Author's Note

Apologies for how this chapter skips through his life as a foal, but I would like to get to the real story before I write 20+ chapters of boring material that is just a filler.

3: The unexpected occurs

As True Heart continues his training, he visits Twilight and spends time with her as Cadance and Shining Armor sneak away without Twilight noticing. When he visits one day, a few years later, Cadance asks him to take Twilight somewhere in town for a few hours. Once Twilight exits the house and waits at the corner for him with the spellbook he gave her in front of her still, he smiles and then turns back to see Shining Armor kissing her cheek and says in a low tone so Twilight can't overhear, "For whatever happens between you two lovebirds, I wish not to know, but do Equestria a favor and take precautions for there will certainly be quite an uproar should any unexpected accidents take root and be discovered later."

Turning to see Shining Armor's reaction, she sees that his head is beet red with eyes shrunk down to pinpricks and a completely flabbergasted look upon his face. Unable to contain her laughter, she gives the door a push to close it and falls to the floor laughing wildly, saying, "The look on your face is priceless!"

Before the door closes, Shining Armor blurts out, "But we haven't gotten that far yet!" but the door closes and cuts off the last few words, causing Cadance to laugh even harder.

On one bright summer day, during another day off, he spots a pegasus filly about his age with a large pair of red-rimmed glasses and having a greyscale mane and tail looking rather upset. Turning to Twilight, he says, "Hold on a moment, Twilight, there's somepony that might need my help."

Stopping with a sigh and sitting on her flank, Twilight dejectedly says, "Okay..."

Walking over to the filly, True Heart stops near her and asks, "Hello, might I ask what has you so distressed?"

The filly looks up at him with a suspicious look and asks, "Why do you care, huh?"

Attempting to appease her, he gives her a disarming smile and says, "Because I bear no ill will towards you, I saw that you were unhappy and thought you might need someone to brighten your day."

Sniffing back tears, her eyes soften slightly at his genuine kindness, saying, "Well...then thank you."

Moving a bit closer, True Heart asks, "What troubles you?"

Letting out a sigh, she paws the ground with her hoof, saying, "Don't tell anyone, but some older foals are pushing me around because of what I dream about."

Cocking his head slightly, he says, "Sounds like they might be jealous if whatever you think about is even grander than theirs are, be a bigger pony and don't let what they say get you down."

Smiling softly at hearing that, she says, "I'll remember that and will just keep my dreams of being a legendary adventurer one day to myself." Realizing she blurted that out, she blushes and then turns and runs away.

Watching her run away blushing, he smiles at having cheered her up a bit and turns around to return to Twilight's side, saying, "Another good deed done, are you ready to head to our usual studying spot?"

Rising to her hooves, Twilight says, "Yep, let's go before it starts raining."

Nodding, he then leads the way to the gardens, using the short phrase to get by the guards when he feels the first raindrop hit his coat and turns to her, saying, "Race you to the Golden Apple Tree!"

Feeling a raindrop hit her, she cries out, "Yah!" then takes off running with her book held above her head, the cover held towards the sky so that she could keep reading. Not watching where she's going, she runs nose first into something warm, fuzzy, and soft. The collision sends the two of them to the ground, with her landing on her flank and the other one lying on his side with his forehooves between his legs and groaning. Upon seeing that she ran into True Heart, she says, "I'm sorry, did I hurt you? Should I go get help?"

Gasping for air while holding his family jewels, he manages to gasp out, "No need...I'll be fine...in a moment...just...need to...catch my breath."

As she sits there under the tree for a few minutes, she hears thunder above them as the rain starts to come down hard when her stomach grumbles, making her ask, "Do you have any food?"

Getting his breathing under control finally, he rises to his hooves and nods, saying, "Just a couple tomato, lettuce, and mayo sandwiches I made for us to snack on. Hopefully, this rain won't last too long."

Twilight looks up at him and says, "Okay, but I heard dad mention to mom that this shower should continue until dinnertime."

Pulling out the two sandwiches, he gives her one and sets it on a plate, saying, "Well these will have to satisfy us until then."

