I woke up feeling refreshed from my lesson in long-range teleportation that occurred last night, my body no longer sore from the extreme strain. I stifled a yawn as I levitated the covers off me, stretching my wings to their full length as I mentally prepared myself for the day. Solaris didn't have anything planned today, or for the next for few days either, so I had taken the liberty of making myself a schedule. The first part of it was brushing up on the history of Spell-making by reading a couple of books on in the library, followed up a hearty lunch and a second secession of studying. After that, a trip down to the Royal Gardens to get some flying practice in before it was time for dinner. I hadn't been in the Castle for long but I was capable of getting myself from Point A to Point B.
As I managed to pull myself out of bed, my eyes fell upon the crown my mentor had given me mere weeks ago; the star set in the center of it still glowing as brightly as ever. I smiled and made my bed quickly, I had a whole lot reading to do and I didn't want to waste any more precious time. I floated my saddle bags over and made sure to tighten the belt, last time I forgot to I had nearly dropped ten pounds' worth of hard-covers on a wall-eyed stallion that had the misfortune of being below me during one of the book transfers between the two libraries. I, of course, apologised but I was surprised when he said he was sorry for the piano that fell on me a few months ago. I didn't recall the event but accepted his apology nonetheless. I shook my head to clear my mind of the odd encounter and pushed open the door leading to the hallway outside my chambers. A pair of female Royal Guards stood vigil outside, their golden armor gleaming in the sun that beamed through the skylights positioned above us. I gave them a curt nod, which they returned with a brief smile and a surprisingly grand bow. Since when did they bow? My brows furrowed in confusion as I pondered the action, but I also took note of the whispers they spoke when I had apparently walked out of hearing range.
Something about... tonight? My ears flattened as I wracked my brain for anything significant but was unable to find a single clue. Regardless, I made a mental note to ask Nocturn about it later. As I began to mentally write said note, I couldn't help but notice that another pair of Royal Guards I had passed began to act very similar to the two posted by my chambers. Right down to the whispering.This occurred again and again as I made my way to the library, though once I got there I decided that enough was enough. In mere moments I devised an ingenious idea to find out what had the Guards acting so funny. I quietly passed the two standing by the Royal Library's double doors, a majority of my being already through the doorway when I heard whispering. Taking the opening, I quickly turned myself around and practically leaped at the two mares in golden armor. The Guards froze up at my sudden reappearance and did their best imitation of a Guard who hadn't been whispering to their partner and not doing what they were suppose to be doing. To be honest, they failed horribly at it.
"Alright, spill it- What's going on around here?" I demanded. The Royal Guards began giggling to themselves, but immediately straightened when I stomped my hoof. "I'm being serious. I demand to know what has the got the Guards whispering and bowing and all this nonsense!" The Guard to my left batted her eyelashes at me, flirtatiously I must add, and I had an uneasy feeling that I wouldn't like the answer. "Oh, you don't know you Highness?" The mare cooed, abandoning her post as she began to walk around me in a counter-clockwise fashion me. Her companion joined her in circling around me, their manner of how they did so reminding me of what condors do when they've spotted their prey. I felt a tingling sensation pass through my body let and I gulped nervously as to prevent myself from let out a startled cry when one of them brushed my hindquarters (and a bit underneath there) with her tail, which felt like it was made silk. Steeling my mind and my body, I managed to push away any thoughts the action brought and cleared my enough so that I could teleport out of the circle. I did just that and wound up in the doorway of the Royal Library, much to the dismay of the two female Guards. They looked at me with puppy eyes and looks of defeat on their faces. "I'm sorry ladies, but I'm afraid I have to get to my studies."
I heard the duo let out a 'hmphf' of dissatisfaction as I closed the large doors, the nostrils on my purple snout opening wide as I got a whiff of all the metaphorical knowledge that filled the air. "Ah... the Royal Library. Been a while since I have been in here on my own terms. Now lets see...." I browsed the hundreds of isles and rows that made up the Royal Canterlot library, which seemed to extend into the event horizon as I continued to walk down the main path. Eventually, I came across the desired section and thus the book written by Swirly Star the Wise; "The Guide to spell creation and you- How to create your very own spells!"
