Twilight's Ascension and Accidental Clone

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Twilight Sparkle had a hectic day. After casting an unfinished spell given to her by her idol and mentor, Princess Celestia, and designed by her favorite historical figure, Starswirl the Bearded, things had quite predictably gone terribly wrong. The spell fiddled with the Elements of Harmony and, exploiting the connentions they had to the bearers, mixed around the cutie marks of Twilight's friends. Being the only one of the group who seemed to remember that things were not the way they should be, the librarian set out to right the wrongs and helped her friends remember who they were. At the end of it Twilight vanished while trying to complete the spell and found herself in an odd realm with her teacher. After learning that the spell needed a TRUE understanding of friendship to work, Twilight Sparkle was granted the form of an Alicorn, and became a Princess of Equestria.

Twilight appeared before her friends in a burst of light, causing them the shield their eyes. "Twilight..."Her friend Applejack asked cautiously, "is that really you?" the purple mare looked from her shocked friends to the new, purple wings on her back on full display.

"Yeah...it's me." She said, awe apparent in her voice. Before anything else could be said, however, the same light that accompanied the arrival of the newest alicorn shined above them. Twilight backed up, and they all looked at the new light in confusion. It wasn't bright enough to blind them, like the original flash was, but rather shown with an intensity slightly higher than the full moon above them. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Princess Celestia walk towards them from behind. "Princess!" She called out, causing her friends to look back, surprise still etched into their features. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

The Princess wore a look of concern as she gazed upwards. "I'm afraid not, my faithful student. This is completely unexpected." Fluttershy let out a squeak of worry and was surprisingly the first to recover from shock, not counting their friend's arrival.

"Um...P-Princess, is it dangerous?" She asked.

"I don't believe so, but I recommend staying back." The Princess looked at the large sphere and prepared to shield her subjects as it began to lower. Everypony tensed up as it got closer to the ground. When it was fully lowered to the floor, the light began to dissipate rapidly. What was revealed was so mind blowing that even the immortal sun goddess, who had over a thousand years to perfect her Royal Poker Face and had seen nearly everything, had a look of utter shock on her face. In the space where the light vanished lay a pony. A unicorn with a purple coat and darker purple mane, a pink highlight going through her matching mane and tail, and a cutie mark with multiple stars surrounding a single large star in the middle.

Before them all lay none other than Twilight Sparkle herself.

~A few moments ago, Canterlot Castle~

Princess Luna had been looking over the the realm of Equestria, watching those who slept and observing those who admired her night sky when she sensed a magical disturbance of epic proportions eminating from Ponyville. She had smiled to herself. That was no doubt Twilight Sparkle undergoing her Ascension, and she was happy that her good friend had earned such a title. When a second disturbance occurred, showing just as much, if not more power than the first, Luna grew worried. When a letter appeared in front of her from Celestia asking for her presence in Ponyville, the Princess of the Night jumped from her balcony and flew to the small village immediately. While she would have normally taken a carriage flown by her Night Guard, this was an emergency and she could fly faster on her own.

She arrived in front of the Golden Oaks Library and first spotted Twilight and her friends talking in a circle, looking worn and tired but otherwise okay. When they saw her, they all bowed. She allowed herself a small smile when she saw the new alicorn's wings, and told them to rise. "Hello Luna," said Celestia's voice from behind her.

"Hello sister, may I ask what the problem is? I was looking over our land when I felt a truly large surge in magic coming from here. I had expected that to be due to Twilight's Ascention, and I see I was not wrong in my assumption, but then I felt it again and became worried. When you sent the letter I hurried here as fast as I could, but nothing seems to be out of place. What happened?" Celestia almost answered, then shook her head. "It's better if you see for yourself."

Curious but wary, the Moon Princess followed her elder sister into the library. She stopped when she saw the being on the couch. She blinked once. She looked outside at Twilight Sparkle. The purple pony noticed this and sheepishly waved. Luna looked back at the couch and blinked a few more times, to be sure of her vision. "Sister...why are there two of Twilight Sparkle?"

Celestia sighed. "I'm not sure, but I doubt the second is a threat. I feel that we should bring her to the castle, our medical staff can care for her if she wakes up." Luna nodded slowly. After returning to the Element Bearers, with the second Twilight on Celestia's back, the Solar Princess told the group to return to their homes and sleep. "I ask that you all return here tomorrow at noon, we have much to discuss. Twilight, my faithful student, I request that you stay in the library until my return. I know that this is a lot to take in, but I believe it to be best if we keep your new form a secret for a short while. If you have need of me do not be afraid to send me a letter."

After a few hugs were exchanged from the group, the ruling sisters flew back to Canterlot Castle. When they arrived they immediately summoned their medical staff and left the purple unicorn they had in their charge after making sure that the nurses and doctors knew that the patient was to be kept secret. The few guards that had seen were sworn to secrecy as well. Now Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were by the clone's bedside. "Tia?" Luna asked gently. "What will you do if she has Sparkle's memories and believes herself the original?"

Her sister sighed softly, worry evident in her voice as she spoke. "I'm not sure. If she has any memories of living in Ponyville it could be heartbreaking. She may feel left out, and just being who she is may make her feel unimportant. As much as I would love her to already know what our Twilight knows, I am hoping that she is more of a blank slate. At least that way she can learn things on her own and become her own mare."

Luna nodded to herself. "So if she does become this blank slate, with no personal memories and only general knowledge, what would you do with her?"

Tia thought for a moment. "Well, I'd make sure that she saw her family first. She may be a copy of the original, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be part of Twilight's family. I'll ask Twilight and her parents about it soon, after the coronation. Then I'd take her on as my student like her twin, seeing as her cutiemark is still magic." Tia smiled, making Luna smile as well. Her elder sister was always happy to talk about the potential of her young students, and thinking of a positive future for the clone was doing wonders for her, though now Tia had a look of consideration. "Unless...Luna would you like to be the mentor of this Twilight? This is the perfect opportunity."

Luna took a step back in surprise. "Are you sure sister? All my ways are...out of date still. There are few things I could teach better than you can." Her sister just smiled however.

"Then perhaps it would be a learning opportunity for you as well, dear sister. It may even get you to stop using your excessive spare time to attempt pranking me." Tia replied with a grin.

Luna huffed at this, but smiled. They could have taken the situation badly, but instead they were keeping a good mood. Luna looked towards the sleeping mare on the bed. Imagine...a student of my own... While the unicorn had no dreams, Luna could still glance at her mind. It was empty, almost lifeless. A mere shell with no mind of its own. Yet as Luna felt it, she could also feel changes taking place. A mind was taking shape there, and when it was done they would see who she would turn out to be. "I would love to take her as my student, sister." Luna said, looking back towards Tia. Her sister kept her smile and let out a soft yawn.

"Well I believe that I must sleep now. Watch over my dreams Lulu." Luna hugged her sister. "Of course sister, sleep well." Tia smiled and walked off to sleep. Luna summoned a cushion however, and sat by the bedside of her student to be, watching the mind slowly form as the night went on.

~Somewhere, on another world~

I groaned and sat up. The clock told me it was around 11 o'clock. Normally I'm an early morning person, but it was summertime. Without school I slowly slid towards a nocturnal lifestyle. I blame this on the lack of things to do in the summer. Now, before you say anything about that, know this. I live in the big valley Arizona has, in the city of Scottsdale. It gets REALLY hot down here, and I'd be dead if we didn't have AC. Any unshaded grass tends to die, and anything metal left in the sun becomes extremely hot. So, I stay inside and play video games. Lately I've been at Fallout 4, but recently I've been distracted from that.

I'm a heavy gamer, and I play a lot of different games. Usually I play stuff like Elder Scrolls and the Fallout series, though I also play First-Person Shooters and strategy games. Lately however, I've been bored. I've played all my games to the point where the process is now just a chore, so I've tried to move on to my second favorite hobby. Reading and writing stories. Especially reading. Have you ever seen the movie The Never Ending Story? Well a guy in the movie says that the book he has is dangerous because it puts you in the story, and it makes you feel the emotions in it. Well when I read the good books I can feel the emotions of the characters a bit. I lose myself in the story, and when I get to the end of the last chapter, it's like a jarring transition. I go from being on an amazing adventure in a spectacular world with the odds stacked against me to a boring world where I don't even know what month it is. Because I can't seem to find my local library I ran out of books a while ago, my modest personal library containing books I've re read a few times too many. So, in an attempt to keep my imagination going, I started writing my own stories. It was hard work however. While some could be passed as decent, some were so terribly written it made me gag. I kept all my works in a folder so that I could rewrite or continue any I felt in the mood for.

Now I got out of bed and ate some late cereal. It was just me and my sister, both my parents gone at work. As my little sister played on the computer I went outside to jump on our trampoline for a bit. It was really hot but I figured a few jumps were okay, and it helped me focus sometimes. In hindsight this was a terrible idea because springs had started popping off recently, but I felt that it was still stable enough. So imagine my surprise when heard springs popping after my last jump. I looked down and regretted trying a frontflip for fun, seeing that the side I was jumping on had lost all its springs, leaving nothing to stop my fall. As I fell towards the ground, I only had time to think one thought. I have made a terrible mistake. Then I hit the ground.

~Meanwhile, in Equestria~

The Twilight Sparkle clone lay on her bed. Her mind was formed, but it was empty. It needed something to give it life, memories, and personality. This Twilight Sparkle needed a soul. The magic that had created her body was at work, looking for a candidate to fill the body. It wasn't long before it found something, and latched onto it. If it was sentient it would have noticed how this soul seemed to be farther away from the rest of the potential candidates, but it wasn't. All the magic wanted was a soul that would fit perfectly in this body, and it found it. If any of the medical staff had looked upon the second Twilight at this moment, they would have noticed a faint glow coming from her. The magic filled the body with a soul, and after making sure the memories and personality had followed, dissipated with a job well done. After a while the clone frowned in her sleep, and started moving, waking up. She sat up in bed and groaned, holding her head. "Well at least I didn't die of head trauma." She said quietly to herself.

The Unprecedented Aftermath of Getting a Concussion

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I felt terrible. For one I had a massive headache, like the ones you get after trying to solve a particuarly hard riddle and your brain feels like it's ripping itself apart trying to understand the damn thing. I sat up and held my head in my hands, raising another two issues. First is that sitting up felt a LOT different than normal. While it didn't hurt, I was worried about how different it felt. Secondly, my hands felt oddly numb. I couldn't feel my fingers, and what I could feel felt really odd. The small part of me that wasn't taken up by the headache and fear of opening my eyes to see my body messed up quietly wondered if this all counted as a freak trampoline accident, and if it did it would at least make an interesting story later in life. "Well at least I didn't die of head trauma..." I told myself softly.

It took a few moments due to my headache, but I suddenly noticed a detail that was hard to ignore. What the...that's not my voice! I opened my eyes in shock, and got a few answers to why I felt the way I did. For one, I wasn't holding my head with hands...but rather hooves or some stumpy appendages. Panicking now, but keeping quiet I examined the rest of my body. The first thing I noticed was that I was very....purple. Now don't get me wrong, I like the color purple, but it's unnerving when you wake up covered in purple fur. I was also naked from the waist up, the only thing covering me was the blanket of the bed I was in. Taking off the blanket I looked at my lower half, confirming two of my fears. From the look of it, and from what was probably a muzzle in front of my face, my weird arm hooves, and my lower body structure, I was now a purple horse. Not only that, but from my voice and the lack of a certain part down there, I was a girl now.

"So...after I have an accident with the trampoline I wake up as a female purple talking horse...isn't medical science wonderful?" I say sarcastically to myself. I look around to try to figure out where I ended up. The hospital bed and mint green curtain to my left and in front of me made me think I had woken up in a hospital, but looking up and to my right I could see a stone wall and roof, like a castle. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was in the Hogwarts infirmary wing."

I had a habit of talking to myself, mainly because when I got left home alone as a kid, I distracted myself with my voice so I couldn't hear the sounds of would be burglars breaking in to attack me whenever a door opened and closed in the apartment complex. It stuck with me, and hopefully it would help me get used to my new voice.

Wherever I was, I decided that it was probably a good idea to find my way around. I'd feel a lot better to find another living soul, and the natural sunlight shining in the room didn't make me think I was in some weird mad scientist lab or something. So, I clumsily swung my legs, or hindlegs I guess, over the side of the bed before using my new forelegs to push myself off the bed and into a standing position. After doing this I learned two things. One was that despite my new body, my forelegs are just as flexible and mobile as my old arms, which was nice to know. The other thing, however, was that no matter how flexible I may be in this body, I can't stand like I used to. So, with these new facts in mind, I fell forward with the grace and finesse of a drunkard.

"WHAAAAH!" CRASH! I had fallen into the medical curtains that were set up around my corner and brought the assembly down with me. Thankfully I was okay, though I had a feeling that the hard floor may give me a bruise, but I had made a HUGE amount of noise and got one of the curtains over me. "Well shit." I said to myself. After a few moments I heard a clopping sound on the floor as something walked closer. I carefully sat up and was able to remove the curtain from over my head after batting at it with my hooves a couple of times. I missed my fingers.

When the obstruction was removed I saw a horse nearby. From what I could see of myself, I probably looked similar, but with different colors. The horse had cream colored fur and a neatly brushed orange mane, possibly in a bun. I couldn't tell with her white medical hat in the way. She stared at me in surprise for a moment before rushing over, her ears flat to the side as she looked at me with worry in her eyes. "Are you okay miss?" She asked. Now, it took me a few seconds to reply because a horse just talked to me. Sure, I was a horse now too, but I was kinda trying to hope that I was hallucinating or something. I could still be, but it felt more real when I saw someone else as a horse.

"Y-yeah...c-could I get a m-mirror please?" I got out nervously.

~Canterlot Castle dining room~

Princess Luna was eating a small, early lunch. While day court was closed today, Tia had asked her to watch over the castle while she was in Ponyville. She would be talking to Twilight Sparkle and her friends about the new alicorn's corination ceremony. Luna happily agreed, and despite getting less sleep than she would have liked due to having to wake up a few hours before noon so that her sister could prepare, Luna was wide awake. Earlier in the morning she had checked in on Twilight's clone and felt her mind forming at a steady pace. She predicted that the clone would wake up sometime that day, and now she was anxiously awaiting word on her consciousness.

As much as she worried about the possibilities of what could happen, she was filled with joy at the thought of having this Twilight as a close personal student. Tia often talked about how close they were, even though the original Twilight was much too nervous when it came to keeping her teacher proud, and Luna had been thinking of starting her own school for a while now. If this new Twilight was a blank slate like she and her sister hoped, then Luna could teach her and grow close with her own student. The thought kept her smiling and energetic. Just as she was wondering about what she would teach her student to be, a guard came up to her. "Princess Luna, your presence is requested in the medical wing."

The Lunar Princess fought hard to control her excitement. "Very well then. I shall leave right away. Please let the cleaning staff know that I am finished with my meal." The guard nodded and walked away. Luna got up and walked towards the medical wing as fast as she could without breaking her royal bearing. The walk seemed to take forever, but she finally arrived. As she walked into the large room the lead doctor, A unicorn named Doctor Heart, trotted up to her. "Hello your highness, I hope you are doing well." He said.

