//------------------------------// // Tootsie Flute // Story: It All Happened One Morning... // by TiberiusPonificus //------------------------------// Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! Out of all the places I could try to hide from Mom, why is she here? I came here trying to look for a way to change myself back, and not only have I changed every foal in Ponyville, but now I'm stuck in the worst place with the one pony I'm trying to avoid! I had no choice but to get down the same way I came up. Climbing down the tree can't be nearly as hard as climbing up it, right? "Your daughter? Is whatever's wrong with the other foals of Ponyville the same as what's wrong with her?" I could hear Twilight down below talking to my Mom. She just might talk to her long enough to let me escape. The only other problem is that if Mom knows something about this change, and I know she does, how will I hear about it? Wait! The mirror! Maybe it shows more than just the front door! I quickly grabbed the mirror off Twilight's desk and tapped on it. The image of the front of the library showed up again just as Mom was being let in. Clock's ticking, Tootsie! Figure this thing out before she gets here! I tapped it again. The image reflected changed to the inside of the room I was in, and I could see myself holding the mirror. Weird, but I'm getting somewhere. I tapped it again and again, the image showing something different each time. Kitchen. Balcony. Bathroom? Finally, it came to the main room down below, where everypony was gathered. Perfect! "More than likely," Mom said, coming up to the girls and Spike. "Yes, it's definitely the same." "Same as what, Lyra?" Twilight asked. Good. They're talking. I can use this time to get out of here. Holding the mirror in my mouth, I ran over to the window and climbed out. It's just like getting down a ladder, I told myself. An uneven wooden ladder. I carefully placed my hind hooves down to the next little place I could put them down. The stubby little talons were just enough to grip on any piece of wood, and the longer talons where my front hooves were gripped much better. "This is definitely the work of the Song of Metamorphosis," I could hear Mom saying from the mirror. "Song of Meta-who-what-sis?" That was Rainbow Dash. At this point, I had climbed down completely from the tree. I had to find a new place to hide. Would probably be a good idea to just move from building to building until I can find someplace. I managed to get to a safe spot between two buildings. I sat down at the wall of one and kept watching the mirror. "Metamorphosis, Dash," Twilight corrected her. "It means change." She turned to face Mom. "Does this mean that this is your piece of Magimusic, Lyra?" "Well, yes. But I didn't compose it," Mom answered. "Then, who did?" "The piece was composed by Harpsichord, my ancestor." That was the name on the sheet music! I'm related to him? "Harpsichord? That sounds like a funny name," Pinkie Pie commented. "It sounds funny, but Harpsichord was one of the greatest composers of music about 150 years ago!" Twilight explained. "I had no idea his bloodline was still around!" "It's...not something we like to advertise..." Mom looked down. "Oh...right..." Twilight flattened her ears. "Why wouldn't you want other ponies to know you were related to a great composer?" Rarity asked. "That could open so many doors for you in Canterlot!" "It would if Harpsichord wasn't historically known...well..." Twilight had trouble saying something. What was wrong with him? "It's okay, Twilight," Mom spoke up. "My family and I can't deny that, for all of his genius, he was a little..." She made a circle with her hoof near her head and whistled. "Oh! So he was loco in the coco!" Pinkie exclaimed. He was crazy? "Not...the most flattering way of putting it," Mom replied, "but certainly not the worst. He was a very isolated stallion, paranoid and delusional. His notebooks were mostly scribbles about strange otherworldly creatures nopony had ever seen before." "Ah, genius and madness!" Discord said with joy in his voice. "How often do those two meet so beautifully? Not enough, I say!" "Who asked for your opinion?" Applejack shouted at him. "Hmph! Well, I know where I'm not wanted." With a snap of his claws, Discord vanished from the room. "Oh, dear," Fluttershy said. "I'd better go find him before he makes more trouble." She started towards the door. "Can we help, Fluttershy?" Applebloom piped up. "Yeah. Miss Cherrilee says we're just magnets for trouble, so who better to go look for him?" Scootaloo