The Game Has Changed
There she was, Princess Twilight Sparkle, in a strange, alien world of bipedal creatures with a multitude of hooves at the end of each limb, completely struck dumb by something alien, yet familiar. She was seeing it but she didn’t believe it. The little pumpkin colored filly known as Scootaloo alighted on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders, and perched there lightly on Rainbow Dash’s head, as if she hadn’t been actually, literally flying just now, while the human Rainbow Dash used her picture taker in Twilight’s direction.
Three pictures in, Twilight just blurted, “...huh?!”
That was too much for Rainbow, and Scootaloo had to launch airborne again, hovering over Rainbow Dash as the girl started laughing so hard she fell over on her back, kicking her legs in the air.
“What?” Twilight continued to inquire numbly, looking from Scootaloo to Rainbow Dash, back to Scootaloo, “What?”
“Why are you laughing, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo whined in a very loud and dramatic tone, while giving Twilight a sidelong, meaningful glance. “I was just practicing my flying!” said the little orange puffball, circling around above the fallen girl.
Twilight’s brain might have been quicker to the draw, but the relief was so palpable that she just collapsed onto her knees. “You...” she ventured, her mind stubbornly refusing to comprehend what just happened. “You...?” she repeated.
“Oh my god, she’s speechless!” Scootaloo said in surprise, holding her hooves before her earsplitting grin, looking at Twilight with a terribly amused expression. Scootaloo touched down on the ground, landing as if she meant to do that all along, taking a few hoofsteps in Twilight’s direction, before collapsing in a fit of the giggles herself.
“You... meant to do this?” Twilight finally managed to tell them. “You planned this? You set me up! This was all a prank?!” she shouted furiously.
“And you fell for it, hook line and sinker!” Dash crowed, sitting up and crossing her legs. “Still think Scootaloo can’t fly?” she said raising her eyebrows smugly at Twilight Sparkle.
“Blguh?” Twilight replied, her brain needing just one more reboot. “Scootaloo can fly? What? But in my world, but we’re not in my world. But the anatomy is uncannily similar, but why can’t Scootaloo fly? I thought it was congenital! What in the world? Scootaloo can... fly?”
“And I thought you were the egghead here,” Dash teased, standing up and patting the kneeling Twilight on the head. Then striding away from Twilight, Rainbow stretched her lanky, lithe arms behind her. “Whattya expect,” Dash said cockily, “With me giving her lessons of course she’s gonna fly. Scootaloo can do anything!”
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash is awesome!” Scootaloo agreed, popping up beside Twilight. And looking at her. Scootaloo used her hoof to cover up another giggle, batting lightly at what Twilight figured was probably her hair all in a tizzy.
“Okay!” Twilight said loud enough to make both of them jerk back, ticking off quickly on her fingers, “Okay, Scootaloo can fly. This changes everything! Do congenital defects not transfer over? What sort of transfer process could make an otherwise healthy pegasus fly?”
“Twilight, um,” Rainbow Dash said, approaching her while Scootaloo sort of shied away. “You just asked how could a healthy pegasus possibly fly.”
“Yes, but... Scootaloo!” Twilight demanded articulately. “Scootaloo,” she said, taking a second look at the filly.
“Scootaloo... can’t fly,” Twilight said, in a slow, even tone of voice.
“Maybe in your world,” Scootaloo boasted, “But in this world I’m just—”
“But no, that’s just it!” Twilight said urgently to little Scootaloo. “I don’t know why Scootaloo can’t fly in my world! She can’t. It’s obvious! But why not? Her wings aren’t any smaller than any other pegasus foal, and plenty of them were flying years before Scootaloo. I—I just assumed they were deformed. I mean, not that I want you to be deformed, but maybe that her wings flapped at the wrong angle, so only provided her with forward thrust? But I never verified that! I just assumed!”
Neither of them were laughing at this point, but Twilight didn’t care. “I have to go,” she stated, swiftly jumping to her feet. Then she just walked off stiffly, trying to think where she was going to get a quill and scroll and then remembering that they used machined pens and paper here and then needing some of those, so that she could make some very important calculations very importantly and preferably soon as in right now.
“Did that... work?” Scootaloo asked Rainbow Dash.
“I dunno,” Dash said in confusion. “She totally fell for it, but uh... she knows that she doesn’t know that something else is going on?”
“I have no idea either,” Scootaloo pouted. “It was such a great idea too.”
“Well look on the bright side squirt,” Dash said down to her. “There is no way Twilight is ever going to think you can’t fly, ever again.”
They looked after her for a while, before Scootaloo remarked thoughtfully, “I can’t believe she knows me from another world.”
“I think she knows everybody from another world!” Rainbow Dash added in awed agreement. “I didn’t believe it at first, but she even knew my old summer camp spirit chant! I haven’t even thought about that thing since me and Gilda met up. You shoulda seen it; we were running that camp together, it was priceless. I wonder what’s she’s up to these days.”
“Well, call her and ask?” Scootaloo suggested.
Dash frowned and shook her head. “Don’t mind me, squirt. I’m just thinking. Is it so weird to think that an other-world Twilight wouldn’t know that other-world you?”
“No it’s not, and that’s why it’s weird,” Scootaloo stated, using her tail to dust snow off her flank, looking up at her hero uncertainly. “She just seems like the kind of girl that everybody would know,” Scootaloo said, “Kind of like you, Rainbow Dash!”
“Well, I don’t like to brag,” Dash admitted with a corner of her mouth turning up, “But you really can’t beat perfection!”
“So in this world, Twilight is a... dream princess?” Scootaloo said, scrunching up her muzzle and tilting an ear sideways. “I still don’t get how that works, and I saw it with my own eyes! Dreamed about it, I mean. But nobody knows her, nobody knows where she is, and nobody is friends with her at all. I just wonder if maybe... what if the princess in our world was a real girl, would she know all of us too? I bet she’d be real popular.”
“Might even be able to give Sunset a run for her money, heh,” Dash quipped. “Anyway, we got our once in a lifetime prank accomplished, and I think miss pony princess forgot what cameras do again, so I need to go hide the evidence. You go in and get yourself warm, okay?”
