Disturbances
Towards the end of Scootaloo’s speech, there was a mild disturbance in the back, as those alien pony girls started squeezing amongst the pegasi, asking questions and writing down results on clipboards. Scootaloo had since launched off of her in her... enthusiastic demonstration, and also off of Cheerilee’s back, so on her own, Cheerilee squeezed her way over there through the crowd. She was actually a little bit wider as a pony than as a human, but only back at the hips. Nevertheless, she made her way through the crowded pegasi, approaching the girls and saying quietly, “Excuse me girls, but this is a very important presentation. Could you please wait until afterwards?”
Looking frazzled, the lilac one, Twilight Sparkle turned to Cheerilee and speaking a little bit too quickly, said, “Presentation? What does that have to do with where were you on September 7th at 12:03pm?”
Cheerilee blinked, and then looked up at the girl more seriously, whispering, “Please quiet down. There is an important presentation going on.”
Twilight clammed up then, and looked around nervously, as if noticing her surroundings for the first time. She then hurried over and grabbed Sunset, shaking the other girl out of her own data collection spree. Both of them were being quite busy beavers it seems. Twilight was the only one who apologized afterwards though. Sunset didn’t seem to think it necessary, but at least one of them had a good head on her shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Cheerilee,” Twilight Sparkle said afterword, to a certain fuschia pony who was seated on her belly at rest on a hay bale at the moment. “I did want to help with that presentation, beyond correcting any mistakes you might have been making regarding preening technique, but I’ve just been so busy lately. We’ve been trying to interview as many ponies as we can, to find out where they were when the time loop started. Professor Discord suggests that physical location at that time might be strongly connected to time of transformation.”
“Oh, so the police fair, you mean?” Cheerilee speculated. Both girls nodded at that.
“We still need to know where everyone was,” Sunset said. “So we can try to identify a pattern.”
“Well, good luck with that, but don’t get too carried away,” Cheerilee cautioned. “Make sure everyone’s okay with it before you start interrogating people.”
“Will do, and I’ll try not to disturb your presentations again,” Twilight replied. “We probably have enough data samples collected anyway, and can finally get a good picture of the statistical distribution of this.”
Once the girls had left, Cheerilee busied herself with herding around the crowd, some of whom had stopped on the spot to try preening themselves. It was adorable in its own way, how affectionate pegasi seemed to be over their own wings. Even the untameable Scootaloo seemed to love her wings, though Cheerilee had the distinct impression that Scootaloo wasn’t all that impressed with her own flying ability.
A moment of guilt welled up in Cheerilee before she quashed it with reason. Just because she changed into an earth pony didn’t mean that it would only make her daughter half of a pegasus. Sunset said that pony tribes breed true, and there are no half breeds, and Cheerilee had given birth to Scootaloo as a human anyway, so there was no way her transformation into an earth pony had affected Scootaloo’s.
If anything, Cheerilee should have been proud that she had been so helpful in regard to Scootaloo’s wings. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like having wings, yet she’d managed to work things out with her daughter so well that Scootaloo was the first pony to fly. Some things just seemed so obvious to Cheerilee that should have been obvious to the one who actually had the wings. She wondered if it was her own mental or physical maturity, or if it was some sort of insight into what made earth ponies special, a sort of mindset that just remained more... grounded than that of other tribes.
Cheerilee then groaned, and bonked a forehoof on her own forehead for even thinking of such a terrible pun.
“Well, here it is, your big revelation,” Professor Discord said, going to the map. Inside Sunset and Twilight’s portable building, it was laid out on the wall covered in little pins.
“Here, is the earliest transformation, Apple Bloom,” the professor indicated with the marker he was holding, “Next after her are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo,” he drew two very short lines in an ink marker, connecting Apple Bloom’s pin to where each of the two were standing in the courtyard. “From Sweetie, there is Noi, then Truffle, then Elias... and only then does it proceeds from Scootaloo, with Piña, and Cotton Cloudy, then to the one adjacent to Apple Bloom in the back here... Ms. Cheerilee. Now, notice what happens when I draw lines from the previous ‘pony’ to the next, but only when travelling away from the epicenter.”
They watched for a while, and Sunset declared, “They’re branching off!”
“Yes, a new... branch only seems to start very close to a pony who transformed earlier,” Discord replied. “This is certainly not random. If you two will be dears, could you perhaps help me in filling out these connections?”
They worked for a good ten minutes, three markers inking in connection after connection, jumping back to the center, and then wandering outward again. Finally they’d gotten all 327 data points connected, all the former people who’d been able to remember where they were when the time loop started, connected in order of those who’d first transformed. Two high school girls and a statistics professor stared at the data distribution, not sure they wanted to comprehend its meaning.
Each transformation followed the next radiating out from the center where Apple Bloom, Sweetie and Scootaloo had been in the back of the crowd, radiating vaguely straight, but randomly wandering in direction. Some branched off, with two transformations leading to two new radiating lines. And those branched off from there, and so forth. Some lines ended close to the center. Some seemed to stretch all the way across the city, getting people who were even at the edge. With the lines drawn on the map, it looked like someone had fired a bullet at a glass window.
“It... it is contagious,” Twilight said in a stunned tone. “More like lightning than a disease.”
“At the moment the loop started,” Sunset replied equally astounded. “It traveled through them all, the moment the loop started.”
“Or somewhere thereabouts,” Discord corrected. “But that’s within the time window where the data has the least randomness in it.”
“Then why didn’t it happen when the time loop started?” Sunset pondered. “Why did it take the Golden Apple to start this going? They should have all changed into ponies on the very first day, if this is the case!”
“Was it a delayed effect?” Twilight countered. “Some... secondary enchantment, that needed a catalyst in order to take hold?”
“I don’t...” Sunset stared at the map in frustration. “I don’t know,” she said unhappily.
