//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: New World, New Looks // Story: Return to Gravity Falls: The Equestria Chronicles // by Arkansandragon //------------------------------// After about a minute or so of collective screaming, everyone stopped to catch their breath. Mabel pulled a glowstick out of her sleeve, lit it, and hung it on her arm, and everyone stared at each other for a few moments. “You’re SURE this is another Bottomless Pit?” asked Stan, crossing his arms and looking at Soos skeptically. “Pretty sure,” said Soos, looking thoughtful. “I threw a rock into it. Couldn’t see or hear it hit the bottom. Oh wait -- there it is.” He pointed to the good sized rock falling along with them. “Alright then,” said Stan. “Wake me up when it spits us back out. If we do fall to our deaths though, I’m going to be very unhappy with you, Soos.” With that, he shifted into a reclining pose and pulled his wool beanie over his eyes. He was snoring in moments. “How can he possibly sleep through this?” asked Mabel. Ford quickly changed the subject. “So how long would you say it took you to get out of the first Bottomless Pit?” “About twenty two minutes,” said Soos, “You dudes want to tell stories again like we did last time?” “I don't think we’ll have time for that,” said Wendy, pointing. “Is that the exit?” Coming towards them from below -- or above, they couldn't really tell which -- was a bright hole that was blinding after the dim light from the glowstick. “That was fast...” commented Dipper, grabbing Ford’s arm and squinting at his watch. “Must be a shorter wormhole than the other one.” As they headed towards the light, they noticed that something was different. It wasn’t simply the blinding white of sunshine pouring through a hole in the ground, but instead an entire rainbow of colors. Even more alarming was that the colors were spinning in a rapid whirlpool, and the travelers were being swiftly sucked into it! For several seconds, all they knew was spinning colors and the sounds of each other screaming, then suddenly they were out of the pit and launched through the air, landing on solid ground with jarring thuds. Dipper was the first to regain his senses. At first, it looked as if they had come out at the same clearing with the hole where they fell in, just like with the Shack’s bottomless pit, but as he continued to look, there was something off... Then he realized what it was. The forest they were in was different. He was no expert, but he could tell that much by looking at the trees. Aside from the distinct lack of redwoods here, the forest surrounding Gravity Falls was coniferous, whereas this one seemed deciduous. Storing that thought away for later, he reminded himself of the top priority: making sure the others were all right. Looking around for them, he spotted Wendy easily enough from her red hair. Soos was a bit harder to see, but Dipper soon found him as well. At least his sister and great uncles were the easiest to find. Thank goodness Mabel made such colorful sweaters! Wait a minute. Mabel’s sweater had been blue, not pink... And when had she put feathers on it? Dipper’s eyes bulged as his mind slowly caught up to what he was seeing. Where Mabel should have been was small, pink horse. With wings. The long mane and tail were brown, but the rest of it was undoubtedly pink. OK, so there was a pink pegasus foal where his sister should have been. No need to panic just yet, he told himself, even as his breathing quickened. Slowly, Dipper looked once again at the other heaps of color that should have been his family and friends. In Wendy’s place was a jade-green horse, bigger than the pink one, with a long copper-red mane and tail. The one in Soos’ place had been harder to spot at first, because it resembled a lichen covered boulder. This horse was huge, with a pinto coat in green-grey and dark green, along with a short brown mane and tail. Once was a fluke. Twice was a coincidence. But three times? Somewhere in the back of his mind he was piecing together the situation. But just to be sure, he looked over at the places his uncles should have landed. The two horses lying there were twins, and old, if their grey manes and tails were anything to go by. Their coats were red, with a golden blaze stripe down the nose, and golden stocking markings on their legs. The major difference between the two that he could see right away was that one was a pegasus, and the other a unicorn. On a hunch, he looked closer at their hooves. The unicorn’s forehooves were cloven. Looking back at their faces revealed that both were wearing glasses, and the pegasus had grey stubble all over his muzzle. How did that even work when he already had the red fur underneath...? Dipper quickly stopped that train of thought. This situation was weird enough already. Having basically confirmed his suspicions, that