With an eager hop in place, and a happy whinny, Scootaloo said, “You got it, Rainbow Dash!”
“And...” Dash said, pausing halfway through jogging off with the camera, looking half over her shoulder at the little pegasus pony. “Try to relax a bit, Scoots. You don’t have to keep pushing yourself so hard. You’re plenty cool already.”
Scootaloo couldn’t think of any words to say to that, but the smile that slowly regrew on her face itself spoke volumes.
“Ugh,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed suddenly, some time later, making Apple Bloom’s head lift up from the book she was reading, big pink bow flopping to attention with Apple Bloom’s ears going up.
“I am so sick of magic!” the unicorn huffed. She so huffed when the two were sitting in the downstairs living room, with Apple Bloom reading nearby, while Sweetie practiced her horn exercises. Or, didn’t, as such the case may be.
“What do you mean, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom asked her grumpy, candy haired friend, “You ain’t had no problem going at it before?”
“That’s just it though,” Sweetie sighed, ears drooping, “I keep at it and at it, and I’m not getting anything,”
“So, breaking stuff apart with your horn don’t count?” Apple Bloom asked practically.
“It does, but that’s all I can do,” Sweetie protested. “I’m supposed to be able to do more than just poke holes in things. But I can’t get it to go past my horn. It’s just so hard—it’s exhausting, I mean! I’m not even tired, so why do I feel so tired? Oh yes, because Sweetie Belle has a horn, that doesn’t even work, and it just is full of stupid little things that get tired and she can’t even find words to talk about it!”
Apple Bloom blinked at her, wide eyed. Sweetie blinked back, and pulled away from Apple Bloom a bit. She may have gotten a little bit loud there. Then, Apple Bloom warily sideways, suggested, “Maybe you need to take a break from the horn exercises?”
Sweetie deflated at those words. “Yeah, I do,” she said, resigned but unhappy. “But I just can’t even get that aura going, that Twilight and Sunset talked about. The one that makes my horn light up with magical power?”
Apple Bloom didn’t say anything, but Sweetie blushed anyway, continuing, “I know it sounds dumb, but I really can understand what they’re talking about.” She tapped her horn with a hoof, saying, “The more I mess with this thing, the more obvious it gets how you would make it light up, or... how you would make it light up, if I could even get it to spark. But I just don’t feel like I have the oomph to do it.”
“Yer outta shape is all,” Apple Bloom said placatingly. “You ain’t had a horn to use for 14 years, and you had a horn for what, a month? You just gotta wait till you get back in shape, and you’ll be doing magic unicorn stuff in no time.”
“Scootaloo can fly though,” Sweetie said almost accusingly, her ears going back in irritable self doubt. “Why can’t I do magic? I just wish it wasn’t so... complicated, and didn’t involve so much waiting.”
Apple Bloom gave the frustrated unicorn a solemn look, and closed her book, standing up and cantering a few feet closer to Sweetie Belle, to sit beside her, right up against her side. Some pony thing, that ponies were supposed to do, which was dumb, but it did make Sweetie feel a little bit better. At least she relaxed enough to straighten her ears again.
“You really wanna be helpful, huh,” Apple Bloom said to her friend. “Just been bothering you like crazy, that you ain’t got hands no more.”
“Not like I was all that helpful, even with hands,” Sweetie muttered, rolling her eyes even though it was true. “But, magic,” she said in an awestruck voice, “If I could do magic, I could help out so many people! Twilight and Sunset need me to do magic, to help them get back home, and find out what’s happening to our world, because I’m the only unicorn on the whole planet right now!”
“Right now,” Apple Bloom made sure to emphasize.
“Heh heh,” Sweetie said, biting her lip nervously. “I... hope that it doesn’t get any more people. How has Noi been doing?”
“She’s having lots more fun now,” Apple Bloom said, with a half smile. “I think she almost managed a trot the other day. She keeps talking with her police friend on the computer box, but it don’t seem to be getting her down. She says nobody else at the station turned into a pony, but they’re keeping their eye out for any reports.”
“They could check missing persons reports,” Sweetie speculated. “Maybe the people aren’t actually missing, but just changed into ponies and think they have to hide it.”
“I’m sure that’s what they’re doing,” Apple Bloom said confidently. “But if they found any ponies, they ain’t talking about it yet. Doesn’t mean there aren’t any, just it might take a while to find them.”
“I wonder if you were really the first, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie said, giving her a level glance. “Maybe people have been turning into ponies for a long time, and you’re just the first one who didn’t keep it a secret.”
“Could be,” Apple Bloom said noncomittally. She sure didn’t know.
She nosed at Sweetie Belle, getting under her snout so Sweetie had to lift her chin up. “C’mon Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said encouragingly. “Let’s get up an’ go do something fun!”
Standing up and trotting away, Apple Bloom looked back at the demure unicorn, telling her, “Forget about your stupid horn for now, and let it do whatever it’s gonna do. There’s lots else you could work on, like holding stuff with your hooves, or how to run around, or writing. Oh, you gotta see mah writing! Ah never knew there were whole instruction guides how to write letters. At least, not aside from just cursive in Elementary school. It’s still lots slower to write this way, but ah swear since I tried this I-talic stuff, mah mouth is getting even better handwriting than my hands did!
“...still can’t talk with a pencil in mah mouth,” Apple Bloom concluded, a mite disgruntled.
“Well, let’s go check it out,” Sweetie said amiably, standing herself. She wasn’t as steady to climb to her hooves, but she’d only been this way for like a month, so Apple Bloom wasn’t going to complain to her in the slightest. Together, they climbed up to Apple Bloom’s room, where Apple Bloom showed her the fancy, well-shaped if slow to draw letters that Apple Bloom had been writing. The letters were still too big to fit on college ruled paper, but they actually looked pretty decent, for mouth-written letters.
“Why don’t you try writing some?” Apple Bloom suggested. “It’ll give your horn a break, and you’re so focused ah bet you’ll do real well at it!”
“But I can’t do that stuff like you can, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie complained. “I’m supposed to write with my horn. It’s you who are supposed to have the quote Freaky Earth Pony Powers.”
