Twilight Sparkle softly rubbed her forehead with a hoof, seeking to alleviate the slight headache her study has given her.
For the last couple of weeks, she had had an exhausting routine; studying the feathers and taking care of the library has left her with few moments to share with her friends and relax.
She took her mind away from Alicorn Magic and let her gaze wander off by the window. The sky shone blue, but some clouds were travelling over the horizon, pushed by some pegasi.
Coming to think of it, there has been a high presence of clouds over Ponyville for the last days, but it hasn't rained too much. I'll have to ask Rainbow Dash about this when I see her
Twilight went over to the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee, drinking the hot beverage slowly, feeling it raising her conscience a little. Trotting back to the table, she sees Spike put over it a plate filled with cookies, smiling at her.
"Hey, Twilight, it was about time you took a break! Look, Pinkie just sent these over so that we can enjoy them. She also says that you can go over Sugarcube Corner later, you haven't gone out for three days now."
"That's right, Spike, I'm feeling a fair bit of weight in my head right now. I'll make sure to take that break." She nodded, taking a bite from a cookie, and passed another page, immersing herself in the book again while Spike chuckled.
Time kept its steady course, while Twilight studied and Spike organized some books, the little owl fast asleep in his perch. Suddenly, the clouded sky rumbled and rain began pouring down, slowly at first and then increasing, raindrops hammering against the window, breaking Twilight's concentration.
She let out an exasperated sigh and went up to her room, looking for some candles. She came down again and put some in the tables, lighting them, illuminating the extremely darkened room. In that exact moment, a hurried knock was heard from the door. She jumped in surprise, looking over there. The knock was heard again, louder. She rushed to the door and opened it, finding the Cutie Mark Crusaders soaked in front of her.
"Hi, Twilight "Can we come in?" Apple Bloom smiled, before sneezing loudly. "Ah'm freezin'… atchoo!"
Just after the school bell rang, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle got out of class, excited to finally being out, but mostly, happy to get away from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
Both arrogant fillies had been even more insufferable that morning. Scootaloo almost lost herself, being at the verge of exploding, before being calmed by Sweetie Belle, preventing her from disrupting the class and making everything worse.
They decided to go over to their clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres and decide what would be their plan for the day. They put out several ideas, but dismissed them, being too similar to past endeavors.
They pondered for some time, until Sweetie Belle broke the silence. She remembered about a device her sister had told her about, that earth ponies used to find gems. She had been given a second hand one as a gift; she didn't need it, but she kept it, finding it interesting.
Sweetie had figured they could use it in order to make finding gems their special talent, since her magic was still very weak, and she couldn't pull it off. The other two fillies looked at her for a little, before exploding in joy.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, GEM FINDERS, YAY!"
The three fillies immediately left the tree-house, rushing in haste towards Ponyville, not noticing the clouds that became bigger and darker over their heads. As they made it to the entrance of Carousel Boutique, they crashed one on top of the other –Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle-, with a thump that prompted Rarity to head over there and open the door, being received with the sight of the Crusaders attempting to disentangle from each other.
"What happened, girls?"
"Nothing much, sis, we were just a bit rushed." Sweetie Belle jumped in front of her sister. "Oh, listen, sis! We need that gem-finding device you have! We're gonna be Cutie Mark Crusaders Gem Finders!" The filly bounced excitedly.
"Well, of course, dear, but…" Rarity began, looking at the dark clouds up in the sky. Before she could continue, a white blur passed by her side, coming back almost immediately, carrying a strange disc-shaped apparatus on her back.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, sis!"
"Thanks, Rarity!" added a couple of very high pitched,excited voices.
Before the fashionista could say anything else, a stumped look plastered on her face, they were out in a rush. At that moment, the clouds were already on the verge of breaking. Slowly, rain began to pour over their heads, falling harder every second. They stopped. Apple Bloom checked where they were. In front of them stood the Ponyville library and the three ran to the door, Apple Bloom pounding on it. After some moments, the door opened and Twilight greeted them
"Of course, Apple Bloom. Come here, before you catch a cold." The three stormed into the building, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sneezing, all three shivering. Twilight went to the kitchen to make some tea and Spike went to look for dry towels. Scootaloo looked at the book beside the feathers and signaled the others to come by her side.
"Hey, look at this! 'An alicorn feather is a powerful catalyst of magic. Every one of them is imbued with the natural magical energy of this race. There has been very little on the way of investigation for this special magic, due to the difficulty of acquiring them...'"
"Alicorn feathers?" asked Apple Bloom? "D'ya reckon these are them?" she pointed towards the white and black feathers in front of her.
The three of them came close to take a better look at the feathers
"I don't know, Apple Bloom. To me they look like run of the mill Pegasus feathers…" Scotaloo frowned, taking one and looking at it closely.
Sweetie Belle also took one on her hooves, and brought it near her eyes. A sneeze came in that moment, resounding in the whole room. Sparks appeared from nowhere, gleaming in the poorly illuminated room. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom fell on their legs and the feathers levitated by themselves. A shriek could be heard, and a blinding light was cast on the room, Sweetie Belle was raised from the floor and floated in midair. Twilight and Spike appeared at the same time
"Girls, what's…" she was cut off by an incredible surge of magic that sent everybody flying. Sweetie's screams grew louder and more intense, until finally the light grew dimmer and dimmer and finally disappeared. The little filly fell on the floor, and her friends rushed at her side and gasped.
A pair of small wings, a white on her left side, and a blue one on her right side, had appeared out of the blue in Sweetie Belle's body.
The small filly, feeling a weird sensation on her body, turned her look back and let a high-pitched scream as soon as she saw them.
"WHAT!"