Footsteps echoed in the silence, as officers Green, Background and Redshirt came walking back up the stone steps that descended incongruously into a pit in the middle of Principal Celestia’s office. They were empty handed. “It goes forever in there!” the red one stated in aggravation. “We couldn’t find the end of it!”
“We didn’t find the end of it,” officer Green added, “Because the way had gotten blocked by fallen shelves.”
“Crumbled shelves, more like,” Backy replied. “It looks ancient in there!”
“Shouldn’t we be calling an, I don’t know, an archaeologist?” Redshirt suggested nervousl y.
“I could see if there’s an archaeology team available,” the lady Sergeant Safari said uneasily, “But I don’t know what this city will have.”
“How about a history teacher?” came the suggestion from the high school’s principal.
Some time later, footsteps echoed in the silence again, along with a set of rather unsteady hooves. With police officers at her every side, Professor Berry found herself faced with the task of investigating an archaeological ruin... underneath the high school. Berry should have been at a party, but no. There had to be some freaky road annihilating... thing making everything outside the city all weird and twisted around. She had to be the history teacher, teaching students about strange stories not even she could believe. She had to be the only pony teacher in the whole school, which made her the worst candidate for going down stairs, and they still wanted her to perform some kinda miracle. The teacher grumbled as a headache started to make itself known, trying not to fall over herself navigating this dark hallway at the bottom of the stairs. She really needed to get wasted.
She’d changed into a pony so recently, Berry still hadn’t got the lisp out of her voice, but there was no rest for the wicked ponies it seemed. First, they needed her back to teach her class, when she could barely articulate, and now this! “Well alrigh’,” Cherry Berry said at the bottom the dusty, stony darkness, lit only by their electric flashlights. “This looksh like the obshtruction.”
She craned her head down to examine the dusty piles on the ground that were blocking the way into some sort of chamber. She would have knelt, but she found that as a pony, she could already lick the floor if she wanted to, without even bending her knees. If it sounds like a very weird experience to be standing up straight, with your nose to the ground, that’s because it was. Before her pink snout was—or had been—apple wood shelves. That much was obvious. In this state of decay, the shelves had to have been hidden down here for longer than the school had been built, heck longer than anything she could imagine. But Berry was pretty sure Native Americans didn’t make a practice of binding books and putting them into cut wood shelves, so all she could conclude was this was some sort of elaborate hoax.
“No idea,” she said flatly to the police clustering around her. “Can’ your forenshics guy jus’ clean this out?”
“But what about what’s written in the books?” one of the officers said.
Berry shook her head emphatically. “Oh no, I’m not gonna go toush crumbling booksh an’ try to read them. These aren’ books they’re piles of paper shcrap,” Berry said in aggravation, a flutter of worry in her chest at just how incongruous everything seemed. How was she arguing about impossible books in a cavern underneath her school, with four hooves that could feel the cool stone floor as they bore her weight? How was this even a thing?
“Even if you could read them, who am I shupposed to say pu’ them here? Atlantish?” Berry said crossly. “Thish town doesn’t have a history of anything. It was a seh’ler town for cattle ranchersh, and before that it ha’ been a camp for travelling wagonsh, wishout a single permanent building or bookcashe.”
She tossed her straw blonde mane, grumbling in an increasingly shrill tone, “What d’ you want me to do, try to write down the words zhat are shtill legible? The ink’sh faded! My advishe is bring your forenshics guys to figure out wha’ to do abou’ this, and come bother me when you need someone to just sit there telling students about what someone elshe discovered. Wha’ do you shink I’m good at? Do you think I’m goo’ at anyshing? ”
Berry realized her ears were flat against the sides of her head. Dammit, but that made her want to just kick something. Berry relaxed, and resisted the urge to swat at the officers with her tail, because apparantly that’s a thing ponies want to do. Saying, “Tha’s all I can tell you. Lemme out of here and get a forenshics team in here. Or a proper archaeology team, whish I’m not qualified for by the way,” Berry turned around and marched right back up the stairs to safety, and away from... adventure. She tried to ignore the disappointment that welled up in her at that, and just... didn’t look back... too much.
The third time was the charm, and the forensics team managed to at least get the shelves cleared out of obstructing the way, without damaging the paper fragments covering their crumbling forms. Though they didn’t have Berry’s questionable expertise this time, the exploration team forged on. Their footsteps echoing in the darkness, three police officers emerged into a vast cavern, the likes of which nobody would have predicted was hidden underneath the school. Their torch flashlights were the only thing lighting up this dark space as they crept through it, finding more piles of rubble and scrap as they did, except for in the very back of the cavern, where a soft glow was emanating.
Again, the police charged back up the steps into the principal’s office, but this time there were only two of them. Fear in their eyes, one of them said, “Sergeant! You gotta see this!”
“What happened?” the sergeant asked in alarm. “Where’s Green Daze?”
“It got him!” Redshirt complained fearfully. “The glowing light just snatched him up, and froze him on the spot!”
“What on earth is going on down there?” the police sergeant shook her head utterly puzzled.
“It... wasn’t threatening,” another officer said cautiously. “He just started to go into the lit room and... stopped. One of us almost got our hand stuck trying to get him out. It’s some kind of... time stop? Magic? Thing? He’s just stuck there!”
“Why is there a magic thing in a giant crypt under the school?” the sergeant asked in exasperation, “That’s older than the oldest settlement here?”
“I think I might know of someone who could help,” principal Celestia said quietly. All three officers turned to look in her direction. “The question is whether she will help us anymore.”
“Okay, trigger spell happens almost instantaneously, with a random delay before the transformation, randomized by...” Twilight trailed off, then groaned, thudding her forehead on the table. “This is getting me nowhere...”
Sunset Shimmer also groaned, from where she was laying on her back with a book flat over her face.
