"TWILIGHT! HELP!" Roseluck cried as she bashed against the doors to the Ponyville Crystal Castle.
Her breathing was panicked, and she darted her eyes at her surroundings. The sun was barely on the horizon on that fateful morning, but Roseluck knew something was wrong. She had a sign of the end times. Her world was now about to be turned completely upside down. Only one pony in town could tell her what it all meant.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" called the familiar voice of Princess Twilight from inside.
Roseluck let loose a sigh of relief, and then turned to the door, still trotting in place.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" she muttered under her breath. "This is bad... This is so bad."
A single large door to the Crystal Castle opened, and a groggy Princess stood on the other side of the door, trying to make sense of her early morning visitor.
"Who's... huh? Roseluck?" Twilight said.
Roseluck burst past Twilight and entered the castle.
"Twilight, we have a problem. A big problem," she said to the Princess.
Twilight looked from the open door, to the mare now inside of her home, and sighed. She closed the door and tried to rub the sand out of her eyes.
"It's too early for this stuff," Twilight muttered to herself.
"Huh?" Roseluck asked.
"Nothing, don't worry about it. I just haven't had my coffee yet. Now what's the problem? Moreover, what's with the coat? It's the middle of the summer."
Roseluck nervously looked around the room once again, as if she were still visible to the outside world even shrouded by the thick castle walls.
"It's just... promise not to freak out," Roseluck said.
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, okay. I doubt I'm going to freak out. You have no idea the sort of things I have to deal with on a normal basis."
Roseluck closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, she raised her fumbling hooves to the knot of her shawl and began to undo the tie that shielded her body from the outside world.
"Hold on," Twilight said.
Roseluck froze in place.
"If this is a huge introduction to something really explicit, I'm going to be really mad."
Rose tilted her head, confused by Twilight's comment.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"I mean, if you undo that coat and you all of a sudden grew a massive stallion-"
Roseluck's stomach dropped through the floor.
"NO! Twilight! Why would you even think that sort of thing? That's terrible."
Twilight looks towards the point of view that the reader is envisioning this scene from, so she looks the reader in the eye.
"I can only help but wonder why..."
"What?" Rose asked again. "Who are you talking to?"
"Nopony important. Now then. Take off your clothes and let's see what the problem is," Twilight said.
Rose fiddled with the knot on her coat, and then let the cloth drop around her. Her eyes moved to the floor as she closed her eyes. Then, she unfurled the new cream-white wings.
"I... uhm. I guess I'm an Alicorn now," she said.
Twilight paused, staring at the pony in front of her, inspecting her new appendages.
"Huh, nice," Twilight said.
Rose's head shot up.
"Nice? That's it?!" she screamed.
"Well, yeah," Twilight said. "I mean, what else did you expect?"
Roseluck raised a hoof to the Princess, but fumbled on her words.
"I mean, look at me. When I became an Alicorn, I got a Princess status, a castle, and a map that randomly gives me a job to do since my last house and job blew up. Nothing really changed that much."
Rose's mouth dropped to the floor.
"But you're a Princess now! I'm a Princess now!" she said.
Twilight shook her head.
"You're an Alicorn. An Alicorn isn't automatically a Princess. Easy mistake."
Roseluck's eyes dilated.
"Wait... so does this mean I'm not going to be a Princess?" she asked.
Twilight tilted her head.
"What would you be a Princess of?" Twilight asked. "Flowers?"
Roseluck blushed and looked away.
"Well, when you put it that way, it seems kinda silly, but yeah. The Princess of flowers sounds kinda nice."
Twilight snickered to herself then shook her head.
"The good news is, that becoming an Alicorn means little to nothing to you at this point. Honestly, getting these wings has only really helped me two or three times. Heck, most of the time, my Princess status hasn't even changed much of my personal life. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."
Roseluck opened her mouth to say something, and then looked at the floor. She sat down, her head filled with thought.
"Oh. Okay. I see," Rose said. "Well, I guess that's that."
Twilight smiled to her, but Rose didn't respond. Instead, Roseluck's shoulders slumped and ears turned down.
"That's not to say it isn't special!" Twilight hastily added. "I mean, they'll be great conversation points for a while! And you'll probably have to get all of your clothes tailored, because nothing will fit. Uhm. You'd think that I'd write a book about the differences of being a normal pony and an Alicorn by now..."
Roseluck moved her eyes to the Princess, but her expression was filled with disappointment. She nodded her head then rose to her hooves.
"If that's the case... I won't waste your time anymore," Rose said. "Sorry, Twilight. For some reason, I thought getting these wings would be life changing... or something."
Twilight took a step forward towards her neighbor, but Roseluck made her way to the door.
"Is something wrong, Rose?" Twilight asked. "I didn't... accidentally hurt you, did I?"
But her guest didn't respond immediately. Instead, she trudged on. Roseluck turned back to the Princess once she reached the door.
"I guess... I dunno. I thought this might make me special, or something. Maybe I would be the Princess of Flowers or something. However, it turned out to be absolutely nothing of consequence. I mean... it's not bad. It's just disappointing."
Twilight opened her mouth, and then paused.
"But, I was wrong. I'm still just a florist. Oh well, I guess I'll go back to the old routine," she chuckled to herself. "So much for that."
Twilight stood tall, and then smiled to herself.
"Rose, why don't you kneel for me for a second?" Twilight said.
Now it was Roseluck's turn to look at Twilight weirdly.
"Uhm, Twilight..."
"This is rated E, Rose. Now kneel. Just for a second," Twilight said.
Rose studied Twilight oddly, then shrugged her shoulders and kneeled before Twilight.
"This will be our own private little coronation," Twilight said to Rose. "With the power invested in me, Princess Twilight. I name you, Roseluck, the Princess of Flowers. May you use your new title wisely to study flowers, and bring beauty to all of Equestria."
Roseluck's eyes opened wide and her ears perked, but she remained low before Twilight.
"Now rise, and do your duty," Twilight said.
Roseluck rose to her four hooves and smiled to Princess Twilight.
"Does this mean... I'm a Princess now?" she asked Twilight.
Twilight scratched the back of her head uneasily.
"I mean. Technically, yeah. But it's sort of an unofficial position. Like, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance would need to ratify-"
"Whatever, that's too complicated," Roseluck said. "This is fine for me."
She beamed leapt into the air before wrapping her hooves around Twilight.
"Thank you, Twilight! This means so much to me! I can't wait to go tell my sisters!"
Twilight chuckled to herself and shook her head.
"Really, it's nothing at all. I promise," Twilight said.
Roseluck then broke away from the Princess of Friendship.
"I gotta go tell everypony. I'll see you later, Twilight!" she called back.
Rose opened the door and stepped outside.
"Wait! How did you actually grow-"
But the door closed before Twilight could finish her sentence. Twilight exhaled in frustration before turning on the spot.
"Well, that was pointless," Twilight said to herself.
But she couldn't deny that there was a smile on her face. Sure, everything was the same, now that she was a Princess, but there was one thing that was different. She felt special. Maybe that was why she did that for Rose. It wasn't because she became an Alicorn now. Heck, there are Alicorns in Canterlot that were born that way because of royal blood, but they don't have any sort of domain or rule.
But, if there was one thing that everypony needs, it's to feel special. Even if it's just for a little while. And there was no denying that Twilight took some sort of pleasure in making Rose feel special, even if it might wear off in a few weeks. Twilight looked out a nearby window and drank in the Ponyville scenery.
"I wonder what book I'll read today," she said to herself.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Author's Note
