Prologue-00

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I wish I could fully recount the events, details lost to time, memories forgotten. Sometimes, I wonder if any of it really happened. I wish I knew if any of it was real or not. This is a story of love, happiness and generosity but also one of tragedy, loss and death. This is the story of Tim Strother.

It started out pretty much like any other day in life. You wake up, go to work, come home, eat and then go to sleep. The same old stuff on a different day, S.S.D.D. to put it bluntly. I went to work at the grocery store feeling that if I just got through my shift the day would pretty much end itself. I punch into the clock device indicating that my work shift had begun.

Now I’m not much for storytelling so I’m going to stop talking in the first-person and simply narrate the story from now on. After Tim had clocked in and told the manager, he began to start bagging the groceries for the customers. About 2 hours passed by without incident, then he noticed someone a bit odd walk into the store, they had on a ski mask and looked a bit nervous. He went over and asked “Can I help you with something?” The person seemed to jump slightly, then he seemed to realize it was just a question, he replied “No thanks, I’m sure I’ll find what I’m looking for.” Tim, feeling that he had done what he could, went on to check the shelves and see if any of them needed to be stocked.

About another hour later Tim noticed the strange person again, whoever they were, they were still shaking nervously. Eventually, the lunch rush came in and it was practically all hands on deck. Frantically bagging boxes of food and various fruits and veggies into appropriate bags had become easier the longer you work at a grocery store. Eventually the rush died down and Tim had noticed that another strange individual had walked into the store, they had on a ski mask just like the other and seemed very nervous. This time Tim didn't ask if they needed help, he just kept bagging groceries.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Tim noticed that the two individuals had gotten together and were talking to each, while out of earshot he could definitely tell something was wrong. The Manager came over and asked Tim to check the shelves, a task he was glad to take. While in the soda isle, Tim looked at the individuals with a bit of concern, the two didn't notice. Suddenly, they had pulled out pistols and shouted for everyone to get down, a command everyone followed, but Tim, being out of their field of view, hid for a moment to gather up the courage to do what needed to be done.

He carefully watched as the two gathered money and other valuables from trapped customers and store personal, He grabbed a particularly heavy soda box, knowing that it’s not what you’re hit with that matters, it’s how heavy it is and how fast it’s moving. He slipped into position behind an abandoned register, which had pretty much been gutted for parts but still offered a place to hide. He waited until the individual closest was looking away from him, then he made his move, running at the closest robber with the soda box held in a position to hit the individual before he could notice. Tim swung the box as hard as he could, he felt it hit the person in the head, the person was thrown into the nearby wall at a fairly high rate of speed, the robber hit the wall hard, and Tim heard something crack loudly, it wasn’t the wall.

He couldn’t relax just yet, there was another to be dealt with, the robber had watched his comrade hit the wall, and stood silently stunned for a second. Tim looked up at the other and started to run at him screaming at the top of his lungs as if in a battle cry. The robber had been forced out of his small daze by the scream, he leveled his gun at the attacker and fired three shots. Tim didn’t take notice that 2 of the shots had hit him, one hit his right lung, and the other had entered his liver. The adrenaline coursing through his body spiked up suddenly, keeping him conscious.

The robber, realizing that the attacker was still running at him tried running backwards, but he only stumbled slightly, leaving the door open for Tim to give him a solid hit in the head with the soda box, knocking the robber on the floor, but not knocking him out. Tim took the opportunity to kick the gun out of their hand and across the floor. Tim said to the robber “You just stay there unless you want to end up like your friend.”

The police and paramedics arrived shortly after to take the robber who was conscious into custody, the paramedics were tending to Tims gunshot wounds. One medic said to Tim “You’re either very brave or insane, taking them on like that.” Tim snarkly replied “or both”, He chuckled a little before a sharp pain in his chest reminded him of reality. The medic laughed slightly then noticed the pain in Tims chest. He said “We need to get you to a hospital so we can get the bullets out of your body.” Tim replied simply “no argument here.”

After spending a few day of complete boredom in the hospital, Tim had finally recovered from the ordeal. He had also elected to walk home, considering that the hospital was just a short walk from where he lived. On his way home, he started to feel like he was being followed. So Tim doubled his pace from a slow walk to a quick pace, or what would've been normal walking speed for him. As he rounded a corner he was confronted by a large sphere of light.

There was an outline of a figure inside of the sphere that seemed somehow familiar to him. He broke the silence asking “Hello?” The figure inside seemed to notice, simply saying “It is time.” Tim confused, asked “Time for what?” The figure ignored his question and stated “Step inside of the sphere and all of your question will be answered.” Tim, still apprehensive, slowly stepped into the sphere and found himself surrounded by light and found that he had to shield his eyes from the light as it started growing brighter and brighter, eventually getting so bright that he was forced to close his eyes to protect them. He started to feel a heat all over his body seconds before passing from the world of conscious thought. His last thought before unconsciousness consumed him was “What’s happening now?”

Chapter 1

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Tim woke up with a slight buzzing in his head and a loud ringing in his ears. “What happened to me?” He thought. He tried to stand up, but couldn’t as he could find his balance properly. He then thought “maybe I should try to open my eyes”. As he tried to open his eyes, he found himself shutting them quickly as the light stung his retinas something fierce. A few minutes had passed by, and he did nothing but think back to what had happened to him on that sidewalk.

He then heard a familiar voice, “Open your eyes, they should be adjusted by now”. Tim decided that the voice hadn’t led him wrong yet and opened his eyes more slowly this time to allow them more time to adjust. The light still stung his eyes as they opened, but not as badly as before. With his eyes opened fully and adjusted to the light, he decided to look around and was slightly surprised by what he saw.

A land full of color, and it felt more alive because of that. Tim felt a smile crawl onto his face and feeling of peace crept over him as he laid there on the ground. He then remembered to find out why he could stand up before. He looked at his legs to find out why he was still on the ground and was shocked to find that he didn’t have feet anymore, only what looked like a horses hooves. His legs had changed to a more horse-like structure. He then looked at his arms and found they were pretty much the same as his legs, changed to a more horse-like structure.

Tim then noticed another feeling of peace creep into him and he felt at ease again. Jokingly he thought “That explains why I can’t stand”. He let himself chuckle at the thought. He then noticed a small lake nearby, and he said to himself “I should go see how much I’ve changed”. He then got up onto all four of his legs finding that the position felt somehow natural to him. As he walked over to the pond, he began to smell the telltale odors of a small pond. The humidity doing wonders for his sinus’, as it was somewhat clogged.

As he got to the pond, he looked into it, and to his surprise, wasn’t surprised at what he saw, his entire body had taken a horse-like form. He then noticed something glowing from his forehead, and realized “Am I a unicorn?” it was then that he took notice of a pair of wings folded up on his sides. “Oh, how could I miss those.” More stating than asking.

It was then that he realized what had truly happened to him. He let the thought echo into his mind for a while. “I am an alicorn, I have become a pony.” Shortly after his epiphany, the glowing figure appeared on the lake in front of him. He started to ask a question but found himself hushed by the figure as it started to take on a form similar to his, only a little less than twice as tall. Being that the transformation had reduced his height to that of an average pony, about four feet tall or maybe about 1 to 2 meters at the top of the mane line.

The figure then said “Welcome to your new home. It is up to you to determine your new name in this world, find your place and then fulfill your true destiny.” Tim then asked, “Why have you brought me here?” The figure only chuckled and pointed its hoof in a direction saying “In that direction you will find a community called Ponyville, at the library you will find a young unicorn mare by the name of Twilight Sparkle, She can help you. Oh,” the figure laughed “and she’s about your age.” Tim just blushed slightly and the figure disappeared before Tim could ask another question. He remembered the direction to the Town, and started walking to it. He then said to himself “She didn’t say how far it was.”

While walking to the town, Tim had time to think about his new body. “Ok, I’m thinner than I was, which is a blessing in itself. I’m a teal blue alicorn with a dark blue mane with dark green streaks running through it. Once I get into town I should just act natural so I don’t draw any unwanted attention.” He then thought “HOW DO I ACT NATURAL?!?!?!?!?!”

He came into the outskirts of what he believed to be Ponyville, as he had passed what he instantly recognized as Fluttershys rustic, but humble house. Walking over a hill nearby Fluttershys house, Tim caught his first first-handed glimpse of Ponyville. It was quite the idyllic little town. He walked into the town trying not to notice some looks he was getting from some of the other ponies in town. He was walking around town for about an hour before he realized, “This is getting me nowhere fast, I’ll ask someone for directions.” He then took note of an earth-pony walking in his direction that he instantly recognized as Applejack. He walked over and asked “Excuse me, but do you know which way to the library?” She replied in her thick country accent “’Ah sure do, in fact ‘ah was just headin’ there maself. Why don’t ya come with me?” Tim replied “Sure, thanks.”

While the two were walking to the library on the other side of town, Applejack asked “’Ah ain’t seen you before, Ya new in town?” Tim replied, “You could say something like that.” She then asked “What’s your name?” Tim paused for a moment, and replied “I don’t know.” Applejack looked back at Tim with a look of confusion on her face “Ya don’t know you own name?” Tim just shook his head. Applejack then said “Maybe it is a good thing ya were headed fir the library, Twilight’ll definitely be able to help ya’ with your memory.” Tim simply said “Hopefully.”

Of course that was a lie, he knew his name was Tim, but he didn’t want to give away the fact that he wasn’t from this world. And that would definitely not be helpful in finding out why he was brought there in the first place.

Chapter 2

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Several more minutes passed, and then the pair found themselves at the Ponyville library, Applejack knocked once then walked in, Tim following gingerly. The two were surprised to find that a tall white and very regal looking alicorn standing, talking to the unicorn Tim recognized as Twilight. He overheard a portion, the alicorn saying “I want you to keep watch here in Ponyville.” Tim instantly recognized the alicorn as Princess Celestia after that point. Twilight then asked “Watch for what?” Celestia responded “I’m not sure, I felt a massive magical disturbance not too far from Ponyville, I’m going to investigate, and I fear something may have come through into our world.” Twilights jawed dropped, “Could it harm anypony?” she asked. Celestia simply said, “I’m not sure but I still need to investigate, and to make sure the rift stays closed.

It was then that Twilight and Celestia took notice of Tim and Applejack. And both of them bowed in respect, the princess simply nodded and the two raised back up. Celestia took notice of Tim, She asked “Who might you be?” Tim simply shrugged, Applejack said “’Ah think he’s got some sorta amnesirah or something like that.” Twilight responded “You mean amnesia?” Applejack nodded her head “Yeah, that one.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, her horn started to glow slightly and Tim yelped slightly as one of his wings unfolded of its own accord. Celestia walked over an inspected it with a vested interest.

Twilight asked “What’s wrong?” Celestia let her horn stop glowing and Tim folded his wing back to his side as if it was natural to him. The princess replied “Nothing, I need to be going. Good-bye my faithful student” she then left the library and flew off. Applejack then asked Twilight “Twilight, what in tarnation was that about?” she replied “I’m not sure. She seemed somewhat irritated when she saw yo……” It’s was then that Twilight looked at Tim and her jaw dropped. He simply asked “What?” Applejack asked with concern “You alright there sugar-cube? Ya look surprised about something.” Tim walked up and waved one of his forelegs in front of Twilight, he then poked her in the side with a hoof. Tim said jokingly “Twilight has left the building.” Applejack was confused by this statement, “What’re ya talking about she’s right th……..oh, I see what ya mean.” Applejack laughed quietly.

About an hour later, Twilight was still frozen, Applejack then said “’Ah think something’s wrong with her?” Tim replied “I think you’re right.” Twilight then made a sound resembling a squeak then collapsed unconscious. Applejack and Tim Ran over to her. Applejack said to Tim “we need to get her in her bed. Can ya use your magic to float her up to her bed?” Tim nervously said “I’ll try.” Tim then cleared his mind and focused on Twilights unconscious form in front of him and mentally created the image of her body being surrounded my magic and floating her up. Tim then noticed a glow around Twilights body as if it was responding to him, and it floated up just high enough to keep her hooves off the ground. Tim asked “Shall we?” Applejack nodded, Tim then said “you first, you know where you’re going.” Applejack then said,” alright, this way” and she started to walk up some stairs.

