Author's Note

This is the story of my first official OC Bismuth, a child born from a mistake and as seen to most as nothing more than a mistake. Join as he learns of his ill fate and struggles to overcome it in hopes of becoming a productive member of society. Enjoy.

P.S Comments are welcomed and highly encouraged. Thank you.

The mysterious case of Bismuth

In the center of town square of the Crystal Empire a tourist group was visiting the heart of the city and of course no visit would be complete without visiting the one and only Crystal heart inside the majestic tower. The tourist group leader Quicksnap was giving a very informative lecture of the history of the beloved sacred item and how it thwarted the return of the dreaded dark King Sombra, when he was done it was time to ask questions when one of the tour members suddenly raised their hand.

"Yes! You sir, in the very back." Quicksnap said pointing over to the stallion at the back of the crowd, the stallion was dressed in a suspicious brown trench coat and fedora while wearing a pair of deep dark sunglasses.

"Could you tell us more about King Sombra? Like has there ever been any remains of him when the Elements of harmony defeated him for the second time?"

"Excellent question sir, even though that information is not exactly provided in the tour but from what some witnesses say they spotted the very end of Sombra's devilish horn break off and land during that fateful day."

"Do you know where exactly?" the stallion said pushing his way towards the front of the crowd along with two other mysteriously dressed ponies.

"Uh, about over yonder. At the very far edge of the city."

"Thanks for info, you dumb pathetic ponies!" the stallion laughed before erupting in a cloud of green flames showing his true form as a changeling drone along with the other mysterious ponies before all three sprouted their transparent insect wings and flew out of the tower laughing wickedly as a crowd of ponies down below screamed at the sight of them.

A team of royal guards charged into view with the intention of stopping and capturing the intruders, the first changeling growled upon seeing them.

"Take care of 'em! I'll get the horn!" he snarled at the other two.

The two changelings flew lower and started charging towards the guards who were charging up their horns for a massive magical attack, the twin drones coughed up and spat out dual acidic globs of green goo which landed on the ground burning it and opening up a giant hole rather instantly which the guards failed to slow down and fell inside. As for the leader changeling he made his way to the far edge of the Crystal Empire where a small tip of a dismembered horn could be seen poking out from the ground from above.

"Bingo! Come to papa!" he snickered as he made a beeline downwards and landed before he began digging up the old relic.

The horn was severely scratched and beaten up weathered down from being buried for such a long time, it may not looked like it but the horn truly was a treasure worth looking for.

"The queen is gonna be so pleased with me! You're my ticket to the easy life!" he said holding the horn close and kissing it.

"Ahem, I believe you're not welcomed here." a familiar voice said.

The changeling gasped aloud before turning to face Shining Armor who was somehow waiting for him as he slowly walked towards him.

"Back off Shining! I only came for the horn!"

"It's a shame that you're not leaving here with it. Now hand it over."

"Over my dead body! Come and get it you dumb pony!"

The changeling leader flew over Shining's head and started heading back towards the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor chasing after him firing a series of blasts at him, the other changelings were still hanging around the hole they made with the guards still trapped inside when they spotted their leader flying back towards them.

"Here! Take the horn!" he said throwing the broken horn high into the sky before getting blasted to the ground by Shining Armor.

One of the duo grabbed the horn before flying off with Shining Armor in close pursuit.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" the changeling said as Shining Armor was quickly catching up to him before tackling him to the ground.

"Give me the horn!" Shining demanded reaching for the horn.

"You want it? Go get it!"

The changeling threw the horn high into the air again before landing in the hands of the last changeling before he too started flying away.

"Oh come on!"

Shining Armor started up the chase again following after the last changeling who was much smaller and weaker than the first two, this was starting to show as he wasn't able to stay in the air for so long and the heavy horn was starting to slip out from his tiny hands wearing him down a bit. He soon lost his grip on the relic as it started plummeting towards the ground in dead center of town square, the horn shattered upon hitting the ground breaking up into thousands of black shard pieces. Shining Armor walked up to the sea of shards picking up one of the them and taking a closer look at it, light soft whispers could be heard coming from the shard piece right before it was yanked out of his hand by an unseen invisible force affecting the other shards as well keeping them all levitated in the air. A crackle of purple electricity surged through the shards as they began swirling around in a violent motion in the form of a giant purple hurricane, the tail of the hurricane dug deep into the ground like a drill creating a massive swirling vortex with the gravity pulling qualities of a black hole. Several ponies screamed in terror as they were being sucked towards the mysterious void, Shining Armor used his magic to create a aura around the ponies suspending them in the air and keeping them safe before he too started feeling the unbelievable strength of the black hole. He dug his feet into the ground trying to slow down the pull but force was still too great, closer and closer he was dragged towards the unknown darkness thinking it will lead to certain death. All he could think about was his loving wife, blossoming young child, and the grilled cheese sandwich he left on the breakfast table this morning. The grilled cheese!