Apple Bloom snickered at that, but persisted in her efforts, saying, “You remember, Twilight and Sunset both said that whatever mah ‘freaky earth pony magic’ is, it ain’t something you can measure or observe. Writing with your mouth ain’t even magic. It’s just making use of what you got! And all that holding stuff and climbing, it’s just what every pony can do. I don’t feel like ah even got no magic. Ah’m just being a pony, an’ doing whatever ah can. Maybe it’s there, but you know, I don’t really care, as long as I can make do with what ah got.
“And you’re just as special as I am!” Apple Bloom assured Sweetie. Sweetie’s yellow friend craned her neck down and bit on the writing end of the pen she’d been working with, presenting the holding end to Sweetie Belle and saying, “Go on, gib itta shoh!”
Sweetie didn’t have confidence in her smile, but she did take the pen in her mouth. Leaning down over a piece of paper, Sweetie then went to draw not letters, but a couple of crude circles, with some triangles behind the upper one, and a swooshy thing at the—
“Oh hey, it’s me!” Apple Bloom said in surprise at the drawing. Sweetie smiled, but didn’t drop her pen, just continued to draw a heart right next to the pen-and-paper Apple Bloom. “S-so you have been practicing, huh,” Apple Bloom said, raising a hoof to try to hide the fact that she was blushing.
“But let’s see you draw an ‘a’ instead.”
Apple Bloom didn’t really understand what Sweetie was feeling, but surprisingly, Sweetie found that Noi did. Sweetie Belle was shy to approach the blonde pony at first. Noi’s unintimidating appearance belied a very intimidating attitude. But they found some common ground, eventually. Mostly thanks to Apple Bloom’s naggingprompting, both Sweetie and Noi worked a lot together in the category of “how to run around like a pony.” Sweetie wasn’t a fan of that category, but it at least beat the “sit around and think my stupid horn into working” category.
Noi was like Apple Bloom, and that meant she showed a delight just running around that was absolutely adorable. Sweetie Belle would almost have participated in these ‘races’ together, just to hear that delighted joy escape Noi, when she lost that tight control over herself and just started enjoying things. But, learning to walk better was an added benefit, certainly.
So Sweetie came trotting up to the pump house, and unlike any pony born on Earth, she was panting hard. Even if Noi was one of those special walker ponies, Noi still was way new at being one, so Sweetie Belle got there first, but she really had to push it. Sweetie looked back at the blonde pony stumbling her way, and hastily clattered into the shed. Rearing up on two legs, Sweetie’s forehooves came down and easily hooked around the handle of the water pump. With a grunt, she pushed with her legs, and lifted the pump lever, pulling it up and pushing it down, so that a cold stream of well water gushed out of it, just in time for Noi to come running in. The pump house was a very small shed, mostly just to weather protect the pump when it got below freezing, but for two little ponies, there was plenty of room to just walk right in.
“Fanks,” an exhausted Noi said, just sticking her head in the water and letting it pour into her mouth.
“Now you do me,” Sweetie prompted, not nearly as exhausted, but she wasn’t nearly as determined to push her limits as Noi was. Backing away from the lever, Sweetie let Noi more clumsily clamber up onto it. Just watching Noi accomplish that simple task, it was surprising to see how fast one got used to being a pony. Mostly, it was just a matter of point your legs where you want to go, and let your body work the details out. Sweetie would have hated if they got turned into something that wasn’t born able to run around, like a rabbit or a kitten.
When the water came out, Sweetie had to be more careful than Noi not to get the icy water on her face as she took a drink, but it still got her a little. Sweetie immediately shook her head to scatter the droplets. It was strange being a pony of her sort during the winter. Ponies were seemingly immune, or at least resistant to the cold, yet everything still felt icy, and you had to watch out—well—Sweetie Belle had to watch out, because the cold could sneak up on you, and you’d be shivering before you knew it.
That’s one thing that Scootaloo had, that Scootaloo didn’t even seem to care about, is what Sweetie remembered Sunset describe as an innate meteokinesis. Or as Twilight quipped, the weather flows off her, like water off a duck’s back. It was an unbelievable, if neat idea. Supposedly, where those alien girls came from, ponies managed a large part of not just their own lives, but of their very environment! In particular, pegasi had curious powers over weather, and could do what humanity had been trying to do since time immemorial: control when it rains, and where it rains.
Sweetie was still curious if there was any substance to that, but Scootaloo had not yet flown high enough to actually reach any clouds. Sweetie Belle was definitely excited for her friend, and did hope that Scootaloo could discover such a useful talent, but it meant that a unicorn, or even an earth pony would have to be more careful with themselves than a pegasus in extreme weather. Scootaloo could walk out into a blizzard without shivering, practically, but Sweetie had to be more careful about things like getting wet out in the snow.
She had to admit, for all that having a (totally useless) horn that (theoretically) could do cool things, unicorns really got the short end of the stick when it came to resistence to the elements. That wasn’t all bad though. When they were all safe inside, wrapped in thick blankets and warming by a crackling fire, Sweetie Belle had a singular appreciation for the wonderful feeling of warming up after a cold day, that Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Noi seemed to have lost, as a consequence of their transformations.
So out in the pump house, Sweetie was worried about getting wet, especially her clothing. As she got splashed, she had to shake off, and tried to use her forehooves to dry her face off as best as she could before it froze. Noi in the meantime went to a drawer in the wall, and pulled out a worn looking towel, tossing it to Sweetie with an apologetic smile. Sweetie wiped her face with it gratefully, and tossed it back to Noi who... hadn’t learned catching yet, but she could catch it on her head.
“I wish this stupid horn would work,” Sweetie said grumpily, trying to look at it. “Sorry for being so... useless,” she added to Noi.
“Usheless?” Noi repeated in that bold, scratchy voice of hers as she stuffed the towel back in the drawer. “You just go’ a lot of potential, kid.”
“Yeah...” Sweetie said, in an unconvinced tone.
Noi came to sit beside her then, looking at Sweetie with concern, but not quite knowing what to say. Sweetie didn’t want to make her feel on the spot, so she made ready to stand, but that brought Noi to speak, saying,
“My mom wazza shergeant.”