added. "We know now what made us change," Sweetie Belle said. "We don't have to stick around here, do we?" "I suppose you don't, but..." Twilight started, and was met with cheers from the girls as they pushed Fluttershy out the door. Twilight just sighed and shook her head. "I just hope they keep out of sight." "Ah'll make sure 'a that!" Applejack galloped after them. I'll have to be careful and keep out of sight. "So, Harpsichord also composed Magimusic pieces?" Twilight asked, getting back on topic. "But wasn't he...?" "An earth pony, yes." Mom answered. "But that didn't mean he couldn't compose music that would work as a spell if played by a unicorn. I found that out the hard way." What did she just say? "Lyra? Are you saying that this happened to you, too?" Twilight asked, shocked. "When I was just a filly," Mom started to explain, "I stumbled upon the sheet music in our family's attic. I wanted to find new music to play, and it looked easy enough, so I tried it. It sounded so beautiful, I could hardly believe I was playing it. I felt this rush, and I thought I was just being moved by the music." The way she talked about it, it was the exact same way I felt when I was playing it. So she played it when she was little, too. Wait. Doesn't that mean...? "But it was in fact the magic spell you were most likely feeling," Twilight said. "Yes. Before I knew it, I couldn't play anymore because I didn't have a horn," Mom continued. "Looking at myself, I wasn't a pony anymore either. I felt so scared. I thought I'd never be able to talk to anypony again..." "Wait a second!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "If you played this before, and you were changed by it, how did you manage to change back into a pony?" Hey, that's right! How did she do that? I leaned in close so I would hear her explain, but another voice came in that gave me such a scare, for more than one reason. "Busted, little lady!" A red eye took up the entire image on the mirror, causing me to scream and throw the mirror away from me. "AAAAHH!" "Now, now. You know better than to take things that don't belong to you." From out of the mirror slithered Discord, his arms reaching out and grabbing me. "Lemme go! I have to hear how Mom changed back!" I shouted at him, flailing my limbs as much as possible. "Oh, that's not so important, is it?" He swished his tail, and the mirror vanished. I stopped moving as I felt my heart sink. Now I had no choice but to come to her and face whatever grounding I got for messing with the stuff in the attic. "I just..." I said, sniffling, "I just wanted to impress my friends..." "And, what an impressive display you've made! Couldn't have done a better job, myself!" Discord raised me high. He was proud of me? "But now, I've made a mess of everything...and everypony in town's gonna be scared, and every kid's gonna hate me!" Tears were in my eyes now. "You really think so?" He asked. "Because I don't hear any sounds of panic or chaos. In fact, what I'm hearing sounds rather jovial!" "What do you mean?" "Well, why don't we find out?" He held me in one arm and snapped his claw. Before I knew it, we were in the center of town, at the fountain plaza. I was, at least. Discord disappeared the moment we got there, but I was more concerned with what was in front of me. There were a ton of foals in the plaza. They looked just like I did, standing on two legs and everything. None of them looked scared or panicked, though. They were all playing and talking with each other as if nothing was wrong at all. "Tootsie!" I heard a familiar voice call. I turned to find a girl with raspberry red hair coming toward me. "You finally made it!" "Ruby Pinch?" I recognized her voice and looks. "What's going on here?" "Isn't this great?" Ruby asked with a giggle. "I think every foal in Ponyville is here! Don't know why we all look like this, but it doesn't look like anypony really cares!" "Really?" "Yeah, really!" She answered just as her sister Berry Punch came up with a tray of glasses full of juice. Ruby grabbed one and handed it to me. "Once you get used to it, it's actually really helpful! I didn't even need magic!" "You're...okay like this?" I asked, holding the glass with both claws. "Sure, we are!" Ruby smiled. "I mean, yeah, we'll have to cover up when it starts getting colder, but right now, we're just having fun! Look!" All over the plaza, there were so many that looked like I did. I even recognized a few of them. Button Mash and Shady Daze were talking to each other. Rumble looked like he was searching somepony with Cloudchaser and