Responsibility

by GaruuSpike

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 17646

Twilight gets wings, somehow, but doesn't want her life to change, so she tries to hide it.

[Predecessor to Expectations (a superior rewrite) which can be found on Beige Monkfish's page.] Twilight Sparkle lives a generally normal life, full of everyday things with no strange events. Just a Unicorn. Have you ever heard of a Unicorn suddenly growing wings? Maybe. Twilight, running into this situation, realizes quickly that this may drastically change her life. She might have to move to Canterlot, away from her friends, and manage the sun in Celestia's stead, or...or something. But she doesn't want her life to change. She comes up with a solution: Hide it, keep it a secret, a-and don't let anypony know. No one ever needs to know. If nopony knows, nothing will happen. But...some of her friends are extremely prideful and idiosyncratic, and some even incredibly prying. Those friends...might be...angry...with her. Yes, they're good friends, but there is some thin ice you just don't trot upon. And you can't keep something a secret when it's so easy for somepony to find out.

Expectations can be found here.

Published 2011-12-19 23:01:25 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-23 01:01:24 UTC

Chapter One

Alright, apparently you guys like this version. The rewrite of chapter 1 will be posted later as a "bonus" chapter, later, and will be in an "Alternate Universe" of sorts, since the plot transpires differently than what you see here. Chapter 2 is on its way.

GoogleDocs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jh0jsV5KJcmnHxnGp1r3sCry5toPBzgxxQE-WqI3RXQ/edit?hl=en_US

Responsibility

Chapter 01

Twilight's eyes twitched, irritated, under her eyelids, the blinding light of the sun somehow piercing directly into the canvas of her subconscious mind, abducting her spirit from her fantasy world and dragging her up to reality. Her eyes opened, the whites of the purple orbs bloodshot as she stared up at the east-facing window that allowed the oppressive morning sun to bathe her room in its burning yellow light. She needed to go and purchase some blinds or something; this was beginning to be beyond irritating every morning. She often remained awake until ungodly hours of the night, simply gazing through her telescope at the night sky, and the previous night in particular was a stretch; she stayed up until 5:00 AM. She glanced at the analog clock face on the opposite side of the room from the window, its pointed hands reading something close to 8:05. She couldn't see the details, her vision still blurry from sleep, and didn't care to.

While every fiber of her being threatened murder if she didn't go back to sleep, she dragged herself off of her mattress and stood up beside her bed, her movements autonomous. There was... an odd sensation in her back. It felt...tight. Not just that; it was a tightness she had never experienced beforehand. A simple thought, and she felt the feeling ebb away, like stretching a cramped muscle. She tiredly slid her hooves on the polished wooden floor to bring herself to the doorway, before gripping the doorknob with her telekinesis, turning it, pushing the door open, and passing through. She couldn't find the strength to raise her head all the way up, and found her path through the carved wooden halls mostly from memory. Upon passing by the kitchen, the familiar aroma of steamed daffodils met her nostrils, but the pleasant odor might as well have been intoxicating a stump with how responsive Twilight was at the time.

The purple unicorn sat her haunches at the wooden table in the center of the tiled room, resting her head on the wooden tabletop, struggling to keep her eyes open. As there were no windows in the kitchen, the irritating natural light of the sun had been replaced with the even more irritating, ugly, artificial light from the arcane lamps hanging down from the ceiling. She thought she heard Spike give a friendly morning greeting to her, but she didn't listen to it. Too tired, Spike. Insert coin to continue. She outwardly groaned at her fatigue-born bad joke. Maybe Spike would just leave her alone, maybe he would leave, maybe he would turn off the lights. And then it would be dark enough for her to fall back asleep. She glanced up at the lamp shining down on her head, frowning.

"Twil...wh...th...ngs......" She heard the dragon's voice call, his words incomprehensible to the lavender unicorn, her brain in parking gear. She let out a small, pained whimper; unintentional, but it happened. Please turn off the lights, Spike. I wanna go back to sleep. The only answer to her thoughts were a few small footsteps and the sensation of a scaly hand gripping...something...on her back. She lifted her head, barely, and turned it to see her assistant gawking at the back of her torso. Turning her head moreso, she realized that the dragon had gripped one of the pair of lavender-feathered wings sprouting from her dorsals, moderate shock present on his draconic face. Okay, I can see you like those wings, Spike. Whoop de doo. Can you turn off the lights now? Twilight blinked, turning her head forwards again and resting it on the table once more, her eyelids sliding shut as she dismissed what she had just seen as a trick of the tired eye.

After a few minutes, her eyes opened wide, and she turned around again, her gaze once again falling on the same pair of wings. She just stared.

"Twilight? When did you get wings...?" The dragon asked, slowly, now that the unicorn was more awake. Twilight merely continued to gawk at the two additional appendages that had somehow found their home on her back.

"W..Wings?...I-I have wings?...." She asked, mostly to herself. A moment passed, and her expression fell flat with skepticism. She turned her head forward to glare at the baby dragon who had since resumed cooking at the stove, his reptilian body recoiling slightly at her irritated gaze. "Real funny, Spike. I told you, I'm not going to succeed Princess Celestia's duties. I don't care what some crusty old book says. Now, I'm tired, and I wanna go back to bed, so take these fake wings off!" She demanded, intensifying her glare. The dragon shook his head vigorously.

"Twilight, I didn't do this! And I don't think they're fake...They felt warm. Does this mean you can fly now? Try moving them." He replied. Twilight snorted in disbelief.

"Move them? And just how would I do that?" Twilight asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. But, she couldn't deny; Spike was a pretty good actor. And she was curious about the wings. She tried moving them, but just as a newborn foal can't walk, she couldn't move them....much. She turned her head and observed her new appendages as she tried to operate muscles she had no experience with. Her eyes widened when she discovered she could furl and unfurl them, and she gasped, her mood changing from surprised, to horribly anxious, all within the span of a few seconds. This...this wasn't good. She had just somehow joined a species with only two other members to its name. Two members that were responsible for celestial bodies and, by extent, everypony’s lives. …Was her life going to change? The words of the prophetic tome Spike mentioned came crashing down on her, and she frowned again, her eyes drawing upward. Was she actually going to have to replace Princess Celestia? Would she have to...learn to raise the sun? Would she be allowed to keep her old friends? Her frown widened, accompanied by the drooping of her ears as another horrible realization slammed into her like a freight train. W...what would her friends think? What if they didn't like her anymore?

Oh, so ya'll're a big shot princess now, huh? Ah-okay then, I guess ya'll dun need us little ponies no more! Applejack's voice echoed through her head, the phonetic accuracy striking, but with cruel words fished out from the darkest trenches of Twilight’s mind.

A horn AND wings? The HELL, Twilight!? What am I now, chopped liver!? Rainbow Dash's vocalization interjected, joining the cacophony of horrible wisps forming in Twilight's head.

I'm certain you'll be pampered far more in Canterlot than you ever will here, so I bid you adieu; have a nice life, Princess Twilight. Rarity's voice came, the last two words dripping with sarcasm, hatred, and false respect. Twilight began to tear up, staring off into space in reality, the blank beige coloring of the wall she stared at providing a horrible canvas for her nightmares to paint themselves upon.

I...Well...I'm sure you'll have a nice life in Canterlot...I guess you can't stay here, you know, since you have to raise the sun and all... I...I'll never see you again, will I? Fluttershy's voice carried a tone of sadness, rather than anger. It only served to make Twilight's mood that much worse.

Ooh, you're an Alicorn now? Neat! Even though you'll have lots of fun and throw lots of your own parties in Canterlot like the Grand Galloping Gala, before you leave you want me to throw you a GOODBYE PARTY!? Twilight flinched. Pinkie's voice came in her usual mood; fast-talking and cheerful, but upon the last two words, her voice changed as quick as a gunshot into a deep, angry snarl. The purple pony pressed her forehooves against her ears, shutting her eyes tight and beginning to shake violently as her conscience was assaulted by the horrible voices of ponies she knew, ponies she loved, all laced with hatred and broken trust. They melded together into a violent, impossibly-loud drone, not unlike the ear-splitting chaos that the local band ponies collectively generated with their simultaneous personal warm-ups, and the unholy sound was torturous to the one pony that could hear it. She suddenly became aware of two scaly elbows squeezing lightly against the sides of her neck, and two sets of fingers gently massaging her temples in a roughly circular motion. She blinked back to reality, just now realizing that her lavender cheeks were dripping with tears.

A small amount of irony presented itself to the unicorn; Spike had been reading a few specific books in her library on Massage Therapy, and through them the purple dragon had educated himself somewhat on the nerve clusters on a pony's body. But, he had never actually put this knowledge to a use before. However, as Twilight thought about it, she began to feel........safe. As her assistant sat on her now-winged back, rubbing lightly against the four pressure points, the mud of her troubles and worries seemed to slowly wash away from her body & mind, as if all was right in the world and she had nothing to worry about. Just moments before, she felt as if she were falling into a black abyss, infinite in every direction, no ground beneath her hooves and no one to help her as she plummeted through empty, freezing air. And, of course, regardless of the current situation, her wings did not work. But now, she felt like she had been pulled out and laid in a meadow laced with tall grass, lukewarm heat seeping into her body from the gentle sun above and the soft flora below.

Her thoughts veered into positive territory. Maybe....maybe it would all turn out OK. It's not like she would use her wings much. She really didn't need to fly; she stayed in her library most of the time, and could retrieve her books from the shelves much more accurately than flying by simply using her telekinesis. And who says Celestia's going to step down anyway? Who says Twilight even has to move to Canterlot? She could stay right here, with her friends, with virtually no difference in her everyday life. If she has to raise the sun... it can't be that hard, right? And her friends wouldn't care, right?....Right?

She began pondering the subject of her friends again. Most of them would understand, she guessed. But...how would she raise the subject? Hey, you’ll never guess what I found on my back this morning! No, that wouldn’t work. Should she just walk in casually and not raise it at all? Or should she tell them straight-up? But...Rainbow Dash still might not approve. That pony was stubborn, Twilight knew. And after all she had worked for, to impress her friends, to get into the Wonderbolts, she might not take too kindly to a feeling of being usurped.

She began forming a plan in her head. Tell Fluttershy first, Rarity second, and the other three last. Yeah, that would work. That would totally w-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Twilight's blood froze solid in her veins. She whipped her head to her left, looking through the doorway to the front room at the candle-bearing wooden slab that served as her front door. She was sitting in plain sight; whoever was behind that door would spot her the moment they opened it.

"Twi? You in there? Dash here wants to check out a book on home cookin'." Applejack's voiced, laced with her trademark country drawl, sounded from behind the doorway, slightly muffled. An awkward shuffling of hooves followed in turn.

"Uh...Yeah, y'see, I kinda need to learn how to cook if I'm gonna impress my parents tomorrow...They're coming to visit me." A tomboyish voice added. Twilight's irises shrunk. These two were the absolute worst to tell about her situation first. They were both just a little bit conceited, and this would only lead to them over-analyzing her and/or hating her. She immediately shot to her feet; throwing Spike off with a yelp, and whipped her head back and forth as she frantically searched for a place to hide. Seeing no plausible location in the well-organized room, she turned around and dived back into the hallway she entered from.

