"AAAAAHHH!!"
"AAAAHHH!! What?! What is it?! Are we under attack?"
It's not everyday that I wake up to the sound of Twilight screaming. Not to say it happens all that often, but probably more than others we know. I've gotten used to getting my blanket ripped off me to get woken up; I am a pretty heavy sleeper. But when Twilight screaming is the first thing I hear in the morning, I usually take it very seriously. I rubbed the gunk from my eyes and saw her just staring at me like she'd never seen a dragon before.
"Twilight? What's the matter?" I asked her.
"Spike..." she started. "I don't know how to tell you this, but..."
"But what?" I tried getting out of bed, but something was off, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Ow! What the heck? Did this bed shrink overnight or something?"
I looked down and didn't see my usual purple and green scales. Instead, there was this smooth covering, in a color that reminded me of old pages in the library. My whole body was in this color, which was also bigger than the bed I was in. The bed didn't shrink. I grew!
"Woah! What happened?"
"I...I don't know, Spike," Twilight answered. "I've never seen anything close to what you are."
"What are you talking about?" I said, trying to push myself out of bed. With a little more force, I managed to get my butt out of the bed and got to standing. I immediately started running towards the bathroom downstairs. "What do I look like?"
"Spike, wait!" Twilight cried after me. "You might not be ready for the shock!"
I didn't listen, and ran down the stairs. I wasn't that much taller, but it still made a difference in how I saw things, almost making me lose my balance. My legs weren't so short and stubby anymore, so I could take longer steps and cover more ground. Before I knew it, I made it to the bathroom.
"It doesn't look that bad, does it?" I asked, opening the door and turning on the light. I turned to the mirror and finally got to see what she was freaking out about. "Woah..."
In front of me was something different, all right. Definitely not a pony, but not a dragon, either. I was still on two legs, but each of my limbs were a little longer. My stomach didn't pudge out so much, giving me a more slender figure. I noticed my claws were flat and dull now, with each little talon being a little longer on my upper claws. They still moved the same, even though there were five of them now.
"Spike!" Twilight caught up and found me looking in the mirror. Her ears flattened and she looked like she was prepared for the worst. Typical Twilight. "Spike..."
"Hello, handsome!"
"...Huh?"
Weird, I know, but those were the only words that came to mind seeing this new body. I don't know what Twilight was worried about. I look amazing! But then again, what doesn't Twilight worry about?
"Look at me, Twilight! I look so cool! Weird, but cool!" I stretched my limbs out, taking in every inch of my new body.
"I don't know if 'cool' is how I would describe this, Spike," Twilight said, her head tilted, still trying to figure out what happened. "Are you sure you're okay? You're not in any pain?"
"Not at all!" I answered, still paying more attention to my reflection in the mirror. Looking at my face, I saw that it was also colored the same as my body, and my nose wasn't as upturned. Looking at the side of my head, I noticed this little flap with a hole that lead into my head. I pinched it and realized something.
"Hey, I think these are my ears!"
"That's nice, Spike, but we should..."
"Hold on." I noticed something else when I touched my ear. Something soft. I thought my spines were the only thing that hadn't changed, but these weren't my spines, even though they were the same color. They felt soft and changed shape when I ran my talons through them. I know this feeling.
"This is hair. I have hair! I HAVE HAIR!!" I was so happy, I just started shouting.
"Spike!" Twilight finally shouted back. I turned to her and she definitely looked angry. "Could we please act a little more concerned about this?"
"What do we have to be worried about?" I asked and looked back at the mirror. "I look good!" A thought came to mind. "Hey, can I borrow your brush?"
"It's good to see you being so calm about this," she said, "but we don't even know what you've turned into. Much less how you changed or if we can change you back."
"Well, it's not that bad, is it?" I kept feeling my hair. "In fact, I'd call this an improvement! I have a mane now! I'm practically half pony!"
"Except you don't have hooves or a coat." Twilight looked to the back of me. "You don't even have a tail or a cutie mark!"
"Really?" I turned around and tried to look at my back as best I could. Sure enough, there was no tail at the bottom of my back. I guess I should've noticed that sooner, but I was so taken with everything else, I didn't.
"Eh," I shrugged. "Didn't really use it anyway."
"Spike, this is serious!" Twilight pointed her hoof at me. "If this is a complete transformation, that means you can't use your fire to send messages to Canterlot. You can't eat gems anymore, either!"
