Dusk Shine Rising, ch1

Sixteen years ago:

Twilight hesitantly looked through the crack of her barely open bedroom door. Indecision screwed up the small filly’s face. Even though she knew her big brother was at his hoof-ball game she couldn’t stop thinking that any second now he would pop up at the head of the stairs, spot her, and instantly know just what she was planning on doing.

The little foal looked back into her bedroom where a dozen books were lying open on the floor. They were all books she’d read at least twice. Her expression firmed, turning determined, and more than a little mulish. Her big brother had promised to take her to the library the day before to return her latest set of borrowed books and help her pick out a new selection. But when she’d knocked on his door bright and early yesterday morning he had yelled out that she wasn’t to come in. He was busy. He’d do it later. Just go away.

Twilight had been hurt and sure she’d done something terribly wrong to make her brother so angry at her. But her mother had cleaned the tears from her face and given her a cuddle while saying, “Shining Armor still loves you, Twilight. He’s just at that age when he’s turning from a colt into a stallion. It’s a very trying time for a young pony. Don’t worry. He’ll get over it soon.”

Twilight Velvet’s reassurance might have been a bit more effective if she hadn’t finished her statement by muttering to herself loudly enough for her daughter to hear, “I hope.”

Having successfully argued the point that what she was doing was all Shining Armor’s fault six-year old Twilight trotted down the hallway to her big brother’s bedroom and pushed open the door. She’d just borrow some books and return them before her brother got back she promised herself.

Unfortunately, Twilight discovered there wasn’t a single book in Shining Armor’s room that she had not already read. She’d even read his sports encyclopaedia the previous month. In a last desperate quest for fresh reading material she peeked under the bed to see if there might be a new Power Pony comic lying on the floor there. There wasn’t. But when she stood up she noticed the tattered corner of a book poking out from under her brother’s mattress. Her magic wasn’t up to the task of lifting the bulky pad but she managed to shove it up high enough with her shoulder that she could use her magic to extract the hidden book.

Twilight eagerly checked out her find. It was old and had been roughly treated but was still readable. A puzzled expression crossed her face as she looked at the cover. The title was, “The Restoration of Equestria.” From that she might have assumed the theme had something to do with renovating some of the many grand homes that were scattered around her home town if not for the rather lurid cover. The illustration featured a smug looking unicorn stallion sitting on a throne while a nude Princess Celestia nuzzled his boy parts.

Twilight’s muzzle wrinkled as if she just smelled something bad. Not only was the activity depicted disgusting, the artist had gotten the proportions all wrong. The stallion in the picture would have to be at least eight feet tall given the size differential between him and Princess Celestia. As for the other feature, she knew for a fact that boy parts just didn’t get that big! They most certainly were not stiff solid bars of flesh that were longer than Celestia’s muzzle and head combined. Instead they were much smaller while being wrinkly and floppy. Twilight felt sure of all this from the many times she had taken baths with her father and/or Shining Armor.

Though, thinking back, she realized she hadn’t done that in a couple of months. Not since she’d started asking why colts were different from mares.

Twilight still hadn’t gotten a satisfying answer to that line of inquiry.

Twilight’s eyes suddenly brightened. Maybe this book would answer those questions. Surely the topic was something that Shining Armor had to have wondered about as well.

The book did indeed explain the difference between fillies and colts, and the consequences of that difference, but Twilight found the answers disturbing, to say the least.

According to the book the unnatural levels of magic possessed by Princess Celestia had warped Equestrian society. The proper order of things were for stallions to be in charge and mares subservient to them. Pre-historic culture was referenced. To the mind of a six-year old the author of the book made a very convincing argument. The theory went that when ponies lived in wandering herds they were overseen by a dominant stallion and a few male subordinates while the bulk of the herd was made up of mares who were under the control and leadership of the males. Other data was used, all aimed at demonstrating why stallions should be in charge and why mares could only truly be content and happy being the property of a properly dominate stallion.

The pages containing this dissertation were among the cleanest and least tattered in the book.