When the two start eating the sandwiches, the wind gusts and causes the trees crown to sway. The motion causes one golden apple to fall to the ground before Twilight beside the plate while another swings by its stem.

It is lunchtime as Celestia makes her way to the dining room to eat, taking a glance outside as she passes a window to see Twilight bite into a golden apple that fell before her. Her eyes sparkle with delight at how the tree found her worthy of one of its treasured apples when she observes a second apple sway back and forth before it is sent sailing towards True Heart. When the spinning golden apple is spears itself on his horn, she is too surprised by the tree willingly blessing another with an apple to even laugh at the sight of Twilight pointing up at his horn and falling to the ground in a fit of giggles.

After taking the apple off his horn and splitting it in half to pull out the seeds, True Heart looks at the seeds curiously and wraps them up in a napkin to examine them later before biting into one half and chewing the mouthful, saying with delight, "Wow, I didn't know that a Golden Apple could taste so much different from an ordinary apple, and this is the very first one I've eaten, how about you?"

Having already devoured her own apple, Twilight shakes her head, saying, "Nope. This was my first Golden Apple as well, but it really was quite delicious. I've heard that the Apples on this tree are special and drop very rarely, we are extremely lucky to have two apples drop for us."

Nodding his head as he pulls out his own book, saying, "Well then I think fortune is favoring us this day, so let us enjoy its blessing to the fullest."

Smiling widely, she nods her head, saying, "I can definitely do that." and returns to her book, studying harder than ever before.

Putting his head into his own book, he continues looking over the spell with a furrowed brow as he tries to understand the context of what its purpose might be. Spending several frustrating minutes reading through and trying to keep the translation from Arabic to Latin clear, he turns the page to the next part of the spell while letting out a frustrated huff when he starts translating the next part.

Hearing his frustration, Twilight looks at him and asks, "Are you having trouble with a spell?"

Lifting his head from the page, he lets out a sigh, saying, "Yes...the spell I am studying is written in another language that I can understand, but it makes no sense. Therefore, I thought it might be written in code that needs to be translated into another language so it makes sense, but my attempts to understand it so far are annoying me."

Cocking her head in confusion, she asks, "How many languages do you know?"

Answering on reflex, he says, "Four or five and can speak and write them all."

Her eyes go wide in amazement, saying, "WOW! I WISH I KNEW MORE THAN ONE!"

Chuckling, True Heart answers, "Well, one is only limited by the knowledge contained within their mind, so if you continue to study whatever you can besides magic, you might know more languages than me in the future."

Remembering what he said before, she says, "If one language doesn't work out, try another. Perhaps you will need more than one to make sense of it."

Smiling at her advice, True Heart nods his head, saying, "Thank you, I will try different combinations then. You are such a smart filly it is scary sometimes."

Giggling in delight at the praise, she beams a wide smile, saying, "Thanks for the praise!"

Returning to the coded spell, he translates it from Arabic to Hebrew next. By the time he makes a breakthrough, Twilight taps his shoulder and asks if he can take her home. Nodding his head when he sees it is getting dark out, he says, "Sorry for getting lost for so long, but I have made progress thanks to you."

After taking her home and returning to his own, he eats some leftovers from dinner before heading upstairs to do his nightly ritual before going to sleep. That night, he tosses and turns in his sleep as he thinks over what translation might reveal the spells mysteries. When he wakes and goes to school after his morning ritual, he spends his study hall looking through the book and trying different combinations until he finally figures it out after having to go from Arabic to Egyptian Hieroglyphs, then from Spanish into Hebrew before finally going into Latin. Finally able to understand how to cast the spell called Seeking Truth, he huffs at how what it does isn't mentioned and goes to close his eyes to attempt the spell anyway when he hears the teacher walk into the room.

The teacher looks around the room for the student mentioned in the request, calling out, "True Heart, you have a surprise exam in the assembly hall, and Princess Celestia has deigned to grace us with her presence to oversee the exams of a few students she hoof-picked herself." She then narrows her eyebrows and says, "It would be in your best interests to not disappoint her by failing it...or else you might be sent back to magic kindergarten."