She led Tim to Twilights bedroom, and they walked in. Tim took notice of a green and purple baby dragon at a desk, and recognized him as Spike, Twilights assistant. Spike had heard them come in and hopped out from the chair and immediately noticed Twilight unconscious. He shouted “TWILIGHT!!” He then turned to Applejack and asked “What happened? She responded, “’Ahm not sure, but she kinda locked up when she looked at him.” She then pointed a hoof at Tim. Spike, somewhat mad, asked “What’d you do to her?” Tim replied “I didn’t do anything that I know of.” Spike then said, “Get her into bed.” And he ran over to pull Twilights bed covers back, and Tim displaying a particular talent for magic, that he didn’t know he had, slipped Twilight under her covers and spike tucked her in. Tim then released the magic, rubbing his head with his hoof.

Applejack then turned to Tim and said “Ya clearly remember that, but ya can’t remember your name?” he responded “Surprising isn’t it. Oh, I forgot to ask your names?” (Thinking, “Not necessary, but I really don’t want to explain how I would know them.”) Applejack replied, “Mah names Applejack.” And Spike replied similarly. Tim started, “maybe there’s a book downstairs that can help me?” Spike asked “What would you need help with?” Tim responded “Apparently I have a low-level amnesia.” Spike then thought for a moment, “I really not sure, but Twilight would know more.” He said. Tim then asked Applejack “What were you coming over for?” She responded “Twilight asked me come over fir somethin’. ‘Ah don’t know what though.”

“Maybe it had to do something with what that alicorn was talking to Twilight about.” Tim said. Applejack replied “That alicorn was Princess Celestia, and if ya didn’t know who she was, why’d you bow?” Tim replied “I could see she was somepony (swapping over to equestrian grammar) of power and great importance. That much was clear to me.” Tim looked over to Twilight, starting a new topic, “I could see something odd in her eyes when she locked up.” Applejack replied “Ya saw it too?” Tim replied with a nod. Applejack said “Ah’ve never seen her like that before. It seemed that her world somehow got shaken up quite a bit.” Tim then asked with a chuckle “What about the squeak?” Applejack chuckled too “Ah’ve heard Fluttershy make that noise when she’s scared. Ah’ll have to introduce her to ya later, She lives just outside of Ponyville in a nice little rustic buildin’.” Tim then asked “birdhouses, little burrows and a small vegetable garden in back?” Applejack responded to Tim “Yep, that’s the place……How’d you know that?” He replied back “I passed it on the way into town.”

Applejack noticed “Funny, that’s the same direction the Princess flew off in.” Tim didn’t show he was nervous, having years of practice in keeping a straight face. Tim then said “soooooo now what?” Applejack replied “Ah guess we jus’ wait?” Tim started to go to the door, saying “I’m going to see what I can find downstairs.” Spike started toward and said “I’ll come with you.” Applejack then folded her legs underneath her and laid on the floor, and said “I’ll stay here in case Twilight decides to wake up.” Tim and Spike just nodded, and then they left the room.

Chapter 3

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As Tim, a young blue alicorn and Spike, a green and purple baby dragon walked down the stairs to the main library area, Tim asked Spike “Where would you keep sleeping spells?” He replied “Why do you want to know?” Tim then said “Sometimes a spell is put in to allow those who need to, able to wake up others who have been affected.” Spike thought about for a moment, and then said “Makes sense to me.” Tim then thought. “hmmm I wonder.” Once they got down to the main area Tim said to Spike. “I need to try something.” Spike started to ask “What?” but before he could ask Tim had walked into the center and unfolded his wings. Spike asked Tim “What are you doing?” He replied “I have no idea.” Tim started to put his wings through their motions, making sure that everything was alright and then he started to flap them and yelped slightly as they had easily lifted him up off the floor and held him aloft. Spike again asked “What are you doing?” Tim replied with a bit of surprise in his voice “I’m flying”.

Applejack had laid her head on a pillow she had grabbed from a nearby pile and had started to rest when Twilight woke up with a shout. Applejack jumped and nearly hit her head on the ceiling, slamming back into ground with her head landing on the pillow. Twilight then looked at her friend. “What happened?” she asked. Applejack replied, “’Ah haven’t a clue, you locked up when you looked at that young alicorn.” Twilight then blushed rather deeply making her coat look red. She then asked “Where is he now?” Applejack replied “He’s downstairs with Spike looking up a memory restoration spell.”

Tim said to Spike “I’ll be fine, I’m not going to go far.” Spike responding “well ok, but don’t stay out too long.” Tim responded “You sound like my parents.” Before running out the door and flying off into the sky. Tim felt extremely relaxed and he let his worries melt away as he flew through the sky, he started going higher and higher until he started to have trouble breathing, then he dropped a bit until breathing became easier. Maintaining altitude, he felt the most joy and happiness he had ever felt, and he thought to himself “Flying is just as fun as I thought it would be.” Tim started to feel a few tears crawl out of his eyes, he didn’t care. He just wanted the moment to last as long as possible. He then thought “I wonder what my motion trail is.” He put himself into a steep dive, nearly knocking a sleeping rainbow-maned Pegasus off her cloud. He could feel the speed behind him, and he loved every second of it, the wind passing through his hair and his tail, the feeling of pure freedom, he took a moment to look back, and he saw that his motion trail manifests as a beam of pure light. He then knew what his new name would be, Dashing Light.

He pulled himself out of the dive and flew back over to the library where Twilight and Applejack were standing outside, looking for him. Tim waved at them, and he saw Applejack wave back. He then flew over to them and landed, his legs still a bit wobbly from the experience. Tim tried to steady himself, failing at it he just laughed. Applejack asked him, “What are you so happy about?” He replied, “I know my name.” Twilight looked at Applejack and then back at Tim, then she asked “What’s your name? Tim replied “My name is Dashing light.” Applejack responded, “Mighty appropriate, given that your…..trail is a beam of light.” It was then that Rainbow Dash showed up, “Hey, you almost knocked me out of my cloud.” Applejack and Twilight looked at Tim, or Dashing Light, and he just blushed. Twilight said “calm down Rainbow, he was just having a bit of fun”. It was then that Tim noticed a flash of Pink coming from nearby. “Did any of you see that?” Applejack asked “See wha…….” everyone jumped as a Pink Earth pony suddenly appeared in the middle of them, Tim landing on his back. The Pink pony asked “Your new here aren’t you…..oooohhhhhhh, this will be so much fun, *gasp* so much planning, I’ll see you there.” *poof* the pink pony disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Tim asked “Did I just get hit by a train?” Rainbow rubbed her head, “A party train.”

Twilight helped Tim get back onto his hooves, “So, Anypony want to explain what just happened?” Applejack explained, “That was Pinkie Pie, she’s a party animal, She just loves to party, planning one for purty much any occasion. And it seems that she’s throwing you a welcoming party.” Tim responded “That didn’t take long., though I might not be able to stay in town very long, being that I have no bits to my name and no home.” Twilight then spoke out saying “You can stay at the library with me.” Rainbow asked “What’s that look in your eyes Twilight?” Twilight then realized she had been staring at Tim, or Dashing Light, since he landed. She blushed deeply again. “Oh, nothing.” Applejack said sarcastically “Nothin’ mah hoof, If ‘Ah didn’t know better ‘ah’d say you like him.” This time Tim blushed as well as Twilight.

Applejack then asked Rainbow “Can you go introduce Dashing light to Fluttershy?” She replied, “Sure, not a problem.” She turned to Tim and asked “Can you keep up?” Tim Replied “You’re on.” They both lined up in the air and bolted towards Fluttershys house, Rainbow in front, but Tim found it easy to match Rainbows speed, he then shouted, “Is that your fastest?” she replied “no way”, then she doubled her speed, mach cone forming in front of her, she maintained that speed, thinking nopony can keep up with her at this speed. She then felt something pass her by, she stopped suddenly as Tim not only passed her, but had broken the sound barrier in what appeared to be a sonic lightboom. Similar to Rainbows sonic rainboom, but made up of pure light, nearly blinding everypony who happened to be looking in that direction. Rainbow rubbed her eyes with one of her front legs hoping that would clear her sight much faster, she could then see Tim flying back to her. He asked “Something wrong?” Rainbow, still somewhat in shock, shouted “do you realize what you’ve done?” Tim thinking that he’d done something wrong asked “What’d I do?” Rainbow, then smiled and said, “You broke my speed record. Come on we should get to Fluttershys.” Tim nodded in agreement.

Chapter 4

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As they arrived at Fluttershys house, the two flying ponies started their descent and landed just outside of her fence. Rainbow said “I’ll go find her”, Tim simply replied “go ahead.” Rainbow went up to the door and knocked on it a few times, then a small bunny opened the door. Tim immediately recognized it as Angel. Rainbow asked “Have you seen Fluttershy, Angel?” The bunny pointed at the backyard. Rainbow thanked the bunny and it closed the door. Rainbow then said to Tim, “come with me.” Tim followed her to the backyard and saw Fluttershy lying down in the grass with another mare, that he recognized as the showmare Trixie, he then realized they were cuddling. Rainbow said “Hey Fluttershy, There’s a new pony in town.” Fluttershy looked up and looked at Tim, and shrunk back a little, emitting a sound that sounded a bit like a cross between a whine and a squeak.

Trixie then looked up at Tim then back to Fluttershy, the look seemed to give her some strength, as she got up off the ground, walked over to Tim she said “hello, I, um, am, um, my name is Fluttershy.” Tim smiled at her, the gesture seemed to reassure her as she appeared to become more comfortable standing nearby. Tim then asked, “Who’s this beautiful young unicorn you were lying next to”, obviously referring to Trixie, who was blushing. Fluttershy replied, “Her, um, name is, um, Trixie.” Trixie got up and said to Tim, “You’re quite the charmer aren’t you?” He replied with a blush, “I’m just trying to be friendly.” Trixie responded with a giggle, “You’re doing a good job at it, what’s your name?” Tim replied, “My name is Dashing Light.”

After staying and talking with Fluttershy and Trixie for a while, Tim and Rainbow started back for the library, not racing this time. Tim asked Rainbow “You know of a pony named Vinyl Scratch?” she replied, “Yeah, I know her, why do you ask?” Tim responded, “No reason, just curious.” Tim started to let his thoughts wander for a moment, when suddenly a yelp of pain from Rainbow snapped him back to reality. He asked “What happened?” she said, “Take a look.” He looked and saw her flank was singed, her coat slightly burned exposing skin underneath, which also looked somewhat burned. Tim said with a cringe, “That looks like it hurts.” Realizing what had happened, he said out loud, “note to self, learn to control magic to a greater degree.”

They arrived back at the library, Tim had just landed when Pinkie popped up again, she asked, “What’s your name?” Tim replied “Dashing Light” Pinkie then bounced saying “Thanks!”, then disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Rainbow landed, and then asked Tim, “She planning a party?” he replied “yep.” Tim entered the library and saw that Twilight was sitting at a desk reading a particularly large book. He then began to look around at the books in the library, He magically pulled out a particularly interesting volume, with the title “The art of transfiguration”, and he opened with magic, flipping to the table of contents and noticed that chapter 42 was labeled “creation and purpose of life”, he chuckled slightly at that. He continued to look at the table of contents and he noticed that chapter 86 was labeled
“Gender Swapping” Feeling strangely interested, he opened to the chapter.

He read the spell and was committing it to memory when he heard a loud thunk. He looked up from the book to find that a few hours had passed and Twilight had just passed out studying. He just laughed and went back to committing the gender swap spell to memory. He spent the next hour making sure he had the spell perfectly memorized. He then stood in the middle of the room, cleared his mind of all distractions and stray thoughts as best he could, he mentally reached into himself, feeling the magic within him, pulling it to the surface and a surge of power came forth, ready to power the spell. He let the spell play out in his mind, then cast the spell on himself. He felt a massive strain on his body as the magic struggled to perform the spell, and then the magic surge kicked in, completing the spell quite easily. Tim then looked in a mirror to find that he had changed from a young stallion to a young mare. Tim knew that “she” would have to do the spell again to change back, so “she” did and Tim changed back into the young stallion. He decided that would be enough for today, as it was close to midnight, So Tim went upstairs grabbed a pillow and locked up for the night, put Twilight into her bed using a basic levitation spell, he went down into the living room and laid on the couch, thinking through the day. He thought “I wonder if Rainbow and Vinyl ever got together in this world. I’ll look around town tomorrow and see if I can find her.” He then rested his head on the pillow, and fell asleep.