In a final attempt of bravery he fired one last magical beam coating in a powerful aura into the eye of the void, suddenly the force of the pull was weakening gradually at first but then all at once causing Shining Armor to fall to the ground on his face. After prying his face off the ground he could see the vortex moving wildly loosing it's shape and power before suddenly vanishing in a giant purple puff of smoke leaving behind a enormous crater in the ground with something small glowing inside. Shining slowly poked his head over the edge to see what was glowing, what he saw took his breath away.

Later at the castle:

Princess Cadance was carrying Flurry Heart in her arms along with several servants and maids was walking frantically through the halls signing off on several official documents and making sure the castle was properly cleaned after another one of Flurry Heart's magical lessons (last time she turned several of the maids into Swiss cheese platters) she was nearly at her wit's end when she was relieved to see Shining Armor along with several royal guards fly into the castle, in his hands was something wrapped in a white blanket.

"Shinning Armor! Oh thank Celestia, I hope you're here to help out."

"Yes I did, but before I do....you really need to see this."

"What is it?"

Cadance handed one of the maids Flurry Heart before getting closer to Shining Armor, she gently moved the white blanket to see a foal no older than a newborn sleeping inside Shining's arms. It was a small unicorn colt with a deep purple glossy coat and a silver based mane with the very tips colored with every known color in the rainbow, the small child stirred in his sleep before slowly opening up his wide eyes revealing a vast pool of baby blue.

"Wh-Where did he come from?"

Shining Armor explained everything, from the Changelings invading the city from the strange phenomenon in town square where the small foal was found at the bottom of the crater. Cadence was surprised and was in awe of how a living thing could result in the destruction of some dusty old relic.

"He's all alone, with no one to care for him." she said taking the small child out of her husband's arms.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I'm sure that there's plenty of foster homes in Equestria."

She looked at him as if that was the most offensive thing she had ever heard.

"Or...not." Shining said sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Cadance started cooing with the small foal making him laugh and babble when he suddenly grasped her hand and brought it close to him as if it was the safest coziest thing in the world, it made her giant heart melt. Shining knew that look in her eye all too well.

"Cadence, I know what you are thinking but caring for Flurry Heart and the kingdom is already a full time job. For Celestia's sake you've been running yourself ragged lately."

"It doesn't matter Shining, this child is a pure miracle of life. Born from mere magic, if Celestia was here she would say the same thing."

"But, Cadance...."

That's when Shining looked at the child again, the small colt was giggling and laughing in Cadance's arms. He knew it would be cruel and a shame to drive such a child away.

"Okay, it's up to you Cadance. What do you want to do with him?"

"I think you know my answer."

"I figured. So, what do you suppose we call 'em?"

"Hmmm...."

Cadance looked at colt's mane, how it shimmered with a metallic crystal like texture glowing in a variety of colors much like a certain element she was especially fond of.

"How about...Bismuth?"

"Bismuth? Huh...you know, I kinda like that name. Has a nice ring to it."

"Bismuth it is then. Hi, Bismuth."

Bismuth cooed before sticking his hand in his drooling mouth sucking on it. Flurry Heart started struggling to get out of the maid's arms before she fluttered over to her parents hovering just above Bismuth.

"Flurry Heart, say hello to your new baby brother." Shining Armor said holding his toddler daughter closer to the baby.

The two stared at each other before Bismuth suddenly sneezed releasing a multi-colored lighting cloud which floated around a bit before he tried to eat it thinking it was candy shocking him in the process, the two giggled as the surrounding adults laughed along with them. That night Cadance cradled young Bismuth in her arms rocking him slowly to sleep before placing him inside a nursery crib at the foot of their bed in their bedroom. Cadance and Shining Armor soon got into bed before kissing each other goodnight and going to sleep.

The next day:

Cadance and Shining woke up to the sound of loud crashing like a collection of fine china hitting the hard ground simultaneously, Cadence immediately looked in the crib to see that Bismuth was missing.

