6 new princesses?!

by sykko

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Drama, Spike, Comedy, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11463

Princess Celestia's plan hits a small snag when Twilight Sparkle isn't the only one who ascends

Fate and prophesy can be funny things. Sometimes harmony and magic can be a bit unpredictable.

Starswirl's last prophecy was unclear as the greatest spell caster of his day had notoriously bad horn-writing and was equally bad at only writing down half of what he saw in visions.

For generations Princess Celestia has been subtly manipulating the lives of her ponies for generations, using a combination of Starswirl's prophesies and her own foresight to get the outcome she wanted. But she forgot the three most important rules about trying to manipulate future events: 1) The future is like a river. It follows its own currents and makes its own path. 2) The future is always in motion and is next to impossible to predict with any certainty. 3) The very act of viewing the future changes it.

This story is an AU from the main MLP:FiM starting with a deviation from the episode Magical Mystery Cure.

It all started with a single question: What if it was the Mane 6 that became alicorns and not just Twilight?

It's rated T for mild violence.

EDIT: June 7, 2023 By Celestia's glorious sun! This story went featured within a couple of hours of posting!

EDIT: October 29, 2023 This story got featured again!

Published 2023-06-07 06:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-10-29 06:06:50 UTC

The spell is cast, the elements become empowered, and...

As usual, Twilight was asleep at her desk. Her head rested on the transcribed papers as she buzzed and snored softly in her sleep. The gentle yellow light of morning shone in through the nearby windows and crept across the floor. It drifted across the sleeping unicorn mare's face. She grunted and mumbled something incoherently in her sleep, and turned her head to lay the side of her face on the papers.

Spike walked in to find Twilight still asleep at her desk. He gently nudged his older sister. "Time to get up, Twily. Celestia raised the sun about an hour ago."

"Sleepy-sleep-sleep-sleep.", Twilight mumbled, then started softly buzzing again.

Spike shook Twilight harder. "C'mon, Twilight. Time to get your plot in gear. The girls will be over here in a few hours."

"No more radishes, I'm farfignewton already.", Twilight mumbled in her sleep. "Give the albatross some raspberry giraffe."

Spike screwed his face up in confusion, he did not want to know what that dream was about. With a belch of green flame, he produced an alarm clock. Winding it up, he placed it next to Twilight's head. *brrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnng* The little hammer quickly struck back and forth on the bells at the top of the clock.

Still Twilight didn't stir, only mumbled something about blue danishes and Celestia's hoof.

With another belch of flame, Spike produced a trumpet. Lining the bell of the trumpet up with Twilight's ear, he began blowing loud, discordant notes. When Twilight still didn't stir, he began blowing the trumpet as he moved around her, even standing on the desk over and blowing the trumpet downwards with all of his might.

The trumpet blasts began to peter out as Spike ran out of breath. He slumped down to the floor, leaning against the leg of the desk and tossed the trumpet aside as he panted. Once he got his breath back, he stood to his feet, cracked his claws and neck. "Alright sister, if you wanna play rough, then let's play rough."

Spike walked over to a bookshelf, reached out and pulled a book out. "Oh, what's this? The Hardy Colts. Hmm...now where does this go? Oh, I know! The reference section!"

As the dragon intentionally placed the book in the wrong section, Twilight murmured, "No."

Spike walked over to another bookshelf and pulled out another book. "Hmm, the history of Pegasopolis. Now where does this one go? I know, the mythology section!"

Twilight gave several distressed grunts and moans in her sleep.

Spike walked over to a bookshelf in the adults only section and pulled another book out. He flipped through the pages of ponies in artistic belly shots with not even their tails covering their bits and bobs. "Hmm...this book has ponies laying on their backs exposing everything. Why it even has a picture of Celestia in a pose standing on her hind legs and nothing covering her shame. Now where does this go? Ah yes, the foal's section!"

"Don't you dare mess up my system!", Twilight shrieked as she bolted awake, a sheet of paper sticking to the side of her face.

Spike snickered as Twilight bolted around the library, placing the books he had intentionally put in the wrong places. Once finished properly placing the books back in their right places, then triple checked the books and double checked her triple checking. She shot a glare at Spike. "That was an evil thing to do."

Spike simply huffed on his claws and buffed them against his chest scales. "It woke you up, so...deal with it." He then gestured to the side of his face. "You, uh, got something on your face."

Twilight flailed about her face before finding the paper. She peeled the paper away, leaving lines of old Ponish on the fur of her cheek. She scowled at the smudged ink. "Aw send me galloping backwards through a cornfield! I smudged up Fluttershy's hard work." She lit her horn, levitating over a quill and an inkpot, touching up the smeared ink until it was restored back to its original state...or at least as close as possible. "There, good as new."

"Snrk!" Spike covered his mouth, trying to keep from laughing. He held his breath and pinched his nose trying to hold back the flood of laughter. His face turned purplish-red and tears welled up in his eyes. "Bwah-ha-ha!", he guffawed as he was forced to breathe. He then held his breath again.

Twilight glowered at Spike. "This is no laughing matter. You misfile the books, knowing I have a particular...Oh Deer Lord! Did you pull a prank on me?! Did you write something on my face?" She pressed a hoof to her cheek, smearing the ink that was there. "Let me guess, you wrote 'Twilight is a doo-doo head' on my forehead again?" She pressed her hoof to her forehead, creating a smeared hoofprint in ink.

Spike couldn't hold it in anymore. "Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He fell to the floor clutching his sides as he guffawed.

Twilight glowered as she stomped off to the bathroom. "Mother-razzle-frakin'-no-good-ding-dong-doody-head!", she angrily muttered. Looking in the mirror, she saw the smudged ink on her cheek and forehead. "Mrgh!" After finishing washing her face, she went back to the library.

Spike had mostly recovered from his laughing fit. He held one clawed hand to his side, rubbing at the stitch that had formed there and rubbed the sore muscles in his cheeks with the other. "Hoo! Hoo! Heh-heh-heh-hah!"

"Spike! Why didn't you tell me that I had ink on my face?"

Spike lost it again. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He clenched his sides as he fell on the floor again. He was unable to stop as his giggle box had been completely tipped over.

"Heh! Heh! Hah!" The laughter became infectious and Twilight soon found herself laughing. She fell to the floor holding her sides as the giggles wouldn't stop. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-hee-hee-hee! It hurts. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho *snorpt*!"

The snort made Twilight and Spike stop laughing. They stared at each other for a moment. The giggle fit erupted again.

Once both of them finally came down from their giggle fits, Twilight went upstairs to get a shower and Spike went to make breakfast.

Twilight finished the final few bites of her daisy, hay and cheese omelette, crunched down on the last piece of crispy toast and gulped down the bottom half of her orange juice. She raised the napkin to her mouth to wipe away the lingering morsels when...

*knock-knock-knock*

"Just a minute!", Twilight called out. Using her magic, she balled up the napkin and tossed it in the garbage can, then levitated her dishes over to the sink. Trotting over to the door, she opened it. There was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy standing at the doorway. Twilight swore she could set a clock by those two, heck if she took Applejack into the equation, she could create the most accurate timepiece Equestria has ever seen.

"Pinkie! Fluttershy! Come in!"