In opposition to its rather dry scientific treatise the book’s illustrations, rather than using graphs and pie-charts to get across the essay’s points, used depictions of stallions exerting what the author claimed was their natural rights and employing various methods to teach mares their proper place. This involved lots of straps and lots of spankings using various objects besides the stallion’s own calloused hands. The end results always featured the mare in question having the stallion’s boy parts pushed into her mouth and/or bottom. Those pages were both tattered and stained.

Twilight as a filly was well aware that naughty foals got spanked, and from her brother’s comic book collection she knew that stallions often tied up mares they were fighting with. So while she didn’t understand just what the mares had done that was so bad, or why they needed to be tied up to be spanked, she could at least wrap her mind around it being accurate. However, the whole sticking their boy parts in a mare’s mouth and bottom caused Twilight to question the validity of the author’s thesis. How could she believe any of his arguments if he persisted in referencing an impossible act?

At least that was something she could quickly check out. She’d just ask someone who would have first-hoof data if it were actually true.

“Mom. Do colts really put their boy parts into mare’s bottoms?”

Twilight Velvet nearly dropped the cake she was floating through the air when her six-year old popped that question out of the blue.

She carefully set down the cake and turned to face her youngest child. Under her surprise and dismay was the thought that her husband was going to laugh right in her face when she told him about this. She hadn’t been exactly sympathetic a couple of months ago when he’d been researching the best means of giving ‘the talk’ to Shining Armor. She also felt a bit hard done by. She’d expected to have a few years before it was her turn. Having a precocious child had its down sides.”

“Well, Twilight,” she said as she settled into a kitchen chair, “It’s like this…”

It was a rather pale little filly that walked into her bedroom a couple of hours later. To Twilight’s horror her mother had confirmed that colts did indeed stick their dirty things into fillies. And that their boy parts did indeed swell up much larger than normal when they were going to do that.

Once her mother had explained the mechanism, Twilight had felt foolish for not having made the necessary connections in regards to the different ways in which a colt varied from a filly. That did not make contemplating the act any easier. And that didn’t even get into the other things stallions did to mares. She hadn’t mentioned those to her mother. Spanking mares and/or tying them up seemed rather mundane compared to the main point Twilight had sought clarification on.

But if the much more gross aspect was true, it stood to reason that the other part was as well. Which was more than a little disturbing given the fact that Twilight Velvet had assured Twilight that by the time Twilight was old enough to actually have intercourse with a colt her body would be ready and she’d enjoy the experience of sharing her body with some colt she loved like her mother loved her father.

Twilight was far from convinced. She could not imagine any scenario where she enjoyed being tied up and held down while a cruel colt pushed his thing into her mouth or bottom after giving her a good hard spanking. But her mother had assured her that all mares experienced this once they were old enough and found it very enjoyable even if the first time or two might hurt a little bit. Once she got used to it, Twilight Velvet assured her daughter, Twilight would find it vastly enjoyable.

Really, if that was what grown-ups did together, Twilight would just as soon not grow up. As that was not a possibility and sooner or later she’d have to deal with this aspect of life she’d just as soon be the colt, all other things considered.

The young filly’s eyes fell on her day-to-day checklist. The laminated poster was a recent present from her father. It was a list of common day-to-day activities. Brush my teeth. Make my Bed. Clean up my Room, etc. Each day she was suppose to check off the various activities. Each night the check mark would vanish from its box so she could check it off again the next day.

There was a space under the main list where a parent, or filly, could write in more specific jobs. Pick up Books, was already written down in Twilight Velvet’s meticulous penmanship.

With tongue firmly in cheek to help her concentrate, Twilight used her magic to carefully scribe a new line. “Find out how to turn into a colt”

One month ago:

It’s just like Hearthswarming day, Twilight thought as she opened up the packing crate in front of her and looked at the treasures within.

Most ponies would have been at a loss to understand why she found the contents; childish scribblings and old carefully preserved educational toys such a delight. It was no mystery though. Each of the crates Twilight’s mother had shipped her, now that the new Princess of Friendship had a place that came with more than ample storage, contained her childhood memories. And Twilight had experienced, for the most part, a very happy childhood. Every item she pulled from the box elicited a fond smile and a distant look as she recalled the incident that went with each one of them.

