3 - Unexpected Guests

By the time the Tuesday morning sun had rolled over the hills and begun warming the small, sleepy town of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and her assistant dragon, Spike, had already been up for an hour. Twilight moved from room to room, levitating a dozen feather dusters with which she carefully wiped down one bookshelf at a time. Spike followed close behind with a bucket of water and sponge, wiping up any specks he could see on the pristine wooden floors. “Hurry Spike,” urged Twilight, “The sun’s coming up and we still need to clean the foyer and the basement before breakfast.”

Spike was always a little confused as to why Twilight thought cleaning the library was so urgent when it was never that dirty to begin with, but he didn't mind the daily morning cleans. They reminded him of the calisthenics the dragons used to do back at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns; and since he'd probably spend the rest of the day sitting at a desk helping Twilight study obscure spells she’d probably never use, it was nice to begin each day with some movement. Twilight however, cleaned the library with relentless fervor, making sure that every offending dust particle was removed before it could cause trouble. Anything out of place might distract her concentration from her studies, and that was intolerable.

By mid-morning however, the library had once again been cleaned from attic to basement, breakfast had been prepared and devoured and Twilight was choosing a dozen thick volumes off the shelves for the day’s work. Spike was finishing the dishes from breakfast when he suddenly let out a tremendous burp and a scroll from Princess Celestia fell into his waiting hands. He brought it into the study, where Twilight was busy adjusting the chemistry set.

“Twilight, you got a message from the Princess.”

Twilight left the chemistry set immediately and went to Spike, “What does it say?”

Spike uncurled the scroll, cleared his throat, and then quickly scanned the letter before reading it out loud.

My most faithful student Twilight

I'm sure you will be happy to hear that Shining Armor is being given several weeks of leave from his post as Captain of the Royal Guard, and is hoping to visit you in Ponyville. If you wish to receive him, please respond to this letter immediately, as he's ready to leave and would arrive by teleportation within a few minutes. Be aware, however, that Shining Armor has recently participated in a body swapping spell, and will be visiting you in a red pony’s body.

The reasons for this transformation are complicated, and I don't want to deprive Shining Armor of telling you about it in person; but be aware that the spell that was used is largely untested, and although it seems to have worked properly, there may be unexpected side effects. I am counting on you to observe him carefully, and to report any adverse side effects so they can be dealt with quickly, before they become serious problems. Your brother eagerly awaits your reply and hopes to see you soon.

Spike had only read to the end of the second sentence when Twilight’s face lit up and she started bouncing in circles around the room. “Yes!” she cheered, “Yes, he can come; yes, yes, yes!”

“Um, Twilight I think you should take a look at the rest of this letter. It says- ”

“Yes,” Twilight insisted as she kept bouncing around the room. Based on what Spike had seen in the past, she might have continued bouncing for the next several minutes. Fortunately, after a few dozen hops she realized that if she didn't actually write back, Shining Armor might take no response as a ‘no’ instead of a ‘yes’. One more bounce brought her back to her desk, where she wet the quill with twice as much ink as was necessary, and wrote a gigantic 'YES' that took up an entire scroll. “Quickly Spike, send this.” she ordered, levitating the scroll in front of Spike's face.

“Twilight, I think you should listen to the rest of the letter.” Spike cautioned in a hopeless attempt to calm her down.

“My brother is coming to visit, that's what it says, now send the letter.”

Spike sighed and breathed on the letter, lighting it up in a cloud of smoke which blew in the direction of Canterlot. Twilight watched the smoke disappear from view, and then started looking around at the house in a panic. “My brother’s going to be here in a few minutes; we need to get the house cleaned up!” She dashed to the closet and returned with the dusters and sponges they had used less than an hour ago, and spun around madly looking for something to clean. She stood dumbly in the middle of the room for a few seconds before it finally dawned on her that the house was already clean and did not need to be cleaned again. Spike sighed with relief as the cleaning gear went back into the closet and Twilight regained some of her usual air of maturity. “Do I look OK, Spike?” she asked in a calmer tone, checking herself in a mirror.

“You look fine, just calm down. It's your brother who’s coming to visit, not the Princess, and it's not like he's not going to throw you in a dungeon if your house is slightly messy.”

