//------------------------------// // Act II, Scene 6: Crowd Control // Story: Summer Sun, Dawning Chaos // by CTVulpin //------------------------------// The G&PT Traveling Thespians wagon had been parked on the lee side of the Quills and Sofas shop (the proprietor of which had been lucky enough to avoid the transformations) during the wind-storm, and that is where Gale, Zecora, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash found it after returning to town. The wagon was closed up tight, and Twilight’s initial knock on the door seemed to go unheeded amidst the muffled cacophony of distressed and argumentative sounds coming from within. Twilight pounded the door again and the voices within quieted for a few seconds. There was another brief discussion and then the door creaked open slightly, revealing only glimpse of a solid black oval of an eye framed in light gray. “Uh, hello,” Twilight said with an awkward smile, “Is… everypony ok in there?” The top half of the eye vanished and the owner let out an almost musical but grudging sigh before stepping back and opening the door fully. “Trixie?” Twilight asked in surprise, “is that you?” Trixie nodded, her expression changing from bemusement to pouting in a blink of the eye. She was entirely monochrome, with a coat of light grey, mane and tail almost pure white, eyes that were simply black ovals, and her cutie mark appeared to have changed into a simpler shape of a white-tipped black magician’s wand, sans star or wisp of pixie dust. Her eyes and cutie mark weren’t the only alterations though; her entire body was shaped like something out of a foal’s crayon drawing. Her legs were thin to the point of seeming incapable of supporting the weight of her cylindrical body, her neck wasn’t much thicker, and although her head looked mostly normal, her ears were pointy triangles and her mane and tail were stiff and immobile. Dear heavens, Gale thought as she stared at the mare, It’s like she’s straight out of a silent-movie era cartoon! “Hey, what’s the matter Trix?” Rainbow asked, “Where’s the usual grandiose greeting? Cat got your tongue?” Trixie fixed the cloud-pony with a glare and stuck her tongue out with sound like a party horn. Definitely an oldie cartoon, Gale thought, holding in a wry smirk. “She can’t talk,” Harlequin called from inside the wagon,” but she’s the only one of us in any shape to move about at the moment.” Trixie shot a quizzical look her over her shoulder, to which Harlequin responded, “Hey, we can’t exactly keep ourselves hidden if want to get back to our old selves. I say let ‘em see, provided they have an explanation.” “We do have an explanation,” Gale said, “just not a cure yet. Ashen Blaze is tracking down a clue to that at the moment though.” Trixie nodded and moved aside to let Gale enter, followed shortly by Twilight, Dash, and Applejack while Zecora opted to wait outside. Twilight caught the gray-toned showmare giving her tiny wings a look akin to envy as she entered and said, “They’re more trouble than they’re worth, trust me.” “At least yer legs are the right size,” AJ said as she hopped up the steps. “You should be thankful your legs even work,” Harlequin countered from the other end of the wagon. He was laying on his stomach on the floor with his legs splayed out around him bonelessly, each bent in an unnaturally rubbery way that left the girls dumbstruck in revulsion. Rarity nearly fell off her perch on Gale’s back in fright. “I’ve been complimented on my agility and flexibility by comparison to rubber,” he said sourly, “but this is ridiculous.” “And what of Barnacle Salt and Cabbage Patch?” Rarity asked, looking around the wagon as an excuse to not look at Harlequin anymore. A tapping sound drew her and the others’s attention to Cabbage’s sea-pony tank, which was currently occupied by a pony-sized mustard-yellow seahorse with a grizzled, kelp-green maned stallion’s head. “Oh my gosh,” Twilight said in equal parts surprise and excitement, “now that’s a fine example of the mythical hippocampus maria.” The transformed Barnacle raised an eyebrow and said something that was muffled by the water he was floating in. “Pardon?” Twilight asked. “He… he said ‘thanks fer the compliment marm.’ Or… something like that I’m sure,” a small voice said from within a nearby bundle of cloth and ribbon, briefly adopting a rough sailor accent. “Thanks Cabbage,” Twilight said sweetly, turning to the bundle, “and what happened to you?” “I don’t want to talk about it,” the hidden pony said quickly. “Hey, come on kid,” Rainbow said, floating over, “it can’t be that bad. I mean, I’m a cloud right now, and we’ve seen plenty of crazier things already.” “Just stay away please,” Cabbage said in a small whimper. “Come on,” Rainbow goaded, trying to poke the pile with a vaporous hoof, “You have to come out some time. At least tell us what it is. Are you attracting these rags? Oh, or maybe you turned into a living ragdoll or a freaky composite of cast-off clothing pieces!” Cabbage just whimpered in response. “Now Rainbow Dash, just leave the poor thing alone,” Rarity admonished, “you’re being a bully.” “A bully with a point though,” Applejack said, waddling over to the pile of cloth, “Ya can’t take yer medicine before the doc knows what’s ailin’ ya.” Before anypony could point out that they didn’t even have “the medicine” available yet, the short-limbed pony had gripped the largest bit of cloth in her mouth and yanked it away, taking most of the pile with it and revealing the pony underneath to her shocked audience. “Land sakes…” AJ gasped, backing away slowly, “Now I’ve seen everythin’.” The thing staring around with wide, fear-filled eyes as she curled herself into a tiny ball was obviously Cabbage Patch, but calling her a pony would only be