all of his family had somehow been turned into horses, he took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. Even knowing that he would see hooved legs instead of hands didn’t prepare him for the shock. That they were blue didn’t help things, and his following scream was loud enough to wake up everyone else. “Where’s the snooze button...” grumbled Wendy, reaching around with a hoof as she came to. Seeing the hoof jolted her wide awake. “What the heck happened to my hands -- and everything else?” Mabel was on her feet in an instant. She looked around at everybody with wide eyes, then sat down again. “Sweet Sally... Am I dreaming?” Then she noticed her wings. “Cool! If this is a dream, don’t wake me up yet!” Soos took everything in stride as he sat up and looked around. “OK.... This is new. Kinda weird, but mostly cool. Oh! Did I get a horn or wings too?” He spend the next few moments patting his forehead and looking over his shoulders, only to be disappointed. “Aww, guess not.” “Why is Dipper screaming?” grumbled Stan as he woke up, rubbing at one ear. Then he realized he couldn’t remove his hearing aid and looked at his new hoof. He yelled in surprise, then looked at the rest of himself and everyone else. “Well, this is a whole new level of weird,” he said in a deadpan voice. Ford, meanwhile, was quietly studying his new form, and everything else. “Fascinating... Inter-dimensional travel usually doesn’t involve physical transformations.” He was surprised that, although their clothes were gone, he and Stan hadn’t lost their glasses, or his watch and Stan’s hearing aid and false teeth. He tapped the side of his head with a hoof, reassured by the metallic clanging that his metal plate was still intact, since it wasn’t visible from the outside. All this made him curious about what else this world’s magic could do. Throughout all of this, Dipper was still screaming. Mabel finally went over and stuffed a forehoof into his mouth. “Are you done yet?” she asked. He shook his head, and she removed the hoof, covering her ears. He instantly started screaming again, but soon ran out of breath. “How about now?” she asked. He nodded, gasping. “Yeah... I think... I think I’m good now...” Seeing all of them awake and, it seemed, none the worse for their strange transformation, he asked, “So... Now what do we do? Any idea where we are?” Everyone turned to look at Ford. “You’re the one who knows dimension travel best,” said Stan.“Recognize this place at all?” Ford shook his head. “No. I’ve never been to this world. This is also the first time I’ve ever been shapeshifted upon entering one.” “You look like one of your journals threw up on you,” smirked Stan.“Plus, you’re a unicorn.” “Oh, yeah?” Ford returned the smirk. “So do you. Wait, I’m a what?” He turned his gaze upward, noticing his horn for the first time. “Strange... Dipper turned into a unicorn as well.” “And Grunkle Stan and I are pegasus! Or is that pegasi? Pegasuses?” wondered Mabel. Then she shrugged, “We both have wings!” “I wonder why Soos and I turned out as normal horses.” Wendy commented thoughtfully. “Ponies,” corrected Mabel. “Huh?” “I may not be as book smart as bro-bro over here,” said Mabel, pointing at Dipper, “but I know my horses! And horses, we aren’t.” “That’s true, dawgs,’ cut in Soos. “I once asked her the difference between a pony and a horse and she gave me a full lecture on it. Complete with slide show!” “I’ll give you guys the short version,” continued Mabel. “Horses are tall and fall into two main groups. Slender, like a racehorse, and bodybuilder, like the ones that pull wagons on farms. Ponies are smaller, cuter, and more compact. We are smaller than horses, cute, and compact. Therefore, ponies.” “I’m pretty sure it’s more complicated than--“ began Dipper. Mabel shushed him with a hoof against his muzzle. He rolled his eyes, but let her have her moment, offering a playful smile. “In any case,” said Ford, looking at the sky through a gap in the canopy overhead, “it’s going to be dark soon. We’ll need shelter for the night.” “Or we could just jump back through the wormhole,” suggested Dipper. Ford and Wendy both firmly shook their heads. “We are not trying to find that RV in the dark,” said Ford. “Ford’s right,” said Wendy, “We’re better off waiting until morning.” “I’m still wondering how we’re supposed to move on four legs,” added Stan. “That’s easy, Mr. Pines,” said Soos, getting up and walking in a circle to demonstrate. “I once got trapped in Waddle’s body for a day. This is just like that. You just put one hoof in front of the other. The trick is not to think about it.” “Quick question,” said Dipper, raising a hoof. “Am I the only one concerned by the glaring fact that none of us are wearing pants?!” “Dude! Not cool,” said Wendy, shutting her eyes. “I didn’t even notice until you mentioned it!” “Me neither!” Mabel