"I am well doctor, but I came here for the special patient. Has she woken up?" Luna asked. "Yes, Princess." The doctor replied. "Though she seems to be having a few issues."
"Issues, Doctor? What is wrong with her?"
"Quite a few things," he started. "Nothing serious physically," Doctor Heart added after seeing the look on Luna's face. "While we will have to do a few tests later to gain a more detailed report, she seems to be perfectly fine other than a lack of balance when walking, and that can be remedied by practice, I believe. From what you and Princess Celestia have told me about her, her body is newly made. That may mean that her mind has no muscle memory to rely on when she walks, or some other reason. Our tests later may shine light on the exact reason.
What is worrisome is her mental status. She speaks Equestrian without an issue, so I can safely assume that some knowledge was implanted in her. However, the depth of her knowledge is unknown. When her nurse found her trying to get out of bed, the first thing she asked for was a mirror. Her comments and questions make me believe that she was unsure of what she was or who she is. Her reaction to her reflection supports my belief that she will need to learn the very basics of how the world works. I was hoping to talk to her later and assess what she knows."

Luna frowned in response. "My sister and I had hoped that Twilight Sparkle's memories would be copied as little as possible, but this is truly the bare minimum! I shall assess her myself later, good doctor, as I will be teaching her. Perhaps her knowledge is simply locked away and needs help to be let out."

"I hope so, Princess. While I was told that she seemed to panic at first, she calmed down after examining her reflection. She is in a delicate position. When you do talk with her, I suggest that you make sure she learns about the very basics first, so that she has more knowledge to stabilize her worldview. Starting with a solid foundation will surely keep her calm and help her adjust to everything."

Luna thought for a moment. "Doctor, are there any other patients in this wing?"
"No, your highness. Why do you ask?"
"I would like to spend some time alone with her and get to know her myself. I believe I can help her grow more comfortable with her situation."

Doctor Heart nodded. "Very well your highness, I shall have my staff stay out of the room. I only request that you are careful, your highness. Your physical stature will probably intimidate her, as you are much taller than anypony she's seen, so you should be mindful of that. "
"All the more reason to ensure that I am the only one there, Doctor." Luna replied and waited for the medical ponies to exit the room. When the last left, the Princess began to approach the "room" that contained the unicorn at the end of the rows of medical curtains.

~Not long ago, Canterlot Medical Wing~

When I asked the nurse for the mirror, I assumed she was a nurse anyways, she called out and two identical...stallions wearing shiny gold armor over white coats came over. She repeated my request to them before looking me over. She asked a few questions that boiled down to "does anywhere hurt", at which point I assured her that I was okay, and simply needed help keeping my balance. She looked like she didn't believe me, but she kept her thoughts quiet as she helped me up.

It wasn't long before the armored horses came back with a large but simple mirror for me. The stallions, who I suspected were guards or soldiers, started putting the curtains back up at the nurse's request as the nurse helped me over to the mirror. When I tried to walk I ended up losing my balance and would have fallen without the nurse's help. I tried to imagine walking as a horse like crawling on all fours as a human, but the anatomy of my new body made it difficult for my brain to translate commands properly and I ended up unable the move the way I wanted to. "Are you sure that you are okay, miss?" The nurse horse asked.

"Y-yes, ma'am. I'm fine. I just c-can't seem to keep m-my balance." I said, unable to keep the quiver out of my voice. This was too much to take in at once. I planned to get some answers soon, but I was too nervous to ask any questions at that moment. I needed to see my reflection, see what I looked like.

The nurse's concerned expression only grew more so, but she said nothing else as I kept trying to move forward. With the help of the guards I was able to make my way towards the mirror. It was only a few feet to the reflective surface, but it felt like it took forever to like get there. Dreading what I would see, I averted my gaze until I was right in front of it. Plopping down on my horse butt I finally took a look. While I was upset with how my reflection looked, I was stunned. So much so that I even said my first thought aloud. "Why am I so purple?" I asked aloud without realizing and missed the confused looks the other horses gave me. Who can blame me though? Not only my coat was purple, but as well as my eyes, hair, and horn.

Wait, horn? I looked at my forehead and examined the swirled horn protruding from my bangs. So I wasn't just any purple talking horse, I was a purple talking unicorn. I looked like I came from a little girl's imagination. With a quick glance around I noticed that one of the guards was also a unicorn. I was also distracted by how quickly they had fixed the curtains. You'd think hooves would make it difficult. I shook my head slightly and ignored it. Looking back to the mirror I tried to get a more general look instead of focusing on colors, the confusing butt tattoo I saw a glimpse of, or the fact that I'm a freaking talking unicorn girl. I looked at my ears, and my face. My ears had been moving with my emotions, and while that felt weird it let me know how expressive I am now, and my face showed my terribly hidden fear at what's going on. It was like a weird dream at first, but when I fell that hurt, and you can't feel pain in dreams.

After a while of staring at my reflection, in an effort to both understand what I am as well as calm down, the nurse spoke up. She must have felt the need to break the awkward silence from me staring at myself. "Are you okay miss? Do you need to lay down?" She started to gently rub my back with a surprisingly soft hoof, which actually helped me calm down a lot. "You seem to be distressed." I took a deep breath. Like anything in life, worrying about too much at once will freeze you. You have to focus on one thing at a time. Pushing my confusion at everything out of the way for now, I spoke.

"No ma'am, I'm okay. I just need to know a few things..." I said shakily, but without any stutters this time as I turned toward her.

"I'll answer if I can, miss, but are you sure you are fine?" She asked with concern.

I nodded back to her. "First...what am I? Where am I? In fact...WHO am I?" I saw her eyes widen after that. "Please, I need to know."

"I suppose that if you ask all that, you must be really out of sorts." The nurse said, looking sad. Probably because I told her I knew nothing basically. I knew I was a unicorn, but I had to make sure I'd find out what they would call me. I contemplated going complete amnesia. I already knew so little about where I was, why not just pretend that I have no memories either? I'd reveal the truth when it was necessary. "Well, for the basics...you are a unicorn, one of the three tribes of pegusus, earth, and unicorn ponies. Right now we are in Canterlot Castle, the capital of Equestria, the nation we live in. As for who you are...I don't know. You'd have to ask one of the princesses about that. Perhaps Princess Luna will come to visit you soon, when she hears you are awake."
"Princess Luna?" I ask.
"Yes, she is Princess Celestia's younger sister and rules the kingdom with her." I decided to ask about the king and queen later, though I wondered why she said that the Princesses rule the kingdom. Different custom?"Nurse, what's your name?" I ask.

"It's Caring Hoof miss. Nurse Caring Hoof." She replied.I frowned inwardly at the name. Caring Hoof? Are these the kind of names these...ponies have? Outwardly I gave a weak smile, not letting how I feel about the name affect it. At least I was right about the nurse part. "Well, Nurse Caring Hoof, thank you. I feel much better now that I have something to go on. It's really helpful." I see her visibly relax. "Could you give me a moment alone? I just need a moment to get some things straight in my head."

"Of course!" The nurse says. She helps me manage to walk back to the bed and get back on it. I wondered how long it would take for my brain to get used to this body. After moving the mirror nearby for my benefit, the trio left me alone with my thoughts. I spent some time looking at the mirror and flicking my new ears about. After I had calmed down I decided that the entire situation was pretty interesting. Sure I was away from home, and that made me sad, but for all I know this could be a second chance given by a divine being 'cause I died or something. Sure I ended up being a purple unicorn, but oddly enough I didn't mind it that much. "Besides," I said to myself since I was alone again, "I don't look half bad." A new voice was also fascinating. I hated my old voice, but my new one sounded pretty cool. "I bet I could actually sing with this, too." Not that I was about to try, not at this point in time.

One of my ears swiveled automatically as I started hearing the telltale sound of an approaching pony. At first I thought it was the nurse, but when the pony opened the curtain in front of the bed I froze. For one she looked like a horse for real instead of the ponies everyone else (including me) seemed to be. She was as dark blue as I was purple, and wore a crown, along with a chest piece that screamed royalty. Her mane looked like the starry night sky and seemed to flow in an unseen breeze. She seemed to be a unicorn like me, but with a much longer and sharper horn. When she arrived I had been extremely nervous, but she wore a light smile. She walked toward the side of the bed, and I was able to see wings and a moon butt tattoo.

Putting the pieces together, I asked a question. "Are you Princess Luna?" I asked, her smile making me feel calm. She meanwhile looked a little surprised at my question. For a moment I worried I had said something wrong.

"Yes I am, but how did you know?" She asked, confused. "I was told that you had no memory except for that of language."

"Well, your highness," I started, making sure to be respectful as possible, "Nurse Caring Hoof said that you might come by. I believed it to be you because of both the regalia you are wearing and the marking on your bu-erm, flank. Not to mention that you are at least twice as tall as any of the ponies I've met, including myself." The Princess nodded to this.

"When you display your evidence like that it seems quite obvious. I am glad to see that you have calmed down enough to put that much together however. From what I have been told, you sounded like you were in quite the fragile state of mind." She replied.

"I was, Princess, but after putting the facts I had in place and making sure to calm down, I have placed myself in a better condition. I do appreciate that you are visiting not so long after I've woken up." The Princess nodded once more. "Princess, can you tell me who I am?" I was hoping that I could get to know who I'm supposed to be. I really hoped I hadn't replaced anyone however, that would make things complicated.

The Princess however, seemed to frown slightly, though it could have been my imagination. "Yes I can...however I must ask if you can handle it. The truth may be too heavy for your mind to bear right now." She said.
"I can handle the truth Princess." I said. "Please tell me, I have to know."

The Princess looked me in the eyes for a moment before starting. "While the entire story will have to wait, I can say this. In a town called Ponyville, not too far from the castle, lives a pony called Twilight Sparkle. She was first sent there to make friends so that she could defeat an evil called....Nightmare Moon." I noticed that her expression darkened at the name, but I didn't look into it much. "She was able to do this by using the magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony with the friends she had made in town to banish the Nightmare. Afterwards she requested my sister, Princess Celestia, to let her stay in the town with her friends. After living there for a long period of time, Twilight Sparkle was given an unfinished spell from a famous, ancient unicorn mage named Starswirl the Bearded. She used the spell and afterwards had to help her friends remember who they were, as the spell had switched their cutie marks and confused them all. After Twilight managed to complete the incomplete spell, she achieved Ascension and became an alicorn like my sister and myself. However the spell created a copy of Twilight that was without a mind, just a shell. My sister and I brought it here and waited for it to wake up. It took less time than I expected it to...but you woke up with a fully functioning mind and personality."

It took me a bit to realize what she said. "So if I'm her clone...how come I don't get wings too, if horns and wings mean alicorn?" I asked. I never asked for this, but I was upset at how I got cheated out of wings. I'd love to fly, damn it! Princess Luna gave a small smile. "There hasn't been an alicorn yet who was just born with the power. A pony must earn it themselves." She said. After a few moments, I thought of something.

"Princess Luna? Would I be able to get someone to teach me things? I feel completely lost and I have a lot to learn." I really hoped that asking this wouldn't end up with me being taught by a kindergarten teacher or something. I know how to do math, and I can read. Writing is out of the question however. All I have are hooves. Stupid not-hands.

"Of course," the Princess replied, "I shall teach you myself. Your existence is a royal secret at this moment, save for the medical staff, a few of the royal guard, and the Elements of Harmony themselves. The alicorn magic created you for a reason, and my sister and I shall help you grow. Perhaps, to start the process you require a name. Anything that comes to mind?" She asked. A name, huh? I thought to myself. Well, I can't use Twilight Sparkle, that's taken. Maybe one similar... After a few moments I ended up saying one to bounce off the Princess.

"How about Midnight Twinkle?" With the few names I've heard, I felt it would be worth a shot. I wasn't surprised, however, when the Princess gave me an "are you kidding me" look. "I pray that you jest...though I suppose I cannot expect you to come up with a name with the little knowledge that you have. Perhaps you should try again after our lesson. I have a few duties I must finish before we begin, so I shall take my leave for now. The medical staff will return and likely preform a medical examination, so do not worry. Your time will be well occupied." With that the Princess left.

Breakfast and a Lunchtime Discussion

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Twilight Sparkle didn't get much sleep. In fact, it was a wonder that she got any sleep at all! The thoughts about the clone kept her mind awake for a long time, then when she finally felt sleepy her new wings would feel extremely awkward in her favorite sleeping positions. When she had finally fallen asleep, it felt like her eyes had been closed a total of two seconds before she could feel Celestia's sun shining on her face. Giving a groan, Twilight turned over in an attempt to shield her eyes from the sun for a few more moments of precious sleep. Unfortunately her new wings became uncomfortable in the new position, so after rolling around in bed for 5 minutes Twilight gave up.

The purple librarian yawned and walked downstairs. Thankfully Spike was already making breakfast, and the smell of hay bacon and eggs made Twilight salivate. She walked into their kitchen and started pouring herself a cup of coffee as Spike cooked. Thankfully her number one assistant knew when to make coffee for her after so many late nights of studying. "Morning Spike." Twilight said tiredly.

"Morning Twilight!" Spike cheerily replied. "How'd you..." Twilight looked at Spike, wondering what caused him to stop talking. After a moment she realized that Spike was staring at her new wings and facehoofed. She had sent Spike to bed while she worked on fixing Starswirl the Bearded's spell, and with Spike being such a heavy sleeper the baby dragon didn't wake up until morning. Twilight would have to tell him about the events that occurred the night before.

"Spike, I promise that I'll explain exerything, but please wait until I've had my coffee." After a slow nod from Spike, Twilight poured some half and half into her coffee and stirred it before sitting at their kitchen table and taking a few sips. Spike meanwhile continued cooking, but often stole a glance at his big sister. When the food was done Spike loaded the food onto two plates and set the table. Twilight and Spike put some food on their plates, but ate slowly. Halfway through the meal Twilight started to feel the coffee start working. "Okay Spike, I'm ready, Ask away." Twilight said. Spike finished chewing his current mouthful and swallowed before asking his first question.

"Why do you have wings?"

"Well," Twilight began, "last night, when I finally completed Starswirl the Bearded's spell, I was teleported to this weird ethereal space. I'm not sure exactly where it was, but I saw Princess Celestia there. It seems that the only way to complete the spell was to truly understand friendship, and completing the spell caused me to become an alicorn." Spike seemed awe struck.

"So you're like the princesses now, Twilight? That's awesome!" Spike said, jumping up to stand on his seat "You could be a princess!"

Twilight took a bite out of her hay bacon and shuffled in her seat. "I'm not sure about that Spike...I know that Cadence became a princess when she became an alicorn, but I'm not sure I could handle the responsibility." Twilight looked down at her food, her ears drooping to show her worry. Seeing this, her assistant walked over to her and gave her a hug, which she returned.

"Aww, don't worry about that Twilight. If it ever gets to be too much you can always count on your friends! Besides, I'll be by your side the entire way!" At this Spike proudly put a balled fist to his chest.

