Trinkets

by Pen Stroke

Trinkets

“All right, bring it in a little closer. A little closer… there, perfect!”

The hard-hat wearing pony smiled, waving his hooves at the pony working the construction crane as a large, wooden timber was swung into place. Up in the skeletal structure of the home under construction, other ponies worked to secure the new timber before releasing it from the crane’s hook. The crane then turned, letting other ponies on the ground place a new timber on its hook so the process could be repeated.

All around Ponyville, similar construction sites were bustling as the town continued to rebuild after the monster attack. It had been a few weeks since the Princesses Luna and Celestia had returned to the throne of the kingdom. Order had been brought back to the government, the Elements of Harmony were in Canterlot Tower once more, and, thanks to an army of construction ponies, restoration of Ponyville was proceeding quickly.

Some homes and businesses were already reconstructed, while many others were at varying stages of completion. Still, it was a landmark day all the same. The volunteers, being led by the mayor, were helping the last refugees move out of the Night Stone Castle, the fortress constructed by the Children of Nightmare.

Among those helping the refugees move were Twilight and Rarity. The pair of unicorns was levitating the last few boxes of supplies that had been cleared out of the castle. Nearby, the Mayor was speaking with the few dozen refugees who remained. They were being assigned to different places around Ponyville, given shelter in houses that had already been rebuilt while they waited for their own homes to be completed.

“There, now that should be that,” Rarity said as she set the boxes she was levitating into the back of a waiting cart.

Twilight smiled as she placed her own boxes into the cart. “Yes, I think the castle is officially empty.”

“Which really is a shame,” Rarity commented, looking over her shoulder at the castle’s towers. “I don’t know why the mayor isn’t trying to do something with the castle. All this wonderful space and it’s just being left empty.”

“Well, you should have gone to the town meeting last night,” Twilight said.

Rarity huffed and rolled her eyes. “That was the fifth town meeting this week. No offense to the mayor, but my time is better spent not listening to ponies argue about whose house gets rebuilt next. Still, since you bring it up, I imagine that the castle was discussed last night?”

Twilight nodded, standing beside Rarity as they both looked up at the castle. “It was a question somepony brought up, and it turned into a big argument.” She sighed and let her gaze wander amongst the towers. “It’s like everypony in town has a different idea of what we should do with the castle.”

“Really? Everypony?” Rarity asked in disbelief.

“It felt like it. A few ponies want to turn it into some public building of sorts, like a college or maybe even make it the new town hall. Some want to make it into a tourist attraction.” Twilight lifted her hooves up, waving them in the air as she mimicked the tone of a pony from the town meeting. “Come see the castle of the dreadful Nightmare Moon! See where she ruled Equestria with an iron hoof and get your picture taken with her statue for five bits!”

Rarity frowned and scrunched up her nose. “That is such a horrible waste of a castle, turning it into some tawdry tourist trap. I’ve seen my fair share of such places. One year my father got the idea to take our family on a cart trip across Equestria, and we stopped at so many places like that.” Rarity shivered. “I still have nightmares about the ‘Equestria’s Largest Bug Museum’.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Twilight commented.

“Oh no, Twilight, you misunderstand. It wasn’t the largest museum of bugs in Equestria, it was a museum that focused on featuring very, very large, bugs. I saw a spider there the size of Opal.”

Both mares shivered at the thought of such a large arachnid, and Twilight gave a nervous laugh. “Okay, I’ll admit, that’s creepy.”

“Oh yes,” Rarity said with a nod, “and beyond that, tourist traps tend to be so tacky. It would be a crime against good taste to transform a castle, any castle, into something so… pedestrian. I do hope the mayor isn’t actually considering that option.”

“I don’t know, she might. It’s not much better than the rest of the ideas ponies proposed at the meeting.” Twilight looked back to the castle, a frown on her face. “Some even want to destroy the castle. Level it to the ground with everything that’s left inside.”

“Why would they want to waste such a beautiful building?” Rarity asked, visibly appalled by the idea.

“Because to them, it will always be Nightmare Moon’s castle,” Twilight answered.

Rarity huffed and flicked her tail. “Well, that is a poor reason to waste such fine architecture. Were there no other suggestions?”