"I can live with that!" I stated. "Gems aren't the only thing I can eat, you know!"
"What about your dragon breath?" Twilight asked. "Try to use it right now!"
"Fine, but you're making a big deal out of this, as usual." I took a deep breath and tried to blow fire out, but all that came out was air. I tried again, and then a third time. Nothing.
"See? This is a problem! I'll have to find some way to inform Princess Celestia to hold any messages until I can resolve this." She sighed and walked out of the bathroom.
"Could you quit being such a worrywart already?" I asked, even though I knew that was impossible for her. "It's just a couple little changes. This is hardly even the worst thing that's happened to us!"
"Maybe right now it's fine," she started, "but this could easily blow up into something major! We don't know if this is how far the transformation will go, or if this is contagious, or if this is the first stage of some newly discovered disease! We...don't know anything! And you know how much I hate that!"
"Everypony knows how much you hate that," I told her, coming out of the bathroom. "Why don't we just slow down and try to solve this one piece at a time?"
"Right. You're absolutely right," she said, taking in deep breaths. "If you're not panicking, then neither should I. We'll run a few tests and see what kind of magic did this. I know this has to be magi-"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Ahh!" Twilight and I jumped at the sudden sound of knocking at the door. She pointed her glowing horn at me and in a flash, we were back in our room.
"Stay here. Stay hidden. We don't know what kind of reaction your appearance will have, so we need to be careful," she told me very clearly.
"Got it," I complied. "I'll keep quiet as a mouse."
"Excellent." With another flash, she disappeared back into the main room. Not one to like being kept out of the loop, though, I walked over to where the stairs started and listened carefully for Twilight and whoever was at the door. After the door opened, a familiar voice came through.
"Hi, Twilight!"
Pinkie Pie? What's she doing here this early?
"Pinkie!...Good morning..." Twilight was doing her best not to sound suspicious. Not doing good so far, Twilight, but you're lucky this is Pinkie you're talking to. "Is this important? Because if this is an invitation..."
"It's super important, Twilight!" Pinkie spoke up. "I needed to ask you something, and I know nopony smarter than you!"
"Okay," Twilight laughed, still sounding slightly awkward. "What did you need to ask?"
"Do baby foals just randomly lose their coats?"
A few seconds of silence. It's not even ten, and the craziness is already starting. Leave it to Pinkie, but what kind of question was that?
"Uhh...do you mean in little patches, or...?" Twilight was looking for a little more detail. So was I.
"No, I mean, like, completely. Like, as if they didn't have one to start with. Like, totally smooth." She was talking nonsense. Okay, more nonsense than usual. "Oh, also, do they grow little claws at some point? Or lose their tails? Those grow back, right?"
"Pinkie, what in Equestria are you talking about?" Twilight finally spoke up.
"Well, Mrs. Cake went to go wake up the twins this morning while I was brushing my teeth," Pinkie started explaining. "I suddenly heard this scream coming from the twins' room. I hurried over and saw that Pumpkin and Pound looked...different."
"Different?" Twilight asked. "Different, like you said? No coat, no tail, and with little claws?" Wait. This was sounding familiar.
"Right where their hooves used to be," Pinkie replied. "Pound didn't have his wings and Pumpkin didn't have her horn, either. Ooh! They still had their manes, though! That's how I could tell it was them!"
"Uh-huh..." That was usually the sound Twilight made when the gears in her head were turning.
"So that's totally weird, right?" Pinkie asked. "You'd think our own parents would have told us about a phase like this! I know Papa Pie would have been all over that! He loved to tell embarrassing stories! Like about the time I-"
"Pinkie!" Twilight stopped her. "I don't think this is normal. Especially if their mother reacted that way."
"You think?" This is usually something asked sarcastically. Sarcasm's a foreign language to Pinkie, though. "Then what is it?"
"I'm not entirely sure..." Twilight said solemnly.
"Aww, but you're supposed to know everything!"
"I am very knowledgeable, but that doesn't mean..."
They kept talking while I was trying to figure out just what was wrong myself. The twins changed, almost in the same way. Just as I was trying to put everything together, Owilicious started going nuts near the window.
HOOT-HOOT! HOOT-HOOT!
That stupid bird's gonna attract Pinkie's attention! I ran over to the window to calm him down. He seemed to be hovering above the open window, continuously hooting. What the heck was he doing?