"Spike, get the door, a-..and don't let them see me!" She cried, ducking behind the doorway and out of sight. The dragon rubbed his head and gave her a short grunt of understanding, before trudging to the door and opening it.

"Hey girls! If you're looking for Twilight, she's busy with her new wings. -UH, I...I mean... She's in the bathroom!" Twilight could hear the dragon's nervous grin. The ex-unicorn facehoofed, but the icy dagger of fear remained lodged painfully into her heart.

"The bathroom? Okay, err... You're Twilight's assistant, right? Could you just help me get the book I need?" Dash asked, her voice cracking like a frozen window.

"Yeah, come with me." Spike replied. Footsteps and hoofsteps signaled their trek around the front room, combined with the unmistakable clatter of a wooden ladder scraping against the floor as Spike performed his personal method of retrieving a very elevated book. Twilight moved her ear a little bit closer to the opening of the doorway she hid behind, hoping to improve the sound quality of her partial eavesdropping. She absent-mindedly flapped her new wings a few times, instinctively, possibly just because she was anxious. She had once asked Rainbow Dash why she sometimes had her wings fully outstretched, even when on the ground, and the cyan mare informed her that it was, for the most part, uncontrollable. They sometimes flare up when a pegasus is excited, or anxious, or generally when feeling any strong emotion. And since Dash was hyperactive, this generally meant all the time.

"What was that?" Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, sharply, somewhat interrogatively.

"What was what?" Spike replied, scribbling something down on a piece of paper; probably the forms for Rainbow's checkout.

"That noise! It...It sounded like wings flapping. Is there another pegasus in here? Fluttershy?" Rainbow's hoofsteps led into the kitchen, and toward Twilight's position. The ex-unicorn's irises shrunk; she had been found out! She needed to think of something, fast! She immediately shot back down the hallway to her room, not caring about the volume of her hoofsteps, and quickly shut & locked the door behind her. She stood up on her hind legs and pressed her back against the door, purple chest heaving with fear. She heard Rainbow approach the portal behind her.

"Fluttershy? What are you doing in Twilight's room?" Dash asked, her face pressed up against the other side of the door. "Isn't that like, invading her privacy? She's still in the bathroom!"

Twilight was trapped. She couldn't think of anything to say, and teleportation was not an option; two ponies she didn't want to spot her were walking around her house, and the entire world was outside. She swallowed, sweat running down her brow as she stood, trembling, eyes wide with fear. Dash rapped on the door a few times with her hoof. "Listen Fluttershy, or whoever you are, if you don't answer me, I'm going to kick this door down!"

Twilight took a deep breath. "WAIT!!" She screamed, throwing her instincts of self-preservation out the window. Dash remained silent for a moment.

"...T...Twilight? Oh, it's you in there? I guess that explains it... But why did I hear wings flapping? You're not a pegasus. Is Fluttershy in there with you?" Rainbow asked, blinking in confusion.

"Nah, Fluttershy's on a trip to Froggy Bottom Bog, to drop off frogs or some'n." A southern voice inputted, initially faint but growing louder as another set of hoofsteps came to Twilight's door.

"S...Seriously? W-why did I hear wings, then? Does Twilight have wings?" Dash sputtered, completely baffled.

“I don’t know what yer talkin’ about; I didn’t hear no wings flappin’.” Applejack denied, pursing her lips. “You’re probably just hearin’ things.” Twilight pulled herself away from the door and fell to her hooves, looking around her room for something of use. Okay, okay, she didn’t have to reveal herself to them quite yet. Maybe she could wear some sort of garment to cover her new appendages. Her searching eye was caught by a sharp glint on the other side of the room; her Gala dress, folded neatly inside a glass case on top of a shelf, to keep the dust out. No, that’s way too formal. Ponies would suspect something. She needed something simpler, something casual. Well, wearing nothing at all was the very definition of pony casual, but that was obviously not an option. She telekinetically moved some of the knicknacks from her shelves around, before uncovering a small green chest. The latch clicked as it opened, revealing a beige-trimmed blue-and-green vest: It was her “All-Team Organizer” vest from her first Winter Wrap-Up here in Ponyville. She softly bit the inside of her cheek, just now realizing how cheesy of a title that was. She shook her head, dismissing the irrelevant thought, before lifting the vest out of its container, undoing a few certain straps, and affixing it to her torso. She took a deep breath to gather herself, allowing some of her anxiety to release with her exhale, before trotting back to her door. She fumbled with the lock with her mind’s eye, before unlatching it and slowly pushing the door open, wearing a false smile on her lavender face.

“Hey, girls. Uh...what’s up?” Twilight greeted, giving a toothy grin. Rainbow Dash squinted at her, causing the ex-unicorn’s eyebrows to turn upward as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. Spike had always told her she was a bad liar. Well, it can’t be hard to lie to a pegasus as oblivious as Rainbow Dash.

Applejack cleared her throat before speaking. “Twi, what were ya’ll doin’ in there? And why did you tell us to wait out here ‘till you were done?” The orange farmer pony asked with a raised eyebrow, adjusting her Stetson hat.

“I....wasn’t decent.” Twilight lied through her teeth. Rainbow suppressed a chuckle.

“Are you wearin’ yer Winter Wrap-Up vest? It’s mighty hot outside...” Applejack asked, eyeing two specific bulges on the sides of the garment; exactly where Twilight’s wings were. “Yep, real strange of you to be wearin’ that at this time o’ year...”

“I’ll live.” Twilight desperately hoped that some unorthodox event would occur to get her two friends off her now-winged back. Ex-Unicorn and Earth Pony stared at one another for a moment more, the expressions of the two not unlike Applejack and Pinkie Pie back when the group was trying to prevent the party pony from discovering her impromptu surprise birthday party before it was ready. Applejack’s gaze intensified into an accusing glare, and Twilight’s ears dropped.

“...Ohhkay then. C’mon Dash, let’s get back to the barn. I need to show ya’ll how to operate a gas oven without blowin’ up the east half of Ponyville.” Applejack submitted, turning tail and heading down the hallway to the front door, her pegasus friend wordlessly following suit. The farmer pony looked back over her shoulder and smiled at the still-grinning ‘unicorn’. “Thanks for lettin’ us stop by, Twilight! Ya’ll have a good one, y’hear?”

Twilight nodded over-enthusiastically as her two friends exited her abode, before loudly releasing a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. That was close... Those two had a bit of a reputation for being nosy, and this was about the most horribly inconvenient time possible for them to live up to it. She hung her head slightly, and trotted back to the kitchen. Spike’s steamed daffodil dish had her name on it.

She ate in silence, conversation between pony and dragon having halted before it began. Half an hour soon passed.... Twilight began to simply stare down at the half-eaten bowl of food in front of her, distraught. She didn’t quite have her usual appetite; there were more pressing matters on her mind at the time than eating. A small wisp of thought rose in her mind; I could just keep it a secret..., but was quickly shot down by another; They’re eventually going to catch me and find out. And they’re my friends! I shouldn’t have to keep secrets from them!

She shifted her wings inside her vest in an attempt to get more comfortable. Wearing this vest now...it hurt. It felt like her wings were being crushed. It was comfortable before all this, but that was because it was designed to be a tight fit for a unicorn. It just didn’t have room for a pair of wings. She momentarily wished that her vest had holes in it for her wings, but then remembered that it would defeat the current purpose of wearing it. She picked herself up from the table, muttering a brief “I‘m not hungry...” to her assistant, before trotting back to her room, physically and mentally exhausted. She laid back down on her cobalt-blue mattress integrated with star patterns, not even bothering to lift the comforter up first, and rested her head on her pillow. She wanted to take her vest off and stretch her wings or something, anything to alleviate this awful, crushing pain, but then came to the cruel realization that it would be better if she left it on. This way, if anypony else that knew her came to the library while she slumbered, they wouldn’t come across a sleeping purple alicorn lying in her bed. She shifted slightly, trying to retain the little comfort she had.

….

She felt a pair of draconian hands shaking her. She creaked her eyes open, laying eyes on her scaly library assistant, who wore a passive expression. She refocused her vision to the clock on the wall behind her, blinking a few times. 11:50. Oh good, now she had five and a half hours of sleep instead of three. But it was almost noon already. She groaned, and stretched her limbs across her mattress, feeling her bones popping, and winced as the same pain as before exploded in her wings from inside her vest.

“Uh, hey, uhm, Twilight?... I... I kinda told Rarity about this... She stopped by the library while you were sleeping, and-” Twilight’s eyes shot fully open, and she jerked upright, horrified. Spike held his hands up and shook his head. “Wait! She understands, and promises she wouldn’t tell anyone without your consent. She’s..uh...she’s in the kitchen. She says she wants to help.”

Twilight grit her teeth, her expression an indistinguishable blend of relief and anxiety, before lying back down on her bed, a deep frown lining her muzzle. She didn’t want to get up. She didn’t want to face Rarity, no matter how well-mannered and sensitive she was. But, now that she thought about it, she and Pinkie Pie were the only two ponies the alicorn even had the slightest flicker of hope for being able to safely inform about her situation. Well, maybe Fluttershy too, as long as Rainbow Dash didn’t succeed in prying it out of the timid yellow pegasus. Rarity was complacent and understanding, and Pinkie, although she never stops talking, would shut up about a specific topic if asked. But still...Maybe Rarity was the better choice for who to tell first.

The lavender alicorn, after gathering her thoughts, dragged herself out of her bed, her frown only widening as the crushing pain from her wings shot back to her once again. She trotted, slowly, back down the same hallway as before, before slowly peeking her head around the doorway to the kitchen. Her eyes laid on a white unicorn, who had begun to read one of the many books in Twilight’s library to pass the time, before she spotted the lavender pony in her peripheral vision and turned her head to face her. Rarity’s expression remained mostly blank, but one could spot undertones of concern in her gaze.

“Twilight? Darling, you look like you’re in pain...” Her friend eyed the two bulges on the sides of her Winter Wrap-Up vest. “...is it the vest? You should take it off...” Rarity suggested, softly, to avoid alarming her friend by being too forward. The alicorn didn’t respond as she trotted into the kitchen and stared at her friend, her eyes narrowing with cautious aggravation. The dressmaker’s horn lit up, and the All-Team Organizer vest was quickly surrounded in a deep blue glow, the straps gently undoing themselves and the garment sliding away from Twilight’s figure, revealing two sweaty purple wings with greatly disheveled feathers. Twilight never broke her gaze with Rarity, but did slowly stretch her wings out, to wring out the cramps that had formed from them being smashed into her sides for three consecutive hours, before folding them back against her torso. Rarity gasped slightly, but then covered her mouth with a hoof. “I...I....”

Twilight narrowed her eyes moreso. “Thanks Rarity, it’s great to know that I’m the local freak show.” The sarcasm in that statement was so thick, it could be cut with a knife. Rarity shook her head, mouth hanging open.

“No, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to gawk... I.. I just wasn’t expecting this...”

“Neither was I.” Twilight frowned at her friend, oppressed anger clearly showing through her features. Rarity bit her lip, knowing that she was already off to a bad start with her friend on this extremely sensitive subject.

