Chapter 1: Hi my name is Shining Aura
It was a lonely day in the castle of the crystal empire. All the maids, the guards, the scholars, and other workers had abandoned it for the remainder of the day. Leaving the glistening halls of amethyst empty and void of life, only the sound of the wind playing with the newly furnished tapestries could be heard throughout most of the castle. Indeed to the common tourist the giant monument must have seemed to have been only a dead relic of the kingdoms past glory. However the citizens of the kingdom knew better than that, for about once every two months the royal couple would lock themselves in their chambers and discus the future of the kingdom.
A few top ranking officials were once invited to participate in on this discussion and wound up severely injured. When asked what had happened they gave the simple reply that it was something that the royal couple would have to work out and anypony that tried to lend assistance would only end up like them. Since that time it had almost become somewhat of an unofficial holiday in the Crystal Empire to take these days off and spend time with your family and to make amends to any strained relationships. As for what the royal couple actually does during this time is still a secret from all, but themselves.
Inside of the chamber of Cadence and Shining Armor a raging argument was reaching its climax. Only the sound blocking spell placed on the room prevented the noise from reaching the farthest ends of the kingdom.
"THAT'S IT!" screamed the princess, "I've had it with you and your unending storm wall of density. Thirty-seven bold hints, thirteen straight up requests and still you say you don't understand that I want to be a mother already!"
Shining sighed as he ducked underneath a wardrobe that his wife had sent flying his direction. Cadence's bimonthly magical storm that overlapped when her peaking maternal desires had oddly enough become an everyday part of his life. He knew how desperately Cadence wanted to hear tiny hooves running down the hallways and to be called a mommy by their little foal. But the kingdom wasn't yet ready to handle a newborn princess. At the end of it all he couldn't tell which hurt him more, the tears of the mare he loved with all his being, or the stone sculpture that crashed into his head.
With the target of her aggression now laid out cold by her furry the princess was overcome by a bitter mix of regret, relief, sorrow, sadness, and satisfaction. Amidst her weeping, a mischievous sparkle, that would've put the naughtiest foal to shame, shown through her watery eyes. A devious smile was the next sign to creep across her face showing the less than regal idea that was formulating in her head. In order for this plan to work she would need a little back up.
"Now where did I put that parchment and quill." whispered Cadence to herself, not wanting to stir her husband or her plans would be ruined.
Shinning stirred from a dark fog of pain with a soft moan. Instinctively he touched his head with a hoof, fully expected to find a lump the size of a second horn, but was pleasantly surprised to find no such injury. Matter of fact he didn't feel the slightest bit of pain at all from his previous battle with a flying piece of historical art. Having decided that he had spent more than enough time laying sprawled out on the floor the young unicorn pushed himself up off the floor. A tad too quickly for his bodies liking as the world around him began spinning all sorts of directions as he stood up.
It didn't take long after his eyes stopped making the world around him spin for the unicorn to realize that something was dreadfully wrong. For one the ground below him wasn't crystal, it wasn't even a type of stone, but instead he found himself standing on a worn wooden floor something unheard of in the Crystal Empire. Next would be the fact that his room of current board reminded him of the old dungeon cells back in Canterlot that he guarded as a cadet.
"Hey anypony out there?" came the voice of a young filly, "WAIT WHAT! I-i-is th-that my voice?!" asked the startled unicorn, "Why does my voice sound like a fillies?"
The bewildered unicorn rapidly did a self body check and didn't like what he was finding. A longer mane that was at least three its normal length, smaller front proportions while having slightly larger rear ones, combined with thinner limbs, and not to mention the things she didn't find. Besides the now obvious change in gender Shining noticed that the cell look larger than the standard ones she had seen before.
A soft clip clop of a trotting pony called Shining's attention back to her cell door. Maybe the approaching pony would have some answers for him...or should it be her now. In Moments of silence that followed Shining was beginning to struggle with what exact gender he or now she should be referred to in the military style report he'd have to submit to Celestia later about this event. Being a military pony was to keep things simple, so since he was now female he might as well go with that so to prevent any confusion with the report. This internal struggle by no means was solve instantaneously and Shinning was starting to lose her patience at her host lack of appearance and cowardice. Deciding that the time for waiting was at an abrupt end she began to silently sneak up to the door in order to get the drop on her captor and possibly make an escape. Suddenly the small barred window frame was filled with the face of an all too familiar purple pony.