Flitter right behind him. Featherweight from the school paper took pictures from the air with the help of his brother Bulk Biceps. Dinky Doo was helping her father Time Turner look over the kids with one of his devices. I even saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sitting at the fountain, pouting while still trying to look important. "Everypony really is...fine with this..." I found myself saying out loud. "Are you okay, Tootsie?" Ruby asked me. "It was probably really scary for you this morning, huh? I know I was." "Yeah, I was..." I answered, and was about to say more, when... "Woah...look at everypony here!" That was Scootaloo's voice. I quickly reminded myself that her and the other girls didn't know I was in the library before they left and did my best to calm down as they approached. "Oh, boy," Sweetie Belle said. "If Rarity saw this, she'd have a field day trying to come up with clothes for all of them..." "Like we need them. Ah can tell everypony apart," Applebloom pointed at each one she named. "Look, there's Truffle Shuffle and Twist and Zipporwhill and..." "BUTTON!" Sweetie Belle ran towards Button Mash as quickly as her legs could take her. He turned around at his name being called just in time to get hugged by Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle!" Button replied happily. He looked at the dress she was wearing. "Uh...nice dress..." "Like it? My sister made it for me!" Sweetie Belle twirled around, showing it off. "Wow...wish I had something nice to wear..." Button said before quickly adding, "Uh, for boys, of course!" "Oh, brother! Here!" Applebloom had taken off her shirt and overalls and handed them to Button Mash. "Ah don't want these, so you can have him." "You sure it's okay, Applebloom?" Button asked while taking her clothes. "Sure!" Applebloom answered. "Ah don't need no fancy-shmancy getup for any-Oof!" Somepony had bumped into her. Rumble had been walking backwards still looking for somepony and stopped the moment he walked into Applebloom. "Applebloom! Uh..." Rumble looked especially nervous. And red in the face. "Rumble...uh..." Applebloom looked just as nervous. Her face was turning as red as her hair, and she held herself with her forelegs. "I think we should leave them alone..." Scootaloo smiled and took Button and Sweetie Belle by the wrist and walked off to another part of the plaza. Even I giggled a bit at the situation. "Pretty neat, huh?" Ruby finally spoke up. At this point, I finished my juice and handed it back to Berry Punch. "I'm gonna go see who else wants some. I'll come back!" She walked off with her sister and waved as I waved back. It was so strange. Last night, I found myself looking like this after I played that song. I spent the whole time beating myself up over it until I convinced myself to sneak out in the morning and find a way to change back. If I had known that the spell had changed everypony in town, I could have...I don't know what I would have done. Maybe tell Mom and Mother about what happened. Maybe then, I wouldn't be so afraid of getting in trouble. What luck I'm in that nopony here is mad at me. I completely forgot! Mom did this too, but she's still a pony! I have to get back to the library and- "Tootsie!" That's Mom's voice! I turned around to find her running towards me. She didn't look mad at all. She looked so...worried. "Mom!" I ran towards her and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry!" "Sorry for what, Toots?" "I was just looking for music to play for my friends..." I started, the rears welling up in my eyes again. "So I went into the attic to look because I didn't want to play the beginner stuff, and..." "Oh, Toots..." Mom had tears in her eyes too. She was smiling, though. "If you felt you were ready for harder stuff, you should have told me..." "I wanted to be a big filly and do it myself. I didn't think this would happen. I'm so sorry..." "Hey, it's okay. I was just scared when I couldn't find you in bed this morning. Do you know how worried your mother and I were?" "I was scared, too," I sniffed. "That you wouldn't recognize me and think I was some sort of monster..." "Tootsie," Mom said as she rubbed my mane gently. "You think I wouldn't recognize my daughter at first sight? A little thing like you, a monster? Get out of here." "Thanks, Mom..." I smiled. "Um...do you know how to change us back?" I had to know. "Well, if this is anything like the time I played that song, it should be wearing off about..." She looked at the clock in the plaza. "...now." "Wear off?" I asked. "You mean..." I