Fur and Feathers

by Nexas

Stitch in my Side

"Opal!" Rarity whined. "You have to get off there, mommy's very busy!"

A certain annoyed unicorn named Rarity stared down at the white, plump cat that clung to her mannequin. All around them the boutique was in almost as big a mess as the storm outside; the entire room was coated in a layer of colorful fabrics, gems, and assorted tools that draped over the many mirrors and mannequins. The dark clouds outside brewed and stirred, each flash of lightning causing the cat to cling to the model harder and harder.

"Opal, please listen to mommy." Rarity spoke soothingly to the freaked out feline. "I really need to finish these dresses today for the celebration. I was behind in production before but now that the storm was pulled in by the Pegasus, I can finally finish."

The cat didn't listen to her, either that, or she refused. Opal clung even harder to the mannequin, digging her sharp claws into the delicate fabric and evoking a quiet cry from the unicorn, as if she had suffered physical pain. Rarity walked over to one of the other models, an already finished costume covered the white mannequin, and inspected its stitches. Outside, the storm, and its symphony of thunder, was getting louder and louder, but Rarity was oblivious to it.

"I must admit though." She mumbled. "This is probably going to be one of my greatest achievements, if I can get it all done in time."

She turned back to Opal, who was still digging into the fabric. "And if somepony could get off the mannequin, then I can continue!"

A flash of lightning caused Opal to hiss in fear, the crashing thunder shaking the glass windows. This drew Rarity's attention and she walked up to one of the big panes of glass and looked through it to the dark town beyond.

Rarity shook her head. She was disappointed that the show had to be put on hold but at the same time relieved. "I always thought that storms were quite beautiful." She whispered quietly to the clouds. A bolt of lightning struck right after her words, as if replying to her statement.

She magically pulled her satin drapes down over the windows, blocking the light from the storm and darkening the room. As soon as the drapes were down, candles all around the room lit up, casting a dull orange glow over the fabrics and causing the scattered gems to sparkle.

Rarity turned and walked back to the mannequins. "I do hope that Twilight is okay though. She was so looking forward to the party. I wonder how she's taking it."

She thought for a moment but shook it off. Whatever she thought of was too ridiculous.

"Oh calm down Rarity. Twilight is a sensible pony; she wouldn't do something so rash."

She looked down upon her pet cat, who was seemingly trying to cling to the mannequin with her teeth.

"Opal, I have had it up to here with your antics." She raised a hoof into the air above her head to emphasize her point. "I'm going to ask you one more time; please get off my mannequin."

Opal took one look at her and hissed defiantly, swiping at her with a paw.

"Oh that is it!" Rarity's horn glowed and a white aura formed around the cat's tail. She began to pull, trying to un-stick her cat from her work. Opal hissed in defiance and remained stuck to the dress.

An unusually loud bout of thunder shook the boutique, knocking jars and boxes of sewing equipment to the floor and causing Rarity to flinch.

"Oh, now what is it?!" She momentarily left her pet alone to go to the covered windows. She lifted one slightly out of the way and peered out.

"Strange, those clouds are moving faster than usual. Almost like their being pushed away-"

She barely had time to react before the wall of magic shot through the boutique; passing seamlessly through the windows and straight through Rarity. The wave of magic slammed into Opal; detaching her from the mannequin and sending her crashing into a mound of clothing.

Rarity clung to one of the drapes as the magic passed through, nearly blowing her back and sending the room into chaos. "Opal! My store! My hair!"

And as soon as the magic had entered it left through the back wall, leaving the room in a state of disaster even greater than before. Rarity quickly pulled herself from the curtains and ran to the mound of glowing clothing.

"Opal! Are you alright sweetie?" She called to the mound but it didn't reply. The glowing from the mound began to intensify and a figure began to rise from the pile, the bright light temporarily blinding Rarity.

"What in the..."

The light began to fade and Rarity rubbed her eyes, finally able to focus on the figure; a pure white female unicorn. Her fur and mane were impeccably groomed and styled, a gem encrusted collar curled around her neck.

"Finally, I believed that storm would never stop." The figure let out a sigh of relief, tossing her mane back and stepped out of the pile of clothes. The pony's purple eyes fell on Rarity who was silent with confusion. "Are you alright darling?" She asked with a snicker. "You're looking whiter than usual."

