Chapters Two Sides of the Same Coin
Caramelle stood tensed for action as the clock struck twelve. The buffalo stood at attention at the top of the mesa overlooking her temporary residence in Appleoosa.
She waited for the inevitable stampede for what seemed like hours, but was most likely only a few seconds. She waited some more, and squinted up at one buffalo who appeared to be their leader.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed his stiff posture loosen. Maybe there was a chance that their differences could be solved peacefully. While she had worked with the Appleoosans all day on the barricade, she doubte–
♫You gotta share. You gotta care. It's the right thi– ♫
"CHAAARGE!"
Well, crap.
♫My Little Pony ♫My Little Pony ♫Ah, ah, ah, ah ♫(My Little Pony) ♫I used to wonder what friendship could be… ♫(My Little Pony) ♫…until you all shared its magic with me. ♫Big adventure ♫Tons of fun ♫A beautiful heart ♫Faithful and strong ♫Sharing, kindness ♫It's an easy feat ♫And magic makes it all complete! ♫(Yeah, My Little Pony) ♫Do you know you're all my very best friends? ♫
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Caramelle immediately spun on her hooves and took off galloping. While she ran, she snatched apple pies from whatever piles she passed, flinging them over her shoulder with a flick of her neck. She didn't need to look back to hear them hitting their targets. In fact, she didn't expect any other result, as she had a knack for aim. If asked, however, she would tell you the three blue horseshoes on her flank represented the good luck she relied upon for her special assignments from the Royal Guard, a fib born more out of necessity than conceit.
Caramelle took cover behind the door of a local flower shop just as the clock tower fell. As she emerged to see the damage, she saw the Sheriff cowering behind a bale of hay, the head buffalo headed straight toward him.
She grabbed the nearest pie, her mind working at a billion miles an hour as she instinctually calculated the buffalo's speed, the wind direction, the pie's weight and air resistance, and a thousand other variables before throwing the pie with all her might. The pie sailed through the air in a perfect arc, connecting with the face of the buffalo.
Caramelle did not see what happened next, as she was immediately swallowed in an ecstatic crowd congratulating her on her saving throw.
Grape Vine was the first to congratulate her. "Wow, Toffee! That was some fast action. You're a real pro!" he exclaimed, referring to her by the alias set up by her parents.
Caramelle blushed. "Please, I was in the right place at the right time."
This time, a rather handsome young stallion named Thistle spoke up, smiling flirtatiously. "'Right place'? That throw was dead-on from who knows how far away. Appleoosa is indebted to you."
Caramelle smiled politely, but wasn't interested in his advances. "Thank you, but it…" Caramelle let out a heavy cough. "It's nothing, really. I have to go." said Caramelle with a deepening voice.
No, not now! thought the brown-maned mare as she turned and fled as quickly as she could. She'd been in Appleoosa for only a day and had not yet given her standard alibi for sudden disappearances, but she had to leave, and now. As the uneven ground flew past beneath her, she felt the telltale tingle spread throughout her body, most intensely felt in her back half, and she skidded to a stop. The light amber pony panted for breath, watching the ground beneath draw away. This transformation was not excruciating, but it was certainly uncomfortable as organs shifted, some decaying away and new ones growing in their place.
Though he didn't need to, Caramel looked over his body when his heart rate returned to normal. What were once slender legs were now thick and muscular, supporting a frame at least half a head taller. Running his hoof across his face revealed a strong, angular jawline had replaced the smooth curves of before. Then, of course, there was the penis. Yes, Caramel was a stallion, at least for now.
Tears started to fall down Caramel's cheeks, soaking into the cracked desert earth. It had been like this for as long as he could remember. His parents had explained to him (or was it her?) at a young age the cause. Their family home was located on the border of the Everfree Forest. As chance would have it, Caramel was conceived when his father was unwittingly under the curse of Poison Joak. Because of this, his sixty-fourth chromosome was magically unstable, flipping back and forth seemingly at random, with no discernible default.
At the moment, though, none of that mattered. All the science in the world wouldn't help him. What he needed somepony to blame, but knew nopony was at fault. Still, he was a freak of magic, and could never fit in anywhere.
When as a young colt (and as a young filly), his parents always helped him hide his secret. Officially, his parents had a son and a daughter, one of whom was always conveniently unavailable at any given time, in addition to his real brother. Things had been more or less manageable at the time, even through puberty.
However, as a full-grown stallion, he has to fend for himself, even as new challenges presented themselves. He could not, for instance, maintain a romance, with his interests determined by his hormones and his hormones controlled by his body.
If Caramel had learned three things, they were these:
He was cursed, and he hated it. But this time, he wasn't just going to wallow in self pity. He picked himself up and dusted himself off.
"Every curse has a cure, and by Celestia I'll find one!"
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Caramel took the long way around Appleoosa so he wouldn't attract too much attention arriving in the settlement that Caramelle had mysteriously vanished into not 15 minutes earlier. He casually merged into hustle and bustle of ponies getting on and off at the train station. Caramel had learned over the years that if one walked straight forward at a brisk pace, as if one were a very important pony going to a very important meeting, nopony would call one's bluff. He manages to slip onto the train and began to search for a seat.
"Hey, Caramel!" called a familiar voice from behind him.
Caramel turned around and saw the head and hoof of a gray earth pony stallion peeking out of a door. Caramel grimaced inwardly; it was just his luck that he'd run into somepony he knew. Still, he put on a smile and waved back at his neighbor. "Hey, Lucky! Fancy running into you here."
Lucky motioned for Caramel to come sit with him, and Caramel joined him. "So, what brought you to Appleoosa? I didn't catch you arriving."
Caramel smiled back. He'd had a couple flips while in Appleoosa, so it made sense that Lucky wouldn't be surprised to see him. In fact, had she not made such a dramatic exit, he could've stayed in Appleoosa as he had through his last several flips. Fortunately, Caramel didn't have to lie this time. "Yeah, I was hired to help get the town up and running. By the way, nice moves at the Wild West Dance."
Lucky chuckled. "Thanks. You were great too; it must've been good practice for the big song and dance number."
Caramel groaned. "I have to admit, Pinkie Pie can be quite infectious. I heard that the other five Bearers were there with her."
"Yeah, pretty much." nodded Lucky. "Or rather, Applejack was bringing a tree for the orchard, and since the six of them are pretty much a package deal, Pinkie ended up coming as well. Ended up provoking the whole stampede!"
"I noticed." commented Caramel wryly. "How did the whole deal turn out? I… I sorta hid in my house during the stampede."
Lucky sighed. "It turns out they'll call off the fighting if we just give them pies. Like, for them to eat, not to get hit by. You'd think we could've gotten to that point without wasting hundreds of perfectly good pies and toppling the clock tower."
"So that's what that noise was!"
"Yeah, and it was brand new too. Plus, the Sheriff almost bit the dust. The buffalo chief himself was bearing down on him, when your sister hits him from halfway across town! That girl has some aim!"
Caramel shifted his weight nervously. "And… what happened then?"
Lucky shrugged. "A herd formed around her before I could get close, and I couldn't make anything out after that point. It's a shame, too; I love a mare with a deft hoof."
Caramel shuddered at the thought.
"Oh, sorry. I guess I shouldn't talk about your sister like that in front of you. Still, you've gotta admit she pulls off the frontier hat look very well. I'd say it adds at least sixty-one millihelens ."
