Chapters "I don't know, Twilight," came the soft and reserved voice of a young dragon from the corner of the room, his clawed feet hot with sweat against the wooden library floor. "This spell seems way above your pay grade, if you know what I mean."
"Nonsense, Spike," the living embodiment of pony science dismissed, trotting around her table and examining the spread of scrolls, books, potions and runes that covered it with extreme focus. "If the princess was worried that I couldn't handle it, she would have said something in her letter when I broached to her my desire to experiment with hormone-altering magic."
"Yeah, right . Sometimes I think Celestia just likes to mess with ponies and not tell them things, so that they learn things for themselves the hard way." Spike muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Spike?" Twilight asked absently, igniting her horn and levitating a few liquid-filled test tubes around in front of her face. Deep in concentration, lost to everything outside the realm of magic and science, Twilight's mind had no room for dragon sarcasm. Spike shrugged and shook his head. His surrogate unicorn mother could be so dense.
"Remind me again what it is you're actually trying to do?" The dragon inquired, walking over to the base of the library's staircase and sitting on the lowest step. Clasping his chin in his claws, his eyes glazed over in watching numerous objects float about the table, suspended in Twilight's magical aurora. From what he could tell she was examining one of her giant dusty books, flopped down in the center of the table.
"Hmmm...well, right now I'm trying to calculate the amount of milliliters I'll require from each separate potion ingredient. Any incorrect amounts, and the spell won't work," she explained, "but, as I told you earlier, the ultimate goal is to create a potion-based spell that will successfully stimulate and control certain aspects of a pony's hormones."
"And...this is important, why?" Spike inquired further.
"Hormones are like messengers of the body, Spike. They tell the cells of the body to do certain things. They're a fundamental part of the body's network of communication and function, as well as growth. By being able to control them, all sorts of spells for altering the strength in muscles, energy input and output and other things could be easily developed."
The birds were chirping outside. Two birds, Spike noticed. One male bird was chasing the other, a female, around one of the tree houses' branches. While the female had been on the branch for quite a while, she was soon forced into the air by the male, who had decided to give chase. Huh. Maybe they were playing, Spike thought. Birds probably got bored and liked to have fun too, right? He knew Peewee did. And, well, he was kinda sorta a bird, too.
"Aaaand...done! Haha! Spike, I think I did it!"
Spike's complete lack of focus at last dawning on him, he cleared his head from his thoughts and glanced back to the table. While Twilight merrily bounced in place somewhat reminiscent of Pinkie Pie, the previously floating test tubes had been laid back in their coasters, empty and drained of their contents - contents which now mixed and fizzed ominously in a central jar, just in front of that huge book.
"Uhhh...Twilight? Is it supposed to be doing that?" Spike asked wearily, instinctively getting to his feet, butterflies filling his belly. Oh, man. That fight or flight moment was coming to him. Rather in this case, a 'tackle Twilight out of the way' or flight.
"It's only settling, Spike. Once the chemicals stabilize it'll be fine." Twilight reassured, ceasing her bouncing and moving the jar aside carefully while she looked back over the book. But despite her words, the jar's hissing grew in audibility, and the base of the jar tinged with a sudden fit of shaking.
"Twilight, it's not settling, it's not settling!" Spike exclaimed, grimacing and throwing his hands over his head in tense anticipation for a bang, or other form of unpleasant explosion. Only now did Twilight turn her full attention to the jar, and begin to understand a bit of what Spike was feeling. That was anything but a stabilizing potion.
"Uh oh...I think you might be right!" She whimpered, ears flattening and lifting a front hoof in anxiety.
Horn igniting once again, the purple unicorn grabbed the jar and lifted it high into the air, before securing it in a spherical shield of magical energy. There, it continued to shake uncontrollably, droplets of light blue potion spilling over onto the lower portion of the shield and fizzing into an opaque smoke. As seconds went by, the dissipating droplets grew into a thicker smoke, and both Twilight and Spike felt their heart's skip a beat...as the smoke filtered through the force field.
"W-Whoa! Since when can smoke do that!?" Spike shouted, ducking for cover under his blankets.
"I-It's magically imbued, Spike! The ingredients making it up have magical energy inside them, my magic can't contain it! Oh no ...I-I need to get this out into an empty open space! It needs to dissipate naturally!"
With that, the frantic unicorn used what focus she had left in her horn to slam open her front door, and run outside with the seething potion a few feet in front of her. Spike crawled out from his bed and bit his lip, swallowing hard. Should he follow her? Would he just get in the way? Oh man.
"Come on Spike, Twilight might need you! Number One Assistant, remember?" He whispered to himself, jumping up with heroic tenacity. Grabbing a spare piece of parchment for a letter to the princess, the young dragon ran from the tree house after his frantic friend.
--
Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!
Barely observing the ground in front of her, Twilight tore through town, the blue potion and its vastly thickening smoke flooding out of her force field steadily. A few passerby ponies gasped and leaped out of the way before they got bowled over, while others stared on in confusion at what their crazy librarian resident had done this time.
As she crossed the bridge connecting town to the fields and hills that lead to Fluttershy's home and, eventually, the Everfree Forest, Twilight bit down on her lip. Just a little further, and she'd be set. The smoke would be able to spread out into the open air, and break down into completely harmless particles. But, what had she gotten wrong? Why was this happening? She couldn't have gotten the potion, or any of the enchantment spells wrong...
"Twilight!" came Spike's voice from several hundred yards behind. The dragon was panting, standing on the bridge and clutching his knees.
"Spike, I can't! Not now!" She yelled, keeping her eyes on the potion and the approaching field in front of her.
