Princess Celestia and Dashing spoke at length about the situation at hand. Then Celestia asked “One thing I’ve been wondering is how you are able to convince the town that you are not royalty.” Dashing replied “I haven’t entirely; there are still quite a few ponies in town who still try to bow.” Celestia responded, “What do you plan on doing about it?” He replied “I’ve found a spell that allows me to disguise myself as either an Earth pony, a Unicorn or a Pegasus. It’s not a difficult spell, but it is a bit taxing.” Celestia seemed intrigued by this, “Show me.” Dashing nodded and performed the spell to hide his horn. “It’s still there, in an ethereal state. And it limits my magic output to a fraction of normal. I can perform mid-level remote manipulation, but any more is beyond me with the disguise on. I have a name for each form as well. When I am a Pegasus, my name is Star Shine. ” Celestia reached over and waved her foreleg through the area where Star Shines horn was, not touching anything. “That is quite a useful spell. I might have you teach it to me. Now can you disguise your wings too?”
Star replied “Not until I drop the disguise around my horn. If I want to go as an Earth pony, I have to first hide my wings then my horn. I was planning on going out as a Pegasus anyway.” Celestia then asked a burning question, “What about your cutie mark?” He looked at his, and replied “From what I can tell, it’s magic in its most primal state. I couldn’t change it without understanding the principles behind its origin and the mechanics by which it forms.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, “How is it that you know so much about magic, despite only having it for one week.” Star replied “I haven’t a clue. Maybe it’s some form of innate knowledge?”
After a few more question from Celestia, she took her leave, dispelling the soundproofing spell and the window blackout spell. Star Shine left the library and started to fly, nearly knocking Rainbow off a cloud, again. “HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU’RE FLYING!!!” He laughed at her misfortune and continued flying around. He tried thinking of an excuse as to why he was flying around, and then he thought “I don’t need an excuse.” He felt a tingle on the back of his neck start to build, and then a massive jolt of pain raced through his entire body. Once the initial shock wore off, he became aware that he was on the ground, surrounded by a small group of Pegasi. He then became aware of the pungent smell of burnt hair and singed flesh. “ouch. What just happened?” One Pegasus, named Cloud Dancer spoke up and said “You were struck by lightning. One of the Pegasi in town thought it would make a funny joke.” Star heard Rainbow in the distance “DERPY!!!!!” Star rolled over and started to laugh, drawing looks of confusion from the group. “Aren't you mad?” Star replied “How could I be? There was no way she could’ve known what would go wrong?” It was then that a Grey Pegasus with a blonde mane jumped on top of Star. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please don’t make then send me away. I just don’t know what went wrong. Please don’t let them take my daughter away.” It became obvious that she was crying her heart out. “Why do they call you Derpy?” She replied “It’s because of my eyes, a lot of Pegasi made fun of me for it in flight school. Are you going to laugh at me?” Star replied in a soothing tone of voice “No, I’m not. It makes you unique, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. What’s your real name?” she spoke up, “M-M-My real name is Ditzy Doo.” Star said “What a nice name. Please get off me and I’ll tell them not to hurt you.” She complied and Star stood up, folding his wings back against his side. Rainbow came running through the crowd “When I get my hooves on you…” She was stopped by Star before she could get to Ditzy. “All has been forgiven.” Rainbow looked at him, confused “You forgave her?” He nodded, “just like that?” he nodded again, Rainbow then thought she could at get some entertainment out of him. “Are you really a Pegasus?” he nodded, “Is you name really Star Shine?” he nodded, she choked back her laugh “Do you have a crush on Twilight Sparkle?” He nodded again, and then quickly realized that he had fallen for the same trick twice.
He groaned in annoyance and took off. “So what if I do, it’s not their place to tell me otherwise.” He spoke to himself. He let the disguise spell placed over his horn dispel. Landing on a cloud, he collapsed and thought about the trick that had been played on him, “How could I fall for that twice? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…...I don’t remember the rest of that ridiculous saying.” He kept saying to himself. He rolled over onto his back, “Oh, these are quite soft.” He felt himself starting to drift, his eyes becoming heavier and heavier. Eventually he fell asleep on the cloud, a stray cloud.
“Hey, wake up.” Dashing felt a hoof poking him in the side. “Wake up.” The voice continued. He complied and woke up. As he moved to get up he felt a sharp pain hit his body. He jumped up and yelped in pain. “What happened?” He looked over to see a Pegasus in a weather uniform flying close to the cloud with her forelegs crossed. “You fell asleep on a stray. Where are you from?” He replied “Ponyville.” She shook her head and said “I hate to say this, but you’re in Canterlot now.” Dashings eyes narrowed, “Really?” he asked weakly. The weather pony, said “I hate to interrupt your freak out session, but I need to get rid of that cloud you’re sitting on.” He replied “oh, okay.” He hopped off, and remembered that he had dispelled the disguise around his horn, he then asked, “Aren't you curious about why an alicorn had fallen asleep on a cloud?” she replied “I couldn't care less, although you might want to find some way to disguise yourself.”
He landed on the streets of Canterlot, and wasn't really surprised by the city, but was surprised by the way these high-class snobs carried themselves. Dashing decided to check out the castle. As he approached the gate, a guard approached him and said “Princess Luna is expecting you, follow me.” Dashing decided against asking questions and followed the guard.