Rarity hummed as she fussed over Twilight's mane, the poor thing having been subjected to hundreds of styles in the past few hours. Twilight herself busied herself with reading books, a small stack of novels switching sides as she milled through their pages.

"I simply can't believe you're going to be an Alicorn, darling! What an honor!"

Twilight blushed, closing her third book of the hour. "I don't know, Rarity. What if I say something wrong at the ceremony? What if I mess up in front of hundreds of ponies? What if Princess Celestia is ashamed of me?!" She stood up, dislodging the towel wrapped around her head. "What if I'm not a good enough Alicorn and everypony hates me? Is there an Alicorn magic kindergarten? What if-"

"Twilight, dear, you're overreacting! You'll do fine." As an afterthought, she added; "We're all very proud of you."

The Unicorn sighed, sitting down to allow her friend better access to her mane. "Are you sure I won't let you down?"

"Positive. Now, turn your head a bit so I can get at those forelocks."

The preparations passed in a blur, leaving Twilight slightly confused, a bit scared, and a strangely large amount hungry. As she tried to find the nearest snack table, she was blindsided by Princess Luna and escorted quickly in the opposite direction.

"It is time for the ceremony, Twilight Sparkle!" The Princess shouted, losing her Equestrian voice in her excitement. "We cannot wait to have you among our ranks!"

"Uh, thanks, Princess, but-"

"No buts, Twilight Sparkle! We have arrived!" Grinning, the dark Alicorn pushed her sister's student in front of the tall double doors. "Please, enter when you are announced!"

Twilight stammered as the Princess teleported away, her voice echoing a few minutes later from the chamber ahead. The Unicorn wiped the nervous sweat from her forehead, shifted her hooves awkwardly, and took a few calming breaths. Nonetheless, it seemed like mere seconds before Luna's voice delivered her final line.

"We now welcome to the Equestrian Court, Twilight Sparkle!"

Cheering, hollering, the echo of hoof-stamps on the soft carpet. Ponies grinning, waving, her friends right along the carpet, smiling. Twilight didn't know whether to grin or cower.

It was Princess Celestia's warm smile that gave her the strength she needed to finish her walk, the stairs - which had proved only mediocre in difficulty - behind her, the cheers quieting as Cadence waved a hoof towards the audience.

"Twilight Sparkle." Celestia had moved forward instead of Luna, her dark coat complimenting Cadence's. "You have been my student since you were merely a foal, and have proven yourself worthy of the Element of Magic dozens of times." She lifted her head - Twilight hadn't noticed she had lowered it - and turned to the audience. "I ask of you, is Twilight Sparkle fit to rule Equestria?"

Cheers rose up. Twilight felt a huge smile fill her face, and immediately sought to control her emotion. She waved a hoof awkwardly, attempting to mimic Cadence's earlier instruction. An awkward one-pony hoofshake was the decided result, and she set her hoof down again.

Celestia smiled down at her, horn lighting with a soft golden glow. "Twilight Sparkle, do you deem yourself ready for ascension?"

Ascension. The very word chilled the air hauntingly, a tremor running down Twilight's spine. The minimal din of the crowd fell completely silent, only the sound of breathing and coats brushing filling the air.

Twilight took a deep breath, willing her voice to stay steady.

"Yes."

Celestia nodded, her horn glowing with a sun's light. Outside, the midday loomed into dusk.

"Then, my student, I grant you the patience of eternity to aid you in the eons to come, and "

Twilight's body glowed with her mentor's golden aura, a warmth with a touch of fire, and smiled softly, the heat bearable.

Luna stepped forward, taking her sister's place, though the golden aura around Twilight never dimmed. The Night Princess's horn lit with blue fire, her eyes shining like starlight as the moon rose to join the sun at the edge of the sky.

"Twilight Sparkle, we give to you the clearest judgement to exact punishment on those who need it, as well as the glow of the stars to light your way when you are lost."

The aura around her turned to a golden-blue marble, the magical energies challenging each other in constant swirls. The returned sister's magic sent a chill down her spine, a sensual memory of a thousand years away carried in her essence. Luna took a step back, a faint smile gracing her muzzle.

The final Alicorn took the center, her magic pale blue, twisting with rainbow shine with the magic of the Crystal Empire in the distance. Cadence dipped her head, touching her horn to Twilight`s aura.