"We're not early, are we?", Fluttershy meekly

"No, in fact you two are right on time. Applejack will be along once she's finished her chores. Rarity will be here once she's done with whatever beauty treatment she's currently doing. And Rainbow Dash is...wwwweeeeeeeellllll...probably still asleep, or taking an early morning nap. I swear she sleeps more than anypony I know. I think she needs to get tested for narcolepsy.", Twilight said. "Can I get you two some tea, coffee or maybe some leftover omelette? Though I think it's cold by now."

"Some tea would be nice.", Fluttershy said. "If--if it's not too much trouble."

"I had a big breakfast this morning of a double cheese omelette, a triple stack of haycakes with super yummy blueberry syrup, and a bowl of Pony-os with bananas and sugar!", Pinkie said, rubbing her stomach. "Some tea might be the perfect topper-whopper for breakfast."

Twilight silently marveled at how Pinkie could pack it in and seem to not gain an ounce. She surmised that the pink mare either had a really high metabolism or a black hole for a stomach.

As the morning ground on, Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy were siting around the library's kitchen table chatting about random topics.

"And that was the fifth time I caught itch-mites!", Pinkie said in her usual jubilant tone. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake had to shave all of my fur, mane and tail off to get rid of them! I had to get a new mattress, sheets, pillows and blanket! Mr. Cake had to throw out that entire shipment of hay flour! That was the last time he ordered baking goods from Cincineighti!"

Twilight gaped at Pinkie for a moment. She wasn't sure how the topic strayed from the history of Ponyville to Pinkie catching itch-mites for the fifth time. When she was still a foal in Celestia's school, two foals had caught itch-mites. They had to be shaven, treated with a smelly, oily, stick ointment and sequestered. Every pony, the students, teachers and janitorial staff had their coats rubbed down with the same smelly, sticky, oily ointment as a precaution to prevent a full-on infestation. The thought of it made her nose wrinkle and her skin itch.

*knock-knock-knock*

Twilight trotted over to the door and opened it. Applejack was standing on the stoop. "Good morning, Applejack! I'm surprised you've finished you chores so soon."

"Just th' ones that needed ta be done--"

"Look out beloooooooooooow!", a familiar raspy voice shouted.

A blue blur with a rainbow trail crashed into Applejack, which became a tumbling ball of blue and orange. Twilight was unable to dodge the tumbling ball of two ponies and she was caught up in it, adding lavender to the ball. A second later the tumbling ball crashed into a bookshelf, sending a shower of reading material raining down. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike covered their eyes to avoid the seeing ensuing shower of hardbacks falling onto three of their friends.

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack lay on the floor at the base of the bookshelf, partially covered with books, their eyes spinning in their sockets.

Shaking off the cobwebs, Applejack gets up to her hooves and looks around at the mini carnage. "Rainbow Dash, why in th' hay don'tcha look where yer flyin'?!"

Rainbow and Twilight quickly recover. The rainbow-maned pegasus sheepishly rubs he back of her head. "Heh! Uh, sorry about that, Twilight."

Twilight says nothing as she simply glares daggers at her rainbow-maned friend. The irises of her eyes flicker like flames and small wisps of smoke curl up from her mane.

"I,uh...I'll clean this up...uh, sorry, Twi.", Rainbow says. She quickly swoops around, scooping up books from the floor and places them back on the shelf.

"I'll be back in a minute.", Twilight says through clenched teeth. She stomps outside and disappears around the side of the library.

A moment later the four mares and one dragon hear a voice, very similar to Twilight's, only it's distorted, yelling, "Mother rat bucket pickle farm!" The distorted yelling is followed by the sounds of several explosions.

A moment later Rarity walks in with a stunned look on her face. "My word! Was that Twilight? She sounded downright incensed. What in the world would cause her to use such uncouth language and blow up the air with her magic?"

"That would be 'Miss-never-watches-where-she-is-flying'.", say Applejack, gesturing at Rainbow Dash. "She crashed into me when Twi answered th' door, then sent the both of us careening into Twilight and then crashing into a bookshelf, sending the whole cockamamie thing a-dumpin' on us."

Rarity frowned for a moment. "Shoo! Shoo!" She waved Rainbow Dash away with the back of her hoof, then started rearranging the book back onto the bookshelf to the best of her memory of Twilight's organizational method.

Twilight,now calmed down sufficiently, returned back indoors. She took a quick look at the bookshelf, then levitated out a few volumes and switched their locations. She took one final look over the bookshelf and gave a grunt of satisfaction.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Uh...Twilight? I wanna say I'm sor--"

"Just stop.", Twilight interrupted. "I'm not mad, at least not any more. I know you didn't mean to crash into me and AJ, and knock all the books off the shelf. In the future be more mindful when practicing your stints, maybe even angle yourself away from town so you'll be less likely to crash into anypony. Give me a few moments to gather my thoughts."

Rainbow Dash awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, gave a nervous chuckle and cleared her throat, then nodded.

Twilight gave a huff as she sat at her desk, blowing out the last of her lingering anger and frustration. She looked over Fluttershy's copies until she found the page she wanted. "This is the spell I found last night. It was the last prophesy Starswirl's wrote down. It speaks of awakening the true power of the Elements of harmony. It says *ah-ahem-hem*, 'With the five-sided helix drawn on the floor, five bearers are placed at each corner with the sixth standing in the center. Then the trusted companion at the bottom of the helix Once in incantation has been spoken and the helix glows with power, all are to speak these following words of power thrice: Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Bartta, Clatuu! When the last syllable hast been spake, the Element of harmony will awaken their true potential.."

"What does 'thrice' mean?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's ol' timey for three times, dummy.", Applejack curtly replied.

"Oh. Well why didn't he just say that?"

The other five mares and one dragon rolled their eyes.

"I need you all to practice those words. You too, Spike. The spell won't work without the trusted companion.", Twilight said.

For the next twent minutes the six mares and one dragon took turns reciting the phrase.

Twilight levitated a piece of chalk and drew a pentagon on the floor. She then drew six pony-sized circle, one at each corner and one in the center. She then drew a large circle encompassing the pentagon. She drew lines connecting each of the pony-sized circles. She drew a baby dragon-sized square at the bottom.

Twilight took a moment to study the diagram once again. She then drew symbols and words of magic along the lines and along the outside of the large circle. With a grunt of satisfaction, she placed the chalk aside.

Walking over to the case that held the Element of Harmony, Twilight opened the lid and passed them out to their respective bearers. "Spike, you stand in the square. Applejack, you stand in the circle at the top. Rainbow, you stand in the circle to the left of AJ. Rarity, you stand in the circle to the right of AJ. Fluttershy, you stand in the circle across from Rarity. Pinkie, you stand in the circle across from Rainbow. And I'll stand in the center circle."

Celestia had been observing Twilight and her friends through the telescope squeed with glee. "Luna, I'm going to the Star-lit path to greet Twilight when she finishes the spell! Take over day court until I return. Ooh! I'm so excited that I think I might burst!"

Luna said, "Sister, I wouldn't put much--" When the flash of Celestia teleporting interrupted her, she let out a fristrated groan. "Sunuva! I wish she'd let me finish before galloping off with her head all-a-tizzy.", she said annoyed. "Razzle-frackin'-horse-apples!", Luna grumbled as she stomped off to the throne room.

"Alright everypony, ready?", Twilight asked. When the other five mares and one dragon nodded, she took a deep breath.

