Magic's Shadow

Chapters

We're Just Two Lost Souls
We Don't Talk About Those Who Disappoint Her
Convalescence
Blessings and Curses
What's a Magic Surge?
Dinner With the Inlaws
Spelling for Dummies
New Role Aquired: Irritating Little Brother.

We're Just Two Lost Souls

"Twilight, dear? It's time to get up."

The little filly groggily blinked to awareness. The previous night had not been kind to her in her desperate panic to prepare for her upcoming examination. Her room was filled with scattered notes, open books, and arcane sketches. Most were in pencil, but a few were in crayon, different colors emphasizing the different arrays that were being combined to create the spell. Normally her room being in such a state would send her into a panic on it's own, but she just didn't have the time. Stars above, there just was no more time!

'I still need to bath, brush, eat breakfast, gather my notes...' "Oh my goodness, my notes! They're everywhere!"

No, this day was not going as she'd hoped.

<-(0)->

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-SLAM* "Frackin' work schedule making me get up at frickin' four in the morning. If I ever find the one who decided mornings were a good time to work, I'm going to run them over with my car... and maybe throw a doughnut... no, just the car. No need to waste good food."

Luke was not a morning person. Technically he just wasn't a 'jump out of bed and greet the day kind of person, as if he stayed up late enough, he could, and would, go through this shpeal at two in the afternoon. Still, bills had to be paid, and no one would ever accuse him of being a parasite. Living off of others kindness wasn't something he tolerated.

Finally managing to drag himself out of the warm covers, he managed to stumble his way to his closet, throwing on a blue polo-shirt; the last clean one he had.

"Gotta remember to do some laundry after work." He mumbled to himself. Some loose-fitting jeans and sneakers completed the ensemble. Now to figure out what he had for available for breakfast. Hadn't his mom left some chocolate muffins yesterday?

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"Twilight dear, calm down, it's all going to be fine."

The little filly was trotting a rut in the floor outside the exam room, anxiously checking and double checking her notes. Nopony told her what type of examination it was! Would they expect her to recite the laws of magic from memory? Would she have to write a three page report on telekinesis? What if she had to write out the periodic table? She hadn't memorized the last few elements yet!

"Twilight Sparkle? The board will begin your test now."

Oh no, oh no no no no, there was no way this was going to end well. It wasn't just an examination of her knowledge or power, it was a full fledged test! She'd never failed a test before. NEVER! Oh what would her parents think of her after this? What if she failed really badly? They'd send her back to magic kindergarten. For the rest of her life! Sun and stars, she'd disappoint Shiny, too! Then he'd get kicked out of the guard and...

"...and hatch the egg." One of the board members said. At this point an older stallion brought in the cart with her test. A dragon egg, she had to hatch a dragon egg? How was she supposed to do that? THERE WASN'T A SPELL FOR THAT!

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'Nuthin beats muffins' Luke thought to himself, as he walked out to his Honda Civic. It wasn't a brand new flashy car, but it was clean, and it got him around without many problems. Luke's thoughts weren't on the car though, they were on the clouds that were gathering. He'd learned long ago to trust his gut with this kind of thing, and right now, it was screaming at him. Something was going to happen. And it wasn't going to be fun.

'The star's are stacked against ya girl, get back in bed... damn, if I didn't need those days off for Mom's birthday, I'd be calling in.'

However, the corporate machine waits for no man, so against his better judgement, and despite a weird sense of panic that he couldn't explain, he started up his car and headed down the road. As he turned onto the highway, the panic only increased, making it impossible to enjoy the music that normally helped blast the last bits of sleep from his head. Was he having a panic attack? Why would he have one now? It's not like he'd ever had one before. His heartbeat was increasing to levels he'd only experienced a few times in his life; the most recent being the time his co-worker, Max, had almost run over him with a fork-lift. If Matt hadn't yelled at him to get out of the way at that exact moment, he'd probably be in the hospital with a broken leg at the very least. Finally, luke started panicking himself. His vision was blurring, while he was driving at almost 85 miles per hour!

"Oh shit oh fuck oh man oh god, what do I do? What do I DO?"

He couldn't stop fast enough, even slamming on his breaks. Luke felt the vehicle buckle, then swerve to the right, then left, and finally felt it graze something before a sensation of weightlessness hit him. His car was airborne.

"No no no NO NO" As his panic reached it's own crescendo, the last thing he heard before everything went white was a small girls scream.

"Star's mercy, HELP!"

<-(0)->

She couldn't do it. No matter what she tried, what cantation she used, whatever cantrip she fell back on, nothing was making the egg even glow. It was like her magic was water to the egg's oil, or, or...

"I'm sorry I wasted your time..." she began to mumble... before a sudden explosion in the distance startled her. Before Twilight had any time to react, her magic had surged, bathing the entire room in the soft purple glow of her power. The egg she couldn't even grasp before was instantly cracked open, revealing the young drake within. A moment later, a second wave of her magic washed over the hatchling, increasing it's size to adult proportions. Her parents were not spared either, transformed into potted plants, while the examiners, despite being behind magically grounded desks, were also caught up in her power. As she struggled to try and reel back in her magic, she heard over the roaring in her ears one of the examiners crying, begging for her life. It didn't make sense, she'd never had this much power before, where did it come from, why did this happen now? WHY COULDN'T SHE STOP IT. It didn't make sense, even her worst surges were nowhere near this level of power, it was like she'd been hooked up to twenty-no, forty magic-boosting gems!

Just as Twilight had found her control again, and was struggling to contain it, She appeared. The princess herself. She looked around at the mess the little filly had made with concern for her subjects, and Twilight felt mortified. This was the Princess' school, and she'd broken it. She'd scared the teachers, and maybe even hurt her parents. She shouldn't be here, she had to get out. She needed to be somewhere else. Anywhere else! As her surge was finally subsiding, she threw the last of the energy into her desperate wish. To leave. To find comfort, anywhere but there. She had to leave. She had to get away. She needed...

"Star's mercy, HELP" The filly sobbed, disappearing in a flash of purple light.

Author's Note

Song Luke was thinking about as he got into his car.

I feel lucky by Mary Chapin Carpenter

We Don't Talk About Those Who Disappoint Her

Celestia was angry.

No, that wasn't true. She was never angry, not if she could help it. Disappointed would be a better word. Disappointed in how things had gone since the elements connected to their new bearers, disappointed in how the search for a little filly, terrified and suffering the strongest magic surge she'd seen in a long time, had taken almost eight hours before she was found in Fillydelphia, despite the use of tracking spells and pegasus guards teamed up with unicorn spell-trackers. Disappointed in how her guards had handled the poor filly and the creature that was found with her. It had been centuries since she'd seen a changeling, much less a colt as small as the one she'd found keeping Twilight from panicking.

A dampener. Those fools had stuck a dampener on the horn of a small filly who was experiencing surges with more raw power than some of the strongest mages in the kingdom were capable of generating on their best days. At best the filly would have burned the ring off, at worst the back-up of magic would have left a crater where Fillydelphia had been. That was not a pleasant discussion she'd had with the Lieutenant, not that he would retain that rank much longer. Not pleasant at all...

<-(0)->

Celestia trotted up to the lieutenant in charge of the group of soldiers that had sent in the report. They had finally found Magic, though it had taken them eight hours, and the Princess was eager to see the little filly home before taking her under her wing, both literally and magically. Yes, she'd take the filly back to Canterlot, and this entire mess would be over with. Her good mood dampened as she got closer, and spotted.. no, there was no way her own guards would be so cruel as to...

Cages. The filly was stuck in an iron cage, used to contain dangerous magical creatures, and had a dampener on her horn. Were they mad? Did they have any idea what could happen if she surged again, with that thing on? Not too far from the filly, letting off a soft hum was a small creature about the size of a colt, also with a dampener on his horn. The difference was that the colt wasn't one of her little ponies. A changeling, an impossibly young one, too. She'd never even seen one of this age before, and had assumed they may have had some type of grub-like stage, seeing as how insectoid the creatures were. It appeared that even she could be surprised sometimes.

A few guards attempted to engage her with briefings, but she strode right past them. Walking up to the cage, the filly noticed her approach, and once again began to hyperventilate. Before Celestia could try to say anything to soothe the poor foal, the changeling spoke, but not in the grating, chittering language she'd heard years ago. It was guttural, a barking, grunting language that was alien to her ears. The only times she'd heard anything even close was when dealing with the Apes across the Atlertic Ocean. Oddly enough, while she couldn't understand a word of what was being said, the filly slowly calmed down, looking at her fellow captive, before answering what was apparently a question.

'Twilight understood that? But that would mean...' Focusing on the simple magic detection spell, the princess gazed at the two once more, and immediately saw the link. The changeling was bonded to her; that's why she wasn't surging, despite the frightening conditions. It was remaining calm, and that calmness was traveling back down their bond, soothing the fillies panic. Even as the purple unicorn calmed down, Celestia could see the overflow of magic washing between the two, diffusing easily as the young changeling continued its tune, unaware of her presence. Turning from the foals, the sun princess motioned with a wing for the commanding officer of the soldiers to follow her to the command tent. It would be best if these words weren't spoken in public after all.

Finally reaching the small tent in the middle of the park the soldiers had set up as the base for the search, Celestia turned to the soldier. "Lieutenant. Please explain to me why the unicorn filly I sent you to find is currently caged like a criminal, complete with a magic dampener?" Though her expression never changed, several guards backed away. Even one of her personal guards, known for being stoic in the most trying of circumstances, shifted uncomfortably. The princess was upset. No one liked when the princess was upset, especially not the one who upset her.

"Uh, the filly was surging uncontrollably when we first caught her, your highness. We, we tried using the basic null-bands that are used to keep foals from surging during surgery, but she burned it out after a few moments, so we had to get something stronger. The combination of the cage with the dampener seemed to be the only thing that stopped her, ma'am." The lieutenant was sweating under her gaze, and not a single soldier envied his position.

"I see. And the changeling? Is there any particular reason his chitin is cracked?"