“He's the Captain of the Royal Guard, Spike. Aside from the two princesses, that is the most important position in Canterlot. I've hardly heard from him since moving to Ponyville; oh, I hope he hasn't changed too much.”

“It's OK Twilight, but there is something you need to know. The letter said-” there was a tapping at the door.

“He's here!” squealed Twilight, as she bolted to the door in a purple blur. She threw the door open and held her hoofs out wide, then stopped dead in her tracks with a look of confusion and disappointment. Spike squeezed in beside her and saw a red unicorn stallion with a black mane, a disturbing myriad of scars and a cutie mark of a hoof rising from a patch of wet yet unmarked mud; standing on the threshold of the library, with a small pile of luggage at his hooves. “Umm... hello. Who are you?” asked Twilight uneasily.

“Twily, it’s me.” The red unicorn responded joyfully.

“But you’re not my brother,” said Twilight taking a step backwards, “Who are you?”

“Shining Armor,” answered the visitor, “You said I should come over.”

“Stop it!” snapped Twilight, “Is this some kind of a joke? You’re not my brother!”

The red unicorn paused. Surprisingly, he didn't look repelled by Twilight's rejection, instead he seemed to find it rather amusing, “Wait for it... ”

“Wait for what? What are you talking abou-brauaurp?” Spike's question disintegrated in a blast of green flame as another letter flew out of his mouth bearing the royal seal of Princess Celestia.

“Open it.” invited the stranger.

Twilight cautiously opened the scroll and looked inside.

Twilight, if right now you are looking at a unicorn with a red coat and a black mane, that is Shining Armor. Before leaving Canterlot he swapped bodies with another pony.

Twilight looked back at the pony on her doorstep, “B.B.B.F.F.?”

The red pony looked back at her lovingly, “Twily.”

“But how did you...” Twilight gestured towards the latest letter.

“You responded ‘yes’ to the letter far too quickly to have read it all the way through, and to have thought about it. I'm guessing you listened to the first few lines, got excited, probably did your little happy dance, and then answered before Spike could finish reading the letter. So I asked the Princess to write the second letter and send it a minute after I left.” Spike was ready to burst out laughing, and from the look of Shining Armor, he was too; but Twilight wasn't convinced.

“So,” Twilight said slowly, “If you are really my brother... what was the first book that you ever got me?”

The red pony thought for a moment, “Hmmm, that would be... The Art of the Checklist.”

“So you’re to blame!!” Spike shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Shining Armor “It was you!  All this time it was YOU! You did this to her!”

“Hey Spike, long time no see.” grinned Shining Armor guiltily. Spike thought he was about to say more but at that moment Twilight uprooted herself from the doorway and jumped on her brother with a whoop of joy, hugging him close for the first time in years. Shining Armor hugged his sister in return, but over Twilight's shoulder Spike could see him silently mouthing 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

Eventually Twilight released her brother and stood back, glowing happily, “Why didn't you give me a few days warning that you were coming? I could have really gotten things ready for you.”

“Precisely why I didn't; you would have spent the whole time stressing out, making a checklist of things to make sure everything about my visit was ‘perfect’, double checking your checklist to make sure that everything that should be on the checklist was, doing all the things on your checklist, then triple checking all the things on your list to make sure you did them right, then quadruple checking your checklist to make sure you didn't miss anything. You’re my little sister. It's my job to protect you from pain.”

“I wouldn't have been that bad,” retorted Twilight, “I've grown up a lot since I left Canterlot.”

Shining Armor turned to Spike, “Has she?”

“Well umm... let’s just say I'm glad you didn't call ahead, oh wise and compassionate captain.” Spike said falling to his knees and clasping his claws in front of him in a show of mock gratitude. He thought that while siding with Shining Armor directly would have annoyed Twilight, an exaggerated display of reverence might pass for a joke; but might have spared his efforts however as Twilight wasn't listening. It had been years since she had had a real conversation with her brother, and now the flood of questions that had been building for years came spilling back into her consciousness.

“BB,” she asked solemnly, “What happened last year between you and Cadance? I heard that you were going to marry her, and then I heard that the wedding was postponed, but I haven't heard anything about it since.”

