"Scootaloo, are you..." Rainbow said as she rushed into the bathroom and saw Scootaloo's horn and stopped on her tracks. "What happened to you?"
"I don't know, it was there when I woke up," Scootaloo said as she felt the horn just to be sure it was real, it was definitely real. "How did this happen?"
"I, honestly don't know," Rainbow said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Did anything strange happen last night?"
"Not that I know of, the only thing I remember is I could've sworn I heard Discord talking to me at one point," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "I thought I was just dreaming, so I didn't really think much of it."
"Well, that explains a lot," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Sounds like Discord has some explaining to do, but in the meantime, maybe we should talk to Twilight. If anypony can help is figure it out, I'm sure she can."
Scootaloo smiled a little and nodded as she hugged Rainbow Dash. She was glad that she had somepony who was willing to be there for her, she just had to hope that they'd be able to figure this out.
"Come on, lets go talk to her now," Rainbow said as they headed out of the bedroom and towards the front door. "How does it feel anyway?"
"Kinda weird honestly," Scootaloo admitted as she rubbed her horn. "I didn't actually think this would happen to me... what will Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom think?"
"They're your friends Scootaloo, they won't care, well as long as you don't let it go to your head," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she ruffled the filly's mane. "Try not to let it go to your head too much okay?"
"Darn it, there goes my plans for the weekend," Scootaloo said with a giggle as they left the cloud house, she looked back at her wings a little. "I wonder if..."
"We'll test it out later, come on, I'll give you a lift," Rainbow Dash said as she knelt down and Scootaloo climbed onto her back. "Hold on tight, okay?"
"Okay, lets go!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she held on tight to Rainbow as she took off and flew towards the Castle of Friendship.
00000
As Rainbow flew towards the Castle, Scootaloo sighed a little as she thought about what had happened. She also wondered what this was going to mean for her, was she going to be made a Princess like Twilight was? Or was she going to have to give it up because she had been turned into an Alicorn by Discord?
"What's on your mind squirt?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked back at the filly.
"Sorry, I'm just thinking about all of this," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Why do you think Discord would do this? I mean maybe to cause chaos, but this seems kind of, strange for him to do."
Rainbow Dash frowned a little, Discord was one of the few that she had told about Scootaloo's condition, was it possible in some weird way he was trying to help her out? Well, she'd have to talk to him about that as soon as she got the chance.
"Umm, Rainbow Dash, are you okay? We've been hovering outside the castle for like 3 minutes," Scootaloo said, which got Rainbow Dash to snap out of her thoughts.
"Oh, yeah, how silly of me," she said with a chuckle as she landed outside the front door and knocked on it.
After a few minutes Twilight opened the door and gave the two a smile. "Hey Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, how are..." She started to say before she got a good look at Scootaloo. "Wait, what? How did she..."
"Yeah, we're still kind of trying to figure that out," Rainbow said. "We were hoping that you and the other Princesses could help us."
"Discord might've had something to do with it," Scootaloo added as she explained what little they knew about it, Twilight listened intently, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "And that's all we know, what do you think?"
"That's not a whole lot to go on," Twilight admitted and shook her head. "Okay, I'll send a message to Celestia, come inside, I want to check her over, if that's okay."
"Sure," Scootaloo said and Twilight lead them inside.
00000
Twilight had to do a few tests to see what was going on with Scootaloo, they were fairly ordinary really, mostly checking her magical aura to make sure that everything was okay. Scootaloo looked at her nervously, she had no idea exactly what to make of this, while she wasn't unfamiliar with having things like this done, this was the first time they had been directed at her.
"Hmm, interesting," Twilight said as she took notes on a scroll. "have you felt anything different since you woke up?"
"Well, I've been feeling some occasional surges of energy, but I don't know if that's normal," Scootaloo admitted as she shook her head a little.
"Its okay, same thing happened to me when I ascended," Twilight said as she examined Scootaloo thoughtfully, prodding at her horn a little before shaking her head. "Well Scootaloo, as far as I can tell you're a normal Alicorn Filly, if Discord did this to you then there's no residual chaos magic or anything."
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, that was good news at least. Even if she was an Alicorn now, Scootaloo was going to be okay, that was all that really mattered.
