Twilight Sparkle stood up as the lights turned on, pushing up against the floor and smiling in front of the camera. In front of her was a large blackboard, and she had chalk and a pointer on hoof. More important, however, were her eyes. Her shimmering, eager, and supremely excited eyes.
Oh yes. Tonight, she was going to lecture.
“Hello, everypony! Or should I say, ‘everybody?’ My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m here to help expand and explain the world that is Rites of Ascension!”
A piece of chalk floated into the air, ready to write.
“Today, we’re going to be talking about the transition from unicorn to alicorn.”
The chalk drew two vertical lines on the board, creating three different spaces. Over the one on the left, she wrote the word “Unicorn.”
“First, though, we should cover basic terminology. As we all know, I am,” she paused, swallowing, “becoming an alicorn, though it’s still hard to believe at this point. However, calling myself an ‘alicorn’ right now isn’t entirely accurate. I do have some pegasus and earth pony magic, true, but it’s not as precise as the actual term since I don’t have wings or an ethereal mane. I’m actually very far away from being a true alicorn. So, we have a different phrase to describe what I am: ‘Alicorn Ascendant.’ This applies to anypony that has begun the transition to alicornhood, but has not yet become a full alicorn.”
The chalk wrote the term above the second space as she talked.
“Unicorns slowly transition to their prime age and immediately lose their child bearing or siring abilities when they become alicorn ascendants. Since I was still in my prime anyway, I skipped the first part of that.”
Lastly, the chalk spelled out “Alicorn” over the third space.
“Alicorn ascendants don’t become true, full alicorns until we do what Celestia calls ‘dominating our summits.’ Each ‘summit’ is a physical aspect of alicornhood: etheral mane, wings, height, and horn length. We don’t become ‘true’ alicorns until we have dominated all four, and there’s no way to know what order they’ll happen in until they come. There’s not even a way to know how fast it’ll happen!
“I haven’t dominated any summits yet, so visually I look like any other short, bookish unicorn. Well, with a royal torc anyway. And because of that, I thought it would be nice to get pictures as I ascend so I can look back and see the transition over time. But to really do that, I need a reference to compare against! Fortunately, I have a volunteer just for that! Shining! You can come in now!”
Shining Armor strode in wearing his Royal Guard armor and carrying a studio camera on a tripod in his magic. “Heya Twily. Did you just want the camera over there?”
“Yes, right in front of us.”
Shining set up the camera, took a place next to his sister, and put his foreleg around her in a little hug.
“Hehe,” Twilight giggled a bit. “Come on, BBBFF. I know you’re excited that I’m back in Canterlot for a while, but I need us both to sit up straight for this, okay?”
“Alright, alright, I get it,” he said with a smile, backing off and lifting his head as far as he could.
The two looked fairly different for being from the same family. Shining was quite a tall stallion with a large frame that was perfect for carrying his heavy armor. His long muzzle was a prototypical example of what the nobility considered something from proper breeding, despite not being in the nobility by birth.
Twilight, however, was markedly shorter, even when sitting up straight for the picture. She was the shortest of her tight group of friends, about the same height as Rainbow Dash. Her frame was the opposite of Shining’s. While his was large and strong, almost like an earth pony, hers was petite and compact. One might even say it was delicate looking. A pony that clearly spent her time indoors, and in this case buried in studies and scrolls.
The trigger for the camera was pressed down by Shining’s magic, sealing the moment of time in a picture. One more was taken with them standing, and the contrast was much the same, if not even more stark.
“Thanks for the help, Shiny.” She gave him a little hug back.
“Anytime, Twily. Happy to help. Though, what exactly are you doing here?”
Twilight tilted her head. “Didn’t you read the story description?”
Shining blinked. “Story description?”
“You know, the thing that describes what we’re doing here? Helping explain the world of Rites of Ascension?”
“... Rites of Ascension?”
“The story that we’re in!?”
He blinked again. “Are you feeling alright, Twilight?”
She stomped her hoof. “Feeling alright!? Yes! I’m just angry that you didn’t read the story description! I have a lot of people to educate out there!”
“Peo... ple?”
Twilight reached up, grabbed his head, and turned it towards the fourth wall.
“What?” he squeaked.
“All those people, humans, reading about our adventures. They’re our audience. We’re the characters.”
His left eye, and only his left eye, started to drift up and to the right.
Twilight facehooved. “Crap. He hasn’t done this since we were foals. Sorry everybody, we have to cut this short. Next time, we’ll talk more about the summits.”