"Twilight Sparkle, as your childhood guardian, I give you the love of a mother, a sister, and a friend to guide your hooves, and the glowing light of the Crystal Heart to ever shine for you."

Cadence's magic filled Twilight with unmatched joy, and pity, and dignity, and she could feel Cadence's gentle guidance reflected in her emotions. The magic bubble shone brightly, the swirling colors turning a deep, rich lavender. The sky outside took the same color as Luna's night and Celestia's day met a newly-shining beacon from the Crystal Empire across the desert.

Twilight felt an incredible magic surging in her, turning her blood to fire and ice, her mind racing. With a roll of magical lightning, The magic concentrated in two searing points on her back, her pain-wracked mind vaguely aware of it taking skeletal form. Her fur simmered with heat, magic solidifying along the tendrils it had created.

"Twilight! Don't go!" Spike, crying?

There was a yell - Pinkie Pie? - and a crash, the sound of thundering hooves and panicked gasps, the beginning of an indignant shout from a nearby guard, and something touched the magical sphere.

The air filled with light and fire, ponies screaming as magic sizzled against their coats. The Princesses stood firm, eyes squinted against the light, struggling to take their magics under control. The spell collapsed into itself with another flash, and all was still.

Spike slammed into the wall, thrown by the magical blast. His draconian resistance to the magic itself lent him his life, as his scales merely dimmed from the impact. The ponies in the crowd had also been mostly unharmed, most blinking away spots of light from their eyes, or licking char from their burns.

It was Twilight Sparkle herself who was the last to move.

From where the bubble had lain, she was in the center of a charred circle, her tail singed at the tip, her dress in tatters, her crown dented a few hoof-steps away. She, however, looked unharmed.

Nopony moved to draw closer, a primal fear that she might be dead, she might react badly, she might be dangerous, connecting their hooves to the floor.

Celestia dipped her head, but did not move closer. "Twilight Sparkle?"

There was no response from the Unicorn mare. Her back was arced strangely, but no sign of feathered wings broke her skin.

"T-Twilight?"

Luna brushed her sister's shoulder with a wing, gently silencing her. The darkest Alicorn lifted her chin to call to the collapsed pony in her place, but the mare shifted.

A tail flick, an ear lifted. Hooves shifted, sides inflated with a heavy sigh. Eyes opened, muscles moved, thoughts returned. How strange, her mind swirled, testing connection to senses, that I feel different and have no feathers.

She struggled to her feet, immediately supported by two of the closest guards.

"Spike." She croaked out, her voice tough and tight, "Spike..."

"Is alright." A guard replied, not waiting for the Princesses. "He is a dragon, and is strong."

Dragon. Her mind whispered, wondering.

Something was on her back, heavy on her spine, and she shook to remove it. A flap of skin unfolded, thudding to the floor. The crowd gasped, and Twilight stared at the skin.

She had felt it hit the ground, travelling up muscles she had not felt before. She tested them, lifting the skin up. Something on her other side moved as well, and she realized they were symmetrical.

Dragon, dragon, dragon,

She flapped the skin, the darker shade underneath matching her mane and defining the bones holding them up. She brushed her mane out of her right eye, the vision differently bright through it than through the other.

dragon, dragon, dragon,

Her ears felt strange, and a touch with her hoof revealed a cleft cut into the tip of each one. The short tailbone, normally covered by hair, marked her rump with bald, purple scales. Her horn twisted, gnarled by the magical energies, half-way to Alicorn-hood and bluntly pushed around afterward.

dragon, dragon, dragon,

Feeling returned to her back hooves, the rounded appendages turned to three-toed claws, thick stubs with sheathed blades. Her lips jutted with a pair of sharp canines. She faced her mentor, her guardian, her friend, and felt tears running down her face.

dragon, dragon dragon,

The crowd, frozen in fear, took to their instincts, fleeing, screaming, panic filling the air, blood leaping from trampled bodies. Her friends, lost in the fray, the Princesses battling their ancestry to stay with her, this broken animal.

dragon, dragon, dragon,

Spike, groggily awaking from his crash, stared on in horror. Blood seeped from his nose, probably broken, and he struggled to stand. "Twilight?"

The once-Unicorn panicked, emotion overtaking her common sense, and her horn lit with primal fire. The room lit brightly, and the shadows afterward mourned the escape of their lost, half-pony Princess.

And Celestia dipped her head to the teleport's lingering energy and mourned as well.

Author's Notes:

This will not update consistently, and do not expect regular chapters.