“C’mon Twilight, you can do it,” the little purple dog known as Spike the Dragon said, putting a paw on her thigh. “If there’s an answer, I know you’ll find it!”
“That’s just it, Spike,” Twilight said sadly down to him. “I’m starting to think there is no answer. We just don’t have enough pieces of this puzzle to make a complete picture. Why is everyone turning into a pon—”
There was a knock at the door.
“Now who could that be?” Spike said brightly, turning away from Twilight and loping over to the door. He had to stop there of course, as he couldn’t open it, but his twitchy nose told him that the old Apple lady was on the other side of it.
Twilight stood up and walk to the door beside him. When she opened the door, she found the elderly Granny Smith there, standing with a thick sheaf of envelopes in her hands.
“Mail’s here,” Granny said matter-of-factly, tugging out a letter and handing it to Twilight.
“Oh, Sunset, were you expecting any... mail?” Twilight asked as she looked at the letter and saw her own name on it. “Someone’s sending me mail?” she asked dumbfoundedly.
“It’s from th’ school,” Granny said dourly, “Yer better read it.”
Sunset lifted her head, letting the book slide off of her face. “You got a letter from the school?” she asked.
“I–I don’t know,” Twilight said clutching it nervously. “We haven’t even been to the campus since the last incident. We’ve done everything they asked for. What could we be doing wrong?”
“Hold on, there’s no evidence that they even think we’ve done anything wrong yet,” Sunset said cautioningly. “Why don’t you open the letter and see what’s inside?”
With great trepidation, Twilight did so.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I wish to apologize for my actions at our last meeting. It’s been a difficult month, with my students disappearing and such strange things going on. While I don’t know what you say is true, you have a wonderful passion for pursuing the things you believe in.
I believe you may have an opportunity to demonstrate the veracity of your claims regarding the school and any sort of supernatural phenomenon. As I’m sure you know, the three girls known around campus as the CMC recently discovered a very strange secret hidden within our school. Far from an out of place crawlspace, this is by all estimates a large and very ancient archaeological site.
Twilight paused in reading out loud, to ask Sunset in confusion, “Did any of those three tell you anything about an ancient archaeological site?”
Sunset shook her head, frowning. “Why wouldn’t they tell us about that?” she asked suspiciously.
Twilight had no solid answer, so she just continued reading.
I wish I could say that this discovery convinced me to trust you at first, but I can be a bit stubborn in my presumptions at times. Thankfully what we recently discovered deep within the complex convinced me that you may be the only people who can understand it. I am prepared to swallow my pride and ask for your help. It is my fond hope that you’ll forgive my rash treatment toward you, and come visit the school again. If you can make sense of what is happening here, I will very seriously entertain your demands to excavate the building walls.
Please make an appointment at your earliest convenience. I’ll be happy to adjust my schedule however you need.
Principal Theresa Celestia
Twilight stared at the letter open-mouthed. Sunset stared at Twilight, open-mouthed. “She’s asking you to advise her?” Sunset said incredulously. “After what she said to you before? Why would—”
“Her first name is Theresa?! ” Twilight squeaked.
Sunset paused. “Her... first name is significant?”
“No, it’s just...” Twilight let her arm go limp, the letter dropping by her side. “I could never get Princess Celestia to tell me much about her past. She has a right to her privacy, but I just realized that I never... knew the princess’s first name.”
“I remember Princess Celestia pretty well,” Sunset said cagily, “She was always a pony of secrets. You don’t get to be that age, without having a lot of secrets to keep.” She glanced down at the letter in Twilight’s hand, adding, “Also Theresa isn’t a meaning-word, so it’s probably different in our world.”
“Yes, but... just the thought that I know so little about her is disturbing,” Twilight said, folding her arms. “Princess Celestia practically raised me—” and then Twilight realized who she was talking to. Looking at Sunset guiltily, Twilight mumbled, “—oh. Right.”
“I was one of her little secrets, huh?” Sunset said with a half smile. “She probably didn’t tell you a word about me until I went and grabbed your crown.”
“Princess Celestia... when she lost you, it hurt her a lot, Sunset,” Twilight said seriously. “It’s not that she was keeping it a secret from us. She just misses you, and without any hope of getting you back... why would she talk about it?”
“I... guess,” Sunset said glumly, staring off into the distance.
“But this,” Twilight said, pulling the letter up to look at it again. “This is very good news. Very, very good news. If we can get Principal Celestia on our side, if we can prove ourselves by whatever it is she’s found, then the full support of the school will be invaluable should this situation continue to spike toward crisis levels. It’s almost July. We only have two months left. And then this entire city... we really need her help.”
“What I want to know is why didn’t the Crusaders tell us about it,” Sunset said suspiciously. “We’ll work with the principal, but I really want a word with those three. There’s something fishy about all this.”
“Oh, right! That thing,” Scootaloo realised in a surprised tone.
“What do you mean ‘oh right that thing?’” Sunset said in aggravation. It was hard enough to track down these three with them at school most of the day, and Scootaloo didn’t seem to see any problem with this. “You didn’t think it was important to tell us about a secret chamber opening at the school, after Twilight practically freaked out over the other one you found?”
Sunset had managed to track down Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at least. With school and the pony crisis, the three fillies were way busier than a filly should be. Apple Bloom was who knows where right now, but the other two, Sunset managed to find.
“Didn’t the principal tell you?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She didn’t believe it was anything big before, so she should have told you once she found something big like that.”
“No—” Sunset rubbed her own face, saying, “Yes she did, but I would really appreciate it if you’d tell me about any other secrets you’ve found.”
Sweetie Belle stared at her.
“Woah, I forgot about the thing!” Scootaloo exclaimed, pushing Sweetie Belle away, continuing to say to Sunset over her shoulder, “Sorry we have some important business to do. Important dream business, about our pony club that is about pony things.”
“Right!” Sweetie squeaked, reviving herself and coming to trot beside Scootaloo, “Dream pony things. Real important. We’ll tell you later!”
“Hey wait, you—” Sunset lifted a hand, but the fillies were already galloping across the field. “Darn,” she growled knowing how futile it was to try and follow, “Well at least I know they’re hiding something. They know to tell us now, so there shouldn’t be any more surprises. Still, I wonder what that dream princess has been telling them...”
Alone in his house, a lime green man with poorly shaven blonde stubble was making himself busy avoiding the front page of the newspaper as he got ready to drive into the office again. He rubbed his thick, meaty fingers on his receding hairline unhappily as he flipped past the front page article. It was a full page article on that pony craze, again, with big headlines saying, “INSIDE SOURCE MAY KNOW YOUR PONY SELF” or some trash. Instead, he flipped back to the sports section like he always did in the morning, looking wistfully at the results of the sectional tryouts.
Canterlot didn’t place, again. Thanks to his no-good daughter, of course. He tried so hard to instill in her the spirit of competition, but frankly he barely knew how to raise a teenage girl on his own in the first place. She just got lazier and lazier, and never wanted to push herself past her comfort level.
He didn’t know why she couldn’t be like he had been in school. He’d been fast, and powerful, and respected. Everyone knew how awesome he was, because he always blew away the competition. He could practically have soloed most of the football games he played back in his prime.
Looking at the statistics, Rainbow Dash’s father sighed in frustration. Nobody even came close to his daughter’s level of achievement, which was pretty much a given, but she didn’t have anyone who could compete at her level. If he could’ve been in there with her, she’d have someone to run with, to fight against. She’d be unstoppable. They’d be unstoppable.
He sat back in his chair, looking with disgust at his own gut. Too many doughnuts again. Gone was any hope of a six pack, and the rest of his body wasn’t in too great of shape either. He still worked out, and pushed himself where he could, but... at some point you just have to accept that you’re not going to achieve anything anymore. He went from awarded athlete, to washed up nobody who just played ball on the weekends, when he didn’t have to work all weekend in the office. He thought he was gonna be somebody once, between his physique and his cunning wit, they had to let him in the Air Force, even got his pilot’s license at one point.
It was probably a stupid idea. Bunch of rich assholes got in there, and he couldn’t afford the training. There were other branches, but he didn’t like the idea of slogging through the mud for a military career he could afford. Years passed, and when Rainbow Dash ...happened, all hope was lost. He’d never have what he once had, and all that left him to look forward to was another decade or three of getting older, weaker, and fatter if he was lucky. He hated her for it, but he loved her nonetheless. He wished she’d never been born, but at the same time he couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t the one who got horny and drunk, and ended up knocking up some bitch who didn’t believe in abortion.
He never even dated, after that went to hell. He’d never admit it, but it was scary how easy things had got out of control. He didn’t like being unable to control himself. You feel like the big man in control when you hold her down and... do that, but it’s just a feeling. The reality is a promising collegiate athlete instead had to quit and get a job, and he knew it’d happen, but he did it anyway. Why? Because the closer he got with the lady, the more he wanted to do it, simple as that. It felt good to do it, but having your hormones make you want to hurt the only chance you had at a future? That felt fucking horrible.
Rainbow Dash was honestly the only reason he didn’t go show his coworkers what he thought about that office by blowing his own brains out at his stupid cubicle. Her, he wanted to see succeed. He couldn’t take back the burden of life from her, but he wanted her life to be... better. It was genuinely thrilling to see her win, and thrive. He didn’t want her to get friendly with some guy, and get stuck like her dad had been. He didn’t want Dash to be all impulsive and out of control. He wanted her to do what he couldn’t do, and give her a chance he never really had.
That’s what he felt, until every afternoon that she came home, and refused to talk to him, and he had completely reasonable expectations of her that she just didn’t even care about. She might have been a rising star, but she never listened to him, and he told her that. He told her what she could be, and what a little shit she was instead. He felt bad about it afterwards but also had a smug sense of satisfaction, that maybe it’d stick this time. Maybe she’d start taking things seriously, and stop trying to give everyone else a fair chance.
He had given everyone else a fair chance once, and look where it got him. Washed up, eating donuts and beer for breakfast, and his own daughter ran away from home, again. He just... wished he could be the one in there instead of her. Not because he didn’t want her to win. He wished she didn’t have to put up with his shit, and he could be the only one who had to put up with his own shit. He hated having to push her to push herself, when it was him he wanted to be in there, and he couldn’t... he couldn’t even run an eight minute mile anymore.
Good old dad hadn’t been doing so well since Rainbow Dash ran out this time. Frankly, he felt like his daughter was the one who took care of him, sometimes, not the other way around. She was always so good about everything, good at everything she did, and all he was was a bitter jerk who couldn’t stand to see her flying effortlessly across the field, even though it was the most beautiful thing in the world to him. He wanted... he wanted that. What she took for granted. And he got the booby prize instead.
Swigging another gulp of his booby prize, he turned to the sports section again, checking the latest statistics. Maybe he could find a better goalie for his fantasy football team this time, instead of that aquamarine sophomore.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying to turn the pages of a book.
The rainbow haired pegasus pony got the book open easy enough, after she’d finally managed to wrestle a book from one of the many, many ponies clamoring for something to do around here. Her prize currently lay on the floor of the shed that she’d absconded to, the light from the doorway well sufficient to read it, where she could easily nudge the pages over with her nose.
It wasn’t even a good book, just some detective novel. The sort of thing Rarity would get a real kick out of. But Rainbow Dash hadn’t read anything in days! She was sure the latest Shannara was out, and she still had to finish the Dark Tower, but it was kind of hard for her to get to the bookstore like this. Not without herself in peak pegasus condition!
