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Down in the Royal Guard barracks, 45 minutes past midnight..........
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"Seriously. He had, like, a 20 foot wingspan!" Sergeant Blitzkrieg said to the armorer. He was demonstrating by standing on his hind legs, with his forelegs spread like wings. "He easily stood about an inch shorter than Princess Celestia!"
"Uh-huh. Right. I'll believe that when... I... see..." Fiery Forge never finished her statement. She just pointed behind Blitz, and stammered. "H-H-Hello, Sir. Will you be needing s-some, ah, some adjustments made to your armor?" she quickly asked.
"Uh, yeah. It's a little tight now." That was easily an understatement. He was 25% wider than before, and six inches taller. "Also, could you cut some holes out around my shoulders? I kiiiinda sprouted wings." He gestured to his new wings. While his wingspan was impressive, it was hardly 20 feet. It was 13 feet at best. Forge quickly went to work, hammering away at the material. After it had been tempered, she repainted it, and hovered it over to the waiting Captain Shining. "That was quick. Thanks Forge," he said to the castle armorer.
After Shining left, Blitzkrieg just said, "Told ya." He went to the door, and turned his head to Forge. "And he's the smaller of the Princes." He trotted off. Something about 'Warning the others.'
Forge just stood there, mouth agape, thinking, 'If the Captain is the smaller of the two Princes, how big is Prince Macintosh?' Basically, Mac is eye-to-eye with Celestia now (And that's as tall as he'll get). Odd, considering Posey was the smaller of the Royal Daughters.
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"Hey, Mort. You seein' this?" asked Spear Carrier. There was some recruit wearing the Captain's armor. Even worse, pieces were missing.
"I see it too." Mortar Strike called out to the recruit. "HEY RECRUIT!" The recruit turned his head this way and that. Mort face-hoofed. "YOU IN THE PURPLE ARMOR! GET OVER HERE!" The recruit walked closer to them. To their horror, it was the Captain.
"Hey, guys, why'd you think I was a recruit?" Shining asked confusedly. He had been in command for two years now. Not once had he been mistaken for a recruit.
"My apologies, Sir. We had not been informed of your, ah, your ascension to the ranks of the alicorns. In our haste to prevent a recruit from getting thrown in the brig for taking the wrong armor, we called out to you."
"Well, this-" he flared his wings "-didn't really happen until about an hour ago. When you two are relieved, would you mind posting a notice to prevent any confusion? Oh, also, I'm off the next two weeks." Mortar and Spear saluted. "Dismissed." They walked away.
"Guys! Guys! The Captain's an alicorn now!" Blitzkrieg said, running up to them. He shrank as the two glared at him.
"We could have used that info five minutes ago, Schneckentempo," Mortar replied. "We have a note for you to post on the Board: 'The Captain is now an alicorn. This is your one heads-up. Also, anypony in the pool owes Spear Carrier five bits.' Got it?" Blitzkrieg nodded. "Well hop to it, Schneckentempo!" That was the last they saw of him that night. "Rats!"
"What?"
"We forgot to tell him the Captain was on vacation!"
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The next day, at Carousel Boutique, 6 in the morning...
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"Oh, where is it? I knew I had some scissors here somewhere." Rarity was holding them. She looked up. "Hehe." She grinned sheepishly.
"OH, RARITY! I'm here!" cried Sweetie Belle. "I'm supposed to bring somepony in for Family Appreciation Day and..." Sweetie Belle stopped short as she realized her sister had some new attachments. "When did you become an alicorn?" she asked in the same tone she might use to voice wonder as to why her sister would wear a duck as a hat. In this town, you learn to accept odd things as ordinary real quick.
"Last night. I just got back from the castle a few hours ago. Although, I suppose I could come in. When is it?"
"Today. Though I'd kinda wanted to bring Auntie Celestia." Sweetie rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
Rarity looked crestfallen. "Oh." For all of five seconds, when she remembered that filly Sweetie Belle had to deal with. "Okay, let me just get a pen." She thought, 'This should knock her down a peg.'
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"Who did you bring for Family Appreciation Day, Sweetie Belle?" asked Cheerilee. Sweetie Belle had said she would surprise everypony today.
"My (46 times) Great Aunt," Sweetie Belle said.
"Um, I thought we could only bring in living family members, Ms. Cheerilee," snarked Diamond Tiara, raising her hoof.
"She's better known as Princess Celestia," said Sweetie Belle, who innocently smiled out at the awestruck class. Except for Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, whose expressions ranged from derision, to ambivalence, to smug glee at what would happen next.
"Oh, please! Like you're related to a Princess," said Diamond Tiara, who'd been out of town with Silver Spoon for the past month. So, basically, she missed the coronation, and hadn't heard the news.
"She speaks no lies, little ones." Princess Celestia, Sol Invictus Herself, stepped into the room. "She, and young Apple Bloom, are not only related to me, but to Luna and Cadance as well. Not to mention the newly crowned Elements of Harmony and their siblings."
Diamond Tiara's jaw dropped. 'TWO OF THOSE BLANK-FLANKS ARE RELATED TO THE PRINCESSES?!?!' She looked to Scootaloo, who just grinned and whispered the word 'Baroness' while she pointed to herself. Diamond gulped, and immediately started thinking of ways to grovel to the CMCs.
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At the library, noon...
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"Spike I'm back! And I brought Fluttershy with me!" Fluttershy was nervous about this.
"Hey Twilight. Hey Fluttershy. What're you two doing here?" He had no idea what was coming.
"I brought Fluttershy here to tutor you on dragon's fire," Twilight said. Spike laughed.
