The announcement left the library deathly silent, expressions of shocked disbelief painted on all the visitors in the room. It didn't seem possible for the ponies to experience anymore shocks than the ones they went through the previous night, but here they were, frozen once again. And it seemed like there would be nothing to unfreeze this particular feeling.
"Spike sent a letter to my parents back in Canterlot," Twilight continued sadly. "They're letting me stay there for now. We'll be leaving tomorrow."
Trixie was the first pony to speak up, although she was still taken aback at Twilight's decision.
"You're really leaving?"
"But why move to Canterlot? Couldn't you just stay here?" Discord asked.
"I can go through the Canterlot Archives to see if there is a way to turn me back to a normal unicorn," Twilight explained. "Besides, I can’t be seen like this. I’ll just get in the way if I stay in Ponyville."
Twilight then noticed the display case that contained the Elements of Harmony. She levitated her Element of Magic from the case and floated it over towards Trixie.
"Trixie, you’re going to have to take over for me while I’m gone," Twilight told the showmare. "The show needs a strong unicorn like yourself to keep things together. The fans wouldn’t mind if you became the new Element of Magic."
Trixie looked down at the crown. On the one hoof, she was honored that Twilight picked her to be her in-show successor. But at the same time, she found herself shaking her head. This was wrong. This was very, very wrong. She tried to open her mouth to try to change the purple alicorn's mind, but she couldn't find any words to do so.
Twilight turned her attention to the Changeling Queen next. "Chrysalis, you’re going to have to stand in for me. That way I can take the teaching job in the show. That should take care of my exit."
"Twilight? Are you sure you're not making a mistake?" Chrysalis finally asked.
"I have to do this. This is the only way," she replied, as if mindlessly repeating a mantra.
The alicorn then turned to face her five best friends, their faces still frozen in shock. Applejack seemed to be slowly getting angrier as the news sunk in and tears were beginning to well in Fluttershy's eyes. Her heart sunk. This was going to be the hardest part, saying goodbye to her friends.
"Girls?" Twilight began, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "I just want to thank you all for everything. These past three years have been simply magical, for lack of a better word. And even though it has to end like this, you five will always be near and dear to my heart even if I never come back. I just hope you’ll all forgive me, but I just have to find a way to get everything back to normal."
After what seemed like an eternity, Applejack spoke up. She slowly stepped forward towards Twilight, her anger slowly boiling over.
"So that’s it?" the cowpony said in a low voice. "After everything we’ve been through? All the battles we’ve fought? All the lessons we learned? Is this how it all ends?!?"
"You’re just gonna ditch us over this? Twilight, are you crazy?!?" the cyan pegasus screamed.
"Twilight Sparkle, how could you be so selfish?" Rarity shouted in disbelief.
Fluttershy sat on the ground, putting her forehooves to her head trying desperately to shake away the nightmare that was unfolding before her eyes.
"No… Twilight, please… don’t go…." the shy pony whispered to herself, dangerously close to losing herself in tears.
Pinkie Pie's reaction was unreadable. Her face was cast downwards to the floor and her mane clouded her visage. Strangely, Pinkie's mane never flattened as Twilight had expected.
Twilight looked at her friends expression in fear. Deep anger, sadness and disappointment were etched on their faces. Twilight closed her eyes. She didn't want this. She didn't want to do this to her friends. But she owed her friends an explanation before she went away to fix her mistake. She would have rather a somber goodbye hug and a 'good luck'. But now, her friends were lashing out at her. This was not the lasting image she wanted of her friends. She was starting to screw-up her fix to her screw-up.
Twilight struggled not to break down crying. "I’m sorry, but this is the only way. I have to fix this on my own, I’d just get in the way if I stay."
With her own eyes watering slightly, Applejack face turned redder than Big Macintosh's coat as she exploded in rage.
"Twilight, have you had your head stuck in the mud this whole time?!?" the cowpony hissed. "Did you forget that you have friends to lean on? Or were we even really friends at all if this is the way you’re treating us."
Applejack's accusation was too much for Fluttershy to process. She collapsed on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably. Rarity rushed over to comfort her. Twilight nearly broke down herself too, but she managed to hang on to offer a reply.
"Applejack, please don’t say that. Of course we're friends! You guys were the best thing that ever happened to me!"