Sweetie settled back to her haunches, while Noi went on saying solemnly, “My da’ was in the milhitary. They both really hwanted me to be a cop. Raished me, fed me, but I always knew I had to get in the force, even when it sheemed like it wasn’ gonna happen.”
Noi sighed, and said, “I di’. Di’ everything zey ashked. I’m a damn good cop, if I shay so myself. But uh...
“Erryone wants you to ge’ your magic,” Noi said to Sweetie, “So you can help out, or wha’ever. An’ ish frustrating you can’t give ‘em what they want. But I wish...”
Noi glanced away, blushing insecurely and said, “Shometimesh I wish I spent more time jus’ being a kid. Shorta missed that. Sho your horn is important and all, but... don’ forget the important shtuff,”
She looked at Sweetie with those wide purple eyes, and with an encouraging smile, Noi told her, “You’ be shurprised. People like it better if you enjoy yourself, and it’s okay to be usheless sometimes. Where elshe are we usheful ones gonna find people to protect, right?”
She smiled and elbowed Sweetie, who obligingly protested being elbowed with a squeak, then responding with, “T-thanks, it really means a lot to me.”
Thus, Noi sort of helped keep Sweetie from getting too worked up over her horn, and the whole saving the world thing, and helped Sweetie enjoy herself. Sweetie couldn’t say she wasn’t grateful for it, but it felt a little funny how this complete stranger walked into her life, and now Sweetie couldn’t imagine Noi not being here, living with them.
It felt... sad in a way, melancholy, that such a nice girl was held separate from them by age and the responsibilities of adulthood. It felt more honest this way, more true. They helped each other, and they shared a common bond of being ponies lost in a world that had no place for them. And there was just something... nice about that. It felt like coming home.
You wouldn’t think there would be any empty houses in a busy little city like Canterlot, but Sunset Shimmer had been around the block many, many times, so she knew all the best hiding spots. If you find a house being sold, it’ll certainly be locked, but that’s hardly a deterrant to someone determined to have a roof over their head.
What is a deterrant is people coming by regularly to consider buying the house. Once the house is sold, you’ll have the people moving into it obviously. It’s just not possible to anticipate who might be checking it when, and then you’re not only trespassing but breaking and entering. Not possible, that is, provided you don’t have prescient knowledge of when, and whether, anyone will come. Small favors of a time loop is you can just watch house after house for sale, to see whether anyone comes to buy it. This house, nobody came the entire year.
Which was understandable, considering it was a dump. The yard was overgrown, and full of not just weeds but briars. The roof had leaked until a few days of unauthorized repair had patched up the holes with something crude, not meant to last more than a year (go figure). The smell of mold remained, however, and judicious applications of space heaters, powered by a portable gasoline generator, only mostly fixed the problem.
At any rate, that house would be their home base for the rest of the year typically, until the time loop rolled around. This was the longest Sunset had discovered a house went without any prospective buyers. It was a dump, and needed a lot of work done, but it was nice to have some place relatively semi-permanent, and not having to face angry landlords who discovered your records are forged, or having to thieve money from unsuspecting citizens in order to pay it.
They could pin documents on the wall now, and the living room was actually quite spacious, even though the fireplace had a few bricks missing. The fireplace was another reason Sunset liked this place, because when you are in a house without electricity provided to it, in the middle of winter, you’re gonna need to find all sorts of ways keep warm.
Twilight also kept warm by pacing, and fretting. Good exercise. That and a fluffy, powder blue coat with poofy sleeves that (like most everything else) she had to steal. It was so ridiculous to the purple girl. Twilight should have been an ambassador! She should have been greeted with open arms, living in a luxurious embassy suite. Since coming here, she had committed approximately 97% more crime than she had ever done in her life in Equestria. Keeping her homeland safe, fighting to deal with time repeating itself year after year, and being transformed into this... thing.
Humans were such a peculiar species. Supposedly descended from apes, they had strange features that no other ape possessed: large brains, colorful skin, large eyes. Apes had rather sparse fur, but humans only had fur in specific places. Heck, humans had manes! Twilight would have thought they were more closely related to ponies than apes! But, the lack of tails, and the five digits on each limb were a dead giveaway that they were apes. Twilight had certainly never felt in a more inpony body than when she felt like she was shaking around five little hooves on each foreleg. As useful as they were, Twilight sometimes found herself just idly drumming four of her fingers on the table in a certain pattern, trying to remember what a gallop felt like.
After dinner, Twilight Sparkle pinned the photograph she had printed out from the transformed police officer’s “Facebook” website up on the spare bedroom wall, next to photos of pony versions of this world’s Apple Bloom, Scootaloo (still sans feathers) and Sweetie Belle, and just stared at it. It was especially frustrating because that particular “Facebook” website didn’t seem to have any of those connections that others of their ilk had, so drawing conclusions as to how this could have transmitted itself to the officer were not forthcoming.
“I cannot wait until the weekend,” Twilight grumbled, turning away from it and striding out of the room again. In the living room, Spike was asleep on the couch, but Twilight didn’t go sit with him. Instead she went over and stared out the window, looking down the street where she thought Canterlot High might be.
“Hurry back, Sunset...” she said forlornly, leaning on the windowsill and hoping that with her only friend in the world currently (literally), they could make some sense of what was happening in Canterlot. They’d have to wait for the weekend though, when Sunset was free from that blasted educational institution. Sunset had to attend to keep up appearances, and she didn’t seem to mind it, having had the process memorized to the point of tedium unlike the rest of the extremely stressed student body. Twilight however, she... never wanted to see that place again. Not after 4 years of going there. Not after what happened last year...
Applejack held her hat nervously, wringing it in her lap as she sat there. Why principal Celestia would be so concerned with Applejack’s personal performance in school, Applejack had no idea, but it was pretty clear she was in some hot water now. She sat in a chair in the principal’s office, opposite the principal’s solidly constructed oak desk. The sunlight streamed around the principal just like she was that sun goddess that Twilight and Sunset kept going on about, and in the sense that Applejack was called to the principal’s office, Applejack felt pretty insignificant herself compared to the madame principal.
