scootaloo tried to fly but just felt into the dirt.
"Scootaloo, flying is more than just how big yours wings are, you are trying too hard. Don't flap your wings that hard and fast, that's okay for riding your scooter but for flying it won't work well."
"Got it Rainbow Dash!"
"Ok, now try again."
Scootaloo got up quickly, "I... I mean, I knew that!"
Dash smiled "Yes, of course you did squirt."
Dash then rubbed her chin with her left wing , she seemed to be trying to remember something.
"Oh, right! You better hide, I heard Rarity is looking for a model to use for filly pegasus dresses, and she said she’d be back any minute!”
Scootaloo looked around for a place to hide, climbed into a tree and hid in the leaves. Rarity appeared all of a sudden."Uh, Rainbow Dash, have you seen Sweetie Belle’s little pegasus friend around here?"
"Yes, I saw her, but I don't know where she went." Rainbow Dash said while looking at Rarity and smiling. Scootaloo pulled her tail into the leaves
"Oh well, I wanted to hire her as a model for some dresses I am making for a rich pegasus filly in Cloudsdale. I heard she loves chocolate so I bought a cake for her at sugarcube corner. But I guess I will have to look for somepony else…” Rarity said winking.
Scootaloo was so conflicted, and even though she remembered what happened last time she got roped into 'helping' she couldn’t help herself. The chocolate cake called to her, and as if in response her stomach rumbled suddenly.
"Sorry Scootaloo, you got busted." Rainbow Dash said and grinned, it seems she found the situation quite funny
"Now, don't look at me like that, Sweetie Belle is with our parents and Applebloom is helping in the farm, and it’s not like you were busy anyway." Rarity said then smiled
"But I was wanting to hang out with Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo whined.
"Well, I actually have work to do anyway." Rainbow Dash said and looked up, there were a few gray clouds hanging over Ponyville that she had yet to move. "Plus I kind of promised Fluttershy I was gonna stop by her home today. Sorry Squirt. Bye!" Rainbow Dash then flew away with her usual hurry.
Scootaloo groaned and accepted her fate. Oh well, at least she was gonna get chocolate cake out of this.
The second day
Scootaloo awoke to find herself laying on a drool-soaked pillow. “Ewwwwww…”
Unfortunately, the cake, as tasty as it had been in the dream, was a lie. There was no chocolate here, only a messy room and a major headache. Sleeping had been difficult for Scootaloo, as her new wings weren’t very easy to adjust, and sleeping on them was extremely uncomfortable.
'Note to self, pegasi apparently can't sleep well on their backs.'
Scootaloo rolled out of her lumpy nest and rubbed her aching back. She went into the kitchen to find some breakfast, but all she could find was human food, and most of it was far too processed for her new tongue. ‘Why does today out of everyday have to be the worst in my life?’ Scootaloo thought as she continued to scan the shelves for ANYTHING she could eat.
The ponies in the show loved sugar, so maybe some cereal and milk? Yes, that would work. Why had she been thinking about horse food anyway? The ponies in the show could eat milk products and eggs, they were vegetarians, not vegans.
While handlings things with hooves was weird, Scootaloo's body was apparently more fit and athletic than Chewy's had been, so it only took a bit of practice to finally be able to eat breakfast (especially once she realized that there was no real point in use a spoon instead of just eating with her face like a normal pony).
Her hunger satisfied, she got onto the computer and decided to check to see if anypony had responded to her post. To her misfortune, nopony had posted a real answer. The only answers she got was trolling or comments on how good her Scootaloo pictures were.
Just then, she got a private message:
'-It’s happened to me too. Where are you? We should meet up. I’ll post videos if you don’t believe me.- Alos88 '
Excitement began to boil up inside of her, ‘Finally, a serious response!'
She quickly replied to the message, but she forgot what her address was.
'-Uh… hold on, I will be right back, I need to find out where I live exactly. Alright, I live at 2940 Richardson Avenue; it is a big, ugly gray house, you can’t miss it- Chewy_Card'
Scootaloo’s smile grew wide, she couldn’t wait to meet this person who seemed to be experiencing the same thing that she was. Running excitedly back into the living room, she sat and waited for the pony to arrive. Her wings stood straight out and her tail swayed excitedly; why she was acting like an excited puppy, she would never know.
As soon as her new found excitement came, it was gone; Scootaloo trotted off to find her ball. She brought it to the door and hit it at the door.
She had more fun with the ball than somepony of her age should, still she was bored and her pony-obsessed, human mother was still in bed.
"Weee!" Scootaloo’s childish voice echoed around the house as she chased and kicked the ball. Thankfully she didn’t break anything, it seemed Scootaloo talent was related to being physically fit, that and her wings, though for the time being those were useless. She soon tired of the ball and decided to listen to some music instead.