Rarity stepped back from the pony that was suddenly in her shop. "Who...who are you?! And where is Opal?"

The pony drew up a hoof and laughed at the unicorn.

"Ohohoho, you always did have trouble looking for things that were right in front of you."

"I'll repeat again." Rarity took a step forward threateningly, her horn now glowing in preparation. "Where. Is. Opalescense?"

The mare leaned in, the two pony's faces almost touching.

"You're looking at her." She grinned.

It was Rarity's turn to laugh at the other pony, though it was a nervous one. "Oh really?" She said dryly.

Opal nodded and pointed to the collar on her neck. "But of course. It says so on this tacky collar you made for me."

"Tacky?!" Rarity gasped, outraged. "I'll have you know I made that from the finest gemstone and....and..."

Her voice drifted away as she locked eyes on the collar around the pony's neck and the all too familiar gemstones that were attached to that. Her eyes rapidly went from the collar to the unicorn.

"...Opal...?" She said quietly almost to herself, her eyes widening with shock.

The other unicorn nodded. "Hello Rarity. You look smaller than usual."

Rarity stepped back in shock, stared wide eyed at the unicorn, and screamed louder than she thought possible. She screamed for more than a minute before dropping to the floor, passed out.

Opal looked down at her owner and sighed.

"Tsk, tsk, Rarity. Always the overdramatic one."

After a moment of procrastination, Opal finally lifted the downed unicorn on to her back and carried her to the other side of the room, plopping Rarity onto a couch. She just barely had enough time to sit down herself before the doors to the boutique flew open and a lavender unicorn ran in.

"Rarity! Are you okay-oh..." She called frantically before noticing the unicorn and her unconscious friend.

Opal huffed. "Twilight Sparkle, of course it would be you."

A moment later, a brown Pegasus barreled into the room after Twilight.

"Twilight, you can't just invade a pony's house! You could get sued or-" He jumped back when he noticed the other pony in the room. "Cat!" He screamed.

Opal waved sarcastically, enjoying the Pegasus's nervousness. "Bird."

Twilight finally realized who they were talking to. "Opal? You're a...pony now?"

"Your analyzation skills are as sharp as ever, Miss Sparkle." The cat-turned-pony dryly answered. She walked over to one of the many full-body mirrors in the boutique and examined herself, doing several poses. "And it seems that I'm not the only one enjoying their new body, isn't that right, bird?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I can't even turn my head a full three-sixty degrees." He attempted the act but stopped when at forty five degrees. He rubbed his sore neck. "I still wonder how you ponies live."

"We manage. Is Rarity okay?"

"She's fine, surprisingly enough the windows are okay as well."

Owlowiscious, who had placed Twilight in between him and the cat, nodded. "That's good, it means that the magic won't harm anything."

"But it's still affecting you. Who knows how many pets have been turned into ponies?!"

Opal starred at the two frantic ponies and shook her head, her long mane swishing back and forth. "Don't worry darlings, we know everypony in Ponyville, there aren't that many animal keepers."

Twilight said "Alright, that's good. Fewer animals means less transformations."

Opal said. "And less panic. Honestly, you ponies panic at the drop of a satin hat."

Twilight opened her mouth to make a rebuttal but closed it when she couldn't think of anything to say.

Owlowiscious looked to Twilight, speaking apologetically. "You really do."

"Oh shush!" Twilight shouted. She looked at Opal. "Come with us and bring Rarity, we need to get out of here before anypony notices."

"Rarity, are you okay?"

A voice called out and a small white unicorn peered into the room from the hallway. It was Sweetie belle; Rarity's sister.

"Twilight?" She stepped quietly into the room, not noticing her unconscious sister. "What's going on?" She looked over at the strange white pony. "Who are they?"

"Nothing!" Twilight jumped in front of the three other ponies, her horn glowing bright purple. "We weren't here!"

The white unicorn looked over to the Pegasus and said. "What did I tell you? Panic."

And they were gone from the boutique, gone in a flash of magic, leaving behind a very startled filly staring at the burnt spot on the floor.

***

"Applejack!! Where are you!?"

