Unexpected Changes

As the time passed there wasn't anything new in terms of readings, in fact it looked like the one coming from Sweet Apple Acres had died down so Sunset and Twilight had started to relax a bit, figuring that it was just a fluke or a false reading, but there was still something that bugged Sunset.

"What happened to the other me?" She finally said out loud as she sighed a little. "It feels like we're getting pieces of a puzzle here but not the whole picture. No one just vanishes like that, even if its connected to Equestrian magic..."

"I know, but I think you're worrying too much," Twilight said as she adjusted her glasses a little. "While its very weird, we don't know the whole story here. It could easily be unrelated to everything that's going on here, the only connection seems to be that it was in the same area as the first magical burst. We have no idea if the two really are connected, I think we should just see what's going on."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Sunset said with a shrug as she leaned back and thought about it for a long moment. "There hasn't been a lot of readings of Equestrian magic lately has there? Not since we graduated high school at least, I wonder what caused this sudden new surge."

"I wish I knew," Twilight said. "Something about all of this is weird, maybe you should send a message to Princess Twilight, maybe she will know something that we've missed."

"Its worth a try," Sunset admitted as she reached over and picked up the journal and started to write in it.

"Dear Princess Twilight, I know its been awhile since I wrote to you but we've got something of a problem over here. It might be nothing, but Twilight in this world has been picking up strange readings that seems to be coming from Equestrian magic. I know you don't really know much about what's going on, but if you can give us any advice that would be great, I'll let you know if we learn anything new."

She closed the journal back up and sighed a little as she leaned back. "I hope she can help, but since we don't even know what's going on we can't exactly figure it out from here."

"Yeah, I know," Twilight said as she gave Sunset a smile. "But we have to get going now, lets just keep an eye on things and hope that she comes back with something."

Sunset smiled as she leaned in and gave her girlfriend a soft kiss on the lips before she wrapped her arms around her gently. "I love you Twilight."

"I love you too Sunset," Twilight said. "Come on, lets get going, I'll keep any notifications coming in on my phone just in case something happens."

Sunset nodded a little and the two women got up and headed for the front door where Sunset's convertible was waiting for them. She smiled as she got inside and started it up as they drove off towards the restaurant that they were meeting Rarity and Applejack at

<--->

"So I told him, 'What makes you think it was us?' And then he opened up the classroom and it was full of sticky notes," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she shook her head. "And then he took out Apple Bloom's bow that she had accidentally dropped, whoops."

"So, how'd you two not get detention?" Sweetie asked with a chuckle, she had been sick that day but it had been her friend's job to do the senior prank.

"He caught us the day before graduation," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "So there was absolutely nothing he could do at the time, besides it was all in good fun and we helped clean it up."

"Well, I still wish I could have been there," Sweetie said with a chuckle as they ate their ice cream. "This was nice, I'm glad you invited me, too bad Apple Bloom couldn't come."

"Yeah, too bad..." Scootaloo said with a blush as she took a lick of her ice cream cone. "Look, Sweetie, I..."

"Yes?" Sweetie asked as she looked over at her purple haired friend. "What's up Scoots?"

"I, wanted to know if maybe you..." she said and blushed more. "Wanted to maybe make this, more than just, you know... being about two friends hanging out."

"Are you asking if I'll be your girlfriend?" Sweetie asked as she looked at Scootaloo surprised. "Do, you really mean that?"

"Yeah, I've kind of had feelings for you for awhile..." Scootaloo said and blushed a little as she rubbed the back of her head a little. "I didn't want to ruin out friendship, but I wanted to get a chance to tell you how I really feel about you. What do you say, do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Sweetie thought for a long moment before she leaned in and kissed Scootaloo passionately on the lips. Scootaloo's eyes went wide before she gently closed them and enjoyed the kiss as they held the kiss for the longest moment.

They didn't notice as the same cloaked figure teleported in behind them. She smiled as she looked at the kissing couple and levitated her pendant up a little as the third crystal started to glow a little and energy flew out of it.

"Enjoy what's left of your humanity girls," she said quietly as the magical energy flew into the girls before it flew back out into the pendant and the crystal glowed before she went to find more as the two broke the kiss.

"Mmm, is that a yes?" Scootaloo asked with a smile as she looked at Sweetie Belle's green eyes. "Are you really ready to be my girlfriend?"

