Upon arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and Caramel made a beeline towards the Town Hall. At the Town Hall, the two found another pony at the door. The dark brown earth pony mare had four ballet slippers as a cutie mark, and was at the moment struggling with the door and a stack of cardboard boxes. When she noticed Twilight, she stopped and waved. "Hey there, Twilight!"
Twilight waved back, using her magic to hold the door open. "Hey, Rafalca. What's in the boxes?"
Rafalca smiled appreciatively and flipped the lid off of one of the boxes, revealing stacks of paper. "Petitions. We're calling for a reform of Ponyville's building codes, and other public safety reforms. Did you know that two out of seven Ponyville homes don't have a foundation, or even a basement? They're built right on top of the ground! And don't even get me started on that road that goes downhill, and then ends at a cliff!"
Twilight nodded. "I see your point; houses were flying all over the place during the big parasprite infestation. I just hope you can raise the funds, though. We already have buildings falling apart that need to be repaired before a balcony falls on somepony."
Rafalca nodded. "So, what brings you two here? Care to sign the petition?"
"Sure." Twilight levitated a blank copy, skimmed the petition, and signed it with a quill Rafalca provided, before passing one on to Caramel. "We're here because Caramel had some forms to change."
The earth pony mare took back the petitions and put them with the others. "That stuff has been moved to the post office, actually. Ask Derpy when you get there; she should be able to point you in the right direction.
Caramel and Twilight headed to the post office, slightly perturbed by the detour. Twilight scratched the back of her neck. "So… what's it like? You know your, uh, transformations? You said they don't hurt, but, like…" she trailed off.
Caramel smiled comfortingly. "I call them 'flips', and you don't have to be so shy about asking me. Well, it usually starts with little emotional things, caused by the changes in hormones or whatever, but that can be hard to notice. Then there's a tickling or scratching in my throat, which usually makes me cough if I happen to be talking or swallowing. The rest is kinda hard to describe, but you know that pins-and-needles feeling you get when a leg falls asleep?"
Twilight nodded. "Paresthesia."
"Okay, yeah, imagine that, but the pins aren't pointy. So like, it's a bunch of baby carrots. And instead of your leg, it's your insides, and… no, that's not right. Okay, so it's like a bubbling or churning feeling, but instead of… ugh, never mind. It's not exactly something there are words for. Isn't there a magic spell or something you could do to get what I mean?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Unicorn magic isn't a panacea that just lets us do whatever we want. Even though we can consciously control our magic, there are still rules, same as the magic of earth ponies or pegasi. Even the Royal Pony Sisters, unique as they are in embodying all three races, are beholden to the laws of magic."
"…I'll take that as a no, then." said Caramel after a pause.
Twilight sighed. "While I do know some telepathic spells, they're all based on words or images. I'm only just starting on empathic spells, so–"
"Yes or no, Twilight." said Caramel, his mind glazing over. "I really only understand the grade school basics of how magic works."
"No, I can't. However, I could pick up on what it felt like if it were happening right now. And I'm sorry for going on that rant just now; ponies acting like unicorn magic is limitless or wild is one of my pet peeves. Hundreds of years of research have gone into studying magic and pushing its limits, and it has rules as firm as chemistry or math. Anypony can study and understand magic, and even theorize new spells, even if only unicorns can perform them."
Caramel nodded. "It's fine. How is magic studied? I've always wondered how a magic spell is written down. What's in all those spell books?"
Twilight smiles a smile that Caramel knew all too well: a smile that warns that Twilight had sensed an opportunity to start a lengthy dissertation on some topic she was knowledgeable in (which was pretty much everything, as far as the average pony was concerned). "Well, any specialized field, like music or math, has its own notation and terminology, and magic is no exception. There are the more physical elements to magic of course, such as the alicorn that makes up the bony portion of the unicorn's horn, or the different parts of the unicorn brain that specialize in either the direct performance of spells or the regulation of latent magical energy. There are also the various mental aspects, that to a pegasus or earth pony are merely theoretical, but to the unico–"
"Well, will you look at that!" interrupted Caramel. "It looks like we're here."
While the post office was in eyeshot, they were by no means close. Still, Twilight took the hint and stopped her disquisition, remaining silent until they were at the post office.
Twilight pushed open the door and Caramel stepped inside. Sure enough, after a few moments of looking he spotted a familiar gray rump around the edge of a bench. "Hey there, Mrs. Hooves!"
After a few seconds, the eccentric mailmare popped her head up and waved hello, smiling warmly.
Twilight stepped in and let the door swing shut behind her. "Caramel needs to fix some records, and Rafalca said they'd been moved here."
The bubbly blonde pointed to a flight of stairs to the back of the room. As they started down the stairs, Caramel called back over his shoulders. "You're the best. Thanks, Derpy!"
Derpy beamed and waved back, trying to hide her blushing. "Pure falcon!" she called back in response.
Once in the basement, the two ponies quickly located the records room. "You ready?" asked Twilight.
Caramel nodded, wasting no time in getting to the paperwork. However, a realization struck Caramel, and he skidded to a stop. "Wait… how am I supposed to keep the records up to date, though?" asked Caramel. "I'm not going to come out here with a quill and some white-out every time my chromosomes flip."
"That's the easy part." said Twilight with a proud grin. A magenta aura formed around a quill on a nearby table. The quill floated off the desk and over to the two ponies. Then, it quickly pricked Caramel in the flank, without warning.
"Ow!"
"Sorry. Just fill out the relevant bits with this quill, and they'll change along with you." After seeing the weird look Caramel gave her, she added "It's a simple binary linguistic entanglement spell. It's just one of the things I studied on the bus to and from Magic Middle School."
"Uh huh." said Caramel slowly, all the words other than "magic" going in one ear and out the other. He walked to the file cabinet and pulled out the files for "Caramel" and "Toffee" and passed them to Twilight, who threw them away. Twilight then retrieved a blank form, which she placed in front of him.
Caramel licked the tip of the pen and started writing. "Let's see… Name: Caramel. Sex: Male. Date of Birth: January 17th, 968. Equestrian citizen, earth pony, raspberry, yes, Tuesday…" he trailed off into unintelligible mumblings as he completed the other five forms. Halfway through the last form, his mumbles turned to coughs.
"Is it happening again?" asked Twilight, her horn starting to glow. "Is it a flip?"
Caramel nodded, and finished, in a softer voice, "Signed Caramel, dated 06/28/0001." He dropped the quill, nudged the files to the edge of the table with his hooves, and filed them away in the Aa-Ch drawer. He nodded to Twilight, kicking the cabinet shut behind him. This time the changing muzzle Twilight saw was wearing a smile.
"Well, now comes the hard part." announced Twilight.
Caramelle nodded. As the two mares left the post office, back in the filing cabinet rested a white rectangle of paper, with everything on it needed for the records.
Name: Caramelle
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 01/17/968
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]