“...So, you see, Pinkie Pie was trying to teach me how to use her microwave, but the buttons were too small.” Fluttershy gave her hooves an awkward glance. “I don’t know how she uses it... I figured she presses the buttons with her nose, but...”

Twilight let out a cheerful giggle, sitting up straight. After a small meal composed mostly of daisy sandwiches, she had struck up a conversation with her friend to pass the time. The anesthesia was finally wearing off, and a small pain surfaced from the numbness, but thankfully it really only felt like sandpaper.

“You know, Spike told me that we should buy one earlier today, but I can’t afford it.” She met the dragon’s gaze with a playful raised eyebrow. He sat near Fluttershy, munching on the large sapphire he had received for his own meal. Out of season, yes, but according to him, still delicious.

Spike shrugged dismissively, swallowing. “I thought it would be a good idea?” He was answered with a cheerful giggle.

“Well... Sugar Cube Corner has a lot of expensive things in it, for baking. I guess they can afford them because they get lots of customers.” Fluttershy stared up at a corner of the kitchen ceiling in thought.

Twilight shifted in discomfort. Her properly-treated wound no longer brought intense pain, but it itched. A lot. Her ear flicked a few times as she fought the urge to swing her head around and bite at the awful, nagging pain.

“Twilight?”

Don’t scratch it. Don’t scratch it. Don’t scratch it. She stared at Fluttershy absentmindedly, forcing a smile.

“Uhm... Twilight...?”

The purple set of claws waving in front of her eyes registered as little more than a shapeless blur. She flicked her gaze to Spike for a moment, disregarding his concerned expression before returning her eyes to Fluttershy.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Spike asked, gently laying a claw on the purple pony’s withers. She swiftly jerked her torso in his direction, his sharp claws raking across her bandage and the itchy wound beneath.

Twilight grunted in satisfaction, her eyelids sliding halfway shut. She steadily moved away, the dragon’s purple claws grazing her back again, before Spike caught on and retracted his arm.

“Twilight, don’t do that! You’re not supposed to scratch it!” he chided, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I’m not scratching it. You are.” Twilight grinned at him.

He gaped. “W-... Well, you’re making me do it!” he insisted with a point of his index claw.

“No I’m not.” The alicorn snickered into her hoof.

“Twilight, don’t scratch your wound...” Despite herself, Fluttershy couldn’t help but grin at the situation. Twilight lowered her head in mock guilt.

The sound of a tiny yawn came from a nearby doorway. “Oh, hello Angel Bunny... You’re awake.” Fluttershy smiled at the small white rabbit as he walked into the room, his half-closed eyes scanning everything in sight with a quizzical glare. His fur was messy from sleep, and his demeanor suggested he was not in the mood for any funny business.

Twilight froze and gawked at the small mammal as he passed by, but he simply gave her an uninterested glance and raised a paw in greeting as if to say ‘What’s up?’ before sitting down in front of Fluttershy.

He tapped his small foot impatiently, crossing his arms and glaring up at his owner.

“Angel, if you want lunch, you’re going to have to ask nicely.” Fluttershy countered the rabbit’s glare with one of her own.

Meanwhile, the lavender mare across the table stared with genuine surprise at the small mammal. She was expecting a much bigger reaction from him. “Uh...” she quietly muttered, earning another uninterested glance from Angel. He simply gave a brief upward flick of the chin in an indifferent greeting, before returning his gaze to Fluttershy

Their optical duel lasted no less than thirty seconds, before Angel took a deep breath and sighed in defeat. He wrapped his small forelegs around Fluttershy’s foreleg and rubbed his face against it, an irked expression lining his muzzle.

The yellow pony smiled. “That’s better. Now now, don’t get your whiskers in a knot... What would you like?”

The rabbit eagerly performed several complicated gestures, most of which Twilight did not recognize. Fluttershy apparently understood them, nodding occasionally.

“Alright, I’ll make your favorite kind of cucumber salad.” Fluttershy stood up and moved to her pantry before casting a cheerful smile over her shoulder. “Twilight, get acquainted with Angel. He’s really nice once you get to know him, if a bit picky...” she trailed off, extracting some salad leaves from within the cabinet.

Twilight looked at the small rabbit. He seemed disgruntled, his arms crossed with an irritated scowl on his face, but his eyes were locked on the floor beneath him. Did he not care? “Ahem,” Twilight said, causing him to look up at her with curiosity. She blinked at him, before momentarily extending the limbs on her back to assert that she possessed both a horn and wings.

He simply blinked at her and nodded in understanding, before turning back to Fluttershy. After a moment he again scowled, his gaze dropping to the floor.

Twilight raised her eyebrows, bewildered. Did he really not care? Well, he was a rabbit... Perhaps he didn’t understand her predicament. Well, no skin off her bones. She looked at Fluttershy, who hummed a quiet melody as she rinsed some lettuce leaves at her sink.

The purple pony took a deep breath, and exhaled, shuffling her hooves. Her mind now free of any pressing issues, minor thoughts began to surface. She hadn’t really been doing anything with her wings, regardless of the fact that they were apparently permanent body parts that would stay with her for the rest of her life. Even though she had made do just fine without a pegasus’s unique limbs, she felt like she should use her own pair, despite the fact that they were completely unnecessary to her interests. If nothing else... maybe it would be fun.

Her eyes widened at her blunt thought, and she quickly jabbed at it. Fun? What point is there in flying just for fun? Regardless, part of her wanted to fly solely for enjoyment, and that one part was slowly overtaking the majority. Her thoughts drifted to the day previous, when she was trying to fly for exercise. That... didn’t end well, but the few seconds she had managed to stay airborne were filled with fear, and adrenaline, and weightlessness, and freedom. It felt pretty great.

As she examined the memory of that little feeling of weightlessness, her heart rate began to climb, and she felt a delightful surge of energy somewhere in her chest. She took a deep, shaking breath, feeling her heart thumping with adrenaline. It did seem like it would be fun...

She cast another glance to Fluttershy, and the electric fire in her chest bloomed to encompass her entire upper body as she beheld the hovering mare. That could be me...

A smile began to creep across her muzzle. She absent-mindedly extended her wings and flapped them once, shaking herself to work out the kinks.

“Twilight?” Spike asked from behind her. “Uhm, are you okay?”

“Heheh... I’m fine,” she giggled, the warm surge of energy making her slightly giddy. Her assistant raised a single purple claw and opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted.

“Twilight, do you want anything else? I don’t know if I gave you enough to eat,” Fluttershy asked, flashing a curious smile over her yellow shoulder.

“No thanks, I’m pretty stuffed.” Well, actually, she was still a little hungry, but didn’t wish to mooch off of her friend. Strange; a daisy sandwich or two usually filled her up. Perhaps they were ‘lean’ sandwiches, insidiously designed for the sole purpose of not having enough calories.

Her thoughts were once again drawn back to the concept of flight as she observed her friend’s flitting wings. She absent-mindedly flapped her own a few times, feeling a minor reduction in her body weight with each stroke. It wasn’t quite enough to lift her off the ground, but it came closer and closer with each flap. Her eyes locked on to Fluttershy’s wings, studying how they moved, and she tried to emulate the motions with her own.

Spike suddenly walked into her line of sight, staring up at her. “Twilight, just ask.” He smiled, motioning to the hovering filly.

“Huh? Ask what?” Fluttershy turned around in surprise. Her teal eyes widened as she looked at her friend’s outstretched purple wings.

Twilight immediately flinched, her eyes widening as her wings snapped back to her torso. “N-nothing,” she stuttered, shaking her head. She already felt like she was asking too much, with the medical operation and the meal, and didn’t wish to continue bugging her friend with requests.

Her wings twitched, begging to differ. ‘Fly,’ they seemed to whisper to her. ‘She can help you.’

Be quiet, she hissed back.

After a moment, Fluttershy turned around and picked up the fancy-looking salad she had prepared and brought it to the table, setting it down neatly in front of Angel. “Here you go, Angel... It’s your favorite.” The bunny climbed up onto the polished wooden surface and examined the food.

He smiled up at the cheery pegasus, thanking her in the form of another chin flick, before quite literally diving into the bowl. Quiet munching sounds filled the room as Fluttershy landed next to her two house guests.

“So Twilight, uhm...” she began, giving a warm smile to her lavender friend. “I know you told me you don’t really know how you got your wings, but... How do you think it happened?”

Twilight simply blinked at her friend’s sudden curiosity. “Uh... I... have no idea, really...” She looked away from the pegasus. In reality, she had spent more time looking for things to disprove that she was an alicorn, rather than an explanation for why she was one. “Nothing I’ve considered makes any sense.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy raised a yellow hoof to her mouth. “Uhm... Have you tried researching things you haven’t considered?” she asked bluntly. A nervous grin spread across her face when the purple pony shot her a quizzical glare. She soon retreated, hiding behind her pink mane. “Erm... Do you think it will mean something for you in the future?”

Twilight’s annoyed expression quickly melted, and she looked away. “I... I don’t want to think about that... I... Just don’t talk about it, okay?”

“New topic then,” Spike piped up, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the two ponies. He smiled at the winged unicorn. “So, Twilight, if you want to learn how to fly, you really could just ask Flutter-”

Twilight quickly whipped around and shushed him in panic. Her eyes flicked to Fluttershy, before her purple muzzle widened with a nervous grin. “Uhhhh... Just disregard anything he says about that... I-I know you’re busy, a-and I don’t want to suck any more time out of your day.”

The yellow pegasus blinked, before smiling and drawing a breath. “Oh no, I’m free all day today. I could give you a few lessons, if you wanted..” She looked away and bashfully rubbed one of her forelegs with the other.

“That’d be great! I’m sure she-Mmph!” Spike chimed, before a purple hoof was shoved into his mouth.

