Scared? I'm not scared!

Stargazer glanced at Cranium's fallen face, opening her mouth to explain. But she was cut off by a dusty orange colt playing in the dirt.

"Who's she?" he asked in a small, terrified voice, shrinking away from her.

"Oh hello," she said to him in a kind voice, "I'm Stargazer. I was hit with the ball." The cyan mare let out a small laugh, turning back to Cranium.

"To answer your earlier question, I left someone behind in Manehatten. A certain someone who's probably worrying about me, well, that, or getting into some sort of trouble." She gave Cranium a warm smile. She looked back at the colt, wondering who he was.

"And who are you?" she asked, kneeling down so she was at eye-level with him, and therefore less frightening.

Cranium bit his lip nervously. She can't leave! How long will she be there? What if I never see her again? The kind mare gave him another smile, and he gave a tiny small in return. Rusty looked at him, then back at the mare, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"And who are you?" Stargazer asked, kneeling down towards Rusty. He glared at her, then hesitated, and then... stuck his tongue out at the mare. The older unicorn gasped, and gave the younger unicorn an angry look.

" This is Rusty, my younger brother. Please excuse his behaivor... he isn't usually like that," he said, galring at his little brother. What has gotten into him? He looked anxiously at the mare, hoping she wouldn't be offended.

Star noticed that Cranium had bit his lip, looking a bit nervous, when she had spoke of her life in Manehatten.

The little colt hesitated for a moment, then stuck his tongue out. Stargazer was shocked for a moment, but then let out a little laugh. She stood back up, giving the colt another warm smile. What a foal! she chuckled to herself, glancing at Cranium.

"Rusty huh?" Stargazer said thoughtfully, "Oh no it's fine. I don't mind." The cyan mare laughed again.

Cranium gave the mare a surprised look, which quickly turned to relief.

" But, who, pray tell is this somepony you left behind in Manehattan?" he asked curiously. It was certainly dangerous there, from what he had heard. No place at all for a kindly pony like herself...

Stargazer looked inquisitively at Cranium. His question seemed like a delayed response, but Star shrugged mentally.

"My friend Misfit," She smiled kindly, "I'm sort of her guardian at the moment, and she wanted to stay at her parents home, which is in Manehatten." Stargazer glanced at Rusty again, wondering curiously why he resented her.

Rusty gave Stargazer a murderous look, and opened his mouth to say something, probably to say a snarky comment. His older brother silenced him with an angry look.

" Oh," Cranium said awkwardly, deep in thought. Aha! There is no way she can defend herself in such a hostile envoriment! I will get a train ticket to Manehattan, and track her down, and then I can- He halted his thoughts, and gave a slight frown. This did seem to be going a little overboard... Nonsense! The mare needs a protector... and I don't want her to leave...

" I've heard it's quite barbaric in Manehattan," he said casually, taking off his glasses, and polishing them briefly. He gave the mare what probably was supposed to be a charming grin, which looked more like a pained grimace.

" I could- OW!" he felt a swift kick in his leg, and swirved his head, to see Rusty scowling at him. With that, he swiped the ball, and stomped away. Cranium's look of annoyance turned to concern for the colt. Was it something I said?

"Barbaric?" Stargazer asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone, "Quite the contrary my friend! From what I've seen, most ponies are actually very friendly and kind. Such a stereotype was created by those with bad experiences." The mare shook her head, clucking her tongue.

"What's wrong with Rusty?" she asked kindly, looking at him with confusion, "Are you okay?" the cyan unicorn turned to Cranium, "That's quite the fighter you've got there. Must be a hoofful!" She let out a small laugh.

Cranium frowned. Clearly that was the wrong thing to say, he thought to himself. " Did I say Barbaric? I meant... um... Bearic... yes, they act like... tame... bears..." his voice drifted off as he realized how stupid he sounded.

"What's wrong with Rusty?" the mare asked. Cranium flinched out of habit. Typically cruel things were said about at Rusty, it was true he was odd. But he wasn't usually so aggresive, he just barely talked around other ponies, except his older brother, which led to a very long explanation, and the unicorn was very keen on avoiding it.

"That's quite the fighter you've got there. Must be a hoofful!" Stargazer said, letting out a small laugh. The unicorn immedeatly lept to his defense.

" Oh, he's not really. He's very smart, very-" he stopped midsentence when he saw the kind, concerned look on her face, and relaxed.

Stargazer couldn't help but laugh at Cranium's fumbling attempt to fix his mistake. When Star mentioned that something could be wrong with Rusty, Cranium flinched. She wondered why. He seemed to jump to his brother's defense, but calmed down after a moment.