“Applejack, am I right?” Principal Celestia addressed Applejack, in a warm, melodious voice that somehow conveyed the notion of great strength. The principal held in her slim hands, a folder of no doubt important documents. Looking at it, she mentioned, “It seems your grades continue to suffer, and there are a number of your teachers who are worried about you.”
“Worried?” Applejack said in puzzlement, “Like who? An’ about what?” The principal’s office was a downright bright and sunny place, with how the curtains were spread open on the broad windows, letting the winter sunlight in. Ms. Celestia herself had a sturdy looking oak desk, with a comfortable looking easy chair, while Applejack had a plain, cheap chair to sit in. That wasn’t supposed to be intimidating, since the principal has to stay in this office all day and Applejack didn’t want to stay in this office any longer than necessary, but it still was pretty intimidating.
“Like this memo from professor Zipporwhill, for instance,” the principal said casually, “It says here that you turned in your report on molluscs two weeks after the assignment was due, and you spelled the word snail in at least five different creative ways.”
“Ah, heh, yeah I kinda got a mite turned around with that one,” Applejack said, looking the other way. She wished she could open up one of them big windows and jump right out of this office at this point. Applejack had no good news for the principal, and nothing but failure on her academic record.
“Ms. Harshvoice was unable to awaken you in class,” the principal went on. “She told me you’ve been skipping school to an alarming degree.”
“Well ah ain’t—ah mean, yeah I kinda have, but there’s a good reason for it!” Applejack said with an unconfident smile.
“I’m listening,” the principal said. How could Applejack tell her though? What was safe to say to the principal of the whole school, that wouldn’t end Apple Bloom up in a situation worse than Diamond Tiara’s short lived crush on Big Macintosh? Shucks, she was all wrong with the words, Applejack was. She never said anything right!
“Apple Bloom had some u-uh problems, and I don’t—d-don’t rightly know,” Applejack tried to say tactfully, “Ah don’t rightly know if I should speak, as the police are sorta involved and all, not that we did anything bad I just, it’s just...
Applejack sighed wearily. “It’s just been one thing after another...”
“I respect that you’ve been having considerable family problems lately,” Celestia said with a frown, “But I can’t do anything to help, unless you tell me what’s really going on. You reportedly told the guidance counselor a story about how your sister was I quote, ‘a little horse.’”
If only the principal would believe that. But truth or not, it was way too much for anybody to believe on one girl’s word alone. How much else did the principal know? Did she catch that frustratingly brief segment on the 10’o clock news? Applejack continued to stammer out, “I–I realize that— look, she... she cain’t come to school just yet. She’s barely walkin’ again and her friends and... aw shucks just—”
“Let’s not focus on her at this moment,” Celestia interrupted. More of a mercy killing than an interruption. “What I want to talk about is you, Applejack. You can’t keep this up. You’re trying to fit two days of learning into one, and there is only so much you can do.”
“What? No, ah can do it!” Applejack protested defensively. “Ah just gotta work a little harder, and do readin’ on mah own and stuff. I ain’t missed no tests so far!”
“Applejack,” Celestia said with one quirked eyebrow. “You slept through your Algebra exam last week. It does not count as being present, if you are asleep while taking the test.”
“Well it’s just the—” Applejack wracked her overworked brain, trying to remember that exam, and what she was doing the day before. She explained, “It’s just the night before ah was all studying for the... the history midterm that’s comin’ up, and there was this whole fiasco about Scootaloo jumpin’ off the... uh, ah was just up a bit... a mite late, so—”
“Applejack!” Granny Smith shouted, bursting right into the principal’s office.
Both Applejack and principal Celestia startled on the spot, then turned to the fat grandmotherly matron in surprise.
“Yer gotta get home right away!” Granny said persistently, walking up to Applejack and taking her arm, waving the other one and squawking out, “Big Mac says we gotta situation over there!”
Applejack warily glanced sideways at Principal Celestia just sitting there quietly, then turned to Granny Smith, stammering out, “Ah, uh—ah’m kinda busy an’—”
“Don’t you ‘busy’ me, missy!” Granny stated heedlessly. Then she seemed to notice the principal for the first time.
“Beggin’ your pardon ma’am,” Granny told Celestia, “We gotta family emergency.” Then she fixed Applejack in the eye and said, “Now move your caboose, missy, or yer takin’ the bus home!”
Granny stomped off then, closing the door behind her.
Pointing a delicate finger at the door where Granny left, the principal stated in a clearly unamused tone, “And then there’s that.”
“A-ah’m sorry Ms. uh, Celestia ah gotta hurry, this could be uh, important,” Applejack continued to stammer, trying to convince herself to slam her hat on her head and just march right out the door.
“We will speak on this in the future,” the principal told her, folding her fingers and raising an eyebrow.
“Thanks,” Applejack said, feeling peculiarly guilty as she stood up and just left. “Sorry. Gotta go.”
Applejack had a lot to think about on her drive home, but a lot more to worry about once Granny filled her in on the situation. They drove into a crowded farm, with at least three police cruisers, and a number of cops lurking around outside. Applejack didn’t wait for the truck to go into park, before jumping out, and dashing across the earth, right up into her house.
“Is it true?” she exclaimed, wild eyed, looking around with worry, “Is it happenin’?”
It was Big Mac’s turn to spurn school today, so he stood there already in the house, looking at the worried Applejack evenly. “Nope,” he responded in conclusion, turning to look behind him. “Just more the same.”
“Ms. Smith!” a policeman’s voice came from outside. “I need you to answer a few questions!” He was hollering at Granny though, so Applejack was still in the clear.
“Well, where are they?” Applejack asked heedless of that, looking at Big Macintosh in confusion.
“Dining room,” he said noncomittally, pointing past the kitchen with a thumb.
“Should ah go an’ an’ talk to them, or uh, go over there and ask them what’s what and... stuff?” Applejack said nervously.
Mac paused to think about that. “Eyup,” he told her with an approving nod. “You need it.”
“An’ what’s that supposed to—” Applejack ughed, clenching her fists. “Never mind. Ah’ll be right back.” With that, she went on clumping past her infuriating brother, off across the room, not even taking off her boots at the door. Applejack could see ‘em over the counter as she passed it, and it was... there were so many!