suddenly noticed my body start to glow. I looked around, and the other kids' bodies were glowing. A few of them looked panicked and confused. "Now what's happening?" "Who's casting this spell?" "I feel funny..." Before I could explain what was happening, a great explosion of light lit up the plaza. I shielded and closed my eyes, it was so bright. I felt my head swimming for just a second before it passed. When the light finally vanished, I opened my eyes, and found myself looking at my hooves. Hooves? I was a pony again! Looking at the others, everypony had changed back, too. Hooves, coats, tails and all! I saw Dinky and Pipsqueak wiggle out of the clothes they had, as well as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tangled in their now too-big dresses. A few of the pegasi did loops in the air, happy to be able to fly again, and Ruby lifted a glass with her horn just to make sure it worked. I still couldn't believe it. "The spell only changed you for a short time?" "Magimusic is a strange thing, and Harpsichord was a stranger pony," Mom said. "I wasn't like this for nearly this long, and I don't think I changed any other foals with it either. You must have a lot of magic in you, Tootsie." "You think so?" I asked. "Only an incredible amount of magic could have done something like this!" From behind Mom, Twilight and her friends walked up to us. "You've got some talent, Tootsie!" "Thank you," I said, blushing. "Aww...I didn't even get to say goodbye..." Spike felt the top of his head, looking quite sullen. "So many designs, gone to waste now..." Rarity sighed. "Easy come, easy go, I suppose. I should go find the girls and help them out of their outfits." "Hey, I still walk on two legs!" Spike said, walking after Rarity. "You can practice those designs on me!" "Well, that was an adventure. Wouldn't you say?" Ruby walked up to me giggling a bit. "I wanted to try more stuff while like that. Too bad we changed back, though." "Hey, I got plenty of pictures!" Featherweight flew over and said. "I'm totally putting these on the first edition of the Free Foal Press when school starts up again!" "Well, I would like to know who was responsible for such craziness!" Diamond Tiara came up, Silver Spoon in tow. "The culprit still hasn't answered for this!" "Hey, that's true. Are they around here somewhere? They had to be to change us back, right?" Everypony started talking among themselves about who did it, when that culprit was standing right in front of them. It was now or never to fess up. Maybe they won't be mad since they enjoyed it. I opened my mouth to speak, when... "It was me!" Suddenly, Discord was right above us, looking quite proud of himself. He was also drawing a crowd. "Discord?" I asked, but Mom put her hoof in front of me and gave me the sign to be quiet. "I thought I'd give all the fillies and colts a neat little gift to kick off the summer! Did you enjoy it, my littlest of ponies?" "Hey, how about a little warning before you do that next time?!" Rumble demanded. "I nearly wound up a pancake on the ground!" "I was too scared to go outthide!" Twist shouted. "You mean thith wath you the whole time?" "Come now, children," Discord pleaded. "No harm, no foul, right?" But he was met with boos before everypony started walking off in different directions. "Oh, what a ripoff!" Dinky said. "If that was a spell, I wanted to try it..." "Well, now the rest of the summer is gonna be disappointing compared to this..." Shady Daze told Featherweight as they walked off. "I can't sue a spirit of chaos!" Diamond Tiara stomped off. "He doesn't have a bit to his name!" Once everypony was gone from the plaza, I looked up at him. "I don't get it, Discord. Why'd you take the fall for me?" "Because it would be easier to believe I did something than one unicorn accidentally casting a spell, wouldn't you agree?" Discord asked. "A feat like this is something worth taking you under my wing for." "Don't even think about it!" Twilight shouted, but then calmed down. "But thanks..." "Well, don't go spreading it around," Discord scoffed. "I have a reputation to uphold. Now, if you'll excuse me, I owe Fluttershy an apology." He snapped his claw and vanished. "Well, that resolved itself nicely," Mom laughed. "Hopefully, an incident like this won't happen again, right?" "Don't worry. I've learned my lesson," I answered. "Can we go home? I want to practice more." "Sure thing, Toots," Mom answered and nuzzled me. "I've been meaning to ask, before you you go, Lyra," Twilight piped up, looking uneasy. "You think I can borrow that sheet music?"