"And so our reward is to be betrayed like this? Twilight, I thought we could always turn to each other whenever we have a problem!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Even she was struggling mightily to keep her emotions in check.
"I have to do this by myself. I’ll just get in the way." Twilight softly repeated the mantra she created for herself.
Twilight's stubbornness was way too much for Rainbow Dash to handle. She was being shut out. Nothing she did or say would matter. The fastest flier in Equestria couldn't stop the tsunami of tears from flowing out of her eyes. She lashed out at the alicorn.
"You know what? Fine! Leave! See if I care! We were all just fine without you anyway! If our friendship is really not important, then... why should we have even cared about you in the first place?"
Rainbow Dash collapsed on the library floor crying openly and loudly in front of everypony. She was too overcome with grief from the betrayal of her best friend to care about maintaining her reputation. Through her own tears, Fluttershy made her way over to her and the two pegasi cried in each other's hooves. Chrysalis tried to interject, but she was silenced by Discord and Trixie. The three had no place in this argument. They could only helplessly watch and pray for a positive resolution.
"I hope you realize all the heartache you’re causing Twilight Sparkle. Is it really worth it?" Rarity said to Twilight. She wanted to cry too, but she found herself too disappointed at her friend to cry at the moment.
"Don’t do this to me, girls," Twilight begged. "Of course this isn’t worth it. I feel horrible right now. You have to understand this is the very last thing I ever wanted to do."
"So why do this to us?!?" Rainbow Dash screamed through tears.
"It’s the only to save the show," Twilight replied in a very small voice.
That was the last straw for Applejack. She slowly approached Twilight with an expression that would have struck fear into the most hardened villain. The farmgirl was ready to knock some sense into the bookworm, whether she liked it or not. Twilight began to back away slowly in fear.
"The show? The show?!? Ah swear to Celestia if you say one more word about that damn show Ah’m gonna…"
"ENOUGH!!!"
Pinkie's loud shout was enough to snap everypony out of the tense moment. The all turned to see the pink earth pony, who was wearing an expression so serious it even made Applejack flinch. Without saying another word, Pinkie made her way to Twilight's work table, where she kept her parchments and quills. As everypony looked on in silence, Pinkie took one of the quills and began to scribble something on a parchment. A few moments later, Pinkie Pie handed her work over to Spike.
"Send that to HQ right now, Spike!" she instructed.
Curious and confused, Spike read Pinkie's letter. His face fell in horror as he read it.
"Pinkie! I can’t send this!" Spike shouted in fear.
"Send it!!!"
"What does it say?" Twilight asked.
Spike gulped and simply read the letter out loud.
"Dear Hasbro, it is with much regret that we inform you that as of today, we have been forced to cease production of all future episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."
"WHAT?!?" everypony shouted in alarm. Pinkie's expression never wavered. It looked as if she was actually willing to send the letter.
"You can’t cancel the show, Pinkie!" Trixie shouted in fear.
"Do you even know what the higher ups would do to us if we just quit like this?" Discord warned.
"Let them get angry. I don’t care!" Pinkie replied plainly.
Twilight approached Pinkie, hoping to try to talk her out of this plan.
"Pinkie, I can’t let you cancel the show because of me. You’ll never forgive yourself!"
"Well I’ll never forgive myself for not stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life!" Pinkie countered.
It was at that moment when the two royal sisters emerged in the foyer's entryway and into the tense standoff. Overhearing the previous parts of the conversation, the two kept quiet and observed in silence from behind the doorway. Their presence was not felt by the others in the room as the attention was now on Twilight and Pinkie Pie.
Twilight placed her hooves on Pinkie's shoulders. "I know it’ll be hard, but you have to keep the show going. The fans need you."
"The fans need you too!"
Twilight shook her head. "No they don't. They need Twilight Sparkle the unicorn. You know, the one who doesn't have wings. Look at me, Pinkie! I'm not her anymore! I've changed too much."
Pinkie sighed. "Yes, you've changed Twilight. You've been changing from the very first episode!"
"What?"
"Season 1, Episode 1 – Princess Celestia sends her prized student, Twilight Sparkle, to Ponyville to make some friends. Remember how you used to be way back in the beginning? That pony who couldn't care less about friends?"
"I… I…" Twilight stammered as she began to remember.