"Oh boy, I don't like were this is going." grumbled Shining, at the appearance of her little sister.
The door gave a small thunking sound from the outside as it opened. "Relax my little sister, I'm not a changeling." cooed Twilight, as she ushered Shining out of the room with the help of a levitation spell.
Seeing that his life was no longer in immediate danger from her host, the irritated unicorn decided to address the elephant in the room. "So Twilight, why did you help Cadence change me into a filly?" asked Shining, as she was dragged along unwillingly by her sisters magic, "That's not something the best little sister in the world would do to her married brother."
"Shining I have no idea what you're talking about, after all I'm the big sister now. Oooooooooooh I've always wanted to have a little sister." said Twilight gleefully as she clapped her hooves, "Also Cadence thought it was about time to teach you a direct lesson on how a mare feels-"
"You turned me into a filly, to teach me about what pony twice my age would feel like." interrupts Shining, growing more pissed by the second at the immature actions of her wife and sister who are suppose to be royalty.
"Fascinating! Shining your proving one the theory from my latest books that the female gender is smarter than the male. I mean after all you weren't even close to being this sharp as a colt. Good thing I had Spike leave me some parchment to take notes on. Who would have thought I'd have a live experiment to prove this books fundamental theory."
Shining rolled his eyes. Leave it to his sister to get so engrossed in a book about utter nonsense scientific facts that she would use others as research material. Even though he was pretty sure Cadence might have had something to do with Twilight having the books in the first place, this whole sequence of events was playing out a lot like the old days when they were kids. "And that has what to do with the missed age range how?" inquired Shining politely as possible given her building anger.
"Increased politeness as well as intelligence remarkable!" A slight nudge from her new sister brought the ecstatic Twilight back from note taking to her question, "I didn't miss the age at all. Cadence sent me a letter an hour ago asking me to do this and the only spell I could conjure up was to turn a stallion into a filly. Not a mare."
So it wasn't premeditated after all thought Shining, "When does the effects wear off?"
At this question Twilight gave Shining a spooky smile, "When Cadence tells me she thinks you've had enough of experiencing the rough life of a filly.-"
"Meh," remarks Shining, halfway through Twilight's rant, "shouldn't be too bad considering this will be the second time I've been turned into a filly by you.".
"-until then your my research material and... what! Hold on, second time? What do you mean second time brother? This is the first time I've used this spell." asked Twilight growing confused and concerned.
Twilight began to waver underneath the stare her temporary little sister was giving her. It reminded her of the card nights a Pinkie's and the face Rarity always made at the beginning of the poker games, like she was the one controlling the game and no pony else. This was something she had never felt before from her B.B.B.F.F.
"Oh right, sorry you don't remember that incident or any of the other times you nearly destroyed Canterlot!" answered the white unicorn in a cold harsh voice, "Do you know why you or anypony else remembers that? Well do you!"
Even though she held the high ground in all regards Twilight began to shuffle backwards to distance herself from this Shining. Which was impossible as the pony was dragged backwards with her as her spell, in her panicking state, continued to draw Shining closer.
"I'll take your silence as a yes Dear Sister," Shining gave a small chuckle. She was actually beginning to enjoy having some control over things again, "To simply put it we brain washed everypony to make it so all you little mishaps never happened. You may call it taboo or unethical, but it's the only reason why you weren't executed as an enemy of the state. Just so happens one of those events was where you gender bent a bunch of ponies myself included."
Having felt herself pressured into a corner both physically and mentally by this new face of Shining Armor. Combined with sever exhaustion from the high level of magic consumption from the gender and age changing spell, Twilight snapped and began to lash out against this filly version of her brother. "Just who are you, my brother was never like this, are you a changeling king that was trying to take over the Crystal Empire? Where is my real brother!"
