The wind outside of the hospital was howling while the doctors were franticly scurrying in order to tend to a mare known as Twilight Velvet. The mare was dangerously close to giving birth and she had been rushed to the hospital as fast as a unicorn could teleport. The last time the mare was pregnant she had been rushed into a carriage and her first child Shining Armor was born on the way to the hospital.

The mare was known for a rather fast birthing after breaking her water and the teleport had saved time. The two stallions in the family waited outside for the mare inside the room to give birth to their new child. Unfortunately the doctor learned of the teleport and scolded them, Teleports during pregnancy were known to neuter or sometimes even turn a stallion foal into a mare.

Twilight Velvet’s husband, Night Light, was instantly worried about what he had done to his precious son. Shining Armor was just sitting there playing with his hooves while waiting for his new brother to arrive, being a child in a hospital was rather boring. Night Light who was visibly sweating bullets had thought of the name Twilight Sparkle as a last resort for what the teleport may have done to the unborn child.

He was in dire need of some type of distraction, anything was better than waiting for his wife to potentially kill him for the possible complications. Thankfully the doctor walked out of the room and motioned for him to go inside and check on his child. The purple unicorn that rested next to its mother was gently suckling on one of its hooves while Twilight Velvet signed a name on the birth certificate, a name the read Dusk Shine.

(_o_============================================_o_)

The world was a peculiar thing for the foal, nothing seemed to meet any of the foal’s predictions. Things that were solid seemed to move and bounce in the most spectacular of ways and he was definitely one to enjoy the show. Unfortunately his mother, or at least the creature he came from, wasn’t happy and tried to place the odd bits of stuff in the opening near his front end. Needless to say he wasn’t happy to have something placed there.

He decided to knock the solid thing that had once been full of the unfamiliar objects onto the solid surface below. The maternal creature did something odd and suddenly all of the objects that were knocked on the floor were floating. The young colt was confused and wondered if he or the other things could do that. His attempted flight ended rather unspectacularly and all he did was scoot the chair he was placed in.

The foal wasn’t happy and his mother was rather frazzled, she had been up most nights all week and needed a nap. The young foal who was starting to feel rather sluggish began to stretch his hooves towards his mother. She obliged and her baby colt floated through the air and into her expectant hooves. The young colt sighed and fell asleep while managing to spit up on his mother.

After settling down for the night Twilight Velvet had finally managed to get some sleep. Her mind was finally at ease and her thoughts were calm up until she heard a bang from Dusk’s room. When the startled mother entered the young colt’s room the foal just looked at her and smiled while the crib around him smoldered from the spell he had used to break free of his baby prison.

Twilight Velvet was not amused and picked up her son while he continued to try and grab things in his magic. The young colt had no idea what he was even doing, but turning his mother’s hair different colors was amusing him for the time being. His mother repaired the damage using a spell her mother had crafted for an occasion like this.

The young colt looked at the smoldering mass in amazement as it reformed into the crib that it used to be. Twilight Velvet then rocked her son back to sleep and placed him back in his crib. The little colts started to glow again, but a slight caress from his mother caused it to go away. After a quick glass of water the mare was ready to go back to sleep and she joined her husband in bed.

The next morning the mare awoke to the smell of burnt toast and alfalfa. Twilight Velvet groggily made her way into the disaster area that was the kitchen and nearly fainted. All of the food was burnt, Shining Armor was drawing on the wall again, and Dusk Shine was throwing the food everywhere and giggling at everything.

Nightlight was busy trying to put out the fire that he had caused in the sink and Twilight Velvet stopped Shining Armor from drawing anything else on the walls. Dusk Shine who was happily giggling began to morph the food that he was holding into pony like shapes. Unfortunately the one that looked like an alicorn was thrown onto Twilight Velvet, causing the mare to let off a magical surge that stopped everything around her.

Dusk Shine was the only one still moving and he was still giggling happily at the sight before him. His rather agitated mother, who now had pure magic flowing from her, was floating in the air with pure rage etched into her features. The young colt smiled at his mother and began babbling in baby talk that almost resembled mom.

The enraged unicorn calmed down and everything turned back to normal, but her husband wasn’t excited about his wife’s reaction. Later that evening the two ponies decided that Dusk Shine and Shining Armor were going to need a babysitter if the two parents were going to survive for much longer. The only pony that they had heard of that would be capable of taking care of the two was a young alicorn named Cadence.