Rainbow Dash’s wings had only improved after the day that Scootaloo had helped her so much. The kid was sure dedicated to getting the blue pegasus into the air with her. Scootaloo wasn’t letting Dash alone until all of her broken pinions had been shed. Rainbow also managed to get her nose into that book on birds, and on top of that, Scootaloo got that Twilight girl to give Rainbow Dash some personal tips. Twilight Sparkle really knew a lot about stuff, when she stopped thinking so much, that is!
Rainbow Dash was at the point now that she was showing other new ponies about wing care and stuff. And thanks to that crowded lecture earlier this month, more and more ponies were beginning to flutter up into the sky. Dash hadn’t done it... yet, but that’s because she still had some broken feathers, and Twilight said that it was better for your wings if you only did light wing exercises while those feathers were working their way out.
It took Rainbow Dash the better part of the afternoon to get through the book. She was laying on her back by the time she finished, with her wings to either side to catch her from rolling, holding the book up overhead in her forehooves. Her eyes darted idly back and forth, reading the text therein with a mild disinterest. The story was just adding on more and more mysteries and suspects and people getting murdered in more and more ridiculous ways. They really found a boat hook, where?
Dash definitely wasn’t a fan of mystery novels. She preferred fantasy, where the monsters were monsters, and the heroes were heroes, brave adventurers that ventured into wild, uncharted lands, and made the impossible possible. All this shades of grey whodunit stuff was just boring, and Dash wasn’t going to figure it out, so why didn’t they just tell her?
Finally, Rainbow Dash let all the pages on the right slip down, and wedged them up into her left hoof, nosing through the end of the book. Of course it was the protagonists’ wealthy father the whole time. “Lame,” she grumbled, letting the book flop down between her raised forehooves onto her fuzzy, naked blue chest. Because she was a frikkin horse now, albeit a horse with wings.
It wouldn’t be long before Rainbow Dash could go to the bookstore, or the school, or Tulsa, Oklahoma, if she wanted to! Being able to fly would be so awesome. Rainbow Dash could hardly wait to get off her hooves. She closed the book and sat up, looking off into the distance as she thought about her future. Still had a lot of loose ends to take care of. The old man didn’t even know about her yet. And Rainbow Dash was pretty good at not slurring too badly, so maybe she could think about maybe making up with him, maybe.
She sighed, not really getting as much out of this story as she thought she would. Taking the book in her teeth, Rainbow Dash trotted out of the shed, and headed for the main building.
On the way, a filly came running up to Dash with a delighted expression, saying in a sweet voice, “I’m so glad I found you!”
Rainbow Dash threw the book at her.
The pink filly, Cheery by name, caught the book in her forehooves, and pushed it over her head, onto her back. With the base of her tail vaguely holding onto the thing, the filly went happily trotting back inside the farm house to read it. Yup, that filly there was the reason Rainbow Dash had to hide away when she was reading her book. Just her luck, the next in line to read it was always some adorable foal, who Rainbow Dash just couldn’t say no to. She wouldn’t have thought little kids could be so cute, before this all happened. If anything, turning into a pony only made the littler ponies look cuter to Rainbow Dash!
Her obligation fulfilled, Rainbow Dash then wandered into the main building, thinking about just... stuff. It’d been a while. Surely he’d cooled his jets enough to talk with her. She was pretty much obliged to at this point, anyway. He just needed a while without putting up with her. Then they’d be cool again. Okay, maybe a month or so wasn’t long enough, but at least Rainbow Dash felt like she could tolerate him again. Well, she could tolerate him maybe, until he starting telling her how she was so much better than those other kids, and complaining that she never pushed her limits.
There was a line to use the phone, go figure. Rainbow Dash had her own phone though. She was really glad she was one of the lucky ponies whose phone had a stylus on it, though it was a pain to slide the stylus out of the slot with your lips. Lots of people, or, ponies couldn’t really use their phones at all, since hooves and noses were both quite too large to press anything with reliability. Some of the technies from the high school had got a thing going where they tried to make impromptu styluses (stylii?) from aluminum foil and Q-tips, but those had to be moistened, and... it looked like a real hassle.
So instead Dash took her slim, blue stylus in mouth, and carefully tapped out a number. Her phone was almost out of batteries; pretty soon she’d have to get it to one of the generators they dragged out here. Wouldn’t be too long before Rainbow Dash could fly though, and when she did, she could... maybe she could go home. The answering machine picked up, of course. Dash had the slim rectangle that was her phone laid before her on the floor, as she spoke into it cautiously,
Hey, dad?
Ish me. Sorry, it’s me. Look, I know you’re mad at me and... ugh. I know you want me to practishe harder, but something... something came up. Like, something huge. So I’m... I’m shorry I said I didn’t care about the football team. I’ve just had a lot on my mind, and something... happened. You know that pony thing? I’m a uh...
Rainbow Dash ended the call, blushing furiously. She could tell him later maybe, maybe when he actually was willing to pick up the phone. Working at a call center hadn’t done her dad any good, and it certainly hadn’t made him any better at answering calls, despite the fact that he was probably right there at the phone this very moment. It was getting kind of late in the afternoon anyway, and she really wanted to check if any of her other friends had started changing yet. Rainbow dialed another number.
“Yo, P,” Dash soon spoke into her phone.
“Still an HB, RD!” came Pinkie Pie’s bright voice through the speakers. Dash’s conical ears easily picked it up, and though she was disappointed, she still felt a warm sense of relief at hearing from her friend.
“Anyone else yet?” Dash asked hopefully.
“Nope,” Pinkie said, “Fluttershy’s as swamped as ever with everypony’s pets at the animal shelter, and Rarity’s still coming to school with bags under her eyes trying to make clothing for everypony. And you know about Applejack and Sunset better than I do. Anything fun happening in your neighb?”
