//------------------------------// // The Princess's Apprentice // Story: Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S7 // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, though not everypony was enjoying it. Flash, Springer and Twilight had left through the Rune Gate that morning, using it to journey to a small town that was currently undergoing a parasprite infestation. The trio would be back later that day, leaving the castle in the care of Starlight and the others. Starlight had also headed out, leaving the kids to do battle with the ultimate enemy of any young pony or jakhowl: Chores. "Ahhh!" Heart whined as he scrubbed the windows of the throne room, "This is so lame!" "Oh quit complaining!" Soul responded as she and Mira were busy sweeping. "We all have to do it, and moaning about it is just gonna make it more tedious." "I guess..." Heart turned to the window and pulled the squeegee down it. "But aren't there supposed to be ponies that get paid to do this kind of thing?" He glanced back at them, "That Zephyr pony shouldn't have been let go." "Count yourself lucky you don't have Ace's job," Mira replied as she swept some dirt into a dustpan that Soul was carrying. "What's his job?" Heart asked, only to get an answer when Ace stepped into the room carrying a bucket and cloth while also wearing rubber gloves and a snorkel. He put the bucket down and sighed before removing the goggles. "Okay, bathroom one is finished. The toilet's all clean, the bathtub's clean, the sink's clean...." He stuck out his tongue, "And can I just say that you ponies are disgusting?!" The others grimaced at this, Heart then moaning, "I can't believe Flash and Twilight expect us to do this at least once a week. Aren't there laws about making kids work that much?!" The three rolled their eyes as they got back to the work, Heart letting out another sigh before raising an eyebrow, "Hey, where's Scootaloo? What's her chore?" "YAHOOOOO!" called out a voice, all turning to see Scootaloo shoot into the room on her scooter. Being pulled behind it was a bunch of wet cloths on strings, which wiped the floor as she circled around the room. The three leapt onto one of the thrones as she flew around, making sure their cleaning supplies weren't knocked over. Scootaloo then pulled her scooter to a stop, "Sup!" She chuckled, "You all still working? I'm almost done." "What are you doing?!" Soul yelped as she hopped off the throne and pointed at the cloths tied to her scooter. "How is that cleaning?" "Oh Soul," Scootaloo giggled, "There is so much I have to teach you." She grabbed Ace's bucket and started dipping the cloths inside. "This is no different from using a zamboni." She rang it out and put it back on the ground. "In these situations, you gonna work smarter and not harder. I've been doing chores for a long time, and they're not so hard once you figure out a shortcut." "Shortcut?" Heart asked with a raised eyebrow, "Tell me more." "Shouldn't we just clean the right way?" Mira chimed in, "If Flash or Twilight find out we messed around and didn't do a proper job-" "This is doing a proper job," Scootaloo interrupted, "It's just...streamlining it. Think of it like this. Imagine you need to deliver something to somepony and the faster you get it there, the better. You can either go the normal way, or take a shortcut that gets you there quicker. It doesn't matter how you get there, just that you got there as fast as possible." "Huh," Ace added, nodding. "She does have a good point." "She sure does!" Heart exclaimed, "Let's do it! What shortcut can we use to get this cleaning done quicker?!" "I don't know," Scootaloo shrugged, "They're your chores. You have to figure it out." The others rolled their eyes at this, only for a smirk to appear on all but one of their lips before turning to a the one that wasn't. "What?" Soul asked, seeing the four staring at her, "What are you looking at me for?" She got her answer when they all pointed at her horn. "Seriously?! You want me to use magic to do our chores?!" "You have gotten a lot better with it lately," Heart replied, only to get a glare from the filly, making him sigh, "Come on sis. There has to be someway you can magic all our chores away." "I don't think this is such a good idea," Soul countered, "Twilight always said magic isn't a plaything." "But this stuff could take ages," Ace added, "Isn't there something else you'd rather be doing right now?!" Soul blinked at this, then looked down at the dustpan. She let out a sigh before replying, "Well...I have been wanting to do a new painting of the town. And if I don't start soon, it'd be dark before I finished." The others smiled at this, only for her say, "But I don't know what spell I could use." "Oh come on!" Heart groaned, "Surely there's something!" "Don't whine!" Soul barked back, "I wanna study healing magic, not 'fix chores' spells! I can't..." The filly came to a stop before putting her hoof to her chin, "Wait...I could use that. Starlight did teach me a new spell she thought might help me one day." "Really? What is it?" Soul responded by lightning her horn, the golden aura spreading to the rest of her body before shooting off. Everypony watched as the light took shape and formed a copy of Soul made entirely out of the golden light. She looked like a ghost, but had a warmth to her. "What's that?" "It's a hard-light cloning spell," Soul replied, "They know everything the original knows and are completely obedient to the caster." She cast the spell again and created clones of Heart, Scootaloo, Ace and Mira. "Now they can do the work while we enjoy ourselves." The others cheered as they ran out the room, leaving the five clones to pick up the cleaning supplies and get to work. It wasn't long till the rest of the day flew by, Heart and Ace going to play video games at Button Mash's house, Scootaloo going to hang out with the rest of the crusaders and Mira went to play with the animals at Fluttershy's new sanctuary. At the same time, Soul got her painting equipment and started her