A few feet away from Twilight, Spike was pawing through an open crate of his own. This one containing some of his baby toys. He had a Diamond shaped pacifier held in one set of claws and was idly squeaking it, but his attention was on a laminated poster he was holding in his other hand. “I don’t believe it. You’re very first checklist, Twilight. Man, your mom really did save everything.”

“Hmmm, what’s that?” Twilight muttered in a distracted tone as she pulled her attention away from a drawing of Princess Celestia that looked more like a spider than a pony. Why had her three year old self drawn the princess with eight legs again?

For a moment Twilight’s expression was one of polite attention, until her mental gears shifted and she recognized the yellowed poster. “I don’t believe it. It is my first check list,” she exclaimed with pleasure.

“Really? I was just making a joke,” Spike said in surprise. He took a closer look at the poster, running his eyes down the list of filly chores. His expression turned to surprise, and then sly as he gave his big sister a grin. “So, what’s this one? Find out how to turn into a colt?”

A puzzled expression on her face, Twilight stepped forward and looked at the line Spike was indicating with a claw. For a moment she looked blank as she cast her mind back over the years. Her expression shifted to one of remembrance, with a touch of embarrassment thrown in.

“Oh, that,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. “I got some bad data as a filly. For a few months I was desperate to change myself into a colt. I spent hours researching ways at the local library. Not that they had many books on the topic. But I eventually found out my assumptions were flawed due to corrupted data and forgot about it.” As she talked Twilight’s finger, almost as if it had a will of it’s own, reached out to rub the little square that was still pristine after all this time. In all the time Twilight had used the list it had never been checked off. That was perfectly understandable. But still that blank never used box made her horn itch with the need to levitate a quill and make a big bold checkmark in it.

“What sort of bad data?” Spike asked, not prepared to let it go. Mostly because whatever it was seemed to have Twilight flustered and he was hoping for some juicy little brother teasing material.

Twilight might have been flustered, but her big sister instincts were fully active. “Oh, you know how foals are at that age. I was convinced everything would be much better if I were a colt than if I were a filly. I’m sure there are many colts who feel the same way. It was just a phase I was going through.”

Before Spike could launch another attack, Twilight plucked the checklist out of his claws with her magic and floated it across the room to where she had been organizing her childhood documents.

Spike frowned, but his expression cleared up quickly. There was something going on here but he wasn’t going to find out what it was right this minute. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t find out eventually. He gave a small smile as he dug back into the box he had been sorting. Somewhere in the shipment from home there was bound to be something that would give him a hint. Twilight never threw anything away.

Twilight glanced under her bangs at the busy Spike. She wasn’t fooled by his disinterested act. She’d given away far more than she would have liked and her little brother smelled blood in the water. She gave silent thanks that her hidden stash of Restoration of Equestria themed books was well hidden.

The very first one, the one she’d found under her brother’s bed, had gone missing a week after she’d first seen it, but over the years she’d stumbled across the same one, and others in the same vein, in various seedy bookstores as well as hidden in the restricted stacks at the palace library.

Over the year she’d collected she’d what she thought was the entire series. Though it was hard to tell. While not technically illegal the books had been a product of an underground press. Finding who had created them had proved impossible. And there was no real way to discover just how many issues had been produced. It was possible that there were a number of the series she had not discovered.

It hadn’t been prurient interest that had driven her to collect her stash. Or scientific interest either. Despite what she’d thought as a six year old the thesis the books promoted was total horse-apples. It was simply that Twilight knew they existed, and having seen one volume she had found herself unable to resist collecting them. And of course it would have been unthinkable not to read them once she had. Even though she was well aware they were trash of the first order. There was just something a bit addictive about the simple life philosophy the books promoted. Not that she had the least desire to be tied up and ravaged by some brute of a colt, but she had to admit that the world of the books would certainly make her dating life a lot more simple.

Keeping her stash a secret had been a bit of a challenge, and there were many times she’d been tempted to destroy them for fear that Princess Celestia might discover the collection and mistake the reason Twilight had them. The idea had never gone further than a passing panic attack. The concept of destroying a book, even trash like this, had been unthinkable.

Which was why they were currently hidden in a secret compartment behind the most out of date books in her personal reference library.

Twilight put any thought of the perverted books out of her mind and went back to work on cataloging her childhood memories. But while she worked her eyes kept wandering back to that old childhood checklist, and that one blank box she had never checked.

