Intentions

by Heesman

Prologue

It was a late summer morning when Twilight Sparkle was studying outdoors by a giant apple tree. She had to get a change of pace from the stuffy old library as Spike cleaned it up. Out of nowhere, a giant flash of light broke her silent focusing on the levitating book in front of her. She quickly looked behind her only to find an orange unicorn stallion passed out on the ground.
- Hello? Are you alright? Wake up!
Twilight gave the unicorn a soft nudge to his side. No reaction.
Hmm... maybe I can use a wake-up spell.
Twilight slightly lowered her horn and was about to begin channel her magic as the orange unicorn let out a soft moan.
- Mmmhh... wh-what? Where am I?
The orange unicorn slowly lifted his head and looked around himself.
- Oh goodness! You're awake! I was starting to get a little worried there.
Twilight smiled at the confused unicorn in front of her.
- Who are you? Where am I? WHY do I have such an intense headache?
The unicorn rubbed his forehead with his hoof.
- Well, I don't know who you are or the cause of your headache, but my name is Twilight Sparkle and you are just outside of our quiet peaceful little village we call Ponyville.
Twilight pointed her hoof at the direction of Ponyville.
May I ask what your name is?
The orange unicorn looked down on the ground.
- ''My name...? I-i can't remember my name...''
The orange unicorn thought to himself as he wrinkled his face due to the immense headache. After a while he looked up at Twilight Sparkle who was standing in front of him, looking, as if examining him.
I don't know what my name is.
The orange unicorn was looking slightly confused, but not as confused as Twilight Sparkle.
- You don't know you own name?
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the statement she just received.
- No.
The unicorn shook his head slightly, only to be interrupted by his pounding headache.
Argh! My head, it hurts so much.
- Come, let's get to my house, I think I can get something together to at least help you get rid of the pain in your head.
That said, Twilight Sparkle and the orange unicorn began walking towards Ponyville and into her library. The two unicorns made a huge discovery about the amnesia stricken orange unicorn. After numerous failed attempts, it seemed obvious the orange unicorn could not use magic. Not even capable of the most simple levitation spell, rendering him unable to do anything more than an earth pony could. Twilight was dumbfounded by this and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia about the matter. Twilight quickly received a reply saying the princess, as well as her sister, would come to Ponyville and examine the matter further by themselves.

After a few hours of waiting, a flying carriage could be seen flying towards Ponyville from Canterlot. The carriage was pulled by two unicorn stallions in shining gold armor. On the carriage were two ponies that clearly were bigger than other ponies. One was white with a multicolored mane and tail which seemed to float by itself. The other one, slightly smaller than the white but still bigger than other ponies, was blue and had a blue mane and tail which also seemed to float by itself.

The two alicorns discussed the matter with Twilight Sparkle while the orange unicorn was just sitting quietly a small distance away, watching and listening to their conversation. After yet an hour of intense discussing they finally reached the point of a solution. A spell. A memory recall spell combined with a magic transfer spell that was so advanced and difficult to do that the two princesses along with Twilight Sparkle had to co-operate in order for it to work.

The three ponies readied themselves for this spell by gathering in front of the orange unicorn who only sat still and watched what was happening. The white alicorn initiated the spell as her horn brightly began glowing yellow. She was soon followed by the blue and purple shimmer from the others as their magic combined and shot towards the orange unicorn who barely got time to blink from the surprise.

The massive amount of energy surged around and throughout the orange unicorn as he suddenly began to levitate on the spot he earlier sat on. The intensity grew as papers and books began to circle along with the extreme flow of energy. Everything ended as the energy sphere around the orange unicorn exploded, knocking books out of their shelves. The orange unicorn slowly levitate back down to the solid floor. He looked at the other ponies with a wide grin of excitement as his eyes suddenly began glowing from purple energy, shifting to blue, then to yellow as it faded away.
- Ahahaha! It's working! I can feel it. The power is flowing through my veins.
The orange unicorn stood up on his hind legs as his horn began glowing. Enveloping him in a yellow sphere, transforming him. The orange unicorns appearance changed drastically. His spine suddenly cracked loudly, making it straighter than normal as well as longer. His hind legs grew thicker and longer as the front legs became thinner. All of his four hooves mutated as additional body parts grew out from his changed front and rear hooves. His tail vanished, his mane shrunk, leaving only hair atop and at the back of his head. His coat faded away, revealing most of his body bare skinned with few instances of hair here and there. As a final change, his horn shrunk back into his head.

Everything subsided when the transformation seemed complete making smoke slowly rise from the orange unicorns new appearance. The changed unicorn looked at himself.
- Yes... this looks familiar. Wait! Familiar!
He suddenly shone up, ignoring the presence of the others as he began talking to himself.
Hah... haha... hahaha! My memory! I can remember! I remember everything now, my entire life. Kinder garden! My friends! My family! Everyone I've ever known!
Reaching his higher positioned limbs into the air as he screamed.
I REMEMBER WHO I AM! HEAR ME WORLD! BECAUSE I! AM! SHIIIIINE YELLOWSOUL
Twilight Sparkle looked confused and scared as she tried talking with a trembling voice.
- Who-who are you? What happened to the unicorn? Most importantly, are you alright?
Shine calmed down and sighed loudly.
- I AM that unicorn. Or should I say, that unicorn is me. This is my true form. Yes, I am alright. A tad happy, is all.
Shine smiled widely as he changed back to the appearance of the orange unicorn. One of the unicorn guards entered the room and approached the white alicorn and whispered a few words in her ear. She then approached the two unicorns with her wings spread wide.
- Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I am happy me and my sister Luna could help your friend. But royal duty calls and we have to depart.
Twilight Sparkle bowed deeply as the two alicorns left the library. The two remaining unicorns discussed what they should do next. After a while, Shine decided he wanted to settle down with a house of his own in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle promised she could vouch for him so that he could get an honest job over at the Sweet Apple Acres.

The months passed and eventually Shine was getting quite popular around Ponyville, being the only pony who could shape-shift into an entirely different creature.

Shine had during the almost complete year he spent in Ponyville made many new friends. Among these, beside Twilight Sparkle, were Rainbow Dash the brave blue pegasus, Pinkie Pie the energetic pink earth pony, Rarity the fabulous white unicorn, Applejack the hard-working orange earth pony and Flutter Shy the timid yellow pegasus.

Since Shine had been very busy setting up an entirely new life in Ponyville, he had precious little time to spend on anything else than to get food on his table each and every day. But eventually he managed to get used to his daily routine including his very first real job.

After a month or so of planning he finally managed to set a schedule that would enable him to get to know his new friends a bit better. Little did he know that his new friends wanted to get to know Shine even better than he could ever imagine in his wildest dreams.