“Spike, I... I don’t want to be any more of a bother,” Twilight whispered harshly, flicking her eyes between the dragon and Fluttershy. She swallowed with trepidation. Along with not wanting to overburden her timid friend, the prospect of flight frightened her as much as it excited her. The first time she tried to fly, she heavily injured herself.

“N-no, really, it’s not a problem... I can teach you...” Her friend blushed slightly behind her pink bangs. “Come with me,” she instructed, beginning to walk to another room before halting and casting a warm smile over her shoulder.

The purple pony stood still, trembling slightly. Her body demanded that she follow her friend and receive flight instruction, but her mind told her that she should stay put -- flying was too dangerous. She looked at the bandages wrapped around her withers. Look what it’s already done.

Unfortunately, her body seemed to be winning her little internal duel. Adrenaline began to take her, overpowering the little voice of fear that tried to speak up against flying. It’ll be fun, her body insisted. She took a deep breath and cantered after Fluttershy, a small smile on her face as she involuntarily flapped her wings a few times. It’d be fine. She probably wouldn’t injure herself again, since she now had a tutor. And it would be fun!

Spike chuckled brightly as he stood up and followed her. “That’s the spirit!”

Fluttershy led her to a wide-open room near the back of her cottage. The entry doorway was actually halfway up the wall, and a descending staircase ran along next to it. The room itself appeared to be half below ground and half above ground, and looking around, Twilight surmised that it was a similar height to her library’s basement. Trotting down the staircase along the wall, her hooves soon touched the surprisingly soft soil of the room’s floor. The walls were wooden, and the room was sunlit by a very large window near the ceiling that ran the length of one wall. The room itself had an musky air about it, reminiscent of a burrow. The skirting of the walls slanted down from the cottage’s wooden foundations into the earth, connecting the room to half a dozen warrens and dens of varying sizes. Traces of sod could be seen here and there, as if animals had been walking through with filth stuck to their feet, but for the most part the earthy room was surprisingly clean.

Twilight looked around the room in awe at the sheer plainness of it. There were no obstacles of any sort; no furniture, no pillars, no complex structures. It was big, and completely empty. Perfect for a beginner flier.

“Yeah, it’s a big room, isn’t it?” Fluttershy grinned awkwardly at her purple friend. “I use it to help young and injured creatures to fly, like if I have to take care of newly-hatched chicks, or a bat with a broken wing. It just helps to have a big room with nothing in it... Uhm, come to the middle with me.”

The beginner flier nodded in compliance and followed her friend to the center of the room. The two ponies stood facing each other at a comfortable distance, Fluttershy’s smile as warm as the afternoon sun.

“Alright... Are you ready?” Fluttershy spread her majestic golden wings out behind her. She received a hesitant nod in response.

“Good... Now, flying is something that just comes naturally to a pegasus.” Fluttershy’s eyes darted to Twilight’s forehead for a fraction of a second. “It doesn’t really take much thought, or training. It’s the same as when you learn to walk, as a foal. Uhm...” she trailed off, looking at her friend. “Spread your wings.”

Twilight swallowed anxiously, turning her head to look at the limbs in question. Blinking, she unfurled them, feeling the gentle brush of her secondaries against her torso. She held them up behind her, noticing that they were indeed larger than her friend’s. Bathed in the bright sunlight streaming through the large window on the wall, she felt... exposed. Her cheeks started to burn with embarrassment. “O... Okay.”

Fluttershy didn’t respond for a moment, her teal eyes scanning over the alicorn’s plumage.

Twilight frowned as the burning in her cheeks intensified. “I... I’m not a display, okay?” she muttered, her ears folding behind her head.

Fluttershy blinked in surprise and tore her eyes away. “Oh, I-I’m sorry... I didn’t mean...” She frowned. “Uhm...” She scuffed at the ground with a hoof before looking at her temporary student. “So... I don’t really know what to tell you, other than just ‘flap them’... Your wings are bigger than mine. W-when I flap my wings, it counters the weight that would otherwise tilt me forwards, but since yours are so big... I think it might tilt you back.”

Twilight blinked in realization. That explained it! She had been wondering why her flying sessions had always sent her careening backwards. Apparently she’d just have to compensate for her larger-than-average wings pushing her back as well as up.

Why are my wings so big anyway?

...Then again, why do I have wings in the first place? Priorities, Twilight.

“Uhm...” Fluttershy tapped her front hooves together. She delicately kicked the ground with her back legs and jumped into the air, performing a light, near-silent hover. “Try... Try to hover in place... Angle your wings so that you’re pushing the air straight down... Umm... you may want to adjust them first, so you know what it feels like before you start.” Fluttershy touched down on the ground, thoughtfully tapping her mouth with a hoof. “...You may want to give a little hop when you take off, too... um, so that your wings don’t hit the floor...”

Twilight took a deep breath and shook her wings, warming up as best she could. If flapping her wings in the angle that felt most ‘neutral’ would cause her to tilt backwards, then angling them forward a tad would help her stay upright, wouldn’t it? She buckled her knees before jumping into the air, whipping her feathered limbs in a furious sweeping motion. It seemed to be helping to keep her upright, before she felt herself tilting forwards a little more than she intended. Before she could stop herself, she did a forward somersault in the air and landed on her back with a hard thud. “Oof!”

Her eyes fluttered open, her cheeks beginning to burn up again from further embarrassment. Her ears folded. Even though nopony had been around to see her first screw-up, there was a pony and a young dragon observing her this time around. She shut her eyes tight. Any moment now, they would start laughing at her. Fluttershy with her quiet giggling, and Spike with his roaring laughter. Any second now.

“Uhm... It’s okay, just try again...” Fluttershy smiled at the amateur flier.

Twilight opened her eyes again, and looked at her friend. The smile on her yellow face was supportive, not mocking. She mentally berated herself for not having more faith in her friends.

The downed pony rolled over and stood up again for another go. Apparently she had moved the arc of her wings a little too far forward. If she was going to fly, she would have to find neutral ground... or neutral air. She took a deep breath, and glanced at Spike.

The dragon had sat down cross-legged, and was smiling at his older sister not out of amusement, but polite interest.

Twilight smiled gratefully at him, before spreading her front legs and facing forward with confidence. Once again she launched herself into the air, flapping her large purple wings methodically instead of rapidly. Unfortunately, she simply fell back to her hooves after a few seconds, creating a small ring of dust beneath her.

“Umm... You need to flap more than that...” the ‘coach’ instructed, peeking out from behind her pink mane.

“Eh huh, yeah... I figured.” Twilight looked behind her at the additional limbs attached to her back. There had to be some way to do this. All winged ponies instinctively knew how to properly use their wings, so it really couldn’t be that hard.

She jumped into the air again, managing what at first appeared to be a stable hover before she felt herself leaning forwards again. She adjusted her wing arcs to undo it, but unfortunately over-corrected and dropped to the ground on her back with a surprised yelp. Her momentum caused her to slide backwards a few feet, the resulting dust settling on her face. She coughed loudly, wiping at her visage with her forehooves. “Gack!”

“Almost... You were almost able to hover... Keep trying.” Fluttershy was laying down, her wings folded perfectly against her sides. Spike sat next to her, leaning backward and supporting himself with his arms as he casually waved his feet. Both gave warm, encouraging smiles to the flier-in-training.

Twilight stood up once more, shaking the dust off of her. She frowned, her confidence faltering, before shaking her head to dispel whatever anxious thoughts she had. I will do this. I will. It’s just like walking... She flapped her wings, drawing a breath. A voice of irony spoke up in the back of her head, reminding her that she technically owned a flight vest and should have brought it. It probably would have made her crash landings hurt a little bit less. She sighed.

One more try. Again she jumped, managing to keep herself aloft for a few seconds. When she tilted forwards, she moved her wings back. When she tilted backwards, she moved her wings forward. She managed to stay upright, if not for a bit of rocking, and allowed herself a small smile. But then she felt herself tilting sideways, and before she knew it her face was violently skidding against the slightly-rocky soil below. Upon grinding to a painful halt, another cloud of dust rose into the air, leading to another coughing fit as her tired lungs cried for oxygen. She lost hope, her ears folding behind her head. “I... I can’t do it...” she whimpered, trying to cough more dust out of her aching lungs, her eyes watering from the pain. Her cheek burned from where it had scraped across the ground, and she was already out of breath. She simply lay on the floor, her dirt-covered wings limp behind her.

She heard a set of small footsteps approach her. “Twilight, don’t give up! You’ve almost got it!” Spike encouraged, placing his claws on her underbelly and shaking her. Fluttershy approached and stood beside him, a hoof to her mouth as she stared at her miserable friend with worry.

Twilight swallowed, and unenthusiastically rose to a standing position, wiping her eyes with a foreleg in an attempt to get rid of the dust. She needed to learn how to do this. There was no point in having useless limbs. Instead of immediately jumping into the air, she merely flapped her wings from the ground, their tips scuffing the earth as she moved them faster and faster. After a few seconds, she felt herself steadily rising upward, and at the last moment, she lithely kicked off from the ground. When she tilted one way, she adjusted her wing arcs until her orientation corrected. She was careful and conservative, only flapping them just enough to keep her airborne.

It... It was working. She let her lower body sag a little until it seemed to almost hang from her upper torso, where her wings were attached. She’d seen some pegasi hover like this, and she now felt their reason for it -- it moved her center of gravity into her chest and drastically improved her balance. She instinctively curled her forelegs closer to her chest, just like pegasi did. She felt her back legs moving instinctually, as if walking on the air, probably to help keep her balance.

Her lips slowly curled into a smile, her unfocused eyes gazing straight ahead in concentration. She didn’t tilt around; she was maintaining a simple hover. She was still. She was steady. “I... I’m doing it!” she giggled with joy. “Fluttershy, I-I’m doing it!” Her giggling escalated into cheerful laughter, her mood brightened.

“Ooh...! Good job!” Fluttershy congratulated, standing up and marveling at her friend’s accomplishment. “I knew you could do it!”