Caramel took off his hat and set it on the floor, smiling uncomfortably. Lucky was a nice guy and they'd been neighbors for years, but despite the rumors Caramel was no colt-cuddler. He tried to think of a way to change the subject, but settled on staring blankly out of the window at the passing landscape. After he judged that enough time had passed that he judged his next words would seem natural. Caramel yawned a yawn that was not entirely an act, and stretched out on the bench. "We should hit the hay. I'm exhausted from all the excitement back in Appleoosa."
Lucky nodded in agreement, apparently not picking up on Caramel's reason for wanting to stop the conversation. They both climbed into their bunks and went to sleep. By the time they woke up, the train had arrived at their stop. Caramel grabbed his hat and departed from the train with Lucky, taking off down the path back to Ponyville. Mostly due to Lucky's comments about 'Toffee', the two stallions kept quiet during the walk from the station to Ponyville. Navigating by the high peak of Carousel Boutique, the two found their houses near the tall purple shop, where they parted ways with a pair of friendly goodbyes.
Caramel entered his house, shutting the door behind him. He placed his hat into his closet, and pulled out his saddlebags. "Let's see…" he muttered, working out his plan of attack. He decided that the first thing he'd try would be to expose himself to Poison Joak, to see if its effects would supersede his current predicament. There was one problem he had to overcome first, however: he had no idea what it looked like.
As a foal, a colt, and a filly, his parents had never allowed him to go anywhere near the Everfree Forest, as everypony knew it was full of flora and fauna that would do a pony harm. As time passed, this lesson had stuck, and so he had never been closer to the forest than Fluttershy's cottage. He decided, therefore, that he'd need to do some research first.
Caramel craned his neck back and tightened his saddlebags, before taking a quick drink of water and using the bathroom. After washing up, he headed out the door towards the Ponyville Library. However, when he passed Sugarcube Corner and was not greeted by Pinkie Pie, a thought occurred to him. The Bearers of the Elements were probably still in Appleoosa sorting out relations with the buffalo. Sure enough, when he arrived at the library he found it to be closed. Ponyfeathers! thought Caramel. Why couldn't she have just left somepony behind to run the library for a while?
Of course, the question was rhetorical; he knew the answer already. Spike was the one who usually ran the library when she was out, and he had to come with her as a direct line to Celestia. As hard as Spike worked day and night around the library, Caramel didn't begrudge him his vacation. In fact, he wished Twilight would get another assistant to help spread the work around.
His experiments would have to wait. All he had to do was pass the time until they got back to Ponyville. He would have to think of a way to occupy himself until then. Fortunately, he didn't have to think for long, as a rumbling in his stomach gave him a sense of direction. Specifically, back towards Sugarcube Corner. He took off to the southeast, but got stopped for small talk by a yellow mare with curly orange hair.
"Hey, you're back! What's up?"
"Hey…" started Caramel, squinting at the carrots on her flank. A bundle of carrots, with a telltale golden band around them. "…Golden Harvest, right? Sorry."
The yellow pony nodded. "Oh, it's fine. Identical twins usually get that response, especially with talents as similar as harvesting carrots and growing them. Carrot Top is away in Appleoosa for the month, if that makes things easier. The question still stands, though. What's up?"
"Nothing much." Caramel lied. "I saw the library was still closed, so I was going to get a bite to eat. What about you?"
"I was just headed to the park."
Having established that they were headed in roughly the same direction, the two earth ponies opted to finish their conversation while walking.
"It is weird, though." continued Golden Harvest. "They were just supposed to be delivering a tree, so they should be back by now. Did something happen to them?"
"Oh, no, they're fine. There was a… kerfuffle, with a native buffalo tribe. A territorial dispute, if I understand correctly."
"Oh my. They sorted it all out peacefully, then?" she asked, concern in her voice.
Caramel sighed. "Well, eventually. Pinkie kinda provoked them into a stampede. Your sister jumped onto one from a window and rode it like it was a bucking bronco, and mine took out the chief just as he was about to K.O. the sheriff. Fortunately nopony was hurt, but the repairs to the town will take at least four or five months."
"Toffee… 'took out' their leader? Oh my." said Golden Harvest, concerned.
Caramel quickly shook his head as they neared Sugarcube Corner. "Oh, no. She knocked him down with a pie." After catching her incredulous look, he added "…it's an Appleoosan thing, apparently. Don't ask."
They stopped at Sugarcube Corner, and Golden Harvest breathed a sigh of relief. "So did Toffee not come back with you?"
Thinking on his feet, Caramel answered her. "I don't know. She took a different train, and said she may stop off somewhere along the way. From what I understand she may choose to move somewhere else." He wanted to make sure that if his plan worked, there wouldn't be any pony worrying about the sudden "disappearance" of his "sister".
Not wanting to continue the conversation much further, he bid her farewell and stepped into the sweets shop. The top half of the shop door lay wide open, the smells of hot cross buns buns and cinnamon rolls and other assorted goodies wafting out into the street to advertize their wares to passersby. It was a good thing that Sugarcube Corner didn't have to close whenever Pinkie left town. The bottom half stood only slightly ajar, which he nudged open with his nose as he stepped inside.
He was immediately greeted by Mr. Cake. "Well, hey there Caramel! What can I do for you?"
Caramel looked around the shop, and pointed out a small peanut butter cookie, with fork marks criss-crossing across it. "Could I have two of those to start with?"
"Of course, coming right up!" said Mr. Cake. "That'll be one bit."
Caramel pulled a coin out of his saddlebags and took the brown paper bag in his mouth. He could already smell them, obviously fresh out of the oven. He then turned and found a table to eat at. Looking around, he saw that the shop was pretty empty, likely because most ponies were still full for breakfast. Likely out of boredom, Mr. Cake took off his apron and came to sit at Caramel's table.
"So, how was Appleoosa." he asked casually.
Caramel chuckled. "It wasn't boring; I can tell you that." Responding to Carrot Cake's curious look, he continued after swallowing the last of his first cookie. "The town turned out very nice, but there was a land dispute with the natives. I guess there was a compromise, but only after they stampeded and beat up some of the buildings pretty badly. What did I miss here?"
Mr. Cake nodded thoughtfully. "That sort of thing does happen from time to time on the frontier. I hope no one was hurt. As for Ponyville, Cup Cake and I recently found out we're expecting."
Caramel quickly swallowed his second cookie before he could choke on it. After a moment of discomfort, he spoke up as he wadded the . "Wow, congratulations! Is it a—"
"We're keeping the details a secret until the big day." Carrot Cake said with a mischievous smile. "Can I get you anything else?"
Caramel nodded and pointed to a slice of cake with a cherry on top. Mr. Cake smiled and said "That'll be three bits." He took Caramel's bits to the cash register, and returned with a ceramic plate, the moist chocolate cake resting squarely atop it. After setting it in front of Caramel and tossing the bag over his shoulder into a trash can, Mr. Cake chuckled. "I'm not sure how much congratulations is in order, though. It's really just nature taking its course. Cup Cake has to do all the tough parts."
Caramel nodded his agreement as he sucked on the cherry, swallowing the whip cream before chewing and swallowing the cherry itself. "I guess you're right about that part…" He paused to take a bite of the dark chocolate cake. "…but your part was still pretty important." he added with a chuckle of his own. "And don't forget, she'll be counting on you for the next eleven months. It's really not gonna be just her that's pregnant."
