One: The Best Young Fliers Competition, Part I

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The next morning came, and was a day that Stereo had looked forward to for weeks now. He had a surprise planned for his brother, but would still enjoy it just as much himself.

"Frisky," he said, shaking his brother lightly in hopes of waking him gently, and much more considerately than had been done to him the previous night. "Frisky!" He tried again, shaking rougher, and finally eliciting a response.

"Nnng..." Frisky groaned. "What time is it?"

"Seven," Stereo replied simply.

"Already?" The younger colt complained. "I'm still tired!"

"Mum and Dad will want breakfast," Stereo explained. "I wouldn't stay in bed for long. You know how they get."

"Uuuugh!" Frisky gave out an annoyed sigh. "Fine."

The two made their way into the bathroom, both looking nearly identical with white coats and a purple mane and tail. The only differences would be the size and eye color, Stereos being a similar shade of violet purple as his mane, and Friskys being an emerald green. They both wore necklaces that, curiously, had never been taken off by anypony. They were both a striking silver, Stereos having a large amethyst gem in it, and Friskys an emerald.

After making themselves respectable, they both grudgingly made their way down the stairs to their parents.

One confusing fact about their family is that, while the two sons were unicorns, the parents were both Pegasi. While this was not unheard of, it was extremely rare. Stranger still is the fact that they lived in Cloudsdale. The two young unicorns knew not of how they stayed atop the clouds, nor did they question it. They just did. One last point of interest is that they know nothing of magic, being told by their parents that they are merely 'earth ponies with ridiculous looking horns.'
The two walked slowly down the stairs, their life of living with the two cruel Pegasi in the dining room doing nothing to quell their desire to postpone the inevitable. Maybe they would receive a better reception? Maybe they were in a good mood?
“Hey! Where’s our breakfast, lazy mules!”
Maybe not. Frisky made his way quickly to the kitchen, while Stereo bravely trotted over to his parents to ‘take their order,’ as it were. Sometimes, it did feel to him as if he were a butler, and not a son.
“Mum, Dad,” he began nervously, “What would you like for breakfast?”
A torrent of orders flew forth from the greedy parents.
“Hay Fries! Eggs! Toast! Cereal!” They barked, more meals than are healthy to be consumed at once were requested as the young pony’s head swam, juggling to remember what they were continually spitting forth, while wryly noting that they were being more polite than usual.
“And make it fast!” his father eventually concluded. “We don’t have all day.”
Stereo rushed into the less than spacious kitchen, in turn giving his own orders.
"Frisky," he started, a fair bit more curtly than he himself had been addressed less than a minute before, "I need you to start cooking the toast and eggs, and prepare the cereal."

"Yes, Sir!" Came the mocking reply, causing Stereo to wonder how his brother managed to keep smiling almost indefinitely, even after when they would be treated cruelly. Not that he had personally experienced it that day, or even Stereo apart from some plain rudeness.

Stereo started cooking the hay fries, while also beginning an omelet. He never could understand why anypony would make them cook fried eggs and an omelet. And they usually ordered scrambled eggs, to boot.

Stereo began some light conversation to pass the time.

"Sleep well?" he said, still slightly perturbed after his discovery of the shocking similarities between their dreams.

"Only after you helped me. I didn't even dream," Frisky replied.

"That’s good," Stereo said, before adding one piece of information that would probably drive his brother crazy for the next half-hour. "I have a surprise for you today."

"Really?" His brother said, already showing excitement in that one word. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you."

"But why?"

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise." Stereo said plainly. The old classic. Nopony could argue with the 'then it wouldn't be a surprise' tactic. Nopony, excepting Frisky.

"I thought you promised never to lie to me!" he wined, probably to send his brother on a guilt trip and find out the secret early than actually being genuinely upset.

"When I said that," Stereo began to explain, "all those years ago, I said I wouldn't lie to protect you. Not to let you worm out of waiting for a surprise. Besides," he added, "I'm not even lying. I would be lying if I said that there was no surprise. I'm just... Not telling you everything."

Frisky sat down and grumbled, out of ammunition for this round.

"Do I get a hint?" he tried feebly, firing the last proverbial shot in the pistol.

"It happens straight after breakfast."

***

It would have taken them over an hour to prepare breakfast that morning, a plethora of delicacies for every meal; all eaten at once by two surprisingly fit Pegasi.

"C'mon, c'mon!" his father shouted. "We have a big day, and we need food! Celestia knows how we get when we don't eat, and it isn’t pretty! Do you want to see us like that?"

"No, Dad," Stereo replied submissively, before his Mom took over.

"We work the hide off of our flanks every day, and we don't complain," she said. "You don't do anything, but you expect food and a house? Hurry up, and pull your own weight!"

Stereo thought that the last comment was uncalled for. He had already submitted to his father’s demanding attitude, and she had to put her two bits in, just to make them feel bad. As he walked forward, he felt a strategically placed hoof cut out, making him trip and throw the food he was holding across the room.

"You numb-skulled, dim-witted unicorn, can you do anything?" His Father said, although it sounded more like an explanation than a question. It had been learnt long ago not to answer a question so obviously rhetorical.

"We are leaving right now!" His Mother yelled, more than anything. "This house better be spotless when we get back, you got it?"

The two children nodded with plenty of energy, not wanting to leave any doubt of their sincerity. With that in mind, the two Pegasi literally flew out the door, in the general direction of the Cloudsdale weather factory.

Both were feeling down-trodden, until Stereo remembered their plans for the day.

"We have just less than an hour," Stereo said. "I'll start picking up the food, and you get started on some breakfast."

A rare treat was fresh breakfast for them, being forced to eat their parents’ leftovers, which were, sadly, not always guaranteed. Today being a Sunday, however, was a day that their parents had somehow gotten stuck working on. A rather unfortunate case, to work on a Saturday, but Stereo and Frisky took advantage of it with a fresh breakfast, and an occasional outing.

Stereo busied himself with cleaning the mess they had made. Everything managed to eventually get into the bin, however, and he finished with the mop just as Frisky bought out a stack of banana pancakes, something his parents rarely, if ever, seemed to request. Even when they did, there was never anything left over for him or Frisky. It was an extremely rare treat, even on Sundays.

"These are great!" Stereo said, taking his first bite. "Why did you get all of the cooking talent?"

"I don't know," Frisky replied. "I'm just good!"

"You usually experiment with your food a lot, though," Stereo noted. "These pancakes seem a little... Normal."

"I was rushing."

After finishing, they both ran off, with a half hour left until Frisky's surprise.

***
“So,” Frisky began as they walked along the plush cloud walkways that intersected the city. “Will you tell me what my surprise is yet?”

“Well, were getting pretty close now,” Stereo said. “Maybe we could wait a little longer.”

“Please?”

“Okay, okay,” Stereo said defensively. “We’re going to the best young flier competition, with our own cloud platform.”

“Wow!” His brother said, growing more ecstatic by the moment. “How did you afford it?”

“I spent almost all my bits,” Stereo explained. “I started saving about a year ago, and only just made saved up enough for today.”

They approached a stadium as he finished speaking, the Cloudosseum. They looked up at its magnificence, before Frisky piped up.

“How do we get up to our spot? We can’t fly!”

Without answering, Stereo handed two tickets to the box office, the occupier of which called over two Pegasi to carry them up to their seats. As they landed, Stereo, with a relieved sigh, noticed that there was a walkway around the edge of the level they were on, leading to refreshments and amenities.

“I didn’t know that they did that here,” Frisky stated.

“Well, sometimes Pegasi get injured wings,” Stereo explained. “They do it for the same reason that walkways are built into some areas of Cloudsdale. Sometimes ponies aren’t fit to fly.”

“Oh.”

***
The day at the competition went all too fast, with some interesting performances. Then again, some of the performances were horrible. But what really piqued Stereo’s interest was that, on a cloud almost directly opposite to them, was a single yellow Pegasus. She wasn’t the interesting one, though. Her companions were, being comprised of an orange Earth Pony, a bouncy pink Earth Pony, and more importantly (to him), a purple unicorn.
His thoughts were interrupted by the announcement of the final routine.

“And now,” began the smartly dressed Pegasus stallion on the announcer’s podium, “for our final contestant of the day, contestant number fifteen!” He shouted proudly, as a nervous looking blue Pegasus mare flew out from under the curtains, and then fumbled as another mare came out just after. “Umm… And apparently number four!”
Stereo looked carefully at the white Pegasus mare that came out second, eyeing her butterfly-like wings, and her horn… wait, horn?

The sudden onset of classical music reminded him to watch the competition. He didn’t want to miss two competitors at once. The white one began to do some form of ballet in mid-air, so he cast his eyes on the other, more… normal blue Pegasus. She was doing slalom with the cloud pillars in the middle of the stadium. This was a little more to his interest. But then, she smacked into one of the last pillars, crashing into the wall just below a group of jeering stallions. He felt a fire growing in him, directed at the three laughing ponies. It soon disappeared, though, and was replaced with admiration as she got up and kept flying.

He checked up on the other mare. She was still dancing. No interest there. The blue one, however, was spinning around a selection of cumulus clouds overhead, causing them to spin rapidly. She did, however, fail once again, slamming into the last one, sending it flying into the face of Princess Celestia. Stereo winced at this. That was probably a crime.
He noticed the mare gulp, before flying upwards, and passing the white one. Just as she reached a point where she began to slow down, everypony heard a tremendous shout from above.

“LOOK UPON ME, EQUESTRIA; FOR I… AM… RARITY!”

With her rather loud declaration in mind, Stereo determined that the white pony was probably named Rarity. She opened her butterfly wings, shining a magnificent pattern of colors all over the stadium. Everypony in Cloudsdale probably saw it.
As he began to stomp his hooves in applause, her wings evaporated into thin air. After a brief moment, in which physics contemplated its next move, she plummeted towards the ground. The Wonderbolts were dispatched, heading down and out to the rescue of the now Unicorn. They approached the screaming mare, and were knocked out by her flaying hooves.

“I’m comin’ Rarity!”

The somewhat relieving voice of the first mare was heard, as she sped down at breakneck speeds towards the screaming pony and unconscious stunt fliers. But they were so far down away… would she make it?
The blue Pegasus mare dashed towards them, building up what must have been incredible speed, until a white shape began to form around her extended hooves.

“No…” Stereo said in wonder. “She can’t be!”

She did though, the shape tightening into a slim mach cone, flashing its tip flashing a brilliant rainbow pattern before it happened. She broke the sound barrier.

A massive rainbow shockwave formed beneath the city, accompanied by a deafening boom, as the blue Pegasus mare caught the falling ponies, and pulling up just in time.

When hearing returned to his ears, all he Stereo could hear was, “YES, YES! SHE DID IT! A SONIC RAINBOOM!”
Stereo smiled, before standing up and being the first to begin applauding, stomping his hooves to the cloud, and pulling everypony into reality. Soon the whole stadium was filled with applause.

Two: The Best Young Fliers Competition, Part II- Magic and Hero Worship

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“Well,” Stereo said, “that was interesting.”

“Are you KIDDING?” Frisky said excitedly. “That was awesome! Did you see her? She did a sonic rainboom! A SONIC RAINBOOM!

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Stereo said. “Ponies are looking.”

They made their way to the café, only for a drink. Stereo was glad that he had gone all out, getting the ticket with a personal cloud and unlimited drinks. The line was massive. He noticed the drinking cups all stacked neatly on top of a water cooler. He had his hoof extended, with the cups just out of reach.

“Do you need some help?”

The voice came from behind, and as Stereo turned to address it, he noticed that it was the purple Unicorn from before.

“Yes, thanks.” Stereo said. He was shocked as a pink-purple aura surrounded two cups, and her horn, and then lifted them up, and then levitated them right in front of them.

“Wow!” Frisky said, fascinated by what he saw. “How are you doing that?”

“You’ve never seen levitation before?” She replied.

“Never!” Stereo said, free of his initial shock and now just as amazed,

“It’s a natural Unicorn ability!” She said “Do you want me to show you how?”

Both nodded their heads enthusiastically. “Yes, please Miss…” Stereo began, remembering that he didn’t know her name.

“Twilight,” she said, “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes please, Miss Sparkle.”

“Well,” she began, “Unicorns have an inherent reserve of magic. They can use it to manipulate the world around them, like I showed you by lifting these cups.” She paused to let the information sink in, before continuing. “Channeling this magic can be hard at first, but after you do it once, it will be easy to do.”

“How do we do that?” Frisky interrupted, and was nudged by Stereo, as a ‘be quiet and listen’ message.

“First,” she said, placing the cups on a nearby table, “focus on the cup. Concentrate on it. Feel it.”

The two concentrated for a good minute, until, like a stack of bricks, it hit them both at about the same time.

“I feel something…” Stereo said, feeling as if he was stretching a muscle that he never knew existed, for the first time. “It’s like there’s a space in my head, and I can feel the cup.”

“Good,” Twilight said. “Now grab it.”

Stereo and Frisky both scrunched up their faces in concentration. Then, a faint *ping* sound was heard, followed by a steady humming. Stereo opened his eyes, a huge weight taken off of his shoulders now that he had ‘broken the barrier’, as it were. It was still a continuous effort, but now much easier. He guessed that he could still do several tasks while holding the levitation spell. He lifted up the cup, noting that the magical aura was a violet purple, similar to his eyes and mane, unlike Twilight’s pink-purple color. Seconds later, Frisky managed to lift his cup, his aura being a purple-blue color. He seemed very excited.

“I thought that the rainboom was awesome,” he began, “but this is awesome!”

“Thank you, Miss Sparkle,” Stereo said, still marveling at his own natural ability.

“Please,” she said, “call me Twilight.”

Just then, the blue Pegasus mare and orange Earth Pony rounded a corner, and into the café.

“I’m telling you AJ, I did it on purpose! I totally meant to do that Sonic Rainboom, and saving Rarity was just a bonus opportunity! I swear!” Said the Pegasus.

“Yeah,” replied the Earth Pony, in a southern drawl. “Jus’ like you practiced hundreds ‘n’ hundreds a times, but never once got it right, ‘on purpose.’”

Twilight heard the two bickering, and obviously recognized them.

“Hey girls!” She called out, getting their attention. Frisky seemed to go rigid. The two mares walked towards them.

“Heya Twilight!” the Earth Pony said. “Who’re the two youngins over ‘ere.”

“I’m Frisky!” Frisky said. “I saw your Sonic Rainboom. It was amazing!”

“Thanks, kid. I’m Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Rainbow.” The addressed mare said.

“And I’m Applejack,” the Earth pony said. “What’re two Unicorns doin’ up ‘ere anyway? Come ta watch the show?”

“We live here,” Stereo said. “Our parents are Pegasi.

“How do your parents manage that?” Twilight asked. “Do your parents take you down to the surface for a cloud-walking spell?”

“No,” Stereo replied. “We’ve never left Cloudsdale.”

“Very strange,” Twilight said, pondering over possibilities. “That’s how my non Pegasi friends and I came from Ponyville.”

“Anyway,” Stereo said, “It was nice meeting you everypony, and thanks a lot, Twilight, for teaching us. We really need to leave soon, or our parents will be really angry.”

“Do you want a ride?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s pretty difficult to get anywhere on foot here.”

“No, you don’t have…”

“Yes!” Frisky said, before amending his exclamation. “Yes, please.”

Applejack laughed as Stereo and Frisky jumped onto Rainbow’s back, and they took off.
***
“Were do you live?” Rainbow Dash shouted over her shoulder. Shouting was necessary, mostly because of the extreme speeds that they were travelling at. Despite Frisky’s insistence, though, they didn’t break the sound barrier. Rainbow insisted that it would be too dangerous, but Stereo didn’t doubt that she would if she could. The thought was re-enforced when Stereo recalled the Pegasus’ argument with Applejack when they entered the café.

“That house, just down there,” Stereo said, extending his hoof to indicate a cloud-house close by.

“Okay, here you go,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe I’ll see you ‘round someday. Just yell if you see me.”

“Thanks for the ride,” Stereo said. “We would still be at the stadium right now if you didn’t get us here. You saved us a lot of time.”

“It was nothing,” She reassured him. “Gotta go. See you around.”

“Bye Rainbow!” Frisky said, before Rainbow Dash waved and flew off. Stereo gave a sigh. More ponies should be so kind.

“C’mon Frisky,” Stereo said. “We better have dinner ready before Mom and Dad get home. Celestia knows what would happen if we screwed up again.

***

Frisky was still floating on cloud nine three hours later. He had witnessed a moment in history, discovered magic, and gotten friendly with not just his now personal idol and winner of the Best Young Fliers Competition, but also three national heroes- three of the elements of harmony. That last part was unknown to him, though. As might be imagined, Stereo and Frisky knew little of the outside world. They knew nothing about magic, the Princesses, or even that it was strange that they could walk on clouds. It would be hardly surprising if they had never in their lives heard of the elements of harmony.
The two brothers were busying themselves with making a pie for their parents. Stereo was attempting to line the pastry on the surface of a dish, while Frisky had almost finished creating the innards.

“It isn’t that hard!” Frisky said, while watching Stereo fumble with the pastry, trying to complete the same task that had been given him a half hour ago.

“It is!” Stereo replied defensively. “It sticks to itself, then to the dish, and when I finally get it, it sticks to me!”
Frisky sighed, before, with minor difficulty, levitating the pastry and lining it perfectly along the base and sides of the dish.

“I knew I could do that.” Stereo muttered.

“Here’s something easy,” Frisky said. “Take some pastry, and cut it into strips.” Finally, something had managed to crash his mood slightly. Though, it was probably better that than their parents yelling at him for being happy. Or something else ridiculous.

Frisky poured the inside of the pie into the lined dish, before levitating the prepared strips of pastry over the top in a lattice. Stereo then levitated the dish, putting it into the oven.

“Things seem a lot lighter when I do that,” Stereo said.

“Me too,” Frisky confirmed. “I wonder why?” As he was saying this, he took a leftover soup from the night before, putting it into bowls, and handing one to Stereo.

“Thanks,” Stereo said, levitating a shaking spoon, trying to collect the soup with it to eat. “I still find it a bit hard, though."

They ate in moderate silence; something unusual, given the circumstances.

“Something wrong?” Stereo asked.

“I don’t want to have that dream again,” Frisky replied.

“You won’t,” Stereo reassured him, “if you do what I told you to do last night. Now let’s go.”

Stereo placed his bowl on a pile to be washed the next morning, along with Frisky. Stereo found it annoying that they had to share a room, even if they did have generously large bed. Of course, he never complained about it. He still would prefer a bed. But, while he loved his brother, he could do with some peaceful sleep. But saving money and re-using their parent’s old bed was more important to them.

Stereo climbed into bed, knowing it wise to be asleep before their parents returned from work. They tended to get… antsy after a long day of working, and as long as there was food for them, they usually didn’t disturb their children. Stereo was, unsurprisingly given the days hectic events, asleep in seconds.

***

A fuzzy, restricting feeling placed itself around his entire body, his movements becoming sluggish and his vision narrow. He recognized this- and he should, after only experiencing it a single day ago. He was dreaming. This was slightly different, though. He was definitely aware that he was dreaming, and he could think better, if only by a bit. The stone alleyway he found himself in was still confusing. It seemed to have no meaning. That was until, however, he noticed a tall, cloaked figure in front of him.

“Shhh,” The figure says. “You are getting stronger. You are probably unable to communicate with me yet, but I will still alleviate some of the confusion.”

Stereo finds himself trying to respond, with only incomprehensible gibberish coming out.

“These dreams you have, they are much more. They are visions. Your magic is weak, and as it gets stronger, you will find out more about who you really are. Some important questions will be answered. Have you ever wondered why you and your brother are unicorns?”

Stereo gave what felt like a nod.

“I cannot reveal the visions prematurely, or take action on them, not even if I tried. And as for who I am; I cannot tell you my name. There is a far greater force, greater than princess Celestia herself. This stops me from doing these things. But for now, you may call me ‘Gumala’.”

The world faded slowly. What would usually be only a small amount of information, no matter how startling, was already becoming too much.

“I know the truth about you,” Gumala said. “As your magic increases, so will your understanding. You are in danger, Stereoheart, and I can’t defend you unless you do what I have said. I will find you, and I will help you!”

The vision and the voice faded with her last words:

“It is the will of Equestria.”

Three: Eyes of Fire

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Stereo sat up in bed, immediately noticing that Frisky was already gone.

“Frisky!” He yelled as he made his way down the stairs.

“In the kitchen!” Came the reply.

Stereo entered to find Frisky, finishing a bowl of Pony-O’s, Equestria’s favorite cereal. Another bowl was waiting for him on the other side of the table, which Stereo sat down and began to eat.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked.

“Yep,” Frisky replied happily. “No nightmares.”

“That’s good,” Stereo said, guzzling his cereal. “We need to leave, were already late.”
Frisky looked at a nearby wall clock, which read 8:15.

“Let’s go then, school starts in ten minutes!’ He said, before rushing out the door.
The walk to school took about that long, the two only just arriving at their classes in time.

“Be quiet, class,” the teacher, Miss Sky said. Everypony went silent fairly quickly. “Thank you. Today, class, we are learning about cutie marks. I know that most of you already have your cutie marks, but it is still important that you know what they signify.”

A few students began to snigger at the expense of the blank flanks in the room, Stereo being one himself. Suffice to say that being laughed at something that was their problem just a few weeks ago was never a good feeling. It was almost like… betrayal. Ponies are teased for being blank-flanks, but then do the same to other blank-flanks when they get their own cutie mark.

"Now, everypony gets their cutie mark eventually," Miss Sky continued. "An old mare’s tale states that, no matter how difficult somepony's life is, the 'will of Equestria' will force events that will lead to our special talent. Sometimes these will be subtle, such as a single thought; or something huge, such as a natural disaster. Of course, that was just an old mare’s tale. It does have merit, though. It shows that everypony gets their cutie mark eventually, and that part is true. Nopony has ever grown old a blank-flank."

"Maybe Stereoheart will be the first!" A student yelled from the back. Most of the class laughed at the comment, and Stereo was glad for once that he was at the front of the class, and only Miss Sky could see his shock. What really peeved him off, however, was that the particular student that made that comment had gotten his cutie mark last Friday.

"Rainchaser, be quiet!" Miss Sky said sternly. "While you fly around chasing rain clouds, Stereo here gets to spend his time deciding what he wants to be." As she finished that comment, the break bell rang.

"Have a nice recess!" She yelled. "See you in half an hour!"

***

At the end of the day, Stereo still found himself depressed about the blank-flank issue as he walked the hallways of the school. Miss Sky's comment gave little comfort. But now that he thought about it, Rainchaser chased rainclouds. As far as Stereo knew, nothing was done with the clouds. He just... chased them. Like a dog.

Stereo continued walking, eventually reaching the main entrance. He walked out, expecting to see Frisky waiting for him. He wasn't, but what he did see connected a circuit in his brain, one that bypassed functions such as forethought and higher reasoning. Just about five yards away, he noticed three larger colts beating Frisky. Stereo must have nearly flown the distance, ending up in-between Frisky and the bullies.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Stereo shouted; noticing, but not caring that they were bigger than him as well.

"What are you gonna do about it?" The obvious leader of the trio said.

Stereo activated some magic in his horn, making it glow, purely for intimidation. He felt a tingling sensation in his eyes. He recognized the rare symptom. It meant that they had made him really angry.

"Beat him again, and I'll show you!"

The three bullies got a little apprehensive, noticing his anger symptom as his eyes transitioning slowly from purple, to pink, and then rested between there and red. "What happened to your eyes? They're red."

"Yeah," Stereo replied. "They do that. But only when I'm gonna kick somepony's flank in!"

"You're getting it now!" The leader yelled, turning around to buck him in the face, Stereo having only a few seconds to react. If levitation could be likened to picking something up with your hand, then what Stereo did could be likened to holding them in front of you. In relation, the spell would be pretty weak; but taking into account that actions seemed to be stronger through magic, he managed to conjure a fairly strong shield in less than a second. That was, if it could be called a shield. Like mentioned, it was more like holding ones arms in front of them.

Stereo held his ground, his makeshift shield providing defense as he cried at his brother to yell. With every buck, however, the area that made contact with the shield glowed pink-red, and his head throbbed painfully. It was taking its toll. He was running out of time, but a life saver came from the school building; a teacher, yelling at the bullies to stop. As they did, the color returned to his eyes as he passed out on the ground.

***

A cloaked thief prowled the alleyways, looking for escape after a bountiful heist.

Being the lone witness, Stereo yells, "Stop," but to no avail. He gives chase, unsure as to why he feels so bold, or why the entire situation feels so surreal. The, the thief dissolves. Stereo is confused, until somepony speaks from behind him.

"Stereoheart, you are dreaming again," she says.

"Gumala?" Stereo says, rather sluggishly. "I almost got beaten up. How was your day?"

"You're still rather lucid when we communicate," Gumala said. "You came closer to your destiny today, if only slightly."

"What did I do?" He replied drunkenly.

"I can't tell you, as will be most cases," Gumala replied. "The only reason I am permitted to join you here is for... moral support. You are under a great deal of stress, which you may relieve here once you become literate. I suspect that time to be fast approaching."

Stereo nodded in understanding.

"Unfortunately, I bring you bad news. You are in imminent danger. I would be extremely careful tomorrow, but I cannot recommend what you should do, as my word can divert you from you path. For that, I simply am incapable of giving advice." The vision began to fade. "Remember, Stereoheart, be careful."

Author's note:

I apologize for the short chapter. The reason I do this is because I have already written this story, and find this to be the best way to divide it into chapters. I am also pre-formatting the chapters in FimFiction, which means that I can update on my Ipod on time, every single day. Were almost half-way through the first story arc, so enjoy!

Four: A beating and a riddle

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Stereo awoke to find himself quite unable to move. His bed was empty, and his for and hind legs seemed to be tied to the bedposts.

"Frisky?" he called nervously. "Frisky, are you alright?"

"So nice to see you put somepony before you," a voice responded, "but today, it's all about you."

Stereo recognized the voice. "Dad?"

"Congrats, you recognize your own Father," his Dad replied. "But enough formalities. I want to talk to you about magic."

"I... don't know what you're talking about." Stereo said.

"Don't play stupid," his Mom said, entering the conversation. "We know all about your 'fight' yesterday. Your teacher wouldn’t stop talking about how you 'both would be in hospital if not for your magic.'

"Well...” Stereo began, searching for words, "what's it to you, anyway? Now it just means that I can work harder, and faster!"

"Oh, but you don't understand," his Dad said. "We don't want a smart, efficient little pony. We were just happy how we were before. We need to teach you why you don't use magic, and make you stop. We are going to break you."

Stereo broke into a sweat. "What! You can't do what I think you are! I'll never use it again, I promise!"

"Your word is worth nothing," his Dad said. "We need to make sure that you really will keep that promise.

***

For the next half hour, Stereo was in pain. His parents beat him hard, while the best he could do in his detained position, was to just sink back to a happy place in his mind. He created a space, were he just ignored the world. It helped him a little, but not nearly enough to nullify the pain that they were putting him through. They finished, untying a Stereo that was slowly losing consciousness. He had found magic useless, since he had been unable to concentrate; the reason originally being fear, then pain. Eventually, he slipped into the warm and forgiving arms of sleep. There was no vision. But there was still Gumala, the only pony in the world who would still care about him.

She stood before him, a broken colt, giving comforting words.

"It will soon be over, young one," she said, embracing him. "While there is no vision today, I found that I may give you a subtle hint. You may not appreciate it now, though."

"Want..." Stereo slurred, still as illiterate as the last time he was here. Being beaten hadn't helped with his reconnection with magic. It was, however, quite pleasantly surprising that feelings of pain didn't exist. While he was here.

"If you are certain you can retain the information," Gumala began. "I may give you a riddle- To make your life of true happiness start, unlock the secrets shut up in your heart."

Stereo sat, confused at the statement. He looked at the amethyst gem in his necklace. It was too bad that there wasn't a keyhole, and that it would be something as simple as picking a lock. No, it was probably much deeper than that.

