Part 1: The Mares in This Town Are Crazy!
Today felt like a blue day. Yes, a nice periwinkle. Now for the mane. What went with Periwinkle? Perhaps a nice fuchsia. Shape Shift looked at his reflection in the mirror after his gray aura wore off. Periwinkle and fuchsia? What was he thinking? That was reserved solely for Mares and no respectable stallion would wear that into town. Well, at least when he was planning on doing a show. Perhaps he would wear that to bed tonight.
A smile crossed his face, and his horn glowed anew with a gray aura as a cloak floated across the room and settled on his shoulders. He looked out at the town that was in his sights. Ponyville. It had been a long day’s travel to get here from Canterlot, and he was certain that his magic show would surprise and astound them.
Well, he hoped it would anyway. He had heard the tale of Trixie, and how the inhabitants of this town were annoyed with her. And rightly so, when he tried dating her in high school, she was quite the showboat. And it all stemmed from deep rooted emotional issues when she was younger. That much he figured out when she broke down crying after one of her performances he had attended.
But he was certain that he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes she had. Well, to be specific, he was fairly certain.
This would be a good day, he said, finally settling on a azure coat with a teal mane. He checked his cutie mark, which took the form of half an apple next to a matching half an orange. No matter how much he tried convincing people, they still thought he was part of the Apple Family. He would always respond with a unimpressed look and remind them that there were no unicorns in the Apple Family.
His name wasn’t even related to food.
He stepped out of his show-carriage and trotted into town. It seemed like a quaint enough place. There was a nice red stallion, pulling a cart full of apples… wait a minute… apples. Did that mean… yes, that cutie mark… Apples. With a roll of his eyes, knowing that sometime today he would be asked if he was related to them.
He didn’t think he was, at least, he never got an invitation to any family reunions.
Not really that he wanted to go to such a thing.
Okay, he really did want to be a part of a bigger family, but his father said that one foal was too much of a hooffull. That was what his mother always told him too, and that was their tradition in the Shift family.
Shape Shift waved hello to the red stallion and moved on. There was a group of mares watching him closely, and he ventured to guess that stare was something of longing for him. And not a real caring longing either, he had this look before. Particularly from ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie.’ There had been others, too, but Trixie always stuck out in his mind.
No, that look in their eyes was almost, dare he say it, desperation. It seemed like he was the first stallion they had seen in a while. He looked back over his shoulder, and there, behind him, were at least three stallions. The Apple stallion, one with an hourglass cutie mark, who was looking concernedly at the clock tower, and a blue stallion with music notes for a cutie mark.
He turned his gaze back to the mares, who all blushed and looked away as quickly as they could. Ponyville was going to be a strange place. He was getting that sensation.
He trotted on, heading toward the local hangout, marked Sugar Cube Corner. Something gave him a foreboding feeling, but he chose to ignore it. He was here to do a show, and he had to promote it somehow. This seemed like the most popular place in all of the little, dare he say, sleepy town. The moment he walked in, though, his foreboding feeling was proven right.
“Hi there!” shouted a pink Earth pony from across the room. In a matter of seconds, she was right in front of him. “I haven’t seen you before! That must mean you’re new here!”
“Yeah, I—“ Shape Shift tried to say before the Pink Pony wheeled out a giant contraption with an oven in it and all sorts of other gizmos. He had never quite seen anything like this since, well, even Flim and Flam’s contraption seemed a little more… logical.
Then the pink pony began singing a song about ‘Welcome to Ponyville.’ The song was nice and everything, until she hit the ending note and confetti flew everywhere. She pulled a cake out of the oven and smiled bright, trying to hand it to Shape Shift. He graciously levitated the cake and put it on a table in the corner.
“I’m Pinkie Pie! We’re going to be such good friends! We’re going to have parties, and eat cake, and do all sorts of fun stuff together! You see, I’m friends with everypony in Ponyville! And you’re in Ponyville, so I’m your friend!” She gasped for air and Shape Shift took this moment to talk.
“Actually, Ms. Pie—“
“It’s Pinkie, since we’re friends. Ms. Pie makes it sound like I’m old or something.”
“Okay, Pinkie, I actually need a favor.”
“Sure! Anything for a friend of mine, unless that thing involves fashion, magic, flying, farming, or taking care of little animals. Then you’d better talk to one of my best friends!” She smiled and hopped around the bakery.
“I’m actually just in town for the night, you see, I’m a traveling showpony. I do tricks to entertain ponies, and hope that they will pay me to keep going.”
“Wait a second… traveling show pony…”
“Yes,” Shape Shift said, with an air of annoyance. Whenever he said ‘Traveling Showpony’ they always inquired next about Trixie. Every time. Without fail. He would have to rethink his opening speech, now.
Pinkie simply stared at her guest for a moment, with ever thinning eyes. “That’s great! All the ponies in this town are always asking for a magic show. Rarity really doesn’t want to do it, and Twilight is always so busy with her studies and, you know, being a princess now and all.”
“Say what?” Did she seriously just say that she knew a Princess? Princess Twilight of all ponies? That pony he had met once in Canterlot growing up, who seemed so interested in her books that the only other pony she would ever even spend time with was her brother?
Shape Shift hated to admit it, but he had a small thing for her.
“Oh yeah, I was there when she became a princess. I suggested an ‘Alicorn Party,’ but no one agreed.” She gave a small frown that was immediately broken by the sound of someone walking into the bakery. It was a yellow Pegasus with bubblegum hair.
“Hello, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said with enthusiasm.
“Hello, Pinkie,” Fluttershy responded in a much lower volume. “I was wondering if you could make me something, if you don’t mi—“ she stopped in mid-sentence and hid half of her face behind her mane. “I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t know you were busy, Pinkie!” She started backing out of the bakery when Pinkie grabbed her.
“Don’t be silly! What do you need?”
“I need a cupcake for Angel. You see, it’s his birthday tomorrow, and I almost completely forgot.”
“Say no more! One carrot cupcake to be delivered to your cottage tomorrow!”
“Thanks a lot, Pinkie. I’ll give you the bits tomorrow.”
“It’s alright, Fluttershy! Anything I can do to make my friends smile!”
Fluttershy gave Pinkie a wide smile, then started to turn around. When she saw Shape Shift again, she squeaked and hid behind her mane again. She seemed interested, but very, very shy.
“Hello,” he tried to say gently. She only panicked and flew out of the bakery at a moderate speed. “Well, that was certainly interesting.”
“She does that with everyone. I remember the first time I met her. She wouldn’t come near me for two days afterword.”
“Now, for the reason I came in here,” Shape Shift said, clearing his throat, “for the real reason I came here. I’m putting on a show tonight, and I figured this would be the place to promote it.”
“Of course! I’ll invite everypony I know! Well, that’s everypony in Ponyville, and maybe some ponies in Appleloosa, and some in Canterlot. Oh, I met a few ponies in Cloudsdale!”
“Just the ones in Ponyville, please,” he said, sternly.
“Okie Dokie Lokie!” With a blur, she was gone. He didn’t know where to, but she wasn’t there anymore. He ventured out into Ponyville again, and decided to see what this quaint little town had to offer. There were a couple of cafés, a nice open-air market, a tree that had been made into what appeared to be a library judging from the sign on the front, and off in the distance he could see a nice looking building he figured he should visit later.
