Author's Note

The Usual Disclaimer:

The following is a work of parody, and is protected as Fair Use under section 17 U.S. Code § 107 of US Copyright Law. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all affiliated characters are property of Hasbro Inc.

I own nothing. All characters, settings and other belong to their respective owners. This is purely a fan-work with no intent towards profit, slander or harm towards the characters, settings or other, or their respective owners. If the respective owners feel that this fan-work in any way, shape or form threatens or besmirches their property, please let me know so that it be can be removed asap.

Please support the show.

Hey all. So, I'm not stopping my other story, but I need something to recharge my mental batteries and unclog this writer's block, so a far more chaotic story featuring Dusk Shine, Spine and some other crack-fiction changes to the MLP story is on the way while I try to get the wheels greased on my more serious story.

Some of you may notice some more ... darker political themes in this series. That's intended. Part of it is because I need a place to purge some of the stuff I have to deal with at work, and as a member of a support group for single mothers. Part of it is because I get rather annoyed with the 'parasitic' folks who latch onto worthy causes and drain the momentum and enthusiasm the rest of us bring to those causes to empower themselves and use it for social climbing.

In short, I hate virtue signallers and the current trend of 'got mine, screw you' and 'I will scream at anything and everyone who disagrees with me'-styles of activism that's all the rage now. It's not over till we're all equal in the eyes of law and in society, male, female or that rainbow spectrum in-between, whether you're black, white, pink with yellow polkadots or from the rings of saturn.

And now, I have to go return this soap-box and get on with the story ...

Chapter 1: It begins with a (rain)boom.

Chapter One:

Fate is a fickle, fickle thing. What should be could become a never-was with just a blink of an eye, a cautioning word uttered at the wrong time would cause the very event the speaker sought to avoid, or even just the twisted amusement of the universe at large unfortunately falling upon an event at precisely the wrong moment.

These thoughts came to Celestia as she attempted to guide the young Pony, no more six or seven years old at most, before her away from accidentally blowing up herself and a significant chunk of Canterlot Castle, the tiny purple Unicorn wrapped in a staggering amount of chaotic magic. A surge, possibly the most powerful on record, and the fools she’s placed to oversee the students’ testing had either fled or had been transmogrified into inanimate objects because, once again, they had neglected to obey her and not put up defensive wards first before the tests.

If we make it through this nightmare without the child blowing up, I am going to have some words with the testers about not assuming every child coming in for the exam is some hopelessly inept noble’s brat who thinks merely being functional with their telekinesis makes them the next Starswirl the Bearded!

Thankfully, the young Unicorn was able to latch onto the princess as a calm point in her emotional storm, and with some gentle nudging, was able to reverse the effects of their magic on their parents, the newly hatched Dragon she had grown to adult-size, then the test overseers, and finally hersel …

With an pop so loud that it nearly deafened everypony in the room, and Celestia would swear that at that point in time, she could hear howling laughter from a certain damned statue in her garden, the raw, swirling maelstrom of magic vanished like a soap-bubble touching a needle, and the poor Pony dropped to the ground, still transformed. The poor thing simply couldn’t channel any magic anymore!

Celestia’s horn blazed with power as she tried to undo the transformation, her eyes widening as she attempted to unravel the magical alterations to no avail. Celestia was able to move the Sun and push the Moon around with her divine powers, yet somehow this tiny Pony’s own accidental, untrained flesh-crafting spells were as immoveable to the Solar Monarch as Canterlot mountain was to the humble ant.

“Twilight? Twilight!” Two voices, a Mare and Stallion behind her, shouted in alarm over the terrified blubbering of the officials and the exhausted crying of the newly-hatched Dragon as Celestia leaned down and gathered up the exhausted, smoking Pony to her, cradling the tiny form to her chest.

“Night Light, Twilight Velvet … I am so sorry.” Princess Celestia said softly as the frantic parents ignored the guards and the officials to rush towards her, and their child. “It appears you have lost a daughter … but gained a son.”

A hiccupping cry, and a spurt of green fire that would have set her tail alight had she not had an innate connection to the Sun itself made the Solar Monarch look down, to where the newborn dragon was reaching up to her, no, to Twilight Sparkle.