Mr. Cake nodded. "Things are shaping up to be more than I expected, too." he said, clearly choosing his words carefully.
Oh, Celestia. Not more twins! thought Caramel, seeing through his code. "I'm sure it'll be fine. You always have Pinkie if you need her." he commented through a mouthful of the delicious cake.
They both chuckled at the joke, though Mr. Cake more uncomfortably.
"Anyway, this cake is great. You guys certainly won't have trouble bringing home the hay bacon strips."
Mr. Cake smiled. "Thanks, though I can't take all the credit. Pinkie Pie came up with the recipe. We just erased some of the… stranger garnishes, and obviously we baked this one."
"Mm-hmm" said Caramel through the last mouthful of cake. After swallowing it, he commented "Though when something that comes out of her head is normal enough to count as just "strange", I start to worry.
Carrot Cake smiled knowingly and asked "Will you be ord…" he trailed off as a pink blur burst into the bakery.
"OHMYCELESTIACARAMELISBACKYOUWERETHEBESTESTBACKUPDANCERSHOULDWEUSEBALLOONSORSTREAMERSATYOURWELCOMEBACKPARTYNOBALLOONSANDSTREAMERSWAITNOBALLOONSWITHSTREAMERSINSIDETHEMSOIT'SLIKECONFETTIWHENTHEYPOP!"
"No, I should probably go."
Mr. Cake nodded and got up to calm down his apprentice. While he did, Caramel took the opportunity to slip out of the door.
Well, thought Caramel, heading back northwest, at least if she's back, so is Twilight. He trotted briskly to the library, which was indeed open for business.
"Hey, Caramel. What brings you to visit?" asked Twilight excitedly.
"Actually," Caramel explained, "I'm here to check out a book. Do you have any books on Poison Joak?"
Twilight clearly had mixed emotions, disappointed that he wasn't coming over to visit, but excited that someone was actually checking out a book. "Spike!" she called out over shoulder, "Could you grab me a copy of Flower's Freaky Foliage Facts from the botanical section?"
Just faintly, Caramel heard the groggy response. "You've got a horn, Twilight! Why don't you get the book for a change?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, and her horn lit up. Several seconds later, a green hardcover book came floating out of the door. "So, what sparked the interest?"
Caramel flinched inwardly. He hadn't expected her to ask, but then again he couldn't fault her for making small talk. "Oh, a friend of mine thought he found some in his garden. I wanted to check to see if it really was so we'd know how to handle it."
"Well if it is, be careful! That stuff can really mess with somepony." warned Twilight.
"Yeah, I know." responded Caramel. Oh, if she only knew how well I know. He tossed the book into his saddlebag and headed towards his house. Once he was out of sight of the library, he took off west across the river towards the Everfree Forest. Once he had reached the border of the forest, he pulled out the book and flipped to the page on Poison Joak.
"Let's see… blue petals, leaves, and stem, five outer petals, pronounced stamen, typically grows in patches… this shouldn't be too hard." And lo and behold, even as he kept to the sparser parts of the forest, he quickly found what he was looking for: a large patch of Poison Joak, several ponies across. He took off his saddlebags and started pulling up some of the flowers with his mouth and loading them into the bags with the book. When he felt he had collected enough, he strapped his saddlebags back on and took the long way around Ponyville to his house, not wanting to run into anypony on his way. Once inside his house, he dumped the saddlebags out on the floor and wiped the sweat off of his face. At least, he thought it was his face.
Caramel made his way to his bathroom mirror, and was stunned by what he saw. Instead of the angular stallion muzzle he expected, he instead found a beak, like a griffon or a bird would have.
Hmm… he thought. If he picked the plants with his mouth and got a beak, maybe…
Figuring anything was worth a shot, he sat down in the pile and began to rub the leaves against his "most masculine areas" (such as his penis). For a long time, nothing happened. Then, he started to feel a tingling, and looked back to see that his tail had been replaced with a feathered one, and the whole upper part of his rump was covered in white feathers, like a chicken.
Okay, so it's not specifically where it touches you. Maybe to fix this it has to get inside me, to get to all my cells. He put a pot of water on the fireplace and threw in one of the plants. As the tea brewed, he was amazed by how ordinary it smelled. He wasn't sure what magic smelled like, but he was pretty sure it didn't smell like his mother's spice cabinet. Still, after he felt it had boiled for long enough, he took the pot off the fire and let it cool off, before bending down and beginning to drink from it. As he was swallowing, however, he felt his throat shift.
His swallowing rhythm thrown off, Caramel started choking. The frazzled pony choked and sputtered and eventually threw up from inhaling some of the liquid.
Breathing heavily, the blue-eyed earth pony cleaned up the mess, including dumping out the tea and throwing away the leaves. "It didn't work." she said, dejectedly. Then, though the transformation was over, she felt a strange feeling inside her body, something growing where nothing had grown in almost ten years she lowered her plot and felt something small and round sliding out of her.
She turned around, and to her horror, on the floor of her kitchen, lay a single egg, a deep purple with white speckles.
"Oh, pluck me."
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
In hindsight, it made so much more sense to try the Poison Joak antidote to reverse the curse. Then again, she'd raise quite a few eyebrows asking for an antidote to a problem she didn't appear to have. Caramelle knew that Ponyville's spa had the remedy for Poison Joak, but she was to embarrassed to go somewhere so public, so she set off the long way back towards the Everfree Forest to see Zecora, stashing the eggs she laid along the way in bushes and behind rocks like some sort of twisted version of the Equinox Bunny.
She fortunately arrived at the forest without catching anypony's eye. She avoided stepping in any of the Poison Joak on the way to Zecora's place, lest she grow wings or lose the power of speech. After what seemed like hours, she arrived at the tree that sheltered Ponyville's mysterious foreign neighbor.
She slunk into the small tree hut, and made sure the door was shut firmly behind her. Embarrassment clear on her face, she cleared her throat and smiled at Zecora, who smiled back at her.
"If you had been in lesser light, I would have cause to doubt my sight. Tell me, what's the reason you have come to look like Scootaloo?" inquired the zebra.
Caramelle scraped her hoof on the wooden floor in embarrassment. "Um, I think I may have drank some Poison Joak." She paused to lay another egg on the floor, which she kicked aside in an attempt to appear nonchalant, only to have her embarrassment increase as it slit across he floor and cracked against the wall.
Zecora's eyes moved from the splat of egg on the wall of her hut, her expression turning from one of bemusement to one of concern. "That would explain the eggs of purple, and the feathers on your curple. It does, however, raise the question of just what caused this ingestion."
"It was a dare."
Zecora saw straight through her. "It is not my place to pry; you needn't fabricate a lie." she said as a look of understanding and embarrassment dawned on her face. "If I should choose to be invasive, you've a right to be evasive."
Caramelle blushed and decided not to try to deny it. "Thanks. It's… kind of a long story."
Zecora nodded. "If I brew the cure now then will you not eat the plant again?" she asked with a smirk.
"Well then, let us both get started, then our ways will thus be parted." Zecora announced while pulling out a book. "Though I ask that you should return if from this your trust I should earn."
Caramelle watched as Zecora moved deftly about the small hut, tossing various spices into a large cauldron, the mixture inside turning a greenish color. At length, she looked up from the cauldron.
