And so, Twilight completed her race around the world, having lost a servant but won the wager, and perhaps gained wisdom for the bargain. She came to an understanding with Queen Chrysalis, and though Celestia did not approve, Twilight came to an understanding with her as well. She was a princess in her own right, and she would do what she saw fit.
Twilight and Spike returned to Ponyville, and there spent much time with their friends. Twilight had many things of which to unburden herself, but her friends were always there for her, and in time her pain was soothed. Spike’s troubles were harder to express, but with Luna’s help, his nightmares stopped, and when he shut his eyes, he no longer heard the hiss of steam and the clang of ejecting rounds.
Drop by drop, harmony flowed back into their lives. The news from abroad was terrible, but not all ponies read the foreign papers, and it was easy to pretend none of it existed. Twilight and Spike both kept informed and active in such affairs, but when they needed to, there were days they could walk into Ponyville and leave all of it behind.
Eventually, after his application was processed and he completed his entrance exams, the day came for Spike to be apprenticed as an Artificer in the Canterlot Guild house. He’d asked to take the trip alone and for no fanfare to be given, and the others respected his wishes. And so it was that he came to see Twilight in her study one last time.
He was getting taller, she noticed. Soon he’d be a drake in his own right. His little traveling bag was tossed over his shoulder. Around his throat was the black band of a Guild apprentice, to which a pendant would one day be attached. They hugged, and she told him she loved him. He talked about his schedule and when he’d be free, and she promised to visit him soon.
He was just turning to go to the train station when his eyes flicked over to her desk, and the numerous charts and papers there. “What are you working on?”
“The new solar calendar!” she replied brightly. “The one without leap years.”
“You’re actually making Celestia do that? I thought it was just a friendly bet.”
“No way, Spike. Leap years are awful. The world will be better off without them. Just think of all the damage they’ve done!”
Spike let out a little snort. His claws rested over the strap of his bag. “How do you figure?”
“If it weren’t for leap years,” Twilight explained, “we’d have left a day earlier. That meant we’d have left Griffonstone the day before the Black Hooves tore up the tracks instead of the day after. That meant we’d have arrived in Vineigha on time without you having to go through the Pegasus Express. That means Prince Chain Link and I would have had our schedule moved up a day, so he’d have missed the tour of the countryside we were tagging along for. No assassination, no orlov rebellion, no spark for the conflict. No war tearing the planet apart.”
Twilight glanced at her charts. “Really,” she said, “when you think about it, leap years destroyed the world.”
Spike let out half a laugh. He struggled for words.
Finally, he managed a weak smile. “Yes, Twilight,” he said. “Never change.”