Slowly, Princess Chroma opened her eyes, twin pools of swirling magenta scanning the crowd of creatures gathered there that day.
"Remember this day everypony. For it is the day that our family is reunited." The ponies stomped their hooves and cheered as The new Princess, or rather Old Princess Returned, held her head high.
Her friends wore varying faces of surprise and shock, not sure how to react to their friends new attitude. Slowly the cheers died down, Niare stepping forward.
"Did you say, Celestia is dying?"
"Yes. She was dying."
"Was?"
"I am afraid I do not know enough to properly explain it to you. But in time my mother will be well again."
"What about the treaties? You attacked me in the hall Dash!" Gilda yelled, collective gasps filling the air. Chroma's mane flowed along behind her as she walked down the stairs toward Gilda and Niare.
"Allow me to be perfectly clear on this. You, Gilda. Princess of the Gryphons. Provoked me in front of my aunt and demanded I perform magic to prove my place as a Princess of Equestria. I obliged you, providing nothing but one,simple,small bolt of lightning as proof of my royal heritage. And now you dare to claim I attacked you. I thought I made it clear before." Rainbow kept her voice level and calm as she paused for a moment, glancing about the room before turning her gaze back to Gilda
"You are no longer an honored guest and as of this moment you are a traitor in this land. You already attacked me once and we let it pass, but now I will not stand for your attempts to dethrone us. You have until the end of the day to leave Canterlot or I will have the guards escort you out. As for you King Niare, you are still a guest of my mother, but if your daughter does not keep a level head YOU will be joining her." She turned her head back to Celestia and Luna.
"Does that sound fair?" she asked them. They both looked at one another and then back to her, giving a small nod.
"It is decided. Guards, please keep an eye on the Gryphon Princess." the guards saluted as Rainbow turned, making her way back up the stairs.
"No you don't Dash!" Gilda screeched and leapt forward, tackling Rainbow to the ground, both of them rolling as Gilda dug her claws into the Alicorn's wings, drawing screams of agony from her. The Royal Hall fell to chaos, guards trying to pry Gilda off of Rainbow, ponies panicking and running about, and friends doing their best to help, stopped by guards who blocked their path.
"ENOUGH!" Twilight screamed, her eyes glowing brightly and her magic surrounding the entire room. Everyone froze as they were caught in the unicorns magic. Slowly Twilight made her way through them, pushing Gilda off of Rainbow and into the path of the guards. With a sigh her magic fell, as did she.
Twilight lay beside Rainbow whose wings had been torn to shreds by Gilda's onslaught. Luna was the first to recover from the horrific incident.
"GUARDS! Throw her in the dungeons!" She called.
"You can't!" Niare screamed.
"She attempted to murder Princess Chroma and would have managed to do so if not for the Element of Magic. We suggest thou keepest thine silence, lest thee feel our wrath Niare." Luna said, falling back into her habit of speaking in the Royal We.
He stepped down, defeated as Luna's Night Guard slammed Gilda beak first into the ground, cuffing her claws behind her and placing a metal collar around her neck as well as a muzzle over her beak, pulling her along toward the dungeons. Gilda never pulled her gaze away from Rainbow who slowly forced herself to her hooves. Soon Gilda was too far to see her and hung her head, simply being dragged along toward Luna's dungeon.
"Twi'? C'mon Twi' get up." Rainbow said quietly, nudging the unicorn. Twilight mumbled, slowly opening her eyes.
"Ugh...my head...RAINBOW! Your wings!" Twilight gasped, Rainbow shook her head.
"They'll be fine Twi'. You used a lot of magic back there. What the hay were you thinkin?!" she yelled.
"She was tryin t' save yer hide. Ya'll should be a little more grateful Rainbow!" Applejack fumed, jabbing a hoof into her friends chest. Rainbow nodded.
"Yea...I know. I just thought I had everything under control. I..." she hung her head and sighed.
"I wanted to prove myself..."
"I believe you did Rainbo...Princess Chroma." Luna said as she sat beside her.
"heh...thats gonna take some gettin used to..." Rainbow sighed
"Don't worry none, yer always gonna be Rainbow Dash t' us." Applejack said with a smile. Rarity and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
"Of course it is going to be a bit strange with all these changes Darling. Your a Princess now." the unicorn rolled her eyes.