“I...I...I didn’t know that your colors would look so good with wings, my dear!” Rarity chimed, quickly changing the subject with a wide, toothy, yet unsure grin. She trotted to her friend and examined her additional appendages up close. “Such a glorious purple sheen! Tell me, do you use that new feather-shining conditioner I’ve been hearing so much about lately?”

Twilight’s eyebrows fell flat enough to build a house upon. The “glorious purple sheen” was probably her sweat. Applejack was right; the vest was very uncomfortable and very hot on such a sweltering day. “Rarity, I just got these this morning. Or...late last night while I was asleep. I don’t know.”

“But they’re so...eh...erm..” The white unicorn had already run out of things to say. Her face scrunched up in thought, her eyebrows still drawn upwards. “...D..Darling...Your assistant Spike told me that you wanted a casual outfit to hide them with, correct? A-and don’t worry, I promise I won’t tell anypony. I swear. I Pinkie Pie swear. Cross m-” She was interrupted by a hoof to her mouth, and a despaired sigh from the hoof’s owner, who looked at the floor.

“You don’t have to Pinkie Pie swear. I mean, they’re all going to find out eventually...” Twilight’s voice wavered slightly, the alicorn growing upset. Going out of your way to hide something never works out for long. Sooner or later, you slip up, or somepony walks in at the exact wrong time, and they find out. Rarity pushed away Twilight’s hoof, and sat down on her haunches, formulating her next sentence.

“O-okay....Now, tell me, did you just...grow them? Or was there some spell involved?” The dressmaker asked, trying to spread her weight out on thin ice. Twilight didn’t respond, sitting down on her own haunches, and continuing to stare at the floor. “...Twilight?”

“I don’t know, Rarity. I know I grew them, but I don’t know if it’s because of a spell or not. There was...this old tome up in Canterlot Castle that prophesized that one prized student of the monarch might eventually take her place. I don’t know if it’s because the Princess casted a spell on me to cause this to happen, or if it just happened by itself...” Twilight’s voice was lined with uncertainty. “...Either way... If the crackpot that wrote that book was right, I’m going to have to... to learn how to raise the sun. A-and fly, I guess. But I don’t know how to do either of those.”

“Well, dear, maybe you could receive instruction from the Princess on raising the sun. And for flying, you could probably ask Rainbow Dash. I’m sure she’d jump at the chance to teach somepony something she’s so very good at and proud of.” The purple alicorn gave her a disbelieving stare.

“Yes, Dash is proud of her flying skill, and that’s the problem. If she even found out that I have wings now, she might feel like I’m trying to pass her up, since..." Twilight frowned, thinking of how the rainbow-maned pegasus reacted back at the Best Young Flyer's competition, when Rarity wanted to use her new wings to upstage her, but the bookworm remained quiet to avoid offending her present company. The alicorn looked at the wooden floor again, feeling a light burning in her eyes. A few tears dripped from her purple orbs to the wooden slabs below, creating minuscule puddles on the gloss coating intended to protect the floor from water damage.

Rarity frowned, and laid a hoof on one of Twilight’s wings, attempting to comfort her, but Twilight quickly flared said wing and threw her hoof off. “...Just...Let’s just get started on this vest for me.”

For the next few hours the unicorn worked, measuring Twilight’s dimensions with a tape measure and trimming pieces of cloth accordingly. The ex-unicorn requested that the vest be nonchalant, so Rarity designed a simple garment that was a slightly darker shade of purple than her friend’s fur, trimmed with protruding white strips at the seams. It was simple, yet elegant. Rarity gave special attention to the sides, certifying that certain areas were loose enough to be comfortable for Twilight’s wings, but didn’t make them horribly obvious.

“Thanks, Rarity. This’ll let me go outside without making a scene.” Twilight thanked, giving a soft smile to her friend. Rarity’s eye twitched slightly--Twilight hadn’t even noticed the fashion value of the vest--but she shook away the thought, knowing that the clothing had an ulterior purpose.

“Oh, it’s absolutely no problem at all, dear! Now, erm, now that I’ve made the vest for you, Applejack actually would like your help harvesting her apple orchard. She’s not feeling well, you see, and she can’t find the strength to buck as many apple trees as quickly as she usually does. I-I know this isn’t an opportune time to ask you, but she won’t see your...your wings, now, so... Do you think you’re up to it?”

This caught Twilight off-guard, and she pondered the request for a moment. It would be unlike her to turn down a friend in need, yet she didn’t want to run the risk of potentially tearing the vest and being found out. But....No, friends come first. “Sure, I guess. Tell her I’ll be there in about half an hour. I have some...things I need to take care of first.”

Rarity walked daintily down the dirt road leading from Ponyville to the famous Sweet Apple Acres, to deliver the message Twilight had asked her to. Applejack, oddly, had actually asked Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to help out with the farm as well, figuring that the two pegasi would be able to grab the more stubborn apples off of the trees. The white one had not told the entire truth to the alicorn; Rarity had another purpose for being there. She had a secondary message to deliver. She felt bad about betraying Twilight’s trust in her, but her plan was to tell their friends everything she knew about Twilight’s situation, so they would understand when the lavender pony eventually mustered up enough courage to come clean. On terms of Rainbow Dash, telling her would also cause her to cease her prying, which would ultimately help Twilight feel more comfortable around her.

She ignored the ever-nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her to keep from getting her hooves dirty. It’s for a friend, it’s for a friend, she told herself. It’s just dirt. It’ll wash out. She could deal with it.

After a few more minutes of trotting, she finally entered the orchard clearing that nestled the Apple Family barn within its confines. Off in the distance, she could pick out three specks; one orange, one yellow, and one cyan with a rainbow trail. She galloped towards them, methodically as to not kick up dirt, and soon enough, Applejack noticed her approach and gave a welcoming smile.

“Howdy Rar-*cough*...Rarity... How’re ya’ll doin’?” The orange earth pony greeted. Rarity’s eyebrows upturned upon sighting the orange mare; she did not know her condition had deteriorated this quickly! Her colors were paled, she trembled as she stood, and she appeared to have trouble keeping her eyes open. Her voice was raspy, and all in all she looked like she would collapse at any moment.

“How am I doing? I’m more concerned with how you’re doing, Applejack!” Rarity replied, rather dramatically. The farmer pony laughed softly, before her chortling was interrupted by another coughing fit.

“I..I’ll be fine... I can still help ya’ll with the orchard, I ju-Who-oa!” Applejack lost her footing on two of her legs and fell to the ground. She picked herself back up, shakily, as if the action carried a large amount of difficulty. Rainbow Dash helped her back up, flapping her wings for extra leverage.

“Uh Applejack, I don’t know the first thing about diseases, but you seriously don’t look good. You go and rest; we’ll handle all the hard work.” Dash said, just a little bit teasingly with a smile on her face. Applejack smiled back at the cyan mare, and allowed her friend to walk her back to the barn so she could lie down, leaving Rarity with Fluttershy. The two mares awkwardly looked at eachother and shuffled their hooves.

“So...have you three started yet?” Rarity asked the yellow pegasus, scratching the back of her own neck with a hoof.

“No, we’re waiting for Twilight...is she coming?” Fluttershy replied, looking at her white friend curiously. Rarity pursed her lips.

“Erm...Yes. She’ll come later, she told me she has some business to take care of first.” Rarity pondered if she should describe Twilight’s situation to Fluttershy, right here, right now, while the two more arrogant ponies were absent. The butter-yellow pegasus could definitely keep a secret. The unicorn opened her mouth to begin her sentence, but closed it shortly, not entirely sure what to say.

“Ahem...Fluttershy? Can you keep a secret? It...it’s important, and it’s about Twilight.” Rarity asked, pawing at the ground.

“What about Twilight?” Fluttershy suddenly perked upright, interested. “Is she okay?” Rarity nodded.

“Yes, she’s quite alright...Well, at least physically she is. Listen...” Rarity leaned closer to her friend’s ear, swallowing to quell her anxiety. “Twilight...she...She grew wings. Wings. Don’t tell anypony; she’s scared to death of what everyone will think of her now. I made a vest for her, to hide them, but don’t point it out and don’t ask about it, okay? I...I’m breaking a promise by telling you this...but I believe it’s for the best.”

Fluttershy didn’t respond at first, completely shocked. Rarity could tell there were a million thoughts running through her head, and nuzzled the mare softly to calm her. “Is..Is Twilight going to have to leave? To be a princess?” The pegasus asked quietly, casting a worried gaze toward the dressmaker.

“No, I don’t think she would. But...don’t be worried, okay? Twilight is probably worried about the same thing you are, having to leave her friends. Just...be strong for her.” Rarity whispered, moving away from her friend’s ear. Fluttershy opened her mouth to voice another concern, but a rush of wind and flapping of cyan wings stopped her as Rainbow Dash landed in front of the two.

“I’m back! Okay then uh, you two wanna get crackin’ on the orchard?...And where’s Twilight?” The cyan pegasus flicked her gaze back and forth, her rainbow-streaked mane whipping about as she searched for the absent ‘unicorn’.

Rarity cleared her throat. “I’m sure she’s on her way, Rainbow, no need to fret.”

As if on cue, a flash of deep-red light and a small “pop” nearby indicated the arrival of the mare in question. All three fillies turned their heads toward the source of the disturbance, seeing a well-groomed Twilight in a snazzy white-trimmed purple vest smiling warmly at them. Upon looking closer, however, one could see two black voids of fear lying just underneath her eyes. She...she was terrified, and she was trying to hide it. Rarity glanced at Fluttershy, seeing the look of comprehension on her face, and then at Rainbow Dash, who only looked concerned.

“...Twilight? Are you okay?” Dash asked, approaching the clothed pony and folding her outstretched wings. The lavender mare’s smile disappeared, and she backed away slightly.

“O-Of course, Rainbow Dash. Why wouldn’t I be?” The ‘unicorn’ answered, forcing a wide grin onto her features. She swallowed with trepidation. Dash’s eyebrows turned upward with concern; usually if a pony was being this nervous, she figured they were hiding something, but...the genuine fear present in her friend’s eyes told her that it was no laughing matter. She approached again, slowly, and gently laid a hoof on Twilight’s side. The blue speedster expected to feel the usual tautness and slight give of pony flesh under the vest, but instead felt something...soft. Feathery, even. Before she could investigate further by pressing deeper into the unicorn’s side, Twilight jerked away with a yelp, her ears folded back against her head. Rainbow frowned; she must have just poked an injury. And maybe the soft stuff she was feeling was the bandages.

“Oh...Sorry Twi, I didn’t know you were hurt. Um...” Dash bit her lip, her eyes flicking back and forth, before spreading her wings and jumping up into the air, beginning to grab apples off the trees and drop them into the baskets spread around the area. Everypony else wordlessly followed suit; Fluttershy collecting apples in a method identical to her rainbow-maned friend while the two unicorns pulled apples off the trees with their telekinesis. While Rarity seemed to only be able to handle one tree at a time, Twilight was working with massive chunks of the orchard, with seemingly no difficulty. Rarity’s jaw dropped slightly; she had seen Twilight clear several trees at a time back when Applejack tried to harvest the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres by herself, but now the lavender ‘unicorn’ was levitating the apples of nearly forty trees simultaneously! She squinted to refract some of the piercing sunlight out of her eyes as she gazed at Twilight for a moment. She couldn’t really tell, but...was Twilight’s horn just a tad longer?

