The white was so bright it was blinding to everypony in the square, causing them all to scrunch their eyes closed from how intense it was. Because nopony present could see, they didn't witness what followed after, as a wave of magic suddenly spread, washing over the ponies closest to the point of origin.

Sturdy Birch. Bottom Bet. Pinkie Pie. Cheese Sandwich. Rainbow Dash. Soarin. Midnight Blaze. Twilight Sparkle. Sunny Cheeks. Shady Mane. Applejack. Thunderlane. Rarity. Blueblood. Fluttershy. Macintosh.

A scream of wind filled everypony's ears and blew at their manes, the stallions instinctively pressed against their mares, trying to protect them while Sturdy pulled Bet into an embrace. Then there was a feeling like a heavy splash of water and the sheer discomfort of pins and needles spreading over their bodies as the strange magic worked a mysterious effect.

The Stallions and Mares of Harmony embraced each other, wanting to protect one another while also seeking comfort in their special somepony beside them, holding each other so tight as though they would melt into each other. Stalwart guts merged with constant support. A strange pressure bringing them together. Their bond bridging their feelings into one.

Finally, the bright whiteness dimmed, the cry of the wind settled, and the pins n' needles faded with blessed relief, and the members of the Council of Friendship all groaned and felt strange.

Midnight became aware that he was lying with his left cheek to the ground. The evening air tickled his ear. Groaning, he raised his head a little, dazed and his vision blurry. He heard his wife's moans to his immediate left, which somewhat relieved him. But despite his addled state of mind, Midnight quickly realized, something was off. He felt... lopsided. He could only feel the right side of his body. His right foreleg, his right shoulder, his right hind leg, his right wing... while his tail felt strangely fidgety, as though he couldn't fully control it.

But as weird as that felt, he had to be sure his Twily and their friends were alright.

As his vision began to clear up, Midnight looked to where he'd seen Sunny Cheeks and Shady Mane, but to his surprise, he saw Princess Celestia, sprawled upon the ground. Her "Sunny Cheeks" disguise was gone! Perhaps dispelled by whatever that blinding white light had been, for clearly it had been magical in nature, and for some reason Celestia had been alarmed by whatever had caused it.

Grunting, Midnight moved to stand himself up... but found it strangely difficult to do so as he didn't feel his left legs, and his right legs still felt a little tingly. Not only that, his body, despite only feeling half of it, felt somewhat heavier than he was used to. Even so, he somehow managed to stand up but the bizarre lopsidedness of feeling only his right side persisted.

"M-Midnight... what's going on...?" Midnight heard Twilight's voice again.

Right next to him.

Midnight turned his head left to look towards his wife.. and was startled by how he nearly bumped his face into hers, startling her too.

"Wh- Midnight?!" Twilight looked confused. "Why are you standing so close to me?"

"Well, how else am I able to do this?" Midnight replied by giving his Twily a nuzzle, and she warmly reciprocated, the both of them closing their eyes, enjoying the closeness... when they each raised a foreleg to touch their special somepo-

"OOF!/OUCH!"

Midnight and Twilight found themselves both on the ground, apparently from falling forward. The both of them a tad looped, they each pressed a foreleg to stand themselves upright again though it was shaky, almost like a baby foal struggling to stand for the first time.

"How did that happen?" Twilight wondered aloud.

"Uh... Twilight?" The subtle alarm in her husband's voice made Twilight stiffen with suspense.

She looked over to him and saw him looking at her right shoulder, and she looked down... only to find she had no right shoulder. There, between them was a frame of a pony larger than either of them, a conjoining marked by the left half of that frame being Twilight's lavender coat and the right half Midnight's sapphire. The lavender half retained Twilight's slender curves while the sapphire half vaunted Midnight's broad musculature. The base between the left lavender shoulder and the right sapphire shoulder sprouted two heads, Twilight's and Midnight's, and the forelegs matched the corresponding side.

The Prince and Princess of Friendship stared in abject disbelief before their eyes met and they saw their mutual horrified realization of what had just happened! But before either of them could say anything...

"Ugghhhh, did... did anypony catch the license plate on that wagon" "What happened? I-I feel...strange." "Urp! Wha- Ah don' remember eatin' hay fries!" "Goodness, whatever was that light?" "Never mind that light... look at us!!!"