"Your highness, it's a bug. The only reason we haven't gotten rid of it-"

"GOTTEN RID OF IT?" Celestia asked, eyes widening with shock. "Lieutenant, have you even tried having the two of them checked for residual magics? Of course you have; it's standard procedure for finding foals who teleport after a magic surge. " At the nervous shift of the older Pegasus, the princess continued. "The spell I used could be replicated by a unicorn filly who's not even reached their tenth winter, and the bond is plain as day."

"It managed to latch onto her? I'm sorry ma'am, we'll have it destroyed as-"

"You will not touch him, you fool. The link is not natural to changelings, in fact it has the filly's magic signature all over it, though how she managed such a thing even I do not know. Tell me, lieutenant, are you aware of the impact the loss of a familiar can have on a mage? No? It would be similar to getting your wings ripped off. Worse, actually, since no amount of adrenaline would be able to dampen the pain. And the bond she has with the changeling? It is a two way empathic link; it's why she can understand him, and he understands her, despite the difference in languages. That is stronger than most familiar/mage bonds ever become. Killing him could quite possibly end in the filly's death as well." The princess turned away from the shaking soldier, gazing in the direction of the foals once more.

"Sun and stars, when did my little ponies become so callous with the lives of other creatures." She mumbled to herself, wondering how best to break the news to the unicorn's parents. The little girl now had two brothers, it seemed, though this one would be much more difficult to find a place for amongst her subjects.

<-(0)->

Celestia leaned back into the cushions of her personal covered carriage, the two foals sleeping soundly against each other on the seat across from her. Twilight had been nervous at first, but being in the presence of the changeling, who merely seemed content to eye everything around him with awe and confusion, left her calm enough that the exhaustion and stress of the past few days finally caught up with her. Soon after Twilight had fallen asleep, the colt had followed suit.

The changeling complicated things horrendously. There was almost nothing known about them, not to mention according to twilight, it wasn't one before. Many of the guards had taken that to mean it was transformed by changelings( if she ever found the foal who started that ridiculous rumor... TO THE SUN!), however, it left more questions than she'd started with. Even after the long range teleport and the formation of the bond, a good amount of the magic Twilight was using when she surged in the classroom was unaccounted for. The changeling was the answer, she was sure of it. And once the foals were properly taken care of, she would get to the bottom of this.

Author's Note

Why did I do this? Why not? I don't think anyone's done something like this before, not that I'm aware of at least. There's so much you can do with Twi's exam-surge!

Convalescence

Luke rested in the strange bed he'd woken up in that morning. He wasn't tired, true, but he just had no motivation, no reason to get up. Yesterday had maxed out his limited 'weird shit' tolerance. Hell, it would probably never recover. Would it bother him if today he met another mythological creature? Probably not, I mean he had one latched onto him at the moment, and he himself was no longer human.

He looked back at the little purple fuzz-ball, currently with it's nose in his hair and it's forelegs latched onto him. She had something to do with this, he was certain of it. It hadn't taken him long to realize the panic he kept feeling was actually from her, nor did it take that long for him to figure out that she was the only one who understood what he said, and vice-versa. He'd also seen her spark uncontrollably with energy several times when her panic reached melt-down levels. After the second bolt of energy that came near him left a smoldering crater in the concrete at his fe-hooves, he found it in his best interest to calm her down. It was difficult, considering his own panic over the situation, but self-preservation is a hell of a drug.

Luke managed to keep the girl from panicking long enough to get a name out of her (Twilight Sparkle? Who names their kid that?), and a species, though that one should have been obvious to him. The questions seemed to help though, as her brain seemed to reboot outside of panic-mode, and she started asking her own. His name, what he was (Hell if he knew), how he got there (see last answer), and so on and so forth. Then she proceeded to poke and prod his everything, because science. He was just getting to the point of yelling at her to stop when their mutual exchange of questions regarding what the hell happened was interrupted by the amazing goon-squad.

These huge gold-armored guys came out of freakin' nowhere, grabbed the girl and slammed some ring on her horn. She immediately started panicking again, muttering about being banished, and the thing exploded, some of the shards cutting the goons. Luke tried reaching her, knowing just how bad her energy surges got when she was panicking, and was rewarded with a rear-hoof to the face which sent him into a nearby wall. After that things got fuzzy. Twilight later told him that eventually they pulled out a bigger ring, and slapped it onto her horn. She was still almost breaking it, so they threw her into the magic dampening cages they were stuck in when he came to. Then Big White showed up. At first he thought she was the one who sent the goons, but judging by the fear in their eyes as they scattered out of her way, and the look of shock on her face as she approached their current accommodations , she was either intercepting a child-slavery ring that was big enough to have uniforms, or the goons did something wrong. Twilight started to panic as she got closer, but he asked the filly "Twilight, what did I say about panicking?" and went back to his humming. She calmed down a bit, though he heard her moving to the side of her cage that was closest to him. Honestly, Luke was panicked out at this point, and every time he did panic the little girl only got worse, so what was the point? Nope, Twi was panicking plenty enough for both of them.

The big white one asked some questions, and pulled away the apparent leader of the gang. Then she returned a bit later and ordered the cages opened. Afterwards they were ushered into a carriage and the white one followed them in. She said something to the purple filly, who finally stopped hyperventilating around big/white, and that was when Luke noticed an issue with their current mode of transport.

It was airborne.

None of the others were worried about it, so it just left him confused. Why would you make a carriage that flew? Was it being pulled by those flying horses? Wasn't that kind of demeaning? Wouldn't it be easier to take a plane or a helicopter? Wait, he hadn't seen any cars on the road from the alley they'd ended up in, did they have technology here? So many questions, maybe he could ask-

It was then that he noticed Twilight was currently asleep. Apparently his younger sister wasn't the only one who thought he made a good pillow. He tried asking big/white, but she just smiled at him sadly, and whinnied something he didn't understand. With nothing else to do, he stared out the window until he dozed off as well. To be honest, he felt pretty refreshed after sleeping for whatever amount of time he was out. The only thing that brought him any anxiety in regards to his current location was the fact that he was in a girls room, most likely Twilights. Which meant that sooner or later he would have to deal with her parents.

The door opened, and an older light purple unicorn walked in, whinnying something he couldn't hope to translate at the fuzz-ball attached to his back, who started shifting. Seeing Luke looking at her, the smile became a bit strained, but she gave what he assumed was some type of greeting before nervously heading back out into the hallway. This was getting ridiculous, how long did it take her to wake up?

"Twilight, get up, were going to be late for bre-"

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Princess Celestia sat on a cushion in the living room, calmly enjoying her tea while talking with the fillies parents. She'd managed to worm her way out of Day court early, citing a need to follow up on the magic mishap the previous day. She'd even made sure that Twilights brother was given leave to check on his sister, despite the short notice, which was why the stallion was sitting across the way, chatting with his father. The mother, Twilight Velvet, was just reaching the living room tables when a shriek of surprise was heard from upstairs. Despite the princesses confusion, most of the sparkle family either chuckled or merely shook their heads.

Before the sun princess could make any inquiries about the sound, a little purple blur was rushing by, headed for the kitchen, three brushes moving over her coat, a fourth getting tangled in the fins and hair-like silk of the changeling that was flailing behind her, dragged along in her magical grip. He clearly wasn't happy with the situation, grunting and muttering his displeasure the entire way. Well, until he slapped into the archway frame to the kitchen, then his muttering become much more volatile, eliciting several apologies from the purple unicorn as she dragged him into the kitchen by his stubby tail.

"Twilight dear, we're over here. Come and visit, I'll bring you and your, er, friend something to eat."

At that the fillies mother walked to the kitchen, passing by the both of them as the unicorn and changeling walked back into the living room. The changeling was still muttering at her, stopping just past the archway before raising his hooves, seemingly framing the dent in the wall. While the princess couldn't understand him, the giggles from the filly gave her a good idea what the subject was. Once the filly had greeted her father and hugged her brother, her attention focused on the princess. The fear wasn't as apparent, but she was certainly keeping as close to the changeling and her family as she could.

"Twilight Sparkle, it is wonderful to see you are well. As I attempted to say yesterday, you have much magical potential, more than any unicorn I have seen in a long time. Therefore, I would be most happy if you would accept my offer to be my personal student."

As soon as the princess had finished the offer, all fear left the filly, leaving only absolute joy. "YES! Yes, yes yes! Yes yes yes yes..."

<-(0)->

Luke was not having a pleasant morning. He still wasn't sure when he left the bed, or why he had the taste of mint in his mouth, but the second the filly started moving, everything became a blur. The next thing he was certain of was that he'd left an interesting impression on the wall. Actually, he still hadn't gotten a good look at himself in a mirror since this whole thing started. The impression he made on the wall was the closest he'd gotten to a view of his current face. After saying as much to Twilight, who started giggling uncontrollably at the idea, he took a good look around the room that the family seemed to be occupying. Big/white was the only one he recognized, which didn't surprise him, there was an older looking stallion holding- wait, how was he holding that newspaper? Luke knew that Twilight could float things, but he seemed to be using his hooves to hold the paper. The flats of them.

Filing that as something to ask the little filly later, he turned to the third unicorn in the room, a younger unicorn with what looked like military clothes on, glaring at him. Her father? Maybe the one reading the paper was her grandfather? No, wait. Twi had greeted the other unicorn that they had passed as her mom, so that would logically leave the older one as her father. Now that he thought about it the younger stallion didn't look old enough to be her dad. Did ponies age the same as humans? How old did he look to them? How old was Twilight? And what did he do to piss off her older brother?

Luke was getting frustrated, so many questions, and he couldn't ask a single one. Well, he could, but there was only one pony he knew who could give him an answer, and she was currently dancing happily around the table. 'Must be nice to be able to talk to others, huh Twilight? Wish I knew how that felt.'

He stomped his hooves in frustration, and he suddenly felt like someone had poked his brain. A shriek from the filly told him she'd most likely felt the same thing. As the pain dissipated and his senses returned, he was aware of voices again, though a problem asserted itself as they became clearer.

