Tale 1: In Which Twilight Loses Her Mind Over Trying To Make The Perfect Sandwich
Twilight Sparkle was walking through the marketplace in Ponyville at around noon, give or take an hour and seventeen minutes, as she usually did on Thursday. However, this particular trip was different, as Twilight was feeling particularly philosophical today as she looked at each stand.
She looked at all the different ponies manning the stands, some familiar to her and some unknown, and couldn't help but imagine why they were manning the stands, how they'd gotten to this point in their lives, what was in store for them in the future, and whether or not the stands would figure into that future. They all must have their own tale.
Twilight then agreed to herself that the thought was something to be saved for another time and place, as there was a specific reason that she was here. She wanted to make, as you likely know if you paid attention to the title instead of making googly eyes at that watermelon or what have you, the perfect sandwich.
You may question Twilight's reasoning for pursuing such a trivial task. You see, the sandwich is simply symbolic of Twilight's final test.
The final test is the entire reason why Twilight was not only an avid study-er, but the reason that she is the straightforward, organized, realistic mare that she is today, by extension. However, one day, Twilight thought about what would happen if she attained a perfect score on said test. Nopony in the history of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns has ever gained a perfect score on the final test, save for maybe the princess herself. If Twilight were to pass the test with a perfect score, she would be remembered as one of the greatest unicorns who ever lived!
Logically, getting a perfect score would likely mean being perfect, and being perfect started small. Twilight figured if she started by making a perfect sandwich, she could work her way up the ladder of perfection until she was able to get a perfect score.
After about 20 minutes, Twilight managed to get all of the things on her list. Only the freshest lettuce, the best meats, the best cheese, and the freshest bread would suffice for this modestly enormous task. On the way out of the market, however, she saw Applejack and another pony, Golden Harvest if she recalled correctly, shouting at both anypony who would listen as well as each other. Twilight would've stopped and helped out Applejack, but she had a very small window of time that she had planned to break from studying to make lunch.
Spike had looked at the nearest convenient timepiece in the library. Twilight had been gone for about half an hour.
"Okay, seems like the coast is clear. Time to do this thing." Spike said as he crawled into his bed with an excited grin on his face.
He came out with three balls of different colors. After focusing all of his concentration, he started to juggle them. I'm doing it!, he thought.
"Peewee, come here, I'm doing it!". The tiny phoenix stared at his master contently. "And you said I'd never be able to in a million years! Ha!"
The front door began to crack open. Spike had trained himself to recognize that sound and react in seconds. Without hesitation, he stowed the balls in his bed's secret compartment.
"Hi, Twilight!" he said as inconspicuously as possible. There was no reply. Twilight wasn't there. "Dumb wind." Spike said to no one in particular. He began to juggle the balls once more before being startled by the sound of Twilight's voice greeting him with "Wow, good juggling, Spike!"
Spike dropped his balls after hearing that.
"How did you get in here?" he asked. "The door was wide open." Twilight said in a matter-of-fact fashion. "Well, you didn't see me, all right?" Spike said angrily as he put the balls away. Twilight agreed.
Twilight got a glass plate out of her cabinet and placed it on the table. One by one, she got the supplies out of her saddlebag. After doing that, she assembled the sandwich so that no bite would be without it's own flavor.
"Yeah, that should do it. Job well done, Twilight!" she assured herself.
"Nice sandwich. Can I have a bite?" chimed Spike. "Not yet, buddy. This is a special sandwich. I need to have some for myself to see if it's good enough." explained Twilight.
Twilight lifted the sandwich to her mouth, careful as to not shift the contents of the sandwich. When she finally took a bite, she began to chew ever so slowly. This continued on for half a minute, much to the confusion of Spike, until Twilight placed the sandwich down and swallowed the bite she took of it.
"It's..."
"Uh, what?"
"It isn't perfect."
Twilight got another plate, and got another piece of bread out individually. Spike took a bite of the first sandwich.
"What are you talking about? It's great!" he said. Twilight sighed. "Yeah, but a great sandwich isn't perfect, and neither is a great test score! And if it's not perfect, then it'll never become legendary!"
Spike only half understood what Twilight said.
"And sandwiches have what to do with test scores?" he asked. Twilight explained what she meant to the dragon. "Okay, Twilight, I think that's wrong for two reasons. One, it's totally possible to perfect that test without being perfect at anything else. Two, you don't need a perfect test score! When you've saved Equestria multiple times, who needs a perfect score on some test? You're gonna pass with flying colors, and that's good enough for me!"
