Chapter 11
Ever since meeting Twilight for the first time several years ago, Rainbow had seen Equestria go through some pretty awful things. Some part of her wondered if it was her fault that the creatures around her were suffering so much, if maybe all the monsters and demons of the world would just leave everypony alone if they'd stayed at home in Ponyville and not made too much noise. Not that Rainbow was the sort of pony to accept that outcome, even if it would have kept Equestria safe. It was just one of those things on the list to keep her up at night.
She'd seen Equestria with all its magic drained (twice!), she'd seen Ponyville enslaved by an insane magician. She'd seen Canterlot invaded and probably lots of other little disasters that she could barely remember. Like that time the country had suffered through eternal night for a single evening.
But no destruction was so complete as when the Eevee got loose.
Twilight's desperate plan to drain their world of alien influence required rare materials from all over the world, and of course she was one of the ponies leading the charge to bring them back. It didn't matter if she couldn't fly anymore—as far as she knew, nopony could. That meant she had ample opportunity to see a great deal of Equestria. Her membership in the Wonderbolts meant she knew what each little town and village ought to look like. Unfortunately for everywhere she visited: it seemed that none had been spared the Eevee.
Her first mission was simple enough: make it to Appleloosa, and bring back a tub of one of the strange minerals they mined there, something called "Yellowcake." Difficult enough on its face, since the trip would lead her straight into some of the hottest, driest parts of Equestria. If only Applejack would've come along, instead of worrying so much about the farm. Couldn't she tell that farming apples would be the least of everypony's worries when they were all foxes now? Could foxes even eat apples?
Rainbow never would've stood a chance to walk all the way there, probably not even while she'd been a pony. But they still had the trains, it would just be quite a bit harder to get them moving. When they finally arrived...
At first it looked like the entire town was abandoned. Not a single pony was waiting for them at the station. When Rainbow finally emerged, she found only peering eyes from within buildings. The “Eevees” hadn't all died or anything, Rainbow knew a town in trouble when she saw it. She stayed in the town for as little time as possible, hopping back into the train and promising the poor souls left behind that they "planned on fixing things within two weeks." A feeble promise, but it was all she could offer.
She could only imagine how awful things would be in a big city like Manehattan. Thousands of ponies, all stacked up in skyscrapers, relying on huge machines to keep the water and food flowing. It was an apocalypse, albeit the cutest apocalypse they'd ever seen.
Rainbow made a few more trips for supplies, sometimes joined by one of her friends. Fluttershy in particular seemed fascinated by the potential implications of a world "run entirely by animals." Mostly the implications were that the animals ran, scavenging for what food they could, and tried very hard not to burn their towns down. There were no fires as Rainbow made her brief tour around the country, but there was no telling how long that would last. Not using their new powers was like... staying trapped on the ground. Rainbow couldn’t deal with it, and she suspected that most of the others couldn't either. It was only a matter of time before they were forced to release that magical energy, often catastrophically.
By the time Rainbow was making her way back from Canterlot, she had been a fox for nearly two weeks. The train barely even made it back into the station, limping along with screeching breaks and wheels that were messed up in some way or another. Rainbow emerged from within like a creature who'd just survived a war, glancing over the back of the train and surveying the damage. Canterlot had been the worst place they'd been so far—the city wasn't the largest in Equestria, but even so it was in utter chaos. The side of the train had been melted, either by the lightning of one of the yellow foxes, or maybe the flames of one of the orange ones.
Engineer Coupling Rod clambered out of the engine a moment later, removing a tiny pair of goggles. Perhaps fittingly, he was one of those fluffy, fiery foxes like Applejack. But he hadn't tried to attack her during any of their trips. "Miss Dash, I think that's about done it for old 38 here. We just haven't had the tools, and there are some replacement parts she needs. Hate to be a disappointment, but she's stuck. Not for every princess in Equestria could I get her moving again."
Rainbow nodded. She didn't get much closer to him—she'd learned by now that fire foxes didn't respond well to water ones. The reverse wasn't so bad, though she certainly didn't enjoy being dried out. "You did good, Coupling Rod. I'll tell Twilight that we don't have your train anymore. But I remember her saying something about being nearly done. Those crystals we brought in from the palace might be the last we need." She groaned, shaking herself out. Filling a large tub on the train had made travel not the worst, but it was no river. Just keep going a little longer. Bring in this last load, and you can go relax. One more shipment, and it was in the paws of the princess, where it should be.
Rainbow couldn't bring up so much stuff on her own. It had taken half a dozen foxes to pull the cart through Canterlot, though half of those had just been volunteers protecting them from attack. Ponyville was in much better shape. "Hey!" Rainbow hopped up on a pile of boxes near the train station, puffing out her chest. "I've got the last cart of stuff the princess needs for the cure! Who wants to help me?"