"You haven't been that pony in a long time, but that pony was still Twilight Sparkle. And so are you!"
"The fans won't think so."
Pinkie frowned. "Well, in that case, why don't you ask your biggest fans?" She pointed towards the other four, looking on at her in concern. "Why do you think we all became such good friends in the first place?"
Rarity approached Twilight. "Remember that it all started with you Twilight, in every sense of the word. Because of you, we came together in the beginning, we overcame all those obstacles and we defeated Nightmare Moon. And we did it because we worked together."
"And what about after that?" Rainbow Dash asked, wiping the last few tears away. "What about the lessons we learned about being a good friend through thick and thin? You wrote most of those remember?"
Twilight tried to defend herself. "I... I was just trying to keep the show as stable as possible."
"And you thought the best way to keep the show stable is by eliminating its main character," Applejack noted.
Twilight looked down in shame. She had never felt this foolish before in her life.
Pinkie's expression softened. "Twilight, the truth is that we literally can't do this show without you. You're the main character. But most importantly, you're our friend."
"You could always rewrite it…" Twilight mindlessly rebutted.
"You can never write in the heartbreak that happens when you lose a close friend," Fluttershy sadly pointed out.
Twilight couldn't take all the sympathy anymore. Her emotions poured out.
"But I ruined it!" Twilight shouted, tears starting to stream down her face again. "I ruined everything! The episode, the show, our relationship with the fans, everything!!! I can't let you guys be responsible for something that's completely my fault! I have to fix this! I have to make everything normal again! Why can't you guys see that? This was all my mistake... and I have to be the one to pay for it."
Twilight sits on the floor and silently cries. Everypony looked at each other in concern, looking for something to say to Twilight to snap her out of this. Pinkie's eyes however, remained fixed on the weeping alicorn. She couldn't believe that everyone now found themselves in this situation. And all because Twilight felt she had ruined the episode...
The episode!
Pinkie's eyes lit up in realization. She let out a small laugh at how obvious the solution was.
"You don't have to face it alone, Twilight," Pinkie smiled.
"Why shouldn't I?!?"
Pinkie began to take a few steps towards Twilight. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to sing a slow, yet familiar tune.
"A true, true friend helps a friend in need…"
The tune caught everyone by surprise. Twilight's heart sank as she slowly realized what the song meant. Pinkie then turned to Rarity and gave a small nod. Rarity smiled, understanding what the pink pony was up to. Soon, she too began to approach Twilight as well as she sang.
"A friend will be there to help them see…"
Without missing a beat Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy joined in. The three of them singing together.
"A true, true friend helps a friend in need…"
The five ponies made their way to Twilight and they all gave her a big hug. Overwhelmed by the show of affection, Twilight warmly returned the hug, enveloping her friends with her new wings.
"To see the light that shines from a true, true friend," they all finished together.
The six friends allowed themselves to be lost in the embrace for a while. A few moments afterwards, Twilight felt a small poke at her side. She looked down and saw Spike, tears in his eyes, but wearing a smile. Without further prompting, Twilight enveloped Spike as well, letting him join in on the group hug.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at each other and gave a small nod, both of them fighting back tears of their own. Discord and Chrysalis were openly crying over the beautiful scene before them. Discord, in particular, produced a handkerchief so he can loudly blow his nose into. Trixie also shed a few tears of joy, happy that things were apparently going to work out for Twilight.
After a long, loving silence, Pinkie spoke up. "If we can’t do this show together, then there’s no point in doing the show at all."
"But what about my wings?" Twilight asked.
Before anypony could try to think up an answer, Fluttershy spoke up.
"You know… it was a little strange at first. But, I really like your wings Twilight!"
"You like them?" Twilight asked in disbelief.
"Honestly Twi, those wings look good on ya," Applejack concurred.
Rainbow Dash floated over Twilight's head. "Yeah, and it would be cool having another flying buddy. I could teach every single trick I know."
"But, what about the fans? What if they hate me like this?" Twilight asked, her mind still haunted by her nightmare.
"I know it'll be odd for me to say this, but fans will be fans, Twilight," Pinkie shrugged. "They could love us or hate us no matter what we tried. Besides, I’m pretty sure the fans in this room will never hate you."
