Conciousness returned slowly and painfully. Celestia opened her eyes once. It was extremely difficult. She didn't feel like trying again.

However, she was disturbed by a gentle poke on her leg.

"Garrrraaaarrrraaaaaarrrraaaggghhhhhh," groaned Celestia, without opening her eyes.

"Well put," came her sister's voice. "But you need to get up now. I have to make sure that nothing went wrong."

"Buuiimmtirredd," moaned Celestia.

There came the sound of flipping pages. "Well, yes, extreme fatigue is likely on the part of the donor. But can you please get up?"

Celestia shifted one hoof ever so slowly. Then she shifted another. Then she fell to the ground with a thump.

Her flank and legs smarting, she forced open her eyes to see Luna giggling at her. "Careful," hissed the moon princess. "You'll wake Twilight."

"I'm already awake!" said Twilight.

The sisters stared at the new and improved Twilight Sparkle. She had gained the graceful figure and height of an alicorn, and there were now two purple wings gracing her back. Everything about her exuded power and grace. Well, everything except the fact that she was jumping up and down like an overexcited schoolfilly.

"This feels so strange!" said Twilight. "But really good, too! All this- power, I guess! And it's like there's something in my head- oh, is that the sun? You have a neural connection with it? Is your magic just linked strongly enough to it that you know where it is at all times? Oh, and I'm so tall! I should be recording this, it's really giving me a new insight into-"

Luna, finally finding her voice, cut in, "That will do, Twilight." The brand-new alicorn stopped at once and blushed.

Celestia slowly struggled to her feet. It was . . . strange, to say the least. She felt much weaker, but the weight of the sun in the back of her head was gone. That, at least, was a relief. She felt lighter, too, and she seemed to be seeing everything from a new angle.

Twilight and Luna looked at Celestia and then exchanged glances. There was five seconds of utter silence. Then both of them cracked up laughing.

Between guffaws, Luna managed to choke out, "How's- the weather- down there- sister?"

"Ha, ha," grumbled Celestia. "Fetch me a mirror."

Luna's expression turned to one of apprehension. "Are you sure?"

Celestia felt a sudden wave of fear sweep over her. "Yes- why? Is something wrong?"

"Um, no," said Luna hastily. "Nothing's wrong at all."

"Get me a mirror!" shrieked Celestia.

"All right, if you say so," said Luna apprehensively. She levitated a mirror and positioned it in front of Celestia. And there, in the mirror, was-

a perfectly normal pony.

Celestia gazed in confusion for a few seconds before Luna started giggling again. Celestia jabbed her with her hoof.

"You jerk!" she screeched.

"I said nothing was wrong, didn't I?" said Luna, wiping a tear from her eye. "It was just the way I said it."

"One of these days . . ." muttered Celestia, but she had become distracted by the pony that looked at her from the mirror.

She was now a pony of normal height, which is to say much shorter than an alicorn. She no longer posessed wings; instead, she was a unicorn. Her coat was still a pure white color, but this wasn't exactly a "rarity" in the pony world. Her eyes were still a light shade of purple.

Celestia stroked her mane. It was now a normal length, running down to her shoulders, and completely blueish-gray with a few splashes of pink here and there. Her tail had changed in similar manner.

Twilight, meanwhile, was also examining her new, ultra-long, flowing mane, if only to untangle her legs from it.

Luna watched as Celestia stared at her cutie mark, which was a simplified version of her old one. "And here I always thought I was the short one!" quipped Luna.

Celestia laughed sarcastically, still looking at herself in the mirror. "Do you think I could pass for a normal pony?" she asked axiously.

Luna squinted at her. "I can tell it's you, but only because I know that you've changed and I know you very well." She paused. "I don't think most ponies would be able to tell, though. It's not immediately obvious."

"But how do we know?" Celestia insisted. "I have to be sure nopony can recognize me! I need to, I don't know, do a test. See what most ponies would do."

"Like an experiment?" asked Twilight, rubbing her hooves together. She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Oh! I know! You should meet my friends!"

"Your friends?" asked Celestia skeptically. "The other Elements?"

"Yes! Exactly!" said Twilight emphatically. "I'll tell them that you're a friend from Canterlot, and you can go to Ponyville and spend some time there! I think Luna's right: most ponies wouldn't recognize you just by looking at you, but we can test for longer-term relationships. If they don't recognize you, you'll be fine, and if they do, well, you can, um, tell them that you're testing a disguise spell or something, which is somewhat true."

Celestia thought it over. "That . . . actually sounds like a pretty good idea."

"It's settled, then," said Luna. "You can go to Ponyville and spend some time with Twilight's friends. Twilight, obviously, will have to stay here, but she can send a note or something. There's only one problem I see."

"What's that?" asked Celestia.

"You obviously can't be 'Celestia', silly," said Luna. "You'll have to pick a new name."

"A new name?" This rather obvious fact hadn't occurred to Celestia. What kind of name could she use? She ran through candidates in her mind for a bit, before settling on a likely choice.

"How about . . . Sunshine? It's not too obvious, I don't think, and it'll go along with my cutie mark."

Luna and Twilight looked at each other for a moment and came to a silent agreement. "Sunshine it is, then," said Luna at last. "I like it. Let's get you ready to go." Next Chapter: It Begins Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes