Twilight stared down at the blank sheet of paper in front of her. It rested on the oak desk she was accustomed to using, surrounded by three similarly sized sheets, each filled with hastily scrawled notes. Though they were legible to her own trained eyes, the unicorn knew they were in no presentable condition.
One of the most important parts of any kind of research, as Twilight had learned, was being able to tell other ponies what you had found. That meant telling them how you came up with the idea, what you did to test it, what you got out of it, and what it can mean for the community at large. The Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
The results section of any study, in the mind of Twilight Sparkle, was both the easiest and the hardest part to write.
On one hoof, she had all of the notes and documentations she needed in order to properly illustrate the success or failure of the methods performed. All that was needed from her, the author, was the ability to properly explain the results gathered from the experiment performed. Maybe she had to generate a chart, draw a proper graph; sometimes it was just a simple numerical data table. All she had to do was say what happened. That’s where the trouble usually began.
To her mind, and very well the mind of every author to their own research, all of the data she collected was important. She wanted to show so literally everything that had occurred during the experimentation procedure. Her notes were jotted out already with every detail of what had occurred. From the moment Apple Bloom had been encased in the lavender cocoon of magic to the very last moment when Scootaloo had undergone the effects of the spell herself.
It would be so easy and so satisfying to simply copy her notes onto the results. But, that was impractical.
It was one of the few lessons she had learned outside of Celestia’s tutelage. Just because the notes read and made sense to her did not mean that every curious eye would be able to follow it. There was an intelligence bar she had to set, of course, but if somepony was forced to jump around the paper to properly follow it, or reread the same event thrice over, they would most likely discard the carefully constructed research document.
A low sigh left Twilight as she let that knowledge wash over her.
She had the paper. She had the results. She had a quill. She had her mind.
With a satisfied smile, Twilight magically lifted the quill. She began to carefully scrawl across the parchment, speaking out loud the words that she wrote.
“The Wing-Spell was performed under controlled conditions on animals with varying volume, mass, and psychological traits.” The unicorn dipped her feathered utensil in ink before she continued to write. “All animal testing was done under the supervision of a qualified caretaker who monitored the conditions of the animals throughout the testing procedure. No adverse side-effects were observed during the process nor were any later noted to have developed.”
“Fluttershy would probably have my head if there were.” Twilight muttered as she reread her paper for grammatical errors. A small giggle of disbelief left her muzzle. “No, the worst Fluttershy would do is give me a stern reprimanding.” The unicorn’s face grew uncharacteristically stern as her thoughts naturally progressed. “Like I would need a lecture of self-control after harming something with my magic.” The unicorn gave an involuntary shiver before placing her quill back on the paper.
“During testing of the varying animal species, all test subjects successfully produced a set of wings upon their posterior side. The exact position of the wings varied in exact location, either appearing more superior or inferior along the subject. However, most wings generated appeared within the Thoracic bones of the spine.” Twilight lifted her quill as she gave another pulse of magic from her horn.
A sheet of paper gently glided through the air from the pile she had generated before. It was stained with numbers and figures crossed off or filled in with blotches of ink. Her lavender eyes scanned it over once, then twice, then double checked her double check. She set the paper down as her horn flashed again, lifting the quill with a fresh spot of ink on the end.
“In a statistical T-Test, accounting for bone variety within different species, approximately 67% of the wings generated appeared with the T3 to T5 bones of the Thoracic curvature, with a standard deviation of 4.5%. This also produced a p-variable of 0.04, confirming that most bones appear along the thoracic portion of the spine.”
Twilight bit her lip as she let the quill hover over the paper. One part of her wanted, desperately pleaded, to let her explain the scientific reasoning behind why this made sense. It was far more likely for the wings to appear along the upper portion of the thoracic bones and not the lower portions or even the lumbar region. In just three or four pages, she could explain in complete detail how if a hypothetical set of wings were to develop along any of the lumbar bones, the force the wings would generate would be too close to the theoretical center of mass of the body, resulting in an inability to balance in the air.
She could just as easily explain why the cervical bones would be unlikely to develop wings upon them, through a combination of stress versus strain fractures involving the cortical bone material in relation to the average amount of force required to lift a body of mass off the ground. If a pair of wings was to grow, then the cervical bones of the spine would need to increase their average density by 83.4%, theoretically, in order to properly compensate for the new forces. This would result in either a chocking of the precious spinal cord, hindering the propagation and firing of neurons, or severely limit the R.O.M. of the subject’s neck.
