The next day...
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with you, Dusk," the informed him. "Truth be told though, magic's not my area of expertise. Neither is... transformation into an alicorn prince."
"I know... it's just, Lord Solaris told me I was supposed to become one," Dusk Shine explained to the doctor as he sat on the patient's table. He managed to sleep well last night, though he had stayed up late researching alicorns, magic and transformation after Bubble Berry's party. Completely out of options, he was too nervous to simply wait for an answer from Lord Solaris, so he checked himself in to see a doctor.
"He'd know more about that than I would," the doctor said, holding up Dusk's chart. "You're in good health though, from what I see."
That didn't console Dusk. "He said it was supposed to be my destiny," he said, his gaze dropping to the floor.
"Well, destiny's not really my field either but I know it's a little more complicated than just a routine check-up," the doctor stated. "Myself, I wasn't so sure about my own path a long time ago."
Dusk looked up to him. "You weren't?"
"Not at all. You see my cutie mark?" the doctor pulled up his coat and pointed to his flank. "You tell me this isn't hard to figure out. In all my time as a medical doctor, I'm still not completely sure what it means." The doctor's cutie mark was a stethoscope and he wore one around his neck.
"Well, it's a stethoscope isn't it? Doesn't it mean you're pretty much supposed to be good at using one? You are a doctor," Dusk said.
The doctor chuckled and held up the object around his neck. "Being able to use one of these doesn't make me a good doctor, Dusk Shine. A lot of different ponies use these in different medical fields. There are many different types of doctors, I'd be hard-pressed to try to fulfill every role."
Dusk glanced at his own cutie mark. He remembered back to the day he earned it during his entrance exam into Lord Solaris's School for Advanced Unicorns. That was the day he met Barbara, too. His cutie mark was some sort of purple star, it went along with his name. But thinking about it... he wasn't sure what it exactly meant, either. Considering how he'd earned it, obviously it had something to do with magic. But what?
He started thinking about his friends' cutie marks. Applebuck's was three apples... but what did that mean? Was he good at harvesting apples or selling them? He'd had difficulty with both prospects in the past, Dusk recalled. Elusive's was three gems but he was a fashion designer, not a jeweler. While he did bejewel outfits sometimes, he was a dressmaker. So shouldn't his cutie mark be clothes?
The floodgates opened on Dusk Shine. Butterscotch's cutie mark was butterflies and yet he bonded with so many animals. In fact, Dusk hardly ever saw Butterscotch do anything with butterflies. Bubble Berry had balloons and that did make sense with the parties. But Rainbow Blitz's cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow bolt coming out of it. What did that even mean? Blitz was Ponyburg's weather manager but he couldn't make the clouds fire bolts of rainbow-colored lightning. The sonic rainboom did make sense and maybe he did resemble a bolt of rainbow lightning when he flew... but what did it mean?
"Cutie marks are just too vague," Dusk realized. "These things on our flanks decide our fates but we can't tell what those decisions are! Not for sure, anyway! So, why listen to what some mark on your backside says?" he asked, getting up.
"I wouldn't go that far, Dusk. I like to think of cutie marks as like a guide. You have your special talent already, when you discover it, you get your mark. But just knowing your talent isn't enough, you also have to find out how to apply it to your life. That way, we can all work to make Equestria a better place," the doctor said with a smile.
"Yesterday, all my friends' cutie marks were switched. Their destinies changed because of a magic spell I'd been working with. It took me the whole day just to get things sorted out. What if..." Dusk thought. "What if I'd failed?"
"There are a lot of what-ifs. But you succeeded, that's what matters."
Dusk didn't drop the line of thinking. "What if my mistake had been permanent? Our destinies could've been changed forever."
"Or maybe it was your destiny... to fix your friends' destinies," he said with a smile. "You took matters into your own hooves and did what you knew was right, Dusk. I think if you keep doing that, things will work out just fine for you and all your friends."
Dusk looked down again. "I guess so..."
The doctor could tell he was still upset. "Maybe you should take your destiny into your own hooves again, Dusk. Take a vacation, invite your friends. Get away from Ponyburg for a while and all this talk of fulfilling your duties."
Dusk Shine thought about that. A vacation... would that really solve his problems? It might be a good idea to let Lord Solaris continue to research whatever went wrong. There was nothing he could do to speed up time, he knew that from experience.
"Now, are there any other philosophical quandaries I can help you out with?"
He smiled nervously. "No, I... thank you, I'm gonna get going now."
"Take it easy, Dusk Shine," the doctor told him as the purple unicorn opened the door and left. Well, it hadn't been a complete waste of time. Dusk still pondered the implications of his fate, his obligation to Equestria as he walked to the reception area. He realized he was obsessing over this issue and there was little he could do about it. Maybe that was his destiny? To fixate on the tiny things that went wrong in his life to the point he drove himself insane!
He stopped himself. No, he had to have faith that Lord Solaris would find the answer. He had to have faith in his friends, faith in himself. But something to preoccupy his time might be nice.