Twilight smiled at the young drake. "Thanks Spike, I really appreciate it. Why don't we finish breakfast and clean up. Everypony else should be here by lunchtime, and even Princess Celestia is coming to finish explaining things."

Spike went back to his seat and ate some more food before asking his next few questions. "Princess Celestia is coming by? Why wasn't everything explained last night? Did something happen?"

Twilight finished her current mouthful before answering. "Well, I'm not sure what exactly happened....but it may be better if we finished eating before I tell you." Spike shrugged, his curiosity satisfied for the moment anyways. They ate the rest of their meal in quiet. When they finished they both started cleaning the kitchen. Twilight, deciding that it was okay to answer Spike's question, started talking.

"Okay Spike. When I reappeared in Ponyville, I came back in a ball of light. Right after the light and magic dissipated around me, it reappeared above us. Not even Princess Celestia knew why it came back, but when it reached the ground, the light dissipated and revealed another me!" In his surprise, Spike dropped the plate he had been washing.

Twilight quickly caught it with her magic and washed it herself. She was glad she waited until Spike's mouth wasn't full of food, as he probably would have spit it all out. "Another Twilight? Like, a clone?" Spike gave a visible shudder. "What if she's an evil clone who will replace you and try to take over Equestria?" He asked with a panicked look.

"Oh Spike. While I admit she is a mystery, she was created with the power of the Elements. It would be impossible for her to be evil. Besides, she and I don't look exactly alike. For some reason, only I have wings. My...clone, I suppose, is a regular unicorn, like I was yesterday. So with how I am now, the lack of wings would tip anypony off about who she is."

"Well that's good." Spike said, relieved. "So, if she's your clone does that mean she's just like you?"

"I'm not sure. While she seemed to look exactly like me, except the new wings, she was asleep. I'm not sure if she will be like me personality wise however. The Princesses took her to Canterlot, and I'm hoping to ask Princess Celestia about her. I'm sure the girls have questions as well." With that Twilight had Spike and herself focus on getting the library cleaned up, making sure to put a 'Closed' sign on the library's front door.

With Princess Celestia coming over at noon, Twilight wanted to make sure that the library was as clean as possible. Thankfully, the spell only caused a few loose pieces of paper to fly around. Though it did leave a large scorch mark in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark that they couldn't remove.

Twilight and Spike had woken up late in the morning, so they didn't have to wait long before some of Twilight's friends began to arrive. First to arrive was Rainbow Dash. The prismatic pegasus flew in through an empty window. She talked to Twilight about going flying with her after everything was said and done, and Twilight agreed as long as Rainbow would be patient while teaching her to use them. So, after holding a conversation for a little while Rainbow grabbed the first Daring Do book from one of the library shelves and started re-reading it.

Next came Rarity. She came in through the normal means and, after a quick hello to the pegusus absorbed in her reading, struck up a conversation with Twilight. After asking a few questions about how she felt, Rarity offered to make her a dress to show of her new, "absolutely marvelous" wings. Twilight accepted, though she still felt a little nervous about the situation despite Spike's assurances.

Applejack and Fluttershy arrived at the same time and greeted the 3 that were already there. Fluttershy and Applejack expressed their happiness for their friend's new alicorn form. Had Spike not been paying such close attention to Rarity, he may have brought up the discussion of Twilight being a princess. Twilight was happy he didn't. Pinkie Pie dropped in soon after that, quite literally in fact. She had dropped in front of the conversing group of friends with a rope tied around her middle, and scaring Fluttershy. She had a ice cream cone stuck to her forehead and cardboard wings taped to her sides as she swung side to side while still attached to the rope.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" Twilight asked the pink party pony. The pony smiled in response.

"Isn't it obvious Twilight? It's a surprise alicorn party! Whee!" With that Pinkie swung around the room, attaching ice cream cone horns and cardboard wing to all who needed them, including Spike. While a few ponies were unamused, namely Twilight, Pinkie was unfazed. She swung into the kitchen before swinging back into the room with a cake to set on one of the empty reading tables. Twilight noticed that the cake was decorated to have a horn and wings as well. For a final touch, Pinkie Pie pulled out her party cannon out of her mane and fired it, sending confetti everywhere, but also decorating the room with alicorn themed banners and table clothes, balloons covering the ceiling.

Twilight brought a hoof to her head. "Ugh....Pinkie! Princess Celestia is coming! What will she say if she comes for a serious talk with us and she sees this?" Twilight would continue, but she heard a voice behind her that made her freeze.

"Actually, Twilight, I'd say that a party would be a refreshing greeting." Said Princess Celestia behind her. Twilight immediately turned around to see her mentor walking inside the library, her carriage right outside.

Twilight and the others quickly bowed, except for Pinkie, who was still hanging by a rope. "Sorry about the mess Princess...we'll clean it up right away!" At that Twilight's mentor gave a chuckle.

"Do not worry Twilight, this is fine. After all, I've simply come to talk." The Princess walked over to the cake and put the cake on one of the plastic plates Pinkie had put by the dessert when nopony was looking.

"Princess, are you here to tell us about Twilight's clone?" Spike asked. "I'd like to know more about her myself, Princess." Rarity added.

Princess Celestia ate a bite of cake before speaking. "You have baked quite a delicious cake Pinkie Pie, I must say." She said to the pink mare before answering Spike's question. "While I will talk about her and tell you what I know of her, that isn't the main reason I'm here. I'm here to discuss Twilight's coronation."

The librarian frowned, her worry growing. "My...coronation, Princess?" She asked. The Solar Princess smiled softly.

"Yes Twilight, your coronation as a Princess of Equestria. You've shown the traits that your friends here exemplify, and it has shown in your ascension. Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic. You understand now the true meaning behind those Elements, namely Magic.
Magic is the center of all the Elements, and the balance point of all the aspects of a friendship. It is important to stay by your friends, but you must not let your loyalty blind you to what they could be doing, or how they affect others. Honesty is the best policy, but there are times where you must be careful about the truth to help your friends. To show kindness is something to strive for, but you must know when to stand firm. To help others out of their darkness you must help them laugh, but know when it is time to be serious as well. Giving to your friends at your own personal cost is a noble thing to do, but you must not let your generosity overtake your own prosperity.
Twilight Sparkle, you understand what the Elements mean, and how they are connected. How you and your friends are connected. This understanding is what has bestowed upon you the title of Alicorn Princess of Friendship."

Twilight's worry must have shown, because she suddenly felt a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry Twilight," she heard Rainbow Dash say, "we'll still be here with you. You can always count on us!" Applejack came by as well.
"She's right, Twi. We'll all stay by yer side no matter what happens." Soon, all her friends were around her, giving her confidence.
"If being Princess ever becomes too stressful, you'll have us to help." Rarity added.
"Who said you had to act like a Princess anyways? You can stay our friendly librarian and have all the fun and silly parties you want!" There was Pinkie's two bits. Fluttershy simply hugged Twilight at first.
"Being a princess won't change who you are, Twilight." The yellow Pegasus said. "All you have to be is you." Soon all Twilight's friends were hugging her.

"I told you Twilight!" Spike said cheerfully. "You don't have to worry with all of us here by you every step of the way!" With that the baby dragon joined the hug as well. Princess Celestia simply watched with a warm smile and a few bites of cake. Twilight, feeling much more confident, hugged all her friends back.

When the hug was over, got up from her sitting position in the middle. "Okay Princess Celestia, when will the coronation be?"

Princess Celestia finished the last of her cake before responding. "It will be held in Canterlot in three days, Twilight." She said with her warm smile. Twilight's ears immediately dropped.

"Three...days?" She repeated. Princess Celestia nodded.

"Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure you can organize everything for your coronation in time. A good princess must be ready for such events on short notice." Twilight's mane began to fray as she started to enter freakout mode. She tried to use Cadence's calming technique of putting a hoof to one's chest when they breath in, and fully extending it forward when breathing out. It became apparent, however, that it wasn't working. Twilight was about to tell Spike to get all books relating to Royal Ceremonies when she heard a chuckle. Looking at Princess Celestia, she realized that she was the source of it.

"Everything is already in place, Twilight, so you don't have to prepare anything. I just ask that you come to the castle with me, that way you don't have to worry about staying in one place until the ceremony. That invitation extends to all of you as well, should you wish to come. Otherwise I shall send a chariot the day before the ceremony so you can be there with her." Twilight relaxed at Princess Celestia's words while her friends responded to the Princess's words.

"Ah'd love ta go," Applejack started, "but ah'm still needed at the farm. Ah'll have to stay fer now." Fluttershy spoke next.
"I have my animals to take care of, so I can't leave on such short notice. I'm sorry Princess..."

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I understand." The Princess replied warmly. "What about you three?" She asked, looking at Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.

"I have no problem going. I just have to dash down to town hall and leave a note on the weather pony roster and I'll be taken care of." Rainbow said, meanwhile Pinkie frowned.
"Aww, I really wanna go and help plan Twilight's super duper princess party, but I promised the Cakes that I'd watch the foals." Rarity mentioned her state last.
"I can go as well, as Sweetie is at our parent's house and I don't have any commissions that require my immediate attention."

With who was coming and who wasn't confirmed, Princess Celestia nodded. "Now, I believe you all would like to know about Twilight's clone." Immediately, all ponies (and dragon) gave the Princess their full attention. Twilight felt her excitement grow. She was curious to know what she was like, she had a few theories, but she wasn't sure. "I'm afraid we don't know anything for certain, as she was still unconscious when I left Canterlot. We do know that she will have a connection to you all because of her creation by the Elements. This may cause her to wake up with the mind of any one of you, Twilight more likely than any of you. We hope this is not the case, as it would be hard for her to cope."

Celestia have mercy on our souls if she becomes a unicorn Pinkie Pie, Twilight thought as Princess Celestia continued. "My sister and I pray that she is more of a blank slate. If she has no memories, then she can become her own mare. Whatever happens, however, I ask that you all help her adjust to her new situation." All the ponies gave confirmation that they would.

Princess Celestia smiled. "Now I belie--" She was interrupted when a scroll teleported in front of her. She opened the scroll and read it silently for a moment. Twilight was about to ask her what it said when the Princess spoke aloud. "It seems our friend at the castle is awake." There was a brief silence. Spike was the one to ask the question they all thought.

"What's she like?"

Princess Celestia looked over the letter once more. "It seems that she has none of your memories, as we hoped. It seems, though, that she lacks basic knowledge of the world and only knows speech. When she woke up, she didn't know how to walk and had no idea who or even what she was, it seems. Needless to say, she is quite nervous."

"O-oh my goodness, that's terrible! Is she okay?" Twilight shared Fluttershy's concern, but wondered what she would have expected, if she was shocked to be a pony. After all, the clone was based on Twilight herself, and the Elements that created her have only been used by ponies. It struck her as odd that her clone would be surprised to be a pony if she could talk. Twilight kept her thoughts to herself however. All that mattered was that the clone was made by the Elements, and so she must be inherently good.

"My sister said in her letter that Twilight's clone has calmed down. She has requested a teacher, and my sister has mentioned that she will teach her herself. She hopes that during that time the clone will think of a name, and perhaps begin to create a sense of self." Princess Celestia rolled the scroll up and set it on a nearby table. "Now, I ask that everypony except Twilight and Spike leave. I simply wanted you all to know what would go on, and to see who would be coming. I need to talk to Twilight personally about an issue. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, please be back within the hour with everything you need to stay at Canterlot Castle."

"Of course, Princess!" Rarity said cheerfully. The girls said their goodbyes and soon only Princess Celestia, Twilight, and Spike stood in the room, which was still decorated with party supplies.

"What did you want to talk to me about Princess?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Twilight, what would you think about having a twin sister?" The Princess asked.

A (Slightly) Magical Medical Exam

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When Princess Luna left, I began to wonder about the medical exam she mentioned. Now, the last time I had been to the doctor was when I was, like, seven for a check up. I've been to a doctor's office since then, but that was for certain issues my parents had. It didn't help that I didn't even have my own body anymore, even worse when I was a girl. Don't get me wrong, being a girl seemed like an interesting prospect, but it came with it's own problems.

I looked at the mirror as my thoughts began to go off track. If I'm a girl now, will I have to deal with periods? What's that even like? All I know is that it involves blood...and screws with emotions. Of course, being a teenager screws with my emotions enough. I frowned. "Wait a second...how old am I now? Am I the same age? Older? Younger? Damn it, being turned into a purple horse makes it hard to tell how old this body is." I studied my new body in the mirror again. I then looked deep into my reflection's eyes. Even with my normal self, I would look intensely at my reflection sometimes. To see what others see. Now, however, it was even more interesting to look. "Huh...would it be weird if I thought I looked cute?" I mumbled to myself. Sure, I had no idea what was considered attractive by pony standards, but I'm pretty sure the idea of cute is universal. Especially with my new eyes. I looked over it at first, but they were REALLY big. In fact--

I suddenly realized that there were ponies in my little "room". I looked over and saw a unicorn stallion wearing what looked like a doctor's coat and stethoscope with Nurse Caring Hoof next to him. They frowned, but didn't say anything. I felt my ears go flat as my cheeks and ear tips heated up. "H-hello there." I said with a nervous, embarrassed smile. "What brings you here?" I mentally freaked out. I'd never been able to stand any situation even remotely embarrassing. Not even in shows, movies, or books. In fact, as a kid I would cover my ears, make noises, and curl up into a ball before rolling out of the room. As I grew up, I handled it better. I simply walked out of the room, or covered my ears and closed my eyes. If it happened in real life, I still escaped if I could. So I was in a situation where I had been caught staring at myself for what was probably a long period of time. Sure, in hindsight it made sense for me to examine myself, and I had no reason to be embarrassed, but hey, I panicked.

The stallion ignored the fact that my face went from purple to red within a few seconds. "Well, My name is Doctor Healthy Heart," he began, "and we're here to make sure your body is healthy and stable, as well as establish a baseline as long as everything is fine." If I hadn't been trying to recover from my embarrassment, I would have groaned at his name. I was able to worry about the kind of tests I'd be put through. Princess Luna mentioned something about medical tests as she left, but I had been too distracted to really think about it much until then. This was a new body for me after all, and I wouldn't feel comfortable if they got too intrusive. Though, considering how I'm naked and the lack of pants on all the ponies I've seen, I'm not sure if I should feel safer or be more worried.

"We plan to do a simple checkup first. Most of the things we will do will be redundant most likely, but it is a simple procedure. After that we'll take a sample of your blood and scan your Magic Potential." The doctor said. I assumed a checkup would be similar to when I was a kid, and taking my blood, while making me fear the needle that will be needed, sounded normal as well. I frowned when he said "Magic Potential". Did they mean fantasy style magic? If I wasn't currently being talked to by a pony, I would laugh at the idea. Sure, I believed that magic did exist, but I felt that it was subtle, not a flashy light show.

Then again, I could be wrong. Kinda hard to be closed minded when your gender and species change. "Err, magic...potential?" I asked. "What's that?"