Shining Armor nodded, and then noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders crouching behind a nearby bush, hoping to go unnoticed. “There's a lot to tell Twily. Do you really want to hear it all out here, or are you going to invite me in?”

…........................................................................................................................................................

Rainbow Dash soared through the clouds with the Wonderbolts as part of their early morning exercise routine. She tried to concentrate on keeping formation tight and on scanning the Wonderbolts for individual signs of weakness, but again and again her thoughts drifted to the red warrior she had danced with the night before. Of all the ponies in the theater, Silent Storm alone had had the courage to act, to say when enough was enough. He drew a line and defended it, vanquishing the dark sorceress, and saving Derpy. But... even that was strange when she came to think of it. Rainbow had no doubt that Trixie deserved what she got—she had tried to kill her after all, and had threatened to kill Derpy, but Storm had no way of knowing any of that. All he would have known was that Trixie had made fun of Derpy's eyes, tried to push her down a hole, and then called him some names when he beat her. That didn't quite sound like it deserved banishment. Did he know about the other things Trixie had done? Or did Storm know something about Trixie that Rainbow didn't?

Rainbow sighed as she thought about the way he had danced with her; the warmth of his body, the fall of his mane - wait, what was she thinking? He had come to one of her shows, (just like almost every other pony in Canterlot) and then they had danced a few times at a party. It’s not like she was falling in love with him just for that. No way! Even if she did have a crush on him, (which she didn’t), what would it matter? He hadn't left her any way of contacting him even if she wanted too. At least he knew she was a Wonderbolt, finding their stables wouldn't be difficult if he ever bothered to look. Rainbow wondered what he needed to do at the palace, and what he would do when he was done. She wondered if he would ever come to visit her at the Wonderbolt stables... she hoped he would.

Rainbow tried to refocus her mind on her work; breaking formation she dived through a dense patch of cloud. The sudden knock, the instant of darkness was all it usually took to clear her mind; this time it only reminded her of staring into Storm's eyes the moment before the cloud hit her during the performance. She shook her head to clear it and tried again to focus on the Wonderbolts. She was only partially successful.

…........................................................................................................................................................

“Three weeks before Cadance and I were supposed to marry,” Shining Armor was telling Spike and Twilight after they had gathered around the table, “Military intelligence warned us of a threat to Canterlot. Until the danger could be neutralized, I put Canterlot on high alert, called up the reserve troops and, at the bidding of the Princess, began maintaining the energy shield around Canterlot. Meanwhile, Cadance took responsibility for the wedding preparations. I hunted down false lead after false lead, looking for the threat, and when I finally found it, it was almost too late.

One week before the set wedding date, I learned that Cadance had been kidnapped replaced by a changeling queen, who hoped to use me to destroy Canterlot from the inside. The changelings were destroyed and I personally rescued Cadance; but I realized I couldn't go on with our plans. A changeling imposter had been posing as my fiancé for nearly two weeks; during which I had met with her over a dozen times and had never once suspected a thing. The truth is, if my work hadn't brought me to uncover the plot, I might never have realized it wasn't Cadance until it was too late, and Canterlot could have fallen.

I realized I could not give Cadance, let alone a family, the devotion that she deserved and still maintain all of my duties as Captain of the Royal Guard. It would have been a lie to marry Cadance, knowing I could only give half of myself to her, and that our relationship would always have to take second place to the safety of Canterlot.”

“So you had to choose between Cadance and Canterlot, and Cadance lost?” asked Twilight disgustedly. “You rescued her and then broke up with her!?”

Shining Armor shook his head, “I love Cadance more than myself; and couldn't stop loving her if I tried, but thousands of ponies rely on me for protection, and so I cannot abandon my royal duties. I was prepared to sacrifice my own happiness for the safety of Canterlot, but sacrificing what I knew would make Cadance happy was a hundred times worse. I was trying to convince myself that this was what had to be; when I practically stumbled upon another possibility.

Keeping the energy shield up for two weeks had been difficult; what started with mild headaches during the first week gradually turned into a constant migraine as the second week dragged on. With the changelings destroyed, I let the shield down and after a day off I discovered that, while keeping the shield up had been painful, it had permanently stretched my magical potential. The increase was slight, but the change was unmistakable.