"Her? Teach me?" Spike asked, laughing. "She can't breath fire!" His laughing was quickly shut up when she unfurled her wings and exhaled a stream of fire towards the ceiling. Good thing Twilight had the place fireproofed. "Huh?" Spike's eyes quickly bolted between the scorch mark and Fluttershy, who spoke up.
"I'm, um, also supposed to mention my grandfather is Sharpclaw the Gold-Plated." Upon hearing that, Spike started kissing Fluttershy's hooves. To meet the granddaughter of one of his (draconic) idols...
"Teach me, oh lovely one! Spawn of Magnificent Sharpclaw!" He then offered to her an array of gems from his stockpile in the closet.
"Ooh! You have sapphires!." She took one of the gems up to her mouth, and bit into it like she would an especially crunchy apple. "Mm. It tastes just like the cupcakes Auntie Frost makes," Fluttershy said.
"By any chance, do you mean this?" Spike held out of of Sugarcube Corner's (in)famous Sapphire cupcakes. "Mrs. Cake makes these by the dozen. I asked her why one day, but she just said 'Family Secret'."
"I suppose I should visit her, after I have a rest," Fluttershy said. Then she went home.
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Twilight was down in her lab. "Almost got it." She poured a drop of some green chemical into a beaker containing a purple chemical. "There. Now to test it." Twilight took a swig, and immediately spit it back out. "BLECH! Okay, never mix condensed dragon's breath with grape juice. It makes a horrible drink." She wrote that bit down, then underlined it, then highlighted it.
"Twilight, you down here? Whoa!" *THUMP* *BANG* *CRASH* "Below Ground Floor!" He said, raising his index claw, still face-planted. Twilight picked him up. "Mommy?" he asked, still dazed.
"Um, no. At least, I don't think so..." Twilight had never given it much thought. She had hatched him, but nopony was sure what to make of that. She patted him on the head anyway. "Let's get you cleaned up. Then I'll get you those Cupcakes you like so much. The old ones have gone stale." Spike hopped up the stairs. 'I know he needs gems to strengthen his scales, but he also needs to go easy on the sugar.' Twilight rolled her eyes, then headed up the stairs.
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Meanwhile, at Sugarcube Corner..........
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"Whee! Hey, wait! Pound, don't go down there!" Pound Cake then flew down to the ground floor of the building. "Pumpkin, stay here while I go get your brother." Pinkie flew down, and snatched Pound Cake out of the air. "Oh, Mrs. Cake, did know Sharpclaw had grandfoals?"
"Oh, Uncle Sharpclaw finally revealed he has a grandchild? What's their name?" Asked Mrs. Cake, who was even more scared of Pinkie now than she ever was before. And Mrs. Cake is a dragon-pony; they aren't scared of much. Why is she dragon-pony? Well, why else would she have recipes for foods with rock-hard gems in them? She got her Great-Grandma's recipes for ruby baklava, jade Ice cream with chocolate diamonds, and the (in)famous sapphire cupcake.
"Fluttershy! Didn't you notice her new wings? They're covered in gold! She even breathes fire!" Pinkie said, careful not to hurt Pound's ears with her voice.
Mrs. Cake raised an eyebrow at that. "As in the pony with the dragon wings? Who walked right past not 20 minutes ago? That was Fluttershy? Haha! I'll make sure to send her a note." She laughed to herself. 'Grandma Frost, why didn't you say before that I had a cousin?'
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At Sweet Apple Acres, roughly 3 o'clock in the afternoon.....
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"You ready Mac?" Applejack asked. She was facing the corn fields.
"Eeyup." Mac turned to the wheat fields.
"Ya got a good view up there, Apple Bloom?"
"You betcha, Sis!" Apple Bloom shouted from atop the farmhouse.
"You comfy up there, Dash?" she asked the lazy former-pegasus.
"Hay yeah! I'm sitting on a cloud! That's the ultimate in comfy!" Rainbow Dash then hovered a tankard of cider to her side, and took a swig. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff."
"Ya got Granny with ya, Honey?" Mac asked Caramel.
"Yes, Dear," Caramel replied. Granny Smith had a bucket of popcorn with her, the better to watch what happens next.
Applejack tried taking off first, but just skidded along the dirt, face first. Mac, who jumped, and took off, ascended to about twenty feet, before falling back to the ground, creating a Mac-sized hole in it. The second attempt saw Applejack get airborne, before she got stuck in a treetop (she's got flying straight down, now she needs to work on turning). Mac tried getting airborne a second time, and actually succeeded. He thanked Scootaloo for lending him that book on flight. His landing saw him end up face first in the mud.
"Well, you've got flying down.-" Rainbow Dash snickered "-Now you just need to work on landing." Mac Looked up to see Rainbow dash standing in front of him. "Wanna help me get AJ out of the tree?" Rainbow helped Mac up, then he kicked the tree, releasing the one apple not meant to be in a tree in the first place.
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A visit to a local infirmary, and one day later....
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Ten baskets of apples were taken to the market. Two were taken to Sugarcube Corner, where Fluttershy, Spike, and Mrs. Cake were having a conversation on the tastes of different gemstones while Twilight took notes. The last eight baskets were left behind to be processed into Apple Family Jam, Cider, Applejack (the drink from which AJ gets her name), Pie Filling, and Dried Fruit Mix. All throughout the yearly apple delivery, Mac turned heads. He thought to himself, 'First, Ah'm made a Prince. Two weeks later, Ah'm an alicorn. What's next? Ah'm deified? Wait, don't ask that kind o' question. It might jus' come true, in the worst way possible."
After he thought that, nothing happened. He looked around, then sighed with relief. He wiped the sweat from his brow, then dragged the cart back to the Acres.