(_o_============================================_o_)

“But mom! If I don’t study to be a guard I won’t be able to meet Celestia!” A young Dusk Shine whined.

“Oh honey! I know how impressed you are by the princess of the Sun, but I’m not sure she would… uh… be happy knowing that a foal wasn’t playing with others in order to impress her.” Twilight Velvet said.

“I have friends! I just don’t want to go to some frilly mall meant for mares in order to hang out.”

“There are plenty of other places that you can go you know? In fact hoof-ball will help you become a guard by making you more fit.”

“Says you! Everywhere I go in Canterlot there are nothing, but frilly mare shops everywhere. Even the fields are like that! How they even managed to ruin a field with their mare-ness is unnatural! I just want to play a little ball now and then without there being something heart shaped within ten meters.”

“Your father told me this would happen. I just hoped this would come later.” The mare said while facing her son.

“The princess is… well she’s a mare. She gets to say how Canterlot is set up in most cases, and she likes having this stuff around all of the time.”

“But the princess can’t expect the stallions under her to like that.”

“She is the princess, and nopony usually has the courage to say no to her.”

“Why?”

“Because she makes all of the rules! Now go play outside or something, I don’t want you having an empty childhood.”

“Alright mom.”

As soon as the young stallion had ran off the mare took in a deep breath and sighed. She hoped that stretching the truth was enough, but the young stallion was going to figure things out one day. The day that was going to happen was going to dreadfully close though, for Dusk Shine had been given admittance to take the entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorn’s or CSGU for short.

Later that night when Dusk Shine had fallen asleep after running around all day Twilight Velvet paced around nervously in the kitchen. Nightlight was there as well, drinking a cup of coffee that was as black as the starless night.

“Honey?” Twilight Velvet got out.

“Yes?”

“I think Dusk Shine needs a little push during the entrance exam.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know fully well what I mean!”

“Oh no! My son is not going in there pretending to be a mare!”

“Nightlight, honey. We both know how hard it was for you to get into that school. You were well qualified and it took your mother threatening to sue the school for them to let you in.”

“You’re being silly. Dusk Shine will get in with no problems. He’s got enough talent and raw potential to easily get in.”

“That’s not the point! That school, well any institution for that matter, will readily take a mare before a stallion any day. In fact that school turns down almost eighty-five percent of stallions that apply and they only turn down thirty percent of the mares that do.”

“Well, you ma-”

“And he will never be able to get alone unless a mare cosigns for him. He will never get into that school and you know it! They would never allow a young colt in there and Celestia is more than happy with this. Have you ever even wondered why all of Celestia’s personal students are mares?” Twilight Velvet interrupted.

“Wait a minute here! Are you accusing Celestia of promoting sexism?”

“Honey, we are all thinking it. I am just the one who says it like it is. It has always been better to be a mare than a stallion with the way policies are set up, and that will probably never change. Why do you think I make twice as many bits as you when I’m an author and an editor while you are the royal astronomer?”

“I guess you have a point there. I still don’t like the idea of having Dusk Shine pretend to be a filly at school.”

“Trust me. I hate it too, but we have no choice if we want him to have the future he desires. At least Shining Armor will be able to become a royal guard rather easily.”

“So how are we going to do it? Won’t they notice that a filly has a colt’s name?”

“Well… I already put down the name you had picked for the gender swap scare. They are already expecting a filly named Twilight Sparkle to be there. All we have to do is use that one suit of armor of Shining’s that will emit an illusion spell on the wearer. Of course the voice changing enchantment will have to be utilized as well.”

“But won’t Dusk and Shining be mad about this?”

“We’ll just have to tell Dusk it’s a game of pretend and clue him in later when he is old enough to understand. Shining is getting close enough to that age where he will be able to listen to reason and follow along, even if he has to lose a suit of armor.”

“I still don’t think that Dusk Shine will approve of this. He hates things that are too mare-ish.”

“He will go along with us if we are telling him that he is on a super-secret spy mission to learn what they teach him.”

“I just hope this works.”

The next few weeks went by rather quickly for the family and then everything seemed to grind to a halt the day that the CSGU entrance exam was to be administered. Dusk Shine, like Nightlight had expected, hadn’t wanted to look like a mare. The armor and spy stuff had managed to get him to go along with their plans though. After all armor and spy missions weren’t too far out of a stallion’s interests, even if they had to look like a mare.

