Chapter 1
Sharing the Night: Chapter 1
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight Sparkle’s back itched. If she was Pinkie Pie, this would have meant that it was her lucky day. Since she was not Pinkie Pie, however, it just meant that she needed to indulge herself with a bath while Spike dusted the stacks again. It was a problem that she’d been struggling with ever since she’d moved to Ponyville. This, in spite of the fact that the Canterlot library—where she had practically grown up—had been far older and far larger, thus making it even more difficult to keep clean than the small hollowed out tree in which she now lived.
Unfortunately, the required dusting wasn’t going to happen today. The librarian and her number-one assistant had just finished tidying up after a wild night of studying, and both of them deserved a break. Any cleaning would have to wait for another time. A bath, on the other hoof, was definitely in order. Having fallen asleep behind a pile of books the night before, an itchy back was only the newest of a long list of reasons she had to wash up and pamper herself a bit.
“Eugh,” Twilight groaned as she absentmindedly scratched at her barrel with one hoof. “Watch the library for me, Spike. I need an hour or two just to soak.”
“Itchy back?” the young drake asked rhetorically from his position on one of the tall ladders that allowed him access to the many shelves of books that crowded the walls of the library, filling every available space with colorful spines and decorated bookends. He was all too familiar with the scenario. "Are you sure it doesn’t mean it’s your lucky day?”
Twilight shook her head and, after noticing the state of the messy locks that bounced across the top of her view, took a moment to fix her mane. “Spike,” she chided, “if every time my back itched was my lucky day, things would be a lot more exciting around here. Wait, no, make that less exciting. The point is, I’d either have found that missing copy of ‘Predictions and Prophecies’ by now, or I’d have spontaneously sprouted wings.”
“You’d want wings?” Spike asked as he scrabbled his legs about, searching for the floor in his attempt to dismount the last step of the pony-made ladder without falling on his rump. "Why?”
“Oh Spike, everypony wishes they could fly,” Twilight stated as if this were a simple constant of the universe. “Well, everypony except Fluttershy anyway. You’ll get wings eventually, and then you’ll see.”
“Don’t remind me,” Spike said with a wince as he finally made it safely back to solid ground. "You know I hate flying between Ponyville and Canterlot by chariot. I want wings like I want the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to be librarians again... I don’t. What makes you think I’m going to get wings anyway? I didn’t get them when… uhh… on my birthday.”
Twilight shook her head with a smile. “Some day, Spike, you’ll understand that there’s a difference between growing bigger and growing up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Spike asked, no doubt annoyed by the vague ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’ sentiment that adults seemed to enjoy dispensing at a moment’s notice. In truth, Spike was probably just about nearing the age when that sort of thing wouldn’t cut it any more.
Twilight took her hoof off the doorknob of the door leading to the bathroom and turned back to sit and address Spike eye to eye. “You wouldn’t remember, but when I got my cutie mark hatching you and my magic went out of control, your head went right through the roof!” she giggled. "But that didn’t make you an adult. I wouldn’t expect the adult Spike to look like greedy Spike any more than giant hatchling Spike did.”
“If you say so,” he grumbled bashfully and looked away.
“Anyway, you saw the dragon migration,” Twilight said, getting back up as she transitioned into lecture-mode. “If any of those dragons had been traveling by land, Ponyville would have needed a lot more than that trench we dug for watching them. Wyrms and serpents are the closest you’ll get to land and sea-bound dragons, but they only have arms—not legs—and they have completely different habits. Face it Spike, you’ve got wings in your future.”
“Alright alright!” he groused. “I believe you! Didn’t I just get finished asking you not to remind me?”
“Oh, don’t be like that!” she said with a cheery grin. “It’ll be different when they’re your own wings. There’s nothing to be afraid of; it’s perfectly safe!”
“And you know this how?” Spike asked, unconvinced.
Suddenly, Twilight froze for a moment, then looked away evasively. "I—uhh—Rainbow Dash said so?”
“It’s safe... because Rainbow Dash says so,” Spike repeated flatly. “Really Twi?” There was no need for him to clarify why Rainbow Dash was the absolute last pony to go to for opinions on safety.
“Oh—fine!” Twilight said, a rare bashfulness clear on her face. “I—I’ve had dreams, okay? Dreams about flying. Everypony has them. It’s perfectly normal.”
Spike snickered, trying to hold in a laugh. He was successful, mostly, but the look on Twilight’s face sent him searching for a way to change the subject as fast as possible; his eyes fell to the calendar. “Hey! We’re going over to Rarity’s today, maybe it’s my lucky day?”
“What?” Twilight said, blinking in surprise at the sudden change of subject. “Why are we going to—oh right, my Winter Wrap-Up vest. Well, that settles it Spike; it’s definitely not your lucky day either.”
“What? Why?” Spike wondered, worry clear in his voice.
“Because Vinyl Scratch is coming in to pick up those booklets of sheet music she ordered,” Twilight reminded him. “I’m going to need you to stay here in case she stops by!”
Spike’s only response was a disgusted groan.
“Oh cheer up, maybe she’ll stop by while I’m in the bath, and you’ll be able to come after all,” Twilight suggested as she approached the bathroom door once more.
Spike brightened up immediately. "Do you think she will?”
Twilight made an apologetic face back at Spike as she turned the doorknob. "No,” she admitted. She’d never known the mare who went by the name ‘DJ Pon-3’ after dark to be up before noon. She’d never known her to be interested in sheet music either though, so she supposed there might be a first time for anything.
“What do you need done to your Winter Wrap-Up vest anyway?” Spike asked, apparently deciding that if he didn’t get to go, she didn’t need to either.
Twilight’s expression soured at the mention of the reason for her errand, and her only response was to slam the bathroom door behind her with a huff.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight hadn’t got her hour-long soak, but she still felt a million times fresher as she walked into the Carousel Boutique and found Rarity working on some new designs for the coming spring as the tinkling sound of the bell attached to the door announced her presence.
Unfortunately for Twilight, no amount of preemptive pampering could make this encounter any easier.
“Twilight!” Rarity beamed, always happy to see her friend. Her keen eyes immediately fell to the saddlebags Twilight was wearing. “Is there something you need? I was just—well, that doesn’t matter. I am always free to help you my dear.”
“Oh, this?” Twilight gestured to her saddlebags nervously. “Umm, no, this is—” Twilight searched for something, anything to get out of the situation she’d just put herself in, but her hesitation was rendered moot as Rarity had already pulled the vest out of Twilight’s saddlebags with her magic and removed any control Twilight had of the situation. She supposed it was for the best in any case. This had to be done. It was embarrassing, but it’d be even worse if she ignored it
“Your winter wrap-up vest, dear? Is there... a problem with it? I don’t see any rips or tears, you can’t have worn it more than once so far...” Rarity trailed off, mumbling to herself as she turned the vest every which way, scrutinizing it with the eye of an artist.
“It’s not that, I just need—” Twilight had started to say when she was interrupted by Rarity’s exuberant cry.
“Oh of course!” Rarity beamed with wondrous glee. “You! Need! Accessories!” she sang. "Oh I have the perfect shoes to go with—”
“No, Rarity, I—” Twilight stammered, but Rarity was already talking a mile a minute as she shuffled through boxes of things she had prepared. "I just—” Twilight squeaked, trying to get a word in edgewise. Finally, she simply blurted, “I NEED IT LET OUT!”
