By late the following morning, Princess Short Flight looked the part once again, even though she was still malnourished and had no regalia. The caramel stallion at the party had used a healing spell to make her bruises fade to almost nothing- and, after a rather large breakfast Rarity had prepared, they’d gone back to the spa… and Aloe and Lotus were both very good at their jobs. She’d left the spa feeling better than she’d felt in months, possibly even years.
Then Rarity had taken her back to her boutique, and gifted her a dress that she’d custom-made for her in fifteen minutes. Flight still had no idea how Rarity managed to design and make the dress in that short of a time, especially after the first three designs had been thrown out because she’d requested it not look explicitly royal. That’d been the only limit she’d placed on the mare’s creativity, though- and judging by Rarity’s reaction when she’d made the request, it’d been received more as a release than as a limit. The mare apparently had a certain distaste for royal-looking clothing, making it particularly difficult for her to design. Flight hadn’t asked about that distaste, but she rather suspected she’d had an… unfortunate run-in with royalty as well.
“Alright then,” Rarity finally nodded, apparently satisfied, as she paced around Flight, who was standing in the Boutique, wearing the new dress. It was a very nice dress, and fit her far better than any of her Equineothame-sourced dresses. “That’s done. Now, just because you’re a Princess in a foreign land is no reason to let your education slide, is it?”
“Agreed,” Short Flight answered, wondering what kinds of educational programs she could get through here that her parents would never approve of.
Rarity nodded. “So I was thinking, perhaps you should go to school with Sweetie tomorrow?”
“Um,” she muttered, raising a hoof to stop her. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m already aware the educational system here is very different from the one where I’m from, and I know the history won’t match, so… perhaps a placement test would be in order, to minimize repeated work?”
Rarity blinked. “Hmm, yes, definitely. And if that’s the case, we should probably go see Cheerilee about it today.”
She blinked. “Okay. So… I don’t know. Lead the way?”
Ms. Cheerilee was a very friendly mare, though she seemed more than a little disbelieving. “H-Hold on,” she muttered. “You’re… You’re asking me to administer you a placement test?”
Flight nodded. “Uh, yes. I’m not from around here, and already know the education system is very different from where I’m from, but I don’t want to let my studies fall slack while I’m away. Is that something you can help with?”
Ms. Cheerilee blinked a couple of times. “S-Sure,” she stuttered. “It’s just… usually, the Princesses teach any new Princesses what they need to know, so…”
She shrugged. “They’re not here, I am,” she stated. “And I’m not from Equestria, soo…”
“... Alright. Um… How do you… er…”
“Just treat me like you would any other filly my age,” she stated.
It took almost two hours, but it turned out that she actually knew more than Ms. Cheerilee- who was the local schoolteacher- on some subjects, like math, and was well ahead of her age in just about everything else… except history, of course. As it had turned out, she had been wise to engage in so much self-study during her long hours in orbit so long ago.
And of course, after she recited about thirty years of Equineothame’s history, Ms. Cheerilee had decided to declare her proficient- as far as she could teach her, at least- in that as well… which left nothing but green checkmarks on the list.
“Well, I don’t think there’s anything I can teach you,” Ms. Cheerilee said. “And, with the possible exception of History, you’re well ahead of your age on just about everything.”
She tilted her head. “Even magic?”
She nodded. “And flying. Most unicorn foals your age can’t do anything with their horns, except produce sparks- and most pegasus foals your age can’t hover, fly for more than a few seconds, or glide very far at all without crashing.”
She blinked. “Huh.”
Cheerilee shrugged. “And if you’re wondering about your earth magic, that doesn’t really have anything to learn at your age- but you’re managing it very well anyways.”
“Earth magic…?” she wondered aloud. “And I am?”
“Uh… yes? I mean… it’s primarily physical strength, at your age.”
“... Oh.” She looked at her hoof. “I… guess.” Then she tilted her head. “What would walking on walls count as?”
She smiled, and chuckled. “That falls under Pegasus magic- and it’s a rare pegasus indeed that can do it reliably, even fully grown.”
“Huh,” she muttered. “So… Would I be correct to assume you wouldn’t be able to teach me unicorn magic?”
Ms. Cheerilee let out a good-natured snort of laughter. “Yes, that would be entirely correct. I think the best local authority on that would be Twilight Sparkle; she lives in the library, but has been out of town recently, doing nopony knows what- even Spike, her assistant.”
