Universal Acceptance: Avatar

The sun was beginning to set. The stage was set down where they usually held the Summer Sun Celebration, a massive public courtyard between the noble district and the educational campuses. Thousands of ponies – many of them guards and servants from the castle, others familiar Canterlot faces, and several more from beyond – were gathered in the courtyard in front of the stage, murmuring in a great loud din.

The only things the ponies gathered knew upfront was that this was an emergency announcement, no younger colts or fillies below the age of majority were allowed, and that Celestia needed their presence and help. It had taken most of the day to organize this on such short notice, but the moment was swiftly upon us.

I was behind the stage with all the key players, pacing back and forth nervously, trying to mentally rehearse what I was going to say.

Twilight stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Pascal? Listen. What we're about to do... what you described... There's no spell in any book even remotely like this. If this works, you're going to invent an entirely new spell, one that will be studied and replicated for years to come." A soft, nervous smile slowly appeared on the Princess of Magic's face. "When I completed Starswirl's final spell, applying all of my understanding of friendship... that was the moment that I became a Princess. And I think that you're on the same precipice of really coming into your own destiny. So I'm behind you one-hundred percent of the way."

I smiled proudly. Hell yeah you are. "Thank you, Twilight. That means a lot."

"That said..." She took two great handfuls of my shirt and yanked me close. "ARE. YOU. CRAZY?!?! What if this doesn't work?! What if we reveal Celestia's secret and nothing happens?! What if everypony loses respect for her, or gets demoralized that not even Celestia has the power to overcome her body?! ALL OF EQUESTRIA IS DEPENDING ON THIS!!"

Weirdly, despite the shrill mare shrieking in my ears, I was calm. Almost amused. Another day, another Twilight freakout.

"It's okay, Twilight." Princess Celestia was also pacing a nice furrow into the cobblestone with her golden shoes, and had stopped only for a moment to intervene. "I'm the one with everything to lose, and despite all that I've decided that this is a risk worth taking."

Luna, who had arrived moments ago after catching a quick nap – yet still dressed in her best midnight-black dress – yawned and glared grumpily towards me. "That's most likely due to Pascal's... extra-persuasive powers. We've all rationalized a way to agree with this course of action."

I raised a finger. "And, it'll let me make sure everypony out there is on-board." I brushed Twilight's clawing hands off and took a step back. "Look, this is the one time my mind-control powers have a great purpose beyond my own sexual gratification. Like hell I'm gonna tone it down now. And I'm not just confident, Luna. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me. If there was one way this is ever gonna work... this is it."

"Yes, you've said that a hundred times now," Luna sighed. "But no reason not to throw everything else we have at it as well." She glanced to Twilight. "Have the Elements of Harmony arrived?"

Twilight let out a long, deep breath, pushing out her hand from her chest to calm down, before nodding back at Luna. "They're here. We'll use our rainbow power when the time is right to help supercharge this ritual." A few moments after she said that, a scroll poofed into existence in front of Twilight. She unrolled it with her magic and skimmed it. "Ah! Cadance says she's gathered her subjects around the Crystal Heart, and she and Shining Armor are about to speak to them now. They'll send over an infusion of love power from the Crystal Empire when I give her the signal."

I still couldn't believe this addition to the plan, and it was making me a little nervous. "'Send' it over? All the way here? Like an artillery strike?!"

"Which brings us to you," Luna muttered as she turned to me. "You've made your point that your affinity with the concept of Acceptance is the key to this... scheme."

I nodded. We'd had it all backwards. It wasn't just Family, Love, Friendship, and Acceptance. It was the acceptance of family, loved ones, and friends that would make this possible.

"But for other reasons, you're also the weakest link," the princess bluntly pointed out. "You've expended your energy to exhaustion multiple times in the past two days. I realize it's your martyr complex driving you, but you're being reckless with your own ability to withstand these feats of magic, with no regard for how ready you actually are. That's my biggest concern."

She... had a point. "Well..." I looked around at the gathered Princesses. "That's why I'm getting all your help. All these ponies' help. It's all their power that's going to make this possible, not just me. Besides, all I have to do is collect it, hold it, and pass it along to Celestia, right? That... should be within my abilities."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "And if it's not?"

After a moment's hesitation, I shook my head. "I'm not going to drop the ball, Luna. That's literally my one job, and I'm gonna do it."