“And perhaps another daughter, at that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Much later, with both parents having several shots of brandy in them to calm their nerves and both the transmuted Twilight and the exhausted baby Dragon tucked into a cocoon of blankets at Princess Celestia’s side, a fire-proof pacifier stuffed into the Dragon’s face and a magic-negating horn-muffler slapped onto the slumbering filly, errr, colt, the Princess tried to help the frazzled parents understand exactly what had occurred to their beloved child.

That they accepted being turned into potted plants so easily made Celestia’s eyebrows rise up to the point they almost merged with her flowing tri-coloured mane, yet could still make such a fuss over their former daughter’s unwitting changes to herself was almost comical, but she had seen far stranger reactions to such bizarre events in her long life.

“But … can’t you try again? Undo the spell? I mean, you’re Princess Celestia, for Celestia’s sake!” Night Light hiccupped, holding his teary wife as the two Ponies stared down at their slumbering son, horn wrapped in bandages with a magic-nullifying cone-shaped muffler placed over the top of that, just in case of a second surge of uncontrollable magic.

“As I have already said several times, Night Light, I have tried. Whatever forces Twilight Sparkle invoked during her surge, she imbued herself, the egg and everything else in the room with raw, uncontrollable magic. Her own personal alterations were done with enough energy and emotional power that it would take me weeks of effort, directing all my considerable power at that, to unravelling the changes with any degree of safely to myself and those around me, let alone preventing my counter-spell from doing horrendous amounts of damage to this young … colt in the process. Potentially lethal amounts of damage, I might point out. And even then there is no guarantee that I could even permanently force her transmutation spell back on my own. From the way you have reacted thus far, I expect you are both well aware that spontaneous transmutations are notoriously difficult for any caster but the original one to reverse, yes?” The Solar Monarch explained again, keeping her face and tone of voice as calm and low-pitched as possible to avoid another round of hysterics from the couple. The last thing anyone needed was for the child to wake up to his parents wailing and sobbing in each other’s arms, let alone the small Dragon hatchling that had apparently fixated on Twilight as it’s mother … father … parental figure! “The fact that the time taken off to attempt to ‘cure’ Twilight would also interfere with running this country, let alone raising and lowering the Sun and Moon, what you are asking for is simply impossible right now! Until Twilight herself … until he is capable of undoing the spell, which will take many years of research and self-searching on his behalf before we can safely begin any procedure to return Twilight to his original gender, we will simply have to help this young colt come to terms with this fickle twist of fate.”

‘Self-searching?” Night Light asked softly, a tormented expression on his face.

“The last time I saw such a powerful flesh-crafting spell, the caster was literally funnelling their own emotions into the spell, along with an alien source of magic to supplement their own. It took me weeks to understand the nature of the spell this individual had cast upon their own body, and that was with the caster long absent due to the side-effects of the transformation. I suspect that, in her panic, young Twilight focused on a male relative or figure of great importance in her life, and with all the chaos and confusion and her young, untrained mind, the power of her magic warped her body to more closely resemble her ‘champion’ in an attempt to feel more in-control of the situation.” Feeling the prick of guilt and ancient memories as she put forth her theory, the Solar Monarch couldn’t help but smile softly as the two children in the room mumbled together and gripped each other tighter in their cocoon of blankets. “In my case, sadly, the caster turned themself into a form similar to what they believed was the source of their torments … hence why I am curious as to why such a young filly may subconsciously want to become a colt? Anything you can think of may help in a possible counter-spell …”

“Twi-Twiley has always said she loved stories about Starswirl the Bearded. And she adores her older brother.” Twilight Velvet sniffled, dabbing at her eyes in a futile effort with a hankerchief that was already sopping wet with tears. “She wuh-once said she wished she was a colt, so she could fuh-follow him into the military after she learned the Royal Guards stationed at Canterlot Castle are all Stallions by tradition. She was devastated when Shining left for training at the Academy.”