masterpiece, flying up to a hill overlooking the town and getting to work. But as the day continued and the five returned home, they were met by four glaring adults at the castle's entrance. "Uh...hi." was all Heart could muster as they continued to glare at them. "Is something wrong?" "Why don't you tell me?" Flash replied as he held up the squeegee Heart was using earlier. The younger ponies all gulped, all keeping silent before Soul chimed in while staring down at the ground, "Alright, you caught us. But I don't see what the harm is. So we had some magical clones do our chores. They got it done," the four raised an eyebrow at their wards. "Didn't they?" Twilight and Starlight answered by teleporting them into the throne room. And when they looked up at the windows, they saw that only half of them had been cleaned. Starlight then pointed at the ground and saw a fallen broom next to a dustpan that had been dropped on the floor and its contents spilled everywhere. "What happened?" Scootaloo asked, turning to Soul. "I...don't know." "You forgot, didn't you?" Starlight spoke up. "Forgot what?" Soul muttered out. "Forgot that a hard-light clone only last ten minutes unless it's recharged." Soul's eyes went wide as the memory suddenly bolted to the surface, the others turning to frown at her. "I'm sorry!" She cried while bowing her head up and down, "I completely forgot that part. It's just the others wanted me to use magic to speed up completing our chores and I thought this one would work. I'm sorry!" The younger ones glared at her as she confessed everything, only for Twilight to let out a sigh, making them turn to her, "Soul...it's not the fact that it went wrong that we're mad about. We'd still be giving you this talk, even if everything had gone well." "Though I could have done without almost getting a toilet brush up my rear end," Springer added while glaring at Ace, the little jakhowl wincing. Flash then walked up in front of Twilight, "Listen...we're only mad because you kids completely blew off your chores. We told you to do them, not to pawn 'em off on a magical clone of yourself." "Why not?" Heart asked, "If the work gets done, who cares how it's done?" "We care," Twilight replied, "Magic isn't meant to take all the work away from you. It's meant to be used to assist you, not replace you." Starlight nodded before turning to Soul, "I taught you that cloning spell in case you ever needed help healing and tending to someone while you're on your own. Do I have to worry that you'll make a clone to fix somepony's leg instead of you?" Soul quickly shook her head in response. "Good." She then turned to Twilight, both nodding to each other. "Magic is an amazing thing," Twilight spoke up, "But you should never let it have free reign." "She's right. You all got lucky this is the only bad thing that happened," Flash added, "This could have turned out a whole lot worse." The young ponies and jakhowls shared a glance at this, only for Twilight to point to the table, "Sit down. We'll worry about cleaning later." They all began to take seats, Twilight taking a deep breath before saying, "It's time Flash and I told you about something that happened when we tried to use magic to do work we promised we'd do." She crossed her hooves at this, a stare coming from her eyes that made everypony stiffen as she continued, "This story happened...I'd say about a year after Flash started living with my family. During that time, a bug was going around Canterlot and causing some serious issues. And that lead to us getting in over our heads." Many years ago, in the city of Canterlot... Flash and Twilight were both trotting through the streets of the great city, the two looking very small compared to all around them. And as they walked, Twilight was holding a book in her magic and making it hover in front of Flash. "Alright, read this line." "It was the best of times, it was the...worst of times?" Twilight nodded back with a small smile. "Great work," she shut the book and put it away. "You've really come a long way." "Thanks," Flash replied, "I've been practising...when I'm not testing out my moves." He got into a battle stance and start swinging his legs around, "I've even come up with a new move I can't wait to show Grand today." Twilight laughed at this. "You're not the only one. I've mastered a new spell I'm gonna show Princess Celestia. When she sees me us it, it'll knock her socks off." "Has Celestia ever actually worn any socks?" "Probably. She wears those big heels." Twilight responded as they got to the gate, raising an eyebrow when they spotted only one guard instead of the regular two. Twilight took their clearance badges out of her saddlebag and showed it to the pony, who nodded back before the duo were allowed inside. But as they walked in...they noticed a lack of sound in the place. "Is it just me, or is this place strangely lacking in staff?" Flash asked as they passed through a hallway. "I guess." Twilight replied as they got to the throne room. But as they opened the doors, they found nopony inside. "Princess?" "Grand?" Flash added, only for both to share a glance, "What's going on? Where is everypony?" "I'm gonna check the archives. That's usually where me and the Princess start most lessons." Twilight responded as she left the room, Flash following her. As they went through the hallways, the colt glanced out of a few windows, seeing only one or two ponies in the castle garden and nopony at the training ground. "This...is weird." Flash commented as they turned a corner, only to see yet another empty hallway. "Yeah..." Twilight whispered, only for some nearby doors to open and two ponies walked out, making her gasp, "Princess!" "Grand! The two ran up to the Celestia, the princess and knight turning to them as the princess asked, "Twilight? What are you doing here?" "What am I doing here?" Twilight repeated back, "I'm your student. Unless..." Twilight's eyes went wide, her pupils shrinking as she muttered out, "W-w-wait...don't tell me I'm not your student anymore! What did I do