Shining Armor, the new prince of the Crystal Empire, suddenly woke up in his old room from a nightmare he gasped, looking up to see old posters of Brutus Forces." Some early "Join the Royal Guard" posters as well. He slowly looked around the dark room with a feel of nostalgia and loved the fact that some of his old stuff was still hung up around his room. Despite his parents trying to make his room welcoming which it was, Shining was too exhausted to appreciate it. Ever since he became a prince and his wife a full-fledged princess of a kingdom of crystal ponies, it's been a never-ending rain of stress and work for the prince. It was becoming quite overwhelming. His parents wanted to spend some time with their kids and invited them for a few days of reprieve. His sister Twilight was sleeping in her old room nearby, probably staying up all night reading her old books. The stallion slowly got up, lighting his horn and moving through the halls, not making a lot of noise. He turned to his sister's room and slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Twilight was slumped at her old study desk with a book lying on the ground. It looked as if she was reading all night, and from the looks of it, she only recently dozed off. The stallion chuckled, as this scenario was something that's happened multiple times throughout his childhood. He helped carry his sister back into bed and tucked her under the sheets. After that, he turned to the book she was reading with an odd look. "Huh? What's this?"
The stallion slowly came over to the book and flipped it over with his magic. The cover was a dark velvet color with "How to train a Princess" written in fancy golden cursive. Shining eyed the book with a look of confusion as it had some special gleam to it. He even seemed to have this overwhelming feeling of takeing the book and read it. He's never been so engrossed in wanting to read the tome, but he couldn't put a hoof on why?
He turned the book over and opened it to the table of contents the first chapter was about the anatomy of a alicorn, the second was on diplomacy and politics, the third chapter was about etiquette and decorum, the fourth chapter was about a princess's formal fashion wear and grooming standards, the fifth was about defeating your demons, and the sixth was a test of the everything in the book.
Shining chuckled as he looked at the book, thinking about how his sister invariably overcomplicates things. "Oh, Twilight, you're taking this princess thing too seriously...but I can understand all the stress you're going through."
He placed the book on the desk and was about to leave the room but seemed unable to take his gaze from it. The stallion continued over to the book levitating it with his magic and then slowly snuck back into his room. Shining Armor reached his room without waking anypony and sat on the bed, and opened the book to the prologue. On the first page, there was only one sentence written in a fancy cursive "If you wish to continue reading and to become a princess, please write your name down below. But beware once your name is written, the course will begin!"
Shining Armor snickered, seeing at the book and was surprised to see Twilight didn't already write her name down. But he started to have a strange feeling wash over him as to wondering why the author would have this in here? Was it for little fillies to pretend to be princesses? Or maybe it was merely a way to show ownership?
Shining looked it over and was now a bit curious and wanted to see what would happen if he wrote down a name? The prince quickly found a quill and a pot of ink as he snickered, "I wonder...what would be my princess name if I became one? Gleaming Shield? I think that was the name my parents would've given me if I was born a filly."
The stallion tapped the feathered quill against his face as he was lost in thought, then slowly placed the tip of the quill down on the line and wrote it down. Gleaning Shield in a messy script, then suddenly, the book lit up with a bright light as it suddenly engulfed Shining's entire room, and he was suddenly sucked into the book.
The stallion groaned as he slowly got up from the ground and slowly got up to see he was in an office of some that looked like a principal's office. There were dozens of awards on the wall and on bookshelves with "Faust" labeled and etched into the plaques. There were dozens of pictures of a strange tan looking alicorn posing with many ponies he recognized. There was one with Celestia and her eating cake together in some fancy gowns, one where she and Luna were on top of a castle staring into the night sky; there was even one with her hugging Twilight who was sporting a graduation gown and cap. Then in the far back of the room, there was a large oak desk with "Lauren Faust" printed on a large plaque and a massive emblem with a big crown in the back of the room. "Faust’s Princess Academy" was placed around the symbol. The floor beneath him was a light pink carpet, and there were suns and moons printed on it like a chessboard. Then a door in the back opened up, and of all the ponies who could've walked in was a strange mare who walked in. She had a tan-colored coat, a straight red mane with blue eyes, and a cutie mark with a quill on her rump. She gave Shining a smile and replied in a cheerful tone. "Hello, my name is Principal Faust, and I believe you're our newest student."