Rarity sat down on her haunches and stared blankly at a dull brown tree trunk, her mind racing. Did Twilight’s magical capabilities increase when she grew wings? Or had she just been practicing? A realization stabbed into her like a knife. Rainbow Dash would be suspicious... And after the cyan pegasus poked Twilight’s vest and most definitely felt her wings underneath, this may only be adding to her suspicion. Rarity sighed and stood up, continuing to filter apples into the nearby woven straw baskets, sincerely hoping that the blue blur could wait until after they were done clearing the orchard to ask all her questions.

After nearly an hour with no contact with one other, the four regrouped to review their work. They had cleared about one third of the orchard. Excellent; they were making good time. As they sat down and munched on a few of the harvested apples for a leisurely break, conversation gradually rebooted between them.

“Phew... This is really hard...” Fluttershy moaned, running a hoof across her yellow forehead to wipe off the beads of sweat. “And it’s so hot outside today... I hope Angel bunny is taking good care of the animals while I’m away...”

“You said it, Fluttershy...” Dash breathed, just barely staying conscious under the relentless pounding of the sun’s heat. Her rainbow mane, usually unruly, was plastered to her forehead with her own sweat. Her half-lidded rosy eyes drifted over to Twilight. “....Wow...And I thought we had it bad... Look at Twilight over there; she’s gotta be cooking in that vest...” The lavender ‘unicorn’ was probably suffering from heat stroke, but at the time she didn’t care. It was better than revealing her ‘developments’ to all her friends. Dash coughed dryly, taking another sip of her bottle of apple juice, which she had retrieved prior to their meeting from Applejack’s surprisingly-cold apple cellar.

“Hey...Twilight....you don’t gotta torture yourself for the sake of fashion...That’s Rarity’s job...” Rainbow wheezed with a small chuckle, sweat dripping down her cheeks. She received a small glare from the white unicorn in response, but the sweaty rainbow-maned pegasus was too overheated to notice. “Take that vest off...C’mon....you’ll feel loads better...”

Twilight froze up, her heat-induced stupor shattering. “No no no no no, I-I’ll be fine. I can still wear it.” She grinned nervously. “Rarity always said I need to get in tune with my fashionable side.” The white unicorn would normally give her own two cents to the conversation, but she knew she needed to keep quiet, for Twilight’s sake. Rainbow Dash’s eyes scanned her figure, before widening suddenly, as if she had spotted something.

“Twilight?...Are...Are those feathers sticking out of your vest?” The cyan pegasus asked, gaping at the ex-unicorn’s attire. Twilight immediately shot a glance at the side of her vest. There was a lengthy tear in it, possibly from a stray twig cutting into her side. It was in a straight line, so it didn’t fall away to reveal anything, but a few of the lavender feathers from her wings had slid through it into the outside air. She shifted her wings slightly inside her vest to pull them back in, before looking at Dash and assuming an expression of false confusion.

“Feathers? What feathers?” Twilight dismissed, intentionally keeping her ears erect instead of letting them fold backwards and revealing the fear she truly felt. Rainbow Dash, with a sudden burst of energy, walked to her intimidatingly, glaring into her eyes and flaring her wings up.

“Twilight, I know I saw feathers. Does your vest have pegasus feathers on the inside? You-...err, Rarity got these legally, right?” Dash’s voice didn’t carry any hint of interrogation, but her visage did. Twilight felt her own wings extending instinctively, to match her friend’s, and consciously put an effort into keeping them folded against her sides. It’s instinctive, she told herself, remembering her read-over of the documentary on pegasi she kept on a top shelf in her library after Rarity left earlier that day. The instinctual fight-or-flight response. It forces a pegasus to flare his/her wings up when they feel threatened. It’s to make them appear larger for the former, or to prepare them to fly away for the latter... Due to how the alicorn’s vest ripped so easily from (apparently) being caught on a twig, if she let her wings flare up, it would tear the vest clean off, and throw her secret down the drain. She mentally facehoofed; of all the things Rarity could forget while making her vest, she just had to overlook durability. Keeping her wings down was difficult, to say the least. It was like trying to hold down two large, powerful springs. She couldn’t pay attention to Rainbow Dash’s next sentence; she was too focused on restraining her own body parts for any coherent thought to bubble forth. But, the rainbow-maned pegasus eventually backed away, allowing Twilight to relax and think clearly.

“Yes, yes Rainbow Dash, I bought the molted feathers of various lavender pegasi at the Ponyville marketplace earlier today.” Rarity interjected, nodding calmly, giving a false explanation to a false assumption. “Well, they weren’t selling them at stands or anything. I had to track several down, ask them if they had any spare feathers, and then wait until they went and fetched some before purchasing them, but yes.”

“Erm....alright.” Dash surrendered, folding her wings back against her sides. “...Twilight? Can you take that vest off so I can see it? You’d feel at least, ehh, forty-three percent cooler.”

The lavender one shook her head fearfully, a frown lining her muzzle. “No....” Removing her vest here would reveal her to two more ponies; and she didn’t want that. Yes, they were her friends, but it’s ironic how something like this can break a friendship. Nopony likes to feel replaced. Her deep purple eyes turned to her cyan friend again, and she bit her lip.

Even Fluttershy was staring at her now. Although her expression carried unsatisfied curiosity, rather than interrogating anger. Regardless, Dash took a step forward again, and Twilight in turn took a step back, her vest catching again on a tree she wasn’t aware was behind her. She cast a glance at the fabric, realizing that a strong piece of bark was caught on one of the seams. Her heart sank; one wrong move, and it was over. It was all over.

“Twilight... If you don’t want to rip your vest or whatever, just take it off.” Rainbow said slowly, eyes narrowing. Fluttershy stepped up behind the rainbow-maned pony and tapped her shoulder, receiving a glare in response, and shying away with an “eep!”. The butter yellow pegasus took a moment to gather herself, and rose again, her eyes flaring with new determination.

“Dash... You don’t need to be so, uh, prying to Twilight. If she doesn’t want to take her vest off, she d-doesn’t... need......to...” The animal-lover shied away again as she was stared down by the tomboyish pegasus.

Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight again, and began galloping towards her, intending to knock her out of her vest. The spellcaster’s eyes widened. “NO!!” She screamed, panicked, her voice echoing through the trees and scaring away various birds. Everything moved in slow-motion as her friend tackled her, her vision jerking as she was thrown backwards, taking the impact full-force. A soft ripping noise accompanied the event, and Twilight felt her vest sliding away from her body, exposing her feathered wings to the outside air. As the wind blew against the beads of sweat that had gathered on her torso & wings, it felt almost cool...

THUNK. Her torso slammed into the dirt, and the mildly pleasant feeling of the wind caressing her figure was replaced by rapid jabs of sharp pain, wildly fluctuating as she and Rainbow Dash tumbled across the grass, gradually sliding to a stop. Twilight’s eyes fluttered open to see her tomboyish friend standing over her, holding her front legs to the ground, squinting in an attempt to dispel the temporary dizziness of their rolling. Her rosy eyes shot open suddenly, flicking from side to side. Twilight’s followed, seeing a lavender pair of wings sprawled unevenly across the grass to her sides, in plain view for all to see. She then looked at her vest, which still hung from the thick bark of a nearby tree. Finally, she looked back at Rainbow, watching the cyan pegasus as she mumbled incoherently, her face twitching involuntarily.

“Y..y...you...you have wings?” Rainbow asked quietly, incredulously, coming to her realization that her friend was indeed hiding something under her vest. “Y-You’re an alicorn?!” Her incredulous visage hung for a few seconds, before slowly melting into a furious one. “You..This is just like Rarity all over again! But now it's you! You're gonna enter the Wonderbolts tryouts and try to beat me, aren't you!?" She growled, gritting her teeth, spitting her words as if they were acid. Twilight felt hot tears spill out of her eye ducts, blurring her vision. This was exactly what she had feared...and she didn’t know what to say. She knew how shallow and shortsighted Rainbow Dash could be, which was precisely the reason she had worn the vest in the first place; to avoid setting her friend off.

“Dash! Get off of her!!” Rarity’s pseudo-regal voice yelled out. Dash’s head snapped to her right for a moment, before the cyan pony gave one last glare to the alicorn beneath her hooves, and stood up to face the dressmaker. The white unicorn's scolding expression faltered for a moment as the hot knife of hypocrisy slit behind her ear--she was becoming angry at her pegasus friend for assuming Twilight will commit the same injustice that she did, all those months ago--but quickly regained her composure. “Rainbow Dash, I cannot believe you! Accusing your best friend of wanting to take something that you’ve worked so hard for! You should be ashamed!!” Rarity pushed her face into Dash’s, her expression dominated by oppressed rage. If Dash was staring daggers, Rarity was staring swords. The dressmaker forced the pegasus back several steps, her anger overwhelming, her teeth powerfully grit together. Rainbow continued to glare back at the unicorn, reminded of what she did at the Best Young Flyer's competition, but her fury soon vanished from her face, replaced by fear, her ears pressed flat against her head. “If you would honestly turn on your own FRIEND so easily, then I wonder just how BAD of a PERSON you really are!!”

“W-Wait...I...I..” Dash stuttered, her rump pressed against the very tree that Twilight’s vest had caught on. The dressmaker was deliberately targeting a weak spot; Dash was actually being extremely disloyal by accusing her friend of something like this, and shallow for jumping to conclusions. And Rarity’s words stung. Even Twilight and Fluttershy were incredulous to see the unicorn standing up for one of her friends so heavily.

“You will apologize to Twilight, right now.” The white pony ordered, growling through her teeth. “Unless you want to lose two of your friends.” Dash swallowed, a small, uncharacteristically submissive whimper escaping her throat, before turning her head to Twilight, who had only recently gotten to her hooves.

“T...Twilight...I...I’m sorry...” She mumbled, quietly. A growl from Rarity, and she took a deeper breath. “I-I’m sorry, Twilight!! I-I shouldn’t have said any of that! It was shallow and stupid!”

Rarity huffed. “That’s better.” She backed away, slowly, allowing Rainbow Dash to regain her footing. “You see, this is the reason I made that vest for her. So this wouldn’t happen. I didn’t think I would need to make it as tough as a hoofball uniform for it to stay together, because I didn’t have ‘being tackled’ in mind while sewing it.” Rarity shoved an angry white hoof into Rainbow’s nose. “And don’t you DARE go off telling anypony about her. She’s had enough problems so far.”

“O-Okay...” Dash replied. Rarity removed her hoof and trotted to Twilight, standing next to her.

“Take a good look, Dash, Fluttershy. This is Twilight now. Personally I don’t think it matters what she is, it matters more who she is. And who she is hasn’t changed.” Rarity announced, resting a hoof on one the alicorn’s semi-extended wings, earning a look from her. Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot, and her cheeks were still streaked with dried-up tears.

“I think she looks nice with wings...” Fluttershy vocalized softly, smiling at the lavender pony. “...Twilight, can you fly?” The yellow pony stood up and walked to the ex-unicorn, looking her wings over.

“Uhm.. No, n-” Twilight began, but paused and cleared her throat as her voice suddenly caught. “Not really. I...I don’t know how.” Fluttershy momentarily beamed in response.

