Chapter 25- The Start of a New Life

Okay, last non-epilogue Chapter.

I hope you enjoy, and thanks again for reading this story.

And I only own my OCs.

Twilight's Library

A loud "pop" was all Carl heard before he found himself in Twilight's library. He immediately noticed that he didn't feel like his normal self, and he was pretty sure why, though he wanted to be positive. He turned to his left to where Twilight had been. Even before he had the chance to ask her if the Princess was right and if he was a unicorn, two things gave him his answer.

One was that Twilight was now only a few inches below Carl's eye-level, and she was standing on all four hooves. She wasn't on two, where such a height wouldn't have been to out of the ordinary.

The other was the excited look in her eyes as she looked into Carl's face.

"I take it I'm a unicorn now?" Carl asked and Twilight giggled and gave him a nod.

"Yep, and a cute one at that." She said with bedroom eyes that made Carl blush. He wasn't used to such flirty behavior from her, but he wasn't complaining. After all, when she did act like that it was one of the cutest things Carl had ever seen.

Twilight looked around and nodded towards the others, who were now to the right of Carl, conversing and gawking over something.

"And I think the Princess' spell worked on the others."

Carl turned around to see Louis, Pete, James, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack…and two other ponies that were not there before; one pegasus and an earth pony.

The pegasus did not look exactly like the one in Ryan's dream, but it was still similar. Its coat was still dark blue, but it had a mane of a mixture of blonde, light brown, and dark brown, which was shaded in a way that made it look like a brown rainbow. In other words, it looked like an all-brown version of Rainbow Dash's mane.

The earth pony had a red-orange coat and a blonde mane and tail. His eyes were also a darker green then Applejack's eyes were, and he was by far the tallest of the three new stallions in the library. He also looked to be the most muscular, on par with Big Macintosh, which wasn't too surprising since he was an earth pony.

That's when the pegasus, who Rainbow Dash was kissing on the lips, looked up at Twilight and Carl.

He broke the kiss and grinned, "Well, well, well, I guess the Princess wasn't kidding about you no longer being a human."

"Ryan, is that you?" Carl asked.

Ryan just grinned and gave a big, joyful nod.

"Yep it is Ryan," Rainbow Dash looked up at him, "and doesn't he make a totally wicked awesome pegasus?"

"And bonus, walking on all fours isn't that difficult," said Alex, the red earth pony, who trotted over with Applejack's hat on his head. His partner was standing beside him with a grin on her face. "Have you seen what you look like yet Carl?"

Carl then realized that he hadn't looked at himself in a mirror yet. As if on cue, a mirror floated to him and stopped right in front of his face, encased in a violet aura as Twilight's magic held it up for him to get a good look at himself. He walked closer to it so that he could see his new face.

His coat was purple like Twilight, but it was a darker tone of purple, almost like a mixture of black and purple. His eyes were violet, and his mane was…yellow and orange. It looked like his mane and tail were on fire, something that he had to admit looked pretty cool. He grinned and looked over his body, "This…this is so cool." He laughed as the mirror levitated back onto a shelf.

"Twi, I…" he turned to Twilight to say something, only to be silenced as she pushed her lips against his own. There were some mocking whistles and hollers from the crowd of friends around them, which made Carl want to turn around and give them all the middle finger…but then he remembered he had hooves, so that wouldn't work out. In fact, he felt like it probably was best to hold back on his swearing and rude gestures while he lived in an innocent place like Equestria.

"Hey Pete!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around, "do you want to go to Sugarcube Corner and get the party ready for tonight?"

"Party?" Rarity asked and Pete nodded.

"A victory party tonight at Sugarcube Corner for everypony here," Pete then thought of something. "And yes Pinkie I'd love to go, as long as nopony panics about my appearance when I go into town."

"We'll come with y'all." Applejack said as she looked up at Alex the earth pony, "Besides, I want ta introduce ya to our family."

Alex smiled back, "Of course, let's just…"

At that moment, there was a sudden "pop" and flash of light in the room. They all turned around to see that a mysterious filly was now standing in the library. Her coat was yellow, the same color yellow as Applebloom, and her mane was a vibrant green and she had a small pair of wings tucked into the side of her body. She looked up at the group with a big grin on her face.

Her eyes scanned landed on James, who just looked at her, not knowing whom this pony was, but for some reason she seemed to know exactly who he was.

"James." She said with a grin.

As soon as the words left her lips, James' eyes went wide in complete and utter surprise. He knew that voice anywhere, no matter what the source looked like. Whether it was pony, as it was now, or as a human…as she was only a few days before, he could always recognize that voice that brought brightness to his life whenever he heard it.

"C-Caroline?" he said, only to have the small filly nod before running over to him and hugging him. James could feel her as she hugged him with a strength that she didn't have when she was human due to her illness. James hugged her back as tears of joy began to flow from his eyes and land onto the filly's back.

"Caroline I…how…"

"Remember how I wanted to live in Equestria after I died?"

James nodded and Caroline chuckled, "Apparently God listened and sent me to Princess Celestia to wait until you came back. Princess Celestia said God hardly ever does things like this, but because I had such a hard and short life on Earth he decided to make me an exception and bring me here. The Princess forgot to let me see you back at the castle, but…here I am now."

James broke the hug and looked into his cousin's big, green, animated eyes, still harboring the innocence that she always had, even with everything that she went through, and nodded, "I don't care…I…I'm just so happy to see you again."

James continued to cry as Caroline hugged him, "Glad to see you too James. And my name is Bravery now; the Princess gave it to me because, well, Caroline isn't much of a pony name."

"Well, nopony deserves to be named Bravery as much as you kiddo."

They continued to cry in their embrace while everypony watched, emotions at an all-time high for the group. James could feel himself thanking God, a God that he wasn't sure existed until that moment, and was now thankful that he at least had the courtesy to send Caroline to the one place she would be happiest in the universe for a second chance at life.

"Well, me and Ryan need to get going. I want to get him up to my house," Rainbow Dash said as she motioned for Ryan to follow her.

"Wait, I can't fly yet…can I?" Ryan asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "I don't think so, but why don't you try flying just to be sure?"

Ryan nodded and closed his eyes, thinking about lifting off into the air and soaring the skies with Rainbow Dash. His wings began to flap and he started to get up off of the ground and fly, he looked down and grinned, "I'm doing it! I'm…whoaaaaa!."

Unfortunately he became too cocky and fell back down to the floor with a loud "thud".

As Ryan sat up, rubbing his flank from the fall, everyone and everypony burst out into laughter. Ryan blushed in embarrassment while Rainbow Dash, who was also laughing, flew down to him so that she could help him up. " He-he, I'll bring a cloud down to you and give you a lift up."

Once Ryan got back to his hooves, with Rainbow Dash's help, he laughed, "Yeah that's probably for the best." Ryan nodded and, just then, thought of something, "Wait…my cutie mark! What is it?"

He turned around to see that on his flank was…nothing.

"Oh sweet Celestia I'm a blank-flank." He muttered.

"Hey! We all are!" Alex said as he looked at himself, and then Carl, who also noticed his lack of a cutie mark, "what gives, we're full-grown ponies, shouldn't we have our cutie marks?"

"You just turned into ponies," Twilight said as she examined Carl's lack of a cutie mark, "I think I read somewhere that you never automatically get one just after turning into a pony."

"Ah guess ya still need ta find yer special talent then," Applejack said teasingly before motioning for Alex to follow her, "and ah know three little ponies that will be glad ta help ya out with that."

Alex's expression fell and he groaned as he followed Applejack, and even though walking wasn't too hard, he still was getting used to the feeling of it, "Are you making fun of me AJ?."

"Nah, all ah'm just suggestin' is that ya can be the fourth Cutie Mark Crusader Alex! Ah'm sure Applebloom will just love ta have ya join. You might be an adult blank-flank, adult pony who doesn't know his special talent, but yer mah adult blank-flank, adult pony who doesn't know his special talent." Applejack mocked. She then pecked Alex on the cheek and quickly ran off to the farm.

Alex right behind her, shouting at her, "Wow, I didn't think you could be this patronizing…ahhh!"

Alex face-planted before he scrambled back to his feet to follow Applejack, going at a pace that he could walk at without toppling over due to lack of experience running on four legs, after all sometimes it really was better to walk before running, even if walking on four legs didn't seem to hard at first. Even as Alex chased Applejack, he thought of ways to get her back for teasing him, he had a big smile on his face. After all he wasn't mad at Applejack, and was so happy that he got to stay with her.

Rainbow Dash tapped Ryan on the head and flew in front of him, "All right Ryan, I'll get you a cloud so you can get up to my house and tomorrow we start flight training."

"You…coaching me?" Ryan asked and Rainbow Dash nodded. He gulped as the realization set in that Rainbow Dash would be his coach. He suddenly got worried, "Why do I fear your coaching methods?"

Rainbow Dash grinned, "Because I'm a tough coach…" she flew over to Ryan and got muzzle to muzzle with him, a sly grin on her face, "and don't expect me to hold back just because you're my handsome coltfriend."

Ryan laughed a little bit, "I don't expect you to."

Ryan and Rainbow Dash kissed and then left, both with loving smiles on their faces.

"Come on Pete, let's go to Sugarcube corner and I'll introduce you to the cakes!" Pinkie Pie said with excitement as she bounced off, Pete right behind her.

"And we plan the party?" Pete asked, only to see that Pinkie wasn't paying attention, she was too excited to get to the bakery. Pete just shrugged and ran after her.