wrong?!" She began bowing, "I'm sorry! I-" "Twilight!" Celestia interrupted, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. The filly glanced up at her, seeing a small frown on the princess's face, "You're still my student. I was asking why you're here because I sent a letter to your house to tell you there are no lessons today." "Oh..." Twilight's ears flopped down, her face slightly blushing, "Sorry for overreacting." "Its fine." Celestia's frown morphed to a smile, "Though I wish we had some kind of instant messaging service." "Why are there no lessons today?" Twilight asked. "Its not just your lessons lass." Grand chimed in, both turning to the knight, "Sorry kiddos, but Celestia and I just don't have time for you all today." Flash and Twilight's eyes went wide, "You've probably noticed this place looking a little empty." "We were gonna ask about that," Flash replied, "Where is everypony?" "I'm afraid some kind of bug has been going around Canterlot Castle," Celestia sighed, "It's taken many members of the staff out of commission." "That explains a lot," Flash added, "So what do we do?" Grand shook his head, "I'm afraid that with so many ponies out sick, those of us left have to pick up the slack. So I'm on guard duty today." "And the bug got even the secretary." Celestia continued, "I have to go through the many daily reports and come up with a solution to them instead of simply approving them like I usually do...which is why the two of us won't be able to work with you today...and maybe for the next few days as well. I'm sorry." "That's okay. We understand." "You got a lot to worry about right now," Flash responded, "I just wish there's something we could do to help." This made Celestia put a hoof to her chin, "Well...there might be something." The young ponies raised an eyebrow at this. "Almost the entire cleaning staff caught the bug, so the usual cleaning that takes place right now has to be put on hold. But there's a section of the castle that needs some serious cleaning. I was planning to try and do it myself later, but if you two could get started on it and get it done before I'm ready...I might be able to squeeze in a lesson or two at the end of the day." Twilight and Flash both gasped at this and nodded, Celestia then leading them down the hallway until they reached a corridor they had never been too before. It was a rather dark corner of the place, a little away from the more walked areas of the castle at the end was a single large door. "This is the area I want you to to try and clean. I don't think I've used it in over two hundred years. It's mainly been used as an extra storage area until now, so you may find some stuff in there that is a little out of place." The young ponies blinked at this as Celestia magically unlocked the door. The pair walked in and found it was a very dark, Celestia firing a light spell that flew into the room and formed a small sun that floated upward. The place was choked full of random items. Large wardrobes, multiple bird cages, old chairs and many other things. The sight alone made Twilight and Flash's jaws drop, unable to believe they were expected to clean up so much by the day's end. "Think you can organize all this?" Celestia asked, conjuring a bunch of brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies for them. "If you can, I'd like you to split the items into different rooms. One room for chairs, one room for cages, and if you find any books, it might be good to place them outside to be collected for the library." "Why would there be books in here?!" Twilight gasped, "Who would put books in a place like this?!" "I'm not saying it is," Celestia replied. "But in two hundred years, a lot can happen." Flash let out a moan, "Can't you just magic all this stuff away? It sounds like it'd be so much easier." "Now Flash," Grand shook his head, "Magic isn't the answer to everything. If you take the easy way out every time, you'll never learn to do anything that doesn't require magic." Celestia nodded before the pair turned to walk off, Flash letting out a groan, "This is gonna take forever." "Well you're the one that volunteered us," Twilight responded before grabbing the broom. "Now come on. The sooner we start, the sooner we get this done and do something we actually enjoy." Flash sighed as he spread his wings, flying up to the top of the nearest pile. As he did this, Twilight moved through the piles before glancing at the doors lining the walls. Using her magic, she opened them all up and saw they were full of even more junk. Only two rooms were empty, one of which being a bathroom, so she thought about starting there. "Why don't we start filling this room with chairs?" Twilight told Flash as he picked up one of the chairs, "Then we can focus on the other rooms." "I guess that could work," Flash told her before throwing the chair at her. She caught it in her magic and placed it in the room. "Great. One down...a hundred more to go." They started moving around the many piles in the hallway, collecting the chairs and placing them inside the end room until they came up to a certain pile. "This chair's stuck under a bunch of other stuff," Flash told Twilight as he tried to pull the wooden furniture out of the pile. But when he did, the stuff above began to wobble, "Come on!" He moaned as he gave it one good yank, dislodging the chair...and the pile began to collapse. "Uh-oh." He leapt out of the way, barely managing to escape before the junk crashed down. "Flash!" Twilight gasped, "Are you okay?" "I'll live," he moaned before picking himself up. He then turned to the pile, now seeing the chair had been crushed to bits under the junk that fell under it. "Oops..." "Flash!" Twilight yelped, "You can't pull out a bunch of stuff from the bottom of the pile! You need to work from the top down." "But I thought we were moving all the chairs into one room?" Twilight hummed at this in response, "We need a new strategy." Flash raised an eyebrow at this, only to see Twilight smirk, "I got it." A few hours later... Celestia had