“Wooo!” Spike cheered, throwing his arms up into the air. “Go Twilight!”

Twilight gave what could have possibly been the biggest smile of her life, right next to the day she had acquired her cutie mark. Even though she was only hovering, it felt like an enormous accomplishment to her. It was a complex task, and demanded a large amount of her attention, which only made her that much happier to have finally achieved it. Flight itself was exciting; she could feel the adrenaline, the joy, the freedom of it, all from a simple hover. For just a moment, she wanted to go outside and show off her new skill to the world; the unicorn who could fly!

Mom, dad, if only you could see me now...!

She remained in the air for another moment, Spike having run a few laps around her in excitement, before she began to tire. She panted heavily, sweat dripping down her face as her wing muscles burned from the sudden exercise. She gently lowered herself to the floor, stabilizing her body on four hooves and tucking her wings in. She had done it! The first step into the unrivaled exhilaration of true flight! As she caught her breath, she fantasized about soaring through the Equestrian skies, tearing through the cloud layers at a hundred miles an hour, just as she had seen pegasi do. It would be incredible. If just hovering felt this great, flying would be... It would be awesome! An overused word, she knew, but it fit perfectly.

Spike jumped up and hugged her neck, paying no mind to the dirt stuck to her fur. “I knew you could do it, Twilight!” he exclaimed, hugging her tighter. “I never doubted you for a second!”

Fluttershy beamed at her friend before lowering her head and coughing. “Yes... Good job!... I might need to replace your bandages, though...”

Twilight stared at the rolls of gauze wrapped around her torso, amused. They were ripped in several places and caked with dirt, stained from a pristine white color to an earthy light-brown. “Uh huh,” she giggled. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from her wide grin.

She could hover. She could use her wings. The very thought made her giddy. She wouldn’t use it to grab books off of her bookshelves -- she could simply use her magic for that. But... flying was fun. That summed up her feelings in a nutshell. It was fun, and she loved it.

“So... I-I don’t really have much to teach, after all... You just need to tilt yourself in the direction you want to go. I-if you want to learn all those neat tricks that some pegasi do, you should probably ask Rainbow Dash...”

“Hey, yeah! How does that sound, Twi?” chirped Spike.

Twilight’s smile faded a little. “Uhh...” The blithe tomboy was most likely the best flight coach she had access to, but Rainbow was far too bumptious to ask without any preparation.

Her smile returned as her positive thoughts chased out the negative. She wanted to keep hovering, actually... She wanted to practice. But she was too tired to immediately fulfill that desire. Her sedentary lifestyle resulted in her not having much stamina for athletic purposes, and flight had proved particularly strenuous. However, if she flew often, it would strengthen her heart and enable her to fly for longer periods of time. After all, it really was just exercise.

She scuffed at the floor with a hoof and looked at the large window on the wall. It was about midday. Maybe I should get back to my library, she thought, remembering that she had a business to run. She didn’t want to overstay her welcome at Fluttershy’s, and closing her library for another full day might appear suspicious.

“Uhm... maybe some other time,” Twilight said, before trotting up to her yellow friend and wrapping her front legs around her in a warm hug. “Thank you so much, Fluttershy! I don’t know how else I would’ve learned, if not for you. But, I should probably get going.” She released the pegasus and looked into her surprised teal eyes. “I... I have a library to manage, after all.”

“O-oh... I won’t keep you, then... But at least let me change your bandages first,” Fluttershy requested, leaning slightly to view the bandages in question. She then walked past her purple friend, motioning with a hoof for her to follow. The group trotted back up the steps and made their way back into the main room.

“Wait here,” Fluttershy instructed, momentarily leaving before returning with a roll of gauze held in one wing. Cleverly using her teeth and both wings, she undid the bandages wrapped around Twilight’s torso, letting them fall to the floor before fluidly discarding them into a wastebasket. Thankfully, the purple fur under her bandages was just about the only part of her that wasn’t dirty. Fluttershy swiftly wrapped a new set around her, using only a minimal amount of bandages instead a multi-layered mass.

“Alright, I’m finished,” Fluttershy announced, smiling sweetly at her patient.

“Thanks! I can wash my hooves and my mane when I get back to the library.”

Spike coughed into his fist, beginning to tap his purple claws together. “Hey, can we go into town on the way there? You know, pick up some food? We’re almost out... All I had to work with this morning was bread and a few condiments.” He gazed hopefully up at the purple pony. “And I know you don’t really like toast.”

The lavender mare smiled at her assistant, before her eyes widened. Her smile vanished like a ghost, and she looked away, biting her lip with worry. “Uhm...” They were out of food? The only convenient place to get more was the Ponyville Marketplace. “Ahh...”

Spike sighed. “Look, you can’t stay cooped up inside forever.” He smiled reassuringly, gently patting Twilight’s neck. “You’ve stretched your wings, now stretch your legs. No one’s going to see you.”

Twilight allowed herself an amused smile at her assistant’s word choice. He had a point, after all: isolating herself from other ponies would eventually cause her to go stir-crazy, and locking herself away from the world for too long would only raise suspicions and concern. Her friends were well aware of her habits.

Fluttershy perked up after a moment of thought. “Oh... I could come with you, if you wanted,” she offered, before her eyes widened with curiosity. “Umm, I-I think you were using a spell to hide your wings when you first came here... Could you just use that? How does it work...?”

Twilight blinked, looking up at her yellow friend. “Uhh... Well, it essentially alters the light reflecting off of my wings so as to render it imperceivable. The spell consumes a lot of magic because the magically-imbued object enchants the reflected light with a delicate, imprecise filter that affects a pony’s perception, rendering it essentially invisible to the mind. If anypony makes physical contact with me during the spell, it’ll move me into a position that the spell isn’t currently calibrated for, causing a flicker as the non-enchanted light reaches the eye. If I’m moved a lot by somepony, the spell will cancel because it’d be unable to properly readjust.” She absentmindedly wondered if she had sounded like a reference book.

Looking at her friends, she noticed that they were both giving her blank stares. Yep.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Uhm... What?”

Spike cast her a sympathetic look. “Trust me, just nod when she stops for breath.”

The intellectual in the room sighed, trying to turn down her ‘nerd’ dial. “I would like it if you came with me. Maybe you could keep ponies from making physical contact with me, so the spell remains intact.” She smiled at the dumbfounded pegasus. “Would you do that for me?”

The yellow filly just nodded, giving a confused grin. She leaned down to Spike. “W... What is she talking about...?” she whispered timidly, befuddled.

“She means, don’t let anypony touch her,” he whispered back, casting a glance Twilight’s way. After years of living with her, the dragon had probably learned her ‘language’.

“Oh, okay...” Fluttershy stood upright and looked at Twilight. “A-alright, I’ll come with you.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at Angel, who lay on his back on the wooden tabletop, smiling contently as he patted his swollen belly. “Angel Bunny, can you take care of yourself for an hour or two?”

The white rabbit nodded affirmatively, raising a dismissive paw.

The yellow mare smiled and looked back at her purple friend. “I’m ready when you are.”

The spellcaster lit up her horn for a moment, before two purple saddlebags appeared at her sides in a bright flash of light. They laid neatly over her wings, and bore a graphic of her cutie mark. She smiled at Fluttershy. “Alright, let’s go.”

The forest buzzed with life. The smooth chorus of scratching and pattering and chirping was omnipresent, broken only the presence of two sets of hoofsteps. Twilight shifted uncomfortably as the weight of the dragon sitting on her withers dragged her bandages around, causing them to be too tight in some places and too loose in others. She gulped, her exposed purple wings shifting under her saddlebags as a small tendril of ice creeped through her gut. “U-uhm... Fluttershy, how close are we to Ponyville?” Her voice was quivering. This seemed like a good idea at first, but as they neared their destination, she was beginning to have second thoughts.

“Not too close... I don’t think we’ll run into any ponies quite yet, but... uh... Maybe you should turn on your spell... There could always be a hiker pony...”

The purple pony stopped in her tracks. “No, I need to conserve my magic. I can’t keep up that spell for very long. It drains me very quickly,” she explained, stopping to cast a worried gaze her friend’s way. “I need to only have it activated when there are ponies nearby, otherwise I’m just wasting my magic.” She trembled slightly, scuffing at the dirt road with a violet hoof. “And I might not have enough when I actually need it...”

Twilight had concocted a plan, and had described it to Fluttershy before leaving. She was going to switch her illusion spell on and off when the situation called for it, to conserve magic, since she only had so much. If it ran dry before she left the marketplace, suffice it to say it would be very bad. To be honest, she did not want to go through with it. She wanted to just take the long way, avoiding any and all citizen ponies, and slip back into her library without being noticed. But she needed food.

“So... how many ponies know? I-I don’t want to say anything to anypony who doesn’t know...” Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her pink mane.

“Just two: You and Rarity.” Right now, that was all who needed to know. She would tell her other friends later. But nopony else needed to know. Well, Sweetie Belle knew, and so did the Crusaders... sort of... but... She shook her head. She didn't want to think about that right now.

“It’ll be fine, Twilight. We don’t even need to stay in there that long. We can go in, get some groceries, and get out.” Spike gently squeezed Twilight’s shoulders to coax her to continue walking.

The purple pony twisted her neck and cast an anxious glance at her assistant, before sighing and beginning a soft canter, hanging her head. Spike was right. If she spent as little time as possible in the marketplace, there wouldn’t be a problem. From experience, she knew that her perception filter spell lasted for approximately twenty minutes before it sucked her magic dry. If she didn’t hurry, she would run out of time.