The moon princess let out another sigh through her nostrils and let the matter rest.

"Pasky!"

I turned around to see not just Derpy, but Trixie, Moondancer, and Spitfire coming around the stage! "Oh! Hey!"

Spitfire folded her arms, clad in her dress blues and staring through her imposing sunglasses with a no-nonsense frown. "This is quite the shindig you've thrown together, Hypnodude. Anything we can do to help?"

"This is your show. But if you need a beautiful assistant," Trixie purred with a naughty grin, "I suppose I could be convinced to give up center stage. Just for a little bit."

Moondancer adjusted her glasses, glancing around and looking intimidated to be in the presence of all these Princesses, Luna in particular. But she put on her best gentle, awkward, yet encouraging smile towards me. "Good luck, Pascal."

I grinned back at them, giving them all a quick nod. I was very happy to have them all here.

Though Moondancer had an extra-nervous energy about her that was hard to read. "...But, uh, before you start, could we talk real quick? It's about–"

"Moondancer!" Twilight yelled in delight, magically pulling the nerd in for an unexpected hug. She was clearly dying for someone else with her level of knowledge. "I'm so glad to see you! Quick, what do you think of these calculations?" The purple alicorn levitated multiple scrolls up to Moondancer's face that all unfurled to the ground. "Do you think the crowd spacing is right? Should we try to get them to form a broader arc? Maybe surround the stage? I just want to avoid any stream collision and give the energy the best possible chance to coalesce."

"Uh– Well–" Moondancer tried to push the scrolls down. If anything, she seemed to be even more worked up and anxious with Twilight so near.

I chuckled and said, "We can talk after this is over, I promise."

The unicorn grimaced, taking a hissing breath through her teeth, like she was quickly weighing the pros and cons of waiting versus insisting now. "...Okay, yeah, this thing you're doing is more important."

"How about the rest of us?" Spitfire asked again. "What can we do?"

I looked to all these mares I could happily call friends. "Just be my eyes in the crowd, help lend your energy and acceptance to this crazy spell, lead the way for all the rest."

Derpy pouted a bit. "You sure? Do you want us up there with you?"

Taking a deep breath at that, I thought about it and replied, "You're the most accepting pony I know, Derpy. I'll need your power just as much as anypony else's. Just... pick a spot where I can see you, okay?"

The pegasus brightened up at that. "Okay!!"

"And what about me?"

FLASH! Discord the draconequus appeared in the center of the group, seated on a lawn chair wearing sunglasses and munching away at a bowl of popcorn. Moondancer, Spitfire, and Trixie all jumped in surprise, while Derpy grinned and waved.

I raised an eyebrow at him. (Surprising even myself, I was rather nonplussed at his sudden entrance.) "You sure you want to be around here? There's going to be a lot of Normal magic in the air."

Discord flicked his sunglasses above his eyes and smirked at me. "Trust me, this is going to be the one time our elements are aligned." He turned his smug gaze to Celestia. "It was only after those pesky Masters were banished that true chaos was allowed to manifest. Everything before me, including everything about you ponies, is what's left over from their 'normal.' Including that inconvenient rule of permanence you're battling now. Why wouldn't I root for it to be decimated?"

Derpy flapped her wings in glee, hovering slightly above the ground. "Acceptance, Family, Love, Friendship... AND Chaos!"

"See, she gets it," Discord agreed with a wink.

Celestia allowed herself a heartwarming smile, her eyes shimmering in the shadows of the stage. "Discord..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not here for moral support," the draconequus insisted in a suddenly bratty way. He clicked his sunglasses back down and pointed a fingergun at me. "I'm here for the fireworks. Break a lag, Pascal." And then he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash. There was a gasp from the crowd on the other side of the stage as presumably Discord reappeared somewhere out there.

In the distance, a clock tower chimed at the top of the hour. It was time. I had to get the unknowing crowd ready for a plan that I wasn't even 100% certain was magically possible in this world. But looking down at my hands, seeing the blue glow pulse beneath my palms... there was a sense – not so much a thought as a feeling – that the rules of magic are only what you make of them.

It was time.

I stepped out onto the stage, and the din of the crowd quieted. Countless ponies, all of them astoundingly endowed yet conservatively dressed, focused their attention on me. My mind flashed back to the previous times I'd stared out into a crowd of multicolored pony faces staring back, waiting for me to speak.

The first was when they were brandishing torches and pitchforks to run me out of town.

