Mare or stallion, old or young, rich or poor, no matter what pony you were, or what walk of life you had, there was always one thing you could agree on; the first few moments after waking up in the morning were the very definition of content. And so it was too with Twilight, as she slowly opened her eyes. As a Princess of Equestria, her chambers were, naturally, very comfortable, and as she laid there in her soft bed, a smile touched her lips, and she let out a deep sigh. Rolling over slightly, she raised both hooves and stretched, satisfied at the feeling of it. When she turned to her nearby window, she looked on with joy at the beautiful rays of light that poured in, as if to greet her. Smiling at it all, she closed her eyes, resting her head upon her pillow, and simply enjoyed the calm of the moment.

"TWILIGHT!!!" a familiar voice called out.

Begrudgingly, she opened her eyes again, a look of irritation now plastered upon her face.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted."

Getting up, Twilight let out a brief yawn, before walking over to her chamber door. Her horn lit up as the knob turned, allowing her to finally open the thing.

"Alright, Spike, what's the..."

But she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening with shock at what she now saw before her. Spike, her young assistant, was indeed standing there before her. However, it was clear that the young drake had gone through some rather noticeable changes while she wasn't looking. For upon his back sprouted a pair of what could only be the wings of a pony, coloured purple as he was. In addition, there also seemed to be a very distinct horn sprouting from the middle of his forehead. As one would expect, nopony was more concerned by all of this than Spike himself.

"I...I...I just woke up and...and I found all of this on me!"

He clawed at the horn upon his head, as if trying to wrench it from him, all while Twilight simply stood there, staring at him with her mouth agape.

"But...but...why...how...when...?"

Seeing that she was just as much in the dark as he was, Spike sat upon the ground, curled into a ball and started rocking back and forth.

"It's just a bad dream! That's it! I ate too many bad gems last night and now I'm hallucinating!"

Twilight, naturally, would have wanted to enquire further about this unexpected moment in her life, but, sadly, she wasn't given the chance. For it was around now that she heard the clear sound of somepony knocking rather loudly on her front door. Looking down to Spike, she figured he wasn't going anywhere right now, so instead, she began to make her way down to the main chamber of her palace. Her movements were slow, with her still being shocked at seeing Spike that way, but, she nevertheless managed to make it to her door, which was still being knocked upon frantically. Again, her horn lit up as she opened it, and again, as before, she spoke to whoever was there.

"Can I help yo-ARGH!!!"

On the other side, looking to her with an utterly blank expression, was Applejack. Now, on most days, Twilight would, naturally, be happy to see her. But today, it appeared as if her farm friend was having the same problem as Spike was, as she too now seemed to bear both wings and a horn. The two mares stared at each other for some time, though it Twilight's case it was simply a matter of being utterly flummoxed by the sight before her. As for Applejack, she eventually broke that silence by raising her hoof to her mouth and clearing her throat.

"...Twilight."

Much like with Spike, Twilight shook herself out of her trance-like state.

"...Applejack?"

The farmer nodded.

"Nice weather, right?"

Twilight nodded back.

"Oh, yes, it's...it's wonderful."

Applejack took a deep breath, and then exhaled, before replying.

"So...I wake up this morning, everythin's fine...and then ah go ta the mirror...and find all of this..."

She gestured to her new appendages.

"...all over me. Would y'all care ta explain?"

Here, Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Wha...what makes you think I did it?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Twilight...the last time somepony became an alicorn unexpectedly, it was because of yer spell, remember?"

The young Princess opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again with a look of embarrassment.

"Well...I didn't do it this time, okay?"

Applejack frowned to this.

"Well who did do it then?"

Much like before, Twilight tried to answer, only to be interrupted when a sudden pink blur shot right past her at an alarming speed. Both her and Applejack stepped back in surprise at this, but then, it happened again, and again. But on the fourth time, the blur stopped, and both mares saw that which, frankly, they'd both been afraid of. It was Pinkie, smiling widely as usual, but, with a brand-spanking new pair of wings and a horn.