Applejack nodded emphatically. "We’re your friends Twi. We don’t care if you’re a unicorn, an alicorn or... that freaky thing Trixie was earlier. We love you no matter what. It’ll be impossible for us to move on if you ever went away."
"It’s just like Apple Pie," Rarity added. "Without any one of us, we would all just crumble apart."
Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Twilight's back. "We’ve always stuck together Twilight. And that’s not gonna change anytime soon. You know we’ll always have your back."
"Twilight? We love you!" Fluttershy said.
"Hey Twilight?" Trixie suddenly interjected.
The alicorn turned to see the showmare who held out the Element of Magic, ready to give it back to its rightful owner.
"I think you're going to be needing this," the blue unicorn smiled.
Twilight nodded and took her element back. She mentally scolded herself. She couldn't believe she was willing to throw all this love away just a few minutes earlier. But thanks to the love of her friends, everything was going to be fine.
Well, almost everything. Twilight frowned as there was still one major detail left unresolved.
"We still haven’t figured out what to do about the show, have we?"
The silence spoke volumes.
"We were trying to brainstorm some ideas before you came down. But we haven't come up with anything solid yet." Pinkie explained.
Everypony began to feel nervous. There was a show to do, and time was running out to do it.
"I bet Stawswirl the Bearded never had anything like this to deal with," Twilight spoke out.
Discord shrugged. "He was a noted loner, remember? He wouldn't have understood the magic of... friendship..." he trailed off as an idea suddenly came to him.
"Something wrong Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
"Hear me out on this one," Discord began. "We said in the show that Starswirl's spell was incomplete, right?"
Pinkie nodded. "That's how our cutie marks got 'switched up'."
"We could say that the spell was incomplete because he didn't understand the magic of friendship. However, Twilight does understand, and she uses that understanding to write her own magic to finish the spell and restore everypony's destiny!"
Twilight's eyes went wide as the scenario connected in her mind. "Magic not of the mind, but of the heart! It makes sense! I do something that Starswirl himself never done! That's how I become an alicorn!"
"Discord, that's brilliant!" Pinkie shouted.
"Hey, when you got it, you got it!" Discord smiled smugly.
"She just doesn't become an alicorn though!" Rarity suddenly spoke up.
"I don't?" Twilight asked.
Rarity's keen eye had noticed a detail that nopony had ever question before. "Hey, Twilight? Have you ever noticed anything odd about element?"
Twilight arched her eyebrow in confusion. "What's wrong with it?"
"Well the five of us have necklaces, but your element is a crown!"
Twilight's jaw hung open as she realized what Rarity was insinuating. Pinkie gave a small laugh, not believing she missed that connection. I wonder if Lauren planned this the whole time, she wondered.
"Rarity?" Twilight asked. "You're not suggesting…"
Pinkie smiled. "Writing your own magic and fixing our destinies is not just how you become an alicorn, Twilight. It's how you become a princess."
The pink pony proceeded to place the crown on top of the stunned Twilight's head.
"I’m… still not sure if I’m ready," Twilight admitted.
Applejack responded with a smile. "You’ve been helping us this whole time sugarcube. Ah think it’s high time we return the favor."
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "We’ll do anything we can to help… your majesty."
Twilight looked on in awe as Fluttershy knelt down in respect. Shortly after, one by one, the others in the room followed as well. She didn't know what to think at the moment. Three years ago, she was just a simple student and couldn't care less about friends. Now here she was, in a room full of ponies all kneeling down to her, ready to accept her as their princess. She was also touched that Discord and Chrysalis, two former enemies, were also bowing down in respect.
"Thank you! Thank you everyone! I... I just don't know what to say."
Princess Celestia looked to her sister who then nodded to her. With that, Celestia cleared her throat loudly. Everypony turned to see that the two royal sisters were now in their presence.
"Luna said you had something to tell me, Twilight?" Celestia asked.
Twilight looked at her friends. With smiles and nods all around, Twilight turned her attention back to her teacher and mentor. She took a deep breath.
"Princess Celestia?" Twilight began. "On behalf of my friends, the citizens of Ponyville and all of Equestria, it would be my honor to accept the opportunity to become the next Equestrian Princess!"
"The honor would be all mine," Celestia smiled.
Twilight threw herself into Celestia and gave her a big hug. Celestia shed a tear. Twilight Sparkle has grown up.