"Shoo! Go away! Stupid bird!"
I heard a voice coming from the window. Sounded pretty young, but it wasn't the voice of anypony I knew. Was some little pegasus trying to get in? Why through the window? I shook the questions from my mind and reached out to grab Owlicious so he'd pestering the poor thing. He flapped a few times in my face before I let him go, allowing him to get back on his perch. I looked back to the window to find a peach-colored claw much like the one I had climbing up to the window.
"What the...?"
After the claw came the head and body of a creature like me, only this one had purple hair. They toppled over the windowsill and rolled onto the floor before I had a chance to help them. I walked over to them to make sure they weren't hurt too bad. They looked up at me with their light purple eyes and recoiled.
"Oh no! You were changed too?" From the voice, I figured she was a girl. She slowly stood up with a little difficulty, since she's not used to being on two legs, I guess. "This is worse than I thought!"
"What's worse? Do you know something about this?" I asked, claws on her shoulders. She looked especially scared after that, so I let go. "Sorry. Let me start over. I'm Spike, the dragon that helps Twilight. Or, at least, I was a dragon..."
"I'm...Tootsie Flute," she introduced herself. "I'm supposed to be a unicorn, but this morning, I woke up and..."
"You weren't one anymore," I finished her sentence, to which she nodded. "So it's not just dragons that have changed. Any idea how this happened?"
She fidgeted nervously before she answered. "I think I..."
"Maybe the answer's in one of your books up here! This place is pretty old!" Pinkie Pie came bouncing into Twilight's study where Tootsie and I were.
"Pinkie, wait! Stop!" Twilight ran up the stairs after her, trying to keep her from seeing us. But it was too late. When I turned around, Pinkie was already standing there, her mouth hanging open.
"Uh...hey, Pinkie," I said, better words failing me.
"Spike?" Pinkie gasped. "I don't believe this! You've got hair now!" She ruffled my hair with her hoof.
"I guess I should've seen this coming," Twilight sighed, "but you're not scared, Pinkie?"
"Of course not, silly!" Pinkie giggled. "In fact, this is what the twins looked like! Y'know, except they were smaller. And wearing diapers."
"Spike, who is this?" Twilight asked, approaching Tootsie and me.
"Uh, this is Tootsie Flute," I answered, motioning towards Tootsie. "She was a unicorn before today, and..."
"Ooh! I thought you looked familiar!" Pinkie interjected. "You come by Sugar Cube Corner all the time! Your favorite's the pineapple cream cupcake!"
"That's nice, but what's she doing here?" Twilight brought the topic back up.
"I came in through the window," Tootsie started speaking for herself. "I was hoping to find a way to change back before I got found out. But it looks like I won't be able to keep it a secret if it's this bad..."
"Keep what a secret?" I asked.
She took a deep breath, and said, "I think this is my fault..."
Twilight looked very confused. "What do you mean by-"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"I'll get it!" Pinkie started bouncing down the stairs.
"I'll see who that is," Twilight told the both of us. "You stay here and stay quiet."
"Got it. Same procedure as before," I reaffirmed with her. She nodded and galloped after Pinkie as fast as possible. Once she was out of the room, I turned to Tootsie. "We can see who that is through here. Come on."
I led her to Twilight's desk, where a small mirror rested on the edge. This was a mirror that was connected to another one hidden in the front door of the library. It allowed to see who was at the door whenever she was nose-deep in a book. I tapped the surface twice to activate it. A few seconds passed, and an image came up of the front of the library.
It was Rarity, looking gorgeous as ever, but she wasn't by herself. Rainbow Dash was right next to her, and behind them both was Applejack and Big Macintosh. Big Mac was carrying a wagon full of hay, which was probably the weirdest part of this little gathering. I listened for what they were here for.
"Hey, girls! Hey, Big Mac!" Pinkie greeted them.
"Pinkie! A surprise to see you here," Rarity replied. "Is Twilight here?"
"I am," Twilight came up from behind Pinkie. "Was there a problem, because we can try and take care of it as quickly as we can."
"I don't know if this is something that can be solved quickly," Rainbow Dash said.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. I'm getting a bad feeling...
"Well, we could tell you," Applejack answered, "but it might just be better to show you. Are we good, Dash?"