She ‘found’ her mother’s mp3 player and decided to see what type of music she listens to; classical, all the music from FiM, ‘90’s rock, and… a music genre she wasn’t quite familiar with. She hated classical and she loved her mom’s ‘90’s choices, but she had mixed feelings toward the other stuff. “Scootaloo! What are you doing with my mp3 player!”
Her mother then had an idea
"Oh, do you wanna dance?" Starlight asks and smiles "Dance for me my daughter!"
Scootaloo looked at Starlight, though she was too busy listening to her music to pay her mother any attention. “What?” She asked loudly, “I’m sorry I can’t hear you.”
"Could you dance for me?" Starlight said in a pleading tone
Scootaloo removed the earbuds from her ears, “Can you say that again?”
"Could you please dance?" Starlight took the earbuds away from Scootaloo and unplugged them, music filling the room.
"I wanna see you dance, pretty please?"
As Scootaloo listened to the music, she felt a sudden urge to dance her flank off; her hooves tapped to the beat of the music.
The little pegasus danced for several minutes, even doing it in her back hooves with her wings helping to balance herself. Then she noticed what she had been doing.
Scootaloo lifted her head in pride and smiled brightly.
“Hehe, it was nothing. If only if Rainbow Dash could see me now...” Her mind began to wonder at the mention mere of her hero;’ before becoming Scootaloo, Chewy had always been a fan of Rainbow Dash, but after the change she considered Rainbow Dash her idol, just like Scootaloo in the show.
Still, so many mental changes in such a short time, why was that? She didn't feel like there was a pony talking in her mind, then why she was acting like this? It must have been a part of the transformation, whatever it was it was more than just physical. Chewy began to wonder just how far the changes would go...
Soon afterwards her mother left to go grocery shopping, after making a list of food stuff the filly wanted. Suddenly finding herself alone, the new Scootaloo panicked.
“H-how did I do those dance moves? I couldn’t do any of those before I became Scootaloo. They were awesome but… I…” She felt her small body grow tired all of a sudden, she hadn’t been aware of how hard she had been taxing her small body until now.
As she drifted off into slumber she re entered into the ever-familiar, black, dream-zone.
The young pegasus found herself standing on a cloud, the sensation was like sitting on a spongy pillow, but one that was slightly damp. Above her head was the night sky of Equestria with a full moon and a thick blanket of stars, under her, there was… nothing. It was probably wise to not worry, and to stop looking down!
"Hello young one." Luna's voice said and the night princess appeared in purple mist in front of her "I have some good news… and some bad news."
Scootaloo looked at the lunar princess, “What is the good news Luna?”
"The good news is that which was done to you can be reversed. The bad news is, neither I nor anypony else in Equestria can get to your world, and even then only the pony who cast the spell can undo it. It seems that this… ‘Eris’… is blocking everypony from going to your world. I am truly sorry." Then Luna hugged Scootaloo. "Don’t be afraid, my little pony. We won’t give up on you and the others just yet, it will… just take time."
“Oh,” Scootaloo looked broken-hearted. “Will I be stuck like this forever?”
"Now, don't give up! I’ve brought somepony to see you!"
"Hey kid!" Rainbow Dash said, doing a double backflip in midair before landing on the cloud next to her. "I… I’m really sorry for what happened."
“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo looked up at her with sad eyes. Even though she wasn’t the actual Scootaloo, she felt horrible inside having to only see her life-long hero in her dreams every other night. “I-I don’t want to be trapped here, I want to be in Ponyville with you; I want to see you everyday.” She began to cry while saying that, she really wanted to watch her show off her awesomeness everyday.
Rainbow Dash looked around, then to Luna. The Princess looked away, then Rainbow Dash hugged the young filly. "Look, I know it sucks, and it may get worse before it gets better, but please remember, you are NOT alone. Also, don't…"
The dream started to collapse, while Luna yelled "ERIS, STOP THIS PLEASE!"
Scootaloo gripped onto Rainbow Dash tightly, “I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE!”
Rainbow Dash said something, but Scootaloo couldn’t heard it, then she woke up screaming.
“RAINBOW DASH!!!!”
The orange pegasus woke up with a jolt, tears staining the fur on her cheeks. She didn’t know exactly why she was crying, but she really did miss Rainbow Dash; all she could do was bury her head in her hooves. Now that she thought about it, she also wished she had asked for more information about this “Eris” character, could he or she be behind all this?
Her mother returned and saw the sadness in the little fillies’ eyes. Saying nothing, she sat by her. Chewy remembered she was going to meet another pony very soon, probably one of the CMC! She washed her face and laid in the couch lazily, the way pegasus are lazy sometimes, awaiting this “Alos” character. After half an hour of tense silence, there was a knocking at the door.