First, though, was the library. If he was going to stun and impress these ponies, he would have to research some of the finer traits of his art. He had gotten a little rusty, since the fillies that watched his show back in Canterlot always asked for the same five or so tricks. There were only so many apples to be turned into oranges.
He knocked on the library door to find it already ajar. He observed the library. It was round, obviously following the contours of the tree it was carved into, and there was a staircase leading up to the second story. Books of all kinds lined the shelves, and in the center laid a table decorated with the statue of somepony he did not recognize. Next to the table, though, was a particularly interesting scorch mark. It was shaped like… like… he knew this. It was something he should be able to recognize…
It would come to him tonight before he did his show. This always happened to him.
He searched the shelves for a transfiguration tome and found it under T. What a weird organization scheme. Hadn’t these ponies heard of organizing by subject? I mean, what if you didn’t know the first word in the book you were looking for?
Either way, he found the ‘Tome of Transfiguration’ and took to reading it. He wondered why there was no librarian here to tend to the books, and just as he reached the Index of the book to find the distinct spell he was looking for, the sound of hoof steps… no wait, that wasn’t a pony behind him… that was…
He turned to face none other than Royal Assistant Spike. He had met Spike once when he went up to the Tower Library to fetch a tome he knew only Twilight could have, since she was about the only pony in Canterlot at the time who still read ‘1001 Mare’s Tales.’ That, and the custodian at the Royal Library had told him it was overdue.
He never did find it. In fact, was that it sitting over there in that saddlebag?
“Who do you think you are?” Spike asked.
“Don’t you recognize me, Spike?”
“No.” It wasn’t until now that it occurred to Shape Shift that he had recolored his fur this morning. With a short flash, he was back to his original coloring, a cream coat with a orange mane. This was the way he was born, but he never particularly cared for it.
There was no spark of recognition in Spike’s eyes.
“I see you’re not getting it,” he said, reapplying his choice of colors for the day, “I am Shape Shift, the Great Transmogrifier.”
“Nope, I got nothing.” Spike went back to waving about the feather duster. He dusted off the shelf and continued around the room. “Just make sure you put that book back in the right place, or Twilight’s going to get really mad.”
That was Shape Shift’s mistake; he had taken down the book without remembering which shelf it was on. He glanced nervously at the baby dragon.
“You don’t remember where you got it from, do you.” The nervous shake of the pony’s head was all the response he needed. “Fine, just leave it on the table when you get done.”
With a smile, Shape Shift finished researching his spell for the performance tonight, then, with a small goodbye to Spike, left the Library.
“Wait a minute,” Spike said, chasing Shape Shift out of the Library, “Shape Shift? I think I went to one of your shows in Canterlot.”
“I would think so, since this is my first time out of the Royal City.”
All of a sudden, Spike gave him the most upset face. He looked like he was about to puke. Shape Shift knew there wasn’t enough time to get back, and he couldn’t summon shields… so he blocked with the cape only to hear a belch come from the Dragon and smell the odor of singed fabric. When he put his cloak down, he noticed an official scroll in the Dragon’s hand… and a burnt hole in his cape.
“Oh, did I do that,” he said with a saddened look on his face, “I’m so sorry! Please don’t tell Twilight!”
“It’ll be fine,” Shape Shift said with a disgruntled tone. This was a fabulous day if he ever saw one. At least no one had asked him if he was related to the Apple family ye—
“Look at that cutie mark! I bet you’re related to Applejack!”
Of course, the little dragon would be so astute.
“Why does everypony assume that because I have an apple in my cutie mark that I’m related to the Apple family?” He let his frustration show more than he intended to.
Spike only remained silent.
“I know just the pony who’ll be able to fix that cape for you,” he said. It was apparent he began daydreaming after he made the comment.
“Spike,” Shape Shift said, “you were telling me about a pony who could fix my cape.”
“Yeah, Rarity! She’s the owner of Carousel Boutique.”
“The owner of The Carousel Boutique? As in the one fashion statement in all of Equestria?” This was surreal. Not only did he meet someone who personally knew Princess Twilight, he also met her Royal Assistant and, and the number one fashion designer in all of Canterlot? What a great turn of events. This more than made up for the hole in his cape and the passing comment about him having an apple in his cutie mark.
“That’s the one!” Spike said, triumphantly. He led the pony through the wooden houses and the thatched roofs toward the beautiful building he had seen on his precursory stroll through town. All the mares he witnessed were giving him the same look as those he saw this morning. He counted at least 12 stallions, though. Three of them were probably the ones he saw this morning. He didn’t remember.
When they arrived at the white building with the elegant purple trim, Spike seemed almost lost in thoughts. It was only complicated when the white unicorn answered the door. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every dress is chic, unique, and—gah!” She was startled by the disheveled appearance of the pony before her. “This simply will not do! I need to fix this cloak this instant!” She pulled the pony inside with a strong tug of her magic and stood him on the small little stand next to the mirrors.
“Well, hello,” Shape Shift said with some hesitation. This unicorn before him, with a magnificent white coat and a bouncing violet mane, was majestic. She was beautiful in every aspect.
“Hello yourself, Darling,” she said, not looking up from the hole in the garment. “Whatever happened to your gorgeous cloak?”
“I suppose it was Royal Mail,” he said with an air of disbelief in himself.
“Spike did this?”
“I suppose.”
She hummed a little tune as she worked, levitating various shades of fabric up to the cloak to try and match it. After a few, she shook her head. “None of these seem to match your cloak. Whoever made this for you?”
“I got it a long time ago from my father. It was a Hearth’s Warming gift. He said he got it from a little shop in a little town… wait a minute.” He looked at some of the dress ponies on display with various garments. Some of their elements seemed familiar.
“I think I would recognize my own handiwork, darling. I don’t make that many cloaks.” She turned over a corner of the fabric and gasped. “It is! I remember this insignia; it was back when I was just starting out.” She blushed. “I had made it for a rather handsome stallion from Canterlot… and you say it was your father that bought it.”
“Yes, very much so.”
Her eyes lit up like sparklers on the Summer Sun Festival eve. “You’re from Canterlot!?”
“I suppose a famous designer like yourself has been to Canterlot quite a bit, though,” he said, trying to understand her sudden surprise.
“I know, but the only stallions I know there are snobs, in a relationship, or well,” she turned her gaze to the floor. “You know, not seeking the company of a mare.”
He gave her a look. She blushes before trying to resume her work, but her hooves are shaky. “Perhaps I should leave this with you, I suppose there are other things I could be working on.” Shape Shift was growing more and more uncomfortable with all these mares so interested in him.
He was a traveling show pony for Celestia’s sake. That was no position to put a mare, let alone a foal in. He could not make any bits staying in one place. His show was only so entertaining… maybe if he was in Las Pegasus. Ponies always visited Las Pegasus. He would have to impress somepony big and powerful. He doffed his cloak and levitated it to Rarity. “I will be back this afternoon with payment.”
“Of course,” she said still rosy red in the face. “I’ll, I’ll be sure to have it ready for you by then.”
Once Shape Shift was out of the Boutique, he held a hoof to his face. This was a crazy town. He wanted his show to come and go so that he could move on. Perhaps his azure coat was attracting all the mares so… so… undesirably. He decided a nice soothing green would make a change, but what mane went with a deep green? Perhaps a nice golden. No, that would be silly. Perhaps lighten the coat and give himself a golden mane. He looked in a window to see his reflection. It was only a passing glance before a rainbow-colored streak hit him hard in the side.