Rarity, for her part, only dropped one of the shoes she was holding as she froze up completely. “I—what? I—Oh!” she said, fumbling with the shoe she had dropped. She looked at Twilight’s hooves, then forlornly at the shoes she was holding. “Well, be that as it may… you’re getting shoes too,” she insisted.
“But Rarity, I—” Twilight began to argue, but realized immediately that it just wasn’t worth it. “Fine,” she groaned, giving in without further resistance. Shoes might make this visit easier, if only for something to focus on avoid the subject of the vest.
“But darling,” Rarity, said, eying Twilight up and down. “Are you sure about the vest?”
Nope. Shoes weren’t going to help.
"I mean,” she said, and then hesitated. “You don’t look like you—that is to say, you look wonderful, Twilight! Are you sure you’re just not expecting it to be too—err—comfortable? Fashion is not always comfortable when it’s supposed to show off that wonderful figure of yours! Why, if anything I’d say you look even thinner than you did last year! I mean, look at those legs!”
“You’re too kind,” Twilight said, though she sounded anything but grateful. “No really, Rarity, I mean it. You’re laying it on a bit thick.”
Rarity balked. “Twilight Sparkle, are you calling me a liar?”
“Uhh—overly generous, maybe?” Twilight suggested, smiling inoffensively. “Like my waistline,” she added with a groan, unable to avoid voicing the unkind comparison that came to mind. “The tape measure doesn’t lie, Rarity. I’m... larger.”
No longer reeling from shock, but not yet greatly appeased, either, Rarity simply stared at Twilight. Rather, she studied her, not looking her in the eyes but everywhere else. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped the teeniest bit before she caught herself. In a whirlwind of magic and motion, she grabbed the tape measure and spun Twilight around this way and that, measuring everything and everywhere the dressmaker could imagine, sometimes several times just to be sure. “Twilight Sparkle!” She gasped. “You are larger!”
Twilight’s expression remained unenthused; this was hardly news to her. “You don’t say.”
“No! You don’t understand!” Rarity implored. "You’ve grown! You’re taller! Your legs are longer! It’s only just a bit, but these eyes of mine can tell! Dear, I had no idea you were still growing! A bit of a late bloomer, I suppose? Oh, you shouldn’t feel bad about it at all!”
Twilight wasn’t sure she heard that right. "What?” she said, as her mind ran over the words again, attempting to fit them into an interpretation that didn’t go against everything she knew about pony biology. She failed, which greatly irritated her. “I—that doesn’t make any sense, Rarity!” she insisted in no uncertain terms. “There should be no way for me to be—!”
Rarity put one hoof on Twilight’s shoulder consolingly, trying to calm her down. “I know it’s peculiar darling, but like you said: the tape measure doesn’t lie. Why, even your horn is—”
Twilight suddenly forgot all about the issue at hoof and jumped back to spin and face Rarity with a shocked and betrayed look on her face. “My—Rarity!” she balked. “You measured my—!” She couldn’t even bring herself to say it. She tried again. “What are you doing measuring my horn?! No, wait—why do you even know how big it was before?!”
Rarity, for her part, simply ignored Twilight’s reaction completely in spite of the interruption. “Now, you just leave yourself in my hooves, darling. I’ll fix this vest right up! Oh, I wonder if I could change the cut just a bit… No, I don’t think the mayor would like that, it is a uniform after all… Oh Twilight, you’ll just have to let me make something else for you sometime soon.”
“I—uhh—” Twilight paused, then sighed, completely disarmed by her friend’s enthusiasm. "Sure…” she conceded. “Just… stay away from my horn,” was all she could say.
✶ ✶ ✶
She was growing?
Twilight blinked, paying no attention to where she was going as she trudged through the hoof-deep snow in a daze. Having been shooed out of the boutique so Rarity could work, she was at something of a loss for an explanation as to exactly her friend had claimed. There was no earthly explanation she could come up with as to why she would be growing again—and it was ‘again’; of that she was certain.
Like many measurable aspects of her life, Twilight had kept what could have been charitably called ‘unnecessarily detailed’ records of both her height and weight until she had determined to several degrees of mathematical certainty that the former had stopped changing. The latter, she still recorded daily, and it was thanks to that that she’d recently taken to reluctantly measuring her girth as well.
It was easy, if a little ironic, to see why her incomplete records had given her a less than flattering impression of herself. In fact, the impression stuck in spite of the new information she had at her disposal, even if she took everything that Rarity had said at face value.
The fact was, she had been happy with her figure before. Sure, she wasn’t a picture of equine beauty like Rarity or Fluttershy, or all feminine athleticism like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but crown-funded impartial double-blind polls had determined her to be possessed of solid leanings towards both cuteness and ‘adorkability,’ whatever that meant.
That had been the last time she had allowed write-ins in her trials.
Whatever ‘adorkability’ was, though, she held no illusions about the level of appeal her toneless physique would maintain at magnified proportions. Rarity had implied that her legs were growing in length faster than girth, but she would need measurements to be sure. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Rarity’s critical eye, but some things just needed four decimal places of accuracy for posterity.
Silently cursing all the data points she must have missed already, she had a sudden urge to rush home and get out the tape measure and calipers. If she was lucky, she would be able to extrapolate enough data to estimate her rate of cuteness falloff. Maybe she could throw something together to approximate adorkability decline, too, but that would be difficult without an official reference standard to compare with. The Equestrian Standards Organization never had answered her letters on the matter.
She didn’t rush home, though. She just stood there, staring at her hooves with an imagined sense of vertigo. Were they further away now than they had been before? She honestly couldn’t tell. Her hoof-eye coordination was mediocre at best, and she was not yet to the point where she recorded average stumble frequency for use in clumsiness appraisal.
Perhaps she would start.
More important than measuring her growth, though, was to determine why in Equestria it could be happening. How could she be growing again?
On the one hoof, she had been introduced to a variety of new stimuli since moving to Ponyville, so there was no shortage of possible catalysts for her aberrant growth. On the other hoof… she had been introduced to a variety of new stimuli since moving to Ponyville, so there was no end to the number of possible causes either.
Was she eating healthier now? Not really. Sure, there was an abundance of fresh produce in Ponyville thanks to the surrounding farms, but there was also an abundance of fresh cupcakes, pies and fritters; cider, soda and… no, she definitely was not eating healthier these days.
What then? Rarity had brushed it off as her being a ‘late bloomer,’ and Twilight had politely kept her mouth shut on the subject rather than contradict her, but it wasn’t an actual explanation.
And yet, nothing Twilight could come up with was really any better. In fact, each straw she grasped at seemed to turn into a more and more ridiculous scenario. Ambient earth pony magic? Localized time-space distortion attuned to her physiology? Height-sapping goblins that were now on strike thanks to mediocre health care plans?
One such flight of fancy made her stop mid-step as it caught her unawares. ‘Twilight’s miracle workout!’ she pictured a poster saying, ‘Schedule your appointment with Rainbow Crash today!’
She shook her head with a snort. Where had that come from? As if Rainbow Dash crashing into her all the time would... what? Stretch out her spine or something? That would require a trip to the chiropractor, not your friendly neighborhood fashionista, and she would never call her friend Rainbow—
“Look out!”
CRASH!