Twilight laughed a little. “Well, Ditzy thought the town should give the castle back to Nyx.”

Rarity allowed herself to share in Twilight’s laugh. “Oh my, now that is certainly an interesting idea. What in Equestria would Nyx, a little filly, do with such a huge castle?”

Twilight shrugged and looked over her shoulder. Nearby, Mayor Ivory Scroll was finishing up with the refugees. A few minutes later, those last refugees were trotting away, a few hitching themselves to the cart loaded down with the last of the supplies from the castle. At the same time, the mayor approached Twilight and Rarity with a smile on her lips.

“Thank you two again for helping.”

“It was no trouble, mayor,” Twilight answered happily. “We were glad to be of assistance.”

The mayor gave a satisfied nod. “Good, that leaves only one last piece of business.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Rarity asked. “I was sure we had already cleared out all of the rooms.”

The mayor nodded her head, motioning for Twilight and Rarity to follow her back into the castle. “We’ve cleared out the last of the rooms where the refugees were staying. There is, however, one room that still needs to be emptied.”

“Spike! Nyx! I’m back!” Twilight called out. She nosed open the door to the library, her magic preoccupied levitating a few boxes in the air behind her. She was greeted by a small popping sound, which was followed soon after by the thud of a book hitting the floor and a young voice shouting, “Darn it!”

Twilight frowned a little as she set the boxes she was carrying by the door and trotted across the library floor. Nyx was nearby at the reading table. She wasn’t wearing her vest, glasses, or headband, and, in truth, Twilight didn’t care if she wore her disguise anymore or not. There was no longer a point in doing so, considering everypony in Ponyville knew who Nyx was.

The cause of Nyx’s frustration was sitting in front of her on the floor. It was just a simple, small book, but she was glaring at it as if it was evil incarnate. She then closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. Her horn sparked and flared with magic. She tried to lift the book off the floor. Yet, after a few seconds, her levitation spell popped like a bubble and the book dropped like a rock, thudding against the floor once more.

Nyx stomped a hoof, her frustration flaring as she looked up at Twilight. “Why is my magic so weak? This used to be so easy for me.”

“I told you, Nyx,” Twilight began, speaking gently, “Princess Luna took a lot of the magic you used to have. You’ll grow back into it, but it’s going to take a while.”

“But how long?” Nyx whined. “Shouldn’t it have come back by now? I mean, I can’t even pick up a book!”

“I don’t know how long it will take,” Twilight answered. She gently nuzzled Nyx to try and cheer her up. “But I’m sure it will happen soon enough. Now, where’s Spike?”

“He’s cleaning up the kitchen from lunch,” Nyx answered, returning her glare to her book. Twilight nodded and trotted towards the kitchen door as Nyx once again attempted to lift the book, only for her effort to yield the same results. When Twilight entered the kitchen, she found Spike putting one final plate into the cupboard before jumping down from his stool.

“So, how long has she been trying to lift that book?” Twilight asked.

“A couple hours now,” Spike answered as he dried his hands with the dish cloth. “She actually started with a larger book, but I convinced her to try something smaller. She can at least get that one to lift off the ground before her spell fails.”

Twilight sighed and turned back to the kitchen door just in time to hear Nyx shout in aggravation again. Life had regained some of the normalcy it had possessed back when Nyx was attending school, but not everything was the same.

For one thing, Twilight had to make sure somepony had eyes on Nyx almost all the time. It was no secret; there were ponies who held a grudge against Nyx. There were those who felt the princesses had been too lenient and, if given the opportunity, they would try to take matters into their own hooves. Twilight didn’t think anypony would be desperate enough to resort to lethal measures, but she didn’t want to give anypony the opportunity to do something.

At the same time, Twilight was doing her best to protect Nyx without hiding her away in the library as she did before. She took Nyx to parks and allowed her to have fun with her friends, but she also made sure somepony she trusted was there to make sure nothing happened.

“Well, has anypony come by the library?”

Spike shook his head and tossed the dish rag onto the side of a counter. “Just Pinkie Pie. She asked if I could come down to Sugarcube Corner and help her fire-roast some things. I told her that I needed to wait until you got back so you could watch Nyx, since… you know.”