"But Twilight! Watch where you're going! Twilight!"
"...?!"
Too little, too late. In a single moment, Twilight felt a sharp pain shoot through her front left hoof as it collided into a lowly-embedded rock, hidden in the thick grass. A wince and gasp was followed by a thud, a yell, and a splash. Spike gasped, covered his mouth for a moment in shock, then ran towards the cloud of smoke.
"Twilight! Oh man. Are you okay!?" Spike shouted, covering the distance in no time and getting to a close, but safe distance from the fallen mare, who was still engulfed in the slowly fading smoke. While having caught the glass jar with her magic before it fell and shattered, her force field had broken in the sudden loss of focus from her fall, and the potion, oh the potion...had poured right out.
Slowly but surely, the smoke dissipated as oxygen dispersed it. Spike began to take notice of his friend's silhouette moving, and he sighed a little in relief.
"Didn't I tell you to look where you were going?" He scolded, cocking an eyebrow and crossing his arms. "You always freak out like that, then end up flopping over yourself. Heh, good thing you got your Number One Assistant here to keep...you...whoa."
"*cough* *cough*! S-Spike, what are you-...*GASP*! Wait, what the hay happened to my voice!?"
The smoke had finally faded almost completely, and the purple unicorn stood up straight, hardly the same unicorn that had fallen. Spike, still speechless, gawked slightly at the firmer, bulkier build, the lack of eyelashes, the larger chin and, perhaps most noticeably, the choppy, short mane style. As Twilight began to look around at her new-found body, whimpering and losing her stability more and more every second, Spike got up as well and put a hand on his chin.
"Dude...you're a guy."
"Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohno!" Twilight panicked, fluttering in place on four hooves nervously as if the ground were on fire, and looking around with wide, scared eyes to see if anypony was there to see. Spike had to admit, it was a whole lot funnier coming from a stallion - he actually had to stifle a laugh.
"This can't be happening! There's-there's no way!"
"Sure there is." Spike said calmly. "It's called, 'Spike was right all along, and dealing with all this hormone stuff is definitely way above your pay grade.'"
Twilight craned his neck and shot the dragon a quick glare, before returning to panicking outright.
"N-no, this is serious, Spike. We need to fix this right away. There might be other horrible side effects as well, or..." The stallion stopped mid-stride. "...or it might even be permanent ! Spike, what will my friends think? What if this puts an awkward dent in our relationship!? What if they don't want to be friends anymore!?"
He trotted around nervously, practically pacing in a wide circle around Spike, who couldn't be any less bothered, as if he was already used to Guylight Sparkle.
"What's EVERYONE going to think? I-I've never been a stallion before, I-I don't know how to be one!"
"Being a guy is easy," Spike said, laying on the grass and lounging with his claws behind his head. "You just be cool, relax, and let the flow take you where it goes. You'll get used to it no time. Then you can just find a way to turn back. Piece of cake!"
"I don't want to get used to it at all , Spike!" The stallion yelled impatiently, flaring up his horn and floating the young dragon onto his back. Spike landed with an 'oof', muttering about how less soft it was sitting there, now with Twilight no longer being small and petite. After a few moments of horn charging, the two vanished in a flash of bright light, reemerging back at the library a few seconds later; still quiet and peaceful, albeit a tad messy.
Jumping off from his new guy friend, Spike stretched and laid down on his bed, watching the purple stallion fuss around with the scrolls and books that still lay open on the desk.
"So, what are we gonna call you now?" Spike asked aloud, watching Twilight frantically search. "Guylight Sparkle? Maybe Twiguy? Huh...what's like 'Twilight' and 'Sparkle', anyway?"
"Spike, this isn't funny." The lower-toned stallion snipped, flipping through pages of several books all at once, trying to find anything he could regarding gender changing. But from cover to back, not a single solution could be found. Everything from muscle alterations to energy fluctuating danced around the pages in great detail, but the most unimaginative and outright change of all was nowhere to be located. Twilight's heart pounded against his chest.
"Oh! I know...what about...Dusk Shine! That's like, the opposite of Twilight, and something other than Sparkle!"
"SPIKE, KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!" Twilight growled, giving him another glare. "Can't you see how serious this is!? I can't find a bucking thing about gender changing in any of these books, and those ingredients from earlier where most of what I had! What if I'm stuck like this forever!? What if my friendships fall apart and I lose all contact with Ponyville and all its' ponies!? What if I-...what are you doing?"
Halfway through 'Dusk Shine's' rant, Spike had rolled his eyes and gotten up from his comfortable napping position. Taking out the scroll he had been hanging on to since he left, he pulled out a spare quill and a bottle of black ink, and had begun to write. By the time the ranting unicorn had taken notice, the dragon had finished his short message, wrapped it up, and flashed it away in a flare of green fire. Dusk looked on in horror, mouth agape, while Spike cocked his eyebrow in retort.
"Well ya know, it just occurred to me, if you're gonna be all grumpy now that you're a guy, maybe it is better if we turn ya back as soon as possible." The dragon said with deadpan. "So...how about we stop freaking out, and wait to see what the princess has to say, huh? I'm sure she can fix you."
"Spike! What did you do!?" Dusk fretted, running over to poke his head out the window, trying to catch glimpse of the traveling fire mail. "The last thing I need on top of this is for the princess to see that I messed up so bad! UUUUGHHHHH!"
"Oh, calm down. I just told her that you needed some help with a mistake you had with the hormone spell, and that you don't have the stuff to fix it. Do you seriously never remember all the times you've totally flipped, and then come to realize you were just overreacting? Like that time where you couldn't get the princess a letter on time, and went completely wacko?"