Dusk Shine had passed all of his other tests rather spectacularly and the final test of hatching a dragon’s egg was wheeled in. The egg was more or less a farce that was to determine how much power the unicorn had. The egg was real, but very few unicorns that ever walked in were able to hatch one, as a result the egg wasn’t even a real test.

Dusk Shine who was currently disguised as a mare called Twilight Sparkle, poured as much energy as he could into the egg and failed at even causing it to wiggle. The defeated stallion was turning around dejectedly when what felt like an explosion went off somewhere outside. This startled the young stallion into over channeling all of his magic and hatching the egg, while morphing the baby dragon into a rather large monstrosity.

The young colt’s parents along with all of the watching professors were unceremoniously turned into potted plants while a storm of magic began to erupt through the building. The building itself was taking relatively no damage, except for the mutated dragon head poking out of the ceiling of the testing room, while the chaos inside of the room continued to escalate.

Outside of the school princess Celestia was enjoying a relatively peaceful stroll around the campus while an advisor went over a list of things that needed to be done. Celestia looked up at the sun that she controlled and briefly wished that something exciting would happen to her today. Almost as if summoned by Celestia’s wish an explosion of prismatic color went off in the distance while a magic storm was unleashed inside of the school.

Celestia happily left the rambling mare that was her current advisor and went to confront the source of the disturbance. When Celestia entered the room she was surprised to find a rather cute and panicky unicorn mare as the source of all that magic. She smiled at the sight and calmly walked over to the young mare and calmed her down. This mare, whoever she was, was going to do great things one day, maybe she would even prove that she deserved to be an alicorn princess.

The young mare accepted the ruler of Equestria’s offer to be her student. She even had the most wonderful name, Twilight Sparkle. Celestia was rather happy that she had found a student as talented as her and proceeded to give the young mare her first assignments. The two parents of the mare were just as excited, if not incredibly nervous, as their young daughter. That was until the mother walked up to the princess.

“Princess may I have a word with you?”

“Of course, all of my subjects may speak with me if they desire.”

“Good! Now I want you to promise me something.” The mare said while getting rather close to the princess, “I want you to protect our child, if there is so much as a hair out of place, either by your acts or somepony else’s, I will hunt you down and personally drag you to Tartarus. I don’t care if I have to break out of Tartarus after having been imprisoned there, I will find you and I will drag you through those gates myself! I won’t even let death stop me! GOT IT!”

The princess seemed rather shocked at the outburst, but she knew where she was coming from. A parent’s duty was to care for and protect their child and Celestia had an idea of how they generally acted. The princess nodded her head and spoke to the uptight parent.

“Don’t worry, I will not put your child in any harm.”

“AND!”

“I will not let others harm her.”

Twilight Velvet seemed satisfied, but oddly vehement. The princess was confused to why the mare was acting so upset, but it wasn’t her job to interrogate her on the matter. She almost felt like asking the husband about her reaction, but Twilight Velvet stepped in front of him and gave the princess a death glare. The princess backed off and decided that her day had been a little too exciting before leaving to attend to her duties.

When Dusk Shine got home he quickly threw off all of the armor and was relieved when his cutie-mark, or emblem for a colt, was actually a dark blue starburst instead of an almost pinkish-purple one. The colt’s parents were a little surprised that the enchantment changed the color of their son’s mark, but the enchantment was designed to make all of his aspects feminine.

The happy couple waited until both of their sons were asleep to address the situation that they had just been thrust in.

“How are we going to keep up this charade with Celestia!? She’s an alicorn for crying out loud!” Nightlight said in a panic.

“I don’t know about you but this turned out better than I ever imagined.” Twilight Velvet said.

“Are you forgetting the alicorn of the sun is teaching our son!? There is no fooling her. She will find out and then our entire family will be exiled or worse!”

“Calm down. You’re overreacting. The enchantments in those suits were built to fool an alicorn like the Nightmare. Celestia has even admitted that she can’t tell if they have the suit on or not.”

“It makes me wonder why she still uses them then.”

“It’s in case the Nightmare returns and only Celestia’s soldiers get the armor.”

“Oh right. The prophesy. The thing that Starswirl wrote when he had a little too much to drink one night.”

“I’m surprised that you would openly diss one of the few unicorn stallions that were allowed to be put in the history books for being a great spell crafter. The prophesy will come true though, all of Starswirl’s prophesies have.”