The next was in front of Canterlot's cloud stadium, recruiting for extreme sexual hijinks that I needed to make happen to survive a magical attack on my identity.

Once was in Prince Blueblood's private garden, to create a noble excuse for an elite, fetishistic orgy.

And the most recent was just earlier this week, when I had to explain to a boardroom full of powerful ponies that I had affected their minds and would continue to affect their minds for the good of Equestria. It seemed like so long ago.

My eyes made contact with a golden mismatched pair beneath a blonde mane, and my nerves settled a little bit.

Hopefully this would be the last public speaking gig for a while.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" I shouted out to the crowd, not really having a better way to start it. Thankfully, the acoustics of the courtyard carried my voice far enough. "My name is Pascal. Some of you may know me as 'that human who caused a bunch of sexual shenanigans last week.'" There was a bit of chuckling and awkward clearing of throats from the crowd, and I smiled back. "Others of you might have seen some of my work, yes. Or been part of it. And I'd just like to take a moment to thank you. Your willingness to challenge what is normal is the reason why I'm here today... and it's the reason why we're asking for your help today."

As I scanned the crowd, I caught sight of the Elements of Harmony themselves, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie bounced up and waved her arm frantically back at me, her grin beaming like a searchlight. Twilight pulled her hand down.

I began to slowly pace across the stage. "I took my adventures all the way to Canterlot palace." There were a few gasps from the crowd. "That's right, to Princess Celestia herself. I'd heard of her reputation. The reputation you try not to say in polite company. A repressed, militant prude. With a burning hatred, or fear, of humans. I wanted to know why. To know why, even though I was stranded in this world totally by accident, and having an understandably hard time adjusting, I was so far beyond a persona non grata in your society. So I stormed up to the palace, leaving a swath of sexual deviance in my wake, ready for a clash of convictions and ideals." My shoulders slumped. "And by the end of it, my anger was gone. I sympathize completely with your Princess."

We didn't exactly have a script, but since we were getting close to the subject at hand, Celestia chose that moment to take the stage behind me, slowly and gravely approaching. A waved of bowed heads rippled through the crowd.

"You see, a few things had already struck me as odd by that point," I continued. "You're all destined, every single one of you, with these... hypersexual bodies, and there is a specific magical law that prevents you from changing that. Sure, you can quaff a potion or cast a spell to play around with your... shape, but after a few hours without refreshing that enchantment you'll just go back to whatever form you 'naturally' have. It's a neat little safety net... but in some cases it can also be a trap, as I've found out."

A few ponies in the crowd started to murmur, connecting the dots between me and the Princess ahead of schedule.

"How horrible would it be," I said, raising my voice and and slowing down for emphasis, "if you were stuck with a body that was designed to be physically addicted to sex? If you had to fight that every hour of every day... for 1300 years?"

Behind me, Celestia took a deep breath, and lit her horn. Her flowing white-and-gold dress unclasped and fell from her body, revealing absolutely nothing underneath. Her tall, slender, statuesque body was on full display for the crowd, naked save for her golden regalia. There were a few thuds as some ponies fainted on the spot.

And then she started to grow. Most visibly in the breasts and hips. Even her lips fattened up slightly. She sank to her knees and her ass-cheeks overflowed her feet, not stopping. Her breasts grew even more rapidly, taking up all the space in front of her, obscuring everything from the shoulders down. They didn't stop until they were taller than me, forming a wall of white tit behind me, capped with two giant, throbbing, needy pink nipples.

The ponies in front of me were a mix of horrified and outraged, muttering and cursing and exclaiming, the din rising and threatening to get out of control.

I put my hands up and shouted, "Everyone QUIET!" My hands pulsed blue and a ripple of air traveled over the gathered ponies. Gradually, they became silent and attentive. Satisfied, I lowered my hands and gestured at the wall of breasts behind me. "Your Princess," I declared, "is being unbelievably brave to finally come out with this painful, painful secret that she's kept, right or wrong, since the dawning of Equestria itself. You will respect that."

The supernatural silence gave way to a more rational quiet. Understanding was dawning in the faces and eyes of the ponies in front of me. This would have gone very differently if I hadn't been here for this – at the very least it would've had to be handled a hundred times more delicately – but I was starting to be glad I was present to speed this up.