Twilight 'Dusk Shine' Sparkle sighed to himself and teleported up to his bed with a spark, worry about his new appearance and confusion about what he had gotten wrong swimming around in his head like a pack of piranha. Flopping down on his bed, he buried his snout into his pillow, flank sticking up in the air amusingly as he groaned a young teenage boy groan.
"...Mwhat mam mai rowing ro roo...? "
"Didn't quite catch that one." Spike said.
"What am I going to do!?" Dusk repeated, roughly grabbing his blanket with his magic and throwing it over himself. Spike bemused the fact that the stallion's rump caused the blanket to stick out. But just as Spike opened his mouth for another witty comment, he felt something warm rising up his body briskly. His gag reflex activated within seconds, and with a loud, unyielding belch, a flare of green flames shot forth, dropping a fresh scroll onto the floor.
"That sure was fast." Spike said, punching the scales on his chest to let loose a smaller excess of flames before picking up the scroll. Unraveling, he looked it over and began to smile.
"Well, what's it say?..." Dusk asked timidly, horn and snout poking out from under his blanket, anxious anticipation gripping him, as usual. "Am I stuck as a boy, forever? Is there no cure? Is she mad at me? Am I going back to Magic Kindergarten...as a boy !?"
"'My most faithful student, and trusted assistant, Spike, " Spike began to read aloud, putting proud emphasis on the second line. "'There is nothing wrong in making mistakes, as failure only demonstrates that you are truly trying your best. While I am more than happy to assist you in any way I can, I'm afraid I am rather caught up in a series of political situations at the moment. As such, if you require my assistance, you'll have to come visit me in Canterlot, and patiently await a time later today, or even tomorrow morning, after I have settled these current affairs. Only then can I assist you.
Should you need to stay the night, you're more than welcome to stay in the castle; alternatively, I'm sure your brother, Shining Armor, would be more than happy to house you for the night.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia "
"C-Canterlot? Ooooh, of all the times that her political adviser ponies have to take up all her time, it has to be now!?" Dusk said, twisting around on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, intertwined with his blanket. "I can't go to Canterlot, it'd be an even worse disaster than Ponyville! A-And I certainly can't see my brother! What would he think? I don't want to creep him out! He's always had a little sister, not a little brother! It'd be super awkward...he might even avoid me!"
"Oh for Celestia's sake," Spike said in exasperation, putting down the letter, walking up the second floor steps, gripping the purple unicorn's blanket covers and yanking them out from under him. While Dusk glared and covered his face with a hoof, Spike grabbed his friends' tail and began to pull.
"It's not a big deal, Twilight," he said, straining himself against the noticeably heavy stallion. "No one is going to care, and then once you're fixed, you can look back and laugh about it. The princess has been around for a long time, I'm sure she can fix you somehow."
Dusk didn't budge. Spike rolled his eyes. Time for a new approach.
"Please? Do it for me? You could wear a cloak or disguise or something if you really wanted." He tried, in a much softer, pleading voice. The dragon jumped up onto the bed and gently pushing against the stallion's back.
"...A disguise. Well...I suppose something big enough with a hood would work." Dusk said quietly, thinking over the idea and sighing again. "Alright, Spike. I'll go see the princess. But I'm not going to stay with my brother, and I'm going straight to the castle so nopony sees me."
"Great!" Spike said with glee, throwing his arms around the colt's neck in a hug, and running off to find the largest raincoat he could find.
"And Spike," Dusk continued, getting up from the bed and slowly making his way downstairs. "I want you to put a sign on the library door saying that I'm...uhh...very ill, so the library is closed for a day or two."
Wait. But what about her friends? They'd want to come in and take care of her, if that were the case. Especially Fluttershy...
"Wait, no, that won't work. Put a sign on the door saying that I've gone to...a...mandatory...two-day seminar on magic and friendship." Dusk threw together, getting a questioning glance from Spike, who had found the coat he was looking for. "A seminar that...all of Celestia's students have to go to."
"...Seriously?"
"Just do it, Spike. Now give me that coat."
"Do...I know you from anywhere?" Asked a young grey earth pony, sitting diagonal from a pony covered underneath a large, bulky coat.
"Hah, me, umm *ahem*, no, not at all. I'm completely new to town, just here to go tour the capital, heh..." The coat pony replied in a forced low voice.
Dusk maneuvered around in his seat, pretending to cough as an excuse to bundle into his large brown coat further and avoid being seen by anyone directly. The redundant clackity clack of the train was usually soothing to ponies, but for him, he could hardly remain calm. He was surrounded by folks from both Canterlot and Ponyville, as well as who knows what other kinds of places across Equestria. For someone as famous as Celestia's prized student, who saved the entire land from Nightmare Moon and Discord, going anywhere was impossible while trying to remain anonymous, let alone trying to blend in.
When he finally lost all the attention he had gathered to himself, and the ponies across the train car were busy talking with their own friends or watching the majestic hills and mountainside pass by, Dusk inhaled deeply and laid his head against the side of the train car, his mind returning to science. How, what had he done wrong? The spell he had enchanted on the three potion ingredients was nothing more than a stimulant to activate control over the hormone chemicals. And, he had poured them all in the correct amount, as well. Had he simply prepared the ingredients incorrectly? Or...added them in an incorrect order, that caused the potion to react negatively?
Dusk sighed to himself, and decided he'd had enough for now. Closing his eyes, he tried his best to ignore the subtle bumps from the tracks. Some sleep might help him relax...after all, he'd need it if he planned to keep his sanity until the princess could spare the time to help him with his predicament.