"Mmm, I'd love to be your special somepony," Sweetie Belle said with a smile as she hugged Scootaloo who blinked a little, why had she said that.

"Uh Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sweetie said with a smile. "More than fine in fact, I've got the most amazing mare in the world as my marefriend. I can't be happier."

Scootaloo looked at her confused as she tried to figure out what was going on. She shrugged finally, maybe this was just her imagination, but still she loved Sweetie Belle and didn't care so she was just happy that she felt the same way about her. She couldn't help but feel a bit confused though, what was going on here?

She leaned in and kissed Sweetie again as they held the kiss for along moment before she broke the kiss. "Same here Sweetie Belle, I'm just glad I finally got to tell you how I feel."

Sweetie smiled and the two girls returned to eating their ice cream, occasionally exchanging looks.

<--->

"I told you we were going to be late," Sunset said as she and Twilight headed into the restaurant.

"Its okay, Rarity and Applejack aren't even here yet," Twilight said as they were seated by the hostess. "Why are you suddenly so on edge? Ever since we started picking up the readings in Sweet Apple Acres you've been more nervous about this than I am."

"I know, sorry, I don't know why but something about all of this doesn't feel right to me," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "I don't know really, might be my imagination but it just doesn't feel right. Like, there's something about all of this that we're not understanding and its just bugging me."

"Well, you are a lot more sensitive to magic since you're from Equestria," Twilight said with a shrug. "Maybe whatever is going on is affecting you somehow. We're out on a date, you don't have to worry about anything right now, just relax."

"Yeah, you're right, I probably just need tor relax a bit," Sunset said and kissed Twilight softly on the lips. "I love you Twilight Sparkle. I'll relax for tonight at least, we can figure this out tomorrow."

"Yeah," Twilight said as her phone went off and she checked it just as the waitress came up to them. "Ah, looks like they're about here they said to go ahead and order our drinks."

They ordered and the waitress went off to get them. The two women chatted for a few minutes as Sunset tried to take her mind off of the strange magical readings. She actually smiled a little and placed her hand on Twilight's before giving it a light squeeze.

She had been surprised when Twilight had asked her out not long after they had graduated. She had admittedly felt something about the woman, but she hadn't expected her to actually feel the same. She smiled and closed here yes as she hugged Twilight lightly and just enjoyed the moment as they waited for their friends to arrive.

Sunset sighed and looked at Twilight again. Maybe it wasn't anything more than here just being sensitive to magic, but it had never happened like this before. It was like something about this magic was different from anything they had ever encountered before and that worried her more than anything.

Still, they would figure it out in time and hopefully everything would be okay. They had faced challenges before, so how was this going to be any different? They'd face it together as a team and figure out exactly what was going on.

"Sorry we're late, traffic was a nightmare," Rarity's voice said as Sunset started to open her eyes.

"Its okay Rarity, we just..." Sunset started to say when she looked up and stopped in mid-sentence.

Standing there wasn't Applejack and Rarity, at least not the Applejack and Rarity she knew. Applejack was covered with orange fur and looked a little bulkier than she remembered, while Rarity didn't look that different other than her fur was white and silky and she had a horn sticking out of her forehead that was the same color. And they both had tails that matched their hair colors.

"Hey you two, its good to see you again," Twilight said with a smile as she gestured for the two to take a seat across from them.

Sunset just blinked in confusion, they looked almost like ponies, only more humanoid and Twilight was just acting like this was normal. What was going on here? Why did they look like that and was it connected to the magical surges that they had been picking up before.

"So, what was it ya'll were sayin' before about magical surges comin' from tha farm?" Applejack asked as they took a seat across from them. "Rarity filled me in, Ah'm not sure what yah might be talkin' about frankly."

"You, uh, didn't notice anything weird then?" Sunset asked.

"No, sorry Sunset but we just don't know what could've been causing it," Rarity said with a shake of her head. "You said that they were strong readings right?"

"Yeah, stronger than anything we've ever picked up before, at least recently," Twilight said with a shrug. "I figured since you two were more in tune with magic than humans are, maybe you'd know more about what's going on. Something about it has been bothering Sunset as well."