A clacking of hoofsteps alerted me to Luna emerging from stage left, flanking Celestia's stage-obscuring breasts. To my surprise, she too had let her 'full body' grow out in all its glory, with breasts that despite their idealized shape still obscured her knees and would rebuff two full-grown ponies from being able to embrace her. She wasn't nude, however – she was garbed in a navy-blue maxi dress, with enough fabric to dress two regular mares used just to keep her nipples bound while still revealing a devastating absolute cleavage. "Everything this human has said... is true," Luna decreed, her voice far more powerful than mine even without using any magical technique.

Several more ponies audibly fainted. I wondered if maybe revealing both Princesses at once was a bit much, but maybe Luna couldn't pass up the opportunity to get it out of the way.

"As you can see, I too have been hiding my 'true' body from you," Luna said. "But even this... this is nothing compared to what my sister has dealt with. I can live with my body. Her body is a curse a hundred times over."

"And this is exactly why we are here," I interjected, taking over the speech. "She is trapped by the natural order... that says no sapient creature can permanently change their body, no matter how mentally unhealthy it is for them. This is not the body she wants! She wants to change! And she can't do it... without YOUR help." I pointed out over the crowd. "Many of you work in or near the palace. Many of you have met with her, spoken with her, or even just seen her conducting business in town. You are her extended family. Her community. Her village. And you represent hundreds of thousands more all across Equestria. You are the only ones who can help Celestia become the pony she wants to be, needs to be for her own health and happiness! So tell me: Will you do this for your Princess?!"

A loud "YEAH!" emerged haphazardly from some scattered sections of the crowd.

"There is no room for doubt!" I shouted back at them. "Some of you might have reservations. Some of you might just plain not like her. But you or someone you know might have once wished that they could overcome their obstacles and make a permanent change. If Celestia can do it, they will be able to as well! And if there's any universal cause of good worth fighting for, I'd say it's striving for the health and happiness of everyone, from the lowest among us to the highest! Do you agree?! Are you with me?!"

More unified, caught up in the thrall of my enchanted words, nearly all of the ponies in front of me raised their fists and let out a combined, raucous cheer.

This was the moment.

I thrust my hands into the air above my head, palms out to the sky.

"Then let us begin!" I yelled. "I want you all to think, and feel in your hearts: 'I accept Celestia's new body.' Hear it clear in your mind. 'I accept Celestia's new body!' Say it under your breath, close your eyes and see it in your mind, feel your heart swell up with the feeling of it! Let that acceptance pour out of you, join it with everypony around you in common purpose, and then send it to me!"

Most of the ponies I could see closed their eyes. Even Luna on the stage near me closed her own eyes and started murmuring under her breath. A whole throng of ponies before me, repeating after me almost like they were hypnotized. And I was mind-controlling them, really... but for a noble purpose.

At first, nothing visibly changed, and for a nanosecond I panicked.

Then tiny sparkles of blue light appeared over the heads of some ponies in the crowd.

I cursed under my breath. No fucking way... My hands warmed as they glowed with blue light above my head, drawing in tiny sparkles of energy like a slow magnet. Dot by dot, the energy collected into a point above and between my palms, gradually collecting into a swirling sphere of blue magic.

This had been exactly what I'd set out to do, but I still couldn't believe it was actually happening. I was making a goddamn motherfucking Spirit Bomb out of feelings of acceptance and goodwill.

"Keep doing it!" I shouted, my voice nearly cracking from the tension and excitement. "You're ponies! You're all stronger together! Feel your hearts and minds harmonize, making your acceptance louder, until the whole universe can hear it!!"

Then there was an explosion of light from the right side of the crowd. The Elements of Harmony rose into the air, surrounded by an aura of rainbow light, their manes multicolored and flowing in the breeze they generated. Twilight's blazing eyes locked on mine with a grin, as if to ask 'Ready for this?'

A swirling rainbow beam shot up into the air, arced over the crowd, and bullseyed the orb above my hands.

It was like I'd been holding a heavy iron ball, and someone jumped off a nearby roof and landed on it with both feet. My arms rippled and my knees wobbled for a second. Rainbow light mingled with the blue light swirling above my hands. I looked up – it was already wider than my shoulders. It was on its way to being bigger than my body!

...But I needed just a little more, I realized. I needed this energy to transform Celestia inside and out, mega-sized breasts and all. I needed a much bigger bomb.

I heard Luna call out "Incoming! Get ready, Pascal!"

