Shape Shifter

7:10 A.M.

Crash!

Pop!

Awoken by a loud sound Snow opened his eyes. He shifted his head to look out the window. Greeted by a spectacular sunrise he crawled out of bed and into the bathroom. He stopped at the sink and stared for a moment at himself in the mirror.

I look freaking awful! He brought his hooves to his face to knock away the crust from his eyes. His face a mix of red puffy eyes, tear stained fur, and a wild bed head with a small horn sticking out from between the locks of mane.

Wait, what the buck is this? He poked the small appendage that now adorned his forehead to make sure it was real. Well that’s new! Several more tears fell from his icy blue eyes as another small fragment of a memory surfaced. The bathroom was replaced by a small field near a stream and a thicket of trees. There, under the shade of a large oak, a black stallion was lecturing a younger version of Snow.

“Cress, changing takes a lot of planning and concentration. Let’s compare it to playing guitar. Before you learn a song you learn a cord, before you learn to change your form you learn to change a part of yourself. For example, your coat or eye color.” Korvy looked at Snow’s expression of boredom and chuckled. “Yeah I know you think this is boring but remember son the only reason we are having this conversation is because of the fact that you have set you bed on fire for the third time this month changing in your sleep.”

“Yes Dad.” Snow replied rolling his eyes.

Korvy sighed before smiling at his cheeky son. “Come on you little brat, let’s get you under control before your mother has both our tails for it.”

He laughed sadly as he shook his head. Wiping the tears from his eyes he forced a smile once more. “At least the bed survived this time.” He whispered into the mirror. Showing, he dried off and styled his mane to cover his horn. Moving back into the bedroom he threw on his headphones. The volume maxed, the song ‘You’re Gonna Go Far Kid’ roared in his ears deafening him from the sounds of reality. Retrieving his scarf and saddles bags, he took the guitar off the wall and strapped in to his back, careful to make sure the neck of the guitar ran up his spine. Unbolting the window, he crawled out and stood on the ledge overlooking a bone shattering drop. Closing the window, he concentrated for a moment. A familiar warm enveloped him and he tipped head first off the ledge. Diving he gained speed, a set of white wing unfurled from his back converting his downward momentum to horizontal.

“Thank you Dad.” He whispered his words lost in the rushing wind. He headed into the shopping district the weight of his emotion weighing heavily on his injured heart.

He landed in an alley near Iron Night’s store to avoid anyone seeing him change. His wings disappeared, engulfed by blue flames. He removed his headphones from his ears and rubbed his nearly frozen eyes.

“Note to self, wear goggles and a sweater when flying in the winter or suffer an icy doom.” He shivered as he directed himself towards the music store. He gazed upon the locked door with the sign hanging upon the handle. Beneath the word ‘Closed’ was a schedule of the store’s open hours.

“She opens at ten o’clock.” He turned to the large clock tower that graced the center of the square most of the stores surrounded. He sighed. “But it’s only eight, so how do I burn a couple of hours so I can talk to her?” His stomach decided to answer his question for him with a rather loud growl.

“Breakfast would be a nice start I suppose.” He crossed the square as he headed into the pastry shop that looked like it was open. A small bell on the door rang as Snow waltzed into the shop and took a seat at the counter overlooking the kitchen. A tan unicorn entered from a room in the back and was quick to greet the new arrival.

“Good morning kiddo, my name is Joe. What can I get cha?” Joe pointed to the hanging menu adorning the area over the window into the kitchen with a hoof.

“Ummmmmm….. Ursa claw and a hot chocolate with whipped cream please.” Snow replied as he dropped several bits on to the counter. Joe smiled as he took the bits and deposited them in the register before he disappeared into the kitchen.

“Coming right up kiddo!” Sounds reverberated from the kitchen as Joe worked to the order. Snow looked around the shop as he waited. It looked like a typical diner; the shop was mostly paint white. Booths adorned the walls; over each one hung a light. The sound of china on the counter brought his attention back to Joe and the food his stomach so desperately craved. Snow nearly drooled as he stared at the steaming pastry that now took up residence on the counter. A beep from the kitchen caused to run back inside. So focused on the food Snow never heard the small bell ring behind him as someone else entered the shop. Feeling a tap on his left shoulder he looked to the left. Surprised to see no one was there he turned back to his breakfast which was now in the mouth of a white unicorn filly with a blue rocker hairdo and a set of large magenta shades several sizes too big for her. Shock quickly turned to anger and compiled with the hurt he already was bearing turned to rage. He opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind but was completely dumbstruck when she did something that bothered him even more. She reached out and touched his guitar.