Several minutes passed before the group reached the outskirts of the city where the dirt road transitioned into pavement. Twilight was a bit of a nervous wreck at this point, trembling violently as her wide eyes darted about for any sign of a citizen pony. Spike softly rubbed her temples in an attempt to calm her, noticing that she was freaking out. Should she cast her illusion spell? Were there ponies nearby? Her ears flicked as she picked up on a far-off conversation. Yes, there were. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced energy into her horn, and ignited her trusty light distortion spell. She looked behind her. No wings. Good. Just in time, too; A lilac-colored pony with a white mane immediately turned the corner of a building and trotted past her, uttering a chipper “Hello!”

A faint buzz began to flow through Twilight’s mind, a trickle of water as the spell drew on her internal magic reserve.

“I’ll stay with you, Twilight... I’ll make sure nopony touches you, even if you’re in a line.” Fluttershy smiled warmly.

Twilight returned the smile, before continuing her trot, swallowing with trepidation. The density of the nearby buildings almost caused them to form a solid, impenetrable wall. If something went awry, there would be no way for her to escape aside from teleportation. But to use that spell, she would have to drop her perception filter for a few seconds while she charged it. No.

As usual, the decorated cobbles of the Ponyville Marketplace were crowded. It seemed to have thinned out a bit from yesterday; the nearby ponies acted more like mice scampering around a pony’s house in search of cheese instead of flies swarming a carcass. Ponies of all three races lined up at different stands, most wearing saddlebags filled with different types of food. On a stage in the center of the marketplace was a band of ponies playing a casual, upbeat song, surrounded by a few dancing mares and stallions. Busy ponies walked all around Twilight, although most were trying to avoid bumping into her instead of carelessly pushing her aside. Fluttershy hovered nearby, monitoring the purple pony’s immediate vicinity with hard, vigilant eyes.

Twilight took a deep, shaking breath. “O-okay... S-Spike, what’s first on the list?” She heard a small rustling noise as the dragon shoved a claw into one of her saddlebags, extracting a small slip of paper.

“Okay, first off, we need to get the basics: bread, cheese, butter, and milk.” He paused for a moment as he pondered methods to obtain the items. “There are dairy stands here, right?” His slitted eyes rose from the paper for a moment, slowly scanning the environment. “There!” He pointed at a stand bearing a logo of a cheese wheel with a slice cut out of it. The vendor, unsurprisingly, was a cow. Dairy was an important part of a pony’s balanced diet.

Twilight blinked at the stand before cautiously approaching it, getting in line. It wasn’t a big line, only six or seven ponies, and the vendor was serving them quite quickly. Some of the ponies gazed at her with concern, seemingly noting the bandages wrapped around her torso.

“Uhh... Are you okay?” the stallion in front of her asked, blinking his large yellow eyes. He had a light, airy voice that occasionally cracked. He reached out with a brown hoof before Fluttershy swatted it away.

“Don’t touch her,” she snipped.

“O-okay?” The stallion retracted his hoof in panic.

The hovering pony looked at her violet friend for a moment, before smirking and giving a quick wink.

Twilight returned the smile, moving forward as one more pony received their products and exited the line. A few ponies entered the line behind her, also gawking at her. She absentmindedly held her breath; she had not prepared for this turn of events. Wings or no wings, nearby ponies were still staring at her out of concern for her injury.

Fluttershy hovered very close to Twilight, her teal eyes concentrating on anypony that was too close. The line moved forward again. Only one pony was in front of Twilight now.

“What can I get ya’ today, ma’am?” the shop owner asked, causing Twilight’s ears to twitch. She recognized that Wiscoltson accent. It was Delia.

The pony in front of her placed her order, and the bovine retreated into her tent for a moment to extract a large cheese wheel and a carton of milk. With a clink of coins and a quick thanks, the customer trotted off, allowing Twilight to approach.

The purple pony was reluctant to speak for a moment. Gathering her will, she swallowed and took a breath. “H-hey Delia.” She didn’t have much time. She needed to wrap this up as quickly as possible.

“Oh why hello Twilight! I ‘aven’t seen you in a while, now! How ya’ been?” Delia greeted, smiling at her newest customer.

Twilight blinked. “Uh... D-Delia, I’d really love to stay and chat, but... I need to be somewhere.” She mentally slapped herself for using that excuse again. “Can I just buy some food?”

The cow frowned momentarily. “Oh... Sorry then. I won’t keep ya’ waitin’. What’ll ya’ have?”

“Uhh...” She looked up at the dragon sitting on her withers. “Spike, what do we need again?”

The reptile merely blinked at her, before lifting up the shopping list and clearing his throat. “Uhh, a carton of milk, a cheese wheel, and a... a thing of butter,” he forced, unable to think of the proper term.

“A stick,” Twilight corrected, her eyebrows furrowing.

Spike blinked a few more times, before incredulously bringing a claw to his forehead. “Ohhh, right... Yeah, a stick of butter.”

Delia smiled again, amused. “Alrighty then, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” She retreated into her tent for a moment to retrieve the dairy products. Mere seconds passed before she returned, each item in tow. She set them down on the counter. “That’ll be five bits.”

Twilight lit up her horn and placed five coins in a stack on the counter, tucking each food item into her saddlebags. “Thank you.” She smiled, before briskly walking away from the line and the ponies who were staring at her.

Get used to it now, Princess. It’s only going to get worse when they all find out.

You mean if they all find out. Shut up.

The alicorn shook her head, looking at her midsection. There were no visible wings, but there was an unjustified space in between her body and her saddlebags. They had not been designed for a pegasus or... pegasus-unicorn thing, after all. She took a breath, scolding herself. Nopony pays attention to details like that. Well, nopony but her.

Her ears perked as she picked up on a conversation between two passing ponies.

“...the library? I heard it’s been closed for two days now.”

“I dunno. I have a book due tomorrow. I wonder if something happened to...”

The conversation lost clarity as they moved away, their words drowned out by the nearby music and the buzz of other ponies’ chatter. Twilight bit her lip, reminded that she needed to hurry up and finish her shopping. She had a library to manage. Well, at least showing herself around town might dispel any rumors of her simply vanishing. Perhaps Spike was right; locking herself away would only serve to attract more unwanted attention. If ponies saw her around town from time to time, it wouldn’t credit the idea that something was wrong.

The gentle trickle of magic continued to hum at the back of her mind.

“What’s next, Spike?”

“Uhm... Fruit?” The dragon looked over the list. The group was silent for a moment.

Fluttershy hovered next to Twilight’s ear. “Uhm... I’m sorry to ask this, but... Does Applejack know?”

The question caused Twilight to flinch. She whipped her head to the airborne pegasus, her irises trembling. To be honest... she didn’t know. Applejack seemed to be supportive of her regarding the subject, and didn’t dig for information. She seemed to not quite believe the rumors, even though they were actually true. If she knew... at least she was being quiet about it. But Twilight did not want to go through another awkward conversation with her. She would just avoid her stand, avoid her gaze, and get her apples somewhere else. No apples in Ponyville were as delicious as those from Sweet Apple Acres, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

“N... No, she doesn’t.” That might be a lie. Applejack might know, but Twilight did not want to talk about it with her. At least... not in public. Fluttershy nodded and moved away from her ear, resuming her careful overwatch.

After a few minutes, the three arrived at the ‘farm produce’ sector of the market. They were essentially on the opposite side of the marketplace, and significantly farther away from the band in the center -- its melody was faint, overpowered by the drone of pony chatter.

Take a wild guess. Whose stand was the most popular one?

“Come on Ponyville, get yer apples an’ apple products right here! Sweeeeeet Apple Acres, at yer service!” a familiar southern voice shouted into a megaphone.

“Eeyup,” added a quieter, deeper voice.

Twilight strained her neck to look over the multitude of ponies crowded around a large stand operated by two Apple family members: Applejack and Big Macintosh. A good decision on their part; there were many, many ponies wishing to buy their products, and they probably needed an extra mouth to help dispense their food. No other vendors were present -- they must have packed up and left because they were no match for their competition.

After a moment of thought, Twilight allowed herself an amused smirk. The Apple family would soon have a complete monopoly on the apple market, if they didn’t already. The smirk quickly vanished when she realized that this meant she had nowhere else to buy apples. She liked apples. Most other fruits didn’t appeal to her.

She looked back and forth, scanning the nearby ponies. There couldn’t have been less than two hundred, and they were so tightly-packed that she wasn’t sure if she could walk through them without jeopardizing her perception spell.

“Hey, it’s Applejack! You should go talk to her, Twilight. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to give you a discount,” Spike suggested.

She flinched. Shoot! She hadn’t told Spike about her run-in with Applejack the previous night, or how the farm filly might already know about her wings. And she still wanted to avoid talking to her. “Uhh... Spike?” She twisted her neck around to look at the young dragon, and swallowed. “I... I talked with Applejack last night. I don’t think she knows, but she was telling me that there are rumors going around, about me! She didn’t see my... my... Well, she’s probably going to ask about them again. I-I don’t want to talk to her. Not out here!” she explained, growing upset. If she was to talk to Applejack, she wanted to do it in private. She would probably come clean with the applebucker, just to get it over with, but not here. And not now.

Spike looked concerned. “Oh,” he muttered in quiet realization. “Uhm... Just buy some food from Big Mac, then. He’s really quiet, and I don’t think he’d ask, even if AJ told him.” He pointed to the half of the crowd that was gathered around Macintosh’s side of the stand.

Twilight looked in the direction he pointed, before looking back at him. “O-okay...” She cantered softly to the back of the line before quietly slipping into it. Despite the length and density of the line, it seemed to be moving relatively fast.

Before Fluttershy could prevent it, the pony behind the winged unicorn bumped into her. Twilight gasped in panic, whipping her head around to catch a flickering glimpse of her large violet wings just before they faded away. She looked directly behind her. There was a mint green unicorn yelling at the pony behind her for shoving her forward.

She continued to stare for a moment, her irises trembling, before sweeping her gaze over everypony nearby. None of them were staring at her. Perhaps none of them had seen. She breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the crowd’s density was actually working in her favor; no one paid any attention to her due to their present lack of space.