The rest of the Council of Friendship were beginning to notice they had all become closer with their romantic partners than they had ever wanted to be! Midnight and Twilight, Applejack and Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash and Soarin, Pinkie and Cheese, Blueblood and Rarity, and Macintosh and Fluttershy, they were now all conjoined into shared bodies but had their separate heads!

It was as if half of their own individual bodies had vanished and their respective halves had conjoined with their special somepony's and the difference split them right down the middle! Even stranger were how some of the pairs' combined bodies had changed somewhat.

Cheese was tall and skinny, but combined with Pinkie, their conjoined body was tall and plush!

Blueblood and Macintosh were both larger than their mares, but Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to have enlarged just enough to be more-or-less equal with their respective stallions, forming conjoined bodies that were larger than Rarity and Fluttershy normally were yet their halves retained their feminine traits.

Furthermore, it seemed Fluttershy had retained both of her wings while conjoined with Macintosh, and so had Thunderlane, who was conjoined with Applejack.

Rainbow Dash was only a little smaller than Soarin, so there was no major change to her by her conjoining with Soarin though they each retained their own wing on their respective side of the conjoined body, which had barely grown in size.

Remembering what had happened earlier, Midnight and Twilight looked towards where they'd seen the object had broken and they saw Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet had likewise been paired into a two-headed pony too, with Bottom Bet's half of the body relatively equal in size with Sturdy Birch's side of their conjoined form... and so had Princess Celestia and Prince Sombra, their Sunny Cheeks and Shady Mane disguises gone.

Midnight hadn't noticed before, because he'd only seen Celestia. But now that she and Sombra were standing, their conjoined body was visible for all to see!

Alarm. Shock. Confusion. Disbelief. A multitude of emotional entanglement began to rile up the paired ponies who were now each sharing a body, but then they were reminded they weren't alone.

"AAAAUUGHHH!!!" "What happened to them?!" "Is that Princess Celestia and Prince Sombra?!?" "THE HORROR! The horror...!!!"

Some heads bumped (due to an inconvenient condition of personal space) but the paired ponies soon saw the party attendees were gaping at them in abject shock, fear, confusion and shortly after, ponies (minus Party Favor, who'd fainted at the sight of his sister put together with her coltfriend, Cheese Sandwich) began screaming and running around in panic. The refreshment table got overturned, sending the spread all over the ground, the punch bowl spilling, the chips literally flew, the cupcakes went SPLUT in the dirt. A few ponies bumped into or crashed into some of the decorations, causing balloons to float away and streamers to fall.

Panicked screams and alarmed confusion was filling the evening air, and as the spooked ponies were running about, starting to bump into and hurt each other, Celestia furrowed her brows.

"Be ...STILL."

A gentle radiant magical aura of sunshine yellow spread throughout the square, immediately immobilizing every panicking pony on the spot, and the screams and shouts and cries stopped right then and there, and they were all befallen with a sudden silence.

The conjoined members of Council of Friendship, as well as the conjoined Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet turned their eyes to Celestia, and saw Sombra was gaping at his wife with a similar stupefied look as Celestia spoke in a calm yet firm tone for all to hear:

"Everypony, please, calm down. I understand this situation is... disturbing, to say the least. Given this unexpected turn, I suggest everypony goes home and get some rest. The Council of Friendship, my husband and I will... get to the bottom of this and hopefully, very soon, we'll have it resolved and ourselves back to normal."

Then, with another flash of magic, all the conjoined ponies, along with the broken pieces of whatever Sturdy and Bet had been supposed to deliver, vanished while the other ponies all kerplopped to the ground, released from Celestia's hold.

Multiple FLASHES brought the conjoined ponies into the grand hall of the Castle of Friendship, and almost immediately confused and awkward chatter began.

"How did this happen?!" "Ow, Soarin, be careful!" "Wow, Pinkie! Our butt feels so pudgy!" "And we're so tall too, Cheesy!" "Of all things that could have occurred tonight, this is the worst. Possible! THING!!" "Ouch, Rarity, we don't have the fainting couch!" "Oh my...!" "Er- Jus'... take it easy, `Shy." "Thunder, would'ja stop flappin' yer wings? Yer ticklin' me!" "Sorry, AJ, this... oh Sweet Mother of Celestia, this is so weird!"