Tim realized that he couldn’t fall asleep that easily and got up off the couch and went to check on Twilight, he got to her bedroom door, pushed it open quietly and noticed she wasn’t in there, even Spike was gone. Tim decided to check the basement, thinking that they were in there. They weren’t, instead what he found was an alicorn with a coat as black as night. Knowing that he can’t really keep secrets from her, acknowledged her. “Princess Luna. I honestly can’t say I’m surprised.” She said, “I know who you really are, I know you were the cause of my sisters distress. I don’t know why you’re here but I WILL find out.” Tim said, “I don’t even know why I’m here, I was brought here by some glowing alicorn being that was surrounded by light.” Luna seemed caught by this info. “What did it tell you?” Tim replied “basically, welcome to your new home, find your new name, find who you are and fulfill your true destiny.” Luna then asked “Anything else?” Tim thought for a moment and said “The figure told me to go straight to the library, talk to Twilight, that she could help me, and then the figure laughed and said that she was about the same age as me.” Luna looked a bit confused about the last part, then blushed slightly as she realized what he meant. Luna asked again “Anything else?” Tim replied, “Nothing else, if memory serves” Luna then nodded her head and said “Thank you for your help, good night.” Tim was about to say something then he slipped from the world of conscious thought.

Chapter 5

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Tim woke up the next day to find Twilight near him talking to Spike, She said to him, “I don’t know what it was, and I couldn’t find anything about it in any of my books.” He replied, “Maybe it’s just something that can’t simply be written in a book.” Spike noticed that Tim was awake, “He’s awake.” Twilight turned to Tim and asked, “Did you put in my bed last night?”, Tim blushed and asked “something wrong?” She responded with a smile, “Nothing, It was a nice gesture.” Spike harrumphed and left. Twilight, simply said, “Don’t worry about him, He’s just jealous.”

Twilight took the time to formally introduce Tim to Rarity. They got along rather well. (well, about as well as she does with Applejack.) Twilight took Tim by Sweet Apple Acres, Applejacks home, to introduce him to A.J.s brother, Halfway there she remember what had happened, and said “Sorry, he’s not going to be there.” Tim smiled and asked, “What happened?” Twilight shuddered and replied, “We don’t talk about it.” Tim thought for a moment, “I’ll ask Applejack if she can give me a tour.” Twilight, said “all right, I’ll see you later.” She left, leaving Tim to walk to Sweet Apple Acres. He got there fairly quickly, or it felt quick. Applejack saw him and said “Howdy pardner, to what do ah owe the pleasure of a visit?” Tim replied, “Twilight was going to introduce me to your brother, then she remembered something and when I asked, she said, we don’t talk about it.” Applejack shuddered at the thought, “How about a tour then?” Tim said “sure.”

As Applejack showed him around, he noticed a fenced off area with a grave stone in it, He walked over to it, and a sudden fear struck him as he read the name on it. Applejack noticed and said with tears in her eye and her voice starting to crack, “One of three *gasp*reasons why we don’t *gasp* talk about it.” Tim read the name out loud, “Apple Bloom”. He then grasped his head with his front hooves. “no.” Applejack still crying said, “There’s nothing anypony could’ve done.” Tim ignored her, his voice louder, “NO!” Applejack asked Tim “What’s wrong?” Tims eyes flashed white shortly before returning to normal, Applejack started to back off. Tim again shouted “NO!!!” His eyes Flashing white again, longer this time before returning. Applejack then felt a static charge building up in her mane as she continued to back up.

Tim with tears now flowing from his eyes, Shouted at the top off his lungs “NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” His eyes flashing white, and staying glowing this time, his body became surrounded by a white ball of energy and floated up about twenty meters. Applejack felt fear like she had never felt it before, but she didn’t run away. A large beam of energy shot out of Tims horn straight into the air, straight up. Twilight winked into existence near to Applejack, She shouted “What’s happening?” Applejack replied with fear in her voice “’ah don’t know, but it ain’t natural.” The two noticed 3 orbs of light circling around the beam, each exactly the same distance from each other and the beam. One shot off towards the capitol city of Canterlot, another towards Pegasus City of Cloudsdale, but one stayed behind and sunk into the ground on top of Apple Blooms grave, digging a hole as it went down. Apple blooms corpse then floated up out of the grave and, to Applejacks and Twilights surprise, it had completely regenerated. The hole in the ground had sealed itself up and Apple Blooms body floated down to the ground and appeared to be standing while surrounded by a sphere of light, a small gasp could be heard as Apple Bloom began to breathe again and as she opened her eyes, the magic sphere surrounding her dissipated, its job finished. In Canterlot and Cloudsdale the same thing had happened to two others, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo. As his magic faded, the beam of magic came back down into Tims horn, and he instantly fell out of thought and mind. Falling twenty meters to the ground and hitting it hard.

Tim felt that he no longer had a body as he floated in nothingness. He then became aware of 7 glowing figures around him. One said, “He shows great strength.” Another asked, “But will he show courage?” A familiar voice said, “He showed courage in his world, when he stood up against those who would do misdeeds.” Another voice stated “an act which may also show great stupidity.” Another said “Self-sacrifice is not stupidity, ‘tis merely product of caring more for others than for the self.” Another voice, clearly one with authority spoke out “We must have consensus. Is he to be given the chance?” One said, “he is.” The leader asked “Are we in consensus?” All voices said “Agreed” Tim then became overpowered by a bright light.

He found himself back in his body, he felt his side wet from something, then he heard a soft crying sound, which he realized was Twilight, He tried to say something, but only groaned. Twilight apparently heard it and shouted “HE’S ALIVE!!!” He heard somepony run up, then say “Are ya sure?” Twilight replied “positive, he breathing and I heard him groan.” Tim worked up enough strength to ask, “What were you crying about Twilight?” as he opened his eyes, he saw Twilight was looking him straight in the eyes. “Because, I care about you.” Tim simply smiled. Twilight smiled back. Applejack spoke up and said “Ah’m not sure how to say this, but Ah can’t thank ya enough fir bringin’ ma lil’ sis’ back to me.” Tears starting to form in her eyes, and then started flowing out. “I’m just so *pause* happy to see her again.” Twilight asked “Why did you do that? Why did you sacrifice yourself for a young filly you never even knew?” Tim smiled and replied “Kindness is its own reward.”

Applejack replied “What you did goes way beyond kindness. You were dead and my sister was alive. Ah don’t know what brought you back, but Ahm sure glad it did.” Tim tried to stand up but couldn’t manage to do it. They took notice and giggled, Applejack said “You just rest up here.” Twilight then said “I’ll stay with him.” Applejack nodded, “Ah’ll get you two somethin’ to eat.” Tim said “Thank you, Applejack.” She smiled and walked off, leaving Twilight and Tim alone, with each other. Tim said, “What I saw in your eyes went behind simply caring for me, what I saw was more profound.” Twilight sighed and said, “I’ve found that every time I look at you I get this feeling of…..Giddiness in my gut, and I start to feel lightheaded. I tried looking it up in books, but could never find anything about it.” Tim forced himself into a sitting position beside Twilight and said “’nor would you find it in a book.” And he laughed. Twilight, concerned, asked “Then what’s wrong with me?” Tim smiled at Twilight then simply stated “You’re in love.”

Chapter 6

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Twilight asked Tim “Are you sure?” he nodded; “positive.” He then smiled at her, and she smiled back. Applejack returned with a couple of apples and with Apple Bloom. Who ran over and wrapped Tim in a hug. Tim, surprised, asked “What’s that for?” Apple Bloom replied “Ya gave me my life back.” Applejack looked at Twilight and said “We jus’ got word that Sweetie bell an’ Scootaloo were brought back as well.” Applejack then looked at Tim “Ya done a lot a ponies good by doin’ what ya did.” Tim smiled and said “I actually don’t know what I did. I blacked out shortly after reading the gravestone.” Applejack just smiled and said “”Ah thank ya all tha same.” Twilight and Tim took the apples and ate them, it doing Tim good for getting his strength back. He managed to be able to stand up. Twilight said “let’s get you back to the library before you do anything else.” Tim simply nodded in agreement.

As Tim and Twilight headed towards the library it started to get dark and Tim noticed Rainbow Dash fly overhead, he asked Twilight, “Where’s she going?” she replied “Mares club, probably going to meet up with Scratch. Oh and I noticed you left your book out this morning.” Tim looked at Twilight with a bit a confusion, “What book?” Twilight laughed “The art of transfiguration. You had it open to gender swapping. That’s a highly, highly advanced spell. I wouldn’t even bother attempting it myself, as its way over my level.” Tim replied “You’d be surprised what you can do when you stop trying to do something it and just do it.” It was Twilights turn to look confused, “What do you mean?” Tim replied “In my experience, the more you try to do something, the more likely you are to fail. But if you don’t force it to happen and just let it, it will work for you. Anyway I didn’t find the spell too difficult.”

Twilights jaw dropped slightly, “Are you serious?” Tim responded, “Yeah, I didn’t want you to freak out when you woke up and saw a strange mare lying on your couch, so I performed the spell again about 15 minutes later.” Twilight asked Tim, “and you did all that last night?” he replied “yeah, what’s so hard to believe about that?” Twilight just shook her head, “You haven’t been doing much magic for long have you?” he replied, “Does it really show?” She said “I can’t believe it, at your level of magical strength you could easily be among the strongest out there, but your attitudes like that of a colt.” Tim tried to shift the conversation to a different subject, “sooo, Do you have any books on defensive spells?” Twilight asked “Why do you want to know?” Tim just replied “I’d like to study as much as possible.” Her face started to glow and she excitedly said “I can help you with that.”

It was then that Pinkie pie showed up again, “Your party’s tomorrow. Don’t be late.”*poof*and she disappeared. Tim asked “How often does she do that?” Twilight replied “quite often.” Tim just shook his head, “How does she ever get anything done?” Twilight responded with a smile and a laugh, “It’s just Pinkie Pie, I stopped trying to understand her years ago.” Tim just laughed, then asked Twilight “sooo, you want me to show you that gender swap spell?” She replied, “Sure, It’d definitely be interesting.” Tim shyly replied, “Let’s get back to the library first.” Twilight nodded, “That would be a good idea.”

They arrived at the library shortly after, and Tim had gone to the center of the room, while Twilight remained on the edge, to demonstrate the gender-swap spell. He cleared his mind, the best he could, and while gathering strength from within, he played out the spell in his head, then cast it onto him-self just as the magic surged forth, completing the spell in a flash of light, leaving “Tina” standing in the middle of the room. Twilights jaw practically dropped to the floor. Tina said “That spell really gives me a headache.” She began to rub her head with a forehoof. Twilight, still in shock, just squeaked. Tina looked up at Twilight and giggled, then walked over and pushed Twilights jaw up, back into place, waking her from her shock. Twilight asked “How’d you do that?” Tina replied, “I just did it.” Twilight asked Tina, confused “What do you mean?” She replied “Don’t try to be great, just be who you are and let history make its own decision.”

Twilight just gaped at the light-blue Alicorn mare giving her advice. Tina replied “you seem rather shocked, one more word of wisdom, Knowledge is something that can be taught, but wisdom is something you are born with. I’ll let you think about it for a while I go get some sleep. Good night Twilight.” Twilight snapped out of her trance, “Oh, good night.” Twilights face then twisted to that of confusion, “Aren’t you going to change back?” Tina replied, “I’m too tired, besides I’d like to see the look on your friends’ faces.” Twilight laughed and said “That’ll be priceless.” Tina then left the room to go get some sleep.

