~ Day 2 ~
~ Day 2 ~
Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all standing in Canterlot's throne room before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, neither of the regal sisters looking too pleased. Royal guards were stationed near the five ponies making sure that they didn't try to go anywhere.
"I don't understand, Princess," said Twilight.
"Well you should," said Celestia sternly. "Your actions that day were uncalled for. Not only did you set Rainbow Dash up to make a fool out of her, but you also deceived everypony in Ponyville! Now I understand that your intentions were good, but you should have at least tried to talk to her first. This should not have had to be a case in which actions spoke louder than words."
"Are you gonna punish us?" asked a worried Pinkie Pie.
"Of course I am," said Celestia. "All of you should have known better. And Twilight Sparkle, I thought your studies on the magic of friendship meant more to you than this."
"But why?" asked Twilight, now starting to cry. "Why are you doing this?"
"I'm teaching you a lesson... in friendship lessons!" answered Celestia, showing no sympathy.
"Well..." murmured Fluttershy. "If... this is what we deserve... then it's what we deserve."
"Wait, Princess!" pleaded Applejack. "Please allow us to make up fer this! We'll apologize to Rainbow and promise not to do this again. Just give us another chance! Please!"
"I'm afraid that to ensure this won't happen again, your punishments will have to be carried out," Celestia responded. "Now then, I sentence all five of you... to community service. Thirty days. Here in Canterlot. No magic. And no wings." Celestia then cast a magic spell on Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, hindering them of their horns and wings respectively, shocking the three of them. "As for you especially, Twilight Sparkle..." Twilight gulped. "If you want any chance to return to your studies as my protégé, perhaps it would be in your best interest to write a five-page friendship report to me, explaining why singling out how a pony behaves for the chance to make that pony better is wrong."
"F-five pages?!" stammered Twilight. "I've never written a report that long before! I don't think I have enough to say to cover that!"
"You don't, huh?" said Celestia, unfazed. "Well then, how about ten pages? Single spaced." Twilight was now getting scared by her mentor's remorselessness.
"W-without magic?!"
"Without magic. You'll just have to use your hooves or your mouth to write with." Twilight's eyes burned with tears, but Celestia did not feel sorry for her, nor did this seem to pain her. "Guards, take them to their rooms."
"Yes, your highness," said one of the guards without question. So the guards escorted the five sorry ponies away.
"You may apologize to Rainbow Dash when you return to Ponyville," Celestia said to them as they were led out of the throne room. She then breathed heavily through her nostrils.
---
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, several denizens were throwing out remnants of Mare Do Well merchandise, including newspaper articles and costumes.
"I can't believe this," said Lyra to her best friend Sweetie Drops. "Twilight Sparkle of all ponies instigated Mare Do Well just to set up Rainbow Dash!"
"Yeah, that purple freak is no hero," agreed Sweetie Drops. "We loved Rainbow Dash because she did things for us."
"If there was a Mare Do Well for everything we did, we'd all feel the same way Rainbow did," said Amethyst Star, tossing out a little filly's Mare Do Well costume. "Sure, she have been milking things a little much, but she always cared about us." That's when a Mare Do Well with Pegasus wings suddenly showed up in front of the three ponies, startling them at first. But Amethyst Star then sighed. "Derpy, take it off." She pulled off the mask and there was Ditzy Doo, revealed to be wearing a leftover costume Rarity made for Fluttershy.
"How did you know it was me?" asked Ditzy Doo.
"Come on," groaned Amethyst Star. "Even you know Mare Do Well isn't real. She's a phony."
"I just don't know what went wrong," said Ditzy Doo, pulling off the rest of the costume and tossing it amongst the garbage.
"Well, let's think about this," suggested Lyra. "We should have guessed that Rarity made those costumes, being the 'high and mighty queen of fashion'."
"And it's certainly no coincidence that Mare Do Well came along after Rainbow Dash started saving lives," Sweetie Drops added on. "Ugh, how could we have been so blind! Mare Do Well didn't just show up to be a hero just cause accidents were happening all over Ponyville! She came here targeting Rainbow Dash to succeed in ousting her!"
"Also," said Amethyst Star. "We might not have noticed, but Twilight Sparkle and her friends were the only ponies not happy with Rainbow Dash being a hero. They just thought she was being big-headed."
"It all adds up!" concluded Mayor Mare, joining her fellow ponies in getting rid of Mare Do Well stuff. "Twilight and her friends created Mare Do Well because they wanted Rainbow Dash to stop! And we didn't have a problem with her! She was helping save lives! And we... turned away from her. But I guess that's the problem with us and praising heroes. A new one comes in and that hero gets all the attention. That's how Twilight Sparkle easily deceived us all!" The other three ponies sighed. "To think..." the mayor went on. "I once gave Applejack the Pony of Ponyville Award for her dependability and named Twilight Sparkle the All-Team Organizer for our Winter Wrap-Ups. We can count on them to help other ponies, but I guess maybe they just can't help themselves. And now their infighting is costing them their friendships." The Cutie Mark Crusaders were nearby, having listened in on everything.
"Does this mean we'll never see our sisters again?" asked a teary-eyed Sweetie Belle to Apple Bloom.
"Ah hope not," said Apple Bloom, sniffling and wiping her nose with her hoof. "Ah had no idea things were that bad." They then heard Amethyst Star speak up.
"By the way," she said. "Speaking of Rainbow Dash, has anypony seen her?"
"What?" said Scootaloo, who heard her.
"I'm afraid I haven't," answered Lyra. "Come to think of it, I don't think anypony has seen her all day."
"That's too bad," sighed Amethyst Star. "I really wanted to apologize to her. She wasn't doing favors because she wanted the attention. Well, maybe she did, a little, but I think she just wanted to help others."
"Rainbow Dash is missing?!" cried Scootaloo to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Oh, no! Where is she! I gotta find her!" And she dashed off to look for her would-be sister. "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, where are you?!"