"Rainbow Dash, a Princess of all things. I never thought I would see the day she would become anything more than a rambunctious bundle of bravado, dirt, and pride." Rarity chuckled
"I'm honestly not sure what to think right now. Everythings still spinning..." Twilight put a hoof to her head and blinked as Celestia sat beside her.
"Princess Celestia...I..."
"Please be silent a moment Twilight." Celestia turned to Rainbow.
"How are your wings?" she asked softly. Rainbow looked back at them and regretted it instantly, her heart falling.
Barely any feathers remained. She should've been in extreme pain if not for her nervous system having shut off on her after the initial attack to protect her from going into shock. Though the sight of her wings was almost enough to do that.
"Uh...well..." she was at a complete loss for words.
"Do not fret, we can repair them quite easily now. We are lucky she did not attack you before the Coronation Spell." Luna said with a small smile
"...I don't get it..."
"Thats right...Your an Alicorn now Rainbow. Your body is Eighty-six Percent raw magic now!" all eyes turned to Twilight.
"What? A True Alicorn is born of Magic, the raw power of Equestria itself, thus their bodies are made up of almost nothing but magic. All that has to be done is the reform the magic that is the base for Rainbows Wings and we can fix them as if they were new!" she smiled, clapping her hooves a little. Rainbow smiled and winced a little as she spread the remains of her wings.
"Would you do the honors Twi'?" Twilight blushed.
"Huh? Me? Really? But...Wings are very personal to a pony, its rare to have anypony else touch another ponies wings, except for parents and lov..." Twilight blinked, her brain slowly throwing the pieces together before the whole picture came crashing down on her.
"Um..I..I would be honored..." she mumbled.
"I'll need a minute...and some room." the ponies gathered around her stepped back a bit as Twilight called upon her magic. For a moment, Rainbows wings vanished, everypony gasping.
"Twi' ya'll were s'pose t' fix her wings! not take em away!" Applejack said in shock.
"Applejack, please be quiet, I need to concentrate."
"But...!"
"Aj, its cool. Twi's an egghead, she knows what she's doin and I trust her. We're all friends here right? Then give her a chance." Rainbow said calmly. Slowly her wings began to reform in patches as Twilight struggled with the frame. She had never had a chance to truly observe a pegasi's wings.
All she had to go on as a base was what she had seen of Rainbows wings and Princess Celestia's. A deep breath in and out and the wings began to take on a more ethereal shape, the feathers fading into one another flawlessly in a rainbow pattern, the very tips of her wings tinged white. Slowly Twilight opened her eyes and gasped.
"Oh shoot! I didn't focus on the color! Rainbow I'm so sorry I..." Twilight quickly apologized
"What are ya talkin about Twi'? These are awesome!" she flared them open proudly, the colors swirling into one another slowly as the sunlight hit them.
"Though...whats with the white?" Rainbow asked after a moment.
"I think I know." Celestia spoke up, holding out one of her wings to show the tips of hers matched that of Rainbows new wings. Twilight stared at the wing in shock, noticing several black patches in it.
"Princess...your wing...so its true...are you...?" Twilight couldn't bring herself to say it. That one word, the thing she thought impossible for her surrogate mother.
"It is true My faithful student. With Rainbows return...I am not sure what will happen now. I do not know if my condition will improve or worsen." She admitted
"B...but why?!" Rainbow asked.
"I came back, I became a princess. I'm here for you mom!" she yelled, tears in her eyes. Celestia smiled.
"Yes...you are Rainbow. But you are only here because I asked you to be here. You gave up everything you ever worked for to be here for me. I am so proud of you..." Celestia stepped forward to embrace her and collapsed onto the floor, her breathing ragged and quick.
"MOM! GUARDS! ANYPONY! HELP!"
Rainbow hung her head as she sat beside Celestia. She had yet to awaken since collapsing in the Royal Hall. Though through it all she wore a smile. Twilight, after some complications, had been allowed in and sat on the other side of Celestia's bed. Rainbow sniffed, wiping away a few tears.
"She said...she's proud of me...but all I've done is mess up..."
