//------------------------------//
// "OH SWEET CELESTIA YOU'VE GOT TO FIX THIS!" 
// Story: Sunspawned 
// by Masterweaver 
//------------------------------//

	"Fix what? I don't..." Sunburst shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"The spell, the--the Independent Construct Kinesis Equation! It's gone wrong!"

The stallion looked up at the mare, who was patting herself down quickly. "Wait, hold on, how do you know about that? Because I swear I did nothing wrong," he added quickly as she turned to look at him. "I only got the spell for, uh, theoretical study--"

"No, nonono. No, you can't remember that!" She pointed at herself. "I remember that! I remember casting the spell!"

"You have? Oh, good. Maybe you can tell me how you dealt with this headache... wait." Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "What do you mean I can't remember that?"

"I mean you shouldn't be able to remember that! According to the text the intellectual capacity of the construct is limited by the magical potential of the component framework and I know that my magical potential isn't that great so the ability to remember things I remember is outside the framework of the simple mind of the construct--"

"Wait, wait, hold on. Who are you?"

"I'm Sunburst!"

The stallion's jaw dropped. "That's impossible! I'm Sunburst!"

"No, that's impossible! You're a construct, only you were supposed to be female and somehow I got turned into a mare--!"

"Well, maybe you're the construct! I mean, I remember casting the spell--"

They stared at each other, wide-eyed.

"...you shouldn't be cognizant yet," Sunburst whispered in shock.

"Yes! Exactly! I'm cognizant so I can't be a construct--"

"Unless something went wrong with the spell! I--" Sunburst stood, turning to the desk. "Notes. Got to get my notes--"

"They're my notes!" the mare cried in protest. "You're the construct!"

Sunburst sighed. "Okay, look, we both think of ourself as Sunburst, right? So, until we can figure out exactly what happened, they're both of our notes."

"...I can agree to that...."

The stallion nodded, looking at through the spell. "Hmm, got the magic component, reduced the variables to casting level, took a mane hair from... well, from the mare's bathing house..."

"Yes, yes, it was very embarrassing and terrifying and it doesn't explain why I got turned into a mare--wait, do you think one of the female students put a curse on the bathhouse to transform intruding stallions?"

"...it might be simpler then that," Sunburst mused. "After all, we got the hair to purposefully alter the baseline spell; without it we'd just get a direct copy of ourself, but incorporating the residual magic into the formula was supposed to, you know, make a female construct." He turned around, gesturing. "And, look! You're a mare. You don't have my white spots, and your mane is longer, and you've got a yellow streak in it. We went in knowing that the construct wasn't going to be a direct copy, maybe the residual magic magnified the spell to the point where you were created with the direct knowledge base of the caster?"

"Oh come on!" the mare protested. "The only pony that would have residual magic that high on a hair of all things would be Princess Celestia! Do you really think Princess Celestia would visit a communal bathhouse?"

"...well," Sunburst pointed out delicately, "there is the matter of your cutie mark..."

"What are you talking aboSWEET CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT ON MY FLANK." The mare started chasing after her own hips. "This isn't my cutie mark! This is--this is a giant fire balance symbol in the shape of the sun! How could my cutie mark change, that--that's a feat of magic beyond recognition!"

"It... could have been created as an amalgam between my mark and that of the other magical donor," Sunburst suggested. "Assuming that you were, in fact, the construct that was intended to be made."

She stopped chasing after herself, staring at him.

"...oh sweet Celestia. You're right."

After a moment, she sunk to the floor. "I... I really am a construct, aren't I?"

"Well... yes?" Sunburst shrugged awkwardly. "I mean, you're a very pretty construct..."

She glared at him.

"...and that was probably a stupid thing for me to say." The stallion folded his ears back. "Geez. I guess I really am terrible at talking to mares, even when the mare is me..."

"Yeah, I guess..." The construct took a breath, and slowly let it out. "I mean... I just... I don't know how, but I do have all my--well, all of your memories, I guess. It's just... I'm still sort of thinking of myself as, you know, a stallion, and even though I know I'm not I just... I don't even exist in anybody's memories. Everything I know is... I'm not.... I'm this... thing, now. And I don't even know what that means."

Sunburst nodded vaguely. "I guess I can see where you're coming from..."

There was some awkward silence.

"...would you like a name?"

"What?"

"A name." Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "I mean, I was going to make one up anyway, but I figured--"

"I think," the construct interrupted, "that I'll make my own name up, thank you." She shook her head. "If I'm going to... exist... I don't want to be Minty Fresh for the rest of my life."

"Hey!" Sunburst protested jokingly. "Minty Fresh is a good name!"

"For a one-off date, maybe--"

The construct's breath hitched.

"Sweet Celestia, the date!" She stood up suddenly. "The gala's in three hours!"

"Uh, are you sure you want to--?"

"Look, I was literally made to be a date, and I--I guess I owe you that much." The construct flipped her mane. "It's going to be weird as Tartarus, don't get me wrong, since I'm basically dating myself--at least you have a new face to look at--but there was too much planning going into this to just drop it. Where's that dress we ordered...?"