"...never seen anything like it before, so I'm not entirely certain what kind of effects they may have on each other besides the obvious influence on emotions and reduction in the danger of her surges."

"Owie, what happened?" He heard Twilight mutter as she rubbed a hoof against her head.

All of the adults stared back confused, before Celestia leaned down to the filly and asked her if she was alright.

'It's fine, don't worry about me, sitting over here with a migraine of my own, I mean I couldn't possibly have head trauma after getting smashed into a doorway two minutes ago.'

"What? I-I don't understand. I don't understand what they're saying! What's going on?" The fillies panic surged at him, breaking him out of his rambling. A second later he looked up, right at the princess. She seemed to have an idea of what was going on at that point, a spark of understanding in her eyes.

Luke just put his face in both hooves. "Thanks for letting me know you still cared, Murphy. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

Author's Note

No, Luke, Murphy still loves you, even when you get pulled into different dimensions.

Blessings and Curses

"You can understand us now, can't you child?" Despite the inflection, it was more of a statement than a question. It hadn't taken Big/White long to figure out what had occurred between the two foals, not after hearing the unicorn suddenly start speaking in the changeling's guttural barks.

Luke just nodded, as she'd done nothing but help him so far. She was also the only one in the room not looking like he'd just stabbed their favorite puppy. "Calm down, Twi, we swapped languages. I doubt it's permanent, otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it in the first pl-"

He was cut off by a hoof striking him in the muzzle mid-sentence, sending him flank over teakettle before he finally settled against the wall, shaking off the stars to find the older brother being held back by a golden aura.

"What did you do to Twilly, bug?!" The stallion shouted at him.

"Shining Armor." Big said with calm authority. "Next time you wish to lash out, save yourself the trouble and strike your sister directly."

"P-Princess?" That drew the stallion's attention, and he whipped around to see his sister holding her muzzle with both forelegs with tears in her eyes, their mother trying to calm the filly once more while stroking her mane. The stallions mind skipped like a record at the sight. It didn't make sense, he'd struck the bug, why was his sister hurt?

"As I said before, Private Armor, the colt was linked to your sister during her surge. The link is still fresh, and quite raw at the moment, so it is very easy for things such as pain and information to travel both ways. Maybe later they will learn to control it, to lessen the effects, but for now we must help them learn to adapt."

"That's actually kind of what I figured was going on." Luke said, finally able to see straight again, though his hoof came away from his nose with, oddly enough, emerald blood. "I've been able to piece a bit of it together, but this is still topping my weird-shit tolerance for, well, ever."

The unicorn couple gasped at the vulgarity, but the princess merely frowned, confused. Nopony swore around her, except the crotchety old commander of the day guard, and even then only when it was just the two of them. "Where are you from, young one? The language you were speaking, I don't remember hearing anything like it before, and I've been around long enough to know most of the spoken languages of the world."

"If I had to guess, another world. Probably another realm of existence, actually, considering I think I'm dealing with magic." Luke mumbled, shaking the last of the stars from his sight. "Wait, how old do I look to you?" He asked, finally catching how she addressed him.

The princess was puzzled for a moment, before realization set in. His species was altered, if she had to guess, so why not age as well. "You appear to be a foal of eight summers. How old are, or better yet, were you before this?" She asked.

Luke smiled, his bared fangs setting several of the ponies nearby ill at ease. "I'm twenty..." His eyes crossed for a moment. If this really was a different world, would the calendars be the same? Deciding that he'd use a catch all statement, he elaborated. "I was twenty three, though that's assuming a calendar based on a twenty four hour day with 365 days in a year."

The princess nodded, the co- oh dear, she'd never gotten the young one's name. "Before I forget any longer, allow me to formerly introduce myself, I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, Ruler of the Sun. May I know your name?"

"Oh, sure my name's Shadow." Luke stopped a moment, blinking in confusion, though the Princesses eyes were lit with hidden mirth. "What? No, my name's Shadow. SHADOW! I-What the fu-"

"Calm yourself. Oh my, I'd forgotten about such things. Often when we travel between the veils of the worlds, we find ourselves changed, better suited to fit in to a world radically different from our own." The princess explained, a slight smile gracing her lips. "Your name is not lost to you, it is merely altered, much like your physical form. Should you travel to another world where your original name and form is viable, they will be restored. Though your age may be another matter entirely."

Luke, or Shadow in this world, it seemed, regarded the princess with a skeptical look. "And you know this through personal experience?"

"Oh yes, I have traveled to several different worlds over the centuries. It's always a pleasure experiencing new views on life, or the endless possibilities of what could have been. There's even a chance I may have seen your world over the years, though returning to it today, I would most likely not recognize it. Our world is peaceful, and changes slowly, and yet the changes that have happened upon this world are many. One who saw this world centuries ago would likely not recognize much." The princess said softly, her thoughts seemingly touching upon something else as she spoke.

Hundreds of years? How old was this thing? Shadow's mind just refused to latch onto the fact that he was sitting here talking to a horse older than the country of his birth. "Wait, wait wait wait. Unicorns, alternate realities, swapping languages by accident, fine, but how old are you exactly? Nothing approaching sapience ever lives more than a hundred years of so. Even whales and tortoises, some of the longer living things on the planet only reach maybe two centuries."

The princess cocked her head at the statement. "That's all? I suppose without magic, the amount of damage the body could heal would be limited..." She trailed off, soon returning her attention to the colt. "Nevertheless I am as old as I claim. I witnessed the founding of the country of Equestria well over a millennia ago." The princess explained, leaving the changeling colt with his jaw agape. "Now, as you are bound to young Twilight, I feel it could only help the both of you. I would like you to join her in my school for gifted unicorns. There will be special dispensations of course, regarding your species and situation, but I'm sure it will be beneficial to all involved. Oh, and Twilight should be able to help you with this." She said, pulling a scroll from a nearby bag.

"Changelings are known for their shape shifting abilities, so once you learn to grasp you magic, something I'm certain young Twilight would be happy to teach you, it should be simple for you learn to change your shape. Once you learn, and fill out this form with Twilight's assistance of course, I ask that you send a notice to me, and I will escort you both to the school." The alicorn said, before turning to those gathered. "I leave the young one in your care, my little ponies. He will do you and yours no harm, so please help as you can." Turning back to Shadow, she said "Please refrain from leaving in your current form, as I would rather avoid a repeat of the previous day. I had hoped that several hundred years of peace would bring ponies closer, I did not realize it would make them jumpy and ignorant of other species. Oh, and do try to give Twilight her language back before the poor dear breaks down again, will you?" With that Big/White left, though she told Shining Asshole he had till sundown tomorrow to report back to the barracks.

Shadow watched her leave, before turning to his hosts. Keen to avoid any further unneeded panic, he focused on what he wanted, the ability to speak English again, and both foals recoiled from the sudden shift, though not nearly as badly as before. Before they could even see straight again, the unicorn filly was already yammering away at her family, their voices now replaced with the strange nickering and neighs he'd been hearing from them earlier. It was creepy as could be, hearing voices he'd just heard clearly speaking English, or at least what he'd heard as such, speaking an alien tongue, but he was too tired to care at the moment. Almost simultaneously, the colt and filly were wracked with jaw-creaking yawns.

"I, I think I want to lay down some more." The filly mumbled, slowly trotting over to his floor pillow. He scooted over, and she climbed up next to him, curling up next to the changeling colt once more. If this was going to be his life, Shadow wasn't enjoying it. He should be fine for another five hours at least. This younger body was getting to him. Though the pillow did seem really soft all of a sudden, and Twilight was oddly warm. Yea, maybe he'd just lay his head down for a minute, just to catch his breath. It wasn't like he'd fall...

Author's Note

A whole lotta story I know, but there's just so much happening, I promise more shenanigans next chapter. After all, Twily will teach Shadow the wonders of Magic!

...And she may or may not be sore about her BBBFF punching her in the nose, even if it was indirectly.

I wonder how her foalsitter would react to her new, uh, friend?

What's a Magic Surge?

Purple. Two shades of purple, or was it one shade of purple and one shade of pink? It really didn't matter too much to Luke, or Shadow as his name appeared to be here. Groggily he returned to consciousness, once more with the purple fuzz ball curled up next to him, this time on a large pillow. Lifting his head and looking around, he was reminded of his current location, the home of the filly that was currently mumbling about something he couldn't make out into her makeshift bed. The same filly that seemed to be the reason for his current problems. Looking around, he took in the décor for the first time. It was hard to notice things when you're just waking up, getting dragged around by a crazy unicorn, slapped into a wall, and then getting some answers to what the hell happened from the super-pony.

He let his gaze wander the living room, spotting picture frames here and there as well as furniture that he could recognize, but which seemed to sit really close to the floor. It made sense in a way, he supposed. Ponies were a bit closer to the ground, so their furniture would be shorter, right? Hopping off the large pillow to the unicorn's mumbled displeasure, he wandered the room, allowing himself to feel the furniture with his strange new appendages. The fact that he could still feel the fabric of the chairs through his strangely soft chitin confused him greatly.

During his exploration, he wandered in front of a mirror, stopping short at the creature that met his gaze. The first thing that crossed his mind was an insectoid pony, but the closer he looked, the more he couldn't place the creature before him in any specific category. The horn was slightly curved compared to the unicorns, with what appeared to be a small pockmark on the back just above his eyes. The chitinous plates that dotted his form were a dark purple in color, as were the orbs that made up his eyes.

'I bet it's because of Twilight.' He thought as he continued his inspection.

The next thing he noticed was the simple fin that started just where a ponies mane did, only this one was followed by a strange dark purple mane that, upon closer inspection, seemed closer to silk than hair. Returning to his face, he looked at his teeth, seeing the fangs just barely jutting out from his lips in almost a comical display, when he noticed something strange about his eyes. There was something else there, underneath the lens. Looking closer, he could see what looked like a pupil under a purple cover. Twitching muscles all over his face, he finally moved one that caused it to lift slightly, though he was immediately blinded by the brightness of the room.