"Coast is clear!" Rainbow Dash gave a signal and flew over to the hay in the wagon. "You can come out now, girls."
"Finally!" That was Applebloom's voice. "It's bad enough you're making us wear these things when it's this hot, but stuffing us in a wagon full of hay?" She came out of the wagon, same kind of body as me and Tootsie. Difference was, she was wearing blue jean overalls with an undershirt the same color her coat was.
"Just be happy Rarity made something simple. You wouldn't believe the things she wanted to make me." Next was Sweetie Belle. She had a simple white summer dress with lavender lining that reached past her knees.
"Well, this is only until we can change back. Might as well put up with it until then." Last was Scootaloo. She had an orange top with a pair of black shorts that didn't even reach her knees. And before you ask, yes, I studied different kinds of clothes for Rarity's sake. Get off my tail!
"I worked hard to make clothes for such unfamiliar bodies," Rarity said. "The least you could do is appreciate the effort!"
"These are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, right?" Twilight asked, to which everyone gave confirmation. "Come on in." Big Mac went home with the wagon while everypony else came inside. At this point, Tootsie and I went over to the stairs to listen in.
"I have to say, Twilight," Rarity commented, "you're acting quite calm about this discovery. Normally, you'd start panicking about this being 'physically impossible' and such."
"Oh! Did we forget to act surprised? Or...should we tell them?" Pinkie asked Twilight.
"Well, now we have to tell them!" Twilight replied, scowling.
"Tell us what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"This morning, I found the twins with bodies like this!"
"Oh, dear!" Sweetie Belle gasped. "Is everything all right?"
"The Cakes are fine," Pinkie assured them. "Mr. Cake only fainted three times!"
"Wow, three times? He's getting better," Twilight said then shook it off. "Never mind that. But yes, we already know about this. What's more..."
Before anything else was said, I felt myself floating in the air. Next thing I knew, there was a flash and I was back in the main room, landing on my butt.
"Ow! A little warning would be nice!" I stood back up to the sight of everypony staring in shock.
"Spike? Is that you?" Rarity approached me. She's concerned about me! Better play it cool.
"Yeah," I quickly straightened myself up and tried to smooth my hair back. "What do you think?"
"Hmm..." Rarity put her hoof to her chin and looked me over a couple times. "I think I can make a nice little short hoodie set that'll just make you look so cute! Oh, why did I leave my sketchbook at the boutique?"
"Cute...right..." Dangit.
"Okay, now this is getting weird," Dash commented. "We thought it was only foals that were getting changed into...whatever these are."
"Yes, but with Spike also transformed, my theories have just fizzled out," Twilight sighed and started pacing. "If it was some sort of cosmic event affecting foals, there'd be records. There aren't any spells I know that can make something like this, but I don't know if I can make the trip to Canterlot to access the archives with things as they are here. I have no idea what to do, and it's driving me crazy!"
"Would you relax, sugarcube?" Applejack put a hoof to Twilight's head. "The girls have already been getting used to these new bodies and I'm sure if there's a way they changed, there's a way to change back!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! Wow, we're getting a lot of visitors today. Hope it's not more bad news.
"I'll get it!" Pinkie started bouncing towards the door again.
"Pinkie, you can't just answer the door in somepony else's house!" Rarity chided her. It was too late for that, as Pinkie had already opened the door.
"Oh, hi, Fluttershy!" Pinkie greeted our shiest friend and let her in. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw Big Mac leaving from here, and wondered what the commotion was abou-" Fluttershy came across me and the fillies and jumped up in shock. "Oh...my...what happened here? Is that you, Spike?"
"Yup, and here are the Cutie Mark Crusaders," I pointed to the others. "We're sure that every foal in Ponyville has been changed like this!"
"Oh, dear! But how...?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out!" Rainbow Dash replied, then looked like she had an idea. "Hey, maybe it was Discord who did this!"
"But Discord's reformed now!" Fluttershy answered quick as a flash. "He wouldn't do something like this!"
"Hmm...there's that," Twilight pondered, "and this doesn't feel like his style. Normally, when he used his power to change things, he'd be going around reveling in his 'art'. He loves the attention."
"That's true, ain't it?" Applejack chimed in. "It's almost noon, and Ah haven't seen his snaggletoothed mug anywhere!"
"SNAGGLETOOTHED?! The nerve...!"