27 days ago:

Twilight was never more aware of her recently acquired wings than when she was trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. Some nights the perfect sweet spot sometimes took an hour or more to find. The last thing she needed on top of dealing with her modified body was her mind racing like she had just finished a coffee fueled cram-session to complicate matters. But no matter how hard Twilight tried she could not get that pristine check box out of her mind. The problem was that unlike when she was a filly a gender-swap spell was no longer an impossible task. Merely a very difficult one. Back then she hadn’t had a clue as to where to start researching or what avenue to pursue in her quest to become a colt.

That was not the case now.

Between Twilight’s alicorn powers, her lessons in potions from Zecora, and her experience with Poison Joke, she was confident she could crack the problem in short order if she just applied herself. All the elements were there. She just didn’t want to. Or, so she kept telling herself. It had merely been a childhood trauma that had led to the creation of that check box in the first place. She was now a mature mare who knew better. There was no reason in Equestria for her to develop such a potion. Let alone use it.

Finally, after two nights of almost no sleep Twilight sat up in bed and asked herself, “Why not?” It wasn’t like she was talking about something irreversible. Using a Poison Joke potion also meant that the reversal potion was already known. All she would be contributing to the mix was adding magic to control the transformation. That would not negate the effectiveness of the cure. She could perfect the stupid potion, check off that darn blank box, and finally get a good nights sleep.

So why was she so reluctant?

Maybe because to really be sure the potion worked she’d have to try it out. She was a bit disturbed to discover that she was finding the idea of being a stallion rather intriguing? Of course there were valid scientific reasons to account for her interest. The male mind was so puzzling at times. For instance, It would be interesting to find out just why some of them seemed to find the idea of subjugating a mare so intriguing. But she was unlikely to discover that. It was highly unlikely she’d be interested in tying up and raping a mare just because she was a stallion. Many fine stallions, to the best of her knowledge had no interest at all in bending mares to their will. Or did they? Twilight paused at that thought. She’s always assumed that the inclination was rare. But what if it wasn’t? What if all stallions had an innate desire to have control over mares. And were only held back by social conventions and cultural conditioning? Could it be possible?

Twilight kneaded her chin as she considered. Now that would be an interesting bit of data. And she’d be the perfect control subject. If she turned into a stallion and found herself filled with the desire to tie up and ravage her friends it would be pretty much proof positive that such an attitude was inherent in being a stallion and was not a cultural construct. If she could prove that was the case there would be at least a dozen papers in the discovery she could think of offhoof.

Of course she’d need test subjects. She was sure her friends would be eager to help her in her pursuit of scientific knowledge. Not! That didn’t stop Twilight from envisioning scenarios however.

Twilight gave her head a shake and dispelled the image of Rainbow Dash with her wings bound so she couldn’t fly away while Twilight paddled her ass for once again crash-landing in the library stacks.

It wasn’t just Rainbow Dash that floated up as a test subject in Twilight’s mind. There had been times when life would have been so much simpler if she could have simply hogtied one or more of her friends. Twilight’s expression turned wry. Well, so much for that inclination being proof positive that stallions were horny bastards only held in check by social conventions. It seemed that even mares could have the occasional bout of perversion. She was just thankful that her imagination didn’t go past the idea of simply restraining them, with the exception of Rainbow Dash. When it came to that filly Twilight could all too easily see herself giving the hyper-active filly a good switching. Just to get her attention, of course.

Twilight’s expression firmed. That settled it. Turning into a stallion was not going to make her lose her control. If she hadn’t done so anytime over the last two years, despite ample provocation, she certainly wasn’t going to start just because she temporarily swapped genitalia for a few minutes, which was all she intended to do, in strict privacy. Because this was one experiment she most certainly didn’t want anypony, not even Spike, to find out about.

After all, who knows how her friends would react if suddenly confronted with a male version of herself. No, that wasn’t right. She knew exactly how they’d react. They’d have the same reaction Spike would have, they’d just conceal it better. Well, most of them would. Rainbow Dash would likely be right there with Spike rolling around on the floor laughing her ass off.

Having come to a decision, Twilight settled back in her bed. The knowledge that she would soon be able to scratch the itch caused by that unchecked box, and no one would ever know, let her tired over-worked brain relax as she slipped into a deep slumber.