"Wait, what!?" Shining responded loudly with his eyes wide open. He turned to the door, wanting to just break through but resumed his calm disposition and replied. "This is a mistake I never signed up to attend any academy. Can I just go?"
The princess looked over with this stern look and rolled her eyes. "You did sign up to be a princess, that's why you're here isn't it Gleaming Shield?
Shining squeaked as he felt his cheeks flush pink. "Wait! That's not my name; it's really Shining Armor, I just wrote that name down as a joke of sorts! I wasn't actually trying to sign up for being a princess, honestly! I'm fine being a prince."
Faust shook her head and grumbled something under her breath as she continued, "Well, you certainly put me in quite the predicament please sit and let me explain."
Shining unconsciously sat down on the chair across from this alicorn princess. He looked around, chuckling as a thought crossed his mind. "This must be some dream I was reading that book, fell asleep, and now I'm just dreaming of actually being in some academy for princesses.”
The mare eyed Shining Armor and was quite stern with her response. "What are you talking about? This is a school, and you won't be sleeping through classes here. Now I don't have all day, and I wish to make sure you're ready for your first day."
"Wait, I told you I don't want to attend your school. I just wrote Gleaming Shield down as a joke!" Shining shouted back, being quite serious.
Lauren Faust shook her head and explained, "it's too late for that once you sign your name in my book it's magically binding. You'll have to attend the entire course and pass your final exam to break the spell. After that, you can decide whether to be a princess or not."
Faust then lit her horn, and a cute filly's school uniform with a blue and white plaid skirt suddenly appeared. What made it more embarrassing a heart along with "Princess in Training" was printed on the front of the blouse. "See, we already have your uniform all prepared!"
Shining Armor got up in disgust upon seeing the uniform and shouted angrily. "Seriously! I'm not wearing that!"
Faust squeaked as she rose up with a blush. "Oh my! I'm so sorry I forgot something only mares can be princesses."
Shining gave a long sigh of relief and continued, "Yeah, see! I'm a stallion, so I can't be a princess, so can I just go now?"
Faust scoffed in an annoyed tone. "We have teachers with lesson plans, all prepared for you. You're not getting out of this that easy."
Tendrils of magic swirled around the stallion and he slowly felt his body change, with years of physical training started to melt from his body slimming him down, as his bones and muscles around his body and muscles shifted and made him grunt in pain. While his body continued to morph into that of a mare, his face became rounder as the bones and muscles contracted and morphed around his face. He cried out a bit from the pain but it wasn’t terrible as the two giant white feathery wings that sprouted out from his back. Before Shining could say or do anything, he then squeaked, feeling the weight of a tiara placed on his head and the mare's school uniform dressed over his body. The prince slowly held up a hoof to see his reflection how round his new face was with longated eyelashes and a flowing mane cried out. "What did you do to me!"
He then gasped, hearing his voice being so light and fluttery almost similar to that of his wife, Princess Cadance.
Faust slowly walked around Shining and examined her work blushing to see she added a bit of fat to Shining's rump and continued. "Seems the uniform fits you well even as a mare. Now for tomorrow, you will wear this and your tiara before re-entering the book, and if you need help with your new gender, just have your sister or mother help you out.”
Shining got up in pure anger he narrowed his gaze at Faust and shouted, "turn me back into a stallion right now!"
Faust shoved a hoof up, and Shining obediently sat back down as she continued. "Sorry, but as I told you before, once you start this course it won't end until you pass your test. Until then, how long you remain a mare is up to you. Now your first class will start at exactly noon tomorrow so don't be late. If you don't show up on time or if the teacher thinks you didn't grasp the lesson, you'll have to retake the class the following day."