"Careful Applebloom, The storms always draw Timberwolves out of the forests."

"Ah don't care! We have to find big sis!"

Two voices; a deep, slow drawl and a high, childish shouting, reached the unconscious farmer's ears, causing her to stir. Applejack weakly opened her eyes, her entire body was sore, especially her head. It felt like she had fought with a manticore and lost. She groaned loudly, unable to do much else.

"Wait, did you hear that?"

"It sounded like it came from behind that tree."

"Ah'll take a loo-APPLEJACK!"

Applejack felt a small but heavy force slam into her body, pushing the air out of her lungs. Applejack moaned weakly and looked at the small being that hit with such force; her little sister Applebloom.

"Big sis, you're okay!"

"Really...?" She managed to wheeze out her voice. "Doesn't feel like it."

"You certainly took a hard fall by the looks of it." Her big brother, Big Macintosh, walked slowly up to her. "But that tree behind you took an even harder hit."

Applejack craned her head to look behind her and low and behold, the tree Applejack had slammed into was split in two, a long crack running up the bark. In another time, another place, Applejack would've been proud of herself but her splitting headache prevented her from cheering up.

The small filly looked over Applejack and pointed. "Hey big sis, who's this other pony?"

Applejack looked down at her side and Big Mac looked over her as well. At Applejack's side, unknowingly curled up in the farmer's arms, was another earth pony.

The pony was female, her fur was sufficed to say, scruffy, as if her fur hadn't had a proper brushing in her life. The fur itself was two different colors; dark brown and white mixing together. A simple red collar with a bright metal tag hung around her neck. Applejack's hat rested on her head.

Big Mac reached up and pulled Applebloom away. "Ah thought you were looking for Winona, not meeting up with a special friend." he said with a hint of humor.

"Ah was not!" Applejack said, coming to most of her senses quickly and managing to sit up, a blush clear on her face. "Ah was looking for mah dog and Ah found her too!"

"Well where is she then?"

"Um..." She suddenly lost the strength in her voice. "Well...Ah was looking for her, and Ah found her under a tree, and a strange wave of purple stuff slammed into us and Ah was knocked out...and here Ah am."

While she was talking, the strange pony in Applejack's arms began to wake up. She looked up quietly at the farmer pony, pushing the brim of the hat out of view.

Applejack noticed this and looked down at the pony and found two, happy, orange eyes looking up at her.

The pony barked happily, jumped up and started licking the side of Applejack's face. Applejack turned to stone, thrown for a loop by the events that led to this and what was happening right now. She looked over to her brother, who was blocking Applebloom's view and very badly hiding a smirk.

"This doesn't mean anything!"

"Of course it doesn't."

Applejack pushed the happy pony away gently and looked at the collar on her neck. It looked all to familiar.

"Hey, that's Winona's collar." She said.

The cries of animals suddenly filled their ears. Everypony's heads turned towards the farm.

"That sounds like the cows!" Applebloom estimated. "Something must be wrong!"

The earth pony barked again and raced off in the direction of the barns where the cows lived.

"Wait!" Applejack held out a hoof at the pony but she didn't listen, sprinting away from the three. Big Mac helped his sister to her hooves and took off after the pony, Applebloom following closely behind and Applejack slowly bringing up the rear.

"It can't be." She mumbled.

The three eventually reached the barns where the cows lived. An entire clan of bovine had come to the apple family decades ago asking for work and had worked closely with them ever since. The barns showed damage from the storm, holes busted in them by rocks and branches but thankfully the cows were not inside them.

They were outside the barns, herded into a pile by a pack of vicious Timberwolves that were circling them, licking their splintered lips at the quivering bovine.

And the pony was rushing in straight towards them.

"Winona!" Applejack screamed.

Comments

[Nexas]

Sorry about lack of update, been crazy distracted, it's not even funny.

[Okami-G]

Puppy!!!

And cat....

Can't wait to see Gummy!!!

[CountDerpy]

1327654 Finally able to sit down and read this.....and i am amazed to say the least....very good show!
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luvdl0P6ui1r5rqm0o1_r3_500.gif

[Liqwidice]

Awesome chapter as always.