"From days of ancient to now/O Elements shine thine light/ O Harmony awaken from thine tree and enter into our presence/Let that which is mortal transmogrify/Let those who know times march be no longer touched by it again/Let those whom fear death's kiss no longer fear it/O ancient tree lend us thy power from thine roots/O sun and moon and stars ans wanderers in the heavens above sing thy song of eternity/Judge us and find us worthy/From aging move to unaging/Let the Six join into one and the one unite the Six/The trusted companion will bind, unite and carry the light/We speak the the words!"

Twilight then gestured. The six mares and one dragon began to speak the words of power. "Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu! Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu! Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu!"

Light began to shine deep within the Everfree Forest. Lines of silvery-white zig-zagged, looped and swirled, as they flowed along the ground from the Castle of the Two Pony sisters, through the Everfree Forest, through the center of Ponyville and into Golden Oaks Library. The ground trembled, the smell of ozone filled the air, flowers of every variety exploded to life from the ground, birds flew away in every direction and critters scurried into their burrows. The citizens of Ponyville shrieked in fright as they fled into their homes, locking their doors tight, slamming the shutters closed and boarding up their windows. They huddled together in their homes, holding the ones they held dear tight as they trembled in fright.

One-by-one, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the dragon began floating up in the air. The six element began glowing brighter and brighter and brighter, until the light the emitted became blinding white. Lines of glowing magic emanated from twilight and coiled through the air, connecting her to Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy. Lines of magic coiled out from Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie, connecting them to one another. A quadruple helix of magical lines coiled up from the floor and surrounded Spike. The Element Bearers felt the fur on their bodies stand on end. Manes and tails flew about on a non-existent wind. The seven of them felt their senses go wonky and fade away. Eyes glowed white with power, hooves shown gold with brilliant light.

Arcs of energy crackled across the coats and hooves of the Element Bearers. Spike experienced a strange vision. He saw floating towards him down a path of starlight an onyx box, covered in swirling patterns of gold filigree and multicolored gems. He reached out for the box and grabbed it. He felt the weight of it in his claws, through his fingers and palms he could feel a gentle heat.

Standing on the Star-lit Path, Celestia pranced on her tip-hooves as she felt the magic swell and swell. As it reached its zenith, she took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds to steady her emotions. There would be enough time for giddiness and celebration later. What she saw was not expected.

Standing on the path of starlight were two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies, their manes and tails flowing in an ethereal breeze.

Celestia blinked her eyes a few times, then rubbed then, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

With a pop the two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies vanished.

"Huh! That was unexpected." Celestia waited on the path for several more minutes to see what would happen. When nothing happened , she teleported from the Star-lit Path to the throne room where Luna was waiting.

"Well sister, how did everything go?"

"I...uh, I'm not sure what I saw. Something did happen, I just don't know what."

Cadance walked into the throne room."Auntie, did you feel that odd magical...is this a bad time?"

Luna's body wiggled and jiggled as she giggled."Hee-hee-hee-hee! Neigh it is not, young Niece Cadenza. Just Tia here putting too much faith in vague prophecies once again. Pray tell sister, what did the old coot have to say about Niece Cadenza's ascension?"

Celestia twisted up her face as she thought. "I don't rightly recall Starswirl writing anything down. In fact he had a terrible habit of only writing down half of his thoughts and visions."

"Do you remember what he said about predicting the future?", Luna asked. "I think it went something along the lines of, 'Difficult to see as constantly in motion the future is.', and 'Even the wisest cannot see all or even most ends.'"

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike groaned as they stood up, blinking the spots from their eyes.

"Did somepony get the number o' that cart?", Applejack asked.

"Tell me you do. I think it ran over me too.", Rainbow replied.

"I feel like too little sugar spun into too much cotton candy.", Pinkie said.

"What she said.", Rarity uttered.

Twilight rubbed her head. "I-I think that spell fried my horn.

"Uh, Spike, where did you find that box?", Fluttershy asked. "I'm only asking because it's a very pretty box."

The other six mares turned their attention to Spike."I had a strange vision while the spell was going off. there was this path of some sort of silvery light and this box was floating down it to me. When I reached out and grabbed it, the spell ended and we woke up on the floor, only I was holding the box."

"Can you open it?", Twilight asked. "Maybe there's something important in it."

Spike tried to lift the lid. When that failed, he tried prying it open. When that failed, he turned it over and over in his claws. "Uh...there doesn't seem to be any hinges or a latch or a lock, and it won't budge." He shook the box, then rapped a knuckle on the side. He didn't hear anything rattling, and though hollow, it wasn't empty.

"Hmm...I'll do some research on it, write a letter to Princess Celestia to see if she knows anything about it.", Twilight said. "Let's return the Elements to the case. Spike, you put the box in the case too."

After securing the six Elements and onyx box with gold filigree and multicolored gems in the case, Twilight took a look at the clock in the kitchen. "Wait a minute. That can't be right." She trotted over to the window and looked out at the Ponyville clock tower. "It's been five hours?! That spell only felt like it lasted thirty minutes. How long were we out?"

This prompted mild panic from the other five mares and one dragon as they scrambled over to the window.

"Oh shoot! Big Mac an' Granny are gonna crawl my hind end! Ah was s'possed ta pick up Apple Bloom from school."

"Oh dear me. I was supposed to receive a new shipment of Neighponese silk at noon for an order I'm making for Fancy Pants. I hope he won't be too upset if I'm late."

"I hope Angel Bunny isn't too upset. He tends to get cranky when he doesn't get his lunch on time. The last time I was late with his lunch, he tried to make my cottage his own country called the Democratic Creature's Republic and made himself the supreme ruler."

"Aw horse apples! I was supposed to have a hang sesh with Scootaloo. I hope she's not upset and wants to hang tomorrow."

"Well I cleared my schedule with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, so I got *yawn* *smack-smack* nothing."

Pinkie's yawning spread from mare-to-mare and soon all six of them and Spike let out a series of contagious yawns.

One-by-one Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow bid Twilight and Spike goodbye and left the library to plod home.

Twilight and Spike spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the library. Once finished, they decided to turn in early.

As the sun made its slow drift towards the horizon and the light began to wane, all of Ponyville, with the events of the day still playing in their memories, began to settle down for the evening. In the case that held the six Element, a strange golden light shown around the rim of the onyx box. The five necklaces and one crown that held the Elements of Harmony sprouted golden creeper vines.

Changes Part-1

That night the six mares and one dragon slept deeply, though what had transpired earlier hadn't been taxing, they all felt absolutely exhausted. They all had a similar dream, a pathway made out of starlight that had odd voices all singing out in perfect wordless harmony.

Applejack woke with the crowing of the rooster. As she blearily blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she reached out with a hoof to check the time on the clock on her bedside table. If she had been more awake, she'd have noticed that the clock slid towards her, seemingly on its own. "Holy jeebers!", she exclaimed noticing the time. Though the sun was barely peeking above the horizon, Big Mac had already been up and about for thirty minutes tending to the early morning chores. "Macintosh's gon' chew my ears off fer sleepin' in so late!"

Applejack sprung up from bed, she felt lighter on her hooves. Something, she surmised, must have been from a good night's sleep. "Ah musta been tireder'n Ah thought." Snatching the stetson off of the post of the bed's headboard with her teeth, she quickly flipped it onto her head and rushed down stairs. After hurriedly shoveling a rapidly nearing cold breakfast down her throat and washing it down with a glass of apple juice, she rushed outside to see Big Mac trotting out of the barn with a couple of buckets of feed for the chickens on his back.

"Mornin'.", the stallion said.

