The next day, after the party, Bright Eyes and Patch were busy making breakfast for the lot of them. In particular, today's serving was of pancakes and a nice, cheesy omelette. On the side was a platter of fruit of different kinds.

Sniffing at the air, Clover came down the stairs eagerly. "Do I smell pancakes?"

Sweetheart came down not too long thereafter.

Bright Eyes was still smiling when she turned around. "Sure is! Pancakes with a-" she paused, blinking a couple of times. Living up to her name, she noted, "Clover, is it just me or are you a bit taller today?"

Clover took stock of herself briefly. Sure enough, she was. About eight centimeters taller, in fact.

Clover sighed. Well, there was nothing for it but to suck it up. And maybe ask Twilight about it later.

"Whatever. Is there also coffee?" While Clover didn't have coffee often, this time it was feeling like a good idea. And as robust as the system of a Pony is, it was a bit early for anything... stronger.

"Coming up!" Patch said, cheerily.

After that was done, Clover decided to apply action to her thoughts and marched toward the residence of the local Princess. Stepping up to the door, she knocked firmly. "Princess Twilight? I have some questions!" she called, hoping that she could be heard.

From inside, she could hear a muffled voice say, "I got it!"

Surprisingly, it was Starlight that opened the door, Rainbow Dash and Twilight not far behind.

Twilight also noticed the change. "Clover, you're-"

"Approximately eight centimeters taller than just the other day. Yes. We noticed." Clover interrupted. "I came to ask if there was anything else I should expect."

Twilight let out a silent "Ah", before saying, "Right, the growth spurts. I kind of forgot about that. You'll shortly end up a hoof or so taller than your friends, which will only increase over time. You might have to be careful about some doorways, and might need to check your balance more often than usual, but should otherwise be alright. Any headaches yet? Extra attention? Growing pains?"

Clover tilted her head side to side. "The first as a result of the second. None of the third."

Clover looked at the purpl princess. She was indeeda fair bit taller than either of her friends. She was pretty leggy, indeed.

Starlight put in, "As it happens, Twilight was just filling me in on your situation. An Earth Pony becoming an Alicorn. Fascinating!"

Twilight nodded. "Yep. Starlight is very possibly the... fourth most magical Pony in the country."

At the confused looks of the other three, Twilight elaborated, "Behind Princess Celestia, myself and Princess Luna, in that order." She then addressed Clover directly, "And sometime in the near future: You."

Starlight said, "I'll still take it." then she addressed Clover. "Now, let me give you a scan of my own. This might tingle a bit, but shouldn't hurt."

With that, Starlight used a scanning spell upon her. This one, Clover felt, was vastly different from the others. It was deeper; more... invasive isn't quite the right word, but something to that effect. It started from her hooves and slowly rose towar her head. It did indeed tingle, but she was otherwise fine.

Starlight finished at length. "Wow. You have three magical cores inside of you. And a fourth is developing."

Clover was confused. "Cores?"

Starlight explained, "All Ponies have a Core of magic. Each is related to a type and affinity of magic. Earth Ponies tend toward, well... Earth. Unicorns tend toward Water, Pegasi to Air. Of course, there are exceptions. Such as Twilight's own mother, who has WAY more affinity with Fire. Some might even relate to Electricity or something completely different. But you don't need to know about all of that. The point is that you have Earth, Air, one i can't identify and one of Water forming. I posit that once it has, the three will polymerize, triggering your Ascension."

Clover was slightly confused still. She understood... most of that?

Twilight pointed, "Looks like something else is still happening."

Clover began to feel herself itching in several spots. To the eyes of the other three, a streak of blue began to travel along either side of her, reaching to her neck. At this point she had blue streaks in several places. Two of her legs were completely blue already!

At their looks, Clover asked, "What? What's happening?"

Rainbow Dash replied to that. "You're gaining a couple more blue streaks."

Clover sighed. "By the time all of this is done, i'll probably be Poison Joke blue all over. That's just the way it is, I think. But, like I said before, for what I've gained, I don't mind."

Starlight smiled lightly at that. "Nothing to do but grimace and bear it, huh?"

Clover raised one eyebrow. "Don't you mean "Grin and bear it"?"

Starlight replied, "Not necessarily."

Rainbow Dash spoke up next. "Well, anyway, I knew that you'd probably want to come here in the morning, so I came by. I was wondering if you wanted to do a different challenge."

Clover resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "What do you have in mind?"

"Prance Prance Revolution! I heard that you were at the Arcade yesterday. Got some pretty great scores. I was wondering if... you know... you wanted a REAL challenge."

Clover considered that. "You know what? Why not?"

So it was back to trhe arcade for the purpose. Clover's overly competitive companion's enthusiasmm was quite evident. And oddly enough, Clover felt that it was kind of infectious.