"Now the antidote's completed; those effects shall be defeated. Soaked through the skin would work for some, but in your case it's through the tum. Since the blue leaves you did drink, you must ingest the cure I think." Zecora smirked. "Since the plant has been digested, this method is what's suggested."
Caramelle drank the concoction from a ladle Zecora held in her mouth, and felt the oogenesis inside her oviduct come to a halt. After she finished, Zecora put away the ladle and continued. "Just in case, I suggest that you also soak inside the vat." She dragged the rest of the remedy to a tub, and mixed it with water.
Caramelle lowered herself into the tub and sank in. She lay back, enjoying the warmth up to her neck. She felt the feathers begin dissolve away, and sunk further down, sticking just her face out of the brew.
"Holler when the soak is done. I must aid geese of ten and one." Zecora turned around and went back to the book, flipping to a different page and rinsing out the cauldron. She then grabbed a basket with her mouth and went outside to harvest plants for her new concoction. She collected a bright yellow herb and some roots from a nearby tree, as well as petals from a rose. After some time, she went back to check on Caramelle.
As she opened the door, she saw that her guest had fallen asleep in the vat. She chuckled to herself. "While a hot bath is often cozy, I must ask that you not get doze-y." Wait… something was off. As Zecora stepped toward the tub, she saw that a different face was poking out of the potion. Zecora walked up carefully and nudged the dozing pony. "I came to check that you were well, but is this even Caramelle?"
After some prodding, her answer came rather groggily. "Huh, wha, yeah it's Caramel." After a beat, Caramel flipped over and stood up quickly. "Hold on; I can explain."
Zecora just stared with wide eyes. "Um, I poured that for your sister, but I see that I have missed her. There is just one question I've: how did I not see you arrive?"
Caramel was silent for a time, but decided to confirm her suspicions. "It's still me. This has been going on for my whole life, and we think it was because of Poison Joak. That's the real reason I drank some. Could you keep it a secret, though? Only my family and doctor know now and I'd like to keep it to myself."
Zecora nodded. "This is a secret I won't tell, and I must say I wish you well. For a condition so tragic, I would seek unicorn magic."
Caramel nodded. Well, looks like it's back to the library. He thanked Zecora, and offered to let her clean up.
Zecora shook her head. "You have enough on your plate; go out yourself and set your fate."
Caramel stepped outside and shook himself dry, refusing Zecora's offer of a towel, and took off east back toward Ponyville, letting the wind dry himself off the rest of the way. However, half of the way to the library he stopped and turned to go to his home. There, he dried off with a towel and grabbed the book Twilight had given him.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the library. Caramel took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
"Hey, Caramel. How did the thing go with the garden?"
"Uh, Twilight, I have something to tell you."
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
"Oh?" asked Twilight Sparkle, her curiosity clearly piqued. "What's that?"
"Could we talk inside? I don't really want anypony else eavesdropping." said Caramel, glancing around.
Intrigued, Twilight opened the door further and motioned for him to enter. "What is it?" She magically grabbed hold of Flower's Freaky Foliage Facts and returned it to its shelf, simultaneously checking it off as returned in her records. She turned back to Caramel. "Is something wrong? are you in trouble?
Caramel prepared to release the bombshell. Breathing in deeply, he said "I need your help with something. Can you keep a secret?"
Twilight nodded. "'Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.'" She paused, nervously glancing about as if expecting something that did not occur. After a pause, she continued. "What is it that you need my help with?"
"I need your magic." he started. He told her about the hoops his parents had had to jump through, about the years of deception, about his inability to hold down a romantic connection, about his constant fear of the spotlight. As he continued, Twilight's eyes widened and Caramel felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Finally, his story caught up to the present day. "…and as luck would have it, it happened again while I was in the tub ! I told Zecora, and she said to try magic, so of course I thought of the Element of Magic. So I came here and told you that I needed your help, and you looked at me like I was crazy, and then I realized my story had caught up to the present so I'm shutting up now.
"This is a joke, isn't it?" Twilight asked incredulously. "You're saying you're really your sister?"
"I'm dead serious, Twilight. You can ask Zecora if you don't believe me." Caramel said indignantly.
"If I remember correctly, you said she didn't actually see you change. How can I be sure this isn't some sort of elaborate joke?"
"Last year, 'Toffee' came to y…" he trailed off, realizing any fact he could give her could just as easily have been "told to him by his sister". "Actually, you know what, never mind. I know I've pulled some schemes in the past, but just humor me."
"Okay…" said Twilight, "I trust you." Her horn lit up, and she donned an expression of deep concentration. After a few minutes, she blinked and looked confused. "Well, I did a scan, and there aren't any spells on you, and no sort of markers for shapeshifting. When did you say this started again?"
"It's been going on my whole life" came the response.
"I see…" Twilight's horn lit up again. "Everything seems normal, though. XY, standard testosterone levels," her eyes glanced downwards, "appropriate reproductive organs. Are you sure this isn't… wait a second. Your Y chromosome is showing some instability."
"Well, yeah." said Caramel impatiently. "Nurse Redheart figured that out before I was born. That's kind of why I came here in the first place."
"But you didn't tell me it was genetic!" said Twilight, exasperated.
"You didn't ask. Is that important?"
Twilight sighed. "Yes, it's important. If it had just been a shapeshifting spell, I could've reversed it easily, but my magic isn't anywhere near strong enough to change somepony on the genetic level." After she saw Caramel's head slump, she continued. "…but Celestia's might be. I’ll tell her we’ll be stopping by.” she said as she levitated a quill and scroll and jotted down a quick letter. “Spike, could you send a letter?”
Spike bounded down the stairs, and after catching his breath in a whiff of green fire sent it off on its way.
“Thank you, Twilight. I’ll come back tom-” he was interrupted by a burp from the dragon, who read the response aloud.
“‘Twilight, I look forward to seeing you again, as well as your friend. Please both come as soon as is convenient, and I will see what I can do. Signed, Princess Celestia.’ Can I go back to sleep now?”
Twilight nodded. “Caramel, is it okay if we go now?”
“Yeah,” nodded Caramel, a hint of discomfort in his tone, “we might as well.”
Twilight nodded, and they headed out the door, Twilight struggling at first to keep up with Caramel’s eager pace. After several minutes, they arrived at the gates of Canterlot.
“Here we are. You can follow me to the Royal Palace.” Twilight announced.
“Yeah, I guess.” said Caramel, following behind.
“Is something wrong?” asked Twilight picking up on Caramel’s discomfort. “The princess is a really nice pony; you don’t have to be nervous.
Caramel shook his head. “No, I’m fine.” he said as they headed down Mane Street. “Let’s go.”
When they arrived at the gates of the palace, one of the guards smiled. “Hey, Twilight. Bringing a guest?” Twilight nodded. “Go right on in. The princess is in the throne room; I’m sure the princess will be happy to see you.”
Twilight thanked the guards, and entered the grandiose castle. Celestia was in fact in the throne room. She smiled at Twilight and Caramel and motioned for them to come in. “Hello, Twilight. Hello, Caramel. To what do I owe the occasion?”
Caramel stepped forward. “I have to tell you something, first. Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
"I… Toffee is really me." said Caramel, apprehensive of what the response would be for years of fraud and lying to authorities.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
"I… Toffee is really me." said Caramel, apprehensive of what the response would be for years of fraud and lying to authorities.
"Indeed you are." replied Celestia, without a hint of anger or even surprise in her voice.