"This is just a stupid dream! I'm going to wake up!" Shining cried out as he ran across the office and threw open the door only to see a bright light as it exploded and engulfed him. He then felt himself fall through into an endless void of light.
Shining woke up in his bed with the strange book flailing over and down on to the ground with a thump. The prince then waited for a while, not wanting to look into any mirrors. Even though he can't see his reflection, he felt the oddities in his new body. The wings that were now on either side of him, his lush mane now flowing around his head, and some new feelings in his underbelly he dare not explore. But the sun was climbing in the sky, and it was only a matter of time before his parents and sister woke up. So Shining had no choice but to slowly rise from his bed and looked across his room to a mirror nearby. Instead of the sturdy bulky prince, he saw what almost looked like his sister with the dark and light striped blue mane flowing around his head. A rounded out face with two white feathery wings slowly flexed out over his new body. Shining knew deep down that what happened last night wasn't just a dream and slowly puts his front hooves to his face and screamed out in rage.
Hearing the odd screams from Shining's room, Twilight rushed out of bed and slammed her brother's door open, shouting, "Cadance you ok!" Twilight gasped, seeing this strange looking mare before her. She was older and looked stunning. Still, the color of her coat, the dark blue mane, those blue eyes, the long beautiful white feathery wings, and the cutie mark sold the fact that this alicorn mare standing before her was none other than her older brother.
"Sh...Shining! What happened here?" Twilight asked, looking around the room, thinking some evil sorcerer was lurking about.
The prince was quite embarrassed with his sister seeing him like this. He thrusted his new dainty hooves over her face with her cheeks flushed pink. “Don’t look at me! Just go!”
Twilight was unsure of what to do but she stayed put and replied, “Sh...Shining Armor listen i’m here to help..t..tell me what happened?”
All the embarrassment suddenly left the stallion as he lifted the tome with his magic that turned him into a mare and shouted, "this is what happened! Your stupid book turned me into a mare!"
Shining threw the tome across the room and Twilight gasped, catching it with her magic and shouting, "Hey! Don't take your anger out on books!"
She coddled it like a newborn foal and whispered, "it's ok. Shiny didn't mean to do that; he's just being a big meanie."
The quite flustered Shining simply plopped down on the bed, muttering under his breath. "Where did you find that accursed book, anyways?
Twilight looked down a bit unnerved as to how she got to the book and explained, "After my coronation, Celestia gifted it to me, saying it helped her out a long time ago…" The princess then levitated it and flipped through the pages as she whispered to herself. "Huh? Why are all the pages blank?"
The prince's eyes went wide with confusion and exclaimed, "what!" He lit his horn, levitated the book back with his magic, flipped through it, and was astonished that every one of the book's pages was empty. "I swear they weren't empty before!"
"I know! I was reading the book last night!" Twilight shouted as she took the book and turned it over and gasped, seeing the back cover had "From the enchanted bookstore in Canterlot" printed on the back. She shoved a hoof to her face and shouted, "Oh my Celestia!
Shining gulped now, getting nervous and asked, "enchanted bookstore, what does that mean?"
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh and started to explain. "Ok...look, there's a strange enchanted bookstore here in Canterlot. A few days ago, my friends and I were sucked into an enchanted comic book Spike had and long story short, we had to defeat the evil villain Maneiac to escape…"
The prince had to regain his composure as he talked about what happened the night before. "Ok...last night I saw a strange alicorn princess named Faust, and she told me that I have to attend this academy to break the enchantment. She told me that I have to attend classes and then take a test. When I'm done, I could return to being a stallion."
Twilight shook her head and sighed a little as she felt bad for her brother as she explained, "Then you have to attend these classes and take this test. I think there's no other way to get around this."
"Why can't we ask Celestia! She obviously must've known this stupid book was enchanted!" Shining exclaimed suddenly, her eyes gleaming with hope that this maybe a solution to her predicament.
