Costume Catastrophe

by PrincessEnchanteDream

Rumble, Tender Taps, and Button Mash

Rumble knew he was in for a very strange day indeed.

Not only had he just heard a loud scream echoing over the city, he had also witnessed three close friends of his (and his crush, although he would never admit it) whizz past in clothing from other eras. As much as Scootaloo had looked adorable, he suspected the clothing had been borrowed without permission.

And now he had just been hit by a strange blob, which had left him somewhat disoriented. As the light returned, the skies were filled with light, and blue and yellow particles floated around on confusing air currents that made little sense to him. He decided to check what was going on with his friends, so reached into a pocket to recover his phone and call Button Mash, just in case he had any clue what was going on.

As he reached in, his hand brushed against some oddly soft fabric. Funny. He could have sworn he was wearing sports shorts today. He glanced down to check, and his eyes widened like dinner plates in shock.

Where his shorts had once been a dull blue, they were now red! They stood out like Rudolph's nose on a foggy Christmas Eve, and as he observed closer they grew longer, flowing down his legs, over his knees, and down to just above his ankles, where they stopped. Mercifully, the pockets remained, but a golden line ran down the sides of the legs as the top of the pants were held in place by a newly added zip and button.

"OK, this is getting a bit weird," Rumble said, in an echo of what had come before from others. This weirdness was only reinforced when his favorite pair of trainers shifted, the laces being sucked into them and the empty space being covered in hard wearing leather. Small heels pushed out of the back as he tried to regain balance, but it wasn't easy to maintain balance in these. As if to add to the confusion, they shifted into a pair of brown boots.

Rumble's shirt expanded, gaining a collar, buttons down the front, and the sleeves grew down to his wrists, before the entire garment turned a pristine white. "I look even more stupid than normal. At least this isn't as bad as that camp I made a mess of."

Finally, his sports vest turned khaki. A collar surged out of the top and closed shut around his neck, gaining a light yellow plate to clasp it shut, and long sleeves grew out of the sides that ran all the way to his wrists, before the cuffs seemed to fold back slightly. A belt materialised around his waist, presumably to keep everything held up as a pair of epaulettes appeared on his shoulders.

Just as suddenly as it had all started, it just as suddenly stopped. Rumble was more confused than worried at what had just happened. "I'm pretty certain clothing isn't meant to do that. Time to get Button on the horn."

He unlocked his phone and checked the display.

No bars.

"Great! No bars, and no way of communicating. Perhaps the landline is still working." Rumble set off for his door, but it was slow going. "These boots are really uncomfortable. And why are my pants so stiff?"

He was almost back to the inside of his house when he suddenly heard a familiar voice. "Hey Rumble!"

Rumble suddenly wheeled around, a trick which would normally have been easy had he been wearing his normal shoes. Unfortunately the boots gave him a completely new center of gravity, which resulted in him falling over. "Ow! Scootaloo, you made me jump!"

"And more, it would seem," his friend replied, before she came through his gate and helped him up. "You know, this is an interesting reversal of the usual fairytale setup."

"Tell me about it," Rumble sighed. "I only ended up like this a few minutes ago."

"It seems everybody's clothes are being transformed by the energy," Scootaloo noted. Seeing the look of confusion on Rumble's face, she continued. "We kinda made a mess of Rarity's house and it seems as though she reacted badly to that."

"So badly she's inadvertently changing people's clothes," Rumble sighed. "I tried to contact Button to see if he's OK, but it seems the magic you refer to is blocking cell signal. I'll have to try and see if the landline is working properly, or else we may be on our own."

"I'm trying to find other people affected by this," Scootaloo said. "Would you want to join the search party?"

"Sure," Rumble said. "Anything to get me out of this stupid thing. The dress suits you, though."

"Thanks!" Scootaloo grinned. "Now then, should we make the call?"

"Yes," Rumble nodded. "Now, what's Button's home number?"

"Wouldn't it be in the phone book?" Scootaloo asked, as they made their way indoors.

"Who on Earth has a phone book these days?" Rumble retorted, as he found his way to the landline. Luckily, it seemed to still be responding based on the voicemails currently on it. "Good, the machine is still working. Seems that anything with a cable is still working. It would seem, though, that Wi-Fi and internet (unless wired) is also down."

"Have you checked?"

"I would, but sitting down or bending over in this lot is incredibly difficult," Rumble replied. "I think the pants may be slightly too tight for me."

He punched in the land number and started the dial sequence. It took a few seconds for the number to engage, but when it did the device rang out successfully, proving the connection had worked.

Except nobody picked up.

"This is Elaina Mash. If you can hear this message, I am currently away. Please call back later or leave a message after the tone."

"Maybe they've gone away?" Scootaloo suggested.