Twilight remained up for a few more hours, studying up on magical energy conservation techniques, hoping that it reduce the amount of magical energy wasted in energy fallout, and increase the level of spells she could perform. She then located a book with a picture of Dashing Light on the cover, she had never seen this particular volume in her library before and was subsequently very interested in it, she looked at the spine of the book for a title and was surprised when she couldn’t find one. “Interesting,” She thought out loud” a book without a title and with a picture of Dashing Light on the cover.” She opened it up to the table of contents, only to find out that there wasn’t one. “Again very interesting” She thought. Opening up to page one she then realized what this book was. It was a book containing prophecy, encoded a language never before seen by the eyes of ponykind, or by the eyes of anykind as it would turn out, as the code was developed by Tim or Dashing light himself.

She left the book out on the desk, she figured nopony will bother it. She locked up for the night and made sure everything was in shape before climbing up the stairs to her bedroom, she noticed as she passed by the door to the living area, that Tina was fast asleep, Twilight couldn’t help but let out a small smile. She then went up to her own room, closing the door as she went in. She climbed into bed, her thoughts cloudy with her studies and of the revelation that Tim had confronted her with at Sweet apple acres. Was she really in love? Or was it an elaborate lie, created to get close to her? Thoughts raced in her mind. She then felt a calm sweep over her body as she became aware of a presence, she couldn’t see the presence, as it was 3 A.M. She had found herself relaxing, coming closer and closer to sleep, and then she heard a voice in her head as she drifted to sleep, “Good Night Twilight Sparkle.”

Chapter 7

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As Tina woke up out of bed she walked down the stairs and into the living room there she noticed that Twilight was busy studying. She walked over to Twilight and asked “What are you studying about this time?” Twilight looked up and said “I’m studying magical energy conservation techniques.” Tina then replied “That’s interesting. Why are you studying that?” Twilight replied “I figured it might help me with high level spells.” Tina responded “that’s an interesting way to approach it. I’m going to go freak out some of your friends.” She then thought about it for a moment “On second thought, let’s keep this between us. I’ll come up with a name to disguise myself when like this.” Twilight asked “What will that name be?” Tina replied “hmmm, Dash of Light”. Twilight simply just laughed, “It’s not very covert.” Tina responded “It’s good enough.”

Tina then performed the gender swap spell, changing back into Tim, who then rubbed his head with his hoof. “My head.” He then groaned a little. Twilight asked Tim, concerned “What’s wrong?” He replied “That spell gives me a major headache.” She just laughed. They both heard a knock on the door, Twilight replied “Doors open”. A mint green unicorn walked into the library, Tim recognized her. Twilight looks over “Oh hi Lyra, Did you come over to pick up that book?” Lyra said “Yeah, I did.” She looked over at Tim and he instantly knew that she recognized him for what he truly was. He gave her a look that said “don’t tell her.” She recognized the look and nodded. Twilight returned with the book Lyra was there to pick up. Lyra then said “Thanks Twilight.” Twilight asked “How’s Bon bon doing?” Lyra replied “She’s not doing so good. She still hasn't gotten over the death of her brother though.” Twilight said “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she starts feeling better.” Lyra said “I hope so too. I can’t stand to see her like this.” Tim spoke up, “I might be able to help her.” Lyra and Twilight looked at him funnily. “What?”

Lyra asked “are you sure? She sent 4 shrinks away with manic depression.” Tim replied “That bad huh?” Lyra nodded. “I have some experience with that, so I’ll know what to look for.” Tim said. Lyra replied “Ok then, I’ll ask her to come by here later, should I tell her what for?” Tim said “It’s your decision.” Lyra replied “I’ll tell her.” Tim responded “Ok, when should I be expecting her?” Lyra thought about it for a moment, then said “Around 4 in the afternoon.” Tim said “I’ll be here.” Lyra then left the library, then Twilight said “That’s nice of you.” Tim said “It’s what I do. I help those who need it.”

Later that day, Bon bon showed up at the library, looking depressed. (Very depressed) She knocked once at walked in, she saw Tim at the desk reading an interesting nameless volume that Twilight hadn't bothered to put up. She said “Hello, are you Dashing light?” he perked up a little and looked back at Bon bon, “Yes, you must be Sweetie drops.” she twitched slightly at her old name, “Please, call me Bon bon.” Tim, simply replied in a soothing manner “of course,” he got up off the chair” please have a seat.” Bon bon got up into the chair. “You told Lyra you’d be able to help me, what kind of spell are you going to use?” Tim chuckled, “A spell would be nothing more than a short term solution, if that. I want you to talk about your experiences with your brother when you both were young.” She replied, shocked “You want me to what?” Tim replied “It helps with the healing process. It helps if you remember the good times, but more importantly it helps just to have somepony to talk to. Start by telling me his name.” Bon bon choked up for a moment, then released a sigh, “His name was Candy Drop, He helped me become who I am today.” She thought about it for a moment. “Where’s Twilight?” Tim replied, “She’s over at Rarities, modeling some outfits. I ‘arranged’ for her to be sidetracked for the next few hours, so we’ll be able to talk in peace.” Bon bon let out a small sigh of relief, and then she realized, “What about her assistant, the dragon?” Tim laughed “Sleeping spell.” Bon bon couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

Over the next few hours, Bon bon told Tim about her experiences with her brother when they were young. Including an incident were Bon bon, trying to earn her cutie mark, ended up covering them in chocolate and several customers in vanilla cake icing. And another not so funny incident, they were arguing over what kind of icing to use on a cake and her brother, in his anger, had punched her in the face. She ran off crying to her room, Candy, realizing what he had done, tried to run up and forgive her. Only to find, to his dismay, that she had locked her door. He could hear her crying from her room. He said through the door, hoping she could hear him, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.” The crying continued. He continued “I understand if you hate me for what I did, I hate myself for losing control of my temper like that. It’s something I’ll never be able to forgive myself for, but at least I still love you.” The little filly came out of her room, still sniffling “Do you really still love my, Candy?” He smiled and tears started to fill his eyes “I’m your brother, I will always love you.” She said, crying “I love you too.” They embraced in a hug.

Tim noticed that Bon bon had started to cry. He walked over and put a hoof on her shoulder. She tried to suppress the tears, not wanted him to see her like this. He said “It’s ok, I won’t judge you. I can see that you cared for your brother and he cared for you. And that’s what matters the most, the good times. If you spend all your time thinking about how things could have been different, Why him, Why not me? You’ll never be able to have any kind of life, except for one filled with despair. I say, as long as you keep him in your heart.” He put his hoof to her chest” He will always be there for you.” Bon bon couldn’t hold back her tears anymore, and she started to cry uncontrollably, she then felt a warm feeling around her, and she saw that Tim, in an attempt to comfort her had wrapped his fore-legs around her in a hug. She returned the gesture, and after a few seconds she felt something wet on her shoulder, and she heard a sobbing sound as she noticed that he had started to cry with her. She tightened her grip around him, and she began to feel happy, she felt a smile crawl across her face.

They embraced each other for a few moments, crying. They then released each other, and Tim wiping some tears from his eyes, asked “How do you feel?” She replied with some tears still in her eyes and a big smile on her face “I feel great, I feel happier than I ever have. How can I repay you for what you've done for me?” Tim smiled at her. “You already have.” Confused, she asked “What do you mean?” He said “Seeing you smiling and happy is all I need to be happy. Making others happy is one of my talents.” She chuckled and asked “Isn’t that Pinkies talent?” Tim smiled and said “It is, but what pony ever said that two ponies can’t have similar talents?” She thought about it. “I guess you’re right, it looks like pinkies got some smile competition.” They both laughed, Then Tim realized, “I’m going to miss the party.”

Chapter 8

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As Tim approached the party, he began to hear the distinctive sound of drum and bass. A sure-fire way of letting him know who was talking care of the music, it was no-pony other than Vinyl Scratch, also known to a lesser extent as DJ Pon-3. As he got to the point of no return, meaning when Pinkie saw him, he closed his eyes and braced himself expecting a wall of fur to come crashing down on him. The expected wall of fur stayed upright and he opened up his eyes to see Pinkie standing in front of him. She calmly said “Welcome to the party. We’ve got a dance floor, with the totally awesome beats of the Scratch master. There are drinks over by the bar. Nothing strong, but enough to have you wobbling if you drink too much,” She stopped to giggle as she noticed a slightly drunk Rainbow Dash trying to get an orange Pegasus stallion to go home with her, “Anyway, there’s also some sweets over there” she pointed at another table, with an absolute ton of cakes, cupcakes and muffins. Most of the muffins were gone as a grey Pegasus mare was over by them, practically stuffing her face with them. Pinkie continued, “This party is for you, so try to enjoy yourself.” Tim then replied “Thank you Pinkie” She smiled then hopped off.

He kind of wandered around for a while, occasionally sparking up conversations some ponies, which stopped to ask if he was related to any of the royal family, He politely declined any relation to any royalty, and then politely excused himself. He stopped and wondered how far Rainbow got with the Stallion. He walked over to Applejack and asked “Where’s Rainbow?”, she replied, “’Ah think she left with sum orange stallion in tow. No tellin’ what their goin’ ta do.” Tim laughed, “I have an idea.” Applejack made a motion to ask, but stopped as she realized. “oh, ‘ah think ‘ah see what’cha mean.” She proceeded to laugh too. Tim said through his laughs “She’s going to be surprised when she wakes up.” Applejack doubled her laughs. Tim then asked, “Have you seen Twilight?” Applejack stopped laughing, then thought for a moment, “’Ah haven’t seen her yet, ‘ah don’t think she came over.”

Tim proceeded to wander around the party for a bit more, then he stopped by the bar to get a few drinks to loosen him up a bit, as he was still a bundle of nerves. After a few drinks of something apple flavored, he found himself wobbling heavily, he went over to find Pinkie, he found her and said “You said the drinks weren’t strong. I only had 5 drinks and now I can barely walk straight.” He heard a voice ask him “What are you doing?” he looked over to see who asked the question, and to his surprise it was Pinkie. Tim confused asked “What are you doing over there, aren't you over here?” he looked back over at the Pinkie he was talking to, only to see that he was talking to a pink chair. “Huh?” He rubbed his eyes. “What?” Tim just sat his rear down, and gaped in confusion. Pinkie laughed and said “I told you those drinks were strong.” Tim just curled his face in annoyance, and then shrugged, and in his head he said “It’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

He felt his mane start standing up as he felt a surge of magical power. A blue Unicorn mare flashed into existence next to him, for some reason not startling him at all, but drawing a yelp of surprise from the mare, who jumped back in surprise. Tim then looked through his drunkenly blurred eyes to see the mare was familiar. “Oh, hi Trixie. Did Twilight teach a new trick?” He slurred slightly as he spoke. She calmed down enough to say, “Yes, Twilight taught me a new trick.” Tim simply said “Awesome.” Before drunkenly attempting a thumbs up, only to realize that, “Oh yeah, I’m a pony.” He thought in his head. Trixie was a little confused “What are you doing?” Tim drunkenly replied with a laugh “I have no idea. By the way, do you know any spells that can sober you up quickly?” She replied “Yes I know one, do you need it right now?” he said “It would be nice to be able to walk without worrying about awkwardly falling over onto somepony.” Trixie asked “Have you fallen yet?” He replied “not yet, but don’t want to sit here until I sober up.” Trixie laughed then said “Hold still, this will hurt.” Tim closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Trixies horn started to glow an aqua blue color as she powered up her spell, she released it onto him, and he curled over in pain, gritting his teeth through the pain, not letting himself scream. Then suddenly the pain stopped, and he felt that his mind was perfectly clear-headed. He stood up and tried to walk, he smiled as he knew he was completely sober, he stumbled slightly as he walked. Well, mostly sober.