I rolled my neck and metaphorically cracked open the book, where in reality I merely dusted off the tome and turned to the first page. The table of contents was faded and the pages threatened to break apart at the slightest touch, something I remedied fairly quickly with a quick restoration enhancement. Before my eyes, I watched the pages turn white and the faded text restored back to their former solid black color. I flipped through the entire book page by page to make sure the spell had affected the entire tome, and much to my credit the spell had the desired effect. I spent the next hour or so studying Swirly Star's book on the creation of new magical spells, managing to create several unique ones of my own by using the instructions clearly stated by the book. It was only when I reached the back and breezed through it again to make sure I read everything did I discover that a few pages near the end of the book had bound themselves together. With a careful flick of my magic they separated, and revealed something of grave interest.
It appeared that Swirly Star the Wise had been creating her own teleportation spells, with some sending the caster to a predetermined location while others teleported you to the closest destination that matched where you wanted to go. For instance, if you needed to go the bathroom it would teleport you to the closest one, but they were far from perfect and I spent a good ten minutes or so refining the instructions for the experimental teleportation spells. I only stopped when I noticed that my inkwell had gone dry, and the fact that it was well past lunch time assisted in me deciding that I should probably grab a bite. It's a good thing I had come prepared! I opened my saddlebags and pulled out a daisey sandwich, which also had a couple of lettuce leaves and pickles thrown in for flavor. I went over my notes as I idly chewed and swallowed, taking note of a miscalculation I had made with one of the longer-range teleportation spells. I quickly corrected the error but couldn't help but think that it wasn't quite right. So I did what any good spell-caster would do: I performed the spell.
The spell itself wouldn't take me that far, just to the outskirts of Ponyvillie just like it was designed to. Or should, if I had written it down correctly. Which I am sure I did as I disappeared in a flash of purple light and reappeared just outside of the town where I had first met my friends. I could make out the dirt road that led to the village that sat a few hundred miles away from Canterlot, the Castle's spires visible even from down here. However, the spell had taken more out of me then I had thought it would so I decided to plop myself down in the grass and take a quick breather. I let my mind wander for a moment, taking in the sights and sounds of everything around me. I heard birds chirping, animals rustling around in the nearby plants, and the wind blowing through my mane gently as I sat there admiring the world around me. I didn't know how long I was there, I estimated only a few minutes had passed, but I felt fully recharged with magical energy and vigor when I broke out of the trance induced by the lovely scenery. My new alicorn biology meant that I could cast spells that required large amounts of magic that would deplete any regular unicorn and recover with a couple of minutes. With my mind clear and a horn full of magic, I began to cast a spell to send me back to Canterlot. However, I cancelled the spell as I thought it would be nice to meet up with my friends while I'm here. I only get to see Elusive while he's visiting Canterlot for something fashion-related and sometimes Blitz drops by while touring with the Wonderbolts. The others I haven't in, what, nearly three months since I became a Lord? Didn't seem that long, and I'll have to start counting again when I see them one more.
---oooOOOOooo---
When I arrived in Ponyvillie, something seemed... off. Not only that the normally bustling town was quiet and the street devoid of ponies, but there was a sense of danger in the air. It wasn't like "Knightmare Artemis" danger, but more of "can't-see-but-you-know-its-there" kind of danger.It was almost like the whole incident with Ziciro again, with everypony hiding from him, except this time its me instead. I thought about calling out to see if anypony was actually here but I decided against it, as there might be a good reason everypony is staying out of sight.Thinking that Bubble Berry is probably at Sugarcube corner preparing for some kind of party, I made up my mind to travel through town on hoof. It wasn't that I couldn't fly or anything, its just that I prefered to walk rather than fly. I was still struggling to keep myself in the air even with Blitz's best efforts to help me out.
The silence, as I thought it would, seemed almost ominous as I walked through the empty streets of the rural town. There wasn't a soul in sight, nor in the sky. It seemed that the Weather Team had even taken the day off as there were more clouds than usual, though I couldn't imagine why they would do such a thing.Brushing away the thought, I turned right onto the street where Sugercube Corner was. The building looked just as sugary and edible as it always did, though it looked slightly off. Was it me, or did it look more... feminine? I chalked it up to Mrs. Cake wanting to some say in the design and made my way inside, the bell above the door ringing loudly in the bakery that was oddly silent. It was unnerving to see the place empty, as it was usually bustling at this time of day. Regardless, I tapped the button and waited for somepony to show up.