“Oh, I could teach you! ...I-I mean, if Rainbow Dash is okay with it... Maybe she would like to teach you...” The butter yellow pegasus shrunk backward and cast her gaze to the blue filly, who currently looked guilty & distraught.

“...W-well... I-I mean, I could... I’d like to... but... I messed up really badly just now...” Dash answered, casting her gaze to the green grass below. “I don’t think Twilight would want me to...” The alicorn in question pondered the blue filly’s statement for a moment; true, she overall did not need to fly in her everyday life. She could reach anything she wanted with just magic, and got around just fine without any airborne transportation. It would be useful, but wholly unnecessary. That being said... Dash’s emotions often stuck with her if she didn’t know how to deal with them, and not being able to atone for a huge mistake would most likely depress her for several days, so perhaps allowing the pegasus to teach her how to fly would give Dash closure.

“Well, Rainbow... If you’re happy to teach me, then I would love it.” Twilight said, giving her anxious friend a warm, forgiving smile. A smile can solve any problem, or at the very least, make it less hard. The blue blur gave a small smile in return, her eyes beginning to regain their lost fire. “And...girls? I...really don’t want to be a princess. I’m happy right here, with a normal life, with normal friends, and a normal job.” Well, “job” was a stretch (Her library was more of a non-profit home business), but her point rang true.

Another thought struck her like a shovel to the back of the head, and her smile vanished. Her library, her house....was in the middle of Ponyville, a very populated city. Every day, she would have to bear the gawks of everypony in it... as the only resident that had both a horn and wings. Stares, murmurs, whispers... Some might even just avoid her altogether. Her thoughts led back to the situation at hand; if she was going to walk around with wings attached to her back, she might as well use them.

“...Don’t we have to tell Applejack and Pinkie Pie about this eventually?” Fluttershy asked, quietly, from the proverbial corner. “...I mean, they’d both be accepting, but Pinkie might want to throw a party, and...”

“Yyyyeaaahhh, let’s just start with Applejack.” Rainbow Dash suggested, her voice having regained its usual motivation, a confident smile plastered on her face. That smile vanished after a few seconds. “Oh...she might be sleeping. ‘Cuz, you know, she’s sick and stuff.”

“Well darling, we’ll just have to wake her up for a moment.” Rarity answered with a bit of trepidation, motioning towards the barn, which sat on top of a hill roughly two hundred yards away. Everypony began walking towards it, partially to help explain Twilight’s changes, and also to escape the heat of the sun for at least a few minutes. AJ’s relatives were all out of town to attend a nearby festival, so Twilight didn’t have to explain herself to more than one pony this time.

But... She still had to explain herself to two friends...and...pretty much all of Equestria.

Chapter Two

GoogleDocs link, nothing special this time, but mobile users might want to use it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LUD1hEy3Ojm6P-Xai2--GHcgneKj63ayYrGCsFZqWxQ/edit?hl=en_US

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: This fic is tagged Dark, due to a rather negative atmosphere, but it’s not Grimdark, and never will be. Don’t worry. No bloodshed or unnecessary violence will be had.

“Sister... Do you know what this means?”“It doesn’t mean anything, Luna. It’s just a book.”

“But everything about it is completely feasible. It could happen.”

“No, it couldn’t. That’s ridiculous, Luna. Magic doesn’t just flow from pony to pony like that, let alone transform their body. Are you trying to tell me that this could happen to Twilight?”

“Well... yes, I suppose. You’ve known her since she was very, very young, cast many beneficial spells on her, and have spent more time in close proximity with her than any other pony. On top of that, she has far superior control over her magic, and for that matter, far more power in her magic, than any other unicorn. And, she’s your pupil.”

“Yes, I see your point. But this has only ever been recorded happening in negligibly-small amounts.”

“Sister, it only takes a small amount! That small amount of magic would infect and transform her own magic into-”

“You’re speaking nonsense again. Just drop it, Luna.”

Responsibility

Chapter 02

Applejack lay limply on a thick pile of dry hay, her limbs having already betrayed her hours beforehand when she attempted to climb the stairs to her bedroom. She couldn’t bring herself to climb the daunting steps; at that point she could barely stand up, and now she felt too weak to even move. Her eyelids weighed more than several full baskets of freshly-picked apples, her mind in a constant fuzz, but... she couldn’t bring herself to sleep. It was dark inside the barn, but yet, the comfortable arms of Morpheus continued to elude the earth pony. It wasn’t pitch-black; there was a small beam of sunlight streaming through an opening near the roof, but the glow it brought was rather inadequate to see by. All she could do was just lie there and wait. The only choice she had was whether to pay attention to her surroundings or not. The Apple Family barn was well-insulated; the air within was quite cold compared to the searing waves of heat that raked the ground outside, but she felt like she was on fire. Everything burned. She wanted to go to her friends, but she couldn’t move. She yearned to call for help, but she couldn’t speak, either. Her throat felt as dry as sandpaper, and each breath, each swallow, brought a horrible, stabbing pain. It was like swallowing knives, and not in the fancy way those performer ponies did it. The rest of her family had left for an event in Ponyville for the afternoon, something about a pumpkin-throwing contest, and she had volunteered to stay behind to get started on the orchard, so there was no one nearby to tend to her. She thought she could take care of herself. She told her friends that she could. She didn’t know it would get this bad. She took a deep, stinging breath, feeling the beads of sweat from her forehead trickle down to her muzzle, before they dripped off her chin and were absorbed into the dry hay beneath her. She was so hungry... and... and thirsty... Where was the water again?

She summoned all of her dwindling strength, and pushed herself off of the hay stack, unfortunately falling a couple of feet and striking the wooden floor hard with a yelp. She lay still on the barn’s floor for another minute or so, emerald-green eyes wide as she took frantic, painful, shallow breaths before the throbbing pain in her side abated. Catching her breath, she pushed at the floor with all of her might, and shakily rose into a standing position. She couldn’t stand for long... she could already feel her limbs giving out. She blinked a few times in an attempt to sharpen her blurry vision, but didn’t dare take one of her hooves off the ground to wipe them with; she knew she couldn’t support herself at the time with only three legs. She took a few trembling steps, her knees almost buckling with each, and slowly made her way to the doorway leading to her family’s reservoir. Come on.... Come on.... She had only made it halfway across the room when one of her front legs buckled, and her face hit the floor, the rest of her body following suit. Why was this so hard?

Her ears perked, one of the few involuntary actions that carried no difficulty, as she heard the distinct clack of the barn door opening. Discordant creaking followed as the door swung open wide enough for a pony to fit through, and allowed a few sets of hoofsteps to enter. She could hear the hoofsteps of the approaching ponies, but none of them spoke. Applejack turned her head to face the source of the disturbance, momentarily spotting a few pony figures, but quickly shut her eyes tight when the blinding white light of the sun outside began to give her a searing migraine. “Applejack?...” a soft, gentle voice asked.

Fluttershy, upon seeing her orange friend lying on the floor, whimpering and covering her eyes with both hooves, immediately rushed to the farmer pony’s side and laid a butter-yellow hoof across her forehead. She gasped when she felt how hot it was, and immediately darted to the room with the reservoir in it, presumably to fetch some cool water for the sick mare. The other three fillies entered as well, Rainbow Dash closing the barn door behind her with her teeth, cutting off the primary source of light for the room and allowing it to slip into darkness once more.

Now that the blinding light was gone, Applejack removed her hooves from her eyes and stared up at her friends with heavy eyelids, who gazed back with worried expressions.

“Are you feeling alright, dear?” Rarity whispered, fearing that speaking too loudly would give her friend another headache.

Applejack inhaled to speak, but the microscopic daggers slashing at her throat caused her breath to hitch, and she remained silent, wishing for once that the air she breathed was warm instead of cool, so breathing wouldn’t hurt so very much. The air was warm outside the barn, but the ill mare couldn’t survive if she was put out there; she would overheat. A pony’s body will completely shut down if their internal body temperature is raised too high, and the farmer pony knew she was burning up to begin with. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft flapping of feathery yellow wings as Fluttershy landed next to her, carrying a bucket of water by gripping the handle in her teeth. Applejack reached for it, but Fluttershy had brought a ladle, and had already scooped up some of the life-giving liquid in it.

The yellow pegasus did not speak; her inherent desire to nurse the ill had momentarily dominated her personality, and she remained silent as she held the ladle to Applejack’s lips.

The earth pony drank eagerly, the cold of the water slicing at her raw throat like sharpened steel, but fortunately, it cleared her head enough for her to think clearly.

Twilight stared at the orange pony as she drank, the alicorn’s concern for her friend slowly giving way to the seed of anxiety that had previously sprouted upon her entering the barn. The earth pony seemed to not have noticed her wings yet, but the small delay felt like an eternity to the spellcaster. Rarity gave a warm smile to her purple friend, which eased her somewhat, and she smiled back. Applejack will understand. Applejack always understands.

The farmer pony soon finished her drink, and wiped her mouth with a fuzzy orange hoof. Fluttershy offered another ladle-full, but Applejack politely denied it with a raised hoof and a shake of her head, before turning to face her other three friends. Her solid green eyes, currently a sharp contrast to the pale orange tint of her coat, slowly looked over each of them, coming to a rest on Twilight.

Twilight stood stock-still, trying to keep from trembling with anxiety, her eyebrows turned upwards and her jaw set tight. A bead of sweat emerged from behind her ear and dripped down the side of her cheek as the earth pony stared at her. Applejack’s warm expression shifted to surprise for a moment, before she chuckled to herself, thankfully not having a coughing fit this time.

“Wow... I’m real sick, ain’t I?” she asked, her voice raspy, laughing to herself some more. “I...I could’a sworn Twilight had wings for a second the-......” She blinked, and her happy expression suddenly shattered like porcelain, her eyes opening wide, her irises constricting, and her ears folding flat against her head. Horrified, she began to back up away from the alicorn, pressing her back against a hay bale. Twilight took a few steps forward, but this only caused her friend to panic further.

“Applejack, I... Liste-”

“I... I-I’m sorry, Princess, I-I didn’t mean ta’ disrespect, I didn’t know ya’ll were royalty now! I-I’m sorry I didn’t give ya’ the respect ya’ deserve, b-but I swear I will fr-” the farmer pony broke into a coughing fit in the middle of her rambling, and she collapsed on the floor, her body convulsing with each hack. Fluttershy immediately dashed to her side and tried to help her stop.

Twilight’s jaw hung open slightly. Applejack was... afraid of her? And she thought she was a princess...? No. No, that isn’t correct. She was just a normal pony. Normal. Normal! She shook her head to break out of her stupor, and gave a panicked gaze to the farmer pony, who had only recently stopped coughing. “No! Applejack, I’m not a princess! I-I’m still the same! I just have wings now, i-it doesn’t mean anything! I-” The alicorn’s breath hitched. She felt like she was drowning. Alicorn and earth pony locked eyes for a few impossibly long seconds, fearful green orbs staring directly into panicked, sorrowful purple ones.

“You’re... you’re not?...” Applejack asked, slowly, incredulously, her voice even raspier than before due to being pushed too hard during the earth pony’s rambling. “I... I thought... B-because of the wings...”