"Wait, you knew‽" asked Twilight in shock.
Celestia addressed her reply to Caramel and not Twilight. "If 'Toffee' had wished to stay inconspicuous, 'she' could've picked a better cover story than 'agent of the Royal Guard'. I can't keep in touch with all of my subjects like I used to, but I do like to keep tabs on those under my direct command."
"Wait, by 'all of your subjects' do you mean the whole principality?"
Celestia smiled and looked off into the middle distance. "Yes, all of Equestria. There was a time thousands of years ago when the country was small enough that I could get to know everypony. Obviously over time our population grew, and I lost track. I still try to keep track of the statistics at least, impersonal as it may be."
Caramel was stunned; suddenly his problems seemed trivial in scale. "Wow… I never thought about how hard immortality could be on a pony. And what do you mean by 'our population'?"
"Celestia's face kept the same radiant smile. "I mean Equestria's population. I may be a diarch, but I'm an Equestrian citizen as much as you. Also, I'm not immortal. I may outlive many ponies, but I am bonded with the Sun, and when it fizzles out so shall I. But if I am not mistaken, you didn't come all the way to Canterlot to hear about the distant future or the distant past. Did you just come here to come clean? I could have Luna correct the records for you."
Twilight stepped forward. "Caramel was hoping you could use your magic to… to stabilize him."
"That would depend…" started Celestia, her horn glowing a light gold for a third of a second, "on the cause of the 'problem'." Her smile faded slightly. "I'm afraid I cannot."
"What? Why?"
"Even magic as strong as mine cannot rewrite a pony's genetic code. Your sixty-fourth chromosome is a Y at the moment, but I can detect telltale signs, physical and magical, that it was recently an X. Even if I could somehow edit the genome in each of your trillions of cells, you wouldn't be the same pony after I meddled with what makes you you."
"But, I… you're the Princess! Your magic has to be strong enough. I don't understand." Caramel shouted.
Princess Celestia smiled reassuringly and waited for Caramel to calm down. When he picked himself up, she asked "Yes, I am a princess. Would you like me to explain further?" After he nodded, her horn glowed and fifty seconds later the door opened and in floated a saw and a small disk, half blue and half red.
After they came to rest on the floor in front of him, Caramel examined the bar more closely. It was a heavy metal cylinder, cool to the touch. Into the red side was stamped the letter N, and the letter S was stamped into the opposite side. It was a magnet, probably from a science kit for foals.
When Caramel looked up from the magnet, Celestia continued. "I'd like you to split this magnet for me. Just cut off the south pole and leave me the north."
"I can't." said Caramel, catching on.
"Why not?" asked Celestia, encouraging him as she often would when Twilight was an inquisitive young filly.
Caramel continued, paraphrasing his physics lessons from school. "The magnetic field is made because of the polarities of all of the molecules in the magnet. As a whole they give the magnet two poles, but they're not separate chunks that can just be cut apart."
"…so what would happen if you tried?" asked Celestia, nudging him on.
"Well, you'd get two thinner magnets, but they'd each still have a north pole and a south pole. So you'd just get thinner and thinner magnets until they started to crumble in your hooves."
It was Twilight Sparkle who ruined the moment by jumping in and putting the final pieces together. "So not only would you fail to separate the poles, but you'd destroy the magnet in the process!"
Caramel shot Twilight an annoyed glance, but Celestia was used to her awkward know-it-all ways, and found her absolutely adorkable. "It would be easy to get the poles to switch places, such as a reversal spell would do, but both poles would still be there. I'm afraid I can't lock you into one sex the same way I would reverse somepony's sex, but even if I could, I'm not so sure you'd want me too."
Caramel was caught off guard. "What do you mean? Of course I do."
"I take it you wish to be locked as a stallion?" asked Celestia inquired.
"Yes, of course I do. That's why I came here in the first place!"
"Is it? Or did you come here to be locked as a mare?"
Caramel started to respond, but stopped himself and thought it through. He knew he was a stallion, and wanted to stay that way, but he also remembered telling herself the exact opposite. "I don't know." said Caramel, his admission punctuated by a heavy cough.
"This isn't just some shapeshifting spell that I could shut off. Your actual sex and gender are in flux. It seems the years of living a double life has caused you to think of yourself as two separate ponies, but you're not. For you, male and female, stallion and mare, are just two sides of the same coin."
"I never thought of it that way." said Caramel after a moment's thought. "Thank you, Princess." As he and Twilight turned to leave, Caramel steadied himself against a column as a flip ran through his body.
Celestia forced herself not to stare at the light amber plot reshaping itself before her very eyes. After Caramelle had caught her breath and had started to leave, Celestia spoke up. "Does it hurt?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.
Caramelle shook her head. "It can be a little disorienting and exhausting, but the whole thing takes less than a minute and the worst part is just a few seconds." She paused to sip eagerly from a glass of water Celestia had conjured. "The worst part is everything that goes into keeping the secret."
"If I may make a suggestion," replied Celestia, "I don't think this needs to be kept a secret. Of course it's ultimately up to you, but I think you'll find that ponies are much more accepting than you give them credit for."
Caramelle smiled and thanked Celestia again, before turning and walking through the door.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Once outside, Caramelle and Twilight Sparkle found that a fruit stand selling plantains had been toppled, its wares spilled across Mane Street, a dark green unicorn levitating them back into the cart and apologizing profusely. Twilight motioned for Caramelle to follow her as she took a different route. "So what do you think, Toffee? Should you come clean?"
"Call me Caramelle." As they walked along the detour route, a sense of foreboding built inside her. "…and I don't know. Even if they accept me for who I am, could they forgive me for lying to them for all these years?"
Twilight nodded as they turned a corner. "It might take some time, but I think everypony will…"
Caramelle interrupted Twilight with a motion of his hoof.
"Oh, I'm so sorry; if I'd known you'd be uncomfortable, we could've gone a different way."
Caramelle shook her head. "No, I'd like to go in." Both mares turned and walked toward the large metal gate, and under the sign reading, in large letters, "Rocking Chair Memorial Cemetery".
Twilight followed Caramelle as he wound through the rows of gravestones of all shapes and sizes, all carved from the same white marble. They came to a rest in front of a small headstone, no bigger than her eye, half covered by the tall grass that grew where the mowers couldn't reach. Twilight trimmed the grass away with her magic and read the inscription.
Nougat
"I… I didn't know. Is this why you didn't want to come to Canterlot?" Twilight asked as tears started to fall freely from Caramelle's eyes.
Caramelle didn't respond, or even seem to have heard her question. Twilight left for a minute and returned with a small diamond which she placed gently on the grave. Caramel said nothing for ten minutes, before drying her eyes and turning to Twilight.
"Was Nougat…" started Twilight.
"She was my daughter." nodded Caramelle, sniffling deeply.
"What happened?"
"It was nine years ago. I'd been a mare for two months, and I settled down with a stallion named Cumulus. He was a dark green pegasus, and a great inventor. Two months later, we found out I was pregnant. Everything went fine for three more weeks, and then…"
"Oh Celestia!" said Twilight, putting the pieces together. "Then it happened again, didn't it?"
Caramelle pressed her eyes shut and lowered her head. "Yes. It turns out it's pretty hard to sustain a pregnancy when you don't have a uterus any more. I miscarried. It had been long enough that I honestly didn't expect it to happen."