"Y'know what, Spike? You're right! I'll still be a legend even if I fail that dumb test! Not that I'm not gonna try my best, because that's all I need!" Twilight said confidently. However, at the bottom of her heart, she still had a tiny doubt. Not about the test, but about something else.
Later on that night, Twilight was studying Book 4 Chapter 87 Section 3 in her course: Body Language. She read to herself aloud, to keep any stray noises from distracting her.
"Even if a pony's face is the most important purveyor of body language, the arms and legs are also an effective baloney to cheese..."
"Wait, what?" Twilight said to herself. She read through the sentence she was on again.
"Even if a pony's face is the most important purveyor of salami..."
Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked back at the book. She couldn't be that crazy about just a sandwich! That would be beyond illogical!
"Even if perfect sandwich perfect sandwich finish the sandwich..."
"SPIIIIKE!"
Spike arose from his sleep. He wondered how many times he'd have to be woken up in the middle of his nap before Twilight realized that she could easily bother her other friends, seeing as he was the only one asleep at this time, save for maybe Rainbow Dash.
"WHAT?!" he shouted.
"COME UP HERE! I NEED ASSISTANCE!"
"Non-specific much?" Spike asked himself as he slugged up the stairs. When he saw Twilight, she appeared to be both scared and confused. "Spike," she said, "I'm going nuts over a sandwich."
"Didn't we already talk about this?"
"No, it's the sandwich by itself, not the perfect score. It's crazy, but I can't get my mind off the fact that it's imperfect. I don't get it at all."
"Well, I'm not much of a sandwich expert, so I can't help you there." Spike retorted.
"Well, I need some kind of help. I think I need somepony who's an expert in food and motivation to help..." Then it hit her. "Pinkie!"
"So you woke me up for no reason." Spike said, unamused.
Twilight patted her assistant on the head. "Sorry. you can finish your nap, Spike."
"Ah, I'm already up, might as well practice juggling, seeing as how you already know about it." retorted the dragon.
Twilight made her way to Sugarcube Corner, thinking about how many times in the past that Pinkie Pie has unexpectedly helped her out in the past. Twilight knocked on the door to be greeted by Mrs. Cake.
"Welcome back, Ms. Twilight! How can I help you?" Mrs. Cake asked in her usual friendly tone. "Hi, Mrs. Cake. Do you know where I can find Pinkie?"
Mrs. Cake took off her own head, revealing herself to be a disguised Pinkie.
"Hi Twilight!" Pinkie shouted in her usual friendly tone. Twilight fell over backwards after Pinkie revealed herself. She looked up to see if what she just saw really happened. Yes, Pinkie was in a Mrs. Cake costume.
"If you're wondering why I'm dressed up as Mrs. Cake, her and Mr. Cake are on another business leave." Pinkie cheerily explained, taking off the costume. "That's... immensely creepy." Twilight said. "Anyway, Pinkie, I need your help". "I'm always ready to give it!" Pinkie said back.
Twilight explained her foodstuffs-related issue. Pinkie thought for a minute, as if letting that fact sink in. "Well... if the sandwich bothers you that much, I'll just have to taste it!"
Pinkie brought Twilight to the kitchen, where she assembled all the necessary supplies to make a sandwich. Twilight took out one of each ingredient one at a time and placed them on a plate in order. Each part of the sandwich was perfectly aligned, so that no bite would be without flavor. When the sandwich was finally complete, Pinkie took a bite.
Tears of joy dripped down her cheeks, and she let out a huge smile upon swallowing the bite. Twilight felt her heart soar, and she let out a smile almost as big as Pinkie's.
"How is it?" Twilight asked.
"How is it?" Pinkie parroted, "I can't even answer that question with words! It's like my mouth married the sandwich, and they went to heaven on a honeymoon! It's perfect!"
Twilight felt like a huge load was lifted off her shoulders. She did it! She made the sandwich pefectly! Twilight thanked Pinkie for her help, and went back home. Twilight felt like she could do anything.
Pinkie giggled to herself. In all actuality, Twilight really didn't make a sandwich that was noticeably better than most other sandwiches that Pinkie had tasted before. However, it didn't matter, since Twilight did her best, and was proud of what she did.