'Purple sunglasses, and purple hair. I'm sensing a running theme here.'

Remembering the ponies grabbing things with their hooves, he stuck his hooves together, and pulled them apart, trying to figure out the grip that was being used. Closing his eyes, he imagined his old hands, the hooves being his palms, and wrapped his fingers around each other as though he were praying. Pulling, he felt resistance, and opened his eyes to find the hooves sticking together.

"That was easier than I thought." He mumbled to himself, before his gaze tracked up the wall. He was kind of bug-like now, right? Slowly a grin split his muzzle, before he took a new position in front of the wall, while humming an old tune.

Slowly, consciousness returned to Twilight, and she was wracked by a planet splitting yawn. Looking around the empty living room, she noticed a blur of movement at the edge of her vision. Looking up, she saw the changeling, shadow, sitting on the ceiling like it was the floor, smiling and waving at her. Barely suppressing a giggle, she turned to see her mother walking into the room.

"Good afternoon, dear, how are- where's your, um, friend?" Twilight Velvet asked her.

Twilight only giggled, having seen Shadow motion for her to be silent, and watched as he positioned himself directly above the unicorn. Her mother however was too busy looking around the room to see him, checking all the places Twilight usually hid when she was feeling mischievous, or had snuck a cookie when she thought nopony was looking. Soon her mother turned to leave, mumbling something about the difficulties of keeping track of normal foals, let alone bug-like ones, before she stopped, eyes widening in realization. Turning back to the still giggling filly, she frowned, before lifting her gaze to the ceiling...

And the changeling foal sitting on her ceiling, covering its muzzle with both hooves to suppress its chuckles.

<-(0)->

"Dragons? Real fire-breathing dragons?" Shadow asked the filly in disbelief.

"Yea! I mean, that was part of the test before I met you. I was supposed to hatch a dragon egg by pushing magic into it." Twilight explained. "You don't have dragons where you come from?"

The changeling shook his head. "Only in stories. I mean, we have the idea of giant fire-breathing monsters but they don't actually exist. They're like manticores and uni- ok, maybe that's not a good example here. The point is, we have the idea for them, but they're not real."

"Manticores are too real! I've seen them in my books, they said they live in the deepest parts of the Everfree forest."

The two foals, or one foal and one pseudo-foal, were enjoying a lively exchange of the different creatures from their perspective worlds during lunch, though Shadow mostly just picked at or nibbled at the strange foods. Some tasted alright to him, but they just didn't seem to fill him up much. Not only that, he wasn't that hungry to begin with, odd as it may be. Maybe it had something to do with his new anatomy? In the meantime, Shadow was having to dig through his knowledge of deep sea creatures or insects to impress the filly, while she was throwing the more outlandish creatures of the world at him, leading to a friendly game of one-uppance.

"Ok, how about this. There's a shrimp that can break glass with a single snap of its claw." He said with a grin, watching as the filly pouted.

"That's dumb, how can a crab snap its claw and make its tank break?"

His answer was cut off by a few simple nickers from the other side of the table. While he'd begun to hear a pattern to the sounds the ponies made, it was worse than trying to decipher people speaking or writing in Russian or Japanese to the colt. He knew something was being said, and there were contextual clues, but the words were beyond him. He didn't look forward to trying to learn the local language either, though he knew he couldn't rely on swapping with the filly to communicate. Watching the filly deflate, he assumed it was something along the lines of 'Stop talking and eat.' So he waited for the meal to end, idly nibbling on the boiled hay and rolled flowers that had been served for lunch. The way it was served actually reminded him of spaghetti and meatballs.

Watching the unicorns eating with utensils gripped in auras that matched those surrounding their horns, Shadow already knew what the next topic of discussion would be. It came from their horns, and he had one. Maybe he could manage the same thing? Focusing on the horn on his head, he was disturbed by a few whinnies from his left, and the filly to his right translated.

"Daddy said don't practice magic at the table. It will make a mess." her ears fell to either side of her head in memory. "When I did that and was still learning, I made my cereal explode."

The changeling colt just nodded dumbly, not sure how one could make cereal explode, nor interested in the kind of mess boiled hay would make from the same treatment.

'Maybe this magic stuff won't be as simple as I thought.' He thought glumly. He'd probably have to work at it before he could blow stuff up with his mind.

<-(0)->

After the meal, the two were allowed to retire to the fillies room which would serve as their room until they could find other sleeping arrangements. It felt awkward to Shadow, but at the same time, he didn't feel comfortable being separated from Twilight. Making themselves comfortable on the floor, the unicorn had pulled out several basic spell books and practice items and was currently giving him instructions on magic use.

"Ok, so first you need to find your magic. 'Magic is an energy that feels different for each tribe. For the unicorns, it is most often described as lightning, or electricity. Earth ponies often describe the sensation as similar to a warm meal, or the calming sensation of watching the sun set. Pegasi describe it as wind, a cloud, or any number of weather phenomena they feel comfortable and relate well with. The reason for these different description is thought to be because one's magic is an extension of their will, and thus is focused on whatever somepony enjoys the most. A unicorn who works metals often finds their magic attuning itself to their craft very quickly, while pegasi find their latent magic will often work best with whatever speeds and elements they find themselves most comfortable with.'" Twilight said, reading from one of her primers. "In other words, think about what you like doing the most, and your magic will most likely be in an elemental form that would help with that task. If that doesn't help, Mom just told me to concentrate, to just focus on what I liked to do and watch for a tingle in my horn or chest."

Nodding, Shadow closed his eyes, thinking about his hobbies. He liked running, he liked walking trails. He also liked cooking, and growing his own herbs made his meals that much more special. Wind, fire, lightning, he couldn't seem to get a grasp on any element, though he swore he felt an odd tingle every now and again. What he did feel while concentrating like this was the shimmering warmth that was staring right at him. He frowned, why could he feel her energy but not his own? He looked closer, taking note of the rolling of the aura, the sudden jerks and surges much like the storms Twilight had described when talking of her own magic.

"Um, Shadow? What are you-eep!"

Pushing ahead, he mentally caught some of the magic, pushing and pulling it, watching as it flowed like water around his grip. He watched it, he smelled it, he took in every detail he could find about it. This was magic, something that as far as he knew, didn't exist back home. It was power, raw and waiting for purpose. But it was also contained, bound to the filly sitting across from him. Finally bringing his thoughts back to his own form, he noticed it, a small link from the filly to himself, some of her power seeping into him, slowly converting into a more diffuse state that spread through his form.

It was much more subtle, not as raw and strong as the fillies, but it was there now that he knew what to look for. A different kind of power. A quiet burning power that smoldered beneath the surface, hiding itself from view. Of course he couldn't find it earlier, the magic seemed to attempt to avoid detection. Only by watching as it changed mid-link did he learn what to look for. Pulling at it, he brought his focus to his horn, feeling a simple warmth flow up from the base of the black spear. This was what they were doing in the dining room. This is what the changeling needed to do to control his magic, something he'd eventually have to learn to do subconsciously.

Distantly, he heard the filly giggling, prancing around the room while cheering at his success, and he felt his own emotions follow. He chuckled softly, then barely stifled his own giggles, nearly losing his concentration. He shook his head, forcing the happiness back. Now was not the time. He had to focus on the feeling, the sensation, memorizing the flow of magic.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and a male voice whinnied and nickered from the hallway, shocking him. There was a burst from his horn, and he nearly collapsed from the sudden vertigo that assaulted his senses.

Twilight could only stare at the place that had once held her new friend. She'd seen his horn glowing faintly, a sign of the colt finding his own magic and pushing it to his horn, but then her father had spoken and spooked him, and the energy had dispersed in a flash of fire. After the flames had cleared, she was left staring at a carbon copy of herself.

'So that's why the Princess called him a changeling.'

The possibilities whirled through her mind, her mouth agape as she stared at the stumbling purple clone. Distantly, she heard her father's questions slowly fading into confusion as he too spotted the scene unfolding in the room.

Finally snapping out of her stupor, Twilight trotted over to Shadow, steadying him with a hoof.

"Shadow, are you alright? You surged when the door was opened."

"I think so?" He responded in her own voice. "I'm not sure what happened... do I sound different? I can't really tell if it's just my eyes or all my senses, but everything's gone all spinney."

Twilight smiled. "Don't worry, I got sick after my first surge, and mom was kind of upset because she had to change my sheets. It's normal."

Her dad chose that point to interrupt their conversation. "Uh, Twilight? We'll be having dinner soon, then your mother wants you to head to bed early tonight, ok? It's been a long two days for all of us. We'll, we'll set your friend up with a sleeping bag tonight, ok?" With that her father left, leaving the filly confused. Did he not find the surge funny? Twilight thought it was great. She was already wondering what else Shadow could change into!

"Hey Twilight? What did that surge do? You said earlier that surges make things happen, right? He uh, didn't sound too thrilled." The not-her said, finally standing on her/his own four hooves again.

"It was great! When you surged, you turned into me!" The filly cried, pulling the unsteady changeling into a hug. The next words out of her mouth caused the changelings eyes to widen in terror.

"I always wanted a sister!"

Dinner With the Inlaws

Twilight almost immediately set about checking the power of the disguise, poking and prodding the changeling with hooves and magic. Soon she disproved Shadows theory that it was just a visual illusion by pulling on his now much longer tail, to the pseudo-filly's discomfort. Further inspection of the fur revealed that there was actually skin underneath it instead of chitin, leaving Shadow to wonder just how thorough the spell he'd used was. Twilight was more than happy to find the answer to his question, a quick unauthorized check by the unicorn filly leading to an extremely girlish scream.

After a brief panic attack, stopped only by Twilight's assurance that it was probably the changeling race's special ability considering their name, she'd been running through what exactly had happened. The only thing she'd been able to pin down with certainty was that she'd unleashed a bit of magic from her horn, and she was concentrating on the unicorn when she'd been spooked.

