Chapter 1: Cat's Out of the Bag

"Rainbow, Rainbow!" Twilight shouted as she shook Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow are you okay?!" A spell had gone awry and thrown Rainbow back against the wall of the library, knocking her out cold. Twilight had been shaking Rainbow for a few minutes before she had started to come to, letting out a few confused groans.

"What, happened?" Rainbow asked slowly, struggling to open her eyes as her body ached, shouting at her to stay put. When she finally got her eyes open Rainbow looked around, seeing a pile of books on either side of her, looking as if they had been pushed away from her. Then she realized that she was sitting at the bottom of a bookcase, which was empty, save for the books that were behind her back.

"Rainbow, are you okay, you hit the wall really hard" Twilight asked worriedly, trying to look around and see if Rainbow had managed to cut herself anywhere.

"It hurts a lot, but I think I'll be okay, but can you check my head, it feels like somepony cracked open my skull..." Rainbow said, her pain seeping through her voice as she tried to move her hoof up to feel her head. Twilight quickly moved to get a good look at Rainbow's head, moving her mane out of the way so she could check for any damage.

"It doesn't look like-AH!" Twilight screamed before she jumped away from Rainbow, her eyes filled with fear.

"What, is my head actually cracked open something?" Rainbow asked lazily while giving Twilight a confused look. As she tried to get up Twilight moved a mirror in front of her face. Rainbow looked into the mirror angrily, annoyed that Twilight had suddenly put in there, but quickly noticed what was wrong.

"A... A horn?!" Rainbow cried as she jumped back, slamming into the bookshelf again, knocking the one book that had still been in the top shelf down, impaling itself on her new horn. She quickly looked over to Twilight, who was now trying to hold back a giggle as she looked at Rainbow. As soon as she realized that the book was there Rainbow pulled it off and stomped her way over to Twilight.

"What did you do?!" Rainbow shouted, pointing a hoof at her horn, "Why do I have a horn now?!"

"I-I don't know Rainbow, it was just there when I went to check for any cuts..." Twilight whimpered from underneath Rainbow's angry stare. Her fear made her look around for something that might help her explain what had happened, which allowed her to see something else that was strange about Rainbow.

"You still have your wings..." Twilight mumbled before taking another look at the wings, "They're whiter than normal, how is that?"

"What are you babbling on about?" Rainbow asked angrily, rushing over to Twilight's bedroom so she could see herself in the full body mirror. When she stopped in front of it she froze, fear taking over her mind. Her wings were still there, and they were whiter than normal. How is that even possible? Rainbow thought to herself as Twilight stumbled into the room, a scroll and quill suspended in the air by her magic.

"We need to tell Princess Celestia right away, she needs to know about this!" Twilight said quickly, the quill moving frantically around the page as Twilight tried to fit her thoughts onto the tiny scroll. Rainbow sighed before hearing a knock at the door. Quickly looking at the clock filled her with dread as she realized who it was. Crap, why now? Rainbow whined in her head before looking back into the mirror, seeing her horn protruding from her forehead, I can't face him like this!

"Are you okay Rainbow?" Twilight asked, noticing the panicked look on Rainbow's face.

"I was supposed to go help Big Mac watch the girls today, but I can't face him like this!" Rainbow whined, thinking about the plans she had made. She gave Scootaloo the idea that they should try to get athletic swimming for a cutie mark, and Big Mac wanted to watch them, so she volunteered to watch them as well. Although him and the girls saw it as Rainbow wanting to be responsible, it was really just so she could spend time with Big Mac, get to know him better, but if she looks like this...

"What's the big deal, it's just Big Mac" Twilight said, not understanding why Rainbow would be so afraid to face the farmer just because she looked different.

"Just Big Mac? Just Big Mac?!" Rainbow shouted, moving forwards to give Twilight a piece of her mind, but she caught herself before she said something she was going to regret. Twilight watched as Rainbow backed away, defeated by her own fears. There was silence for a few minutes until there was a loud knock at the door.

"Hello? Anypony in there?" Big Mac asked loudly from outside, making Rainbow flinch before an idea came to her.

"Twi, can you go tell him that I, uh..." Rainbow trailed off thinking of something believable for Twilight to say, "Got called away for weather duties!"

"I thought the forecast was for sunny skies today?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow's weird actions.

"In Manehattan!" Rainbow added, making Twilight sigh loudly.

"Fine, I'll go lie for you" Twilight said, annoyed that Rainbow was acting so weird over Big Mac. Rainbow paced back and forth until Twilight came back, a giant smile on her face.

"You like Big Mac, don't you?" Twilight asked accusingly, moving towards Rainbow with a large smile plastered on her face.

"What? No, of course not!" Rainbow said defensively, backing up from Twilight as she continued to walk up to her. Eventually Rainbow was backed up against the wall with Twilight staring her right in the eyes. She tried to squirm away, to no avail as Twilight moved to counter every attempt Rainbow made to get away.

"Fine! Fine!" Rainbow cried, pushing Twilight back with a defeated look on her face, "Yes, I like Big Mac, okay, happy now?"

"Yes, very happy in fact" Twilight said cheerfully as she backed away from Rainbow, who was glaring at Twilight, "So, what are you going to do if this is permanent?"

"I don't know, but this better not be permanent" Rainbow said sadly, looking out of Twilight's window at Big Mac, who had Applebloom and Scootaloo sitting on his back as they went on their way to the local pool. Rainbow let out a sad sigh as she thought about the time she was missing with Big Mac because of her stupid horn. She wasn't one for the lovey dovey kind of relationship, but she really liked spending time with Big Mac because it was such a rare thing for her. Everypony thinks she wants to be with Soarin, but she only likes him as an idol, but Big Mac? There was just something about him that caught her interest, and ever since then he's been the only stallion she could think of, but now that she's like this...

"Why did this have to happen?" Rainbow whined as Big Mac disappeared over the horizon. When she turned to ask Twilight if she could tell her how to hide the horn she found that she was alone in the room. After a few minutes of searching she found Twilight talking to Spike, who suddenly burped out a scroll, hitting Twilight on the snout with it.

"Thanks for sending that scroll Spike" Twilight said happily, waving Spike off just in time so that he wouldn't see Rainbow Dash's new look. Twilight jumped slightly when she turned around, running right into Rainbow.

"That from Celestia?" Rainbow asked flatly.

"Yes, I asked her if she could help us" Twilight said as she opened the letter, quickly reading through it. When she rolled it up she looked at Rainbow worriedly.

"What? What did it say?" Rainbow asked worriedly, trying to snatch the scroll away from Twilight when she was distracted by a loud flash from behind her. When she looked to see what it was she saw Celestia standing in the middle of a small ring on the floor, created by her teleportation spell.

"Hello Rainbow" Celestia said calmly, "Or should I say, Princess Aurora"