"Solve my riddle, Stereo, and we will meet very soon!"

With that, the dream faded.

***

The second he woke up, a pencil and pad found themselves floating above Stereo's head, the pencil scribbling down the riddle on the notepad.

He noted that, while he still ached all over, his parents had been careful not to leave any permanent injuries.

He got up, and walked into the bathroom to make himself presentable. The state he was in would shock anypony. As he washed his face, he was tackled to the ground by Frisky.

"You're OK!"

As he was tackled by the relieved Frisky, he bumped into a tall cabinet. A plastic jar that was sitting atop the piece of furniture fell onto its side, spilling some of its contents onto the two Unicorns. As he used his magic to straighten the jar and replace its lid, he noticed a strange sensation on his horn. He turned towards the mirror to see what mess he had to clean up, only to find that his horn was beginning to disappear. He fell onto his side, clutching his still tangible horn. As he hit the ground, the world disappeared for a second, replaced by what appeared to be a unicorn casting a spell. The world reappeared, and Stereo found himself with a dull back pain.

"What was that?" Frisky said as Stereo put his horn under running water.

"I don't know," Stereo replied, relieved that the liquid that turned his horn invisible washed straight off. "Maybe there's an instruction book or something up there."

"Nothing but this," Frisky said, levitating down a rolled parchment. "I hereby give the order that the Pegasus colts Stereoheart and Frisky undergo the medical procedure 'Cornu Remotionem Magicis', as response to the condition of 'Fictus Infirmitate', signed Dr Kalpiko."

Stereo mulled over the confusing details of the document, obviously a medical prescription. He decided not to think too hard about it until later. It wouldn't have surprised him if it actually had something to do with Gumala and his destiny that she spoke of. But a disease called 'Fictus Infirmitate?' There was something about that name that rang a bell. It was probably nothing, though.

Probably.

Five: Impromptu Experimentation

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Stereo sat at school, taking notes with his magic as the teacher spoke. He found that, even though he never really took notes before, it was a lot more interesting now that he could do it with magic.

"That concludes, class, and now I have an assignment for you!" Miss Sky said enthusiastically. "All of you will create a presentation and a demonstration of some of the things that Pegasi can do." A groan rose from the class. Stereo rose his happy to point out that he would have to miss... "And you, Stereo, will do the same, but you will demonstrate what a Unicorn can do!"

Stereo lowered his hoof and gulped as the dismissal bell signaled home time.

"Remember class," Miss Sky called out, "your assignments are due on Friday!"

Stereo groaned as he headed out. He had tomorrow, Thursday and Friday morning.

"Frisky!" He called out, seeing his brother out in front of the main entry. "We need to go to the library. I have an assignment to do on magic. There's bound to be loads of reading material there."

***

"Not a single book!" Stereo shouted out, probably a little too loudly. "How am I going to do this if I know nothing?"

"Maybe you should just go home and experiment," Frisky suggested. "Maybe you'll find something cool to show!"

"Maybe, but I don't want Mom and Dad on me again. Stereo said. "It hurt."

"Yeah," Frisky said slowly. "They told me all about it."

"Maybe you're right," Stereo said. "I have three days. I'll come up with something." He put away the book he was looking at, beginning to walk out the door. He didn't know what to expect at a Cloudsdale library. They were the only Unicorns in the city.

As they arrived home, they did what they usually did. They (More Frisky than Stereo) cooked their parents dinner, ate leftover pie. Stereo wanted to try and experiment with his magic a little bit before his parents got home. He had an interesting idea, targeting Friskys head, but not grabbing it. He just listened.

"I wish Mom and Dad would let me experiment with food more. This pie could be much nicer." He heard.

"I think it’s really nice," Stereo said.

"Hmm?" Frisky replied.

"The pie," Stereo clarified. "It tastes really good. You don't need to experiment all the time. Your food's always great."

"But I never said that," Frisky said.

Stereo targeted Friskys head again, before thinking "I know. I still heard it."

"Wow!" Frisky thought. "This is so cool! How do you do it?"

"Just do what you do with levitation, on somepony's head, but don't grab it. Just think what you want to say."

Stereo and Frisky spoke like this for the rest of the day, finding it much easier than even levitation. They did eventually sleep, but only just before their parents got home.

***

Stereo found it easy to recognize the signs of a vision now. He was in one now, and found himself surrounded on all sides by a rough, irregular surface. He had no clue what it could be, and eventually it dissolved into nothingness, leaving Stereo sitting on a plain surface. He found the dreamscapes that contained his visions making more sense, becoming more orderly as he regained his magic. What he now experienced was a far cry from his first experience. He still wasn't quite sure what the first one even was. Then again, he didn't really know what this one meant either. At least now he could see, with only an irritating fog on the edges of his vision.

"It seems that you are now stronger than before," The voice of Gumala said, before she appeared in front of him. "You are getting very close now. I can almost detect you, your location, but I still can't quite find you, not until you discover the truth, and I can't tell you that, either."

"What is the 'will of Equestria' that you keep talking about?" Stereo asked.

"Ahhh, good! You can speak now!" Gumala said. "To answer your question, I would have to reveal a crucial step in finishing the quest that you are now on."

"Quest?" Stereo asked, sounding confused.

"Technically, you are in fact on a quest." Gumala replied, answering his unformed question. "There is something that I have to tell you, though. Keep in mind that a single word or thought can change one’s life. You may have been told of the old mare’s tale, that Equestria will shape subtle or catastrophic events for a pony to discover his destiny. It is true, and you never know what may happen. I need to warn you, also, of danger less severe than the last time I warned you. It is still imminent though. You are in danger."

The dream faded, replaced by reality.

***

"Now class, who here has started their assignment?"

Stereo was sitting in class, feeling horrible about how he hadn't been able to find anything. He had nothing, while almost every hoof in the class was raised in response to the teacher’s question.

"I'm very glad to see that, children, because circumstances have forced me to move the assignment forward to tomorrow."

The class groaned. Stereo took some comfort knowing that he wasn't the only pony that would have difficulty. But all of them could just go to a random library and start reading. Cloudsdale was a Pegasus city. Not a single book for Unicorn colts. As the break bell went, Stereo decided to take a different route, deciding to head to the school library as a last-ditch effort to find something. He walked down the long hallways, passing study rooms, a Janitor's closet, a music room... And that gave him an idea.

He walked into the empty room, wanting to test his idea quickly before he was caught. If it worked, then he would ask for permission. He picked out two random instruments- a lyre, and a violin. He picked them both up with his magic, plucking the lyre strings and manipulating the violin strings and bow. The resulting sound was surprisingly good, the two separate sounds sounding different; both in pitch and general voice, but also harmonious. He was brave enough to try a few more combinations, before he found himself playing a song, one made up on the spot. And he enjoyed it. He had forgotten about his original task, jus playing, and discovering that he loved no other action as much as making these sounds.

"Well, well." Said a male voice from the direction of the doorway. Stereo nearly dropped the instruments, catching them in his magic at the last second, and placing them down gently.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" Stereo began, rambling out his apology. "I have an assignment to do, and I have to show the class what I can do with my magic, and there isn't a single book in Cloudsdale that can teach me some spells. So I walked past and had an idea. I was going to ask, please don't be mad!"

"I'm not mad!" the teacher replied, laughing as he did so. "But you, you are amazing. Have you done music before?"

"Never, Sir," Stereo answered, looking more relieved every second.

"Well, you should!" The teacher said. "I could teach you for free."

"Why would you do that for me?" Stereo asked, sounding very confused.

"I couldn't let a prodigy such as yourself go to waste, not even if I tried. What do you say? Half hour after school every day?"

"I would love it!" Stereo said, before remembering something. "My parents..."

"Don't worry about them Stereo, I know them and their right grumps."

"How do you know my name?"

"You're the only Unicorn at this school, save for your brother," the teacher replied. "Most teachers know who you are. The point is, I won't tell if you won't. Deal?"

"Sounds good to me!" Stereo said. "Deal."

Six: Clarity

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Stereo looked around, seeing his hometown in snow. The vision was much clearer than the others, but he still knew what it was. It could still be clearer.

"Gumala!" Stereo yelled. "Gumala, what happened? You said I would be hurt today!"

Gumala materialized in front of him. "Your teacher, she unwittingly prevented it. By moving your assignment forward to tomorrow, she caused you to go the opposite way you usually did, avoiding an ambush."

"Ambush?"

"Yes, Stereo." Gumala clarified. "Those colts who tried to harm you before ambushed you, planning to hurt you, but you avoided them. For the time being, you are very close to tour goal. Keep going, I shall reveal myself soon."

The dream didn't fade, it just turned off, causing Stereo to almost fly out of bed, high on energy for the day.

***

Stereo finished his musical performance, bowing to the applauding classroom.

"That was fantastic!" Miss Sky said. "Can you show us anything else?"

Stereo thought for a moment. "I would like a volunteer, somepony not embarrassed by anything."

Rainchaser stood up. "That's me!"

Rainchaser stood right next to Stereo, who's horn glowed. He searched Rainchaser's head, looking for something interesting.

"Aha!" Stereo exclaimed. "How shameless are you, Rainchaser?"

"I have nothing to hide. Do whatever you want."

"Well then," continued Stereo, "you wouldn't mind me asking how Muffy is."

Rainchaser stood rigid at that moment, before relaxing. "I don't know who you're talking about."

"You don't know Muffy?" Stereo said. "But you slept with her last night. Surely you remember your own dolly. Maybe that song your Mom sings to you at night will jog your memory. 'Hush, now...'"

"Stop!" Rainchaser yelled. "Don't reveal another thing!"

"Reveal?" Stereo said, looking shocked. "You mean, you actually do all these things?"

Rainchaser looked dejected, and sat down at his seat amongst laughing classmates.

"That, is the power of Unicorn magic." Stereo concluded. "I can read minds, levitate, and probably more things in the future."

His classmates all gave a polite applause, as he returned to his seat. Life gave him a few good things. He had free lessons doing what he loved, and he had just owned the colt that made fun of him for being a blank-flank.

***

Stereo enjoyed his music lessons. Frisky covered for him, saying that he had a half hour of detention every day. It was now Wednesday, his fourth lesson. Stereo was already a fluent reader in bass and treble clefs, and understood all the rhythmic notations. He primarily learned piano, getting better every day. He was permitted access to the music room every lunch break, and he used it. He was feeling fantastic, even if his home life was getting worse and worse. He was disturbed, though, that he hadn't heard from Gumala since before his presentation. He didn't dwell on this, however, focusing on his music.

"Now," the teacher, who Stereo had found out was named Mr. Noteshine, said. "I am interested to hear your progress with the new song you have been working on."

"I can play the whole song." Stereo replied. "It's a really good one, and fun to play.

"Well then," Noteshine said. "Let's hear it!"

Stereo manipulated the piano with his magic, each individual key glowing with a violet aura as it gets used, then released again. The song went for several seconds, before the door burst open.

"You better have a good explanation!" His Mom said.

"And if you don't," began his Father, "then you're going to get more than just bruises!"

For the first time in his life, Stereo defended himself, and he screamed.

"NO!"

"What did you say?" His Mom growled menacingly.

"I said no," Stereo said, surprised at the conviction and poise in his voice. Usually, he would cower away in fright. But not this time. "There are only two things I love. And you try to destroy both of them. Music is one of them." Stereo felt a tingling in his eyes. "You can never understand what music is like for me. Since I started, I've seen it everywhere! When I walk, my hooves make a beat to a song that only I can hear, when you hear loud annoying noises, for me, they turn into a symphony." Most of his body seemed to be tingling now. "You will not take this away from me. If I have to go the rest of my life without a cutie mark to keep music, I will. I love music, it's my special talent!"

With his speech over, his whole body felt as if aflame. An electric shock travelled throughout his whole body, and he fell to his knees. Still conscious, he saw everything so vividly. He was sitting, looking at his brother as a foal, then they were picked up by cloaked figures. There was a rough surface, covering them in every direction. They had cream rubbed on their horns, which disappeared. A spell was cast on them, then an excruciating pain on his back.

Then he heard a voice, his Dad's, saying: "Nopony believes us! We can never sell them now! It was useless!"

Another voice, Gumala's came about. "I am on my way," she said, "and now you know the truth."

Stereo stood up, his necklace morphing into an amethyst quaver, while his flank tingled, and a quaver inside a violet aura manifested itself.

"My cutie mark!" Stereo whispered, before remembering his parents. "You stole us from our parents!" He yelled, piecing together information. "And tried to sell us, but you couldn't for some reason."

"Ha!" His Dad laughed. "Your accusations have no ground."

"The pot of cream, to make horns disappear?" Stereo said, raising his voice. "The prescription, claiming that we have 'Fictus Infirmitate.' I thought it sounded familiar, but now I know. 'Fictus' sounds like the word 'fiction', and 'infirmitate' sounds like 'infirmary'. What does that make? Fake sickness?"

"You still have no grounds," Stereo's Mom said.

"They hath all they need!" Yelled a loud voice, before a blue Alicorn flew in through the window. "I am Gumala, Stereoheart. My real identity, is Princess Luna."

Book 1 Epilogue: Letters to the Princesses

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Dear Princess Celestia;

I am pleased to inform you of the safe arrival of Stereoheart and Frisky. It is a terrible tragedy to discover that your parents are not who you think they are. They seem to be fitting in quite well, all things considered, and I would like to thank you for leaving them in our care. These colts need some friendship in their lives.

Your faithful student;

Twilight Sparkle.

***

Dear Princess Luna;

Thank you for helping us escape Cloudsdale, and even more for sending us to Ponyville. I have made some good friends already, and while I miss Cloudsdale, I think I'll like it here a lot more. Frisky seems to have hit it off with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, while I spend a lot of time with Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. I am still confused as to what you meant when you said that we would discover the rest of our destiny. I thought we already did that!

Your loyal subject;

Stereoheart

Authors note:

The first part of Stereo's adventures have concluded, but if you for some reason actually enjoyed reading this, then never fear! Part two will be added to the story soon, and will answer such questions as: Why was Luna so interested in them? Why can they walk on clouds? Why was Rainbow Dash so friendly to a couple of fan-boys(flashback: "Shout if you ever see me," Rainbow said)? What happens to their parents? And what happens to them in Ponyville? Part two will be released in less than a week, so hold your breaths!

Prologue to Book Two- The True Meaning of Friendship

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Author's Note:

This part is an intermission between parts one and two. It covers the time in between the end of part one and the start of part two. Also, from this moment, I am accepting suggestions for story arcs through PM's. Please note, though, that I will not reply, as it would be a giveaway, but will credit you if I use your idea. Until then, just enjoy!

Stereo trotted slowly through a large corridor, accompanied only by two others- his brother, Frisky; and Princess Luna, ruler of the night. He had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, a mild uneasiness. They approached a large door, the strange feeling getting stronger, and for obvious reasons.

“This be the Royal Canterlot Throne Room,” Princess Luna said. “And this shall be thy final chance to defend thyself. They doth not deserve retribution.”

“I-I understand, Princess,” Stereo said. “But I want to face them.”

“Very well, we admire thy courage.” Luna said. “And thou shall have thy chance at vengeance.”

“Princess, I don’t want revenge, just justice.”

They all straightened as the doors opened before them, held by two unicorn guards. Stereo felt the pressure of everypony’s eyes on him. The eyes of Princess Celestia, the ruling monarch of the land, and the sun. Also the eyes of another princess, one that was pink, and the captain of the royal guard, and also several soldiers. But worst of all, the eyes of his parents.

’Why is everypony making such a big thing out of this?’ He thought. ’It’s a kidnapping case, not a royal murder!’

He vaguely noticed Luna move to a chair to the right of the large one that Celestia occupied, and so moved towards one of the prepared seats.

“We begin the case of Stereoheart and Frisky versus Autumn Star and Spring Breeze,” Princess Celestia began, noting that everypony was in attendance. “We are here to try the Pegasi Autumn Star, and his Wife, Spring Breeze, for the unlawful abduction of the two Unicorn foals Stereoheart and Frisky. I call Stereoheart forward to testify.”

Stereo gulped. He hated public speaking. He could barely talk to his par… Autumn Star and Spring Breeze, let alone a crowd of about twenty.
He trotted up to the stage, sweat visible on his face. He couldn’t screw up now. If he didn’t present enough evidence, then he would have to go back. To Cloudsdale. But Luna wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Why don’t thou recount for us the memories that were revealed to thee?” She said. She knew that she would probably have to coach him along, and was prepared to do so.

“Well, first, the royal doctor said that they were reliable memories,” Stereo began. “And I wouldn’t be offended if somepony were to use a lie detection spell for good measure.”

At the comment, about five horns glowed from the detachment of guards.
“At first, the memories didn’t make any sense, and some were even in the wrong order. They probably knew that I would remember everything that happened if we got back our magic, and so they hid it from us, and they beat me when I started using it.”

Celestia glanced at the guards with the active lie detection spell, and they all nodded. She glared hatefully at the two defendants.

“I could lock you up for a year or more for that accusation alone!” She said, before regaining her composure. “The thought that you would do something so evil as to harm one of my subjects, and a child no less, is enough to have you forbidden from seeing children forever!”

“Sister,” Luna said, standing and placing a hoof on the throne arm. “Let the child finish his tale. He has much to tell.”

“Very well. Proceed.”

“What they didn’t want us to know, is that they tried to sell us!”

The guards all nodded furiously, verifying everything that Stereo said.

“We have fake doctor’s notes, for illegal surgeries; an illegal product to make my horn disappear; and a lifetime of memories of us being slaves, when they couldn’t sell us!”

“These accusations are false!” Spring shouted. “I love them! They’re my only children!”

Celestia looked over to the pink princess.

“Princess Cadence, your verdict?”

The Alicorn now identified as Cadence bowed her head, her horn glowing and wrapping a warm pink glow around Autumn Star and Spring Breeze. A shocked expression fell over her face, followed by a single tear.

“Not a drop of love in them!”

Celestia glowered at them, ready to call her judgment.

“Does the plaintiff have any further accusations?”

“Just one, your highness,” Stereo responded, ready to deliver the money shot. “They said, and I quote; ‘When we clear this up, we will rip that mark straight off of your flank.’”

Celestia glanced at her makeshift ‘lie squad’, all of whom nodded solemnly. Celestia whipped her head around to look at the defendants, her mane practically aflame as her body sought ways to vent the rage that boiled inside her.

”YOU ARE HEREBY SENTENCED TO LONG-TERM IMPRISONMENT, UNTIL A TIME SEEN FIT!” Celestia would have cringed at using the Royal Canterlot voice, if she wasn’t so angry, that is. YOU ARE CHARGED WITH ABDUCTION, BODILY HARM, EVASION OF THE LAW, CONTRABAND, CHILD LABOUR AND CHILD ABUSE, AMONG OTHER CHARGES! TAKE THEM AWAY!”

The two struggling ‘parents’ were dragged out of the royal throne room, presumably to the Canterlot dungeon.

Princess Celestia cooled her temper a slight amount, merely grunting her next statement.

“We find the defendant guilty. Court is adjourned.”

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Stereo woke to the steady rapping of the door in his temporary quarters, struggling to make his way out of the tangled mess of sheets that adorned the fabulous bed he had slept on.

“Stereoheart, it is Princess Luna. We hope that thou art awake, and prepared for breakfast.”

Stereo gave up, throwing the sheets off with telekinesis. He quickly placed them all neatly over the bed, before rushing to the door.
“Thou hast just awoken, have thou not?” Luna smirked.

“Umm… no, I’ve been up for… half an hour now,” Stereo replied, unsure what was amusing the princess.

“Thou must take longer to prepare thy mane than we do,” Luna replied casually.

Stereo’s mane glowed momentarily, as he quickly styled it with magic. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, before changing the subject. “Where’s Frisky?”

“I’m right here!” His brother’s reply came. “C’mon, I’m getting hungry!”
The trio made their way down the long stairway that led from his suit, and to the ground level.

“Thanks for saving us, Princess,” Stereo said after some time.

“‘Twas not a trouble,” Princess Luna said. “It is us, who should thank thee for being so smart as to heed our warnings.”

“Yes, Princess, bu…”

“Luna.”

“Excuse me?” Stereo replied.

“Luna,” The Princess said. “Call us Luna.”

“But you’re a princess!” Stereo argued. “It wouldn’t be right!”

“Please, save it.” Luna replied. “Thou could do us a great service by granting our request. We expect reverence, yes; but we wish more than anything to be looked upon as a friend by our subjects.”

“Fine then… Luna.”

They got to the bottom of the long staircase, and began navigating long hallways.

“And besides,” Luna continued, “‘tis not important. We have more important matters to attend to.”

“Such as?”

“Such as what shall happen to thee once thou hast left the castle.”

“Oh…”

“Thou hast three options,” Luna said. “The first, thou get placed in a Canterlot orphanage.”

“I think I’ll pass.”

“The second,” Luna continued, “A foster home, also in Canterlot.”

“That sounds better,” Stereo said, “but what about Frisky?”

“Please, let us finish,” Luna said, only a hint of irritation in her voice. “One of the Elements of Harmony has volunteered to be thy temporary- or possibly permanent guardian.”

“The elements of what now?”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Luna began. “They art Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and Magic. They art embodied by six ponies, each of whom demonstrate their respective elements as key traits to their personas. They art based in Ponyville, and have saved Equestria from many a disaster.”

“Ponyville?” Stereo said. “That name sounds familiar.”

“It may do, as its fame has risen considerably due to the Elements of Harmony residing there,” Luna suggested. “We’re sure that thou would enjoy life in Ponyville very much; everypony knows everypony, everypony is kind, and everypony is understanding.”

“You sound like you want me to pick option three,” Stereo said.

“That would be preferable,” Luna confirmed. “We could keep track of you, and your welfare.”

“Well then, I choose three!” Stereo said. “What about you, Frisky?”

“Three sounds good, I’m in!”

Luna, Frisky and Stereo had eventually arrived at the royal dining room, the three of them sitting close to one another at one end of a long table.
They all waited for their food, save for Luna, who wasn’t eating.

“What’s that smell?” Frisky said.

“That be the Royal Canterlot Morning Breath,” Luna said wryly. “We admit, being Princess of the Night means that we seldom stay up this late. It is way past our bedtime, and we shall leave after your food has arrived. Until then, I shall tell thee of thy next quest.”

“There’s more?” Stereo said.

“Nothing so urgent as last time, just something that thou might one day uncover. It shall, however, complete thy destiny. Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Well…” Luna thought, “We only know so much about thou. We can’t tell what thy might do once thou discover thy destiny.”

“Why don’t you tell me what I’m supposed to discover now?” Stereo asked. “I’ve got my cutie mark, Equestrian will won’t hold you back. What’s stopping you?”

“We are just evil in that way,” Luna said with a smirk. “And besides, it shall be much sweeter when thou discover it for yourself!”

When she finished, the food arrived.

“We shall take our leave, now,” Luna said. “Feel free to explore after breakfast, servants shall collect thou when Celestia is ready to talk with thee.

“Why does Princess Celestia want to talk with us?” Stereo asked.

“Formalities, and such,” Luna replied. “Goodbye, and we hope to hear from thee soon. The element of magic has quite a useful dragon, he can send letters to Celestia in an instant. We’re sure she wouldn’t mind letting you use him.”

“Goodbye, Luna!” Stereo yelled, as she flew out of the nearest window, presumably headed for her chambers.

Stereo and Frisky downed their food in no time, eager to explore.
They wound through a myriad of hallways and corridors, looking for something interesting. The best thing they came across was the library. Stereo recalled his time in the Cloudsdale library, with some annoyance, when he couldn’t find a single spell book.

“How about we look for some magic books?” Stereo suggested.

“Reading!” Frisky protested. “Why do we have to read? Isn’t there another way to learn?”

“No, Frisky,” Stereo said sternly. “You’ll be grateful in the end when you can do cool stuff with that horn of yours.”
Stereo left the discussion at that, walking up to the nearest reception desk.

“Hello, and welcome to the Royal Canterlot Archives!” A cheery mare said from behind the counter. “How can I help you?”

“Can you show us some book on magic, something for beginners?”

“Beginners?” The receptionist said. “You look a little old for that! Are you sure you don’t want anything more… advanced?”

“No, I only learned that magic existed about a week ago. I need to catch up with my age group, and fast.”

“That’s surprising.” She said. “But if you’re sure.” She led them down, through many shelves, until they reached a section entitled ‘Magic- Beginners Theory and Spellbooks’.

“Thank you, Miss,” Stereo said, levitating a book entitled ‘Magic Theory for First Time Users’ and opening it to the section entitled ‘The basic uses of magic’. It seemed that he knew what was shown in ‘What is magic’ and ‘Accessing magic for the first time’. He began to read;

Magic has many uses, but to be able to understand them, one must know some slightly more advanced theories. If an individual has studied even the most basic text delving into the field of the disapproved ‘Anthropology Theory’, then one would be familiar with ‘hands’. In short, hands are nimble appendages used for manipulating objects [see illustration]. The reason I am telling you this is because of the patented ‘manus procedure’. Using this procedure is highly inefficient, but can be mastered by anypony. One simply manipulates the world with magic, likening his magic to hands. Some examples are- Creating a shield by ‘blocking’ with your ‘hands’, or making yourself invisible by, bit by bit, ‘wiping your image away’ with your ‘hands’. Basic spells, such as levitation (‘grab’ the object with your ‘hand’) and shielding can still be used efficiently, and are even practiced often using the manus procedure, but spells become more inefficient as they become more complex. For example, the invisibility spell I mentioned earlier would take on average, about ten seconds to complete, as you would have to slowly ‘wipe’ in specific areas before you were fully invisible. The quickest time I myself could achieve this particular spell was just under three seconds, and…

“Okay, I’ve read enough,” Stereo said. He resigned to the fact that he could only read so much before getting the urge to experiment, and this author could write and write and write…

“Frisky!” He said. “Watch this!”

He slowly repeated the invisibility spell, ‘wiping his image away’ with his ‘hands’, musing how similar it was to wiping a blackboard. In about eight seconds, he had completely faded. He noticed that he didn’t have to concentrate on the spell, but just supply the flow of magic to his horn. He cut off the magic, however, after about ten seconds. He faded back into existence.

“Wow!” Frisky said. “You have to teach me that! It was so cool!”

“Well, it was pretty easy,” Stereo replied. “First you imagine that…”

“Stereoheart, Frisky, I presume?” Said another voice, who was soon identified as a royal guard.

“Yes,” Stereo said. “That’s us”

“Princess Celestia wishes to see you.”

Stereo and Frisky approached Celestia on her throne, bowing briefly, before backing away.

“You wished to see us, Princess?” Stereo said courteously.

“Yes, I have asked you here to make sure that you are absolutely sure of your decision to move to Ponyville.”

“Is there a reason that we should choose another option?” Stereo replied worriedly.

“No, quite the opposite!” Celestia said. “It is probably the best available option for you. I just wanted to be sure of your decision. Since you are, you should also know that you are leaving immediately.”

At her word, a single servant came around a corner, holding two bags in his magical grasp. Stereo took his bag, the glow around the suitcase turning from yellow to violet purple, and Frisky’s to a purple-blue. Stereo asked the servant to stay a moment, quickly taking out of his suitcase a quill and parchment.

“I forgot just one thing,” Stereo said. He quickly scribbled, in his neat magic-writing;

Dear Mr. Noteshine;

This is your student, Stereoheart, and I am writing to let you know that I cannot continue learning music from you, as my parents have been exposed as foalnappers. The Princesses have agreed to let us stay with one of the elements of harmony, in Ponyville. I will continue to study music, and I will come and visit you when I can, if you would like. I hope to hear from you soon;

Your former student,

Stereoheart

“Sorry, but can you send this letter, it’s for my old music teacher, Mr. Noteshine.”

The servant nodded, and began trotting away with the parchment, before being stopped by Celestia.

“Let me take care of it for you,” she said, reading the address, and then casting a spell on it. It disappeared. “It’s on its way. And before you go, I’d like to apologize for being so… tyrannical at the hearing. It was very much out of character for me.”