“Do you play or is that a show piece?” She inquired nonchalantly through a mouthful of his breakfast. For a moment he just stared at the bold filly. Completely disgusted with the newcomer, he gave her a glare cold enough to chill a heart. The ire dripping from his voice like venom he finally replied.

“Buck this!” He hissed the frustration and sadness bubbling up again from yesterday. He tried to make a hasty retreat via the main door however it was blocked by a magical aura. He spun back around to face the filly that was now blocking his path.

“What do you want now? You already ate my breakfast and touched my guitar, what else could you possibly want from me!” He snapped his emotions running wild.

“Chill man, the breakfast thing was a joke. I get the same thing every morning; Joe should have it done any second now.”

He slumped against the wall rubbing his eyes while he tried to cap his swirling emotion.

“I am really sorry miss; it’s not what you did that’s got me so upset. You could say you were just the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have other circumstance going on that have me upset and I am terribly sorry for that outburst.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”  Joe asked having heard the scene take place. Snow sighed still leaning on the wall for support.

“Yeah, I guess I could. Never know it might make me feel better. My name is Snow.”

“I’m Vinyl Scratch.”

“Nice to meet you Vinyl.”

“Same here bro.” They all at down at the counter, snow in the middle, Joe to the right, and Vinyl on the left.

“So kiddo, what’s got you so upset?”

“Well it goes like this………”

5:50 A.M.

Celestia woke from her hour nap she always took after she raised the sun. Raising from her bed she quickly tidied herself using magic. She left her room and was greeted by her honor guard in front of the door. Returning the greeting she quickly hurried to Snow’s room to check on him. Cracking the door to his room she was relieved to see he was still sleeping. She quietly slide inside the room and stood next to him just watching for a moment a smile on her face. She brushed back his mane with her hoof, his pillow was a mix of tear stains and dark marks.

What are these? She thought focusing on the black streaks covering the bedding.  As if on cue, he rolled over and blue flames rippled along his fur in waves. They traveled up his neck, along his face and settled on his forehead forming a horn.

“Oh my!” She gasped. Quickly she gathered her magic and enchanted the bed, protecting it from the flames of his transformation. He is certainly going to be a hoofful! It's still nice to have him around though. She took a seat on the floor, leaning on the bed she began to softly sing she once sung for her sister back when they were young.

"Oh, my child, you cry so many tears, seems like you've been crying for the world. Oh, my child, your world so full of fears, seems like you've been crying for the world.

I to bare you, I to raise you, Faust, give me strength to do it right. I to adore you, be a refuge for you, Faust give me strength to do it right.

Hush, my child and lay you down to sleep, seems like you've been crying for the world. Hush, my child your tears that burn so deep, seems like you've been crying for the world.

I will protect you, guard you and guide you, Faust give me strength to do it right. I will love you, more than I have to, Faust give me strength to do it right.

Oh, my child, I only wish I could, suffer all the trials in your place. Oh, my child, you know I truly would, take on all the evils you will face.

I will protect you, guard you and guide you, Faust give me strength to do it right. I will love you, more than I have to, Faust give me strength."

Finishing the lullaby she just sat there enjoying the peaceful morning, something she hadn't done in a very long time. Casually she glanced over to the clock on the nightstand which read nine minutes after seven, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

Oh no I'm late for that appointment! How have I been here over an hour? She frantically rushed the door.

Crash!

Rounding the corner of the bed she crashed to the floor tripping over the amp sitting on the floor at the base of the bed. To her horror she looked up to see Snow beginning to stir.

Pop

Teleporting she landed on her bed and rushed out the door to her appointment. Reaching Mr. Star's office she stopped and took a deep breath before entering the room.

"Good morning princess." Three voices said in unison.

Snow was speechless. He had finished his story leaving out any sensitive elements like his heritage and was now in the vice-like grip of Vinyl Scratch who was giving him a bone crushing hug.

"Can't Breath!" He grasped.

"Sorry!" She apologized releasing him so he could breath.