“Oh, heya Twilight,” laughed the blue pegasus awkwardly. "You know, that felt softer than usual; have you gotten… uhh… gotten… Twi? Are you okay?”
The last thing Rainbow Dash saw before being flung all the way back to her cloud-home with unicorn magic was Twilight Sparkle with a stark-white coat and flaming mane of fire… upside-down in the mud and snow.
The last thing Rainbow Dash had done before getting flung all the way back to her cloud-home with unicorn magic, was laugh.
Twilight blinked as she watched the pegasine form of her friend disappear into the clouds. “Oops,” she said then righted herself with a sigh. She would have to apologize to Rainbow Dash later and explain that she’d just caught Twilight at a bad time.
Well, she would explain anyway. She might not apologize.
Twilight rolled over with a heavy grunt and got lazily back up onto her hooves to find that her whole left side was covered in ice-cold mud that sloughed off with each step she took back towards home.
“Hey guys, look! It’s Twilight!” yelped a bubblegum-pink voice directly to Twilight’s left.
“Well hey there, sugar cube,” said a second, standing next to the first.
“Oh… Hi there,” said a second-and-a-half voice hiding behind the second.
“Perfect,” Twilight intoned flatly to herself. Doing her best to keep exasperation out of her voice, Twilight turned to her friends and smiled. "Hey Pinkie Pie, AJ, Fluttershy—what’s up?”
The silence was deafening. After an eternity of silence, Applejack spoke up. "Uh, Twilight? I heard you stopped by Rarity’s today. It seems that y’all got a little—”
“Fat!” Twilight barked at Applejack, finishing her sentence. “Yes, okay! Fine, I get it! Twilight Sparkle is getting pudgy! I can’t believe she told you!” Twilight screamed in shocked disbelief.
“…mud,” Applejack finished belatedly, after Twilight got finished yelling. “Y’all got a little mud there on yer… all over, actually. Ah jes thought you’d got another one of those mud-mask things done at Rarity’s and fergot to wash off.”
Suddenly all the paranoia, anger and frustration building up in Twilight evaporated, leaving the lavender unicorn slumped to the ground with a groan, banging her head into the dirty snow-covered road.
“Oh—well there’s yer problem,” Applejack said in sarcastic epiphany. “C’mon girl, get up,” she encouraged as she and Fluttershy lifted Twilight up onto her legs and Pinkie Pie licked Twilight’s face, then started spitting. Twilight didn’t even respond, but Applejack was vocal enough for all three other ponies. “Pinkie Pie! What in the hay did y’all do that fer?”
“I was hoping we had some more chocolate rain!” Pinkie Pie beamed in cheerful explanation. "But no, it’s really just mud.”
“Uhh, thank you for clarifying that Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said with… a modicum of honesty, at least. "Girl, ah bet you’d lick the princess jes to see if her mane tasted like rainbows, and you don’t even like rainbows!” she declared with a huff. “Now come on, let’s get this one home.”
“If you can still carry her,” the demoralized Twilight bemoaned.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight didn’t say a single word to Spike as she stumbled into the library and straight upstairs to the bathroom, covered in mud.
In her defense, it was unlikely that Spike would have heard a word she said, incapacitated as he was by roaring laughter. She didn’t say anything to Vinyl Scratch either, who had indeed arrived for the sheet music she’d ordered and was now biting her hoof and tearing up.
Things only got worse when Twilight slammed the bathroom door shut only to have it swing back open on only one hinge. The laughter from outside echoed through the bathroom, prompting Twilight to pick the door back up with her magic, slam it back in place and seal it as if there was a dragon on the other side—which of course, there was.
A laughing one.
The laughter quickly died away, but it wasn’t until it was completely gone that Twilight finally let her breath out and relaxed. Stepping away from the door, she hoofed on the hot water for the second time that day. Steam began to fill the room, and once the tub was half full, she gave the cold water exactly one and three-eighths turns.
Satisfied that her bath was being prepared properly, Twilight took the time to inspect herself. The simple, if embarrassing act of walking home had rid her of the mass of mud that had initially clung to her side, so she prepared only her usual assortment of soaps and oils minus a few to account for her earlier washing. Most ponies would be surprised to know that Twilight’s collection of sundries gave Rarity’s a run for its money, but she was, if nothing else, a proponent of using the right tool for the right job.
Suddenly Twilight’s ear twitched at the sound of some indistinct noise. It was nothing in particular—just the usual sounds of a city coming in the small bathroom window—but Twilight’s eyes widened in alarm, snapped to the breech in her bathroom of solitude and sealed it with magic much as she had the door.
Now on alert, she whipped her head back and forth, searching the room for anything else that needed sealing, but found nothing. Dissatisfied, she charged her horn, threw her head back and cast her magic out in every direction. The magic spread outward like a sticky bubble inflating to fill the tiny space, covering every wall, every single nook and cranny, sealing the entire room away from the outside world.
Lowering her horn, Twilight brushed her messy mane out of her face and was greeted with only the simple white noise of water filling the tub, drowned out by her own huffing and puffing. Soon, her breathing calmed, leaving only the sound of water.
Finally satisfied and confident in her isolation, Twilight rested her weight on the edge of the tub, taking a moment to listen to the relaxing sound. It was a rare treat, for her. The library may have been quiet on most days, but her mind almost never was. It was all too soon when the splashing of water spilling into the overflow drain shook her out of her reverie, but only temporarily. She turned off the tap and stirred the water with her forehoof.
It was perfect.
Forehooves on the side of the tub, Twilight stepped over the edge and and sank into the warm, scented water. Finally she could relax, and damn it—she would get the hour-long soak that she’d wanted that morning. She deserved it. No, she needed it. Slowly, she cleaned herself of all the dirt and grime of the last several hours and as she did so, all her agitation and frustration began to melt away.
She would have to do something to apologize to her friends, she thought. She should never have snapped like that at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and she’d been a burden on the rest—and for what?
What she’d heard from Rarity wasn’t even all that bad, she told herself in spite of her earlier thoughts to the contrary. Strange, yes, but Rarity had deemed it an improvement and Twilight had already learned to trust the fashionista’s judgement.
She was still going to take and record all the proper measurements, though.
As she was mulling over things she could do to apologize to her friends, she closed her eyes, her breathing slowed and she drifted off to sleep in the tub. What followed was the most wonderful dream ever.
The dream was very simple. ‘No,’ she’d tell Spike later, ‘it was not a dream about flying.’ It was sort of like those dreams where you just endlessly dream about not being able to get to sleep—but instead of anxiety she was filled with a sense of endless serenity and calm.
In her dream, she was floating in the ocean—or maybe it was just a very large lake, seeing as the surface of the water was glassy smooth and ice cold as the ocean has no right to be. Drifting aimlessly, she felt like she’d never wanted to be anywhere else. It was nighttime and the sky above her was a featureless black void like a giant velvet canvas. There was no sun or moon, or even stars to mark the distance; it was just the endless black of night.
For the longest time the peace of the endless black night was enough for Twilight, but eventually curiosity tickled her ears and she began looking around. She was floating on her back in the still, placid water, so she had to crane her neck to look around. In every direction, all she saw was empty space all the way to the horizon. Just as she was about to give up, she saw a glimmer out of the corner of one eye. Sitting up in the water, she looked down into the ocean and gasped.
It was full of stars.