“OW!” he said with a loud disapproval.
“Quit your complaining, Changeling!” It was the newest Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash. She had her rose eyes staring straight into his. He didn’t remember the last time he changed his eye color, and he hadn’t got a chance to see it today with all the craziness that was going on.
“I am not a changeling,” Shape Shift said, glaring at his assailant.
“Likely story, changeling. Likely story. I saw you changing forms! I know exactly what you are! A scout for Chrysalis’s army!”
“What the who now?”
“You know, the queen of the changelings? Didn’t she send you?”
Shape Shift knew about the changelings because he was in Canterlot last year during the Royal Wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. He had even sent Shining a gift. With a frown, he pushed Rainbow off of him and brushed himself off.
“I still think you’re a changeling. I’ve been watching all the mares look at you all day!”
“I’m a unicorn whose specialty is transformation magic! I change my coat color because I can! Not to garner love from ponies, not to feed off them. I do it because it makes me happy!” Rainbow Dash finally backed down. She then started to realize somewhere deep inside that he was actually a stallion and not a changeling.
That was when her wings popped up.
“Well… hehe…” she said, backing up even farther from him. “I seem to need to go… bust some clouds!” she said, her face red as the streak in her mane. He looked up and saw absolutely no clouds in the sky. She nervously laughed and tried to take off, but her wings were too stiff with her wingboner to even get off the ground.
“This… is… awkward…” she said, smiling nervously at him. She ran off into the distance.
“I can’t believe the day I’m having,” Shape Shift said, turning to walk down the street. He figured this would be a blue day, but it was turning out to be more of a red day, with all the frustration and constant advances.
He turned around to go somewhere else, to get away from all these crazy mares. He wanted to take some time to himself, but instead ran headlong into an orange mare with three apples for a cutie mark, and a cowpony hat upon her head.
“Well, howdy there, partner. Haven’t seen you around these parts before.”
“I take it you’re Applejack?” he said, wearily, remembering the exact statement Spike had made to him. ‘I bet you’re related to Applejack!’
“The one an’ only! Ah was just here in town to drop off a bushel of apples when I ran into you. Or rather, you ran into me.”
“Could you explain something to me?”
“Ah can try,” she said. “But if’n yer really confused about somethin’, Ah think ya should go ask Twilight.”
“Well, it’s about the Apple Family.”
“Then ya’ll are talkin’ to the expert… well, unless ya were talkin’ to Granny Smith.”
“I was wondering why everypony thinks that just because I have an apple in my cutie mark, I must be related to you. I mean, I’ve seen a few Apples around Canterlot from time to time, but I don’t understand why everypony thinks we’re related somehow.”
“Let me see that cutie mark,” Applejack said. Upon a slight turn by Shape Shift, she blushed. It was obvious she wasn’t looking at his plot because of the cutie mark.
“The cutie mark’s right here,” he said, pointing straight at it.
“Yes, yes, yer right. It’s right there, ah hehe.” That laugh. Shape Shift didn’t like that laugh. It was often a beacon that somepony had more devious plans in their head.
“Well, as fer yer cutie mark, I know I have an Uncle Orange. Perhaps they think you come from that side of the family.”
“I come from Canterlot. And I am a unicorn. What more do these ponies want in evidence that I’m not from the Apple Family!?”
“I can make yah part of the Apple Family,” she said.
“Say what?” The look in Shape Shift’s eyes reflected the fear that she was going to do something to him that he wasn’t going to like.
“Oh, what? Nothing…” she said, giving a nervous smile and looking around, as if looking if anypony was watching. Shape Shift decided that he was going to move on and ignore that comment. These mares were all crazy!
Part 2: Some Sense of Normalcy
He passed by a café, and all the mares sitting there stared at him. All except three.
There was a mint green unicorn sitting in the corner, with a lyre levitating beside her, a candy-colored pink Earth pony beside her, and a grey Pegasus with a blonde mane beside her. They all seemed to be too involved in each other.
His stomach grumbled. It was lunch time and he had not had anything to eat all day. He chose that table to sit at, since he didn’t want undue attention. All the other mares, even those sitting with other stallions, groaned; many garnering glares from their lunch dates.
“Hello there,” the mint green unicorn asked, plucking the strings of her harp-esque instrument before turning to look at him. “My name’s Lyra.”
“And I’m Sweetie Drops, but everypony prefers to call me Bon-Bon.”
The grey Pegasus merely looked at the muffin on the table.
“That there is Ditzy Doo. She tends to go by the nickname Derpy Hooves, though,” Bon-Bon said.
“I haven’t seen you around,” Lyra said. “I hope you haven’t met Pinkie Pie yet… she tends to scare a lot of visitors off.”
“Oh, I’ve met her.”
“Did she actually put the cake in the oven this time?” Bon-Bon asked.
“Yes.” He remembered that he had set it on the table and never returned to it. It was probably gone by now.
“That’s certainly an improvement,” Bon-Bon said. “I remember when Cranky was here.”
“Yeah, that whole-town musical number was pretty fun!” Lyra said, levitating her instrument again and playing a song. It was a beautiful melody, one that caught Shape Shift’s attention.
“I think I’ve heard that song before.”
“You have? It’s an original composition of mine. I wrote it when I lived in Canterlot.”
“That might explain it,” he said. “I used to live in Canterlot.”
“Rarity doesn’t know this, does she?” Lyra asked with a look of concern. The look on his face answered her question. “I’m so dreadfully sorry for you.”
[Finally, Shape Shift thought, some ponies who are normal!
“So, that’s an interesting cutie mark,” Lyra said.
Oh, Celestia, here it came. The Apple Family remark.
“How does one get such an… interesting cutie mark?”
That wasn’t at all what Shape Shift expected. “Well,” he said with a happily surprised tone, “I got it when I learned transformation magic. I’ve since grown very powerful at it. I now travel across Equestria to show off my talents.”
“You’re no Trixie, I hope,” said a voice behind him. There was a blue unicorn mare with an even lighter blue mane. On her flank was an hourglass. “My name’s Colgate!”
“Hi, Colgate!” Lyra said enthusiastically. “Come, join us!” She sat down between Derpy and Shape Shift.
“A transmogrifier, eh?” Colgate said. “That’s fancy stuff.”
“Not really, I’m only good at the simple stuff,” he admitted. “Like changing my coat’s color, or turning an apple into an orange.”
“Hence your cutie mark, eh?”
“The apple to orange trick came much later. The first thing I ever did was change a filly’s mane color. It’s my go-to trick at parties.”
“Trixie did that, and it wasn’t quite the hit she expected it to be.”
Shape Shift made a mental note to not change other pony’s hair colors.
“Oh! Can you turn a mare into a stallion?” Bon-Bon asked excitedly, giving half of a glance to Lyra.
“No, I can’t.”
“But Twilight did it when Trixie had the Alicorn Amulet!”
“That was a ruse,” Lyra said, finally connecting the dots. She scoffed at Bon-Bon’s comment before explaining herself. “She just had Big Mac painted up as Applejack.”
“Well, there goes my plans for Hearts and Hooves Day,” Bon-Bon said, looking at the Muffin Derpy was staring at. “Are you going to eat that?” Derpy simply held up a hoof to the one sitting next to her. “What are you shushing me about?”
“Don’t worry about it, Bon-Bon. Derpy and I have a bet that she can’t stare at a muffin for five minutes without eating it,” Colgate said.