It was so obvious, and she could make it just as obvious to others with just a few hours of her quill writing. But she couldn’t, at least not yet.
“Discussion, Twilight, keep your thoughts for the discussion. Just like Celestia taught you.” The unicorn mumbled to herself, biting on her tongue to keep the words from progressing into a grumble. Her jaw relaxed as a slow breath of air left her lungs in the form of a sigh. She was sighing a lot today. Dipping her quill in the jar of ink, she wrote on.
“All subjects displayed the demonstrated the ability to use wings upon time of casting. As the caster had no inherent knowledge of flight mechanics at the time of casting, this gained knowledge shown by the animals demonstrates a possibility of smooth muscle responses within the wings. These muscles, however, only compensate for the initial response of the striated muscles.”
“Now for the fun part,” Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she dipped her quill to continue.
“Through noninvasive testing of the extremities created through the Wing-Spell casting, it was observed that all subjects lacked proper afferent nerves. This contrasts to wings belonging to pegasi, which are known to be sensitive to touch and other outside forces. However, the ability for the wings to be moved by command of the subject is indication of both efferent nerves rooted within the gray matter of the spinal cord as well as connecting series of striated muscles.”
Twilight lifted her quill as she reread the paragraph she wrote, double checking to make sure it flowed properly. Her head tilted to the side as she reached the end of the paragraph, the feeling of something missing pushing against her mind. Her eyes gave a sudden jump of activity as she realized what she had forgotten.
“However, wings that were formed as a result of the Wing-Spell varied between subjects. These variations include dimensions, mass, but most importantly, the respective species from which the wings derive from. A complete list of the animals tested on and the respective wings developed are shown in Table 1.”
Carefully, Twilight directed her horn towards the pile of research papers she had gather with Fluttershy the day before. As she had done with Spike hours before, the papers aligned themselves into a wall of text and diagrams, hovering in the air within her purple magic.
Twilight’s eyes scanned each page carefully, finding the details and measurements she had taken. Her quill worked as her mind commanded it to, neatly collecting the amassed data from a day’s worth of research into one neat table for viewing.
Her quill lightly scratched at the parchment paper, bleeding the black ink into the coarse material. The straight lines Twilight had made connected into a 30x6 grid, one row for each animal and one column for a different set of data. On top of each column, she neatly printed the words “Species,” “Height,” “Mass,” “Wing Type,” “Wing Span,” and “Wing Mass.”
Twilight’s eyes, keen for all details in her work, double checked every number she wrote down, making sure it was both correct and placed in the correct position in the grid. The last thing the unicorn wished to do was make a squirrel as tall as a bear, or give a cat the mass of a crocodile. As her quill marked the last number, she looked the chart over a third time, taking extra care that every number was correct.
“What I wouldn’t give for a tool that allowed me to edit what I wrote.” Twilight mumbled as she flared her horn again, sending the collection of research papers back into a single stack on the ground. “It could save me at least the quadruple check.” Regardless, Twilight lifted a new piece of paper in front of her, fresh and free of any ink. Her quill dipped itself into the vat of black toner, preparing to continue. With a small motion of her hoof, she made room for both sheets to be present on her table. She continued where she left off.
“Measurements for the wing span are done from tip to tip and total height of the subjects was done with each animal standing in an upright position. No animals were omitted during the testing and process and no adverse side-effects were observed during the Wing-Spell casting or after the spell was undone with a hoof-crux reversal charm.”
Twilight’s quill dipped itself again before she continued.
“Wing Mass to Animal Mass ratios are skewed and improper for presentation due to the variability in wing type. Reptilian wings, such as dragon species, are far denser and usually larger in span than those of regular avian or insect variety. Due to a combination of few repeating wing types among similar animal species, no t or p testing could be performed to identify patterns or likelihood of the event happening again. However, It was theorized among the research fellows that the type of wings generated via the Wing-Spell were contingent upon both the caster’s ability to use the spell as well as the subject’s current state of mind.”
“Almost there,” the unicorn spoke softly to herself as she continued to write the results, stating outwards what her quill was writing.
“This idea was given emphases with data collected from the animal care-taker who supervised the use of her animals during the magic testing. In all cases noted and observed, it appeared that the type of wings generated were contingent to what the animal had an interest in. This data is shown in Table 2.”
Just as before, Twilight levitated the wall of sheets in front of her, holding them up in the same manner. Her quill moved across the page again, gliding with wet ink with no more haste now than it did the first time it made a box. However, this box was not 30x6, but 30x3. Along the top of the box, above each column, were the words “Subject,” “Wing Type,” “Item/activity/thing of interest.”
Twilight copied the first two columns from the prior table on the other sheet. However, her eyes had to scan the wall of information beside her to properly illustrate the interests of each animal in question. She did so with as much care as she did casting the Wing-Spell for the first time. Finishing the chart, she dipped her quill, and continued to write.
“With the established hypothesis and animal test data, experimentation began on willing participants,” Twilight lifted the quill for a moment, tapping the feathery end on her lips before continuing.
“These tests were conducted in a more controlled environment, limiting the possible variables for different variety of wings appearing on ponies. All methods and safety precautions are listed in the methods section of this paper.”
“And… good,” Twilight spoke to herself as she levitated her quill into the black jar, letting it fall into place. Her hoof reached over her desk, drawing one of the papers on it closer to her. On it was data and numbers, little different than the parchment she had examined before for generating the numerical table.
This difference between the sheet in front of her, the two still laying across her table, and the many other parchments already stacked and moved out of the way, were the subjects they had data on. The papers from prior were on the many different animals Fluttershy had around her cabin.
These three pieces of parchment had all the relevant data Twilight had on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, each of them.
“Remember Twilight, no names.” She unicorn reminded herself the rule in research reporting.
“Table 3 contains all data of the subjects as well as their wing types, spans, and thoughts or motivation in the moment of casting the spell. These thoughts were conveyed to a third party observer and not told to the caster until after the Wing-Spell was cast in order to prevent a bias of observation."
Twilight lifted her quill from the paper, jotting down on a scrap piece of reusable parchment to draw up the table once she was done explaining her results. Wetting her quill, she continued.
“This leads into the results of the first volunteer. The earth pony filly produced an impressive set of draconic wings, spanning a length 1.23x her standing height. No in depth analysis or study of the wings were performed aside from basic and non-invasive observations.”
“They are just fillies.” Twilight mumbled to herself. Her horn levitated the quill in and out of the ink jar, wetting the tip with the black liquid.
“All bones along both wings appeared to have been developed, including the humorous, radius, ulna, metatarsal, and tarsal bones. In between these bony extrusions, the wings were able to correctly develop a thin plagiopatagium, chiropatagium, and dactylopatagiums. The wings weighed a total of thirty pounds. This is half the weight of the filly without the wings. Not surprisingly, most of this weight is due to the extra layer of keratin along the epidermis of skin, resulting in the scaly structure of the wings.”
Twilight dipped her pen as she continued to write.
“Though it was not tested, it can be assumed by the weight and muscular responses by the wing that the appendages added by the Wing-Spell exhibit physical characteristics similar to those of draconic origins. This includes a high level of fire resistance from the keratin’s impressive ability to resist conduction of heat, low fatigue rates due to an increased ability to metabolize the lactic acid, and strong forces with the high muscle mass necessary to operate the wings.”
“Too bad Spike wasn’t here to see them.” Twilight spoke aloud as she readied her quill again. “I’m sure he would have been more than excited to see those wings on Applebloom.” The unicorn was unable to suppress the giggle of laughter that came from her lips at the thought of her dragon assistant asking the earth pony for a look at her wings. It would have been one for the photo books, she was sure.
“Spike asking an earth pony for the chance to see her dragon wings. There’s a mouthful.” Her quill touched the paper and she continued to write.
“When the filly was asked to test the use of her wings, she was able to obtain flight on her first attempt, much like the animal testing that had occurred before. She also exhibited no feeling or reflexive abilities, giving further proof that her wings were unable or unwilling to grow afferent nerves. However, the ability of the filly to fly on command is proof that her efferent nervous system developed flawlessly, merging seamlessly with the central nervous system as well.”
