Big Mac and Sugar Belle descended the stairs. Sugar moved ahead of them. "I'll meet you there." She raced out of the house in a streak.

Applejack and Granny met Big Mac with raised brows on the both of them. "What was that 'bout?" asked Applejack, inclining her head at the departed Sugar. "Figured she'd walk wit' ya."

Mac shook their head. "No idea, um, are we goin'?"

Granny nodded. "They stopped by, said they were ready. Jus' waiting fer us." She looked at Big Mac curiously, but what she wanted to know had no answer that'd come quickly. "If ya wanna go, we're ready."

"One thin'... Apple Bloom?"

Scrambling hooves came down behind him. Apple Bloom was there with a curious expression. "What's up?"

They turned to the little filly. "Gonna go do it fer real now."

"You..." She colored a bit. "Just did it for real."

Big Mac blinked dumbly at that retort. "Wait... Ya know?"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "You were either doin' that, or some ponies jus' took up wrestlin'! Maybe both?" She swatted at the large form of Big Mac. "Ah ain't dumb!"

"Right..." They inclined their head at the small pony. "Who taught you... Nevermind... Um.. Ah love ya."

"Love you too." She grabbed his leg firmly, then bounced back. "Now go! Be all the pony ya wanna be."

Applejack shook her head slowly. "We're gonna have a chat later..." Who taught that filly such... things? "But that sounds like a blessin' to me. Let's catch up with that mare ah yers."

As a family, minus their smallest, they headed out.

Sugar closed the door behind herself, standing in the castle. "Are you here?" she called out, hoof to the side of her mouth. "I want to talk."

Twilight peeked her head up from the basement. "Sugar Belle? I thought Big Mac would be the first here, but hello."

"Howdy." She accelerated into a trot towards Twilight. "Good to see you. You'll be doing the magic, right?"

"Me and a friend." She stepped out of the way for Starlight to emerge, the two side by side on the ground floor. "Permanent physical transformations are not easy. I'm glad I have the backup."

Starlight looked at Sugar suspiciously. "Are you getting cold hooves at the last second?"

"No!" She waved her hooves wildly. "No, promise. That ain't it... I just wanted to know if somethin' were possible or not. If it ain't, well, then it ain't. We can forget I ever brought it up."

Twilight sat down, sinking to her haunches. "Sounds serious. I won't tell any other pony, if it doesn't hurt any of them?"

"It doesn't." Sugar let out a slow breath. "I just wanted to know... Call it curiosity... But Big Mac's already hopping over that fence, as they like to put it... Is it possible for them to land closer to the middle?"

Starlight hiked a brow as high as it could go. "A thousand images just landed in my head and I have no idea which one is the one you're thinking of. Expand on that?"

Twilight waved to Star. "Going to have to agree with her. What do you mean, exactly?"

Sugar tapped her hooves together, fretting them nervously. "They aren't mad at their stallion parts, but they want to be a mare. I want them to have it all, if that's possible? Is it? I don't know." She slumped with a tired huff. "I really don't, so I figured I'd ask... You can tell me it's a dumb idea, or not..."

Twilight took a step back. "I... see?"

"No you don't." Starlight pushed past her firmly. "There are a few issues there. Shall we start with the physical and most mundane?"

Sugar rolled a hoof. "Please. If it just doesn't work, it doesn't work. Thank you for humoring me."

"Right." Starlight turned to Twilight. "Pony anatomical model, grownup model?"

Twilight colored, but summoned the chart with a flash of magic, showing a pony's innards as clearly as their pelt would normally be seen. The drawn model had wings and a horn, allowing all anatomy of a pony to be visible, including both male and female parts back where that was appropriate. "Ready."

Starlight slapped the chart right back between the legs, trailing along the male part displayed. "Behold, the stallion bit." She trailed along to where it connected to the rest of the body. "And the anchor, what keeps it in place. Now, you may notice, there's a lot going on here." She drew a circle with her hoof. "And that's for a good reason. This is where a mare is getting a lot done too. It's the same place. Why redesign when you can re-use things, right?"

"Right!" blurted out Twilight. "So a mare develops internally at the exact same place a stallion develops externally, using much of the same designs... Just inverted." She was colored darkly, but explaining things clinically seemed to be helping. "Which is why..." She trailed off, looking to Starlight hopefully.

Starlight applied a hoof to her face. "Which is why, a pony that had both would be hard to figure out. Each part involved needs to be going in two directions. Where does this--" She trailed the male tool. "Connect to this." She tapped at the mare part. "If this." She tapped harder at the mare part. "Isn't really made to anchor anything. With me?"

Twilight raised a hoof. "Um, before you ask, designing around that would take years."

"A pony's entire life, possibly. Figuring that out is about as hard as figuring out an entire new pony tribe." Starlight shrugged at the idea. "Worthy of prizes, but also way out of our reach. That's not turning into something that exists. That's making a new way of life." She willed the chart to flip into a folded, rolled, position. "And that would be the most boring reason this is a lot you're asking for."

Sugar tapped at her chin. "I... I'm trying to see. I understand the basics..." She looked over her shoulder, curling for a better look at her own parts. "If..." She envisioned her fantasy. "Hm..." She uncurled. "You can make a pony stronger."

Starlight perked an ear. "Sure?"