“A-Applejack... I-I don’t know what’s happening to me, I really don’t... But I’m still the same...” Twilight blinked a few times, trying to rid her eyes of the awful burning sensation that arises just before tears. She simply stared at her friend for a moment longer, the earth pony’s expression slowly melting from horrified to understanding as she watched a few tears leak from the lavender pony’s eyes. Twilight looked around her; all her friends were simply remaining silent and observing, wearing concerned expressions. Rainbow Dash appeared as if she wanted to say something, but was intentionally keeping quiet.

“... Sugarcube... I... I’m sorry for... for freakin’ out like that...” Applejack apologized, her raspy voice breaking the deafening silence that had gathered after Twilight’s last statement. The farmer pony turned to the yellow pegasus hovering a few paces away from her. “Fluttershy, can I have some more water?” She whispered. The animal tamer fetched another ladle-full from the bucket as Applejack turned to face the winged unicorn again.

“So... With the wings n’ all, I’m just wonderin’... Can ya’ fly?” the southerner asked, smiling curiously, hoping she wasn’t offending. A small chuckle was had by all present, greatly lightening the mood, and leaving Applejack rather befuddled. “...What?”

“Oh nothing dear, it’s just that Fluttershy asked that same question twenty minutes ago,” Rarity snickered. The others nodded calmly.

“Well Applejack, nah, she can’t, but I’m gonna teach her!” Rainbow Dash inputted, puffing her chest out proudly.

Twilight gave an uneasy grin to the pegasus. “Uh huh...” the alicorn mumbled, looking away with worry. She didn’t need to fly; that would just attract attention. But then she remembered that she had already decided; if she was going to walk around with wings on her back, she might as well use them.

“Yeah! I’m gonna make her a master flyer, just like me! Well, not as great as me, but you know.” the blue pegasus elaborated. Everypony else chuckled at the irony. “Speakin’ of that, Twilight, when should we start? There’s this neat little meadow right outs-” Dash’s sentence was interrupted by her having her own coughing fit, which produced the same phlegmy crackling noise that Applejack’s did. Said earth pony shuffled awkwardly.

“Uh... Ya’ll probably shouldn’t stick around the barn fer too long, you might catch whatever it is I’ve got. Looks like it’s already too late for Dash here,” the applebucker teased, grinning at the cyan pegasus, who huffed. After drinking from the ladle Fluttershy was holding next to her face, she continued, “You too, Fluttershy. I really appreciate yer help, but ya’ll don’t need to bring mah sickness to all yer little animals back at yer cottage.”

Fluttershy immediately dropped the ladle from her mouth and looked at Applejack with incredulous realization, before quickly flying to the other side of the room.

Applejack laughed to herself haughtily. “Well uh, thanks for helpin’ with the orchard, guys! I hope ya’ get better, Dash! Ahah hah hah hah!!...” Dash stuck her tongue out at the earth pony, who simply laughed again, as the pegasus opened the barn door and flew out. Everypony else said their goodbyes to Applejack, and exited the barn, before they all cringed and shielded their eyes from the piercing sunlight that mercilessly drilled into their darkness-adjusted corneas.

After their eyes readjusted to the bright sunlight, the group went back to work, plucking apples off the thousands of trees in the orchard and filling woven baskets with them, two hours passing in a haze of work, sweat, and the smell of apples. The sun gradually sank through the sky until it approached the horizon, shifting the color scheme of the landscape to various warm shades of orange. Rainbow Dash became somewhat distracted from her share of the work, fascinated by Twilight’s magical capability as the alicorn pulled hundreds of apples off the trees in great psychokinetic sweeps. The pegasus looked off toward the horizon, biting her lip at the setting sun, before flying to her purple friend and taking a deep breath.

“Hey Twilight? Can you push the sun up a bit so we have a little more time to get this done?” she asked from the air, as innocently as she could.

Twilight blinked a few times, before gaping at the sky-blue pegasus. “That’s not funny, Rainbow!!” the alicorn growled. Dash raised her hooves above her head in mock surrender, shaking her muzzle frantically.

“I-It wasn’t a joke! You... you can, right? Since you’re an alicorn?” the blue pegasus elaborated, shooting a glance at the sun again.

Twilight remained silent, looking at the ground, before going back to her work, leaving her friend without an answer.

The blue filly landed beside her friend and walked to her, earning an anguished glare from the alicorn. “....Well?...Can you?”

Twilight looked up at the sun, then up at her own horn, then at her pegasus friend, before looking away. “... I don’t know...”

“... Well... Can you try? Please? We’re almost done, I-I think we just need another half-hour.” Rainbow Dash kept glancing at the sun, apparently worried about having to work in the darkness of night.

Twilight didn’t speak for a moment. “O-okay...” she submitted. She gazed up at the massive burning orb, which was slowly disappearing behind the distant mountains, speculating how exactly she would fulfill Rainbow’s request. She lowered her head, and focused magic into her horn, surprised at how much power she felt coarsing through her fuzzy lavender body. There was just so much of it. She felt like... like she could do anything! But... the sun... that seemed like it was a little pushing it. But, Rainbow asked... She reached out with her mind’s eye in the general direction of the great firey behemoth, looking for any massive source of energy that would signify its presence. It had to be around there somewhere... somewhere... A-ha! It felt exactly as it looked from her perspective of it from Earth; blazing, enormous, and... heavy. She wrapped her magic around it, the firey beast groaning in protest, before attempting to tug it upwards. Her eyes shut tight as she concentrated; she did not see the multiple glowing auras around her horn, and she did not see the lighting of the landscape brighten from dull oranges to pleasant greens & browns.

“O-Oh Celestia, you’re actually doing it!!” Rainbow shouted from beside her.

The purple alicorn opened one eye, catching a glimpse of Dash’s dropped jaw, before closing it again and resuming her little project. She... she could feel somepony else’s magic working on the sun, autonomously pushing it forward. It was most likely Princess Celestia’s, but it seemed to be on autopilot, unsupervised by the monarch. But nevertheless, it began to crawl curiously toward Twilight’s magic, possibly to identify it, which immediately filled the spellcaster with panic. The lavender pony, realizing the imminent danger, quickly retracted her magic from the sun and brought it back to her own body, gasping as it flooded back into her. Her eyes shot open, and she stood as still as a statue for a moment, before blinking back to reality. She looked around her; the landscape was noticeably brighter and easier to see. The sun no longer hovered behind the mountains, it shined high above them, flooding the landscape with all the light of late-day.

Twilight’s own jaw hung open at the concept of what she had just accomplished. She had moved the sun. Backwards. By at least half an hour, at that! She felt a surge of pride swell up inside her, but it was quickly overtaken by fear as a grim realization trampled her like a horse-drawn carriage. Oh no... Princess Celestia no doubt knew that somepony besides her just did that. And she wouldn’t come to a conclusion that Luna did it; the monarch could just ask her sister, and she would receive a “No”. The lavender-winged unicorn had just cast a fishing line into a lake full of sharks, sharks that were eager to grab her hook and pull her into the water with them.

She suddenly felt Rainbow giving her a quick, grateful hug. “Thanks, Twilight! I knew you could do it! Now we’ll finish before sundown for sure, heh!” she thanked, before releasing the alicorn and flying off to pick more apples. Twilight went back to work as well, but she worked absent-mindedly, worry creeping up her body like icy pins & needles.

The group finished the last of the orchard in roughly thirty minutes, just as Rainbow had predicted, and had regrouped in the clearing that held the Apple Family Barn, all of them sitting in a circle and having a well-deserved rest. It was dusk, again, even though it should be nighttime. None of the alicorn’s other friends seemed to notice that she had moved the sun. Well, not until Rainbow started broaching about it.

“Heh, guys, we wouldn’t have finished before dark if Twilight didn’t move the sun back a little bit! Did you guys see it?! I had no idea she could do that!” the pegasus blabbed, standing on her hind legs and waving her front hooves around in excitement, flapping her wings to keep herself balanced. All eyes turned to Twilight, who shifted uncomfortably.

“Uhm...” Twilight mumbled, shrinking under the others’ gaze. She didn’t want to talk about this. She had probably just doomed herself to scolding (and most likely being revealed to all of Equestria straight-up) by her mentor. She decided to try and change the topic. “So... has anypony seen Pinkie Pie lately? I haven’t heard from her all day.”

Rarity blinked a few times to snap herself out of her disconcerting stare, before answering, “Oh, she’s extremely busy at Sugarcube Corner today. She’s had customers out the door since eight o’ clock this morning, and can’t find time to come say hello. Although, I think the store will close soon, judging by how it’s dusk an-” Rarity stopped mid-sentence, looking at the sun, then at Twilight. “Oh... I guess it might already be closed, then.” The unicorn smiled awkwardly.

“Knowing Pinkie, she might come and visit us as soon as she can...” Fluttershy muttered. “Does she know where we are?”

“Perhaps. She seems to know where everypony is at any given time, so I’m certain she’ll find us,” Rarity answered, smiling at the butter-yellow pegasus. A loud cracking noise echoed through the air Rainbow Dash bent herself over backwards on a nearby log, her fuzzy cyan face overtaken with bliss as she popped the dislocated vertebrae in her spine.

“Ohhhhh....that felt greeeeaaaattt....” she droned, lying limply on the log. “...Whuzzat you say about Pinkie?”

“Yeah, what were you saying about me?” The pony in question giggled, suddenly sitting inbetween Fluttershy and Twilight. Everypony looked at her, surprised at her sudden appearance. Pinkie’s giggles escalated into joyous laughter, and she rolled onto her back, kicking her limbs into the air. The others merely stared at her, surprised. She eventually calmed down, and breathed out a sigh, lying still on the grass. “You silly fillies wouldn’t believe how many customers the Cakes and I had today! There were so many of them, and they all wanted cake! I had to go into overdrive to serve them fast enough. Heh, me, with an ‘overdrive’.... whoda thunk?” she yawned. “... I... I’m kinda tired... I’m never tired, though... OH, did you girls see what happened with the sun today? I looked outside and it was all dusk and orangey, then I went back in for a few minutes and then went outside again and it was bright again! It’s like time turned backwards!” she shouted, kicking her legs into the air again, but this time at a slower pace, and accompanied by a softer giggle. She turned her head to smile at Twilight, Ponyville’s premiere party pony actually sleepy for the first time her friends could remember. “Nice wings, Twilight.” she complimented, completely nonchalantly, returning her gaze to the emerging stars in the sky.

Twilight was... only somewhat surprised that Pinkie didn’t care about her changes, but the concept also brought a frothing tidal wave of sweet relief. Pinkie’s eyes widened curiously, and she looked at the alicorn again, grinning widely. “Did you do that? Make the day longer?”

Twilight shrunk backward slightly. “Uh...” she muttered, embarrassed, looking at the ground.

“You bet she did! You should’ve seen it in action, Pinkie! It was awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hovering in the air near the group. “I’m friends with an Alicorn~♪” She sang, pumping her hooves in front of her. Twilight flushed.

Pinkie pushed herself into a sitting position, her face beaming from an epiphany. “OH! I have an idea! Let’s throw a party to celebrate Twilight getting all princessey!”