“Heh … do you remember when she tried to cut her hair so she’d look more like a boy and tried to fill in an application form at the recruiter’s, sweetie?” The stallion, Night Light, chuckled softly, looking with fond, sad eyes at his child. “Poor thing ended up nearly shaving her head bald, and we had to buy a wig for her till her mane grew back in.”

Princess Celestia kept the parents talking, hoping to glean clues, but after a half-hour of what would otherwise be adorable stories of the new colt’s childhood, all she had learned was that Twilight Sparkle adored his older brother, worshipped Starswirl the Bearded, and the young Unicorn was a devout bibliophile and had an obsession with learning that uncomfortably reminded Celestia of Starswirl himself … and his eventual fate.

And yet, those are traits that might come in handy for reversing her, or rather, his condition. Celestia thought to herself as she picked up the two children, who were still clinging to one another in their blankets, and smiled sadly down at them. “Well, it is a start, at least. However … there are two problems we may face.”

“Your Majesty?” The parents asked together, looking at her with looks of hope and concern.

“First of all, I will have to keep Twilight Sparkle close to me, to ensure his next surge can be controlled, and that he will not cause himself or those around him further harm.” The Solar Monarch reached down and tickled the young Colt’s nose with a long white finger, her smile warming into one of genuine pleasure as the little Unicorn nuzzled his new ‘sister’ in his sleep. “The second is that, for the sake of your family’s safety, we’re going to have to change some things down at the Hall of Records.”

“Why? What records?” Twilight Velvet spluttered, leaning heavily into the shoulder of her husband, whose face had gone pale.

“Twilight Sparkle is an amazingly potent Unicorn, whose magic and … gifts … will only grow with time, maturity and training. As such, he will become an important force within the politics of Canterlot, whether he wishes to be or not, especially now that he has so … dramatically revealed himself.” The Alicorn spoke softly to avoid waking the children, but with an intensity that kept the grieving parents quiet. “The repercussions of his magic surge are no-doubt already doing the rounds of the servants and teachers of the School for Gifted Unicorns, if not the Nobles and public media moguls, and I would expect they will hear of this young prodigy within the hour, if not sooner.Any hope for anonymity, for a normal, quiet life are lost the moment this disaster becomes publicly known.”

“In short, to protect Twilight Sparkle from those who would attempt to abuse his gifts for personal gain, he must disappear.” The Solar Monarch rose and gently gave the bundled children back to the parents, who looked down at them with agonized expressions. “We shall inform the Ponies tomorrow that Twilight Sparkle suffered a tragic accident and has been transferred to a sheltered location to recover and come to terms with her injuries. Another prospective student and distant kin of the poor child, Dusk Shine, has been chosen as my personal student in the meanwhile.”

“Can she … can he come home to visit?” Night Light whispered, fingers softly touching the hair of his child as if he was terrified the ‘new colt’ would shatter under his touch.

“That’s is the most important reason for this subterfuge, why I will arrange with the Royal Archivist to insert ‘Dusk Shine’ into your family tree.As his closest family-members within Canterlot, spending his free-time with you would only be natural, as will the displays of familiarity and love from your family towards this young Colt. Enough of a lie to protect you all, with enough truth to avoid attention from those seeking a lie.” Celestia explained, taking a step back to allow the parents to absorb her offer, and to grieve. “Perhaps, with time, Dusk Shine will be able to reverse his transformation and return to being Twilight Sparkle, and all of this shadow-play, this charade, can be discarded. But until then …”

“You want to keep our child with you as much as possible.” Night Light finished for her, looking up from the children to stare, hard, at Celestia. “I don’t like this. I will be upfront with you, Princess, and say I don’t like this one bit. This should never have happened, the Ponies overseeing the test should have had countermeasures installed, some sort of dampening field in-case of a surge. They’re supposed to be the best of the best! And now you want to take our child away from us!”