"You're real brother no longer exists! You turned him into a filly as a mean spirited joke and experiment remember." came Shining's calm reply as darkness began to fall in her eyes, "Also, me never like this? Ha that's the joke of the century. You only say that cause you never truly understood who I really am. Tell me sis, do you really think that they'd let some guy be the captain of the royal guards, just because you put in a good word with Celestia for me? No! it's because I posses the wits, intelligence, skill, and most importantly pure raw power! In fact outside of the elements of harmony and the royal sisters I was the most dangerous thing in Equestria. If you want proof then tell me why changeling queen didn't attack and replace me, who was in charge of the barrier which would have taken it down instantly, and steal Cadence who could use her magic to produce an infinite amount of love for the changelings to feed on. The answer is she couldn't beat me, I was to powerful for her so she had to settle for Cadence. Do you need any more proof or should I directly demonstrate before your eyes how big of a badass your brother really is?"
By now several hairs of Twilights mane had sprung out giving her a wild appearance that was only added to by her shrinking pupils and twitching eye. Shining knew then that she might have gone a tad too far with her as Twlight was showing the signs of having a small to medium melt down.
"hehehehe, I get it now! The combination of the long range teleportation and gender bender spell must have had an effect on your mind causing this CRAZY outburst. Come we need to go to the hospital to make sure nothing to permanent in damage was done." declared Twilight, as she once tugged at the unicorn with magic dragging her out the door.
Twilight hadn't even gotten her new sister out the door when a sudden power surge of magic from the captive broke her levitation spell that bound the pony. Turning swiftly to readminister the spell the alicorn was greeted by a rude flash of blinding light. It was one of the spells from her own arsenal, but seeing it from the outside so few times it took her what would be a fatal moment to realize it was the signature light of a teleportation spell. The purple pony was about to run outside and search the surrounding area in a frenzy to find her mentally ill sister, when the calling card of the teleportation destination flash flickered through the open basement door.
Those seconds wasted only moments earlier now played themselves out in full. For upon arriving in what was suppose to be her dim basement was now bathed in an unbearable silver glare. Twilight's brief pause earlier was all the time the captain of the royal guards needed to set up her trap.
"Guess even as an alicorn princess you're not ready to learn the truth about me or your past huh Twily, but don't worry I'll be fixing all of that soon." said Shining sheepishly, "Under the orders of the captain of the royal guards activate protocol QT-7849." Commanded Shining's voice from somewhere in the glaring light.
"PROTOCOL QT-7849 ACTIVATED WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS SHINING ARMOR" replied a monotone voice from the surrounding light.
"Turn the Kyosha spell over to manual and give me full control as ordained by Princess Celestia." Barked the filly in a strict military voice.
"KYOSHA SPELL REACTIVATED, TURNING OVER CONTROL TO THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GAURD SHINING ARMOR,"
Suddenly the whole house went dark, leaving the two ponies as the only thing visible. Twilight's attention was drawn to the intense golden glow of her sisters horn that was gradually expanding.
"Honestly I must thank you Twilight for pulling this off with Cadence, for you see I have some work to do and this body is actually the best for it. But I can't have you two constantly interfering with my job due to your little games. So I'm going to have everypony forget I exist for a little while thanks to this spell. Well enough chit chat that you won't ever remember, see you later sis."
With that the golden magic exploded outward and enveloped everything within the house and eventually everything outside as well. Then everything went black and the only thing Twilight noticed was herself sobbing, but she didn't know why.
A sharp knocking sound began echoing throughout the darkness casing it to stir up a storm. Waves began to rise and fall and Twilight realized that she was now swimming for life amongst the raging darkness. She fought and fought as hard as she could, but as the knocking continued the storm grew wilder. After being plummeted continuously into the sightless depths of this ocean by the battering waves she had made it to the surface. Desperately she gasped for breath before she realized that she was at the crest of a monstrous wave that vanished from beneath her, leaving her to free fall into the emptiness below.
THUMP! "Ouch!" shouted Twilight as she had not just fallen from her bed, but somehow in her sleep had wandered near the edge that separated her study from the ground floor and had fallen off.