“Let’s just hope this one’s wrong though.”

(_o_============================================_o_)

[Dusk Shine: Age 17]

“Spike! Spike!! SPIKE!!!” A rather feminine voice called out.

“Coming Twilight!” A young purple dragon spoke while running to his maternal figure’s assistance.

“Oh! There you are Spike! Do you have the books that I asked for?” The studious unicorn asked.

“Of course Twilight!” The young dragon said while handing over three thick tomes and a rather thin pamphlet.

“Also… Have you learned anything about Sunset Shimmer’s punishment?” The mare asked with a subtle blush coming on.

“Last I heard she’s started to do better in her studies and has started to learn a bit of patience. She was even allowed to have only two weeks of probationary grounding. I wonder what you said to her and Celestia that allowed them to move past it.”

“Oh Spike, she was just a little angry and unhappy. All she needed was proper motivation!”

“What kind of motivation Twi?”

“Oh! Uhm! I told her that if she tries really hard that she’ll get what she wants without risking being sent to the moon.” The young mare said with a blush returning to her features.

“Uh huh? Sometimes I don’t understand you Twilight. I almost feel like you’re hiding something sometimes. You raised me like a mother, but you constantly disappear whenever that Dusk Shine colt is around.” Spike gasped in realization, “You like Dusk Shine don’t you!”

“What! You know that he’s Sunset’s colt-friend. Even if I did want to date him it would never work out.” The mare said spastically.

“Why? You two seem like you would be perfect for each other, your cutie-marks are nearly identical as well.”

“Let’s just say I know more about him than you could imagine. Besides we are too closely related for it to be considered possible anyways. As for the cutie-mark, stallions prefer to call it an emblem, and more than one pony can have the same, or similar marks.”

“Is he like your cousin or something? Should I tell Sunset to stop dating him?”

“Sort of, and don’t you dare tell Sunset to stop dating him. I don’t want the moon thing to become a reality, for anypony involved.” The unicorn mare threatened in a lighthearted manner.

“Okay Twilight. Sorry for having intruded into personal matters.”

“Think nothing of it Spike! Now run along I think princess Celestia has some gems for you!”

The young dragon needed no more motivation than the promise of an expensive treat to get out of Twilight’s mane. The young mare sighed and removed the currently invisible helmet that was hiding her true form. After the helmet came off instead of Twilight Sparkle the most faithful student princess Celestia as ever had, there stood an armor clad Dusk Shine. The stallion that had won the heart of Sunset Shimmer and helped lead her down a brighter path.

The stallion sighed and looked at his reflection in the helmet. He had been living two lives for quite some time now and hiding it from everypony, except his parents and older brother, was stressful. Spike was starting to sound like he was getting suspicious, but he wasn’t the brightest when it came to things this complicated. The young dragon even thought that he might have had a love interest with his secret identity.

The real problem was Sunset Shimmer and Celestia. Sunset would have to know his secret eventually if they were to ever finalize their three year relationship. The problem was if she would be able to keep the secret, or accept that her colt-friend has been lying to the princess for almost seven years. The colt then realized that Sunset would probably laugh at the princess for having been tricked for so long and applaud him.

That only left Celestia then. Celestia was the worst of the two, a mare that had enough power to keep the planet rotating after Discord stopped the planet’s rotation using a giant fan. The princess, as far as Dusk shine was concerned, was a liar who pretended to move the sun and the moon. It took a bit of sneaking around with Sunset in order to get some dirt on Celestia, and the two had found out that the princess’s real talent was looking pretty.

The “solar” princess wasn’t technically evil by any standards, just not the most honest when it comes to talking about space or her own talent. At least the Nightmare before being banished had admitted that her talent was dream walking and not moving the moon or stars. Dusk Shine knew that if that mare, Celestia, ever found out about him, then his life was going to be ended right then and there.

The young colt wrapped up his studies and placed his helmet back on before trotting outside to go meet with his special somepony. The young mare known as Twilight Sparkle happily walked down the halls of the castle while occasionally stopping to say hello to a guard or two. After the castle was left behind the mare ducked behind a bush and removed the armor that she was wearing.