"I’m so proud of you," Celestia whispered.
"Thank you, your highness." Twilight whispered back.
More tears of joy were spread among everypony present. Everyone was overjoyed, Pinkie especially. And she figured that it was now time to spread that joy to the whole fandom.
"Spike, take a note!" Pinkie shouted.
Not needing any more instructions, Spike got a parchment a quill ready to transcribe what Pinkie was about to tell him.
“Dear Hasbro," Pinkie began. "We come to you with a royal decree. On behalf of the cast and crew, we cordially invite everyone, young and old, to the season finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, where Equestria will celebrate the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
It didn't take long for Spike to finish writing the letter. With a huff, he breathed his magic fire on the parchment, sending the good news to Hasbro and the fans.
"Well, I guess it’s safe to say crisis averted then," Discord sighed in relief.
Chrysalis nodded emphatically. "Honestly, I think I've had enough feels today to last me a whole month!"
"I just hope Hasbro doesn't mind that we'll be doing a princess coronation for the finale," Fluttershy pondered.
After a few short second, everyone in the room doubled over in laughter.
"They're probably so excited at HQ, they've wet their pants!" Rainbow Dash laughed.
Pinkie was the first one to speak up after the laughter died back down a few minutes later. "At any rate, we still have a lot of work ahead. We have the outline, but now we need to iron out the details, write the scripts, rehearse and shoot everything."
"Not to mention we have a coronation to plan," Luna added. "Perhaps we should incorporate the ceremony into the show as well."
"I was just thinking the same thing, Luna," Pinkie said, starting to run through a mental checklist of items that needed to be done for the revised ending. "That way it will fill up some time in the show and save us some time in planning the new ending. On that note, I need to get Cherry Blossom and Starsong here ASAP so we can finalize any other details we can throw for the show. We’re also gonna need Toola-Roola’s help for the coronation ceremony decorations and…"
"Uh, guys?" Spike interrupted, his voice wavering in uneasiness.
"What, is it Spike?" Twilight asked.
"Remember that letter you just told me to send to Hasbro?" the baby dragon meekly said.
"What about it?" Pinkie wasn't sure what this was all about.
"I… think I might have sent the wrong letter." Spike winced.
Pinkie's jaw dropped in fear. "You did WHAT?"
Everypony froze in panic. If Spike sent the wrong letter, that meant that they had inadvertently told Hasbro that they were quitting the show. Fear began to grip everypony once again. Even Celestia herself seemed to be frightened to her core. The thought of what Hasbro might do to them if they quit was...
"Just kidding! I tore that other letter up back there!!!" Spike grinned. The baby dragon then fell on the floor in a round of laughter over his prank. "Ha ha, you should have seen the looks on your faces! It was priceless."
After a short while, Spike finally noticed all the extremely angry expressions on everyone's faces pointed directly at him from everypony in the room. Spike's laughter died quickly as he figured out that nopony was amused one bit.
"Uh, that wasn’t funny at all, was it?" Spike cringed, beginning to regret his decision to pull the prank in the first place.
Twilight gave her assistant a dangerous leer. "Just out of curiosity, Spike? Do you happen to like bananas?"
Spike's eyes shrunk into pinpricks. He knew exactly what that phrase meant.
"No! No bananas! I don’t want any bananas! Somepony help me, please! Argh!!!" Spike ran around in panic before dashing back up the staircase in fear.
"Spoken like a true princess," Celestia smirked.
"I learned from the best," Twilight smirked back.
"Should anyone go and get him?" Fluttershy wondered. "He looked genuinely scared back there."
"I’ll give him a few moments to calm down," Twilight said. "He should have known better after everything we’ve been through with the show."
A thought ran through Applejack's mind after hearing that last word.
"Speaking of the show, Ah just thought of something. We were supposed to have a big musical moment to close out the episode, right? What are we supposed to do about that now?"
"I know what you mean," Rarity agreed. "We crammed all those songs in the first part of the episode, and now we’ve got nothing."
"Actually, I think I may have an idea..." Pinkie spoke up. "And I think were going to need your help, Princess Celestia."
The regent of the sun was surprised by Pinkie's sudden plan, and her unknown part in it.
"Er.. what do you need me to do?"