"Did I say something?" she asked aloud, looking after Rusty's storming hooves with curiosity.

" No... I.." his voice trailed off, as he pondered why Rusty was upset. Is he being bullied again? Did he try to put a spell on himself again?

Rusty is probably having a bad day. None of my concern, he reminded himself, but somehow still couldn't rid of his concerned thoughts. He gave a long sigh. It had been a long day.

" It was nice seeing you... Stargazer... Thank you for uh, assisting me earlier," he said, blushing at the end of his sentence. I need to stop doing that! What am I, a fool?

Star cast one last look at Rusty's disappearing form before turning back to face Cranium.

"Sure, no problem." She replied happily, giving him a kind smile. She hadn't noticed his blushing, as she was busy worrying that it was her fault the pony had left. But, she shrugged inwardly, What does it matter...

(sorry for shortness! )

~Dusty~
Dusty trotted along the side of the Everfree Forest, Hmm... Where could a souvenir shop be? I am not leaving her without a Snow Globe... She thought as she started to fly. Getting impatient she flew around the edge of the forest with gathering speed while skimming her surroundings for what she was looking for. Suddenly she rammed right into something very solid. She looked up to see stars dance around a vaguely familiar being...

As long as it's alright with Masquerade, you can roleplay in this with us.

Cranium gave the mare another smile, which looked slightly better than the charming one attempted earlier.The unicorn cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to speak something meant to be witty, intelligent, and romantic, only to give a sharp gasp as he was knocked over, ramming into the ground with a thud. He turned around, scowling.

" Who was- ohhh no...." he groaned as he looked at a pony dusting herself off. A certain poofy haired, chipper, obsessed-with-the-beach pony.

" What are you doing here?" the stallion scoffed, then gave the pegasus a furious look.

" Who was- ohhh no...." The being groaned. Dusty got up and dusted her fur off and looked back at the stallion now looking at her. Scoffing, Cranium asked, "What are you doing here?" He glared at her as she ruffled up her frizzy mane. She giggled and said, "Didn't I tell you? I looove traveling! I was looking for a souvenir shop, ya see, I always pick up a snowglobe wherever I visit. I have a collection, ya know... But I can't find one round here! I was looking for one when I bumped into you... Again!" With this Dusty collasped on the ground in a fit of giggles.

(Skye, there is a posting order, as always. the one for this thread goes Hobbit, me and then you. Please pay attention to this, it is in the rules)

Star backed away when Cranium was suddenly bowled over. He made a scoffing remark after realizing who it was, and the mare who knocked him down replied with a rather energetic run-on sentence. Star looked on in curiosity, wondering who this pegasus was.

(Oh I totally forgot about that, sorry!!!)

Dusty recovered from her laughter fit and looked up at Cranium. She stretched and got up to dust her self off, again. "SO. What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked him. Dusty bent down to examine an odd flower near the edge of the forest. Looking behind Cranium she saw a mare standing there. She wonered who the unicorn asked so she got up and turned away from the odd plant. "Cranium, who's your friend?" She asked with interest.

(I know it's sort of short... Sorry -.-')

Cranium looked back at Stargazer and blushed bright red.

" I never said she was my friend, in fact, it's none of your-" the unicorn stiffened, and sniffed the air. " What's that smell?" he said in a disgusted tone. The stallion carefully turned his head to the source of the smell, to find some kind of odd blue flower the pegasus was looking at near the edge. he rolled his eyes, and looked at Stargazer.

" Can we please go before this idiotic, clumsy, pegasus does something else?" he growled, glaring at the pegasus.

" And what is that thing, anyway?" he scoffed, and crept closer to the Everfree's edge, and grabbed the blue flower, handing it to Stargazer.

"Seriously, in the world is- GAH!" he suddenly dropped the odd plant, and suddenly realized he had a high pitched voice, almost one of a much younger pony. He looked at his hooves. They were a lot smaller than he remembered. And his lab coat... why was it so big on him? The unicorn's eyes widened in horror, as he grasped what had happened to him. I'm a... colt?!

" Bu- whu... h-h-ow?!" the colt stammered.

Stargazer was shocked by Cranium's fierce response, glaring at the newly arrived pegasus. Star wondered what was up with him........He snatched the blue flower that the pegasus had been inspecting earlier, asking Star what it was. She was about to snap that she had no idea, when he dropped the plant. His lab coat seemed to grow....or was he shrinking?

"What in the world?" Stargazer gasped, staring at the colt in front of her. She cast a glance at the pegasus, then back at Cranium. "How-?"

