//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: My Little Pony: Teaching is Magic Story 1- Freeze Frame 
// by OverlordK 
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	Twilight Sparkle sat in the middle of the Ponyville library early one morning, carefully setting each writing utensil in its designated place on her desk in preparation of responding to her weekly stack of mail. Twilight had a lot of letters to write, and she liked to have all of her items properly organized before she began to answer the slew of letters that she had to write.

What had started as the basic task of sending Princess Celestia her findings and lessons learned about the magic of friendship had evolved into something far more special. Even though Twilight still sent the occasional report on friendship, the weekly letter that she sent to Princess Celestia, without fail, was now a more personal letter telling the princess about her current life and asking about the princess’ in turn.

As she had gotten older, Twilight had started to run out of reports to send; she still learned new things all the time, but the letters to send on the subject of friendship had become fewer and farther between. When she sent a letter to her mentor concerning this dilemma, she confessed to the princess that she missed sending letters to her regularly. She also asked her, in that message, if she could begin sending her weekly letters again, these letters being about her everyday life, not just the lessons that she learned.

Celestia wholeheartedly gave her permission to her faithful student to write and send her these letters that she so craved to write, and even began responding to Twilight’s letters with her own. Thus a deeper friendship grew.

Not long after that, Princess Luna sent a formal request to Twilight Sparkle to begin a written repartee with her; the unicorn was, after all, one of the first friends that the princess of the night had made after she was freed from the role of Nightmare Moon. Twilight, of course, agreed to her princess’ request.

It seemed that not long after she began corresponding regularly with the two rulers of Equestria that Twilight Sparkle gained quite a stack of other ponies to respond to as well. She had always been close to her older brother, Shining Armor, so she had always taken time to write letters to him; now that he was married to her former foal-sitter Cadance, Twilight now took time to write to the both of them. Most of the time she wrote Cadance and Shining Armor a single letter, but sometimes she wrote them  separate ones (you do not gossip with your brother, or tell him how cute that you think somepony is).

Twilight also had to reply to Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Rainbow Dash had finally achieved her dream of becoming a member of that famous aerial team, the Wonderbolts. Rarity’s fashion career had truly taken flight, and though she still had her shop here in Ponyville, she spent months at a time traveling across Equestria doing costuming for many famous ponies, including her own younger sister. Both Rainbow Dash and Rarity did their best to keep in contact and respond as often as their friend did, and even though their letters were often short, Twilight loved hearing from them.

She also had various letters that she regularly received from random ponies across Equestria. Someponies might call this fan mail, but Twilight Sparkle refused to think of it as such. It was true that several of the letters sent contained words of praise for the lavender unicorn from ponies that admired her and her talents and accomplishments. She also received letters that she was quite convinced were just pranks by bored foals (‘I think that you’re the prettiest mare in Equestria’… honestly, did these ridiculous ponies have nothing better to do than send fake love notes?). Her favorite letters by far, or at least the ones that she had received from the various citizens of Equestria, were the ones that were academic or magic-oriented. Being a unicorn renowned throughout Equestria for her magical gift, vast intellect, and knowledge, Twilight Sparkle found herself receiving a lot of letters asking her about uses of magic in certain situations, and many letters asking her to settle some intellectual debates.

It was these letters that Twilight found herself answering instead of the more important messages to friends and family. It had gotten to a point in her life that Twilight had an easier time responding to letters about intricate and obscure spells and being a mediator between pompous scholarly ponies who spouted overly complex solutions for simple problems, than responding to messages from her loved ones.

The main thing that was giving Twilight pause with her most important writings was the invitations that everypony kept sending her; Rarity was doing a big show in Trottingham and had said that she would love the company. There was also the aerial show that Rainbow Dash kept inviting her and their other friends to come and see, and there were always the invitations to come and spend time with her niece that Cadance and her brother kept sending her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go and make good on these offers that her loved ones were sending her; she would love to see all of them all again. The only problem with this was that she was afraid that if she left Ponyville, she might not want to come back. Twilight Sparkle had loved and enjoyed her life up until this point, but she was beginning to feel as though something in her existence was lacking.

The lavender unicorn turned away from her writing desk and the prospective letters that lay on it to look out the window, thinking how different her life was now from what it had been when she had first come to Ponyville. It was true that her only friends that had left were Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but life had changed for all of her friends. Mr. and Mrs. Cake's catering business had become incredibly popular, leaving Sugar Cube Corner in the care of Pinkie Pie and Pound and Pumpkin Cake quite often now. When Granny Smith had passed on a couple of years before, it had left Apple Jack the matriarch of the family, giving her a lot of extra responsibility, although AJ did have help with many of the new burdens that had befallen her from of the rest of her family and from her new sister-in-law Fluttershy.

After the ‘Love Poison’ incident several years back, Big Macintosh decided that he needed to make his feelings known to a certain yellow Pegasus, if for no other reason than to keep his sister and her friends from playing matchmaker for him and some other unsuspecting mare. Fluttershy had quietly and blushingly admitted to similar feelings for the red stallion. After a long courtship, the two were married. The happy couple was now expecting a little foal of their own soon. Things were certainly different for everypony now. Everypony, that is, except for Twilight Sparkle.

It seemed to Twilight that all of her friends were beginning new chapters in their lives, but she was remaining the same, and she soon may be left behind. Nothing new had happened to or for the lavender unicorn in quite some time, and in truth she only really had herself to blame; when Mayor Mare had spoken of retiring, her first choice of whom to succeed her was none other than Twilight Sparkle. The magically inclined mare had been flattered by the offer, and even though she knew that she was good at taking charge, she absolutely loathed the idea of having as much attention fixed on her as being Mayor would. Twilight hated always being the center of attention.

When Twilight had respectfully declined the offer, Mayor Mare had moved on to her next choice: Silver Spoon. Though the young mare lacked experience in politics and public affairs, she did have a knack for making ponies listen to what she had to say, and the grey earth pony certainly had no qualms about being the center of attention. Silver Spoon was now being trained and groomed for her impending rise to power by the current Mayor, and would soon be the one in charge.

Twilight sighed and turned away from the window to look around the library. Even it had changed over the years, gaining more new books, and even a basement to store the town archives. Life was passing her by and Twilight Sparkle needed to do something about it. Perhaps she would go and visit her friends, get out of town for a bit.

“Maybe,” she mused to herself, “my letter to Princess Celestia should be a request to move back to Canterlot.” This errant thought that had drifted across her mind was now something that Twilight mentally latched onto and examined closely. Did she really want to go back to the Capital City? Did she really want to leave the place she had called home for so long? She had once before, and going back to Canterlot would mean having all of the information of the Royal Library at her hooves again. If she did go back, she could pick up where she had left off in some of her old projects.

It wasn't a full-proof plan, or really one that she was sure she wanted to go through with, but at least she could write to her mentor and ruler to get some advice and perspective on this idea and the entire situation in general.

With her purpose renewed, Twilight Sparkle returned to her writing desk and, using her magic to grab the items needed, began to write her message. She didn't get any further than penning the ‘Dear Princess Celestia’ before she was interrupted by the door being flung open.

“Twilight, you need to help!”