~~~
"Last stop, Canterlot Station! Everypony off! Don't forget to grab your belongings on your way out, and have a great day! " Came the voice of the conductor pony over the train intercom. The ears of ponies shot up as these words echoed throughout the train cars, and the immediate hustle and bustle of all riders disembarking filled the air in the forms of friendly conversations, shuffling of suitcases and the sound of the train letting off steam.
Despite all of this, Dusk Shine remained immersed in sleep. While sleep wasn't something that came easily when he was under stress, when it did occur, not even a stampede of Ursas could wake him.
Unfortunately for him, this was not his warm and comfy bed at home.
"Hey, mister, time to get off." Came the friendly voice of a young filly, as she trotted by after her parents. Not taking her eyes off him, and noticing that he didn't budge, she stopped mid-step and turned around, looking about him and looking for a side to poke.
"Hey, mister, you gotta wake up!" She said, smiling and pushing gently against his now emerging foreleg.
"Nnmhmmm...huh-wha?" The groggy, not at all alert stallion voice grunted. Dusk's purple snout, sectioned off cut mane and droopy eyes emerged from his concealed mobile fortress of secrecy, and he blinked at an adorable face looking up at him.
"We're at Canterlot, mister," the small blue filly said. "Time for everypony to get off. That's what the conductor said."
Suddenly, it all came flooding into Dusk's mind like a bursting damn. His eyes widened, he gasped, and he wrapped his hood around the frame of his face quickly, smiling at the filly and clearing his throat.
"Oh, uh, yeah, that's right, we are! Hehe, thank you, young pony."
Satisfied, the little girl ran off to meet her parents, who were now outside the train car and fussing over a map held in a magic aura.
Not wasting any time, Dusk lit his horn and illuminated his face inside his hood, zapped himself outside the train car, and took off in a full-on trot. Though he got the few occasional looks due to his large, suspicious looking cloak, his mind was ten steps ahead the worry scale, by this point. Thoughts of the princess not being able to change him back was gnawing at his mind like one of Fluttershy's beavers with trees, and thusly, all he could think of were the inevitable consequences of his actions.
How could his friendships possibly survive? All of his friends were girls; there's no way they'd want to awkwardly have one male pony hanging out with them when they had girls nights or sleepovers or even just when they were hanging out! He'd have to find new stallion friends, possibly even move to a new town and officially change his name! His parents, brother and other Ponyville friends would be too weirded out by the bizarre and permanent change to want to talk to him anymore! He'd be alone with his books forever!
Well, the 'lonely old book pony' part would have been fine, actually...if he had never gotten to learn the magic of friendship in the first place. That was a pretty accurate description of what he had been, after all, minus Spike.
Exiting the train station and swiftly making his way down the crowded streets of Canterlot, Dusk Shine did his best to stick to the middle of the street. Amidst the moving bodies, it'd be harder for anypony to notice him, er, her , as opposed to walking along the side and risking someone who wasn't in a hurry from recognizing him. So far, it was working perfectly. Although it was the city of higher-class ponies, this seemed to be a tourist afternoon; the streets were filled with regular-class ponies as well, many of whom had far simpler, less showy clothes. All the better to blend in for a stallion sporting a big and obvious mobile fortress.
Shelving his train of thought for the moment, Dusk took in a deep sigh of relief and came to a slowed trot. The destination of his desired sanctuary now laid out before him. Standing tall and proud in the immediate distance was the vast castle of the city, bright colored towers and peaks delivering a commanding presence for miles and miles around the high mountain on which they stood. Somewhere within those familiar walls was the Princess. Dusk could only pray she had a magic 'Reverse accidental student mishaps' spell handy on her.
"Alright...you can do this." Dusk coached to himself, continuing his front towards the castle, while watching the cobblestone street below his hooves pass by. "'Princess, it's me, Twilight. I know you might not recognize me immediately, but, well, this is what Spike's letter was talking about. I was working on a hormone potion to work with muscle power and other factors, but for some reason it backfired. I was hoping you'd have a solution to-"
*THUD*
Dusk's snout collided with something brisk and hard, and with a short wince of pain and a step back, he instinctively raised his hoof to rub it. Opening his eyes, the immediate panicked reaction spilled from his mouth like a recited speech.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"That's fine. Do you have business with the castle, this afternoon?"
Dusk raised his view and got a look at the gruff-voiced guard pony from beneath the shade of his hood. The bright white, armored stallion stared at him with a blank expression, seemingly not at all curious why a stallion was wearing such a sweltering cloak on a day like today.
"Well, you see," Dusk said after clearing his throat a bit more, trying to change his voice to be even lower. "I've received a letter from her majesty, Princess Celestia, and would like to request an audience with-"
"I'm afraid the princess is attending an important political matter today. You may try tomorrow morning, as she shall be returning at some point this evening, but will likely remain unavailable until the morn." The guard pony recited, as if he had done so to half a dozen other ponies looking for the alicorn princess today, already.
"Oh, yes, she did mention that in our letter." Dusk said. "Would you, uh, happen to know if I can stay in the castle until her return? I've, umm...no bits to stay anywhere, tonight. I, spent it all on the train-ride here." he explained, toppling over his sentences as his mind raced to come up with a plausible story. By the expression on the guard pony, he wasn't getting an A in deceiving. The guard cocked an eyebrow ever so slightly.
"If the princess had mentioned to you of her dealings that may last until tomorrow, why did you not make preparations for a place to stay? I'm afraid the castle is not open for offering rooms, sir."