Here in Ponyville, the Eevees hadn't yet resorted to hiding in dark corners and fighting. Well, they did fight, but not very often. Rainbow hadn't heard of anypony getting seriously hurt, anyway.
Foxes emerged from all over the square, bounding over to line up in front of her. She recognized many of them from her years living in Ponyville. There were the flower sisters, all as leafy as Fluttershy. There was Big Mac, dark with little apples in yellow outline instead of orange like Applejack. The Mayor had her ribbons and bows, somehow moving as though they were alive. Rainbow never let her volunteer, just to be safe.
It took a good while to get the cart ready to pull, packed so full of delicate crystals as it was. These weren't tubs of powder that could be easily scooped back in—if they broke these, Rainbow wasn't sure where else they'd be finding magic crystals. Twilight might know, but... how many could there be? Without unicorns to recharge them, it was only a matter of time before all of Equestria ran out.
They'd attached a thick rope to the front of the cart, down near the axles instead of up top. Lots of little ropes trailed away from the big one, where foxes could grab on to help pull. Rainbow picked volunteers who had helped with this before, then walked backward at the front of the group. "Okay everypony... pull!"
As they crossed through town, foxes emerged from their homes to watch. Life in Ponyville hadn't been entirely stopped in its tracks. It was hard to say what was different about her hometown that none of the other places in Equestria had going for them. Maybe having the princess in town to tell them all not to worry? Or maybe it was just that Ponyville had survived so many disasters that another one wasn't much of a change. There were no playfights going on in the streets, no houses burned down, though there were some signs. Here a part of the ground had been melted into fulgurite by a lightning-fox, while there were holes in the wall like the ones that Rainbow herself had made.
All and all, life in Ponyville went on. The market was full, creatures still came to trade, and did their best to work. As they passed through town, Rainbow waved weakly to Muffins as she went through her delivery routine—now without her wings. But the pegasus had never been a very good flyer to begin with, so realistically it wasn't even much of a change. She had scales and a huge tail like Rainbow’s own, though at least in her case it didn’t seem like she’d been made any worse a flier for her transformation.
Muffins stopped to wave back, grinning stupidly at her. Amazing how little she'd changed despite the whole world unraveling around her. Even as Rainbow watched, she dropped a whole bundle of letters into the wind, and they drifted away. Rainbow winced, but made no move to help. They had something far more important here than a few letters. Who's even still writing those right now? The whole world is foxes, and there's no way the post goes further than Ponyville. Just meet up and talk if you want to see somepony so badly.
Finally they reached the castle. It still had guards, though they wore none of their old armor. Rainbow had thought the whole idea of having the royal guards continue their patrols was incredibly silly, until she saw what some of Equestria's other cities looked like. She only nodded to them now, not giggling even a little at their attempts to look imposing while wearing no armor and being foxes.
Twilight always seemed able to tell when Rainbow was returning, because she was out the door before they'd even finished getting the cart inside. "Oh good, you're here! Thaumic energy storage... perfect!"
Like everypony else, Twilight had and hadn't changed with her time as a fox. Her body no longer smelled like her lavender shampoo, but rather like some natural mix of the cat-grooming she did. She went through long stretches of manic activity, then just as much napping in the sun. Rainbow's arrival with her ingredients seemed to be a trigger for “manic activity.” Thank Celestia Applejack isn't more like you. Spending any time with her would be a nightmare. “Everything we could find in Canterlot," Rainbow explained. "I don't know if it's as much as you wanted. It wasn't... We didn't exactly have the time to sit around and count."
Twilight frowned, lifting one of the identical boxes down from the cart as easily as she'd done as a unicorn. The box was paper-thin, and literally packed with sawdust. She opened the lid, pulling out the single crystal inside. It glowed a bright purple, pulsing slightly like a heartbeat. "It will have to be enough," Twilight declared. "We don't have the time to keep searching. Uninsulated thaumic storage like this has a half-life, and we're rapidly approaching it. If we spend two more weeks looking for crystals, we'll lose more energy than we gain, even if we bring in more carts just like this." She replaced the crystal, then turned to the not-ponies lined up at the rope. "You've all done a great job!" she called confidently. "Thanks so much, I can take it from here!"
They broke apart, spitting it out. Bon Bon, now another cream-colored fox with leafy mane, was brave enough not to back away immediately. "Will you be curing us soon, Princess?"
Twilight hesitated a moment, though at least she didn't look confrontational. Twilight was one of the few creatures Rainbow hadn't seen get into physical conflicts over dominance. Rainbow herself was not on that list. "Yes. We'll be doing the spell at midnight tonight, when the world-boundaries are thinnest. Whether we'll all be stuck like this forever... you'll know tomorrow morning. It all looks good now, though! Tell your friends! Cure is just around the corner!"