“What an odd bet,” Shape Shift pointed out.
“It keeps things interesting here… not that it really needs to be interesting.”
“I remember when Rarity was trying to control the weather,” Bon-Bon said with a shudder. “She gave me frostbite immediately after she gave me a sunburn. That, fillies and gentlecolts, is why Pegasi are in charge of the weather.” She sighed.
“Then there was the time when there was chocolate rain. That was a strange, strange day here in Ponyville,” Colgate mentioned. There was a groan from all the Ponyvillians present.
“I think all of this started at the Summer Sun Festival…” Bon-Bon mentioned.
“You mean the first one Twilight arranged?” Lyra asked.
“Yeah, that one. When Twilight moved into the Library, all these disasters started befalling us here in Ponyville. I mean, not that Rainbow Dash was any more of a disaster when she came,” Bon-Bon commented.
“Don’t be so mean, Bon-Bon,” Derpy said. “Rainbow Dash is a good friend of mine!”
“Sorry, Derpy.”
“So, has it been five minutes yet,” Colgate asked.
“It’s been three, why?”
“Because Derpy ate the muffin.” True enough, there were only crumbs on the table where the muffin once stood, and Derpy was happily chewing, even though she just lost the bet. She certainly was enjoying the taste of the muffin, since her eyes were closed.
The group of them laughed and all were amused at least in part by the bet.
And that’s when things started getting… weird.
Part 3: That’s When Things Got Weird
They all finished laughing, and opened their eyes to look at each other. That was when Shape Shift noticed Derpy’s eyes. They didn’t tend to point in the same way. That was only the beginning of the strange.
Lyra then looked at him. “I was wondering, since you can’t change a mare into a stallion, perhaps you can change a mare into… a human?”
“What in the hay is a human?” Shape Shift asked incredulously.
“Oh no, not these ‘human’ theories again,” Bon-Bon said.
“I honestly believe they are real, Bon-Bon. You saw that thing Pinkie brought back from the Cloudesium! That didn’t look like any hoof or claw or paw I’ve ever seen!”
“Really? That’s what you’re going with? An artist’s design for a way to cheer on friends?”
“And what about that trick Pinkie showed me the other day? You can’t tell me that wasn’t natural?”
“You mean when she inflated her hoof with those protrusions?” Bon-Bon shuddered when she said the word ‘protrusions.’
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!”
“And what evidence is anything Pinkie brings up anyway? She spends whole days talking to her kitchen wall as if somepony’s there. Rainbow Dash told me the other day she was making a ‘cooking show,’ but she didn’t use any cameras.”
“Pinkie knows more about these humans than she’s letting on,” Lyra said, putting it simply.
Lyra levitated some dust off the ground and made it the shape of a strange creature that stood on two legs while the other two had these weird digits. They didn’t have claws or talons, and they seemed oddly, smooth.
“Those things again? Lyra, really?” Bon-Bon could only rest her head in her hoof and wait until Lyra ended her explanation.
“There are these beings called humans. They’ve been watching us for years. They used to live among us, in the years before even Discord reigned. Now, I don’t know where they are, but I can assure you that they exist. There are still relics all throughout the world. I think you found one once in The Cave of Wisdom,” Lyra said to Colgate.
“That thing? I think that was just some artist’s sculpture of a creature they read about in a story. Authors are always coming up with crazy stuff like that,” Colgate rebutted.
“Come on, Lyra, it’s an old mare’s tale,” Bon-Bon said.
“And so was Nightmare Moon, and so were the Elements of Harmony, so was the Mirror Pool, so were a lot of things. But all of them came true. Here. In Ponyville.”
“But that doesn’t mean that all of them are going to come true,” Bon-Bon replied.
There was only a scowl from Lyra. “I’m still going to believe in Humans and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“Not that I would want to, Lyra, dear, but I just wish you would quit trying to tell everypony and their brother about them… it makes you come off as a tad bit weird,” Bon-Bon said.
“Do you want me to tell him about your voice, Bon-Bon?” There was a gasp from the candy-marked pony.
“You wouldn’t!” she said, and her voice… was that a crack in it? Bon-Bon shoved her own hoof in her mouth. She just sat there and shook her head with a worried expression on her face. Shape Shift had enough of this, and backed up nervously from the table.
“Then quit making fun of my Humans hobby,” Lyra said.
Derpy was giving them all a cross-eyed stare. All of this freaked Shape Shift out, but at least there was one normal mare sitting at the table. Colgate would be his salvation. He turned to her, and gave a weak smile.
That was his next mistake, here in Ponyville.
She looked intently not at him, but a little below his eyes. He grew more nervous as the blue pony kept looking at him. She wasn’t looking him in the eyes. What was she looking at? Slowly, it dawned on him as a flash of teleportation summoned a giant, menacing looking toothbrush. She was staring at his teeth.
“We don’t want those pearly whites to go bad,” Colgate said. “I love your smile!”
At this point, with the stares of Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Colgate, Shape Shift no longer felt comfortable. He fled from the table. He ran through the town, dodging mares of all kinds, being pursued by Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Colgate. “What in Tartarus is wrong with you mares!” he shouted as a length of—was that DENTAL FLOSS!? –came flying after his legs.
“I got this, girls,” Colgate said, dropping back. Her horn began to glow brightly as he ran through the town, until there was a large flash, and she was gone. Next thing he knew, he was being dragged by his hoof at a very alarming speed through town toward a house where the door opened quickly and then slammed shut, locked as if by itself, and he was thrown into the living room.
“What the hay is going on here!?” Suddenly, Colgate appeared in front of him. With another flash of teleportation magic, the toothbrush was back. “Holy Celestia get that thing away from me!”
“Not until those teeth are clean!” she said, bringing the brush close to his face to clean them. He simply squeezed his mouth tightly shut and scrunched up his nose. There was a loud burst from the door as mint-green magic aura came flying through. Colgate gasped and that gave Shape Shift time to try to escape, only to run into Lyra.
“I want him to transfigure me a human!” After stumbling a little, he dashed around the obsessed unicorn, and made it out the door, only to topple over Bon-Bon.
“He knows my secret! I can’t let him get away!” Bon-Bon’s voice was surprisingly deep this time, not anything like the light voice that she had when she was at the café. She tried to trample him, but he rolled out of the way just in the nick of time. He got to his hooves, galloped off, coming face to face with Derpy Hooves. Just her expression freaked him out. He turned tail and fled.
“Aw, I just wanted to offer you a muffin!” she said, sadly.
Colgate appeared in front of him again, and Lyra teleported in his path. Bon-Bon and Derpy closed off the box. “Oh for the love of Celestia!” Shape Shift said, caught. Only a miracle could save him now.
Part 4: And Then That Happened
The four mares were about to pounce when all of a sudden, a purple aura pulled all four of their tails into the air. “I am very disappointed in you all!” came a strong voice. Shape Shift looked all around to find its source, and before his eyes was none other than the one and only Princess Twilight.
“But, but, Twilight!” Lyra said. “Humaaaaaans!”
“I don’t care, Lyra.” Twilight’s expression carried a large amount of disappointment with the mares. “Is this seriously how you treat a guest to our town?”
“N-n-no,” the mares replied in unison, all ashamed as they contemplated their actions. The purple alicorn gave them all stern looks.
“Now, he’s a guest to our town, and we will treat him right.” She put them all down and beckoned Shape Shift along. “I apologize for the actions of my subjects,” she said. “I know when I first came to Ponyville, I thought everypony was crazy.”