"That's awful." said Twilight, knocked off her hooves by the revelation. "I can't imagine how terrible it must feel to lose a foal."
Caramelle nodded. "Even worse, I couldn't mourn openly because a stallion with no mate mourning that kind of loss would raise a few eyebrows."
Both mares sat in silence for what felt like hours, and very well may have been hours for all the attention they paid to the passage of time. After however long, Caramelle coughed and spoke in a deepening voice. "If I could have some privacy?"
Twilight turned around out of respect, understanding of Caramelle's current sensitivity. She glanced at the clear gemstone glistening on the small grave in the moonlight, the night almost silent save the wind and the breathing of the two ponies.
"You can turn around now." said Caramel, his eyes still wet with tears.
Twilight turned around and wiped the tears from Caramel's eyes. "If you think it would help, I could take you to see her. Hades isn't too far from Ponyville, and I know my way around. It's a long story."
Caramel smiled. "I might take you up on that offer, but let's take things one life-changing decision at a time, okay?"
"Deal."
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Twilight smiled and patted Caramel on the shoulder. "See? It's okay."
Caramel sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm fine, really. Thank you so much, Twilight."
"You're welcome. If you're ready, we do have an important decision to make, and I don't think we should put it off for much longer."
"I… I just don't know if I should tell everypony. What if they don't accept me?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Well, whom have you told so far?"
"Just you and Zecora, actually. Nurse Redheart and my family found out before I was born. I've managed to hide it from everypony else, as far as I know. Well, except for Celestia."
"Luna probably knows as well; she's also in charge of the Royal Guard, and the Royal Pony Sisters share pretty much everything, especially official information."
"Right, Luna. I keep forgetting about her."
"Well, it's only the first year of the Second Sororal Era; you'll get used to it. But back on topic, how have they reacted? Did they accept you for who you are?"
"Yeah, but…"
"But what?" interrupted Twilight. "What's the worst that could happen?"
As soon as Twilight posed the question, Caramel's imagination started up.
• • •
Caramel was standing on a podium in front of a large herd of ponies assembled for his speech, which he was currently wrapping up. "…and so I hope that you can forgive me, and accept me for who I am."
There was an awkward silence after he finished his speech, and he hung his head and stepped off the stage.
"Well, I guess it went okay." comforted Twilight.
As if in response to Twilight's tempting fate, a verdant stallion swooped down from the sky and bucked Caramel square in the flank, toppling him sideways.
"Why didn't you tell me you were a stallion, huh?" he spat out with rage.
Caramel sputtered, and between gasping for breath he managed to wheeze out "I– Because… I… wasn't."
"I'm not blind, 'Toffee'. You toyed with me."
"Cumulus, please!" begged Caramel as the stallion stomped on his shoulder.
"This has been going on for long enough!" exclaimed Twilight, stepping forward horn aglow.
"Twilight, stop!" called the voice of a young colt.
The colt was a very light brown, and had a fluffy white mane with dark brown streaks in and eyes that were a bright cherry red; Twilight recognized him as Milkshake, one of Smoothie's sons. Twilight looked at the colt bewilderedly. "What are you talking about?"
Milkshake stood firm. "Don't hurt the green pony."
Baffled, Twilight relit her horn, but her concentration was lost when Milkshake struck her on the side of her head.
"I said no." repeated the colt, as Cumulus continued attacking Caramel.
Enraged, Twilight raised her voice at the obstinate unicorn. "He's assaulted Caramel, Milkshake!"
Milkshake shook his head, his eyes closed. "A good pony never responds to violence with more violence. If they do, the violence never ends, and that's not what Equestria is about."
"I… I guess you're right." said Twilight, and the two unicorns turned and walked away as Caramel was reduced to a pulp.
• • •
"Caramel, you trusted me enough to tell me your most personal secret. I'll always be here for you if you need me." assured Twilight.
"What should I do, Twilight? Should I keep it a secret?"
"It's really up to you, Caramel."
Caramel sighed. "Do you have any idea just how unhelpful an answer that is? I asked you for your opinion, and that's a pretty weaselly cop-out."
"I know, but this is a really big decision, and…"
"…and you don't want the blame to fall on you if I pick the wrong option."
Twilight turned her head and blushed guiltily with what even Caramel would've had to describe as "the utmost adorkablility". "Sorry. Well, I think the ponies in Ponyville are a lot more accepting than you give them credit for."
"You mean like how accepting they've been of Zecora? The whole town prejudged her, including me, and quite a few Ponyvillians are still pretty wary of her."
"That was different! Nopony knew Zecora, and she lives in the Everfree Forest, so of course they were skeptical. Ponyville already knows you, and they have known you for your whole life!"
"But still, it's only equine nature to be afraid of anything out of the ordinary."
"Okay, yes, that instinct is left over from–"
"And it's served us pretty well, hasn't it?" interrupted Caramel.
"…from eons ago!" finished Twilight, exasperated. "Yes, it kept us from getting eaten , but we've evolved past that stage. We aren't the beasts of burden we were when it was useful; we have tools, language, civilization, government! The paranoia is still there, but it's vestigial , orders of magnitude weaker than it used to be!"
"Oh, great." intoned Caramel sarcastically. "So instead of the whole town getting up and galloping away, there'll just be a niggling little mistrust at the back of everypony's mind. Sel , that makes me feel so much better about telling everypony."
"Caramel, can't you have just a little faith in ponydom?" Twilight implored with a sigh.
"I can't have faith in anything." answered Caramel. "In my experience, nopony has disproven what I've been saying."
Twilight pressed her hoof to her forehead. "Look, I'm probably the most skeptical pony there is, but without trust in one's fellow pony, society as a whole just doesn't work. You trusted me, didn't you?"
"Only because I though you could fix me. Then the whole problem would be moot." admitted Caramel.
"Caramel!" exclaimed Twilight scoldingly, as though he had just told a particularly offensive joke, "How can you expect other ponies to accept you for who you are if you can't even accept yourself‽"
"I don't expect them to! That's what we've been talking about this whole time!"
"That's not what I–"
"Hold on a second," interrupted Caramel, "what do you mean I don't accept myself? Of course I do!"
After shooting him an annoyed glare, Twilight elaborated. "Caramel, 'fix me'? '[T]he whole problem'? You can say you accept yourself for who you are, but you're talking about yourself like you're broken! There's nothing wrong with you, and you have nothing to be ashamed of."
"Right, but… wait," Caramel blinked, "do you really think that?"
"Of course! I don't know anypony who would think less of you if they knew."
Caramel took a deep breath. "I'll do it."
"You will? So have you–"
"I still think we're making a big gamble here, but I don't like the way keeping this secret has affected the way I look at myself, or the amount of time and effort it uses. Besides, if things go badly you could just magically make everypony forget about it and things would go back to normal."
Twilight's eyes went wide. "I could , but I certainly will not ! The problems with that are more than I can count on my hoof!"
"…you mean more than one?" asked Caramel, raising his eyebrow.
"That's not the point!" sighed Twilight exasperatedly. "The moral and ethical problems entailed–"
"Isn't that redundant? Aren't 'moral' and 'ethical' the same thing?" asked Caramel.
Twilight shot Caramel a death glare. "Again you interrupted me, and again you missed the point. But for your information, no they are not. Morality refers to a simple distinction between right and wrong, while ethics connotes a more scholarly and systematic approach to the moral codes that guide our behavior. But what I was saying was that while I could in theory do that, I wouldn't, because it's wrong to tamper with a pony's mind without permission."
