Twilight Sparkle surveyed a potion bottle and tried to concentrate. After taking a brief peer at one of her large potion books, she turned back to the bubbling vial. It was filled with an opaque liquid that was colored sunset orange and lemon yellow. It bubbled slightly over a Bunsen burner and smelled strongly of oranges and wood. She took a quill and, after dipping it in the inkwell with her magic, began to feverishly write down observations about her bubbling potion. What she was attempting was risky, crazy, and a little bit demented. But, it was well worth the risk.
The craziness began on one boring sunny afternoon in the Golden Oaks library, where Twilight Sparkle, a studious and hyper organized purple unicorn, sat on the balcony reading one of her many books. It was such a nice day that she saw no reason to read inside, so the decision came upon her to read in the sunshine. She was perched on the balcony, and a glass of lemonade sat close by, ready to quench Twilight’s thirst if need be. Though the unicorn read plenty of nonfiction books, it was always refreshing to read a nice adventurous novel, perhaps a mystery or even a suspense. A mystery novel was chosen today, about a pony who had trekked up a mountain, and found an abandoned lodge there, that was rumored to be haunted. The particular part that Twilight was on was when the pony was finding the third clue about the lodge, in which the pony found the cellar to be full of an extensive brewery of some sort.
Twilight turned the page in her book and momentarily looked up to feel the breeze rush through her mane and the sun beat down on her forehead, warming her horn. She smiled at nopony, silently thanked the pegasus ponies for a wonderful day, and went back to her novel. Before her eyes could land on the words, a yell pierced the air. Twilight bolted upright and stood at once. She moved her book and glass of lemonade behind her away from harm, and scanned the blue sky for any signs of danger. The yell was louder now, and through the blue abyss Twilight caught sight of a sky blue pegasus with a lovely rainbow mane streaking across the sky faster than usual. She appeared to have gone out of control, which Twilight assumed it was because of a new trick that her friend had been practicing.
She came closer, yelling profusely, and Twilight, seeing this, focused her magic and aimed her violet horn right at Rainbow. If this worked, then Rainbow could be safe from crashing into the library and getting seriously hurt-again. Twilight closed her eyes and performed the spell she was thinking of. In midair, Rainbow stopped moving so quickly and began to move slowly. Twilight dug her hooves into the balcony and squeezed her eyes tighter. Rainbow was slowly coming toward Twilight and the balcony. Squeezing ever tighter yet pausing slightly to open her eye to see if the spell was working, Twilight concentrated. Rainbow floated down still slowly and then her hooves touched the balcony and Twilight rested. She felt drained somehow, but at least her friend was safe from the predicted crash. Rainbow smiled at her unicorn friend and flapped her wings out, as if to stretch them.
“Thanks, Twilight! Again, new trick. That’s the last time I go near a high powered fan.”
“You’re welcome, Rainbow. Just next time, please be careful. Remember what happened last time?”
Rainbow blushed at the memory. She did remember. She had ruined several cakes at Sugarcube Corner, and the roof had been damaged pretty badly by the extensive amount of water. Pinkie Pie had a hard time smiling after all that. Rainbow had been reluctant to go into the hospital again, so Twilight asked the doctor if he could bandage Rainbow Dash up and then send her home. After much arguing, the doctor agreed. But that did not mean that the doctor had insisted the next time an accident were to occur that Rainbow come immediately to the hospital for heal and examination. This was promised by Twilight that something of this nature would not happen again.
“You’re pretty handy with that horn,” said Rainbow, pushing the memory of her wing out of her mind. Twilight smiled.
“Thank you. If you want I can lend you a book about Modern Unicorn Magic. It’s really good. And it talks all about magic and horns and things like that if you-”
“No thanks, Twilight. I enjoy a good Daring Do novel as much as the next pegasus, but I’m off reading for a bit.”
“What if you had your own horn? There’s a section about pegasi turning into alicorns or vise versa in the book!”
“Are you kidding me? The day I get a horn is the day I get my mane dyed purple. I love my wings.”
“Well, just be careful. Enjoy the day!” said Twilight, cheerily, and went back inside the library, leaving her sky blue friend on the balcony. Rainbow shrugged, and flew off somewhere in search of a cannon.
Later that evening Twilight was snuggled in her bed with the same novel(she was almost done with the story and she was sure she had the mystery all wrapped up) the thought of Rainbow having a horn revisited her. She laughed at the thought of one of her best pegasi friends having horns instead of wings. As a unicorn, it took Twilight almost all her life to figure out how to work her magic. Now that she had mastered it, it became fun and easy to use. It became, literally, a part of her. Spike came in the room to go to bed, and when he did, he saw his ‘boss’ and faithful companion pondering something while she was reading. He took no mind of it, figuring that she was only figuring out what was going on in her story. He got into his basket and pulled his baby blanket over him. It felt warm, and he was about to go to sleep when she woke him.
“Spike?” she asked, turning off the light and putting her novel on her headboard and laying back on her pillow.
"Yeah?" he gurgled. He was about to pass out.
“What if… what if Rainbow Dash had a horn instead of wings?”
Odd question, he thought to himself. But then again, why would the pegasus pony EVER agree to that? She loved her wings, and with the records she held, it didn’t seem like an option even to consider.
“Why?” he asked.
“Just wondering.” she replied.
“I don’t think Rainbow Dash wants to give up her wings.” he replied, and turned over.
“Goodnight, Twilight.” he said, and closed his eyes.
“Goodnight.” she replied, but knew that no sleep would come to her.