Twilight nodded, remembering the last time Nyx was at Sugarcube Corner. It was her second time being there without her disguise, and Pinkie Pie was watching the shop while baby-sitting for the Cakes. To put it lightly, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake didn’t take well to seeing Nyx’s real eyes. They had started crying and clinging to Pinkie Pie, as if in fear.  

Nyx hadn’t wanted to go back to Sugarcube Corner ever since.

“It’s okay, Spike, go ahead and lend Pinkie Pie a claw. I don’t have anything else I need to do in town today, so I can stay with Nyx.” Twilight said.

“Okay, cool, I’ll bring you back some snacks.” With that, Spike headed out of the kitchen and the library, heading off to Sugarcube Corner, where his fire was needed. At the same time Twilight moved back into the library’s main room. She watched Spike shut the front door behind him before she looked back at Nyx, who was still struggling to levitate the small book.

“Hey, Nyx, why don’t you take a break from that and come here.”

Nyx’s levitation spell popped again, and, with a huff, she kicked the book, causing it to skid across the floor and disappear underneath the reading table. She then walked over towards Twilight, choosing to focus her irritated glare on the library floor.

“Come on now, cheer up,” Twilight said, trying to brighten Nyx’s mood. For the most part, Nyx had been returned to the filly Twilight had grown to know and care. Still, because of everything that happened when she was an adult, Nyx wasn’t quite the same. She was still curious and, at times, she was still timid, but she now possessed the temper Nightmare Moon was infamous for, among other things.

“Well, okay then,” Twilight said. She picked up the boxes and began walking towards the basement door. “If you want to be like that, then I’ll just have to show you this surprise some other day.”

Nyx lit up and quickly scrambled after Twilight. “What surprise!?”

Twilight laughed a little as she set the boxes back down. “A few things from the castle. We finished cleaning it out today, and, while the mayor isn’t sure what she’s going to do with the castle itself, she thought these things belonged to you.”

Nyx bounced once in excitement, moved over to the nearest box and opened the flaps. The smile then disappeared from her face as she cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “What’s this? Dollhouse furniture?”

Twilight stepped over to the box, levitating the many small items into the air. Nyx’s description had been accurate; the items looked like a small set of toy furniture. Twilight, however, shook her head. “No, this is the bedroom furniture from the castle.”

At that, Twilight used her magic to push a few things out of the way in the library’s main floor. She then set the tiny bed from the box in the center of the room and focused her magic on it. The tiny bed squashed and stretched itself, growing larger as Twilight undid the spell that was upon it. Within moments, it was once again the circular, full sized bed that Nyx had slept on during her short rule as Equestria’s Queen.

“Wow!” Nyx exclaimed. She ran forward and clamored up onto the bed. Her little body sank into the soft bedding, but she was smiling all the same as she turned around and looked back at Twilight. “How did you do that?”

“It’s a ‘Make it Mini’ spell I learned recently,” Twilight answered. She walked up to the edge of the bed and crawled up onto it, taking the opportunity get off her hooves after spending all day at the castle. “It really helped with the town’s reconstruction. It lets me move some of the big construction equipment around like they were toys. It’s actually very interesting. The spell works by-”

“Uh, Twilight, do you think you made the bed too big?”

Twilight blinked, her impromptu lecture on magic interrupted. She looked to Nyx and cocked her head to one side. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t remember it being this big,” Nyx said before she stumbled on the soft blanket and face-planted into the bed’s pillow.

“Well, what did you expect?” Twilight asked with a small laugh. She picked Nyx up off the pillow and set her back upright. “Remember, you were a lot bigger the last time you saw this.”

Nyx nodded as she looked around the bed. “I guess that makes sense.” She smiled and turned her attention back to Twilight. “So, I get to keep this?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered. “While the castle has fallen into the care of Ponyville, the mayor felt that the things in your old bedroom should still belong to you, despite what some other ponies think. So, while I miniaturized and packed the furniture, she and Rarity packed up everything else they could find.”

“So all those boxes have stuff for me inside them?” Nyx asked in disbelief, turning her head to look at the small stack of boxes.

“Well, it’s less for you and more like it’s stuff that’s already yours.”

Nyx bounded a little on the springy bed mattress. “Oh, can we open the boxes now? OH!? Can this be my new bed?”