"Okay, now that you put it that way I can see the problem. I think I'll still go through with it, though. First, we should fix the records, though. That should make things a lot easier for me."
Twilight nodded. "Ponyville's records are kept in the basement of Town Hall, and the Canterlot records are based off those, so that's where we should head once we get to Ponyville."
Caramel concurred, and they finished the walk to Ponyville in silence, Caramel taking the opportunity to plan out how he would tell everypony his secret, but mostly trying to convince himself he wasn't about to make the worst mistake of his life.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Upon arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and Caramel made a beeline towards the Town Hall. At the Town Hall, the two found another pony at the door. The dark brown earth pony mare had four ballet slippers as a cutie mark, and was at the moment struggling with the door and a stack of cardboard boxes. When she noticed Twilight, she stopped and waved. "Hey there, Twilight!"
Twilight waved back, using her magic to hold the door open. "Hey, Rafalca. What's in the boxes?"
Rafalca smiled appreciatively and flipped the lid off of one of the boxes, revealing stacks of paper. "Petitions. We're calling for a reform of Ponyville's building codes, and other public safety reforms. Did you know that two out of seven Ponyville homes don't have a foundation, or even a basement? They're built right on top of the ground! And don't even get me started on that road that goes downhill, and then ends at a cliff!"
Twilight nodded. "I see your point; houses were flying all over the place during the big parasprite infestation. I just hope you can raise the funds, though. We already have buildings falling apart that need to be repaired before a balcony falls on somepony."
Rafalca nodded. "So, what brings you two here? Care to sign the petition?"
"Sure." Twilight levitated a blank copy, skimmed the petition, and signed it with a quill Rafalca provided, before passing one on to Caramel. "We're here because Caramel had some forms to change."
The earth pony mare took back the petitions and put them with the others. "That stuff has been moved to the post office, actually. Ask Derpy when you get there; she should be able to point you in the right direction.
Caramel and Twilight headed to the post office, slightly perturbed by the detour. Twilight scratched the back of her neck. "So… what's it like? You know your, uh, transformations? You said they don't hurt, but, like…" she trailed off.
Caramel smiled comfortingly. "I call them 'flips', and you don't have to be so shy about asking me. Well, it usually starts with little emotional things, caused by the changes in hormones or whatever, but that can be hard to notice. Then there's a tickling or scratching in my throat, which usually makes me cough if I happen to be talking or swallowing. The rest is kinda hard to describe, but you know that pins-and-needles feeling you get when a leg falls asleep?"
Twilight nodded. "Paresthesia."
"Okay, yeah, imagine that, but the pins aren't pointy. So like, it's a bunch of baby carrots. And instead of your leg, it's your insides, and… no, that's not right. Okay, so it's like a bubbling or churning feeling, but instead of… ugh, never mind. It's not exactly something there are words for. Isn't there a magic spell or something you could do to get what I mean?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Unicorn magic isn't a panacea that just lets us do whatever we want. Even though we can consciously control our magic, there are still rules, same as the magic of earth ponies or pegasi. Even the Royal Pony Sisters, unique as they are in embodying all three races, are beholden to the laws of magic."
"…I'll take that as a no, then." said Caramel after a pause.
Twilight sighed. "While I do know some telepathic spells, they're all based on words or images. I'm only just starting on empathic spells, so–"
"Yes or no, Twilight." said Caramel, his mind glazing over. "I really only understand the grade school basics of how magic works."
"No, I can't. However, I could pick up on what it felt like if it were happening right now. And I'm sorry for going on that rant just now; ponies acting like unicorn magic is limitless or wild is one of my pet peeves. Hundreds of years of research have gone into studying magic and pushing its limits, and it has rules as firm as chemistry or math. Anypony can study and understand magic, and even theorize new spells, even if only unicorns can perform them."
Caramel nodded. "It's fine. How is magic studied? I've always wondered how a magic spell is written down. What's in all those spell books?"
Twilight smiles a smile that Caramel knew all too well: a smile that warns that Twilight had sensed an opportunity to start a lengthy dissertation on some topic she was knowledgeable in (which was pretty much everything, as far as the average pony was concerned). "Well, any specialized field, like music or math, has its own notation and terminology, and magic is no exception. There are the more physical elements to magic of course, such as the alicorn that makes up the bony portion of the unicorn's horn, or the different parts of the unicorn brain that specialize in either the direct performance of spells or the regulation of latent magical energy. There are also the various mental aspects, that to a pegasus or earth pony are merely theoretical, but to the unico–"
"Well, will you look at that!" interrupted Caramel. "It looks like we're here."
While the post office was in eyeshot, they were by no means close. Still, Twilight took the hint and stopped her disquisition, remaining silent until they were at the post office.
Twilight pushed open the door and Caramel stepped inside. Sure enough, after a few moments of looking he spotted a familiar gray rump around the edge of a bench. "Hey there, Mrs. Hooves!"
After a few seconds, the eccentric mailmare popped her head up and waved hello, smiling warmly.
Twilight stepped in and let the door swing shut behind her. "Caramel needs to fix some records, and Rafalca said they'd been moved here."
The bubbly blonde pointed to a flight of stairs to the back of the room. As they started down the stairs, Caramel called back over his shoulders. "You're the best. Thanks, Derpy!"
Derpy beamed and waved back, trying to hide her blushing. "Pure falcon!" she called back in response.
Once in the basement, the two ponies quickly located the records room. "You ready?" asked Twilight.
Caramel nodded, wasting no time in getting to the paperwork. However, a realization struck Caramel, and he skidded to a stop. "Wait… how am I supposed to keep the records up to date, though?" asked Caramel. "I'm not going to come out here with a quill and some white-out every time my chromosomes flip."
"That's the easy part." said Twilight with a proud grin. A magenta aura formed around a quill on a nearby table. The quill floated off the desk and over to the two ponies. Then, it quickly pricked Caramel in the flank, without warning.
"Ow!"
"Sorry. Just fill out the relevant bits with this quill, and they'll change along with you." After seeing the weird look Caramel gave her, she added "It's a simple binary linguistic entanglement spell. It's just one of the things I studied on the bus to and from Magic Middle School."
"Uh huh." said Caramel slowly, all the words other than "magic" going in one ear and out the other. He walked to the file cabinet and pulled out the files for "Caramel" and "Toffee" and passed them to Twilight, who threw them away. Twilight then retrieved a blank form, which she placed in front of him.
Caramel licked the tip of the pen and started writing. "Let's see… Name: Caramel. Sex: Male. Date of Birth: January 17th, 968. Equestrian citizen, earth pony, raspberry, yes, Tuesday…" he trailed off into unintelligible mumblings as he completed the other five forms. Halfway through the last form, his mumbles turned to coughs.
"Is it happening again?" asked Twilight, her horn starting to glow. "Is it a flip?"
Caramel nodded, and finished, in a softer voice, "Signed Caramel, dated 06/28/0001." He dropped the quill, nudged the files to the edge of the table with his hooves, and filed them away in the Aa-Ch drawer. He nodded to Twilight, kicking the cabinet shut behind him. This time the changing muzzle Twilight saw was wearing a smile.
"Well, now comes the hard part." announced Twilight.