“Yes, they are. And believe me, both of you, I will be delivering the news of their dismissal from my services personally, and each of them will be barred from teaching magic for the rest of their natural lives as soon as I ensure you and your family are … handled. A poor choice of words, but apt. I cannot allow Twilight Sparkle to be left exposed for any faction or individual with a hunger for power to snatch up and mould her young mind into a willing tool of destruction, nor can I abandon running this nation to care for a single Pony, no matter how gifted. This is the best I can do for now, although it pains me to admit it, and gives you the opportunity to remain in Twilight’s life as much as possible, while still protecting both her and the rest of your family from potential threats.”

“If nothing else, I would have had to have taken Twilight under my wing, both figuratively and literally, once she hatched the Dragon’s Egg. That is … a singularly miraculous thing this young prodigy has accomplished, something I had feared would never be possible by mortals, and given that the young Dragon has apparently imprinted on Twilight … errr, Dusk Shine as her ‘mother’, it is safer for the city and all the Ponies within that the two remain by my side for at least a little while.”

“Dare I ask why, your majesty?” Night Light asked, holding his new ‘son’ tenderly as Twilight Velvet stroked the child’s hair.

“Young Dragons are much like young Ponies, in that their natural gifts tend to flare without warning.” The Princess explained, smiling fondly at the family. “And one of the perks of being the Princess of the Sun? I have Equestria’s only fire-proof Castle.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m a colt?” Twilight Sparkle, no, Dusk Shine mumbled, looking at his hands like he was expecting them to be different, then in the adorably blunt way of all young children, stood up and pulled the front of his pants away from his body to check, earning a throaty chuckle from his father and an exasperated groan from his mother. “Momma, Da, I’ve got a dangle! I’ve got a dangle!”

“That’s nice, sweetie, but please put it away, the Princess is right there!” Twilight Velvet said with considerable heat, sending her husband into a full-blown fit of laughter and causing her ‘new’ son to let go of his elastic waistband in a hurry, the colt jumping with a yelp as the band snapped back against his skin.

Princess Celestia, for her part, simply leaned back against the wall and laughed, covering her mouth with an elegant hand.

How long has it been since I saw anything so … so innocent? Night Light and Twilight Velvet are more focused on their child, as all parents should be, and Twili … Dusk Shine is a treasure. As is the new hatchling ...

Speaking of which, the Princess’s eyes wandered the room to where the newborn as currently wrapped up in both her and Dusk Shine’s blankets, gnawing happily on a opal, the soft gem easily crumbling under the Drake’s ‘baby teeth’. A lesson had been learned in the process by all parties: The young Dragon would only tolerate being separated from Dusk Shine’s side if offered a tasty, and expensive, gem as a bribe, and even then, if removed from Dusk for too long, or unable to see her ‘parent’, the Drake would immediately burst into tears and start to wail in a fashion that was both window- and heart-breakingly sad to witness.

That … is going to be another issue. Nobody ever thought that egg would be able to hatch, let alone having the Dragon inside fixate on a Pony not yet ten years old! We had always planned on a seasoned Magus or stalwart Guard-Captain, if anypony actually could best the curse on the egg, to oversee the young Dragon’s growth. It seems I will have to take a personal interest in both young Dusk Shine and this Drake.

It would take … time. A lot of time to explain to Dusk Shine exactly what had happened. And even longer, the Princess suspected, to make the young Pony understand that he would have to keep his true nature a secret. Hopefully, both Dusk Shine and the newborn Drake would be sufficiently protected with the efforts Celestia would expend on their behalf, but there was always the risk …

And in ten years, that will happen. Both Sunset and Dusk would have been distressingly young for the task, but I had hoped my next Apprentice would be able to bear the burden. Sadly, Sunset Shimmer is proving to be no better than the noble scions I’ve had to take on as my ‘personal student’ over the years to placate the Nobility … so it appears I must gamble that this innocent little colt can take on the mantle I had been grooming Sunset for instead.

It was not a comforting thought, although the Princess did feel a flicker of hope when she saw how tenderly the young Colt picked up the newborn Drake, and how Dusk had immediately called her his ‘sister’ without needing to be prompted or corrected by his parents. Not a pet, or a creature, a monster or a thing. A sister. Family, even though they were so very, very different.

Something that young Sunset Shimmer would never do, could never do.

And perhaps, for once, the odds are beginning to stack in my favour.