“Oh, heh, actually yeah!” Rainbow Dash said, looking up at the thought of a very odd pair of ponies she recalled seeing the other day. A confusing reunion to say the least.
“Why’my stho big? ” the berry colored mare exclaimed loudly, making Rainbow Dash jerk awake, sticking her head up out from the pillows. At least a dozen others in the room joined her, so this was a pony with a set of lungs on her.
It was morning again, time for another bunch of people to figure out that they turned into ponies. Dash liked to hang around the newbie area, in case any of them needed a hand, or a hoof or a wing however that worked. This wasn’t her business though, just sort of amusing, because the berry colored mare had been sleeping together with a light pink filly, who also woke up with that shout, and gazed up at the older mare with big, grey-green eyes.
“Oh my god Berryshine, you’re adorable!” the filly chirped out in unreserved glee. “You look like you’re all grown up!”
“I... wha? bu...” Berryshine said staring at her in absolute, wide-eyed confusion. “Thstill older zhan... you?”
“Just like you always wanted!” the filly exclaimed, laying on her side to push her hooves against the larger mare’s belly. “Now you get to be the mom, and I can be the bratty kid!”
“Mom, thatsh—” Berryshine cut off, as she looked down at the filly smiling up at her, as if seeing her for the very first time. Turning away, her face was even pinker than the rest of her as Berryshine mumbled, “Thashridigckuloush.”
“Come on, ‘mom,’ gimme a big hug!” the filly asserted insistently with an unrepentant grin, spreading her forehooves.
“Howhieven,” Berryshine replied in a frightened tone, looking at her own hoof that she extended out in front of her. “Howhieven dho hanyfing? ”
“You’ll figure it out, cutie. Lemme handle the hugging for now!” the filly said, and promptly climbed on top of her... anti-mother? “Mmm...” the filly said settling against the mare’s thick purple pink body.
“Mom, shtop, mom tha’ feelsh weird, mom! ” the mare said in increasing agitation. She sighed in disgust then, and looked away from the filly, at the ponies around the room.
“An’ wha’re hyou arll loorking aht?”
Other newbies were surprised with what they saw of themselves waking up that morning, but with how loud those two were being, it was pretty obvious to everyone that you were gonna wake up with hooves. The transformation always seemed to start, and end really early in the morning, but it was happening with lots of people at once now.
Rainbow Dash lost track of those two in the crowd over the day, but she relayed the news to Pinkie Pie who (of course) knew them.
“Berryshine and her mom switched? ” Pinkie said excitedly, “Oh that’s so superincrediriffamazing! Were they supposed to switch? Her mom’s always been so silly, maybe she’s a kid at heart! Is Berryshine coming back to school even though she’s not a filly? No of course she is, because other the ponies are coming back like that.”
“Maybe give her a chance to learn how to walk first,” Rainbow said frankly.
“Is she a unicorn? Or a pegasus? Or an earth pony?” Pinkie asked eagerly.
Dash kind of blanked on that. “Y’know I kind of didn’t check, so... earth pony? I would have remembered if she ha’ wings.”
“I’ll mark that down as a ‘maybe’” Pinkie reported.
“Wait, are hyou writing this down?” Rainbow asked nervously.
“Can’t talk, busy planning,” Pinkie stated, hanging up the phone.
Dash stared at it in confusion for a second, but a smile broke on her pony face, and she shook her head. “She better be planning something totally crazy, or I’ll be disappointed in that girl,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. Then, she went to call Rarity.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash,” Rarity’s voice came pleasantly over. “How may I help you?”
“Yeah, I’ like to order new uniforms for the entire team, and I need 6 prom dresshes by tomorrow,” Rainbow Dash rattled off easily. At the sound of hyperventilating, she added, “Jus’ kidding, Rares. You been really busy, huh?”
“Yes I’ve... I’ve had my hands full as it were,” Rarity said a little breathlessly. “People all over the city are starting to realize that this transformation may be a very big deal indeed. I don’t think there is anybody left who doesn’t know at least someone who’s been transformed into a pony.”
“Still waiting on you and the others,” Rainbow Dash said, “Jus’ checked in with Pinkie.”
“Oh, I am not looking forward to that day,” Rarity said glumly. “To have to relearn everything all over again... at the very least I will have a horn to make use of. But to teach myself to speak with a new mouth? What if I lose my carefully cultivated accent?”
“What accent?” Rainbow asked in confusion.
There was a pause over the phone, before Rarity said thinly, “Never mind. Oh, could you be a dear and check up on Sweetie Belle?”
“She—sure thing,” Rainbow said reluctantly, but resignedly. Being the only pony of the six, Rainbow Dash was a good choice for Rarity to keep up with her sister, when Rarity couldn’t be there for Sweetie Belle, herself. Still it was kind of awkward, not really Rainbow Dash’s favorite thing.
“Have you called Fluttershy yet?” Rarity asked hopefully over the phone.
“Not yet, wash gonna call her next,” Rainbow replied.
“Oh good,” Rarity said in relief. “Could you tell her that the outfits for the shelter are ready for her to pick up?”
“Outfits for... petsh?” Rainbow Dash asked uneasily.
“Oh, no no no, heavens no,” Rarity says, “We have our priorities straight here at Carousel Corner. Fluttershy has also been volunteering at the soup kitchen, which has since been adapted for use in pony rehabilitation. Rest assured I won’t design one single silly pet costume until every pony has their decency restored. Not even for that adorable talking puppy of Twilight’s.”
“Clothing’sh really not that big a deal,” Rainbow Dash said dismissively, “We have those marks on our butts, sho that’s basically like clothing already.”
“I... I thank you for your opinion,” Rarity said politely, “Was there anything else?”
“Nope, just checkin’ on ya,” Rainbow replied.
She then called Fluttershy, for a typically brief conversation, just happy to hear her voice really.