"Louis, shall we?" Rarity asked as she motioned to the door. He nodded.

"Yeah, I should also probably get some paints and stuff."

"Brilliant Louis, but not right now. First I just want to show you around my boutique." Rarity said with a wink before walking off, which made Louis blush.

"Errrr...sounds good," Louis said before he hastily turned to the others and waved, "I'll see you guys later."

And with that, he turned and started to run after Rarity, only to stop and turn around. He had forgotten something very important up until this point.

He pointed to James; "Hey I'm sorry for giving you a hard time in the police station earlier tonight."

"Don't worry about it, we're cool."

Louis nodded and gave James a thankful smile before he turned and jogged off after Rarity, who was deliberately trotting at a slow pace so Louis could catch up with her.

Now, it was only James, Caroline, now Bravery, Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike.

"Do you have a cutie mark?" James asked Bravery.

Bravery sighed and showed James her flank, which was devoid of any marking, "Not yet."

"Well then let's work on it." James turned to Fluttershy, who flew over to his side and kissed him on the cheek. They looked at each other and both blushed.

"I love you so much James."

"Love you too 'Shy."

Fluttershy hugged James and then went down to Bravery's side and landed beside her.

"Now Bravery, let's go back to my house and I can introduce you to all of my animals." She said as Bravery grinned in complete excitement at walking alongside her favorite cartoon character. "Maybe your cutie mark has something to do with animals."

"That would be so cool Fluttershy!" Bravery said with pure enthusiasm. "I love animals!"

James followed as Bravery giggled and ran ahead of them, getting airborne for a moment before landing, still not used to her tiny wings.

James turned to Carl, Spike and Twilight and gave them a little wave before following Fluttershy and Bravery. Spike went to the door and shut it before turning back to the two unicorns that looked into each other's eyes.

"Um…if you two need me I'll be in the back…sorting books and…stuff." Spike said before running off to leave the two love-ponies alone, thinking that it would be polite to give them some alone time.

Carl and Twilight looked at each other, both suddenly realizing that they were completely alone. Both gave out nervous chuckles as they tried to think about something to say.

"Okay, so I'm a unicorn." Carl said with an awkward smile on his face.

Twilight giggled, "Yes you are."

"So…where do we go from here." Carl asked as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof, an embarrassed blush on his face as he grinned.

"Well…I think we should get busy…" Twilight began in a sensual way. Carl started to get flustered and he gave her a smile back; excited as to where this could go. But just as Twilight was mere inches from his face, her eyes stuck in "bedroom" mode and her smile coy, her eyes shot completely and she grinned, "…and I should start teaching you magic! Come on I've got some great spells to show you!"

She happily trotted away, leaving Carl in place as he stared off into nothingness with the same expectant expression on his face until he realized that she was gone. He was shocked by her sudden change in her attitude, not sure if she deliberately teased him or if she was just really excited at the idea of teaching him magic. He shook his head and let out a small chuckle, "You're such a nerd."

"Awww, but that's why you love me." She answered teasingly as she used her magic to pull a book down from one of the top shelves.

Carl walked over to her and nodded his head, "You're right about that."

Twilight turned around and smiled before quickly planting a kiss on Carl's muzzle. He kissed back and they stood in place, kissing as the book that was levitating in Twilight's magic fell to the floor; her mind solely on Carl.

Carl kissed back, his own mind only on Twilight. He didn't take notice earlier when they kissed, but it was so different to kiss as a pony, but in a good way. Now he knew the reason Ryan always talked about his feelings about Rainbow Dash and himself being "equals" and how he felt that was extremely romantic.

They eventually broke the kiss and Twilight blushed as she looked into Carl's eyes, "You know your eyes really are beautiful."

With that, they smiled at each other and Twilight walked over to get the book. She floated it back over to Carl and opened it up so they were on one of the front pages.

"All right, time for a basic levitation spell on a book."

"Um Twilight I have levitated things before, like those anarchists and…?"

"I know, but I want to make sure you know how to use your horn as opposed to your hand, they are two different appendages after all." Twilight said before shooting Carl a smug look, "and you could always improve."

"You're being quite condescending Twi." Carl said with a sly smile.

Twilight giggled before she levitated a book over in front of Carl before letting it fall to the ground, indicating that she wanted him to levitate it. She then looked up at Carl with a big smile, "Okay, are you ready to start practicing?"

"Yep," Carl cracked his neck to the side and turned back to Twilight with a smile that beamed in eagerness and confidence, "Let's do this."

Well, that's all before I do the whole "One Month Later" thing in the next chapter.

And as I said, I am not sure about a sequel. If there is one, it won't be for a while as I want to make sure I have a good story (better to end a story when it's good than make an unnecessary sequel)

So thanks for reading and reviewing and, as always...

Go Giants! Go Rainbow Dash!