Dusk Shine made sure that his armor was teleported to his room back at his parent’s house. He once made the mistake of handing it to his brother and later found out about a rather confused mare that the guards thought would be called Gleaming Shield. Fortunately Shining Armor was able to get out of there before any of the guards could start asking questions while avoiding his mare-friend Cadence.

Sunset Shimmer was pacing in front of their usual meet up, a technique she used to help keep her patience when waiting. As soon as the colt arrived Sunset immediately perked up and cantered over towards him.

“Hey, did Spike prove to be any trouble when Twilight told him that you saved me from Celestia’s wrath? Oh what am I talking about that little troglodyte is always a pain in the ass.”

“He means well though. He actually thought that Twilight and I have interests in each other. Which a notion that is utterly ridiculous.”

“Why is it so ridiculous? That mare has so much in common with you that sometimes I worry that she will take you from me.”

“Don’t worry, if we ever managed to date it would be considered incest? A thing that Twilight hates.”

“You’re related?” The mare asked in confusion.

“Yes and no. Uh consider it like being her half-brother, we are closely related, but we aren’t. It’s hard to explain, but trust me if you knew what I had to go through you might wind up killing the princess.”

“Just because you work in the guard doesn’t mean that she can make your life a living Tartarus. She shouldn’t yell at you for reading on the job when all you are doing is guarding Twilight.”

“Let’s not talk about that and go and have dinner. At least Twilight can have the princess lighten up on me a little.”

“Abusing the power and position of your relatives? I never expected that out of you, but something about rebellious colts has always tickled my fancy.” Sunset cooed.

“Twilight’s more than happy to help me out. Now did you remember your ID this time?”

“Yes don’t worry, those ass hats will let you in this time. Why an ID is needed to let a stallion come in with me is stupid, those fuckers should just let you in.”

“That’s not how it’s going to work. Now let’s just have a nice calm evening, and then we might be able to get some more dirt on Miss alicorn of looking good.”

Sunset immediately began smiling at the prospect of finding out more secrets involving the princess. The mare held almost no fear of the princess, something that Dusk Shine was desperately trying to fix before the mare managed to get herself banished. The progress was slow, but at the least the mare was learning not to piss off her superior, somewhat.

The couple was a rather unexpected match; although when you mix unrelenting arrogance and anger with humility, kindness, and an equally strong personality, love can bloom without burning out. They, in a way, completed each other. Not by being too similar, but by helping each other grow in the areas where they were the weakest and nurturing their partner’s growth.

Their growth did tend to cause their personalities to become more similar, but such is the consequence of love. Their lives had been in synch ever since their first accidental meeting. Dusk Shine was on a patrol and he happened to catch Sunset Shimmer sneaking around. Dusk Shine’s generosity with helping the mare to her quarters without revealing her led her to more intimate fantasies.

Sunset didn’t pride herself with her secret ideas of being a princess having a chivalrous knight woo her. She felt, and knew, that she was fantasizing about something so stereotypical that it was absolutely absurd. Her loneliness and arrogance fed her fantasies though, and Dusk Shine at the time made her feel like she was important enough to be escorted to her room.

Dusk Shine was truly the gentle-colt and Sunset made him the object of her fantasy. She thought that she was delusional at first, Dusk Shine would surely never be interested in a mare like her. She so secretly wished that she could live out her fantasies, even if it was only temporary. In her mind Dusk Shine was a stallion who would never bother with her.

Sunset Shimmer was wrong however, Dusk Shine knew from castle reports that Sunset had been getting in trouble with the princess. He knew that none of the other guards were particularly concerned with the lives of the few students Celestia had, why should they be? Dusk Shine who was secretly the princess’s most loyal student couldn’t stand to see a pony throw their education away like that though. So he made it his personal task to keep an eye on Sunset Shimmer.

The young mare was a whirlwind of trouble that seemed to take pleasure in annoying the guards and the princess. Dusk Shine kept an eye out for Sunset and helped keep her out of too much trouble. After a few years of keeping Sunset from destroying her career Dusk Shine began to feel impressed with the bold confidence the mare exuded. What he had once thought was her most annoying personality trait he began to find it almost endearing.

Dusk Shine wasn’t going to admit to falling for the spoiled brat though, she was utterly deplorable, but then why did he find her to be so cute? The thoughts were infuriating, he had his studies, he had his secret, he had Spike, and he had his guard position. There was no room to allow a cute mare into the picture, although his dreams and thoughts seemed to have other ideas. Why did he enjoy the company of a mare that was so… defiant and egotistical?