Pinkie Pie was living a lie. All these years she’d boasted that she was the best party pony in all of Ponyville. Ha! It was to laugh! she thought bitterly. The truth, as she was only too well aware, was far different. From day one of her party career she had suffered failure after failure. One after another she had done her best to try and cheer up dozens of grumpy stallions only to be giving a brush off, some politely, some very much not so politely. “Get away from me, you stupid cunt,” had been heard more than once.

That hadn’t mattered to Pinkie. She had been bound and determined to continue to do her best to come up with some means of putting a grin on all those grumpy frowny faces, no matter what. No pony in her town was going to walk around with a dark cloud over their heads and a constant expression of anger at life and ponies in general.

Despite that, Pinkie Pie’s current dissatisfaction rose, surprisingly, from the fact that they hadn’t. Each and everyone of those stallions had gone from being gloomy Guses, to happy colts. Trotting around with silly grins on their faces and a cheerful word for everypony they met. But it had absolutely nothing to do with Pinkie, or her efforts. One evening they were sour and unpleasant, the next morning they were so cheerful you needed sunshades against the light bouncing off of their teeth.

Of course Pinkie was happy for them. But she’d would have been a lot happier if she had known what had caused the change. And she’d have been joyful if she’d had something to do with it, but she hadn’t. That left her feeling inadequate and a failure at what she saw was her duty and joy, to spread laughter everywhere she went.

Well. That was going to change. Two weeks ago she’d shadowed the most recent Gloomy Gus, Mayor Mare’s personal assistant, day and night and had been rewarded by seeing him leave Berry Bunch’s home in the early morning with an expression of contented satisfaction on his face. And ever since then he’d been trotting around town on his various errands with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. A sharp contrast to the ‘just sucked a lemon expression,’ that had been his norm up to that point.

Ever since that event Pinkie Pie had been badgering Berry Bunch to let her in on her secret. Just how had she made the sad/angry stallion so happy? The older mare had refused to answer and had taken to ducking down the closest alley anytime she saw Pinkie coming. But the pink party pony was not so easily discouraged. Pinkie just knew Berry Punch was on the verge of breaking down and letting Pinkie know her secrets. If only she kept after the older mare for just a little bit longer.

Which was why she was hiding in the bushes outside Berry Punch’s home at four in the morning waiting for her to come home from the bar everypony in ponyville knew about, and pretended they didn’t.

Pinkie’s diligence was rewarded when she spotted her target trotting, in a rather weaving way, toward her home. Berry Punch was bumping shoulders and occasionally stopping to nuzzle muzzles with an older, rather rough looking, stallion. Pinkie recognized the stallion as a cart-hauler named Roadblock who passed through town every month or so. Roadblock was a chronic Grumpy Gus who seemed to be mad at the entire world all the time. As he didn’t live in town Pinkie had never had a chance to throw him a welcome to Ponyville party and her occasional efforts to cheer him up had met with total rejection. He certainly didn’t look grumpy right now. Pinkie’s smile grew even wider. Not only would she get to ask Berry Punch, again how she made stallions so happy, she’d be able to get an answer from one of the stallions in question. This was so perfect.

Berry Punch was in a happy drunken daze as she staggered along beside her designated stud of the night, Roadblock. He wasn’t the sort of stallion most mares would have been happy spending time with. Berry Punch herself would never have dreamed of having anything other than a one night stand with him. Roadblock was rude and crude, and blamed mares in general for his low position in life. And once he got a couple of shots of hard cider in his belly he wasn’t shy about letting the whole world know this. In other words, he was an misogynistic idiot.

Berry didn’t care. She wasn’t interested in him for his mind. It was the big fat dick between his legs and his penchant for grudge rutting any mare whose legs he managed to get between. Which was fine with Berry. She rather liked being grudge rutted. It was certainly better than the few fumbling, and unsatisfactory, encounters she’d had while still a young filly.