'It may even be a subconscious thing.' She'd thought to herself. 'In emergencies where the changeling is startled they throw on the first form they can think of.'

Meanwhile, Twilight was floating paper all around her, writing notes on what they'd discovered and any running theories on the activation of the spell. The filly even started hopping around on her tippy hooves, giggling about how it would only make sense that she could also be any other race, even a Pegasus!

"Oh, you could fly anywhere you want to go! This is amazing!"

Shadow was less than enthusiastic however, and only wanted to be returned to her base form. The way to accomplish this, however, was not easy to find. First was the general dispel Twilight knew, which not only failed, but resulted in a spark of pain in both foals. Next was Twilight attempting to coach the changeling into breaking the spell, which would have worked if the spell was actually actively running.

"What do you mean there's no active spell?" She asked, a single hair springing up from her mane. "You're using a spell to keep your form different, aren't you? That's how transformation spells work, right? They change something and the power you store in the spell is how long it lasts! It said so in Basic Spells for Beginners!"

"I didn't use a unicorn spell, Twilight, it may not work by the same rules!"

"Magic doesn't work like that! It has rules, rules we have to follow! You can't just ignore them!" Three more hairs came loose.

Shadow slapped a hoof to her face. "You're trying to play Go Fish with a Chess set, Twi! I didn't say it doesn't have rules, I said mine may be different. Do pegasi have magic?"

The filly nodded. "They do, it's passive magic, though. They don't have horns to channel it with. It's all right here in Your Mana and You."

"So can a Pegasus use a unicorn spell?"

"No, that... would... oh."

"You keep trying to classify it by your rules, but maybe it doesn't run that way. What kind of magic are you calling this?"

The unicorn pulled a nearby book to her, flipping the book half her size to a tabbed page. "Transfiguration. The act of transforming one item into another. After the spell complete the.. oh.. after the spell runs out of power the object returns to its original form. Wait, if the spell was a one time transformation then it would be..."

Twilight trotted over to her rooms bookshelf, pulling a well-worn book from the top shelf. As she cracked it open, Shadow trotted up beside her.

'Mare, Ram, and Spinster's Dictionary? What the hell! What sicko thought this is funny?!?'

"Alteration, achievement, alot, aww, it's so fluffy! Ah, alchemy! 'The science of transforming one matter into another, most often used in the brewing of elixirs and tonics. Was the origin of the less popular science of chemistry, and started from the pursuit of unicorns attempting to change gold into aluminum."

"Gold into aluminum? Why would they do that? Gold's worth way more."

"It's rare where you come from?" The unicorn asked? "Aluminum is very hard to find, while gold is fairly common, and holds magic easily. Shiny said that's why the guard uses it for their armor. It's cheap, easy to mold and enchant, and with the proper spells, as strong as you want. It also doesn't weigh as much when some of those spells reduce the weight."

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to use, I don't know, iron?"

She gave him a confused look before flipping the page to I. "Iron, a rare metal that repels all but the most powerful spells. Mostly assumed to be extraterrestrial in origin due to its incompatibility with the world's natural magic field." Finishing the definition, she looked at the changeling. "Why would you make armor out of that?"

Shadow went to retort, but fell short, imitating a goldfish for a few moments before closing her mouth with a click. 'I remember hearing about iron being the bane of fae, but this is ridiculous. Does anything I know even matter anymore?'

"Okay, never mind. Look, say this magic is related to achemy. How does that help us?"

"It's simple!" The mage to be said with a smile. "Wait, no it's not, but it does simplify the problem. If there's no spell keeping you this way, it means that this is currently your actual form. That means you can reapply the spell to transmute yourself back!"

"Awesome." Shadow deadpanned. "Any idea how I cast the spell in the first place?"

<-(0)->

Being seated at the dinner table while still looking like Twilight, with said filly to her right and Shining to her left, was not how Shadow planned on spending her time. The first few minutes of dinner confirmed her fears; the transformation was only physical. The ponies talked, and she didn't understand a word. So she nibbled idly on the meal, a strange dish that she couldn't seem to identify despite her best efforts, and tried to decipher what was going on based on Twilight's responses. The table wasn't any more welcoming than it was earlier, in fact Shining armor was downright furious with the now-filly changeling, probably seeing it as the next step in Shadow's evil plan to replace his sister. There was just no pleasing the guy. The mother, Twilight Velvet as his only conversation partner had introduced the mare from earlier, was at least doing her best to be hospitable, while her husband, Night Light, just watched him, fear creeping into his eyes as she met the older stallion's gaze.

Turning to the unicorn filly, she noticed Twilight looking around the table uncomfortably as well. She wanted to say something to her, to jump over to Twilight's seat and just sit next to her, anything to comfort her. But her presence was what was causing this friction. Her being there was why the brother was glaring, the guy's fury almost reaching a point of being considered hot for the filly. The parents weren't as volatile, but they weren't comforting either. That wasn't what Shadow's friend needed right now, she needed certainty, she needed someone to give her a hug, someone to tell her it was all going to be all right! She wanted to do it, she wanted to do it so badly.

But looking around at the confusion, the fear, and the anger, she couldn't. Because for the first time in so many years, she felt exactly the same way Twilight did. For the first time in years, Shadow wanted nothing more than to find a place to hide, curl up in a ball, and cry. It didn't help that their emotions seemed to feed into each other if they were synchronized. In this way, it made things worse. The second she'd been certain most of them were finished eating, she excused herself, almost running from the table. She distantly heard another voice her exact words in the same voice, and could almost feel the filly darting after her, intent on reaching the same goal. Eventually they made it, Twilights bedroom being mentally marked as a safe spot for the two, despite Shadow only having been there twice. They climbed up on the bed, wrapped themselves in the blankets, and cried in each others grip.

Twilight cried in confusion and fear, not understanding her parents reaction to her new friend, even though the Princess said it was okay. They'd always told her to trust the princess, so why wouldn't they? Worst of all had been her BBBFF, he just looked so mad at Shadow. The changeling didn't do anything to her, if anything Twilight had hurt the colt! Why was Shiny so mad at Shadow?

Shadow cried from her frustration, her inability to understand the situation, and the horrible pit in her stomach that formed thinking she'd somehow messed things up royally for the family. The filly loved her family, and they loved her. Now here comes this random alien creature that gets linked to their daughter by accident and they have to deal with it. It was clear they were doing just that, but despite having no practice reading pony faces, their emotions were plain as day to her. Fear, anger, disgust. She was certain the only thing keeping the white stallion from lashing out at her a second time was the fact that his sister would feel a phantom impact as well. Twilight had spoken so highly of Shining Armor, she loved him with all her heart, seeing him like that hurt her deeply.

And what hurt Twilight, hurt Shadow. She knew this link was the cause her sorrow and fear, but to be reduced to a sobbing mess so easily hurt what little of her pride she had left. It hurt her pride, and she could do nothing about it. Shedding more tears of impotence, she clung tighter to her comrade in misery, the two eventually crying themselves to sleep.

<-(0)->

Time passed, eventually finding the two foals curled up amidst the blankets of the filly's bed. Shadow assumed it was approaching sunrise by the time she actually started moving, but had no way to know without asking Twilight. Staring out the window at the night sky, she just couldn't find the motivation to do anything. This was supposed to be a time of recovery, time to learn about a new world she'd gotten stuck in, not a time to create a rift in a loving home.

She needed to learn how to use her magic as soon as possible, if only to lessen their impact on each other's emotions. Not only that, she could finally go back to being male again. Unsurprisingly, a full nights sleep hadn't removed the effect of her transformation. It was both a curse and, though she loathed to admit it, a blessing. She really wanted to be free of her current form, but on the other hoof, she now knew she wouldn't end up losing her disguise if she ended up falling asleep or got knocked out. That was good, because she liked sleeping in.

Managing to detach herself from her clone, she focused on the written word, delighted by the fact that the pain of the language-switch didn't seem to hurt too much anymore, as it meant she didn't wake up the sleeping filly. She quickly ran a hoof along the spines of Twilight's collection, finding the basic magic spell books the unicorn had been reading to her the day before. The sooner she got her magic under control, the better things would be all 'round. Taking one last glance at her collection, she dove in.

She read sentence after paragraph after chapter, trying every exercise in the book until she got it right. She started levitating things in her magic, more than she thought she reasonably should have been able to. She lifted things up based on weight, once more lifting so much more than the book predicted for a first time caster. Why? Why did she have such a large source of magic? Where was it...

Her gaze turned to the sleeping filly. It was her, Shadow was certain of it. The surge had been enough to pull her between dimensions. Twilight's surge had been enough to scare trained soldiers into doing everything they could to neutralize her. What else had the filly done with such a large source? What else was she capable of? The book said one's source would only grow with age, and she already was so powerful, how much stronger would she get? Would the changeling's presence increase that strength, or would she dampen it? Would her tapping into the unicorn's mana actually harm her? There was so much she didn't know, and with such things, she had a feeling only Celestia would be able to answer these particular questions, if answers were to be found at all.

After nearly two hours of combing through the books, doing everything she could to fine tune what little control she had over her magic, she decided to take a break, heading to the bathroom for a drink. Walking into the nearly immaculate room, she quickly used the stool to take a look at the top of the sink. She grabbed a cup with Twilight's mark on it, and downed two full glasses of water, before refilling the glass and levitating it along with her back to the filly's room. Just before she was back in the bedroom, she turned, ears perking up at a series of soft nickers directed at her.

Her mood dropped considerably at the sight of the white unicorn, as did his, the smile vanishing the instant he saw the greenish hue of the aura on the cup and her horn. Shadow sighed, setting the cup down lest she drop it even as the stallion came closer, spewing gibberish she couldn't hope to understand, demanding answers too, if his inflection was to be trusted. Closing her eyes, Shadow focused again, this time attempting to pull the spoken word from her twin.

"..think that just because you look like her, you can use her things?" The stallion said quietly, trying to avoid waking the rest of the household.