Trixie gathered a crowd around her as she began to put on one of her shows. Tim was sitting down fairly close to the stage, so if she called for a volunteer, he would be her first choice. Much to his dismay, she called for a volunteer and she had indeed called on him. He walked up onto the stage, and she proclaimed that she could turn a stallion into a mare and back again. His eyes widened as he recognized what she was going to do. The crowd cheered her on as if she was “The Great and Powerful Trixie” which she probably still was. He began to feel a tingling sensation all over his body as Trixie began to power up her spell, her brow curved in onto itself as she began to struggle with the spell, he saw a look in her eyes that said “I can’t do it.” She didn't say it out loud, but he could see it on her face. Tim then started to feed power into her, his horns own glow masked by the aqua blue aura around him, She looked up at him a bit surprised, but the look was quickly subdued as she realized the he was helping her.

She, with her renewed strength, completed the spell. And “Tina” found it amazing that even after such an expenditure of energy Trixie was still able to keep her composure and her breath. The crowd cheered with an enthusiasm the Tina didn’t know was possible, and Trixie was eating it all up. Tina thought “You deserve it after what you’ve gone through.” She smiled, and Trixie came over and whispered into her ear, “I’m still quite winded after that spell, do you mind helping me again?” Tina smiled again and nodded. Trixie then turned to the crowd and shouted “Once more.” She began again, surrounded Tina in magic again, and Tina began feeding power into Trixie again, her aura masked by Trixies. The spell was completed easier than last time, thanks to the help from Tim. Trixie thanked him for his assistance, and whispered into his ear “I truly thank you for helping me with that spell. I’ll find a way to repay you later.” Tim smiled and started to walk off the stage. Trixie then shouted “A round of cheering for the newest member of our Ponyville family.” The crowd cheered with a renewed enthusiasm. Tim blushed very heavily as he walked off stage.
As he reached the floor, he felt a tingle around the base of his neck. He began to look around for the source of the energy. He saw that the source was coming from an empty part of the room. He walked over to it, maintaining a distance from it. He began to think, “Maybe its Twilight coming to visit the party?” A part of him said, “No, Something else is coming.” He wondered where exactly that thought came from, when a small sphere of magical light appeared. As he looked at it, it began to grow larger and brighter. The ponies at the party didn't notice, as they were being distracted by Trixies show. It had reached a size about 3 meters wide when it collapsed in on itself, creating a loud explosion, but it didn’t actually explode. It was just light and sound, LOTS of sound. Everypony turned around a saw 3 figures standing were the light was. They weren’t friendly.

Chapter 9

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The three figures stood in the room; they had the general body shape of ponies but looked more like changelings. These things were not quite as nice though. One of them took notice of Tim…..Ok that’s it. I’m going to stop referring to Tim or Tina and start using the names they are actually using. One of them took notice of “Dashing”; another of them sized up Dashing and let out a rasping noise. He thought that it may have been along the lines of a chuckle or a laugh. He wouldn't have been too far from the truth. The third was moving around to another side, a move which Dashing knew was a flanking maneuver (pardon the poor choice of words). He began to mentally prepare to pull up a ward spell at the first sign of trouble. Not that he knew any actual combat spells or any defense spells, he would just be improvising and sometimes that’s the most effective route.

The odd creature that was making its way to the side of Dashing, suddenly pointed its horn at a pony in the group and fired a bolt of magic at her, hitting her in the ribs. She went down quickly, unconscious before she hit the ground, blood pooling beneath her from her chest wound. Dashing ran over to her to check on her. “Trixie!!!! Get this mare to the hospital” Trixie replied, “Consider it done.” She ran over to the injured mare, put her hoof on the shoulder of the unconscious mare and was about to blink to the hospital when a stallion ran over and asked “Take me with you; I can’t leave her like this.” Trixie replied, “Alright, grab my shoulder.” The stallion put a hoof on Trixies shoulder, and then she cast the flash transport spell, taking them directly to the hospital lobby.

Dashing, angry for what these creatures had done, shouted “Why did you do that?” The creature that had done the deed just let out a rasping noise, a chuckle. Dashing then heard a voice in his head “Because you are weak.” He shook his head to get the voice out. He then said, “You obviously aren't changelings, so what are you?” One of the creatures was charging a bolt of offensive magic, when Dashing unleashed a bolt of his own, patterned after the bolt the other had used, and unleashed it against the one charging its magic, throwing it across the room and making it hit a wall on the other side. It wasn’t going to be getting up again, ever. The one that had shot the pony was charging another bolt, this one was going for the group again. It fired, but it never found its target as it was stopped by an improvised wall of magic. Dashing pushed the wall of magic at the creature, hitting it and continuing to move forward taking the creature along with it, until it hit a wall, crushing the creature slightly. Dashing released the wall of magic and the creature slumped to the ground, never to rise again. The last creature had taken advantage of the distraction the others had made and had taken to the sky.

Dashing took off after it, and even though he hadn’t flown much until now, it came naturally to him. He followed the creature; it noticed him following and unleashed a few bolts of magic at him, weaker than the ones the others had used as it also had to concentrate on flying as well as fighting. Still, one managed to find a target, Rainbow Dashes house. It tore a sizable chunk out of her bedroom wall, leaving an orange Pegasus stallion with his jaw dropped as he was trying to quietly leave the room. Thankfully for him that Rainbow wouldn't wake for the end of the world and she remained asleep. He flew off, thankful for the giant hole. (Getting off topic here, another story for another time) Dashing let a few bolts of magic lose in the direction of the creature, but it simply dodged them with ease. He thought “This isn’t going to be easy.”

A stream of magical bolts seemed to flow from between these two beings locked in combat, Dashing using a combination of improvised shield spells and low level improvised combat spells including the one he had learned from the creatures, the creature using its higher maneuverability to avoid the magic missiles and the combat spell the others had used. They seemed to be at a stalemate when a bolt from the blue came up from the ground hitting the creature knocking it out, when Dashing looked down to see where it came from; he saw it had come from Trixie. (terrible joke) She caught it in her magic before it hit the ground.

Dashing flew low to the ground before landing, exhausted from the battle. Which he had just now noticed had been taking place for 3 hours. He walked over to Trixie, who was examining the creature. “How’s the mare doing?” Trixie looked up and said with a tear “She didn't make it.” Dashing recoiled at the news, and tried to remain calm, but failed. His legs buckled beneath him, he started to cry at the thought of somepony losing a loved one because of his careless ness. He felt a warm presence next to him, and he heard a voice say, “sshh, there’s nothing anypony could have done.” He said, “It’s my fault she died. I wasn't fast enough to block the spell.” The voice replied “There’s no way you could have known what that……thing was going to do. You don’t have to beat yourself up over it.”

Dashing looked over to see who was talking to him, and saw Trixie was next to him. She said “I sense a great deal troubling you, and more than about what happened tonight.” Dashing replied “Nothing I’d ever want to talk about or even think about, the memories hurt too much.” (obvious lie) Trixie seemed convinced about it. “Ok, we all have our secrets, but if you ever need somepony to talk to about anything with. Anypony in the town will be willing to listen.” Dashing seemed to feel better as he was able to get back onto his hooves, then he walked over to the unconscious creature. He began to put together a spell that would keep the creature unconscious until he chose to wake it up, He then cast it onto the creature, and said “Can you get this over to Twilights place? She’ll be able to figure out what this thing is.” Trixie then nodded and used the flash transport spell to take the creature to the library, where Twilight would study it.

He then headed back to where the party was, and started to ask the ponies to back away from the bodies of the creatures as they would be disposed shortly. He asked for the assistance of a mint green unicorn to help get rid of the corpses of the creatures. They lifted the two bodies with their magic and took them over to the library, where Twilight would figure out how they work. The two got back to the party, where the news of the mares death had just reached them, nopony was in the mood for partying after that. Not even Pinkie Pie wanted to party after hearing of the tragedy, She wandered around what was left of the crowd, an occasional tear dropping from her eyes. She was surprised to find herself in the warm embrace of another pony; she felt a smile back on her face as she returned the gesture. They released each other and she looked to see who had hugged her. It was Dashing, she asked “I heard one of your talents is making others smile.” He nodded. She continued smiling “I’ve got some competition for smiles don’t I.” He nodded again. She asked with a smirk “Are clouds white?” He nodded, she asked, still smirking “Is Rainbow Dash a Pegasus?” He nodded. Pinkie, stifling a chuckle, asked “Do you like Twilight Sparkle?” He nodded, and then realized he had been tricked. Pinkie Pie was hopping up and down with joy, “I KNEW IT!!!!”

Chapter 10

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Several days after the incident at the party, Pinkie decided to slow down her party attitude as a sign a respect for loss of a good pony. Twilight was performing research on the creature that had survived. Rarity was making an outfit in dedication of the young mare that had lost her life. Fluttershy didn't know her too well, but was kind enough to help the stallion cope with his loss. Rainbow was busy trying to swear off cider and failing at it, miserably, and Applejack was bucking trees. And eventually the name of the victim was released, but everypony already knew who had died. The young mare, who had been killed in cold blood by the creatures, was none other than Vinyl Scratch.

Dashing was in the library, doing some research on some spells that could allow him to change his appearance at his desire. “Hey Twilight, do you mind answering a question for me?” Twilight shouted up from the basement, “What kind of question?”, He responded, “Should I go out as an Earth Pony, a Unicorn, or a Pegasus? I’m also going out as a mare.” Noises of confusion could be from the basement, then a crashing sound. “Are you alright down there?” Dashing called. Twilight shouted back “I’m fine, nothing to worry about, there’s no way the creature managed to slip from its collar, knock me down, and force me to put it to sleep.” Dashing called back “That’s oddly specific. Are you trying to hide something?” Twilight ran up to the top of the basement stairs, stopping Dashing from walking down. “There’s nothing to see down there.” Twilight said, trying to put on an innocent, totally not guilty smile, and failing. Dashing relented, “ok, fine, I guess I’ll just have to read your report later. But, back to the question. Earth, Unicorn or Pegasus?” Twilight replied “Why are you asking me?” Dashing said stated “You going to determine what I am today.” Twilight, confused, asked “What are you talking about?” Dashing cheerfully answered, “I found some spells that can allow me to disguise myself so I don’t get too many strange looks when I go through town.” Twilight then asked “Disguise what?” Dashing simply knocked his horn with his hoof and quickly flared his wings. Twilight got the answer she was looking for.

After taking a few moments to cast the gender swap spell, then the disguise spell, an unassuming Earth pony mare walked out of the library and into the Ponyville “mane” square. This new form shall now be known as “Light bulb”. She began to wander around the town, and having been given an “allowance” from Twilight, began getting a flavor of the simple life. She looked over and saw the spa and thought, “I wonder if Twilights got any book on message therapy, maybe I could get a job at the spa.” She walked over to the Carousel Boutique and Rarity went wild. “Oh my, dear Darling, you looking like you could use some fashion on you. You look like a mess.” She continued ranting to herself for a minute, before snapping back to reality. “Come to think of it, you remind of that Dashing fellow. Are you related to him.” Light bulb replied “Kind of, He’s like a brother…..It’s hard to explain. But to answer your question, yes we’re related.” She continued to say in her head “In more ways than you could imagine.” Rarity, convinced by this, offered up a free dress as a show of her element of generosity. “Now dear, let me get you measured up here.” Rarity spent the next hour getting measurements of Light Bulb from every angle, EVERY angle. Light Bulb started to blush uncontrollably when Rarity started to measure her flanks and rear. Thankful that they were disguised, Light Bulb felt her hidden wings unfurl themselves of their own accord, but the spell didn't stop the noise. POMPF!! “Did you hear something?” Rarity asked, while still scrutinizing Light Bulbs rear. “I thought I heard something. It must have been the wind or something.” Rarity replied “I thought I told Sweetie Bell to lock to windows when she left.” Light Bulb used her hidden magic to unlock and open a window. Rarity found it, closed it and locked it. “I’ll have to give her a talking to when she gets back from school.” Light asked “Are you sure, I heard what happened to her over at Sweet Apple Acres.” Rarity stopped in her tracks and almost inaudibly asked “How did you hear about that?” Light simply replied, “I heard it in the winds.” continuing in her head “Winds? She doesn’t realize that I was the one who brought Sweetie back. Well, Apple Blooms likely told Sweetie and Scootaloo about what happened, I’ll ask about it later.” Rarity, looking somewhat confused, asked “Heard it in the winds? Are you some kind of sage or prophet?” Light Bulb simply replied “My cutie mark isn't just for show.” Rarity looked down and realized what Lights cutie mark represented. It was a triangle with an ancient equestrian symbol marked into it. Ancient, here having the meaning of about 8000 years in the past. The symbol simultaneously representing knowledge, wisdom and strength, but there’s no way Rarity would know any of this.