“Applejack, you’re here!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in relief, jumping to her hooves. Applejack’s pony sister tried to run to her sister, but had to step gingerly around Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Noi, two other little ponies and one half pony, half girl. Three of those ponies, and one other out of Apple Bloom’s way, Applejack had never seen before in her life.
There were lots of other strangers too, mostly police. There was a nervous lady of purple and pink, still dressed in her factory scrubs. One somewhat sullen looking girl with curly grape colored hair on her head, was busy leaning against the wall and looking bored. Everyone else human was familiar enough: Granny Smith out talking with the officers on the porch, and Big Macintosh in the kitchen trying to cook something.
Rarity and crew wouldn’t be here, because they had school, just the way Applejack should have had, and Cheerilee would have her library duties. It looked like Applejack was the only one Granny had snagged on short notice, making the ponies outnumber the Apple Family ...the Apple Family humans 3 to 1.
As Applejack walked in, somewhat stunned at the tumult, her own sister gallopped up to her. Apple Bloom was wearing her denim overalls, and her favorite pink bow, and really just looked like a pony wearing a suit and a bow. Arriving at Applejack’s feet, Apple Bloom reared up, then clopped down on all fours, staring big-eyed up at Applejack and exclaiming in agitation,
“The police went and found everyone in town who turned into ponies the ones they could find at least, and they searched the whole town and found a bunch of ponies, except one who’s only half a pony, but she’ll be a pony soon, but they don’t know what to do with them and they’re just popping up all over town and Twilight and Sunset haven’t got here yet and ah don’t know what to tell them, especially the one who ain’t finished yet and Applejack, Elias is a boy!”
Applejack blinked.
Apple Bloom sighed in exasperation and stated with another little hoof stomp, “Ah said the police went and found everyone in town who turned into—”
“A little slower, sis?” Applejack said with a nervous smile. “Ah been awful tired lately, sorry.”
Apple Bloom’s ears went down at that.
Applejack acutely felt the weariness in her shoulders, and the dark bags under her eyes. She probably wouldn’t turn down a good brushing herself at this point, if anyone were to offer. But no one would, because Applejack had to take the lead here, and it was okay to sacrifice a little sleep for the greater good, right? But Apple Bloom seemed awful sad, and Applejack didn’t know, but she felt like something she was doing just wasn’t right.
Applejack shook her head at her little pony sis, saying, “Oh now don’t be that way. It ain’t your fault. It’s mah problem that I have to deal with. And these ponies, or, girls or whoever, ain’t your problem neither. Not you alone.”
She gestured behind Apple Bloom, making her little pony sister look behind her, and said, “What do Sweetie an’ Scootaloo got to say? They’re your good friends ain’t they? They can help you deal with it too”
“But they can’t deal with the fact that he was a boy!” Apple Bloom protested, stomping a cute little hoof of hers again.
“Now Apple Bloom,” Applejack cautioned her impetuous sister, “Just because someone’s a boy don’t mean you gotta treat him differently. Now, which of these ponies is a boy, now?” Applejack frowned in confusion, looking at the ponies around her.
“Truffle Shuffle,” Apple Bloom said in an impatient tone, frowning at her sister.
“Truffle Shuffle?” Applejack repeated, hoping for at least a little clarification from her agitated sister.
“Truffle’s the only boy,” Apple Bloom explained, calming down a little despite herself. You just had to be patient with that girl sometimes, let her cool her jets. “Ah don’t know why every pony is turning out to be a girl,” Apple Bloom said, “But he’s the only boy.”
“Ah thought you said his name was Elias?” Applejack asked, scratching her head as she tried to make sense of Apple Bloom’s intent here.
“That’s just it, Applejack!” Apple Bloom asserted, leading forward on her hooves, as she practically pleaded up to her older sister. “Truffle is the only boy! Elias isn’t!”
“Well now, Elias is a mighty strange name for a girl, Apple Bloom,” Applejack drawled, leaning, hand on her hip. “Ah thought you said he was a boy?”
“He was a boy!” Apple Bloom squealed out, in a worrisome sort of excitement.
“Well then, what is he now?” Applejack retorted in frustration, and as soon as those words left her mouth, her face fell into a flat indignancy. Her sworn exasperation:
“Oh cornfeathers.”
snell, sneel, snil, sanil, sales
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My theory on that is that the way Scootaloo flaps/buzzes her wings doesn't get her enough lift to keep her stable.
pre15.deviantart.net/13d8/th/pre/i/2013/350/f/2/request___scootaloo_trying_to_fly_by_bobsicle0-d6y7vqj.png
It works for younger foals like Zipporwhill, though.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/1/1e/Zipporwhill_ID_S4E14.png/revision/latest?cb=20140219064726
7153801
My theory is she's a cartoon horse and everyone's theory is equally crazy.
7153801
And older ones like Bulk Biceps.
And there is some genderswapping going on... Which makes Dinky being a boy a bit concerning for his future.
How much is left of the year in the loop?
Genders bent for free.
7155598
It's near the beginning of January, about 4 months into the story. I haven't said exactly where the loop begins yet, but it's possible to make a good guess.
7154448
It certainly seems like someone's in trouble, but his name's Elias, not Dinky.
7154424
I honestly wouldn't blame anyone for not including gag characters in their story.
7159357 I know it's not Dinky, but just considering that Dinky's counterpart is a filly.
7159357
Elias so far, but if more transform then we expect more to switch gender to their Equestrian standard.
7159413
On the unlikely event that Dinky is included in this too, I suppose he might have that as a concern. But I mean come on. What are the chances of that happening?
7159553
Are they switching to their Equestrian standard? What if Elias's counterpart is a colt?
7161098
49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtpjrJYz81qeo73ro1_500.gif
In truth though? I'm estimating somewhere around 70% at the moment. Though that depends on the projected word count till the end of the story, and in story time. Considering the stages, it might be saver to say 40%, with the remaining 30% being conditional.
7161584
Don't be ridiculous. He's just a background po—uh– human.