The sight of it shocked Twilight awake, though for a second she wasn’t so sure she was awake. The bathroom was pitch black, and the tub water, ice cold. For a second, she even thought she could see stars in the water, though she then realized her teeth were chattering, and the stars in her vision didn’t go away when when she screwed her eyes shut. ‘That’s bad, right?’ she asked herself rhetorically, reaching for the edge of the tub to pull herself out.
She had obviously stayed in the water far longer than was healthy, and as if that wasn’t bad enough… Twilight’s back was itching again. In fact, it felt uncomfortably heavy and matted right out of the tub. ‘Figures,’ she sighed, but the edge of her earlier frustrations was gone. Aside from having woken up neck deep in a bath of ice water, she did feel better somehow. She felt a lot better, actually. Wrapping herself up in a large, fluffy towel, Twilight unsealed the door that led back to the nice, warm library and opened it.
The sight before Twilight wilted her burgeoning spirit. Standing in front of the content-but-damp unicorn were five impatient ponies and one nervous baby dragon.
“Twilight!” they all shouted together, scrambling around to hug her.
“We were so worried!” cried several ponies.
“I wasn’t worried!” insisted Rainbow Dash with a huff.
They were, apparently, not at all mad at her erratic behavior—or the fact that they’d just group-hugged a wet unicorn, for that matter. Of course they weren’t mad. They were her friends.
Spike, on the other hoof was visibly nervous, and Twilight could see why. He was holding a letter from the Princess.
Twilight wasted no time extracting herself from the embrace of her friends, and scooped up the letter with her magic. The letter had already been opened, which bothered her, but then, she had sealed herself in the bathroom for… how many hours had it been, exactly? She noted that it was already dark out, so it had to have been a while.
Twilight unrolled the scroll and read.
My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,
Please look outside.
～ H.R.H. Princess Celestia of Equestria.
☼ ☼ ☼
Princess Celestia had just lowered the sun for the day and was sitting down to sleep when the sound of clopping hooves and a pleading voice interrupted her peace and quiet.
“Tiaaaaaaaa,” implored the voice from down the hall.
It was Luna, of course. Her sister’s voice was not exactly one easily forgotten—or easily ignored, given its usual volume. Of course, even if Celestia had managed that impossible task, Luna was the only one who called her ‘Tia,’ and she was supposed to only do it in private.
The younger princess burst into Celestia’s room and suddenly froze. Quietly, she shut the door behind and chewed her lip nervously, suddenly not so eager to talk now that she had the chance. “Ah, sister…?” she started after a long pause. If the Royal Canterlot Voice had an antithesis, this was it.
“Yes, Luna?” Celestia asked as she walked over to one of the cushions next to an antique tea table that had been new when she’d bought it. Exhibiting the eternal patience for which she was known, she sat down and waited for a response.
Luna averted her eyes from her older sister. “I… seem to have misplaced something,” she meekly announced. “It is… a great many somethings, in fact.”
Celestia gave her little sister a warm, forgiving smile. “Did you misplace the sixth century tax laws again?” she asked.
Luna took affront at the very suggestion. "I didst not,” she insisted hotly. After a moment, the anger quickly dissipated, and she looked sheepishly down at her hooves. “I am afraid that it is far worse than that,” she admitted. “And ‘tis not any of the records.”
Darn, the elder sister groused inwardly; some things were better off lost, and the old tax laws which Luna was intent on studying were a fair example of history that did not merit remembering. Perhaps next time, Celestia would slip them between the cushions of one of Luna’s couches. The princess of the night did seem to have an inordinate number of couches.
Regardless, Celestia got up from her tea table and walked over to comfort her sister. "It’s okay, Lulu,” she said, making use of her big sister voice and giving the younger alicorn a reassuring hug and nuzzle. “You can tell me.”
Luna chewed at her lip, pulling back to look into Celestia’s eyes. Hesitantly, she mumbled so that only the two of them could hear. “I lost the stars.”
Celestia—to her credit—did not bat an eyelash, though her voice was less reassuring. “The… stars?” she asked.
“All of them,” Luna said with a weak nod, stirring her ethereal mane which was indeed now an empty blue void.
Celestia turned her head to look at said mane. “You lost… All of the stars?” she repeated.
“Every—last—one,” Luna confirmed, a mincing stamp of her hoof accompanying each word.
“Luna," Celestia said, maintaining her mien of eternal patience. “What are my little ponies all over Equestria seeing in the sky right now?”
“My wonderful, beautiful moon?” Luna suggested in a nervous, yet hopeful voice.
“…and?” Celestia prompted.
“Lots… and lots… of black," Luna slowly admitted.
“Horseapples."
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight was torn between immediately looking outside, as the letter from her mentor instructed, and the fact that it was still the middle of winter and she was sopping wet and wearing a towel. If Twilight walked out into the windy street in front of her Library as she was, she was liable to end up reliving her experience with the cockatrice—only as an ice sculpture this time rather than stone.
For some reason, no one would simply tell Twilight what was going on, but Rarity insisted it could certainly wait until Twilight was ‘decent’ and sent her upstairs. Twilight tried to tell Rarity that she really wanted to look outside after all, but having already voiced her concerns about the cold, there was no taking it back and no stopping the fashionista from directing her up the stairs.
As much as Twilight appreciated having such good friends, her curiosity had been piqued, and would not be so easily denied. As soon as she got to her room, she shut the door behind her and immediately crossed over to the window next to her bed and swung it open.
The sight was magnificent.
Later, she’d feel guilty for thinking so, but with nothing else in the sky the moon looked twice as large, and it was a sight to behold. She immediately remembered her dream from the bath and the feeling of endless peace that had filled her.
All of a sudden, there was a ‘fwomph!’ from behind Twilight that launched the towel she was wearing clear across the room. Twilight spun around in panic to face… nothing, and in the process managed to bang her wing on the window frame.
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow—what.” Twilight froze in mid-panic and slowly, carefully looked over her shoulder. Wings. Twilight had two full-sized pegasus wings attached to her back, and they were both fanned out to full extension like she’d seen Rainbow Dash do whenever she got excited or surprised. One of the wings also hurt like the dickens, but that was suddenly a minor concern as far as Twilight was concerned.
Twilight’s eyes widened. All of a sudden, everything fell into place. “Oh, no no no no no no!” she said to herself. “This is not good. Not good at all. This is terrible! What do I do? What do I do?” she asked the empty room.
The room remained silent.
“Panic! This is a time for panic!” she answered, pacing back and forth as she channeled Fluttershy, whose problem-solving methods were looking awfully good to her right now. Rushing over to the door, she cracked it open and shouted “SPIKE! SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! I need you to come up here for a second!”
As soon as she heard the telltale muttering and scrabbling of claws on wood, Twilight slammed the door back shut. Quickly, she grabbed the towel from across the room with her magic and dried herself off as quickly as she could without being too rough with her tender new anatomy. She was just about done when Spike knocked and entered the room without waiting for an answer.
“Geez, what is it Twilight? Fluttershy reminded me not to let you talk me into drying you off with dragonfire again no matter how much of a hurry you’re in; not after what happened last time,” he insisted, not even noticing the change in Twilight’s anatomy until they bristled in annoyance. “Oh, hey, nice wings,” he complimented. “I guess you remembered you have a spell for—wait—is that why you were such a mess earlier?” he snickered. "Did you try to fly and end up in the mud?”