She finished up her measuring shortly afterwards, Light Bulbs hidden wings had thankfully settled down and curled themselves back up. “Your dress should be ready in a few days, you probably have other appointments. I won’t keep you any longer.” Light Bulb thanked Rarity for the future dress, and walked off. She heard Lyra playing on her Lyre nearby sitting on a bench, like a human. “How can anypony sit like that?” She had accidentally thought out loud. The music stopped for a second and Lyra was slightly glaring at Light. “I’m sorry, it slipped. But can I ask you, how can you find that position comfortable?” Lyras glare had lighten up, “I researched contortionism so I could sit how I wanted. I looked it up after getting my cutie mark, so I can sit in a position that allows me to play my lyre with my magic.” Light replied “That’s very clever. Do you mind if I try?” Lyra hesitated at first “Sure, why not?” She handed her Lyre over to Light Bulb, who sat down on her rear, and rested the Lyre on what would be her knee. She plucked a few strings experimentally, and let out a small bit of confusion. Lyra noticed and said “It’s a bit out of tune.” Light bulb replied “It’s good enough for now.”

Light Bulb, continued plucking strings experimentally, and she found something. She found a melody, she found her hooves working with the strings, music starting flowing from the strings, and she was completely lost in the moment of pure melody. Lyra, on the other hoof, was gob smacked by, by what she assumed to be a first timer outplaying her with her own instrument. Not that the melody wasn't awe inspiring, it truly was. And it was noticeable as a small group of ponies gathered around to hear the beautiful music coming from Light Bulb. Light Bulbs melody started to wind down and was completed with a triple note, with somewhat of a trilling effect. The first thing she was aware of was the feeling of pure joy coming from inside of her, and then she noticed the crowd. She blushed heavily as she gave the Lyre back to an awestruck Lyra. The crowd then began to cheer and applaud her performance. She began to blush even deeper.

After A few moments of basking of the praise of the small crowd, Light Bulb began to walk back towards town, after she realized that the entire day had gone by, She was about to pass by a shop, when she noticed a feeling of weightlessness and noticed an aqua-blue glow tinting her field of vision. She heard a laugh coming from behind her, when Trixie walked over into her field of view. “What are you doing?” Light asked” Trixie replied, whispering into her ear. “I know who you are, and I intend to repay you for helping me, in any way I can. Wouldn’t you approve of something pleasurable?” Trixie rubbed her tail against Lights face, soliciting another blush from the floating mare. Light said reflexively “I’m not one to say no to such a generous offer.” Her hidden wings unfurled of their own accord again. POMPF!!!! “I really hope this doesn’t become a habit for my wings” Light thought. Trixie heard the noise, and knowing what it was, said “I’ll take that as a yes.” Light found herself floating towards Trixies cabin, thinking “Please be gentle.”

Chapter 11

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Now if you were expecting a “scene” between Light Bulb and Trixie, I have two things to say. “TROLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!” and “U mad bro?” I’m going to keep stuff like that separate from this story.

Light Bulb woke up the next day in Trixies bed, thinking about the night before. Trixie woke up shortly after, “Good morning, did you enjoy yourself?” Light responded, “Yes I did, and I didn’t know it was possible to use an umbrella like that.” Trixie giggled, “I’ve learned a lot in my travels.” Light replied “So it would seem. I need to get to the library and do some research on message therapy.” Trixie questioned “Why are you interested in that?” Light replied “I’m thinking of getting a job at the spa as a message specialist.” Trixie, confused, asked “Is that your special talent?” Light replied “I have many talents.” Trixie asked “Show me what you know.” Light dispelled the disguise surrounding her horn, becoming Star Light, she Told Trixie of her name change and that holding the spell over horn was becoming a bit taxing. Trixie said “Understandable, any spell being held over ones horn can be draining.” Star told Trixie, “Lie down on the bed, and let me take care of you.” (get your heads out of the troughs) Trixie complied, lying down on the bed on her belly. Star began rubbing Trixies back, applying gentle pressure at the proper points. Trixie began groaning slightly as stress began to melt off her bones and out of her muscles. Star started to apply gentle pulses of magic to the points, increasing the amount of pleasure Trixie was getting from the experience. Her groans started getting louder. Star held off for a second to advise Trixie to renew the soundproofing spell that she put up last night, she did and Star continued. Trixie groans letting louder and louder until she screamed in pleasure, her body fell limp as her whole body relaxed itself. Star jokingly asked “Do you enjoy yourself?” Trixie barely managed to reply, “That felt great.” Star giggled and left Trixie to recover.

As she walked through the town back to the library, she began to notice more stallions than she would have otherwise. Little did she know, but being under the influence of gender swap spell doesn’t just alter appearance, it changes the ponies entire physiology and has an effect on the mind of the pony in question, not only causing them to act like the gender. They, for all intents and purposes, become the said gender. She wouldn’t know any of this, only having read the spell and not the warnings associated with it. She took notice of a Dark Pegasus stallion and walked over to him, she said “Hello, What’s your name?” The Stallion looked at her, and became slightly nervous; he replied “My name is Thunder Lane. What’s yours?” She replied “My name is Star Light.” He asked her “Are you related to Dashing Light?” She replied cryptically, “In a way.” They spoke with each other for a while, and eventually Thunder asked “We should get together again sometime.” Star replied, “We should, next week?” He agreed and Star left him at the shop.

She got back to the library, and Twilight asked “Where were you last night?” Star replied “I got caught up at Trixies?” Twilight asked “What were you doing at Trixies?” She sniffed the air. “Oh, I, ummm……” Star spoke up “She said it was payment for helping her out with her show at the party a few days ago.” Twilight blushed slightly, “I’m preparing a report for Princess Celestia about what happened, as well as a research report about the creatures.” Star asked “Are they sentient?” Twilight replied “I don’t think so. When separated from magic it seems to act like an animal, acting on basic instincts. At least that’s what I can determine from the one live subject I have. I need to ask you some questions about your experience with the creatures when they first appeared in our world.” Star agreed and spent the next while answering questions about the creatures based on what happened during the party.

“Spike, I have a letter for the Princess.” He came from the kitchen, got the letter from Twilight, inhaled and blew a stream of green fire onto the letter and it dissolved into a stream of magic that flew off to the princess. And almost immediately the Princess replied.

To Twilight Sparkle
I am on my way to investigate this creature you spoke of in your report, as well as question this “Dashing Light” He may well have something to do with the arrival of these creatures. Keep him at the library.

From Princess Celestia
Twilight read the letter again, before handing it over to Star Light. “I guess I had better get prepared.” Star said. She dispelled the disguising spell around her wings before performing the gender swap spell. Dashing was sitting on his rear, rubbing his head with his hoof when Princess Celestia flashed into existence in the library in a flash of light. Twilight and Dashing both bowed in respect. She motioned for them to rise and they did. “I read your report, and wish to see this creature.” Twilight nodded “It’s tied up down in the basement.” Celestia looked at Dashing, “I’ll talk to you later.” Dashing took a step back sheepishly, smiling innocently. They spent about 3 hours inspecting the creature and the bodies of the other 2 before coming back up from the basement. “I see, and you have no idea how they were receiving their commands?” Twilight replied “None, any link to magic the controller had, was shut off.” Celestia looked at Dashing, and said to Twilight “I need to speak with him alone.” Twilight replied “alright, I’ll go speak with Rarity. I need to ask her about a few things.” As soon as Twilight left the library, Celestia put up a soundproofing spell and another spell that blacked out the windows.

Celestia put on a serious face and asked “Who are you?” Dashing replied “My name is Dashing Light; I am an Alicorn of unknown age and origin.” She sighed “I want the truth.” He replied “That is the truth as I see it.” He really was telling most of the truth and Celestia knew it. “You need to tell me everything so I can determine if you are the cause of the creatures appearance.” Dashing relented and told her everything. How he had been injured in a fight, the strange glowing being of light, and even of his visit from Luna.

After a few more questions, Celestia asked “So Tim…” Dashing interrupted, “Sorry for interrupting, but can you please call me Dashing? From what I understand, I can never go back.” Celestia nodded, “As you wish, Dashing would you like a cup of tea?” Dashing replied “Yes, I would love a cup of tea right now.” Celestia noticed a strange smell in the air. “Did you and Twilight……” Dashing asked “what? Did we wha……..oh, OH, nonononononononononono. It was somepony else and with me. I haven’t taken a shower yet.” He visibly blushed at the thought of Celestia asking Twilight about it. “She’d probably have a heart attack if you asked her about it.” Celestia nodded and replied “Indeed she would, I won’t bring it up to her.” Two cups of tea floated into the main room, and they began to sip on the tea, when Dashing remembered a bit of knowledge he had gleaned from Celestia during their time together. Using a form of innate magic granted to him via his cutie mark, it allows him to tap into the knowledge and memories of those around him at will. He doesn’t like to use it. But, He wanted to see what she looked like when highly surprised. He waited until she was taking a sip of tea and asked “I heard something in the winds about a Prince Greyscale.” Celestias eyes went as wide as dinner plates and a spray of tea flew from her mouth, “How did you hear of that name?” dashing replied “I heard it in the winds.” Celestia raised her brow, and then shook her head. “I’m not going to push the issue, but don’t bring that up again.” Dashing replied “As you wish.”

Chapter 12

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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.

Chapter 13

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As they got to Luna’s Private study, the Pegasus guard opened the door and motioned for Dashing to go in, he did and found that the room was empty. “Where is she?” he asked. “She’ll get to you at her earliest convenience. Until then, why don’t you study up on proper wing care?” Dashing then looked at his wings and saw they were a bit of a mess. “Does Princess Luna have any books on said care?” The guard replied, “I’ll send for one from the archive.” Dashing responded “Thank you.” The guard let out a small smile and left him to himself. “I guess I do have a talent for making others smile. Wait that was a talent of mine even before I was brought here. So that’s just Dashing being Dashing. Ugh, that sounds horrible. It sounds like I’m full of myself when I say it like that.” He let himself chuckle at the thought of what Pinkie would say. “Well I’d say that sounds totally awesome.” Dashing nearly jumped out of his fur at the voice, and then he noticed who it came from. “Pinkie? How….What….HUH?” His brain grinding gears as it struggled to process information. “I’ll tell you in a few days.” She looked at a watch on her foreleg, “Oh, gotta go. Bye” She climbed into a trash can. Dashing stumbled over to the trash can and looked in. “Empty?” At that moment his brain ceased logical and rational thought processing.

When the guard returned from the archive to deliver to book on wing care to Dashing, He opened the door to find Dashing in a corner, laughing to himself. “uh, Are you okay?” not really knowing how to deal with a situation like this, he figured the best way to fix the laughing idiot in front of him was to hit him in the head and hope for the best, it works with Cirrus Firestorm why not with this one. So the Guard gave Dashing a hard smack in the side of his head. Dashings eyes went derpy for a minute before going back to normal. He rubbed his head were the guard smacked him, “What was that for?” He then realized what happen, “Oh, forget I asked.” He then noticed the book being held by the wing of the Pegasus guard in front of him. “I take it that’s the book.” The guard nodded his head. “Thank you for getting the book for me.” The guard replied, “It wasn’t a problem. Later, If you want, I can get my marefriend to give you some pointers on getting your feathers to really shine.” Dashing replied, “She must really know her stuff.” The guard replied, “She certainly does. I honestly don’t know what she sees in me. I neglect my wings, and she gives me an earful about it every day.” Dashing responded, “I just met you, but I can already tell that you’re a dedicated stallion. Am I right?” the guard replied “Yes, I’m very dedicated. I take my job and her very seriously.” Dashing replied “And that’s why she stays with you. You’re a dedicated worker and a loving partner.” The guard thought about for a second before saying, “You’re right. How could I have missed something so obvious?” Dashing spoke “It’s the things that are most obvious that are easiest to miss.”