The shimmering pool of magic rippled in her mind, ever draining...

A stallion bumped into her side, again causing her to start as her spell flickered underneath her saddlebags, but still nopony seemed to notice. Twilight looked directly above her at Fluttershy, who was biting her lip in panic.

The yellow pegasus appeared to be trying to prevent anypony from physically touching her friend, using her front hooves to block anyone who strayed too close to her, but she wasn’t able to keep all of them at bay. There were just too many. “Twilight, I-I’m sorry! I can’t...!” she attempted to shout over the drone of conversation, her voice almost unintelligible.

Twilight’s fuzzy ears perked up from their folded position as she picked up on her friend’s voice. Despite how quiet she was, it really wasn’t difficult for the purple mare to single out her voice from the buzzing cacophony of the public. “Uhm... It’s okay, I don’t think they’re looking!” she replied, fully convinced that everypony nearby was far too distracted to care about her. At Fluttershy’s confused expression, she wasn’t entirely sure if the pegasus had heard her.

The purple pony was bumped several more times in the next few minutes, but she simply shrugged it off, quite certain that nopony would notice the flicker of her plumage amidst the tightly-packed crowd. Although she once allowed her gaze to drift around her out of curiosity, and she spotted one pony, a teal stallion, staring directly at her. Upon noticing that she was staring back, he flinched and looked away. Twilight swallowed, her established sense of security shattering like a dropped ice sculpture. She had convinced herself that nopony was looking, but... maybe they were, intentionally looking away when she turned to face them. Were they staring at her because of the rumors? Why did that stallion look away? Was he afraid of her? She began to shake, her wings quivering, before rapidly shaking her head to regain her focus.

Surprisingly, the crowd actually began to thin out as she approached the market stand, the ponies nearby lowering their voices to normal levels. Apparently the citizen ponies had forged an unspoken agreement near the stand: they were to quiet down and form coherent lines. Twilight was thankful; the environment behind her was so chaotic that no pony had really noticed her wings, but here things were quieter and more orderly. There was a minimal chance of somepony bumping into her, but a pony with a horn and wings would very much stand out, and it wouldn’t help that ponies further back were giving envious stares to those closer to the front.

The Apple siblings worked fast; each customer pony remained at the stand for no longer than a half-minute before diving back into the wall of ponies, products in tow. Twilight gulped, hoping to the higher powers that Applejack wouldn’t abruptly turn around and spot her. She also hoped that the customer two ponies behind her wouldn’t knock the line forward again. But... at least Fluttershy should be able to stop anypony were they to come too close to her. And stop them she did; the hovering filly was often swatting away the hooves of those who seemed intent on tapping the purple pony’s shoulder to ask about her bandages.

The constant drain on her magical reserve was steadily becoming noticeable. And yet...

Three... Two... One. The last pony in front of her left, and she stepped up to the counter. Big Macintosh, his unusually well-groomed red coat shining in the sunlight, blinked at her several times before his eyes opened in recognition.

Twilight smiled. “Uh... Hi Big Macintosh. I-I’d like to buy s-...” she began, before her jaw dropped as she witnessed the crimson stallion turn around to whisper something into Applejack’s ear. “N-no, wait!”

The farm filly’s ears perked up as she curiously looked over her shoulder, a smile spreading across her muzzle as she and Big Mac switched positions at the stand. “Howdy, Twilight!” she greeted, her smile faltering as she snuck a glance at the purple pony’s bandaged torso. “Yow... Ya’ll looked real banged up. What happened?”

The injured mare took a deep breath, swallowing as she began to tremble. Unable to find her voice, the only sound her vocal cords were able to generate was a soft, quiet whimper. Her ears folding, she shook her head at the ground for a moment, trying to convince herself to stop shaking. Come on, Twilight; it’s Applejack. She might already know, and if she does, she doesn’t care. Get a hold of yourself.

“Uh... Twi?” Applejack asked solemnly, gazing with concern at her panicking friend. “Are you okay?” She reached out with an orange hoof, before it was smacked away by a yellow one. Drawing her forelimb to her chest, she gazed up at the owner of the hoof that had slapped hers, her green eyes widening. “Fluttershy?”

The pegasus looked down at her friend, her face twisting with regret. “I-I’m sorry... Just... Don’t touch Twilight, okay? Just...” she muttered, trailing off as she searched for a reason for her actions. “Umm... you don’t want to make the injury any worse, do you?”

“Okay then... Twilight?” The farmer’s nose shined at Twilight as she turned her head. Green eyes flicked between the purple pony’s chest and her sides. “Ah understand if ya’ll don’t wanna talk about it...” She turned sideways and gestured to the many food items behind her. “Did ya’ll wanna buy somethin’? I’ll give ya’ a discount.”

Spike snickered. “I told you,” he chipped, amused. He received an eerily blank stare.

Twilight swallowed, and mustered her voice. “Yes, I... I’d like a bushel of apples.” Please, please don’t let her bring up the rumors. She shook her head and stood up straight, flashing a fake warm smile to her friend and trying her best to make it convincing. “And maybe a pie, too,” she added, raising her voice to conversational levels. Her orange friend turned around, nudging some apples into a bag with her snout before lifting the bag onto the counter.

“So, uh... How’s life, sugarcube?” AJ asked, smiling as she retrieved an apple pie from a shelf and placed it next to the sack of fresh fruit.

Twilight worked the inside of her mouth, her ears twitching. She wanted to reply with ‘stressful’, but thought it would be best to completely avoid hinting at her predicament. “It’s been... fine.”

“Uh huh,” Applejack began. “Are ya’ sure you should be up n’ about right now? Especially ‘round here with all these rambunctious hungry ponies? I mean, if ya’ll don’t want anypony to aggravate your injury, you shouldn’t be out here.”

The violet pony swallowed again, her mouth scrunching up at the irony. It wasn’t a heavy injury, it was just big. And the reason she didn’t want anypony to touch her was far more serious than that. “I’ll be fine.”

The orange pony leaned sideways and gazed at her friend’s sides, as if expecting something to be there. After a moment of study, her eyes widened, and she snapped upright.

Twilight’s eyes widened in turn, and she look at the side of her torso in suit. “What are you looking at?” There was nothing to see. Her spell was holding; the only indication of her wings was the slight displacement of her saddleba-... Oh... Don’t be ridiculous, Twilight. Nopony pays attention to that sort of thing, not even Applejack.

“Twi... Can I talk to ya’ll later? Like, in a few hours? I still have somethin’ I wanna talk to you about.” Twilight flinched.

Fluttershy loudly cleared her throat, hiding behind her pink mane as she hovered. “I-I’m sorry Applejack, but Twilight is really busy right now...” Her soft voice was nearly masked by the buzz of nearby conversation.

AJ looked up at her. “Uh, Fluttershy... This might be kind of private, between Twi n’ Ah... An’ it’s real important.” She gave the pegasus a sidelong glance, before looking at Twilight.

“I-I’m sorry, but I am really busy today with the library,” the bookworm added, lighting up her horn and storing the foods into her saddlebags. She placed several coins on the counter in front of Applejack, who simply stared down at it.

“This is too much, sugarcube. Ah don’t charge this much for a bushel of-hey! Where are ya’ll goin’?” she began, lifting her gaze to see her friend quickly walking away. She scooped up the coins in one hoof, using the other to lift herself above the counter, and held the money up. “Twilight! Ya’ overpaid!”

“Just keep it as a tip!” Twilight shouted back over her shoulder, quickening her pace into a gallop.

“A tip? This is way too much to be a tip! Twilight! Twilight!!” The farmer’s voice faded to the fleeing pony’s ears as they grew more distant, giving way to the ear-splitting drone of the crowd. The ponies in the crowd quickly parted to make a path for her, not wishing to suffer an impact, and soon enough she had escaped the bustling congregation. Slowing to a halt, she caught her breath as Spike let go of her neck.

“Geez Twilight, I know you don’t want to talk to her about it, but you didn’t need to just bolt like that.” Spike laid a claw on the mare’s mane.

“I didn’t want to hold up the line,” she lied, resuming her trot. Applejack could keep the extra bits. Twilight didn’t really care, as long as she could get away from her as fast as possible. She didn’t want to take any chances of the farmer raising the subject of her wings, and as she was gawking at the false-unicorn’s saddlebags, she probably knew that something was up.

...The constant hum, the raw power surging through her mind... It should be letting up by now...

Twilight shivered. “Spike... What’s next?”

A sigh came from behind her. “Uhm... We still need to get bread,” Spike specified, looking around. “They sell bread here, right?”

“I think they do.” Fluttershy flew up into the air for a moment before dropping back down. “I-I would go look for a stand that sells them, but I don’t want to leave you alone... Somepony might bump into you.”

The purple pony looked up at her hovering friend, before sighing. “I guess we’ll just have to go look for one,” she concluded, beginning to look around her as she navigated the paved roads of the marketplace. To be honest, she hadn’t a clue where she was. The marketplace was big and confusing, and the locations of the vendors changed every day. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof, remembering how oddly sharp her vision was the other day. At this point, she wasn’t sure if she hadn’t just imagined that. She decided to put her theory to the test. She squinted at a group of stands approximately two hundred yards away, looking at each of their logos in turn. All of them were crystal-clear.

She worked the inside of her mouth, deep in thought. Her eyesight had never been this sharp, not since she was a foal. And even then, she doubted it was this pristine. There was a stand that sold vegetables off in the distance, she could see the logo of a head of cabbage, a stick of celery, and a carrot. Her gaze drifted behind her, locking on to the area of her back where her wings should be. Did it have something to do with her being an alicorn?

She decided to leave that thought to bubble in her mental cauldron of validity. It wasn’t too important right now. “Spike, do we need vegetables?” The young dragon consulted the list.

“Uhm... It’s not on here, but I think we do.” He rubbed his head with a claw.