Shape Shift was hardly paying attention to the words. There was a princess in front of him. How could he pay attention to anything else?
“I soon learned that their peculiarities were what made then unique as individuals. It was what made them stand out in my mind.” She led him to the Golden Oaks Library. “So Pinkie Pie tells me you’re putting on a show.”
“How did you recognize me? I’m not wearing the same color coat as this morning,” he said, slightly confused.
“Your cutie mark,” she replied. A further look of confusion prompted Twilight to continue on as she opened the door to the library. “Since you never gave Pinkie Pie your name, she remembered your cutie mark.”
That made sense.
“So you seem to be a transmogrifier. I remember trying to cast some transmogrification spells,” she said. “That was a crazy day. I was just trying the apple to orange trick and Pinkie Pie kept interrupting me. I ended up hitting a bird and a frog.” She didn’t say this with any humor, as though it may have been humorous at one time, but all that humor had been drained from the situation.
Shape Shift’s stomach gave a loud rumble. He remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything at all today. He gave an embarrassed laugh as the blood in his face quickly flooded his cheeks. Twilight gave him a quick look, seemingly understanding his plight.
“Spiiike!” she called, and the dragon came running down the stairs.
“Yes, Twilight?”
“There’s five bits on the table over there, why don’t you run to the café and pick up a sandwich for our guest here.”
“Alright, Twilight!” he said, fetching the bits and running off out the door.
“So, how did you learn about Transmogrification? It took me years to get that advanced of magic!” She was giving Shape Shift a look he had seen too many times today. From a princess, really? This was unbecoming of Royalty. He had read all the stories about how she had saved Equestria. She was the Element of Magic, and as such, nothing he could do should have surprised her. Her wings were slowly raising to a standing position. This was starting to both aggravate and embarrass him. Sure, he had always had a crush on the unicorn-turned-alicorn, but this was almost ridiculous.
Twilight kept staring at him as she awaited the story of how he had learned Transmogrification magic. He cleared his throat. “Well, it started out when I was a colt,” he said. He noticed Twilight pulling out a quill and scroll of parchment, nodding slightly and giving him an “um-hmm.”
“I was being teased by this filly, and I had enough of it, so I turned her hair gray,” he said. “It was kind of an accident, but it was what gave me my cutie mark. It wasn’t for some time later that I realized what it meant. I figured it meant I was good at farming since I had two fruits on my flank. Then I read in a book about the ‘Apples to Oranges’ spell.” He smiled as he remembered that day.
It was a sunny day in the Canterlot library. Somepony he was talking to had suggested reading ‘101 Party Tricks to Astound and Amaze.’ That was where he had come across the spell. He then ran home, dumped the twelve dying plants sitting on his windowsill, and grabbed an apple, which he then focused all his energy on. With a surge of magic, he opened his eyes and before him sat an orange.
And so he became ‘Shape Shift, the Great Transmogrifier.’
Twilight had apparently written all this down. She read over it, proofing a couple of lines, and turned her gaze back to Shape Shift.
“That’s amazing!” she said, excitedly. “Perhaps you could teach me all about it!”
Another noise emitted from his stomach.
“Over lunch, please.”
“I suppose we should go find out what’s taking Spike so long.” She led him out of the library and into town. They passed by all the mares that had been staring at him all day. Now, though, they were bowing and closing their eyes out of respect for the princess beside him. This was severely more comfortable than being longed for all day.
They reached the café and found Spike sitting at a table.
“What could possibly be taking so long, Spike?”
“All I know is that I ordered a daisy sandwich and they’re taking forever to make it.” He folded his arms and gave a disgruntled sigh.
“Well, then.” Twilight went up to the door and, before she could walk in, three servers came out and greeted her.
“What would the most noble and wise Princess Twilight desire?”
“Perhaps a small delicacy we prepared from Canterlot?”
“Or would she like her favorite daisy sandwich?”
“What I would like is to know why the sandwich my friend Spike ordered hasn’t been made yet.”
“We are terribly sorry, we didn’t know that Spike was your friend.”
“We will get on that instantly!”
“No time to waste! Chop, chop!”
The servers disappeared back into the café and Twilight could only give a shake of her head. She didn’t think that because she had been crowned a princess that everypony should treat her differently. She was their friend, first and foremost, then a princess. She walked back out to her guest, and offered him a smile.
“I do apologize for the wait, uh…” It occurred to her that she had never gotten his name.
“I’m Shape Shift,” he said, taking his cue. “I generally call myself ‘The Great Transmogrifier,’ but it seems that Trixie Lulamoon has been through here.”
“Oh yeah, Trixie.” She seemed to be heavily biased against Trixie.
“Is there something wrong with her? I mean, I dated her once in high school… it wasn’t a great relationship, but we had things in common.”
“When she was here the first time, she was nothing but full of hot air. She swept all of the ponies here up in her fantastical tales, and cheap party tricks. She was quite the, you know.”
“I can see where you’re going, Princess,” Shape Shift said. He knew all too well how Trixie was when she was like that.
“Please, call me Twilight.” She smiled a cute smile. Her wings, Shape Shift was beginning to notice, weren’t folding back down. And, in fact, they hadn’t since they went up in the Library.
“Okay, Twilight.” Shape Shift felt awkward calling a princess by her first name alone.
“The second time Trixie was here, she brought along the Alicorn Amulet. True, it did magnify her powers, but it also corrupted her. She ended up throwing me out of Ponyville.”
“That sounds awful, but I do promise that I know my place as a show pony. Trust me, word reached Canterlot fairly quickly about Trixie and the Ursa Minor incident. It was all over the Canterlot Reporter.”
The two ponies shared a smile.
“You know,” Twilight said, with a smile on her face, “you’re the first stallion I’ve really ever talked to outside of my brother and Big Mac.” She looked at the table. “I mean, things are hard here, being the Element of Magic, a new Princess. Even before I was ‘Princess’ Twilight Sparkle, there was all these things complicating my life.
“I was rapt with my studies before I came to Ponyville, and I hate to admit it, but there was an entire weekend not too long ago when I was too busy reading my books to notice that my number one assistant over here was talking to me.” Spike perked up at his title. “I never really set out to make friends when I came here, and when I did get the five, I really stopped trying to make other friends.” She smiled as she looked off into the distance at Sugar Cube Corner. “Sure, I know most of the ponies here in Ponyville, and I’d be glad to call any of them my friends, but…” She hesitated. “I’m growing up, and I haven’t had a special some pony, or any stallion that I really liked like that.” There was a sigh.
Shape Shift was just listening to the words. Sure, there had been that awkward moment where she was practically drooling over the idea of learning transmogrification, but it seemed that her royal lessons were kicking in, even if her wings wouldn’t fold back down.
“I hope that you can forgive me,” she said. “I sometimes get so caught up in my own thoughts that I don’t really realize how they affect other ponies.”
“I forgive you,” Shape Shift said. At least she wasn’t so disturbing in her approach.
“Hey, Twilight!” a voice said from down the street. It was none other than Rainbow Dash.
Hold onto your hats, this was going to get interesting.
Part 5: When Things Got Complicated
“Hey there, Rainbow Dash! Wait, why aren’t you flying?”
Rainbow’s wings were quite stiff, and in fact, didn’t even fold a little while she galloped. “Hehe,” she laughed nervously, “Perhaps I should tell you a thing or two about those wings of yours, Twilight.”