Twilight laughed. “Well, I don’t think we really have room for this bed right now, but we’ll keep it in the basement so that, when you do start to get big, we’ll have it. And yes, why don’t we open up these other boxes and see what you had in your room?”

Nyx stopped bouncing as one of her ears drooped in confusion. “Wait, you don’t know what’s inside them?”

“I had to focus on casting my ‘Make it Mini’ spell on your furniture,” Twilight said. She picked one of the boxes up in her magic and brought it over to the bed. “I couldn’t really pay attention to what Rarity and the mayor were packing away. The ‘Make it Mini’ spell isn’t really that easy to cast. It requires a lot of magic and concentration.”

Nyx nodded and craned her head as she watched Twilight open the flaps of the first box. Inside were many of the smaller items that had been in Nyx’s room. There were brushes and boxes of make-up from her vanity, some regal capes that she had never had a reason to wear, and similar items. It was nothing too interesting, though Nyx made it a point to say she didn’t want to keep any of the make-up. She honestly just wanted to throw it away, but Twilight set the make-up off to the side. If anything, she’d ask Rarity if she’d want it.

The pair reached the bottom of the first box quickly, and Twilight levitated out the last item. It was a book, one that was oddly familiar to Twilight. She couldn’t help but turn it over in her magic. “What’s this?”

Nyx, who had been trying to push the now empty box off the bed with her magic, looked up to see what Twilight was holding. She then let out a small, panicked squeak and leapt at the book. She wrapped her hooves around it and hung from the book as it continued to float in Twilight’s magic.

“No, you can’t open this!” Nyx begged.  She flailed her hind legs and fluttered her wings, desperately trying to hold onto the book, but she was losing her grip. With a small yelp, she flopped back down onto the bed, causing Twilight to laugh a little. Her smile then turned mischievous, and she cracked open the book. She expected it to be a journal or something similar, but she was surprised to find the book had been hollowed out. All the pages had a large square cut out of them, creating a compartment within the tome that had been filled with a number of small items.

“Nyx, what is this?” Twilight asked, unable to resist her own curiosity as she began to go through a few of the items.

“It’s my treasure book,” Nyx answered. “I read a story where somepony hid things in a hollowed out book, and you had just thrown this one away because it got ruined by the pony who had it checked out.”

Twilight nodded, now realizing why she recognized the book. It had once been on the library shelves, until she supposedly threw it away. “And how long have you had this?”

“I made it during school, before the Learn and Play Day,” Nyx answered. She approached the book and pulled out a couple of the items inside. “See, here’s my blue ribbon from the tug of war match, and… Look, my kazoo!” At the sight of the small noisemaker, Nyx took it up in her mouth. She began playing a random, happy tune as she stuck her legs out in a high march and paraded in a circle on the bed.

Twilight laughed openly, enjoying Nyx’s little show until a thought crossed her mind. “Wait… where were you keeping this?”

“Under my bed upstairs,” she answered through the kazoo in her mouth while she continued her parade.

“No, I mean in your room at the castle. How did it even get there?”

Nyx paused from her parade and set the kazoo down as the inspiration to play left her. “Well, I got it from the library. It was  on the first day I raised the sun, while I still had you locked in the dungeons with my friends. I had given the new crusader cape Sweetie Belle had made me to Twist, but… I really wanted to have mine, and it was in my treasure book. So I had Spell Nexus come and get it while Spike was out.”

“Why didn’t you get it yourself?”

Nyx sat down and hung her head a little. “I was going to, but Spike was here. I was just going to wait for him to go to sleep, but he was talking with Rarity. He was there cleaning the library, because he thought that you’d be coming back. Like a lot of ponies, he thought the sun coming up meant that…. I wasn’t queen anymore. I just… I… I guess I didn’t want to be there to see him realize that you weren’t coming home.”

Twilight called on her magic, gently lifting Nyx up and bringing her close. She nuzzled her, trying to make her feel better while she carefully tucked all of the little trinkets back into the treasure book. She then closed the cover and held it out to Nyx, who put on a little smile as she took the book in her little hooves and hugged it to her chest.

“Why don’t we open another box?” Twilight said, drawing the next box forward. She opened the flaps and found a single large, soft, light-purple object that had been stuffed inside. Curious, Twilight drew the item out, only to find herself staring at a doll made in her very own image.