That was more than enough for her. She began walking to the stand, careful to not bump into any of the customer ponies. Those who strayed too close were moved away by Fluttershy, even those who were simply concerned about her injury. Soon enough, the group approached the stand, and unfortunately there was a very long line of ponies. The pink pegasus who managed the stall was working at top-speed to tend to the customers, but unfortunately still seemed to be completely overworked.

“Wow, Twilight, how did you know this shop was over here?” the voice behind her head asked.

“Uh... I just had a hunch,” she lied, preferring to stay away from the topic of her... species. She nonchalantly slipped in at the back of the line, waiting patiently. Vegetables were just as important as other foods. They lowered cholesterol and stuff.

The line seemed to be at a complete standstill, some of the customer ponies growling angrily. Twilight shuffled on her hooves, biting her lip. She didn’t have time for this... She was fairly certain more than twenty minutes had passed, but the sorcery seemed to have only been sipping at her magical energy instead of greedily drinking it like it had before. It almost seemed like it would last for a couple hours... That is, if it wasn’t shattered by a heavy impact.

The pony at the front of the line eventually left, a grey unicorn with a jet-black mane and monocle that walked with his chin held high, as if looking down at everypony around him. A collective sigh of relief filled the air, many ‘Ugh’s and ‘Finally’s’ reaching Twilight’s ears as the line began moving. Apparently that snobbish-looking unicorn had given the vendor a hard time. Twilight grinned with amusement as she looked to a corner of her vision and fantasized of that ‘sophisticated’ pony being launched out a catapult and slamming into the side of a building. She heavily disliked ponies with superiority complexes, from experience living in Canterlot, and always found it entertaining to imagine them in ridiculous scenarios.

She moved forward with the line, soon arriving at the front, face-to-face with a very nervous pink pegasus that grinned at her from ear to ear at her.

“What can I get for you, ma’am?” The vendor was surprisingly polite, eager to serve. She stepped aside and motioned to the heavenly plethora of assorted vegetables behind her.

Twilight’s mouth moved to one side. She didn’t like most vegetables unless they were cooked, and Spike did most of the cooking in their house. She looked at him. “Uh, you tell her, Spike. You’re the one who cooks.”

The small dragon cleared his throat. “Can I get a head of cabbage, six carrots and six potatoes, if you have them?” He thoughtfully tapped his chin with an index claw.

“Potatoes?” The vendor was silent for a moment, before she grinned widely. “Of course!” She turned around and began to lift each vegetable one by one into a small sack with her teeth. “You know, sometimes I wish I was a unicorn like you. I wouldn’t have to use my mouth for everything.” She smiled at Twilight as she dropped the last carrot into the bag.

“Well, you could just use your wi-” Fluttershy clapped both hooves over her mouth. “N-nevermind...”

Twilight stared up at the hovering pegasus. Oh right, she liked to hold and manipulate objects with her wings. But it wasn’t something pegasi usually did.

The vendor raised an eyebrow at the retreating mare, before looking at Twilight again. “That’ll be four bits.”

Twilight gave her the money and tied the large sack to the saddlebag opposite the sack which held the fruit. She smiled, and took her leave. Alright, one more down... Now she just needed to get bread. She hummed, a hoof to her chin as her head swiveled back and forth.

*thunk*

Another pony suddenly walked into her, a brown earth stallion. He appeared to not be looking where he was going, and stumbled backwards upon colliding with the purple mare.

Alarms went off in Twilight’s head as the pony’s eyes flicked from her horn to her torso. Her panicked gaze whipped to her side, and she flinched. Her wing was entirely visible for a split second, but quickly flickered out of existence as the earth stallion rubbed his eyes.

He blinked, confused, before chuckling to himself. “Oh... My apologies, I was seeing things. I really do need to stop staying up all night calibrating the...” He began to mutter to himself as he walked past the trembling filly, his voice slipping away in the buzz of the crowd’s conversation.

Twilight watched him as he walked into another pony, before she heaved a sigh of relief, swallowing. She went ahead and shifted her threat level up to orange. That was way too close. It was an incredible coincidence that this stallion just happened to be sleep-deprived (and perhaps a tad incompetent), and it had saved her royal flank.

She blinked. Wait, what...?

Blinking again, she shook her head so vigorously that it caused a momentary migraine to bloom in her skull. It was nothing more than a stray thought. She forced herself to think of something else. Bread. Yes, bread. She needed bread. She raised her head, looking around at the various shops. Soon she spotted a nearby stand that wore a logo of a loaf of bread with a single slice cut out of it, surrounded by other grainy foods.

The strain of maintaining a spell for this long should be showing... The spell is still active, isn’t it? ...Yes, yes it is... The constant buzzing, the hum of power continued...

Upon approaching the stall, she realized that its proprietor, an adult yellow earth pony, had not finished setting it up. “Uhh... Can I buy a few loaves of bread?”

The earth pony looked at her, a bag held in his teeth. “Shre! Hhld on a mhhnte...” He smiled at her, before setting the bag down and reaching into it with both front hooves, delicately extracting a few pans of steaming, fresh-baked bread.

Twilight stared down at the food, its aroma causing her to remember how hungry she was. The few calories from those evil ‘lean’ daisy sandwiches were probably already gone. Fluttershy landed next to her, panting from hovering for nearly thirty minutes.

The purple pony’s stomach growled, and she doubled over. “Ohh...” she moaned painfully, pressing a hoof against it.

Her pegasus friend’s ears folded backwards. “Oh... I... I’m sorry, did I not give you enough to eat...?”

Twilight looked back at her. “No no, it was plenty enough, I-” she was interrupted by another growl, her gut begging to differ. She looked down at her fuzzy underbelly. Stop it.

The vendor broke into a bellowing, hearty laugh. “Well, looks like you really do want this bread. It’s fresh out of the oven. I had to put it in a heat-resistant sack!” He pushed the loaves towards the purple pony. “I’ll cut you a deal... Two bits for three.”

She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead, reluctant to purchase the bread. She felt as if it would be rude to buy it in front of Fluttershy, since she very did much want to eat it, and the shy filly was currently regretting not giving her quite enough lunch. Twilight was still hungry, but it would’ve been disrespectful to ask for more food.

She looked at the yellow pegasus. “Uhm... I think I just might have a bigger appetite than you, Fluttershy... I didn’t want to eat too much of your food.” She levitated two golden coins out of her saddlebags, exchanging it for the bread. Her magic pulled the loaves out of the hot pans and stuck them into her saddlebags, their heavenly warmth easily seeping through the fabric.

“Thank you!” The vendor pony gratefully took the bits in his mouth and dropped them into a box behind the counter.

Twilight nodded and turned, walking away. Purple eyes nervously darted about, scanning for any ponies that could bump into her as she headed back to the entrance of the marketplace. She had everything on her shopping list, so there was no reason to stick around. She entirely bypassed the massive congregation of ponies near Applejack’s stand, although she thought she could hear the farmer calling to her. She dodged and weaved in between other ponies, avoiding physical contact.

“S... Slow down!...” Fluttershy yelled from behind her, making Twilight realize that she was galloping. She slowed to a stop, turning her head to behold the yellow filly weakly trotting to her, panting from exhaustion. “I... I can’t keep up...!”

“I-I’m sorry, I’ll just walk from here on out.” Twilight began an intentionally slow trot. Fluttershy was still tired from her half-hour of continuous hovering, and the purple pony had not given her time to rest.

As she trot, she gazed at the nearby ponies, observing them as they talked to one another and exchanged goods. There was a tall white earth pony carrying a large sack of Fillydelphian rolls, two young pegasi flying around the area as if racing, an adult blue pegasus mare with a multicolored mane trying on a few racing vests to see if they fit...

Twilight flinched upon realizing who she was looking at, a few extra-colorful words dancing across the tip of her tongue. If Dash were to spot her, she would probably demand answers... The purple pony’s illusion spell appeared to be merely sipping her magic, but given how much her magic had been wildly fluctuating as of late, there was no telling if it would suddenly accelerate. And a blue hoof on her side would blow her cover nonetheless.

“Oh, hey... It’s Dash,” Fluttershy commented as she blinked a few times, oblivious to the trembling pony next to her.

Twilight turned and bolted, Spike yelping aloud as she hastily dove into a crook in-between two nearby buildings. Her yellow friend cast her a confused gaze, but her teal eyes soon widened in understanding as the self-conscious mare wildly shook her head, mouthing ‘Not Dash!’

“Hey! Fluttershy!” a tomboyish voice called out from the distance, swiftly growing louder. The violet filly retreated further into her hiding place, letting the shadows mask her from the world as a cyan pegasus wearing a solid black racing vest touched down in front of Fluttershy.

The timid pony simply stared at her blue friend, her eyes flicking in Twilight’s direction for a brief moment. “O-oh... Hi Dash...” she greeted, smiling.

Rainbow smiled back at her. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Uhm... Everything is going well...” The pair stood in silence for a brief moment.

The speedster’s mouth moved to one side of her face. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something,” she began, causing the nearby alicorn to flinch.

Don’t ask about me, don’t ask about me, don’t ask about me...

Dash turned sideways, flaring her wings up. “Do I look good in this thing? Do I look cool? I would’ve asked Rarity, but I dunno if she knows what ‘cool’ really is.” Her blue muzzle parted into a sheepish grin. A relieved sigh was heard from nearby, but the cyan mare only gave a brief superficial glance in its direction.

Fluttershy continued to stare for a moment. “Uh, sure, it’s... um... cool.” She grinned until her face squeaked.

Her athletic friend raised an eyebrow. “Do you really mean that, or are you just saying it? I don’t wanna waste my bits, you know. Weather patrol only pays so much. I mean, once I get into the Wonderbolts, I’ll have plenty of money to waste, but right now I don’t. Does this thing... uh...” She looked off to the side for a moment, cringing slightly. “...Clash... with my mane?” she hissed through grit teeth. “Eugh... I can’t believe I just said that...”