Midnight and Twilight stood next to Celestia and Sombra, with Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet sitting nervously beside them, and finally, Twilight asked, "Celestia, wha... I don't even know what to ask-"

"I do," Midnight took a deep breath and yelled, "WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Midnight's shout echoed throughout the grand hall, all ears catching it and then all eyes turned to Celestia, and she noticed Sombra looking at her with a similar look demanding answers. Celestia took a breath and then said, "I'm not entirely certain myself, so let's ask them..."

They followed her gaze to the conjoined Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet, both of whom lowered their heads and gulped nervously at the sight of these conjoined ponies, alicorn royals among them, giving them different kinds of looks. A lot of them stink eyes.

"After all," Celestia levitated the pieces of the broken object up for all to see, "They had this with them, the apparent cause of our current predicament."

Sturdy and Bet shared an uncertain look before Sturdy sighed... and struggled to stand his and Bet's conjoined body, until Bet did his half of the work and they faced the music.

"My name is Sturdy Birch, and this is my coltfriend, Bottom Bet," Sturdy began. "We were... meant to deliver that object there to someone who was gonna pay us. It was gonna be a fresh start for ourselves, a chance to begin anew."

"We were given a saddlebag with something in it," Bottom Bet spoke up, "and instructed to walk to Ponyville to meet someone here. We did, and that someone gave us tickets for an airship that was scheduled to depart tonight. We were meant to deliver the package to wherever the airship was going and then we'd have gotten our pay and that would have been the end of it."

"What was this package you were supposed to deliver and who hired you to do it?" asked Midnight.

"We don't what the package is," Sturdy replied, "We were told not to open it and to avoid unwanted attention... but the pony who hired us. He was an earth pony, greasy-looking mane, wore an orange polka-dot ascot, had a golden skull with jeweled eyes for a cutie-mark."

The friends all gasped to hear that, and Rainbow Dash started to blurt, "Hold on, golden skull, polka-dot ascot?! That sounds like Doctor-"

*ZIP*

"MMPH?! Mmnn!" Her lips magically zipped, Rainbow Dash threw an annoyed glare at Midnight and Twilight, the latter gesturing Sturdy and Bet to continue.

"We were on our way to the Ponyville Airfield when we walked into that... party," Bet shrugged his shoulder (making up the left side of his and Sturdy's conjoined body), "and we... well, we panicked, since we were supposed to keep a low profile and needed to get to our flight. We're so sorry! We had no idea something like this would ever happen..."

"Well, it is Ponyville," deadpanned Blueblood, only to get a soft shush from his wife and a slight boop to the nose with her hoof.

"Wait a minute, Celestia," Midnight looked over to her and Sombra and he pointed out, "Just before this... situation happened, before that object broke, you shouted something, like something had alarmed you."

"Yes, but we should move this to the map room," Celestia suggested.

Easier said than done, as the conjoined ponies only control their own halves of their combined bodies. It sort of reminded some of them, especially Applejack and Macintosh, of Seven-Legged Races. Only, this wasn't two ponies each with one of their legs tied together, it was two ponies with their bodies merged into a conjoined two-headed form that still had four legs overall. It was very much like learning how to walk all over again.

There were baby-steps, more than once a pair tripped and fell, but despite the little bickerings, a few snickers from the sheer ridiculousness in some points, the conjoined ponies all managed to wobbly make their ways into the map room... only to find they had another problem.

"Ugh, twelve thrones, all too small for each of our combined butts," Soarin was the one to say it, and several groans and sighs let him know they agreed.

But then, the thrones all seemed to give off a strange glow! To everypony's bewilderment, the thrones all inched together in pairs, the crystal armrests flowing together before receding... and the seats of the paired thrones melding together as well as the backs of the thrones, until finally, there were six thrones now (not counting Spike's), and so the seats were larger and the backs put together while displaying the marks of the conjoined ponies meant to sit in them.

Everypony was dumbfounded, until Sombra asked, "Has... anything like that ever happened before?"

"Never!" Twilight responded as she and Midnight shared a confused look.
"The last odd thing the thrones or the map did... was when they presented me and the other knights with these crystals that were absorbed into our bodies," Midnight confirmed. "Those crystals turned out to be our knightly swords. But after we got them and they became a part of us, the thrones and map never did anything else. But this... it's almost as though they were reacting to us and changed to make us comfortable or something."

"Can we please just take it for what it is and get off our hooves?" Rarity grumbled, "Mine are starting to ache, I'm... I'm not used to being this..."

"Er- Yes, let's... get comfortable," Twilight agreed.