“It’s no problem, Princess,” Stereo said. “You put away some bad ponies, and they probably deserved what they got.”

“So did you,” The Princess said. “You deserve your new life.”

One: First night in Ponyville OR The most awesome caregiver in Equestria!

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Authors note:

Okay, everypony; part two is now out! I was going to bring a massive shocker in this part, but decided to hold it off in favor of having a more lighthearted part based more around friendship and character development. But don't worry, the next part is planned, and the doozy will be upon us! And also, from the end of the last chapter, my story officially reached the length to become a novella!

They had really outdone themselves this time.

A royal, Pegasus-drawn chariot! Their own personal chauffeurs to Ponyville! The Princesses had said that they would be traveling in a chariot that would be considered ‘slightly prestigious’, and that may attract ‘a few eyes’. A crowd, more like it. But once they were in the sky, with Ponyville visible in the distance, they felt that they could finally relax. But with the silence came worry, and questions. Who would be taking care of them? Would they be nice? How about the Ponyville ponies?
The chariot slowed on its approach, descending into a large, spacious area; seemingly a marketplace. Almost everypony stopped what they were doing to see the royal chariot land, all surprised to see but two young unicorn colts emerge.

“Thank you, sir,” Stereo said, as he passed the lone carriage drawer. The Pegasus gave a quick “you’re welcome,” before getting a quick run-up, and ascending into the sky. An awkward silence between all the Ponyville folk followed, before some were polite enough to ignore the two embarrassed Unicorns. The other citizens soon followed suit.
Stereo and Frisky began walking down the length of the market space, looking for anypony who seemed to know where they were supposed to be. Before long, they heard a skidding sound behind them.

“Hey,” a familiar voice said. “Sorry I’m late, I had to finish my practices and all.”

That cocky voice, could only belong to one mare that he had…

“Rainbow Dash!”

Stereo heard the voice of Frisky, ecstatic, and releasing fan-boy yells that Stereo had not previously heard come out of his brother’s mouth. Stereo whipped around himself, not being able to help but grin. This excited him, as well.

“Oh my gosh, we get to stay with Rainbow Dash!” Frisky yelled.

“The one and only! Now howsabout we get home? I’m St…”

“Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow let out a short groan, before being bowled over by a pink earth pony.

“Hey Dashie, Rose just came to Sugarcube Corner, and you’ll never guess what! Go on, guess!

“Uhhh…”

“She told me there were two new colts in town! Two! Do you know what that means?”

“Uhhh.”

“We need to throw them a ‘welcome to Ponyville, we’re your new friends’ party!”

A suffocating Rainbow Dash managed to point a hoof in the general direction of Stereo and Frisky. Pinkie looked, and immediately pounced Stereo instead.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie, and you look like you need a ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

“I… I need a… what’s a party?” Stereo managed to stutter.

Pinkie released him, and bounced around him in circles. “Don’t be silly!”
she said. “How could you not know what a party is?”

“I’ve never even had a Party!”

Pinkie stopped mid-jump, slowly lowering to the ground. “N-n-never had a party?” She said, sadness creasing her features, before tightening into a determined expression. “Don’t worry, Stereo, I’ll give you the very best ever ‘welcome-to-Ponyville-because-your-new-and-have-never-had-a-party’ party ever!”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow interjected, “can it be tomorrow? They kinda just got here.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said, bouncing away. “Tomorrow it is! And don’t be a stranger, your friend Pinkie Pie is always here!”
Stereo and Frisky, now being led by Rainbow Dash, continued past a large gingerbread-house that Pinkie entered. They left the market square, and through smaller roads.

“What was that all about?” Stereo asked.

“Oh, that’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow responded.

“Is she a friend of yours?” Stereo asked.

“Probably the most awesome friend ever! She’s the element of laughter, which means that she’s always throwing parties, and always trying to make her friends smile. And everypony’s her friend!”

“Is that why she said that she’s always there?”

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow said. “If you have a problem, or a secret, then Pinkie’s your mare. She has never broken a pinkie promise.”

As they crossed a short stone bridge over a river, Stereo noticed a huge round lake, and just beyond that, something white.

“That’s highland reservoir,” Rainbow said, pointing to the perfectly circular body of water just ahead of them. And that over there, that’s my house.”

Stereo looked carefully at the distant white blob that she gestured to, eventually making out cloud architecture and rainbow waterfalls unseen even in a Cloudsdale house.

"You live in that!" Frisky exclaimed.

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "Pretty awesome, don'tcha think?"

"You need a whole new word for it!" Frisky yelled. "It's more than awesome!"

"Well... I try," Rainbow said, casually inspecting her hoof with indifference. "Now hop on, we need to get you two up!"

Frisky got on first, followed by the slightly larger Stereo. They quickly flew up to the cloud-porch of the Greek-inspired home, landing softly on the fluffy cumulus. Stereo stepped tentatively, while Frisky just jumped straight on.

Rainbow Dash never asked any questions as she opened the door, letting the two colts in before her. They took in the sights of their new home; cloud pillars, cloud furniture, everything cloud! Just like they were used to.

"Wow!" Frisky yelled. "This place is huge!"

"C'mon," Rainbow said, heading towards the staircase. "I'll show you your rooms."

"Rooms?" Stereo said, putting emphasis on the plural.

"What? You didn't think that I was gonna make you sleep together, did you?" Rainbow said.

They climbed the stairs fully, before Rainbow led them to a spacious room. The room had a double cloud-stuff bed, a desk, what appeared to be a walk-in closet, and a window that overlooked all of Ponyville.

"Okay Stereo, this is yours," Rainbow said. "It isn't as cool as I would've liked, but I made it myself."

"Are you KIDDING!" Stereo cried. "This is the most awesome room I've ever seen!"

"By the way, my friend Rarity made you a few clothes," Rainbow said, walking towards the closet. "She said something like, 'I can't let the poor dears go without the essentials!'" She said Rarity's quote in a mocking accent.

Rainbow swung open the closet, revealing that it was indeed a walk in, organized perfectly, with coats, boots, fur-lined saddles and hoods on the left; hats, t-shirts, and other summer clothing on the right; and various suits and shoes on the far wall.

"Everything in your room is yours," Rainbow said. "I've gotta go show Frisky his room. Just do what you like with the furniture." With that, they left. Stereo went back to the main room in his 'bedroom complex', deciding to just unpack his suitcase; which it seemed had somehow been delivered to his room. Then he remembered that he had left it in the chariot.

He put the quills and parchment neatly on his desk, then opened a door that, to his surprise, led not only to a bathroom, but to a full-on fancy en suite with a rain cloud shower and everything! He placed his toothbrush and a few other things in the cloud vanity, before he heard Rainbows voice from outside his room.

“The Pizza’s here, come on and eat!”

Stereo trotted out to the hallway. “The what?” He said, addressing Rainbow Dash.

“Trust me,” she said. “You’re gonna love it.”

They made their way back down the stairs, and into a dining area, with everything once again being made completely out of clouds. Even the freezer was a hail cloud. A single cardboard box was situated on top of the counter.

Rainbow Dash flipped the lid open, revealing a whole, mouth-wateringly cheesy pizza; with all of the best toppings and sauces. “Eat up, boys!” She said, with but a second passing before two massive slices were telekinetically lifted out of the box, and shoved into two faces, each showing a degree of ecstasy; somewhere in between ‘this is pretty awesome’ and ‘HOLY BUCK THIS IS AMAZING!’ Probably closer to the latter.

Stereo finished his piece first, before coming up for air. “This is AMAZING!” He sighed, still short of breath, before tackling the next piece slowly. Frisky showed no such wisdom, nearly asphyxiating himself with his second slice.

“So,” Rainbow began, trying to make casual conversation. “How’d you get that cutie mark?”

“Well… it’s a long story,” Stereo replied. “Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Just shorten it.” Rainbow said. “The Princess told me all about your parents, so I already know most of the story.”

“Okay, then,” Stereo said. “I needed to show my class what Unicorn magic can do, but there’s no book about it in all of Cloudsdale! So I go to the music room to see if I can use them to show how magic can be used on lots of objects at once. So I try a few out, and the teacher says that I’ve got lots of talent, and that he wants to teach me. One day, my ‘parents’ barge in, and try to stop me from learning music, probably because they knew what would happen if I got my cutie mark. I started yelling about why they couldn’t stop me, and about why I love music; then WHAM. An explosion of magic, big enough for Luna to find me, and my cutie mark appears.” At his conclusion, Stereo glanced at his white flank, now adorned with the symbol of his special talent; a black quaver encased in a violet magical aura.

Rainbow dash nodded thoughtfully. “That’s quite a story. Waaaay deeper than mine. I just won a race. Maybe I’ll tell ya some time.”

“Aww,” Frisky moaned. “Can you tell us now?”

“Sorry, kid,” Rainbow replied sorrowfully. “Time for you to get to bed.”

The two colts trudged off slowly.

“And Stereo,” Rainbow yelled, “my friend Rarity has a piano. We’ll stop by tomorrow, okay?”

Stereo smiled and nodded, before continuing up the stairs. He missed Cloudsdale a little; the city, not the ponies. But maybe things would turn out alright in Ponyville. Maybe he would like it. Maybe Luna was right, and the ponies here would like him. He knew where to find his room, but noticed his bed covers for the first time. They were white, with his cutie mark plastered right in the middle.

Yeah, he would probably like it.

Author's Note:

Uhh... forget what I said before, this is getting updated AS IT'S WRITTEN. I realised that I would keep you waiting if I tried to write an entire section, so every chapter will be posted the moment it's finished and edited.

Two: Cupcakes and Apples

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Authors note:

In this chapter, I'm experimenting with a system I saw in the fiction Piano man (read it, guys; It's awesome). Whenever a specific song is played, by Stereo or anypony else, a link to the song will be provided. I'd appreciate feedback on this. Other than that, just enjoy!

Stereo creaked his eyes slowly open, stretching on the soft cloud bed that held him. Sunshine poured through the window, the one that let in a view encompassing all of Ponyville. After stretching all of his limbs sufficiently, Stereo smiled at the sight that welcomed him from across the room.

Stereo turned his head, the smile temporarily wiped off of his face until he recognized the mare at his doorway.

"Morning kid," Rainbow said from the doorway. "Were going to Sugarcube corner for a bite. You coming?"

"Y-your giving me a choice?" Stereo asked.

"Yep," the confirmation came. "So, you coming?"

"Yeah," Stereo replied. "Just give me a minute."

Rainbow left, presumably down to the living room. Stereo got up, making his bed and straightening it immaculately with his magic. He then quickly ran out the room, and down the stairs.

"Ready?" Rainbow said.

"Yeah, I'm ready now." Stereo replied.

"Okay then, hop on!"

Stereo climbed onto the Pegasus' back, followed by Frisky. Rainbow then leaped out the door, banking to the left. They made good speed over the short journey, flying over highland reserve and then a few houses, before coming to a rest in the market square. Stereo and Frisky dismounted, moving to walk the last ten meters, before they heard a voice from behind.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash!"

They all turned at once, noticing a lavender colored unicorn mare behind them.

"Twilight!" Stereo cried, before toning his voice down. "I forgot that you lived here!"

"But what about you? Why are you here?" Twilight asked.

"We live with Rainbow Dash now!" Frisky said.

Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly. "Rainbow, I didn't know that you were the one that adopted them!" Twilight said, genuine surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, well..." Rainbow began. "I kinda only told Rarity, but that's because everypony else was busy, and I needed somepony to make sure I was... doing the right thing!" She finished quickly. "Anyways, we're heading over to the corner for breakfast, you wanna come?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Twilight said. "I haven't eaten yet, with my newest research assignment from the princess."

They walked the few meters to the large gingerbread house, walking inside to find rows of tables and chairs, along with a counter displaying all kinds of foods that Stereo had never seen before. Pinkie Pie popped up from behind the display case, giving them surprising them all.

"Gooooooood morning, Dashie! And Twilight! And Frisky!"

"Pinkie Pie, we never told you our names!" Stereo said.

"I know," Pinkie replied.

"Wha-"

"Just Pinkie Pie," Twilight began, "being Pinkie Pie."

Stereo nodded, telling himself that he had to remember that.

"Now, I've got cakes," Pinkie said, before going into a rant. "Andbagelsandtoastandmuffinsandpancakesandcookiesandtartsandstrudelsand..." She quickly found a hoof in her mouth. Actually, she found quite a few.

"We'll just have cupcakes."

Stereo was sitting at one of the Sugarcube Corner tables, devouring, like everypony else, cupcake after cupcake after cupcake. The moist, chocolate sponge; the sweet and fragrant icing; the crunchy little sprinkle shapes on top; everything about these cupcakes were just too much to handle. It seemed that everypony thought the same thing, judging from the silence that reigned.

"Sooooo," Pinkie said, walking from the counter in a spare moment. "Whadda ya think of my cupcakes?"

"They," Frisky began, "are the sweetest, yummiest things I have ever tasted, better than when I cooked at home!"

"You cooked!" Pinkie cried. "I can teach you how to make cupcakes!"

"You would do that?" Frisky said.

"Of course!" Pinkie said. "That's what friends do! You can come right now, if you want!"

"Can I, Rainbow, can I?"

"Sure squirt," Rainbow said, seeing Pinkie and Frisky bolt away quickly before she could finish her sentence.

It was now Twilight's turn to pipe up. "So, Stereo," she said, "How did you get that necklace? It looks very similar to your cutie mark."

"Oh, this?" Stereo said, looking at the amethyst quaver around his neck. "I've had it forever. It used to be round, like Frisky's, but its shape changed when I got my cutie mark."

"That's quite unusual," Twilight noted. "But I think I may have read about that somewhere. Would you mind stopping by the library tomorrow?"

"Sure thing," Stereo replied. "If Rainbows okay with it."

"Kid, unless we have plans, you do whatever you want around here."

"Wow..." Stereo said. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash." He then looked at Twilight." I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"I'm going to start looking for that book right away," Twilight said, standing up. "It could be important. Goodbye, everypony." In a flash of purple-red light, Twilight disappeared. Stereo was mildly surprised, but found that it didn't really surprise him. Come to think of it, she was probably the element of magic that Luna mentioned, for all he knew. Which reminded him...

"Rainbow, which element are you?"

"I'm the element of loyalty," Rainbow said proudly. "I've never left anypony hanging. By the way, we shouldn't keep Rarity; I told her while I was on my morning weather rounds that we would stop by."

"Let's go, then!"

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Rainbow Dash pounded firmly on the Carousel Boutique’s hard purple door.

“Just one moment,” came a slightly regal sounding voice from inside. “I’m just caught up with my new ’vêtements automne’”

Rainbow opened the door anyway, walking in. Stereo followed her, only to find, in the centre of the room, a beautiful mare, surrounded by clothes. She had a few similar features to Stereo; White coat, violet mane; but dark blue eyes and a trio of diamonds for a cutie mark.

“Why, hello Rainbow Dash!” She said, in what appeared to be a faux Manehatten accent; but was still quite pleasant, not being overly forced. Much better than the nasally Canterlot accent. “I’ve been waiting all day for you. I've looked forward to finally meeting the little musician face-to-face. Really, there aren't enough colts that take an interest in the haute culture of society. I bet he'll be an absolute gem."

Stereo moved forward rather sheepishly, for some reason. "Hello, Miss Rarity. I'm Stereo."

"I insist that you drop the formalities," Rarity said. "You may call me 'Rarity'."

"Thank you, Rarity," Stereo said. He was unsure as to why he felt so... shy around her. He checked off all the usual suspects; she wasn't mean, she didn't look angry in any way, he was pretty sure he didn't have a crush on her; so what was it? All the sophistication, maybe? It certainly was slightly intimidating.

"Rainbow hear told me of your enthusiasm to 'get back into your game,' as it were," she said as she began to lead them. They crossed the display room, before turning left and walking up a flight of stairs. "My piano is the absolute highest quality on the market, so I'm sure you'll be pleased." She led them into a room, in which sat an absolute monstrosity of a grand piano. It was white all over. It was big. When he tested it, it sounded great. It was beautiful.

"I- It's beautiful!" Stereo said.

"I don't mean to be a spoilsport or anything," Rainbow interjected, "but could I leave him here? I have some extra weather duties today."

"Of course, darling!" Rarity said. "Leave him as long as you like! I'm sure we'll get along smashingly!"

Stereo smiled and waved as Rainbow located the nearest window and leaped out of it."

"Now darling," Rarity began, "don't think I haven't noticed how nervous you are."

"How... how did you know?"

"Why, I encounter it every time I host a fashion show; you'd be surprised how apprehensive models can get."

"I- I don't really know, Rarity." Stereo said. "I've tried to pinpoint all of the usual things that make me nervous, but none of them fit."

"Hmm... judging by your manner of speech, you seem very well educated for somepony that's only- what, twelve?" Rarity said. "I'm curious, did you learn any foreign languages in Cloudsdale?"

"The Mayor made every filly and colt learn Istallion." Stereo said. "Me and Frisky both understand about half the language."

Rarity gave him a calming look. "Non essere nervosa. Mostro mi la musica bella!" She said, talking slowly and being careful to articulate.

"Were did you learn that?" Stereo asked.

"Please," Rarity said, "any fool can pretend to be fabulous, but you only are if you can put it into practice in any part of Equestria, even those that speak other languages. And I encourage you to keep learning. With your musical talent and fabulous looks, you could be the parler des villes in no time!"

"Do you really mean that, Rarity?"

"I would be a failure if I weren't to recognize such fabulosity the moment it walked through the door!"

"Thanks, Rarity," Stereo said. "That actually means a lot."

"You're quite welcome. Do you have anything particular that you want to play for me?"

"I have an old song, but It’s changed a little," Stereo replied.

He prepared himself, sitting on the chair, before closing his eyes. A violet glow manifested itself around his horn, replicated in several places around the piano keys. He began to play the song, a rendition of Canon in D. As he played, he found himself getting lost, tangibly lost in the music. It was as if all of the notes were physically there in front of him, like a huge maze, or intricate mosaic; that he could walk straight into. Behind the blackness of his shut eyelids, he saw colors flying past; not all different, and somehow organized despite their chaotic nature. He could feel himself getting drawn further in. It wasn't something malignant; but something under his control. This was his. This was...

"Hey!"

Stereo saw all of the colors around him recede into pinpricks, as he was violently torn from his reverie. Rarity appeared slightly dazed as well, but soon recovered her composure and attended to other matters that were at hand. He also noticed another figure, about his height, standing alone in the door frame. She was a white filly, without a cutie mark. Her mane was what was really attention grabbing, though. A purple-on-pink curly mane style made her look- while not nearly as regal as Rarity -still just as beautiful. It appeared likely that they were sisters, but those green eyes (as opposed to Rarity's blue) would have thrown him off if not for the fact that she obviously lived here.

"Sweetie!" Rarity cried, berating her sister. "It's very rude to interrupt somepony when they're trying to concentrate! I want you to apologize immediately."

"Bu..."

"Apologize, then you can say what you want to say."

"I'm sorry," she said, grating a hoof into the hard wood floor, and with her head hung low in shame. "But you're really good!" She said, cheering up again. "What's your name? I'm Sweetie Belle!"

"I- I'm Stereo," he said, trying to manually shake himself out of the dream-like state that he had previously been in. His connection to music was strong, but he had never experienced anything like that before. It seemed to be stronger than ever before. Maybe his cutie mark had something to do with it. After all, he hadn't played since then...

"Ummmm... hello? I just asked if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends!"

"My friends and I, Sweetie." Rarity quickly interjected, feeling the need to remind her sister to use proper grammar before the conversation could continue.

Stereo shook himself hard. "Sorry, I was just thinking," he said. "But I would love to meet your friends. It'll be good to
Meet a few fillies my age."

Rarity raised an eyebrow at him, nonchalantly.

He gave a slight blush. "As friends, of course!"

Sweetie Belle led Stereo through the bustling Ponyville market, being careful not to lose each other in the throng that came along with the time of day that they were in. In other words, the lunch rush. Stereo was making it a point to mentally map the town's geography, finding his knowledge enabling him to travel From Rainbow Dash's house, to Rarity's, Pinkie Pie's, and by extension, the market. In his search for veritable landmarks, his eyes came upon a large, seemingly habituated tree.

"Hey, Sweetie," he said, "what's that?" He gestured to the tree in the distance.

"Oh, that's just the library," Sweetie replied. As she finished, they turned out of the market, on a path coming from what was previously their left. Soon, the cobblestone turned into dirt, as they made their way in between countless rows of apple trees.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Stereo asked.

"This is Sweet Apple Acres," came the reply. "My friend Apple Bloom lives here."

Not a second passed, before they began to hear a slight buzzing from behind them. Sweetie seemed to ignore it, and so Stereo chalked it down to probably being something normal- and he would be right.

"Applebloom's really good with tools." Sweetie continued. "She rebuilt our clubhouse in just a few hours! We're using it to practice for the Ponyville Talent Show! I made up our act, we're singing the Cutie Mark Crusaders Theme Song!

Stereo continued to ignore the increasingly distracting buzz, and attempted to carry the conversation. "The cutie mark what?"

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders" Sweetie replied, "that's us! We go crusading for our cutie marks!"

"Neat name," Stereo commented. "Uhhh, what is[/ i] that noise?" He finished, irritation apparent in his voice.

Not a second after that comment, both ponies turned in reply to a hastily shouted, "WATCH OUT!" They were bowled over by a fast moving object, soon identified as a scooter.

Stereo tried to locate the pony that was at the conn, but was beaten to the punch by Sweetie Belle. "Scootaloo!" She cried.

Stereo saw the filly with whom they had collided, an orange Pegasus; evidently named Scootaloo. She gave a drawn-out groan. "I'm okay!" Was heard coming from her a second later.

"Scootaloo, you crashed!" Sweetie cried out.

"Yeah," Scootaloo replied flatly. "I just noticed. Who's your friend?"

"This is Stereo," Sweetie said proudly, "and he can play the piano."

Stereo gave a slight blush, and stammered slightly at suddenly being in the spotlight. "I-I-I'm not that good..." he said humbly.

"So," Scootaloo said, "what's your story?"

"You really want to hear it?"

"Yeah, you never told me!" Sweetie said, butting in. "Rarity said that you actually have an interesting story.

"Well," Stereo began, "I was stolen as a foal, and so was my brother. I don't know my parents. The ponies that took me were Pegasi, so we were raised in Cloudsdale."

"Wait," Scootaloo interrupted, "Unicorns can't walk on clouds!"

"Well, we did," Stereo said, cutting the question short. "Anyway, we never knew about Unicorn magic, and the foalnappers wanted to keep it that way. So when I discovered it, the man, who was pretending to be my Dad, he beat me up!"

Sweetie winced slightly, but still stared in rapped attention.

"Eventually, I discovered that I was good at music, really good. When I got my cutie mark, it caused such a huge burst of magic that Luna could come and save me. The two Pegasi are in Canterlot Dungeons."

"Okay," Scootaloo said. "So, what really happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"First," Scootaloo began, "Unicorns can't walk on clouds."

"But I can!" Stereo defended. "My brother and I are living with Rainbow Dash!"

Scootaloo's eye twitched slightly. "A likely story."

They continued along the pathway, passing the lush, green trees, and eventually arriving at a wooden structure; presumably the Apple Family farmhouse. Sweetie walked up to the large wooden door, pounding lightly on the door. It soon opened.
The orange mare that opened the door looked to greet who she thought was a pair of fillies, but soon her eyes rested solely on Stereo; his eyes went wide with a realization.
“Applejack?”

Three: A somewhat surpising turn of events

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Authors Note:

In particular, I would appreciate comments on how I write the mane six, and particularly if I keep them in character. Thanks, appreciated!

To say that Stereo was worried would be an understatement. He looked at the Earth Pony in front of him, with her stern expression. Would she kick him out? Would she assume the worst you could assume of somepony that was last seen living several hundred miles away, showing up with your little sister’s best friends; would she hurt him?

“Well howdy thar, Stereo!”

phew

“Looks like the Princess finally got ya outa Cloudsdale!”

Stereo was confused for a moment, and also noted that Scootaloo seemed to tense up slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Nopony lies ta Applejack!” She said. “I saw dat the Princess was hidin’ sometin’, an’ so I approached ‘er, and she told us everything. It tore me up when I ran inta ya at the competition.”

“Oh… well, Rainbow Dash must have felt the same, because she took us in.” Stereo replied. “Maybe that was why she was so caring just after she took us home?”

Applejack just tilted her head slightly, before changing the subject. “We got a huge Apple-Family lunch ‘bout ta start!” She said. “You youngins hungry?”

Both girls shouted their confirmation, while Stereo just nodded. “If you’re sure that’s oka…”

“Great!” Applejack said, before pushing them all into the house. The three children soon found themselves seated at a large family dining table. Various colorful dishes were spread across the dark, hardwood surface.

"Soup's on, Apple Bloom!" Applejack yelled out, and soon another small filly was spotted trotting down the stairs. She had a yellow coat, in a shade that was not quite olive-yellow. Her strawberry-red mane had in it a bow of the same color. She sat down next to Applejack, who was at the opposite table-head to Stereo.

"Applebloom," she said, "this 'ere's Stereo. I want ya te be real nice ta him, he's had a bad life up 'til here."

Applebloom nodded, before Stereo's stomach grumbled loudly. He gave a small blush. Applejack payed it no mind. She began to point to various dishes spread out on the table. "We've got ourselves some tasty Apple Fritters, Apple Turnovers, Apple Muffins, and good ol' Apple Pie!" She said.

Stereo looked at the food, knowing not where to start. He had five great sounding dishes to try... but which first?

Applebloom reached over the table, picking up Stereo's plate. "Here," she said. "Lemme get that for ya!"

Stereo noticed that Applebloom had the same accent as her sister; she had, after all, lived with Applejack her whole life. It was less extreme, though, probably due to her having more exposure to Equestrian accents other than the one prominent in the south. He soon found his plate back in front of him. He eyed the food, carefully discriminating, once again, in order to determine which item to tackle first. He eventually decided to go with something familiar- Apple Pie. He levitated a fork, cutting off a small slice and placing it in his mouth. As he chewed, he was met with an explosion of flavor; he lavished the sweet apple pieces as they broke apart in his mouth, the crunch of the pastry as he bit down hard, savoring the flavor. It was- to say the least- hands down the best pie he had tasted. He looked up to see Applejack staring.

"Aw," she said, "y'all don't have ta use that on me, I ain't Rarity!"

Stereo was confused with what was being said, but then noticed Applejack bury her face into her plate, literally stuffing her face. Stereo was slightly shocked, but soon overcame his initial surprise. He levitated the entire pie slice in front of him.

"When in Rome!"

Stereo sat at the table, completely stuffed full of the many apple-based foods that had been presented to him. And not just the, but the best apple-based foods that had been given to him, ever. Apples had been a fairly common Cloudsdale import, not being rare items to obtain. Stereo had had his fair share in his lifetime, and still found himself wanting more of these surprisingly good treats. But alas, his stomach could not handle the strain; so Stereo sufficed to sit and listen to the idle conversation around him.

"Hey Applejack," Sweetie said. "Where’s Big Mac and Granny Smith?"

"They just gone off ta Appleoosa for a few days to catch up wit' mah cousin Braeburn an' help with the new plantations!" Applejack replied. "What 'bout Rarity? Ah haven't seen hide 'a her since Cloudsdale."

"She's still embarrassed about what happened," Sweetie said. "And she gave up trying to teach me magic! But it's so hard! How'd you do it so easily?"

It took several seconds for Stereo to realize that the question had been directed at him. "Who, me?"

"Well, you are the only Unicorn here," Scootaloo said, somewhat sarcastically.

"Oh... well," Stereo began, fumbling for words. "I just focus on an object, and sort of just... grab it." Stereo held up his empty plate, to demonstrate

"Grab it?" Sweetie asked.

"Grab it," Stereo replied again.

"Grab it?"

"Grab it."

"Grab it?"

"Grab it."

"Grab it!" Sweetie shouted, sweat pouring from her brow.