Nodding and putting his book away, True Heart leaves the room with his saddlebags on his flanks and ignores the fact that he still hasn't gotten his cutie mark yet. When he enters the hall, he spots several other ponies in the room. One of them is Twilight, who waves at him happily with a nervous grin. Moving over beside her, he says, "Do you know what today's exam is going to be?"

Twilight shakes her head, saying, "Nuh-uh, I did not hear about any exams being held today. Aren't you excited to hear that Princess Celestia is going to observe our progress!?"

As he watches the examiners enter, he watches Princess Celestia walk in after them and take a seat way in back at the top of the bleachers, saying, "A little, though I am more curious as to what we will be doing."

When Celestia watches the examiners call forth the first student, she smiles as they perform the task of showing their progress thus far. When Twilight meets her expectations, she hides a beaming smile of pride as it is finally True Heart's turn when he is called up.

Clearing the area around him, True Heart double checks to see that there's plenty of room before looking at the examiners, asking, "The exam today is to show how far I have progressed in my magic studies, correct?"

One of the examiners nods their heads, saying in a feminine voice, "That is correct. Now if you would please perform the best spell you can to show how far you have progressed in your studies, True Heart, we don't have all day."

Nodding his head and taking a relaxing breath, he steadies himself before saying, "Very well, I shall be attempting to cast a spell I just came to partially understand in study hall, though it's purpose wasn't mentioned. Forgive the chant being in a foreign language, but it is an important part of the spell's makeup."

Celestia raises her eyebrow as she watches True Heart sit cross-legged on the ground and take a meditating pose while closing his eyes and sitting up with his back straight, moving his hooves to either side of his body and putting the bottoms of his hooves together just below his chin.

Taking the pose recommended in the spell's description, he takes a deep breath and then begins to chant in latin, "Mecum es omni flatu. Peto ut des mihi sapientiam tuam, da mihi visionem."

At hearing so much latin spoken in such a long time, her mind forgets to translate it as she leans forth with keen interest all over her face. Paying no attention to the surprised looks the examiners are giving her while making notes on their clipboards, her mind finally works on translating the latin so she can understand what was said, saying in a very quiet voice, "I haven't heard that language in quite some time, I thought it fell out of use many centuries ago..."

The examiners watch as the floor below the student begins to glow a bright light azure blue while he slowly lifts up off the ground, still channeling the spell with his light silver magic aura. Wondering what the spell will do, they make notes about the brilliant display when azure flames erupt all around the student suddenly. The sound of a seat clattering to the floor draws their attention behind them to see that Princess Celestia has abruptly risen to her hooves and is leaning over the desk in front of her with an awestruck expression on her face with her wings raised into the air in surprise. Making note of her reaction, they return to looking at the student's spell with great interest.

Regaining her composure after watching the fiery burst around the colt, she sits back down uneasily as the temperature begins to rise in the room. When the temperature continues to skyrocket, she acts quickly and casts a shield to contain the heat within the room. Looking at how the examiners are starting to sweat, she notices that the colt is unaffected by the heat that must be at the very center of the spell. When the heat suddenly dissipates with a flash that causes even her to shield her eyes from the brightness, she blinks several times until she can see again, saying, "Wow, that was really bright, is everypony alright?"

Unable to see because of the spots blotting out their vision, they look around in fright and talk amongst themselves shouting, "CAN ANY OF YOU SEE OR HEAR ANYTHING?" when another answers in the commotion, "I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK DUE TO THIS BLASTED RINGING, AND ALL I CAN SEE IS SOLID PURPLE EVERYWHERE...UGH CAN ANYONE EVEN HEAR ME TALKING?!"

Celestia is about to treat their temporary afflictions, when she watches water-like ripples flow across the walls and returns her gaze to True Heart as his eyes finally open to reveal a brilliant, silver light.

Though his eyes are open, he can see nothing as he continues to channel the spell, saying, "Be ready...for the long night will come within a score and three years, to prevail, thee must listen closely."