7162033
*adjusts the values some*
I like ponification. I have followed this story to the present. It's sure different. I think what makes this one strange is that unlike LOPE, Consequences and Prince TD Powell, this one uses canon characters from the show and films themselves as the victims. It creates a disconnect that doesn't exist in those other stories, as separating the human characters from their equine equivalents is easier said then done, especially when we barely see the ones it focuses on. Setting it in the EQG universe doesn't help it stand out. All three of the stories I mentioned use original characters who could be stand ins for the authors, or any person from earth to witness the strangeness of a new world and/or body.
LOPE has top engineers discover several astronauts turning up dead after a strange energy source began to approach the earth. After autopsies revealed their brains to be cooked as though they were in an electric chair, they sent up several others as well as rodents to investigate. Live footage showed the humans thrashing, and the rodents not reacting. When fetching the bodies, the rodents seemed unharmed, until they were brought back with the rest. They started looking glazed eyed and swayed as if drunk, weak, and eventually died. Animals with large brains get theirs cooked if exposed to that energy, ones with smaller ones adapt instantly to it once exposed, and get deathly ill if taken away from it. The Equestrians established contact with said engineers and learned everything they could in a matter of weeks, which isn't much. When only days were left before Earth got saturated with those lethal waves, Tia and the others were told to go away. They did, but not before taking several dozen CIA and FBI agents with them to see each other in the flesh. When they perished, the Equestrians put together a plan in a matter of days what should have been years, since that's all they had. They sent a gargantuan spell to the earth to make everybody vanish in an instant, away to limbo. Minutes later, hundreds of people across the earth randomly came back with their collective memories intact, barring the place they were sent, their minds placed in strange alien bodies better suited for the harsh conditions the earth is now altered to. Hours later, thousands more would come back in random locations, tens of thousands in days, and so on till millennia later, everybody would return. Most would never see each other again. The entire story is told in the first person specifically to conceal the identity of the main character. All we know until the final chapter is that s/he is one of the first returnees after the vanishing, and we follow this character throughout, recording the struggles s/he goes through.
Consequences has a strange virus let loose in a large building, and several others like it which mutates the victims in a matter of minutes to hours depending on exposure, and is highly contagious. The mutations are obvious, but it seems evident the original is still in there at first, before some alien being that thinks it's the original forces the hosts into the background of their own minds, and takes over. The whole story takes place within a quarantined building, and follows several young men and women as they try to keep themselves from having their very being rewritten.
TD Powell is like the others: An unsuspecting young man who almost gets into an accident, and is saved by a miracle. Unfortunately, he is accidentally yanked into an alternate dimension, and the being, Celestia, who opened the temporary portal had no way to keep record or trace which dimensions were which, meaning it's practically impossible to replicate the process and open access to the same world twice. Throughout most of the story, he hates Celestia, makes no secrets of his disdain for her, and keeps hoping against hope he will see his family and friends again, and get to go home. The odds are he has to live there for the rest of his life, make new friends, (which he does), and possibly end up marrying the mare he once hated the most: Celestia.
Bloom Filter has no such stakes. The beings and likenesses of the pre established characters is in no way threatened beyond being shrunk down to small ponies. The world itself has not been made lethal to humans, thus rendering it uninhabitable or robbing everybody of their homes and families by scattering them over time, nor has anypony other than TS and SS been cast out of their world with little way back, and even then, they have a better chance than poor MR Powell. Plus, they knew what they were getting into, or had some idea.
Finally, *sigh* here we go again. Another man to mare. Two of those three stories have this unfortunate circumstance befall one of the supporting characters. The third one avoids this troupe altogether, although it does have an interspecies marriage. It always seems to lead from man to mare every time. It never happens the other way unless a couple who were an item beforehand get this treatment. It just doesn't happen, girl to stallion if she is single.
7163693
Cool story, bro. I sort of like the "Ponies after People" setting, but I just don't have the gritty edginess to really write effectively in it. My one attempt was at least acknowledged by the author, but I went and sabatoged it in the end, because I just wasn't feeling inspired by someone's lonely, yet upbeat wandering through a deserted world. Plus writing with my mouth was hard.
"Consequences" is one of those pony plague stories I guess? I've always found those a bit too gruesome for my liking. I like transformation, not total annihilation and replacement. Some people writing those plague stories find a relatively tolerable compromise, but mostly I avoid stories like that. That being said, I did write one chapter in a pony plague universe. It was on an old dead thread on mlpchan, and I didn't really work on it after that, so take what you will from it. I just don't like writing about things not working out alright in the end.
"TD Powell" is exactly the kind of story that makes me facepaw. Someone's blowhard self insert goes to Equestria, where he immediately blames Celestia for ruining his life by pulling him away from his 9-5 at the local burger barn. All the ponies are confused and apologetic, and he's aloof and edgy, and it's really tragic that they aren't tough enough to handle the truth that only the wise human can dole out in constant deadpan sarcasm. That being said, I do have some interesting "human in Equestria" ideas, but I apologize because they're not flowing as easily as this Bloom Filter story right now. Was planning on publishing them anyway, so I could stop writing a story about high school drama, but just haven't really gotten started yet...
Ah, and then he goes about rehashing the plot from the show, with himself as center role. Oh my god he becomes a male alicorn.
Not every story has to be a world spanning epic about princes and princesses shattering continents. But, I will tell you that there are some heavy things at stake in Bloom Filter. They just haven't figured it out yet, and the clock is ticking...
>not wanting to be the qtm8re
I agree there aren't a lot of "woman to stallion" stories out there. There also aren't a lot of women who want to be stallions. I feel there is a connection there. Unfortunately, I'm... kind of uncomfortable about trying to write what someone's experience of becoming a male horse is like. So, I'm not sure how much help I can be in diversifying things in ways people don't really want to diversify. That being said, I will tell you that my decision for Elias's gender, like many of their genders, was chosen with the aid of a random number generator, and there is a non-trivial chance that in the future it'll come up with woman to stallion. So it's not like I'm only writing gratuitous wish fulfillment here, even if it might fulfill the wishes of many people, who will never see their wishes granted in any other form.
Anyway, thank you for your very involved reply! I can't promise I'll be able to satisfy your values through friendship and ponies, but I really do appreciate the effort, and I'll do my best to take what you've said into account when writing. I will write what I'm able and willing to write, of course, for instance I probably won't have this story become about a human transported into Equestria. But beyond that, I dunno maybe I can try to make it a little bit more epic. The third book is really where the epic is supposed to start to come in.