"Uh...heh. Sorry 'bout sleepin' so late, Big Mac.", Applejack apologized. "Ah musta been awful wiped out after what happened o'er at Twi's."

The red stallion gave his usual bi-syllabic response. "Eeyup."

"Hows 'bout Ah make it up to ya?", AJ inquired.

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"Ah'll take th' first watch tonight so ya go a-visitin' Junebug this evenin'."

Big Mulled it over for a moment, then answered. "Eeyup! Now ya git on o'er ta th' barn by th' southwest fields and begin cleanin' it out so's we can get ta repairin' the loft."

Applejack gave a quick nod and headed off towards said barn.

Big Mac noticed as his sister trotted away that she seemed to be bouncing a bit higher than normal. He mentally chalked it up to her have such a deep and restful sleep.

Rarity woke in her bed. She initially didn't want to get up as the pegasus down stuffed mattress was just so comfy. With a dissatisfied grunt, she made the decision to get up...after all her boutique wasn't going to run itself. She pulled off the sleeping blindfold that was specifically designed to reduce puffiness around the eyes, after all a mare of her caliber must always strive to look her best.

Rarity grumbled wordlessly as she rolled out of bed, her back was itchy. As her hooves hit the floor, the boards creaked a bit louder than normal. This drew her attention. "My word! I must have put on a couple of pounds." She poked a hoof at her flank and belly. She didn't seem to have put on any extra fat.

Rarity trotter over to the full length mirror to look herself over. Her eyes widened in mild surprise. Her legs looked to be a tiny bit more trim and muscular, her flanks seemed to be just a little bit firmer, and her belly seemed just a little trimmer. "Those new thrust squat exercises must be starting to pay off. I didn't think I'd see any results after a week." She turned around a few times in the mirror, admiring herself from different angles. She stepped away from the mirror and started the thrust squats, first stepping forward with both of her left legs, squatting down, holding for ten seconds, straightening back up, moving her left legs back in place, then repeating the process with her right legs.

Angel Bunny stood atop a blanket covered, pony-shaped form. Fluttershy's alarm clock had went off two hours ago and the butter yellow pegasus mare hadn't stirred. Outside and downstairs birds chirped, mice squeaked, Harry the bear groaned and grumbled, wolves yipped and yelped, and snakes...well the snakes made whatever sounds they usually made, normally Fluttershy was up with the sun to fill their feeders, tend to their boo-boos and offer counseling for any mental problems they were having. The little white bunny had a grumpy look on his face and he crossed his forelegs across his chest, he hadn't had his breakfast yet, and that had put him in a bad mood.

Angel raised his hind leg and repeatedly thumped his paw against the side of the yellow pegasus mare who was his owner and caretaker.

Fluttershy reached out with her hoof and flailed around for the alarm clock. The switch on the clock on the bedside table switched itself off. This made Angel stop his thumping, raise an eyebrow and wiggle his whiskers in a quizzical fashion.

Fluttershy groaned, sat up and looked at the clock. "O-oh my! I'm so sorry, Angel Bunny!", apologized the yellow mare in a soft tone. "I had a late night over at Twilight's and didn't hear the alarm clock. You must be hungry. I'll get you your breakfast."

Fluttershy flapped around her cottage, filling the various feeders with seed, chunks of fish, bits of cheese, the whole while apologizing to her critter friends.

Angel Bunny watched his owner and caretaker from the couch. Flappy ponies couldn't move something without touching unless they flapped their wings, and Fluttershy was a flappy pony. Something was odd this morning and he couldn't put his paw on it.

Once she finished filling the feeders, Fluttershy called out in a soft voice, "Angel Bunny, are you ready for your breakfast?"

Angel Bunny's tummy grumbled and growled at the mention of breakfast. He figured he could better figure this out once he had some breakfast in him.

Humming a merry tune, Fluttershy gathered a head of lettuce, a head of cabbage and a carrot from the crisper drawer in the fridge. She peeled a couple of leaves off of the cabbage and lettuce. Pulling a knife from the wooden block on the counter, she chopped the lettuce and cabbage leaves into little strips, then arranged the strips onto a plate. Putting the knife in the sink, she retrieved the grater from the cabinet and shredded part of the carrot over the plate. She tapped on the grater a couple of times to dislodge the bits of shredded carrot stuck to the inside of it, then placed the grater in the sink.

Fluttershy picked up the head of lettuce, head of cabbage and the unshredded portion of the carrot, and returned them to the crisper in the fridge. She then retrieved from the shelf in the fridge an unopened jar of sweet clotted cream and a container of berries, placing them on the counter.

Fluttershy struggled with opened the lid on the jar of clotted cream. A drawer opened on its own and a table knife floated out, landing on the counter. "Why thank you, Angel!"

Angel Bunny stared, jaw hanging wide open from his spot at the table. Rabbits didn't believe in ghosts as the great rabbit king-god Fiver was said to have killed them all so hard that they wound up reincarnating as other rabbits, so there had to be another explanation as to why a drawer opened on its own and a knife floated out. Maybe flappy ponies were secret psychics, so secret that they didn't know it themselves?

Fluttershy placed a dollop of sweet clotted cream onto the bed of chopped lettuce and cabbage leaves, and shredded carrot, then sprinkled a few berries onto the plate. She carried the plate over to the table and placed it down. "Here you go Angel Bunny, a nice, scrumptious and healthy breakfast. Eat up!"

Angel Bunny gestured at his owner and caretaker as he squeaked.

"Angel Bunny, you can be silly sometimes."

The white bunny squeaked and gestured some more.

"You know that earth ponies are the ones with psychic abilities, not pegasi, and they can only get glimpses of the future, though Pinkie is a special case. Although...I did have a great-great-great-great aunt who was an earth pony. I'm named after her."

Once again the bunny squeaked and gestured.

"But I didn't move anything with my mind. The only way a pegasus can move something is to touch it or to use their wings to generate wind. Here, let me show you." Fluttershy extended a wing and channeled the magic that was inherent in all ponies. She intended to create a small controlled gust of wind to float a napkin over to Angel Bunny. She gave her wing a little flap and...

*whoosh*

A hurricane-force gust of wind shot out from Fluttershy's wing, sending the stack of napkins, the salt and pepper shakers, the plate of food, everything else on the table, the table, and one little white rabbit, sailing across the room.

Angel Bunny covered in sweet clotted cream, shredded carrot, strips of lettuce and cabbage leaves, and squished berries and berry juice, kicked the plate off of him. A nonplussed grimace was spread across his face.

"Uh...whoops?"

*knock-knock-knock*

Rainbow dash was roused from her slumber by a loud knocking on her door. With a big stretch, she let out a yawn and rolled out of bed. "I'm coming! I'm coming!", she shouted in the general direction of the knocking.

In a still sleepy stupor, Rainbow trundled down the steps of her cloudominium. Her right front hoof sunk into the clouds that made up the staircase a little more than normal and she lost her balance, tumbling down the staircase, bouncing off of each step on the way down. "Whoa-oa-oa-oa! Ay! Ee! Ai! Oh! Ooh!"

Eyes spinning in her socket, Rainbow came to a rest at the landing at the base of the stairs. "Razzle-frackin'! Gribble-grabble-grobble!", she grumbled as she shook off the cobwebs and rolled up to her hooves.

"Whoa! What the?!"

