“I told you to be more careful with the spells in that journal, now look at where we are!”
“Well excuse me for taking my studies seriously for the princess! How else was I going to figure out what it was supposed to do!?”
“You could have at least set up a shield or something to contain the effects! I could have helped with that at least and with who your brother is I'm sure even he taught you a few tricks!”
Aegis Flare and Twilight argued with each other while their friends just started around at the endless, starry expanse in shock. The two had been going at it since they had appeared wherever it was they were and the others were starting to feel anxious. Eventually one of them snapped. “Girls! This is not the time or place for this! We all need to work together and find out what is going on so until then you need to stop arguing!”
The two mares froze in place under the force of Fluttershy's stare before glancing at the others and blushing. Taking a moment to calm down the two turned back to each other. “Sorry about that Twilight, I really shouldn't be yelling at you like that, this is just so outside of anything I'm used to.
Twilight shook her head at her friend. “No, I'm the one who should apologize. You are right though, I should have taken better precautions before casting that spell. Because I didn't I almost ruined the lives of all of my friends.”
The two hugged though the orange mare still quietly whispered something so the others couldn't hear. “We're still going to talk about this later.”
Twilight only nods in response while the others look on. “That's better, now how about we figure out just where we are now... Um, if you don't mind that is.”
The group of mares nodded to Fluttershy but before any of them could react their attention was drawn by a globe of light forming in the area. From out of the light stepped Princess Celestia who had her eyes closed as she was speaking. “Congratulations, Twilight. I knew you could do-”
The princess froze in place as she opened her eyes and took in the figures of seven mares instead of only the one she was expecting. The mares looked at each other in confusion as the princess' normally smoothly flowing mane started taking on a jagged appearance. As her eye began to twitch the princess began to speak again. “Wait, what... What are all of you doing here!? No, no, no, no, this isn't right. Nothing was ever said about this, what could have gone wrong.”
Suddenly a scroll thicker than any of the mares were tall appeared between them and the princess as she started unraveling it. “No. Not this. Not here. Certainly not this. Nothing! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! It has to be here somewhere! It has to be!”
As the princess began to panic more and more the seven mares looked at each other before settling on Twilight who was starting to twitch a little at seeing the princess lose her composure like this. “You know, I always wondered where Twilight got that from. I just didn't expect it to be the princess.”
The others nodded to Rainbow Dash while Twilight shot a glare at her. Watching the princess they all wondered what they were supposed to do now when another voice spoke up. “Well this is a pleasant surprise this fine night. No wonder my sister was so secretive lately and ran off so suddenly during our private meal.”
The seven turned to see princess Luna walking up behind them with her eye on her sister as she sighed and shook here head. “Oh Tia, you still haven't learned how to deal with your chessmaster schemes going off script, have you? You always were too organized and never could handle the unexpected.”
“Is it raining, is it snowing?”
Princess Luna winced as her sister started rocking back in forth with her forelimbs grasping around her rear while saying random things. With a sigh she turned to look back at the seven confused mares thoughtfully. “Now how to deal with all of you. Tia played everything so close to her chest that I have no clue about what she had planned. From how she always talked about her student I believe that only Twilight should have been here and the rest of you were the flaw in her plans.”
“Oh no, my caterpillar didn't turn into a butterfly.”
Looking from her friends to the crazily muttering white alicorn, Twilight stepped forward to address the other princess. “Princess Luna? Just what is going on? One moment We were finishing that spell in Starswirl's journal, and the next the Elements of Harmony all lit up and did something to send us here.”
“Have fun storming the castle.”
“Yeah! First they were all vreee then all fwoom and then we all exploded!” The others stared at Pinkie Pie for a moment before Rainbow Dash facehoofed.
“Seriously!? You cause an explosion and you catch all of us in it instead of just yourself? I was sure I was going to win this time and now Berry is going to collect the pot yet again.” Twilight glared over at her friend at finding out she was the one that had bet on her exploding for the town's betting pool. Before things could escalate Luna cleared her throat, though paused after glancing at her sister once more.
“Tia like big boom!”
“That is going to be difficult to explain. We should-” The princess was interrupted as a shrieking pink missile passed in front of her to crash into Twilight causing her to bring a hoof up to rub at the base of her horn.
“EEEEEEEE! Oh Twilight I can't believe you actually did it! I just can't wait to show you everything and-” Princess Cadance looked up and paused on seeing the six other confused mares and looked around only to discover the state her aunt was in and wince.
“There's no place like home.”
“Oh auntie, this again? I would have thought you would have learned after the last time.” Looking around her eyes fell on the other royal sister and she smiled sweetly up at her from her position holding Twilight. “You're here too auntie Luna? Have you explained everything to them yet?”
“You can't handle the truth.”