“No, Spike,” Twilight retorted, unamused.
Spike grinned. “I think you did! I didn’t notice them when you came in, but I was—”
“Spike, no!” Twilight repeated, insistent. “I didn’t use any spell! These just… appeared, somehow—while I was in the bath, I guess—and now I’m in big trouble!”
“So…” Spike said, scratching his chin in thought. “It really was your lucky day today and wings just… sprouted from your back?”
“Yes—wait—no!” Twilight shouted, correcting herself in a hurry. “Spike, this isn’t lucky! This is bad bad bad bad bad! Celestia is going to kill me!”
Spike looked concerned, though not in the same way Twilight was. "Twilight, you’re… not making much sense,” he said, taking a step back towards the door as he did so. “D-do you want me to go get—”
“No!” Twilight shouted, manifesting a large crossbar across the door with her magic that quickly slammed shut with a heavy thud. "No getting anyone!” After pausing a moment to think, her horn lit up again as she sealed the room from sound as well. “Spike, listen to me. There is no such thing as a winged unicorn. It’s not genetics, it’s magic,” Twilight explained.
“All ponies have their own unique kind of magic. Unicorn magic is formed in the mind and expressed outward through horn,” she recited as if from a book, “giving unicorns the ability to perform conscious magic known as spells. Pegasus magic is formed in the lungs and expressed outward through the wings, allowing them to fly and interact with the weather—”
“Wait,” Spike interrupted. “You said all ponies have magic, but earth ponies don’t!”
Twilight shook her head. “Earth ponies do have magic, Spike. Earth pony magic is formed in the body and mostly expressed internally. It’s what makes Applejack tough enough to buck apples all season and it makes Pinkie Pie… well, it makes Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie. The point is, nopony’s magic is just in their horn or their wings or their body. Each one is only part of an entire, complicated internal infrastructure of magic. You can’t just overlap things and expect them to work out any better than if you tossed a clock into the boiler of a train and expected it to run on time!”
“But—” Spike said, trying to work this out. “I thought you didn’t get anywhere researching Pinkie Sense? If you knew Earth Ponies have magic, then why—”
“I… didn’t know,” Twilight mumbled under her breath and through clenched teeth. “I didn’t know, okay?” she admitted, looking away from Spike. “I’d only ever studied unicorn magic! When Princess Celestia pointed it out in her next letter I—I just wanted to crawl under my bed and—!”
“Oh, so that’s why you—” Spike started to say, then changed the subject at a glare from Twilight. “That’s why you… are saying you’ve just spontaneously transformed into something that’s not a unicorn, not a pegasus and not an earth pony?”
“Yes, Spike,” Twilight confirmed with a dour countenance. "Somehow I’ve become—”
“A fruit?” Spike suggested.
“Ye—no!” Twilight shouted, appalled. “Spike! What has the horn of a unicorn, the wings of a pegasus and—and—probably enough internal magic to—I dunno—make them immortal and more?”
“Oh man, I’m really bad at riddles,” Spike grumbled. “‘Umm, give me a minute. I think I’ve heard this one before.”
“An alicorn, Spike!” Twilight squawked in consternation. “Like Princess Celestia!”
“Oh! Well, what’s wrong with that?” Spike asked, honestly baffled. “Isn’t that great?”
Twilight found herself covering her face with a hoof. Right, she hadn’t explained the most important part. “Look, Spike. Alicorns like Princess Celestia are really powerful. So powerful that they can do stuff like raising the sun and moon. I just spent—” Twilight glanced at the clock on her dresser. “Five hours dreaming about stars, I wake up apparently an alicorn, and—” She stomped over to the window, slamming it fully open. "And now the stars are missing! It’s obvious, Spike! Somehow I… I stole the stars!”
“What,” Spike said flatly, cocking his head to the side and confused as heck. “Aren’t you kind of jumping to conclusions there, Twilight?”
Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. “No, I am not jumping to conclusions. It’s called… being smart! Ohhh,” she groaned. “Too smart for my own good! Or too powerful? I didn’t try to steal the stars, it just happened! I don’t think that counts as being smart. I didn’t even get a chance to be smart, and now the princess is going to banish me from Equestria! Or throw me in a dungeon! Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that she banishes me to!"
“Oh come on Twilight.” Spike rolled his eyes. "Didn't you learn your lesson about that kind of thing ages ago?”
“Spike! This is not the princess' pet bird who turns out to be immortal! This is me causing eternal night! Or eternal… whatever you call no stars in the sky. There isn’t even a name for it! It’s me mucking with the fabric of the universe! This is exactly what got Luna—oh my gosh! The moon! She's going to banish me to the moon!"
“She's not going to banish you to the moon, Twilight,” Spike said, cradling his head in his claws in embarrassment.
“Oh no, you're right!” she cried, pacing back and forth at a pace that mimicked the circles in which her mind was spinning. “I didn't mess with the moon, I messed with the stars! What's it like being banished to the stars? Would she just pick one at random, or do you think she'll let me choose? Oh, I hope I get to choose. I don’t think any of them have mail service, but maybe I can say you were my accompli—oh no! The mail! I have to answer Princess Celestia before she gets suspicious!”
“I think you’re about four hours late for that, Twilight,” Spike reminded her with an accompanying roll of his eyes. “Here, I’m supposed to give you this one once you’ve seen the sky,” he explained, handing Twilight another open letter. “Now come on, open this door so we can explain what’s going to everyone else. You know, your friends. The ones who’ve been waiting here for hours just to see if you’re alright?”
“Oh, right,” Twilight said, unbarring the door automatically as she began unrolling the second letter. “Wait—no!” she hissed and slammed the door shut again. Thankfully, she hadn’t dispelled the silencing seal yet. “We can’t tell anyone about this! Anyone!”
Spike looked like he was going to argue, but he’d just about had enough. “Ugh, fine!” he said, throwing his hands up into the air. “Fine! You just go out there and tell them whatever it is you’re going to tell them! I’m going to bed. This is all giving me a headache. I’ll stay here tomorrow too, someone has to watch the library, and I am not lying to the princess.”
“The princess? What?” Twilight blinked in confusion.
“Just read the letter and go,” Spike growled. From the look he gave her, Twilight would have sworn he’d been taking staring lessons from Fluttershy.
Twilight sheepishly backed out of the room and shut the door quietly, then yanked it open again and jumped back in the room. “Wings—right,” she said, gasping for breath. Spike was already rolled over in his basket with his back to the door and said nothing. Twilight grabbed the first thing she could find out of her dresser with magic, pulled it on over her wings and left Spike in peace.
✶ ✶ ✶
My faithful student’s faithful assistant Spike,
I am sorry to hear that Twilight has ‘barricaded herself in the bathroom with magic.’ I understand the compulsion and envy her for having such a wonderful assistant that she can do so when needed—although I must admit, her timing in this instance is poor.
In truth, we have no leads at the moment on the matter of the missing stars, so please let her relax for tonight. Knowing my student, she will wish to come to Canterlot to help investigate as soon as she sees the sky. Let her know I will be happy to receive her and any guests tomorrow, after a good night’s rest.
～ H.R.H. Princess Celestia of Equestria.
Twilight was mortified. Forget the stars, Spike had told the princess about her locking herself in the bathroom! She was so embarrassed, she thought she would—
“Twilight darling, what are you wearing?” cried Rarity in shock as Twilight rounded the landing connecting the the stairs to the main room of the library.