I'm sorry you haven't been enjoying Bloom Filter as much as those other stories, due to a lack of obvious existential threats. There was a bit of a scare about mind wiping back when Apple Bloom was changing, but you're right it seems that they're not losing their core personality, at least. That doesn't mean their struggle is inconsequential though. Sweetie has broken down more than once about the horror of being unable to even think in ways she used to when she was human. And Scootaloo would be worse off if she couldn't at least dream of a scooter her size. Honestly of the three (four?) of them, Apple Bloom has had the easiest time adapting, and since the story's about her, the suffering of the others might not be very apparant.
7164138 I like it. The EQG universe is clearly a blatant rip on real world environments with FiM characters in its setting. What made it all worthwhile was the character of SS, who, while a bully, made it explicitly clear that she abhors violence and would not harm anybody, and was actively appalled at the thought, and tried to avoid becoming a demon in vain. When she became a demon, it's quite evident she didn't want that or know it was going to happen. Next thing you know, nearly everybody not appalled with the franchise fell in love with Sunset and Sonata. (By the way, is there any chance Sonata will appear in this story?) I also liked the image of a seemingly human character turning her back to a vending machine, raising one leg, and about to strike it with the flat of her foot, which, by the way, is the best way to kick something solid without risking injury.
By the way, this story already established humans don't always equal their respective equestrians, like Dinky. This differs from the films. It's no secret that time moves slower in the human world than it does Equiis in canon. But who's older than who in universe is always consistent. This seems to establish age and gender disparity between universes is uncommon, but not unheard of. If they aren't losing their homes and families by the process, or being rewritten altogether as individuals, or sent away to another dimension, what's at stake?
LOPE is unique insofar as avoiding the use of villains. Rather, it explores what most storytellers do not tread on: The circumstance of being left to the devices of nature, plain survival. Most of the story has the narrator trying to survive the loneliness, the boredom, the impending hunger and thirst, the eventual natural disaster and subsequent elemental exposure, and simply the shock of being suddenly severed from any and all animal life for a prolonged or brief period of time. I also like how said character's identity is concealed by first person narration like the War of the Worlds was done, only s/he reveals that identity in the final chapter. I also liked how plant life, microbial life, and even animal life, proving their brains weren't overload and cooked by that power, instantly adapt to it once exposed, and become fatally ill if ever severed from that energy, like a basement dwelling albino coming into a UV laced environment. If it did ever dry up, earthlings are all doomed. Another aspect I liked was how there was no real reason or rhyme as to how or why any specific person came back in a matter of minutes like the Big A, or centuries like others, just a very big die toss. The new types of bodies are not determined by anything either, pure random like the outcome of a coin toss. No aspect of you, physical, mental or emotional impacts what kind of body you get. Coin toss. Also, the author did state explicitly that Tia did forge two safeguards: To prevent or minimize instances of man to mare, and vice versa, which usually works, but occasionally fails. A carpenter named Scott Andrews and his best friend Jim Miller (who didn't go by "Jim" originally) in Vancouver BC both happen to get two rare circumstances: coming through in minutes together having known each other before, and being amongst the minimally small crowd that fell through this safeguard. The other was moving vehicles like planes, trains, automobiles and ships are teleported into the future with all occupants in tow. All passengers, crew, and cargo come through together. These people are the luckiest if they don't die in a collision, providing friends, family and co workers are on board, as these people aren't entirely thrust into a world of strangers. One such person is a solo pilot who was up in the air at the time, and when she came through, she was less fortunate than most. She survived, but she was knocked into a coma. When she emerged, she took the news of losing her home and family much harder than everybody else and became bitter because of it. Also, while others lost their old bodies and all the equipment that came with them, she is more openly vocal about it. She frequently whines about losing her hands and her old genitals, and even damaging the equipment her new one has (She fractured her horn when she got a concussion). There is a rare exception to the rule: Five young men and women possessed a mysterious invisible aura that creates an energy shield around them, allowing solids, liquids and gasses in, but keeps harmful waves out. Animals and returned humans are capable of approaching these sole exceptions whose bodies repel the very power they rely on, but have an instinctual drive to avoid them. There's also several hundred men and women still vulnerable who didn't get beamed away living in caverns with the mouths sealed shut and the walls coated with lead unaware of those five people who can thrive in both environments.
7164432
Sorry, I only watched the first movie.
I guess you'll just have to wait and find out.
Didn't really work for my scenario. There is a reason for this though.
Well, except for the entire survival/horror genre.
Yes, I am familiar with the setting.
7167468 I'm actually curious now: the scenario I stated before was ultimately caused by humanity's obsession with indefinite growth, and the disaster that happened was simply a direct result of our non restraint. What happened was an attempt to prevent a whole lot of suffering which is similar to rabies or getting shocked. The solution was to trigger near extinction of humankind genetically, but rescue the countless individuals within it. Our genes die off, but we survive where our minds are concerned. This wasn't a mutation. It was literally our minds being transferred from our old bodies into our new ones.
Obviously what is happening in Bloom Filter is not a body swap, but real mutations. Is it also a result of divine intervention to prevent a worse disaster, moreover one we caused? Is human kind going to go genetically extinct in order to preserve those within it here? If you had to make the choice, would you kill our species in order to save the individuals in it? Also, from LOPE, would those five men and women whose bodies form a dead zone around them have made it if nobody knew they existed or crossed paths with them, or would they have starved to death?
Finally, Scootaloo is not a dodo here. I think TS and SS mean the same thing to each other that Scott and Jim do, get what I mean by that? Do you think you'll go that way with them?
7179925
Sorry, I have no idea who Scott and Jim are. Twilight and Sunset are friends through shared hardship, pretty much.
Yes, without hesitation. That doesn't necessarily mean I will write a story that does that.
7181666 I continued to follow this because it's the best thing after LOPE, which is completed. No, it's not a second best thing. The reveal that Scootaloo is not a dodo made my day. I couldn't tell you how much that meant to me. She deserves a silver lining.
I presume you read all of LOPE. Which character is your favorite?
I have been enjoying this and I hope you are able to continue soon