Sunset was even more confused by that, she was talking about them like they weren't even human anymore. Something about this was very wrong and she couldn't place her finger on it, she glanced down subtly and noticed that their feet had been replaced with hooves that were definitely more equine in shape.

Why did they suddenly start acting like this? And why did no one seem to think it was unusual but her? Something about the way this was happening bothered her, it was more than just the magic it was the fact that whatever it was was affecting her friends and she didn't know what it could be.

"I, have to go to the bathroom," Sunset said and started to get up as the waitress came back with her drink and was ready to take the orders.

"But Sunset, you still have to order..." Twilight started.

"You know what I like, I'll be back soon!" Sunset said as she ran off towards where the bathrooms were, she wasn't going to stop until she figured out exactly what was going on here.

And why it was affecting her friends.

<--->

Sunset looked at herself in the mirror for a long moment as if she was expecting herself to suddenly sprout fur and a tail, but nothing happened. She splashed herself with some cold water and even tried pinching herself but it didn't feel like a dream, this was real, whatever it was it was all too real.

"Okay, get a hold of yourself Sunset, there's got to be an explanation for what's going on," she said to herself as she paced back and forth a little. "There's Equestrian magic at play here, and something is causing people to be turned into ponies but what is doing it and why?"

She sighed a little and shook her head, that wasn't the biggest question really, the biggest question was why did she seem to be the only one that found it strange? Twilight had greeted them like they had always been, anthro ponies she guessed was the best term to describe them since they had first met.

She closed her eyes and tried to think back to her studies in Equestria. What kind of magic could possibly create this? There was transformation magic sure, she had studied that a bit while at Celestia's school, but this kind of transformation magic? That was beyond anything that she could've studied at the time.

It was like whatever it was was re-writing reality itself, making everyone think that they had always been ponies. But was it only going to be limited to her friends or was it going to be more widespread? She was afraid of what the answer might be and she had to figure out what to do and fast.

That's when the journal started to glow in her bag, she let out a sigh of relief and opened it up and read what Princess Twilight had said.

"Do you know what kind of magic you're dealing with yet?"

Sunset took out a pen and wrote in the journal:

"I think we're looking at some sort of advanced transformation magic. It turned Rarity and Applejack into some sort of, mix of humans and ponies and no one seems to find it strange but me. I don't know what's going on here, do you have any suggestions?"

There was a momentary pause as she waited for some sort of answer from Princess Twilight. She hadn't ever felt more worried about what might be going on than she did right that moment, and if the Princess didn't know what was going on then she might be in trouble.

Finally she got an answer, though it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Sorry Sunset, I've read stories about that powerful of Transformation magic but it requires some sort of magical item to concentrate it. I'm going to have to look into some things before I can give you a definitive answer. But what I can tell you is that its dangerous, I can't even promise you that it'll be possible to reverse the transformations. If someone is turning people into ponies, then you're going to have to be very careful."

Sunset took a deep breath and shook her head, that was not very helpful but it was better than she could have expected. It meant that there was probably someone out there doing this, so who could it be? Who would want to turn all humans into ponies?

She picked up the pen and started writing again:

"Thank you anyway, let me know if you find anything. Do you know why the mental changes don't seem to affect me?"

Twilight answered quickly:

"It might be because you're from Equestria, if you were born a pony then there's no reason why the mental changes would affect you maybe. There's also a chance that it might not just apply to you, but I can't make any promises. For now, just be careful and keep an eye out for whoever might be causing these changes."

Sunset nodded and closed the book up. It wasn't a lot of information to go on, but she was going to have to at least try and figure out what it might be.

"Sunset, are you okay?" Twilight asked as she opened the door and came in, adjusting her glasses a little. "You kind of ran out on us unexpectedly, what's wrong?"

"Its a long story," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "I need to tell you something, and it might sound crazy but you have to believe me."

"Sunset, you come from a world ruled by ponies and artifacts and people from that world has been showing up here for the last few years," Twilight said with a chuckle. "I don't think there's much that will surprise me right now."

"Okay, well, last time we saw Applejack and Rarity they were, well, normal humans and not like that," Sunset said which made Twilight blink. "Yeah, I knew that would sound crazy to you."

"I mean, they've always been ponies, the Apple and Belle families are two of the oldest pony families in Canterlot," Twilight said and looked at Sunset confused. "Sorry, I'm just kind of confused as to what you're talking about. Why do you think this?"