"It's fine. Please don't worry about it." The awkwardness situation growing he looked to the clock. "Anyway, I need to go. It's nearly eleven-thirty and I wanted to talk to Iron Night.

"Can I come with?"

"Yeah, I guess. It's not like I can stop you right."

"True." She said as she headed out the door. Snow followed in suit but was stopped by Joe at the door.

"Hey kid, just hang in there alright. Things are bound to get better."

"Thanks Joe I'll try to remember that."

"No problem Snow and have a nice day!"

"You to Joe!"

Finally out of Joe's shop Snow trotted at a moderate pace to catch up to Vinyl who was already half way there. Reaching her they walked the last little bit together chatting about music. The musical duo enter Iron's store to find the gray mare chatting to another customer.

"How's it hanging Night?!" Vinyl called out catching the mare's attention.

"Pretty good, how are you Scratch?" Noticing Snow she smiled. "I see you made a new friend. How's the guitar Snow?"

"Great, it's why I'm here. I wanted to know if I could play today."

"WHAT!" Vinyl yelled. "Why didn't you tell me that?! Can I play to?" Iron chuckled at the filly's enthusiasm.

"I don't see why not. In fact I have a little idea. Let’s mix you, Snow, my friend Cloudy Skies, and me. I play drums and Cloudy plays both bass and guitar."

"I have no problem with that." Snow interjected.

"Good, you'll play guitar and sing. Hey Vinyl how good is your vocals?

"I'd say about average."

"Well that's better than me or Cloudy. I'm pretty sure we could deafen them." She laughed.

"I bet Jigsaw and his crew could make us temporary stage like he does for my mother when she does her fashion shows."

"Sounds great to me." Iron turn and shouted to a unicorn sitting in the corner by the door. "Hey Jeff I need to make some runs so watch the shop for me OK."

"Got it boss." He replied.

"Alright Vinyl go see if you can your stuff over here and talk to your mom about that stage. I'll get permission from the guard and find Cloudy." She turned to Snow. "Sorry buddy that kinda leaves you alone. Wanna pick out some music or something while we are gone?"

"Sure, I can do that and don't feel bad I'll probably do some exploring while you’re gone."

"Alright kiddo we'll meet back at four, come on Vinyl lets go." The two quickly rushed out the door leaving Snow by himself. Turning to the task appointed to him, Snow perused through the titles in the shop. Quickly picking out twenty songs that he liked, he quickly found himself to be bored. Leaving the songs he picked out on the counter and placed his guitar in the backroom he left the store to wander the plaza.

"Hey Snow!" Snow's head turned to the left in response the familiar voice calling out his name. He choked for a moment attempting to sniffle the laughter at the sight he had behold. There beside Twilight who had her nose in a book was a pink dragon in all his glory.

"Hi Spike." Snow managed to say through his laughter as he rolled on the ground clutching his sides.

"Yeah laugh all you want that prank was still epic." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah but still I can't believe you actually did it." Snow got up from the ground and brushed the dirt off.

"I'm a dragon of my word."

"I can see that."

"Good afternoon Snow." Twilight looked up from her book.

"You as well Twilight." He cleared his throat. "Umm Twilight can I ask a favor?"

"Depends on what the favor is." She closed the book putting it in her saddle bag.

"Would you teach me some basics in magic?" He brought up a horn to brush his hair back and reveal the horn. She smiled like a foal in a candy shop.

"Absolutely, Spike and I were out running some errands. We were in fact on our way to get some lunch would you like to join us?"

"Yeah I guess."

"Wonderful the place we eat at is called 'Long Johns' and it's right around the corner. They make subs; Spike and I usually split one."

"Lead the way." Snow followed them into the restaurant. They took a seat at a table near a window on the left side of the building. A few moments after they were seated a waiter came to take their orders. After they ordered Twilight began to instruct Snow on the basics of levitation.

"When levitating an object it's all about picturing it in your mind. Imagine your magical energy envelope the item in an aura and move it. Don't expect a lot of control on your first time it takes practice. Oh another thing if the item smokes at all please drop your magic immediately otherwise you may set it on fire. It's a side effect of focusing too much energy on an object. I don't know how experienced you were with magic before you lost your memory and you may have more control than you realize like with the music you play. A lot of unicorns say it’s something you never forget."