Dusk bit his lip. Heart racing and mind ever so steadily taking a cliff-dive from how relaxed and confident he had been upon first seeing the castle, he fussed around with one of his forelegs, desperately trying to come up with a non-suspicious and completely sensible response. But nothing was coming to him. His true identity would only confuse and possibly put the pony on alert for something suspicious...it's not like he'd believe his story, right?
"Well, you see, I, um..."
"Hello, there. My name is Shining Armor, I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard here in Canterlot."
Dusk stood from atop a high cliff, above an ocean of spiked rocks, and watched his mental composure take that suicidal cliff dive. No way. No. This couldn't, no, not right now ! What was he doing here, right at this moment!? Shouldn't he be off doing guard pony things or something? Anywhere but here, right now! Oh Shining Armor, you have the worst timing of any older brother, in the history of older brothers with bad timing!
"Hello." Dusk managed to choke out, his voice shaking ever so slightly with worry, sweat starting to dampen his joints. Shining Armor, looking as friendly and approachable as always, looked on at the strange cloaked pony with a mixture of welcome and confusion.
"Although the castle cannot house just anyone who requests it, I'd be happy to lend you enough money to cover a one-night stay at one of our inns. Did you have any in-particular that you'd prefer to stay at? There are quite a few in the castle's vicinity."
Shining walked past the guard pony, who had begun to ignore the two of them, seeing that his Captain had clearly taken over the situation. Dusk could feel his sanity grabbing a hold of a stray branch on the cliff's edge. Phew ...that was close. He could use the money to stay at an inn, and make his way to find Celestia when she returned. The princess would hopefully be able to turn him back relatively immediately, and she could return to Ponyville with no cloak and no more worries. Or, even better, she could take this opportunity to spend some time with her brother while she was here. She rarely got the chance to see him these days, after all...
"Oh, that's very kind of you," Dusk said, being careful to not make eye contact, adjusting the angle of his hood as Shining subtly tried to get a glimpse of this strangers' face. Shining of all people would nail her by just her face. "I'm not very picky, myself. The cheapest place would do just fine, I've no need for anything expensive."
"Well...alright." Shining said slowly, giving up on his attempts for a visual and, while being slightly more suspicious of this shady character than before, nonetheless levitated a small dozen bits from a hidden area inside his armor, and held it front of the cloaked pony. "There's a place just around the corner, the Defiant Dragon, that'll be happy to have you."
Seeing the exit to this narrow and dangerous tunnel, Dusk levitated the coins from Shining's grasp, nodded a thanks to him and turned towards the far street that lead down to the Defiant Dragon. That was truly a luck-out moment. Of all the decisions Shining could have made, that was the only one Dusk could think of that wouldn't have resulted badly. He definitely made up for his horrible timing.
As Dusk made his way away from the castle entrance and Shining Armor turned to the street Dusk had originally came from, all was going absolutely perfect. No messy situations here. Or, that would have been the case...if there hadn't been any treacherous potholes in some of the cobblestone walkways on this particular street.
Gasping in surprise, Dusk felt his front hoof give out in front of him, and with a yelp, he crashed into the road head-first. Gravity took his safety cloak and took it right over his upper torso, revealing most of his back-end, including his blatantly obvious cutie mark.
Ground: 2, Dusk Shine: 0
There was dead silence for a stomach-plummeting few seconds, before the hopeful, confused and fully surprised voice of Shining came trotting over.
"But, that mark is...Twiley ? Is...is that you ?"
Every nerve on Dusk's body was on fire, yelling for him to run, to get away from there and find somewhere to hide until Shining moved on, to do something other than sit there with his big purple flank sticking up in the air. But he couldn't move. The coat covered his upper body and face, but not for long. Hooves concealing his face, wishing to Celestia he was anywhere but here, but not having the will or nerve to preform a teleportation, the purple unicorn listened to silence other than hooves walking across stone, followed by a cool rush of air flowing over his body as the coat was pulled off of him with a burst of levitation.
"...Twiley, but, you're...how do you have that, what..." Shining muttered out, clearly attempting to string together the completely bizarre scene in front of him. A purple stallion about as big as he was with a short, sectioned-off rectangular mane and the same cutie mark and colors of his sister was huddled on the ground in much a similar fashion that an ostrich hides itself from danger. Though, perhaps it was a bit more comical, here.
"I-It's me, Shiny..." Dusk managed to say weakly, finally mustering the strength to do something other than mimic a terrified ostrich.
"Do I even want to know?" Shining asked cooly, as Dusk shakily got to his hooves and took a deep breath.
"I-I'm trying to get it fixed, it was a backfire to a spell I was trying and I don't know what went wrong, but I don't know how to fix it, and I'm trying to locate the princess because she's the only pony around who would most likely know how to change me back, but she won't be coming back until tomorrow and I really didn't want to run into anyone I know because I don't want them to see me like this, but now you have and-"
Dusk felt a strong dark blue hoof affix itself to his mouth.
"Whoa whoa, hold on. Why are you afraid of your friends seeing you? You know they'd want to help you, right? Don't tell me you think they wouldn't want to help you out, Twiley. They're your friends, aren't they?"
Dusk averted his gaze from his brother. Mare or stallion, Shining always knew how to bypass Twilight's exaggerated fears swiftly, like Daring Do dodging through a temple's deadly traps. Dusk raised his still anxious eyes again.