Sunset was about to take out her phone and show pictures of them when she looked at them, they were changed in the pictures too. She blinked and shook her head a little, this wasn't getting her anywhere and she didn't have any idea exactly how she could prove this to Twilight.

"Look, I can't prove it," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "But you still remember those magical surges right?"

"Right," Twilight said with a nod.

"I think they're somehow connected to this, but I can't explain what's going on or who is doing it," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "Princess Twilight said that there is record of powerful transformation magic, but she's still looking into what might be doing it."

"And you think that whatever it was turned two of our friends from humans into ponies along with their families?" Twilight asked and Sunset nodded. "Honestly, I have no idea what to think of this. It sounds pretty unbelievable to be honest, like you're telling me that everything I knew about them isn't true."

"I know, but if you know as much about magic as I do, you know that its certainly possible, we've seen other unbelievable things," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "I can't prove it, but Princess Twilight is looking into it now."

"But I mean there's nothing wrong with them," Twilight said with a shake of her head. "I mean, were they any different than they were before?"

"Well, no they're pretty much the same, only more pony-ish," Sunset admitted with a shrug. "You don't believe me do you?"

"I don't know, you're telling me that two of our best friends are actually not the species I thought they were, and that you're the only one who remembers them as humans," Twilight said. "I've been studying magic for years and honestly I don't know as much about it as you or Princess Twilight. You honestly could be right for all I know, but its hard to prove it right now."

"Yeah, I know..." Sunset said and shook her head. "I'm going to try and look into it, I wouldn't say this if I wasn't sure that it was the truth. I need your help Twilight, if there are any other surges can you tell me about them?"

"Of course, and if you're right maybe we can stop it before its too late," Twilight said and Sunset flinched a little. "What is it?"

"Uh, even if we stop it, I don't know if its reversible," she admitted with a shake of her head. "Like I said, lets just keep tracking things and see if we can figure out what's going..."

An alert suddenly went off on Twilight's phone. She looked at it and then blinked as she showed it to Sunset. "Sunset... that's where we are now."

The two women's eyes went wide as they ran out of the bathroom to see what was going on.

<--->

"Hey squirt, what's the word? Did Sweetie say yes yet?" Rainbow Dash asked as Scootaloo talked to her over the phone while Sweetie was in the bathroom.

"Well, yeah, but..." Scootaloo said and looked around for a moment. "She's started acting really weird, like calling us ponies or something. I'm not really sure what's going on here, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Scootaloo, what are you talking about? You've never been anything other than ponies," Rainbow asked confused. "Why would you think you were supposed to be something else?"

Scootaloo blinked and looked at the phone confused. Why did Rainbow Dash seem to think that what Sweetie Belle was saying was normal? Why did she think it was strange but Rainbow didn't? Something about this was weird, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Right, right..." Scootaloo said as she looked at the phone for a moment.

"Did you hit your head doing a trick again?" Rainbow asked concerned. "What's wrong Scoots?"

"No, nothing's wrong, I just, I don't know what to think right now," Scootaloo said and put on a smile. "But hey, I've got a girlfriend now, that's good right? Still, I wish I knew what was going on."

"Don't worry about it kiddo, its probably just love messing with your head, it happens to the best of us," Rainbow said with a chuckle. "Look, you two crazy mares have fun, I don't want to keep you from your special somepony. Call me when you're on your way home, okay?"

"Okay," Scootaloo said and hung up the phone as she sat down and looked up at the sky.

It was a clear night, so even with the light coming from the buildings around her she could still see the stars twinkling above. She sighed a little, something about this still bugged her and she had no idea what it might be. Was it possible that there was something magical involved here?

She didn't know a lot about magic, but she had been filled in on some of the details by Rainbow Dash and her friends and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She had to figure out what to do and fast, or her life might never get back to normal.

Then again, would that be so bad? She had always been kind of an outcast, the only time she ever felt like she belonged was when she was with Rainbow Dash or the other Crusaders, being a pony wouldn't be that different.

No, she couldn't think like that, she had no idea why her humanity was suddenly gone and why she seemed to be the only one who remembered being human, and she wasn't about to take that lying down.