“Now for the most important part.” The unicorn noted to herself as she let her hoof drag the paper of Applebloom on it, twisting the parchment until she was looking at her words at the proper angle. Sometimes, even she was amazed with the amount of mess she could leave in note taking.
“As stated before, a third party asked and retained the thought the filly was thinking of at the time of casting. It was revealed after the Wing-Spell was cast that the filly was thinking of her elder brother at the time of casting. Her brother is a farm stallion with an impressive muscular physique, capable of clearing half an orchard of apple’s within a day’s time. He stands taller than most other ponies, princesses aside, at an impressive height of 5’3”. This correlates well with the dragon wings the filly produced, as both are slow, large, and powerful; known for long hours of work and little fatigue from it.”
“Good, now almost done.” Twilight mumbled again as she prepared her quill.
“It is important to note that while the filly was able to achieve flight, she was unable to maintain it for an extended period. This was observed to be more due to inexperience than fatigue, as her initial flight was met with only excitement and a desire to try again. More in depth analysis would be needed to ascertain the level of strength in the wings relative to a dragon of similar size and weight, but this would require further study.”
Twilight bit her lip the moment she wrote down that last line.
“I hope that’s okay.” She prayed more than spoke as she reread it once, twice, then thrice. “I mean, it’s not like they’d just assume I wouldn’t cover it. That’s something somepony would be naturally curious about, right?” Her lip was twisted up and down between her teeth.
Knowing what was coming, Twilight straightened her posture. Her hoof rose to her chest, letting her drag in a deep breath of air that filled her lungs and puffed out her ribs. She held in place for a moment, letting the air sit still inside of her. Then in a long even sigh, she released the breath.
She felt much calmer.
“I’ll just come back to it later.” She concluded with a smile. “It’s not as if this is the final draft. I’m sure the pony that looks over it will be able to point out how to fix it, if it even needs to be fixed.” Satisfied, Twilight lit her horn.
The aura surrounded two papers on her desk, the one detailing Applebloom’s newly acquired reptilian wings, and another documented sheet of paper at the top of her desk. She alternated the position of the two, replacing the earth pony’s data out of her reach with the new information in front of her. Lavender eyes scanning over the paper to make sure she had the right document, Twilight proceeded to write.
“The next volunteer was another filly, this time a unicorn.” Twilight reread her notes carefully before she proceeded with the paper.
“This pony produced a set of butterfly wings. They did not match directly with any known race or group of butterflies, but it is important to note that the wings are very similar to the wings also produced by her sister two years ago in a separate undocumented incident.”
Twilight made another note on her spare piece of parchment to give reference to the specific incident later in the paper, specifically after the conclusion and discussion. But most importantly, after she received word from Rarity that she wouldn’t mind being referred to in a magical research paper.
“The wings produced were approximately twice the height of the filly, within an error range of 0.1 inches. However, the surface area of the wings was also expansive, at nearly twice the width of the previously produced dragon wings. A combination of this height and width make the butterfly wings the largest in a ratio scale of surface area to subject thus far. The set of wings produced had both a fore and hind portion, the same as those in butterflies, but with the hind set of wings approximately three quarters the size of the fore set.”
With a quick wetting of her quill, Twilight continued right on.
“Upon close, non-invasive, investigation, it was noted that the wings produced all the proper anatomy of a butterfly, color-scheme aside. This includes a central point of contact along the filly’s back, where a jugum was observed to have been created. Jugums are necessary, however, to operate these kinds of wings. Butterfly wings do not have any muscular capabilities within them, depending on the jugum attached directly to the thorax for movement. Here, the jugum was produced along the T10 Thoracic bone, placing it outside the standard deviation for wing placement.”
“I have to admit, insect wings are a lot more complicated than other kinds of wings.” Twilight mused as she wet her quill, looking over the paper of Sweetie Belle as she continued. “It’s a good thing she liked them so much.”
“The chitinous membranes formed over the wings are similar to those of butterflies as well, but these were of much heavier density, assumingly to compensate for the filly’s increased mass as compared to those of a butterfly’s light structure. The fine setae hairs also normally found in the coloring of wings were not present. This is also assumingly to compensate for the increased density and heavier mass necessary for the wings to work properly.”
“I’d say that’s enough beating around the bush.” Twilight noted as she continued on. She knew the portion coming next would be what most other academic ponies would read.