"I was thirsty, and figure she will be too. Is there a problem with that?" Shadow said, bringing her attention fully to Shining Armor.

"And now you steal her language again. I don't know what spell you put on the princess, but.."

"That, ass-hat, is called entrapment. You get angrier as I don't answer, so I swapped with her to answer you. Then you get angrier when I try to actually answer you. And spell?" Shadow exclaimed. "I didn't even know what I looked like until I had a chance to look at myself in the mirror after that nap! I didn't even know magic was real until two days ago! And you think I put some type of spell on someone who's been around for centuries at least? Possibly longer than my species' recorded history?!?"

" Listen here, bug, I'm in the Royal Guard now, and it's my duty-"

"Oh yes, the wonderful Royal Guard." Shadow muttered, rolling her eyes. "I bet someone who punches little kids would fit right in with them. You know, considering they threw your little sister into a cage."

"What?" Shining asked dumbfounded. "A cage? They would never do that! She's just a filly!"

"Ask her yourself when she wakes up. They threw us in cages and put some weird rings on our horns. The Princess didn't seem to happy about it." The changeling grinned. "I expect you'll hear something about a demotion or five somewhere down the line, maybe even a public apology to your parents and sister for the psychological trauma incurred in his care."

The stallion looked ready to object, torn between loyalty to his vows and loyalty to his family, when the changelings focus went form him to the door, now cracked open, a purple head peeking out into the hallway. Seeing a chance to learn the truth firsthoof, he slowly walked around the bowing alien wearing his sister's form, before leaning in close to his sister.

Turning around, Shadow watched the exchange. She wanted to know the other side, but knew Twilight needed her brother back. Nothing would trump his protectiveness from the changeling but the knowledge that his little sister went through something horrible recently.

The stallion said some things to the filly, earning a slow, teary nod, before he scooped her up in a hug. He started saying comforting things to her and petting her mane, and the Twilight just hugged him, telling him how scary it was, how nopony would listen or help her, how everypony seemed scared of her.

Shadow coughed, catching the attention of both unicorns. "Twilight, can I tell him one more thing? The glass over there is for you, by the way."

The filly nodded, pointing to the asking her brother to let her get a drink. As she drank, Shadow once more swapped the languages, each time becoming easier for the two of them.

"I have one goal right now, Shine. Keeping her from sending my own emotions into a tizzy. I'm normally a pretty calm guy even in the strangest situations, but not only this beyond anything I could imagine, when your sister starts to panic, so do I. But it's two ways. When I fear something, she picks up on it as well, and if we're both feeling uncomfortable? Things like last night happen." The changeling explained. "I don't understand how it works, but we can spiral pretty fast from what I felt. Just, I know you don't like me, you don't have to, but swallow that anger for her. For pity's sake, an effectively immortal princess told you I'm harmless, a princess Twilight said you guys told her to trust. Why can't you do the same?"

"Will you stop stealing Twilly's language?" The stallion finally asked, looking at the not-Twilight.

"I'm not stealing it, geeze." The changeling said in a huff. "Still, no Shining, I plan on learning the language as soon as I can. I've never allowed myself to be called a parasite for mooching nor do I allow myself to take advantage of others' kindness." Shadow then frowned. "I may need to find someone else to teach me though. Twilight won't be able to teach me much when it comes to pronunciation, since I hear her words in my own language."

After a moment of thought, the stallion sighed. "Fine, but if I find out you so much as harmed a single hair of her mane-"

"I get it, dude, you're talking to a fellow older brother." Shadow said, before closing her eyes and holding a hoof raised in oath with her other over her heart. "Heaven have mercy on those who harm the younger siblings, because an older brother will have none."

The stallion raised an eyebrow at the oddity of a small filly saying such things, but nodding in agreement. Taking his sister in one more hug and whispering a goodbye, he walked down the hallway, still uneasy, but not sure how to remedy the situation.

"He doesn't look so angry anymore." Twilight said, watching him leave. "Why was he so mad at us?"

"It was me he was mad at, or rather about." Shadow answered. "As much as I hate it, this is probly going to take time, and it's gonna be painful until we either find a way to cut this link and send me home, or... or everyone learns to adapt."

The filly nodded, sidling up beside her mirror image. " 'Probly' isn't a word, and neither is 'gonna'."

Author's Note

Some of you may complain about Twilight knowing too much about spellwork already. To that I say, she's going to devour every book she can, and apparently has an almost photographic memory, at least from what I've read and heard. I don't think it's too much to assume she's picked up or borrowed a few basic spell books before she even got into Celestia's school. Besides, was that really Twilights first shot at schooling? It doesn't seem right to me. I'm assuming at least a year or two of general education before she was given her entrance exam, as well as whatever books a filly can nab in the meantime.

Also, just because she understands the theory, doesn't mean she can use the spells.
To fly a plane, you adjust the throttle to change speed, adjust the flaps and rudders to direct it, and make sure you don't hit the ground, other planes, or buildings. Ok, you're all set, go fly!

Spelling for Dummies

Breakfast that morning was slightly more endurable for the family and their guest. Shadow could feel the difference almost before she even took a seat at the table. Shining was still uncomfortable, but no longer glaring at her, leaving her twin much more relaxed. Twilight's mother and father were slightly more at ease as well, possibly because they were no longer reacting to their son's hostility to their guest. The unicorn filly ate hungrily, not being able to stomach much the night before, daring to even smile a little at her parents despite the friction from the last meal.

Everyone else was eating, and still Shadow merely nibbled at her food. She was starting to worry about her diet. Nearly two days and she hadn't been able to down even a full meal much less eat the entire meal in a single sitting. Was there something wrong with her? It didn't feel like anything was wrong. The only difference she noted was even more empathy, being able to read even the stone-faced Night Light like a book. Finally having enough, and hoping her absence would help things along, Shadow reached over and nudged the unicorn filly.

"I'm going to head back up stairs and work on this transformation stuff. I had an idea."

Twilight nodded, before returning to her meal. Taking one last glance around, Shadow excused herself and hopped off the chair, walking to the stairs. She kept telling herself the family just needed time, they just needed to adjust to the strangeness of the situation. She dearly hoped she was right. They couldn't keep acting like this forever. It would break the poor purple filly.

Finally arriving in their shared room, Shadow went to work. 'Focus on the image.' She brought to her mind a unicorn colt she'd seen earlier through the window, complete with a cutie mark of a few coins. 'Check every detail.' Shadow noted the colors of the mane, tail, eyes, even the scar on the colts left hoof. She couldn't miss anything; to do so would cause problems. People would notice if someone's scar kept changing position.

'Focus the energy to your horn.' The changeling brought the energy to her horn, the buzzing sensation signaling to her that it was ready for whatever purpose she had in mind.

'Set the image over yourself, and set it on fire.' With a burst of flames, the filly's body began to shift. Shadow was ecstatic! It had worked; she'd managed to work out most of the details from the unicorn's descriptions, and piece together what she needed to do.

Suddenly the energy backlashed, sending a jolt of pain through the foal. In a flash of light, Shadow once more found herself thrown across the room, a loud pop and fizzle from the dissipating energy the only other obvious reactions from the spell. Shaking her head and rubbing it with a hoof, she came up short, staring at the limb. It was black again, the chitin that had once covered her body now back. Checking her lower body, she was delighted to find that she was now using the wrong gender pronouns. With a whoop of joy, Shadow pranced across the room, chanting "Not a girl anymore, not a girl anymore, not a girl anymore!"

<-(0)->

Twilight's parents, while relieved the changeling no longer looked like their daughter, were a tad upset that their daughter had apparently felt the recoil from Shadow's spell mishap. Night Light even sat the two down in the filly's room and proceeded to explain, in excruciating detail, why it was that one should not cast new spells while alone. It was hilarious to Shadow, as Night Light managed to get ten minutes into the lecture before Twilight raised a hoof to interrupt her father and pointed out that the colt couldn't understand a single thing he was saying. So it was with great discomfort that Light asked his daughter to allow him to speak with the changeling. The stallion then proceeded to give him the entire spiel all over again; this time in a language the colt could follow. Afterwards he had the colt promise not to do such a thing again without at least Twilight nearby to use the dispel in an emergency, though he would prefer Shining or himself be around in most cases. Having said his piece the stallion left, leaving the two sitting on the bed. The moment the door closed though the filly turned to Shadow with a huge grin on her face. Backing away from the manic unicorn, Shadow swallowed loudly.

"Tell. Me. Everything!"

The filly ended up demanding every detail that led to the spells collapse. What he was hoping for, his process, what the colt he wanted to copy actually looked like, where he saw said colt, how much magic he tried to use, and what he felt as the spell started and ultimately failed.

"Ok, so according to Alchemy 104, while a result from a previous concoction may have the same chemical composition as another ingredient, you should never use the concoction in the place of the ingredient as the mixing can cause a collapse in the chemical structure. Since we're looking at your magic as being closer to alchemy than unicorn magic, I think it would be safe to postulate that your second disguise reacted badly with your active disguise, destabilizing the both and reverting you to your base form."

"I stacked too many cards and the whole house fell down." The shape shifter translated.

While she frowned at the dumbing down, the unicorn filly nodded. "While you may be able to hold several transformations or stack them at a later date, your experience, or the base of your house, is too small to support more than one disguise at a time." Suddenly Twilight brought a hoof to her chin. "We keep calling it a disguise, right? Could you pull it off, like trying to peel it off of yourself?"

"I think it would be more along the lines of burning it off, but first I want to make a disguise of my own." The changeling said, floating some crayons and scrap paper to their location. Selecting black for an outline, he attempted to draw a basic pony outline, but only managed to put the crayon through the paper. With a giggle Twilight took over, understanding his goal, and the two spent the next few hours working out a disguise for the changeling. Three disguises actually, as the purple unicorn was adamant that the changeling have a disguise for every situation.