chosen to take a quick break from her work, now going to the kitchen to grab some food. And as she got some grub, she decided to bring some for the kids, knowing the pair would be hungry after all the cleaning they had done. She soon arrived at the doorway, opening it as she heard the sound of clattering, only to look inside and go wide-eyed. The hallway wasn't a bit cleaner, instead even more full than when she had brought the two before. "Twilight?!" She yelped, "Flash?!" A moment later, the two's heads poked out from one of the doors. "Princess?" Twilight replied, "What are you doing here?" "I thought you might be hungry," she responded while showing the plates in her magic. "It's lunch time already?" Flash asked as Celestia used her magic to pull them both over the junk mountains. "We've barely gotten started." "I can see that," Celestia nodded. "What have you been doing?" Twilight smiled as she took the plate. "We decided to empty out all the rooms first, then refill them with selected items. Of course, that means this hallway's gonna get pretty full before we can do that." "I...see." Celestia replied, "Well keep at it. Remember, doing a difficult task is what makes completing it worth the trouble. I know you can both do it." The two nodded as Celestia trotted off, leaving them to enjoy their lunch. But as they ate, Flash couldn't help but let out a moan. "It's already noon and we've barely begun. It'll be midnight by the time we finish this." "Oh, stop it." Twilight said as she took a bite of her sandwich. "If a task is worth doing, it's worth doing right." "Yeah, yeah..." Flash sighed, "But this would be so much easier if you could just magic all the items out of the rooms instead of us having to move them." "Celestia said that magic shouldn't be used for such a trivial task," Twilight replied, "Doing it by hoof is what'll make this place being clean something to be proud of." Flash frowned at this, but knew he probably wouldn't be able to talk Twilight out of it. And after they got done eating, they got back to work, soon emptying their fourth room. But as they did this, the long slog started to weigh on them, another hour passing before they discovered something that made them stop in their tracks. "A chest?" Flash asked as they stared at the large trunk that wasn't even locked, "Wonder what's inside?" "I don't know," Twilight replied, "But we should probably leave it closed." "You sure? It might be something cool." Twilight glared at him, only for Flash to nudge her, "Come on. Just one little peak?" Twilight let out a sigh, "Alright....just one look." Flash smirked and Twilight opened up the trunk, the two glancing in. And as they did this, Flash showed nothing but disappointment while Twilight's eyes went wide. "Books!" Inside the trunk were a bunch of old tomes that Twilight began to take out, "These must be hundreds of years old..." Her face morphed to one like a filly on Heartswarming. "Imagine what could be hidden beneath these covers." She was practically drooling, as her hoof moved up to open the book. But before she could, Flash pushed the cover shut. "Hey!" "Focus," Flash told her, "Celestia wanted us to clean this place up. We gotta do that before we can enjoy ourselves." Twilight's eyes began to form tears at this, only to sigh again as she put the books back into the chest. Following Celestia's instructions, they moved the large chest outside and got back to finishing the emptying of the room. All the while, Twilight's eyes continued to shift over to where the books could be. And when the last room was completely empty, the ponies slumped over, "Now what?" Flash moaned, only for Twilight to pick up the brooms, mops and buckets. "Before we can fill them up, we gotta make sure the rooms are spotless." "This is gonna take forever." Flash groaned as they took the buckets into the bathroom. They tried to use the taps, but the two hundred year lack of use had caused the metal to be rusted shut. It took both several hard yanks before being able to spin the facet, unleashing the water before it began filling the buckets up. They then returned to the first room, only to soon find that two hundred years of dirt and dust didn't come off easily. The same was with the floor and ceiling, finding the muck sticking the surfaces like glue. "Come on!" Flash cried as he rapidly rubbed the mop against the wall. "Ahhh!" Twilight moaned, "This is impossible!" This continued for several minutes, the two finally managing to get the spots they were working on clean. But as they did this, they started to pant as Flash commented, "It's gonna take us a week just to clean up one room." The pair fell onto their flanks at this, Flash now close to tears while Twilight did the same. Celestia had promised to give them a lesson if they managed to get the place cleaned up by the end of the day, and at this rate, that was gonna be impossible. The idea of disappointing her teacher made Twilight's stomach turn, while her mind also fell upon the books they had found. "There's gotta be a way to get this done by the end of the day," Flash muttered, "Or at least, make it easier to do it." He glanced over at Twilight, "I know Celestia said we couldn't use any magic, but I'm betting if she saw how hard this is, she'd say its okay." Twilight winced at this, slowly looking away, "Well...I do know a spell that might help. It's the one I wanted to show off to Celestia, but..." "Aw, come on Twilight!" Flash whined, "If you're not gonna use magic, then what's the point of even learning it?" "But Princess Celestia said I shouldn't." "But we're never gonna finish if you don't!" The two began to stare at each other, Twilight letting out a sigh before her mind went back to the chest full of books from earlier. "Alright, I'll use it. But Celestia can't find out about it." Flash smiled and nodded as Twilight turned to the mops, her horn sparking. The cleaning equipment began to glow and float at this, all of them turning upright. The pair watched as the mops slowly began to move from side to