“Hey Flutters, it’s me,” Rainbow said. “How you doing?”
“Oh hello Rainbow Dash, it’s wonderful to hear from you,” came Fluttershy’s slow, soothing tones. “I’ve been very busy. With finals approaching, and the pet sitting, and all.”
“Jus’ checked with Pinkie and I wanted to let you know I’m still the only pony,” Rainbow replied. “You know, of the shix of us.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said sympathetically. “Do you want someone to come pay you a visit anyway?”
“Nah, I got thish,” Rainbow said smugly, “Jus’ a head’s up though, because somepony might be paying you a vishit soon. My wings are looking pretty good, and if all goesh well I should be flying by nexsh week.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Fluttershy gushed. “I’m so happy for you!”
“I’m happy for me too,” Rainbow replied smugly. “Oh, Rarity jus’ told me that she had some outfitsh ready for the shelter.”
“That’s very good news,” Fluttershy agreed, “Ponies here really do appreciate having something to wear.”
“Not me. I’m going straight out, full pony!” Rainbow Dash declared. “I can’t wear clothesh anyway or they’ll slow me down.”
“Oh, that’s...” Fluttershy trailed off into a squeak that a few of her dogs seemed to be able to hear.
“Alright, Flutters,” Rainbow said, “I can hear thoshe dogs whining, so I’ll let you go do your thing.”
“It’s no trouble, really,” Fluttershy said, clearly rubbing a few heads from the grummles and rumbles coming from around her. “These cuties know I’m going to take good care of them.”
“Good luck with that, Flutters,” Dash replied. “See you later!”
And now the only one she had left to call was her dad. Rainbow Dash stared at the quiescent phone, then slid the stylus into it, and put it back in her bag. It was no big deal. She could call him later.
“Ah don’t believe it!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, amazed.
“This is the exact same spot,” Scootaloo replied, “I’m sure of it!”
Sweetie Belle said nothing, as she was busy trying to deal with the bulky camera that they’d brought up here with them.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had... not snuck out of class, but just taken a little bit of an extra long lunch break, got the camera out of Sweetie’s locker, and snuck up to somewhere they weren’t supposed to go. The three fillies stood atop the roof of the school at its highest point. Scootaloo was gazing out in the distance, where the land seemed to travel on endlessly, but was only an illusion. You could see it if you knew what to look for, where everything just started... repeating.
“Okay, now we gotta tell those girls,” Apple Bloom stated. “The evidence is overwhelming!”
“Well, the evidence is here, at least,” Sweetie Belle corrected. “It’s definitely something they’d be interested in.”
“Maybe they’d take us more seriously then, too,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes.
“No, but this really is the first time we’ve been able to find any real world connection,” Sweetie said urgently, “I didn’t even take myself seriously, but now... I’m actually kinda scared.”
“We’ll be alright, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, chucking her on the shoulder. “There’s nobody here to get upset, even. I bet they’ll take measurements, and just conclude that huh, now we still don’t know anything at all, so keep us posted if you find anything. Like they always do.”
“Maybe...” Sweetie said skeptically. “I definitely agree we should tell them.”
“Then, it’s decided,” Apple Bloom said. “We’ll tell ‘em soon as we get done with school today.”
“I’m all for that,” Scootaloo smiled.
“I guess this means we have to go to class...” Sweetie Belle said in disappointment.
“There’s only a few weeks left,” Apple Bloom said. “We gotta push hard now to get through our finals. Ah do not want to have to take any of these stupid classes a second time.”
“Let’s hurry then,” Scootaloo urged. The Crusaders trotted around to the door off the roof, but before they went in, Apple Bloom’s ear turned behind her.
“You two go on ahead,” she said. “Ah think I gotta go talk with someone.”
The other two winced, and Scootaloo said in a whisper, “Good luck!” Then they tip toed down the stairs, and Apple Bloom was alone, except not... quite.
“Sure is a nice view up here,” she announced loudly, startling the quiet purple boy who’d been staring at the horizon, lost in contemplation.
“Apple Bloom?” Dinky asked, “What are you doing up here?”
“Ah might be asking the same of you,” she said. “What’s been bothering you Dinky?”
His face hardened, and he turned away, saying, “Don’t act like it didn’t happen. You know what’s bothering me.”
Apple Bloom had to blush at that. Here was a boy, who was not only a boy, but had been a boy. Or, been a man, or however you implied what he went and did. It made her feel kind of... scared actually, because he actually went and did something that she could never understand. And it made him all... sour about it and stuff. Was it like mind control or something?
“A-ah just wanted to know you’re not a... ah’m here for you if’n you want to talk about it,” she said uncertainly.
“Well I don’t, so leave me alone,” he said angrily, staring away from her.
“See that’s how ah know something’s bothering ya,” Apple Bloom quipped, “You always wanna talk about people’s feelings.”
“Other people, yeah,” he said, “But why would I want to talk about mine?”
Apple Bloom thought about that, and said, “How d’you think Diamond feels about you being like this?”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Dinky asked bitterly, “She’ll be giving birth either way. If her baby even survives.”
“It’s your baby too, y’know,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“Yeah I—” Dinky scrunched his eyes shut, having trouble controlling his voice saying, “Yeah I know. Could you please leave? I c-came up here to be alone.”
“Look, Dinky, ah...” Apple Bloom huffed in frustration. “Ah know the other kids’ve been beating you up.”
“So?” he said, “Why do you think I’m hiding up here?”
“They couldn’t do nothing to you in class,” Apple Bloom said, but he snapped at her,
“They could still look at me in class. Why should I give them the satisfaction?”
“Dinky... you don’t needta hurt yourself like this,” Apple Bloom said carefully, “You gotta stop letting it get to you. Those kids’re wrong and you don’t need—”
“Are they?” he asked dangerously, turning to look at her with incredulous golden eyes. “Are they really?”