With a sigh Princess Luna looked over the others. “As I was saying, things are more complicated than we had anticipated so we should move this conversation somewhere more comfortable. It should not be long before you are drawn back to where you arrived from and we shall meet you there.”
She was about to say more when a loud smack rang out through the area.
“At the sound of the beep, the time shall be ten thirty-seven, BEEP!”
All heads turned to stare in shock at Aegis Flare who was standing next to Celestia with her hoof raised after smacking the crazed princess. They could only stare in horror as her hoof came back around for another pass.
*SMACK*
“Coltston, we have a problem.”
*SMACK*
“My precious.”
*SMACK*
“Are you not entertained!”
“Flare! What do you think you're doing!?” Looking up from the princess, Aegis Flare rose an eyebrow at her friend's looks.
“What? Whatever this is is obviously her fault since she had it all planned out and I doubt I'll ever get this chance again. I have a feeling that I'll want to do worse after this is all over if her reaction is anything to go by. Besides, it's rather therapeutic.” She flinched slightly when not only Twilight, but Fluttershy and Luna all glared at her causing her to drop her hoof.
“Well stop it, this isn't the time for that and you should have more respect for- Wait, now what is happening?” Twilight's anger turned to confusion as lights began swirling around her and all her friends, lifting them into the air. Princess Luna gave them all a comforting smile as they rose.
“Do not worry, it is just this place returning you once again where you belong.” The mares looked relieved, except for Pinkie Pie who was disappointed about something.
“Aww, but that looked like fun and I didn't get a chance to try.” The princess rolled her eyes as the pink mare was pointing at her sister before the group disappeared. With them gone she looked around to find that Cadance had already left, most likely to notify her husband, before settling her gaze on her sister.
“Cats and dogs living together, total anarchy!”
With a frown the princess of the night raised her hoof before giving her sister a smack across her muzzle, setting her to swaying.
“Price check on prune juice! Price check on prune juice!”
The princess looked down at her hoof in surprise for a moment. “Huh, she was right. This is rather therapeutic. They can wait a bit longer, they have plenty of time now. I really need to find out what my sister had planned first anyways.”
The area rang out with the sound of hoof meeting flesh and giggles as the princess of the night took a bit of long-awaited revenge on her sister.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Back in Ponyville the citizens of town were preparing for sleep when a lightshow appeared about the town library. They watched in awe as a large representation of Twilight's cutie mark was circled by that of each of her friends as they slowly descended to the ground. As they landed the shapes erupted in fountains of color and when the show ended seven mares were left in its place. The townsfolk watched in awe before one of them stepped forward to prod at one of the bodies and do a quick examination while looking over a scroll. “Hmm, nope! No alicorns on the list this time for the pool so looks like I win the pot again. Like usual, partial bonuses will be paid out at the pub.”
A chorus of 'awws' met Berry Punch's proclamation and the crowd started to clear out for their homes. The casual observer would have wondered at the lack of response to the odd discovery, but the town was used to oddities and were just waiting until one of the usual figures came to explain what was going on.
Shortly after the crowd had dispersed the mares began to stir. “Ooogh, my head. What happened?”
Applejack looked around blurry eyed at the others before settling on Rainbow Dash who had her forehead pressed against the ground. “I don't know AJ but can you help me? I'm not sure how but I'm stuck over here.”
With a shrug the farm mare unsteadily rose to her hooves and made her way over to her friend. It took a bit of effort but they managed to free Dash's head from the ground, causing Applejack to freeze in shock at what she saw. “Ow, that hurt. What was even keeping me from- Applejack! You have a horn!”
Applejack shook her head at Rainbow Dash's exclamation and crossed her eyes trying to look upwards at the new appendage before responding. “Mah horn!? What about yours!? Just what is going on around here!?”
The others soon found that the two athletes weren't the only ones with new appendages and the reactions all differed.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my!”
“Ooh, this is so exciting, I was planning a new line that would be just perfect for these.”
“This is impossible, how did this happen!”
“Whee! This is so much fun and much easier than before!”
On hearing Pinkie Pie's shouts of joy all eyes turned towards her to see her vanishing and reappearing in a cloud of confetti along the ground and sometimes in the air. Rarity was about to start panicking at the sight before she got a thoughtful look on her face. “Actually somehow she makes even more sense like this than before.”
The others nodded along with her words as they turned back to their own awkward appendages. Aegis Flare, having refused to look behind her even though she could feel the wings on her sides. Remembering the princess' words she decided to speak up. “You know maybe we should-”
Aegis Flare stopped in shock as her hooves flew up to her throat at the change in her voice. The others also turned to stare at her though the reactions changed when they got a good look at her. “Darling, your wings! They're, they're...”