The first was his unicorn persona. A small forest-green unicorn colt with purple eyes, allowing for both their colors to show in his magic without drawing too much suspicion. For the Pegasus, they went for brown eyes with a grey body and blue mane and tail. Finally for the earth pony, Twilight suggested they go with blue eyes, brown fur and black mane and tail, since she'd read that earth pony colors tended to be more subdued. Then came the hard part.

The emblem, the cutie mark, the symbol of what made each one special. It wasn't exactly needed at this point, as he was still young enough that the absence of the mark wouldn't draw too many eyes, but each mark was apparently specific to the individual, so it was not possible to use the same mark for each disguise. Grinning, the colt drew up a simple triangle near the picture of his unicorn disguise, leaving the other two to be discussed at a later time.

"It's the symbol for change!" he explained.

The filly looked at the symbol dubiously for a few moments, before using her own crayon to scratch it out. "It's too obvious, Shadow. The Princess was pretty adamant about keeping your species a secret for now, so we don't want to touch that. Maybe something else, like a moon or a star?"

"Twilight, I have purple sunglasses, purple hair, and tints of purple in my magic. If I add any more references to you, I may as well just go around all day looking exactly like you," Shadow said in an attempt to dissuade her. The colt scratched at his muzzle, thinking hard about the mark. It would likely be something he was stuck with for the rest of his life. According to Twilight, that mark on her flank was there to stay. It would be counterproductive to draw attention to himself by having his mark change every few years.

"You don't have to have one now, Shadow," Twilight told him. "Some fillies and colts don't get them till they're almost twelve, so you still have a few years to figure it out. Besides, your in a new world, right?"

She was right, he'd only just figured out a few basics of the new planet he was currently stuck on. Maybe he'd even find a symbol that didn't exist back home that he felt suited him perfectly? With one last glance at the picture of his unicorn persona, the changeling disappeared in a flash of green and purple fire.

"That's so cool!" Twilight cheered, instantly checking every detail of the colts disguise and making sure no mistakes were made. She stopped at his right rear leg, noticing an odd blemish. "Shadow, what's this?"

"A scar I got when I was younger. It was the first injury that ended up sending me to the hospital, and the scar never really faded. I want to keep it," the colt said, extending the leg so he could see the scar as well.

Twilight's face scrunched up in confusion. "But why would you keep a scar?"

The changeling in disguise chuckled, patting the filly on the head. "Silly Twilight, scars are cool."

<-(0)->

Lunch was a much more relaxed affair, the parents more at ease seeing a young unicorn colt at their table as opposed to a bug-pony or a copy of their daughter. Even Shining Armor was amicable, the white unicorn nickering and whinnying merrily with his sister. It was still impossible for him to even hear the distinctions between words at the moment, but he chocked it up to his mind attempting to dismiss the conversations like he did a dog's bark or a bird's chirping. Perhaps he'd eventually be able to break himself of the habit, but it would take time.

Taking another hesitant bite of his meal, this time some type of vegetable casserole, the changeling stopped short as his stomach began making odd gurgling noises. Next he felt the all too familiar surge of his body rejecting food. Clenching his mouth shut, the colt bolted from the table and dashed into the bathroom, barely managing to clear the rim of the odd toilet before spewing a large amount of green goop into the basin.

Twilight rushed in afterwards, sensing his distress followed by his confusion, asking what was wrong. Seeing what had happened, she returned to the door and shouted an explanation to her parents before returning to his side.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

The changeling spat one last wad of goo, trying to remove the remaining mess with his tongue and motioning for a glass of water. After washing the remnants from his mouth, he sighed.

"I've no idea. I've gotten sick before but it hurt a heck of a lot more than that. That felt like throwing up, but there was no burn, no ache afterwards, no sense of wrongness. Heck I can't even determine what that stuff is." He stared into the bowl for a few moments, almost tempted to poke the mess a few times. "Are there any books that may have something on changelings? There has to be information about them somewhere."

Twilight used her magic aura to flush the toilet, washing away the blob before the colt could follow through on his odd impulse. "I already looked at some of my books on strange creatures and I couldn't find anything, sorry. Maybe now that you can disguise yourself we can check the library? Oh! Once we get to the school we can check the castle's library!"

Shadow shrugged, dismissing the apology with a wave of his hoof. "Not your fault. Big White said it's been a long time since she'd seen a changeling, and if some multi-millennial being tells you it's been a while, you can bet it's been more than one mortal lifetime."

"Her name is Princess Celestia, not Big White!" the filly responded with a huff.

"Right, Princess Sun-stamp, that's what I said." The changeling retorted with a devious grin.

"S-stop it," Twilight said, desperately fighting the tide of amusement flowing back to her despite her irritation. "We, we're supposed to be respectful!"

"Does she set things on fire if she sits on them?" He asked, laughing at his own jokes. The pseudo-unicorn slapped a hoof over his barrel, shouting loudly "All hail Princess Sun-butt, destroyer of furniture! May all chairs and cushions quake in fear of her ponderous descent!"

Author's Note

Hail! :pinkiecrazy:

I've kind of left these other stories alone after my ideas for Substitute took off, so I'm going to try to revive them a bit. Normally I'd be getting the presents, but I'll take your comments as my birthday present instead :pinkiehappy: :yay: :raritystarry:

New Role Aquired: Irritating Little Brother.

After the two calmed down and returned to the table, they were greeted with a few questioning nickers from the parents. Twilight explained what had happened, careful to leave out the colts insults to their beloved ruler or unable to repeat them, and then asked if it was possible if the two could make a trip to the library to look for anything on changelings. The parents were dubious, but to Shadow's surprise, Shining Armor apparently volunteered to be their escort. Passing his questions through Twilight, he learned that Shining was also curious about what the library would have.

While that was his excuse, the changeling could all but taste an underlying reason. He'd never noticed another person blush back home, but damn if the white unicorn didn't light up like a Christmas tree after his answer.

Shadow was both relieved and confused that he was now free to eat as he wished. It still didn't do much for him, but he didn't feel bloated anymore. He was sure it had something to do with that strange goop he'd nearly spewed all over the table, but he didn't know what it all meant. Hell, he was now a different species, was he even eating the right things? For all he knew he was allergic to eggplant, and that's why he got sick.

'I haven't even looked at my teeth yet, if I'm some kind of predator it wouldn't be surprising they're scared of me. It's not like humans, where we were all hunter-scavengers, these guys eat nothing but plants from what I've seen.'

After the meal, the two foals went back to their shared room, discussing their plan of action. Twilight paced back and forth in the middle of the room as the changing reclined on the bed.

"Oh, I really don't like this. I always ask Ms. P for help with my projects, if I don't ask her this time, she may become suspicious!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the name, "Ms. P? She the librarian?"

"Yes, Miss Proper Place," the unicorn answered, momentarily halting her pacing. "She keeps track of everything in the library, she even taught me to alphabetize my searches, and how to use the Donkey Decimal system."

Shadow laughed at the alternate name of the system he'd grown up around, and shook his head at the oddity of pony names. Turning back to the filly he attempted to calm her down.

"It's fine Twilight; we can ask her. We'll just need to ask her more generalized questions. First about exotic species, then if nothing comes up, about strange animals. If that doesn't work, we'll move onto monsters and myths. I'm sure we'll find something," the colt assured her. "This isn't even a one-day project. We're going to be looking up a species that hasn't been seen for a long time, and likely isn't very well known. Some of this information we may need to puzzle out for ourselves, like what that goop was. I know darn well that wasn't stomach acid I spat out. Tonight we'll work on that entry form as well. I think Princess Celestia would be happy to help us with some of this, maybe even do some MRI's or X-rays and stuff like that."

The words seemed to work, the unicorn now imagining future studies. "I'm not sure what those are, but I think they have some magical scanning and mapping equipment in the school for research projects. Maybe we could get ahold of some of that? Oh, that's so cool, we may even learn things about magic nopony else has discovered yet!"

The filly stopped her prancing for a moment, looking back at the shape shifter. "Um, Shadow? What will we call you? I mean, we never picked names for your disguises."

"What's wrong with Shadow? Your name is Twilight, your dad's name is Night Light, your brother's name is Shining Armor. What's the difference?" Shadow shook his head, smiling at the purple filly. "Don't overcomplicate the disguise, Twi. If your friends go around messing up your name, it makes it suspicious. All I am is a little lost unicorn colt who doesn't speak the local language and is staying with your family at the moment. While we're out, don't try to talk to me while other people are around. It will look odd if I can understand what you say but no-one else."

"But, but the stories always said you need to-"

"Look at me Twilight," The colt said gesturing to himself. "This unicorn? This is who, in all likelihood, I'm going to be for the next few years at least. If it was a short term thing, then sure, I'd go with it. It's not though. Do you know how hard it gets to lie casually about basic life facts? Do you know how hard it would be for me to go around as a girl when I know I'm a boy? The more truth there is in your lie, the easier it is to defend. That, and it will be easier for you. When someone asks you, you say that I'm Shadow, that I'm new here, and that I'm going to be going to school with you."

Further conversation was interrupted by the door opening. Shining armor stuck his head inside, looking at the two for a few moments before saying something to his sister.

"Yes, we're ready. We just needed a plan." The filly said, a small scroll floating over to her along with a quill and ink. As she spoke, she wrote on the scroll.

"First we're going to look up the different sapient races. I've actually been meaning to do that for a while now, I just always had another thing to study when I went there. If nothing comes up we'll look into beasts and creatures of Equis. Oh, I'll show you what an Equestrian manticore looks like, and you can tell me if its similar to the ones you know! Finally, if neither source brings anything interesting on the topic of changelings, we'll look into monsters and myths of Equestria."

The filly made another pass over her list, reading it to herself once more before floating a small purple saddlebag onto her back. "Did I miss anything?"

Shadow just stared at the purple unicorn before swapping language with her for a moment and looking to her brother.

"Is she always like that?"

<-(0)->

The walk to the library was fairly simple, the filly riding her brothers back while Shadow walked beside the two, eyes drinking in every detail of the city as they passed by. Thatch roofs could be seen in the distance, but most of the houses had an almost modern rich-family manor feel to them. Shops seemed to double as the living places for some of the merchants, the second floors looking like they'd be the living quarters. Some things were familiar, but one thing kept coming back to the colt. How did a bunch of horses keep their town so clean?