whined, copying Wendy’s example and burying her face under her forehooves. Soos and Stan both slapped a hoof to their faces at Dipper’s tactlessness. Ford, however, patiently explained the situation. “There’s nothing to worry about seeing, Dipper. Wendy and Mabel have long tails to cover themselves with. As for us, we have pouches.” Dipper checked, and sure enough, everything was neatly hidden inside a pouch, right where it was supposed to be. He blushed at having missed that, ears folding back and tail curling between his legs. Wendy and Mabel both opened their eyes again with sighs of relief at this news. Then Wendy got down to business. “A lean-to is the easiest thing to make on short notice. We won’t be able to tie anything together, but we’ll figure something out.” She moved over to a nearby tree and snapped off the lowest branch she could reach. The others moved about to gather more branches, and get used to this new way of walking. Stan had the greatest trouble, since his wings were long enough to trip over the feathers. Up until now, he had been mostly blocking everyone’s view of Ford, but when he moved aside, there was a collective gasp as Ford’s body was revealed. “Whoa!” yelled Dipper. “Oh my gosh...” gasped Mabel. “Hushed exclamation of dismay...” whispered Soos, too stunned to think of anything better. It was Wendy who voiced what they were all thinking though. “Mr Pines... Dude, those are some seriously epic battle scars!” What would have been his torso, had he been human, was crisscrossed by all manner of scar tissue. Some looked to be claw marks and/or blade wounds, while others were burn scars. Some wrapped around his chest and back, and there were even a few on shoulder and upper arm. Ford looked uncomfortable as the others tried and failed to keep from staring. Finally he sighed and said, “A lot can happen in 30 years lost between worlds... And, now you know why I always wore a sweater.” He tried to move behind Stan again. “They would have found out eventually,” said Stan, his voice softened in understanding and reassurance, although he shifted so Ford couldn’t hide behind him. “You just have to let them get used to it.” As if to prove his point, he sat down with his back to the others, so they could see in full view the alchemical sigil that was branded down his right shoulder blade. “And... We’re used to it,” said Dipper after a pause, trying to lessen the awkwardness of the situation. He walked over to Ford and said, “Look, we’ve all got something we feel embarrassed about. See?” He pushed back his bangs to reveal a birthmark shaped like the constellation of the Big Dipper across his forehead, just below his horn. Ford raised an eyebrow in surprise. “So that's how you got your nickname! I always thought it was from some weird childhood incident.” Dipper laughed. “Nope! Just a weird birthmark.” “Yeah!” added Mabel, smiling as she realized what her brother was up to. “And those scars are nowhere near as weird as Dipper’s birthmark. Or even your cool six fingers, Grunkle Ford. They’re just nature’s bandaids.” Soos and Wendy nodded in agreement, while Stan put a wing around Ford’s shoulders. “Exactly,” said Stan, “listen to the kids. All those scars say about you is that you took what life threw at you, and told life to go suck a lemon!” Ford smiled a little in appreciation at their efforts, though he knew this would still take time to get used to. Then he noticed how naturally Stan had used his wing and stared at the limb in puzzlement. “I have no idea how I did that either,” said Stan, noticing his brother’s look. “Seriously! How do you coordinate six limbs?” “We can figure it out later,” said Wendy, taking charge again. “First, let’s get that shelter taken care of.” She directed Dipper and Mabel to gather ferns and grass for bedding, while she and the adults continued to gather leafy branches, saplings, and logs. She and Ford warned all of them to stay within sight of the clearing, but luckily the area just around the clearing was thick with trees and shrubs, so they soon had all the material needed. Mabel and Dipper even found that their hats, rope, and grappling hook had come with them, landing out of a view in a nearby bush. It took them over an hour and much trial and error, but as the moon rose they had a crude shelter with a floor, roof, and three walls. They’d had to make due without the rope, however, as none of them had yet figured out how to tie knots using their mouths, although Soos had somehow managed to hogtie himself. After helping him out of that mess, they huddled into the lean-to. “I’ll take first watch,” said Ford, as they settled in. Dipper and Mabel nestled under Stan’s wings while Wendy and Soos lay to one side of him and Ford lay to the other. They nodded in understanding, then each drifted off to sleep. And so ended their first day in Equestria...