"Are you ready for this, Clover?"

"Oddly, yes!"

When they gotup to the door, Rainbow Dash actually allowed Clover to go in first. Apparently she was in a good mood.

Immediately after tthey went in, they started gathering attention. Ponies there knew that with those two around, whatever was about to happen? It was gonna be GOOD.

Further along, they found the machine they were looking for.

Prance Prance Revolution: ReMax!

Clover had previously only tried this machine once. She'd failed the tutorial at the time!

As you might expec t, the Pony version of this game was a bit different than that which you might typically see. This had more arrows since Ponies had four hooves, naturally. With this, the margin for error is substantially narrowed. It's pretty understandable that this wouldn't be a game for everypony.

The two inserted their bits and Rainbbow Dash selected the first song.

"First, a warmup!" the multihued mare said.

Both of them had scored near perfectly, but Rainbow Dash had come out slightly ahead. So she got to choose the next song as well. As they were going to go forward with it, Clover's mane started frizzing up, also coiling together somewhat.

Rainbow Dash said, "Now that we're warmed up, let's stop holding back." Selecting the next song. The two got into a ready position...

Partt of the way through, Clover's typically long, wavy mane and tail had somehow transformed into a dreadlocked style.

For those who were capable of paying attention, this was Clover's Wild Side, her little seen competitive streak. She'd only been able to tap into it a few times, but could never remember what had happened afterward. Including the transformation. Though she'd bneen having fun before, now this was a true test of what she could do, against somepony who could maatch her, or easily beat her..

This time, she'd won. Feeling pumped now, she cranked the difficulty up again. This next song was a fair bit shorter, but a touch more complex in its movements.

The two of them started doing tricks after about 20 seconds in. At one point, Clover had flipped omto her front hooves for about thirty notes, still not missing a beat.

On the last note, they came down together. Their scores this time were even. Ponies behind them were cheering, but neither of them were really paying attention. To the two of them, they were alone in the room, the cheers behind them mihgt as well be from the game itelf.

"Are you feeling excited too, Clover?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"YEAH!" was the reply.

They decided to move to a different machine, that was installed just the other day.

KickBeat SR

Clover queried, "What's this one?"

One of the staff answered, "Oh, that's the newest game here. A Simulated Reality game, apparently. Revolutionary tech. It makes you feel like you're actually IN the game world when you enter. I haven't had the chance to try it myself."

Rainbow Dash asked, "Is it difficult?"

"Well, it can be, so i hear."

Clover then asked, "Does it keep track of your score?"

"Well yeah, but-"

Both of them exclaimed in unison, "Does it take two players!?"

"You won't see each other, but... Yes?"

That was enough for them

"Come on, Clover!"

"Right beside you!"

"Don't you mean "Right behind you"?"

"Nnnnope!"

Stopping at the entrance to the attraction, they saw a slot for a ten bit coin each. A little steep, but they didn't care. And besides, this was apparently something New.

Clover found herself in what seemed like a dark room. Sudden;y, a barrier appeared before her. She knew that she was meant to jump over it. She went a step beyond; she backed up a distannce, then galloped forward, vaulting the obstacle and landing perfectly in her two-legged stance.

Suddenly, she felt a bunch of presences surround her. She could feel that they meant her harm. "You boys have picked the wrong day" she warned them. So she got into a battle ready stance. "[Capoeira!]"

Music began to swell in the background... (1)

After a time,she could even hear singing, not realizing that she was singing along, vibing deeply with the spirit of the song. It resonated with her, on a metaphysical level.

After the last opponent was down, she saw that she'd gotten every strike with perfect timing. A display came up wwith Rainbow Dash's score, showing similar results.

"Okay! Bring it on, game! I'm ready for it!"

She saw another barrier come up, which she also vaulted, flipping in the air three times before coming back down in a ready position.

Looking at her score, Clover saw that she'd beatwn her opponent by a fair margin. Both took all of their enemies down hitless, but Clover had perfect timing throughout.

After that, she decided to call it a day. Even in her excited state, she felt that that wa enough for the nonce.

She exited the attraction, Rainbow Dash doing the same. "Whew! Nice one, Clover! You REALLY beat me that time!"

"Yeah. I'm surprised too."

"Wjhat say we call it a day? Maybe get some ice cream? My treat; you did win, after all."

"Sounds good to me."

As they both went off, (hearing the cheers of those who watched the replays of what they'd just done, dimly) Clover looked to her right and noticed her mane's altered style. With bands of Poison Joke blue intertwined with her typically coloured locks.

"You know... I think I might keep this style." she thought aloud before leaving.

Author's Note

1: Skip to about 3:00.