Rainbow's eyes went wide as dinner plates as all four of her hooves fell through the floor and she sunk in all the way to her barrel. "This ain't funny!", she exclaimed as she kicked her legs impotently in the air. She withdrew her hooves to try and get a better purchase on the cloud floor, only to sink back into the floor again. "If this is somepony's idea of a joke, I'm not laughing."

The knocking at the door persisted.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm comin'!", she exclaimed at the door. "If I can just get...get a dang--GAH! Cheap fracking clouds! That's the last time I buy flooring nimbuses from a place called Honest Cirrus' Cloud Emporium!" After several minutes of trudging along the floor and falling through up to her barrel with each step, she finally made it to the door. Reaching up with a hoof to grasp the handle, she was shocked when it went through it like it wasn't there.

"Wah!" Rainbow flailed and grasped for something, anything, as she tumbled forward through her front door and got stuck partway through. Blinking her eyes in the sunlight, she looked into the face of Thunderlane who was poorly holding back some snickers.

"Uh...*snrk* you...uh...having some *snerpt* problem there *snort* Rainbow?"

Rainbow looked at the pegasus stallion and fellow member of the Ponyville weather team with a nonplussed expression, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "I think I got gypped on some cheap clouds. Don't just sit there gaping at me like some sky-bass, just help me get unstuck."

"Pinkie?", Mr Cake shouted through Pinkie Pie's door. "Are you okay? You slept in kinda late! We've been open for three hours! Are you sick?"

Pinkie smacked her lips as she sat up in bed and looked over at the alarm clock. Here eyes shot wide open when she noticed the time. Picking up her alarm clock, she held it up to her ear. Yep! Still working. "Sorry about that, Mr Cake. I had a late night and didn't hear the alarm! I'll be down in twenty minutes!"

Hopping out of bed, Pinkie reached back with a foreleg to scratch at an itchy part of her back. After a couple minutes of vigorous scratching, she couldn't get her back to stop itching, so she trotted over to her bathroom door, stood on her hind legs, and scratched her back on the doorjamb. "Aah!", she said with a satisfied sigh as her tongue hung out of her mouth. "I don't know why my back is so itchy-witchy this morning!"

Dropping back to all fours, Pinkie trotted into the bathroom, not noticing the little bit of pink down-fluff clinging to the door frame. After relieving herself and getting a shower, she pronked down the stairs. "Good morning Mrs Cake! Good morning Mr Cake! Sorry for sleeping in so late. I had a late night with the girls over at the library. Then there was that weirdy dream, what with the singing voices and the path made of starlight!"

"P-shaw, dearie!", said Mrs Cake. "Carrot and myself were just worried you were sick is all. Normally you're up and about before the sun is up. But now that you're up, could you head over to Barnyard Bargains and buy a couple of bags of flour? We're running a little short as our delivery hasn't shown up yet." She wrote out a check, gripped the corner with her teeth and tore it from the checkbook.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie took the check from Mrs Cake and stuck it in her mane. She then skipped out of Sugarcube Corner.

Pinkie pronked down the road through Ponyville heading towards Barnyard Bargains. "~La-la-la-la-la!" She didn't notice that her pronks were getting higher and higher until...

*sproing* *whoosh*

"Woooooooooooooooooo!" Pinkie arced through the air and came to rest atop a cloud. She looked over her hooves. "I don't recall putting on my super-bouncy rubber shoes this morning! Also, how do I get down?"

Spike groaned as he woke up. "What time is it?"

"Thank you for this prestigious fluffer-nutter award.", Twilight mumbled in her sleep.

Spike rolled his eyes at his sister and went to get up from his basket at the foot of Twilight's bed, only to find he was stuck. "What the?! Did Pinkie or Rainbow put super-sticky glue on my sheets...again?" He struggled and flailed to get up. "Gah! I'm stuck!"

"Hoo.", Owlowicious hooted from his perch on the nightstand by Twilight's bed.

"Me!", Spike exclaimed. "I'm stuck!"

"Hoo.", Owlowicious hooted again.

"Me, you stupid bird! Don't just sit there...or perch there, help me get unstuck! Maybe wake Twilight up so she can help me out of here."

"Hoo."

"The purple pony, you dumb bird! Wake her up!" Spike flailed and rocked back and forth, trying, and failing to get unstuck. The basket creaked, then tipped over, sending him crashing to the floor, basket still stuck to his back. "Whoa! Aah!"

*thump*

"Hoo-hoo?", Owlowicious hooted quizzically.

"Yes, I'm okay...wait did you just talk?" Spike shook his head back and forth quickly, surely he must have bumped his head and now he just hallucinated Owlowicious talking. "Just wake Twilight up."

"Hoo?"

"I don't know. Peck her in the face. Scratch her head. Pluck her mane. Whatever will wake her up so she can get me unstuck."

Owlowicious sighed...or gave as close to an approximation to a sigh that an owl can do. He extended a wing and used a primary flight feather to tickle Twilight's nose.

Twilight moaned as she gave a sniffle-snort, then rubbed her face on the pillow. Owlowicious tickled her nose again. Twilight gave another sniffle-snort and rubbed her snout with a foreleg. Owlowicious tickled her nose again, this time with extra vigor.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-aaaaaaah...." Twilight went to sneeze, then settled down again.

Owlowicious let out a small frustrated hiss, as if he was saying, "I don't get paid enough for this.", and extended his wing to tickle Twilight's nose again.

"Chooooooooo!" Twilight let out a powerful sneeze just before Owlowicious could tickle her nose again, peppering the owl with spit and snot.

Owlowicious gave his best owl-y glare at Twilight as she sat up in bed.

"Uh...sorry, Owlowicious. There must be a lot of dust in the air this morning.", Twilight apologized sheepishly.

"Hoo-hoo-hoohoo."

"Thanks, Owlowicious. I'll get Spike unstuck from his basket." Twilight rolled out of bed, all four hooves clopping on the floor. As she trotted over to help Spike, she stopped mid-stride. "Waitaminnit!" She turned back to her pet owl and number two assistant. "When can I talk to critters? That's Fluttershy's talent, not mine!"

Owlowicious opened his beak to let out another hoot, then closed it with a sharp clack. He blinked his eyes several times, first both at the same time, then one at a time. He fluttered his wings, twisted his head from side-to-side, then moved it around and around in circles in thought. "Hoo!" He flew off through the open window.

"Yeah, you go get Fluttershy, maybe we can get to the bottom of this together.", Twilight called out after her pet and number two assistant had flown out the window.

"Twilight!", Spike shouted. "Help get me unstuck!"

"How in the name of Celestia's beard did you get stuck?", Twilight asked as she trotted over to her little brother.

"I think Pinkie or Rainbow put super sticky glue on my blanket."

"Again?"

Applejack stood in the loft of the barn shoving old bails of hay and broken buckets down to the ground floor. She was too engrosed in her work to notice that the bails and buckets were stacking themselves neatly.

Granny Smith ambled into the barn doorway. "AJ? You in here? Mac said you were--" She froze mid-sentence seeing the bails and buckets floating through the air and stacking themselves. "Land sakes alive! Th' barn's hainted!" She took off as fast as her old legs could carry her.

Applejack walked to the edge of the loft. "Granny? Didja take yer pills this mor--"

*crack*

A crack in the middle of the beam at the edge of the loft split open. "Uh-oh!" She began to slowly move away from the cracked beam so she could find another way to safely negotiate her way out of the old loft.

*crack* *pop* *creak* *crack*

More beams began to split and the whole loft gave way with a crash.