side, Twilight swinging her horn around in the same way. And after a few seconds, their head split in two and began moving like a pair of legs. They pushed themselves along the ground, rubbing at the ground and beginning to wipe up the dirt. The pair then turned to the broom, Twilight casting the same spell on them, making one of them come to life. Its bristles split in two before it turned to the other broom and kicked it, making it come to life as the pair began sweeping the floor. She then turned to the buckets, the wash cloths and other cleaning items and cast the spell, and one by one they began to come to life. The buckets and wash cloths flew out the room, heading into the bathroom and using the taps to fill themselves up before returning. The mops and cloths began scrubbing at the floor while the brooms and dustpans swept up any dirt they could find. Even the soap bottles started spraying the ground with their cleaning solutions. "Wow." Flash gasped, "Where did you learn that spell?" "It was in an old book I found in the archives," Twilight replied, "They might look like they came to life, but in actuality, it's just my subconscious being channelled into them. Now they'll clean exactly the same way I would." As she said that, the buckets and cloths flew out the room again to rinse themselves out and refill the water. "Now we can relax until this is all done, then start sorting the items apart." Flash nodded, the pair heading out the room and hallway. Once they were there, Twilight grabbed the chest and pulled out one of the tomes. Flash chose to just lay on the ground and relax while Twilight opened up the tome and began reading the ancient text. All the while, the cleaning equipment continued to do their job and scrub, brush, mop and many other adjectives the room spotless. But as this happened, they did not see that one of the equipment's trips to the bathroom, the buckets and wash rags floating in as one of the rags turned on the tap. The rag then spiralled itself up and rang the dirty water out of it before floating off, allowing a bucket to empty itself out and refill. But then, when the second cloth attempted to ring itself out, the bucket dropped a bunch of water that pushed the rag down into the sink. And before it could pull itself free, the bucket landed on top of it as it filled itself. The rag was stuck between the metal and the sink, Twilight's magic slowly being absorbed by the bucket, so that when the metal container lifted itself off the rag, it was completely still. That is, until the water pushed it toward the drain, the cloth balling up and being sucked down it before getting stuck. The running water now had no place to go, causing it to slowly build up and up...and eventually overflow. The water began to wash out of the basin and started flooding the bathroom floor, then flew out the door into the hallway. Second by second, the rooms and junk that filled them started to get soaked by the water. And as it happened, the cleaning equipment kept cleaning without appearing to notice the water. Not even when it flowed into the room they were working in, the mop-heads drowned in the water that was flowing while the brushes simply swept the water around and the buckets continued to fly back to the bathroom to empty and refill themselves. Back outside the corridor, Flash and Twilight were still enjoying themselves. Flash had gotten bored relaxing and chose to do some exercise: wing-ups, sit-ups and a few seconds of plank. At the same time, Twilight was looking over the tome, knowing she didn't understand most of the text, but was still fascinated. And as she read, her mind drifted off to all the possibilities that awaited her in the future. She had only been Celestia's student for a little over a year and she could already bring inanimate items to life. That thought made her think ahead, to ten years in the future. What would she be able to do by then? She closed her eyes and imagined the countless incredible things she could do, imagining being able to stop and start a volcano with a flick of her horn. To transform anything she wanted into anything else she wanted....and maybe even moving the sun and the moon like Celestia, and fill the night with stars. But as she kept thinking how her magic could improve, something occurred the broke her from her daydreams. Her hooves and flank suddenly found themselves getting very damp, pulling her out of her delusions as she lifted the book and glanced down...and saw the floor was covered in water. "What the..." Was all she could say, making Flash turn to her. Now noticing it as well, the pair followed the water and saw it was coming from the door. "Oh no." Flash then flung it open, only for the pair to find a giant wave of water barreling toward them. Luckily, Twilight was able to put up a waterproof barrier, blocking the water that continued to rise as Flash asked, "Uh...what's happening?" "I don't know. But we've gotta go in there and find out." This made Flash's eyes to go wide, "You know, we don't have to find out right away. We could shut the door and see what happens." Twilight raised an eyebrow, "We can't do that. What, are you afraid or something?" "Of course not," Flash replied while waving his hoof, "Why should I be afraid of water? I'm great in water. A regular fish, that's me." Twilight narrowed her eyes at him, making him frown, "Alright, fine. I...I can't swim...I never took those lessons at the community pool." "Flash!" Twilight yelped, "You promised!" "They wanted to put me in the beginners class with the little kids!" Flash crossed his front hooves, "I can't be swimming around with a bunch of five year-olds!" He then shook, "They can be so cruel when they sense weakness." "You are such a foal," Twilight sighed before turning back to the blocked water. "We've gotta do something. If Celestia finds out about this, we'll be in so much trouble." Flash gulped at this, the wrath of an angry princess now appearing in his mind. "Oookay...what do we do?" Twilight responded by creating a little hole at the