“What… what is this?” Twilight asked as she looked over the surprisingly accurate, life-sized fabric doll of herself.

Nyx hugged her treasure book more tightly. “It’s… it’s supposed to be you.”

Twilight laughed a little. “Well, yes, I can see that, but where did you get this?”

“It used to be a training dummy for the Children of Nightmare. They were practicing on them in the castle. It used to be made out of a potato sack or something, and… I asked that one be taken to my bedroom.”

Twilight turned her attention away from the doll and focused on Nyx. “Why?”

“I… I was still angry at you, for letting Princess Celestia take me, and I… I ended up taking out my anger on the training dummy.”

Twilight leaned in close. “Nyx, I am sorry about that.”

Nyx nodded. “I know, and I’m not mad anymore, but I was… and, I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” Twilight assured her, “but you said this was a training dummy. How did it become a doll?”

“I made it into one after I fixed it, with my magic. It was the night after I first raised the sun. Everypony thought it meant Celestia was back and that she had beat me, which meant that nopony wanted me as queen. I was so upset and unhappy and confused and I… I guess I… was starting to miss…”

Nyx fell silent, though Twilight didn’t need to hear any more to know why she had made the doll. Even after everything that had happened, even after Nyx had yelled at her and refused to accept the apology, she eventually made this. For Twilight, it was a touching gesture that proved that even then, when Nyx was trying to truly be Nightmare Moon, she was still, on the inside, her little Nyx.

“You can throw it out, if you want. I doubt I really need it anymore,” Nyx said quietly before she put on a smile. “ Why would I need a doll of you when I have the real you?”

“Well, why don’t we just put it back in the box for now?”

“Why?” Nyx asked as she watched Twilight slip the doll back in a box and close the flaps.

Twilight took a quill from her nearby desk and used it to label the box. “I think, when you’re older, you’re going to be glad that you still have this.”

“If you say so,” Nyx said. She watched as Twilight set the box beside the basement door, to be placed downstairs once they finished. Twilight then fetched the next box, which was far heavier that the others. Its contents shifted around with metallic clicks and clanks as it was levitated.

When Twilight opened the box, she and Nyx saw it contained several broken pieces of blue metal. Many of the shards were marred by deep claw marks and scratches. There was also a helmet amongst the pieces that was similarly dented and battered. Both Nyx and Twilight grimaced at the sight of the armor, and Twilight promptly closed and resealed the box. “Basement,” was all she said before setting the box down beside the others that would be going downstairs.

Nyx nodded her head in agreement and stuck her tongue out at the broken armor while Twilight fetched the last box. This one was smaller and much lighter than the others. It was so light, in fact, Twilight believed it was empty, but upon opening the box, she was met with two items she recognized instantly.

“Nyx, what are these?” she asked as she lifted out a blue cape and a pointed hat, both of which were decorated with dozens of large, white and soft yellow stars.

“Oh, um… I don’t know,” Nyx said, putting on a big forced grin. “What are they?”

Twilight frowned and tapped her hoof expectantly. “Nyx, I know that this is Trixie’s cape and hat, and you know it too. I’ve told you the story about what happened when she first came to town, and my friends told me about how they tried to use the Elements of Harmony with her standing in for me. Now, how did you get these?”

“Okay, okay!” Nyx relented, realizing she wouldn’t be able to play ignorant. “After they failed to beat me, I took the Elements of Harmony. I was feeling good, I thought I had really beaten them and won Equestria for myself. So… I decided to have a little fun. I think I said something like ‘to celebrate your disappointing rebellion, I’m taking a trophy’.”

“So you took Trixie’s hat and cape?” Twilight asked.

Nyx grinned sheepishly. “Yes, but… I kind of… threw my mane at her really fast, so she thought I was going to take her head.”

“Nyx!” Twilight scolded firmly.

“I was only kidding, honest!” Nyx exclaimed, though she still withered under Twilight’s disapproving gaze. “I… I’m sorry.”

Twilight let her harsh expression soften and lifted a hoof to gently rub Nyx’s mane. “Just don’t ever do something like that again. It’s okay to play little pranks and tricks, but not when you’re scaring a pony like that.”

