Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, ready for a new day. Fluttershy’s well-trained aviary choir chirped delightful music, the sunrise peeked above the horizon at the perfect time, and even Spike’s usual snoring was a soft murmur in the background. She threw off the comforter—

—and noticed something very odd. She cocked her head as she stared at her body. Her coat was a shade of bright crimson.

Huh, odd, she thought. She clearly didn’t remember being crimson when she went to sleep. She rolled out of bed and noticed a tuft of black hair fall into her vision, complete with an orange hair streak in place of her pink and purple stripe. She raised an eyebrow at that.

And I certainly don’t remember having black hair.

Sighing, she trotted to the bathroom and checked out her appearance in the mirror. Yes, she appeared to have a red coat and a black mane. She chuckled and shook her head. It was probably Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash that did this to me. I’ll just take a shower and wash the dye off. No problem at all, she thought to herself as she walked to the shower and turned the spigot, watching the flow of water jet out. In a weird way, she was proud of herself for not over-reacting. I bet they’re downstairs, just waiting for me to yelp or something over this gross color pallet. But no, not today girls. Not today. Smiling, she stepped inside, preparing for her usual routine.

Shampoo: check.

Conditioner: check.

Body Wash: check.

Loofah: check.

With her checklist complete, she decided to remove the red staining her coat first. She levitated the body wash over the loofah and squirted out exactly twenty-five milliliters of body wash, which she calculated should create the perfect amount of lather with which to remove the coloring.

A frown replaced her cheeky expression when she scrubbed at her coat. It must be stronger stuff, she idly convinced herself. With magic loofah in hoof, she applied more velocity and strength to each swipe, until her eyes squinted in a minor bout of pain. Whatever solution those pranksters had used, it was a good one.

She decided to let her coat go until she could obtain some coat color remover from the store. She then grasped the bottle of shampoo and, taking no chances, squirted a heavy dollop directly on her mane. She worked it up into a thick lather but was surprised to see no black staining at the bottom of the shower. Her eyes narrowed; she scrubbed her mane with all of her might. The black coloring refused to budge. Frowning, she let the shampoo run out of her mane and rested her head against the shower wall, the spray massaging her back.

Great. Just great. Now I have to go out into town like this. Confound you, Rainbow Dash and/or Pinkie Pie.

A grunt of clear discomfort echoed through the castle as she turned off the shower and dried herself off, hoping that friction might finally remove the coloring. Hopefully, she looked at the towel. It was mercilessly free of stains. Darn it, she thought, they must have used an extremely powerful coloring agent. She hung the towel on the rack and left the bathroom with a frown on her face to see Spike standing in her room. She opened her mouth to speak when Spike screeched like a little girl and hid under the discarded blanket. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Spike?” she asked.

Spike peeked his head out from the blanket. “Twi?”

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and giggled. “Yes, it’s me. Pinkie and or Rainbow must have pulled a prank on me while I was sleeping and dyed my coat and mane to look like…this.

He stood up, letting the cloth fall limply to the side. “Wow. Well, they did a great job! You look amazing!”

Twilight pressed her eyelids shut, then opened them. “Thanks Spike, but I have to disagree with you on that. I think I look terrible. I can’t think of anypony who could pull off this collaboration of color. I was just about to go to the store to see if I could get a strong enough dye remover to remove this.”

“Uh, okay, I guess,” Spike replied with a shrug. “I mean, I think red and black is pretty cool.”

Twilight sighed heavily. She never did understand some of the things Spike thought were “cool” or “awesome”. She’d have to do more research on the subject when she found the time. But first, off to the store.

The ponies of Ponyville were known to be excitable, drastic, and sometimes immune to the weirder antics that had happened in the past few years, but seeing their newest princess like… that certainly caused stares. Twilight did her best to grin and bear it sheepishly, but based on the way hooves were covering mouths at every glance, she knew gossip was going to spread like wildfire. By the time she left the store, she figured Rarity would be standing outside, shrieking in horror.

Instead, her aforementioned friend saw her from across the market. Who made eye contact with her and shrieked in horror. And ran towards her. Still shrieking. “Twilight! What on earth happened!?”