"Yeah," Stereo said. "Just like that!"

Sweetie only then noticed in front of her, floating gently within a most beautiful pure white glow, a single butter knife. The same overlay of flawless white was enveloping her horn, creating waves of magic around the appendage. Sweetie blushed slightly.

"I-it's easier than I thought it would be!" She said, somewhat nervously. "Rarity will be proud when I get home..."

Just then, a yell was heard. A blue pony burst through the nearest window, slapping hard against the ground, before quickly rising to reveal a multi-hued mane and tail. She was, of course, Rainbow Dash.

She got down to business immediately. "C'mon Hearts, we need to go to Sugarcube corner. Your brother is cooking a storm! He and Pinkie have made so many treats; they're all half price!"

"Hearts?" Stereo said. "That's a new one."

"Yeah, well I dare to be different. We need to get my bit bag from home, so we should hurry," Rainbow replied.

"Wait wait wait," Scootaloo interjected. "You actually live with the Rainbow Dash! That is SO AWESOME!"

"Yeah, well," Rainbow started, "I thought a couple of colts would he pretty cool." Scootaloo pouted, whether out of jealousy or just plain disappointment, but soon returned to her normal attitude; consisting of running, buzzing, and a mild case of hyperactivity.

"Can I come?" She asked. "Half price food sounds pretty awesome right now!"

"But Scoots," Applebloom said. "Ya just ate!"

"Yeah, well..." She responded, looking for an excuse. "I'll get to see his brother!"

Stereo climbed onto Rainbows back. "That didn't sound half-hearted at all," he said sarcastically.

Rainbow gave a sigh and a chuckle. "C'mon, squirt," she said. "Hop on!"

"Wait," Scootaloo said. "I actually get to ride you!"

"Seriously, kid," Rainbow said, with a long-suffering sigh. "I'm just a pony. All the hero worship 'n stuff gets annoying."

Scootaloo nodded, then as soon as Rainbow looked away, broke out into a huge grin. She climbed onto the Pegasus' back, before stating her readiness.

"Ok," Rainbow shouted. "Let's fly!"

Stereo was contemplating his earlier freak-out over seeing Applejack. Mentally checking off certain things such as; •She had no reason to be suspicious
And •She wouldn't have found it suspicious that I showed up anyway;

He came to a conclusion.

"Wow..." He said. "I'm paranoid."

Looking behind him, he noticed Scootaloo sitting, and basically just soaking in the joy of flight. Taking note of their speed, and the resultant noise, he decided that trying to hold a conversation would be fruitless. Besides, she looked perfectly content. He tried, instead, to note some more features of Ponyville. They were currently flying right over the Highland Reservoir, and away from Rainbow's house. That would probably be good for swimming. And in the distance, he saw a red school house. Also useful to know, although not exactly welcome. He knew that he would have to go back, and was not looking forward to it.

Rainbow began a shallow left-side bank, before starting a gradual descent into the market square. They touched down, right in front of Sugarcube corner. It appeared to be, at least on the outside, devoid of ponies. As a matter of fact, the entire marketplace seemed deserted, especially for a late afternoon.

"It's..." Scootaloo began, "It's empty!"

Stereo saw a small figure run towards them out of the corner of his eye, and was bowled over before he could turn. He didn't even need to reopen his eyes after the tumble, immediately knowing the identity of the culprit.

"Hello, Frisky," he said wryly.

"Pinkie kicked me out," Frisky replied. "The place was so crowded, that she said she needed me out, for safety!"

They trotted into the gingerbread building, which had a noticeable lack of lighting, "Yeahhhh," Rainbow said, dragging out the word. "About that..."

"SURPRISE!"

Both brothers froze, as they found themselves caught in the proverbial spotlight. The literal lights flicked on, and the previous greeting -or more accurately, verbal-defribullator -had been shouted out by everypony in the room; everypony being Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Sweetie, Applebloom, and an abundance of other various ponies that had never been seen before.

"Guess what everypony? The guests of honor have arrived! Let's give 'em a hand!" Somepony said. It took Stereo a moment to focus, and realize that it was Pinkie who was speaking. She turned to them, and gave the biggest smile one could give while not looking creepy. Not that Pinkie seemed to be able to. She seemed to be able to smile and make others smile at will, without looking like a kidnapper or escaped mental patient.

"Hey guys!" She shouted over the sound of stomping hooves. "I made this party for you, 'cause I heard that you were new, and that you didn't know anypony! And then, Twilight told me about your past, and how gloomy it was." Her face did a one-eighty, morphing into a frown, before completing the circle, reverting to its previous state. "It just made me so sad, and I had to throw this party for you, so you could talk, and smile, and laugh, and make new friends!"

"Ummmm... thanks?" Stereo said, unsure as to how he should respond. He was saved, as Rarity stepped forward.

"Darling, these get-togethers are, undoubtedly, always somewhat awkward and confusing for the unsuspecting guest of honor, so allow me to help clarify. This is a 'welcome to Ponyville' party." Rarity said, before turning to the crowd. "Go about your business, everypony!" She shouted, before turning back. "Try to act natural, or to the degree one can at a Pinkie Pie party. Mingle, introduce yourself. Maybe you could make a few friends?"

Stereo gave a nod. "Thanks," he said.

"Sempre," she replied. "Now go... have fun."

Stereo waved, before braving the crowd. He felt somewhat lost, as probably did Frisky, wherever he was. Then again, he probably already knew everypony here, knowing his outgoing personality. Slightly lost in his thought, he didn't realize that he accidentally slammed muzzle-first into somepony's flank. Adorning it was a simple cutie mark; two barred quavers.

They pony turned around, a mare with a wild mane and tinted glasses. "Hey!" She said, causing Stereo to momentarily slink back. "Whaddup? Name's Scratch, but ponies call me Vinyl."

"Hi..." Stereo said timidly. "Sorry for that..."

"No need, you’re still cool. You flank's got a sweet mark! When'd you get it?"

"Well... just last week, actually." Stereo replied.

"Nice." Vinyl said. "Got somethin' to do with music?"

"Yeah, I play."

"Which one?"

"Piano, harp, violin, guitar... most instruments I can hold a tune," Stereo said. "But piano is the only one that I'm really good at."

Vinyl nodded her... approval, maybe? "Impressive. You sing?"

"Well... I haven’t tried." Stereo explained. "But now that you mention it, I really should." He noticed Twilight walking over to them.

"Well, nice meeting you bro," Vinyl said. "Gotta run, catcha!"

Twilight approached Stereo, ignoring the other Unicorn that was walking to intercept another pony.

"Hey, Stereo," Twilight said. "I may have found something to do with your necklace. Can you stop over tomorrow? I found something that could change your life."

Four: Big News

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Last time:

"Well, nice meeting you bro," Vinyl said. "Gotta run, catcha!"

Twilight approached Stereo, ignoring the other Unicorn that was walking to intercept another pony.

"Hey, Stereo," Twilight said. "I may have found something to do with your necklace. Can you stop over tomorrow? I found something that could change your life."

Well, this was an interesting development.

Stereo found himself tensing slightly, in anticipation of the news to come, the news that would undoubtedly, as already indicated, change his life. Hopefully, it would be good.

'No, it will be good!' He told himself. 'Nothing she says can possibly...'

"I'm really sorry, but it might end up being for the worse!"

Murphy's Law, it just couldn't resist invoking itself.

Stereo took time to look directly at Twilight, trying to find some sort of hint that she was joking with him. Maybe she said that for suspense? Maybe she was trying, very badly one might add, to pull a prank. But no, not a single shred of anything besides the utmost of seriousness was present on her face. It shattered the small amount of confidence that Stereo held inside of him, shattered it like a window.

Stereo was barely able to merely open his mouth, and begin to drag out a single syllable. "Wha?"

"I'm sorry, Stereo!" Twilight said. "I did some research, and every single source that I read suggested the same thing!"

Stereo came to his senses, immediately voicing his first question. "And what was that?"

Twilight looked in both directions, as if looking for something, or someone. After her examination, she lowered her head to his level. She began to speak in a stage whisper. "I can't tell you, too many ponies around," She said. "I really need you to stop by the library, though! First thing in the morning! Forget breakfast, I'll get Spike to whip us up something. But I need you there early!"

Stereo nodded his understanding. "What do I do until then? Am I in danger?"

"Not immediate danger, but we need to sort this out quickly. It could hurt you later on. Until then... just enjoy your party. And don't tell your brother. I don't want him panicking."

"But he won't..."

"Don't. Tell. Him." Twilight interrupted, in a voice that had suddenly changed into a cold, commanding one.

Stereo nodded. "Okay Twilight."

"Like I said, it might change your life for the worse," Twilight replied, then changed her voice to a more soothing tone. "But only if we do nothing. If we do the right thing, though, we could end up making it better!"

Stereo smilied, glad to have some comfort given to him. "Thanks, Twilight," he said. "Let's enjoy the party for now, though. Can you help me meet a few ponies?"

Twilight practically beamed at the prospect, obviously overjoyed at the opportunity to create friendships. Or maybe, to have something else to dwell on besides the potentially volatile article of jewelery currently hanging around Stereo's neck. Either way, she seemed happy enough to play ambassador, and before he knew it, he was already being dragged across the room.

Stereo stood on the edge of a cloud balcony. This cloud balcony, being made of said material, unfortunately seemed to be suspeneded a fair distance from the ground. Before today, Stereo would have been tossing but one thought around his head.

'How the hay do I get down from here?'

Of course, he had only just consulted the intellectual genius of Twilight Sparkle, and so had not been presented with a solution until late the previous night. In short, he had been taught how to leave without the assistance of his host. He had left a note on the table, not wanting to wake anypony at six am. All that remained was the casting of the spell that would solve a major problem for him.

Twilight had said that it was simply an advanced form of levitation. It seemed complicated, but doable. And so, he did. Concentrating hard, he let the magic flow throgh his horn. Soon, he had achieved what he had hoped- using levitation to create areas on which he could stand. A spiral staircase of violet, semi-translucent energy descended from his current position. Testing first with a hoof, he climbed onto the first step, and began his journey downwards. Now was the walk to the library. He began his trek, taking a mental note;

'Learn Teleportation'

It took about fifteen minutes on average to travel to Twilights on-hoof, this day being no different. After arriving, he walked up to the wooden door, knocked, and stood back. It soon swung open, revealing a purple dragon just a bit shorter than him. The dragon was obviously a baby, with its lack of both height and wings. It greatly surprised Stereo, however, when it- or rather, he -opened his mouth and spoke.

"Oh, hey," he said. "You must be the pony Twilight was talking about. I'm Spike!"

Stereo, using much restraint, managed to stop himself from cocking an eyebrow. This dragon, it spoke just like a pony. It was most certainly strange.

"Hi..." Stereo replied, extending a hoof. "I'm Stereo."

They stood and just looked at each other for at least ten seconds. Of all the various adjectives one could use to describe this moment, one in particular came to mind.

'Awk-ward'

Stereo gave a smile of the same description, before luckily being distracted by another being entering the room.

"Oh, hello Stereo!" Twilight said. "You didn't have to get here that early!"

He let escape him a hidden sigh of relief. He had successfuly averted a crisis. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen between him and Spike again. Celestia knows how unlikely it would be for Twilight to inadvertaey save them from an awkward situation, twice in a row.

"Sorry..." he said softly. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Wake Twilight?" Spike nearly shouted. "Nopony can wake up earlier than her. She's crazy!"

Twilight gave a small giggle. "Not quite, Spike," she said, before turningher attention to Stereo. "But you did get here a little earlier than I expected."

"Well, I couldn't sleep," Stereo replied. "And you did say to get here early." It was true. Nopony in their right mind should be sleep-worthy right after being told that a life-changing event would occur the next day.

"Well then, since you're here," Twilight said, "let's get started!" She then turned her attention to Spike. "Can you put together something to eat?"

Spike gave a comical salute. "Yes maam!" He said, before darting off into another room; assumably the kitchen.

"Oh Spike..." Twilight giggled to herself, before once again addressing Stereo. "What I'm about to tell you is big. You may freak out."

Stereo gave a large gulp. It could be anything... his necklace may kill him, or worse; it could be a doomsday device! Or maybe...

'Maybe I should stop thinking, and ask!'

"I'm ready," he said. "What is it?"

"That necklace," Twilight began, shifting nervously. "That necklace is tuned... no, practically wired into your inner magic. That's why it changed shape when you got your cutie mark. Your magic morphed to reflect your new skill, and identity. Thus, so did the necklace."

"How does that change my life?" Stereo asked. He failed to see where this was leading.

"In short," Twilight said, "it's syphoning your magic. And with loss of magic comes loss of functional and structural aspects."

Stereo broke into a sweat. "What does that mean?"

'Please no, please no, please no!'

"It means that, by my estimation, you will have lost both of those, one hundred percent, by next years winter wrap-up," Twilight explained. "And if I'm right, and you do lose both functional and structural aspects, you could physically turn into an Earth Pony!"

Five: Righteous Anger

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Murphy's law. The absolute most annoying physical guideline in the universe. Put simply, it said:

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

And guess who decided to make an appearance? You guessed it. Stereo had, of course, just been given the proverbial slap in the face- news that he may turn into an Earth Pony. Unless he could just remove that damn necklace. Who knew it had been causing him such damage? And furthermore, who even put it on him? Of course, he didn't dwell on these questions. He was experiencing several things at this time; terror, apprehension, panic, paranoia, and what seemed to be the onset of hypoxia. Or maybe everything could be summed up simply as saying that he was having a severe panic attack. He began to tear books off of shelves; scanning titles, four at a time, before throwing them behind him and levitating over another four. He soon emptied an entire shelf, before collapsing onto his haunches; sobbing and taking shallow breaths.

Seeing this, Twilight quickly called out to her draconian assistant. "Spike!" She yelled. "Quickly, get a paper bag!"

The small dragon scurried in seconds later, holding a bag that was soon stolen in Twilights telekinetic grip. She placed it over Stereo's mouth, giving him slow, calming instructions.

"Breathe, Stereo, breathe slowly," she said. "Slow down, I'll think of something." She put a comforting hoof around his shoulder, before turning to her assistant. "Spike, we're going out!

"Bu-" Spike began, before being cut off.

"No buts, Spike," Twilight said sternly. "Clean the books, do your chores, and I'll get you a bucket of 'Emerald Ice-cream.'"

Spike brightened up, his eyes opening to their full, happy size as opposed to the dull, watery ones sported by another certain individual present. Spike's sparkled a bright green, in anticipation for his reward of the delicious, crystalline dessert. In contrast, Stereo's were half closed, tear lined at their brims, and devoid of the bright violet color usually on display within his normally cheerful irises. It was easy to realize that sadness was not a face that suited him, and Twilight did. So she decided to at least to distract him until she came up with a solution. If she came up with a solution.

"Twilight, exactly why are we at the park?"

Stereo's question- and mild concern -was expressed as the two walked through the spacious lawns of Ponyville Park. Being comprised of several miniature fields dissected by cobblestone pathways, it was ideal for friends to get together for small games of hoofball or something of the like. Twilight sat them down under a tree, removing the saddlebags that Stereo had been too ignorant to notice she had even brought. It's funny, how you can miss something as big as that when panicking.

"We are going to take our mind off of our problem," Twilight replied. "Sometimes, it helps; and the answer comes straight to you."

"Well then..." Stereo began. "What now?"

"Umm... light conversation?" Twilight suggested. "How did that levitation spell go?" She added slowly, and awkwardly. "Was it hard?"

"I play piano," Stereo said bluntly, and directing his gaze downward. "I kinda have no choice but to be good at telekinesis."

"Oh..." Twilight said, before shrugging it off. "New idea, how about we play my favorite sport?"

Stereo paused for a moment, never looking up from the grass. "You play a sport?"

"Of course, but nothing too strenuous," Twilight replied. "My sport is willpower as much as strength. Today, we are fencing!"

"Yay," Stereo replied, lacking even the tiniest hint of enthusiasm.

"Oh, come on Stereo!" Twilight said. "Be happy, just for me?"

Stereo forced a smile, which completely lacked any effort on the part anything except the mouth. Twilight did not look pleased.

"What?" Stereo asked.

"Stereo, it's your eyes," Twilight said. "I could see through a fake smile anyway, but your eyes just make it worse. I can read you like a book."

"So what, they change color with emotion," Stereo replied non-chalantly. "At least you don't take advantage of my sadness.

"I'm curious," Twilight said. "What colors do your eyes change to?"

Stereo held in a long sigh. "Purple when I'm relaxed or happy," he began, "grey when I'm sad, pink or red when I'm angry, yellow when I'm scared, and green when I'm feeling sick. The stronger the emotion, the more intense the color."

Twilight paused for a moment, before quickly taking a note book from her bag, and writing everything that she had just found out.

"Okay, then," Twilight said as she finished, "how about bl..."

"Oh, it's you again!"

Stereo turned, expecting to be the target; but he found the source of the rather loud voice to be originating from about fifteen meters away. He watched with interest at what was occurring.

"When are you gonna make yourself useful to society?"

There was the one that he heard first, a pink Earth Pony.

"Yeah, you're still as totally useless as you were last week."

Another Earth Pony, this one grey...

The pink one spoke again. "Yeah, blank flank! You should be put up for adoption! Your parents must be ashamed!"

'Oh no she didn't!' Stereo thought.

The pink one pushed over the colt they were harassing, a light-blue Unicorn with light blue hair- in a tone so pale, it was nearly white. He fell to the ground hard, giving a pained grunt as his shoulder bashed against the path.

"BLANK FLANK!"

The two Earth Ponies laughed at the downed Unicorn, pointing to his exposed flank.

Stereo rose up to the ground. Clenching his teeth, he growled out his next words. "Oh it's on filly!"

"Stereo?" Twilight said, in a slightly panicked tone. "What are you doing?"

"I promised myself something back in Cloudsdale," Stereo replied. "Get ready to see some red!"

Stereo galloped the short distance, standing in between the Unicorn and the two Fillies. His eyes were already a blazing hot pink.

"Hey!" He yelled, getting the two girls attention. "Got a problem with him being a blank flank?"

His aggressive stance and bared teeth would have sent a Manticore running for cover; unfortunately, though, the two girls took about three seconds to stare at him, before they began laughing.

"Aww, how cute!" The pink one said mockingly. "You’re coming to protect your stupid little friend here." Every word she spoke was thickly laced with both sarcasm and malice.

"Or maybe you’re related? Both Unicorns, both have the same mare-ish eye color," the grey one said, pointing gesturing at their heads. "And your definitely both losers. It must run in the family."

Stereo snarled, pink irises transitioning to a different, but not far off hue; ruby-red.

The pink one gave a disgusted snort. "Your eyes change color?" She cried. "Please, if that's the best thing you can pull off for as a fashion statement, then you probably belong in the garbage heap!"

Before Stereo could cut in, the grey one, quick as ever, gave her two bits. "I know!" She cried in response to the pink ones words. "And just look at that horrible mane! It's obvious that your parents couldn't care less ab..."

"ARGHHH!"

The two Earth Ponies could register little more than a primal scream of rage, before they found themselves knocked onto the ground.

"Don't you ever mention my parents, ever!." Stereo cried. "And keep away from blank flanks, or I'll make you sorry!"

"Wh-wh..." The pink one tried to react, before being cut off directly.

"And by the way," Stereo said angrily, focusing on the pink one. "What is your problem? It's not like your special! All you can probably do is... wear clothes and be spoilt!"

She began to regain her senses slightly, yelling her trademark spoilt-brat line as soon as she was able. "You wait 'til I tell my Daddy! Do you know how rich he is?"

"You’re 'Daddy'," Stereo said, sarcastically emphasizing 'Daddy', "can kiss my..."

Stereo was interrupted as he was lifted off of the ground by a purple aura.

"Hey, what the..." He soon noticed the source. Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight, lemme go! These fillies are making fun of this colt!"

Twilight gave the two Earth Ponies a stern glare. "Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon! I'm ashamed!" She cried, as if she had heard nothing before she came to hold up Stereo. "You should leave, before I tell Mr. Rich!"

The fillies, now identified to Stereo by name, scurried off quickly.

"Stereo," Twilight said calmly, "helping this colt was the right thing to do. But remember," she continued, her voice becoming stern, "fighting is never right!"

"Yes, Twilight," Stereo said mournfully, before slowly walking off with her.

"Wait!"

Stereo stopped still in his tracks at the sound of the voice, before turning to address the blue Unicorn behind him.

"Thanks for helping me," he said.

"It was nothing," Stereo said non-chalantly. "I promised myself that I would never let somepony get teased for being blank."

"Well... thanks anyway," The colt replied, shuffling a little on the spot. He seemed a fair bit timid, with a soft voice that would remind Stereo of Fluttershy, had they met. "I-I was wondering," he said nervously, "would you like to hang out some?"

"Yeah, sure!" Stereo said. "I'm new in town, so I don't know anypony yet." He looked pleadingly up at Twilight. "Can I Twilight? Please?"

Twilight quickly looked away. "O-okay, but please, stop with the eyes!"

"Thanks, Twilight!" He said, before turning to the blue Unicorn colt. "I'm Stereo."

"Hey," the colt replied, extending his hoof. "I'm Aquaflow."

Celestia sat upon her throne. It was a slow day, and there was little business to attend to in the royal court. So she lazed about, reading.

“Hast though gotten over thy infernal obsession with tea, sister?”

Celestia jumped, quickly hiding the text she had been reading. “Of course!” she cried desperately. “I have total faith in the royal physician when he says that it can cause me psychological trauma.”

“Good to know,” Luna replied. “A letter has arrived, to our quarters instead of yours. It is for us both, I believe.”

Her curiosity piqued, Celestia placed her copy of Fifty Shades of Earl Grey on the table. Luna began to read.

Dear Princesses;

I have given Stereo the news of his possible transformation. He was sad at first, but now he seems to have found a friend to distract him. I hope to make quick progress.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

Six: A good day ends in worry

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"I am so gonna get you!"

Twilight laughed gently from a distance. No, Stereo was not part way through killing his friend. The seemingly vicious comment was actually a playful 'threat,' caused by a sneaky Aquaflow catching Stereo out in a game of hide-and-seek-tag.

Ahhh, a lesson in context, Twilight thought. She cheerfully rolled up her newly written scroll.

"Stereo!" She called out, getting his attention.

"Yeah!?"

"I'm going back to the library to send this letter. Don't stay out too long, Rainbow may get worried," she yelled, before adding quietly, "contrary to popular belief."

"Okay, seeya Twi!" Seeing her walk off, he turned back to his friend, who was no-where to be seen. "Aqua?" He called out. Looking around, he began to get worried. "Have I been ditched?"

Less than a second later, he heard what could be described as some sort of battle cry; before being knocked to the ground. He was surprised for a moment, before realising who it was, and breaking out into a grin.

"Not a chance!" Aqua said.

Aqua relinquished his hold on Stereo. "Okay, you win," Stereo said, catching his breath. "What now?"

"Sugarcube Corner?"

"Sure thing!"

"And what do two of my favouritest colts want today?"

Stereo raised an eyebrow. It would probably take more than a few days to get used to Pinkie's crazy behaviour - and total disregard for the equestrian language. Aqua, however, seemed unfazed.

"I'll just have an ordinary cupcake," he said.

"Not your usual?" Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow of her own.

"I don't even have a usual! Besides, I only have two bits."

"You don't need to make it official, I make it a point to remember everything about everypony!" Pinkie said cheerfully. "And don't worry about bits! I still owe you from that time you helped me clean up!"

"Pinkie, you don't have..."

Aqua didn't have time to finish, as both he and Stereo were pushed into a seat. "Just go with the flow, Flow!" Pinkie said. "I'll get one churro special, and one bowl of vanilla-coconut tapolicious for Stereo!"

"But, I haven't even ordered!" Stereo protested. How do you know I'll like it?"

"Don't worry!" Pinkie replied cheerfully as she skipped away. "I know you will."

Of course, who can deny the infinite wisdom of Pinkie Pie, at least where her friends are concerned. While Stereo didn't yet really call her a close friend, he knew that he probably couldn't hold out for long.

Stereo broke out into a grin when he saw what Pinkie brought out but a minute later. Sago. No matter what flavour, sago was, in his opinion, hands-down the best dessert in the world. Telekinetically scooping a generous amount of the small globes into his mouth, he took note of the flavour.

"Coconut milk and vanilla?" He said. "Pinkie, how did you know what my favourite dessert was?"

"I have my ways," she said, a mischievous undertone in her voice. "And how are your churros, Aqua?"

Quickly swallowing, he replied. "Great, Pinkie! Thank you so much!"

"Anything for you guys!" Pinkie said. "You both went through a lot recently, so you deserved a break anyways."

"But honestly Pinkie," Stereo said, "how did you know about my favourite dessert, and my favourite flavour? You even used the right sized sago-pearls! Only one pony knows how much I don't like the big ones, and that's Fr..." He paused for a moment, turning his head to look through the narrowly opened kitchen door. What- or rather who he saw didn't surprise him in the slightest.

"Frisky, why are you wearing an apron?"

"Pinkie gave me a job here!" His brother replied. "She loved my cooking so much, so she just asked the Cakes and they said yes!"

"That's great," Stereo said. "This is Aqua, I met him at the park. Aqua, this is my little brother, Frisky."

"Hey!" Frisky said. "I'm Frisky, we just moved here!"

Stereo resisted the urge to facehoof. Obvious much, Frisky?

"Hi... nice to meet you," Aqua said meekly.

Frisky turned his attention back to Stereo. "Rainbow said we needed to be home at five, which is really soon!"

Aqua seemed slightly alarmed. "I need to go too!" He said. "Mom and Dad'll kill me! See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good!" Stereo said. Aqua galloped out the door, and the other two walked off slowly in the other direction.

As they approached the bridge that crossed over the Ponyville River, they noticed a figure moving towards them. As they got closer, they began to make out details; yellow coat, and a long, pink mane. As they got closer still, they saw that she was a pegasus. Soon enough, they passed each other, the two colts briefly acknowledging her with a curt nod and a "hi."

As they continued, they heard a short squeak. Turning, Stereo realised that it came from the now stationary pegasus mare. Seeing her look quite afraid, he approached her again.

"Excuse me Miss," he said as politely as he could. "Are you lost?"

The mare shuffled uncomfortably. "Oh... no, I'm quite alright boys; you see, my best friend lives up here, but..." She seemed to make a quiet whimper, before continuing. "Are you the boys living with Rainbow Dash?"

Stereo nodded. "That's us, Stereo and Frisky."

"Hi!" Frisky yelled, causing the mare to cringe.

"Oh, thank goodness!" She cried, after recovering. "My name's Fluttershy; Rainbow and I were so worried that something happened to you!"

"We aren't that late, Miss Fluttershy," Stereo said. "And Rainbow panicking over this? Are you sure we're talking about the same pony?" Sarcasm as a form of humour this was not; Stereo was seriously wondering. Rainbow Dash was always so... impassive, letting them merrily enjoy their newly-found freedom while clothed with a spirit of non-chalance. Not the type that implied negligence, of course; but this still seemed... highly out of character for her.

"Oh, I was surprised too!" Fluttershy said. "She's usually so calm and... and she was just freaking out when I got there!" Fluttershy paused for a moment. "She must really care about you for... for some reason."

Stereo noted how comfortable Fluttershy now seemed around him - and how observant and caring she was. "What's Rainbow doing now?"

"I calmed her down, and told her to get ready for dinner tonight," Fluttershy began, before suddenly panicking. "Oh, did I forget to tell you about that? We're all going to eat out tonight. I'm so sorry for forgetting! Please don't get upset!"

"Don't worry, Miss Fluttershy." Frisky said. "But we should really get home before Dashie gets upset again."

"Oh... of course!" Fluttershy said. "Nice meeting you, boys!" She said, before taking off and flying low-altitude away from the reservoir.

"Dashie?" Stereo asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

"Ask Pinkie," Frisky replied defensively. "I dunno where it came from!"

As the two young colts walked through the front door, they immediately noticed something.

"Look how clean it is!" Stereo gasped.