Too surprised by a pony successfully casting this spell and not perishing yet, she grabs a scroll and a quill then begins to write everything down.

Blinking slowly, True Heart takes a slow breath and lets it out as his mane and tail begin rising up into the air and fluttering on the non-existent breeze, with his body rising higher in the air and leaving his hooves to dangle towards the ground. Opening his mouth, he then begins saying, "Adore thee my benevolence, then join in my laughter. Remain true to thy self, as I hold true to my words. Objects I value not, for another connects our light."

As she writes it down quickly, she looks up for more and sees silver fire creeping up True Heart's hooves, saying, "Please don't hurt yourself with keeping this spell up, but is there any more to share?"

The silver fire continues to climb up his body harmlessly, engulfing his body before saying, "Worry not, for no harm will be caused. The rest shall be left up to you all. You all can be happy in the light," His shadow rises up onto the wall and suddenly sprouts a pair of wings as he adds, "Or you can lose hope and fall into the dark." with the alicorn shadow on the wall burning away into ash as the spell comes to an end, leaving the colt to fall to the ground unconscious as the fire leaves him in a wisp of smoke that vanishes into thin air.

Celestia rolls up the scroll and tucks it away quickly as the examiners begin rubbing their eyes or ears, talking amongst themselves when they notice the unconscious student and wonder if he passed or failed. Answering for them, she makes her way down to the melted and warped stone tiles below True Heart, saying, "This colt has surprised me by successfully casting an extremely difficult spell for even the most skilled unicorn. Despite not knowing much about it, or the danger to himself, he came out of it unharmed with the exception of his now forever altered appearance. Therefore, I have determined that he passed the exam with flying colors and shall graduate to move on to do independent studies."

Standing next to the pitch black unicorn colt now having larger hooves than before with short, silver and azure feathering at the tops of his hooves with a silver mane and tail with streaks the same azure as in his feathering, the princess turns to the others, saying, "I shall take him to the doctors in the medical wing of the castle for treatment, good day everypony." She then casts a spell to teleport to the castle, bringing him with her.

When True Heart wakes up, he sees a ceiling with white tiles carved with recessed squares stepping down to the next within each other. Turning his head to see a sheer privacy curtain all around him with his grandfather on a comfortable-looking bench seat just beside his bed, attempting to sit up when he gets light-headed and falls back to the bed, saying, "Ugh...if only I could remember what happened at the exam..." Moments later it all comes back to him in a rush, causing him to grunt, complaining, "I would have liked to know that the spell I cast sent me for a loop like that."

Celestia slips through an opening in the privacy curtain on the bed's right side, saying, "I am happy that you have finally woken up after casting a spell that should have been impossible for one your age, how are you feeling my little pony?"

Looking over to his right after seeing his grandfather get up hastily, he sees Princess Celestia standing at his bedside and goes to get up and kneel to her, but groans when a pain shoots through his head.

Shaking her head and using a spell to ease his pain, she says, "There is no cause to genuflect to me when you are injured, little one, for you have been asleep for several days now and you had your whole family worried...including me."

Sighing and looking ashamed, he stops trying to get up and says, "How long have I been out, Your Majesty."

Answering for her, his grandfather says, "Almost two weeks lad, you really upset your sister with that stunt, you know that?"

Turning his head to him, he says, "I'm sorry that I worried you all like that, I was just curious as to what that spell was supposed to do."

Sighing, she then says, "That spell was designed to help one see future events, however, whoever tried to cast it either perished or lost their mind completely. I would greatly appreciate it if you could promise not to ever use it again."

Looking back at the princess, he nods his head, saying, "I swear to you that I will never use that spell again, Your Majesty. I don't want to spend another two weeks unconscious."

Nodding her head happily, she says, "I am happy to hear that, but I must get back to my royal duties now. I shall have a nurse escort you out when you are released."

Smiling back at her, he says, "Thank you for being so kind and caring, Your Majesty."