I had a long talk with Cadance and Princess Celestia, who explained that the shield was a rare sort of spell that would push my magical potential deeper the longer I used it, but the deepening of my potential would be matched by an increase in pain. I couldn't use the spell on and off and slowly build my strength; my potential would only increase when the pain was worse than it had ever been.

So I resolved to do the only thing I could see that would let me marry Cadance and still protect Canterlot. If I held the shield for as long as I could without stopping, eventually I might become powerful enough that when I retrained to my new potential, I could maintain the shield with only a fraction of my energy. I could marry Cadance and would only need to focus my energies on the shield a few times a day to keep Canterlot safer than it had ever been. Even my administrative duties as Captain would be reduced, as we would require fewer guards with the city under the shield’s protection. But before this could happen, I would have to survive a world of pain like few ponies have ever felt before.

Within a week the migraines were back, and as the year dragged on, my body was eaten alive by agony. Every fiber of my body begged me to stop, but thoughts of Cadance kept me going. Every day my potential for power increased as I got weaker and weaker, until finally, when I was on death's doorstep, I let go.

I should have been thrilled that my trial was over, and I would soon be able to marry Cadance, but I was so exhausted I could hardly care less. That, more than the pain, horrified me. It's funny how the mind and body affect each other; when a soldier is recovering from battle wounds, one of the most important factors in his recovery is that he keeps a healthy mindset. But keeping the shield up for so long exhausted me mentally and emotionally as well as physically. I was on the edge of a pitch black depression, and if I didn't get my mind right it’s possible I might never recover.

My body was too weak for my mind to find any solace there, and so Celestia opted for taking my mind out of my body. By putting a healthy mind in an exhausted body, and an exhausted mind in a healthy body, she theorized, both could recover in a matter of weeks instead of months. I think the Princess had predicted when I would break and planned ahead, because just four days after I let the shield down, a friend of mine showed up to take my place. I didn't need that much convincing."

“This friend who swapped with you must be a very good friend if he's willing to suffer like you’re describing to help you.”

Shining Armor nodded, his muzzle lowered into a frown “I'm not meant to talk about him, military protocol.”

“Well, whoever he is thank him for me the next time you see him. Because of him I get to spend time with my brother. How long can you stay? Please say it’s a long time.”

“For a few weeks, or until you get tired of me; I won't impose on you, but the Princess was hoping you would want me to stay here so you could observe me.”

“Observe you?”

“I think it’s time you took a look at the rest of the letter; where is it?”

“Hold on, I'll get it” Spike got up from the table, returned a moment later with the original letter, and handed it to Twilight, who studied it carefully before looking up.

“What does it mean 'unexpected side effects'? I mean, I know what it means but... do we have any idea what you might have gotten yourself into?”

“I know what I've gotten myself into; my friend's body. As for the full ramifications of the swap, no I don't. Body swapping magic is kept highly classified due to the potential security risk it could pose if left unchecked. It’s only been done a few times that I know of, and half of them were by accident. Either way, to my knowledge this is the first time the spell was done with one of the participants as weak as I was. Everything seems to be alright; I mean, I feel great, but the body swap could have unexpected consequences and it might not affect both of us the same way. That's why The Princess was so quick to agree to send me here, she wanted someone she trusted and who knew me well, to keep an eye out; you know, in case I go crazy or something.”

“But... what if something terrible has happened and we don't know it yet? What happens if you can't change back?”

“We'll deal with that if it comes to it. In the meantime I'll try not to think about it, the whole point of this vacation is NOT to get stressed.”

“Are you sure you feel OK now? If I'm meant to monitor any changes, I need to know how you feel to start with.”

“Well,” Shining Armor thought, “My ribs hurt whenever I breathe in, and my face feels like it’s been splashed with acid, but compared to what I was feeling yesterday, it's nothing.”

“OK,” Twilight taking out a notepad and listing her brother's symptoms, “What about your magic?”

“With my body, I’m using my friend’s magic instead.”

Twilight looked at him startled… but then again it made perfect sense. “…What’s it like?”

“Alright so far. My friend wasn’t as strong as I am but he still packs a punch. If I remember correctly he had a MQ rating of four hundred and eleven, and had a freakish aptitude for teleporting.”

