//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash 
// Story: ...And Then Everypony was an Alicorn. 
// by Wanderling 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash groaned as she sat up. She looked about her room. It was much too dark for her liking, there was only a weak trickle of light coming from the window. 
What was the time now? She peered at a clock sitting on her bedside table. Rainbow sighed wearily. 8:33am. That was waaaay too early. Why was she awake at this time in the morning? 
She could feel a headache starting to build around her temples, and she could swear that there was a weird banging noise coming from the door. Ugh, was she ill? She better not be, she had weather duty this afternoon. She reached up her hooves to rub her eyes and get rid of the grit that built up in the night. There was no point trying to get back to sleep with the pain in her head. It wasn't too bad in terms of strength, but it was consistent. She stretched out her legs and yawned, before kicking off her cloud blanket. Rainbow flumphed off her bed to the floor. Then she stood up, too quickly, and wavered with dizziness a few seconds. The headache was still there, along with the banging sounds. 
Huh. Those banging noises really did seem like they were coming from the door. Rainbow staggered over and pulled the door over. She blinked slowly and shut the door. Then she opened it again.

What.

It was Tank. There was a tortoise-head-shaped indent in the door where his face had repeatedly clunked against it. Because the reptile had flown into it. With his wings. Green, feathery wings that somehow managed to support his weight. There was also a small horn, much like a unicorn's, on the top of his head. Rainbow could just about make out the mark of the horn in Tank's face-print.

What.

I must still be asleep, Rainbow thought, looking down at her flying tortoise. She went back to her bed at sat on it, dumbfounded. Tank fluttered after her, still a little wonky and unused to the movement. Rainbow watched him zoom around her room with a blank expression. She buried her face in her hooves as she tried to comprehend. Was Tank a Princess now? The thought was absurd but strangely amusing.
Wait. What was that on her forehead. Rainbow traced the object with her hooves. It seemed...horn-shaped.
Her eyes snapped open and she raced to her bathroom, knocking over a pile of Daring-Do books and causing Tank to spin rapidly. She frantically fumbled at the door handle - why did cloud doors even have handles anyway - and tumbled inside. She clambered over to the sink, where she knew the mirror was.
She stared at her reflection. She herself hadn't really changed. She had the same strong, athletic build, the fine, healthy wings, the same shaped head. However, it was the object that was now attached to her head that she was gawping at. There, poking through her multi-hued mane, was a horn. A unicorn's horn. 

What.

Rainbow floundered for a minute. She was an alicorn? No, that couldn't be right. She poked the horn. It felt like it was attached to her. Was this a joke? One of Twilight's spells?
She thought of Tank. Well. Whatever had changed her had also done something to him, and his wings seemed to work. Rainbow was suddenly excited. Could she do magic? She looked around the bathroom for something to test this thought out on. Her bright magenta eyes alighted on her toothbrush. It was old, battered and should have been thrown out years ago, but Rainbow was fond of it. It was one of the many items of Wonderbolt memorabilia that she possessed. She focused her gaze on it and thought at it. She wanted it to float in the air. To her astonishment, the toothbrush obeyed, surrounded by a magenta glow that matched her eyes. She could feel a strange tingly sensation through her spine and skull. 

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmy-"

She sucked in a deep breath and stopped hyperventilating. Rainbow set the toothbrush back in it's pot and beamed. The headache had gone, replaced by a feeling of euphoria. She really was an alicorn! Did, did that mean she was a Princess? She beamed at herself in the mirror.  She...she could be Princess of Rainbows! Eww, maybe not. That was too blegh. Princess of the Sky? Better.
Then inspiration struck. Princess of AWESOME! Yes! 

Rainbow suddenly realised that she was jumping up and down like an excited schoolfilly. She stopped, blushing, before she remembered there was no one else there to judge her. So she continued with glee. Despite not being the girliest of ponies, becoming a Princess was a common goal amongst young fillies, and Rainbow had never been oblivious to how cool it would be to be all types of pony in one. She jumped up and down until she got it out of her system.
She grinned to herself and headed back to Tank, who was reveling in his new-found speed. He performed a loop-di-loop, a barrel roll and a short dive to the floor, then saw Rainbow Dash.
"Hey buddy! Let's go see Twilight. She's a unicorn, so she should be able to help me get better at magic. Plus, she can send a letter to Princess Celestia telling her that I'm now an alicorn." Rainbow felt a faint flutter of trepidation. Would the Princess accept her after all? She shrugged away her doubts. It wasn't like she had asked to be transformed. The cyan alicorn made her way to the nearest window and launched herself out of it. No need to waste energy opening a door. Tank followed, already more stable than before. Rainbow was amused to see a piece of lettuce in a greenish magical field following them. Looked like Tank had packed lunch. She spluttered with laughter. 
She thought about this for a second, as it suddenly occurred to her that Tank's transformation was even stranger than hers. After all, alicorn ponies did exist normally, even if there weren't very many of them. 
But an alicorn tortoise? That was...weird. Really weird. 
Rainbow Dash smiled, at least they were already going to Twilight. That egghead ought to have some sort of reason for this.