“Oh? I thought that book you found in the library had everything I needed to know about them in it.”
“There’s one more little thing that Pegasi are taught in middle school about their wings,” Rainbow said, leaning toward Twilight’s ear. From the blush on Twilight’s face, Shape Shift could tell that Rainbow was talking about the wingboners. Shape Shift knew about them because his best friend back in Canterlot was a Pegasus. The topic had come up when they came across a white unico… wait a minute… that mare was Rarity!
Twilight fidgeted as she tried to fold down her wings to no avail. It occurred to Shape Shift that she had thought it normal that her wings would be unfolded. When Princess Celestia appeared in public, her wings were generally unfolded. In fact, Shape Shift tried to think of a time when he had seen the Princess’s wings folded at her side, or any other princesses’. The only princess he could think of who regularly folded her wings in public was Princess Cadence.
Rainbow Dash simply stared at Shape Shift. It was clear that her own wingboner was making her uncomfortable. She tousled a little trying to see if perhaps she could fold her wings, but it didn’t work. Things were only complicated further when two more voices came calling across the street. Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
“Hey there!” Pinkie called.
“Whatcha all doin’!” Applejack asked.
“Well, um, uh…”
That was when Applejack saw Shape Shift and put all the pieces together. “Rainbow! I didn’t know you were ahem,” she cleared her throat and dropped her volume, “into… stallions.”
“What? Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be!?”
“Well, you were telling me the other day about…” A hoof was roughly placed into Applejack’s mouth.
“I thought I told you that was a secret!” she tried to whisper, but the volume of her whisper was enough to be heard across the table. “If you must know, I like both mares and stallions!”
When the hoof was removed from her mouth, Applejack replied, “Fair enough.” She gave a blushing smile at Shape Shift. “And you too, Twilight?”
“I… I only just found out what’s going on. I… I’m… I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. I’m so sorry, Shape Shift, if this made things uncomfortable for you,” she said, still blushing so strongly that her normally purple face was crimson.
“I suppose you like him too, Applejack,” Rainbow asked.
“Eeyup,” Applejack said, winking at Shape Shift. This left him a little uneasy.
“What about you, Pinkie?”
“Me? Date? Are you kidding? I’m way too immature and young for that!” She said with a smile. “I mean, honestly, you’d think that I’d break my innocent ways just because a stallion walks into Ponyville?” She gave a wide smile. “Come on, girls! I thought you knew me better than that!”
“Then that makes it easier for the rest of us,” Applejack said.
“What are you saying?” Twilight asked.
“It means that it’s just between us who gets him.”
“Don’t you think maybe he should get a say?” Twilight said.
“Well then,” Applejack said, “perhaps you should ask him.”
“I… I think I don’t want any of this,” Shape Shift said, cowering behind the table. “I mean, I’m just a travelling showpony, what could I possibly have to offer any of you mares?”
“There’s only so many eligible stallions,” Applejack said. “My brother’s just about the only one mares like around here. He’s so tired of all the attention, he finally chose to hang around Cherilee. They’re good friends, but everypony thinks they’re dating, especially after what my sis did last Hearts and Hooves day.” That story, too, had made it into the Canterlot Reporter. A subsequent pulling of all copies of ‘The History of Hearts and Hooves Day’ occurred. Shape Shift was beginning to see a pattern between the events here in Ponyville and the four ponies in front of him. Though, he did remember there were six Elements of Harmony.
There they came, Rarity and Fluttershy. They both looked like they had just come from the spa. “I just feel simply divine!” Rarity said, as she noticed the four of her friends sitting at the table. “Come on, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy followed Rarity over to the table, and when she saw Shape Shift, for the third time today, she squeaked and hid her face behind her mane.
She kept her eyes off of him, but still her wings began to stiffen.
“Not you too, Fluttershy!” Rainbow said.
“I… I don’t know w-what you’re t-t-talking about,” she said, with quite a nervous stutter.
“I’m pretty sure you do, Darling,” Rarity said, putting a hoof on the edge of her wing.
Fluttershy merely started crying and ran off.
“That pony,” Rainbow said, watching her childhood friend run off. Again.
“She’s very shy for a reason, Rainbow,” Rarity said. “I’m sure this is the first time she’s seen a stallion she’s been attracted to.” Rarity gave Shape Shift a long glance.
“I just want to put on my show and—WOULD YOU NOT TOUCH MY HORN!?” Rainbow had snuck up behind Shape Shift and began rubbing the tip of his horn. And while it felt good, he wasn’t comfortable with it being rubbed in public. Certainly not by some mare who thought only this morning that he was a changeling.
“I was… just curious what happened when you do that to a unicorn.” There was a scowl from most of the other mares at the table.
“It does the same thing as when you touch a mare’s horn, Rainbow,” Rarity said, unimpressed.
“And how do you know that? Have you ever done it?”
“Well, no, but I can take a guess!”
“And what exactly happens when you rub a mare’s horn?” Rainbow said, moving closer to Rarity.
“Well, it… it’s not lady-like to talk about at the lunch table.” She held her nose up, and it was obvious that she would not continue on with her statement.
“Then let’s leave the lunch table,” Rainbow said.
“I will not,” Rarity asserted. “I am enjoying my time with my friends.”
There was a look of defeat on Rainbow Dash’s face. It was beginning to dawn on Shape Shift that none of these mares had been with a stallion before. Could it really be true that there was such a shortage of stallions here in Ponyville that so many of them stared at him all day?
“Mares, seriously,” Shape Shift said. “All this is making me feel awkward!”
Part 6: The Pieces in Place
“I do humbly apologize,” said a new voice, “for this order taking so long to complete.” There was a sandwich placed on the table, and Spike slid it over to the only stallion at the table.
“Now I would like to eat this sandwich in peace. For Celestia’s sake, you are all obsessed!” Shape Shift levitated the sandwich to his mouth and shoved the thing into his mouth. He gave the mares scowls that scolded all of them.
“I… I’m sorry,” Twilight said. Though she had taken so little in the discomforting of Shape Shift, she held quite a bit of guilt. It wasn’t long until all the other mares at the table apologized.
“I suppose I could cast a spell on you that could get you through the rest of the day without any more undue attention. If you’ll just give me a few minutes to research it in my Library,” Twilight said.
“And I have your cloak ready, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give you a few additions to it so that others wouldn’t notice you as much anyway. Free of charge.”
“Ah could talk to Big Mac and get him to show ya around,” Applejack said. “And I could get him to bring Cherilee along.”
“I’ll make sure everpony in Ponyville knows about your show! They’ll be sure to come!” Pinkie asserted, startling most of the ponies there. She had been so shockingly quiet that they all had forgetten she was there. Well, she was. After making her comment, she sped off.
“I could…” Rainbow seemed to be having a hard time coming up with how she would help. “I dunno.” She shrugged and seemed a bit upset that she didn’t have anything she could offer to help.
“I would be honored if the best flyer to come out of Cloudsdale would accompany me as my faux fillyfriend.”
Rainbow blushed. “Really?”
“How else will all those other mares stop paying attention to me besides thinking that I’m already taken?”
“Ohmygosh! This is almost as good as when I became a Wonderbolt. Almost.” She poked a hoof into Shape Shift’s chest to punctuate that it still wasn’t as great as her achieving her life-long dream.
“Then it’s settled,” Twilight said. “I’ll send Spike to get you when the spell is ready.”