The months dragged on for Dusk Shine, and each day Sunset Shimmer seemed to get a little bit more attractive. The mare had taken notice of his actions to help her and she was realizing that her fantasy might actually come true. She had always found the guard to be attractive, but something about him was slowly imbedding itself into her heart. It almost felt like there was something else other than her in life that deserved the attention.

This went on until Dusk Shine turned fifteen. That was when he could no longer deny that he felt something for the mare that he had been shamelessly keeping out of trouble. His older brother was aware of his fancy for Sunset, and in fact he was the one that asked Dusk Shine if he was insane while simultaneously giving him the courage to ask the mare on a date. The stallion asked the mare if she was willing to date him, she was internally ecstatic and freaking out, and she calmly said yes before going on her way and screaming with filly-ish delight when he had left.

Tonight was officially the fourth month that the two had been seeing each other and they felt like there was nothing that could separate them. Dusk Shine was wanting to take things slow and make sure they would last. Sunset was willing to oblige as long as they were in a relationship with each other. In a way they both knew that that would turn out just fine.

The dinner was at a romantic venue known as Fleur de la Mare. Sunset’s romantic notions of chivalry wouldn’t allow her to choose a place of lesser romantic qualities. The first course of their meal consisted of a light salad for the appetizer, something that Sunset ate in one bite. The next course consisted of soup and bread, with a cheese platter. Each course was exquisite in its own way, and something that their royal allowances were going to pay for.

After the meal they went to a rather romantic venue in the park. The concert was being played by a new and upcoming cellist known only as Octavia Philharmonica. The mare played beautifully and absolutely stunned the crowd with her playing. The mellow tunes she played caused the crowd to drift in its tune and revel in the beauty of the night they were experiencing.

The tunes of the cellist flowed and wound its way through the crowd, bringing them to a state of mellow bliss. The tune was one of being lost in the darkness of the Nighmare’s night, and finding solace in the prospect that the sun would rise. The tune wasn’t a somber dirge, but a rather mellow and flowing tide of growing hope and looking for the light. The song ended on a high note with the sun returning and the fall of the Nightmare, it was a gleam of hope for when all was lost.

(_o_============================================_o_)

[Dusk Shine: age 18]

“Spike!”

“Yes Twilight!?”

“Get me the book on the Nightmare Moon prophesies.”

“You mean that stupid fairytale that you read to me every night when I was younger?” Spike replied while fetching the book.

“You didn’t like it?” Twilight said inquisitively.

“I liked it until I heard it for the ninetieth time, then it got really old. I could probably tell you the whole tale word for word.” The dragon said while handing the book to Twilight.

“Thanks Spike, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Apparently you would marry Sunset Shimmer.”

“What gives you that Idea?”

“Nothing. Just the fact that you are wearing the horn ring that she gave Dusk Shine when he proposed.”

Twilight looked up at her horn and sure enough the ring was there, a proud symbol of the love Dusk Shine Shared for Sunset Shimmer. He had completely forgotten to remove it before putting on his disguise, and now Spike had noticed. The stallion pretending to be a mare racked his brain for a solution and found one. Sometimes being Sunset’s colt-friend proved to be handy.

“Oh this thing? Silly Spike, this isn’t Dusk’s engagement ring. I just felt that maybe a ring on my horn would be something that would look nice.” The mare lied while placing an illusion on the ring that changed its design.

“Oh! I guess it isn’t Dusk’s ring. Funny, it looked just like it from here.”

“Well you can’t just assume things, now aw FU—dge.” Twilight yelled while catching herself in front of Spike.

“Um Twilight? What has you so upset that you are screaming about fudge again? What do you have against fudge anyways?”

“I don’t have anything against the desert, in fact it is quite delicious. I’m using it as a substitute for a different word that you shouldn’t be hearing. As for Why I‘m screaming, it’s because Nighmare Moon is coming back tonight! Now Spike take a letter…… Did you get all of that Spike?” Twilight said while placing the ring into small satchel that was hidden by the armor.

“Uh yeah hold on, what does the evocation of inappropriate non-consensually engaged procreation mean?”

“Uh don’t worry about what it means, the princess will understand it.”