Twilight blinked. What was she wearing, actually? She had to check. It was an old, stretched-out black sweater that hung loosely on her frame. The sleeves were overlong and she hadn’t even got them all the way up past her hooves, and she’d been walking on them. “Oh this?” she asked, nervously pulling the sleeves up past her fetlocks. “This is… what I normally wear. At night. In the winter. When no one is around. It’s… it’s my favorite thing.”
Rarity, for her part, was scandalized. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, Applejack didn’t see anything at all wrong with it, and Pinkie Pie nearly pulled it off Twilight with her teeth in the process of testing to see if it was licorice.
“I like it,” Fluttershy said meekly, rubbing her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s so soft… and good for hiding.”
“O-kay!” Twilight beamed nervously, trying to change the subject. “So, how about those stars, huh?” Twilight had thought the awkward silence couldn’t get any worse; she was wrong. “Girls?”
Applejack was the one who finally said what had to be said. “Look, Twi. You know that every one of us is here fer ya when you need it. That’s why we’re here… bein’ here fer ya and all.”
“You don’t want to come to Canterlot with me,” Twilight deduced.
“It’s not that we don’t want to, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a pained expression on her face. “You know how happy Rarity was the last time the princess put her up in the castle, but you’re going because you got a job to do. You won’t have time fer any of that and we… Well, we all got jobs to do ‘round here so when the time comes, and you do find out who’s behind all this, we’ll all be free to come use the Elements of Harmony or whatever.”
“I… yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Twilight capitulated. There was just one small problem. She wasn’t going to ‘figure it out.’ She already had figured it out, and she was determined to keep it secret! If she didn’t even have her friends for support… she wasn’t sure what she’d do. When would she even see them again? Would she ever see them again? If Princess Celestia found out what she’d done and banished her to Alnilam—the star she was thinking of asking to be banished to—the implications were horrifying. Twilight felt an abrupt new appreciation for for what had happened to Princess Luna.
“Oh come on!” came Rainbow Dash’s rough voice, jarring Twilight out of her dour thoughts. “You’re not feeling guilty for being so awesome the princess wants your help, are you?” she asked. “I mean, if you were any more awesome, you’d be me—and you don’t have the flanks for that. Sorry Twi but it’s the truth.”
“I… Yeah, you’re right, Dash. Thanks,” Twilight said, feeling heartened despite her insincerity.
“I’m always right,” Rainbow Dash assured her, checking out her own flanks.
“I mean about the—oh, never mind.” Twilight sighed, shaking her head as everyone else laughed.
✶ ✶ ✶
Twilight apologized to everyone—except for Rainbow Dash—and assured them that she was fine and she’d just been a little out of it earlier. Applejack mentioned that she really should be getting home since farm ponies usually rose with the sun, and Twilight finally showed everyone out with a sigh of relief.
Or so she thought. Apparently she had two stragglers.
“So?” challenged Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was trying to look as small as possible behind her, which was difficult with Rainbow Dash hovering a few hooves off the ground.
“Rainbow Dash, I am not apologizing for flinging you home,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.
“Okay, first—that’s not what this is about, and second—you didn’t fling me home, you shot me through my home and halfway to Cloudsdale.”
“I—what?” Twilight asked dumbly. “Oh. Well, sorry for that I suppose,” she said, though it was still rather weak for an apology. “Now can you go? I have to get to bed so I can go to Canterlot in the morning.”
“Fine,” Rainbow Dash said, marginally appeased. She began to flap over to the door but was stopped by Fluttershy, who had taken her tail in her mouth and was gesturing at Twilight with her eyes. "What—oh, right! Like I said—that’s not why we’re still here! Twilight Sparkle, you’re going to tell us why you have wings and why you’re hiding them.”
“I have… what now?” Twilight asked nervously. She was trying to put up a convincing front when Fluttershy nudged her in the ribs with one hoof just so, causing one of Twilight’s wings to reflexively pop straight out under the sweater.
Twilight’s attempt to to stay calm and pretend everything was fine took a sharp nosedive as she was gripped by a horrible sensation of claustrophobia. Her eyes remained locked straight ahead, pretending nothing was happening as her wing beat back and forth behind her, trying to right itself inside the sweater without much input from her. Before she realized it, she was scrambling both wings in panic and writhing on the floor until she could get out of the cashmere monstrosity that imprisoned her.
“S-sorry” Fluttershy apologized to the ruffled alicorn, who had ended up sitting none too happy on her haunches with the sweater in front of herself, hooves crossed, hair mussed, wings fanned out messily and a pouty look of silent indignation on her face.
“I didn’t think you actually…” Fluttershy mumbled in a tiny voice before reasserting herself in a scolding, motherly tone. “You really shouldn’t wear things like that over your wings. It’s a bad idea. You could hurt them.”
“You don’t say,” Twilight said, her voice full of sarcasm and petulance as one rumpled wing twitched.
“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash lectured, “you can’t hide wings from a pegasus; they’re the first thing we look at on a pony. Now come on, spill. I knew something was up when I crashed into you today. You felt really light and fluffy, like one of us. I thought you’d just gotten a new shampoo or something, but that obviously wasn’t it, was it? Fluttershy is like a doctor or something, so you can’t hide anything from her either. Heck, I bet Rarity would have seen through you too if she could have brought herself to look at that horrible thing you were wearing. Tell—us—what—is—going—on!”
Twilight’s lower lip quivered a second as Rainbow Dash stared her down and Fluttershy continued to look guilty and sorry for what she’d done. It was a hallmark of how keenly Rainbow Dash’s words had struck home that Twilight didn’t even register that the blue pegasus had uncharacteristically referred to herself as ‘fluffy’. Finally, Twilight just flopped forward with a sigh, and told them the whole story.
✶ ✶ ✶
“O-oh... Wow...” Fluttershy mused. “I—I really don’t think Princess Celestia would banish you anywhere. You made an honest mistake, and she always seemed really nice.”
“You guys can’t tell anypony,” Twilight pleaded, more question than statement. “Please?”
“Of course we won’t Twilight,” Fluttershy assured her. “It’s not our place to say anything; but you really should tell her yourself. Princess Celestia is your mentor. Don’t you trust her?”
“Of course I—but I—” she stammered, staring at her hooves, “I just… can’t.”
“Maybe after you talk to her you’ll realize she only has your best interests at heart. You’ll have lots and lots of time for that, since you’ll be faking all of the help that your dearest, most beloved mentor is personally counting on you for,” Fluttershy suggested, eliciting a wilted cringe from Twilight.
“Dash?” Twilight asked, turning to the blue pegasus to escape the sad, disappointed looks Fluttershy was giving her. "You won’t tell anyone, right?”
“Hey, whatever you want Twilight,” Rainbow Dash assured her, already distracted. “I just didn’t like being left out and lied to. I’m good now.”
Subtle, Rainbow Dash was not.
Twilight’s head drooped with shame and she groaned. She couldn’t respond to that. She couldn’t even look her friends in the eyes. Eventually her head drooped so low her body had to follow with a flop, and she just curled up on the floor with a sigh.
“I think we should go,” Fluttershy suggested. The guilt-ridden alicorn didn’t answer at all.
“Yeah, uhh… okay,” Rainbow Dash ceded, one hoof on the door. “See ya Twilight. Um, good luck.”