Moments passed, and I started to grow impatient. However, the frustration I was feeling vanished and was replaced by horror when my ears picked up a most disturbing message. "H-hold on... I-I'm open! I mean, we're open!" It wasn't the words I heard that disturbed me, but how they were spoken. They were spoken by a somepony panting heavily, and not in the exhausted way. The fact that it sounded like a mare didn't help either and I quickly exited the shop, trying to shake away the images the sentence had created in my mind.
"Nopenopenopenope. Not going there!" I decided that I had seen enough of Ponyvillie for now and I charged up a teleportation spell that would send me back to Canterlot, though due to my mind being... distracted I ended up in the lower districts of Canterlot instead of near the castle.
"Dang it! Stupid mare messed me up. Whatever, it won't take much effort to try again once my horn-" I stopped talking as I felt the stones beneath me rubble violent, the street in front of me suddenly blocked from my view by a colorful mass of... mares?
"HE'S MINE!" One of them shouted. "I CALLED FIRST DIBS!" Said another.
I was backpedaling before I knew it and I found myself nearly tripping over my own hooves as I began to run away from the pack of lusting mares. I flapped my wings like I had seen Skatealoo on his skateboard so many times in Ponyvllie, giving me just enough speed to reach escape velocity. However, I made a fatal mistake when I made a right turn which terminated in a dead end. I tried to cast a spell to escape but my mind was to disoriented to focus even on a simple teleportation spell when my attention was diverted by a somepony's voice. A stallions voice!
"Over here!" It shouted, and I saw a white hoof sticking out of an alleyway. I quickly followed it into the dark space between Canterlot's many buildings, and just in time too as I heard the mare wondering where I had went. It was to dark to see, but I really didn't care at the moment. "Thanks for saving me."
"No problem" The white-coated stallion said. "It was a good thing I was making a quick round before going back to the Castle, else you'd been done for." The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. "Who are you?"
The stallion whinnies. "I'll tell you in a second when where somewhere safer. Now hold on!" It felt strange not being the caster of a teleportation spell, not knowing where you are going. I guess this is what my friend felt like, blinded by darkness until light appeared once more. It didn't take long for us to pop back into existance, but it did take a moment to comprehend what I saw in front of me.
The stallion in front of me had a pure-white coat, his hooves a dark blue. His mane was composed of two tones, one the same color as his hooves while the second one was almost neon blue. His eyes were also blue, but what surprised me the most was his cutie mark.
It was the exact same as my sister's!
I take a cautionary step forward toward what appeared to be a male version of my sister. "Gleaming Shield? I-is that you?" The stallion, who had been facing away from me, turns around and his eyes grow wide. "Twilight? What happened to you? You're a-a..."
"Stallion? Yes, I am. But no, I am not 'Twilight.' I am Dusk Shine, Equestria's newest Lord and student to Lord Solaris who runs Equestria alongside his brother Nocturne." I explained, which only caused the male-Gleam Shield to become even more baffled. "What?"
"That's not right! Princess Celestia and Luna rule Equestria, and Twilight is Celestia's..." I didn't know what he was trying to say, so I let him have a moment of silence as I tried to piece together what was going on myself. It took a while, but finally everything clicked in place. I felt like slamming my head against the wall as I finally noticed what had went wrong. "Well I screwed up big time, or at least Swirly Star did, but either way we're screwed. Both figuratively and, possibly, literally."
"Really? Because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that your my sister! Or brother! Ugh! Nothing makes any sense! And who in Tartarus is Swirly Star?" A Guard, which turned out to be a male one, walked over to not-Gleaming Shield and put a hoof on his shoulder.
"Sir, calm down. Nothing ever got solved by being angry."
The white stallion takes a few breathes and manages to regain his cool. "Alright Twi-I Mean Dusk Shine, explain to me what may have caused this to happen.
And so I did, starting with the spell I casted in the Royal Library and ending with my experience with the mob of mares in Canterlot. It didn't take that long, seeing how it had all happened fairly recently and fast, and when I was finished not-Gleaming Shield looked a lot less confused and more like somepony who has a clue of what was going on. "Okay, so lets review. You're Dusk Shine, apprentice to Lord Solaris who is the raiser of the Sun and one of the rulers of Equestria. Correct?"
I nod my head and he continues. "An Equestria where basically everypony, as far as we both know, is the opposite gender."
The Guards, who had gathered around, switched their gaze from the white stallion to me. "Yes". I responded, and this caused some of the Guard to whisper among themselves. No doubt it was about the female versions of them.