“No no, it’s fine...” the yellow pegasus replied as she shook her head, curtailing her grin into a small smile.

“Are you sure? I’m thinking of not getting this thing. I mean yeah, it’s warm and comfortable,” Dash began, flapping her wings through the large holes that allowed for a full range of movement. “but I’ve always been fine in really cold places. Does it make me look cooler?”

“Uh... yeah... cooler...” Fluttershy mumbled, casting a concerned gaze at her concealed purple friend.

The drain of magic fluctuated, jolting momentarily. A familiar sensation of internal lethargy lancing through her mind. Magic Fatigue. The feeling left as suddenly as it came. Her internal magic reserves had diminished noticeably, yet by now they should be almost completely depleted.

Twilight had her rump pressed up against an unidentifiable metal object in the darkness, beginning to tremble. Spike shifted his weight on her back, his eyes again seeming to glint in the dim light. “Twilight, you should just tell her,” he suggested quietly, earning a panicked purple gaze.

“No!” she whispered harshly, looking back at her two pegasus friends, her ears twitching as she picked up on their conversation.

“...I mean, my house gets covered with blue feathers, and I hate cleaning them up! They get everywhere!” Rainbow Dash threw her hooves into the air.

“Molting season isn’t that bad, Dash... You just need to keep at it...”

“It is that bad!”

Fluttershy bit her lip, again looking in the direction of her purple friend, unable to distinguish between her purple coat and the surrounding darkness. “Uhm...” Unfortunately, her silence drew the attention of her friend.

“Fluttershy, is there something going on? You seem distracted,” the blue blur commented, pursing one side of her lips.

The timid pegasus snapped her head in her inquirer’s direction, giving it a brief shake. “No?” Her friend simply stared at her in thought.

“...Why are you out here, anyway?” Rainbow asked, her gaze drifting about the environment.

Fluttershy flinched, again briefly scanning the nook that Twilight hid in. “Uh... I... I was just doing some shopping,” she explained, her gaze met by two rosy eyes that glowed with suspicion.

Twilight quickly looked at her saddlebags, realizing that she alone was carrying all of the items she had bought. Her gaze shot back to Fluttershy, and she prayed that Dash would buy the yellow filly’s claim.

“Okay...” Rainbow conceded, again casually scanning the scenery. “So uh...” She looked down at her chest, examining the resilient black fabric, before smiling. “You know what? I’m gonna buy it,” she chimed, directing her smile to the pony on front of her. “Thanks Fluttershy!”

“Uhh... You’re welcome,” the shy pegasus muttered, smiling back.

Dash hopped into the air, looking at the shy filly curiously. “Uh, before I forget... Have you seen Twilight around anywhere? I kinda wanted to talk to her about something.”

The pony in question flinched, letting out a small gasp. She cast a pleading, begging gaze to her yellow friend, but she wasn’t entirely sure if the pegasus could even see her. ‘Please, don’t tell her I’m here!’

Fluttershy remained silent for a moment, as if deep in thought. “Uhm... No, sorry, I haven’t,” she lied, keeping a straight face.

“Oh... Uh, okay, nevermind then.” Dash’s smile returned. “Do you wanna shop with me? I have some stuff to get, and it’s always more fun with a friend,” she asked.

The yellow pegasus blinked up at her. “No thanks, I’m kind of on a tight schedule,” she politely denied, again lying to her friend’s blue face.

“Heh, alright,” Rainbow accepted, saluting. She flicked her hoof out. “See ya’ round!” She turned around and flew off, quickly stopping to pay for her vest before soaring off into the distance.

Twilight cautiously exited her hiding place, her gaze flicking left and right. She trotted to her yellow friend, the last of her tremors leaving her body. “Th-thanks, Fluttershy,” she stuttered, a small smile gracing her lips.

Fluttershy looked off into the distance at the shrinking multicolored dot. “Uh... Don’t worry, I-I won’t tell anypony about you without your permission,” she reassured with a soft smile. “But... Why didn’t you want to talk to Dash?”

Twilight averted her gaze to the cobblestone path. “She... I kinda had a run-in with her before. I think I made her suspicious.” The purple pony locked her eyes onto Fluttershy’s ice-blue orbs. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea for Dash to know just yet. You know how she is...”

“A good friend like Rainbow? I’m sure she’ll keep your secret if you ask her to,” Fluttershy quietly rationalized, ducking her head down.

Twilight sighed, feeling her assistant’s weight shifting on her back. She glanced away. “Fluttershy... You know how you reacted this morning when you first... well...” she trailed off.

The pegasus in question flushed, hiding her face behind her mane. “Oh... I- um... I see your point,” she murmured. “Now that I think about it...” She laid a hoof on her chin. “Couldn’t you just... um... wear a dress or something to hide your...” Cautious teal eyes scanned the nearby area for any ponies within earshot. “...your wings?” she finished in a whisper.

Violet eyes stared back at her. “Uh...” Twilight’s ears folded behind her head. “I-I do have something to wear, but I think Spike washed it -- it’s too small now,” she stated, causing the dragon on her back to shift.

“What? I didn’t wash it!” he denied, leaning slightly to the side to glare at his older sister. Her eyes widened, and she whipped her head around to look back at him.

“Y-you didn’t? But it fit just fine yester-...” Her irises shrunk, and she gaped at the ground in front of her, only vaguely aware that her jaw was hanging open. Her eyebrows pointed upward. If the cloak Rarity had crafted for her hadn’t shrunk due to washing, then the only reason it wouldn’t fit would be...

“Twilight... Did you get taller?”

She rapidly shook her head to banish that thought. She very much doubted she had at all grown in size; neither her friends nor the environment looked or felt shorter to her. Not even by a centimeter. She was just a normal mare anyway, and normal mares didn’t get much bigger than she already was.

After a moment of biting her lip, she perked up. A dress... “O-oh yeah, Rarity was going to make me something new today. Do you mind if we stop by her house and pick it up?” she asked, directing a hopeful gaze to her yellow friend.

Fluttershy smiled. “Not at all,” she replied, gently shaking her head.

Purple hooves clopped against the cobble street, the saddlebags against their owner’s sides bouncing with each step. Gentle yellow hooves followed hers, each step intentional, as if to avoid making noise.

A small buzz of worry reverberated through Twilight’s body as she walked, beginning to question the rate at which her magic was being drained. It was slow, which was nice, but it was beginning to seem far too convenient. She found it difficult to be suspicious of herself, but she knew that she did not have quite this much magic in her reserves. The perception spell would normally have sucked her dry after twenty minutes, but it had been nearly an hour and, barring that one sudden fluctuation, it had barely even made a dent.

Several ponies passed them, some nodding politely at the purple mare, while one or two appeared to be sneaking looks at her while avoiding her gaze. She swallowed as she turned a corner into the clearing which nestled her friend’s store, instinctively looking in the direction of the billboard she had pulled off of a building. Jagged cracks outlined an enormous dent in the pavement, but the sign itself was nowhere to be found. Unlike the previous morning, the area was vacant aside from the occasional pony trotting through.

Two sets of adult hoofsteps trotted onto the patio of the Carousel Boutique, a purple hoof knocking politely on the door. The owner of the hoof breathed deeply to prepare her mind for a proper, polite, confident greeting, but not a peep was heard from inside the building. Moments passed, before she knocked again. Still no answer.

Twilight cleared her throat, looking in a window to see a surprisingly vacant household. “Rarity? Are you in there?” she called aloud. Again, no response. Her eyes drifted up to a window on the second floor, and she felt a brushing of purple feathers at her sides. The window was open just a crack. If she flew up there, she could open it and enter the building... She flinched as she realized that her extended wings were raising her grocery bags, and quickly pulled them back in, her head rapidly flicking all around her. There was a single pony nearby, a pale purple pegasus with an electric-blue mane, but she appeared to not be paying her any attention.

“Uhm... Is Rarity home...?” a soft voice asked,. “Can you tell? I... I heard that unicorns can sense the presence of other unicorns...”

Twilight glanced at the timid mare quizzically, an amused grin teasing at the corners of her mouth. “What? No we can’t. That’s ridiculous. Where did you hear that?”

“It...” The pegasus hid behind her pink mane. “It was on the research column of a magazine...” she muttered, pawing at the ground.

The lavender pony simply stared. “Fluttershy, you really shouldn’t believe everything you re-”

She was interrupted by the shrill cry of three particular small fillies. “Twiliiight!”

Twilight flinched, her ears folding as her gaze slowly drifted to the approaching trio. She swore under her breath, remembering how she had escaped them by the skin of her teeth earlier that day.

“Twilight, we’ve been looking all over for y-...” Scootaloo began, before stopping short, her eyes scanning up and down the mare’s figure. “Uh...”

“Twi, what was goin’ on this mornin’?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an incriminating eyebrow.

The lavender mare stood trembling for a moment, swallowing as she tried to regain her composure. “U-uhm...” She had hoped that she could simply forget her run-in with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but it appears that fate had other plans for her. She couldn’t run away this time. “Uh... N-nothing... I just needed to meet with Fluttershy for something, a-and I was running late...” she muttered, a shaky grin emerging on her face as she flicked her head to indicate her yellow friend.

Large orange eyes blinked up at her. “What for?”

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat. “Uhh...” Her white hoof pawed at the ground for a moment, as if she was unsure of what to say. “Maybe it was for her bandages... She kinda looks hurt,” she suggested, lifting her emerald gaze.

Scootaloo’s ears folded backward. “D-did you get attacked by something in the f-forest?” she asked anxiously, shrinking back and trembling. “I-I knew there were dangerous things in there!”

Twilight curtailed her grin into a small smile, and intentionally raised her purple ears with a reassuring shake of the head. “Uhm... No, I’m fine.” Her purple eyes flicked in Fluttershy’s direction for a moment. “I-I went to Fluttershy’s because I... uhm... I needed a wound dressed,” she claimed, casting a brief glance at the bandages wrapped around her midsection. Upon returning her gaze to the fillies, she noticed that Sweetie Belle was staring at her intently.