A bit afraid to look, but knowing that she had to, the orange mare slowly turned her head to get a good look at her back. She was confused for a moment before her eyes widened in realization of what she was seeing. Unlike her friends who all now had feathered wings, her own were those of her unknown parentage and thus took on a more bat-like appearance. They were not what she was expecting and she took the time to admire them before a loud whistle broke out over the confused group causing all heads to turn to Twilight. “Girls, we should really head inside until Princess Luna arrives. Hopefully she can tell us just what is going on. This night was just gotten weirder and- Fluttershy! You're bleeding!”
All eyes snapped towards the shy mare to see her wiping a hoof across her mouth revealing a red cut on her lip. ”I-i-it's nothing really. I'm just not used to how long my fangs are now and-EEP!”
She was interrupted when Twilight teleported in front of her and pried her lip up to see the pair of fangs in her mouth. “When did you get these? Did that spell do this to you or did you always have them?”
Twilight was about to bombard the mare with more questions before she was pulled away by Aegis Flare. “You can ask her later Twilight, but yes she always had them. It was part of why she rarely showed others her smile. All those I've met with thestral parentage has always kept a few traits; Fluttershy's hearing and fangs, as well as her Stare, my sister's stockier build, and my ears and well, these.” She gestured to her wings. “Usually you can identify them early but some show up only after puberty.”
While the lavender mare stopped to consider the implications of all this, the others led her into the library where they made themselves comfortable waiting for Princess Luna. It was after they had laid out tea and cookies that a knock came from the front door, and when opened revealed the night princess. She said nothing as she was invited in and took an empty place from which to observe the seven mares before speaking.
“My sister is asleep now so I have yet to find everything, but I have found enough from her notes.” Luna looked around at the gathered mares who watched her intently. “We have seen many signs and heard many prophecies over our long lives, but not once has the full story been known until after it has been fulfilled. There were signs that suggested that it was possible that Twilight may, over time, have become an alicorn yet my sister decided to push the issue.”
All eyes fell on Twilight as she looked conflicted about the news but none of them interrupted. “We do not know if that decision caused this to happen or if there were other circumstances that we knew nothing about. Suffice to say, all of you are now alicorns and that makes things... Difficult to say the least.”
The others looked at each other before Twilight spoke up. “But what were those signs? And what is this going to mean for all of us?”
Princess Luna shook her head sadly before replying. “You will learn what the signs were in time I am sure and is unimportant now. As for what is to be done now.” Her gazed passed over each of the mares, though she paused a moment on seeing the bat wings on one of them. “Tia had plans to coronate you as a princess, Twilight, once this all happened, yet I feel that things may take a different turn for now. My sister saw in you a great destiny and with how powerful you were she took steps to make sure you were ready. Yet with the rest of you ascending her plans will likely have changed but until she awakens I do not know what they will be. Suffice to say it may take days or even months to find a solution as to what shall be done.”
Before she could continue one of the mares interrupted her. “Wait, so ya are saying that one of the only things she had to go by was how uniquely strong Twilight is? Shouldn't she have taken an interest in some of the rest of us then? Ah mean Rainbow Dash IS the fastest pegasus ever, and well, Pinkie Pie.”
The others nodded while Aegis Flare took up the thread of conversation. “Let's not forget how Applejack looks after one of the largest apple orchards with only her brother for help, Fluttershy's Stare, or how Rarity's telekinesis is so advanced that I'd trust her over most doctors for precision. Really, I'm probably the only odd one out.”
The others made sounds of objection while the princess shook her head. “You do yourself a disservice. True your magical abilities may have been stunted by your condition, but you still managed to control what you do have in astounding ways. Much of what I said was my sister's opinions yet for myself I think her fears are unfounded. During the changeling invasion it was you that rallied the available guards to begin pushing the invaders out. Without your presence many lives may have been lost trying to retake the city. In fact many of you, even with how recent your titles have been given, are more noble than the unicorns in Canterlot and are more noble than they pretend to be.”
Luna looked around once more before her gaze settled on Rainbow Dash who was dancing from hoof to hoof. “Pray tell is something the matter, Rainbow Dash?”
The cyan mare winced as she lifted one of her rear hooves to look at. “Yeah, what all happened to us anyways? First the elements did that little light show sending us wherever that place was, but when we get back we are like this. Now the ground just feels all weird, though it's nice not to have my hooves ache, and something even happened to Flare's voice! It's not as scratchy as it used to be.”
The princess looked partially saddened as she looked over the mares once again. “Ah yes, that would be due to how the ascension process works. Needless to say your previous bodies would not suffice for the new power you have been given so they had to be broken down and remade. What you are feeling is most likely the beginning of your earth pony abilities manifesting. As for your friend's voice, I had heard she had been injured as a foal but now any injuries would be gone and future ones will not last either.”