top of the forcefield, right below the waterline. Flash grabbed her, the pair flying inside as she closed the hole. They now saw the many items floating all over the place, making them grimace. "I'll switch off the water," Twilight said as he dropped her into the water. She dived down with a might splash, swimming the best she could while Flash went over to the room where he found the cleaning equipment continuing to work despite all the water they were fighting against. "Stop!" Flash yelled, but none of them listened. Instead, the buckets and a single wash cloth flew back to the bathroom. He flew after them, arriving as Twilight surfaced from out of the water with a rag in hoof. "I managed to switch it off and unplug it," she announced before the buckets and rags dived into the water. "What are they doing?" She dipped her face into the water and saw the rag turn the tap back on under the water before ringing itself out again, not realizing it wasn't able to do that since it was underwater. "You've gotta stop them!" Flash cried, Twilight nodding and taping into her magic. But as her horn sparked with the cleaning equipment...nothing happened. "Twilight!" "I'm trying!" She cried before doing the spell again, only for it to not work again. "How many times have you used that spell before now?" Flash asked, Twilight glancing back up at him with a frown, "Please tell me you've used it before." "Not...exactly. But I read the theory closely. I guess the counter-spell is harder than the spell itself." As she said that, the water level grew again as the rag and bucket now remained submerged and went back to the room. Twilight quickly ducked her head under the water, using her magic to switch the water off, allowing the water to get sucked down the drain. But as this happened, the cleaning supplies continued their routine. "Come on!" Flash flew back in, grabbing one of the brooms and pulling at it. Twilight also tried to grab a few, but there were too many. "WHOA!" She turned to see Flash being pulled through the air, the pegasus trying to keep himself above the water, but getting dangerously close to being pulled under. And as this happened, the buckets and wash cloth headed back to the bathroom. "Oh no!" She yelped, swimming after them. But it was too late, the rag switching the water back on. Twilight then tried to grab them in her magic and drag them back to the forcefield. "That's it!" She then heard Flash yell as she looked up and saw the colt was now holding a large fire axe in his hooves. "Where'd you get that?" She asked as Flash swung it around. "It just floated up!" Flash replied, "I think it was in one of the piles." With that, he grabbed a broom and yanked it out of the water and threw it upward. Twilight looked away, but Flash's shadow was on the opposite wall, showing him swing the axe right through a broom, cutting it half before cutting it into quarters. After a few more seconds, his shadow stopped moving and she glanced back to Flash panting while the water was filled with wooden shards. "Did you get them?" She asked, Flash looking at the shards and nodding. "I think so," he responded before noticing her struggling with the buckets and rag. He flew over and grabbed them both by the handles, using his strength to pull them to the force field. Twilight quickly opened a hole in the field and Flash threw them out, the three hitting the opposite wall with a clatter as Twilight closed the hall. "Now what?" "We wait for the water to drain away," Twilight moaned as the water-level slowly began to drop. "Once it's below the sink, I'll use my magic to channel it into the drain." "I really hope Celestia doesn't come by before then," Flash added, Twilight nodding again as the water slowly drifted further down, all the while the sound of the buckets bouncing off her force-field echoed through the air. "How long can you keep that thing up?" "It's not that strong," Twilight replied, "I think I can hold it up for an hour or two." The two kept watching as the water dropped, completely unaware of what was happening back in the room. The small shards of the destroyed brooms began to glow the same purple of Twilight's magic, then slowly grew. Within seconds, every shard had somehow regenerated into a full-on broomstick, which all started sweeping up the half-flooded room. The sound of splashing and scraping caught the young ponies' attention, making them look back into the room. They gasped at the sight of the brooms, "What spell did you use on these things?!" Flash exclaimed, Twilight's eyes twitching at the sight. "I DON'T KNOW!" She screamed as the brooms turned to them. It appeared they had 'completed' cleaning this room and were planning to start on the next one. The pair gasped as they ran for the door and and managed to push it close, groaning as the water between it and the door-frame sloshed around. And as they shut it, Flash could feel the brooms hitting the door on his back. With each back, the force behind it increased, Flash's mind envisioning the brooms throwing themselves at the door with more brooms joining in each time. And eventually, the blows were too much, the door flinging open. "GYAH!" He cried as he was catapulted across the hallway, slamming into the opposite wall, then fell straight into the water. "FLASH!" Twilight screamed as she was pushed away by a wave of water from the now opened door, the filly barely managing to keep her head above the water as she watched the brooms fly free and head to the next room. A moment later, Flash's head broke out from the water, his hooves flailing around. "HELP!" Flash exclaimed as he thrashed around, "I CAN'T SWIM! Those five year olds were right! Cruel, but right!" "Just fly!" Twilight barked, but Flash's wings couldn't get the lift as they kept slapping against the water. She began to swim up to him, only to spot a chair suddenly surface as the water dropped, allowing her to grab it in her magic and push it over to Flash. The pegasus scampered up onto the floating piece of furniture, managing to keep balance as he