"Or Button has his headphones on again," Rumble sighed. "You know, precisely as his mom tells him not to!"

---

Tender Taps couldn't understand why it was suddenly seeming like rain outside. There had been a loud screech that had caught him off guard, followed by these strange lights all over the place. These lights flew about wherever you looked, and kept lighting up and reflecting off the sunlight. However, they were so dense that they seemed to blot the sun out.

"Well, this is weird," he said, shutting the dance manual he had open. CHS' musical theatre department were doing Singing in the Rain this year, and were using the original choreography from the film. Naturally, he was learning Gene Kelly's moves to ensure he didn't mess up (not easy as he needed to sing at the same time).

He glanced out of the window in confusion as he saw giant blobs flying about the sky, randomly crashing into things. "What the?"

This meant he was caught rather off guard when he saw a blob change course and head straight for him!

"Oh no!" he shouted, diving under the table and covering his ears. Seconds later, there was a bright flash from underneath said table which blinded Tender Taps for a few seconds. He pulled himself out once the light had cleared up, and looked about for any signs of anything odd.

Nothing. Then why did his feet feel weird.

Tender began to panic. Maybe it was like in that weird story he read where a golden apple caused everybody to turn into horses? He didn't want that.

He glanced down to immediately see the cause of the problem. His shoes were now a different design and color, that was all, now black instead of their previous brown. They also looked more like formal business shoes. Nothing to be concerned about.

Wait, WHAT?

Tender Taps' leg warmers suddenly vanished from his legs into the ether, the fabric floating up and into his vest for some reason, and this was followed by his pants morphing and changing, gaining creases at the front and back, and a zip on the front. The button stayed in roughly the same location, but two pockets appeared on the side, as well as another at the back of the pants themselves, which seemed to continue the business suit theme.

The vest then got the memo to change as it became longer, sliding into his pants and becoming tucked in. A white collar grew out of the top of the vest and curled over, before doing itself up at the top. "Ow! That's a bit tight!"

The next stage concerned a tie appearing underneath the collar and rolling downwards to the bottom of his shirt. The tie was in alternating orange and yellow stripes, and stood out horribly from the rest of the shirt.

As a black suit jacket appeared on his shoulders and on top of his shirt, his hair was slicked back, and slightly adjusted at the back to a cut very reminiscent of that worn by performers such as Frank Sinatra in the 1950s. The strange glowing lights seemed to have temporarily stopped, and as Tender Taps glanced out of the window he saw a pair of girls go by in giant frocks.

He glanced back to his suit and immediately felt better. "I guess I got lucky." He quickly tried the shoes as he stepped forward. Normally, he found that if his footwear had a slight spring in it, it helped him maintain momentum and avoid falling over. And this was not only allowing him to keep his momentum going, it also meant that his balance was slightly easier too!

"Alright!" he smiled, referring back to the manual. "This should be simpler now. At least I won't need to work with those for the time being."

He was about to go back to his work when he suddenly saw somebody approaching outside. He glanced through the window and his jaw dropped.

It was his friend, Apple Bloom. She was still in the same dress as earlier, but somehow she managed to look even more stunning than she had before. In order to spare her having to squeeze her dress through the gate, he instead went outside and walked over to his white, cleanly kept picket fence, leaning on it and suddenly looking like he had been plucked straight out of a film about 1950s suburbia.

"Heya Tender Taps!" Apple Bloom smiled, stopping to talk to him. "Yer lookin' great! That suit really, well, erm, 'suits' you?"

Tender Taps laughed. "Thanks, Apple Bloom. Considering what some people who passed by earlier ended up in, I guess I got lucky. I can still walk about in this and breathe normally."

Apple Bloom looked confused. "Huh?"

"Don't you wear these really tight things with those?"

Apple Bloom suddenly clicked what he was talking about. "Oh! Those corset thingies Rarity sometimes talks about. By the way, her magic is causin' this."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"You tell me, Gene." Apple Bloom smiled. "You look just like him now, you know. Or Frank Sinatra."

"I don't think either man had orange skin or purple hair," Tender Taps noted. "I guess that would make you my Ginger Rogers."

"Good luck to me doing anythin' backwards and in high heels," Apple Bloom replied. "Can ya think of anybody else who may need help?"

Suddenly, there was a voice from upstairs. "Tender? Can you help me please? I can't get my skirt through the door!"

"Sure thing mom!" Tender Taps replied. He then pointed down the road. "Miss Cheerilee lives not far from here. I think some other members of staff live nearby, so it could be worth checking if they need help."

"Thanks!" Apple Bloom replied, and quickly took off. Tender was amazed at the speed she could move in the dress she was wearing. He figured she was just used to it by now.