It was hard to see past the glowing ball of light above my head, but on the horizon to the north I could see a line of teal light rising up towards the sky. It rose and rose, and then slowed down... and then the tip of that line started to get brighter and brighter... closer and closer.

No way... My limbs were already shaking from the 'weight' of this thing. The Crystal Heart...?

An artillery strike of love magic hit the magical vortex above me, sending shockwaves of bright light radiating outward as the Crystal Empire's love and support mingled with the Elements' rainbow power and the acceptance of Canterlot's common ponies. Every nerve in my body was buzzing like the whole world was on 'vibrate.' My already weak arms felt numb. I repositioned my footing, then again as it felt like the entire thing was bearing down on me, like Atlas trying to hold up the heavens.

My shoe skidded, and my footing got out from under me. I fell backwards, my magical 'grip' on the spell slipping.

There was a gust of wind and a flash of magical light, and suddenly I was caught by many hands and arms. And more than a couple of large breasts pressing into my neck and back. I managed to keep my hands up, and I tilted my head around to see what had caught me.

Derpy was squeezing my left side, her arms looped under my shoulders. "You got this, Pasky!"

Beneath her was Trixie, grabbing onto my left thigh to keep me upright, grinning with manic delight.

To my right were Spitfire and Moondancer, steadying my right shoulder and hip to make sure I didn't fall at the last second. Gray and yellow feathers fluttered in the wind, shed from a quick takeoff. Moondancer's horn still glowed from a recently cast teleportation spell.

"Girls...!" I murmured, my voice nearly lost in the magical storm above us.

I felt a shift in the waves of pressure against my hands, calming... like the magic had stabilized somewhat. Its power thrummed audibly amidst the howling wind. I didn't notice until a few seconds later that my feet had left the ground – the five of us were floating!

Suspended above the stage by the aura of this gigantic ball of multicolored magic, we slowly spun away from facing the crowd to looking down at Celestia. From a top-down view, the princess of the sun was mostly just boobs and buttocks, with a head and shoulders in the middle staring up at us in amazement. I must've looked quite the sight, and to be honest I felt as heroic and powerful as I looked.

"IT'S READY, CELESTIA!" I yelled down at her. "THINK OF YOUR NEW BODY! I'M GONNA SEND THIS POWER DOWN, AND FROM THERE IT'S ALL UP TO YOU!"

The princess stared blankly up at me for a moment longer, swallowed, and then closed her eyes and nodded.

I couldn't hold it much longer anyway. I reared back, cupping both of my hands to throw the giant bomb of energy. With a mighty shout and monumental effort, I willed the orb to move as I flung forward. "GO!!!"

The giant orb of magic wasn't flung like a ball. Rather, I felt its pressure leave my hands and it floated down slowly, almost ominously. It was as big as Celestia's enhanced body and then some – large enough to engulf the center of the repurposed Summer Sun Celebration stage. Even Luna felt the need to fly a short distance away from the stage as it descended. Our levitation began to falter, but Moondancer's magic kept us aloft for a moment. Spitfire got under me so she could carry me on her back and scoop up Trixie and Moondancer under her arms. The Wonderbolt captain was a strong mare for sure. Derpy hovered away to make room as we all watched.

From above, we couldn't quite see the moment of contact between the orb and Celestia, but after a moment we could see her cartoonishly sexualized silhouette rise to the center of the orb, like she was being drawn into it. A dark shape surrounded by swirling blues and teals and rainbows, generating a whirlwind that whipped everyone around it.

Then it looked as if the blue energy sank into and absorbed the silhouette. Suddenly the vortex spun incredibly fast, becoming a swirling tornado that shot up high into the sky. There was a vacuum-like sound, then some loud crack, and then–

BOOOOOOM!

Spitfire struggled to keep us all aloft as a shockwave of wind and light blew everypony back. The tornado of magic shredded into individual streams of color like it had ripped apart under its own inertia, shooting out in all directions, slowly fading away.

Once the magic light-show had dimmed down, all that was left on the stage was a massive cloud of dust and mist, obscuring the entire site.

"T-Take us down," I groaned. My throat was hoarse with all the speech and shouting. Every muscle in my body ached on top of that.

But I had to know. We all had to know.