Spike wasn’t one to question his mother and mentor, she was the creature that had raised him. He was smart for his age to be sure, but sometimes he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, something that Twilight thanks the stars for. The letter vanished in a puff of dragon fire and its response returned in much the same way. Twilight eagerly grabbed the scroll and began to read its contents, her face growing grimmer with each passage.

“Spike?”

“Yes Twilight?”

“Pack my things, I’m not going to be available for a while.” The mare said while walking out of her room.

The mare eagerly ran through the halls in order to find Sunset Shimmer. The mare was probably in the study that she was assigned to and Twilight was afraid of what the letter had told her. She continued to gallop along ignoring the complaints of the guards and found her lover’s chambers. The mare removed the helmet revealing the stallion underneath.

Sunset Shimmer was busy reading about equestrian history and the great famine that swept the land long ago when the para-sprites first emerged. She wasn’t the keenest on history, but it also tended to help teach you how to not get banished. The sun was filtering in through a window higher up her room causing the dust to be visible. Her studious reading was interrupted by the melodious voice of her stallion.

“Sunset I need to tell you something.” The stallion said sadly.

“You’re not wearing your ring! Are you breaking up with me!?” The mare began to sob.

“What! No! I forgot I removed it to keep up the disguise when Spike left.”

“What disguise? Are you sneaking around without me? Please don’t get fired, this is the only way to keep you around the castle.”

“Sort of. Do you remember Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes. What about her?”

“She doesn’t exist.” The stallion said in a hurried fashion.

“What do you mean? Of course she exists.”

“She’s a lie. My parents enchanted a set of armor so that I could be the princess’s student. In fact it’s the armor I’m wearing right now.”

“Then why don’t you look like Twilight then huh?”

“I have to be wearing the helmet for the illusion to work. My parents also made sure that only the unicorn wearing the armor was able to remove it.”

“Show me.”

“If there is no other way.” Dusk Shine sighed.

Dusk Shine replaced the helmet and Sunset watched in fascination as her colt friend turned into Twilight Sparkle. She examined the disguise while looking him up and down. She noted that the proportions were right and even the very small amount of perfume that Twilight had on was there. Sunset looked like she was somewhere between shocked and absolutely ecstatic.

“You have managed to pull the biggest trick on Celestia ever! This is amazing. My soon to be husband is a spy on a mission to be the princess’s student. Now I know why you were reading on almost all of your shifts, and why you two were never in the same room. Although… Oh Dusk Shine! If you ascend she’ll find out!”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… I found this book that she has about ascension and only females are able to ascend and become an alicorn.”

“What!?”

“Yep, it goes on to say that if a stallion ascends they become something called a Draconiquess. Which can take on the form of a male alicorn, and is technically one. The only known Draconiquess is Discord, and nopony knows who or what he was like originally.”

“Well nopony knows how to ascend except maybe Celestia and Cadence, now please listen to me I have bad news!”

“I’m listening.”

“This is the letter that the princess sent me earlier today. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I assure you that your fears are misplaced. Nightmare Moon is but a mare’s tail, nothing worth worrying over. Now I feel that you have been socially stunted from my intense study requirements, a notion that is only compounded by the fact that you have no interactions with other ponies other than Spike, Sunset Shimmer, and myself. I am also aware that you have been seen sneaking around Canterlot and am quite peeved that you would get into sexual mischief when you fail to make any lasting impressions on ponies and vice versa. I may be jumping to conclusions with that last part, but I fear for your health. A young unicorn who has had no relationships at your age has surely started to have your mind warped by sexual perversion. Trust me, it happens all of the time. You will not believe some of the things that I’ve seen my students get into. I have also noticed that you have taken on some of Sunset’s bad habits, mainly sneaking around and finding trouble. And if you actually thought I wouldn’t notice your increase in arrogance and flat out abuse of your position to help your guard Dusk Shine then you were clearly mistaken. As a result I am officially appointing you to be Ponyville’s Representative of the Day Court and you will be seeing to the preparations of the festivities since the library is out of commission. The house of the representative has been prepared for you so you should find the place to be quite orderly. My appearance there should help calm down some of the more unhappy earthponies that don’t appreciate alicorn rule. As for the sex life of others I advise that you stay out of them and please make some friends while you are at Ponyville. Sincerely, your Mentor Princess Celestia Equestris.”

“How dare she take you away from me!? I will march right up to that fat oaf and give her a piece of my mind!”

“Sunset calm down. Maybe the princess will let you stay in Ponyville with me. There must be a place there that she can put you.”