"Yeah!" Frisky agreed. "It's, like, a GAZZILLION times cleaner than it was this morning!"

The comment earned Frisky another raised eyebrow, but Stereo decided after a few seconds to just focus on the matter at hand. Rainbow always kept her house acceptable... but never really clean. It looked as if she was trying to impress somepony, or maybe something else had happened. Then again, it could have just been Fluttershy...

Suddenly, a heavy thump was heard from the staircase. Snapping their heads to the side, they saw a rather flustered looking pegasus.

"Rainbow?" Stereo said, with a chuckle. "How did the BYFC champion fall down the stairs?"

Standing up and brushing herself off, Rainbow replied, "oh... I just tripped over something." She immediately turned her face away, its sides beginning to redden.

"But how?" The ever-indiscreet Frisky asked. "The house is uber-clean! Whaddidya trip on?"

Beads of sweat began to form on Rainbows forehead; she obviously was withholding something.

"Rainbow," Stereo said, concern in his voice. "What's happening?"

A\N: I am beginning to write another story. Stereoheart was only ever meant to be a learning experience; so I may slow down my writing. And if no-one shows any interest in reading it, then I may just stop completely. Just a heads-up.

Seven: Secrets and Lies

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A/N: I'm back in business! Nothing regular is happening as of yet, and I would like everyone to refrain from answering questions about my absence and return. Also, forgive me in this chapter. I rarely try to write scenes in which charaters display large amounts of emotion. I need practice!

Rainbow Dash looked up at the two worried faces. Stereo and Frisky... why did they have to be so damn observant? And Frisky had indiscretion, to boot. Weighing up her options, she quickly responded to the question directed at her.

"Nothin's going on, I just... forgot why I made a 'no flying in the house rule.' And Fluttershy was here, she's really clean."

"That's funny, we didn't hear you slam into a wall!" Frisky said accusingly.

Rainbow was about to point out that, since they dwelled in a structure made entirely from a tangible vapour cloud, it was unlikely he would hear anything, even if the house had crashed into the ground. Of course, Stereo beat her to the punch.

"Frisky, the house is made of clouds," Stereo said.

Yeah, I was right, Rainbow thought, somehow with a hint of sarcasm. He is observant."

"Yeah, but..." Frisky began; but a reasonable explanation failing him, just settled on "maybe you... accidentally did a thing... at a place... I got nothin'."

There was a brief pause. "Aaaanyway," Rainbow said awkwardly, "we're eating out today. All of my friends'll be there. I think we're eating Istallian."

"Well in that case," Stereo said, "Grazie, mi molto piace mangiare il vitto d'istalliano!"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Rainbow said. "I know we ate it yesterday and all, but Rarity planned it all."

"I thought you were a Cloudsdale Pony," Frisky said. "If you were, then you would know that Stereo just said that..."

"Alright, enough with the questions!" Rainbow cried. "You two are going to kill me one day..."

"Why, Mr Bene Cibo, this food is just superb!"

It would be impossible not to recognise that voice, just from the manner speech. Rarity was correct, of course; the food was marvellous! Then again, what would you expect from a pony who's name translated literally means "Good Food?"

"Oh, Gratzie, Signora!" He replied. "I very much appreciate such a lovely group of Ponies dining at mia humble ristarante! The gelato is on la casa!"

Stereo noticed Rainbow Dash, her casual attitude fully restored, stifling a giggle at the store owners thick accent. Rarity may have noticed, and probably did, since they sat next to each other. She managed, however, to ignore her.

"Oh, molto grazie, singore Cibo!" She said, her voice filled with sincere gratitude. "Thank you very much!"

As they waited for their ice cream, casual discussion broke out. It was surprising, although Stereo would should have thought it not, that the discussion soon moved to them. It started with the million-dollar question; one that he'd been meaning to get the answer to.

"So, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "Why did you adopt the two boys? It doesn't seem like something you would usually do."

A silence followed, during which all seven pairs of eyes turned to one specific pegasus pony. While she began to sweat under the pressure, something quite out of character in itself, Rarity gave an obvious smirk.

"Yes, Rainbow dear," she said, then added with a slightly threatening tone, "do tell."

"Shut up Rarity," Rainbow grunted quietly, before trying to change the subject. "Hey, look, our dessert's coming!"

Mr Chibo was not a steggler for procrastination, however, and quickly handed out various flavoured ice creams, before scuttling off.

"Damn."

"I've been kinda curious about that myself," Stereo said. "And I can't shake the memory of what you said to us in Cloudsdale; 'call if you need anything.' We'd only just met!"

"I didn't mean anything by it..."

"Umm..." Fluttershy tried to but in, immediately being overridden by Twilight.

"If you meant nothing by it, them why did you give false hope to these poor children?"

"E-Excuse me everypony..."

"NO! Not like that Twilight!" Rainbow quickly corrected. "What meant was that there wasn't anything bad behind it."

"Girls..."

"You sure 'bout that sugarcube," Applejack said rather sternly. "Y'know ah don't take kindly teh ponies lyin' teh me!"

"Yes, darling, It would be rather rude!"

"Please, everypony listen!"

"Rarity, shut up! You know my reasons!"

"It's really impor..."

"Oh, so ya were lyin!"

"Rainbow, I'm ashamed!"

"Please, everypony!"

"As punishment, I shall reveal exactly what your motives were!"

"GIRLS!"

All conversation stopped, and seven heads turned to see the enraged pegasus standing on her chair.

"I am just ashamed of you all, putting down Rainbow Dash like that!"

Fluttershy climbed down, giving Rainbow Dash a hug. She held on tight.

"I've known Rainbow since she was a filly, and I know exactly why she didn't tell you her reasons."

"But darling..."

"And I am especially ashamed of you, Rarity! You know her reasons too, and you know exactly why you shouldn't reveal them! What got into you? And Applejack, Twilight, you should learn to respect other ponies privacy."

"But we have a right teh know, sugar..."

Fluttershy began to really shout, with tears streaming down her face.

"A RIGHT TO KNOW?"she cried. "IF YOU SAW HER REASONS, YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO KNOW! IT JUST... I JUst... why..."

Fluttershy broke down in tears. "I-Im so sorry Rainbow Dash," she said quietly. "You didn't deserve to be reminded... I'm such a bad pony..."

Rainbow continued hugging her. In an out-of-character display of emotion, Rainbow shed a few tears, and picked Fluttershy up.

"We need to spend some time together, okay?" She said. "I'm really sorry, can one of you take the boys for the night?"

"Sure thing," Applejack said, quickly putting up a hoof to volunteer. "Ah think Bloom'd sure like a day off to spend wit the colts, and we have room back at the farm. Her gaze faltered slightly, and she quickly turned to flash a convincing smile at Frisky.

Rainbow knew her friend too well. "AJ, don't do this because you're feeling guilty!"

"An' who else will do it? Twi 'as a busy schedule to keep up with, Pinkie has too, and Rarity... She's the last pony ah'd send'm with!"

"Why, I..."

"Fine then AJ, but we need to get going." Rainbow said with a heavy sigh. "Just... understand that I have my reasons; I just can't tell you."

"I just can't."

Eight: Owning Up

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Three days. It had been three days since that horrible incident at the restaurant. Stereo had had fun at Applejacks farm with the crusaders, whom discovered his weakness whilst trying to wake him that morning (Cutie Mark Crusader Tickle Torturers was one thing that would haunt his sleep for years). But, fun and games over, there was a growing list of problems to solve, and loose-ends to tie up:

•He felt guilty about being the indirect cause of the other nights'... incident;

•Rainbow was obviously hiding something, and was uncomfortable;

•Pinkie Pie was sad, and locked in her room. Apparently this was really bad;

•He was still wearing that damned necklace!

At least there were a few good things happening today. Sweetie Belle had been really excited about one of them - the talent show. They would be performing the Cutie Mark Crusaders Theme Song, as they had so aptly named it.

With slightly lifted spirits, Stereo trotted down the cloud stairs of what was now officially called his home. Yes, even with all of the recent guilt and awkwardness, he felt at home in Ponyville, and living with Rainbow Dash.

"Morning, Rainbow Dash!" He called out to the mare behind the counter, putting on his best, most convincing smile and good attitude.

"Morning, kid," Rainbow replied as she usually would. "Sleep well?"

"Slept great," Stereo replied. "How about you?"

"Like a baby." Stereo almost believed it, almost.

"Drop the façade, Rainbow," he said.

"What do you..."

"I heard you scream, at least three times last night! Something's going on... is it about the other day?"

In a surprising display of forwardness, Rainbow answered truthfully. "...yeah," she said, and hung her head.

Stereo paused, and thought carefully about what to say. "Ar... are you okay?" He said, with genuine concern in his voice.

"Well," Rainbow started. "Y... I think... I don't know. I don't think so. The other day, Fluttershy cried for two hours, with me!"

Stereo gasped, but said nothing. Whatever troubled her had to be pretty nasty to make the Rainbow Dash cry; for two hours, no less.

"I'm gonna tell you some stuff you already know, Rainbow continued. "Lemme know if you get bored. First of all, I'm awesome and tough, and Fluttershy's a marshmallow. Second of all, we're best friends, since we were foals. Third, both of us never talk about our family, at least not around anypony."

"Fluttershy and I are friends, mainly because we went through the same thing together. That, and we're cousins. Our family - more specifically, our Dads and Brothers, were just as bad as your 'parents.'"

"Rainbow, I..."

"Let me finish!" Rainbow interrupted, before continuing. "They were abusive to us, My Dad and brother, her Dad and brother, to both of us, at the same time! We would go to flight school with bruises, cuts, black eyes, you name it. I tried to protect Fluttershy from our drug-addicted male family, but they noticed. And they let me get away with it."

"I was happy; Fluttershy was okay, and I could handle the pain for her. But one night, I was doing some extra-credit work at flight school, and when I got home, all seemed fine. I walked into our room, a bit earlier than everypony expected, to find Fluttershy gagged and bound, on the bed, and my brother... kid, are you okay?"

Stereo had a more than shocked expression on his face. His eyes were somewhere between intense grey and emerald green. Not a good combination, if you recall.

"I'm fine... I just need to..." He quickly ran over to the sink, pouring water over his face. When he opened his eyes, they were settling on a greyish hue. A few tears dotted his face.

"He raped her!?"

Rainbow had been on a tangent up until now, and, being forced to slow down to wait for Stereo, her story began to weigh down on her. Stereo's comment hit home, though.

She began to feel tears stream down her face. "Y-yeah. He raped her." As she spoke, her voice gradually rose, until she was grinding her teeth together. "When I caught him, I screamed, and then, I TORE HIM OFF OF HER, AND THEN I PUNCHED HIM ACROSS THE FACE, AGAIN AND AGAIN, UNTIL I COULDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE HIM!"

Stereo hugged Rainbow, as she calmed down and began to shudder.

"...My Mum, she came in *sniff* and was about to hit me, then she *sniff* saw Fluttershy *sniff* and called the police. My Dad walked in, not noticing anything until too late, *sniff* half was through asking if Fluttershy had been 'a good Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo.'"

"A what?"

"It's an acronym, spell the first letters."

"Oh... Oooohhh... So the police took both of them?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "It was the best day of my life. It's also the day Fluttershy changed. She was never that shy; she used to be normal. But that night... she changed, into the caring, sensitive pony she is today. But I would give up my wings for that day to never have happened. And that bring us to you, Stereo."

"Me?"

"Did you ever wonder why I was so nice to you in Cloudsdale? Princess Luna had briefed us on... you, and I couldn't stand to think that you lived like that. Fluttershy kept looking at me through that briefing... And then you got out, and I got permission to care for you."

"Does anypony else know about this?"

"Only Rarity, because I needed a non-family witness to sign the guardian papers. I told her everything, and it felt so good. I... I asked her to push me at the restaurant, and she probably feels terrible now because of what happened."

"I can handle her today, but are you okay?"

Rainbows mood improved dramatically. She’d had lots of practice with Fluttershy, of course, but that wasn’t the only reason. As the legend says, out of the ashes rises a phoenix. “I'm fine, and there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"I got some approved papers from Canterlot two days ago... It's why I had the nightmares."

"Oh... so, is it something bad?"

"No, they're papers for both of us!"

"What do you mean?"

"Stereo, would you like to legally be my son?"

"...You mean... You mean like adoption!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I would love it! I've always wanted a Mum that cares about me!"

Stereo's eyes shone, literally glowing and sparkling purple. He really wanted her to be his mother, and was she going to deny him? Of course not! She wanted it too. While their relationship had started of a mutual understanding of a problem, a relationship founded on worry and fear, Stereo and Frisky had grown on her. She actually liked them, and had ordered the papers without regret. The only problem - she needed three witnesses without any blood relation to her or a criminal record. Rarity would be one witness, Fluttershy was ruled out due to blood relation. Pinkie Pie probably had broken the laws of physics on several occasions, as well as national hyperactivity laws. She would be ruled out, due to having a criminal record. So she needed Twilight and Applejack as witnesses. Easy, and she didn't need to tell them anything!

"You need to tell them everything!"

“What?”

Surprise was plastered over the sky-coloured pegasus ponies face. “Rarity, you know why I can’t do that!”

“I know why you must, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity flicked back her mane, levitating a comb and hairspray behind her head. “You of all ponies know just how dangerous secrets can be! Remember when I didn’t tell you how I felt about your gala dresses, and Hoity Toity came to see them?” Her voice seethed condescension.

“Yeah, well... we’re keeping Pinkies surprise birthday party a secret! That’ll turn out just fine, and so will I!” Rainbow lifted her head triumphantly, waiting to hear what comeback could possibly even come close to disproving her argument.

“That’s completely different, we’re doing that to make her feel happy and loved. That secret is beneficial, and a testament to our love and friendship. Your secret is tearing you up inside. If you don't tell at least one pony, then I'll be forced to report you emotionally unstable, and unfit to care for children!"

"Rarity... I... Is that even legal... I hate you Rarity! Why would you do this?"

"It's tough love, Rainbow, at least one pony besides Fluttershy and myself must know."

"Does Stereo count?"

"Of course!" Rarity assured him. "When Stereo comes to knowledge, I'll accept that as an adequate release... for now."

"He already knows..." Rainbow said. "I... kinda told him this morning."

"Well there you go, then!" Rarity said happily. "You can have my signature, when's the audience with the legal overseer?"

"Two days, in Canterlot."

"Canterlot!" Rarity cried. "This overseer must be very influential if he managed to convince you to go all the way to Canterlot... and for that matter, to even have the nerve to ask us to make such a trip."
"Yeah, well our 'legal overseer' is none other than Celestia herself."

"Princess... PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Rarity cried, once again. "Why?"

"I dunno," Rainbow said nonchalantly. "But she made a huge fuss about her overseeing the whole thing."

"Oh well, no matter," Rarity said. "I would like you to at least think about talking. That secret's absolutely tearing you apart!"

"Will do, Rarity!" Rainbow said, her tone indicating that she had no intention of doing so.

Rarity ignored Rainbows ungrateful attitude, instead moving to another subject. "You look absolutely famished!" She said.

"I didn't eat this morning... I kinda came straight here after talking to Stereo."

"Well let me fix you up some toasts français."

"Some what?" Rainbow asked, her head tilted in a confused expression.

"French toast," Rarity deadpanned.

"Ohhhhh."

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Stereo sat on a doorstep, hopefully the one of his friend. Because, what could be more embarrassing than knocking on the wrong door?

It turns out that his friend is not the pony who opens the door, but rather a light green-blue coloured unicorn mare with a green and white streaked mane.

"Oh, hi!" She said kindly. "Did you need something?"

"Hello, ma'am. Is this where Aquaflow lives?"

"Oh, are you Stereo?" She said. "My names Lyra, I'm his mother. I'll go get him." She began to walk away, before pausing and turning around. "He told what you did yesterday... you're a pretty awesome friend."

Stereo blushed slightly, and turned his body a little away. "Thank you, Miss Lyra."

"Please, a friend of my son's is a friend of mine, and my friends drop the Mrs." She then chuckled and walked inside, emerging about a half minute later with Aqua.

"Hey Aqua!"

The coincidentally aqua coloured colt saw him, and immediately brightened up... not that he was sad, or anything. "Hey, Stereo!" He said. "I was gonna go swimming today, wanna come?"

"Yeah!" Stereo cheered, before realizing one important detail. "But I've never been swimming before..."

"Hey, It's easy!" Aqua assured him. "I'll show you how."

"You're right," Stereo said as he floated across highland reservoir. "Once you get the basics, that is."

Of course, as amazing as Stereo probably thought he was, he was nothing compared to the ultimate speed and grace of his friend. He was a natural - flowing through the aquatic substance, like oil on a pan, as Frisky would so crudely put it; or perhaps not, since both Aqua's swimming and Frisky's cooking were indeed works of art.

These musings were interrupted by the voice of the one being mused over. "WATER FIGHT!"

"Oh, you're on!" Stereo cried, as he was inundated in seconds. He sank like a rock, and Aqua celebrated thought victory. That is, until he saw a large ball of water floating towards him, surrounded by a violet aura.

"Oh come o..."

SPLASH

"Beat that!" Stereo cried, seeing Aqua with a deadpan expression.

"Okay, you win."

"Hey hey heeeey... What's wrong, why did you give up?"

"I... I can't tell you," Aqua responded sadly. "You'll make fun of me."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will!"

"I wouldn't be a real friend if you couldn't tell me your problems... and if I laughed at them," Stereo said.

"Well... are you sure you won't laugh?"

"Of course I won't," Stereo assured him. "It wouldn't be the first talk I've had today that revealed something totally mind-blowing, so you're pretty safe."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, don't ask about it. It wasn't pretty."

"Okay then... the truth is... I have non unicórnis piscinam."

"What's that?" Stereo asked.

"It means my magic pool was empty from birth, and since magic production need a little bit of magic to start with, I'll never be able to use it."

"Thats it?" Stereo asked. "You think that I would laugh at you? That's horrible, and I'm really sorry. If you want, we can talk to Twilight, though. She's Celestia's student, and the best magic user besides the Princesses themselves. She should have a cure!"

"Thanks, Stereo," Aqua said wholeheartedly. "You really are a good friend."

Nine: The First Lie

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"Twilight, I need to ask you something, but you can't tell anypony."

Twilight Sparkle froze in place, the books she was re-shelving similarly losing all motion. Stereo hadn't ever asked her to do this before; nopony really had. What could he ask that warranted secrecy? "Yes, Stereo?" she said calmly.

"You know Aquaflow, right?" Stereo said.

"You mean the colt you met the other day?"

"Yeah, him." Stereo confirmed. "He has... he has non... unicorner... something?"

"Uh... okay," Twilight said slowly. "What are his symptoms?" She continued, casually restarting her task of re-shelving the books in her library.

"His magic pool has been empty from birth..."

thump

Several books previously held up clattered simultaneously onto the ground.

"Non unicórnis piscinam!?" Twilight asked urgently.

"Um... yeah, that sounds right!" Stereo affirmed.

Books began to fly off of shelves once again, destroying Twilights attempts at tidying and reorganizing. She came to one particular book that she held in front of her face. "It's just as I thought..." she said thoughtfully.

"What?" Stereo asked, just as urgently as Twilight had before. "What did you find?"

"Non unicórnis piscinam is associated with decreased longevity, lowered immunity, and clinical depression." Twilight explained.

"And the cure?"

"There's only one known cure, a restricted spell called ‘the magic of friendship.' The powered unicorn would channel magic straight into the disabled one, effectively jumpstarting him. But, there is a danger."

"What's that?

"If one of you isn't sincere in your friendship; if one of you is greedy or grudging, then he will get all of the magic, saving it all for himself, and if he's the previously disabled unicorn, he'll strip the magic from the other."

"So, in effect," Stereo said slowly, attempting to clarify for himself. "If Aqua was selfish, and used me for my magic, I would end up being the one with the condition?"

Twilight nodded solemnly. "And the spell is absolute. If you lost your magic, you would know that the other unicorn had every intent on keeping all of the magic. There are no accidents, the spell is definite on its judgement."

"Wow..." Stereo muttered in awe. Can I borrow that book?"

"Sorry Stereo, but this book can only be read under Celestia's authorization."

“How about Luna?” Stereo asked.

“That could work, but she’d need to make it a royal order before I give it to you,” Twilight explained. It’s far too dangerous for foals like you to be playing around with; you’re in enough trouble with your magic as it is, with that necklace still clinging like a part of your body.”

“Fine, then,” Stereo grumbled. “Are you at least gonna come with me to tonight’s concert? The crusaders say that they’ve been practicing really hard.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there,” Twilight said. “I wouldn’t miss the chance to see them maybe earn their cutie marks!”

Stereo was indeed in a tough situation, at least he had decided. Decreased longevity... a quick dictionary search had revealed that it meant, in essence, a decreased life-span. But by what? Five years less than average? Ten? Thirty? And lowered immunity... what if he died from pony pox or the flu? Or clinical depression... that was a sickness right?

On the spot, Stereo made up his mind. He was going to send a letter to Princess Luna. Levitating a scroll and quill from his bed-side table, he began to write;

Dear Princess Luna,

I would like to tell you about something that I think is important, to me anyway. You probably have way more important things that you think are important, but that's besides the point. My new best friend has a disease called Non unicórnis piscinam. It means that he can never use magic, and Twilight said that it decreases immunity and life span. It also gives them clinical depression. We have a book with a spell called 'The Magic of Friendship,' and what it does is...

"No."

Stereo jumped half a mile off of his bed, startled by the sudden voice.

"Luna?" he said, once recognition set in.

"Ah, It's good to see that this small amount of time hasn't reduced our ability to recognize our voices."

"How can it Luna," Stereo responded. "You were my only friend back..." he suppressed a shudder. "...up there."

"Yes, of course," Luna replied. "But enough idle conversation, we know what we want, and we will not authorize it's use."

"Why, Luna?"

"It is far too dangerous, I can see it ending badly, and my prediction is definite."

Stereo suppressed his anger, a skill he had gotten good at. He wasn't angry by nature anyway, unable to raise his voice at others unless certain conditions were met. Personally, this only happened to him once. The result was a cutie mark. But concerning his friends, and especially his brother, it could happen very easily. If someone directly threatened or harmed them, then he would see red... literally. It often made him things he would think twice about doing other times. He kept struggling in this particular situation, however. Nopony was threatening anypony else here... so why was he so... argh! The whole situation was so frustrating!

"Calm our emotions, nothing is to be feared!" Luna said softly. "Your friend is very unfortunate, and maybe one day you can help, but you need to focus on helping yourself right now. That necklace needs to go, in the next week if possible!"

"Why this week?" Stereo asked curiously. "And did you just speak normally?"

"No matter why, but the sooner the better." She responded. "We must leave, and to answer our other question, desperate times call for use of the term 'you.' I know you'll do what's right, Stereo." She then disappeared. By that point Stereo was resigned to the fact of what would happen regarding Aqua.

”I’M GONNA SING IT VERY LOUD!”

The first stanza of the cutie mark crusaders song was finally through... after the most aurally painful few seconds of Stereo’s life.

Gotta remember to teach Scootaloo a few singing techniques, Stereo thought. Before her confidence deafens the entire town!

Stereo noticed Applejack hiding under her hat – she had the right idea. It was painful. As the chorus came on, however, there was a little improvement – Apple Bloom wasn’t a half-bad singer, and he could just make out another voice; another heavenly voice. That can’t be Sweetie...

It in fact was, the filly with the most beautiful singing voice was his friend, or at least he thought, Sweetie Belle. I have to hang out with her more... was a casual thought that innocently sashayed through his mind. As she left, though, he was stuck listening to Scootaloo.

“Hey girls!" Stereo's cries were heard by the trio of cutie mark crusaders as they were walking home after an 'awesome performance.'

"Hey Stereo!" Scootaloo said, the first of the three to talk. "Whaddidya think of my awesome singing?"

"You were pretty good," Stereo said, feeling bad for lying through his teeth. "But come see me later about it," he decided to finish on that sentence, before quickly moving onto another topic.

"Uh... Girls..." He said nervously, shuffling his hooves in an absent minded way.

All three crusaders looked at him strangely, before the obvious loudmouth of the group spoke up, pushing his agenda forwards.

"Yeah?" Scootaloo said.

"I... uh... I need your help."

Sweetie quickly saw the awkward look on his face, jumping to a conclusion.

"It's okay if you need our help," she said. "No need to be embarrassed!"

"What... no! It's not anything like that, I just need your help doing something that's good, but bad."

"How is that possible?" Applebloom asked. "The way ah see it, ya either doin' the right thing, or the wrong thing."

Stereo thought for a while... he could end up saving a life, could, but he was told not to. He would betray a friend, for another. For once, his sense of justice and righteousness put him in a dilemma that was of logic, contradiction, and morality. But he had to make a choice.

"There's this restricted spell book, and it could let Aquaflow recover from his magic restricting disease."

"That sounds promising," Scootaloo said. "Whaddaya need us to do?"

"I need you to help me steal it."

Ten: Trust

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Four figures were clad in black, form-fitting clothes. Neither their colour, race or mane were visible. They were completely anonymous, save for their faces. This was a huge flaw, but where would one get a mask at this hour?

"Maybe we should try again tomorrow!" Stereo stage-whispered. The tree library in front of him had never seemed so daunting. What he was about to do, and wanting not to do, was a breach of trust and common sense.

"No way!" Scootaloo whispered back. "You dragged us out here, we're doing this tonight!"

"Okay, okay," Stereo replied softly. "How do we do this?"

A long silence followed, in which all four foals attempted to silently come up with a plan.

"I got it!" Sweetie whispered. "I can see an open window. Scootaloo, you give me and Stereo a boost. We'll get the book."

"Why do you get to go in?" Scootaloo said, pouting.

"Because it's a really big book," Stereo explained. I can lift it by myself, and Sweeite's just for emergency help. I need two strong ponies like you to be able to catch it when I drop it out the window, and to run if we get caught."

"Ohhhhh..." Scootaloo said, understanding the plan now. "Okay, sounds good. Let's go team!"

The main room of the library was eerily quiet, even if libraries were supposed to be as such. Stereo was casting a light spell, noting the perfectly organized books that had been re-shelved that afternoon. He of course was already feeling remorse for what he was about to do, but also relief. Twilight was asleep, and from what he had heard, this was pretty unusual. She usually spent this time studying.

Stereo flipped open a random book, hoping to miraculously find the spell he was looking for in a book that looked nothing like the one he was looking for.

Basic 'wink out' quick teleportation spell? Stereo thought, reading the spell. Looks difficult... but I think I can do it. Stereo quickly committed the spell to memory. He would have to get Twilight to help him with it later.

Stereo suddenly noticed the book, lying open on a table. He almost opened his mouth, but caught himself in time. Recalling the telepathy spell he and Frisky had used, he targeted Sweetie's head with his magic, and established a connection.

Sweetie, It's me! He thought. Don't make a sound, but nod if you can hear me.

A confused look crossed Sweeties face.

It's not your imagination, nod if you can hear me!

Sweetie slowly nodded, before looking at him.

Good Sweetie, he thought to her. I see the book, It's over there. He pointed to the book, before walking up to it. A purple glow surrounded it, before it was lifted off the table and closed.

There, now we just have to...

An alarm not unlike those used to warn of hazardous radiation levels sounded, and it was loud.

SHE PUT A SPELL ON IT! Stereo thought to Sweetie. RUN!

The two foals ran back to the window, Stereo briefly turning around to see an upstairs door open. It was Twilight. He froze in place, but Sweetie jerked him back towards the window. They leaped out.

"Hey, what gives?" Scootaloo said in an annoyed tone. After all, her and Apple Bloom were flattened on the ground by Stereo and Sweetie.

"No time to explain!" Stereo cried. "Hope this works!"

Stereo's horn glowed its regular colour, but with greater intensity. A an electrical noise grew in volume as he went through the steps of the spell. A single ball of energy grew at the tip of his horn, as well as within him and his friends, and with an explosive noise, they disappeared.