“It’s nothing, just some prank I’m sure Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were up to while I was asleep,” she replied dully, not even slightly entertained by the inconvenience this had become.

“Pinkie Pie? And Rainbow Dash?” Rarity shook her head. “No, I’m afraid that’s not possible. Pinkie Pie is watching Rainbow’s pet while she’s away. She Pinkie Promised not to leave his side.”

Well, that’s welcome news, she internally groaned. “Wait, doesn’t Tank hang out with Rainbow Dash in her cloud house? How is she… never mind. I just want this stuff to come off and be done with.”

Her friend of fashion gave her friend a once over and hummed. “Twilight, I don’t think this is a dye. Normally, the coloring gives off a distinct sheen. Plus, there would be signs of slight damage to the hair. I’m afraid I don’t see any of that,” Rarity attempted a smile and said, “besides, it doesn’t look that bad.”

Twilight’s eyes popped open. “If it’s not a dye...then what do you think it is?”

Rarity shook her head again. “I haven’t the slightest. Maybe you should ask somepony with experience in the matter.”

“Hmmm…” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. What alicorn do I know that has experience in changing colors? she thought to herself. It then hit her like a flash of lightning. Princess Luna!

She drew Rarity into a tight embrace. “Thanks, Rarity. You’re the best,” she said as she disengaged the hug.

“Always glad to be of service,” Rarity said as she returned to her shopping.

Twilight smiled. She now had a mission.

Go back to castle.

Write letter to Princess Luna.

Have Spike send letter to Princess Luna.

Wait for response.

She hurried over back to her estate, moseying through her thoughts, searching for the appropriate words to script to the page. But upon her return, all she could think of was a very concise and efficient message:

”Dear Princess Luna,

I am a red and black alicorn and I don’t know why. Please offer advice as soon as possible.

~Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. Do you know anything about it being cool?”

She looked over the letter, checking for any corrections to be made. Satisfied that there were none, she called Spike over and had him send the letter. She exhaled a sigh of relief that action was being taken concerning her current condition. She fell to her haunches and let out a deep sigh.

“I still don’t get why you wouldn’t want to keep this. What’s wrong with being a red and black alicorn?” Spike asked with sincerity. Twilight felt as if he was looking at a 2 + 2 math question and missing the answer.

“I look silly!” she replied, throwing her hooves into the air. “And they’re not my colors. Imagine if someone turned you into a blue-eyed white dragon.” She sighed. “Even Rarity shrieked, Spike. You know it’s bad when she does that, she knows all about fashion stuff.”

Spike shrugged. “I guess.” At the end of that thought, he released a message-belch and a scroll unravelled itself. They both grew wide eyed at the response time. Twilight quickly grasped the letter and scanned its contents.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

What you are experiencing is something both Celestia and I went through; when an alicorn reaches a certain age, they morph into a different set of colors. I imagine since you were not born a natural alicorn, such process has been sped up and you passed through this cycle in a matter of hours in an attempt for your body to catch up. But, honestly, Twilight, you’re a competent magic user, I’m sure you can change the color scheme on your own if you wanted.

~Princess Luna.

P.S. No, I do not know of cool.”

Twilight slowly lowered the letter as the reality of the situation hit her. She was going to be this hideous coloration the rest of her life. Sure, she could use magic to revert to her previous colors, but that would cause a constant drain on her magic and she needed to be at full capacity whenever disaster struck–which was rather often if you were Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“So, what did it say?” Spike asked.

Hug Spike.

“Come here, Spike,” Twilight said. Spike walked towards Twilight, Twilight grabbing him in a tight hug when he was close enough.

Cry deeply.

Tears escaped from Twilight’s eyes as she pulled him in tighter.

Spike looked up at Twilight. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Lie.

“Nothing, Spike,” Twilight said as she sniffed, “everything’s going to be fine.”

“Oh, okay,” Spike said as he nuzzled into Twilight’s barrel. “Because usually when you cry like that, something is horribly wrong.”

Accept your fate gracefully.

Twilight sniffled again. “I’m just...going to be like this for a while, that’s all.”

“Alright,” Spike said, “but I still think you look really cool.”

Thank Celestia for letting me live with such a wonderful dragon.

Twilight chuckled. “If you think it’s cool, that’s good enough for me.”