Aaaaaa!--Aaaaaahhhh?" AJ's scream as she fell turned in an upwards octave as instead of plummeting down to the ground floor, she clumsily glided downwards before crashing in a heap.

Sitting up with her eyes spinning in their sockets, Applejack shook her head back and forth to get rid of the cobwebs. "Now where is my..." She froze mid-sentence seeing her Stetson floating in front of her in midair. "Aah! Th' barn's hainted!" She bolted out of the old barn as fast as her legs could carry her, returning to snatch up her Stetson and secure it to her head, then bolting from the barn again.

Owlowicious flew over Ponyville, or as he and the other owls called it in their owl-y tongue, 'The Place Where All The Ponies Live That Weird Things Happen', heading to he yellow flappy pony's tree cottage so he could get her to help his master, the purple horned one.

Owlowicious paused mid-flight seeing the pink bouncy one sitting atop a cloud and looking around confused. Normally non-flappy ponies don't sit on clouds. Today was a weird day. He flew over to find out what was going on. "Hoo?"

"I dunno how I got up here. I think I put on my super bouncy rubber shoes by accident. Also, I didn't know that owls could talk Ponish."

Owlowicious would have rolled his eyes if owls had that ability, so instead he twisted his head in a circle and flew off to find the yellow one. Just another weird day in this weird pony town.

Pinkie shouted after Owlowicious, "Also-also, could you tell me how to get down?"

After Pinkie had been helped down from the clouds by a couple of weather ponies and Twilight managed to reassure the Apple family that there were no ghosts haunting by casting a 'ghost repelling spell' on the old barn, which was really a shield spell so weak that even a stiff breeze could pass through, the six mares and one dragon gathered at Golden Oaks Library to discuss the weird things that had been happening that morning.

Once each had told what had happened to them, Twilight began to muse. "Hmm...maybe this has something to do with the Elements. Maybe the spell I performed last night did something odd to them?"

The five other mares and one dragon all murmured in agreement.

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm.... Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, you each look through the shelves to see if there's a book about this. I'll look through Starswirl's journal to see if I did something wrong with the spell. Applejack, you go get the Elements of Harmony, just in case."

The six mares and one dragon went off to do their tasks.

Applejack walked over to the case that held the Elements of Harmony. Instead of being the normal wood and glass case that contained them, the wood had changed into golden vines and creepers that had grown halfway up the wall and partially across the floor, and the glass had changed from the normal boring glass to intricately shaped crystal. The five golden necklaces and one golden crown that held the gems that were the Elements of Harmony, they were the source of the golden vines and creepers, with six large flowers that held the gems.

"Uh, Twi?", Applejack called over her shoulder.

"It's the wood and glass shadow box in the corner. I didn't bother to lock the case last night, so the lid should be open.", Twilight called back.

"That's not the problem.", Applejack said back."Ah think ya need ta come here an' see this fer yerself."

Twilight sighed and grumbled, "Every stinking time!" She stomped over to Applejack and stopped mid-stride."Whoa!" She gaped at the golden vines and creepers that had once been the case.

"See? Toldja!", Applejack gloated.

"Not helping.", Twilight grumbled. "Spike! Spiiiiike!"

Spike ran over, his foot claws clicking on the floorboards as he wiggled a finger in his ear frill. "What is it Twi--whoa!" He reached up a finger to poke at the vines and creepers, only for a lavender hoof to swat it away. "Ow!"

Twilight quickly cast a bubble shield over the golden vines and creepers that once had been the case that held the Elements of Harmony. She rushed over to her desk and gathered up the spell diagram and interpretation of Starswirl's spell. "Spike! Draft a letter and put in a compilation of the events that everypony has had this morning. We need to send this to Princess Celestia. Whatever is happening is unprecedented!"

Up in Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia was sitting down for her late-morning/pre-lunch snack. She was sitting down at a little table in her favorite nook getting ready to eat her favorite late-morning/pre-lunch snack of a whole three-layer cake, fifteen honeysuckle and peanut butter sandwiches, a medium cauldron of lentil soup, and one large pitcher of lemonade, after all being an alicorn, she had a much greater magical wellspring so it needed more calories to keep it fueled and moving that big glowing ball of plasma and gas taxed it a lot...or at that's what she always told everypony, when a large bundle of scrolls appeared above her head in a puff of green flames and smoke.

"Twilight's early this week with her report.", Celestia said as she caught the scroll bundle in her golden magical field. She unfurled the bundle of scrolls and looked them over. Her eyes went wide and she bolted out of her favorite nook, upending the table, sending the spread crashing to the floor.

"Luna!", Celestia exclaimed as she burst through the door into her sister's room.

"And a good morrow to thee too, sister.", Luna grumbled as she sat up. "I don't just burst into your door shouting when you're trying to sleep. I knock first. But nooooooo, Celly is special and everypony bends themselves into a pretzel for her wants and needs."

Celestia gave her sister an unpleased sneer then raised her gold shod hoof and banged it on the door. "There, I knocked. Now look at this, Luna!"

Luna flopped back onto her bed and covered her head with a pillow. "Whatever it is, I shall look at it this afternoon. Now go away."

Celestia used her magic to snatch the sheets and pillows off of her sister's bed, then unceremoniously rolled Luna out of bed. "Just look at what Twilight just sent me. This is world-changing!"

"I swear if this is another one of her panic attacks, you're both going to spend a long time on the moon...orbiting a planet three solar systems away. I haven't decided which one yet." Luna sat up and looked at the papers. She spent several moments reading and re-reading them. "Wait...is this the spell that--"

"Yes!"

So...wait...we were both wrong?"

"Yes!"

Luna paused for a moment. "So that means..."

Both sisters looked each other in the eyes for a long moment. "Eeeeeeeeeee!" They both started prancing on their hooves as they squealed with glee.

Outside Luna's room a pair of guards were standing watch. One craned his neck around to look. "What's going on in there? Should we get involved?"

The other guard shook his head no. "Unless it's somepony trying to attack the princesses or loot the castle, I'm not going to get myself directly involved in the affairs of alicorns. They don't pay me enough to do otherwise, so I'm going to just stand my plot here. I suggest you do the same."

"So how far along has their transformation moved?", asked Luna.

"Not far. Right now they're just experiencing bursts of magic of the other three tribes. We must watch and wait for when the path finally calls them. Who knows how long that will be? This is technically new magic. If Starswirl was here, I'd give that old bag of grumpy bones a big wet smooch on the cheek for crafting the alicornification spell that channels the power of the Elements!"

"You and me too, sister!"

Outside Luna's room the pair of guards swallowed and shuddered. Guarding three alicorns was trouble enough, what with all of the magical weirdness they always seem to attract. Now there was going to be an indeterminate amount more, they'd have to tell their fellow guards and their commander so they could negotiate for pay raises.

With a belch of green flame and sparkling smoke, Spike burped up a scroll that bore the seals of Princesses Celestia and Luna.

Twilight plucked the scroll out of the air with her magic, broke the seals and unfurled it. Clearing her throat, she began to read it out loud.

Dear Twilight Sparkle of Clan Wisteria, Applejack of Clan Apple, Rarity of Clan Platinum, Fluttershy of Clan Shy, Rainbow Dash of Clan Posey, Pinkie Pie of Clan Pie, and Spike of Clan Wisteria,

Many thanks are to be lauded upon you all. The spell you all performed was an ancient and powerful spell first crafted by Founder of the Pillars of Equestria and Grand Royal Wizard Starswirls the Bearded. The spell has imparted a great change upon you all. This spell was intended for six ponies to gain the magic of all three tribes using the Elements of Harmony as foci, with a seventh to serve as protector and keeper of the six and their foci. Congratulations to you all and your families as there is soon to be six more alicorns in our great nation! Though we do not know when the change will occur. Please keep us informed of all changes that are happening to yourselves.