When the princess leaves the room, Thunder Magic looks at his grandson and whacks him on the back of the head, saying, "What were you thinking in casting a dangerous spell like Seeking Truth? Didn't you understand the note explaining why it shouldn't be used?"

Cocking his head, he asks, "There was supposed to be a note with the spell? Well I never saw it, it sure would have been useful before I worked on understanding the code used."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, he says, "I guess that one of us forgot to put it back in the original copy of the spellbook, but I am quite surprised that the spell caused your appearance to change. Make sure to ask one of us about a spell if you find it having incomplete information, that way we can tell you what we know about it."

Once he is allowed to go home, True Heart looks in the mirror to see that his coat changed from a dusty black to a pitch black. His mane and tail is also different, having silver and light azure streaks through them both. When he sees that his hooves are bigger and have the same glinting, silver hair with azure streaks, he says, "I was wondering why I feel funny when I walk, it will take a little time to get used to these things." Looking back at the mirror, he smiles and says, "At least the color of my eyes didn't change, though the color might be a little shinier than before."

After being given a diploma with a rainbow ribbon containing every color and congratulated for graduating at the top of the class, he spends his free time in the stronghold while trying to hang out with Twilight each chance he gets.

Years pass as he finally turns sixteen, making his way through town as a few young mares his age bat their eyes at him or wave their flanks tauntingly at him while quickly trotting away from him and giggling. Smiling in amusement at their behavior, he spots a tan young pegasus mare about his age with a greyscale mane and tail and having the same pair of red rimmed glasses from the day he first encountered her and heads over to her, saying, "Hi there, I was wondering if I would ever bump into you again." Stopping near her, he asks in a low tone, "Do you still dream of grand adventures?"

As her mind goes back to the day she first saw this stallion, she gives him a gentle smile, nodding and saying, "I do, yes." then asks, "Why do you ask?"

With a gentle smile, he says, "I have a gift for you that I finished a few years ago, if I'm any good at guessing one's character...I think you might like it." then opens his saddlebag and pulls out an item wrapped in a linen sackcloth then holds it towards her.

Taking the wrapped gift from him curiously, she unwraps the string holding the cloth around the gift. Letting the string fall to the ground and removing the cloth around whatever is inside, she finds something wrapped in thin leather strips interwoven together to form a handle of some sort. Dropping the cloth while holding onto the handle, whatever it is attached to unravels and falls to the ground.

As True Heart watches her curiously for her reaction, he sees how she studies the length of it then looks up with with a shocked and speechless expression on her face, asking her, "Do you like it?"

Her firm control over her happiness walks a tightrope at an opportunity to go on a real adventure as she looks down at the gift slowly, then back up at the stallion with surprise all over her face as she softly says, "Is this a real, bullwhip?"

Nodding his head, he starts saying, "Yes it is, I made it my-" when he is suddenly cut off by her mouth crashing against his and feeling her tongue slip into his mouth and slides around his tongue. Taken by surprise, he hesitates for a moment until her wings wrap around his neck and pull him further against her, deciding to reciprocate and turns his head to deepen the kiss further and tangles his tongue around hers until she pulls away with a heavy blush on her face when a variety of whistles and other young mares her age cheer her on and to 'get some'.

Returning her wings to her side reluctantly with the blush still on her face, she leans forward to his ear and whispers, "My name is Daring Do Dazzle, but please call me Dazzle. What's your name, handsome?"

Lowering his voice as well, he says to her ear, "True Heart, it is a pleasure to finally get your name. Was that your first kiss?"

Daring nods her head slightly, whispering, "Likewise, and it was. Was it yours too?"

True Heart nods, saying, "It was a very good kiss for somepony who hasn't kissed before, I take it you either saw somepony else do it or learned how from a book."

Chuckling lightly, she pulls back a little and whispers, "I tend to catch couples doing that when they think nopony is watching." Stepping back a little ways and talking normally, the blush fades slightly as she says, "I love the gift very much, thank you. When I learn how to use it, let's go on an adventure together, alright? I'll come find you when I'm ready, it can't be too hard since you kind of stick out." Without saying another word, she quickly gathers up her gift in her front hooves and takes off to start practicing.