Spitfire awkwardly flapped down to the stage. She let Moondancer and Trixie go, and I stumbled off Spitfire's back. Derpy landed behind me and put my arm over her shoulder to steady me, which I was thankful for. Luna and Twilight landed on the stage nearby and used their magic to send gusts of wind forward to clear the cloud covering the stage as we all advanced forward.

We saw a silhouette laying on the ground, and Luna, Twilight, and I all rushed ahead, kneeling around her.

It was Celestia, alright. Still nude, and... very different.

She was... Well, she wasn't slim, like her 'public persona.' In fact, she was rather...

Don't say 'thicc.' Don't say 'thicc.' Don't say 'T H I C C.'

...bottom-heavy. Her breasts were merely the size of her head, but her hips flared out obscenely and her booty curved into a rather eye-catching shelf. Her thighs were plump and soft, too. Gone was the thin hourglass waist, and instead there was a healthy layer of padding on her belly. Instead of being some ultra-hyper-endowed sex toy, now she was a ten-foot-tall fertility goddess.

Was that a good thing? My heart sank a bit. Did the spell only half-work? Had we gotten rid of the boobs but couldn't fix the lower half? Or something?? Was this even permanent? "Twilight...!" I murmured.

She was way ahead of me, scanning Celestia with her magic. She gasped, and covered her mouth in shock. "No... No transformational decay... This is...!"

Celestia stirred, and we all leaned in close, Luna especially. "Sister...! Sister!"

She blinked a few times and looked up at us. "Everyone... Did it work...?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. "Um... Is this... the body you wanted...?"

The princess finally propped herself up on her elbow and looked over herself. Laying on her left side, the upper swell of her hips were almost level with her craning head. And yet, Celestia let out an incredulous gasp, and she smiled. "Aha...! Is... Is it...?"

Twilight was still shocked. "It's... permanent...! There's no... This is... This is your body now...!"

Celestia answered that by... suddenly grabbing my hand and bringing it up to her muzzle. She sniffed deeply of my palm, and I even felt the tip of her wet tongue graze it. I panicked slightly. Was her need for human stimulation still so high?! Yet the Princess was smiling even wider when she let my hand go. Tears were forming in her eyes. "Pascal...!" she breathed excitedly. "You're just... You're only... good...!"

I was confused for a second by that wording, but then my heart stopped when I got it.

"Good." Not "great." Not "addictive." Not "ecstasy I can't live without." Just "good."

Luna cast a sideways glance at me. "Was this form... your choosing, Pascal?"

That was the part I couldn't figure out. "No, I told her to–" Suddenly my brain caught up, and I stared wide-eyed at Celestia, then at her hips, then into Celestia's eyes again. "You chose this?!" This bottom-heavy breeder-hipped body was the one SHE envisioned for herself?!

Celestia's smile took on a hint of bashfulness. "I... I wanted to start over... Back to how my body was at the very beginning..." She looked down at her chest, which by the standards of pony head-to-boob-ratio was almost below-average. "...but with a change of focus..." She visibly blushed. "...a guilty pleasure..."

Like a flash, I remembered observing that even Celestia's slimmed-down body had still had some hips to it. After countless lifetimes of being a boob-doll, was having an eye-catching ass her secret fetish...???

Twilight leaned in and helped Celestia sit up, hugging her from behind. "If this is the body you wanted... then I'm so, so happy for you...!"

Then, only then, did it finally really hit me.

We had done it.

We had permanently changed Celestia's body. One that she wanted. Without eight-foot boobs. Without an overblown human fetish a hundred times over.

WE HAD BEATEN THE MASTERS.

I stood up. My legs were protesting, but I didn't care. I stepped towards the edge of the stage. By now the blown-away dust and mist was clearing enough in the setting sunlight that the other ponies outside it – Derpy, Trixie, Moondancer, Spitfire, and all the ponies gathered – could see Celestia now.

This is an important moment, I remember sort-of-thinking. Gotta make sure everyone knows what it means.

"Change doesn't happen in a vacuum," I told the crowd as their expressions of surprise and wonder grew. "The impetus for change has to come from within, but... it can't happen completely without the support and acceptance of friends, family, loved ones – the people who care about you and are invested in your future. Only then can what we want to be become... normal..."

The crowd began to applaud and cheer, I was fading fast. Derpy flew up behind me and caught me as my legs gave out from under me. She rested my head in her bosom, petting my scalp. "Please, please don't pass out on me again...!"