"Shining, Shining where's the baby?"

"Which one?" he asked with a yawn.

"Bismuth! He's not in his crib!"

"What!?! Where is he then!?!"

"I don't know!"

There was another sudden loud crash followed by a maid screaming .

"That sounded like it came from the hallway, come on!"

The two put on their morning robes before heading into the hallway only to duck as two fast moving objects flew by overhead, it was Bismuth coated in a deep blue magical floating electric aura and Flurry Heart flapping her wings frantically to try and catch up with her sibling laughing and giggling away as they flew through the halls causing several servants to hit the ground for cover.

"Bismuth! Flurry Heart! Stop!" Cadance called out as she ran after them.

"This Is a great way to start the day." Shining Armor sighed as he joined in the chase.

The sibling foals flew into the throne room doing corkscrews and loop-da-loops in midair before finally Bismuth came in contact face first into one of the crystal pillars holding up the ceiling, a domino effect began as the first pillar started toppling the others in succession creating a sea of dust and leaving a mess of rubble. Bismuth poked his head from underneath the rubble before smiling sheepishly, the crowd of maids and servants glared at the young colt for his reckless behavior.

"Like I said, a great way to start the day." Shining sighed.

"Wait, Shining...does Bismuth look a bit older to you?" Cadance asked as she picked up the young colt and held him in her arms.

"Older? What do you mean?"

Bismuth who was no bigger than an infant was now about the same size as Flurry Heart, if not bigger.

"Huh, that's weird."

"You don't think this has something to do with him appearing out of a hurricane?"

"You know I did think that, but I think it's best we call Twilight to see what she thinks of the situation."

In a few hours Twilight along with her trusty assistant Spike was knocking at the castle door.

"What do you think Princess Cadance and Shining Armor called us for?" Spike asked.

"I don't have the foggiest idea, it sounded pretty important in the letter. I hope nothing bad has happened."

Twilight knocked again only to have a group of maids and servants grab Twilight and Spike before pulling them inside.

"We're so glad you're here Princess Twilight, we knew from the moment it all started it was only going to get worse!"

"What's getting worse?"

"Follow us, and you'll see."

Twilight and Spike followed the group through the castle, the hallways were tattered and covered in burn marks.

"Whoa, was there a....dragon loose in the castle? And from the looks of things, it was a pretty big one." Spike gulped.

"Believe me, we wish it was a dragon."

"Then what could it be?"

"Step inside, and have a look for yourself." one of the servants said opening the door to the throne room.

Twilight and Spike entered to see Cadance and Shining Armor chasing after Bismuth who was airborne again only this time he was riding a multi-colored thundercloud firing silver lighting bolts in every direction hitting anything and everything in the throne room.

"Li-zard!" Bismuth giggled before he fired a lighting bolt in Spike's direction.

Spike screamed before jumping back just before the bolt hit the ground leaving a searing mark on the carpet before he started running away with the lighting cloud jockey hot on his tail, this became quite literal as Bismuth fired another bolt hitting Spike on his tail causing him to cry out in pain before jumping inside a vase to hide. As for Twilight she suddenly teleported herself in the air while using her wings to keep her up looking around to see where Bismuth went who immediately ran into her and taking her along for the ride.

"Young colt, stop this cloud right now!"

Bismuth babbled in agreement right before the cloud made a tire screeching halting sound with the momentum throwing Twilight off and landed on the ground with her eyes swirling. Bismuth clapped his hands together laughing allowing Cadance to sneak behind him and grab him off the cloud.

"Gotcha you naughty little colt. Twilight? Twilight are you okay?"

"I'm okay, right as rain. Speaking of which...why is it dripping wet in here?"

"That would be because of Bismuth here, somehow a giant rain cloud appeared the moment he started crying when he wouldn't go down for a nap."

"Bismuth? Like the element on the periodic table?"

"Yes, exactly! Shining here didn't get it at first. Anyway, I suppose we should do some explaining."

"Yes, please do." Spike said as he climbed out from inside the vase and started massaging his burned tail.

Shining Armor and Cadance explained all the events that happened yesterday finishing up with the decision to adopt the young unicorn...and the hectic morning they've been having so far but more importantly the fact that the young colt seemed to be growing at a rapid rate along with the amount of unstable magic he possesses.