The guard, who had revealed his name to be Cloud Striker, and Dashing spoke for a few more minutes before Cloud had to excuse himself to get back to his post. Dashing read up on proper wing care and maintenance while waiting for Princess Luna. ‘Preening is essential to the health of the feathers of a Pegasus or an Alicorn, as failure to do so will result in the feathers losing their full magical potential and resulting in a much lower wing power.’ The book continues in the finer points of preening, including psychological benefits, health benefits and how healthy wings in a Pegasus can result in a healthier coat. Dashing decided to perform some basic wing care while waiting for Luna. He opened up his left wing to its full extent, a wingspan of about a meter and half. Quite small for an Alicorn, but Dashing isn’t a regular Alicorn. Which allows him to easily pass as a normal Pegasus when needed. He began to look over his wing for any debris, he started by pulling out a few tufts of cloud that had gotten stuck during his wayward journey on a stray. He then started with the actual Preening on his Left wing, his tongue cleaning and polishing the sides of his feathers covered up by the down on his wings. Moving up his wing he began to feel a weird tingling and then thought “I really hope she doesn’t show up now.” He then realized his mistake and his eyes darted towards the door and he tensed his entire body. He stayed staring at the door for a few moments before relaxing. “Oh.” He said before sighing, finishing his left wing. Then he extended his right wing, looked it over for debris, and then noticed a small metal rod lodged in a group of feathers. The metal rod wasn’t very big, about half a centimeter wide and 2 and a half long. “How did that get in there.” He asked himself before pulling it out with his magic. He looked it over for a few moments before deciding that it’s just a random piece of metal.

He was about half finished preening his right wing when the Princess walked into her study. He didn’t notice her entrance and kept on preening. A blush came to Lunas face when she realized what he was doing; she spoke up and asked “Am I interrupting anything?” He looked up at her, “Not really, why are you blushing?” She replied “Preening can be quite the ‘experience’ and is usually considered a thing to do in private.” He responded “Really? The book didn’t mention that part.” She looked confused, and then remembered. “Your first preening?” He nodded then said “I’m almost finished here.” Luna blushed again, “Would you like some privacy?” He replied “It’s been a fascinating experience, but honestly it really doesn’t feel like something I would need privacy for. Also, what’s this tingling?” Lunas face turned into one of confusion, “Tingling?” Dashing replied “It started when I started the actual preening process.” Luna responded, “I believe that’s your mind trying to adjust to the new sensation. Dashing thought for a second “Makes sense to me. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to finish this up.” Dashing went back to cleaning his feathers, Lunas blush deepened. Dashing had just finished when he heard a loud POMPF!!! He looked over the see that Lunas wings had extended to their full length. “Whoa calm down Princess. I’m not your type.” She looked up at him before turning her gaze to her wings, her entire face turned red as her embarrassment set it. “Heh, sorry.”

After taking a few moments to calm Luna down, and once her wings were back under her control, Dashing asked “Why did you send for me?” She replied “I did some research into the glowing being you mentioned. I believe they are called ‘The Celestial Guardians” Dashing responded, “ooh. I’m sorry, but really? They couldn’t have chosen a better name.” Luna spoke up “’tis more of a description than a name, even then I could only find them mentioned once and only one sentence was written about them.” Dashing spoke up “So a group of powerful, mysterious and possibly omnipotent entities brought me here for an unknown purpose, for an unknown plan, and absolutely nothing is known about them other than one obscure reference to their description. Did I miss anything Princess?” She replied “That about sums it up, and when we are alone, please call me Luna.”

Chapter 14

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Dashing and Luna continued speaking about his past (what little there was to speak of) and other topics of interest. Luna asked “How are you able to read and perform spells without formal training of any kind?” Dashing replied “I haven’t a clue.” Luna then asked “And about your accent? Where exactly are you from?” He replied “Southern area, mostly rural and agricultural in that area. I spent half my life raised in a mid-sized town and the other half in the country. So I can imagine that I have a strange way of talking.”

At that moment and guard walked in and said “A Lyra Heartstrings is here with a package for Dashing Light.” Lyra walked into the room, and bowed. Luna motioned, the guard left and Lyra rose. “What’s the package Lyra?” She replied “It’s a book, Twilight asked me to bring it to you once she found out where you were. The town was in a bit of a panic. Princess Celestia had to step in to calm the town. It was worse than when Twilight enchanted her doll.” Dashing laughed at the thought. “So what’s the book?” Lyra floated the package over to Dashing who opened it up with his magic. “Oh, it’s this one.” Luna looked over and noticed the picture of Dashing on the front. “What is this book?” He replied “I’m not quite sure, but I have an idea.” He opened up to a page with a book marker. “Lyra, you can stay. I have a few questions to ask you.” Said Luna

Luna looked over the pages as Dashing concentrated on a section of text. “I cannot read this strange language. It’s written in a very unusual script.” Dashing said, “Good, This text was meant for my eyes only. It seems fitting that it’s in a language only I can understand.” Luna and Lyra looked at Dashing with looks of confusion on their faces, he noticed and said “When I was in the other world I developed a language of my own, and created a script for it. I developed an entire language within the course of a month, simply because I could. I made myself memorize it, not caring that I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone in it. It seems destiny had other plans.” Luna made to ask a question, but was interrupted by Lyra, who gleefully asked “SO YOU WERE HUMAN?!?!?!?” He stepped back a step and replied “I was at one time, but I’d rather not talk about it too much more. Lest I remember what I left behind.” Lyra asked “What did you leave behind? Your fingers?” She smirked. “No, my family was left behind, my friends. Everything I ever cared for, gone.” He started to tear up at the thought of never being to see his friends or family again. Lyra shrunk back, and felt a tear drop down her check too. She walked over to Dashing, who was fully crying at this point, and draped a foreleg over him. “Shh, it’s okay. You have new friends and a new family here. There are ponies here who can and will care for you, no matter what.” said Lyra. Dashing looked at her, and with tears in his eyes, wrapped her in a warm embrace. She returned the gesture, and she heard Dashing whisper into her ear, “Thank you.” They stay there holding each other in an embrace for what seemed like an eternity from Dashing perspective, Lyra made a motion to release and he complied. “I would’ve let you hold on longer, but Bon Bon is the jealous type.” They shared a laugh at the Earth ponies expense.

Princess Celestia entered the study and saw Lyra, Dashing and Luna. She asked “Am I interrupting anything?” Soliciting blushes from the 2 former. Luna replied “Nothing happened, just a tender moment between two friends.” Celestia responded “We have some bigger problems. The rift has shifted its location.” Dashing looked at Celestia, “Shifted? To where?” She replied “To the top of that tower. I’m going to send for the Elements of Harmony.” Dashing spoke without thinking, “That’s not going to work.” Celestia looked at him, “What do you mean?” He replied “I don’t know. I don’t even know why I said that.” Celestia shook her head. “It’s our best option.” She left taking Luna with her. “I need to finish studying that book.” Lyra asked “Is this really this best time?” He replied “Maybe not, but this book may be our only hope.” And he turned himself back to the book.

After a few moments of studying the rest of the pages Dashing asked her Lyra to go back to Ponyville, spend time with Bon Bon and to stop obsessing over humans. “It’s not healthy to obsess like that.” She replied “What would you know about obsessions?” He shot back “Are we really having this conversation again?” Lyra shrugged, “I need to get back anyway. A new couple just arrived in Town before I left. Somepony named Dark Wing with a white Unicorn mare in town. Her horn was broken.” Dashing replied “That’s got to be the. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING.” mimicking Rarities accent. soliciting a laugh from Lyra, who quickly subdued herself. “Yeah, I was going to talk to her about it, but I’m not sure I can.” Dashing said “Just act naturally. Oh wow, I can’t believe I just said that.” Lyra asked “Why?” He responded “How do you act naturally?” He laughed for a moment before subduing himself, when he felt a terrifyingly familiar tingling on his next. “Lyra, RUN!!!!!!!” Several creatures appeared in flashes of light, the same kind that attacked the party. They started firing bolts of magic in Dashings direction. They impacted a field of energy shortly after. He could feel his next still tingling, he knew this was it. “Do or Die time now.”

After taking down the 3 creatures that had blinked near him, Dashing went back to the castle from the Train area and found it under attack. He let lose a volley of magic missiles that tracked and took down at least a dozen of the abominations, but doing little good as there was thousands of them. He took the air alongside the Pegasus guard. Weaving in and out of the fight, shooting magic homing missiles taking down the creatures one at a time. Occasionally one would try to send a missile his way, only to find a hoof in its face from a Pegasus guard. Eventually one managed to shoot a missile at Dashing. He could tell something was wrong when he made to dodge and it changed its trajectory and turned back towards him. His eyes narrowed as he realized that this isn’t an ordinary missile, he threw up a shield wall to stop it, and it passes through with ease.

He began to try to fly away from the missile, only for it to get closer to him. Eventually finding its mark in his belly. He was knocked unconscious from the spell and was thrown onto the platform the rift was on. He lied there unconscious for an hour. Eventually waking, groggily asking to nopony in particular “Did we win?” He looked at the battle still raging in the sky, “guess not”. The Pegasus guard appeared to be losing. He looked over up the rift, and cast a shield spell on the platform allowing enough room for a pony to walk along the outside perimeter of the shield. He began calling up every ounce of magic in his body for the last spell he’d ever cast.

Chapter 15

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Twilight Sparkle

By the time Twilight and the others had left the train the battle had been in full swing for almost a half hour now. Applejack shouted “We ‘ave to help them!!!!” And Twilight replied, “Okay then, you and Pinkie try and keep everypony calm. Rainbow and Fluttershy, you two help the Pegasus guard; they look like they need the help. Rarity, you and me will try to keep their numbers down.” Rarity replied “Dear darling, I don’t know any spells useful for combat.” Twilight answered “I’ll teach you a quick combat spell and the rest of you get going.” Rainbow and Fluttershy made mock salutes before flying off and Pinkie and Applejack galloped off to help with survivors.

Twilight got to the area of the main battle and shot off a few magic missiles, hitting several of the abominations, but not taking them down. “This is going to take longer than I thought.” She said as she dodged a bolt of magic. Rarity galloped up beside Twilight a few seconds later, “Darling, are you sure about this.” Twilight replied, “It’s us or them.” Then Rarity fired off a few bolts of magic, hitting a few and taking them down. Twilight looked over at Rarity, and she asked “What?” Twilight replied “Are you enjoying this?” To which Rarity replied “maybe.”
Rainbow Dash
After a few moments of fighting alongside the Pegasus guard, one called her down to equip her properly for fighting. Full body armor, magically modified by a Unicorn guard to fit her and enchanted to reduce its weight, allowing her to maneuver easily in the armor, and shin guards to protect her hooves. “Thanks guys, this should help.” Celestia flashed into existence nearby. “Rainbow Dash, I have a mission of great importance for you. It may help secure some assistance for this battle.” Rainbow saluted her, “What is the mission.” Celestia told her about the mission. “Are you sure about this Princess?” she nodded “desperate times call for desperate measures.” Rainbow nodded, “I better get going if I’m going to get there in time.” She took off in a multicolored trail of light, going towards the south of Canterlot castle, causing a sonic rainboom inside of the fight happening. The guard was prepared, but the creatures weren’t. They became stunned for the next few moments, allowing the Pegasus and the Unicorn guard to easily take down a large number of them.
Applejack

“Everypony, please remain calm. The situation is being taken care of.” Pinkie pleaded with the crowd, and they understood but remained in a slightly panicked state. Applejack shouted “EVERYPONY, CALM THE BUCK DOWN!!!!!!!” They didn’t argue. “Now, please go back to y’alls houses. It’ll be much safer fer y’all.” They didn’t argue and promptly went into their houses.
Twilight Sparkle