“Bye Twilight,” mumbled Fluttershy.
“Do you think we overdid it?” Rainbow Dash whispered as the two pegasi let themselves out of the library.
“Maybe…” Fluttershy admitted in equally hushed tones, just before the door drifted shut.
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I'm not one to stick Author's Notes in the description or chapters, so that leaves the comments!
Author's Notes
First, I'd like to mention that the first three chapters of this are all complete, so look forward to the next two being posted in a timely manner.
Second, I don't like to mention but must admit that chapters after that will likely be posted in a less-than timely manner. Sorry, I'm not the fastest writer! Which brings us to:
Third, the majority of the first two chapters were written before Luna Eclipsed aired, so I'm sorry if subsequent edits have made anything awkward! I like the effect Luna's choice of speech has on her character, but I'm not too good with it. Hopefully any strangeness can be explained by her being between dialects, but let me know if there's anything particularly incongruous.
That's all!
I would say that it's nice to see more Alicorn!Twilight in this site and from the stories I've read so far, none of them had Twilight as the Alicorn in charge of the stars so good concept and nice execution too! Faved, tracking, and thumbs up.
This story is tagged romance, care to tell the pairing? Other than that, seems good.
That was pretty good. Looking foreword to Chapter 2
Neat story, dood.
347431 i predict twiluna, dood.
One or more of the Mane Six becoming an Alicorn is not a new idea, but your version of the transformation seem better done than most. My only grip would be it happened too fast. I would think there would be a several day period of Twilight getting bigger but weighing less, being very clumsy or acident prone since her height and reach has changed, more problems with her magic being more powerful, more pains or raised bumps on her back, ect...
Having Twilight dreaming about flying was good, but perhaps you could of done more with the dreams she had earlier before her bath/transformation, like her also dreaming of being a Princess or being more powerful for several days beforehand.
IMO Rarity most likely would have seen that Twilight was now an Alicorn just like Pinkie and Dash, but would have not pushed the point upon seeing that Twilight was obviously trying to hide her wings with such an ugly garment. Plus Alicorns are much bigger than ponies, especially a pony the size of Twilight. She always seem to me to be on the small size for her age.
I noted this is marked as a romance, I can only assume whom you are shipping. However the there is a very likely pair or will it be a trio? I would think immortality would tend to limit your choices unless you liked see your partners grow old on you.
BTW, I really hope Twilight became an Alicorn solely or mainly because of her becoming a powerful Unicorn and/or being the element of magic, and NOT because she is secretly the daughter of either Celestia or Luna.
Its a darn good fic. Alicorn Twilight needs more stories. Glad to see another one. Very intriguing. Can't wait to see whe
re you go with it. Instant track.
Tracking. I suggest not to make it too cliche, but so far so good!
UNO mustachio!
Chapters of this quality and length I have no problems waiting awhile for. As for canon compliance, if need be just give an episode name and say everything after that point is to be ignored unless explicitly mentioned in story.
347431
Why does it have to be merely a pairing?
------------------------
Its okay so far, but it seems like you only have this part because you feel it is needed, but do not like it and are therefore rushing though it.
Part of the reason for it feeling rushed is you crammed a lot of things (Twilight taller, stars disappearing, Twilight Alicorned, hiding her wings, having her secret discovered) into one chapter. Consider going back and expanding it into at least two decent sized chapters.
“Somehow I’ve become–”
"A fruit?"
That's just funny. I like it.
The part I'm really digging is the little characterization gags you keep slipping in. While the basic conceit is nothing new (somewhat improved by having Twilight's new role be one that's carved out of the other alicorn's purviews rather than outright replacing one of them), the execution is delightfully polished. Looking forward to more.
>>everyone
Thanks for all the appreciation. I personally enjoy my own writing far too much, so it's hard for me to predict how other people will react. I'm glad you're enjoying it!
347431
) right away either.
347553
The overall concept is Twiluna, but that's not to say Celestia isn't involved, or that Twilight and Luna will be mooning over each other (
347731
Part of it is the excessive edits I mentioned, but mostly I just feel like every line has to be special and unique. I also really dislike prophetic dreams as a plot device unless a character is an actual prophet-proper in a magical world, so there's that too 
348176
Sorry if it came off rushed, my writing is very dense, I know.
Re: Her transformation: The intent was to imply that she's been growing very slowly over the past year in a very 'natural' way, as if she was simply 'still growing' as Rarity put it and nowhere near the stature of even first season Luna yet. The only sudden change that happens is her wings, which is mostly a choice of thematic/dramatic necessity. Sorry if that wasn't clear. As for Rarity... What she does or does not know is not included in this chapter
Re: The reason for her transformation: The details of the reasons behind Twilight's transformation are a bit of a complicated issue. All I'll say on the matter is that I very nearly also marked this as 'Adventure'
347950
Well sure, I can (and will) do that now, but it feels just a little awkward to me to not even match up when first published. I certainly have no intention of making any changes to fit Cadence in barring the unlikely serendipitous coincidence of having a compatible concept.
A little bit of Trivia: I initially tried to get this posted on EQD a few days before Luna Eclipsed aired so I wouldn't feel compelled to change it for canon Luna, but that didn't work out—which actually worked out better in the end (in theory) since as I said above, I do like the characterization opportunities offered by her speech (even if I'm not good at it
)
I imagine Twilight sort of looking like Fleur at some point.
348752
As new episodes are released, if there is something that you really like, have it happen in the story, toss your own spin on it as it happens during the events of your story, and move on. As for Luna, your current method to adapt to that episode certianly looks to be interesting in its own right, but you could have easily all but ignored it for all the early scenes when Luna is not out in public, and then explain it away later as basically her security blanket when dealing with a very uncomfortable situation. The Royal Canterlot Voice was how things were done back in the day so she fell back on habit when she had to visit, on her own, the town housing the 6 ponies that stopped her as Nightmare Moon, on top of also being the only town, as far as we know, that she terrorized upon escaping the moon. Again, either on its own a reason to be uncomfortable, together could leave her a nervous wreck holding onto what ever familiar habits she could for comfort. Many people act differently in public settings as opposed to just with close friends or on their own. Any future episodes you can basically explain away most personality traits of any character deviating from what you have in your story as them putting on an act to cover up something they are embarrassed about. Another example 
, An author could easily have Rainbow Dash an avid reader, one who gets so involved in any story she reads that acting as she did in the Daring Doo episode would actually be the norm when not being able to finish a book she started. Still thinking it is an eggheads passtime, she doesn't want to let on that she enjoys it, so when caught by her friends decides to pass it off as only being for this particular book series and to play up her addiction to reading even more when it comes to it, while maintaining the illusion of her distaste for other reading material. You just have to find the right way to spin a situation and you can explain away most anything, and as the author you can craft the opportunities to give such explainations.
I can understand wanting to conform to canon as much as possible, especially as it allows you the full benifit that comes with writing fanfiction, that being a lack of need to fully explain backstory. I know I am often irritated when an author seems to randomly change minor facts around to deviate from the core story with little explaination as to why. However this is a What If spinoff as well as being a fanfiction of a realatively new and still ongoing series. Alone either reason is enough to not expect an author to hold to canon, together you could have humans being a secret slave race living underground working to turn massive wheels and gear systems linked together to manually move the surface of the planet under the guidence of their alicorn overlords to allow the illusion of control over the celestial bodies and the readers shouldn't complain about the deviation from canon...too much
Damnit really? I was looking forward to reading this fic. Oh well.