"Hokay," I murmured, swiftly getting loopy. Blackness crept in at the edges of my vision. "Buuuut I worked really hard today, so... can I have naptime?"

Derpy let out something between a scoff and a chuckle, blinking away tears that landed on my cheek. "O...Okay...!" She turned her head and shouted, "Twilight, help!"

My last waking thought was a promise to myself. No more crazy mana-draining spells for AT LEAST a week.

From Miracles of Metamagic: From Mind to Spellbook, published two years later:

"Thus was born 'Pascal's Ritual of Acceptance,' the first Named Spell in Equestrian magic to be invented by a human being.

As Pascal would later be quite thankful to learn, he would not be personally responsible for changing the bodies of everyone in the world who needed a new lease on life. Nor would the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart need to be used every single time. (Though in Princess Celestia's case it was arguably necessary, considering the extra enchantment from the First Humans.) Princess Twilight Sparkle had taken copious contemporaneous notes and gathered a phenomenal amount of data through instruments set up around the area, so every detail could be studied, copied, and eventually replicated by others. Today, Pascal's Ritual of Acceptance is making its way into advanced textbooks, and thousands of creatures have undergone the procedure.

Many elements were streamlined and simplified, but the basic elements of the Ritual remain intact from its first use: There is a Subject, the Subject's Community, and an Avatar that channels the Community's acceptance into the Subject. But the Avatar can be anyone close to the subject or even a medical care provider. The Community doesn't need to be half a city; in one case where the Subject was an extreme introvert, the Community was only seven creatures large – close friends and family – and the Ritual was still successful. The Community doesn't need to be mind-controlled into accepting the Subject's change; they just need to be convinced of the change's necessity for the Subject's health and wellbeing. (Though once again, in Celestia's case, that mind-control was arguably necessary.) Not to mention, the spell itself no longer needs so much excess energy that it disturbs local weather and rattles the walls.

However, as ponies and eventually other creatures went through the procedure, limitations were discovered as well.

The Subject's change can't be merely for vanity. For example, if a creature simply wants to be larger for fun, there are plenty of methods to enjoy that temporarily. But there's a natural difficulty in convincing one's Community that a couple extra inches of stallionhood is strictly necessary for one's long-term quality of life. (Though there are always exceptions. Pascal himself reportedly went through multiple enlargement processes, benefiting his quality of life in Equestria due to the vast difference in species.) The Ritual itself leans toward causes where the Subject's mental and social health is at stake, where the absence of the change results in continued suffering. Inversely, the Community can't force a change on a Subject that doesn't truly want it, as a backwoods community near Tall Tale discovered. 'The impetus for change has to come from within.'

There are also cases where the Ritual's chances of success sharply drop if the change requested doesn't address the true problem at hand. In a case where a pony wanted to be turned permanently into a griffon and convinced his Community of its necessity on false pretenses, the Ritual failed because the actual motivation was a desire to run away from sources of stress and start a new life abroad under a different face and name. When the Ritual failed and the true motivation was revealed, a more direct approach to addressing the problem presented itself and the Ritual was agreed to be no longer necessary. (Though it is theorized that if they had attempted the Ritual again with the honest pretense fully understood and agreed as the best course of action by all parties involved, it would have likely succeeded.)

Sadly, it is also possible for creatures to be 'spoilers' to the process. Toxic members in the Subject's Community, especially members of great importance like family members or local leadership, who refuse to offer their acceptance of the change drastically lower the Ritual's chances of success. In most cases, if the 'spoilers' cannot be convinced, then the Subject's best hopes are to cut ties with the toxic members of the Community, and convince the rest of the Ritual participants to do the same or at least disregard the toxic members' opinions. In the most extreme of cases, some Subjects first had to move to an entirely new location and build a new Community that would accept their change.

This is why there is a long counseling process before Pascal's Ritual of Acceptance is used. The Subject has to be confident and self-aware that the change they want is the change they need. The Avatar and the Community must also agree on its necessity, to the point where acceptance is readily given without reservation.

Many of these lessons, and most of the great strides of research into Pascal's Ritual of Acceptance, were learned in the Crystal Empire. Today, the Crystal Empire is the number one destination for creatures all around the world to research and seek permanent transformation. This is likely due to the natural empathy of the crystal ponies, the involvement of the Crystal Heart in most public Rituals of Acceptance, the early championing of the program by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and a growing network of specialized counselors and experienced Avatars based in the Empire."