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the thing is the only ones that would be inconvenienced in using their new forms would be unicorns.
when did they find out they are eeveelutions?
Her name is Derpy, you fuckbin
This chapter brought a couple of thoughts to mind.
Firstly, there are several stories about earth being turned into cute little ponies. This story, about ponies being turned into something even smaller and cuter, is interesting to me, as it's actually slightly more pessimistic about things than were several of those stories.
Secondly, Ponyville is perpetually portrayed as the Equestrian capitol of weirdness. Only now, when everything is weird, do we get to see the benefit of that experience.
Twilight has direct, firsthoof evidence that the exact opposite is true.
That said, I did expect better from AJ. She's usually better about prioritizing world safety... though the disasters don't often hit that close to home. Plus there are the new instincts to grapple with.
Let's not dwell too long on the trains that were operating when the wave of Eevee hit...
I'm going with that. Sure, this one's taking longer than half an hour to resolve, but they're hardy folk, those Ponyvillians.
Somepony had said that to Muffins once. As far as Dash knew, that was the only time the mailmare had attacked somepony.
I'm a bit surprised Bonbon didn't turn into an Umbreon, but no one suspects the Grass-type of being a secret agent.
In any case, it's now or never. Either it works, or... Well, Fluttershy will be happy, at least.
10105914
They didn't, not really, they're just calling the energy that changed them Eevee, and since there were still a few ponies left when the CMC changed into Eevees, they heard the word they spoke for themselves. Twilight in Chapter 9 did hypothesize that the CMC were younger versions of what they were, and might grow up into them, but it was mostly a feeling.
Honestly, I hope it doesn't work so we can see them try to adapt to this for the rest of their lives.
10105913
Well, them and any pegasus caught in the air who didn't have Rainbow's luck.
Well, the plan is in motion. Let's see where this takes us.
Sounds like something out of a Saphroneth story...
10105966
They were all teleported through time? I’m picturing it now: The Last Eeveelution in Equestria. In all seriousness, though, this fanfic shows my favourite trademark of Starscribe’s: logistics!
Was Bonbon mentioned? Also, I don’t think Umbreon fits Big Mac beyond being defensive.
10105966
It's not going to work. Did you not hear Pinkie the omniscient?
really enjoying this story. Though I wont lie, I was expecting it to be more of a comedy then a drama, Also I do not see Twi Twi's planning working entirely as planned, I just have a feeling something will go wrong.. Heh I also kind wonder how professor Oak would react if he somehow wound up in Equestria Ponyville
10106026
Obviously.
10106019
And Big Mac may have just hit max friendship at night. Though I think this story predates Sugar Belle moving to Ponyville.
10106027
10105970
I'd also like that. Or maybe half work. Ether way, I'd like some Eeveelutions to stay around
O boy, they are screwed
10106022
I already explained that that's not how anything works. And according to someone who read the already-complete Patreon version, there aren't enough chapters left to actually show the damage, so I'm going to guess reversion with aftereffects like with Fluttershy's leftover fang.
I have to ask if they know what happened to Cloudsdale pegasus population, even if it might mean the story earns its Dark or Tragedy tags.
10106058
And I found your explanation less convincing than Pinkie Pie. I also find your hearsay less convincing than Pinkie Pie.
10105924
Muffins is one of the many incarnations of Derpy scattered throughout the multiverse. Don’t be rude.
10106139
You know that guy in every zombie movie who dies early on because he refused to believe in zombies even as they're eating him? That's you when you assume a character saying something is impossible means that it's impossible.
10106214
Petty insults on the Internet, how refreshing.
Pinkie Pie is a credible source because she is consistently - across multiple stories including this one - presented as possessed of eldritch knowledge unknown to the rest of the world, and this knowledge is usually correct. Her assertion is backed up in the case of this story by Starlight and Twilight (in that order) not knowing what the problem is and stating that their proposed solution is highly unlikely to work. Nor is there any reason on the merits to expect it to work.
10106282
And that knowledge consists mostly of knowing she's in a story. I'm going to link the relevant trope again, and another for good measure, and then a third just to seal it with the Rule of Threes.
Also, you're assuming that everyone and everything in Equestria will inevitably die with no hope of saving it. Even in our world, where that's provably true, it's the wrong mindset to have. In a FIMfic without even a T rating, much less any of the warning tags? Even proposing such a thing is fundamentally absurd, and if it turns out that Starscribe followed through then most of those upvotes are turning to downvotes, a bunch of additional downvotes are going to materialize out of the aether (my first story vote of any kind among them), and several passive-aggressive bookshelf/group additions to polish it off (my blatantly dispensing with the "passive" part among them, and I think I'll go and make that shelf then add that Super Trampoline story to it; you know, the one where that sort of thing is the intended reaction and therefore I won't be offending anyone with it). That's so thoroughly not the story we signed up for that even the current dark turn is a bit jarring.
