Amongst the books of the Ponyville library an Earth pony stallion sat with a nervous look on his face, his mountain meadow coat stained with sweat. He blew an errant strand of mustard yellow mane out his eyes and drummed his forehooves on the floor.
The sound of a door opening, followed by voices, shocked the stallion into a statue-like state. Hoofsteps resonated throughout the library as two ponies came downstairs, talking as they walked.
"Is he even here yet, Twilight?" a male voice asked. "Because if he is, he's being very quiet."
"Spike told me that he arrived some time ago," Twilight replied. "But it has been a while, so perhaps he's reading something? You know how I get when I'm engrossed in a good book, Geo, so perhaps our guest is the same?"
The two of them entering the room prompted the stallion to leap from his seat and smile at the two alicorns now looking at him, each of them sporting a smile of their own.
One was Twilight Sparkle: the personal protégé of Princess Celestia, and recently crowned Princess of Equestria. At her side stood her husband Geo: a former human who was the first of his kind to set foot in Equestria for a thousand years. He had been transformed into an alicorn by Princess Celestia at the same time Twilight had been, and was now light grey with a brown mane and tail. His cutie mark – a shield with a heart on it – symbolised his willingness to protect the ones he loves, such as his family and friends.
"Let me guess," Geo said. "You must be Sweet Tale." The stallion nodded and bowed. Geo rolled his eyes and chuckled, motioning with a forehoof for Sweet Tale to stand. "There's no need for that." He sighed. "I may be a Prince now, but I still don't consider myself to be above my fellow man... er, I mean, my fellow ponies."
Sweet Tale straightened himself up and grinned. After a moment of silence, Twilight spoke. "Now then," she said softly. "We understand that you wish to hear the story of our transformation, so that you can write a book about it?"
"That is correct, Your Highness," Sweet Tale replied. "I think that everypony needs to know your story. And speaking as a writer, I would be honoured if you would let me be the one who writes it."
He gestured to his cutie mark, a yellow quill in front of a blue crescent moon, and nodded towards a nearby saddlebag which was full of parchment and ink.
"I see that you've come prepared," Twilight giggled. "I guess I'm not the only one who is serious about their note-taking."
Sweet Tale chuckled and walked over to the saddlebag, taking out the items he needed before sitting in the middle of the floor and putting the quill in his mouth.
"Could we get started?" he asked. "I don't want to take up too much of your – no doubt valuable – time." Twilight and Geo both sat in front of him. Sweet Tale pointed at Geo and opened his notebook. "So, Prince Geo, how did you cope with the sudden change? Being turned into an alicorn after being a human for so long can't have been easy for you. Would you like to tell me about how the two of you worked around it?"
"I'd be happy to," Geo replied.
And then he started his story.