Lucky Leaves

When Clover awoke again (for SURE this time), she smacked her lips a few times. Then she yawned widely, feeling something foreign.

She looked behind her. Folded at her sides... a pair of Poison Joke blue wings, feathers strewn about.

At first she thought aloud, "Oh. I must still be asleep. Silly me." She concentrated on dismissal of her wings.

Nothing.

Clover blinked twice. That was odd. She concentrated harder.

Nothing.

She took stock of herself; was she wearing the Pendant? No, it wasn't there at all. Still dreaming? She hit herself in the face (with medium force) to verify. Not dreaming. Ouch.

Her mind went through the possibilities. {"Nightshade?"}

{You have interrupted my nap, mistress.}

{"I wasn't aware that you napped at all."}

{Just a bit of a joke. What is the matter?}

{"By any chance, are you still merged with me?"}

{No. Why do you- oh my!}

Clover felt a scanning spell wash over her. {Congratulations, mistress. You are now a PegasEarth.}

{"Okay... And why is that?"}

{At a guess, you spent so much time as a Pegasus that your body decided to just roll with it.}

{"Huh?"}

{Did you forget? You spent most of the battle with wings. As well as your Earth Pony magic.}

{"I kind of figured that after the"dream" was over, things would return to normal. As normal as it ever gets around here, anyway."}

Only then did she notice that she had instinctively started straightening her feathers.

{You even have the instincts of a Pegasus.}

{"Well, how do I change back?"}

{ I'm not entirely sure that you can. Maybe you should send a message to Princess Luna? Or better yet; you could just fly there!}

{"Well I should probably prepare for that trip, then. I suppose I needed to get up anyway. Merry part."}

{ Until we merry meet again.}

With that, Nightshade left her presence.

Clover sighed. She stood up, her wings re-folding. She trotted over to her closet. Clover didn't have a lot in the way of clothing. But, being new to Ponyville, Rarity had insisted upon making a few things, at least.

Gala dress? No. Too fancy. The sundress? Nah, that wouldn't fit. And besides, both would impede her wings.

She looked a little further in. There she found a light purple cloak. A bit like what she heard that Trixie wore. She thought to herself, 'I suppose this will do.'

Putting that on, she nervously exited her room, only to find Patch there.

"Heya, Clover! What is the news? And what's with the cloak?"

Clover hadn't expected to be revealed so soon. But Patch was one of her friends. So she decided to make an exception.

"I'm not entirely sure. There is good news and there is confusing news."

"Well, don't leave me in the dark." Patch half joked.

"The good news is that the nightmare was defeated. The waking world is safe. For now, anyway."

"And the confusing news?"

"I was getting to that. Really, it would be easier if I just show you."

With that, Clover unfurled her new wings.

Patch put a hoof over her chest, quite startled. "Clover! You're a Pegasus?!"

"I... Think I still have my Earth Pony magic?"

Experimentally, Clover trotted over to a conveniently nearby potted plant. Concentrating on her Earth Pony magic, she focused some energy into it. Sure enough, she felt the energy flow into the plant. Actually, even more quickly than usual.

However, her magic was a sort of dark blue green. Earth Magic mixing with the Poison Joke's Magic.

She shrugged that off. Like she said, a small price to pay for what she'd gained. For all she cared, she could turn plaid.

Uh, not that she actually wanted to turn plaid.

"Hopefully, Princess Luna will know more." She finished.

"Princess Luna?" Patch asked.

"For the last couple of nights, I've been working with her DreamGuard. Well, I'm not exactly sure that last time counted as "night" as such. In any case, I'm more likely to get the answers from her than from Princess Celestia."

"Maybe you should go to Princess Twilight and get her to send a letter?"

"Nah." Clover said, flapping her wings experimentally. "I think I might just catch a flight there." She joked. "Besides, Princess Twilight is more likely to experiment on me."

Patch giggled at that. "In that case, you might want to hurry. Are you sure that you'll be okay?"

"Well, it worked last time. How hard-" she decided not to finish that sentence, lest she jinx herself. "Uh... See you later on?"

"I'll tell the other girls that you are going in that direction." Patch said with a smile.

"Thanks Patch. You're the best. Merry part."

"That's what I keep telling- wait, what was that last part?"

"Sorry." Clover bowed her head in embarrassment. "I suppose that's becoming a habit. Either way, I will be back at some point. If I take that long, keep dinner piping hot. Or, warmed up, anyway."

With that, Clover re-covered her wings and dashed out the door. Once she was out of Ponyville proper, she spread her wings once more and flapped hard. Her Joke was still helping, she supposed.

Angling herself toward Canterlot, she sped towards the castle.

Just then, Sweetheart went over to Patch. "Why did Clover leave in such a hurry?"

Patch decided to play dumb slightly. "Oh, apparently she's headed toward Canterlot."

"Isn't the train station that way?" Sweetheart asked, pointing.

"She said that she... Needed some fresh air." Patch said with a smirk.

Meanwhile, Clover was making her way toward the mountain top castle. She thought to herself, 'Wow! Typically I would get a nosebleed being up this high! To say the least!'

She was actually kind of enjoying the experience. It was somewhat exhilarating! But, alas, all good things must come to an end.

She alighted near the entrance, ensuring that nopony else saw her. It was getting toward the scheduled time for the Evening Court. Hopefully the Princess that she was looking for would still be available.

She went in quickly but calmly. Didn't want to look like she was in too much of a hurry. Sure enough, Court was in session. Sitting on her throne was Princess Luna.

'That is a relief.' Clover thought to herself.

Fortunately, there were only a few ponies that were before her. The lunar Princess saw her and smiled brightly, going so far as to come over and give her a hug.

"Clover! Merrily Met. It is good to see that you are alive and well."

"Merrily met, Princess Luna. I am indeed alive and well. But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a slight... Issue."

So saying, she unfurled her wings again.

At first, Princess Luna was somewhat startled. She cast a quick scanning spell, still far more powerful than the one Nightshade had cast. Then she smiled widely. "Well, well! It appears that you have even more potential than I had originally thought."

Clover tilted her head to the side slightly. "Whatever do you mean?"

"By all the appearances, you are on the fast track to Ascending." She said simply.

Clover's eyes widened at this. "WHAT!?"

Luna clarified; "Congratulations in advance upon your joining the Alicorn club. On the weekend we have cake." She joked at the end.

With that, Clover fainted.