@ Ranger, I meant reading more of it.
349746 I feel the same. Probly later today.
I want more, would you kindly post more please.
Moar!!!!
and while I really like it, it also feels a bit rushed, like some of the comments above have mentioned. The writings good, and I'm really looking forward to the next one!
347731
Yes yes yessssssss... I tottally agree with this, the daughter of the princess thing just dosen't sound as interesting.
Also, I want to see some earth pony attributes going on too.
351135
352788
Later tonight, probably! It was going to be friday, but I decided to make some last minute additions.
349215
I am well aware of the ways I can manipulate the canon, but I'm fortunate enough that none of the additions to canon so far conflict with my setting, so additional callbacks to them where appropriate isn't too forced—just a little awkward. If anything truly conflicting came of it, I'd probably have just ignored it, maybe slap an Alternate Universe tag on it. I'll do my best to resist the urge to Lucas any posted chapters though, so there's not much to worry about now.
349746
Can't please everyone, I suppose. I should point out though that this fic is rated for Everyone, so it may be easy to look at it as Friendshipping—unless you just have something against Luna in which case I can't help you 
I'm sorry to hear that Twiluna is a deal breaker for you
358311
As for Earth Pony attributes... They will be mentioned at least a little, but I'm afraid they may be overshadowed by the more alicorn-specific side of things.
Don't worry, Twilight is not related to the Princesses
If it's any consolation, I've actually been brainstorming a fic where Twilight becomes an earth pony whose special talent is (still) magic just to explore that very thing, so you may see that sometime down the road
I love Twi-Luna.
Later tonight? I'll be waiting.
I have to say, the second I read " I lost the stars", I barked a laughed
Not exactly the best thing to do at 2 in the morning
...
Now to finish reading this magnificent beast of a story
343605 checks update page for this story/ hmm, remembers that the author has left something about updates in author's note/ OH NOOO less-than timely manner!!!
" If Twilight walked out into the windy street in front of her Library as she was, she was liable to end up reliving her experience with the basilisk"
Basilisk? I think you meant cockatrice. I don't remember seeing a giant snake turning Twilight into a statue.
Aside from that, good first chapter! Looking forward to what will happen.
I like this one so far and now onward to the next chapter!
Looks great! Loved the first chapter! Twilight's freaking out flowed well from one punishment to another, so I LOVED it! Can't wait to keep reading!
"your friendly neighborhood fashionista"
Do I smell a reference?
I had my doubts at the start, but you've sold me with a single chapter. No, not even that. A third of a chapter.
Twilight freaking out and Spike trying to talk sense into her was just so perfect.
I LOVED the finer details of the pegasi wings and how they could recognize Twilight now having wing.
And Twilight being self conscious about her weight.
"you shoved a clock into a train and expected it to run on time! " Love that line.
This is done very well so far! I'll keep reading!
It's so soft--and good for hiding
Excellent start, will be reading more.
Alright for Pete's sake somepony reason with me:
Celestia controls the sun. A SUN.
Luna controls the Moon and the night stars, or if you put it in other terms, SHITLOADS of SUNS.
So my only conclusion is that Luna is WAAAY more powerful than Celestia.
And that's my theory...
I just felt like telling you, im doing a reading on this that ive posted on youtube :) And btw really well written story, i love it!
I wonder how the story was before you revised it. . . in any case, it looks like you've received a great amount of help in making it better. It certainly looks wonderful from reading the first chapter. I feel there could be the teensiest bit more of expression coming from Twilight, but the dialogue is solid enough to make it known how she's reacting and acting. Really, it looks awesome. I'm gonna read the next 2 chapters later.
Good
“Spike. If every time my back itched was my lucky day, I’d have found that missing copy of ‘Predictions and Prophecies’ by now! Hay, after all this time I’d probably have spontaneously sprouted wings!”
I just love the irony here.
Goodness, the writing is so good, why is there not more to this story? I really, really, hope it's not dead.
>but they only have arms
>Now come on, lets get this one home
>Rainbow dash rolled her eyes,
>you’ll realize she only has your best interests at heart
^ Fix them dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
>“Horseapples," Celestia swore, gracefully facehooving.
>“W-what?! No! I would never–! Tia, that’s disgusting!”
What? I don't get it dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_TwilightWut.png
good writer, have a
. you have earned it.
If you're waiting for the other shoe to drop while holding horseshoes, do three horseshoes drop? I really hope I wasn't reading too much into that lampshade hanging.
Cool!
derpy.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/134471577587.gif
"Oh no! Look at that guy standing at the top of the stairs! He could fall down them and get hurt!" Chuck said with horror. Rushing over to the unsuspecting man Chuck promptly pushes him down the stairs, waiting till he reaches the bottom before saying, "You shouldn't stand around at the top of stairs, it's a really bad idea... You could fall down them and hurt yourself."
The pain wracked victim clumsily dials nine one one on his cell phone to summon an ambulance as he tries not to touch the jagged bone protruding from his shin.
Is Chuck;
a) A good, upstanding guy, brimming with kindness.
b) A vicious, douchebag-y, hateful asshole.
YOU DECIDE!
EDIT :
Oh and, Spike responded to statements that weren't made about all ponies having magic. They also talked about Twilight exhibiting Earth Pony magic when... she didn't.
MINOR SPOILER ALERT!!!
First off, thank you for averting the "Wingboner" thing (at least a little).
Secondly, were you inspired in your wording by the PMV set to the tune of "The Girl Who Stole the Stars"?
Alnilam (the star she was thinking of asking to be banished to,)
-To my slight shame I play MouseHunt, so I know that that is one of the stars on Orion's belt. Any particular reason she picked that one? Easy to find for her friends to look at her?
“So?” challenged Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was trying to look as small as possible behind her,
-Noticed the bulges of the wind, did they? Almost tempted to say that Rarity should have too, since she has to fit dresses over wings sometimes.
Heck, I bet Rarity would have seen through you too if she could have brought herself to look at that horrible thing you were wearing.
-Oh, I see you have that covered.
Twilight: Stay away from my horn
Applejack: Stay away from my trees
Rainbow Dash: Stay away from my hooves
Rarity: Stay away from my cloth
Pinkemena: Stay away from me
Fluttershy: Stay away from my shed
Flaring your wings under a sweater sounds really unpleasant.
I want wings too.
This is off to a good start. The very first line establishes tone quite well and the humor stays throughout the story. People's reactions feel in character, even Fluttershy accidentally hurting Twilight in the process of showing her why not to do something that could hurt her seems like something that could happen on the show. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy make a good team here.
Twilight's transformation seems a hair rushed since she's only notably larger with measurement, then she's not on par with Celestia or Luna yet. Or is she still growing? If she'd been as tall as even the shorter of the Royal Sisters when she emerged from the bathroom people would have noticed. Though I suppose Cadence would indicate some lesser height Alicorns, except she's not an Equestrian Celestial Alicorn but a Crystal Empire Emotional Alicorn, which might as well be a different breed when talking about things like height, mane appearance, and so on. Actually, that brings up the question of if the stars are going to appear in Twilight's hair? Pretty hard to hide that.
Well, I suppose I could just read the following chapters and find out.