began to flick the water off his wings. And as he began to fly again, he panted as he tried to stay above the liquid. At the same time, Twilight glanced down at the many brooms that each went into a different flooded room and started working. And when one went into the bathroom, she gasped and swam after it. She got inside and saw the broom sweeping at the wall and around the sink, Twilight fearing it might try to turn the water back on. "Come on!" She cried, trying to cut the magic to the broom. But it did nothing, forcing her to grab it in her hooves and try to pull it out of the bathroom, only for the broom the fight back. It was a literal tug of war, Twilight pulling as hard as she could and even managing to swim back to the doorway. She then hooked her back legs around the frame and use it to gain extra leverage, but the broom continued to fight. And as it did this, the wet wood slipped out of her hooves and the two flew off in different directions. Twilight crashed into a bunch of floating junk while the broom hit something in the bathroom with a bang. Her heart froze at that sound, making her look back and see the broom...had slammed into the facet. The rusted metal was so weak that it couldn't stand up to the impact, breaking instantly. A jet of water shot into the air, once again filling the room with water. She swam back over to the sink and tried to force her hoof over the water sprout, but the force simply pushed her hooves away. Flash then flew into the room, going wide-eyed as he saw this. "TWILIGHT!" the filly glanced up at him as another broom came in and brushed the wall, the colt now gulping as he said his next words, "We...we need to tell Princess Celestia! She's the only one who can fix this!" "NO!" Twilight cried while still getting hit by the water. "I can do this!" "I'll take the blame for this!" Flash told her, flying higher as his hoof dipped into the raising water. "Come on! If we don't do this, we'll just make things worse." But Twilight didn't listen, her horn flaring. She then summoned a magic bubble around the sink that quickly began to fill with water. And when it was completely filled, Twilight gulped as she feared it might explode....only for the bubble to remain in tact and the water started draining again. "You did it...no way." Flash gasped, only to turn to Twilight and see pure exhaustion on her face. But as he noticed this, the water dipped under the sink's basin, Twilight taking a deep breath before calling upon her magic again. Flash watched as the water around her started glowing, the colt now realizing what she was doing. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, "You've already used a lot of magic. Your really think you can use three spells at once?" "I have too," Twilight replied as she flinched. As she did this, the water next to her flew into the air, spiraling upward before curving and falling into the sink, going down the drain. Flash watched as the water slowly went down, but the look on Twilight's face told him she couldn't keep this up. And as the water began to drain, the bubble she placed around the facet began to crack. Cracks that neither noticed only Twilight felt a twitch on her horn. "Huh?" She looked up at the bubble, only to see water suddenly spring free from it before it shattered. "Gyah!" She cried as the water slammed into her, making her drop the water she was levitating into the sink. The damaged facet began spraying out water again, unleashing a large amount of pressure that made the sink explode a second later. And with that, water erupted from the basin and began to fill the room. Both Flash and Twilight went wide-eyed at this before Flash flew down and grabbed her, "Come on!" He cried as he pulled her through the water, out of the bathroom and to the doorway. However, the pair soon found themselves getting less and less room to breathe as the water raised faster than either of them could move. And eventually, Flash found himself scraping just below the ceiling. "Flash!" Twilight cried as he found his hooves dipping below the water, followed by his legs and soon enough his wings started slapping against the surface. "Hurry!" But as she said this, his entire body became submerged apart from his head. Now it was Twilight's turn to save him, telling him to take a deep breath before she dived under the water. She grabbed him by the tail and pulled him under, seconds before the water filled the last remaining empty space. She did her best to swim to the doorway, but it was still a ways off. She began to swim through a barrage of floating items, pushing a bust of a pony out of the way as she was about to get to the door. And as she did this, one of the still cleaning brooms flew past them, hitting her. She lost her grip on Flash's tail, causing the young pegasus to thrash around. He tried to do some manner of swimming back to Twilight, but before he could reach her, a bookcase slammed into him, knocking him away. This made him accidently release the breath he was holding, causing his panic to grow. Twilight looked back at him, seeing him start to sink. But as she tried to swim for him, she felt her body begin to demand oxygen. She fought with everything she had, trying to keep herself from involuntarily breathing in. But with each second, her chest felt like it was gonna explode. Then...it was too late. They were doomed. Meanwhile... Celestia had finally completed all her paperwork, now making her way to see how the two were doing. "I wonder if they've managed to find anything interesting," she asked herself as she calmly walked down the hall. But as she did this, her thought process broke itself when a droplet of water flew down and hit her on the head. "Hmm?" She glanced up, now seeing a large damp patch on the ceiling. Raising an eyebrow, Celestia decided not to delay and teleported up to the hallway. And when she appeared, she was greeted to the most insane sight. The outside of the hallway was empty, apart from four items. A large wooden chest along with two floating buckets and a wash