All four foals reappeared by the reservoir, slightly dazed. As the girls regained their senses, the first thing they heard was Stereo groaning and falling limp by them. Apple Bloom caught him from behind, and gently placed him on the ground.

"Quick, give me that book!" Sweetie cried. "I need to read the spell, in case Twilight gets the book before Stereo can see it!"

Scootaloo readily complied; Apple Bloom with less enthusiasm. Sweetie hooved through the pages, eventually coming to the right one before she began to read.

"Here it says that all he needs to do is sit with Aqua, and focus some magic right into his horn. It says that the little bit of magic will be enough to start his auto... automomi... autonomous magic production."

"That sounds easy," Apple Bloom said, surprising everypony. She had been quiet for the whole time.

"Uh... I guess it is," Sweetie replied. "Scootaloo, I need you to hide this book somewhere. Apple Bloom and I will take Stereo to Rainbow Dash. We should be able to wake her up."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Scootaloo asked worriedly.

"Of course," Sweetie said. "You of all ponies should know that Rainbow Dash can keep a secret. She does it all the time!"

"Wait... what secrets?"

"Ask me later Scootaloo... or ask Fluttershy," Sweetie said as she began to walk away. "But we really have to go. I'm getting tired."

"Nnngg..." Stereo groaned, opening his eyes slowly. Everything was a haze, and he felt so weak... what happened?

Memories started to flood back into his mind as his brain booted up for the morning. His synapsing neurons did so in ways that made him cringe. They had stolen the book, Twilight caught them. He teleported them all out and... and that was where it ended. He was here, and performing the teleportation was the last thing he remembered.

He noted that he felt extremely drained, unable to even levitate a nearby glass of water. He sat up, and took the glass in his hooves 'manually.' He had forgotten how much of a bother that was...

"Hey kid."

Stereo nearly spat out his water, and looked towards his door.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I don't even remember, Rainbow," Stereo groaned. "And don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Rainbow replied with her usual air of apparent insincerity. If he was his usual observant self, Stereo would have noted Rainbow's apparent dismissal and forgetting of the previous morning's events.

"Look, I'm sorry kid."

"About what?"

"You know," Rainbow trailed off, before picking back up again. "Me telling you all that... stuff."

"That's okay, you needed to tell me," Stereo assured her.

"Yeah, I needed to tell somepony." Rainbow said. "I know that now. But you're what, twelve? And you just got out of your own problem... That was really... uncool of me."

Stereo laughed in response.

"What?" Rainbow said defensively. "What's so funny?"

"The way you said that, you sound like you're really worried about me thinking that you're 'uncool,'" Stereo elaborated.

"Well... yeah, I guess..." Rainbow said quietly. "I mean, I have a reputation to maintain, and you kind of live with me. Being anything but plain awesome would drive you crazy, right!" Her last cocky question was more of a statement - there was no argument, she implied it as a fact.

Stereo was fairly tactful in his approach. He wouldn't have been if certain named parties were present, but he managed to prove Rainbow wrong. "Well, I am friends with Twilight, aren't I?"

It was Rainbows turn to laugh.

"Anyway, I'm feeling better now," Stereo said. A little pain at the bottom of my horn, but I'm more hungry than anything."

"Yeah..." Rainbow said slowly. "About that. Twilight said that you'd be sore there... you can only eat some special thing that she gave me."

"You went to TWILIGHT!?" Stereo nearly yelled.

"Relax, she understands." Rainbow said. "She was really worried about you, especially when she couldn't get you up. She said that she wasn't angry, but wanted her book back and wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah, but I don't have the book."

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Stereo was knocking on a door. Again. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently. It was still a strange feeling; you couldn't knock on Cloudsdale doors. When it opened, however, all thoughts of comparative architectural styles fled from his mind and transformed into beads of sweat on his forehead. There was no doubt about it - he was nervous.

"Ah, hello Stereo," Twilight said with a menacing kindness. "Please, come in."

Stereo complied, stepping over the threshold and into the main library. And Twilights urging, he took a seat.

"Now, you know that I'm disappointed in you, right?"

Stereo's response was filled with guilt. "Yes..."

"You also know that I'm extremely proud of you, as well."

"Ye... wait, what?"

"Stereo, I don't approve of you taking such a dangerous artifact. But I appreciate the heart behind it. You wanted to help your friend, even though it tore you up to betray me. And I know. When you heard my voice while you were sleeping this morning, you started screaming, begging me to forgive you, to give you my trust, to still be your friend. Never loose that, Stereo. But you should also remember not to steal. If you used that spell, then you probably would have lost all of your magic, especially if you did it to another emotionally unstable and slightly hormonal twelve year old."

"Thank you, Twilight," Stereo said quietly. "But what about your..."

"I got my book back," Twilight began. "Apple Bloom... she couldn't handle the guilt. She gave it back to me, explaining that Scootaloo and Sweetie didn't understand the danger of dishonesty."

"Okay, now what about Aqua?"

"I've got a solution," Twilight said cheerfully. "Actually, it's the Princess' suggestion."

"Celestia?"

"No, Princess Luna," Twilight said, correcting him. "She apparently spent a whole night crafting a spell for you to use. It's similar to the other spell, but without the danger." She handed him a scroll, which had instructions for the spell written in both standard equestrian and with unfamiliar symbols. "I'll teach you about the symbols later," she continued. "But for now, all you'll need is the instructions. Quickly, go find Aquaflow and give him a shock!"

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Well, the spell had been complicated looking. He had to channel the magic directly into Aqua's horn, and then direct it into his magic store. Luckily there was a diagram that showed were that was. He had to simultaneously shield the path of the magic with more magic, so as not to have it disturbed by synapsing neurons that he passed by. That, if his science classes in Cloudsdale had served him well, sounded like it could...

The door to the house opened, with Lyra behind it.

"Oh, hey!" She said cheerfully. "I'll go get Aqua."

Well, that was quick

Now he had a chance to rethink what he thought he was about to think before Lyra interrupted his thoughts. About the fact that the spell could...

"Oh, hey Stereo!"

Stereo derailed his train of thought this time with a smile on his face. He was always happy to see Aqua. "Hey, Aqua!"

"So what are we gonna do today?" Aqua asked.

"I have a surprise for you at the lake!" Stereo said. Come on!"

As they ran, that single thought completed itself, the thought that the spell could... no, if he had learned one thing, it was that Luna was to be trusted with all of his heart. If she said it would work, then it would.

After a few minutes walk, they raced to the edge of the water.

"Okay, so what is it?" Aqua asked excitedly.

Not letting 'that thought' run through his mind again, he replied with similar enthusiasm. "I'm gonna give you your magic back!"

Aqua paused. "How?"

"Easy!" Stereo replied. "Well, sort of. There's this spell that I do on you, that jumpstarts your magic production."

"Okay, what do I do?" Aqua asked.

"Just tell me if you feel anything after the spell." Stereo said.

"O-okay," Aqua said nervously, before firming his voice. "I'm ready!"

Stereo aimed his horn towards Aqua. He completed the steps as smoothly as he could; creating the link and channeling the wavy trail of violet magic added one aura around his horn, shielding the channel made a second. Soon, after a few seconds, he released the flow. The remaining magic trailed into Aqua's horn, then the last part of the spell was released.

"I feel... tingly," Aqua said slowly. "And light-headed. Can I use magic yet?"

"Probably not," Stereo said. "The scroll said that you would need to rest for a few hours, and don't try magic until tomorrow morning. Come and see me and Twilight then."

"Wow," Aqua said. "Mom was right when she said that I should be friends with you."

"She told you to?"

"No, but she met you, and then told me that you would be a really good friend."

Book 2 epilogue: Letters to the Princesses

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Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna;

Twilight told me about the friendship reports that she sends you - I hope you don't mind me sending one of my own. Anyway, today I learned something valuable when I really hurt a friend to help another friend. Helping friend's is always good, and Twilight says that it's a desirable quality. But you should never steal from anyone, friend or not, even to help somepony. My friend Aqua had a condition and couldn't use magic. The only cure was a dangerous spell that could give me the same condition from a forbidden book. I stole it off of Twilight, but then I realized how much pain I caused, even to myself. It's a mistake I won't make again.

Your loyal subject;

Stereoheart

P.S: Princess Luna, why did you provide me with the spell to cure Aqua? I feel very weak with my magic now... I hope to Celestia this isn't more destiny stuff. And besides, If I'm right, then that spell... It could have killed him.

Dear Princess Celestia;

Stereo learned a valuable lesson in friendship and trust, his report is enclosed. However, I am puzzled by Princess Luna's spell - the second shield layer blocking the synapsing neurons around the magic pool, which is close to several vertebrae, could have interrupted a connection, giving Aqua serious brain damage or death.

I request an audience with Princess Luna; we need to talk.

Most respectfully, your faithful student;

Twilight Sparkle

P.S: I apologize for Stereo's misplaced apostrophe in his letter

One: Aqua

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The dark, damp stone cell was a sight that managed to evoke a feeling of misery; there was no bright coloring, a wet-dog smell seeped out from between the rotting wall slabs, and mice ran as they willed. An infuriating sight, it was; the mice had free will, while the cell's resident was held captive.

The two captives laid, each on a simple canvas bunk riddled with fleas.

"Rise!"

The two figures sat up slowly, cracking their necks and turning slowly to see who had interrupted their sleep.

"Ugh..." One of them said with a snort. "What do you want?"

"Yeah, and when'll we get some room-service?" The other said. "I wouldn't even throw the two little twerps in here! Not my worst enemy!"

"You are lucky you aren't our worst enemy," the figure outside the cell said. "We can do much worse than minimal nourishment and a cell forty-five floors below the surface."

"We are so honored," the first said sarcastically.

"SILENCE!" The figure shouted. "You are to know that a significant event will occur soon. You are to cooperate, and not cause trouble."

"How about we tell you about our plan to esc... AAAAHHHH!"

An arc of electricity flew past the iron bars of the cell and struck the two prisoners.

"If an escape is so much as joked about, you will become my worst enemies."

"Fine then, Luna," the prisoner said rudely. "We'll play your game for a while longer."

"Wise decision, Autumn Star," she replied. "Wise decision."

"Come on, you can do it!"

Aqua cringed and groaned as he tried to perform a simple task - levitating a paper cup. It was quite reminiscent of Stereo and Frisky's first time, but was a pure coincidence, Twilight had said.

"Keep trying," Twilight said. "You're close, I can see it!"

"Remember the steps, Aqua," Stereo added. "Feel the cup in your mind, and grab it!"

"I-I... I can feel it, but I can't touch it!" Aqua cried. "It's so hard!"

"Here," Twilight said, levitating over a jug. "Have some water and take a break. I need to write a letter, so take your time."

"Thanks," Aqua said gratefully, panting as the entire jug was surrounded in a pale blue-green and floated right up to his mouth. As he took a few refreshing gulps, he heard a clank, followed by total silence.

Aqua moved the jug away from his face to see what was going on... or what wasn't, as the case was. Both ponies were completely still, their jaws hanging slightly open. Twilight appeared to have dropped her writing supplies onto the floor.

"What is it ?" Aqua said worriedly. "C'mon, guys! You're actually scaring me!"

"Y-y-y-you..." Stereo began, raising a hoof. "You... jug... how?"

"Wha?" Aqua said confusedly, before putting two and two together. He glanced at the jug, finally noticing it suspended in a blue-green glow near his face.

"WHAT? How the... Am I?"

Twilight shook herself out of her shock, putting a grin on her face and walking towards the foal.

"Congratulations!" She said. "You did it! You levitated the jug!"

"Really?" Aqua asked in unwarranted disbelief.

"Well, it's floating next to your face, so probably." Twilight said.

"But..." he began. "But how!?"

"You tell us," Stereo said. You're the one doing it."

"I agree," Twilight added. "There's almost no way to figure out why you suddenly began using magic after almost two hours of unsuccessful intensive concentration."

"I... I just can, I guess..." Aqua said thoughtfully, before nodding. "Yeah, that's just it! I just can!"

"Now try it with the paper cup," Stereo said. "You know... just to make sure it's not cursed or something."

"An anti-levitation curse performed on an ordinary paper cup is unlikely," Twilight said. "But still, why not?"

After a few seconds of concentration, the cup was lifted by that same blue-green glow as was the jug previously.

"That's funny," Aqua said thoughtfully. "It weighs about the same as the jug did!"

"Required energy output doesn't change with such small differences in mass," Twilight said. "You would notice the difference when trying to lift, say, a cart after lifting a cup, but not a jug."

"Oh..." Aqua said. "Can I get some water? I'm still kinda thirsty from before."

"Oh, here!" Stereo said, levitating the jug over and pouring some water into the waiting cup. As soon as he did, the cup flew up to the ceiling at an incredible speed, before being crushed against the solid surface. All of the water fell down, and was somehow all caught by aqua and compressed into a ball.

Two sets of eyes landed on Aqua.

"Um... beginners luck?"

"...And then Aqua caught it all! Isn't that amazing!?"

Rainbow Dash listened to the end of Stereo's epic retelling, and, once confirming that it in fact had ended, responded simply by saying, "yeah, that sounds awesome!"

Aqua grinned at the exchange, knowing that Rainbows enthusiasm was, of course, at least somewhat forced. Don't get me wrong, Rainbow was happy for the kid; but a dramatic retelling on her off day when all she wanted to do was sun-bake on the shore of the reservoir was just bad timing. Maybe the day before, or that night... oh well.

Aqua dived back beneath the surface. Water, he had discovered was just so much easier to manipulate than solids. And solids were easy; water was just extra-easy.

"Hey Stereo!" He shouted once he had resurfaced.

"What?"

"I re-challenge you to that water fight!

"You're on!" Stereo replied. "How about you, Rainbow Dash?"

"What was that?"

"A water fight, me, versus you, versus Aqua, versus you."

"I dunno..." Rainbow said. "It is my off-day."

"Or maybe you can't take us!" Stereo taunted.

Rainbow removed her black shades. "I can take you both, with one hoof tied behind my back!"

Stereo gave a little laugh. "You are SO on!"

And then the battle began, colts versus mare. Rainbow used her wings to propel water towards the two boys. They got wet, but definitely weren't ready to forfeit. They levitated small globes of water. Stereo launched them at Rainbow with not-so-deadly, but nonetheless impressive accuracy. Aqua hadn't quite gotten the hang of levitation, and sort of dropped the balls on her head. She retaliated by launching herself into the air, grabbing a nearby cloud, positioning it above them and stomping on it as hard as she could. As it began to rain, Aqua brushed it off by tilting his head upwards and drinking it, while Stereo just smirked.

"Really, Dash?" He said tauntingly. "It's gonna take more than just..." A crash of thunder was heard, before the rain sped up. Stereo's horn lit up, and all of the rain began to slide around them instead of on them. Aqua looked mildly disappointed.

"As I was saying," he continued. "It's gonna take a lot more than some rain."

"And what are you gonna do to make me quit?" Rainbow said. "You can't make it rain!" She flew back down into the water, ready to fight some more.

Stereo winked at Aqua. "Oh, yes we can make it rain!"

Two separate balls of water floated out of the water, one about ten feet in diameter, held by Stereo, and one about twenty feet, held by Aqua. Aqua took both balls forcibly, and Stereo looked on in as much surprise as did Rainbow while Aqua effortlessly floated the ball of water of Rainbows head and released it. Rainbow just looked forward with a grim expression as the water washed over her.

"Okay," she said afterwards. "You win."

"That was amazing, Aqua!" Stereo cried. "Let's go get dried off and go to sugar cube corner."

"Sorry, kid," Rainbow said. "But we've got plans. We need to get you some equipment for school tomorrow."

"I have school tomorrow and you tell me now?"

"Yeah," she replied, giving a stretch to express her nonchalance. Basically, she was telling him to deal with it, and to get used to it.

"It's gonna take a few hours since we need to get everything, so I wouldn't make any plans."

"Ughh..."

"And you left the book shopping until the last day?"

Twilight gave a long-suffering sigh, giving a similarly described look to Rainbow Dash.

"Fine," She said. "I'll collect your books. You can all just look around the library."

Stereo looked at his friend. Thank goodness Rainbow had let him tag along; Being able to spend the last few hour with Aqua made them a little less dry. No pun intended.

"Hey, look at these!" Aqua cried, before running towards a nearly empty box. It contained several books, and was marked 'RETURNS - MEMBER NUMBER FOUR THREE - RARITY, MISS.'

"It's Miss Rarity's book returns!" Aqua said. "And they're all..."

"Written in Prench and Istallian!" Stereo finished.

"You can read this?" Aqua asked.

"Hey, I'm from Cloudsdale!" Stereo replied. "Not a single pony lives there that doesn't speak Istallian." Stereo levitated a particularly thick book, holding it at eye level.

"Cinquanta Tonalità di Grigio," he read. "You don't wanna know."

"Hey, do you two want some water?" Rainbow called out, making them both jump.

"Y-y-yes ma'am!" Aqua called out. A moment later, two cups of water were handed to them. Or rather, they levitated them out of Rainbow's hoof.

Aqua took a sip. "Hmm..." He said. "It's a little warm."

"Yeah, I agree." Stereo said. "Rainbow, where did you even get this from."

"Just the... Aqua, what's happening!?"

Stereo looked at Aqua, then at the cup.

"Uh... Twilight!" He called out in a slightly panicked tone. The water in Aqua's cup had dropped slightly, and a few ice cubes had formed.

"What is it?" Twilight said, carrying a stack of books with her.

"Aqua complained about the water being warm," Stereo said. "And then ice started forming in the cup."

"That level of magic is a bit advanced for somepony of your magical experience..." Twilight said. "And that's the last piece of evidence I need. You have an average level of magic, but with intermittent 'bursts' of extra power and, somehow, spell intricacy. The common factor has been the chemical compound hydrogen dioxide, commonly known as H2O; or water in either a liquid, solid or gaseous form."

"So..." Aqua began, choosing his words carefully. "I could swim strokes before I could walk, and hold my breath for five minutes, but only under water. I can swim faster than any foal my age, and get a magic boost when I use it on an object with water. I can also make it into ice."

"You could say that you were made to play with water," Rainbow teased.

"Or that it's your special talent," Twilight suggested."

"Hey, I never thought about that!" Aqua said excitedly. "I bet it really is water!"

"I'm actually certain," Twilight said, extending a hoof to Aqua. "Congratulations, Aqua!" She wore a huge smile. "You just got your cutie mark!"

"Really!" Aqua said, jumping up and down. He looked around to his flank, seeing a single blue ice-crystal, similar in appearance to Princess Cadence's cutie mark; but shaped like a rain drop instead of a heart, and lacking trim.

"I have to go and organize your cutecinëra with Pinkie Pie," Twilight began, before being interrupted by her own screams as Pinkie Pie jumped out of Rarity's return box.

"Did somepony say CUTECINËRA!?"

"Pinkie, I did," Twilight said with practiced calm. Lots of practice. "Aqua got his cutie mark in the ability to temporarily reside in an environment comprised of hydrogen dioxide in liquid form, while willfully being able to manipulate it between..."

"You can breathe underwater!?" Pinkie cried, facing Aqua.

"I... uh... maybe?" He said. "I haven't tried, but I can stay there for a really long time."

"And you can turn it into ice and steam!" She cried. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WISH I COULD DO THAT!" She continued excitedly."

"Um... three seconds?" Aqua guessed.

"Ooo, and you're smart too!" Pinkie said. "Anyway, c'mon Twilight! We have a party to plan!"

Against her will, Twilight was dragged behind Pinkie and into a nearby ink well.

Rainbow blinked a few times in confusion.

"What the hay just happened?"

What to get, what to get? Stereo thought to himself. He looked around the busy market, straining his still very limited knowledge of the town to try and think of a place to buy for his friend an appropriate gift.

Maybe I should explore the north side of town, he thought. Ugh, but the cutecinēra's tonight!

"Hey, are you okay?"

Stereo shook himself out of his reverie, and noticed a white pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane.

"Oh, sorry sir," Stereo said. "I was just trying to figure out what to get me friend for his cutecinēra."

"Oh, well congratulations to him!" The stallion said cheerfully. "What did he get?" Stereo noticed that his accent seemed slightly different than the average Ponyvillian. But, that wasn't a problem.

"He can manipulate water, basically."

"Oh," the Stallion said. "Well, I honestly have no idea what you could get for him... sorry I couldn't be much help."

"That's okay, Mr..."

"Just call me Snow," he said.

"Well, thank's anyway, Mr. Snow," Stereo said, before both of them turned and parted ways. He got about four feet, before he got called out to again.

"Yes, Mr. Snow?" He acknowledged.

"I'm new here," Snow began. "Can you direct me to a bakery, or a patisserie?"

"Sure!" Stereo said. "Follow me!"

"Thank you so much," Snow said. "My wife and kid are at home unpacking, and I thought I would surprise them with some food."

"Were did you come from?" Stereo asked.

Snow hesitated for a moment. "Caneighda."

"Really?" Stereo said. "I've never been. What's it like?"

"Uh... cold." Snow said. "But beautiful. My son was pretty upset to leave, especially now that everypony's making fun of him for being Caneighdian."

"That's not nice," Stereo said in a voice that showed that he was very disappointed with Equestrian ponies. "Caneighda sounds like a great place!"

"Yeah, but the colts and fillies think that Caneighdians are... well, Caneighdian." Snow said. "It happens for no reason, and it'll pass for him eventually."

"How old is he?" Stereo asked.

"Twelve."

"Oh, so just like me!" Stereo said. "Is he going to school tomorrow?"

"Sure is," Snow said. "I you see him, though, don't talk about Caneighda. He gets hostile after all he's been through."

"Don't worry, Mr. Snow!" Stereo said, before pointing to sugar cube corner. "That's the bakery. Talking about Caneighda gave me an idea for Aqua's gift, so I need to go. See you at the party!"

"What party?"

"Pinkie Pie works at the bakery," Stereo explained. "Your family's new to town, and she throws a party for every new pony that comes here."

Pinkie Pie then proceeded to suddenly emerge, head only, from a crack in the bakery's threshold.

"Did somepony say PARTY!?"

Two: Emerald

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The gold-plated chariot soared through the air, its destination obvious - Canterlot. Being only just out of the city made that so. As it descended and came to a stop at one of the royal landing platforms, the violet-colored mare Twilight Sparkled emerged. Awaiting her was none other than the princess of the night herself.

"With all due respect," Twilight began, "I hope you have a really good explination for why you did this."

"We have done many things," Luna said, most definately not oblivious to the small amount of anger she stirred in the mare beside her with that comment. "All of which we shall explain to thee." Twilight calmed herself. A reasonable explination was to be given. Finally.

"Well, first of all, I'm curious to know..."

"Child, thy cannot expect us to disclose matters of royal security in broad night-light!" Luna said, cutting off Twilight. "We shall adjourn to our quarters, were we shall explain everything to thee. Until the, we are to 'act natural.'"

Twilight stifled a giggle, amused at the night princess' attempts at modern speech. "Act natural?"

"Yes, act natural. So we do not... arouse suspicion."

"Okay then..." Twilight began. "How is your integration into Equestrian society coming along?"

"Oh, we find it difficult at times," Luna sighed. "But, lonely existance as ours is, we enjoy our task of painting the sky; a task we could continue doing for the rest of eternity."

The two mares approached a tower, the doors of which were telekinetically opened by Luna.

"And your other royal duties?" Twilight asked, as they began to climb a spiral staircase.

"We cannot divulge our royal duties at this time," Luna said quickly.

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "I'm fully qualified and trusted by Princess Celestia to know about all royal happenings. I even got to sit on her throne once when I was little!"

"We cannot tell thee because... because... because we have arrived at our quarters!"

"What?" Twilight said. "There must be another four hundred st... WOAH!"

In a flash of light, both mares were standing in front of a wooden door, plain and bare, despite being the entrance to a princesses bedroom.

"See, we told thee that we had arrived," Luna said.

Teleporting two ponies, just so she didn't have to tell me about her royal duties, Twilight thought. She's hiding something...

"Twilight Sparkle, I would like to begin by explaining my actions as a whole," Luna said.

"Go on..."

"Everything that we have done, from the moment we detected the distressed Stereoheart and Frisky, has been part of our carefully orchestrated plan," Luna began. "It is a delicate balance, and I must refrain from telling you too much."

"But why?"

"Because the slightest disturbance to our plan could end in tragedy."

"Your plan could be the tragedy!" Twilight yelled. "That foal could have died, because you made that spell for Stereo to use! I was a fool for trusting you, and giving it straight to him!"

"And if thou didn't," Luna said calmly, "thou would have read the scroll, given it to Stereoheart, then sat down with a cup of tea, and thought about it. Then you would realise the danger, attempt to interrupt them, and then been the cause of death."

Twilight sat back on her haunches, with a confused look on her face. "But... but how?"

"The spell was detailed and precise enough that there was no chance of him killing his friend, unless his concentration was broken. Let this be a lesson to you, Twilight Sparkle; always follow the directions of those who know best, even the unimportant seeming details."

"Thank you, I'll take this lesson to heart," Twilight said truthfully, "but why don"t you just tell him the way to solve everything, before he gets turned into an earth pony?"

"He must, and will, solve the problem by himself," Luna said. "His problems will be solved either way, but he'll make friends and change lives by doing it the hard way. Think about it, if he did it the easy way and let me solve his problems, he never would have been in in that park with you, and never would have met his best friend."

"I - I think I see now!" Twilight said. "I understand, Princess. Thankyou."

"What for, Twilight Sparkle?"

"For knowing best."

Stereo stood nervously at the entrance to Ponyville's sole school.

"C'mon, Stereo!" Aqua called from inside the gate. "We're gonna be late!"

"But what about Spoon and Tiara?" Stereo said nervously.

"Don't let them scare you," Aqua replied comfortingly. "They're just two bullies, and you can count on the Crusaders to back you up. That's five against two!"

"I'm not scared of them!" Stereo said quickly. "I just don't wanna lose control again!"

"Okay, but you still have me to calm you down," Aqua said. "And who knows, maybe you scared them off last time?"

"And maybe you two should get to class before Miss Cherillee finds you two time wasting!"

The two colts turned their heads to greet the sound of the voice.

"Oh, hi Sweetie!" Stereo said cheerfully. "Where's Scootalloo and Apple Bloom?"

Sweetie started walking towards the school, talking as if she expected the other two to follow. They did.

"They walk from the other side of town," Sweetie explained, before opening the door and walking inside. The small classroom had a handful of colts and fillies, all his age. A bright pink mare stood at the front of the room, preparing the day's lesson on the board.

Great, he thought. I should be able to do this without being noti...

"Miss Cherillee, look!!"

Well, screw that idea he thought, before sarcastically adding to himself, Princess Tiara and her loyal Silversmith had to be in this class, didn't they?

All heads in the room turned towards him. His cheeks burned red, and his eyes pink.

"Ah, you're the new student!" Cherillee said. As she did, the class began to gradually loose interest in him. "I'm Miss Cherillee, your teacher for the next few years here in Ponyville."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Cherillee," Stereo said.

"I just need to verify a few things," Cherillee said. "First of all, are you the brother of the unicorn 'Frisky' who is newly enrolled here?"

"Yes ma'am."

And who is currently your legal guardian?"

"Rainbow Dash, ma'am."

Silence. As Cherillee wrote with her mouth, she failed to notice all of the stares given to Stereo by the other foals in the class. Stereo could have braced himself for what came next, had he known that this classroom held the majority of the 'Rainbow Dash Fan Club' members within its walls.

"You're Rainbow Dash's son!?"

"What's it like living with her?"

"Can I come over today?"

"What does she smell like?"

"Does she take you flying?"

Cherillee looked up at her disorganized class. Only a few of her students remained at their seats: Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, another new colt, Aqua, Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. She understood the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the latter four, Sweetie and the other new colt could get shy, but Scootaloo... In theory, she should be the loudest of all! Cherillee thought. She is after all the founder and president of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club...

Cherillee snapped out of her reverie, attending her class once more.

"Children!" she cried. "I will not have you treating your new classmate like this! You all have detention at recess!"