While the conjoined members of the Council of Friendship took their seats, Twilight lit up her horn and conjured some extra-sized comfortable chairs for Celestia & Sombra, and Sturdy Birch & Bottom Bet. Since the thrones had melded together for them, there was a little more space between them, allowing the other two pairs to join them at the table. Once they were all comfortable (as much as they could be) Celestia cleared her throat as she levitated the broken pieces of the object onto the table top.

She arranged them just so to more-or-less form the correct shape and the image on it:

Midnight and Twilight both eyed it curiously. The object itself appeared to be a flat disc of petrified wood, while the symbol seemed vaguely familiar to them.

"For those of you who don't know this symbol," Celestia began, "It is the cutie-mark of an accomplished unicorn witch, long dead. Her name was Hecate."

"Hecate? I'm certain I've read that name somewhere before," Twilight commented.

"I know of her, she was an accomplished enchantress," Midnight spoke, "using her knowledge of magic to craft magical tools and objects. She was actually my biggest inspiration when I studied Enchantment. Except... for all I know about her, there's so much I feel that I don't."

"Hecate preferred it that way," Celestia explained, "She used her knowledge of magic to develop and progress the advancements of her fields of expertise. She was also quite a trickster in her own right, making magical objects that would induce a silly effect on whoever came across them. I remember she tried experimenting with Poison Joke to replicate its effects, but I don't know if she ever succeeded.

"She kept to herself, but truly, when it came to her magical prowess and skill, she was second only to Star Swirl the Bearded."

"So then... Hecate is responsible for this object that bears her cutie-mark?" gathered Sombra. "If that's the case, what was its purpose? It breaks and for some reason it causes all of us to be... merged like this?"

"Hecate kept some of her secrets close to the vest, even from me," Celestia answered, "and she protected some of her secrets by using traps that, when triggered, would cast some kind of spell upon those who'd dared attempt to take from her what she wasn't willing to share. That's not to say Hecate was greedy... only that she knew some of her work could be dangerous if misused by those who didn't understand it.

"What's happened to us?" Celestia gestured to her and her husband's conjoined body and then to everyone else, "This is exactly the sort of thing Hecate would do to protect her secrets. Thankfully, her spells weren't permanent, but..."

Celestia hesitated to say more until Sombra raised a brow and said, "Tia..."

I hate it when he takes that tone... Celestia thought before sighing and she said, "Hecate wasn't just about magic, but also learning. Learning about one's self and how to be... better or clever. She designed some of her magicks to dispel when those under their effects learned something, about themselves, their situations, about others, or even an important lesson about life in general.

"Hecate had this odd way of thinking, often talking about choices, and how every choice we make is a crossroads. Where one choice can lead us to something good, another can lead us to something bad, and so on."

"Wait, Auntie..." Blueblood gulped, "You... you're not saying that... you can't-"

"Dispel this magic and split us all back into our separate selves?" Celestia dismally shook her head no. "I'm afraid not, nephew."

Everypony started to worry and get nervous, when Pinkie said, "What's the big deal? I think this is actually pretty awesome!"

"Awesome?!" Rainbow echoed indignantly, "Pinkie, how, in Stormbreaker's Thundering Skies, is this awesome?!"

"Yeah, Pinks, I gotta agree with Dash," Soarin felt really uncomfortable, having to share his personal space, and his body, even with his mare. "We can't live like this, stuck together this way!"

"Oh, Soarin, din'cha hear the princess?" Cheese waved off Soarin's concern, "She said this magic is only temporary until we figure something out. Some... big lesson or whatever. We do that, and before we know it we'll be our own individual selves again, easy-cheesy!"

Not everypony had the same optimism as the party ponies, as Rarity asked with hopeful desperation, "Princess Celestia, you really can't use some kind of counter-spell to undo this?"

"I am sorry, Rarity, but no," Celestia shook her head. "Ordinarily I could do just that, but Hecate was able to work such intricate and detailed magic that even what she willingly shared was tricky to understand. Other unicorn mages who tried to undo her spells without enough knowledge of them were subject to more magical effects that worked against them. Like when you cut corners it only leads to more corners and adds to the problem instead of bypassing it."

"Maybe this thing could tell us more," Thunderlane pointed with his (left) forehoof to the broken relic on the table. "If we put it back together, I mean."

"Easier said than done," Blueblood sighed, recalling his own magical studies. "Ordinarily, a simple repair charm could fix a broken object, except this is a magical relic that is centuries old. Not something mundane like a shattered dinner plate or a busted clock."