The doctor looked thoughtful when I asked. "Well...I suppose I could try to explain it, though if you don't understand the very basics of magic, it might be hard. Do you know anything about magic at all?" I shook my head at his question. Sure, I knew magic was a thing, but not how theirs worked. "Well," the doctor said after being silent a moment, "magic is a form of energy. Ponies can store this energy inside them and use it later when they need it. Think of it like a pool. Some pools can only hold a small amount of water, while others are vast and hold very large quantities at once. Magic potential is simply a measure of how much magic one can store."

I nodded. "I think I understand now." I said. That was interesting to know, and I thought it was pretty cool. I started hoping that the results would say something like 'His magic is off the charts! So powerful!' Or something. Then again they would say 'HER magic'. Because I'm a girl now. That's gonna take a while to get used to... With that thought I looked in the mirror again in a futile attempt to make my new body seem like my own.

The doctor smiled...well not really smiled, just frowned less. He seems to be the stoic type or something. "Well, if you feel up to it we can walk over to the exam room. We're here to help, as I know that walking is difficult for you at the moment." I nodded. Thankfully my brain was starting to get used to my new limbs, and I hoped to master walking as a pony quickly. I started to slide off the bed when I felt a tingling feeling surround me, followed by my body being gently guided to the ground. I looked around in surprise and saw Doctor Healthy Heart's horn glowing a light green color, the same color of the glow that surrounded my body. He must have seen my eyes widen, because he told me right after what it was. "That was levitation, the easiest spell a unicorn can learn. Hopefully you'll be able to use it yourself soon."

Despite the fact that I lacked knowledge on something basic, the doctor seemed amused at my awestruck expression. Had I looked at the mirror at that moment, I would have seen a stars in my eyes, literally. I would learn later that the eyes of ponies are far more expressive than a human's. So, with my feelings running high at the thought of learning to move things with my mind as a basic power, I started following the doctor as he led the way to the exam room. My legs were still wobbly and just not working right, but Nurse Caring Hoof helped me the entire way. I made a comment aloud about it, my mood falling a bit."Thanks for the help, though I wish I could walk on my own. I know how I'm suppose to move, but my legs just don't want to listen..."

The nurse gave me a smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon. The problem is most likely your lack of muscle memory. With your body being completely new, your mind has nothing to go on. I'm sure that, with practice, you'll be able to walk and move on your own." I frowned at that. I knew about muscle memory, but I thought walking around would be easier since I had a basic idea of what to do. I should be grateful that I could at least talk normally, but that felt odd as well.

It took us a bit longer to reach the exam room than I had expected, my lack of control over my legs slowing us down quite a bit. When we got inside, I was surprised. The place looked like an office you'd expect to see back home. it had the same table-chair thing in the middle of the room, and a desk with medical supplies to the side. There were a few posters detailing pony anatomy on the wall, and how to keep healthy. I recognized some of the medical equipment I knew about, and a few things I didn't. Doctor Heart put the sheet over the exam table like the doctors I knew did. Nurse Caring Hoof helped me onto the table before giving me a quiet goodbye, leaving me with the doctor.

Doctor Heart had a clipboard with some sort of document that he was writing on with his magic. If I had to guess, it was probably a new medical record or something. I wondered what he would put as my name. Would he just leave that part blank? Would he write down "Twilight Sparkle Jr"? I wondered at what I would pick for my name. I couldn't use my old one, but a name like "Alexis" wouldn't go either. It didn't match the naming theme I noticed with the few I've met, and a name like that would tip them off than I remember more than I let on. Sure, I'm bound to screw up eventually and accidentally spill the beans, but I'd rather wait and see how far I get.

The doctor finished what he was doing and set the clipboard down. The doctor started the exam by looking around my body. When I asked, he said that he was looking for any abnormalities with my body that may have been missed in the excitement of my arrival. He occasionally had me move a limb and I obliged. I myself was enjoying the experience, despite having a new body and being examined while nude. I actually love stuff like this. When I have someone petting my head, are doing stuff like what the doctor was doing, it made me feel good. Same thing happened sometimes when I helped others out. I know it's weird, and don't ask me why, but I genuinely enjoy the experience. I wondered if the doctor noticed, but if he did then he didn't show it. After he was done, and supposedly having not found anything abnormal, he took out his stethoscope and began placing it at different parts of my body, listening to whatever was being shown. I thought that they only used that to listen to your heart, but apparently he did things differently than I was used to. He had me breathe deeply a few times when he listened to my chest, and put away the stethoscope when he was done, writing something on his clipboard.

He got the arm strap that they use for checking blood pressure and strapped it to my left foreleg. Thankfully it didn't hurt like it sometimes does in the stores with the automatic machines, but I was pretty uncomfortable while he did it. He put that away and jotted down his recordings before getting a rubber hammer. I made sure to sit upright, knowing what they usually do with the hammers. I had been laying on my side before, mainly because my normal position was uncomfortable in my new body. The doctor raised an eyebrow at my behavior, but said nothing of it. He gave my hind legs a good tap, and I felt a little relieved when they reflexively kicked out. That meant my legs were fine, at least the nerves were anyways. Considering how my arms were replaced with more legs, I had though that the doctor would test those as well. He didn't though, and put the hammer away.

While everything up to this point wouldn't have been out of place in a human's doctor office, what came next was completely new. He took out a weird, cone shaped device with wires attached to it. He put the device over my new horn and made sure it wasn't too lose. It felt weird there, I had been ignoring the completely new appendage most of the time, but to have something cover it felt...different. I knew it had feeling in it from when I had tapped it earlier, but it was still a unique experience.

I noticed that the wires were connected to a box-like machine, which the doctor now attended to. I couldn't see if it was giving off any readings, but that was because any screens were on the other side for Doctor Heart to read. For the first time in a while, the doctor spoke up. "Now, I'm about to check your magic potential using this magusometer. You have never experienced magic before, so it may feel odd. I ask that you stay calm while the machine does it's work." I nodded and watched as he pressed a button on the device.

When he did, I began to feel something odd. It was similar to when I tried to focus on energy working with auras at home. My family was one that believed in magic, and although I believed in it less than they did, I have had a few bits of experience. The closest to this was when I focused my "aura" in my hands as an exercise. I felt warmth there when I did, but that was it. So I dropped the idea and never really thought too much of it again. Now, however, I was feeling something similar. It started with a warm feeling in my new horn. It began to spread downwards, filling me with warmth. Were I able to see my horn, I would have noticed a violet-pink light surrounding it. As it was, I simply focused on the warm, relaxing feeling. I closed my eyes as I basked there, missing the look of surprise the doctor had at the readouts.

After a minute or so (I kinda lost track of time) the doctor turned off the machine and began to remove the horn cover. I felt a little upset at how the good feeling was gone, but I was left feeling better than before. I could even still feel a connection to where it came from. Doctor Heart looked at me, displaying an emotion I found hard to place. "Are you feeling alright?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah...actually I feel a lot better! When you did the test, I felt warm and energetic. Some of that feeling has stayed behind actually, and I feel like I could take on the world!" I smiled widely. Normally my expressions are a bit muted, and in this situation I wouldn't be acting so cheerily. Whatever happened left a great feeling, as if I was connected to something I didn't know I needed. The doctor smiled a bit, before thinking aloud. "Curious, how very curious..." He said.

I tilted my head. "Erm...what's curious?" I asked.

Instead on answering my question, the doctor stood next to me. "Try to get off the examination table." He said. He must have noticed my small frown, because he then said, "Don't worry. I'll be here to help you. I would just like to see if you can move any better now." I didn't see how I could have gained better control of my muscles within that short period, but I humored the doctor and started sliding off the table. This being my third time, I was able to slide off without an issue. I got on my hooves and stood next to the doctor. He smiled a bit more and levitated over his clipboard to write something down. "Now, lets see if you can follow me."

I was a bit nervous of falling on my face, but I attempted to follow the doctor out of the room. After a few steps, however, I noticed something peculiar. "Hey, I'm not tripping!" I said aloud in surprise. I jumped a bit on my hooves and was surprised that they moved exactly as I wanted them to. The doctor seemed amused by my surprise, and gave me an explanation.

"I believe that this has to do with the magusometer. You see, the device functions by connecting to the magic pool inside of a pony before reading the amount inside them. I believe that your own magic was dormant, and the magusometer somehow lured it out. This connected you to your own magic source and caused your magic to fix a few problems that you had, such as the difficulty walking." With that explanation, my eyes grew wide.

"So...I fixed myself with magic?" I asked, my awe obvious.
"In a way, yes." Doctor Heart answered.
"That," I said, "is so AWESOME!" I then proceeded to practically bounce after the doctor.

Again, I wouldn't normally act like this, but I was still on somewhat of a high from the magic thing.

The doctor led me to a contraption that was just now being taken out of wherever they stored it. It was like those things the doctors used on earth to measure your weight and height, but it looked like it also measured length as well. Understanding what I needed to do, I stepped on it and let the doctor move me into the right position. I watched him move the scales around, and it made me wonder how heavy I was. I glanced back and was able to catch some of the numbers, but was unable to get accurate measurements due to the metric system they used. I didn't know how to convert the numbers, but that only made me curious about all the parallels I was noticing.

The doctor measured my height next. Turns out that the vertical measuring stick could move along the horizontal axis that the length measurement stick provided. This was used to measure different parts of my body, and I found it interesting to watch move. I asked Doctor Heart if he added my horn to my height, and he said that there was a measurement taken with the horn and without it. Length was much easier, and was simply measuring me from flank to muzzle. After writing everything down, he announced that we were done. He led me back to my little "room" and left me a small, blue rubber ball.
"What's this for?" I asked him before he left.

"Well, seeing as how you have gotten in touch with your magic, I thought it would be productive to leave you something to practice levitating. All you have to do is reach out to it with your magic and imagine lifting it up. be careful though," the doctor warned, "You have much more magic than foals who are just learning how to use it. It may be hard, but try to use only as much as you need." With an eager nod from myself, the doctor left me to practice.

I sat on my bed with the ball in front of me. Assuming the warmth earlier was my new-found magic power, I reached for it. It was an odd feeling, connecting to it on my own. As I focused on the warm energy I felt inside, I noticed that the warmth wasn't filling my entire body like what happened with the magic-meter thing. Instead, I could feel it focus on my horn. Curious, I tried to adjust the power to my horn to see if I could. At first I tried reducing the energy I let flow, then I increased it. I noticed, however, that I couldn't do much when I wan't actually using it. When I looked in the mirror I could see my horn enveloped in a violet-pink glow, and I could hear a slight sound, but nothing happened when I changed how much magic I used. Just a slight change in the brightness of my glow.

However, just seeing it light up was the best thing in my entire life until that point. That meant I really did have magic! I looked at my glowing magic pony horn for a little while before deciding to try to use my new magic powers to move the blue ball. My magic faded away as I wondered how to move it. If I just imagined it moving, nothing happened, but what if I reached out to it with my magic to pick it up? Imagine it as an extension of my body, see if that helped.

I once again lit up my pony horn and then focused on reaching out with it. As I focused on the ball, I began to see a glow similar to the one from my horn begin to surround the ball. I began to grow excited and put more power into the spell, making the glow around the ball intensify. Once I felt that I had a firm magical grip on the object, I tried to lift it up slowly. As I did, the ball began to raise up. The smile on my face widened. Once the ball was eye level, I began to move it closer to me, making sure to keep it slow. Once I had it in my reach, I lowered it into my cupped hooves before gradually lowering the power of my spell and cutting it off completely.

I gazed down upon the small, blue foam ball like it was the most valuable gem in the world. "I did it..." I said to myself, quietly. "I really did it!" I said, louder that time. I then heard a slight chuckle in front of me. I looked up to see a tall, while alicorn with an ethereal mane that contained the colors of the Aurora Borealis. She wore golden regalia, similar to what Princess Luna wore.

"Congratulations, my little pony. I hear that you only woke up less than two hours ago, with no memory of your own to speak of, and despite no experience at all you are already learning to use your magic." The alicorn wore a small, serene smile. "It seems that your looks weren't the only thing you inherited from Twilight." Meanwhile I began to panic inside. I hadn't noticed her come in because I had been focusing on my ball, and while the smile helped, tall ponies with sharp horns are intimidating.

Despite my nervousness, however, I spoke up. "H-hello, are you Princess Celestia?" I didn't really know what she had looked like when Princess Luna mentioned her, but the alicorn in front of me was wearing royal regalia like Princess Luna, and by her sun butt-mark I'd say she was the day to Princess Luna's night. If I was wrong, I could always panic and hide under the blankets I was on.

The alicorn gave a nod and her smile grew a little. "Why yes, I am. I came here to check on you and see how you were doing. From what Doctor Heart has told me it seems that you are doing well." I nodded to this. "Since you are doing well, would you mind meeting a few ponies over lunch? They would love to meet you, and I believe that it would be best to show you more of the castle. After all, now that you are in good health you don't have to stay in the medical wing anymore." I nodded to this as well.

I was getting kind of hungry, and I would be pretty bored just staying here, even with my new magic powers. I wondered if one of the ponies I was going to meet would be Twilight Sparkle, my...not-clone thing. I slid off the bed and, using my magic, levitated my ball to my mane, holding it there. If the princess found this weird, she didn't show it. With a smile, she turned and started walking as I followed her out of the medical wing.

A Meeting of Two Purples

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Twilight Sparkle sat in one of the castle's meeting rooms. She took a sip of her coffee, savoring the flavor. Late nights spent studying had made Twilight a huge fan of coffee, and she really needed it today. After Princess Celestia asked her if she wanted a twin, Twilight understandably didn't know how to respond. Thankfully the Princess began to explain her reasoning behind the question, though it was after Twilight had panicked a bit.

"Twilight," she had said, "I ask this because your clone has nopony at the moment. The closest pony she has is you, and I would ask that you and your family help her grow and show her love. Again, I cannot claim to know what she will be like, but I hope that you will be willing to meet her. I know not what fate has in store for her, but with you she will be able to handle anything." Twilight took a moment to recover before agreeing. Her clone, or perhaps sister, needed her help. However this new pony turned out, she would need Twilight's help.

When Rainbow Dash and Rarity came back, Rarity packing only five luggage bags for the trip, the group went outside and got in the carriage. After the guard ponies packed Rarity's things, the girls and Spike headed for Canterlot. The trip was pretty quiet at first, nopony saying anything and keeping to their thoughts. After about ten minutes or so, Spike initiated small talk with Rainbow Dash about how her stunts and wonderbolts training was going. They talked about it for a bit, with Rarity and Twilight joining in as they began to talk about things that had been going on in Ponyville. Princess Celestia simply opted to listen to the conversation.

After about an hour the carriage landed at Canterlot Castle. Twilight and her friends followed the sun princess inside, leaving the guards to carry Rarity's luggage to her guest room. Princess Celestia sent Spike with some guards to visit his and Twilight's parents, to explain what was going on as well as shrink the group Twilight's clone would be meeting. He was slightly disappointed that he wasn't going to be with them when they met, but he still smiled. "I can't wait to see mom and dad again, at least!" he said before heading off.

It was around noon when they arrived and the group had been on their to the dining hall when they met Princess Luna, a smile gracing her features. "Hello, sister!" She said, excited.

"Hello, Luna." Princess Celestia said, smiling serenely. "How is she?" Twilight assumed that Princess Celestia was talking about her clone.

"She is doing well," the lunar princess replied, "She should be finishing up with her medical exam now. I believe that we should invite her to lunch. It would do her good to become acquainted with her sister and her friends." Rainbow Dash looked confused at this and decided to voice it.

"Wait, hold up. Sister? What the hay do you mean by that?" The elder princess gave a small chuckle at Rainbow's look.

"It may seem odd to you, but remember this. While she may be a clone, she is a pony that is starting a life purely from scratch. Twilight has agreed to consider this pony her sister and care for her as this pony learns about the world for herself. It is what I discussed with Twilight before we left Ponyville." Princess Celestia said.

Rarity nodded to this. "It sounds like a lovely idea, Princess. It will benefit Twilight as well, I believe. Having a sister is quite a great experience, despite the difficulties that may arise. I am also quite curious to see how much different in personality she is from Twilight. Hopefully she has calmed down and will show such when we talk over lunch."

The Sun Princess smiled. "Then I shall go and invite her to eat with us. Sister, please find us one of the smaller meeting rooms. I believe that a small space with a relaxed air will help her feel less out of place. Twilight, I'd like you to wait in there by yourself. I'll bring your new sister by and I would like you to talk with her. Build your connection. Perhaps order something you like for the both of you, as she's bound to have your sense of taste. The rest of us will join you when you give a knock on the door." She said.

With that, Princess Celestia walked off to see Twilight's clone/sister. Princess Luna led the trio of friends to a small room with a round table in the middle, six seats around. There were two doors, one leading back into the hallway and the other leading into another similar room. Twilight had made herself a cup of coffee with the conveniently placed coffee machine that was in the room. It wasn't the best way to make the coffee, but the coffee beans were high quality.

So there she waited. The others had decided to wait in another room instead of in the hall, so that Twilight's clone/sister wouldn't be intimidated. After a little while, there was a knock on the door. Then a voice that sounded strangely familiar spoke, muffled by the solid object in front. "Err...hello? Anyone in here?" Twilight was up and by the door quickly, her heart racing. She had tried to stay calm while waiting, but she was full of nervous excitement. She stood by the door, took a breath, and opened it.

She had been expecting it, but she was still shocked to see herself on the other side of the door. They shared the same purple eyes, the same dark blue mane and pink highlight, the same violet coat, and the same purple, spiral horn. Twilight looked to the side and even saw her very same cutie mark on the pony in front of her! She had seen her before, but that had been like a dream. With her clone walking and talking right in front of her, she was overwhelmed. The pony did look a bit frazzled though. Her coat looked like it needed a good brushing, her mane had a mild case of bedhead, and she was using her magic to hold a blue ball behind her ears. That's odd...I should ask her about it later. She thought. Her aura was the same as Twilight's as well, which excited Twilight even more. She couldn't wait to run some tests to see how similar they really were.

"Hey, are you alright?" Twilight blinked and noticed her clone had her head tilted, a look of confusion and concern on her features. "You kinda just started staring and looked me all over. I started to worry that I broke you." The librarian flushed with embarrassment before moving out of the doorway, inviting her in.

"Sorry, sorry," Twilight said sheepishly, "It's just...I opened the door to see myself on the other side. I was expecting you, but it was still shocking. I was just looking at all our similarities and I drifted off." She gave a sheepish smile with her ears laid back. Her clone seemed to think for a moment.

"Yeah, I can see that." The clone said, walking through the door. "Not every day someone gets to have a clone of themselves pop into existence. I should be freaking out more myself, now that I think about it. I'm the one who just started existing with no knowledge of the world around me. I feel like I should either have fainted or panicked harder, with screaming. Lots and lots of panicked screaming..." Her clone trailed off, confusing and slightly disturbing Twilight.

"Then again, it could just be whatever magic that created me. It could have made it so that I'm taking this better than I would have otherwise." The clone shrugged. "I'm probably wrong though. I know nothing about magic. I just learned how to use it to move things 10 minutes ago. Anyways, my name is...well I'm thinking Dawn would be a good name. It's simple, yet meaningful. It's also feminine, which is good. It's a much better idea than Midnight Twinkle in my opinion. What do you think?"

Twilight frowned. "Midnight...Twinkle? Where in Equestria did you get that name?"

"I tried to make a name similar to yours, though it seems that it isn't a good one. I bounced it off Princess Luna, but she didn't have a positive reaction to it."

"Well, I think Dawn is a much better name for you." Twilight said with a smile. "Though, why did you pick that? There are other names you could have chosen with meaning."

Twilight's clone, or Dawn now, thought for a moment. "Well, I guess it's because of the fact that I've just started my life here. For me, its the dawn of a new day. Life starts at dawn, peaks at noon, and ends at sunset. Everyone has days of different length, and I wanted mine to represent the beginning. The time when everything seems new and special, the time before things you consider ordinary were quite extraordinary indeed." Twilight could see a sparkle in Dawn's eyes as she spoke and was amazed by the thought Dawn put into it.

"Wow, you really thought that through, huh?" Twilight said with a smile. She respected this pony with how she-

"Actually I totally just made that up now. I just thought of it on the way over and decided it worked. I'm pretty good at improvising aren't I?" Dawn finished with a smile. Twilight frowned, but decided to ignore what Dawn just said.

"Well...how about we sit down? I'd like to talk to you one on one before i invite my friends and the princesses in to eat lunch with us" Twilight said, her "sister's" odd personality throwing her off. Dawn nodded and the two purple ponies sat on two cushions next to each other.

"So, anything you would like to tell me?" Dawn asked Twilight. "I'd ask questions, but I wouldn't know what to ask. I'm completely new to pretty much everything and I'm currently coping with the situation by dulling my reactions to new experiences and such." The mare levitated her ball onto the table and finally cut off her magic, letting it rest on the table.

"What do you mean coping? You aren't usually like this?"Twilight asked, curious about Dawn's claim.

"Well," Dawn said, "I'm a sarcastic person who will tell you utter nonsense as if it's common fact, but I don't usually act this way. I guess it's whatever the magic is doing to help me not panic. I'd have thought this was all crazy and be either shivering in fear or too shy and nervous to really say much, maybe not even walk correctly. I'll probably be more myself once I get a good night's rest and give my subconscious time to sort all the information." She said all this in her usual, casual tone.

Twilight was processing what her clone said and frowned as something didn't add up. "How do you know what you're normally like?" Twilight asked. "I can accept that you somehow know of the working of the subconscious as some of the information you were given at random, but how do you know what your personality is suppose to be? You've only had about an hour to create a self image, and most of that time must have been the initial panic and the rest was you...coping with the situation. You've had no time to learn about your "default" personality." Twilight finished her analysis of Dawn's statement and saw the mare look slightly nervous. Not much at all, but enough for the librarian to notice.

"Err...well," Dawn started, "It's just a feeling I have. I'm sorry I can't explain it, but I just know. I imagine myself in situations and I feel like I'd act differently. It's weird, I know, but that's how it is." She said with a bit more tone than usual. Twilight frowned. She shouldn't know something like that...and she seems pretty suspicious...no, don't be silly Twilight. She was made by the Elements of Harmony, she can't be hiding anything. Twilight thought, and so she ignored it.

"Well, if that's how it is." The new alicorn said. Her gaze drifted to the blue ball Dawn had held in her mane. "So..." She started, "Why are you carrying that ball around with you? I'm curious."

Dawn levitated the ball in question in front of her. "What, this?" She said. "I'm simply carrying it because it's the first thing I've used magic on. It probably looks silly, but It's something with meaning attached to it for me. I'm also hoping it'll become surprisingly useful in a hopeless situation where all is lost, but that'll probably never happen." Twilight was once again thrown off by Dawn's off-hoof comment. She hoped she didn't have to get used to that and hoped her clone was right about this mindset not being normal for her.

Before Twilight could ask another question, Dawn had asked her own. "So...you live in a place called...PONYville?" She said, seemingly bothered by the name. "I mean, Princess Luna mentioned it to me before...but it's a terribly punny name." This caused Twilight to frown.

"It's a perfectly normal name, I'll have you know!" She said defensively.

"Well, tell me other names then. I'd like to know how it's normal." Dawn said with a frown.

Deciding to indulge her clone, Twilight started listing names. "There's Canterlot, where we are now, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, Appleoosa, Cloudsdale, and a few other cities." Twilight said. In response Dawn gave her a deadpan look.

"Please tell me you see everything wrong in that statement. Seriously, the only one that isn't an obvious pun is Cloudsdale. Why is it called that anyways?" Asked Dawn curiously.

Seeing a chance to educate her sister/clone, she explained. "Well, Cloudsdale is the pegusus capital of Equestria. Because pegusi are the only ponies that can live on and manipulate clouds, it's population is mostly pegusi with some griffons living with them. It was created in-"

"Hold on a second, pegusi...and griffons...living on clouds? Are you telling me that Cloudsdale...is made from clouds." Dawn deadpanned.

"well yes," Twilight said confused, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Dawn sighed. "I take it back, Cloudsdale is just as bad a name as the rest. Who names these cities anyways?" She asked.

Twilight frowned again, confused by her reaction still. "Err...Princess Celestia does. She's been around for over a thousand years, so she had quite a bit of input in naming everything. Why do you ask?"
"So she's immortal?"
"Yes."
"And she's named pretty much everything."
"Yes."

Dawn gave a long sigh. "Twilight, I'd like you to think long and hard about the names of the cities and the pony related words you use in your everyday life."
"Why?"
"Just do it."

Confused as to the purpose, she rolled her eyes and tried to do as Dawn told her. Canterlot, Ponyville, Stalliongrad, Fillidelphia, Manehatten, Appeloosa, Cloudsdale...now that she thought about it, they did seem like puns, but she didn't feel bothered by it. After all, they were always named like this. It was perfectly normal! Twilight decided to tell Dawn this.

"Okay, Twilight," Dawn said, "think about it like this. Princess Celestia is over 1000 years old as you said...Surprised you're only calling her a princess, instead of at least a queen...Now I don't know much about her at all, but she seems pretty nice and understanding. Again, I don't know much of anything, but I don't think you could last that long and still have an aura of kindness without learning a sense of humor. Like taking advantage of your power and stature to create a running gag so old and ongoing that only you will get it, and should it be pointed out to your citizens they'll not notice it."

"That's ridiculous, Princess Celestia wouldn't do anything of the sort!" Twilight responded, upset by her clone's blasphemy. She'd have to make sure Dawn learned proper cultural mannerisms before she offended anyone. Dawn, however, just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say. Why don't we invite the others in? I'm starting to get hungry, how about you?" Dawn asked. Twilight's stomach answered for her, grumbling loudly. With a blush, Twilight agreed and got up to invite her friends in. She only hoped that Dawn wouldn't cause problems with the Princesses during lunch.

Lunch Meeting

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I was feeling awkward. After the slip up earlier with me mentioning how I'm usually like, I was nervous. It seemed that she didn't suspect me of hiding anything, so I slowly relaxed. After the disagreement with the punny town names, Twilight left the room to get the order for food out and invite the others in. I wasn't alone for long however, as she came back with the Princesses and two of her friends in tow. Twilight sat down next to me again, and the Princesses took seats directly across from Twilight and myself. I would normally feel uncomfortable around royalty, but the Princesses had seemed friendly and approachable, especially Princess Celestia. It helped that she had named all the towns, anyone who named things like that had to have a sense of humor. Luna seemed more formal, though she was nice as well. She was very nice to offer to teach me, and I was growing eager to learn about this new world.

Behind the royal sisters were two more ponies. The first one seemed to be a pegusus. She was sky blue all over, with a almost bedhead-looking rainbow mane and tail. She had magenta eyes, which really stood out, and a lightning bolt, also rainbow, on her butt. The mare that had walked in after her seemed to have an air of elegance, though not the same as the Princesses across the table. She had a flawless white coat that shone brighter than the pegasus beside her. I noticed that she had a horn but lacked wings, a unicorn like myself. Her purple mane and tail were curled and surprisingly bouncy, her blue eyes large and quite pretty. I saw the trio of diamonds on her flank and idly wondered why she had those.

When they saw both me and Twilight, they blinked and stared. They didn't seem to know how to react, and I decided to break the silence after the staring got awkward. "Uh...hello there. I can tell that this situation has you shocked, but I'm pretty sure that you can make the whole thing less awkward by sitting down and not staring." They seemed to snap out of it and went to sit down, the rainbow one by me and the well groomed one by Twilight. Having a feeling that things would stay awkward, I decided to ask the million dollar question.

"Princess Celestia, before we get started I have something very important to ask you, something considering the very traditions this nation is based on." I said, my no-nonsense tone giving me looks of curiosity and interest. The princesses were surprised by my statement, but I was given permission to ask by a simple nod. I took a breath and spoke. "Princess Celestia, did you make the name of all the towns in Equestria puns to create one of the oldest running gags ever?"

Silence.

Rainbow mane and marshmallow coat looked confused, while Twilight look mortified. Her expression rapidly became one of anger however, but before she could say anything a chuckle was heard. We looked over to the Princesses and saw that Luna had a hoof up to her face, groaning, while Celestia was trying to hide her giggles behind a hoof. That failed, however, as she soon escalated into full on laughter. Twilight was confused at the scene, while I simply was glad my assumption was correct.

After a bit the princess managed to calm down. "I apologize." While her expression went to her normal, serene smile I could still hear the mirth in her voice. "That is the first time somepony other than my sister has recognized the oddness about it in over 1000 years." It may have just been me, but her smile seemed a bit wider than before, her eyes twinkling. "But to answer your question...yes, it is a joke that I began so many centuries ago. For quite a while I was the only one who understood the joke, but it was quite hilarious none the less. Not even the dragons thought it that odd. In fact, my naming of Equestrian cities has influenced other countries to do the same. I must say, it has been the most legendary running gag."

“Makes sense,” I replied. Looking over, I saw Twilight looking the worse for wear. Her eyes were dilated and twitching, her mane was somehow frazzled, and her wings were limp and dragging on the floor. “Uh...Twilight?” I ventured. “Are you okay?” Twilight gave me a stiff nod.

“Yes...perfectly fine.” She said oddly. I understand that she was shocked about her princess being a joker of sorts, I’m sure I’d be surprised myself in her position, but she looked like she had her world view shattered. Before I could rub it into the unstable mare, however, Celestia stepped in.

“Twilight? Why don’t you go down and ask the royal chefs to make a lunch meal for the 6 of us? I have asked the staff to keep your new wings secret, so you will be able to walk around the castle without news of your ascension getting out too early.” The Princess suggested. Twilight got up and walked to the door, nodding and going out as if in a daze. The two smaller ponies looked visibly relieved.

“Is it always that easy to break her?” I asked. Princess Celestia smiled at the thought, letting out a slight chuckle.

“No, she is much more levelheaded than that. I believe that she is just strained from the stress of everything that’s happened within the last 24 hours. It seems that my admitting of that joke was too much for her, so I sent her for lunch in the hope that she’d calm down a bit.” I nodded at that and looked at the two ponies I didn’t know.

“Before we go any farther, we should properly get acquainted,” I said. “My name, as I’ve chosen, will be Dawn. Dawn Sparkle I suppose if I’m now a part of her family. “ The princesses looked curious when I said my new name. They probably were surprised since I hadn’t thought of one that long ago. The first one to speak was the white unicorn.

Letting out a small cough to start, she spoke. “My name is Rarity, Rarity Belle. I am a close friend of Twilight’s and a fashionista in Ponyville. I’m pleased to meet you.” Short simple, and I gave her points on the pleasant tone, despite how shocked and confused she seemed to be the entire time. I looked to the rainbow one on my right. She managed to recover quickly as well.

“I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria and captain of the Ponyville weather team!” She said, seeming smug about it. I had no reason to question her claim of fastest flier, however.

“I think we should formally introduce ourselves as well,” I heard Princess Celestia say. I looked over to her and Luna. Princess Celestia stood up and gave a nod of her head. “I am Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria and Princess of the Sun.”

She then sat down as Luna got up. “I am Princess Luna, I am also a Diarch of Equestria and I am Princess of the Night.” She sat down again, though their titles raised a question for me.

“Princesses...how come your titles are different like that? I mean, Princess of the Sun and Night? Why not of the Sun and moon, Or Day and Night? It just seems a little awkward to me.” Princess Celestia nodded to my question.

“I can see why it is odd, but the answer is simple. I only move the sun across the sky, and do nothing else to earn me the title of ‘Princess of the Day’. Luna, however, Not only moves the moon, but she also arranges the stars and constellations as well as protecting our subjects from night terrors.” She explained.

“Oh that makes sen-wait what? Move the sun and moon?” I was very confused...I had to have misheard.

“Why yes, we move the sun and moon. I know it seems like a hard task to do every day, but we’ve become used to it. It takes barely any conscious effort these days.” She said with a smile. I almost started questioning it, but then I remembered that I was talking to magical winged horse princesses while being turned into a female purple magic pony myself. So I let it slide for now.

“Okay then...what is an average day for you like? I’ve never met royalty before.” I said. This caused Celestia to let out a chuckle.

“I don’t think you’ve had much chance to meet any before today.” She said with a smile as I realized my mistake. Crap.

“Err...sorry, I guess not.” I said, hoping she didn’t get suspicious. I really had to be careful to not keep slipping up.

“It’s interesting the way you talk, you seem to have knowledge and wisdom without any experience to support it.” Damn it, she’s noticed something off. “As for our day, we wake up to raise the sun as Luna lowers the moon, then have day court until the afternoon. My sister and I discuss with our advisors the affairs of Equestria before I lower the sun and Luna raises the moon.”

“We spend the night guiding the moon through the sky, counseling any who come to our court, and then we sleep and protect our citizens from any nightmares that appear. This allows us to spend more time with our sister during the day, with only a short nap during day court.” Luna said. I noticed that she talked about herself in plural but decided to not ask about it.

It was silent for a little, no one sure what to say, before I found something else to mention. “So...Princess Luna? I asked, “You said you were going to teach me the basics about everything later right? When will we do this?”

The Moon Princess thought for a moment. “We believe we can start after lunch, as our sister will return to her day court duties after this.”

“That’s good...Princess Celestia when do think Twilight will be back?” I asked. As I said that however, there was a knock on the door.

“I believe that’s her now.” Celestia said with a smile. “Come in.” She called to those outside, and the door opened with a maid pony pushing a tray with different foods on it. Twilight followed behind and sat back next to me and Rarity, looking much better, though a tad embarrassed. She did have a freak out about something silly though.

The maid set the plates in front of us and pushed the cart out of the room, though not before giving me and Twilight a bit of a stare before leaving. “Well, let's get to lunch. I’m not sure about you all, but I’m quite famished!” Celestia said with a smile.

Historical Exposition

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Lunch had gone by fine, though it had been a tad awkward. That wasn't a problem for long, though, as the smaller ponies relaxed after I had asked them more about their lives. It wasn't long before I saw the three relax and chat, with the princesses occasionally commenting. I was able to learn a few things too.

Twilight Sparkle, the pony my new body was based on, is apparently a huge bookworm. She tried to deny it, but even Celestia said it was true. In fact, I even learned about Twilight's backstory a bit. Turns out that she lived in the castle library since she was a little kid, and has been Celestia's personal student most of her life. I made a comment on how she still seemed nervous about Princess Celestia despite knowing her more than most.

"Come on Twilight," I said, "I've known her for less than an hour and I can tell that she's pretty cool. I'm sure you can relax around her. You are her student, and a fellow princess if the little I know is correct, so stop being so tense." I looked at the two other, smaller ponies. "You two as well, you are friends with the Princesses, right?" I glanced over to the royals that sat across from me and saw them both give a nod, though Princess Luna seemed a bit nervous. "So have fun. I'm sure that they get enough ponies acting so stiffly around them every day, they don't need their friends doing that too." It didn’t do much, but the smaller ponies tried better to be more casual.

I had asked Twilight what she did around Ponyville and learned that she was still living in a library and served as the local librarian. She spent a lot of her time with her friends or studying magic, leaving most of the actual librarian work to Spike, her assistant. I learned that Spike was also a baby dragon that she hatched when she was a little kid and had raised him since then. I found that pretty cool and a bit surprising, though after hearing her talk about him he sounded like your average kid, though more helpful than most.

Rarity had already said that she was a designer, so it was no surprise that she talked a lot about her work and designs. I didn't understand half of the names, places, or styles she mentioned, but I did my best to listen, noticing that the rainbow one seemed ready to fall asleep. While I'm not into fashion, I had fun hearing her talk about something she was so passionate about. I also appreciated how she worked hard and got what she earned. While I'm not sure about here, back home hard work could just end up with you getting the bare minimum to get by. Back home...

I had stopped listening to Rarity at that point. Whatever kept me calm and relaxed must have been starting to wear off, because I was starting to feel the effects of being ripped from everything you know once again. Not bad enough to make me freak and flail about in panic, but enough to make me think a bit.

I wasn't popular back home. I moved around every year since 5th grade and I never kept any friends since then. I was lonely a lot, so I distracted myself with books and video games. I loved playing RPGs where you could make your own hero. It was immersive to me. The games were fun and distracting, and I loved being great at them, but they were just games in the end. I often would pause my games to read just a bit more of my stories. Something about them drew me in, made me a part of that world. I felt the emotions of the main character and I'd often stop reading to react to situations in my mind. I didn't need friends, I had my books...or rather my friends were my books. I suppose I'm not different from Twilight in that respect, we both ended up preferring books over people. Even with my par-

"Erm...Dawn?" I heard Rarity ask. I looked up and noticed that everyone was looking at me with concern. "Are you alright darling?"

I realized I had zoned out for a while, and I'm pretty sure I didn't look to happy with what I thought of. So, quickly thinking of a lie, I spoke and put on a smile. "Oh, I'm sorry! I spaced out for a bit. I was just thinking..." I gave a sigh. "I'm worried is all. I don't know anything I should and I look like Twilight. I'm afraid that I won't fit in and such..." I was somewhat surprised when Twilight gave me a big hug.

"Oh don't worry Dawn, I'm sure everything will be fine. We're here to help you get used to all this." Twilight pulled back and held my pony shoulders with her forelegs, giving me both a bright, honest smile and a surge of guilt for lying to her. The feeling only intensified when I looked around to see the others giving me the same, soft smile and confidence.

"Thanks," I said when Twilight pulled back from the hug, "I'm sure I just need time." After that everyone was a bit quieter and soon we got up do do our own respective duties or activities. Twilight and Celestia went off together to prepare the younger alicorn for her upcoming coronation in three days, though three days seem a bit fast for a life changing shift like that. Rarity and Rainbow Dash went to a room in the castle to make sure they had their, or rather Rarity's, things put away before hanging around Canterlot.

Princess Luna and I, however, traveled to a room filled with all sorts of odd things. Being in a tower, the room was circular and cozy, an empty fireplace opposite from the stairs. A few bookcases decorated the walls, filled with books of different shapes and sizes and making the room smell like an old bookstore. A large window was to the left, letting sunlight in to bathe the room in its gentle warmth. A rug decorated the floor in the middle of the room, with a few portraits of beautiful landscapes decorating the wall. There was a large table to the side with cushions surrounding it, reminding me that chairs probably don't exist here. All in all, it was what I'd imagine a castle room to be like and reminded me of decorating houses in Skyrim with all the things no one actually uses, but more elegant things to decorate. Like the books. Does anyone read those? I used to collect them in-game like crazy, yet I never read them.

Princess Luna sat on a cushion by the table, and I sat opposite of her. I had thankfully remembered to grab my blue ball, and once again set it down in front of me. it had caused a few confused looks from Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Luna, but they didn’t ask about it.

“I must admit, I am unsure on how to start.” Luna said slowly. “It is one thing to build upon previous knowledge, it is another entirely to build it up from scratch. Is there anything you’d like to learn about first?” I took a moment to think. There were a lot of things I could ask about, but I decided to think back to our first conversation. There were a few things that I could get clarification on.

“You mentioned something about a magic artifact, as well as something called Nightmare I think.” I had a hard time remembering the specifics, though can you blame me? I’ve had to take in a lot in a short amount of time. Without that weird calming effect my brain might have exploded by now.

“The Elements of Harmony and Nightmare Moon.” The princess started, a sad look upon her face. “Over 1,000 years ago my sister and I ruled Equestria together, however it was different than it is now. Back then the world was much more dangerous. We had much less land and were at war with the Griffon Kingdom, while still recovering from the futile battle to free the Crystal Empire. It was a stressful time, and my sister and I rarely had time together. She dealt with the more political and public issues, while I commanded the special forces and sometimes went to assassinate key enemies to cripple the Griffons.

“Our land went through years of conflict, and as it continued my sister shone in the light, her charismatic personality, wisdom, and political tact making her loved by all. She was the hope of the ponies, and was even able to convince the griffon king, Adelbert Swift-Talon, to end the war after much negotiating. However, during the war the griffons spread rumors of me and the night. Rumors that the night brought terrible monsters with it, and that...that we were a being of pure evil, come to snatch away ponies and to eat them.”

Princess Luna seemed sad and lost in her own story. I was confused about a crapload of the information, but I was getting the general idea. I got up and sat next to her, seeing how it seemed to affect her. If she noticed she gave no signs, looking at the grain of the table and lost in a time over 1,000 years ago.

“They called us Nightmare Moon, to further instil fear. In modern society that wouldn’t work as well, with ponies being more understanding and such. Back then however...those were dark times. There were food shortages, with Griffon warriors coming in and burning our farms, or killing any isolated groups of ponies in the cover of night. Dark meant death, and being Princess of the Night associated us with that fear. It did not help our image that we were always away from the castle...nay, it only spread the rumors faster. The idea that we were a horrendously evil monster...one that ate the ponies that went on their own and never came back and had to be banished after every night by her pure and good sister…” Her voice trembled, eyes growing watery as she tried to hold back the tears.

“Even after the war, despite the attempts of our sister, the rumors persisted. Ponies never spent any longer than they had to in our presence, only the soldiers under our command showed the love that the rest of our nation gave Celestia freely. A few years after, as our kingdom was still recovering, Discord attacked. Using his powerful chaos magic he took our land from us and twisted it to his desires. His reign lasted only a few months, but by the end of it many ponies went insane, those subject to his whims were never the same after.”

Can’t say I expected this. I thought she would give a short reply, not exposition of her life story. Still, can’t say I wasn’t intrigued. She had yet to mention the Elements, and I had a feeling that “Nightmare Moon” wasn’t just a fictitious legend.

Despite my apprehension at being possibly too friendly with the princess, I scooted closer to her in an attempt to be comforting. “Our sister and ourselves searched for something to defeat Discord, as our own powers were not enough. One day we found a tree in a cave, untarnished by the chaos outside. The tree, called the Tree of Harmony, gave to us the most powerful artifacts Equestria has ever seen. The Elements of Harmony. With our sister wielding Honesty, Kindness and Laughter, while we bore Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic, we challenged Discord. The Elements then encased him in stone and purged his influence from Equestria.

“We believed that with our part in his defeat, the ponies would see that we cared about them just as much as our sister. Unfortunately many ponies were not in their right state of mind, and those that escaped were in hiding. When it was safe to return, everypony believed Celestia to have beaten him single hoofedly. While they did not place blame on us, we were not mentioned either. We...we stopped trying to gain our citizens’ affection after that.”

I couldn’t imagine what she went through. She gave everything she could to make the people happy, and in return she only got fear and hate. I suppose it is to be expected. Once something is set in their mind, people won’t change it no matter what. Ignorant people anyways, and I bet back then this country was full of them. America is terrible about that, and we are suppose to be much more advanced than peasants living in the medieval era.

“We began to isolate ourself, keeping to our thoughts. After a few weeks of being mostly alone, we began to hear a voice. It whispered to us, whispered terribly sweet things.” Now her body began to shake. I began hugging her gently, though the fact that I had to scoot even closer, getting right next to her, made it a bit awkward for me. I’m not exactly affectionate at the best of times, and being a quadruped didn’t help me feel better. Still, I felt like she needed it.

“It told us that...that it would make us loved. It would allow us to be smiled upon as our sister was. It lured us in with what we desired, what we needed. Once we had fallen into its honey trap, it began to take control. Began to poison our mind with terrible thoughts, making us believe that the best way to become loved was to show the ponies that our sister wasn’t a perfect goddess like they believed. We caused problems for our sister and tried to bring her down. The voice said that it wasn’t enough, however. We needed to redouble our efforts...but we couldn’t bring ourself to do much more. We could see it was hurting our sister, but it offered a solution. It would make it all better, do the hard work for us. If we gave it control, we’d be loved like our sister was. Desperate, we eagerly agreed.”

She hugged me back, and I shook my head. I had read enough stories and such to know what happened. “You ended up getting possessed by a demon, huh?” She nodded, hugging me a bit tighter than I liked, tears leaking out. “What happened after that? I assume it did worse things than you expected the ‘helpful’ voice to do.”

“It sealed us away, giving us no control over our actions...we could only watch as it began to corrupt the guards and soldiers loyal to us, twisting them into her zealots as she filled them with hatred of the day and the one who represented it. The demon desired an eternal night, to hold Equestria forever in her realm of power.

“We couldn’t stop her, though we struggled. Then the day came for the foul spirit to execute its coup, the Summer Sun celebration. Using its gather power, it shifted our body into one better fitting and gave itself a name: Nightmare Moon. The same name the griffons used to make our citizens hate us.” And there was the connection. Still, for something as horrible as that, she was being strong. Then again she did have plenty of time to recover…

“She engaged our sister in combat, the powerful magic used destroyed large portions of the castle. As strong as our sister was...Nightmare had both our experience, as well as our magic. With a boost of her own dark powers, she was able to defeat our sister. Before the final blow was struck, Celestia was able to summon the Elements of Harmony. She used them on the Nightmare, but using them alone was not strong enough to pull it from our body, and so we were both banished to the moon for 1,000 years.”

“Fortunately, we went into a sort of hibernation before long. Nightmare Moon, however, was conscious the entire time. When she returned after the 1,000 years, about two years ago, she used her magic to trap our sister and kept the moon in the sky. She was stopped, however, by Twilight Sparkle and her five friends after they recovered the Elements of Harmony.” Princess Luna was calming down a bit, I noticed. Talking about it seemed to have helped, though I could tell it still bothered her. I wondered if she went to a therapist? If they had more modern health services, they had to have one. I decided to mention it to her later.

For now I let her relax and settle down. Once she had recovered I’d ask for details and context. “At least you didn’t have to spend 1,000 years alone with that demon.” I said. “I’m sure it was a shock to see how things changed, but you still have your sister to help you through this.”

This made the princess smile. “Yes...you’re right. We still have our sister to help us recover, and with her help we have become loved by our ponies...just as we so desperately desired so many years ago. Thank you, Dawn.” She said with somber cheer.

I let out a sigh. And I have no one. I need to get through this alone...I wish I could have said goodbye. We stayed like this for a little while, softly hugging and in our own thoughts.

The Practice of Ball Lifting Magic

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I sat there with Princess Luna for a little while longer. We said nothing, keeping to our own thoughts. Eventually, however, I decided we needed to move on. Besides, I'm not a hugger, and while I did hug the princess for a while I only did that because I felt it helped her. I was starting to feel extremely awkward, besides...though I've had more hugs in an hour or so than I usually get in a month. I'm hoping it's not some pony instinct.

Anyways, I stopped hugging Luna and looked around. "Princess Luna?" I asked, looking at her. "Where are the pencils and paper? I was thinking of writing down some of the things you mentioned in your story to ask about, but I don't know what I'm supposed to write with."

The princess levitated a box onto the table. Her magic opened the box and revealed a roll of paper, like a scroll. It was like printer paper, but it seemed a little yellow and the texture of the paper could be seen a bit. Next to the paper on one side of the box was a long quill made of a long, midnight blue feather, as well as an simple inkwell. On the other side I saw a roll of what looked like fabric for ribbons, as well as a partially melted hunk of wax and a metal stamper. Luna levitated the paper, quill, and inkwell over in front of me as I pushed my ball to the side a bit. Unfurling the parchment and popping the cap off the inkwell, the princess smiled at me. "This is were I put everything I need to send my more personal letters, but I think we can use it for your notes at the moment. Do you know how to write, Dawn?" I nodded an affirmative and took the quill in my magic slowly.

As I attempted to dip the quill in the ink-pot I remembered something. I didn't have much dexterity at all. Sure, the odd magical surge copied what I assume was Twilight's body's muscle memory, somehow, but the magical dexterity was unaffected. I could do simple things, like levitate objects around or hold them in a spot, but more than that and it gets hard. It's still fine for moving food closer to me, but not for putting it in my mouth without getting messy. Similarly, putting the tip of the elegant quill into the somewhat small hole of the inkwell. Taking it slow, i tried to guide it into the hole. I ended up missing a few times anyways, and it was a few minutes before I got it in at all.

"Hmm...it seems you need to practice your magic before you can take notes...unless you can hoofwrite?" A shake from my head answered the princess's question.

"I know how to put down the words, but I don'd think I have the precision...unless Twilight can hoofwrite?" I shrugged to my own question. "Either way, it's probably best that I practice my magic. Can't exactly move on if I haven't mastered the basics."

"Then perhaps you can use the ball you seem attached to for practice. Levitate it above the table and then move it downwards. Stop the ball before it touched the table surface." Princess Luna demonstrated this by holding my blue ball above the table. She then moved it downwards quickly, but stopped before it impacted. "Start with a slow speed. Once you feel confident in your ability, move it faster. This should help you obtain the control you need."

It sounded easy enough, so I grabbed the ball in my magic and did the same as the princess, but at a much slower pace. I was able to stop it, and I smiled to myself. And I thought this was going to be hard! However I was proved wrong. The problem was that my current skill in magic was like using a numb limb. I know I'm gripping the ball in my magic, but anything too fast and I start losing control. When trying to levitate my ball down and catch it faster than before, it ended up bouncing against the table.

I frowned and tried again, and again it bounced. The glow around the ball and my horn intensified as I held it firmer in my magical grasp. With a look of focus I pushed the ball down with my magic, and this time I was able to catch it. I felt happy with myself, but Princess Luna was displeased. "Dawn, the point of this practice isn't to use force to make the ball obey. It's to teach you control. Right now you are using enough magic to lift one of the royal guards, just to hold the ball in position. Using force to make spells work will only drain you unnecessarily, and with more complicated spells too much power can cause them to backfire in dangerous ways. You need to learn finesse before anything else. Try again, and only use as much magic as you need to hold it."

I grumbled but conceded. I would rather just use magic to solve the problem, but using too much would be like straining a kind of muscle for nothing. So I kept practicing with the ball, continuing to have trouble with it. As I practiced, using different starting heights and speeds to add some variation and interest, Luna watched. Despite how boring my display of magic probably was, she seemed to smile and enjoy it all the same. It was just a small smile, the kind a parental figure gets when watching their kids and simply enjoying being with them. I decided to not look into it too much and kept practicing.

After a little while, Princess Luna stood up from her seat, replacing all the objects in her box and putting it back to where it was before. "Excuse me, Dawn, but I must go for now. I have a nocturnal schedule during the week and I have stayed up much later than I usually do. I'll send Twilight or one of her friends to join you if you'd like."

"Thanks, I would appreciate it." I gave her a smile, which she returned. With that she started trotting out of the room. "Wait! Princess Luna?" I called out to her before she reached the stairs. She looked back towards me, confusion on her face. "I'm really grateful for what you're doing. It really helps bring some order to all the confusion I feel. I can't wait for my next lesson."

Luna's smile came back, a bit wider than before. "Neither can I, even something as simple as levitation has proven to be great fun. I doubt other lessons will be quite as therapeutic however." With a slight chuckle at that, she left the room, leaving me to continue practicing my magic. After a little while longer of using my magic I decided to put my ball down and relax. I started to let my mind wander about the different kinds of spells I might learn eventually when Twilight's pegusus friend came in.

The prismatic pegasus gave me a wave with her hoof. "Hey, Dawn."

"Hey...Rainbow Dash, right?" She nodded.

"Yup, that's me! Fastest flier in all of Equestria!" Normally I'd think she was just blowing hot air, but I was reminded that I was a purple clone unicorn girl in magic pony land. Thus, I didn't comment.

"Yeah...I think I remember you saying that." I tried to recall what else was said. "Maybe you should tell me more. I heard plenty about Twilight and Rarity, but you didn't say too much about yourself. What do you do around town again?"

"I'm the captain of the Ponyville weather team!" She said pridefully. "I make sure that the weather is in check and on schedule. I also make sure the farms are getting the right amount of water and prevent storms from getting too large. It's a tough job sometimes, but it helps me prepare to join the Wonderbolts!" Deciding to ask Princess Luna about how their weather works later, I instead asked about who the Wonderbolts were. Her fangirl reaction was a bit surprising.

"WHAT?! How can you not know who the Wonderbolts are?! They are the best flying team in all of Equestria! You'd have to live on a rock farm to not know about them!" What the...how do you farm rocks? Despite my inner confusion, I gave her a deadpan stare. After a few moments her eyes widened in realization. "Riiiiiiiight...You were pretty much born yesterday..." She blushed and gave me an embarrassed smile. "Ehehehe...sorry.

"Well, since you seem to like them so much why don't you tell me all about them?" I soon regretted my request. Turns out she wasn't any old fangirl. She was a fangirl on the border of being a stalker, that's how much she knew about them. From what I was told at first, they seemed pretty cool. In fact, from the color scheme and their jobs, they sounded an awful lot like the old Blue Angels. They flew around for fun, did tricks, and were generally known to be the best of the best when it comes to flying. They were also called in as an elite unit for matters of military intervention and such. The leader of them was called Spitfire, her second in command was named Soarin. After this it went into "creepy" territory, with Rainbow Dash able to recall their favorite foods, colors, stores, and even personal quirks from memory alone. Eventually I couldn't listen to any more of their personal lives and shoved a hoof into her mouth, thankfully doing no damage.

"Thats...nice that you like them so much, Rainbow, but can you please tell me why you know so much about them? No offence, but you know way too much and its slightly terrifying and extremely stalkerish." I removed my hoof from her muzzle and wiped her drool on the floor, wishing I had used my magic instead.

"Bleh..." Rainbow wiped her mouth where my hoof was. "Well, I really want to be one of them one day, it's been my dream ever since I was a little filly! They are the best fliers, and I want to be one of the best. So I train every day and practice my stunts so that I can join them!" She looked at my back and sighs. "Too bad you didn't get wings like Twilight, then I might be able to show you a bit how I feel."

I ignored the fact that her explanation did nothing to say why she knew so many details about their personal lives. "Me too, but I was told that the wings have to 'be earned' first, since no-one is born an alicorn. Still, at least I have magic."

Rainbow seemed to think for a moment, an idea appearing in her head. "Hey, why don't I fly you around?" Before I could voice my confusion, she explained. "You don't have wings, but I do. I can carry you as I fly around and give you a taste of being a pegasus!"

"Rainbow, that's a terrible idea."

"Oh you'll be fiiiiine." Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "I've carried 4 ponies at once before no problem!"

I still hesitated, since she didn't look like she could carry me. Then again, she didn't look like she would be able to fly herself either. Eventually giving in, I agreed to let her fly me around. Her response caused me to painfully facepalm with my hoof. "Don't worry, with me flying nothing could possibly go wrong!"

~A few minutes later, elsewhere in Canterlot Castle~

Celestia sat on a balcony right outside her personal study, drinking tea with her student. They had spent the time from lunch talking about the upcoming coronation. Twilight had been understandably nervous about the whole situation, but as Celestia explained things out, the purple alicorn began to calm down. Details and plans had always been something that calmed Twilight, and Celestia was happy to help her feel more comfortable. After a while their conversation drifted to more casual topics, such as everyday life in Ponyville, interesting goings on in the Day Court, and Prince Blueblood's recent complaints.

Eventually the conversation drifted to Dawn. "I just don't know what to make of her princess." Twilight said to her mentor. "She seems friendly enough, but she is just so...unpredictable it seems. When I asked her name she gave an answer that was deep and thoughtful, then she smiles and tells me she made it up on the spot! Then when talking she went from happy and cheerful to quiet and sad. She just...bounces around it seems, and I don't know how to help her."

The sun princess gave a nod in understanding. She too had noticed Dawn's...unpredictability. Still, she knew it was as normal as one could be in such a situation. "Well Twilight, she is likely confused. From what I can tell, the only thing she has from you alone is her looks. The rest of her, such as her soul, magic, and personality comes from you and your closest friends. I doubt that she knows what to feel because everything about her is still settling, and it will likely be a little while before she feels she understands herself. We can help her by showing that she has a place in this world and helping her find where she fits in."

Twilight smiled a little. "Hopefully she won't mind moving to Ponyville with me then. It's a great place to make the friends she'll need."

"I'm sure she would love to go with you, though she may not like all the...exciting events that seem to occur in that town often."

"Don't worry princess! With me and the girls there, nothing will happen to Dawn!"

As Twilight said that however, a screaming purple pony plummeted perilously past the two princess's perch, a rainbow colored blur rushing quickly past.

"..."

"...Princess?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Was that?..."

"Yes, I believe so."

"Should we...er, check on them?"

"Yes, I believe that is a good idea."

And with that, Celestia teleported Twilight and herself to to the floor below.

Finishing a Day

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After the very slightly traumatizing experience of nearly falling to my death via an angry Murphy, I decided to stay close to the ground for a bit. Rainbow got a chewing out by Twilight for doing something so dangerous despite the fact that she had done something similar before, as she had told me. Unfortunately I was not off the hook, as after Twilight was done with Rainbow Dash she turned to me and gave me a lecture on doing such dangerous things. Princess Celestia, however, didn’t seem as bothered. All she told us was to be more careful. If Rainbow Dash was as good as she said, then I suppose the princess knew that what happened wasn’t the norm. Twilight would know that more so, but I have the feeling that she has a tendency to overreact.

Rainbow and I were about to go off again, but the princess pulled her to the side and whispered quietly in her ear. I couldn’t hear what she said, but whatever it was had to have been about the Wonderbolts or something. How do I know? Well, it’s not hard to see her cool guy, or mare in this case I suppose, attitude break down into a fangasm. The princess had a small laugh at her reaction and led her away, I assume to talk about whatever that was more.

“So...is there anything you’d like to do? The Princesses have their dinner at 7:00 PM each day, and it’s still 4:16.” She then gave a broad smile. “I know! I can give you a tour of the castle! That’ll help us use our time wisely as well as spend more time together!” She definitely seemed excited at the idea.

“Sure, it would be nice to walk three feet without getting completely lost.” I joked.

Twilight frowned however, confused. “Three feet? What’s that mean?” Unable to come up with a good explanation I simply shrugged. Twilight didn’t question it any further, but I mentally hit myself in the back of the head. If I wasn’t careful they would figure me out, and I couldn’t have that. Not yet. Unfortunately, my first action here was to spin a lie. That choice is leading me to keeping it going, and I have to keep it going. If I’m revealed as a liar, who knows what would happen to me? Even if I came out and said it, they would turn against me because I’m the alien here. I’d be an outcast, my life here cut short, I’d-

“Coming, Dawn?” I realized that Twilight was looking at me with a worried expression. I had spaced out as I started panicking.

“Oh, yeah! Sorry about that.” I began following the purple alicorn, wishing that I didn’t have to lie.

~~~

I gotta say, I loved the tour. Back home I enjoyed watching documentaries and shows that were more factual in nature. Didn’t have to be important, just had to be true. Twilight gave plenty of detail on the castle and its history and she seemed glad to have someone who would listen for once.

For one thing, the castle’s layout was mostly mirrored. The left wing belonged to Princess Luna while the right belonged to Princess Celestia, reminding me of Sheogorath’s own castle. It wasn’t as obvious, and most of the decoration was still Princess Celestia’s. This was due to her keeping her sister a myth after Luna’s banishment, something I found to be surprisingly harsh from what I knew of the sun princess.

The grand hall was the hub of the castle, with the main entrance to the city of Canterlot via the huge double doors, as castles should have. It also had stairs leading to the separate wings of the ruling sisters, the royal garden to the left and the Starswirl the Bearded wing to the right. I then learned that Twilight is a fangirl about the guy as we spent 10 minutes of her gushing about his different spells in terms that I’m not sure I’ll ever understand.

She then took me to the Royal Archives, which was like a private library for the castle. I learned that it met in the middle of the separate wings and had information on almost everything. She then showed me the additions the castle had to its original design, such as the tower Luna and I talked in being on Celestia’s side, or the special astrarium on Luna’s.

I got lost as Twilight led me around if I’m honest. So many corridors, wings, rooms, and such that it was obvious that the towers weren’t the only expansions to the design. One place we stopped at for a while was the council chambers. Here, Twilight explained how some of Equestria’s most important moments occurred in the room. Such moments were the Dragonlands Accord, which was signed by the Dragon Lord and prevented dragons from assaulting ponies while they were in Equestrian Territory, the Griffonian Pact, which made the Griffon Empire allies with Equestria in the political and military aspects while fostering trade between the two countries, and the more recent signing of the Crystal Empire Treaty, which made the countries close allies.

She did go into more detail about those deals, as well as countless more, but the moment she mentioned her brother I got interested. “Wait, you’re saying that your brother and sister-in-law run an empire now?” I asked, confused.

“Isn’t it amazing!” She said excitedly. “My brother and Cadence rule and help the Crystal ponies! And with the niece of Princess Celestia and the old Captain of the Royal Guard watching over them, they’re extremely lucky!” She finished with a wide smile, oozing pride for them.

I however, spotted a few things wrong with this. After asking for a few more details it got even worse. Since I’m the only one who notices these things apparently, I had to speak out. “So let me get this straight. Your brother, the former captain of the Royal guard, and your babysitter, an alicorn and adopted niece of Princess Celestia, now rule the Crystal Empire. This empire contains the Crystal Heart, an artifact that promotes love and happiness throughout all of Equestria as long as such emotions are present in the Capital. Not only that, but the Empire is inhabited by Crystal Ponies, who look like regular ponies but are extremely durable with a special magic of their own instead of the super strength and green hooves earth ponies have. Am I getting this right?”

Thankfully asking about crystal ponies gave me a detailed lesson on the abilities of all the pony races. Pegasi had very good control over the weather, unicorns had specialized magic, and earth ponies had their abilities. I was starting to get concerned about the country I was living in, especially when Twilight simply nodded with a smile. “Yes, that's all I said. I’m really happy that you actually listened, most of my friends tend to fall asleep when I explain things like that.”

“Yeah...no problem.” I said, disturbed. The ponies sounded like a master race, able to manipulate the very world around them in whichever way they pleased. Then again I haven't heard what the other races could do, so I was probably getting bothered over nothing. I’d have to ask later.

“I hope you enjoyed the tour Dawn. There is still a bit more I could show you, but I think it’s time to head down to dinner. We certainly don’t want to keep the princesses waiting!” Twilight said cheerily as she started trotting off in a direction. I followed behind, quietly digesting the information I had been given. I stopped focusing on it when I got a headache however, one I couldn’t soothe at all because I was walking on all fours so I couldn’t use one leg to rub my head. I also had a hoof, and hooves aren't good for rubbing away a headache.

We ended up reaching the dining hall a bit early, and I found it bigger than I had expected...though I was in a castle, so a grand hall isn’t all that surprising. There were fancy drapes and banners about, with elegant furniture making up the 16-pony dining table. There were even tiny chairs instead of pillows here, which I was happy about.

So the two of us sat down across from each other in the middle part of the table and waited for the others to join. Rarity arrived next and sat on the right of Twilight and I listened to them chatter about how the day went for a bit. Rainbow arrived next sitting on my left and immediately began gushing about how she got to talk to the Wonderbolts on performances. It was from this that I learned an interesting fact about the prismatic pegasus.

“Wait, you’re part of the Wonderbolts?” I asked in surprise.

“Not quite. It’s more like a mixture of the ROTC program that ponies can go through in some of the higher level colleges and the Basic Military Training that ponies go though if they don’t get to college.” Twilight answered me instead of Dash. “It is part of the Wonderbolts application program, and is one of the most important steps. The applications to the training camp filters out about 90% of applicants, though the number they take on is usually about 20 ponies each year.

“Those accepted are then put through the stressful atmosphere of BMT to weed out anypony who can’t handle the pressure. The Wonderbolts may be a stunt group, but they were founded by Commander Hurricane after the discovery of Equestria to be a special forces group. As such they need to be able to perform military actions if needed. The applicants are also put through a series of physical tests to ensure that they are up to standard. When this is completed, the ponies are given a tour of the facility before-”

Rainbow Dash then interrupted her. “I don’t think she wanted a lesson about how it all happens by the minute, egghead.” I nodded in agreement to her. I liked history lessons but I didn’t ask about the specific process.

“O-oh sorry! I uh...kinda got carried away.” Twilight said with a blush and a nervous smile. Thankfully, Rainbow explained it much simpler. It was a wonderbolts training camp and it put those that went through exercises in teamwork as well as the actual flying aspects. This was accomplished by grouping up pairs and labeling one the leader and one the Wingmare. Like wingman, but a pony pun.

This led to the story of how Rainbow passed flight camp. Turned out that she was put as a wingmare to a super cocky pegasus named Lightning Dust. Rainbow didn’t like her attitude and was rejected by Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain and effective training camp drill sergeant, when she asked for a reassignment. Long story short, Rainbow hated it and quit the camp after Lightning created a tornado to make an assignment easier. This tornado completed the assignment, but also hit other cadets and even all of Rainbow’s best friends had been sent flying by it.

“Wait,” I had to interrupt. “Why were you all there? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Ah, what happened was that Pinkie Pie, our friend, was getting worried. She was afraid that with Rainbow gone so long she would forget all of us. To prevent this, Pinkie made her a care package to remember us, but then insisted we delivered it ourselves so that it didn’t get lost in the mail. We took a hot air balloon to get there to surprise Rainbow Dash, but when we arrived we were knocked out of the balloon by that ruffian’s tornado!” Rarity huffed.

“Yeah, after that I turned in my badge and quit the camp. Before I could leave with my friends Spitfire came back out and took the leader badge from Lightning Dust and gave it to me! She then got expelled and I got a new partner. I completed the camp a few weeks later without a problem!” Rainbow finished off.

I felt like something was off though.

“Why did she make a tornado?” I questioned. “I get that it made the job faster, but why do it if you know you’ll get expelled?”

“Ooooooh she wasn’t expelled for creating the tornado.” Rainbow said, as if she had forgotten an unimportant detail.

“What?”

“Yeah, she probably would have gotten reprimanded for it, but the tornado itself isn’t what got her expelled. After all small tornadoes aren’t a big problem, just makes you dizzy if you get caught in one.” I was getting a bit worried. I read stories a lot and I was starting to fear that all the power and obliviousness was a sign of something ominous.

“Was it...because she hit your friends?” I asked tentatively.

“What? Well I guess it’s more dangerous for non-pegusi and Fluttershy to get caught in one, but that probably wouldn’t get her expelled from the academy alone. The problem was that she didn’t care for what she did, at all. She refused to accept responsibility for putting ponies in danger and didn’t care at all! The Wonderbolts aren’t just about skill. They also care about honor, integrity, and service above self!”

I relaxed after hearing that. After the history facts I learned and knowing just how powerful Equestria was, I worried that things were a bit more corrupt than they appeared. I suppose that’s a bit silly if the little I learned about the Elements was correct. You could only use them if you were good of character or something.

I directed the conversations to some of the workouts and challenges they had to do in the academy, and we talked about the concerningly dangerous activities for a little before the princesses came in together.

“We’re so sorry we’re late, girls.” Princess Celestia said. “The last petitioner of the day was a worker for the city and brought up concerning issues about funding for public maintenance. It seems that most of the members of Canterlot’s city council are appropriating funds for things such as their own paycheck.”

“Some things never change, do they sister?” Princess Luna lightly chuckled. “Truly, the day nobility is dominated by responsible, caring ponies will surely spell the end of Equestria as we know it.” With that the princesses sat down, Luna on my right and Celestia on Twilight’s left. This made me giggle slightly.

“It’s kinda like a reflection.” I explained at the curious looks I got. “We have two Twilight’s apart from each other, a best friend of Twilight’s on one side, and a princess on the other. Like a mirror!” I waited for them to get it.

“I...see. I suppose that’s true.” Was the only response I got, thanks to the sun princess.

“And this is why I shan't use my life to become a comedian.” I said plainly. Dinner was quickly served without anyone having to order, the specialty tonight being Caesar salad and Cream of Mushroom soup. It wasn’t called that but I know my foods.

We talked about our days as we ate. Twilight, Rarity, and Celestia were surprised and complimented me when I ate my food with much more fluid motions than at lunch. Of course, it wasn’t as smooth as how the other horned ponies ate, but I could eat at a decent pace. Rarity had spent most of the day catching up with some of her fashion friends in Canterlot, brainstorming designs for Twilight’s coronation dress. Afterwards Twilight explained what was going to happen during the ceremony. I personally didn’t pay too much attention, though I asked what they were talking about when Twilight mentioned a “Sonic Rainboom”. In response I got a slight chuckle and “You’ll see”.

When the purple alicorn stopped talking I decided to pose a question. “So what are we gonna do about me? I understand that it’s Twilight’s day but I was hoping we could explain me. I’d rather not go around with people thinking I’m the Princess or anything.”

“Don’t worry,” the sun princess said. “We have a plan and simply are waiting for the paperwork to go though. It certainly wouldn’t do to have you accused of being a changeling.”

At my confused look Twilight explained. “Oh, Changelings are insect-like shapeshifters that replace ponies for extended periods of time and feed off of love. They invaded Canterlot not long ago and would have won the battle if not for my brother and Cadence.” She said proudly.

“Well that's good to know that the most powerful nation in the world was almost destroyed by a race of shapeshifting bugs that eat an intangible emotion.” I said cheerily, throwing off the ponies around me. “Anyways I’m done eating and kinda exhausted from everything that’s happened today. Where will I be sleeping?”

“Oh, how about you stay with me?” Twilight offered. “I can show you the way to the room. I’m a bit tired myself.”

“Sounds good.” I replied, the two of us getting up and leaving the dishes for the servants to pick up. “See you all tomorrow.” I said as we left. The walk to the room was a bit longer than I liked and too many steps, but we arrived.

“Here we are!” Twilight smiled as she opened the door and walked in. I followed her and looked around, looking at the room that screamed royalty. Every bit of furniture in the room was elegantly carved wood, stuff that would be thousands of dollars back home. There were a few paintings on the walls, depicting a likely famous pony or beautiful scenery. There was a bookshelf full of different kinds of tomes, a writing desk with a butt pillow, and a huge bed.

“So, where am I gonna sleep?” I asked. In response I was given a look from my purple roommate.

“On the bed, where else would you sleep?”

“So where are you gonna sleep?”

That just made her more confused. “...On the bed too.”

“Oh...so we’re sleeping on the same bed?”

“...Yes...why wouldn’t we?”

“Oh uh...no reason.” And with that there was an awkward silence.

“...So uh...I’mma hop in the shower now before I brush my teeth and go to bed.” Without waiting for a response I quickly walked into the bathroom hidden behind a nice and surprisingly solid wooden door. After closing the door and locking it for privacy I looked around. It was a warm, golden-colored room, with wooden bathroom cabinets, marble countertops, a marble bath, and a glass shower, large enough to fit even the princess sisters. I also found an odd toilet, which I decided to figure out before I had to go badly.

Once I had successfully used it, I hopped into the shower and turned it on, letting out a sigh of bliss at the warmth and extremely glad I got the temperature right the first time. I sat down and simply relaxed, looking over my now-wet body as I thought about the day.

“I suppose this is my second chance...let's hope I can do something with my life this time.” I said to myself, listening to my new voice and idly messing with my purple fur. Then I realized something and looked around at the modern castle, complete with lightbulbs, although they were really just crystals that glowed like sunlight.

“How the hell do they still live in castles and have plumbing?” I appreciated the convenience but from what I’ve seen they pretty much live in the Dark Ages, what with the royalty and castles, as well as the armor I’ve seen on the guards. Despite this they have a convenient and functioning bathroom, great healthcare capabilities, and good, fresh ingredients for food if what I’ve tasted is anything to go by.

After overthinking to the point of a headache, I told myself “screw it” and decided to wash myself instead of taking an hour. I still took quite a long time, however, as I tried to use my rough control to scrub myself down with the provided scrubber and “coat wash” soap. It was a bit uncomfortable to wash myself all over since I often scrubbed too hard. It was even worse when I had to scrub...that area. It says something when scrubbing shampoo and conditioner into my mane and tail with my two hooves was much more relaxing. I probably used too much, but that's what happens when you're suddenly dealing with more hair than you are used to. Drying myself didn’t go much better, and after shaking myself like a dog before using a towel I was still uncomfortably damp. Now I know why most animals hate baths.

I went to the sink to find a selection of toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste. Grabbing a blue brush and applying a bit of “Coltgate” toothpaste while ignoring the blatant pun, I painfully brushed my teeth. I really had to get better control of my magic pony powers. By the time I had finished and rinsed out my mouth and brush, the condensation on the mirror had faded, leaving me with a look at a very miserable and tired Twilight. Her mane was a mess, frazzled and all over the place, her coat was scruffed up and damp, and her eyes were dull and conveyed her exhaustion.

“Damn, I look terrible.” I mumbled to myself before putting the things I used away and walked out of the bathroom, leaving the door open since Twilight was likely to use it soon. Twilight didn’t immediately go into the bathroom, however, and looked at me with a concerned frown.

“Err...Dawn? Are you okay?” She asked.

“Oh yeah I’m great. Scrubbing myself raw before poking my mouth painfully with a toothbrush due to my lack of control over my unicorn powers was the perfect thing to make me feel rejuvenated.” I sarcastically replied. I was exhausted and I was a jerk when I was tired.

For her part, Twilight seemed only slightly miffed by my unfair grumpiness towards her. In response she went into the bathroom and retrieved a brush. “How about I brush you tonight then. Your coat, mane, and tail are in need of a good brushing and trust me, you don’t want to put it off. I did once so I could keep studying and I ended up losing an hour trying to get the tangles out the next day.”

“Oh...thanks then.” I said, surprised by the offer. I sat down by the bed with the purple alicorn sitting behind me. She didn’t start a lecture on the proper ways of rushing like my little experience with her had led me to expect. She simply brushed, going with my mane first. It was...relaxing. At one point she began humming and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. She moved to my tail and brushed that as well, humming all the while. When she had finished that she levitated over a different brush and went over my fur coat.

The day had been full of confusion, a whirlwind of new events and information. I had been thrust into a new world with a new body and no way to know what was going on. After everything was over, at the end of the day, I had been drained, tired and alone. But feeling the soft strokes along my coat, hearing the humming, simply resting in the care of Twilight, I felt truly relaxed. In that moment, something told me that despite everything, I was safe. I was loved by my new sister, and I didn’t have to worry. Not then.

And so, with a feeling of peace and a smile on my lips, I fell asleep.

An Unexpected Twilight

by Redbow Rose

Twilight's Ascension and Accidental Clone

The Unprecedented Aftermath of Getting a Concussion

Breakfast and a Lunchtime Discussion

A (Slightly) Magical Medical Exam

A Meeting of Two Purples

Lunch Meeting

Historical Exposition

The Practice of Ball Lifting Magic

Finishing a Day