//------------------------------// // Growing Pains // Story: Odds 'n' Ends // by TheAncientPolitzanian //------------------------------// Starlight examined the 'assignment' Twilight had just given her. "It's a… pot of dirt?" "Not just dirt," Twilight explained. "There's a seed inside!" "Ah, that makes more sense!" "Which brings me to your assignment, Starlight: I want you to take that seed and grow it into a—" "Got it!" "Huh? Starlight, I wasn't fini—" Not letting Twilight finish — after all, if she already knew what to do, then why wait? — Starlight immediately cast the requisite spell. On cue, the dirt rumbled; moments later, a colossal mass of leaf-covered branches shot out of it, quickly growing towards the ceiling. Once the dust had settled, the gargantuan philodendron may as well have been a Hearth's Warming tree. "Ta-da!" Starlight singsonged, eyes closed and smile wide in prideful satisfaction... That is, until she felt the daggers Twilight was staring into her. "Wait, shoot. There was going to be a catch, wasn't there?" "Yes," Twilight deadpanned. "Yes there was." "And that catch was…?" "'Grow the seed into a plant… without using magic.'" "Ah. That, uh, makes more sense."