She scowled. “What about further away?”
She shrugged. “If you were a little older, I’d suggest Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, in Canterlot. You’d probably be a natural.”
She winced. “I guess it’ll have to be Twilight. Unless… is there someone else in town? That isn’t, ahh, away all the time?”
“Well… The only other pony in town that went to Celestia’s School would be Lyra Heartstrings. Which… You’ll almost certainly want to play that meeting carefully- you do look like her.” She tapped her chin with a hoof. “And if you do your studying in the library, Twilight can help out whenever she’s around.”
“What the-?”
Flight looked up at the door. “Hi.” There was a purple unicorn standing in the door and staring at her- specifically, one that fit Lyra’s and Rarity’s descriptions of Twilight Sparkle. “Lyra’s in the kitchen if you’re looking for her, and I haven’t seen Twilight around yet.”
The mare stepped in, closed the door firmly behind her, and turned to face her again. “But- But who are you? How did you become an Alicorn? Why haven’t I heard-!”
“Hey Twilight,” Lyra interrupted, sticking her head into the room. “Why don’t you come join me in the kitchen, so I can explain things before you drive Princess Short Flight to insanity with the same set of questions she’s been answering at least three times daily since she got here?”
“I think the record is twelve times just yesterday,” Flight mused. “And two of those were to the same pony, to boot.”
“What-!?”
She shrugged. “To be fair, I didn’t actually answer most of them, just sent them to the bulletin board outside the Town Hall where they put the notice I made, but still.”
Twilight’s head snapped back and forth a few times. “What-! But-!”
“I’ve got a copy of it in here, Twilight,” Lyra stated, sounding bored. “Quit panicking and get in here- once everything’s explained, there’s something I need your help with.”
“What-? Er-!” Her mane started flaking apart, giving her a much more wild look.
Flight trotted over to Twilight, and casually stuffed a hoof in her mouth to stop the sporadic orations Twilight had started. “Spike said to tell you to take deep breaths,” she stated, and removed the hoof.
Twilight took two massive, deep breaths, her mane regaining some of its cohesion, and walked woodenly into the kitchen to talk to Lyra. As for Flight, she returned to her study of the magic textbook Lyra had given her. The notice on that bulletin board carried short answers for all three of Twilight’s questions, and her description of the thestrals… and subsequent request to be informed when they arrived.
“Hey Twilight?” she asked. Rarity- and Lyra- had been right; Twilight was much more able to keep up with her learning pace. For some reason, the study rate that was considered ‘medium-slow’ back in Equineothame was considered ‘crazy fast’ in Equestria. “What’s this?” She lifted a scroll in her magic, from where it had been resting in front of the case of gemstones that Lyra had called the ‘Elements of Harmony’.
“That?” Twilight asked, trotting over to look at it. “I don’t…”
“That’s the letter Celestia sent you last month,” Spike supplied, from the top of a ladder. He’d been kept very busy pulling books out and putting them away, between Flight’s rapid magic training and Twilight’s mysterious research project. “If I remember right, it has a partial spell of Starswirl’s that she wanted you to finish.”
Twilight gasped. “What-!” Then she unrolled the scroll quickly, scanned it, and scowled. “... Huh.” She then read the spell out loud, horn glowing.
“Uh,” Flight began. “That didn’t sound right- no rhyme, for one. You sure that was a good idea?”
Twilight glanced up at her horn, tilted her head, and blinked. “... On second thought, no, it was probably a bad idea. But at least we should have a clue what it did…?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I only saw the Elements of Harmony sparkle a bit, and reposition themselves.”
“... Huh,” Twilight muttered.
Princess Short Flight sighed into her hoof. “You mean to tell me,” she began. “You scrambled your friends’ Cutie Marks, cleaned up your own mess… and got wings for your trouble?”
Twilight nodded, before touching the brand-new appendages once again. “It feels weird… But it means I can show you what I’ve been working on much sooner than I thought! Oh, we’ll learn so much!”
Less than ten minutes later, the newly-winged Twilight teleported both herself and Princess Short Flight clear across the continent.
Lyra sighed. “Come back safe, please. I don’t fancy explaining to your crew that you died on a scientific expedition before they could get here.”