“The filly unicorn was successfully able to fly as well, doing so with an almost graceful dignity to her. As the earth filly before her, no instructions were necessary in order to help the filly fly. Her wings acted as her mind commanded them to. As there are no skeletal pathways into a normal butterfly’s wings, there assumingly weren’t here. But as tested, the filly could feel no sensitivity or pressure along her wings when applied. The jugum, however, was also barren of sensitivity or pressure differences, affirming the idea that all aspects of a wing produced as a cause of the Wing-Spell do not have afferent neurons. But as all subjects thus far, animal and pony alike, have been able to fly, they demonstrate the clear ability to possess efferent neurons.”
“Gotta stop rambling there,” Twilight noted to herself as she wet her quill again. “Anything more than that and it will belong in the discussion section.”
“When questioned about what she thought of, the unicorn filly responded that she was thinking of her sister at the time. This raises an interesting idea, as her sister produced an extremely similar pair of butterfly wings. They varied between one another in terms of actual size and color scheme, with the wings produced during the course of this experiment being of a lighter purple shade, as opposed to her sister’s rainbow prism scheme. Unfortunately, it is hard to determine if the wings were produced as an idea from a previously imagined set, or as a product of thinking of her sister.”
“Oh Celestia, this would be so much easier if I could just write down their names.” Twilight grumbled to herself. “How hard would it be to just say Sweetie Belle and Rarity?” Curse as she might, however, the unicorn was no fool. Naming ponies in a research paper broke P.I.P.P.A. protocols, and she was not a pony who broke the rules to save time. Unless… she was trying to go back in time. She shook her head to rid herself of the encroaching memories.
“It is difficult to say with any certainty which, if any, pony displayed the best ability to fly. The fact does remain though that both fillies were able to fly within seconds of gaining their new wings.”
Just as before, Twilight gave her horn a short burst of energy, making it hum with power. The data sheet showing all of Sweetie Belle’s new pair of wings levitated with a lavender aura. A paper just behind it did as well. The two swapped places as they were moved through the air, slowly landing on the table beneath them as Twilight cut off her magic.
Her eyes scanned the paper as she had done to all the documents so far, making sure it was both what she was looking for, and it had everything she needed. With a satisfied nod, she lifted her quill again, eyes scanning the paper for a triple check. A blank sheet of parchment slowly took the place of her latest paper, giving her a fresh start.
“The last filly to help with the Wing-Spell research was a pegasus. This was done so to observe the effects amongst pegasi, who already possess wings, as stated in the methods section. Observations among winged animals resulted in little to no effect, adverse or otherwise, so they were removed from the result data. This pegasus, however, does not yet have the capacity to fly, so the Wing-Spell was theorized to either increase the strength of her already present wings, or replace them with a set that would allow it.”
“And what a thing it did.” Twilight muttered again to herself as she wet her quill. Even hours after the experiment, the results of using the Wing-Spell on Scootaloo still surprised her. However, in the mind of a researcher, there was no better moment during the course of an experiment than being surprised with good data.
“After the Wing-Spell was cast on the young pegasus filly, the filly was seen to have grown three sets of identical wings.”
Twilight set the quill down as she reread her own words. There was nothing grammatically wrong with them, but still, it would doubtlessly earn a double take from anypony who had even the most basic of understandings regarding pegasus anatomy, let alone magic. She was sure about one thing though. The discussion section for this paper would be immense.
“All the wings along the filly’s back were three Thoracic bones apart. Specifically, located along bones T2, T5, and T8. Each of the six wings could be moved individually with all of them presenting with the same exact bone structure, measured size, and feather count. They were all duplicates of one another. Additionally, the set of wings along the T5 bone were the location of the pegasus filly’s wings before testing. These were either replaced or enhanced as a result of the Wing-Spell. It cannot be determined which one.”
“Not without causing some serious undeserved pain.” Twilight noted absently again. “Scootaloo sure was happy about it though. Never have I been so glad to prepare before a test.” With a freshly dipped quill, Twilight continued writing.