Watching her fade from view, he notices a few young mares looking at him with wide eyes and commenting, "Wow...I guess what I hear about stallions with big hooves is true..."

Just then another stallion's voice calls out, "Don't you all know how rude it is to stare?"

As the mares can't help but keep staring, True Heart looks around to see a red stallion about his size having a yoke around his neck and a blonde mane and tail, pulling a cart stacked high with barrels then looks underneath himself curiously to find his member is out and pointed forward. Rolling his eyes, he says, "Now this is quite the nuisance."

Smiling gently at knowing the feeling, the stallion says, "Arch your back, it helps."

Arching his back like he recommended, he feels himself rest against the underside of his belly, then turns to the stallion, saying, "Thank you for the advice, my name is True Heart. Where are you going with such a load?"

The stallion then blinks and says, "Eeyup, I'm goin to the castle. I'm Big Mac."

True Heart then nods and continues walking, saying, "It was nice meeting you, Big Mac. Be sure to watch out for spilled lotion on the hill, some colt tried to prank a little filly but it backfired."

Big Mac nods his head and starts walking with the wagon rumbling along behind him, saying, "Eeyup, thanks for sharing."

Making his way to Twilight's home, he knocks on the door to find Cadance with Shining Armor there, saying, "Apologies for interrupting, but would Twilight be around or where I might find her?"

Nodding his head and looking down, he narrows his eyes at him and snorts, asking, "You don't plan to visit her like that do you?"

Realizing what he means, True Heart shakes his head, saying, "Of course not, I gave a young mare a gift today so she could follow her dream and she kissed me...with tongue."

Cadance sidles up to Shining Armor and ignores the pink member up against his belly, using her special talent to see his emotions when her nose picks up the scent of a young mare not Twilight coming from around his neck and mouth, saying with a giggle, "Awe, look who just got their first kiss! Congratulations on the path to adulthood True Heart." She then looks at Shining Armor with a smirk and says in a teasing tone, "Who knows, if I was several years younger and still searching for a special somepony...I might have tried to snatch it from you."

His head turns to Cadance with a wide-eyed look of shock, surprise, and horror when he quickly realizes that she is only teasing him, saying, "Cady..."

Placing a kiss on his cheek and brushing her side against his, she nuzzles into him saying, "Don't worry, my Shiny Patootie, you know I only have eyes for a certain Captain of the Guard."

At hearing something he can tease him on, he looks to Shining Armor and says, "Wow, I am impressed you are really making a name for yourself, congratulations. I bet your little sister is very proud of you. Was it your mouth or your hard work that got you that position?" Raising his eyebrows up and down quickly in a suggestive way to mess with him a bit more.

Sniggering at hearing Shining Armor snort agitatedly and offering True Heart a hoof sandwich for his big mouth Cadance rests her head against his, saying, "Don't get angry over all the teasing, sweetie. You know I am the reason for it all because it helps to make me laugh during difficult days."

Letting out a sigh, Twilight's brother turns back to True Heart, saying, "You can find her under the Princess's Golden Apple Tree, but make sure that you aren't exposed when you see her. I'm already busy enough keeping young stallions trying to sneak peeks when she walks by, my heart fills with dread whenever I think of when she might take interest in stallions."

True Heart then smiles and says, "I think you can relax for a few years on that because I think that she might only have eyes for books in the foreseeable decade or so at least."

Cadance raises an eyebrow curiously, saying, "I have noticed that, which means that I might have to play match maker when Shining Armor lets me."

He chuckles and says, "Which means that by the time he agrees to let you do that, he will be old and grey."

She then turns her gaze to him warningly and says, "Is that so? Then I might just have to do something about that..." then looks at the young stallion, saying, "Thank you for stopping by True Heart." then turns around and starts to walk further into the house, looking over her shoulder at Shining Armor with narrowed eyes, saying, "Let's have a talk Shiny." then closes the door with her magic.