“And I’ll have the cloak done by five, promise.”
“Come with me and Ah’ll have Big Mac show you ‘round Sweet Apple Acres.”
Rainbow took her place next to Shape Shift. It was clear from the fact that her wings still hadn’t folded that she was excited, but whether that was an attraction or an actual platonic excitement remained to be seen.
Rainbow and Applejack led Shape Shift to Sweet Apple Acres, while Applejack went off to find her brother, Rainbow beamed with joy.
“You’re pretty awesome,” she said, “Even if I did think that you were a changeling this morning. Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine now,” Shape Shift said. It was nice to be able to go places without being stared at so… deviously. He was actually having a relaxing time here in Ponyville now that he didn’t have to worry about all those mares.
“I just have one question,” Rainbow said. Her wings squirmed a little as she still tried to fold them down. “What does faux mean?”
“It’s a fancy way to say fake, it’s usually used for something that will take the place of something without being that something in the first place.”
There was a slight fall in Rainbow’s countenance.
“I’m just not ready for a real one, Rainbow. But I promise, I’ll think of you when I am ready.” Shape Shift was really just trying to keep her happy. Even if it meant giving a little more than he wanted to.
“Really?” There was such a beam on her face that he couldn’t possibly say no to her. She, though very tough on the outside, was an adorable mare when she wanted to be. In fact, there was something he liked about all the six of them. It was just all too complicated for him to sort out while still in their company. Perhaps after he finished his planned tour of Equestria, he would come back and try to figure out if he could really love any of them. But at least they would all be his friends.
“Of course, Rainbow. And if nothing else, I would be glad to be your friend.”
“That…” she said, looking around to make sure no pony else saw, “means a lot to me.” She placed a peck on his cheek before pulling away quickly at the sound of hoofs approaching. Applejack and Big Mac came trotting down the road.
“Ah promise ya I’ll have that orchard at least half bucked by sundown tonight.”
“Ah don’t really feel right doin’ this, sis.”
“Have a day off, Big Mac. Ya deserve it.”
“But the apples—”
“Ah don’t wanna hear another word out of you. Go, get Cherilee, and you four have a good afternoon.”
“But—“
“Ah dun wanna hear any more of yer ‘buts’ mister. Now ya’ll go and have a good time!”
Irritated, Big Mac finally acquiesced and walked down the road with Rainbow and Shape Shift. They took the long way into town, circling around the many orchards that laid on Sweet Apple Acres. There were plenty of apple trees, but there were also fields for carrots, corn, and other various foodstuffs that were sure to delight. Big Mac showed them through the Zap Apple orchard, and finally back into town. He stopped at the door to one of the houses, knocked, then waited.
“Well hello there, Big Mac,” said a chipper fuchsia pony with pink in her mane. Her cutie mark consisted of three smiling flowers. She must have been Cherilee, from the way that they both reacted in front of each other.
“Howdy, Miss Cherilee. How are you?”
“Great! I was just hoping that you’d come along. You see, I’ve been needing some time away from my neighbors.” There was a faint, rhythmic noise that Shape Shift could hear coming from the next house over. “I don’t know why I chose to move in here, next to her.” There was a disappointed expression on her face as she shook her head and walked out the door. That noise… was that the house of Vinyl Scratch? Before Shape Shift could ponder any farther about the inhabitant of the next house, the other three ponies were off.
“Here’s Ponyville Lake,” Cherilee said, using the tone she normally reserved for field trips when she was teaching. “Don’t listen to what most ponies say about it, there’s no such thing as sea ponies.” She smiled and led them on through the fields to a nice hill, overlooking the town.
“That there’s my house!” Rainbow said, pointing out a large cloud structure over the crest of another hill. “It took days to build it just so.” She seemed quite proud of her handiwork. There was even a rainbow fountain.
They stayed there a while before returning to Sugar Cube Corner, all the while making small talk and laughing at passing jokes. They gathered around a table and Pinkie served them punch.
Shape Shift was curious about Fluttershy, so she inquired with Rainbow Dash. She told him about her insecurities with flying, and how she raced to uphold Fluttershy’s honor. That was how she got her cutie mark. She mentioned that Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, was always willing to help how she could, and would often overcome her excessive shyness to help her friends. Rainbow also talked about how Fluttershy had a lot of fears that she had to overcome in the years they had been friends.
They didn’t wait long before the purple dragon came panting in.
“Twilight says the spell is ready!”
“I suppose that means you won’t need me anymore,” Rainbow said, hanging her head.
“Well, I…” Shape Shift was struggling to find something to say to cheer Rainbow up. There wasn’t actually a need to have her accompany him, but she seemed so excited when he suggested it, and she had been so happy all day, her wings never did fold down.
Rainbow began to walk off. Though she was a Wonderbolt—something she had dreamed of since she was a filly, there was something she enjoyed more about being with Shape Shift. Something she never really gave much thought to when she was training and practicing. Perhaps there was more to her life than being a Wonderbolt.
“Rainbow,” Shape Shift said, “There is nothing I would appreciate more than to have a good friend accompany me the rest of the day.”
The smile immediately returned to Rainbow’s face and she was right there by his side again. They bid Cherilee and Big Mac a farewell and headed to Golden Oaks Library once more. Twilight was sitting proudly on a cushion in the back, levitating a book.
“Welcome, Shape Shift, Rainbow. Now, this spell is only strong enough to last until sunrise tomorrow. I’ll work on making an amulet that will make the effects more permanent, but for now this will have to do,” Twilight explained. “Please, have a seat. This will only take a minute.” Twilight turned to the other cushion, knocking a book off the shelf. It was only then that she became embarrassingly aware that her wings were stiff again. “I do apologize for my inability to control myself,” she said, hiding her crimson cheeks behind the book.
“It’s fine, Twilight! It’s fine! I assure you there is nothing to worry about. I’ve gotten enough attention today that your wingboner isn’t going to faze me.”
She smiled sheepishly. “Okay.” She closed her eyes as her horn started glowing and brighter it did glow. The room was filled with the color of her aura, and, in one flash, it was gone.
“Did it work?” Shape Shift asked, nervously. He didn’t feel any different, his coat was still the light green and his mane was still the golden color. He made sure all his parts were there, in the right places, and that he didn’t have, say, a leg in the middle of his belly. Sure enough, he was still the same physically as he was this morning.
“I’m pretty sure it did,” Twilight said, finally able to fold up her wings. “You don’t look any different, but you seem less, I don’t know, obvious?” She seemed to not know the exact word for what she wanted to say. This was a new experience for Twilight, not having a word for her exact meaning.
“I’m sure glad I get to fold my wings. Maybe now I can show you some of my cool, patented moves!” Rainbow said, shaking out her wings.
“I think it’s about time we got the rest of the pieces together,” Shape Shift said. “Rainbow, if you wouldn’t mind?”
Together, they walked over to Carousel Boutique, where an awaiting Rarity imparted the cloak she had been working on. With the sun sinking low, it was time for Shape Shift to put on his show.
Part 7: The Show Must Go On
The stage was set in Ponyville’s central plaza, and the stars had begun to shine. Luna’s moon gave the night enough light for his performance, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He preferred to show his talents off during the night; there just seemed to be something more mysterious and magical about it.
The crowd was cheering, and he was glad that the spell Twilight cast was doing its work. He looked out among the ponies and there was not a devious look among them. All of them reflected excitement to see the show that would be performed tonight.