There was no trash in the alleyways, no layer of dirt and grime all over the main thoroughfares. There wasn't even a strange smell that he'd assume would come from so many horses living in the same area. How did they manage it? Where did the trash all-

The colt stopped, his eyes widening in horror and imagined pain. In a small shop across from him, he stared in horror as a stallion used a hammer to apply a set of horseshoes to another stallion's hooves.

The nymph's mind was a whirlwind of questions at the strange sight. 'They use horseshoes? Doesn't that hurt? Why would you do that?' Sadly, with his only conversation partner currently deeply buried in a discussion with her big brother, the questions would have to wait, likely until tonight.

Shadow looked around, realizing he'd fallen off their track while distracted. It was disconcerting, but not overly so. After all, he could see what he assumed was the library from his current position. Soon after he started walking to the large building, he felt the unnatural panic that could only be from the other side of the bond.

'I really need to talk to her about these panic attacks. She worries way too much for a kid.'

He spotted the two of them at the entrance, the filly darting back and forth as her eyes scanned the crowd before her. Shining armor stood behind her, his eyes much more calm and focused. The stallion's eyes widened as their gazes met, and he picked up his sister and came down the steps to meet the colt.

The filly hopped off her brothers back as they approached, darting ahead of the white unicorn to meet Shadow.

"Where did you go? You could have gotten lost, and then the princess would be mad because I lost you and then mom and dad would be upset because I made the princess upset a-"

"Stop." Shadow said quietly, putting a hoof to her muzzle. "I'm fine, we're here, and despite my appearance I know how to survive on my own in a city. Save your panic for when things are actually bad, not when you think they may become bad. Now, let's get to work."

The group walked into the library without further fanfare, though the colt did find the familiar push-bars on the door a little disconcerting. They walked up to the main desk, Twilight pulling her list out of her saddlebag and offering it to the librarian.

"Well, this is quite the study session, Twilight. Are you sure you can get through all of it?" the librarian asked with a kind smile.

Before Shadow knew what was happening the two were rushing from shelf to shelf, the mare seemingly have every book's location memorized. Strangely the librarian was quite adamant about helping the filly with her most recent project, passing right by the two males and whisking the filly into the different sections of the library before anyone could react. While an answer as to why would have been very nice, the nymph couldn't take the chance to pull even the written word from Twilight with Ms. Place hovering as closely as she was. Instead, he was left listening to an excited set of females jabbering in an odd language over topics he could only barely keep track of. There were clues as to the conversations through Twilights answers and her responses, but for the most part it was a constant stream of nickers and whinnies from the older pony.

Bored of the interactions he couldn't keep track of, the colt wandered off into the library, taking time to analyze the writing system used by the local population. The writing was blocky, reminding him of cuneiform writing from his history classes. It struck him as odd, why would ponies use such a simple writing style? Surely they could have managed something a bit more complex by now. Humanity had hundreds of ways to write the same simple sentence, and that was just the human species. Did everyone on the planet use the same writing system, or was it just ponies?

The colts ears flicked, the odd sensation nearly drawing enough attention that he didn't notice why. Looking around, he spotted a small group of foals listening to a story being told by a pink mare with both a horn and wings. Shadows eyes narrowed when he spotted Shining wandering nearby, constantly sneaking glances at the mare that was currently reading. Of course the stallion had a second reason to escort them. Grinning to himself, he wandered up behind the stallion and nudged him in the rear-leg, eliciting a quick whinny of surprise and a look of shock. The colt then proceeded to do the same thing that he'd have done to any older sibling had he grown up with them.

He teased the ever-loving shit out of the stallion.

It took a bit of ingenuity, of course, not being able to use hand-gestures or speak but he soon had the stallion sputtering denials and nickering angrily at him, and all it took was a quick point of a hoof, moving his hooves in the shape of a heart, and making a kissy face at the stallion.

'Wow, I needed that.' Shadow thought as he watched the two ponies interact. The mare had finished her story and heard the commotion created by the two, and had come over to see what the ruckus was about. The way Armor's face tinged pink when she spoke to him had the colt snickering loudly, even as the mare turned her attention to him, attempting to speak to him despite the warnings of the white unicorn. Strangely, the mare wasn't concerned in the slightest, attempting several patterns of speech, one that even sounded a bit like birds chirping.

Finally, just as the colt figured the mare would give up, her horn lit up with a blue glow. The glow enveloped both her and the colt, and when she opened her eyes again, she spoke.

"How's that?" the mare asked, though her lips didn't quite match the sounds he heard.

"Uh, it works. Translation spell?" Shadow asked cautiously.

The mare nodded, "Yes, it's one my aunt just taught me for diplomatic issues. While knowing the languages is nice, it can be difficult to learn all of the variations of languages that spring up. This just allows two individuals to communicate by intention. My name is Cadance, may I ask what you call yourself?"

"Shadow. My names Shadow," he told her, offering a hoof. He instantly regretted the action after realizing she wouldn't be able to give him a handshake, but surprisingly the mare matched his movements, placing her hoof against his own and bobbing them in a strange twist of the human greeting.

"Shadow, why are you causing Shiny trouble?" Cadance asked, a glint of humor in her eyes.

The pseudo-unicorn instantly saw it, but decided to have a bit of fun of his own. "Trouble?" he asked in mock innocence. "You think I'm causing trouble? I, I don't, how could you think so little of me?" he asked her, crocodile tears forming in his eyes. "I, I only want to be helpful. He just looked so lonely over here hiding in the bookshelves. I wanted to keep him company!"

The winged unicorn narrowed her eyes at his claims of innocence, apparently having none of it. "I've foalsat enough little colts to know the fake-tears of a trouble maker when I see them." She then giggled into a hoof, looking back at the stallion. "Where's your sister? I know she wouldn't let you come here without her. Is she okay?"

Shining nickered a response and Cadance gasped. "Phillidelphia? But that's a good two hours away even by flight! Oh the poor dear must have been terrified. How are your parents taking it?" A whinny and snort, the stallion shaking his head in frustration. "I will ask Auntie, thank you. Twilly!" With that final word, the mare quickly trotted up to the purple unicorn, picking her up in a fierce hug.

"Cadance!" Twilight squeaked in surprise." What are you doing here? Oh, and be quiet, this is a library."

"Oh, I wasn't that loud. Ready?"

The two mares crouched down, as if ready to pounce on each other and then...

<-(0)->

"What was that dance thing about?" Shadow asked as they sat in the fillies room. Scattered about the room were several large books, some regarding lost species while the one before the unicorn was some sort of monster compendium.

"What dance?" the filly asked as she looked up from her studies. "Oh, the sunshine dance? It was just something Cadance taught me a while ago. It's a lot of fun. Do you want to learn it?"

Shadow waved his hooves in front of him in a warding gesture. "Nope, I'm good. Just curious is all. She teach it to all the kids she watches?"

Twilight rubbed a hoof against the back of her head. "I uh, I don't know. I never really watched her with other foals. Oh, look here. This is a manticore!"

Once more the door was opened to interrupt their study session, this time by Night Light. Shadow listened intently to the words of the unicorn, just barely able to understand the inflection of a question. Twilight turned to him with a sad look in her eyes.

"Shiny has to go back to the castle. We're going to say goodbye to him."

"It'll be fine, Twi. I had a friend back home who joined the Navy," the changeling reassured her. "He was gone for a while, but he was able to visit his family pretty often. Heck, the castle is just up the road, right? We could probably bug him when he's on duty or something."

Still the filly pouted, slowly walking to the stairs. "I guess. Who's going to take me to the library though?"

"Twi, we're going to be in a school with its own library, we likely won't need an escort to it, or at the very least, we'll have teachers to help us out. Where is this school anyway?" he asked her.

"It's on the castle grounds, right next to..." the filly trailed off, eyes widening. "We'll be staying next to the barracks! I can see BBBFF anytime I want!"

"I doubt you'll have that kind of access, but yea, the worlds not that big of a place."

The two soon reached the door where the rest of the family was seeing off their son. Twilight was soon in tears, hugging her big brother and bidding him farewell even as the older sibling tried reassuring her. The colt did his best to keep the bond from impacting him too much, but found his eyes tearing up regardless of his efforts. The white unicorn finally put down his sister and stopped, noticing the oddity of the colt crying as well. He asked a question of the filly and Shadow felt the slight pull of the language swap.

"I'd ask why you're crying, but I'm pretty sure I know why," Shining Armor said. He looked back at his sister for a moment before turning back to the colt. "I'm not happy about this, but you're right. The princess did tell us you wouldn't purposefully cause us any problems." The stallion offered his hoof in the same pseudo-handshake Shadow had used earlier, and Shadow obliged him by touching it with his own hoof.

"You keep Twilly out of trouble, Shadow. If you're even half as old as you claim, you should be able to keep the two of you out of most of the trouble she's usually getting into."

The changeling colt grinned at the guard in training, offering a mock salute. "It's a tall order sir, but I'll do my best."

The older stallion pulled his hoof back, ruffling the green colt's mane playfully. "I'm sure you'll be up to it, and Princess Celestia's never let us down before. She runs the country and knows how to deal with most problems, I think I can trust her to know how to deal with this as well."

The young guard gave a final round of nuzzles to his family, even planting a light kiss on his sisters head before walking out the door. Shadow walked up beside the still crying filly, pressing up against her in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture.

"Come on, Twi, we've got our own problems to work out. We'll likely be so busy the time will fly until you see him next."

Twilight nodded sadly, still watching her brother walk down the path to the castle. "I know. I'll still miss him, though."

Shadow nodded, his mind turning to his own family. "I know, Twilight. Trust me, I know how it feels to miss family."

After all, at the end of the day at least the little filly was on the same planet of the rest of her family.

Author's Note

I think they should reach the school in a day or so.

Also: Military farewells :fluttercry: