Rarity laughed at the idea of her being the one to end up with wings. "Darling, you earned your ascension by doing what I couldn't even hope to do. Sure, no doubt I can turn a little shop in a provincial town into a fashion empire before I reach my thirties all while effectively raising a destructive child who is not mine. I can dupe a clan of ponynapping dogs into letting me leave with a veritable mountain of gems. I can kick and blast my way through a swarm of changelings all while looking fabulous. But to complete a single spell created centuries ago by a wizard who has an entire wing of the Canterlot Archives devoted to his many spells and an entire school of spellcasting named after him yet still somehow never managed to ascend himself? I fear that is simply beyond me. Bitter? No, I'm not bitter at all."
Rainbow Dash then entered through the window. Said window had been closed a moment earlier, but that never stopped her. "Hey, I heard you guys talking about how totally deserving Twilight is of her new wings," she said as she shook broken glass out of hers, "and Rarity's right, Twilight. You did something that none of the rest of us could do. I mean, yeah, I am the fastest flyer alive, and I can do some pretty awesome stuff like break the sound barrier and create mushroom clouds, which makes me radical in literally every single sense of the term. I mean, really, I'm a weapon of mass destruction on four hooves, and I did it all with no formal training after I, uh..." Dash coughed into a fetlock, showing more shame in that moment than the whole time Rarity had spent glaring at her for the window. "... Left flight school. But to write up the last part of a spell that was mostly written by a guy who died a long time ago is totally all you, Twi."
Fluttershy descended the stairs of the boutique, a massive bag of cat food balanced on her back and the tiniest scowl on her muzzle. "Rarity! Rainbow Dash!" she admonished in a whisper. "You are not being fair. The princess chose Twilight for this, because of how special she is. It doesn't matter that the spell that she finished is completely useless or that she can't do things like dominate an industry in just a few years or make big, scary explosions... or scare away full grown dragons and cockatrices with just a look... or tame an elemental god of chaos with the power of kindness..." Fluttershy trailed off, sinking more under the burden of awkwardness than reprocessed fish. "Um, anyway, Twilight is special."
Pinkie Pie erupted from a basket of scrap material far too small to hold her, making Fluttershy dart for the ceiling. "Yeah!" she cried. 'Twilight is so special and unique that she's not even just a unicorn anymore! She the Unique-orn, and everything is her property, because she can do magic that nopony else in the whole world can, and believe me that is NOT easy. I mean, do you have any idea how hard it is to appear POOF right where you need to be for any given occasion? Or to predict the future? Or to make your mouth so big that it can swallow an entire three-layer cake whole? Most of that stuff even Twilight doesn't understand, but she DOES understand cutie mark-switching spells which are just as good I'm sure."
"Why sure it is, Pinkie," Applejack said from by Rarity's refrigerator. It wasn't that she'd appeared; she'd been there the whole time, but nopony had registered her until she spoke. She smiled and tipped her hat to Twilight. "Shoot, if she were to give herself a proper apple mark, I bet she could harvest a whole orchard all by herself, just like me."
An exasperated Twilight sighed. "Applejack, I could harvest every apple in Sweet Apple Acres in five seconds before my ascension."
Silence reigned in a way Twilight wouldn't for years to come. A few awkward coughs and shuffles acted as courtiers.
"Oh, shut up, y'all."