"OK." The waiter returned with their lunch placing the sandwiches and drinks on the table before leaving again. Snow reached to get his sandwich but was stopped by Twilight.

"Try using levitation instead."

"I'll try but if my sandwich bursts into flames I’m eating yours." He flashed an evil grin.

"Just try it." She scowled.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes before concentrating on the sandwich. His staring match with the culinary delight lasted for two and a half minutes. Move you darn thing. Smokeless flames engulfed the sandwich thrusting it into the air.

"Drop it now Snow." Twilight screamed. Spike jumped to the table and launched himself mouth open at the flaming food.

"Wait I think it's....." Snow sat there dumbfounded as he watched a pink flash sail right past him eating his lunch in one bite. "OK.”

"Snow, Spike are you guys alright?!" Inquired a really worried Twilight.

"I'm fine Twi." Spike replied sitting back at his seat

"I'm fine but I don't think you had to worry."

“Why wouldn't I worry, you set it on fire!"

"I don't think I did, I think that was my aura. I'm gonna try again and this time Twilight please spare the dramatics everypony is now looking at us." She blushed trying to hide herself from the staring ponies. Snow turned to address their audience. "Nothing to see here she's just teaching me a little magic and it got a little out of hand." He twisted back around to face Twilight. "Now watch without freaking out." He focused on her sandwich. Once again the item was wrapped in a coat of fire and lifted in to the air. Twilight reached out with a hoof to touch the suspended item.

"There's no heat or smoke. Fascinating, I do believe your right. Your aura takes the form of flames that are a similar color to your eyes." He broke her sandwich in half before depositing a half on his plate the other on hers.

"I've never heard of magic taking a form like that before looks like I'll have to do some research to see if it has happened before or if you are a special case. She pondered before devouring her lunch, Snow doing the same. Spike leaned back in his chair sated after eating a whole sandwich.

"Hey Twilight this afternoon me and a few other ponies are gonna be putting on a show would you like to come?" Her eyes lit up at the request.

"I would love to; your music is really nice."

"It will be sometime after four outside the music store called Iron Beats."

"K I won't forget. Anyway Spike and I need to get back to the castle so I'll see you later Snow." She got up placing several bits on the counter for the food before she picked up the now sleeping dragon with her magic. He waved as she left before paying for his food and leaving as well. Walking back to the store he smiled as several idea came to mind.  I'll make the last song one heck of a finale, I just need to make a few stops.

11:30 A.M.

Celestia left Mr. Star's office with a smile of her face. She was lucky her tardiness hadn't left a sour note and the meeting itself turn out to be very positive. Now all she needed to do was to find Snow and give him the news right after she took care of her other duties for today. Time quickly flew by as she flew through her mundane paper work. Next was her weekly meeting with the Dust Storm, captain of the guard which was nothing more than a glorified tea party tradition made her uphold. Dust caught her at the door with a smile and seemed to read her mind.

"You have somewhere else to be don't you?"

"Thank you very much Captain."

"No problem princess I hate these meetings to."

"Captain, do you know where Snow is."

"All I can say is he is not in the castle. I told the guard to keep an eye on him after that little surprise he rigged up."

"I wonder where he is."

"Lieutenant Armor may know, when they came in the other day those two seemed like friends. He should be in the mess hall but he may be somewhere else since he went off duty."

"Thank you Captain." She spun one-eighty and headed to the dining area.

4:20 P.M.

Snow waded through a growing crowd of ponies to the temporary stage outside of Iron's store. Stopping at the edge of the stage he place several boxes securing them with tape before entering the shop to look for Iron and Vinyl. He quickly approached the two who were chatting with a light blue pegasus with a brown and green mane.

"Good, your back Snow. I would like to to meet my friend Cloudy Skies."

"Hello nice to meet you."

"You as well i hear you play a mean tune."

"I try my best." He grinned.

"Anyway we looked over the stuff you chose and we agree it was good. Vinyl already set up her equipment. She will be player keyboard and she will also control our instrument feeds. Cloudy will be switching between guitar and bass depending on the song. I have drums and you have guitar and vocals. So I guess we are ready when you are."

"Sounds great to me. Oh before I forget, final song about two-thirds of the way through the stage is gonna light up just keep playing k."