Twilight grinned; so she finally had a chance to beat her brother in a magic duel. A unicorn’s raw magical strength was measured on the Mana Quota scale and was fully determined by the time they were five years old. It couldn’t change except for very rare increases like what Shining Armor was describing, or decreases caused by horn damage or certain diseases.

Roughly speaking, only about zero point one percent of unicorns had an MQ over four hundred, and were sometimes referred to as ‘alpha unicorns’ in Canterlot; a term that Twilight had always fount slightly arrogant, but never unpleasent. Twilight herself boasted a MQ rating of six hundred and thirty-six; just over half the power of Princess Celestia herself. Shining Armor, in his own body, was slightly higher than her with six hundred and seventy-eight.

Shining Armor could beat her in a telekinetic tug of war, but her special talent being for magic in general meant she had the versatility to outcast him in most kinds of magic except creating energy shields. She also had a lot more education under then he did; Shining Armor never really started studying until he was in the Royal Guard, before then he’d spend most of the afternoon playing sport with his friends and when he came back would only spend two or three hours studying  (four at most,) before going to bed. Even after he was in the Royal Guard he only studied magic relative to fighting in some way, or field medicine. He could beat her in anything army related but in areas like maths, history, chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, robotics, clockworks, astrology, exogeology, gemology, and herpetology, Twilight was way ahead of him.

Twilight made some more notes on her notepad, “That's your physical condition, but what about mentally, are you feeling alright?”

“So far so good. The Princess thinks that as long as I don't get stressed out, I should be fine.”

“Good, remember to tell me the moment anything changes. Promise me if something is wrong I'll be the first to know.”

“Only if you promise to keep this rather low key. Most ponies, even in the Royal Guard, don't know the full truth about what I've been doing this last year. The enemies of Canterlot may try to kill my body if they knew how vulnerable it was now, and how strong it would soon become. Tell only trusted associates who can keep a secret .”

“It's a deal,” said Twilight quickly, not stopping to wonder what 'enemies' Shining Armor may be referring to, “But there's one thing you haven't told me, how does Cadance feel about all this? Why aren’t you visiting her instead of me?”

Shining Armor thought for a moment, sipping the tea Spike had made for him, before responding, “At first she didn't want me to do it at all, but I convinced her it was the best way for us to be together. One year of pain for me and then a lifetime together for both of us was what I told her... and myself. I wanted to visit her when I swapped with my friend but...” he trailed off for a minute and drank more of his tea before finishing, “I don't want her to see me... like this—hiding from pain in another pony’s body.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Twilight wasn't sure whether or not she approved of her brother’s actions.

Shining Armor finished his tea in one last gulp and waited longer then last time before answering, “Four, months ago, right before things started to get really bad. I asked her to leave and promised I would come for her when I was better. It was too much... not for her, for me. I believe she would have stayed with me until I broke, but I couldn't bear to let her see how weak I was becoming. Even though she never said it, I could see in her eyes that she wanted me to break the shield and let myself heal. It took everything I had, but I've done it; when I return to my body and retrain to my new potential, I should be able to easily maintain the shield for the rest of my life. I'll even be able to maintain the shield from outside of Canterlot; for instance I might be able visit Ponyville with Cadance for a few days at a time without dropping the shield.”

“So, where is she now?”

“Fillydelphia, when we were approaching our first wedding date together we bought a house there to spend our honeymoon in, and to use as a holiday house after. She said she would go there while she waited and make sure the house was ready.”

“Are you sure did the right thing by Cadance?” Twilight tried not to sound too judgmental but came off sounding harsh anyway.

“No. But in either case what’s done is done. The price has already been paid and soon Cadance and I will be able to get married. So let’s get ready to celebrate the future rather than linger on the past, shall we?” Shining Armor looked over to where Twilight had her chemistry equipment set up “I'm sure you have a hundred fantastic experiments and a dozen great books that you’re eager to show me.”

“Actually, if you can really stay in Ponyville for a while, I'd like you to meet my friends.”

“Really?” Shining Armor sounded surprised and very pleased, “That sounds like a much better idea.”

Chapter four >>> Overreacting