The mares considered this for a moment before six pairs of eyes focused on Fluttershy causing her to let out a squeak. They all widened on seeing that where there had once been a cut was now a fresh layer of fur as if it had never been. Aegis Flare, on a hunch, grabbed a familiar book from a nearby pile and flipped through it. She frowned when she found that she still could not ready any of the runes within it though. Princess Luna saw this and quickly guessed the reason why. “While the body does undergo repairs, magic of your original tribe is mostly untouched beyond being strengthened by the others. Of course, alicorn magic follows different rules as well and is more about instinct and intuition rather than runes and spellcraft. Twilight and Rarity will probably have the most difficult time of learning to put those abilities to use due to their previous experiences with unicorn magic.”
The seven sat thoughtfully as they considered these recent revelations, many of them looking at their new appendages and trying to discern if anything felt different. Many of them shivered at the odd new feelings while the ones with fresh wings tried stretching them out. “It is fortunate that you all are from the various tribes as it will be easy for you to teach each other about your former tribes. Until we meet again it would be best for you all to learn how to use your new abilities and familiarize yourselves with the changes in your bodies. We shall contact you when we have come to an agreement with our sister on what must be done next.”
Heading for the door, Princess Luna paused as on other important bit of information occurred to her. “One last thing you should know. The appearance of an alicorn is not a random occurrence, but something that happens when they are needed for an important role. My sister and I ascended with the rise of Discord and the unicorns losing control of the sun and moon. Cadance ascended after defeating a great enemy, but it is now obvious that she was being prepared for the return of the Crystal Empire. While my sister worries about her plans not turning out as she expected, I worry more for what role seven alicorns are needed for.”
The princess left the mares to their own devices after that, though they were still confused as to what these changes would mean for them. For a few of them some of their answers came a bit sooner as they went home to their families. Aegis Flare was surprised to find that Scootaloo was still waiting up for her when she got home and was about to tell her off for being up so late when she looked at her and her eyes widened. “Oh come on! First that baby of the Cakes family flies around my head all day and now you come home with wings!? Are even you going to start flying before I do!?”
With all thoughts of punishing her sister when she heard the tone of desperation in her voice, Aegis Flare quickly moved to wrap her sister up in a hug. “Don't blame me for this, sis. That book I told you that the princess sent Twilight? Well turns out that it was supposed to turn just Twilight into an alicorn and somehow she managed to turn all seven of us into on instead.”
Scootaloo just sat it her sister's embrace for a moment before she started snickering. “All of you? Even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy? I bet Princess Celestia was sure surprised by that.”
With a roll of her eyes the elder sister shook her head. “You have no idea. I thought that Twilight's breakdowns got bad, but the princess was even worse. I'm just glad Princess Luna calmed her down before she could do anything drastic.”
Scootaloo burst out laughing at the image as she turned so her back was to her sister's chest. “So that's where Twilight got it from. No wonder she thought it was a good idea to make Twilight a princess if she is also like that. Can you imagine Twilight living as long as her without her friends and family and not destroying half of Equestria?”
While her words were said in jest, they were still enough to cause her sister's pupils to shrink at the thought of it and what the future may hold. She quickly calmed down as she looked onto her sister and instinctively drew her new wings around her. The two sat there for a while, the younger basking in something she didn't know she missed and the elder in thoughts of the future, until Aegis Flare spoke up quietly again. “We'll get you flying someday, sis. Sure your wings are small but if Bulk Biceps can fly then it should be simple for you. You are already faster than a lot of pegasii while on your scooter so it's obvious your wings work. We just need to find out what you are doing wrong.”
Scootaloo squirmed a little in her grasp before she finally settled down with a sigh. “Yeah, I know. It's just so frustrating seeing others fly before me when I've been trying so hard. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom have tried to help sometimes, but they have their own problems. Why just today we tried... We tried...” The filly looked confused for a moment. “Um, I'm not sure what we tried today. It's all just a blur.”
The elder sister looked worried for a moment before realizing that her memories were much the same, as if it was all a dream, and just chalked it up as a side effect of the spell. When she thought of the spell she remembered that she would need to meet with the others later about how to deal with their new abilities which included flying. As much as she dreaded the thought, she knew that she could use the training as an excuse to help her sister. “Hey sis, I just had a great idea. Since I have these wings now I'm going to be learning how they work with the others while also passing along my own skills. How about you come along and join in during the flying lessons, maybe we can figure something out then.”
“Really!? That would be so awesome!” Aegis Flare watched as her sister escaped her grip and began bouncing around the room in her excitement with a grin. After a few minutes she had to shake her head and reach a hoof out to stop her. Come on now, it's about time you should head to bed. You're lucky it's not a school night or else you'd be too tired for school, let alone learning how to fly.”