“The wings themselves were identical to pegasi wings, as can be researched in other documented papers. However, the wings on the filly’s back were those of a full grown mare, not to those of a filly sizes. However, the wings, even when measured and weighed together, were only slighter heavier than those of a single pegasi set of wings, using ponymetric data to correlate and average weight of pegasi wings in the age hood of a foal. This leaves the implication that the wings are far less dense than regular wings, and likely weaker individually because of it.”
“Like the other wings during the test, the majority of the wings did not display any afferent nervous system qualities, resulting in no sensitivity within the wings. However, among the wings that had replaced or enhanced the filly’s old pair of wings, the nervous system was still intact. According to the filly, the sensations felt through these wings were there, but dulled. Similar to the feeling one would experience with a limb cut short on blood supply.”
“Oh, but the best has yet to come.” Twilight continued to write.
“When the filly pegasus, now with three sets of wings, attempted to fly, she did so with more speed than she could actively run or the other two fillies were able to produce. Specifically, she ascended a height of twenty one feet in less than a second, though no official times were tracked. The filly stopped only because she hit the ceiling. No permanent or temporary damage was done to the filly, as the previously established dampening spells dulled the impact.”
“I don’t think it would have stopped her anyways.” Twilight noted with a smile on her lips. “Kind of reminds me of another pegasus I know. Speaking of which…”
“When questioned what the filly was thinking of, she eagerly replied that she was imagining flying as fast as she could next to the famous pegasus Rainbow Dash. As Dash is a rare case among pegasus, able to pull of the fabled Sonic Rainboom, it makes logical sense that the increase in wing numbers would increase the filly’s speed to reach such a goal, as the larger a set of wings are, the more drag exists with them.”
As she finished up the last section of Scootaloo’s unique set of wings, Twilight halted. Her eyes were drawn to the fabric next to her, causing them to widen as she reread her own notes.
“I can’t believe I almost forgot that.” She noted to herself as she saved space at the bottom of the page. Her quill set to work marking up another table for her data to sit on, three rows of subjects with five columns of data. With all the expertise she had done twice before, Twilight began to list the important data gathered from Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Her pen finished the numbers with a satisfying flick.
Twilight gently set her quill down, tip dry and worn with work. Her magic enveloped the papers she had written on, lifting them into the air as they were carefully organized. They tapped on the wood of the desk, straightening the collection into a neat and presentable stack. Satisfied, she set them back down on the desk, placing a small stone paperweight over the documents.
Her horn burst with life again as she lifted the remaining documents into the air, filled with all the raw data she had collected over the past few days. Just as before, her magic sorted and organized the documents, making sure they were properly labeled for swift reference. Once they were, Twilight’s eyes fell onto the result notes she had just written and organized, lifting them into the air to join the rest of the papers. They settled comfortably beneath the detailed introduction and methods sections.
When they were all aligned and centered, she lifted a small bit of string from her desk, wrapping it around the documents. The small bit of yarn easily wrapped the length and width of the paper, meeting at the center of the documents with slack to spare. A twist of her head and buzz of the horn and the ends began to wrap and dance around one another. Within a few moments, a perfectly formed knot was made.
“Perfect.” Twilight stated with an equally satisfied smile on her face. “Now all I need to do is finish the discussion and conclusion section tomorrow, and I can send this off to Canterlot University.”
Another flash of lavender light sent the collection of papers into an open trunk. With a small buzz, the lid closed, locked clicked into place, and the key safely hidden from any pony’s view or knowledge. Her work was safe.
Twilight let out a breath of relief, feeling the stress and work of the day slowly leave her body. The weight of her work slowly left her, leaving the unicorn with an overwhelming, yet extremely satisfying, sense of fatigue.
Her lavender eyes looked towards her window, seeing Celestia’s sun hanging on the edge of the horizon. The day was over, and her work was done.
“Guess I don’t have to burn the midnight oil tonight.” Twilight noted absently. “But I guess that’s what happens when you spend an entire day just working.” She turned herself from her desk, lightly trotting out of her study and into her bedroom.
The soft inviting mattress nearly beckoned her as she approached, looking only more and more desirable the closer she came to it. As her hooves reached up and pulled her body onto the large soft cushion, a pleased sigh left her lips, causing her eyes to fall in satisfaction.
As her mind slowly gave in to the land of dreams, eagerly waiting to see what new lands Luna had made for the night, a small lingering thought drifted in front of her.
“I wonder what the girls are doing with their wings?”