Nyx nodded before she huffed and crossed her legs. “Don’t know why I took them anyways. I don’t even like them, and nopony laughed at my joke either.”

“Joke?” Twilight echoed.

“Yeah!” Nyx perked up. She took Trixie’s cape and hat and put them on, even though they were far too large for her. “Trixie ran away, just like she did in your story, but I wanted to have a little more fun. So, I put the hat and cape on and then shape-shifted into Trixie.”

“Why did you do that?” Twilight asked.

Nyx smiled and reared back on her hooves as she tried to mimic Trixie a second time, though it was amateurish at best without her shape-shifting powers. “Behold, Ponyville, I am the Weak and Cowardly Trixie! Thrill as I attempt to pretend that sparklers and flashes of light are worthy of admiration! Be dazzled as I bore you with speeches about my own unfounded belief in my own abilities! Gasp as I turn tail and run at the first sign of danger!”

Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof, trying to suppress her giggles. It was rude to be laughing at Trixie like that, but… it was too much. She just couldn’t stop herself.

At the same time, Twilight’s giggles drew Nyx’s attention, making her cock her head to one side. “Wait, you actually think it’s funny?”

“Trust me, after what I had to put up with when she came to town, I do,” Twilight said, still trying to suppress her laughter. “You actually did that? I mean, with her voice and everything?”

“I did, but nopony laughed.”

“Well, you have to understand, Nyx, they were scared. I’m sure, under different circumstances, they would have. I can’t say I know many ponies who are very fond of Trixie,” Twilight explained. She used her magic to remove the hat and cape from Nyx before folding them neatly. “Still, I wouldn’t be too surprised if she came back to Ponyville looking for these. We should probably put these in my chest, so we know where to find them if she does.”

“Oh, I know which chest you’re talking about!” Nyx exclaimed. She leapt into Twilight’s levitation magic, grabbed the hat and cape, and put them back on. She then freed herself from the spell, jumped off the bed, and ran towards the stairs. “I’ll put them away.”

“Oh wait, Nyx, no!” Twilight called out, but it was too late. Nyx was already halfway upstairs, and, despite galloping after her, Twilight didn’t get there in time. Nyx had already jumped into the chest. She had put Trixie’s hat and cape away, but, in the process, Nyx had come across something else. She stuck her head out of the chest just as Twilight came trotting up. In her mouth she held an old, beat-up doll, and on her head was a wide-brimmed, deep-purple hat.

“What are these?” Nyx asked curiously. She dropped the doll on the floor at the base of the chest and then turned to tug at a purple jumpsuit. The jumpsuit, however, was wedged into the chest. It resisted Nyx’s efforts to free it, and eventually Nyx lost her grip. She tumbled out of the chest and crashed to the floor with the wide-brimmed hat getting shoved down over her head.

Twilight quickly trotted over to Nyx and helped her pull her head free of the hat. Twilight then took the hat and placed it back in the chest next to the matching jumpsuit. “The costume is a long story, Nyx. It’s kind of a secret between me and my friends. I’ll tell you about it when you’re older.”

“Is it the same reason you won’t tell me about what happened with Discord until I’m older?” Nyx asked.

“No, it’s not the same reason,” Twilight said, “but I promise I will tell you someday.”

“Okay, then what about this?” Nyx asked. She took up the old doll in her hooves and held it out to Twilight.

“Nyx, please don’t ask me about her,” Twilight pleaded . She took the doll and placed her back in the chest. “Let’s just put her away, please?”

“That’s not fair!” Nyx complained loudly. “I told you about everything the mayor gave back to me, even Trixie’s hat and cape. Can’t you at least tell me about this?”

Twilight glanced down at Nyx, who was looking at her with the kind of face only a young filly could manage. One that looked both irritated and pleadingly cute at the same time. It was a moment that made Twilight groan.

“Okay, but only because I want to teach you something very important,” Twilight said as she took the doll back out of the chest and held it in the air.

“You mean like the friendship reports you’ve shared with me?” Nyx asked, drawing a nod from Twilight.

Twilight held the doll out, letting Nyx take it in her forehooves. “Exactly. In fact, that actually has a little to do with Smarty Pants.”

“Smarty Pants?” Nyx asked as she turned the doll around so she could look at its face.