"Looks like a real situation, to be honest I've never heard of rapid age progression but I'm sure it's just a hiccup of an early growth spurt is all."

"And the magic?"

"All unicorns have massive bursts of magical energy that comes and goes periodically, just like Flurry Heart."

"You're absolutely right Twilight. In fact, why don't you watch Bismuth for a while until we finish repairing the castle?" Shining Armor suggested.

"Shining, he's only been here for one night. I don't think he's ready to leave home yet, besides I'm sure Twilight is busy herself."

"On no really, I'm not. In fact I'd love to watch over him in the meantime while you two gather yourselves together. It's the least I can do."

"Are you sure? I'm not gonna lie, this one is a bit of a handful."

"You have nothing to worry about, me and my friends are considered the best babysitters in Ponyville. Besides if I'm trouble I'll just pop back here."

Cadance thought about this for a while.

"Okay, okay. You promise you'll come back if anything goes wrong?"

"I promise."

Cadance looked into Bismuth's eyes, he cooed and babbled as he placed his small hand on her nose making her laugh.

"....Okay. Be good to Auntie Twilight, mommy's gonna miss you." she said before placing a kiss on his forehead.

Bismuth was handed over to Twilight who immediately started tickling him and babbling with him.

Back in PonyVille:

Applejack, Rainbowdash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie was waiting outside the castle door for Twilight and Spike to return so they could talk about preparations for the upcoming fall festival.

"Howdy Twilight, so glad you're here. We need to talk about what kind of decorations are gonna be used at the festival-hey, who's the little youngin?" Applejack asked as soon as Twilight and Spike walked into view.

"Girls, I'd like to introduce you all to Shining Armor and Cadance's new child Bismuth!" she said holding up the small babbling child up for her friends to see.

"~Awww." they all said unison.

"Wait, Cadance and Shining Armor had another kid? Since when?" Rainbow Dash said crossing her arms and raining an eyebrow.

"Yesterday I suppose, from what they told me he just popped up."

Rarity and Fluttershy ran past Rainbow knocking her out of the way so they could get closer to the child.

"Oh my Celestia, he is too cute! I could just dip him in some chocolate and eat 'em up. Yes I would, yes I would." Rarity said playing with Bismuth's tiny hands making him laugh.

"So are you babysitting him Twi? Because if-if you are I could help if you want." Fluttershy asked.

"Oh that's a great idea Fluttershy, in fact you can all help."

Rainbowdash suddenly pulled her head out of the ground after getting knocked out of the way when she heard that.

"But what about the fall festival? There's still a lot of work to do."

"Relax Rainbowdash, there's still plenty of time left to take care of everything. It's what I always say, don't worry about every little thing." Pinkie said hugging her friend.

"Since when do you say that?"

"Just now."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed, the others laughed right before Bismuth started crying.

"Looks like somepony's hungry wungry, let's get him inside so we can feed him." Twilight said handing him over to Spike before opening the castle doors allowing everyone to enter the main chambers before using her magic to materialize a high chair into view while Spike placed Bismuth inside.

"Hey Twilight, did Shining Armor and Cadance specify what we should be feeding him?" Spike asked as Bismuth continued to cry.

"I don't think so Spike, I'm making some baby food right now."

Twilight soon returned with a bowl of orange mush with a spoon before placing it in front of the crying Bismuth, the small colt stopped abruptly before sniffing the food but immediately knocked it over in disgust before crying all over again.

"Yikes, looks we got a pickey eater here." Spike said quickly cleaning up the mess off the floor.

"We can handle this, we can definitely handle this. We just need to find something he likes. Does anypony have any ideas?"

"I got this, I'll be darned if anypony could pass up a freshly picked apple from Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack said proudly placing a fresh red apple in front of Bismuth.

The young colt immediately knocked the fruit away sending it flying and hitting Rainbowdash in the face with a splat.

"Huh, I guess I'm darned then. I guess we'll have to feed him something else then, how hard could it be?"

[one long food montage later]

The entire room was covered in a variety of sticky foods which none of them Bismuth ate, everyone was exhausted to the bone laying out on the floor as the colt still cried.

"Ugh, what does he want?" Rainbow groaned as she covered her ears.

"If it's not food, then what could he want?" Fluttershy asked.

Bismuth suddenly stopped crying and started playing around with some jelly he somehow shaped in the form of a ball laughing aloud as he bounced it around. That's when Twilight got an idea.

"I think I know what to do."