"You can make a pony taller."

Starlight nodded at Sugar. "Sure? Harder, but sure. Why?"

"Well... Instead of looking at it like a... trans... figuration? Is that the word?" The unicorns nodded and Sugar continued, "Alright, those. Instead of that, if you were enhancing a mare?" She rolled a hoof. "Would that... work?"

Starlight burst into laughter, getting confused looks from the others. "Sorry! Sorry..." She calmed herself, forcing herself with heaving breaths and aborted laughs. "Really... sorry... C'mon! That's... some enhancement..." She hiked a brow. "Still... Technically possible. Such spells exist for stallions feeling a bit... inadequate." She snorted into a little giggling fit, unable to restrain herself. "Aim that at a mare and it might work."

Twilight pulled the model back down with her magic, muttering to herself as she looked it over. "Grow the... Connect..." She kept mouthing undecipherably dense babble, seemingly stuck on the problem so much she forgot to blush about it. "Yes. That should be possible." But then the blush returned. "Is this something you want?"

Sugar backed away quickly. "No! I'm very happy just the way I am, thank you. But Big Mac is coming to change that, what they are... I want to make sure they go to the way that'll make them happiest."

"Onwards!" Starlight slapped the chart. "Since we're past the boring part, mostly. Let's get to the interesting bit." With a twinkle of her magic, the image shifted, showing strange channels running through the pony. "Welcome to the aetheric network of a pony! It's how magic gets around us. All tribes have one. All tribes have magic, it's just not always as obvious as unicorns." She pointed up at her horn.

Sugar looked up at her own horn, source of her magic. Unicorns had it pretty straight forward that way. "What magic do they have?"

Starlight hiked a brow. "Really? Stronger than a unicorn is likely to hope of, tougher too. Better with plants too. That's how Apples are so good at what they do. I've heard it theorized animals are in that bucket too, but not seen too much proof of that... Now... A stallion has simpler channels." Her magic shifted, forcing the model to display the male channels. "But they're big. Like a stallion, they're built for singular feats of strength. See Starswirl. When he decided to get something magic done, it got done, pow!" She clopped the floor. "Singular stallion focus."

Twilight brightened, her horn glowing as she shifted the graphic to display the female lines, intricate and winding all through the pony. "A female's network is far more intricate. This allows us greater dexterity, magically speaking, but less direct strength, on average. Fluttershy's magic, tribal or not, is a great example of this. Every part of her is involved, not focused. She lives her magic. It only focuses when she uses her staring ability, and she doesn't do that often. It leaves her tired. Female channels aren't as good at that kind of thing."

Sugar inclined her head. "Sorry, I don't mean to argue... But both of you have done some incredible feats of magic. You can do some pretty impressive direct blasts of magic."

Twilight coughed into a hoof. "We're speaking averages. Every pony is their own creature. A given unicorn may be stronger. a given earth pony may be weaker. On average, an earth pony is stronger than a unicorn. Individuals can throw this off. Starlight and I are hardly good examples of anything. We're... I don't mean to brag..." She shuffled awkwardly. "We're..."

"We're wizards, and good ones," finished Starlight with a nod. "Arcane strength and dexterity in a sexy package." She waggled her brows with a laugh. "What more could anypony ask for? But you're not here for that... And we're getting off topic." She turned to the display, willing the male lines back. "Male. Notice some of those lines..." She trailed downwards to the male tool, largely hidden, but with great lines running to it and the testes. "A lot of power runs right here, for a good reason. Foals are like a little bonfire. Mares can feed and keep that fire going. It's a big part of what they do. We can bathe it in the power it needs from all directions. That's why female networks are so everywhere."

Sugar inclined her head the other way. "Alright... So..." But it hit her. "Oh... Oh! Oh... Why do stallions need it focused like that?"

Starlight shook her head. "I just said. Foals are a little bonfire. Something has to give a spark, a nice big spark to get that fire going." She slapped a hoof at where the lines fed into the male biology. "And here it is. When a stallion's enjoying themself, that magic pools up and they do their best to start that fire. That's why they're so tired afterwards. Poor things."

Sugar colored with the image that conjured. "I see... So... A theoretical pony with both would..."

"Need to be sterile in one, or both." Starlight inclined her head with either option. "There's not a lot of ways you can flip between the two that radically, unless you were a changeling. But they break those rules. Good for them!"

Sugar tapped her hooves slowly. "Either a spread out network, ready to be a mother, or a focused network, ready to sire a foal... But not both..." She let out a breath. "I see... I really see now. Thank you, for taking the time."

Starlight patted the fellow unicorn on the shoulder. "Thank you for actually listening. It's nice giving an arcane sermon to an eager audience, really. Right, Twi?"

"Huh? Oh, yes!" She nodded swiftly. "That was very interesting. It brought up ideas I never considered before. One thing." She willed the image to change, showing the both-pony. "In theory, if this pony had the distributed network, they could still sire a child... But they would need an enchantment before they tried."

Starlight hiked a brow. "Wow... I mean... Not exactly wrong... But that's a big ask, to poke a unicorn to cast that considerable spell each time you tried."

A door opened above them. The Apples had arrived.

Author's Note

Sugar Belle had questions. Starlight had answers. Are these rude questions to have?

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