"Blueblood raises a valid point," Twilight sighed wearily. "When a magical relic is broken like this, it's too risky to use magic to fix it unless you have an adequate understanding of the relic's power and the magic that composes it. Directly using a spell for repairs on a broken relic without knowing what you're doing could cause unforeseen side-effects."
"Twilight is right, the risk is too great," nodded Midnight. "The only options we have... is either repair the relic by hoof and hope that will be enough to restore it so we can figure out more... or we do whatever it is we apparently have to do in order to end the magic's effect, allowing us to separate back into our individual selves."

"So, fer th' time bein'... wer' all stuck like this," Applejack gathered.

"I'm afraid so, everypony," Celestia sighed woefully and everypony was already sharing troubled looks of dismay and worry and confusion. "How you all handle this is your choice, but remember. This condition is temporary, so until it ends... we'll all just have to make the best of it."

"If... nopony wants to go home tonight," Twilight offered, "you're all welcome to stay here for as long as you need. There's plenty of suites and guestrooms."

"Twilight, we- We can't just... hide ourselves away in your castle," Rarity protested despite knowing the bizarreness of their situation, "We all have our lives and our jobs to see to! I'm about to start my next line of Olympia Couture!"
"And I'm about to start the planning stages for my next airship project," added Blueblood. "New Heights has been commissioned for a new luxury liner!"
"I've got flying drills to do!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
"I'm needed at the weather office tomorrow!" Soarin brought up.

"Oh my, Mackie!" Fluttershy looked at her husband, "The twins! We left them with Faerie Tail and we're already late!"

"Eeyup," Macintosh nodded and the conjoined parents wobbly stood up. "Shy an' Ah, wer' gonna head over t' pick up our foals, get some stuff from our house, then we'll be right back."

"Here," Midnight lit up his horn and conjured a comfortable cloak, draping it over Macintosh and Fluttershy's back. "If you meet anyone, you can say you both were feeling chilly so you're sharing this cloak."

"Eeyup," Mac agreed with a thankful look.
"That's very considerate of you, Midnight," Fluttershy nodded, "We'll be back soon, everypony."

They all watched as Macintosh and Fluttershy shakily walked out of the Map Room, but appeared to be getting the hang of walking with their combined body right before they disappeared out the door.

"So, in the meantime..." All eyes turned to Midnight as he pressed his hoof onto his forehead, "We're all just... gonna have to make the best of it. If you all have to go out and do stuff, that's up to you. But remember, our neighbors are already aware of what's happened to us, and it won't be long before the rest of Ponyville knows.

"You can hide yourselves, or you can just go about your lives and businesses and let everypony see you as you are. Just assure anypony who asks that this condition is not contagious or something, and that it's temporary. Brace yourselves for a lot of stares, awkward situations, it's... it's gonna be an experience, everypony."

"Um..." Eyes turned to Sturdy Birch and Bottom Bet, who were sitting in a chair that was backed away from the Map, the two of them looking nervous and uncertain. "What should we...?"

"You guys are staying here," Midnight said firmly. "First off, because you're both afflicted with this magical condition, same as us, which is technically your guys' fault. Second, to answer questions about the individuals you were doing business with. We understand that you didn't mean for this to happen, but it is what it is."

"We understand, Your Majesties..." Sturdy and Bet lowered their heads, feeling awful when-

*Kershplatter*

All eyes turned back to the doorway and they saw Starlight and Sunburst, with Spike standing between them, having apparently been holding a plate with snacks on it. But he'd dropped it as he, Starlight and Sunburst gawked in utter stupefied shock at the map room full of two-headed ponies.

"Uh- Starlight? Sunburst, Spike!" Twilight flummoxed trying to find the right words-

"AAAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" "WHAT THE HELL?!" "I'm going to bed..."

As the two unicorns and young drake left, the Council of Friendship shared a bemused look of confusion, when Celestia said, "Well... that's a start."

Author's Note

For the record, the conjoined ponies make up one half of their combined bodies, as in one pony is the right side and the other is the left side, R-L. To clarify who is what, they are:

R - L
Midnight & Twilight
Celestia & Sombra
Applejack & Thunderlane
Big Mac & Fluttershy
Soarin & Rainbow Dash
Rarity & Blueblood
Cheese Sandwich & Pinkie Pie
Sturdy Birch & Bottom Bet