"Hey Scootaloo," Sweetie said and she looked up to see the other girl walking over to her with a smile. "Sorry I took so long, so, did you want to do anything else tonight or..."

"Well, I was thinking we could maybe go to this place I know outside of town," Scootaloo said, she had to try and sound as normal as she could right now. "Its pretty nice and its perfect for stargazing, what do you think?"

"Sounds nice," Sweetie said and giggled a little. "You never struck me as a romantic Scootaloo."

Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her head a little in embarrassment. "Yeah, well, its for you and I wanted to do something nice, you know?"

"Thank you Scootaloo, you're quite the sweetie," Sweetie said with a giggle as she leaned in and gave Scootaloo a kiss on the cheek.

Scootaloo smiled a little, maybe things weren't going to be so different after all. She lowered her hand and stopped when she felt it brush against something that felt fleshy, and then like there was feathers.

"Excuse me a moment..." she said and got up and ran for the bathroom, leaving Sweetie confused as she opened the door to the small bathroom and locked it behind her.

She closed her eyes, afraid of what she was going to see when she looked in the mirror. This was not what she needed right now, she didn't want something else freaky or bizarre to be happening, but she knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad.

She opened them and looked at her reflection, growing out of her back though still small at the moment was a pair of orange wings.

It took everything in Scootaloo's power not to scream.

<--->

"Are you sure this wasn't a false alarm?" Sunset whispered to Twilight as they looked around the restaurant which didn't seem any different from when they left it.

"Yeah, I'm getting readings from here still," Twilight whispered back. "They're getting weaker, but they're still here, its like whatever caused it is dissipating quickly."

"Great..." Sunset said and shook her head as she looked around.

There wasn't anything unusual, just a few people talking and enjoying their meals, there wasn't any sign of something that might count as a dangerous magical threat that they could see.

But something was bugging Sunset, like there was something that was poking at the back of her mind about this and she couldn't place her finger on it. It was like there was something there that neither of them could see, as they thought about it though they didn't notice the motes of magical energy flying into them.

"Well, we don't really know what's going on here, lets at least go back to the table and see what Rarity and Applejack have to say," Sunset suggested as the two headed back to the table and took their seats.

"Is everythin' okay?" Applejack asked, she was starting to look more and more like an earth pony but her body was still vaguely human in shape.

"I don't know," Sunset admitted. "Do you remember those readings we called you about?"

"Yes, how could we forget?" Rarity asked. "We told you that we didn't have any information on what they could be at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Yes, well we picked up the same readings coming from here," Twilight said and Rarity and Applejack looked at her surprised. "Did the two of you see anything unusual in the last few minutes?"

"No, not really," Applejack said with a shake of her head. "What about yah Rares?"

"No, nothing that unusual, at least not for a place like this," Rarity said with a shake of her head. "I'm not nearly as sensitive to magic as other ponies are so I can't say if there was anything specific either. I'm sorry, but I don't really know what might've caused it."

"Great..." Twilight said and shook her head as she looked at Sunset. "What do you think Sunset? Do you think it was another false alarm?"

"I doubt it," Sunset said with a sigh and shook her head a little. "We just can't see what's going on for some reason, its like whoever is doing this is hiding it from us."

"What exactly are they doin'?" Applejack asked as the two mares looked at their friends confused.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Sunset said with a shake of her head.

"Trust me, I have a hard time believing it myself," Twilight said with a shake of her head as she looked at them. "Lets just try and enjoy our dinner for now, okay?"

"Alright, well, if you think there's not anything wrong at least," Rarity said.

Sunset wasn't so sure, but there wasn't anything they could find around here given there didn't seem to be anything unusual. Though that was assuming that it wasn't part of whatever was causing them to have their minds re-written, she just had to hope that everything would be okay.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Twilight whispered to Sunset. "If it affects them and their families, don't you think they should know what's going on?"

"It was a lot for you to take in and you don't think you've been a pony your whole life," Sunset pointed out with a shake of her head. "Lets just wait until we hear back from Twilight, she might be able to give us more information, I just hope that whatever it is will be good news."

"What are ya'll whisperin' about over there?" Applejack asked as she looked between the two curiously.

"Oh, nothing, lets just enjoy our dinner," Sunset said as she tried to force a smile.

For now, she'd just enjoy the double date and hope that nothing else happened that would catch them off guard.