cloth that were constantly slamming into a magical force-field. She strode over to the door and gasped at the sight of the water being held back by the force-field. "What in the name of-" She stopped before her horn flared, firing a blast of magic that struck the force-field and dispelled it. Forcefield gone, the water came flowing out, but Celestia fired another spell, causing it to completely vanish. Everything that had been floating suddenly hit the floor, including a pair of young ponies that were now taking deep breaths of air. They began to cough and spit out water, Flash hitting the side of his head to get some water out of his ears. "What...happened?" He moaned before glancing up, only to see a frowning Princess Celestia, "Uh-oh." Twilight's eyes went wide at the sight of her mentor, about to have a panic attack while Celestia simply looked back up at the many brooms and destroyed sink that began spilling out water again. With a single flash of her horn, the brooms, buckets and cloth stopped moving and the sink was completely repaired. Celestia said nothing to the pair, simply working to fix up all the damaged they had done. The two simply stood there, unable to respond, knowing they both didn't have the courage to say anything to her. They quickly walked out of the hallway at this, standing in silence as the next hour passed. And when Celestia came out, their faces were both pale as she turned to them and spoke, "Well, I was able to dry everything out. Luckily, nothing was damaged. Now..." her eyes narrowed at these next words, "Do you want to explain what in Equestria happened in there?" "I'm sorry!" Twilight exclaimed, bowing as her face hit the floor, "Its my fault! I cast a spell to make the cleaning supplies do the work for us!" "No!" Flash bowed as well, "I'm the one that made her do it! Punish me instead!" Celestia sighed and shook her head, "I told you not to use magic." "I know you did," Twilight cried, tears beginning to appear under her eyes, "B-b-but...the rooms were so dirty that there was no way we were going to finish cleaning even one of them on time. I just...I just didn't want to fail you." "Twilight..." Celestia put a hoof on the filly's shoulder, "I didn't expect you to clean this whole place in a single day." They slowly looked up at her. "Nopony could clean this up in that much time. It would take hundreds of ponies to do that." "But with magic-" "Yes, magic could probably clean this room up in an instant. But that doesn't mean it should be used." The ponies raised an eyebrow at this, only for Celestia to lean down to their level, "Magic is an incredible thing to have, but it should never be the first option you use, especially when you don't know everything about the magic you're using. For instance, why do you think we ponies still use trains despite the fact that teleportation is possible?" The young ones shared a glance, no answer coming to mind, "Its because despite being faster, teleportation is dangerous. One mistake and instead of teleporting to a new city, you could find yourself at the bottom of the ocean or in a volcano." The pair shivered at this, "Oh..." Celestia nodded. "You see? Magic is a tool. Something that can be used to improve a pony's way of life. But if you take it for granted and use it without thought, well..." She glanced back at the room, the two following her gaze, "I asked you to clean this place up because I hoped it would be a good experience for you. To accomplish something without magic, which you can have pride in completing. But because you got impatient and tried to find a shortcut, now there's even more work to be done." "We're sorry," they responded in unison. And as they glanced back down at the floor, Celestia did a small nod. "Now then," she got back up and picked up one of the brooms. "Shall we do this the correct way?" The pair nodded and got back to work. Despite how wrong the pair had been to let magic do the cleaning, the brooms, mops and other cleaning equipment had managed to clean the filthy room up pretty good. And since the other rooms all got soaked, the dirt that was glued to the wall was much less difficult to remove. Even so, after hours of hard work, they were still only able to clean up two of the rooms that they had promised to clean by the end of the day. "The day after that, we went back and cleaned up the rest of the rooms." Twilight smiled while seeing the others all just stare at her with wide eyes, "We didn't use magic, and instead simply cleaned with our grit and determination." "And even then, we couldn't clean it up by the end of the day," Flash laughed. "It took a whole week to clean that place up. It was so bad that the whole bug that went around went away and all the cleaning crew came to help up and it still took a week. But it was worth it." Twilight nodded in agreement, "It taught us what we could really do if we put our mind to it, even without magic." "Though a certain somepony still has trouble remembering that sometimes," Flash chuckled, the Princess of Friendship glaring at him. "Oh? And who decided to still try and 'forget' swimming lessons for another month after that?" "Hey! Grand taught me...eventually." Twilight rolled her eyes at this, "You mean he forced you too." The others began to laugh, only for Heart to ask, "Did all that really happen?" The pair nodded back. "Wow...it just...it sounds so...insane." "But it was fun to hear," Soul replied, "And I definitely learned what you were trying to teach us." She jumped off the throne and moved over to the dustpan, grabbing it in her mouth while Mira took the broom. Together, they swept up the dirt their clones had dropped while Heart, Ace and Scootaloo got to work on their own abandoned chores. Flash, Twilight, Springer and Starlight smiled as they watched. By the time they would be done, it would be time to go to bed, but the five could sleep knowing they had done an honest day's work. Because no matter how appealing the easy way out seemed, nothing beat doing something with your own four hooves...or paws.