A collective groan was raised out of the class, who solemnly returned to their seats.

"Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom, Aqua Flow, Lightning, Sweetie Belle, and... Scootaloo, you all get gold star points for holding back and not joining the crowd," she said, before turning to Stereo and smiling. "You can choose any seat in my class," Cherillee said.

Stereo didn't need long to think. "The seat in between Aqua and Sweetie Belle, please."

"Such nice manners, Stereo!" she said, before leading him to his seat and returning to the blackboard.

This doesn't seem so bad! Stereo thought. Why was I dreading this so much?

"Now today, class, I'll be teaching you how to factorize quadratic trinomials."

Then he remembered why.

It was lunch time. Stereo remembered what Mr. Snow had said the day before about his son being lonely. He wasn't that hard to find, sitting alone under a tree. It made him wonder if everypony really had been that mean... even the crusaders.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to the colt. He was similar to Stereo in some ways; white coat, and a green on black mane that was a bit wilder than Stereo's. His eyes were a dark but bold emerald green. He had no cutie mark. Also, he just looked sad, his body hunched over and his eyes dulled.

"What do you want?" The colt said coldly.

Stereo already knew that he was taking a gamble sitting here. "I... you just looked real lonely is all."

"Oh yeah?" the colt replied. "Do you know why that is?"

Stereo feigned ignorance, remembering what Mr. Snow said about mentioning Caneighda. "Why?"

"It's because of where I'm from."

"That's just stupid," Stereo said seriously. "You're still a pony, and still need friends." Stereo then took a gamble, trying to get the colt to open up more. "Where are you from?"

The colt paused for a moment. "I guess I have nothing to loose," he said. I'm from Torontoat... Caneighda."

Stereo tried to play it cool, and acted like he didn't already know. "Caneighda, eh?"

The colt's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth. "Are you making fun of me?" he growled, making himself as big as possible.

"Wha... I don't know what you mean!"

"'Caneighda, eh,'" the colt said, mimicking Stereo. He then grabbed Stereo by the shoulders in a threatening manner. "Don't play stupid!" he yelled. "I know you were making fun of me!"

"I still don't get it!" Stereo cried, with a bit of fear in his voice. "I'm sorry, what did I do?"

"Ugh!" the colt grunted angrily, pushing Stereo against a wall. "I'm tired of ponies like you ruining my life!" He cried. "Are you gonna beat me up too? Maybe spread a few stories, or..."

Stereo zoned out, seeing only the anger in his classmate's eyes. Still not understanding what he had done wrong, a thought ran through his mind: Is he going to hurt me?

The colt's intentions were clear - he had snapped, and was fighting back. A few tears sprang from Stereo's eyes as he saw the enraged look on the colts face, who pulled back an arm as if ready to punch him. He wondered what had happened to his fire, his ability to strike down anypony in a blind rage that dared to cross him or his brother. He just couldn't get the will to defend himself, not against this kid.

The colt sweat a puddle, before his expression softened to one of realization, then regret as Stereo began balling freely.

"Oh my go... you were telling the truth?" The colt cried. "I'm... I... I'm sorry, but I was really scared that you were gonna hurt me first..." He dropped Stereo, before falling onto his own haunches. The anger in his eyes were instantly turned back into sadness.

The danger over, Stereo stopped up the waterworks. Unaware of why he had such a drastic reaction, he simply replied by saying: "that's okay... somepony told me how Caneighdians are treated around these parts. Mind explaining what I did wrong, though?"

"Some ponies in Caneighda make it a habit to put 'eh' at the end of, like, every sentence." The colt replied dismissively. "Then there are some like me, who rarely do, and some that never do. I thought you were taking a stab at me when you used it."

"Oh..." Stereo said in comprehension. "Makes sense. But why did you get angry so quickly?"

"Hey, that's none of your business!" He said angrily, before calming quickly. "I'm sorry, but you said it yourself - I'm treated badly around here."

The way he snapped at me... something's going on here, Stereo thought. And he looks so sad...

"Anyway, my name's Stereo," he said, putting on his best friendly smile and extending his hoof.

"Lighting," the colt said softly. "Just Lighting."

"Okay, Lighting," Stereo said, "When did you move here?"

"Day before yesterday," Lighting said nonchalantly. "From Caneighda, to Manehatten for a few months, back to Torontoat, and now here."

"Wow..." Stereo said. "You're lucky to get to do so much traveling."

"You think I'm lucky!?" Lighting shouted, causing Stereo to cringe. "UGH! WHY CAN'T I CONTROL IT!?"

"C-c-control what?" Stereo shakily asked.

"N-n-n-nothing!" Lighting said in a panicked tone, backing away from Stereo. "It... It's none of your business, anyway!"

"But.. but maybe I can help!" Stereo replied. "I got here not even a week ago, and I went through tartarus beforehoof!"

"You can't fight it! I can't fight it!" Lighting cried.

"But maybe somepony can!" Stereo replied. "Just tell me!"

Lightning began to cry. "NO!"

Stereo was struck on the side of his face, before Cherillee walked over. How she noticed the fight only now would remain forever a mystery, considering that they had made a lot of noise.

"Lighting, breathe!" She said firmly.

"Bu-"

"Breathe, think, then talk," Cherillee interupted.

Lightning complied, before nodding.

"Okay, now tell me what happened."

Lightning took a deep breath. "Stereo here was just telling me about how lucky I was to travel."

"And then, I presume 'it' happened?" Cherillee asked.

"Yeah, I feel pretty unlucky with all of you Equestrians here messing with me!" Lightning growled.

"Keep breathing, Lightning," Cherillee said sternly. "Don't let it happen again so soon."

"...Fine," Lightning said, "but let me finish! I started screaming about how I couldn't control it, and he asked what 'it' is, and then 'it' happened."

"So I presume 'it' is you getting angry?" Stereo asked, before immediately regretting his decision. This kid is emotionally unstable, Stereo thought. I don't wanna make him crack now!

"Yeah, no kidding," Lightning growled. "And thanks to you," he continued, now addressing his teacher, "the whole of Ponyville is gonna know by tomorrow!"

"I won't tell, I promise!" Stereo cried.

"Oh yeah?" Lightning said. "Tell me something to balance it out, something that I can tell everypony if you tell them my secret."

Think of something, Stereo! He thought. Something that I've done that I don't care about...

"C'mon, spill the beans!" Lighting said. Funnily enough, Cherillee seemed completely okay with the arrangement.

"Fine," Stereo finally said. "When somepony crosses my brother the wrong way, I lose control and teach them a lesson. Luckily, I've never really hurt anypony."

"Okay then, we both know each others secrets," Lightning said. "Remember, I'll tell everypony about you if you breathe a word... then I'll come and meet you personally. Capiche?"

"Yeah, fine," Stereo said. "I understand."

"Good, now that you're both friends, my work is done!" Cherillee said as she walked off. Both of the colts just laughed hysterically.

"Lazy, much?" Lighting said.

"Yeah, she looks like she couldn't care less," Stereo said in concurrence. "Or maybe she has more important stuff to worry about."

"Yeah, she totally has more to worry about than two students out to kill each other," Lightning said. "Sounds silly now, eh?"

"At any rate, how about we give it a chance?" Stereo asked. "After all, It's why I came to see you in the first place."

Lightning thought for a while. "Sure, I got nothing to loose," he said. "And you seem pretty cool, anyway. But I wasn't kidding when I said that I'd spread your secret - I don't trust you and won't forgive you just yet."

"Fair enough," Stereo said. "I have to earn it; makes sense." He gave a sigh of relief. Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, Aqua... their trust was too easy, Stereo thought. This will be fun.

"So, who is he?"

His friend's question surprised Stereo as they walked home from school in the warm sun. Summer was approaching, his least favorite season.

"Who's who?" Stereo asked innocently.

"You know," Aqua said, "the kid that took you for all of recess."

"Oh, his name's Lightning," Stereo replied. "He just moved here from Caneighda"

"Ooo..." Aqua said. "Ouch."

"What?"

"Him being from Caneighda," Aqua explained. "He must get loads of trouble from Tiara and Spoon... and just about every other pony in Ponyville."

"Why is everypony in this town so racist!?" Stereo cried.

"Ponies are like that everywhere," Aqua said, sighing as he continued to explain rudimentary world knowledge to his friend. "Some aren't, but loads are. I might have been, but I'm too shy to try... that, and my Mum told me never to be mean to ponies."

"Anyway, I wouldn't recommend trying to befriend him alone, Stereo said cautiously. "He's... a bit of a hooffull."

"Oh, okay," Aqua said. "I've gotta go another way, so I'll see you tommorrow."

"Okay, bye!"

As Stereo crossed a bridge over the Ponyville River, he began to think about Lightning. What if he tells? he thought. That wouldn't be too bad. So what, I love my brother...

It was then another thought struck him: When did I last spend time with Frisky?

Stereo knew that he loved his brother, and realized just how much he missed him. They had been inseparable... yet had been separated since coming to Ponyville.

That's it! Stereo resolved. Tonight, we are gonna hang out, and we are gonna like it!

"You can't hang out tonight."

"What?" Stereo asked his guardian. "Why not, Rainbow Dash? We'll just go talk in my room, but I really need some time alone with Frisky tonight!"

"I'm leaving for a few days," Rainbow said. "Luna wants me in Canterlot to finalize those adoption papers. Applejack and Rarity are coming with me as witnesses, and Fluttershy is looking after the Crusaders."

"Oh..." Stereo said. "What about me?"

"Since Twilight is busy... studying," Rainbow said with a shudder, "You're gonna have to stay with Lyra to tonight."

"So I get to stay at Aqua's?"

"Yeah, but on one condition," Rainbow replied. "Do not tell anypony else where I am. The crusaders think that Rarity's making a huge dress order because everypony's afraid that Scootaloo'l get jealous of you suddenly showing up and getting all of my attention."

"Really?"

"Yeah, It's that bad," Rainbow said. "So we decided to try and sort everything out and break it to her while finding myself time to spend with all three of you."

"Okay, got it," Stereo said. "Do you have the time to fly me to Aqua's house?"

"Sure, but one more thing," Rainbow said. "Twilight said to go straight to her if you run into trouble... whatever that means."

"Got it," Stereo replied. "Let's go!"

"Hop on and hold on tight!" Rainbow said.

Stereo complied, hanging on for dear life as Rainbow soared out of the window. Flying always felt so natural to him, from when he had to ride around to some places on his fathers... no, on Autumn Breeze's back. The wind whipping past him, the dizzying height and the gut-wrenching speed would make the average unicorn more than a little queazy, and while Stereo was no adrenaline junkie, he loved it. Rainbow was on autopilot, knowing their destination. This gave Stereo the chance to fully relax and enjoy himself, as well as giving him some time to reflect on the past weeks. Stereo knew that a few days apart from his brother hardly warranted a broken relationship, but the though of another day without him pulled at his heartstrings, pulling them out and tearing them to pieces. As he thought about this, Rainbow touched down in front of Aqua's house. After knocking, he was granted access and led by Lyra to Aqua's room.

"Stereo?" Aqua said. "What're you doing here?"

"I have to stay for a few days," Stereo replied. "Rainbow needs to finalize my adoption in Canterlot."

"Why doesn't she just do it at the town hall?" Aqua asked.

"I dunno," Stereo said truthfully. "All I know is that Luna called them herself."

"Princess Luna!?" Aqua cried.

"Actually, she prefers just Luna."

"You must be pretty important," Aqua said.

"Well, my parents are in maximum-security prison several floors below the surface," Stereo explained. "That, and the fact that she seems to be really interested in fixing my life back up again."

"Wait," Aqua said. "You met her?"

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine," Stereo said. "So she says. "I haven't heard much from her since arriving to Ponyville."

"Boys, Dinner!" Lyra called from the stair base.

"Coming, Mrs Heartstrings," Stereo cried, before they made their way to the dining room.

Lyra had made mac and cheese - so simple, yet perfect; because what twelve year old boy didn't love mac and cheese.

"Mrs Heartstrings, this is great!" Stereo praised. "I've never had this before."

"Never?" Aqua and Lyra said in unison. "How come?" Aqua continued. "Every colt has mac and cheese, what happened that you couldn't?"

"Well, did I ever tell you about my parents?" Stereo said.

"No," Aqua replied. "I did wonder, though.

"Well, they were kinda mean. Actually, they broke my leg a few weeks back," Stereo began, noticing Lyra's gasp and Aqua's wince. "Frisk' and I had to work for them - cook, clean, everything! Turns out they kidnapped us. We still don't know who our parents are."

"Oh..." Aqua said. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's not your fault," Stereo reassured him. "And you never asked. Besides, I've thought about it and can live with it."

"It's pretty horrible," Lyra said. "If Rainbow didn't beat me and have her... reasons for protecting you, I would've adopted you myself."

Stereo raised an eyebrow. Does she know about Rainbows childhood? he thought, before talking. "Thanks, that's kinda reassuring, knowing that lots of ponies want to adopt me." He wasn't quite certain weather he was being sarcastic or not

"And what's with the necklace?" Aqua asked, before adding, "that is, if there's no sad story for you to remember."

"It's a mystery," Stereo said. "It just can't come off, not with magic or force!"

"Yeah, Twilight told me about that," Lyra said. "It's so strange, the way she described it, it sounded like it was as much a part of your body as a tail or horn."

"What did you just say?" Stereo said curiously.

"I said it's like a tail or a horn on you, a part of your body," Lyra said.

"A tail or a horn!" Stereo cried. "That's it! I've got it, Mrs Heartstrings!"

"Got what?" she asked. "I don't understand."

"No time to explain!" Stereo said. "We need to get to Twilight's house!"

Stereo's little horn glowed, and after a few seconds of intense concentration, he tried to initiate a teleportation. Then everything went black.

Three: Amethyst

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Authors note: As I mentioned in my blog post, I have taken so long because I wasn't happy with this chapter and kept re-writing it. Since no one responded my offer plea for a proofreader, I posted this chapter anyway. I will still accept almost anyone that applies through my blog post, though.

-/\-\/-/\-

Beep

Darkness

Beep

"Can you hear me, Stereo?"

"Luna?"

Beep

"Stereo, please, say something! We don't have much time!"

"I can hear you! What's going on?"

"C'mon, Stereo! You can do it!"

Beep

"Help me! What's happening, why can't you hear me?"

Blinding Light

-/\-\/-/\-

"...levels are still unstable, I don't know how long he'll last."

Light

"But why? Can't you fix it?"

Soft

"Not by myself, I need..."

Purple

"But none of us even have..."

loud

"I do! You're just too..."

-/\-\/-/\-

There was too much - light, color, texture, consistency, sound, smell. Coherent thought wasn't an option at the time; too much energy was being wasted on sensory input and keeping his eyes open.

"...One in eight million!"

Too much sound... the constant interchange of violently urgent voices swirled above like a hurricane.

A purple or white, or maybe green blob materialized ahead.

"Ahh!" was the first noise that came out of his throat, completely involuntary and in response to a sharp pain radiating from his shoulders.

Pain

"...careful, but kee..."

Coherent thought still escaped him, his mind a mess of sounds, colors and feelings.

Tingling

"NO!" Sweetie Belle?

Bright

White

Warm

Contraction

-/\-\/-/\-

Eyes quickly reduced to pinpricks, Stereo sat bolt upright.

"Ahh!"

The mess of lights, colors, sounds and feelings were sorted and processed quickly, making way for logic, speech and thought.

Noticing Sweetie Belle, he quickly thought to yell, "SWEETIE'S MANE IS PINK" like it was a life-changing discovery.

A chuckle was heard from behind. "At least it's more original than 'where am I,'" a familiar voice said. Whose voice was that... he knew it well...

"YOU'RE TWILIGHT!" He screamed, relieved to find the answer that he was after.

"Darling, are you quite alright?" another concern-laden voice from a pony out of view said.

"Don't talk, Rarity!" Twilight hissed, although Stereo wasn't aware of who it was. "You'll confuse him!"

Damn right he was confused. Colors, sounds and pictures were still flooding his brain. It was unable to keep up. Then everything went black again, but this time it was different somehow. Then his sense of hearing left, enabling to slowly become numb to the world around him. Before long, his hearing returned.

“…Think It’ll work?” Stereo’s ears twitched at the sound of a familiar voice. An image of the white mare with the expertly curled mane appeared in his head, but with no name to go with it.

“It should do, reducing the sensory input should enable him to catch up. I only hope it happens quickly.” Another pony he knew. This time, the name ‘Twilight Sparkle’ came to mind; no image was there.

“Let’s try the eyes, now,” Twilight said. Stereo’s vision slowly returned to him. The blurry equine shapes above him looked familiar – purple, white, mint, another white, and blue. They began to clear into ponies he could identify by name.

“Try talking,” Twilight commanded. “Use small words.”

The haze clearing fast from his mind, Stereo understood. “You are… Twilight Sparkle,” he said. “I am Stereoheart. I am here because… because… neck… necklace!”

“I need to get rid of necklace!” Stereo continued triumphantly, before naming all of his friends present. “You are Rarity… and Lyra, Sweetie Belle, and Aqua!”

“Oh no, he’s delirious!” Rarity cried. “He’ll never understand what to do!”

Ignoring her friend, Twilight pressed further into Stereo with questions. “You know how to get rid of the necklace. Can you do it?”

Stereo cocked his head to the side, giving a confused look.

Facehoofing, Twilight simplified her speech. “Take. It. Off.”

Nodding in comprehension, Stereo began to concentrate. A glow began to form in the Amethyst quaver of his necklace.

“How does he use magic in this state?” Rarity asked with both curiosity and amazement.

“Magic requires concentration, not necessarily coherent thought,” Twilight explained. “He knows what he needs to do, and he’s doing it without really thinking.”

“I didn’t know we worked like that,” Rarity said.

“It’s like reaching out for an object with your hoof,” Twilight clarified. “You don’t need too much thinking to achieve that.”

“I guess that makes… wha?”

Seeing Rarity’s gaze drift towards Stereo, Twilight looked at him also. She had a similar reaction to Rarity, giving a gasp as she saw the brilliance that was Amethyst. "Oh Celestia..."

The brilliantly shining purple stone was slowly dissolving, as was the necklace itself. The disintegrating gem's lavender-colored particles flowed into his cutie mark, making it glow. The necklace did the same, its golden particles streaming into his horn like a river of honey. As the procedure finished, Stereo shuddered briefly, before sitting bolt-upright and screaming.

Pouring with sweat, Stereo breathed heavily. "That..." he began, "that was intense!"

"What happened?" Sweetie asked worriedly.

"How did you do it?" Twilight said at the same time.

"Why can you talk?" Rarity added.

"How about you explain your side," Stereo asked as he shivered on the spot, as if being attacked by a blizzard.

"We already know what happened last night," Twilight said. "You tried to teleport and passed out, so Lyra brought you here."

"Twilight wasn't here when I arrived, but Spike let us stay for the night," Lyra said, continuing the story. "She didn't show up until about seven thirty this morning."

"The poor dear had an encounter with a Cockatrice in the Everfree Forest!" Rarity explained, taking over from Lyra. "Fluttershy rescued her, and they were together when I picked up Sweetie Belle and Opalescence. Twilight invited me over for some tea. After a stressful trip home from Canterlot, how could I decline?"

"Wait, Canterlot?" Sweetie asked. "I thought you were..."

"Not now, Sweetie," Rarity said desperately. You will not mention this to anypony until we talk of it later, understood?"

Nodding, Sweetie began to talk. It seemed that she had let her sister's instructions roll in one ear and out the other. "Anyway," she began," Twilight hooked you up to that magic monit... moni... moniter, and said that it was really low. So I... I kinda... helped to fix you a bit."

"Don't be humble, Sweetie," Twilight encouraged. "Stereo would be an earth pony by now if not for you."

"Can you explain it to her?" Sweetie pleaded with Twilight. I don't get all of it anyway."

"Nodding, Twilight continued the story. "You were getting dangerously low on magic," she said. "You were minutes away from turning into an earth pony. I was the only compatible magic donor, as indicated by our similar magic colors. The only problem was that I was low on magic from the Cockatrice incident."

"So how did you charge me back up?" Stereo asked as he continued to shake.

"That's were Sweetie comes in," Twilight explained. "Her magic is white; universally compatible over all magic types, whether you have it blue, red, yellow, green or purple."

"Your horn was cracking, and your cutie mark was starting to disappear," Aqua said, "so she held you still to try and put magic in your horn. She did after a while, then Twilight did the thing where she turns your senses off to let your brain catch up. That took about three or four hours."

"The rest is history," Lyra concluded.

"But I heard Sweetie scream," Stereo said. "At least, I think it was her. She yelled 'no.'"

"I wondered about the exact same thing," Rarity said. "You were concentrating so hard. Why did you scream?"

"It... it's silly," Sweetie said. "Besides, that's not important!"

"Your right," Lyra said. "You saved him. That's all that matters right now."

The adults all nodded in agreement, before Twilight started explaining exactly how come Stereo almost turned into and earth pony. Losing interest at what was for him old news, he turned to face Sweetie Belle. She wasn't there, but instead was browsing a nearby shelf. Walking closer to her, the lack of weight around his neck was immediately noticeable. Missing was the physical labor of carrying it everywhere, as was the tangible draining force that Stereo hadn't even noticed until it was gone. It was liberating - and terrifying, disconcerting.

"Are you okay?"

Stereo snapped his head in Sweetie's direction. Blushing, he began to speak.

"Oh, y-yeah," he stuttered. "I just felt weird without the necklace."

"Twilight said that it was magical," Sweetie said curiously. "What did it feel like?"

Stereo scratched his head. "Uh... It was heavy?" he said, not quite knowing what to tell her. "And... I guess it... I don't know how to explain it, but it kinda made me... tired."

"What? But you were always doing things!" Sweetie countered. "You never looked tired."

"I didn't notice until it was gone," Stereo explained, "but know I feel so... pumped! I feel like swimming, and running, and climbing, and visiting Pinkie Pie!"

Sweetie gasped. "You must feel really energetic if you wanna hang out with Pinkie!"

"Yeah," Stereo said, before remembering something else that he had wanted to ask. "Sweetie, what were you screaming about before?"

"I told you, it doesn't matter..."

"Sweetie, it matters to me," Stereo said. "I really, really want to know!"

"Well," Sweetie began nervously, "it's just that... I knew that if you lost your magic, you couldn't play the piano. Your special talent would be useless. Then your cutie mark started to disappear, and I knew I had to save you."

"So, in a way," Stereo said, "you didn't save my life, but you saved my life."

"What do you mean?" Sweetie asked confusedly.

"You didn't stop me from dying," Stereo explained, "but you saved what I loved, and now I can still live a full life!"

"I get it," Sweetie said. "I think. It's kinda like if Rainbow Dash lost her wings, right? Or if Rarity lost all of her sewing tools."

"Exactly."

Now out of things to say, Stereo recognized to onset of an awkward silence. Thinking quickly, he excused himself.

"Anyway, thanks," he said gratefully. "I'm gonna go see if they're done talking." Stereo turned around and began walking.

"Wait!"

Stopping in his tracks, Stereo turned his head. "Yeah?"

Sweetie scratched her neck nervously. "Um... I kinda wanted to know if you... you know... wanted to hang out tomorrow?" She winced, as if expecting the ceiling to suddenly collapse on top of her.

"Sure," Stereo said without hesitation. "I'll come at nine in the morning, okay?"

"Okay!" Sweetie said in agreement and excitement. "Rarity's going gem hunting with Spike at about nine fifteen, though, so we'll be alone."

"I'm fine with that," Stereo said. "What are we gonna do?"

Sweetie opened her mouth to talk, but instead screamed as Aqua came up from behind and said hello.

"Don't do that!" Sweetie cried. "You scared me!"

"Oh... sorry," Aqua said quietly. "I just came to ask if Stereo wanted to come out swimming."

"I'll go," Stereo said. "I need to get rid of all this energy! You can come too if you want, Sweetie."

"No thanks, I'm going crusading today. We're trying to be 'Cutie Mark Crusader Radiotherapists.'"

"Okay, well Twilight said that we should go now if you wanna burn enough energy to have any hope of sleeping tonight." Aqua said.

"Okay then," Stereo replied. "Let's go!"

-/\-\/-/\-

As Stereo walked along side his friend in the busy Saturday market, he caught sight of a familiar dark green and black mess... or maybe it was a mane.

"Look, Aqua!" Stereo said to his friend. "Lightning's over there looking real bored. Do you think we should ask him to come?"

Aqua shifted nervously, and Stereo noticed a sudden and dramatic drop in the unicorn's confidence. "A-are you sure that's a good idea?" Aqua asked nervously. "I mean, what if he's busy?"

"C'mon, Aqua!" Stereo said encouragingly. "He's got no friends in Ponyville."

"He's got anger management issues," Aqua deadpanned.

"And he means nothing by it most of the time!" Stereo said in retaliation. "He's even learning to control it, but he can't unless he has some friends!"

Aqua sighed. "But what if he tries to hurt us?" he said weakly, fully aware of how little weight his statement held.

"Two unicorns against a pegasus," Stereo said, rubbing his chin in mock-consideration. He smiled. "I like those odds!"

Aqua just sighed again. "Fine," he said in defeat."

"Oh no you don't," Stereo said. "Aqua, I'm just worried about him. If you really want to just walk past and enjoy the day by ourselves I'm okay with that too."

"No, you're probably right," Aqua said. "And I need to work on my confidence anyway."

"Since when do you have confidence issues?" Stereo asked.

"Since when have we ever approached other ponies and you found out?"

"But with Tiara and Spoon at school..."

"I know their type," Aqua said. "I can handle whatever they throw at me because they throw it at everyone."

"Oh..." Stereo said, before changing the subject. "We're almost there, I'll go and talk to him first. You stay back here."

"I like that plan," Aqua replied, mimicking Stereo's earlier comment.

Stereo rolled his eyes with a smirk as he approached his wild-maned acquaintance. Maybe after this, friend! He thought.

Lightning was sitting on a bench just by a café. Alone.

Stereo walked up to him, catching his attention before even speaking.

"Hey," Lightning said unenthusiastically, without looking up. "What's up?"

"Aqua and I are going for a swim," Stereo said cheerfully in hopes of brightening Lightning's mood. Gee, when did I become so much like Frisky... and Pinkie? The disturbing thought barreled through his head quickly enough for him to continue talking. "Wanna come?"

"I dunno," Lighting said disinterestedly. "Why do you want me to?"

"Because you're my friend, remember?" Stereo said quickly, as if planned. "And you looked sad, bored, and all alone."

At the words 'all alone,' Lightning's ears picked up. He stared angrily at Stereo. "Are you implying something?" He growled.

Stereo thought quickly. "I'm implying that everypony in this town is so rude and mean that they exclude you for no reason."

Lightning calmed quickly. "That was a clever answer," Lightning complimented him. "Thanks."

"For what?" Stereo asked.

"I... I'm not sure what would happen if I hurt my only friend," Lightning began to explain. "I... I just can't control it sometimes... ever!"

"But you did," Stereo said. "And if you can keep doing that, then I won't be your only friend for long."

"I dunno..." Lightning said. "I'm pretty good at making enemies."

"Well," Stereo said, dragging out the word, "I've got somepony who already wants to be my friend!"

"Whadda you mean, 'already?'" Lightning growled.

"I don't even know how to save this one," Stereo said flatly.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," Lightning said cheerfully. "Who is he? What's he like?"

"Well, his name's Aquaflow, but we call him Aqua."

"Who's 'we?'" Lightning asked.

"Just me," came the reply.

"Oh, so it's the 'royal we,'"

A third voice joined the conversation. "The what?"

"Oh, hey Aqua," Stereo said. "This is Lightning."

"Hey," Aqua said with a shaking voice. "Nice to meet you." He looked down and away, making Lightning raise an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with him?" Lightning whispered.

"He's just... nervous," Stereo whispered back.

"But why?" Lightning replied, before a realization hit him and he rose to a shout. "You told him!"

"N-n-no!" Stereo cried in denial. "He's just smart and... figured it out!"