"You should know that you can always come to me when you need help, too." He added. "Come on, let's head back to my place. You can wait there until the princess returns, and in the meantime you can give me the play by play on just how it is that I now have a little brother, where I should have a little sister." Shining said with a coy smile, leading the way down the road. Reluctant to follow, Dusk levitated his coat back over himself, and quickly trotted in toe after the older stallion.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Shining asked.
"Just Spike...he was there with me when it happened. Or, I should say he was actually the one who warned me not to mess with hormone magic to start with. *Sigh*...I guess he was right. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing."
"What did he have to say about all of this?"
"Well...not much. Other than giving suggestions about how I should relax, and naming this alternate self of mine 'Dusk Shine'."
"Dusk Shine, huh? Heh, that's actually not bad. I kinda like it. 'Hey mom, I've got a surprise for you. Meet your son, Dusk Shine!' "
"Shining, this isn't funny!" Dusk hissed.
"Hahaha! Hoo, heh, I'm sorry, Twiley."
Wisdom of Sibling Royalty
"Panic over how ponies will react aside," Shining said as he climbed the steps to his modest home and opened the door for his little brother, who shuffled in slowly, head still hanging down in awkward embarrassment, "Is there anything else about any of this that you'd like to tell me?"
Dusk Shine answered him with more silence, making his way to the far couch and slumping upon it after finally removing his coat. He buried his face into a pillow and curled his noticeably shorter tail around his lower body. Naturally, if he could not be a scared ostrich pony in the middle of the street, he'd have to improvise. He listened to the door close from Shining's magic, and then there was an even deeper silence.
"...Twiley, come on." Shining finally prodded. "You don't think your own brother knows when you're not telling him something? Heh, I don't even need to have my years of past experience in talking you out of breakdowns to know you're in a bad space, right now. You may have been in Ponyville for a while now, but I'll always know what makes my sister tick."
Dusk buried his head deeper into his brother's throw pillow, clenching his eyes and stubbornly resisting the rising urge to sob from the anxiety showering his mind with a barrage of arrows. Every last bit of confidence, composure and bravado to seek out the princess in the wide-open streets of Canterlot had toppled down, having been replaced by the urge to nestle with these surprisingly comfortable throw pillows like a dragon hoarding a pile of treasure, for all eternity. If anything, one-on-one time with Shining Armor in his current state was more nerve-wracking than treading Canterlot in a blatant disguise.
Because it meant that he had safety, security, and, should he want it, comfort. It meant that, if he wanted to, he could allow himself to break down completely from his fears, and turn into that young filly (or colt, in this case) who needed consoling from the caring older brother, whom Dusk knew, deep down, was there for him no matter what. The only decision left to make was whether to allow that break down or not.
"Twiley."
Dusk shifted a little bit, his ears flickering every now and then, but always returning to their drooping position. Every last goblin of anxiety had converged at his front gates, and they weren't holding.
"Twiley, you know I hate seeing you like this." Shining said, his voice far softer and more concerned than it had been so far. He walked silently over to the couch, and taking great care, maneuvered himself next to the basket-case stallion, placing one hoof onto his little brothers' mane. Dusk gave a few audible sniffs in response. "Please, talk to me."
One thing was for certain, and it was that Shining was going to need to invest in some new throw pillows. A few moments later, Dusk gripped hold of his brother's invitation with both hooves, and as the water works began, the purple stallion burrowed his head into a new object from those soft pillows; the space below his older brother's chin.
"It didn't really bother me before, because I was focusing on getting it fixed, and f-finding Princess Celestia." Dusk said, sniffs and shakes polluting his sentences. "But...this feels so strange, and it's scaring me. I feel like I'm, like I'm not even the same p-pony anymore! Like my mind is i-in the body of somepony else! And, t-that's why I was scared of meeting y-you or my friends, or anypony! I-If I feel this different, then everypony else would s-surely react the same way!"
Shining Armor remained silent and still, apart from keeping a firm grasp of Dusk's head. Listening intently, he waited until Dusk's sentences ended subdued to mere sniffs and gasps. Though still concerned, a small smile had dawned on his face.
"Do you know why I love my sister?" The white stallion asked.
"H-Huh?" Dusk replied, looking up, a few stray tears dropping between his hooves and Shining's.
"No matter what happens, now matter how much she believes her world is going to come crashing down, her patterns never change." He explained. "Whether a young filly crying into my front hoof about not wanting me to go off to become a royal guard, or the young mare sobbing about leaving Canterlot for Ponyville, she's always the easiest and most straight-forward sister in the world to comfort. As an older brother, that's a wonderful feeling for me."
Dusk's insecure and wet violet eyes made solid contact with Shining's calm, radiant cerulean ones.
"I can only imagine how strange it must be to suddenly be something you've never been before, especially something as intertwined with who you are as being a stallion or mare," Shining began, "but Twiley, your gender is not what defines you. Who you are is defined by your personality and actions. You can't forget that."
Dusk's gaze turned back downwards and away from the logic being pushed upon his army of anxiety goblins. But this was an experienced army, a stubborn army. It had been defeated many a time by these words, and knew by now how to circumvent them. The purple stallion laid his head at his brothers' hooves and gave a deep sigh.
"And most importantly...you shouldn't assume how your friends, and even your own brother, will respond to situations." The blue-maned stallion went on, smiling even broader as if he were actually happy over something, and began to ruffle Dusk's mane affectionately. "For example, if you had simply asked me how I felt about having a little brother for a short while, I'd have told you that I actually find the idea to be pretty cool."
Dusk's gaze picked right up again. The goblin army had taken a critical blow, and the purple stallions' waterworks began to withdraw. He stared at Shining with a mixture of disbelief and amazement.