"Just please don't go overboard Vinyl told me about your pyrotechnics." Iron sighed.

"It will be perfect. One more thing, how did you get so many ponies here on such short notice?" He asked as he levitated his guitar from the backroom to his back.

"Umm first can I ask about the fire?" Cloudy nervously asked.

"My magical aura is unique and my friend Twilight gave me a lesson today." He chuckled.

"Yeah I can see that, anyway believe it or not after you played the other day in my shop word about you apparently spread big time. So when we mentioned you ponies gathered.

"Wow. That's flattering; I love to stroke my ego. Let’s get this party started."

"Snow don't forget my stage name OK." Vinyl tapped his shoulder.

"Got it" The walked out of the store and on to the stage each taking up residence at their respective instrument. Snow grabbed up the mic and began a quick intro.

"Good evening ladies and gentalcolts. My name is Snow and here's a quick intro since I don't wanna bore you. I will be your main vocalist for tonight. Then we have Cloudy Skies on bass, Iron on drums, and Vinyl Scratch aka DJ Pon-3 on keyboard. I'd say that pretty much covers it. Oh one more thing." He cleared his voice. "TWILIGHT SPIKE WAKE UP!"

The shout into the mic had the desired effect as Twilight and Spike both shot up from their slumber nearly falling off the bench they sat upon as they yelled in unison.

"I'm awake!"

"And without further ado." Vinyl opened first, followed by Cloudy and Iron. Finally Snow began to sing, the crowd never knew what hit them as they heard Snow beautiful voice.

"Do you remember, back when? We fell in love in your best friend’s basement? Spun the bottle and hoped it will land on you. Thought we were cool, listening to Zeppelin. Making out on the Stairway to Heaven. Nowhere to go, so slept out on the roof. But now, we hardly even speak, at all. Looking back, how did we get away?" Switching their over drives Snow joined in with guitar as well. "I never thought that we’d surrender, when I was yours and you were mine. Never regret, no, we learned how to love; when we were young, when we were young

."

Celestia stood on her balcony as she quickly raised the moon and lowered the sun.

"Well that's a new record on speed." She smiled. She turned to face the two unicorns behind her. "I'm sorry we can go meet him now, no more delays I swear. Walking to them she touched them with her wings before teleporting to the shopping district.

Cloudy was finishing her solo, Snow smiled. Time for the finale! Snow horn glowed slightly through his mane as he focused his magic on the fuses for the fireworks. Hearing the familiar sound of the fuse he started in to the final verse of the song.  "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tales of yesterday, will grow but never die," He gathered his flames around himself thrusting himself into the air mic in hoof while the firework began to go off he simultaneously sang the next line at the top of his voice never noticing the change to his flank.

"I can fly, my friends! The Show must go on! Yeah! The Show must go on! I'll face it with a grin! I'm never giving in! On with the show! I'll top the bill! I'll overkill! I have to find the will to carry on! On with the show! On with the show! The Show must go on."

Snow took a moment to gather his breath and to give the crowd a moment to register what they just witnessed. Grabbing the mic once again he addressed the crowd.

"Thank y-" Drowned out by the applause and screaming of the large audience he had to wait a minute so he could talk. "You. I'm glad you came out today and I really hope you like the finale. Today kinda started out as a bum day but I can see Pony Joe was right. Things can only get better. Anyway folks I hope you have a nice evening, this is Snowstorm signing off."

Cloudy elbowed him lightly as they walked off stage. "Thanks for the warning about that ending." Cloudy chuckled.

He spun around walking backwards as he talked to Cloudy "Yeah, I figured I should say something but it was epic am  right? Umm why are you bowing? The princess is behind me isn't she." He turned to face Celestia and was wrapped up in a hug. "Umm good evening princess did you enjoy the show?"

"Yes but you didn't notice did you?" She smiled putting him back down.

"Notice what?"

"Your flank." He arched his neck to look at his rump his eyes wide open in shock. There upon his rump was his mark. It consisted of an eight note surrounded by blue flames.

"Wow what a day." He laughed.

"Indeed but I have a surprise for you today." She stepped to the side to reveal the older couple behind her. Both unicorns, the stallion was gray with a brown mane and the mare looked like snow but was a bit darker in mane.

"Meet your grandparents Handsome Masquerade and Cesura."

"Say what?"