“Uh... Pinkie... I don’t think that’s a good idea...” Fluttershy whispered, hiding her face behind her pink mane. “T-Twilight isn’t comfortable with lots of ponies knowing about her...”

Pinkie frowned, her hair visibly deflating somewhat. “Awww... There was going to be cake and ice cream and a cake & ice cream statue shaped like an alicorn and music and dancing and bobbing for apples an-” She was interrupted by a white hoof being shoved into her mouth.

“Pinkie, I know your special talent is throwing parties, but the poor dear wishes to stay under the radar for now, and we should respect her wish.” Rarity explained, her hyperactive friend nodding.

“Okay!” the pink earth pony giggled, her hair poofing back to its full size. “We can do it later when she’s OK with it!” Pinkie smiled at Twilight, who shook her head slightly.

Twilight looked at the sun again, before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, I need to get back to the library. Spike’s making dinner, and I don’t want it to go to waste.” The dragon actually cooked most of the meals in the house, mainly because Twilight, regardless of her massive arsenal of book smarts, had absolutely no study in the culinary arts. She once attempted to prepare a simple breakfast, toast, and instead made a bowl full of bubbling, black slop. Toast. Reduced to that. After that event, both pony and dragon agreed that she would do none of the cooking from then on. “I’ll see you girls later, okay? Maybe tomorrow?” She asked, her friends nodding and giving various vocalizations of approval. She glanced at each of their friends, at each of their smiling faces. Her friends were still her friends. All of them. She felt one of the icy daggers in her heart completely melt away, leaving behind nothing but warm water.

She got up and waved to her friends as she trotted away, heading down the dirt path back to Ponyville.

Twilight grunted in concentration as she telekinetically fumbled with the magical lock she had placed on the front door of her library, having momentarily forgotten how to unlatch it. It was dark outside now, Luna’s pristine white moon having already begun its steady journey across the twinkling night sky. Thank Celestia, nopony was out right now. Well, as far as Twilight could see. She had begun formulating a plan in her head for how to stealthily move to her house without any of the city ponies seeing her--she didn’t want to be noticed quite yet--but when she arrived at the city limits, nopony was there. They were all either sleeping, or preparing to go to sleep, apparently. It was just an uneventful, slow trot to her house. She wondered for a moment if she could just knock on the door. Spike would definitely open it for her, assuming he’s not asleep. Maybe he was asleep. The alicorn absent-mindedly unlocked the door during her digressive train of thought, and with pleasant surprise, opened it and walked in. Yep, it was dark, and yep, she could hear Spike snoring from the other room. Oh well... Spike may have stored his previously-made dinner in the fridge, so she might just be able to snack on it later. Twilight trotted up the steps to the second floor and walked down the hallway, before arriving at her room. Spike had made her bed for her, as he always did. Oh good... The alicorn yawned humongously, before tiredly crawling onto her mattress. She let her wings spread out behind her and lay on the comforter, sighing with content. The feeling of cold air on her feathers was very comforting, and felt significantly cooler than keeping them bunched up against her sides.

Maybe this would all turn out okay. She still has her friends, she still has her life. She drew a blank with Princess Celestia; nothing says she would be so inconsiderate as to tell the entire world about her without her consent. And the rest of Equestria? Eh... she’ll get around to it tomorrow...

When Twilight awoke the next morning, she actually felt well-rested, for once. A glance at the analog clock on the wall told her it was... Ten o’ clock? She sat up, surprised, and glanced at the window that usually allowed the sun to crispy-fry everything in her room. There were a set of white blinds neatly splayed over it, angled upward to block any light from entering her bedroom. The alicorn blinked, before smiling. It must have been Spike’s doing. Such a good assistant, and such a good theoretical little brother...

She pushed her comforter off of her, leaving the fabric in an unkempt mess, as was the norm for her morning routine, before climbing out of her bed. Spike always made her bed for her; it was one of his voluntary chores, so the ex-unicorn never really did it herself. Twilight stretched her limbs and her wings out, wringing out any cramps, before folding the avian appendages back against her sides and walking merrily down the hallway, humming happily to herself.

She turned into the kitchen and sat down at the table, as usual. Spike was cooking breakfast as well, whistling an oddly familiar tune. “Hey Twilight,” he greeted, turning around. “How’s it goi-whoa...” The young dragon almost dropped the plate he was holding as he gawked upward at his older sister.

Twilight’s furred face scrunched up in confusion. “What?” she asked, blinking. Spike was looking at her like she had two heads, his slitted green eyes tracing up and down her figure.

“Uh... did you get taller?” He asked. Twilight raised her eyebrows, looking down at her library assistant. He was... a bit smaller than the alicorn remembered. She looked around the room. Everything was a bit smaller than she remembered. She looked down at her legs; they appeared to be maybe six inches longer. Did she grow in height while she was asleep?

“Uhm...” she began awkwardly, entirely unsure of her next sentence. She decided to change the topic. “So... Thanks for setting up those blinds in my room, Spike,” she began, heaving a relaxed sigh. “I can sleep sooo much better now...”

“Uhhh...you’re welcome?” the dragon said, an awkward smile plastered on his scaly face. He set the plate of stir-fried vegetables on the table, kissing his hand affectionately and muttering, “Bon appetit!”

Twilight looked down at the food in front of her. Spike had stir-fried it so well that each vegetable was the exact same appetizing shade of caramel. She levitated a fork from a nearby drawer, before spearing some of the food and biting down on it, savoring the flavor. Spike was always a good cook. Way better than she was, anyway. She noticed that the dragon still had his eyes glued to her, and she gazed back with a raised eyebrow. “Spike, is something the matter?” she asked.

“...Want me to get a mirror?” the dragon inquired, gazing concernedly at the alicorn.

Twilight’s eyebrows upturned. “What? Why? D-did something happen?? Yes, please get the mirror,” she requested, panic beginning to grasp her once again. The purple-and-green dragon nodded and left the room for a moment, grabbing a handheld mirror from the nearby bathroom, and returning with it. She held it up in front of Twilight so she could see.

Twilight gasped, blinking at the image the reflective silver surface showed her. Not only was she taller, a few other things had changed slightly, too. Most noticeably, her face was just a little bit different. Instead of being perfectly round like the average mare, it was slightly more streamlined, almost like Princess Celestia’s. Not quite, however... it was something inbetween her original face and a princess’s. She also noticed that her horn was a couple of inches longer, and was now larger than a normal pony’s. Turning her head slightly, she saw that her single-striped mane was slightly longer as well, and seemed to..to flow, just a little, in a nonexistant wind. The flowing was so slight, however, that it was unnoticeable unless she was standing perfectly still. And even at that, it was hard to see unless one actually focused on it. Her jaw worked uselessly as she stared at her reflection.

“...S... Spike... w... what’s happening to me...?” she asked absent-mindedly, otherwise at a complete loss for words.

“You think that book had something to do with it?” her assistant queried, setting the mirror face-down on the dining table.

The alicorn didn’t respond, moreso staring through her assistant rather than at him. She couldn’t even go out in public now. Yesterday, she could’ve just acted completely nonchalant and no one would gawk for too long, but now she was larger than the average pony, and would stand over everyone else in a crowd. She would stick out like a sore hoof. And the fact that her figure now looked almost like that of the princesses would not help. ‘Hiding in plain sight’ was not an option now.

...Why was this happening to her, anyway? Why her? She didn’t ask for this! She liked her life how it was! Why couldn’t it have happened to somepony else? ...Well, she was ‘somepony else’ to somepony else. If this happened to another pony, they might be wishing the same thing. Maybe they got their wish, and all this was placed on Twilight instead. I hate you, karma, she thought. Scowling, she picked up her fork again and continued eating.

Spiked rubbed his hands together nervously. “Uhm... Twilight? I actually used the last of the food to make breakfast just now... Do... Do you want to go to the market? We usually go together, but...”

Twilight ate the last vegetable of her breakfast, and then telekinetically wiped her mouth with a cloth. It was inevitable; she’d eventually have to go outside. She needed necessities, she needed fresh air. Last time the ex-unicorn tried to stay inside her house for an entire day, she went stir-crazy and began throwing things out of anger. Thankfully it was mostly books; not furniture. The latter would have been very bad.

She swallowed anxiously. “I’ll... I’ll go. I-it doesn’t matter what other ponies think of me,” she dismissed, albeit shakily. She could feel herself trembling, and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

“Are you sure, Twilight? If you’d rather stay here, I won’t make you come with me...” Spike offered, concerned.

“I... I... I-I said I’ll go...” she reiterated, her voice shaking as much as the rest of her. Conquer your fears, Twilight, she told herself. They can only affect you if you let them. She stood up from the table, and walked hesitantly to the front door, before opening it. “L-Let’s go, Spike,” she beckoned.

Her draconic assistant complied, and followed her outside.

Twilight stood in line for one of the produce vendor stands, trying to remain as still as possible. She was in an area of the marketplace where several tents were set up, the insides stacked high with knicknacks & commodities. They ranged in color from cobalt-blue to a deep purple to black, and each one actually took up a lot of space, for the proprietors’ goods were abundant. Many ponies were in front of the alicorn, many more behind her, and countless passing by, but one thing remained constant between them; every single one was staring at her. The only exceptions were the vendors & customers currently negotiating with each other, and even they kept stealing glances at her. She was slightly taller than all of them, so she stuck out to begin with, but even those giving mere passing glances never broke their gaze upon sighting that she possessed both a horn and wings. In her mind, she kept telling herself, I’m not different. I’m not any different. It doesn’t matter what they think. The line moved forward, and so did she, the momentary shuffling of hooves ceasing as quickly as it began. The only sound prevalent in this area of the marketplace were the quiet whispers of nearby ponies, no doubt whispering about “the strange alicorn that just showed up.” Twilight felt like she was under a spotlight, and suffice it to say, she was prone to stage fright.

The alicorn eventually approached the fruit vendor, the stallion in front of her scampering away, supposedly to not keep the spellcaster waiting. The lavender pony watched the previous customer as he hightailed it, before clearing her throat and facing the vendor. “Hi, I would like two heads of lettuce, a grapefruit, and six bell peppers, please,” she requested.

The merchant in front of her, a beige earth stallion with a brown fedora, wore a very wide, very forced smile on his face. “R-right away, ma’am,” he answered shakily, fetching the various items of produce from the nearby mounted shelves and placing them on the counter. “Th... Th...Th... That’ll be th... thir... eight bits. Yes, eight bits.” The merchant shook violently with obvious fear.

Twilight’s eyes unfocused in thought for a moment, before focusing on the vendor again. “Wait, I’m sure this costs at least thirty-five bits. I don’t want to rob you,” the alicorn empathized, levitating seven five-bit coins out of her saddlebags and placing them on the counter.

“N-no, no, I-I insist...” The earth pony’s grin was so wide, it looked painful. The winged unicorn suddenly realized she was haggling up, but her minor irritation was knocked aside by another thought; he was actually giving her a discount because he was afraid of her.

“Sir, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. I’m not that kind of pony,” Twilight snipped, far more intimidatingly than she intended. The vendor pony’s smile vanished, and he shrunk backwards with a sharp yelp, his chest heaving. He was obviously scared out of his wits.