"Haha, do you find it so surprising? I've never had a little brother before; why wouldn't I be interested in the aspect of it, even if it is short-lived?"
Like a mighty wave crashing down on a home burdened by a slowly consuming flame, Dusk's spirits rose from the muck. And the worst part of it all was, he couldn't even begin to count how many times his older brother had done this, now. The shock factor was a favorite of Shining's, and it always worked against the purple unicorn's logic-based mind.
"You...really don't mind?"
"That's what I'm saying. And I bet you every bit I own that every single one of your friends back in Ponyville would react similarly."
"How many bits do you even have left on you?" Dusk asked, a smile coming to him for the first time all day, and a sly smile at that.
"Well...none. I gave them all to you for the Defiant Dragon." Shining admitted, looking slightly sheepish.
"You're way too kind to ponies you've never even met before, Shiny." Dusk deadpanned with a smile.
"Well, you can blame my wife for that one." Shining chuckled. "I guess her nature has started to rub off on me."
The goblin hordes having subsided, at least from their critical levels, Dusk lifted himself up from the couch and took a deep breath. With new-found optimism, he trotted around the back of the couch, and gazed out over the plentiful view of Canterlot.
"Alright. I can do this." Dusk self-prepped. "Once the princess returns, she'll be able to give me advice on how to go about reversing this without any complications. I'd try it myself but...Spike was right, at least partially, anyway. I've just barely scratched the surface of hormonal magic, and I really messed up. I don't want to risk making things even worse. With any luck I should be able to get back to Ponyville and see my friends as a mare again, before the princess lowers the sun tomorrow."
Shining Armor rose from the couch as well. "You sure you want to stay in Canterlot? Your friends would be a great source of support, as well."
"You're right. And, truth be told, if I hadn't run into you, I probably would have returned to Ponyville once things got bad enough for me. I'd be on Rarity's fainting couch instead of yours, right about now. But, I did run into you. I don't want to drag them into this now if I don't have to. I think it'll be easier for everyone if I can just recall this tale with them over some lunch in the future, once I'm back to my normal self."
Dusk laid his head against his brother's neck. "My BBBFF supporting me is all I really need. Thanks, Shining."
"More than happy to help. It is my job, after all." Shining replied, putting a hoof around Dusk's back. "And you know that my fainting couch is always open for you. I'd dare to say I probably have even better rates than my competitors in Ponyville."
Dusk laughed. "Well I don't know about that, Rarity's not bad at being my psych pony when I need her to be. She can be very wise when she wants to be. I think her couch might be a bit comfier, too~"
"Oh, ouch . Insulting a stallion's furniture choices. You're just hitting below the belt now, Twiley." Shining said with a shake of his head. Before Dusk could anticipate it, his brother's horn lite with a flare, and the next thing the purple unicorn knew, the fluffy plum of a throw pillow collided with his face. An ancient, unspeakable war had just been waged.
"What do you think of my furniture now, Smarty Pants?" Shining grinned.
As the soft stitch-work of fibers and cloth fell from his face, Dusk's look of bewilderment turned to one of sweet vengeance.
"You're on , BBBFF."
"Princess, are you sure you won't be requiring anything else this evening?"
"Actually, there is one more thing, Mr. Ramsley. Now, I want you to do this next task for me to the very best of your ability, alright?"
"Yes of course, princess. How can I be of service?"
"I want you to go home, take the rest of the day off, and spend quality time with your family. Can you do that for me?"
"...Y-Yes, of course, thank you for your kindness, Princess Cadence!"
Calm, collected and entirely radiant with the very essence of love itself, Princess Cadence disembarked from the Canterlot carriage cart, and sent the chauffeur on his way. As she climbed the steps to her modest home, she thought she heard a far-off laugh that was all too familiar to her, but somehow distorted. Dismissing it as a trick of the imagination, but still harboring room for curiosity, the pink alicorn opened the front door with her second key, and began to walk inside. There she was met by a sight she could never have seen coming.
"Is that all you've got, Twiley? Your aim certainly hasn't gotten any better from when we were kids!"
"Always with the trash talk, Shiny. Just you wait. The shrewd and calculating ones are the real threats to watch out for in a war!"
Throw pillows and blankets rolled into balls soared through the air like catapult fodder. On either side of the living room, two distinct masses had been created. Lurking behind the couch, which had been upgraded with a mattress for extra defense was Shining Armor, front hooves and the upper part of his face peeking over the edge of his shield. On the opposing side, walled in by the overturned coffee table and four chairs from the kitchen was a purple pony that Cadence at first didn't recognize, but came to find familiar within seconds.
Through the uproar and commotion, neither of the stallions realized the door had opened, nor that there was a princess now observing their shenanigans with bemused interest.
"Come on Shining Armor, are you just going to hide in your homebase all day ? I have something with your name on it, that's soon to have your face on it!"
"Sorry Twiley, your cheap taunts won't work against a veteran commander of Fort Armor. You've never broken these walls before and you won't start today!"
"Oh my...what happened? I could have sworn that Fort Armor and The Kingdom of Sparkle had a treaty in effect. You didn't go instigating anything, did you, dear?"
The pillows and blankets all at once lost their levitation auras in mid-air, and dropped to the floor like rocks. Shining Armor's face lit up with true joy, and as he trotted out from behind his childish but well-put-together fortification, he met his radiant spouse with a kiss. Meanwhile, Dusk Shine blushed and did his absolute best to remain quiet and still, hiding behind his fortification. He may have gained some composure from his brother's pep talk, but that didn't change the fact that he was new to being a stallion. He didn't think he'd ever get used to introducing himself as such...