Twilight shrugged but she was also feeling abit nervous as whether Celestia knew about the enchantment as she responded, "the problem is I've been reading this book for a while, and it never did anything to me. I would assume she didn't know it was enchanted either."
Shining tore at his mane and whined, "ugh, why did it turn me into a mare then!? I don't want mom or dad seeing me like this!”
Twilight couldn't help but snicker, thinking of how her parents were going to react but then calmed herself and explained in a rational tone. "Shining... that'll be almost impossible, it'll probably be best if we let them know what happened and have you stay here where nopony can see you like this."
The former stallion crossed his hooves with an adorable pout and grumbled, "just wonderful.”
Twilight saw how distressed her brother was, but she didn't know how to console him at the moment, so she slowly walked out of the door and closed it slowly behind her.
The princess then went to the bathroom to take a shower as she pondered to herself. "I don't get why the book didn't suck me into it? And why do I have a vague feeling I know this Faust Shining spoke of." Twilight continued to ponder these questions as she left while Shining sat on his bed, trying to figure out what to do next.
A few hours later, in the main living room, both Nightlight and Twilight Velvet were stunned, seeing their son as a mare but an alicorn princess. At the same time, Twilight explained things, and Shining added context to his experience with the enchanted book.
Twilight Velvet blushing, seeing how cute her son was as a mare as she replied, "so...um...from what you and Twilight explained, you'll be like this for a while? I mean for how long exactly a week...a month?”
"Mom, I'll do these stupid princess classes for a few days and after some stupid test I'll be a stallion again," Shining responded abruptly, having a feeling his mom is going to annoy him the most. Twilight Velvet looked a bit disappointed and replied, 'well don't rush dear, I'm sure those courses could be quite difficult. Besides, I would love to do some shopping with you or help you out with your new mane."
"Mom, please! I'm not going out in public like this, and secondly, I've been around my wife long enough to know how to brush a mane!” Shining snapped back feeling more bashful then he has been since becoming a mare.
Night Light saw his wife was clearly embarrassing Shining and came over. "Come, honey, let's leave him be and make the kids breakfast."
"Oh, yes! I'm going to make something special!" Twilight Velvet cheered as she bounced off.
Twilight shook her head, seeing how her mom was acting so inappropriately regarding the whole situation. The princess then turned to Shining with his new wings still spread out and stumbling around like a chicken. She had to stop herself from laughing as she asked, "Um...do you want me to help you with anything before your first class starts?"
Shining spread his new wings completly outward and asked, "c...can you at least help me with these things first! I kept stumbling into the walls walking over here."
Twilight came over and replied cheerfully, “sure; I'll give you a quick tutorial." She then helped Shining slowly fold his wings against his body and explained, "see you tuck them in against your body, and they don't get in the way as much. I mean, since you're not going outside for the next few days, I doubt you'll even have to learn how to fly."
Shining gave a small nod but secretly wished he could fly just a little. But Twilight had a point he didn't want anypony seeing him as a mare either. So he walked around the living room with his wings all tucked to his sides, getting used to the feeling of his new apendages. "They aren't terrible, you know. I think I can get used to them."
"Yeah walking with them is easy, flying on the other hoof is a pain; trust me, i've been practicing with Rainbow Dash for a while and I’m still having trouble with the basics.” Twilight grumbled, having too many memories of herself crashing and running into clouds.
Shining snickered thinking of his sister crashing and leaving craters over Ponyville. The mare then squeaked as she felt a pang in her bladder as she needed to use the bathroom and stammered, "well..thanks...I need to um...pee…"
Twilight gave a sly grin and responded in a mocking tone, "what? Does little Shiny need his big sissy how to use the potty?"
"No, of course not!" Shining shouted as he stomped off down the hall. He knew how to use the bathroom sitting down! It was just the feeling of it is what made him nervous, realizing that the one thing that all stallions had was gone. The former stallion shook his head and calmed his nerves. "It's just for a few days; then, this will all be just a bad dream."
Shining walked off still having a feeling of dread wondering if he failed this course was he doomed to be a mare forever?