"Rainbow, parents will always be proud of their children. Everypony messes up, its what makes us who we are. Even Celestia and Luna make mistakes. But I don't think you've messed up at all Rainbow." Twilight moved beside her, smiling a little.
"She's proud of you, because even when you had almost everything you wanted, when it came down to it, none of that mattered to you. You gave it all up to do what you thought was right and you did an amazing job up there Rainbow."
"Really? I can't help but think your just sayin all of that to cheer me up." Rainbow grumbled.
"Rainbow, how many ponies would just throw away everything like that?" Twilight asked
"You?" Rainbow said. Twilight shook her head.
"Rainbow, most of my life was spent here. Of course I'd come back here, Canterlot pretty much is my life besides everything thats happened in Ponyville. But you spent your life in Cloudsdale and then the rest in Ponyville. You were only here for a few years. You were gonna be a Wonderbolt. Dash...there isn't any other pony like you. Shes proud of you because of everything you've done and everything you'll do. Thats what its like being a parent."
"How would you know Twi'? Your not even a parent yourself." Rainbow pointed out, though Twilight only laughed.
"No i'm not. But I've been caring for a child for nearly all my life." She said with a smile. Rainbow blinked and just stared at her confused.
"Spike. I hatched him, I cared for him, fed him, raised him." She explained. It was Rainbows turn to laugh.
"Heh, I guess you are a mom, in a weird sort of way."
"Ha, got ya to laugh." Twilight teased. Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes. For a while they sat there in silence, watching as Celestia's breathing evened out, her chest rising and falling slowly.
"Rainbow look." Twilight pointed a hoof at one of the spots on Celestia's wing.
"I know already Twilight..." Rainbow sighed.
"No, Look!" Twilight urged, Rainbow looked to see the spot was slowly fading away, little by little as time passed.
"Does that mean...she's getting better?" She asked softly.
"I don't know. Maybe. Whats important is that we are here for her. I don't know much about Alicorns other than the obvious. Their bodies are quite different from anything else in Equestria. While an earth pony has a dense and powerful skeletal structure, pegasi have a light skeletal structure, allowing them to easily hover and fly or even just glide over air currents. A unicorns entire body is a confusing array of nerves bound tightly to the skeletal structure and leading up to the horn. Even the muscle structure is different. Then there is the secondary nerves and then third and fourth sets. All of which tap into the horn eventually and help with the flow of magic. But an Alicorn possess' a bit of each of these. Their bodies are strong but at the same time light, allowing flight. And their nervous system is just too complex to even begin to understand. Whats more..."
"Twi' i'm gonna stop you there. my head is already hurting." Rainbow said, putting a hoof to her head. Twilight laughed a little and sighed.
"Alright i'll explain it better. Earth ponies are strong. Pegasi are light and can fly easy thanks to that.And Unicorns like me are complicated so we can use magic."
"...That makes sense. But what about Alicorns like Luna and...my mom...and me?" She asked
"Well, your all a bit of everything. I don't understand how it all fits together, the only explanation is magic. Its something that nopony really understands and thats what makes it what it is." Twilight smiled a little.
"Twi'...theres somethin I've been meaning to tell you..." Rainbow bit her lip
"Your a princess, yea I already know Dash." Twilight joked, rolling her eyes.
"Its not that Twi'. I uh...well..." Rainbow hung her head, scuffing the floor with her hoof.
"Oh...this is...about your wings...right?" Twilight asked, moving a bit closer. Rainbow nodded and looked over at her, blinking as she found her muzzle in her face. Celestia smiled to herself, watching the two through half-closed eyes.
Slowly the door to the dungeon opened, the Gryphon locked up below raising her head and chuckling a little.
"That you Dash? Come to gloat? well I don't care! I don't care if you can use magic, or what you think of yourself! Your still not a Princess and you never will be!" she yelled.
"Aww, thats so mean Gilda. But luckily i'm not Dashie and i'm not a princess. Though i'd like to be a Princess someday, but it'd be kinda boring, I mean come on. No fun parties, all those stuffy uptight noble ponies." Pinkie slowly came into view, her mane flat against her body.
"And everypony would be watching me. But luckily, nopony is watching." She said quietly, opening the door to Gilda's cage. The Gryphon screamed and pulled on her chains as the pink earth pony drew closer.
"Nopony messes with my friends."