She saw Rainbow fly overhead and create a sonic rainboom in the middle of the group of creatures. “That’s how you do it!!” She shouted. Then she remembered something important. She ran over to a medic pony attending to the injured. “Has a Dashing Light been found?” The medic replied “If he has, he’s been released. You should ask the Captain.” Twilight thanked the medic and went to find her brother. She eventually found him getting set-up for a renewed offensive against the creatures. “Shining.” She shouted. He looked over, “Twilie.” He ran over and hugged his sister, “What are you doing here, this isn’t safe for you.” She replied “The princess sent for us before the attack.” He responded “very well, where are the others?” Twilight told him that Aj and Pinkie were helping keep the city calm and helping prevent a panic, Rarity was trying to help take down some creatures, Fluttershy was using her skill in Flew-jitsu to help the Pegasus guard and Rainbow was last seen going to the south at sonic rainboom speeds. “To the south? Are you sure?” Twilight nodded, “Yes, I’m positive.” Shining replied, “I hope she knows what she’s doing.”
Shining Armor

After a half hour of fighting the Pegasus guard was losing the battle. Fluttershy was out of action due to several injuries and fatigue, Rarity was complaining about her mane getting dirty(big surprise) and Aj and Pinkie were helping in the triage center. Shining came into the Ward and asked, “How’s Fluttershy doing?” a nurse replied “She’s doing alright. Her injuries were thankfully minor, but it’s the fatigue that really took her out of the fight. If she wasn’t so tired and stressed, I’d say that she’d probably still be fighting.” Shining shook his head in disbelief “Who knew that Fluttershy had it in her?” he mentally asked himself.
It’s was then that they took note of a buzzing coming from the south of Canterlot castle. Shining galloped outside and noticed a large black cloud, he immediately cast a far-look spell to get a better look, and was shocked to see a changeling swarm, but was even more surprised that the ones leading the swarm were Rainbow Dash and Queen Chrysalis. Queen Chrysalis landed next to Shining, who immediately assumed a combat pose. “Calm down, we are here because Celestia asked for our assistance, in exchange for lowering restrictions placed on Changelings. We will fight alongside you, if you will fight beside us.” She extended a ‘hoof’ to him and he reluctantly shook it. They took notice of a cerulean blue shield over the tower that the rift was on. “Get one of your drones to tell Twilight that Dashing is up on that tower.” Chrysalis replied “How do you know that’s him?” Shining replied “No other pony I know has that color for magic.” Chrysalis nodded, and sent a drone with the message to Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle
She jumped at the sight of a changeling landing in front of her, she immediately assumed a fighting pose. It changed into a rough shape of her brother. It said “A message from Shining Armor. Dashing Light has been located; he is currently on the platform with the rift. That is all.” Twilight calmed a little, and then the changeling changed back into its normal shape before flying off to join the fight taking place in the sky. “That was different.” She thought out loud, before galloping off to the tower that Dashing was on. Meanwhile up the sky, the Pegasus guards were shocked when the swarm impacted the fight, bringing the fight to a steady draw.

Once Twilight got to the top of the tower she saw Dashing sitting in the center of the platform with his head held low. She tried the gallop over to him only to hit her face on the blue shield that was covering the platform. Dashing looked up at her and thought “Why can’t ponies ever keep their eyes open?” He walked over to the shields edge and looked at Twilight, who was rubbing her slightly bloody muzzle. “I suppose you know what this is?” He pointed at the rift. “But what you don’t know is how to close it.” Twilight looked at him, “But you do?” He nodded. “This is what I was meant for.” Twilight asked, “What do you mean?” He replied, “I was meant to sacrifice my life to save a world that was never mine to begin with.” Twilight was taken aback by his words, and tears started to drop from her eyes “W-W-Why? Why you?” He smirked, “It’s always been me. I once asked myself, ‘If given the change to sacrifice yourself for the greater good would you do it and would you do it without hesitation’ My answer has always been the same. Yes.” Twilight was tearing, “But I love you, ever since I first laid eyes on you I knew you were the one. You’re kind, caring, gentle and loyal. The perfect stallion.” She put her hoof onto the shield, “Please don’t do this.” He put his hoof on the shield resting it where hers would be, “I love you too, but this has to be done. For Equestria.” She noticed a flash in his eyes before he turned and walked back to the center. “Okay now, this is it.” His body floated up several meters and became surrounded by light. As massive amounts of magic flowed through his body his wings flared out to their full length and little bolts of lightning could be seen jumping between his primaries. And suddenly an extremely bright burst of light came from within the shield, so bright that it overwhelmed the senses of poor Twilight, whose brain shut down to protect itself.

She woke up after roughly 2 hours to find that the battle was over and everypony was alive. The creatures had disappeared. She looked over towards the platform and saw that the shield has collapsed. She looked up and saw that the rift had indeed been closed. But then she looked at where dashing had been, and screamed when she saw the he had been completely encased in a clear pillar of pure crystal. She conjured up a crystal shattering spell she had learned, only for it to be dispersed by a field surrounding the crystal. She knew enough about shields to know that any further attempts would be futile. She placed her hoof on the crystal, the field allowing for physical contact. “I will never forget.”

Epilogue

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It has been exactly one year since the second battle for Canterlot, and the unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle has had a hard time adjusting without the smile of Dashing Light in her library. She became more introverted, more closed in. The more her friends tried to reach out to her, the more she pulled back. She had promised herself that today she would try to move on with her life and she was going to visit him for the last time. “Spike, I’m going out for a few days. Take care of the library while I’m gone.” He replied “Where are you going?” She replied “To Canterlot, I’m going to visit him for one last time.” Spike didn’t bother asking anymore questions.

She had just left the library when she got tackled by a cyan blur. “Hi there Twi.” Twilight grumbled and asked “What do you want?” Rainbow replied “I want to know if you’re okay?” Twilight responded “And you figured the best way to ask was to tackle me? Very clever.” Rainbow realized what she had done and got off of Twilight, helping her up. Twilight spoke up with a lie “I’m fine Rainbow. I just need a vacation, that’s all.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Where ya going?” Twilight replied “Canterlot.” Rainbow then realized what Twilight meant. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Rainbows wings drooped down and dragged against the ground as she walked off; knowing the pain her friend was going through.

The next Pony Twilight ran into on the way to the train station was Bon Bon. “Oh hi Twilight. How are you, we haven’t seen you for a while.” Twilight replied, again lying, “I’m fine.” Bon Bon knew she wasn’t. “Listen, I know what its’ like. You don’t have to lie to me.” Twilight asked “How do you go on?” Bon replied “It’s hard, but I do it for Lyra. She’s my whole reason for living now. And some things are better left in the past.” Twilight thanked Bon for the advice and reached the train station. After paying the 15 bits for a ticket to Canterlot, She boarded the train, bound for Canterlot.

After the train left the station, Twilight began looking out at the scenery, taking in its beauty. She had never noticed it before, usually because she had her nose buried in a book. The lush green tress, the rolling hills, the clouds in the sky, Cloudsdale off in the distance and Canterlot in the side of the mountains. It’s was all so wonderful that Twilight couldn’t help but find a smile on her face. She pulled a small notebook out of a saddlebag and starting writing down some notes. These aren’t the typical Twilight fare in terms of notes. They were notes of everything that she had failed to share with Dashing during their short time together. She figured that the reason why they hadn’t spent much time together is that since Dashing was new to the town, that she would let him get settled in and find a job.

After a bit of thinking and writing down notes the train had arrived at Canterlot Station, surprising Twilight who had been lost in her thoughts. As she got off the train she could’ve sworn she saw a familiar looking pony. “No, it couldn’t have been.” She wrote off the experience as simply stress. Walking through the streets of Canterlot was usually always a nostalgic experience for Twilight, but this time it just reminded her of what she had lost. A little brown and blue Unicorn Colt saw her obvious distress and ran over to her. He floated a flower over to her and asked “Smile please?” She couldn’t say no to the little colt, she gave a half-hearted smile. The colt, seemingly satisfied, floated the flower so that it rested on Twilights ear and ran off. Her smile became a little more genuine.

She approached the Castle and was momentarily stopped by the front guards, who let her in quickly once they realized who they were talking to. As she walked over to the Throne room, she found herself thinking of him again and his final words. “He didn’t even say good-bye.” She thought as she began to tear up. She reached the throne room shortly after, after rubbing the tears from her eyes, she entered the room.

“Ah, my favorite student. What brings you here on this most beautiful…” the Princess stopped herself as she realized what day it was. “I am terribly sorry. What is it you wish?” Twilight replied “I wish to see him one last time, before I say my final good-bye to him.” The Princess called for a pegasus guard to escort her to the memorial.

She grumbled slightly at having to be escorted. “Why did the princess give me an escort? She’s never done that before.” The guard replied “I’ve actually been looking for an excuse to visit him myself.” Twilight looked at the guard, “Why are you visiting him?” the guard replied, “You’ll find out when we get there.” Twilight was slightly annoyed at the purposefully vague response.

They reached the location after a bit of walking. Dashing still encased in his crystal tomb. The tower would remain saturated in magic for the next three thousand years, because of the energy released in the collapse of the rift. Twilight started to approach, but hesitated, and then motioned for the guard to go first.

“Hey there, you remember me?” ‘no response’ “It’s me, Cloud Striker. We met exactly one year ago. I took you up to Princess Lunas study, and you gave me a piece of advice that changed my life.” He started to tear up a little. “After I got off duty that day, I went home and told my marefriend of you. She seemed skeptical at first, but she eventually came ‘round. After that day, we grew closer together. And then 4 months later I asked her to marry me. We got married a month after. Princess Cadence dropped by, citing that she likes to attend weddings. We got married under the blessing of the princess of love. Now, we are happily married and are expecting a foal. If it was a Colt I was going to name him ‘Cloudy Light’ or if it’s a filly I was going to name her ‘Lightly Cloudy’” He chuckled at his joke. “Anyway, it was an honor knowing you, and without you I never would’ve found out that she was my true love in life. Thank you, for everything.” He started tearing up again towards the end and was fully crying by the time he finished.

Twilight, hearing the guards “talk” with Dasing, She found herself a bit emotional. “He’s done so much just by talking.” The guard walked away from the crystal, leaving Twilight by herself with the crystal. She spoke, “Hi Dashing, if you were alive, you really wouldn’t be in this situation.” She scolded herself for very poor word choice. “I came to tell you that I still love you, even after this long. But I need to move on with my life.” She sighed and felt a spark dancing on the tip of her horn, she brushed it away “I came to say good-bye. So good-bye Dashing, for the last time.” She looked up at the crystal and noticed something strange. She struggled to think about what had changed. “AHA, there, that’s what’s different. His Eyes are open, they were closed before.” She freaked out as she realized what she had said. Twilight shook her head, “It can’t be. Can it?” She got closer to the surface of the crystal, bringing her eyes to more closely look at Dashings supposed corpse. Then she jumped back in fear and shock, and the body encased in the crystal winked at her. Cloud came running up after hearing her scream, he saw in her shock; muttering the same words over and over again. “He’s still alive.”

Special thanks and others

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A few people I would like to thank

My friend Michael: who first planted the MLP idea in my head in the first place.
My college friends
AVeryStrange: for writing the first fan-fic I ever read and the one that inspired me to write.
The Fimfic community for being very awesome. (even the ones who down voted, I still think you're cool)
The My Little Brony community on memebase: For "Inspiring" me to watch in the first place.
Inferno demon Dash: For writing the story that made pick up writing as therapy for manic depression

People who I don't care much for:
The sickos who wrote "sweet apple Massacre", "Trixies Funhouse" and "sweet bucket o' fun" seriously don't read these.

These are my Ocs that appeared
1: Dashing Light, Dash of Light, Light bulb (both genders), Star light (both genders), Star Shine (both genders)
2: Candy Drops
3: Cirrus Firestorm (mentioned)
4: Cloud Striker

ocs that are not mine but were mentioned
1: Dark Wing.

Oh and I'm not actually going to release my plot notes, as there too big of a mess. sorry.

end credits song and continuation

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A proper, fitting and appropriate song for the end of this chapter of the Dashing Light cycle.
Please, enjoy.

this story is continued in the "sequel"
Ghosts of the past

Life and Death

by Timstro59

Prologue-00

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Special thanks and others

end credits song and continuation