Caramelle nodded. As the two mares left the post office, back in the filing cabinet rested a white rectangle of paper, with everything on it needed for the records.
Name: Caramelle
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Twilight turned to Caramelle and blinked a few times for effect. "I did a simple empathic spell that time, and you're right; there really aren't words for that. Your descriptions weren't even close. And this happens how often?"
"It's completely random." answered Caramelle. "It can be seconds or months, and I don't know it's coming until it happens. I assume there has to be some sort of pattern, but I haven't found one yet."
"That's the funny thing about randomness; you can never quite be sure if something is truly random, or even if true randomness exists at all. Even if you find a pattern that perfectly describes all the data you have, there's always the possibility that more data could come along that doesn't fit the pattern. Likewise, even if something seems random, there's always the possibility that you just haven't found the pattern yet. It's pretty frustrating to the average pony, but for scientists it's exciting, because finding new patterns and fixing our old ones is what we live for. If we got everything right the first time, pretty soon we'd know everything, and then what?"
"Did you say 'we'?" Caramelle asked after she had processed Twilight's monolog.
The Keeper of the Element of Magic was visibly exasperated. "Yes, 'we'. Like I said before, magic has a consistent set of rules that it follows, and spells can be observed and independently replicated. My chosen field of study may be magic, but I am as much a scientist as somepony who studies chemistry or geology."
"Okay, sorry. I…" Caramelle trailed off as she began to cough.
"Oh dear, already?" asked Twilight, surprized.
Caramelle shook her head, responding after she finished coughing. "No, I…" she cleared her throat. "No, that one was just a cough. It wouldn't've surprized me, though; I've had flips closer together than that."
"…and you still managed to keep your secret all these years?" Twilight asked incredulously.
Caramelle nodded. "It wasn't easy, to put things mildly. It's always been at the back of my mind, coloring every single decision I make. To be totally honest, I'm still a little nervous about this, but I'm willing to take the plunge and get it over with before I think better of it."
"So… how exactly do you plan to go about doing this?" Twilight inquired inquisitively.
"I want it to be public, something everypony in town hears at once. That way, I can say what I need to without worrying about my words getting distorted as they pass from pony to pony to pony to pony. The last thing I need is rumors."
Twilight nodded her agreement. "So a speech, then?"
"I don't know. There's not really enough to say to warrant a whole speech."
This earned a shrug from Twilight. "Just speak from your heart, and answer any questions Ponyville might have. I think everypony will feel better about your announcement if you do it in pony, rather than tacking it up on a bulletin board somewhere."
"Yeah, I guess. Let's go schedule a speech with the Mayor before I change my mind."
Twilight took a deep breath and held it for a second. "Caramelle, you've been pussyhoofing around about this for a while now. I can help you through this, but I won't force you to do anything. Have you made up your mind?"
Caramelle grimaced. "I think I might need you to force me to." she said. "I want to do it, and I agree with everything you're saying on an intellectual level, but there's still that one corner of my mind that's screaming at me to back out."
Twilight nodded along in understanding. "Okay, I see. Well, then I'll go ahead and schedule the speech, while you think about what you want to say. Do you mind if I tell Mayor Mare what the speech will be about?"
After several moments of thought, Caramelle answered. "I'd rather you just said its a sensitive matter that everypony should learn at once, but if you really have to, just make sure the speech is as soon as possible after that.
Twilight nodded. "I'll meet you back at your house." She cantered ahead, leaving Caramelle to herself to turn back to her house to think things through. It wasn't long before she returned.
"I scheduled it for tomorrow at noon. She didn't ask what it was about."
Caramelle thanked the lavender mare, and Twilight turned to leave. "Twilight, wait!"
Twilight stopped and turned in place, cocking her head.
"You'll be there with me, right?" she asked, concernedly.
"Of course I will, and I've said that before. Besides, soon everypony in Ponyville will be with you, Caramelle. Now get some rest; tomorrow is a big day."
Caramelle rolled her eyes, but followed her advice nonetheless. The remaining hours whizzed past, sleeping and waking hours blurring together until she found herself standing in front of the population of Ponyville. She cleared her throat, and began. "I, uh… you're probably wondering why I decided to make this speech. Well, actually…" she nervously scraped her hoof against the wooden floor of the stage, until she caught Twilight's reassuring smile in the audience.
Caramelle took a deep breath, and started over again. "All of you who know me know me as 'Toffee'. You probably also know my brother, Caramel." She braced herself; coming up was the point of no return. "Truthfully, 'Toffee' isn't my real name. My name is Caramelle, and Caramel isn't my brother. He's me."
There were some muffled gasps and confused mutterings, but Caramelle continued. She explained everything, and told her whole story, covering everything Ponyville needed to hear, but not wasting their time with all of the details. As she spoke, the herd grew quieter, and eventually her speech reached its conclusion. "So I'd like to apologize to Ponyville for lying to all of you for all these years, to ask for your forgiveness, and to thank Twilight Sparkle for her steadfast support."
After the briefest of silences, Ponyville echoed with the sounds of hooves hitting the ground in applause. Caramelle smiled as she felt an enormous weight be lifted from her withers. "You have no idea how good it feels to hear that. Thank you. Now I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask, so I'll do my best to answer them. It's the least I can do."
After an awkward silence, a grey-coated earth pony mare raised her hoof, and Caramelle acknowledged her. "Caramelle," called the mare, clearly getting used to the 'new' name, "what has been the best time and the worst time of your life so far?"
Caramelle didn't even have to think about that one. "I'll answer the worst first. The worst moment of my life was, no question, when I lost my daughter, Nougat. I couldn't sleep for weeks after that. As far as the best moment of my life, I don't want to sound sappy or anything, but it really was just now, when all of you applauded me. My whole life I had been so worried about anypony finding out, and I was spending every waking moment trying to keep the secret. To not only have that burden removed, but to be accepted , for me, is the best feeling in the world."
The stallion smiled and nodded in appreciation, and Caramelle called on the next pony, a grey-coated earth pony mare, who had been waiting with her left foreleg in the air. "If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?"
"That's a really good question." said Caramelle, stalling for time as she decided on her answer. "If you'd asked me that last week, I think you know what my answer would've been. But I've come to terms with my condition, and now I have a different answer. I have a lot of trouble trusting other ponies, and I tend to see the worst in equine nature. That's not a part of me that I'm proud of anymore, and if I could just click me hooves together and become a more trusting pony, I probably would."
The mare nodded, and Caramelle moved on to the next question.
Do you have a question for Caramelle?Ask Caramelle and get her answer.
"I guess that's everypony." sighed Caramelle to herself. She then raised her voice and addressed the assembled herd. "Thank you so much for your time, and thank you again for your support. You've been nicer than I ever could've imagined!" she exclaimed, almost tearing up. Her speech concluded, Caramelle turned and left the stage. Behind and at the bottom of the steps she was greeted by Twilight Sparkle and, much to her surprize, Princess Celestia!
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Two Sides of the Same Coin
"See?" said Celestia with a proud smile. "I told you they'd accept you." She looked down at Caramelle and her smile faded. "Why do you still look so unhappy?"
Caramelle sighed. "They all love me, but they don't really know what I've gone through. I still feel alone. Even if I could find somepony I loved, and even if we could connect, we'd just be friends half of the time."
Celestia smiled again. "So what you need is along the lines a mirror-universe version of yourself? I think that can be arranged."
To be continued…
[END CREDITS]