"Though I have to wonder why Discord would do this in the first place," Twilight commented out loud. "Its not like he has any real reason to do this, except for maybe to cause some sort of chaos by creating a new Princess."
Rainbow was about to say something when Spike came in carrying a rolled up piece of paper with Celestia's seal on it. "Twilight, I just got a response from Celestia."
"Thank you Spike," Twilight said as she levitated the paper out of his claw and opened it, reading it out loud.
Twilight Sparkle,
This is a rather unusual development, it it has never happened before that a Pony became an Alicorn without ascension or being born one, so honestly I do not know how to proceed without seeing for myself. I will be sending a carriage to bring you, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash to Canterlot, it will be there within the hour.
It is imperative that for now we keep this a secret. We do not yet know the consequences of what has been done to Scootaloo, and until we do we must tread with caution. Until we are ready to go public with the existence of a new Alicorn, you should place an illusion spell on the filly when she has to be in public.
With luck this will only be a temporary measure, for now life must go on as normal.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.
"Well, that helps a little," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Do you think Princess Celestia will be able to help us figure it out?"
"Well, she'll try to at least," Twilight said with a nod as she looked at Rainbow. "Now then, before we go meet with the carriage, is there anything else I should know?"
"Well, its possible that it was because Scootaloo can't fly," Rainbow said with a sigh. "I told Fluttershy yesterday, but Discord was there so he found out. I don't know why he'd do it, but he could've done it for that reason."
"Well, have you tried to fly?" Twilight asked Scootaloo who shook her head. "Well, for now I think that's best, I'm sorry Scootaloo, I know you really want to fly."
"Its okay, I can wait another couple of days if I have to," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "I just hope that everything will be okay, honestly I didn't think this would ever happen to me."
"I don't think anypony ever does really," Twilight said with a shake of her head. "Why don't you go talk with Spike a little? I want to have a word with Rainbow Dash before the carriage gets here."
"Okay!" Scootaloo says as she gallops away to go see Spike.
"Is everything okay, Twilight?" Rainbow asked as she looked at the lavender colored Alicorn. "I know this was a bit unexpected."
"A bit unexpected? That's an understatement," Twilight said with a sigh as she rubbed her forehead. "Rainbow, this could be a big problem, whatever caused her to become an Alicorn has started to shift the balance in Equestria. It means that its more important than ever to make sure that she is kept safe, and that's going to fall on your shoulders as much as anypony. Are you up for that? I know you didn't sign up for that when you became her foster mom."
Rainbow thought for a long moment, she knew that Twilight was right, but the fact is there really was only one answer that she could give. She cared about Scootaloo deeply, that was why she had agreed to take care of her in the first place, that wasn't going to change.
"She's still Scootaloo, I'm going to take care of her no matter what," Rainbow said with a determined look on her face. "I'm not going to give up just because she's an Alicorn."
"Good," Twilight said with a smile, she knew that's how Rainbow would respond. "And she's lucky to have you, admittedly this will make the adoption process complicated, but I'm sure we can get it worked out. Especially if Celestia and Luna back it up."
"Thanks Twilight," Rainbow said with a smile. "For everything."
Twilight nodded and Rainbow went off to find Spike and Scootaloo.
00000
The trip to Canterlot passed pretty normally after Twilight had put the illusion spell onto Scootaloo. Some ponies noticed them as they went past, but none of them really paid any attention to the young filly. Twilight lead them to Celestia's private offices where the secretary waved them in.
Scootaloo gulped a little nervously as she found herself standing in front of the Princess of the Sun who is looking at her closely.
"Do not worry Scootaloo," Celestia said with a smile before looking at Twilight and giving her a nod. "You may remove the illusion now, Twilight."
Twilight nodded and the illusion hiding Scootaloo's horn vanished. Celestia examined her and went over the details of the tests that Twilight had done and sighed.
"Yes, Discord was definitely behind this, which means he is the only one who would be able to undo it," Celestia said and shook her head. "But, I don't think that would be a good idea."
"Why not?" Rainbow asked curiously.
"Because we don't know what would happen if an Alicorn lost her status," Celestia said. "The results could be disastrous. So Scootaloo will have to remain an Alicorn, and when she's ready, become the sixth Princess of Equestria."
Scootaloo blinked a little, she had no idea what to say about that at all.