“J-Just t-take them. N-no charge,” the beige earth pony stuttered, acting as if there was a gun to his head. Twilight shook her head sadly and levitated the fruit into her saddlebags, leaving the seven coins on the table, before turning and walking away. She kept walking until she had left the area, approaching a forum of the market that wasn’t infested with tents; the manufactured goods area. Twilight heard a few ponies behind her re-engage in conversation, no doubt about her, and she flicked her fuzzy ears as she tried to listen to what they said.

“Who was that?”

“Is she a princess?”

“She kind of looks like Twilight Sparkle... but isn’t she a unicorn?”

The individual voices were drowned out by more ponies jumping in, their voices melding together into the usual indiscernible buzz of conversation. Twilight sighed dejectedly, hanging her head. Strands of her mane flipped down onto her face, but she didn’t have the mind to blow them off. This was going horribly. She couldn’t go anywhere without being stared at. Being whispered about.

She just wanted to go home.

Her lavender ears perked as she heard the beckoning shouts of a particular applebucking earth pony, and she raised her violet head to face the source of the noise. Applejack was negotiating with customers at her stand, looking as healthy as ever. Wait, wasn’t she sick? Oh well, she must have recovered. Twilight smiled. Finally, a friend... She and Spike had split up earlier; they had agreed to grab different groceries. The alicorn was to retrieve the fruit & vegetables, and the young dragon went to a different part of the marketplace to pick up grain & dairy products, so Twilight had been bearing the gawks of everypony all on her own for the past hour. She almost galloped to Applejack, a grand smile on her face as she realized she would be able to talk to Applejack immediately; she had just finished with the last customer in line.

Twilight just about skidded to a stop in front of the stand, looking incredibly relieved to see her friend. Applejack didn’t smile back; she only stared and remained quiet. The lavender pony’s smile melted away at the unfamiliar stare her friend was giving her.

“...Well howdy, Princess! Haven’t seen you around here before. What can I get fer ya’ today? Say, ya’ll look pretty dang familia-...” The earth pony began with a smile, apparently not recognizing her best friend, before halting mid-sentence. “...Twilight?” the earth pony muttered, her face contorting into an incredulous gawk. She blinked. “...Whoa.”

Twilight’s fuzzy complexion twisted into a saddened frown, and she looked away.

Applejack shook her head to clear her thoughts, her blonde mane whipping back and forth, before looking back up at her alicorn friend, her expression apologetic. “W-wait sugarcube, I-I’m sorry for not recognizin’ you. But... what happened? You... you’re taller. And...”

“It’s fine, you don’t need to apologize...” Twilight muttered sadly, sighing. “I know I look different now. I don’t know why. Just...” The alicorn’s eyes suddenly widened with curiosity, and she returned her gaze to her orange friend. “Wait, weren’t you sick yesterday?”

The applebucker blinked, before chuckling brightly. “Oh yeah, when my family got home, Granny Smith whipped up some of her special herbal tea, and after drinkin’ some, I felt good as new! Come to think of it, I should probably give Dash some, ‘cause I know she caught whatever illness I had.” The southern pony’s eyebrows furrowed and she looked to her lower-right, pursing her lips in thought. A moment passed, and she looked up at Twilight again. “Oh, yeah, I really am sorry for not recognizin’ you. You ain’t that much different, it’s just that I’ve been talkin’ to a bunch of faces I don’t know all day, and it must’ve thrown off my concentration or some’n.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “But... you addressed me as ‘Princess’. Do I really look...?”

Applejack remained silent for a moment, biting her lip. “Uh... I really hate to say this, sugarcube, but... yeah, you do.” The earth pony shot a glare to someone on Twilight’s left. “What’re you lookin’ at? Go on, get!”

The alicorn turned her fuzzy head to her left to look at whoever Applejack was talking to, and she saw a mint-green unicorn with a harp on her flank gawking spectacularly at her. Twilight narrowed her purple eyes at her, and she scampered away in fright, before the lavender librarian cast her gaze downward and gave a sad sigh. She felt Applejack’s hoof on her furred shoulder, and she looked back up to see the blonde pony staring at her, concern emanating from her emerald-green eyes.

“Don’t worry about any o’ them, Twi. They’re just ignorant. You forge yer own life, and don’t let anypony tell you that ya’ can’t, alright?” the apple farmer said, smiling.

Twilight smiled back. Applejack always knew just what to say when a pony is feeling down. She said her goodbyes to the applebucker, and began to head towards the marketplace center, wearing a confident smile on her lavender face.

The center of the marketplace was actually built on top of a large disc-shaped expanse of concrete, with some funky design on it that depicted the Princesses in a yin-yang pattern, courtesy of the painter ponies. There were no stalls here; this was largely just a meeting place, and as such it was the agreed regrouping location for Twilight and her dragon assistant. Spike should already be here, and if not, he’ll be here soon, she thought to herself, turning the corner that led to the marketplace center.

What she saw nearly made her heart stop.

Princess Celestia was standing on a raised podium, flanked by a few guards, discussing something with a few citizen ponies. Twilight froze. If the princess saw her how she is now, it... it wouldn’t be good. She just knew it wouldn’t be. Crap! What was she supposed to do!?

The princess raised her white head from her conversation with her subjects, turning her head to face her lavender student, her ever-flowing pastel-colored mane rotating with it. She gave a warm smile at first, but it was quickly replaced with an astonished gawk. Twilight felt a dagger of ice skewer her heart like a vegetable on a fire spit as the Princess stood up and began to walk toward her. No... NO!! She immediately closed her eyes and focused magic into her horn, and envisioned a place nearby to teleport to. There was no place within range that would provide an effective getaway. Well, her... her old range, she guessed. She could move the sun now, so maybe she could attempt to teleport somewhere farther away. Her... her library. That might work. She felt her magical energy encompassing her body, before she heard a loud ZAP, and felt her body being tugged violently in one direction for a fraction of a second. Her eyes fluttered open, and she found herself standing in the middle of her house’s front room, no longer in the Ponyville Marketplace.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but then her breath hitched as she realized that the princess had seen her. Oh no... That was it. She was doomed. Game over. She shrunk backwards from nopony in particular, tucking her limbs close together and shaking violently on the floor, her eyes beginning to water with hot tears. She was done for. She couldn’t hide anymore. The princess will tell everyone.

She remained in that position, trembling in absolute fear, for some time. She didn’t know how long it was, but she guessed that approximately fifteen minutes had passed, and during that fifteen minutes she continuously asked herself the same question: What do I do...?What do I do...?It was over for her. All she’d been doing this entire time was merely delaying the inevitable... What would she be expected to do now? Manage the sun? Manage public affairs? Watch over the country?

“Why can’t I just be normal!?” She cried, out loud, through her tears. She shut her eyes tight, took a shuddering breath, and stood up, walking to a nearby bookcase and levitating a specific hardcover book out of it. She brought it in front of her; it was red with a yellow stripe across the title, which read Equestrian Government: A Synopsis in fancy hand-written cursive writing. She sighed. “...I might as well get started now...” she muttered to herself miserably, psychokinetically opening the book and turning to the table of contents.

Ker-chak. Twilight whipped her head to her right at the noise; it was her front door opening. A small purple-and-green dragon stepped through, carrying a few bags stuffed with various breads and cheeses, amongst other things. Spike set the bags down on the floor, before closing the door behind him.

“Oh... Oh hey Twilight. Where were you? I couldn’t find you in the marketplace center, so I came back here.” The library assistant’s gaze became concerned as he stared at the alicorn’s tear-streaked face. “...Twilight? Are you okay?” he asked, approaching the lavender pony. “What are you rea-” His sentence was interrupted by an unexpected burp, the resulting green flame coalescing into a small point, before transforming into a rolled-up scroll with a small pop.

Twilight simply stared at the parchment as it drifted down lazily to the floor. She didn’t want to read it. It was a letter from her mentor, Princess Celestia, who had just seen her... developments.

Regardless, Spike grabbed it and opened it up, clearing his throat in preparation to read it aloud. Twilight snatched it with her telekinesis before he could, however, and brought it in front of her. She took a deep breath, and braced herself for the worst.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Twilight... I’m worried. My assumptions may be unfounded, but I needed to confirm something with you first. At the Ponyville marketplace just now, I saw... an alicorn, that looked strikingly like you do. I thought it was you, until I laid eyes on her wings. Large, beautiful lavender wings. Upon looking closer, I also saw that she had the same cutie mark as you do. I tried to move closer to greet her, but she teleported to a location that I was unable to trace.

Please, Twilight. Please, be honest with me... was that you? My sister has been besieging me with radical speculations that align with a philosophical novel she has taken an interest in, and although I do find them ridiculous, I am now beginning to give them the benefit of a doubt. One of the speculations by my sister, the one she mentions the most, is something rather prophetical about the monarch. i.e; me. According to Luna, if an alicorn monarch often spends a large amount of time with one unicorn, and casts beneficial spells on him/her, for many years of his/her life beginning at an early age, a small exchange of magic may occur at some point during adulthood. It seems rather insignificant, I know, but it is also scribed that alicorn magic possesses traits that resemble that of a virus. After the exchange, the small amount of alicorn magic begins to infect and transform the pony’s own magic. The process is slow, and it takes place over approximately two weeks. During those two weeks, the pony’s body changes immensely, gaining traits of an alicorn (such as wings). At the end of the two-week period, their body has completely changed into the shape of an alicorn, complete with a massive reserve of magic.

I... I’m sorry. I’m rambling. But please, Twilight... If this is happening to you, please tell me... I only wish to help. I didn’t know this could happen, but if it is, I... I promise that I will help however I can. If you’d rather talk to me face-to-face instead of through letters, I’m still in the marketplace. If that alicorn wasn’t you, disregard this letter entirely.

Yours truly,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight remained silent. An exchange of magic? She was... going to become a full-blown alicorn? Well, two mysteries solved: This was happening because of Celestia, and she was transforming into an alicorn. The lavender pony blinked, before assuming a small smile as the last dagger of ice in her heart melted away. She understands... I don’t have to worry anymore...

The purple alicorn’s warm sense of relief was challenged by another thought; everypony was still afraid of her. There would still be a problem. But... maybe Celestia could help. Thank goodness, she wasn’t going to expose the lavender mare to everyone straight-up. The librarian gazed upward as she began to wonder about her future in the long run. After the two weeks are up, was she really going to have to take Celestia’s place? Or, just rule alongside her? Or not... But maybe she was going to have to assume the position of an important political figure anyway, and would have to be engaged in Equestrian government. And the whole thing with the sun... She still didn’t know how to do any of that.

Spike had grabbed and read the letter while the bookish alicorn was contemplating her situation, and tapped Twilight’s shoulder to gain her attention. “Twilight? Maybe we should go back to the marketplace to figure this all out,” he suggested.

The purple pony gazed at him for a moment, before nodding. She could ask the princess if she could just keep living how she is, instead of having to take up an enormous alicorn responsibility.

“But, don’t forget your flight lesson with Rainbow Dash today at four,” Spike reminded.

Twilight loosed a small giggle, and patted the dragon’s head. “Don’t worry, Spike. I won’t.”

The princess would figure everything out.... …. . .. . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .…...right?

End of Chapter 02

A huge brohoof to my editor, Beige Monkfish! Go spam his profile with praise. Do it now!