~~Dusty~~
Dusty started giggling at Cranium's younger voice. "What, *giggle* Happen- *snort* happened to you?" She asked trying to snuff out her giggling. Dusty stopped laughing suddenly, something started to feel weird in her slim body. She felt something poking out of the fur on her legs. She turned around to see- "Fins? Wh-wha...?!" She exclaimed finally getting worried. Small silvery scales popped up in her fur in random clumps on her body like awkward freckles. They didn't cover her entire body but they still felt weird and uninvited. Gills popped out on her neck like veins. Suddenly she could no longer breathe through her snout, it was still there but she could breathe. "Can't... Breathe!!" She gasped clutching her throat.

Cranium's eyes widened as he realize the position he was in. What is Rusty popped around the corner, to laugh at him. He would never let him heat the end of it, the scientist knew that for sure. Or worse, what if a fellow scientist saw him? He would be humiliated!

Suddenly the colt's eyes widened as the pegasus started gasping and clutching her throat. He then noticed she had... gills? He noticed for a moment the plant was lying by her, and could only guess the plant had something to do with it. Her face started turning purple, then red. Frantically, the colt shoved her into the pond, and frowned at his hooves.

"Look at me! I'm filthy!" the colt said in a whiny voice.

Stargazer reacted with shock at first, which only lasted a second. Then she swiftly pushed magic up into her horn, lifting the gilled pegasus out of the mud puddle, holding her in the air with purple aura.

"Stay here!" She ordered the colt-Cranium before dashing into the Everfree Forest again. She had barely gone 5 steps when she came across a larger puddle, full of clear water. She set the pegasus on the ground, inspecting the pool for a moment before deeming it safe.

"I'm sorry, but the Everfree has the closest water source." She mumbled apologetically to Dusty, nudging her into the pool.

Cranium watched as the beauti- that is, Stargazer ran off. He sighed, and flopped on the ground, annoyed at how he had been merely cast off as if he was too ignorant to do anything.

" What am I, a colt?" he muttered, then groaned.

" Oh. Right."

He pushed his glasses further up his snout. It was bad enough the lab coat was so huge now, did his glasses have to be so big? It was as if he was a dumb little moron, playing dress up with his father's lab coat. With a jolt, he realized that's exactly what he used to do with his father's old clothes. When he was young. That seemed like a long time ago, when he actually had fun, when he played. And as strange as it seemed, being with Stargazer, and this little mishap in the Everfree had actually kind of been... No! Stop! Immedeatly, he steered away from his thoughts, and waited for Stargazer to return.

~~Dusty~~
The terrified sea-fish-pony stumbled and plopped into the clear, cold water. She thrashed about in the water trying to breathe when she started gulping in water. At first Dusty thought she was drowning but then she realized she was breathing... She broke the surface of the water, which wasn't far up, the small pool was pretty shallow. She coughed and sputtered remembering she couldn't breathe air anymore. Dusty lowered herself to where her neck was still submerged in the water so the gills on her neck could breathe. Her hooves kicked lightly at the bottom of the pool as she looked over to the slightly worried unicorn.
"Thanks," Dusty said very gratefully to the pony who had probably just saved her life. Dusty bubbly aura had toned down a bit.

"Of course." Star sighed, glancing at the foal-turned Cranium. "Now how am I supposed to fix this?"  She wondered, trying to think of anything she could do. "Aha!" She gasped with a light smile, "I know!" She concentrated for a moment, a purple aura flowing around her horn as she pushed magic up. "First, to get both of you out of hear." She muttered as a small glass bowl poofed in front of her. "Alright, you, I'm going to fill this bowl with water and then I want you to hop in it." She ordered, proceeding to fill the bowl with water from the puddle. She waited for the fish-pony to get in it before she stood.

Cranium nodded, somewhat sullenly. And this is all because of that stupid flower.

The unicorn frowned. " That's nice and all, but what to do about this?" he asked, gesturing to himself. He had no idea himself, unless one of them were to perform an age spell, which was far beyond his magical ability. The most he could do was a teleportation spell, or a levitation spell. If he never changed back... he would be humiliated... and laughed at... and then his reputation as a respected scientist would be... ruined! And he had a strange urge to go play in the dirt, and draw pictures with crayons.

Suddenly his lip quivered, and the colt started wailing. ' I DON'T WANT TO BE LAUGHED AT! I.... I... OHTHISISN'TRIGHTATALLANDISTALLBECAUSEOFTHATPREPOSTURIOUSPLANTANDNOWI'MANADOLOSCENTANDIFEELRIDICULOUSANDILOOKRIDICULOUSAND.. AND... AAAGGHHH!" the colt shrieked, while sobbing uncontrollably. With that, and without thinking, he sped into the Everfree at a full gallop. My life is ruined! The world is ruined! RUINED!