The keeper of the Sun and Moon, and Royal Diarchs of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna

All seven stared flabbergasted for several quiet moments.

"Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha!", Rarity exclaimed all a-fluster. "I'm going to be a princess?! I'm going to be a princess!" She then looked down at herself and screamed, startling the other six. "I don't have anything to wear for such an occasion!" She bolted out of the library, leaving whirls of dust in her wake.

"Oh yeah! Uh-huh! Uh-huh!", Rainbow exclaimed as she began to moon-trot in the air. "Who the pegasus? I'm the pegasus! Oh yeah, all right!" She flew out of the library shouting, "Hey Ponyville! Drinks are on me tonight!"

"Well I'll be consarned, hog tied and dunked head first into a barrel of tobacco spit.", Applejack said exasperated. "Th' last thing any o' us needed was those two gettin' their egos e'en more inflated. Though Granny, Mac and Bloom will be please as punch that Ah'm gonna be an alicorn. Guess Granny'll have to polish up her ole blunderbuss." She walked out of the library, shaking her head side-to-side as she muttered to herself, "Gon' have them there soft-hooved nobles callin' on my stoop all hours o' th' day-n-night."

Fluttershy gently tapped on Twilight's wither and said softly, "Uh, Twilight? Does this mean I have to leave all my critter friends behind and move up to Canterlot?" her eyes became pinpricks and she retreated further behind her mane. "Oh dear. What if ponies start coming to me asking for help with their problems? What if I give them the wrong advice? What if I have to speak in public?" Her voice became quieter and quieter until it was nothing more than a series of scared squeaks. The yellow pegasus began to tremble as she squeaked.

"Fluttershy, why don't you go home and get some rest?", Twilight said as she gently laid her hoof on her animal loving friend.

Fluttershy gave a squeak in the affirmative as she left, letting out softer and softer scared squeaks.

Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie? You've been quiet this whole time. Do you have anything to say?"

Pinkie looked like she was going to explode. The pink party planner let out an excited squeal as she began to vibrate until she was a pink squealing blur.

Twilight looked over at the blur that was her friend. "Pinkie...uh...I'm not sure if I'm looking at your face or not. Um...uh...go home and get some rest."

The pink blur went out of the library.

Twilight was left alone with Spike and her thoughts. "I'm going to be an alicorn?" The thought of her being royalty was a happy one, initially. The panic part of her brain took over and she started seeing phantom crowds of ponies staring at her, and she was standing behind a podium without knowing what to say. The phantom ponies started to murmer, then one-by-one they started to laugh at her.

Twilight couldn't control her breathing. She began taking panicked gasps. Spots danced and swirled before her eyes, the world began to rock back and forth as if tossed on tempest waves. Darkness began to creep in on the edges of her vision.

*thump*

"Twilight!" Spike ran over to his sister who had fainted in a heap on the floor. Sitting on the floor, he propped her head on his lap and fanned her face with his hand.

A couple of moments later Twilight regained consciousness.
"They're going to laugh at me, Spike. A billion eyes on a billion ponies staring at me behind a podium and I won't know what to say. They're going to laugh at me and I'm going to embarrass Princess Celestia so much that she'll send me back to magic kindergarten!" She began to hyperventilate again.

Spike stroked his panicking sister's mane. "You know that the princess won't do that. Deep slow breaths, Twilight. Let's start out simple and slow. Recite the library's reference section starting at A."

That old unicorn's horn-writing was always atrocious

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle all stood around the reading table that currently held Starswirl the Bearded's book that contained the spells and prophesies written by the greatest wizard of Equestria's classical period.

Applejack squinted her eyes as she twisted her head side-to-side as she attempted to make sense of what was written. "Uh, Twi...Ah can't seem to make head nor hooves outta this. Are ya sure it was written by Starswirl? It looks like a whole buncha--

"Scribbles and squiggles!", Pinkie shouted, cutting AJ off. She then picked the book, flipped through the pages and began twisting her head around and around until her neck was twisted up like a rubber band and her head was upside down. "Brr-rrr-rrr-rrr!", she blubbered as her head spun around in a pink blur until it was right-side up. Her blue eyes spun in their sockets. "Whoo! Spinny!"

"Careful, Pinkie!", Twilight scolded as she took the book in her magic from the pink earth pony and gently placed it on the reading table. "This book is very old and irreplaceable. We don't want to do anything to damage it." She carefully turned the pages until it was back to the first entry. "It was said that Starswirl had terrible horn-writing." She clicked her tongue, chewed her lip as she attempted to make sense of the writing. Levitating a stack of paper, a box of quills and an inkpot, she attempted to write down what was on the page. "No. No. Wait...no. No-no-no-no-no! I can't tell if this is a thorn, a schwa or a yordle! I can't tell if he was drunk when he wrote this or if his horn-writing is just that bad! Ugh!" She flopped onto her plot, threw her forehooves over he head in frustration, then plopped onto her back.

"I'm going to fail Princess Celestia's test!" Twilight writhed on the floor of Golden Oaks library. Her mane became a frazzled mess and individual hairs began sticking out with *ping* sounds. "She's going to recall me from Ponyville, take my cutie mark and send me back to magic kindergarten! Then I'll never see any of you again-hen-hen-hen!", she exclaimed as she started to breakdown in panicked, hysterical crying.

"Uh, Twi, why don't we take a l'il break a'fore we have 'nother Smartypants incident? We have been at this for a l'il while,", Applejack said.

"Indubitaly, darling." Rarity said. "Why don't you have a nice soothing cup of tea? Oh Spiiiiiiiiike~!"

Spike trotted up as fast as his stumpy legs could carry him. Hearts danced in his eyes and he let out a wistful sigh as he looked upon the white-furred unicorn. "Yes, Rarity?"

Rainbow Dash gestured at her open mouth with a hoof as she made gagging sounds.

"Could you make Twilight a cup of tea to calm her nerves? I'm thinking something like a nice clover-chamomile or a raspberry-lily."

Spike sighed and nodded his head. "For you, Rarity, anything."

"Why thank you, Spikey-wikey!"

As Spike trotted off to make Twilight a cup of tea, Rarity levitated her stylish red-rimmed reading glasses onto her snout and began to examine the page the book was opened to. "I might not be able to read old Ponish, but maybe I can transcribe something for Twilight. I have received orders that had simply atrocious horn-writing, wing-writing and mouth-writing. I even received an order that was nothing but some poorly scribbled doodles and was able to figure it out. Hmm...now let's see."

Rarity studied the horn-writing on the page for an hour. She looked at it front-ways, back-ways, side-ways, she even looked at it square-ways and triangle-ways to no avail. "I give up! That unicorn has the worst horn-writing I've ever seen!" She tossed the quill she had been levitating aside in disgust with herself. "I simply can't it! Wah-hah-hah-hah!" As she threw herself into a histrionic fit, she swooned and collapsed onto a fainting couch that wasn't there a moment ago. "Om-nom-nom-nom! Om-nom-nom-nom!" She shoved spoonful after spoonful of vanilla-chocolate chip ice cream into her mouth. Neither the spoon nor the pint of ice cream had been there a second before.