An appreciation for rough hard rutting had served the horny mare in good stead over the years. At an early age Berry had discovered that there were stallions out there who resented mares and the way they controlled the strings of power in Equestria, in the opinion of those stallions. They tended to rant about the glass cloud and how stallions were kept down by the matriarchy, usually while drunk out of their skulls. Which was one reason why Berry did her best stallion wrangling in bars late at night. All she had to do was locate a disgruntled stallion and cozy up to him with a practiced line of sympathy and agree with every stupid comment he made. It was like bucking fish in a barrel.

It was why she, in a land where there were three of four mares for every stallion, got laid two or three times a week, often by different stallions. And once she’d learned she could really get their fires going by letting them take out a bit of their dissatisfaction on her plump backside she hadn’t spent a single weekend without a belly full of spunk. Roadblock in particular was a particular fan of tanning her backside with his harness before sticking his fat cock up her pussy.

Berry Punch felt a warm moisture between her legs in anticipation of the good rutting she’d be getting very soon. This was going to be yet another good night in a string of good nights.

“HEY BERRY! Fancy meeting you here!” Pinkie Pie cried out as she jumped out of the bushes and caused both Berry and Roadblock to stumble backward in shock.

“You stupid---” Roadblock started to yell and then shut up like somepony had shoved an apple into his mouth. “Oh crap, Applejack’s friend,” Berry heard him mutter. He started to shuffled backward from Pinkie while his head darted from right to left as if he expected some monster to jump out of the bushes. Once he was in the middle of the street he turned tail and beat a hasty retreat.

“Oh, darn, I was hoping he’d help you teach me lots of fun adult party games,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Oh well, you can just tell me about them for now and we can practice later with some other stallions.”

“Pinkie Pie,” Berry Punch growled. She was fairly quivering in anger as she watched her booty call for the night disappear into the darkness.

The drunken pony fought down the urge to buck Pinkie. She’d seen other ponies take a swing at the idiot from time to time and knew it was useless. Besides, if she actually did succeed in beating the crap out of the pink pony she’d then have to deal with Pinkie’s friends. Berry Punch gave a shudder at the thought.

No, there was only one way to get revenge for her lost booty call. Give Pinkie what she’d been nagging Berry for over the last two weeks. Instructions in the sort of party games adult ponies played. She’d refused up till now because despite how annoying Pinkie could be Berry really did like the party pony. She was grateful for the parties Pinkie had thrown for her, even if the punch at said parties tended to be nothing more than fruit juice, of the un-fermented variety. In a town where most of the mares gave her the cold shoulder on a regular basis Pinkie Pie never did.

Berry Punch had wanted to preserve Pinkie’s innocence and protect her from the more grown-up side of life for as long as possible. In her current sloshed state, and suffering from sexual frustration, that didn’t even rate consideration. Enough was enough.

“So, you want to learn some adult pony party games, Pinkie?” Berry asked. “Tell me. Have you ever heard of a game called “Equestria Restoration”?

“Oooohhh, is that a for real adult game?”

“Very, very, adult. The most adult game I know. Only the very best party ponies can master it. Do you want to learn how to play it?”

“Do I! You bet! Can we play a round right now?”

“Afraid not, Pinkie Pie. I can just teach you the rules. This is a game only mares and stallions can play. You’re going to have to find a good playmate.”

“Oh, that will be easy. I know everypony. Once I know how to play the game, I’ll find lots and lots of ponies to play with.”

Author's Notes:

Heads up. My condo got flooded. Will likely delay the next chapter for a few weeks while I deal with the hassle of getting back to normal.

Next chapter. Twilight discovers morning wood, and Pinkie comes looking for advice on finding a good party practice partner.

"Say, Twilight. Is there something different about you? Oh, I know. You've changed your hair style."

This is a set up to create the backstory for the the Twilight and Pinkie I'm going to be using in the Caridoon Universe.

So, any interest in seeing Twilight learn about the birds and the bees, and the Pegasus, and the Unicorns, and the earth ponies? ^_^

I don't write well in a vacuum. The first story in this universe was created to settle my mind after it got fired up by an encounter with a grim dark story. But now the initial inspirational rush has been dealt with and I don't really have much motivation to work on this unless there are some people who have a genuine interest in seeing where it goes.

Comments and suggestions are welcome and as I'm going for the laughs, funny situations would be welcome. Feel free to join the Caridoon group. I hope to open a discussion thread for this story.