Another unicorn walked out of the room adjacent to his and headed down the hallway towards Dusk.
"Hey there," the orange colt greeted him.
"Hi there," Dusk said back, still walking towards him.
The orange unicorn did a 180 and started walking with Dusk Shine. "Couldn't help but overhear you talking in the room next door. Name's Sundown, Sundown Gleam," he introduced himself as they walked.
Dusk started to do the same. "I'm-"
"Prince Dusk Shine," the unicorn finished. "Who hasn't heard about you and your friends?" The pony asked.
"Wait," Dusk Shine said, stopping. "I'm not a prince... what made you think I was?"
The orange pony stopped. "You mean you're not?"
Dusk shook his head. "No, I... hey, wait a minute." Something was too suspicious about this situation. "How did you know I was supposed to become an alicorn prince?"
The unicorn took a step back. "You were supposed to become an alicorn too? With the wings?"
"How do you know about all of this? I didn't even know about it until last night."
Sundown looked nervous. "I... umm... okay, you caught me," he said. "Lord Solaris sent me. I was a student of his a long time ago but I... turned down becoming a prince."
That was a shock to Dusk. "You turned down becoming a prince? How do you even do that?"
"I... just did," Sundown shrugged awkwardly. "But I still work for Lord Solaris and he told me to tell you that this all has to do with your Component of Magic."
"The Component of Magic? Is there something wrong with it?"
"Uh, yes!" the unicorn quickly answered. "And he sent me here to check it for you. I know how to fix it so that you can fulfill your duty to Equestria and take on your role as a prince!"
"And an alicorn?" Dusk added.
"Sure, whatever. So, where is the Components of Magic right now?" the orange colt asked.
"It's back at my house," Dusk said, still skeptical.
"Wonderful! We can go there now and get you all... princified!"
"Okay..." Dusk remarked. He was more than a little suspicious about the orange unicorn's story. How did he know about what happened last night? How did he know Dusk was supposed to become a prince? Ever since yesterday morning, it was like his world turned upside down. Nothing made sense any more. Still, he led Sundown through Ponyburg back to his house.
Sundown laughed as they approached. "You live in a tree?"
"Yeah, they don't tell you at first but you have to water it almost every day," Dusk explained. "This was originally the center of town, they planted this tree from the Everfree Forest," Dusk explained.
"Don't you worry about squirrels or something?" asked.
"Well, termites are a problem sometimes but Butterscotch takes care of those. It's just me, Barbs and Owlouisa."
"Right..." Sundance said. Dusk approached the door, still thinking about what the colt following him had said. As he opened the door and stepped inside, he reached a decision.
"You know, I don't think I need to be a prince. Or an alicorn," he told Sundown. "Not right now, anyway."
Sundown looked confused. "But... what about what Lord Solaris said?"
"That's just it, Sundance. I don't think there's anything wrong with the Components of Prosperity. I think it might be me," Dusk replied.
"What do you mean?" Sundown asked in disbelief.
"I... I don't think I'm ready to be an alicorn prince yet. I appreciate Lord Solaris sending you but I'm going to write to him myself and see what he says. Thank you for talking to me," Dusk said, stepping inside.
"Wait," Sundance blocked the door from closing with his hoof. "There... there still might be something wrong with the Component of Magic! I should at least take a look at it while I'm here!"
Dusk thought for a moment. "Well... I guess so." Reluctantly, he let the colt into his house.
"Wow," Sundance said, looking around. "That's a lot of books." Dusk walked over to the chest containing the Components of Prosperity and lifted the lid. The six magical artifacts gleamed before them.
"These are all of them. Lord Solaris left them here ever since we rehabilitated Disarray and-"
Sundance almost pushed Dusk out of his way as he walked over. His gaze was fixated on the Component of Magic in particular. It glowed and levitated out as Sundown lifted it with his magic.
"All this time... and to think, it would be this easy," Sundown said, examining it in midair. The orange pony seemed to be enamored by the object. Well, it was one of the legendary artifacts that protected Equestria.
"Do you see anything wrong with it?" Dusk asked.
"Yeah, yeah I do. Look here," Sundown held it over to Dusk.
The purple unicorn picked it up with his own magic. "What is it?"
"Turn it over, look at the band," Sundance said. "It's there, you'll see it."
Dusk did as instructed but still didn't see anything. "I don't see anything wrong. What should I be looking for?"
"Another destiny."
Dusk looked up a split-second too late. The bookcase fell down on him, crushing him to the ground and covering him in a pile of books.
"Later, Dumb Shine," Dusk heard Sundown say. He was disoriented; he fought against the weight of the bookshelf on top of him. Using his magic, he lifted it off of him. What the hay just happened?
The door to his house hung open. Sundown was nowhere to be seen. Frantically, Dusk looked amongst the books scattered at his hooves for his crown, the Component of Magic. It was gone.