10106290
You obviously didn't read what I said... They'll still take damage, else moves like fly, drop, etc wouldn't work against water types if they were over water. You see it in the games, you see it in the anime, hell you see it in the manga.
But that's hardly the point. I feel like this argument is useless. If you wanna say she wouldn't take damage from the drop, go ahead. It's fine to have opinions. I'm of the opinion that a more realistic view of falling is good. Soft water is overplayed and I'm honestly sick of it. But if you like it more power to you.
10106376
Surely if a character knows she is in a story then she knows how that story ends?
Also, threatening an author with a downvote brigade if their story doesn't go the way you want? Classy.
Starscribe. I enjoy most of your stories. I've kinda left Through the Aurora because I personally didn't find it entertaining anymore. But Child of mine and this one are very good.
But how the fuck does this story get the most arguments in the comments?!
10106425
I probably shouldn't have expected you to interpret my comments as anywhere near the way they were intended, but talking about a downvote "brigade" as if I were actually leading it is still absurd. I'm simply describing the natural consequences of taking a hard swerve into darkfic in the last few chapters without the appropriate tags for darkfic, especially when you knew exactly how the story would end before posting it because it was already fully written. Actually, even darkfic that started that way and had the tags tends to get downvote-bombed. (That I don't approve of, but I'm describing things that happen.)
It just occurred to me. If this Eevee concentration energy came from the recently broken mirror, has any of it been leaking into Sunset mirror too? I mean both mirrors were in the same building, weren't they?
10106446
"Such a nice upvote ratio you've got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it."
Give me a break.
10106427
10106422
Water-types in general, yes. Vaporeon in particular has merging with bodies of water as one of its most iconic abilities, and combining that move's battle effect with its huge HP and passable defense will cause the listed moves to deal negligible damage, especially if you let Water Absorb apply to the situation of sitting around underwater for a substantial amount of time the way Rainbow Dash did afterwards. Also, your argument only applies to Sky Drop; Fly's attack function is dive-bombing the opponent, with no recoil damage despite presumably going much faster than normal falling and often being a presumably hollow-boned bird. Oh, and potentially having an opponent much harder than normal ground or water, although at least Pokemon with spiky bodies often have an ability representing what that does to discourage tackling them.
10106491
I have six followers; one of them baffled me with that follow because our only interactions before or since were backhanded compliments or low-key insults on my part, while the others only baffled me because I have zero real plans of ever doing anything that followers would be notified of and told all of them as much as soon as I saw the notification. The comparison to a mafia protection racket amounts to doubling down on your already farcical claims, and that's before we consider that the story is already fully written so there's nothing that Starscribe can do about the ending.
"The worst that ever happened was one would faint."
10106500
Well, yes. Which was gotten across in the fic. It was the 'realization' of water not being able to break her fall that I feel people are arguing about. If not then they didn't actually read the fic very well.
Fly has a few different uses, specifically in the anime, usually the flying pokemon grabs the opponent, then drops them from the sky. Because let's face it 'fly' would be the same as 'tackle' in every other case.
The soft water trope is used in the anime quite a few times. But in general, falling or getting thrown into water still does damage. But ultimately that's not my point. My point was that Rainbow realizes water won't break her fall, instead of the author simply having her fall into water and be fine. The author then saves her by having her water meld ability activate. Which is a good take on the 'soft water' trope.
10106489
Oh, it was the mirror Twilight broke at the start!
10107096
I don't think it is the same mirror since Sunset world does not have pokemon.
10107272
I meant that Twilight unleashed the Eevee when she shattered the mirror in chapter one.
Also, I realised today how thematically odd this fanfic is. The My Little Pony side is close to canon, but have viral transformations ever been a thing in Pokémon?
It's good to maintain civilization as best as possible when crises hit. Nice to see that's going moderately well.
Luna: "And now my evil deed had been reduced to an side note. Not sure whether I should be glad or offended."
Yeah, AJ would be clearly the better choice here.
10105976
If you think about it Rainbow got really lucky.
She got
1. changed into an Vaporeon while
2. being above water.
Both things seen seperately are already unlikely (or at least more likely not to happen as they are to happen) and then both of this unlikely things happened at the same time.
If any of these two unlikely events didn't occus as they did she would be in far worse shape than she is now.
Congrats; you got me to learn something new!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite#:~:text=Fulgurites%20(from%20the%20Latin%20fulgur,variety%20of%20the%20mineraloid%20lechatelierite.
It’s one thing to have a world of mundane humans turn into adorable magical ponies; it’s another to have adorable magical ponies turn into adorable ponies elemental foxes.
Almost feels like the shoe is on the other hoof