“Are you kidding!? That place is where Celestia banishes the annoying and arrogant ponies so that they never get a chance to get a higher position.”

“Well, maybe…”

“She might let Dusk Shine, aka Twilight Sparkle, stay there. She kind of has no choice on whether or not you follow yourself. Me staying here is mandatory in a way, but I’m stuck here without you.” Sunset said while remembering her princess trapped in the castle fantasy.

“I’m sure that she will let you visit Dusk Shine, well… me actually, but are you sure there is no way that you will be allowed to go to Ponyville with me?” Dusk Shine said while removing his helmet.

“I’m certain. Celestia is afraid of what I’ll do if left out of her sight for too long.”

“Indeed, I am. Now I won’t enquire into the conversation that led to that snippet about me that I overheard, such things are better left closed among lovers, but I do wonder why Sunset is so upset.” Celestia said while approaching from the other end of the hall.

“How much of that did you hear?” Dusk Shine asked while visibly sweating.

“Only Sunset’s last reply, now why is she so upset.”

“Well Dusk Shine has to go with Twilight and I won’t be able to see him.” Sunset replied while looking heartbroken.

“I see. Separating engaged lovers always leaves a bad taste in your mouth afterword. The consequences are even worse sometimes. Now I must inquire as to why he must follow Twilight to Ponyville.”

“My family has me set up as her personal guard your majesty. Protecting my sister is my duty.”

“Surely your family can find another soldier to relieve you of your duty. Your presence has kept mischief to a minimum, although your brother also helps a lot with that, being the captain of the guard after all. Now if you don’t mind my other student has packing to do.”

“NO! I mean… My family only trusts me with Twilight’s safety, they won’t allow another pony to be her main guard. Even Twilight won’t let me go. Maybe there’s a way to let Sunset come with me.”

“She will be visiting on weekends only, every other time Sunset has to stay here. Now I have duties that I must deal with. Preparing for the celebration has left me very busy.” The alicorn said coldly while trotting off to a different part of the castle.

“Bitch.” Sunset said under her breath.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Twilight Sparkle was utterly and undoubtedly bored during her flight to Ponyville. Spike was enjoying the view and trying to strike up a conversation, but Twilight wasn’t listening to him. She was too busy thinking about her mare-friend and what she needed to do at Ponyville.

“Twilight! Hey Twilight we’re here.” The young dragon said while pointing at the first town to show up.

“Silly Spike, you don’t know if that’s Ponyville or not.” The mare chirped.

“It is.” Said one of the Pegasus guards pulling the chariot.

“So Twilight are you gonna’ answer my question?” The young dragon asked.

“What question Spike?”

“You know. The one that I ask all of the time.”

“Oh! No Spike I don’t have any interest in dating a stallion right now.” The mare said while being agitated.

“Aw! But Sunset seems so happy with Dusk Shine, and I thought that maybe if you had a colt-friend then you’d let me eat more ice-cream.” The dragon said sheepishly.

Twilight had to fight back the urge to laugh, oh how oblivious and in the dark Spike truly was. Twilight sometimes worried about his mental health at times, but he was contending against one of the most brilliant minds in Equestria. Twilight knew that bragging in public generally garnered hatred or annoyed the populace, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t brag in her mind. She knew for a fact that Celestia’s younger sister was the only one who even got close to invading minds.

“Poor, poor, dumb Spike, I really should teach him more.” The mare thought, “Although, he might figure things out if he gets any smarter. He already has suspicions and I already know for a fact that he can’t keep a secret. Oh Spike! What am I going to do with you?”

Author's Note

Well... that happened.

I think I am actually getting worse at dialogue. Well either that or I just suck when the characters aren't blatantly upset with each other, at least that's what I think.

Also for those of you who were hoping for tension involving keeping the secret hidden from Sunset Shimmer, the only ting I have to say is that Dusk Shine had no choice but to reveal the secret to her at that point. I would have loved to have seen that tension too, but Dusk Shine wasn't about to head to a different town while engaged and leave his lover in the dark about that.

Also obvious Lunaverse reference is obvious.

Also I have no editors or proof readers, so everything up to and including chapter seven is posted as a rough draft.

Tell me how I did, I will try to fix things or make things clearer if you do. Please be nice though and actually give me a proper response. I can't fix things if nothing that needs fixing is brought to my attention.