“That’s her name: Smarty Pants. She was mine when I was your age.”

Nyx cocked her head in confusion. “But Pinkie Pie told me I’m only five months old. You had her when you were just a baby?”

Twilight opened her mouth to correct Nyx, but then fell silent as she scrunched up her nose. Yes, Nyx, as Twilight knew her, was technically five months old, but she was also the reincarnation of Nightmare Moon and was arguably centuries old. At the same time, she had the mind and body similar in age to the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. After grinding her mental gears on the question for a moment, Twilight decided to leave it for another time.

“Okay, she was mine when I was your friends’ age. My parents bought her as a birthday gift and I used to play with her all the time, even after I became Celestia’s private student.” Twilight paused and rummaged through the chest until she drew out a little toy quill and notebook. “See? She even has her own notebook and quill, so she can help you with your homework.”

Nyx’s eyes widened in awe as Twilight gently placed the toy quill and notebook on the ground. Nyx called on her own magic and smiled as she was able to lift the very light toys with little difficulty. She then brought them up to Smarty Pants, placing the quill at the end of the doll’s right hoof and the notebook at the end of the left.

“She was my favorite toy for a long time, but… eventually I grew up and stopped playing with her. Still, I like to keep her close by, just because of how much fun we used to have. That’s why I brought her to Ponyville after I moved into the library here. Though, I’ve only taken her out of that chest once before today.”

“Why did you take her out?” Nyx asked, looking up from the doll.

“Well, you see, I had already lived in Ponyville for about a year and I was under the impression that I had to write Celestia a friendship report at least once a week. They’re important, you know. They even helped me defeat Discord.”

Nyx perked up, leaning in intently. “Wow, really? How did they help you beat Discord?”

Twilight laughed a little and poked Nyx on the nose. “Nice try, but I’m not telling you about that yet.”

Nyx slumped in disappointment. “Aww…”

“Anyway, last summer, for the first time ever, I found myself without a friendship report to send to Princess Celestia. Spike told me to just write to her and admit that nothing happened to teach me about friendship. He assured me she would be okay with it.”

“Did you?”

“No, but I probably should have,” Twilight admitted, laughing weakly as she remembered the chaos she had caused. “Instead, I… sort of had a little bit of a breakdown, and I eventually couldn’t think straight. I tried to find a problem to help my friends with, but when that didn’t work, I got it in my head that I would cause a problem, so that I could help ponies solve it and have my friendship report.”

“What does Smarty Pants have to do with that?” Nyx asked as she turned the doll around so it could listen to the story as well.

“Well,” Twilight began, “I used Smarty Pants to try and make the problem. I showed her to your friends, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, and tried to make one of them play with her so the others would be jealous. Unfortunately for me at the time, none of them were interested.”

“Really?” Nyx asked, a little confused. “They didn’t like her?”

“No, and, in my desperation, I cast a charm on Smarty Pants, something called the ‘Want it, Need it’ spell. The spell makes anypony who sees the enchanted item want it desperately, and I got your friends to start fighting over Smarty Pants. Then I tried to teach them a lesson about sharing, so I could do my friendship report, but they ignored me so they could keep fighting over the doll.”

Twilight flattened her ears and rubbed her forehead as the memory of that day billowed in her mind. “Then I had to ask Big Macintosh to try and take the doll away, but then he got affected by the spell. Soon, the whole town was chasing after Smarty Pants, and I couldn’t make them stop.”

Nyx hugged Smarty Pants tightly to her chest, caught up in the story. “So, how did you fix it?”

“I didn’t,” Twilight admitted with a sigh. “Princess Celestia had to. She undid my spell, and then, she brought me back here and lectured me on misusing my magic. She asked why I did it, but, when I was trying to explain myself, my friends burst into say it was their fault. That they should have taken the problem I was having seriously, even if they didn’t think it was important.”

A smile formed back on Twilight’s lips as she reached the end of the story. “Thankfully, Princess Celestia forgave me and also made it clear that I don’t have to write her a report every week. The princess even said that my friends could help me by writing friendship reports about what they learn. And… well, that’s what happened to Smarty Pants.”

Nyx smiled at the happy ending but then scrunched up her face in confusion. “Wait, how did the princess even know what was going on?”