Apple Bloom had to back up as Dinky rounded on her. Stalking up to her, the boy said, “I fu—did something bad to Diamond Tiara, and I wanted to do it to her, and I still want to do it to her.” Oh this was a bad idea, she realized as the giant of a boy loomed over her, staring at her with angry, predatory eyes that almost seemed to glow. She was fighting not to just run as he said, “They aren’t doing anything I don’t deserve! I just—I don’t want to be this way, but I am! Why are you even trying to help me? There’s no point!”
“You’re wrong!” Apple Bloom shouted tearfully. “You don’t deserve none of this!”
“Even you’re scared of me,” he said in amazement, looking down at her quivering form. “You think I wouldn’t even care if you’re an animal? Why would I? Might as well, right?”
“That’s not why ah’m—” but Apple Bloom was sure thinking about it now. It didn’t help that she was right at the level of his pants, and she didn’t have anything on but a dress. Pony underclothes were not a thing at the moment.
“A-ah’m not scared of you,” she lied, “An’ you better not be even thinking about doing nothing, ‘cause ah’m real strong and...”
“...great, now I am thinking about it,” Dinky groaned. He turned and stalked back to stare out over the city again.
“Well—well you...” Apple Bloom wiped at her eyes furiously. “There ain’t nothing wrong with me, an’ there ain’t nothing wrong with you, even if you think that sometimes.”
He didn’t respond.
“Diamond Tiara needs you!” Apple Bloom said desperately.
“Ha!” was Dinky’s reply. He didn’t even turn around.
“Well... ‘ha’ to you too!” Apple Bloom shouted, “Maybe if’n you stopped beating yourself up so much, other kids would stop helping you do it!”
More silence.
“Ohh!” Apple Bloom squealed, turning on her toes and galloping for the door outta here. She shut it behind her with a snort, and started loping her way down the stairs. Maybe that boy did need some time alone, because he sure wasn’t very pleasant to be around anymore.
She at least had presence of mind to check for hall monitors, but she was definitely late slipping into her next classroom. A tardy slip weeks before school got out, the last school year they’d have before everyone was a pony. Apple Bloom swore inwardly as she stared at it, and in the grand scheme of things, it shouldn’t have even mattered to her that she had a tardy slip. It shouldn’t have. She didn’t understand nothing sometimes.
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Rip Rainbow Dad
8081700
More like Rainbow Ded amirite
Anyone know who Rainbows dad is going to be? I know it could just be an OC so impossible to figure out but we do know lime green coat with blonde mane. There are not many ponys with that coat color in general and even less so with the mane.
There are a few apples with at least the general direction of those colors: Apple Munchies, Apple Mint, Apple Honey, Wensley.
But none of them actually are (on the wiki) described as blond. I would kinda love it to be Zephyr Breeze, but while his mane would kinda fit, his coat is "aquamarine" aka. turquois.
My first and best thought was actually Lightning Dust, her mane is described as "brilliant amber" with "brilliant gold" stripes so that is not that far fetch'd. But LDs coat is "light turquois", so sadly not fitting, right?
So, any ideas?
Also, love the fic, keep up the good work ferret.
So... does the passage go all the way to the site of the golden apple? Is that what our crusader's realized?
Aside from that, there is a whole lot in this chapter for me to pick through to comment on so it's heard to decide... Dinky is understandably taking it hard... he seriously needs a professional to help him with this. Even if the professionals would be out of their depth in this situation. Even Celestia is finally calling for the one who might have more experience. Props to her for swallowing her pride and straight up admitting she wasn't right in her first reaction, making the effort to properly mend bridges, not just patch it to get them to do stuff (at least, seemingly mend bridges.)
8082955
Thanks.
I will confess, I am one of those poor, blighted souls who cannot tell the difference between the red ribbon and the cinnamon one, so I apologize if I am thinking of a pony who you didn't expect at all, because I described their colors totally wrong.
8083112
There's a bit of a kerfluffle in the next chapter, but in the chapter after that, they'll give a pretty clear explanation.
He certainly isn't what I would call a very happy boy right now.
Even the best of us can end up causing others pain and hardship, but what really separates the wheat from the chaff is whether we're willing to set things right.
8083127 But of course Twilight reacts to the 'important' part. Celestias... first name!
8083119 He's Lightning Dust, right?
8083938
He's Woah Nelly
8085703 In that case, I hope he'll be at ground level when ponification hits him.
8085825
For his sake, and for the sake of anyone underneath him.
8091912
Base 4? Why would a human ever use base 4?
Officer Redshirt..... whelp there goes all mystery of who will be first to die/be maimed or otherwise injured when things go south.
Okay then after reading a little further nice way to toy with expectations there.
Welp, someone's going to die.
You broke the tradition!
I'm not actually upset, it just needed to be said. 
Also, can someone please pick up that phone.
You must have wonderful parents.
I just use feathers, or unclicked pens, or a drinking straw if your desperate.
"the crowd pegasi"
"the crowd of pegasi"?
"some of which whom had stopped"
"some of whom had stopped"?
"from where she was laying on her back"
"lying"?
"I wonder what that dream princess been telling them"
"princess has been"?
...Is Rainbow Dash's father Lightning Dust?
"She was laying on her back by the time she finished"
"lying"?
"laying on her side to push"
"lying"?
"because other of the ponies are coming"
"because other ponies are coming"?
"“Clothing’sh really not that big a deal,” Rainbow Dash said dismissively, “We have those marks on our butts, sho that’s basically like clothing already.”
“I... I thank you for your opinion,” Rarity said politely,"
This bit I found particularly funny. :D
8085703
...Nah, not buying it, ferret. :)
8402717
Ah Rarity, mistress of tact.
Oh come on now, would I lie to you?