“Uhm... Twilight? Where are your wings?” the small white unicorn asked, blinking up at the purple pony.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock, and she quickly whipped her head to the mare in question, who hid her fears behind a smile. The violet pony let out an amused chuckle. “Sweetie, I’m a unicorn. I don’t have wings,” she lied, her voice quivering ever-so-slightly.

Sweetie’s ears folded behind her head. “Y-yes you do! I know you do! You... I saw you with them yesterday morning!” she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the others. “We had pancakes!”

“Sweetie, take a look. Twi doesn’t have wings,” Apple Bloom stated matter-of-factly, shooting the young unicorn an unamused look.

Fluttershy swallowed, taking a breath. “Y... yes. I was working on Twilight’s back because she hurt herself there, a-and I’m sure I would’ve seen her wings if she had any...” she muttered, smiling at Sweetie Belle. The yellow pegasus’s ice-blue irises flicked to Twilight for a moment.

“Mhm, see?” Spike asked, patting the purple mare’s wings with a claw. Due to him having been in unbroken contact with her since she ignited her illusion spell, it did not flicker, and he appeared to be merely patting her side. “No wings.”

“W-wha-... I... But...!” the white filly squeaked, fumbling over her own words as she glanced over each of her friends, before looking at the ground in defeat.

Twilight’s smile faded, and she took a deep breath. “Sweetie... Can I talk to you in private?” she requested, drawing the filly’s attention.

Sweetie Belle shrunk back closer to her friends. “Uhm... B-but I...” She trailed off into silence, scuffing the ground with a hoof.

Glancing momentarily at her lavender friend, Fluttershy took a step closer to the three fillies. “Sweetie Belle,” she began softly. “Go and talk with Miss Sparkle. It sounds like there may have been a teeny bit of a misunderstanding, and I think it would be a good idea for the two of you to talk it over.”

“Go an’ talk with her,” Apple Bloom piped up at her unicorn-friend’s hesitation. “Get this whole ‘wings’ mess sorted out.”

The unicorn in question stared pointedly at the ground, refusing to move.

Fluttershy cocked her head, smiling as sweetly as she could. “Pleeeease?”

As hard as she seemed to try to ignore it, the sound of the pegasus’ voice was too alluring. Sweetie belle slowly lifted her head to look into Fluttershy’s ice-blue eyes. She sighed dejectedly. “Fine.”

Twilight smiled. Hopefully talking with the filly should stop the constant prying into secrets she would rather be kept secret. She shot Fluttershy a quick grateful glance, mouthing the words ‘thank you’. The yellow pegasus blushed in response.

Before she even turned back to the fillies, Sweetie Belle brushed past her toward the empty boutique. Twilight stiffened in shock from the slight touch on her side, before realizing that the spell had not been interrupted. The filly did not jolt her sufficiently to cause her wings to flicker. Twilight breathed in to calm herself. That had been close.

As she turned to follow the filly into the boutique, she cast an eye over the two young girls standing beside Fluttershy. While Apple Bloom was merely watching as her unicorn friend trotted off, the orange pegasus caught Twilight’s attention. Scootaloo had been standing stock still for the past minute or so, looking directly at her with a neutral, unreadable expression on her face.

Twilight grinned weakly, before following after Sweetie Belle into the fashion store, the young draconian clutching onto her back.

Even in the absence of additional light, Carousel Boutique managed to maintain a light and airy atmosphere with an abundance of bright, organised color, subdued just to the point of avoiding obtrusive exuberance. Tall, richly-colored drapes hung all around the room from any wall that would otherwise be plain. Tidy workbenches and blank canvases stood to the sides of the open space, striking a visual balance between practical objects and decoration. Above all, the room exuded elegance and class without demanding attention.

Twilight stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. A house always seemed so empty to her when the owner wasn’t there.

She flicked her eyes to Sweetie Belle, who had already stomped across the room, dragged a large red cushion closer to the purple ‘unicorn’, and plonked herself down on it. The filly looked pointedly at her forehooves as she lay there, a sour look on her face.

Twilight sighed, and turned to the dragon still perched on her back. “Spike, could you wait outside with Fluttershy, please?”

A look passed between them for a moment. Spike blinked, then nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

As he jumped down from her back, Twilight immediately felt the cold magical feedback as the pseudo-invisibility spell was broken. The buzzing in her mind stopped. Spike shot her a worried glance and a smile, before he turned and headed for the front door, closing it behind him.

Twilight shrugged off her saddlebags, setting them down carefully so as not to damage the food. She then looked back at Sweetie Belle, who was still staring indignantly at her hooves, refusing to meet the older pony’s eye.

Taking a breath to steady herself, Twilight took a few steps toward the filly, extending her wings to stretch out the muscles. “Sweetie, look at me, please,” she said, a stern tone creeping into her voice.

Hesitantly, the young unicorn looked up. Her eyes widened, and she froze, mouth agape.

“Thank you. Now...”

Sweetie Belle leapt to her hooves. “I knew it!”

Twilight leapt forward, pressing a forehoof to the mouth of the startled filly. “Shhh! Sweetie, please keep quiet!” she hissed through her teeth. The young unicorn looked up at her with a look of shock in her eyes, but said nothing. Sighing, Twilight lowered her hoof and sat herself down on the carpet in front of Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie... why did you tell them?” she asked, feeling a trace of pent-up anger begin to seep into her voice. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep herself calm.

Sweetie Belle’s large eyes flicked down. She opened her mouth, but quickly closed it without saying anything.

Noticing that it must have seemed like she was glaring at the filly, Twilight looked away, instead focusing on the regal curtains adorning the room.

“...I’m sorry...” a small voice opposite her squeaked. “I-I’m so sorry, T-Twilight...” Sweetie Belle’s eyes were back on her forehooves, her voice quavering.

Twilight blinked. Even though she was annoyed with the young filly, upsetting her hadn’t been the intention. She sighed, lying down in front of the unicorn in an attempt to appear less intimidating. Sweetie Belle glanced up hesitantly, eyes shining.

“Sweetie...” Twilight began, softening her expression. “...I’m not going to get mad. Please, just tell me.”

Sweetie Belle looked back down at her hooves again. Her voice was quiet and controlled. “...I... I didn’t know it was a secret...”

Twilight frowned. “I thought Rarity told you not to tell anypony.”

“She said to keep it quiet. I only told the girls.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Just Apple Bloom and Scootaloo? No pony else?”

Sweetie looked up, nodding furiously. “Just them, I promise. I didn’t know it was such a big secret.”

Twilight groaned, kneading her forehead. “Okay, fi-... thank you, Sweetie. Could you do me a favour and not tell anypony else from now on?”

“Yes, Miss Twilight.”

The purple pony forced a friendly smile. “Just ‘Twilight’ is fine.”

The young filly nodded, but didn’t reply.

Twilight focused on the curtains again. “...That’s another thing, why did you start calling me ‘Princess’ yesterday?”

Sweetie Belle looked up, somewhat surprised. “But... you’re an alicorn now, aren’t you?”

“...I think so...”

The filly frowned. “I thought all alicorns were royalty.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but promptly closed it. It made sense. Of course it did. Every other known alicorn in existence was a member of the Equestrian royal family. She put on a grudging smile. “I suppose I’m different, then.”

“Oh... Then, how did you become an alicorn? Or... were you always one? Did you have wings all this time?”

The purple mare resisted the urge to groan loudly. She took a moment to form her response. “...No, I didn’t have wings all this time. I told you yesterday, I don’t know why I have wings. I just... woke up with them. I don’t know what they mean, but having them doesn’t make me any more important than any pony else.”

“...You’ve no idea how it happened?”

Twilight smiled weakly. “Not a clue.”

Sweetie Belle lapsed into a brooding silence, looking off to the side, before locking back on to Twilight’s eyes again, grinning. “Oh! What if Princess Celestia has something to do with it?”

The purple mare frowned. “Huh?”

The white filly jumped to her hooves. “Well, she’s your teacher, isn’t she? She’s a really strong alicorn. Maybe she did it!”

“I... don’t think it would be that simple...”

Sweetie Belle bounced in place. “You should go ask Celestia! Have you asked her yet?”

“No, but-”

“I bet she knows something about it!” Sweetie Belle stopped jumping and frowned. “Where do alicorns come from?”

Twilight sighed in exasperation. “Sweetie, I’m not going to ask Celestia.”

“Why not?”

“Because... because I want to know more about what’s happened before I tell her.” She forced a smile. “Celestia’s my teacher on magic, and this looks to me like a magical incident. I need to know more before I give my full report.”

“Ohh... that makes sense, I guess.” She sat back down on her cushion, looking expectantly at Twilight. “What are you going to do, then?”

“Well... I’m going to continue my studies on magic to see if I can find anything relevant that might be of use. Seeing if it’s reversable may be an option... Come to think of it there was that book I was looking fo-”

“Who are you going to tell about your wings?”

“Erm... I, uhh...” Twilight blinked. “I... I was planning on keeping it secret.” She swallowed and steeled herself. “It’s kind of a big thing, since there aren’t many alicorns in existence. Until I know more about what is happening to me, I need you to promise me not to tell anypony about it.”

“But I already-”

“Promise me,” Twilight said, trying not to sound too harsh.

“Even from the girls?” the young pony squeaked.

“Even from them.”

Sweetie Belle pouted. “How long do I have to keep it secret?”

The alicorn’s expression froze. How long will I have to keep this charade up for? I hadn’t thought that far ahead... “I... don’t know.” She shook her head slightly. “Just... just for now. Keep it secret for now.” She gazed pleadingly at the young unicorn in front of her.

Sweetie Belle shifted in place and looked down at her cushion. “Fine. I promise.”