That was Discord's voice! Everypony looked in the direction the voice came from, which seemed to be...Fluttershy?
"That wasn't me..."
"We know that, Shy," Rainbow Dash said. "Although...what's with your tail?"
"What?" Fluttershy turned around and we all saw that it wasn't the usual pink-colored pony tail. It was red and scaly, with a little tuft of fur at the end of it. Wait a second...
"Oh, shoot! I gave myself away, it seems," the tail spoke. In the blink of an eye, the tail turned back into Fluttershy's, and Discored was floating above everypony. He still gives me the creeps.
"Discord!" Applejack shouted and approached Discord. "Ah knew it was you, you yellow-bellied, lily-livered sack a'-"
"Woah, woah. Easy on the language there, Pony Oakley. There are children present." Discord took a second look at me and the girls. "At least, I think they're children..."
"You know dang well what they're supposed to be! Change them back!" Applejack stomped her hoof.
"What? You think I did this?" Discord laughed. "Why, Applejack, I'm flattered!"
"That ain't flattery..."
"Hold up," Dash flew up to him. "Are you trying to tell us you didn't do this? Because I find that hard to believe..."
"Well, believe it or don't, I speak the truth," Discord assured us. "Personally, I'd be proud of something like this! I really have to tip my hat to whoever came up with a way to change a pony's shape like this! It's so imaginative! I'm absolutely jealous!"
"Well, if you didn't do this," Fluttershy said, "can you help us find out who did? Please?"
Discord floating silently for a second, then crossed his arms. "...Well, alright. But only because I'm curious myself. Now, if you'll pardon the intrusion..."
He flew around the girls and I and started inhaling through his nose, rather loudly. Was he...smelling us? Talk about uncomfortable. I'll never understand this guy.
"Hmm...interesting," he said in between sniffs. "A rather complex magic. Very precise. Very intricate. And quite powerful. It's been quite some time, but I swear this is familiar."
"Just get to the point already!" Applejack shouted. "You're disturbing the young'ins!"
"Patience, please! It's rude to rush art!" Discord retorted. He then sniffed again. "Hold on! I'm getting something! The distinct aroma...of quite an infectious rhythm."
"Rhythm? Like...music?" Rainbow Dash asked. How the heck do you smell music, anyway?
"Correctamundo!" Discord answered. "Whatever spell was used here involved quite a nice piece of music."
"Music...of course!" Twilight stomped her hoof. "That's gotta be it! Magimusic!"
"Just what the heck is Magimusic?" Dash tilted her head.
"It's an esoteric form of magic that unicorns are able to perform," Twilight explained. "It uses music notes in the spell rather than a spoken incantation. It used to be used for much more advanced spells back in the classical period before it fell out of fashion."
"Advanced spells...like changing a pony's shape to something completely unfamiliar?" Rarity asked.
"Exactly!" Twilight pointed. "A normal spell of this caliber would take a ton of work to put together. Magimusic required knowledge of the notes involved and sufficient magical power, of course."
"So if it's so easy to use," Scootaloo chimed in, "why isn't it used anymore?"
"For fear of abuse, if I remember correctly," Twilight answered. "You can tell when a spell's being cast on you, but you wouldn't be able to tell a spell from a song until it was too late. Many feared that it'd be used to brainwash ponies. Or worse."
"Oh! Like the Pied Piper, who took naughty foals away into the night!" Pinkie mentioned, bouncing excitedly.
"The Pied Piper's a fairy tale, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash chided her.
"Nightmare Moon was supposed to be a fairy tale too, remember?" Twilight brought up. "But both the Piper and the magic he used were quite real. Now, the only question that remains is who would have a piece of magimusic in Ponyville?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Again?
"I'll get it!" Pinkie volunteered again, bouncing towards the door.
"Pinkie, wait!" Twilight shouted. "Discord and the others still have to hide!"
We should know by now you can't stop Pinkie. She opened the door, and standing there was a unicorn. She had a mint green coat with matching hair, yellow eyes and a harp for a cutie mark. I've seen this mare around town.
"Hi, Lyra!" Pinkie greeted the mare. Lyra Heartstrings! That was her name! "What brings you here?"
"Well, I know that whenever there's a problem in Ponyville, the princess' top pupil is usually there to help," Lyra replied. "And I do have a problem."
"What's wrong, Lyra?"
Lyra took in a deep breath. "It's my daughter..."