"How was your day?" The white stallion asked.
"Oh, you know. Just wrapping up some loose ends before our upcoming task." Cadence surmised, her deep pink eyes piercing straight through the hardwood coffee table. "Honestly, walking through the door to this has been the most interesting thing to happen all day."
Dusk gulped and felt his face go red again.
"Come on out, Twilight." The princess of love said kindly.
Dusk Shine slowly did as he was told. Slowly but surely, the deep purple stallion, just barely smaller than Shining Armor, picked himself up from behind the barrier and walked out into view. As his former babysitter and modern princess observed the bizarre change, Dusk kept his eyes on anything but Cadence's gaze. For a few moments there was nothing but silence and the heavy feeling of observations being taken.
"There's always something interesting going on in your world, isn't there?" Cadence said with a genuine smile, completely unperturbed by the mare's transformation. "And you know, you don't look half-bad as a stallion. I like how your mane turned out. It's very...well, like you."
"W-What? But I, I mean, you don't...you're not...confused? Surprised? Anything?" Dusk stammered, finally making direct eye contact with the alicorn.
"Oh, Twilight. Nothing's really changed here, has it? You're still you, just with a different look, right? Nothing to be so nervous about. Certainly not anything those who love you will turn away from, especially when it does bother you so much."
Dusk forced a smile and nodded, and let out a deep sigh. Maybe he had been blowing things out of proportion just a little bit. Or a lot.
"Which is exactly what I said." Shining Armor piled on, putting a hoof around Cadence and smiling at his little brother. "Dear, do you know when Princess Celestia will be returning to Canterlot this evening? Twilight's not sure she should try reversing the magic by herself, so she wants to wait until she can have an audience with the princess."
Cadence furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the floorboards in thought. "I want to say she said that the earliest she'd be back from her meeting was half an hour or so past when she normally lowers the sun. That's about seven hours from now."
"Seven hours." Dusk repeated to himself, analyzing that amount of time, and what exactly he might or might not be able to accomplish in that time. Should he try to reverse the spell now, anyway? After all, there was no guarantee the princess would have a clear idea of how to fix the spell for him, was there? He might have to spend a while researching hormonal magic further and reverse it himself, after figuring out the fix through trial and error. Normally the scientific method and the like got him giddy, but anxiety was still taking refuge in his forward thinking. He didn't want to stay like this for any longer than he had to, that was for sure. But what if he messed things up even further with his next experiment? Even if the princess did know how to fix it, it wouldn't matter if he went ahead and made things even more complicated first...
"Twilight?"
"..."
"Twilight."
"..."
"Hold on, I got this."
Shining Armor slowly approached the stagnant stallion, and blew on his short, rectangular bangs. This instantly put them out of place, and as if on a timer, Dusk broke out of his trance with a start to fix them. Cadence giggled.
"Might be a stallion now, but still the same old Twiley. If that isn't proof enough, I don't know what is." Shining Armor chuckled.
"Twilight." Cadence said.
"Uh, yes?"
"I'll admit this is a bit of an idea, but, how would you feel if Shining Armor and I went with you to the main castle now?"
"You mean, to wait for the princess to return?" Dusk inquired.
"It's true that Princess Celestia isn't here right now, but Princess Luna is ." Cadence said with a smile. "She's quite often awake during the hours prior to nighttime, and is certainly awake whenever Celestia is absent from Canterlot. Why don't we see if she's able to help you with your predicament?"
Dusk hadn't even considered Luna. He stood there and blinked at his sister-in-law and older brother with a blank expression as he processed this new idea.
"At the very least, I'm sure she'd be honored that you chose to consult with her about your problem." Shining Armor added. "Like Celestia, she's been around a long time. I'd be surprised if she didn't at least have some tips or ideas you could try."
Dusk Shine reflected further. He remembered Nightmare Night, when he assisted the princess in first making friends of the modern ponies of Ponyville. He had scarcely seen the Princess of the Night since then, and that was a while ago, at this point. The two hadn't really had a chance to sit down and talk, since. Albeit these would be strange circumstances, but Dusk couldn't deny that the ancient alicorn may have some ideas about the forms of magic he's been messing with. If nothing else at all, seeing Luna again would be the perfect way to spend the time awaiting Celestia's return to Canterlot.
"Alright. Let's give it a try."
Author's Note
Hey look, this story isn't dead, and neither am I. :D
I apologize for the fact that I've been absent over the course of the last couple years. A lot of stuff has burdened me down, from a stressful job to the other responsibilities of adult-hood that continue to trip me up periodically from time to time. Blah blah excuses, blah blah. A few things, though.
1 : I love how parts of the dialogue in this chapter make it sound like a choice transgender change pride/worry thing. I honestly didn't mean for that at all, but I also figure it was probably unavoidable anyway. I just found it interesting and amusing.
2 : I've decided, obviously, that this story is taking place sometime between S2 and S3. Shining and Cadence are married but can be assumed they haven't moved to the Crystal Empire just yet and Twilight isn't a princess yet.
3 : Yes, 'Smarty Pants' was entirely intentional.
4 : I both apologize, and don't apologize for the sudden Luna plot device. Zecora came to mind before Luna, but seeing as the show has used Zecora for these kind of situations all the time, and the fandom nerdgasms over Luna, I figured we'd try her. Plus I really want to write as Luna, I haven't in any of my stories thus far. Plus, Cadence knows the two princesses very well and they are who she'd refer, naturally. I wonder if Cadence even knows Zecora.
For now, here's the finished third chapter, which was actually in draft form for much of this time.