partly correct. She was still a sea-green color with a blue mane, but from her back sprouted a pair of large dragonfly wings with some punctures in them near the ends, her lower legs were marked by deep pockmarks, her tail was a short, stiff, and wiry brush, and her eyes were a flat blue devoid of pupils. “Partly Changeling?” Gale mused, taking a step closer, “That is an interestin-” She cut off and pulled back slightly as PC started flashing warnings across the eye-piece. “PC, what are you doing?” she asked it sternly as she closed her uncovered eye and tried to keep up with the flow of text, “Changeling DNA? I can see that. It’s just an effect of the plant like with everyone else. … Don’t give me that; you told me most of the drastic changes have struck down to fundamental levels, so why should this be different?” The head-mounted computer calmed, and after a second of calculating presented Gale with a question. “Fine,” the earth pony said wearily, “Remind me later, and do not let Ash know about this until I’ve confirmed it, understood?” PC beeped once and the eye-piece cleared. Gale looked down at Cabbage, who was now quaking like a leaf, and knelt down to stroke her head comfortingly. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we’ll get you back to normal as soon as possible, and if you don’t want anyone else to know how you’ve been affected, I won’t tell.” Twilight and the others were quick to add their assurances as well, which brought a measure of surprise and relief to the little pony. “Mind telling us what that was all about?” Harlequin asked. “Maybe later,” Gale answered, “right now I need to go tell the entire town why everypony’s turning into random stuff. If you want to come along…” She paused and looked around the wagon again, at Harlequin with his rubbery limbs, Barnacle trapped in a water tank due to an aquatic body shape, Cabbage clearly terrified of being seen, and finally at the Monochromatic and Silent Trixie. “…I’m sure somepony here would be willing to haul your wagon to the town square,” she finished and then headed out the door. “Is it just me,” Soul Mage asked, looking around, “or does anyone else feel like we’re being watched?” “We’re in the middle of a wild, untamed forest,” Gold Heart said, “and well off any trails that see regular use by pony or zebra. I’d be more worried if we weren’t being watched by the wildlife.” Despite her casual tone, she moved closer to her brother and cast wary glances in all directions as the pair followed their ash-grey guide. “How much farther do you think Ash?” she asked him. “We should be getting close,” Ashen Blaze answered, narrowed eyes focused on the path in front of him, “Even as out of practice as I am with following my magic sense, the scent’s getting stronger.” “Have I mentioned how ironic it is that you only have that sixth sense now because you were underestimating your skill at cutting deals with a devil?” Soul asked, his tone light but not hiding the accusation in the words. “Discord gave me Mage Sight to mess with and manipulate me,” Ash retorted, fighting to keep his voice level, “The only ‘deal’ I ever cut with him was for the materials I needed to synthesize stinim bark, which is-” “A small luxury you’d do anything for,” Soul cut in. Ash cast a hard glance back at him and he added, “Ok, anything short of compromising your values or those you put under your protection. It was still a really bad idea not to let us know about it.” “Yes, thank you ever so much for that reminder of my error,” Ash grumbled. “You’re welcome,” Soul said. “Too far over the line brother,” Heart scolded, slapping Soul hard upside the head with a wing. She then trotted ahead and gave Ash a smack as well. “And you stop beating yourself up over this,” she said, “We are fixing this, so you don’t have to feel guilty.” “Truth… truth,” Ash said, shamefaced. The trio continued on in silence until they came upon a vast clearing, at the center of which stood a stone building of curious and seemingly haphazard architecture. A veritable carpet of knee-high yellow flowers stood between the three Order-naries and the building, and the twins didn’t need Ash’s help to sense the potential danger. “Ok,” Ash said, approaching the flowers cautiously, “Everything points to these. Heart, keep an eye out for surprises while Soul and I gather some of these flowers. Do not let them come into contact with you; we don’t know how long the effects take to manifest and I don’t want to add to their workload back in Ponyville.” “Agreed,” Soul said, following the other unicorn and stretching a tendril of spirit magic out toward the field. As they set to work, Heart spread her wings to take to the air and watch from above, only to freeze as she saw something dark begin to flow out of the doorway of the strange building and divide to form a ring around the clearing. “Guys,” she said, running toward Soul, “We’ve already got trouble.” The Traveling Thespian wagon and the impromptu sideshow menagerie – that is to say Twilight and company – arrived at the town hall to find a scene that proved that even in a crisis of confusion Ponyville’s leadership knew how to set up an orderly town meeting. The mayor stood beside a podium set up on the town hall steps, showing no signs of having been hit by the mysterious affliction. The crowd standing in front of the town hall was calm, orderly, and neatly divided with transformed and afflicted ponies on the left and those who had been spared on the right. While Twilight, who volunteered to pull the wagon, parked it with the door facing the stage, Gale put Rari-mouse in Trixie’s care and then cantered down the aisle between the groups and took her place behind the podium. She took a second to adjust PC to sit more comfortably on her head, and