In the front row were his new friends, Rainbow cheering loudest of all. Fluttershy even made an appearance. She was comfortable enough now that she wasn’t given a wingboner. They all had smiles on their faces as he started his act.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts, may I have your attention! Since the dawn of Celestia’s Reign, Unicorns have studied all kinds of magic with the intent of making their lives better. They learned how to use these powers to control the world around them, and, under careful guidance of the Princess herself, they grew to be powerful and united.
“My magic is of a brand all its own, called Transmogrification.” There was a gasp from the crowd as Shape Shift changed his coat color from green back to the azure he had this morning. “The art of changing and transforming.
“It is for more than just an alternative to dying your coat. It can also be used to transform.” With a flourish, there was a table brought in from back stage via levitation. On it, there was a single apple.
“Keep your eyes on this apple, my friends, and I will show you what Transmogrification can do!” He put all his focus into changing that apple into an orange, and with a bit of magic, it just so happened. There was yet another gasp from the crowd.
“That’s amazing!” shouted somepony from the back. “But can it turn a mare into a stallion?”
“No, Bon-Bon, it can’t turn a mare into a stallion.”
“Aw horse feathers!”
“I do not claim to be a master at my art, that is not for me to decide. That is for you, and you alone to determine. But I must warn you, there are plenty of dangers that come along with trying to use this class of magic.” He transformed a length of rope sitting on the stage into a snake, which reared up. “Just because you can transform something once, doesn’t mean you can do it again.” The crowd held its breath as the snake tried to strike at Shape Shift, who expertly dodged out of the way. With another glow of his horn, the snake was suddenly a rope again, collapsing on stage.
“For my next trick, I would like you six,” he pointed at the six friends he had met while on his crazy adventure today, “to come on stage.” He helped each of them up the stairs.
“For a lovely princess, I give you this,” he produced a piece of tree bark and with a flash of magic, it was a tome called ‘Timeless Transfigurations.’ “in the hopes that you will find it as charming as I did.” He moved on to Rarity.
“For you, mademoiselle, I give you this,” he held up a length of string. It was then transformed into a glorious shawl. Rarity eyed it for a minute, then marveled in its simplicity and beauty. “In hopes that it reflects the beauty that is held within your heart.”
Next up was Applejack. “For you,” Shape Shift said, pulling out an apple. She seemed rather unimpressed by it. That is, until Shape Shift transfigured it into a lasso. “In the hopes that you’ll catch something good.”
Beside her was Pinkie Pie. “I have this for you,” he said, pulling out a party hat. He transfigured it into balloons and some confetti. “In the hopes that you can continue your fun for many years to come.” She gave a big smile and watched the balloons float up into the sky.
Then there was Fluttershy, who begrudgingly got up on the stage, pushed by Rainbow Dash. “From what my good friend Rainbow Dash has to say about her best friend from Cloudsdale,” Shape Shift said, pulling out three little beads. With a flash of gray magic aura, they became three butterflies, echoing her cutie mark. “I give you these in the hopes they will help you find your voice.”
“Why thank you,” she said, speaking her first words to him since he first saw her that morning. She poked her other eye out from behind her mane. She pecked his cheek before blushing and hiding behind her mane again.
Finally, there was Rainbow Dash. Perhaps the most chromatic of the group, and that intrigued him so much more, now that he had some time to think about it. She was a bit like him, with a new color for every day of the week, and the only difference is she was brave enough to wear them all at the same time.
“For you, Rainbow Dash, I have this,” he said, pulling out a ticket to a Wonderbolts performance he had saved for a while. It was past expired, but Rainbow had a gleam in her eyes. She knew that there was something more awesome about to come out of this. With a flash of his magic aura, the tickets became a bouquet of rainbow colored flowers. “In the hopes that you will continue to show off your true colors to the world.”
Rainbow blushed, turning her cheeks again into the rosy red that appeared in her mane.
“These ponies showed me what true friendship was like in spite of instinctual needs. They gave up their inner desires to help me with mine, and for that, I am proud to say they are my true friends here in Ponyville.” Shape Shift looked out across the crowd, then turned to see his new friends. They were all beaming at him, and he was smiling just as wide back.
“Now, for my last trick, I am sure to astound. And if I don’t, you were probably asleep!”
There was the sound of somepony waking up and asking what was going on.
“I will transform this,” he said, holding out a carving of a bird, “into a bird.” He looked out at the unimpressed faces of those before him. “Now, you may all be wondering, ‘Why is that such a feat?’ I shall explain.
“Making butterflies is simple, I bet any of you unicorns could do it in a day with a little study and practice. Snakes are easy because they don’t have any legs, just a long, slithering body. A bird, however, has wings, and legs; talons and a beak. All of these moving parts need to work perfectly, or my task is incomplete. I haven’t tried this trick in a couple years, and the last time I did, all I made was this bird statue.
“Now, fillies and gentlecolts, I will attempt to, for the very first time, recreate Star Swirl the Bearded’s greatest Transfiguration spell!” Shape Shift’s horn began glowing its gray aura, but he could feel the magic taking too great a toll on him. There was no way he could finish the spell. Panting, he dropped the aura, and the whole crowd sighed in disappointment. Turning around with a frown, he faced his friends. There was no avoiding it, he had shown himself a failure, but upon seeing his friends, and their smiles, and feeling the warmth in his heart… there was a new surge of power. He focused this new energy into the spell, and he felt the energy collecting around the bird statuette.
With a warmth that gave him a large feeling of satisfaction, there was a chirping. He opened his eyes, panting with the exhaustion of the magic it took to transfigure something of such caliber. He held an outstretched hoof and the bird landed on it. It was a brilliant blue jay, chirping happily at its creator, who just wanted to take a nap.
He took a bow to the growing cheers and stomping. He had done his job.
“Now, fillies and gentlecolts, if you would be so kind. If you were impressed by my show, I implore you to donate a few bits so that I may share my talents with others. Please, just place them in this jar.” With still heavy breaths, he turned around to each of his new friends. They all smiled, and he knew that they figured out what happened. Through their friendship, he had magic.
He wrapped up his stage, folding it neatly into the cart.
“I don’t think I could ever repay you,” Shape Shift said, placing the last of his props into the cart. “You have all shown me kindness unlike that I have ever seen before.”
“It’s what friends do,” Twilight said. “We are there to help each other,” she nervously let her wings rise up, “no matter what.”
Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s wings both flared up, and there was a smile on Rarity’s and Applejack’s face. “We’re all here for you,” Rarity said. “If ever you need us.”
“I promise you, I’ll find a way to show you how much this all means to me.” He bowed and they left, all except Rainbow Dash.
“So you’re leaving? After all that?” She looked around to make sure no other pony was around, then let a small tear form in the corner of her eye.
“I’ll be back, Rainbow. I’m certain of it.” He placed a hoof around her shoulder. “I would never think of forgetting all of you. Especially,” he said, looking around, “you.” He planted a kiss on her cheek and her eyes dilated.
“That… that… no pony saw that did they? I wouldn’t want to be called ‘gushy’ or anything.”
“I made sure.”
“I’ll be lookin’ for you, Shape Shift,” she said with a smile, then turned to walk away. “You’d better come back, or I’m going to get the Wonderbolts after you.” With a smile from Shape Shift, she went on her way. The smile she imparted on him stayed with him through the night, as he dreamt of all his new friends.