“Oh, that was because of Spike,” Twilight answered. “Being the good assistant and friend that he is, he wrote the princess a letter explaining what I was going through.”

“So after all of that, that’s when you put Smarty Pants back in the chest?” Nyx asked.

Twilight hesitated before she said, “Actually, somepony else ran off with Smarty Pants that day.”

Nyx flopped one ear to the side, her confusion only growing. “Wait, somepony took Smarty Pants, even after Princess Celestia fixed everything?”

Twilight nodded and gently lifted Smarty Pants out of Nyx’s grip. “Yes. One pony still wanted Smarty Pants after the spell was nullified and ran off with her.”

“How did you get her back?” Nyx asked. She watched Twilight place Smarty Pants back in the chest.

“Well, that’s a long story, Nyx. Maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Twilight said as she shut the chest. “Let’s go back downstairs and take those boxes down to the basement, okay?”

“Wait, you said the story was supposed to teach me something. What was I supposed to learn?” Nyx asked.

Twilight glanced over her shoulder and cocked a curious eyebrow. “Well, what do you think the moral of the story was?”

Nyx furrowed her eyebrows and stuck out her tongue. She stayed like that for a few moments before going crosseyed and tapping her horn with a hoof.  “Is it that I shouldn’t abuse my magic?”

“That was certainly one lesson Princess Celestia wanted me to take away from what happened, and a good lesson for any pony with a horn to learn,” Twilight said with a weak laugh before she turned and began walking towards the stairs. “Now, come on, we need to get that bed and those boxes put away.”

Nyx nodded and got to her hooves. She had intended to follow right behind Twilight, but she couldn’t help but linger a moment. She looked back at the chest, thought about the doll, and then ran to catch up. “Hey, do you have anything else like Smarty Pants?”

Twilight paused at the top of the stairs, looking back at Nyx as she trotted up beside her. “What do you mean?”

“Other things like Smarty Pants, that have a story that goes with them.”

Twilight smiled. “Well, now that I think about it, I do have a scrapbook my parents gave me down in the basement. It has a bunch of pictures in it from when I was your a… your friends’ age.”

“Can we get it and look at it?” Nyx asked as the pair began to descend the stairs to the library’s main floor.

“Sure, that sounds like fun.” Twilight agreed. “I can even show you some of the pieces I saved from Spike’s egg the day I hatched him. You remember that story, don’t you?”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that even the most mundane objects can take on a new life for a pony as mementos. These little things, like a photo, a kazoo, or the shell from a dragon egg, can become tiny monuments to the past. They help us remember things that we would otherwise forget. With them, the little, happy moments in our lives that we shared with friends and family live on. With them, we can be reminded of the bad memories we should never forget.

These little things, these trinkets, become precious to us, more valuable than gold or gemstones. They let us remember. We can even share our memories with other ponies and grow new and stronger friendships.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

Twilight yawned, rolling up her letter to the princess so that it would be ready to be sent in the morning. As usual, she had stayed up a little late to finish some studying, with her only company coming from Owloysius. Still, it was time for her to hit the hay.

Climbing the library stairs, Twilight nosed her way into the bedroom. She trotted softly across the room, checking first on Spike. He was sleeping away in his bed, and she smiled as she used her magic to gently tuck him in. She then turned to check on Nyx, but paused at the sight she saw.

Nyx was in bed, sleeping soundly as she usually did. What was unusual was that she was holding something in her hooves: Smarty Pants. Twilight could only guess that, while she was downstairs studying, Nyx had snuck into the chest and retrieved Smarty Pants, perhaps with Spike’s help.

Acting on instinct, Twilight took hold of Smarty Pants. She had every intention of taking the toy away and returning it to the chest where it belonged. Yet, after a few moments of just holding Smarty Pants in her magic, Twilight released her spell. She stepped forward, tucked Nyx into bed, and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

Twilight then turned and quietly slipped across the room and back downstairs to the library’s ground floor. She approached her writing desk and reopened her letter to the princess. She retook her quill and, with a smile on her face, resumed writing on the scroll.

P.S. And sometimes, Princess, the most difficult but rewarding thing you can do is pass your treasures on to somepony else. Then, not only do you form a greater bond of friendship with that other pony, but your memento has a chance of becoming something important to them too.