"Oh well, it could easily have been worse," he thought to himself, as he went back indoors. "Here's hoping Rumble and Button Mash are OK."

---

Rarity and Sweetie Belle hurried away from their house and towards the main city. Originally, they were going to use Rarity's car but.....well, Rarity couldn't really drive in her dress. So, they went on their way, not being slowed down by their skirts as by now they had gotten somewhat used to wearing it.

They then came across a very familiar someone.

"Button! Hey Button, over here," Sweetie Belle called.

Button came running towards them, dressed nicely in a blue suit with black pants.

"Rarity, Sweetie Belle," he panted out. "Good to see you-whoa! Sweetie.....you.....look....really pretty."

Sweetie Belle giggled. "Thanks Button. You don't look too bad yourself."

Rarity smiled knowingly. "Hello Button dear, I'm guessing you already know what is happening from your friends?"

Button Mash nodded. "Wellllll......"

---

A few minutes earlier...

---

Just as Rumble had predicted, Button Mash had been indoors with his headphones on, as was his custom. This meant that, unfortunately, he could not see or hear other things going on, as he was using a VR headset.

Although he couldn't see or hear the outside world, he could feel his stomach growl, indicating now was time to eat. He took the headset off, paused the game, and went into the kitchen to prepare himself something.

His eyes glanced over the home phone, and he noticed it had a missing message, so he picked it up and dialed the number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Button, this is Rumble."

"How ya doin', bud?"

"No time to chat. Unless you've been hit already you need to watch out for a large blob. After it hits you, it will transform your clothes."

Button blinked. "What?"

"It sound crazy, but-"

The line abruptly cut out, and Button looked out of the window. Strange sparks flew through the air around him. "Oh, cool! This is just like in Storm of Glory!"

Then the big one hit him. "OW!" The impact hurled him across the room and landed him next to the door, dislodging his trademark propeller hat which he never took off. "Looks like the batteries need checking," he said, forgetting completely about his journey and taking a look.

As he fiddled with the battery compartment, he thought he saw something black on his slacks. He glanced down, and noticed the color was streaking across them, changing them from casual wear to looking like something a prince would wear in those period dramas his mom liked.

"Hey, this must be what Rumble was talking about!" he said, with a grin on his face. "This will save me loads of money for clothes!"

His brown and white shoes hardened into a pair of black boots, which gave him plenty of lower support, and as he stood up he noticed that they were slightly tight in the back. "Hmm. I could ask Rarity to adjust them for me. These boots and pants are a bit tight!"

His orange and white T shirt suddenly turned white all over, and grew a collar which went up to his neck. This folded over and the top button closed as a white cravat threaded its way in through the collar.

More buttons appeared up and down the shirt, signaling the end of its days as a T shirt, whilst an elaborate blue jacket appeared on his person, complete with golden trim all over the place and blue buttons. The sheer number of buttons was apt, given his name.

"Well, this is interesting," he said, as he looked in a mirror. "I wouldn't look out of place in old Europe!"

Just then, he saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle outside, and went to join them.

---

Now...

---

"...So, yeah, that's it, basically," Button Mash finished.

Rarity put a hand to her chin. "So it would seem this magic affects men as well. If that's the case, producing a counter spell, should we need one, will prove to be quite the headache."

"Mind if I come with you guys?" Button asked.

"Well, does your mother let you?"

"She's in Maretime Bay for the weekend, and won't be getting back until Sunday night."

Sweetie Belle bit her lip. "That doesn't give us long to clean this mess up!"

"I suppose you can join us," Rarity pondered. "Do try to keep up darling."

"Noted," Button said, and after locking the door joined the pair. "Say, Sweetie Belle, that's a nice dress. Fancy a dance?"

Author's Note:

Rumble-

Tender Taps-

Button Mash-

Art belongs to Fude-Chan-Art at https://www.deviantart.com/fude-chan-art/art/Request-MLP-FiM-EQG-Sweetie-Belle-Button-Mash-840876623

Comments

[Celesticane]

Well, I suppose every fairytale princess could use a proper prince to go with, right? Chuckle

[The Blue EM2]

10949546
Why should boys miss out on fashion upgrades?

[Celesticane]

10949558

After all, fashion doesn't care about what you are, so why should we, yeah?

[The Blue EM2]

10949559
Indeed. Everybody has a right to look fabulous.

[MegaMarioFan01]

Something to keep in mind, is that Rarity isn't blameless either, as she was the one who performed the action in the first place, accident or not.

[The Blue EM2]

10949813
Indeed. But the mess can only be cleared if they work together.

[MegaMarioFan01]

10949827
I'm just saying that, because it seems like the fic is glossing over that fact.

[The Blue EM2]

10949833
We have a lot of characters to cover, but we will see them again.