"An accurate inference requires sufficient data," Lightning said, quoting Miss Cherilee. "Or something like that. Either way, how does he know, eh?!"

"I'm sorry," Stereo uncharacteristically cowered under Lightning's shouts and glare. Lightning's hoof was raised in the air, as if to strike.

"Stop it!" Aqua cried, in an uncharacteristic outburst of his own. "Don't you dare touch my friend!"

"Wha?" Lightning's mouth hung slightly agape. "Since when do you talk?"

"Since you started hurting my friend," Aqua replied, somehow immediately resuming his calm.

"But he told you..."

"Not really," Aqua interrupted. "He just warned me to be careful. I already knew. Everypony knows, because you always do it in public!"

Lightning's face changed from anger to sadness, his eyes softening and his teeth no longer baring.

"I... I guess you're right," he said. "Stereo didn't do it, I ruined myself! I ruined everything!"

Aqua hugged Lightning in a comforting way as he began to ball onto the pavement. Stereo looked on in stunned silence, wondering what had happened.

"Shh..." Aqua said, trying to calm the crying pegasus. "I still want to be your friend, if that makes you feel better."

"What if it doesn't?"

"I still wanna."

"Th-th-thanks, Aqua," Lightning sniffed, his eyes no longer dripping. "I want to as well."

-/\-\/-/\-

"That was amazing! How... since when... wow."

Aqua smiled at the undeserving praise that Stereo was giving him. It was given as soon as Lightning had left Aqua's house - barely a second after they were back in his room.

"It isn't hard to be just a little caring," Aqua said. "I just did what Mom and Dad taught me - I was kind."

"Yeah," Stereo said, "but what about when you looked like you wanted to kill him, and then eight seconds later you were hugging him on the side walk!"

"Forgive, forget," Aqua explained simply. "That's it."

"Wow," Stereo said thoughtfully. "I have a lot of trouble doing that. Like when Tiara and Spoon were making fun of you; I don't know if I can face them and be nice!"

"You don't have to worry about that," Aqua almost-laughed. They'll say, 'oh, you're from Cloudsdale? That's such a big city, and it's the ice-cream capital of Equestria! We should hang out!' Then you'll say no, and they'll treat you like dirt."

"What if I said yes?" Stereo asked.

"They would be your only friends," Aqua said quickly. "All of the fillies and colts will hate you, even if you stop hanging with Tiara. They have no respect at school."

"Why did you only say Tiara?" Stereo asked observantly.

"I meant both," Aqua replied, before pausing. "Now that you mention it, though... some ponies think that Silver Spoon would be a nice pony, because she only tags along and does stuff when Tiara tells her to do. She even gets mad when Tiara's too mean, sometimes."

"That gives an idea," Stereo said mysteriously.

"Stereo, what are you thinking?"

"I'll tell you later, when it's all planned."

"Why not now?"

"Because I said so."

"Can you still tell me?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Boys, dinner!"

Turning their head to Aqua's bedroom door, both colts leapt up and forgot their playful argument. Nothing more than the promise of food was needed for a ceasefire to be called.

"Coming, Mom!" Aqua called as they raced down the stairs. "What's for dinner?"

"Nothing much," Lyra replied. "Just a good ol' simple spaghetti bog."

"Bog?" Stereo asked.

"Bolognese," Aqua clarified.

Looking over the expertly prepared meal, Stereo reflected on how, even though the strange and wonderful new fast food choices available at Rainbow's house were good, nothing beat even the simplest home cooked meal. And Lyra did not disappoint. The two boys tucked in, tired after an exhausting day of swimming, fun, and self-defense.

"Slow down!" Lyra said. "It's no race. You know what I'll do, Aqua!"

Aqua quickly sat straight up, a horrified look on his face. Stereo followed suit, looking confused.

"No, not in front of..."

Stereo took on the horror face as he realized what was happening - a flash, and then the sound of a polaroid camera printing a photo.

"...Stereo," Aqua finished in a deadpan tone.

"Why not?" Lyra asked cheerfully, knowing that there was no good reason that her son could put forward that would convince her not to take pictures.

"Because you're so embarrassing, Mom!" Aqua yelled. "Stereo's my first real friend! I don't want you to ruin it with your stupid camera!"

"I'm not going to..."

"Yes you will!" Aqua cried with a few tears on his cheeks. "It's your fault that Puff left!"

There was silence for a few seconds.

"I-" Lyra stammered, "I-I-I'm sorry, It wasn't entirely my fault! She would have moved anyway!"

"Aqua..." Stereo tried to say, before being cut off.

"And you promised that she'd come back and be my friend!" Aqua shouted. "I sat at the window almost every day waiting for her!"

"She will come back!" Lyra said confidently. "Do you think I don't miss Bon-Bon? We were all best friends; Bon-Bon and I, and you two, our children, Aqua and Puff Pastry."

"When, Mom?" Aqua almost growled. "You said that they would come back last year, and the one before that!"

"Stop it, Aqua!"

Both pairs of heads turned to Stereo.

"Your Mom has done everything for me; cooked, taken me where I need to go, let me sleep here, I could go on forever! Then you explode over a silly picture. Nothing that she does will ruin our friendship, because she is Lyra, and you are Aqua. Nothing that Lyra does can stop me from liking Aqua."

"I... she..." Aqua stuttered. "I'm sorry! She just... camera... and Puff..."

"Explain it to me slowly," Stereo said.

"Not now, maybe later."

"I don't get what the big deal is," Stereo said. "I never got any pictures of my foalhood. And I want to remember nights like this."

"Th-thanks," Aqua sniffed. "By the way, you've got sauce dried on your face."

"So do you," Stereo laughed. "You look ridiculous!"

"So do you!" Aqua said as they laughed at each other, previous argument forgotten. Both failed to notice a click and the sound of a picture coming out of the camera. Lyra eyed the photo she had taken of the two laughing boys.

"Perfect," she said cheerfully.

-/\-\/-/\-

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Stereo stood at Rarity's front door. The adorned purple wood swung aside before long, revealing Rarity and Spike.

"Oh, hello Stereo!" Rarity said happily. "You got here just in time! Spike and I were just leaving to go hunting for some new gemstones. Sweetie Belle said that you'd come by today.

"Yeah, she invited me over," Stereo replied.

"Well, we have to hurry," Rarity said. "Gem hunting is difficult and time-consuming business. Sweetie knows where ingredients are if you two get hungry and decide to make lunch. Just remember not to let her touch any of them. They may... combust." She said with a shiver.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Stereo said. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Not really," Rarity said. "Have a good time, You know where Twilight lives if there's an emergency, and my piano is your piano. That's all!" She finished as she left the boutique. "Auf wiedersehen!"

"Bye!"

Stereo wandered around the main boutique for a while, taking note of several dresses and other outfits lying around.

"Wow," he said aloud. "Rarity's a really good fashion designer."

"I know, right?"

Stereo turned to see Sweetie trot down the stairs to meet him.

"Hey," Stereo greeted her. "What do we have planned today?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could help me with something." Sweetie said nervously.

"Go on."

"Well... everypony keeps saying that I'm a really nice singer," Sweetie explained. "I'm not sure, though."

"You want me to listen to you and tell you how good you are? Stereo asked.

"And to maybe teach me how to sing really good."

Stereo's eyes widened for a second. "Whoa whoa whoa," he said. "I've never even sung in my life! I can't teach you!"

"Well, at least listen, okay!" Sweetie begged.

"I'm fine with that," Stereo agreed. "What are you singing?"

"Do you have any suggestions?" Sweetie asked as they trotted up to Rarity's piano room.

"I was thinking maybe Life in Equestria," Stereo said. "It's popular, so you should know the words, and I know the music."

"Fine, but if I screw up or you laugh, I'm never doing this again."

"Deal," Stereo said, before starting up the song's intro. It was a simple upbeat accompaniment with a walking bass. It only lasted for a few bars; very short bars, for Sweetie.

She began to sing quietly, her voice clearly shaking as much as her hooves seemed to be.

"Life in Equestria shimmers..."

Stereo gave her an encouraging smile. Sweetie appreciated it, and began to enjoy herself a tiny bit, slowly putting in more effort, volume and stability.

"Life in Equestria shi-i-ines!"

By the end of the song, Sweetie hyped enough to make a daring suggestion. "How about a duet?"

It was Stereo's turn to shake a bit. "I-I don't know..." he said. "I told you, I've never sung before!"

"C'mon," Sweetie said, inadvertently mirroring their previous conversation. "Just calm down, there's no one here to laugh at you."

"Fine, but just this once," Stereo agreed with visible reluctance.

"How about we sing This Day Aria?" Sweetie asked. "That's pretty popular as well!"

"That song brings a few bad memories," Stereo said. "Our 'parents' parodied it, singing 'No we do not love our boys, we rob them of all their joy.'"

"That's so sad..." Sweetie said. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," Stereo replied. "I want to sing it. I know how to play and I know the words. Who's the evil character?"

"You, Stereo!" Sweetie laughed. "You would make a great changeling impersonator!"

"The song's message about that is silly!" Stereo said. "There's no way a changeling queen would impersonate a bride and try to marry her husband! It's ridiculous!"

"Fine, but you're still singing that part."

Stereo grumbled, reciting the chords of the intro in his head. Db, Db, Eb dim, Eb dim, Db, Db, Bb, Bb

He was ready, magically hitting the opening chords and preparing his evil face. With false confidence, he began to sing.

"This day is go-ing to be per-fect; the kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small. Ev'ery pony will ga-ther 'round, say I look love-ly in my gown; what they don't know is I have fooled them aaaall!"

Physically and mentally shaking, Stereo was glad when his turn was over. He sounded horrible! Shameful! Disgusting! He continued to play, moving the bass higher than the treble for the next 'dainty' part.

"This day was go-ing to be perfect, the kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small; but in-stead of having cake, with all my friends to cel-e-brate, my wedding bells may never ring for me at all..."

Stereo began to stop shaking as he vented his nervousness on the more violent part of the song.

"I could care less about the dress, I won't par-take in any cake! Vows, well I'll be lying when I say; that through a-ny kind of whether I'll want us to be to-geth-er, the truth is, I don't care for him at a-a-all!"

"No I do not want the groom, in my heart there is no room; but I sti-ill want him to be miiine!"

Stereo had enjoyed that part, running around the room while still playing with his magic on autopilot. His nervousness was gone - he felt alive. He continued Sweeties part, just focusing on her voice... her perfect, beautiful voice... She got to the 'for I oh-so love the groom' part, and Stereo's ears almost melted on the spot at the sound of her voice; her sound of desperation as she played the part of the pony bride. Then his part just so happened to come again. Just when he was enjoying her singing, too.

"Fin-a-ly the moment has arri-i-ived; For me, to be one lu-cky bride!Oh the wed-ding we won't make, he'll end up mar-ry-ing a fake, mi a-mo-re will be mine, all mine! A ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Sweetie fell on the floor and began laughing hysterically. "Your evil laugh!" She cried. So... good!"

"How about the singing?" Stereo asked, but had to wait for Sweetie to stop laughing.

"You can sing pretty good!" Sweetie said.

"But nothing like you, right?" Stereo asked.

"I think you're better," Sweetie said truthfully. "I sounded awful!"

"What?" Stereo cried. "You sounded amazing!"

"No I didn't, you're just saying that!" Sweetie replied.

"I'll record it next time then, and prove it to you." Stereo countered.

"Fine, but why have we stopped singing?"

Stopping to think, Stereo realized that he didn't really give a damn who was better. It was too much fun.

Stereo shrugged at the question. "I dunno. What now?"

"Equestria Girls?" Sweetie asked.

"I beg you, no!" Stereo pleaded.

"Please!" Sweetie begged. "Nopony will hear us!"

"Fine," Stereo said after some contemplation. "But only this once."

-/\-\/-/\-

"E-ques-tri-a Girls; we're kinda magical!"

"Boots on hooves; Bik-i-nis on top!

"Furry coats, so cute; we'll blow your... Oh sheiße.

"Well, I can excuse the language for the stellar performance!" A familiar voice said.

Sweetie's eyes shrunk to pinpricks.

"Rarity?!" she cried. "You weren't supposed to be home for hours!

"And Twilight?" Stereo said in a confused tone. "Why are you here?"

"I was just escorting Rarity home after an... incident," Twilight explained. "What were you doing, though?"

"Sweetie roped me into a duet earlier on," Stereo explained. "Then we did another, and another, and about five more after that until you came."

"Well, It was magnificent!" Rarity praised. "While the style of music isn't to my taste, both of your voices are simply heavenly!"

"Well, we did sing an aria before, if it makes you feel better."

"You have to show me some time," Rarity said. "While it's already a branch of your talent, I can see singing as being Sweetie's cutie mark!"

Stereo noticed a shine on Sweetie's flank. She's so close...

"Nah, I don't know," Sweetie said with a shrug. The glow faded. No cutie mark for Sweetie today.

"Rainbow Dash got back today," Twilight said, changing the subject. "After we sort out Frisky, everything will be normal for you guys."

"When do we do that?" Stereo asked.

"Now if you like," Twilight said. "I'm sure Frisky can't wait to get rid of that necklace."

"Okay, let's go," Stereo said, before addressing the other two in the room. "I had a lot of fun today, Sweetie. We should do it again."

"Yeah, I would like that," Sweetie agreed. "Next Sunday?"

"I'll be here at nine," Stereo confirmed. "If that's okay with you, Rarity."

"To have the boutique filled such angelic noise would be my pleasure, not my burden. You needn't even ask."

"Thank you, very much," Stereo said. "Have a good night,"

"Come on," Twilight said as everypony bade their farewell. "Let's go."

-/\-\/-/\-

Twilight Sparkle and Stereoheart approached Sugarcube corner, entering without hesitation. After hours, one would expect a bakery to be quiet, calm; deserted, even. Surprisingly, this one actually was for once. There were no parties, no games, no hyperactive pink pony, and no signs of Pinkie Pie related subspace disturbances in the area. All was normal.

“Where is everypony?” Twilight said, more to herself than to anypony else. Her question was answered anyway when Pinkie appeared in front of Twilight’s face, as if she had been lying down in front of her and simply stood up.

“Here I am!” Pinkie yelled, causing Twilight to backpedal while screeching loudly.

“Me too!” Frisky cried with equal enthusiasm, appearing in much the same way as Pinkie Pie did. “Did you like my entrance!” He asked Stereo excitedly. “Pinkie’s been teaching me!”

“Wha?” Stereo half said. “But… but how?”

“Sorry, but Pinkie told me not to tell anypony. It’s a trade secret.”

“I probably don’t even want to know,” Stereo said, before getting to the point. “Your necklace is dangerous, Frisky! I’ve gotten mine off, and you need to get yours of too!”

Twilight turned to address both of them after hearing that they were already on the subject.

“How do I do it though?” Frisky asked. “We’ve had them for years!”

“Stereo figured it out the other day,” Twilight explained. “All you have to do is use any spell, even levitation. Instead I focusing the magic through your horn, though, focus it through the gemstone in your necklace.”

“Uh… say what now?”

Pinkie piped up. “Oh! I get it!” she cried. “it’s like when we bake in the furnace! We usually make the steam and pressure go through the chimney, but if I forget to open up the chimney, then the steam forces open the furnace’s door and leaves through there!”

“That analogy is crude, yet remarkably accurate!” Twilight said. “Frisky’s horn would be the chimney, the gemstone is the door, and his magic is the steam and pressure.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie cried. “Genius Pinkie strikes again!”

“I think I get it now!” Frisky said. “Stand back, everypony!”

A similar procedure to that played the morning before played out; Frisky closed his eyes as the golden energy from the necklace went into his flank, while most of the green energy from his gemstone went into his horn. A small amount of grayish-white energy lingered around his back, but soon dissipated. What remained left everypony silent, and even Pinkie retained a shocked and serious expression.

“What?” Frisky asked. “What’s wrong, everypony? I feel great!”

“Your back…” Pinkie said, before pulling an upright mirror out of nowhere and placing it in front of him. Frisky stared back at himself, immediately noticing what they were all referring to.

Two white appendages stuck out from his back.

“I got wings?” Frisky cried in excitement. “Cool!”

“No,” Twilight said solemnly. “Not cool.”

-/\-\/-/\-

Frisky stood in the middle of the library with his brother, with Twilight, with Pinkie, and with Rainbow Dash, who had returned earlier that day. An enquiry had been sent to the Princess’, and now all that was left to do was wait. And test. Twilight continually tested.

“It seems that the wings that you have aren’t actually there,” Twilight explained after performing several scanning spells. “They’re made of magic.”

“Speaking of which, I can’t even use magic anymore,” Frisky said. “I’m a pegasus now. I didn't even notice that my horn was gone before!”

“How is this all possible?” Rainbow asked. “How does a unicorn suddenly turn into a pegasus?”

“He can't of,” Twilight said. “In fact…”

“Twilight!”

All heads turned to Spike, who came rushing into the room. “Princess Luna sent a letter. It has the royal Canterlot emergency delivery seal!”

Twilight took the scroll from Spike’s grasp, and opened it.

She began to read aloud.

“Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Stereo Heart, and Frisky;

Please report to me in Canterlot immediately. This situation is extremely ugent.

Princess Luna.”

Four: Ruby

View Online

Authors Note: Well, here we return to the plot in a chapter I have dreaded to write for about nine or ten months now. All that I ask is that you don't kill me after this.

-/\-\/-/\-

How could this happen to me?

Stereoheart cried into the silk pillows of his Canterlot suite. Who, after finding out that their much loved brother might not even be their real brother, wouldn't be crying.

Is he really my brother? Is he really a pegasus? Is he related to them?

Thoughts like these plagued him all night. He hadn't been allowed to be present when Frisky was tested by Twilight and Luna. Neither was Rainbow Dash. He'd requested his own suite, even though Luna had offered to get a two-bed room to share with Frisky. No, a night with Frisky would just drive him to insanity at the moment.

Don't get him them wrong; Stereo and Frisky still loved each other very much. They were still brothers at heart. But physically and genetically? I'm not even sure anymore...

Why would he be, anyway?" Stereo thought. Sure, we were kidnapped together... but were we ever brothers?

More and more thoughts... Stereo wished he had a tranquilizer on hoof.

Stereo heard a soft rapping on the door.

"Go away!" He said morosely.

"It's Leadin' Edge, from da Royal Genetics Association!" A female voice with a heavy Manehatten accent called through the door.

With a sigh, Stereo wiped his face and trudged across the dark room to open his front door. A pastel-blue pegasus stood at the threshold, carrying with her a clipboard. She had a pair of glasses balanced on her nose. Stereo recognized her; she had been the one to take his DNA sample earlier. He absent-mindedly rubbed the sore spot where the needle had been injected, also recalling the kindness that she showed while performing her task. Her cutie mark was an electroencephalograph. "Hi, Miss Edge," he said with both tiredness and sullenness. "What's up?"

"We got back da results from da medical wing," Leading Edge said. "Da unicorns said dat da results were negative. You bot' show zero percent relation to da two pegasi in jail. They also compared yo' DNA wit' each otha."

Stereo leaned in closer, anticipating the results.

"You two share so much genetic material dat dere's no doubt dat yo' related. Medically speaking, yo' physically about eighty-two percent da same pony."

"What does that even mean?" Stereo asked tiredly, not sure if he didn't understand the accent or the material itself.

"It means dat you two ah both brothas, 'n' we still don't know who ya parents ah. It also means dat yo' very tired."

"I can't sleep, and I won't sleep until I see my brother." Stereo said firmly. "I want to know what's going on so that I can sleep."

The pegasus at the door tried to make use of her meager stature to block the doorway, but relented after seeing the pleading look in his eyes, which had turned a sullen, dull grey; reminiscent of storm clouds.

"Ugh, fine," she sighed. "I'll take ya to dem."

"Them?"

"Your brotha's wit' Twilight Sparkle," she explained. "She outta have an explanation fo' you."

The two ponies walked a short distance before stopping in front of a fairly small and simple door; stocking out like a sore thumb in the large and decorated corridor they now stood in.

"Dis is da medical centa," Edge explained. "Dey should be a'most done in da examination room. First door to ya right once you walk in."

"Thank's, Miss Edge," Stere said gratefully.

"Go'night, mah shift's ova," Edge said. "I'll probably see yo' tomorra, though."

"Goodnight," Stereo replied, sincerely hoping that goodnight was what she'd said. She seemed to be happy with the answer, and continued down the corridor. Before long, she turned a corner and left his sight.

"Okay, let's go," Stereo said to himself. Walking slowly into the medical center, he took no time to take in his surroundings as he made a dash for the first door to his right. He walked in, and was greeted by a surprised Twilight.

"Stereo?" She said. "What are you doing here?"

"Leading Edge let me in," he explained. "She gave me the results and I asked to come here."

"But why?"

"I really want to know what's going on. Why's my brother got wings and no horn? Are we...?"

"No, you're not Alicorns," Twilight said.

Stereo actually breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good," he said. "I couldn't handle that kinda stress in my life right now."

"While I believe that there may be a way for both of you to turn from unicorn to pegasus, and back again, you have no more knowledge, power, or capacity than a regular pony."

"Wait," Stereo said. "We can turn into pegasi and unicorns?"

"It's one of many theories," Twilight said. "If it is correct though, then you would, at the cost of your horn until you turned back. Also, it would probably be fairly painful, and taxing."

"Can we prove it?" Stereo asked.

"I don't think It's a good idea," Twilight said. "But Princess Luna did have some interesting supporting theories."

"That we did," Luna said from behind, startling everypony. "We apologize, we just finished taking the criminals back to their guards."

"What sort of theories did you have?" Stereo asked curiously.

"Well, first of all, we believe thou to be of a kind of diluted nobility," Luna explained. "Not quite alicorns like we are, physically just lesser than Princess Cadence."

Twilight took over. "Cadence is an alicorn princess, but she has a magic level pretty standard for any old unicorn. I could overpower her in that regard," she said. "Princess Cadence also doesn't have the immortality of the other two alicorns, or amy increased longevity to speak of at all. She holds as much power and stature as Prince Blueblood with wings."

"What does this have to do with us?" Stereo asked, before catching himself. "I'm sorry Twilight, I'm just very confused and tired. I didn't mean to be rude."

Luna actually laughed at this. "Thou art related quite closely to this subject, Stereoheart," she said. "Thou art, as we said before, a diluted nobility. You aren't alicorns, but appear to have some alicorn DNA in your bloodstream."

"Blueblood does as well, slightly less than you two," Twilight explained. "He's born into the royal family."

"Who's this Blueblood, anyway?" Frisky asked, piping up for the first time from the examination bed in the center of the room.

"We wouldn't recommend you get too 'chummy' with our nephew," Luna said bitterly. "A crass, brash, rude, arrogant Prince he is. If not for his blood, he'd not be allowed anywhere near the castle. The royal family is supposed to be kind and fair."

Twilight kept talking. "We believe that maybe you once had more alicorn blood in you."

A sudden realization hit Stereo. Flash backs of his time in Cloudsdale.

"Cornu Remotionem Magicis..." he muttered. "Fictus Infirmitate... Of course!"

"What?" Frisky shouted, recognizing the words. "What is it?"

"Cornu Remotionem Magicis in an old equestrian term referring to a procedure that would hide a unicorn's or alicorn's horn," Luna explained.

"The prescription with that jar of stuff that hid our horns, back in Cloudsdale!" Stereo cried excitedly.

Frisky came to the same conclusion. "I hereby give the order that the Pegasus colts Stereoheart and Frisky undergo the medical procedure 'Cornu Remotionem Magicis', as response to the condition of 'Fictus Infirmitate', signed Dr Kalpiko." Frisky quoted.

"He wrote pegasus colts," Stereo said quickly. "They wanted to hide our horns..." Information flew to his head, the puzzle solving itself before he could form comprehensible speech. "Won't believe them... kidnapped... They kidnapped us as baby alicorns... hid our horns so they could carry us around without raising suspicion... nopony believed that we were royalty..." He gave a gasp. "The necklaces! They sucked away our energy!"

"Yes," Twilight said. "They must have tried to permanently turn you into pegasi by draining you magic, but it made you into unicorns! It diluted your already weak alicorn DNA strands so much that your body and magic supplies couldn't figure out how to support both your horns and wings at the same time!"

"But there's enough to have turned Frisky into a pegasus," Stereo noted. "This is amazing! I'm a prince?"

"Yes and no," Luna said. "Thou may petition to obtain princeship, but it was never granted upon thee, and thou alicorn DNA may be too dilute to allow for it. If thou did, thou would have to move to Canterlot Castle, become educated in politics, law, and diplomacy, along with a plethora of other duties. You are however still considered, by bloodlines, royalty."

"I would prefer to stay with my friends in Ponyville," Frisky said with certainty.

Me too," Stereo affirmed. "Unless they can all be princes, too."

"The blue one, maybe," Luna said. "But the wild-maned one is too feisty and unpredictable."

"Did you just make a joke?" Stereo asked.

"Yes," Luna said. "We did."

Rainbow had been quiet the entire time, but chose this time to speak. "Do I still get to keep them with me?" she asked. "Can I adopt them?"

"Miss Dash, we are sorry to say that adoption is impossible for anypony at this stage," Luna said sincerely. "There are laws detailing this. "Thou can still be their legal guardian, just not adoptive parent."

"I get it," Rainbow said. "That's why I was here waiting for the papers to process for so long. You knew all along, didn't you?"

"Of course," Luna replied. "While this has been, as thou callest it, "quite a doozy,' there is also yet more to come. I've set these two up to change lives and make wonderful friends. Twilight Sparkle would recall a friendship lesson she learned; always follow the directions of those who know best."

"How about those that say, or think they know best, huh?" Rainbow asked. "You may think that you know best, but stuff can still go wrong. Them two are my responsibility! If you let them get into danger because of their destiny, or just because you planned, and foresaw it, I swear I'll do something!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled rather harshly, making her flinch. "While her methods may seem obscure, I have full confidence that she does know best! It does nothing to help anyone by you being rude to a Princess!"

"Both of you, calm down," Luna said, nearly slipping into the royal canterlot voice. "Rainbow Dash has made an acceptable and reasonable amendment to that friendship lesson. We applaud her foresight and loyalty to her family."

"In agree," Frisky said. "Rainbow's smart, Luna knows some stuff, my old parents did a lot more than we thought, the necklace was bad, we're still brothers, he's a unicorn, and we're both royalty. Thank you everypony, and goodnight!"

Frisky walked out the door, assumably to his suite.

"Wait Frisky, I'm coming with you!" Stereo called out, following suit.

"I guess it's bed time," Rainbow said with a yawn. "I'm kinda sleepy anyway. Goodnight, everypony!" She walked out the door.

Twilight followed in a similar fashion, and Luna flew out the nearest window, and into her night.

-/\-\/-/\-

"You ready?" A female voice asked.

"It's going to work, hun. Stop worrying." A male one replied.

"I'm sorry, but I'm scared! What if they kill us?"

"Really? Under Celestia's rule? Not likely."

The fear in the mare's voice disappeared. "Fine then... let's do this."

"We've knocked out the guard," Autumn Breeze said. His face was full of evil and rage. Hi eyes were blood red, like rubies. "Now we've just got to climb a bunch of stairs and take what's ours."

Stereoheart

by FimFan14

Prologue to Book One- Stereoheart

One: The Best Young Fliers Competition, Part I

Two: The Best Young Fliers Competition, Part II- Magic and Hero Worship

Three: Eyes of Fire

Four: A beating and a riddle

Five: Impromptu Experimentation

Six: Clarity

Book 1 Epilogue: Letters to the Princesses

Prologue to Book Two- The True Meaning of Friendship

One: First night in Ponyville OR The most awesome caregiver in Equestria!

Two: Cupcakes and Apples

Three: A somewhat surpising turn of events

Four: Big News

Five: Righteous Anger

Six: A good day ends in worry

Seven: Secrets and Lies

Eight: Owning Up

Nine: The First Lie

Ten: Trust

Book 2 epilogue: Letters to the Princesses

One: Aqua

Two: Emerald

Three: Amethyst

Four: Ruby