[TheMyth]

Forget Gummy... it's Angel who's going to be the problem child

[IceFireWolf]

Jello pie

[Dusty the Royal Janitor]

Why can't Winona speak?

[Traintrax]

Twilight suddenly realized what she was they were talking to.[/quote]

He attempted the act but stopped when hr reached forty five degrees. He rubbed his neck.

Not only did you misspell that 'he', but you overused the word itself. Thus making this a redundant sentence.

Aside from that it's a great chapter.

[Ryunaker]

My question is...wouldn't all of Fluttershy's animals be affected? They are all cared for by her, much like pets are. I can't imagine poor Fluttershy surrounded by hundreds of ponies that she doesn't know.

[Fallen_Stargazer]

1327914 gotta make you wonder then what's gonna happen to the mice, squirrels, chipmunks, etc....all living in her walls. dozens of ponies squished inside the walls equals big mess.

[chasethebrony]

1327914
My thoughts exactly.

[clonezero]

1327914
WHO ARE YOU PONIES!?

[BBkat]

1327852
Maybe she just hasn't yet?

[ConsciousHaze196]

"Ohohoho, you always did have trouble looking for things that were right in front of you."

Why am I thinking Opal has low, deep troll voice when telling this?

[SomeRandomPony]

Huh

Opal is taking this in stride apparently. Waaay better than Rarity thats for sure

Also the part with Apple Jack and wionna was just a laugh riot honestly

But, I don't think Wiona fully understands that she is a pony right now

Regardless keep it up!

[djthomp]

Kick some Timberwolf flank, Winona!

[cs95]

i wanna see gummy

[demanji]

1327802 what?

[Discorded Q]

Gummy better be a freaking genius or I will kill this pig.

[Lunar Walker]

hmm.... will read later.

[Candyheart]

this chapter 4 is hilarious! And btw this story is really good. Keep going!

[CDR]

Owlicious - Owl - Pegasus
Pee Wee - Pheonix - Pegasus Alicorn
Opalecence - Cat - Earth Pony Unicorn
Winona - Dog - Earth Pony
Tank - Tortise - Earth Pony
Gummy - Alligator - Earth Pony
Angel - Bunny - Earth Pony

So you aren't just going with the technical choice. I wonder if Opal will get to use her newfround magic?

[Nexas]

1335475
Maybe, if she knows that she's a unicorn.

[EpicGuy]

A good chapter- Opal was hilarious.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Ah, that should be a big clue for Twi when she finds that the non-ponies accepted as 'people' are unaffected, nor are "monster" class beasties so far...

[CodeRaptor]

"Think of the unchecked checklists..." She looked up at her assistant sadly. "The checklists Spike."

I lost my shit! Oh this story is awesome!

[Fierce Feline]

Nice chapter!

[DemonRykuKyuubi]

amazing so far! I loved Opal's part! Keep up the great work!

[Luna-Eclipse]

"Twilght?" She stepped quietly into the room, not noticing her unconscious sister.

Twilight

And they were gone from the boutique, gone in a flash of magic, leaving behind a very startled filly staring at the burnt spot ont he floor.

on the

[Elzipper7]

"Whatever!" Twilight shouted.

I'm sorry but that just feels out of character to me. I imagine she'd say 'Oh shush' or some such.

It was Sweetie belle; Rarity's younger sister.

excessive clarification, much?

"Careful Applebloom, there might be Timberwolves out here."

For whatever reason it doesn't quite seem likely that timber wolves would be raiding Sweet Apple Acres right after a thunderstorm. Maybe you think differently.

That's all for now.

[Nexas]

1373910
Thanks for pointing those out.
1374061
Thanks. I'll work on those.

[SP00KY NINJA-PON3]

OH SHIT. ANGEL'S GOING TO BE A PONY.

ANDIAMO!!!

[G S tol Kriaal]

"Big sister, are you okay?"

She doesn't call her that

[MemeticHazard]

You are all now reading Opal's lines in the voice of a snippier River Song.

[Jdts7]

Stupid dog! you made me look homosexual! OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!

[fluttershywriter]

oh my god, I love Opal so much.

[Metal Fight Maru]

2007834 Whovian alert.

[mur-pony]

fur was sufficed to say, scruffy,