"Alright, and from what you told me, it is safe to say then that the female population was in heat there just like ours here. You getting this?"
It was an odd, and frankly frightening, idea but I still got it. "Yeah, but how am I going to get back?"
The stallion-who-looked-like-my-sister-but-was-not simply chuckled. "That's easy. You just-"
But he was destined never to finished, as banging was heard on multiple doors in the room. The Guards immediately rushed to them and pushed their bodies against them, thought I could tell by the splintering wood that they wouldn't hold up long at this rate. "Go Captain! Take Pri-I mean Lord Dusk and run for it! We shall do our best to hold them off!"
"Your sacrifice will not be in vain!" The Captain of, what I presumed to be, the Royal Guards saluted to his subordinates before his horn lit up, activating some hidden mechanism that revealed a passageway in the floor that led to Solaris-knows-where. "This way!" He commanded, and I followed. I heard the stones sliding back into place just as the doors gave in, the cries of hormone-filled mares flooding the room of unfortunate stallions. I grimaced as I heard cries for help, but I continued following not-Gleaming Shield down the dark passageway. Eventually, we emerged from the darkness into one of the castle's many hallways.
I blinked a couple of times to help my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, the Captain of the Royal Guard presumably doing the same as he just stood in front of me. "Alright, we should be clear for now. I think that-"
He was again interrupted by the screams of a dozen horny mares, though these came from the Castle servants, mean maids, instead of city dwellers. "RUN!" He shouted, though it was unnecessary as I was already shifting from neutral to over-drive as I made my legs run as fast as they could. The male version of my sister managed to keep up with me, but he kept falling behind as he stopped to cast a shield wall spell every for moments to hold back the maids. Said maids manages to break through his last one before he could get away but I was able to save him by stopping and casting a simple teleportation spell. He wound up a couple of hooves in front of me and the chase continued, the mares now more than a couple of meters behind us.
We were forced to perform evasive maneuvers as the few, and thankfully rare, pegasi maids made attempts swoop down and snatch us. However, it appeared our luck had run out when a blinding blue light filled the hallway, causing everypony to shield their eyes. I managed to be among the first to recover as I saw the looming blue alicorn before us, though it definitely not Nocturne who had come to our aid. Instead, it was his female counterpart who the male version of Gleaming Shield called 'Luna'.
"Well well well," She said lustfully. "It looks like the fun as been doubled!" I begin to mentally write my will and testament before I am interrupted by somepony hitting me, the blow sending me out of female-Nocturne's range. I let out a strangled "No!" as I watch my savior disappear along with the blue alicorn. Knowing that the maids were still, or most likely done, recovering, I began running once more down the hall to escape a similar fate to the Captain of the Royal Guard's. The mares, which, as I had guessed, had been stunned long enough for me to get more than a couple of meters ahead of them. I could hear the faintest of yelling as I approached a door that was more flamboyant than the rest I had seen, though the massive sun engraved into the double-doors sailed over my head as I swung them open. The sound made by the doors violently hitting the pillars just outside them drew the attention of the maids, who came running around the corner and down the hallway towards me. Panicking, I began piling all the movable furniture in front of the only door leading to the room.
It didn't take long, given my magical abilities and the fact I was close to having a heart-attack, for the massive doors to be complete covered with dressers, stools, and various other things. It was only when I noticed that the furniture appeared to larger did I think that I may have gotten myself into a bigger mess then before. My fears were confirmed when I heard an "Ahem" from behind me, which caused me to turn around to find the source.
I gulped at the sight of the tall white alicorn on the belt, who was busy calmly drinking what looked like a martini. The alicorn placed it down gently and got off the massive bed, her mane a sparkling array of colors. She began approaching me and I felt my legs go weak, my mind now falling to pieces upon realizing that I may be, both metaphorically and literally, screwed. I tried to move my legs, but they resisted. So I did the only thing I could do. I looked down, away from the alicorn who could only be Celestia.
"Oh goody," She says, using her magic to force to look at her. "Looks like my patience has finally paid off. I only expected Shining Armor to last thing long and get this far, but you're a much better prize. It does, however, help that you look like my faithful student Twilight and an alicorn. It's been a looong time, you know, since I had one in my bed. I thought they were all extinct, or at least gone." She lowered her head so that it was on level to mine, her snout positioned next to my ear. "But I think its about time the alicorn race made a come back. Don't you think?"