"Hiya, girls! Guess who just became a Princess?!"

Twilight slapped her forehead with frustration.

"Ughh! Pinkie! Don't scare us like..."

Then, she paused, lowering her hoof and looking to her former-earth-pony friend with confusion.

"Um...what do you mean, Princess"

Pinkie giggled.

"Silly! All alicorns are Princesses! And since we're alicorns, that means we're Princesses!"

Twilight gained a blank look, turning to Applejack, who promptly shrugged her shoulders.

"Hate ta break it to ya, Twi...but she's got a point."

Twilight looked to her, then to Pinkie, and back and forth before, at last speaking up.

"But...but...but...that's not how it works! At least...I don't think that's how it works."

Unfortunately, fate now saw fit to interrupt them yet again, as they heard the sound of hoof-steps approaching them. They turned, and saw what Twilight had suspected at this point. All of her other friends, Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy, were all coming towards her and the palace. And, much like everypony else thus far today, all of them now appeared to be sporting new horns and wings. Fluttershy was, of course, terrified at all of this, Rainbow was looking smug, and Rarity just seemed confused by it all.

"Um, darling? Yes, if it's at all possible...could you please explain what is going on?"

Twilight stared at each of them, just as unsure of what to say as all of them were. But, as was standard fare at this point, Pinkie spoke up, jumping in before her before she could get a word in.

"Oooh! Even more Princesses! Neat! Let's see..."

She raised her hoof and pointed to Rainbow.

"You can be the Princess of being cool!"

Rainbow chuckled.

"Yeah, I can live with that!"

Pinkie then looked to Fluttershy.

"The Princess of animals!"

Fluttershy said nothing, merely nodding and just trying to avoid being looked at, giving Pinkie and opportunity to give Rarity her turn.

"And the Princess of fashion stuff!"

Rarity frowned somewhat.

"A little blunt and obvious, but, but I suppose I can live with that title."

It was here that Twilight finally lost her cool.

"Pinkie! You're not Princesses! This...this is all just some magical accident, I'm sure! We'll just write to Celestia and figure out what's going on!"

A dry laugh escaped Rainbow at that.

"Hate ta break it to ya, Twi...but I think the problem's a little bigger than that."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, showing her confusion at that, which led to Rainbow looking over her shoulder to Ponyville nearby. Her eyes widened with shock when she caught sight of what Rainbow was talking about. Because even from this distance, she could see them, all of her friends and neighbours from the town. All of them, from the Cakes, to Derpy, to Vinyl and Octavia, every single one of them had wings and horns where once there were none. Seeing this, Twilight rushed into the town square, her friends not far behind her. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but alicorns in her sights. In addition, everypony seemed to have looks of shock upon their faces, talking to each other in a frantic and confused manner.

"Wha...how...why?" Twilight asked.

"Ugh! Is that all you can say to this, Twilight?" Applejack.

Twilight frowned to this remark, only to stop and watch as Pinkie started bouncing around everywhere, pointing to each of the new alicorns with glee.

"Princess of baking! Princess of bubbles! Princess of pop music! Princess of..."

Overwhelmed by it all, Twilight just let out an almighty scream.

"GAAAAAAGH!!! Who?! Who is responsible for this?! Why have they done it?! What the buck is going on?!"

Her scream echoed far, high into the sky and miles away. It echoed on and on, the sound carried by the wind to every far-off corner of Equestria, so all could hear it. It travelled so far, in fact, that the noise even reached the great city of Canterlot, up to the tallest tower. And upon that tower? A balcony, with a beautifully-crafted telescope. And that telescope was currently being used by a regal and ancient alabaster alicorn, peering through it at the chaos going on in Ponyville far away. As she finally stopped looking through it, the Princess of the sun turned, looking to the one who stood beside her with a look of disapproval in her eyes. And as her companion, a certain draconequs, floated in mid-air, he chuckled darkly to himself, wiping away a laughter-induced tear, before finally addressing his alicorn companion.

"Ain't I a stinker?"