As she was picking herself up a rapid fire of earnest knocks pounded her front door. Shooting a quick glance at the clock and seeing that she had really overslept for the first time in months she rushed to the door expecting somepony from town wanting to barrow a book.
"Twilight get it together girl you never over sleep like this, why didn't Spike wake me up?" pondered the mare as she tried to tidy her bedmane up on the way to the door, "oh right he's in Canterlot for another two days, need to put it on my check list to set my fifteen alarm clocks so I don't over sleep again."
Upon opening the door Twilight was not greeted by the face of one of the towns ponies or one of her friends coming over to visit, but rather a complete stranger. She was a young filly about the age of the CMC with a white coat dual blue shaded mane and tail and teal eyes. Twilight was about to question why such a young filly was standing alone at her front door with a suitcase no less, when the filly introduced herself.
"Hello," said the filly, in a pleasantly cheerful voice, "My name is Shining Aura, are you by any chance Twilight Sparkle?"
Blinking furiously against the bright sunlight that was now flooding into her dark house the mare answered, "I am and may I ask why you are looking for me?" commented the purple pony, eyeing the suitcase suspiciously.
"Cool I've always wanted to live in a tree house," said the filly with eyes filled with childish wonder.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there a sec kid what do you mean by that?"
As if suddenly realizing something forgotten the filly began digging around in her saddle bag, "Probably should've given this to you first before mentioning the whole moving in part." said Aura, as she handed a scroll with a royal seal on it to Twilight.
Breaking the seal Twilight began reading the letter out loud.
My dearest student friend Twilight,
It has been ages since I've written to you about something that doesn't have to do with the fate of Equestria. Since your loyal helper Spike is currently in Canterlot I'm sorry for the short notice, but I'm sending this letter with the filly in question. Her name is Shining Aura and she has the honor of being my sister Luna's first student. However some royal duties have come up lately and my sister has had trouble keeping up with Aura's lessons. So for the time being I was hoping that she could live with you in Ponyville and study the magic of friendship there like you did in the past.
Your proud ex-teacher Celestia.
Rerolling the scroll Twilight gestured for her house guest to come in, "Well I guess that explains the suitcase, anyways welcome to Ponyville... you haven't ran into a cotton candy maned pink pony yet have you?" Aura simply shakes her head, "okay going to have to adjust my time table for a party later either way. Anyways I'm surprised to hear about Luna having a student. Just so you know I was a student under Celestia just a few months ago." remarked twilight proudly, helping the filly with her bags.
"That's makes you my senior right, this is so cool not only am I studying under another princess who is the element of magic, but somepony who's my senior as well. This couldn't get any better." chimed Aura, who was busy dashing all over the library to explore her new home. "So Princess Twilight-"
"No need for titles among fellow students and friends Twilight will do just fine."
"-okay! So Twilight could I ask you a favor. Please don't tell anypony I'm Luna's student! That caused a lot of trouble back in Canterlot and I don't want it to get in the way of my friendship studies." pleaded the filly.
Taking a moment to ponder the filly's request Twilight replied, "Sure I'll keep it a secret just between the two of us. So how does the story that your my cousin that's come to town to visit sound? I have to give some explanation as to why you're living here."
"Cousins to a princess! That works for me!" declared Aura jumping up and down in excitement at the idea.
"Even if we're not related by blood," said Twilight coming out of the guest room, "I'm sure we'll get along just fine."
"Yeah I bet we'll get along just like real siblings." remarked Shining Aura in a cheery tone.
If at that moment Twilight hadn't turned her back to the young unicorn she would have been greeted with a wicked smile that could turn anypony's blood to ice. It wasn't the smile that Shining had never shown to her sister, family, or wife she was showing the smile that was only worn on the battle field by one called the Azure Lance, Equestria's scourge of the battle field.
Author's Note
Fun idea I've had for a long time for the gender bender genre, a large what if you might say. About if the person or in this case pony gender bent had already been so in the past and was a total badass. Well I hope everyone enjoys this little trip I take to explore how I think this would go. Also proofread this at nearly 2 AM so please excuse any errors I'll fix them when I'm more sane. Also writing a gender bender is harder than I thought, probably mixed up a few hims and hers in there.