then prompted it to start displaying the relevant data, and finally cleared her throat and rapped a hoof on the podium for attention. “Citizens of Ponyville,” she said, “If you don’t recognize me, my name is Gale, and I’m going to cut to the chase. You want to know what has happened and why, and while I can’t answer that completely, I can give you a basic idea. This malady is a magical manipulation of your molecular make-up, resulting in randomized…” She trailed off as a look of mild annoyance crossed her face. She turned her head to the side and made a couple of forced-sounding coughs and then resumed speaking. “The effects appear to be related to those of the poison joak flower, which some of you are intimately familiar with, but whereas poison joak inflicts changes that are only mildly dangerous at worst and typically just rearrange or resize certain body parts, this plant - we’re pretty sure the culprit in this case is also a plant of some kind – is obviously a lot more… shall we say powerful. I’ve personally seen ponies who’ve been turned into animals, cloud-ponies, and even a tree.” “Rose is a topiary now,” Lily cried out from the unaffected side of the audience. “This bipedal stance is killing my back,” Lyra complained from the other side. “Muffin humming derp!” “Ok, thank you everypony,” Gale said as descriptions of the various changes and inconveniences started to roll through the crowd. When the chattering continued despite her subtle cue for attention, she slammed both fore-hooves on the podium and shouted, “If I could have your attention again please?” She got it, as silence fell like a cloudburst over the audience. “Thank you,” the earth pony said prissily, “Now, where was I? Ah yes, whatever the plant did to you, the effects are mostly likely drawn from some old fantasy or whimsy of yours, whether you ever told anypony about it or not.” “How did this plant get to them though?” Lily asked, pointing toward the afflicted group, “and why only them? I haven’t seen any strange new plants around town today.” “There was a strange, powerful windstorm sometime around dusk yesterday, correct?” Gale asked, getting a wave of nods in return, “As I understand it, that wind came with a lot of dust and originated from the Everfree Forest. The dust clouds likely contained a great deal of the plant’s pollen or other particles from it, so any and everypony who was outside during the storm and got hit by the dust is now… something else. Those of you who aren’t changed were indoors or otherwise sheltered from the wind, am I right?” The audience broke out into chattering as they took in the information and checked with each other about the previous evening. Gale let them talk, her gaze drifting toward the Everfree Forest with an inkling of worry, until Lily, who had apparently become the official spokesmare for the normal ponies, called her attention back to the meeting by saying, “You’re right; everypony on my side managed to get inside before the first wave of dust hit.” “And everypony over here was outside,” Rainbow Dash reported, “That includes almost all the pegasi on the weather patrol.” “So, what do we do?” another pony on the afflicted side asked, “Is there a cure?” “Not yet,” Gale admitted, and then held up a hoof for silence before anypony could express panic, adding, “but even now my friends, the other three Order-naries, are in the Everfree seeking out the plant that caused this. Once we have it we can study its attributes better and then Zecora can figure out how to brew an antidote. At least, I hope she can…” “This twisted cousin of poison joak may have stolen my stripes and rhymes,” Zecora said, walking to the front of the crowd, “but it has not taken my skills or knowledge. Give me the bloom, or whatever its form may be, and I will concoct a cure that can set us all… to rights.” The crowd cheered. “Yes,” Gale said, taking control back after a few moments, “In the meantime, we have work to do to help things go smoothly. First of all, I’m certain there are ponies who aren’t able to be here due to the nature of their transformations. Let’s make sure that every pony is accounted for, changed and unchanged alike. By the time Ash and the others get here, I’d like a list of names of every changed pony, the nature of their change, and location if they’re immobilized by something. If you know of a pony who has turned into a plant, get them into some damp soil if they aren’t already, just to be on the safe side. I’ll leave the details up to you Ms. Mayor.” “Thank you Gale,” the Mayor said as the brown earth pony retired from the stand, “Twilight Sparkle, I trust you can take charge of organizing the census?” “You can count on me,” Twilight responded proudly. The mayor nodded and the crowd started to disperse, only to pause when Applejack called out and waddled out of the crowd on her stubby legs and hopped up onto the steps. “I got a personal favor ta ask,” the farm pony said, “Sweet Apple Acres is a complete mess right now and mah family’s not exactly in the right shape ta clean it up by ourselves, so I’d appreciate it if any able-bodied pony with time on their hooves could lend those hooves on the farm. Thank you.” She hopped back down the ground and the meeting broke up. A few ponies followed in AJ’s wake as she trotted toward her home while the remainder went their separate ways. Gale went off with Zecora toward the Everfree forest to wait for Ash and the twins and Twilight headed to the library to gather her note-taking supplies and to check on Spike’s condition. She arrived to find a large purple dragon’s head with bright green eyes and a perfect green handlebar mustache blocking access to the front door of the hollowed tree. “I think I outgrew the library Twilight,” Spike said sullenly, “Sorry.”