Fluttershy looked at the page. "Um...Rainbow? C-could you come over here for a moment?"

"Why, 'Shy? You know as well as anypony that I can't read old Ponish. I'm not some egghead. Uh, no offence, Twilight."

"Uh, yeah, some taken.", Twilight said, then plopped her head onto the table with a *clunk*. "Why bother? I'm doomed! Doomed! Doooooooomed!"

"I don't need you to read it, Rainbow. You have the worst wing-writing of anypony I know. I just need you to copy what you see on this onto this paper."

"Hey, yeah. One time you gave me an order that was so poorly written that Ah had to take it to Flutters 'cause Ah couldn't make heads nor hooves of it.", Applejack said.

Rarity stopped shoving ice cream into her mouth. "That's right, darling. You once sent me a wing-written order for the Wonderbolts and I had to have Fluttershy interpret it for me. I thought you had written something that had been interpreted from Ponish into Griffonian, then into Diamond Dog-ese, then dictated it back in Ponish to a blind pony."

"Not cool, guys. I'm not some egghead!"

Pinkie gave Rainbow big puppy dog eyes and batted her eyelashes. "Oh Dashie, please-please-please-please-pleeeeeeaaaaaaase! If you do this, I'l let you look in my super-duper-looper, octuple classified, twelfth-level secret big book of pranks and practical jokes!"

"You mean the one that you never show anypony?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"The one that holds the ultra-mega-super-most-ultimate-prank-of-all-time?"

"On no! I keep that prank locked away behind a triple-layered secure vault door that even I don't know where it is!"

"Uh, wait...how do you not--"

"Ya know better'n to ask that. This is Pinkie Pie we're talking about here."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Fine! But that book better have the most super-awesome-to-the-max pranks ever." She snatched up a quill in her wing and aggressively dipped the tip into the inkpot, sending blobs of ink sailing through the air.

"Careful!", Rarity shrieked as she darted over, grabbed the blobs of ink in her magic and levitated them back into the inkpot. "We don't want to ruin this old book. Be a little more careful, darling."

"Whatever.", Rainbow replied in a tone full of overconfidence and snark. "You're just jealous that I'm going to transcribe this in the most awesome, radical, awesome, cool and awesome way ever!"

"Uh, RD, those words all mean the same thing and you said awesome at least three times.", AJ replied.

Rainbow Dash had her usual cocky, self-assured and hubristic(I know they all mean the same thing. This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about after all.) lopsided grin on her face as she scribbled down the words onto the paper in blinding speed. Once she finished, she held up the tip of the quill in front of her face, which had a small flame blazing on the end and blew it out. "Done! His horn-writing wasn't that bad, even if I can't read old Ponish."

Fluttershy then took the paper from Rainbow Dash, neatly laid out a fresh sheet of paper, gingerly picked up a fresh quill in her teeth and daintily dipped the tip into the inkpot. She looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash's nearly ineligible wing-writing as she transcribed it into her neat and formal swooshy mouth-writing.

Rarity looked at the finished writing. "Darling! You always have the most absolutely beautiful mouth-writing. This looks like something Princess Celestia wrote centuries ago. This makes me want to learn old Ponish so I can read what she wrote all those centuries ago."

Twilight trotted over and looked at Fluttershy's mouth-writing. "By Celestia's glorious golden shoes! This is the first time anypony has been able to transcribe any of Starswirl's original writings. Rainbow, Fluttershy, you're both geniuses!"

"I'm just used to having to read Rainbow's wing-writing and interpret it.", the butter yellow pegasus squeaked.

Rainbow huffed on her hoof and smugly buffed it against her chest floof. "yeah well, you know, it's not every day everypony can see my awesome, spectacular, awesome, super, awesome and awesome genius at work. Just don't go thinking I some egghead, because I'm not."

The other five mares simply rolled their eyes.

"Alright...", Twilight said, the confidence having returned to her. "Just give me a moment."

Everypony wait for a few seconds as twilight entered into her mind palace.

Twilight cleared her throat. "It says that Starswirl and the other Pillars trekked into the Everfree Forest following a voice. They discovered a cave full of gems that had a strange crystalline tree growing in it that glowed with light from within. The voice was calling out to them from the tree. It had eight odd marks on its trunk that they had never seen before. They each left a personal item in the boughs of the trees and buried six gems at its roots. Hmm...it doesn't say what the tree was saying." She read over the transcription again and re-entered into her mind palace. "Nope. He never wrote down what the words were. Odd."

Throughout the remainder of the day and well into the night Rainbow copied down in her atrocious wing-writing what was written in Starswirl's book, while the five mares and one dragon took turns shielding the book from flying ink blobs with their magic, wings, bodies and sheets of paper. When she would finish, Fluttershy would transcribe the wing-writing into more legible writing.

It was late when they finished. Rainbow flexed her stiff and achy wings and pinion feathers, while Fluttershy massaged her sore jaw muscles.

"Alright *yawn* everypony. Let's call it a *yawn* night. I'll begin reading this in the morning and when you all come over, I'll share what I've discovered.", Twilight said sleepily.

The five mares, exhausted and longing for their warm, comfy beds, trundled out of the library.

In Canterlot Castle Celestia watched Golden Oaks library through her telescope, stopping to take care of her royal duties, and to lower the sun in the evening and raise it in the morning. Fatigue fled her as she danced and pranced in place on her tip-hooves.

Shortly after the sun had been raised for the morning, Luna, with bags under her eyes, her ethereal flowing mane a mess in dire need brushing, and her fur in dire need of grooming, walked by her elder sister still peering down at Ponyville through her telescope. She yawned and smacked her lips,mentally noting that she needed to brush her teeth. "Sister?" No answer. "Sister?" Again, no answer. "Tia." No sign she was even heard.

Luna walked next to her sister, took in a deep breath and summoned up the Royal Canterlot Voice. "CELESTIA!"

"IA! IA! IA! IA!", the voice echoed across the city.

Celestia looked up from the telescope. "Oh! Luna! I didn't hear you there."

Luna grumbled to herself as she pinched the bridge of her snout. "Pray tell, why are you watching Ponyville through your telescope?"

"Oh, it's so wonderful! I've been watching Twilight, with help from her friends to transcribe Starswirl's book that held his thoughts, spells and prophesies. I think today is the day that his final prophesy and Twilight realizes her true fate. Ooh! I'm absolutely giddy!"

"Putting aside the whole stalker-y thing...you should know better than anypony not to put too much faith into prophesies that were more often than not vague and cryptic. I mean his horn-writing was so bad that it drove Bluebeard the Wise into madness when he tried to transcribe that book and he thought he was a horrific blaadbeast for a decade, and had to be sequestered away for his own safety in a sanitarium. So again I ask...no! You've been meddling with the lives of ponies after I was banished."

"How callous of you, Luna. I've never meddled in the lives of our little ponies. I may have ever so gently guided them with a hoof...from time-to-time." With a harrumph, Celestia turned her attention back to the telescope.

"Po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe, dear sister. I'm going to get a bath, then lay down and leave you to...this...whatever you want to call it." Luna walked off to her room, desiring a nice warm bath and her comfy bed.

Author's Note

So now the events are afoot(or would that be ahoof?).

Things aren't going to go the way Celestia has planned them.

In the coming chapters the Mane 6's ascension isn't going to be quick.