When Fluttershy is away on an Element-Bearer mission, she has a first choice for substitute caretaker: Snowflake. He can handle just about everything the job requires. Except for -- the rabbit.
When a new mission for the Element-Bearers (from an unexpected source) arrives three weeks after Twilight's ascension, she finds herself forced to confront a pair of questions: what truly makes an alicorn? And what happens if it goes wrong?
Crusades have consequences. Some of those are financial, and so the trio turns to an emergency stable sale to gain funds for their future mark-finding attempts. But another price comes out of reputation, and the bill has just come due.