"Well, we need to have a scene where Twilight is shown transforming into an alicorn, right?" Pinkie explained.
"Yes…" Celestia nodded. For some strange reason, butterflies began to swirl in her stomach.
"Well, right before that happens, I think it would be appropriate if we have a sequence where you have a moment with 'Twilight' right before she transforms. And I think the best way to do that is with your own very own song number!"
"M… me? Sing?" she stuttered.
"What do you say, your highness?" Pinkie asked.
Celestia 's eyes shrunk in fear. The room shrunk in fear. She could feel the eyes of everyone watching her as she tried to belt a tune.
"You… I… I… oh~~~"
With that, Princess Celestia fainted to the ground. The others looked at the now-unconscious sun goddess in silent confusion.
"You know, we really have to think about safeguarding Equestria against fainting ponies for next season," Twilight suggested.
"Agreed," Pinkie nodded.
~~~~~
Later that afternoon, after everypony had a chance to settle down after what had been a very chaotic morning, the library was buzzing with activity once again. The mane 6, including a unicorn form of Twilight Sparkle, had set themselves to shoot a new scene for the episode. They were all wearing their elements, as they had been doing when they last left off. Also present were Luna, Trixie, and Discord who were set up behind the camera. Princess Celestia was taken upstairs by the real Twilight and Starsong, whom Pinkie had sought out a few hours earlier to help try to talk the sun princess into doing a musical number.
"Ok, so here's what's going to happen, just like we talked about," Pinkie told the Twilight-shaped pony. "Trixie will handle the special effects for the elements, and Luna will handle the teleportation. Make sure you get our reactions on camera, ok Discord?"
Discord gave a salute in response. "Roger!"
"You sure this won’t hurt?" Chrysalis asked. The prospect of being in the middle of a magic storm was not sitting well with her at the moment.
Trixie smirked. "Trust me, Chrysalis. I know how to put on a good light show. Besides, there’s a yummy warm blueberry muffin with your name on it when you’re finished."
"Well, when you put it that way…" Chrysalis scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
"Great!" Pinkie smiled. She then directed the actresses out the door so they can arrive like this scene prescribed.. "Ok everyone, we need to ask surprised here. Remember, we have no idea what's going on this scene."
"Won't be that hard," Applejack remarked to herself. "We've had plenty of practice at being shocked and surprise all morning."
Within moments the six ponies leave the library, ready to wait for their cue to come in for the scene.
"Ok, everypony ready?" Discord shouted.
"We're ready!" Pinkie replied from behind the closed door.
"Aaand… ACTION!"
Using her magic, Twilight Sparkle (currently being portrayed by Queen Chrysalis) opened the door and immediately makes her way over to the open spell book. The other five friends followed her in, curious as to what the unicorn had suddenly figured out. 'Twilight' got out a nearby quill and began to finish the unfinished spell.
"From all of us together,
Together we are friends.
With the marks of our destinies made one,
There is magic without end."
With that, 'Twilight' slowly used her quill to place a period in the book. The spell was finally finished.
"Now!" Luna whispered to Trixie.
Using their magic, Luna and Trixie activates the reaction. As the the on-screen ponies look on in confusion, the jewel in the Element of Magic's crown glowed brightly. The other five backed away a few steps, not knowing what was happening. Then one by one, the element necklaces shot out magical beams directly at 'Twilight', who first looked around in confusion, and then closed her eyes in silent realization.
Behind the scenes, Luna and Trixie was concentrating hard in order to make the effects look good for the camera. Trixie, as always, dazzled the camera with her magical light show which simulated the extreme reaction of the Element's of Harmony. It seemed like it was only fitting that Pinkie left her in charge of any special effects they needed, and it turned out to be a safe outlet for Trixie to show off as much as she wanted. Luna, meanwhile, handled the 'magic' from the Elements of Harmony. Unlike the Alicorn Amulet, enough was known about the elements that the show continued to use the real artifacts with correct supervision. However, it was decided by all that due to what happened with the Alicorn Amulet, Rarity would make a set of replicas for the show next season just to be safe.
As the reaction reached its peak, a blinding white light flashed through the library. That cued Luna to teleport 'Twilight' from her spot to a spot just besides her behind the camera. On screen, meanwhile, the reaction died down and the remaining five ponies are shocked to find that 'Twilight' was gone, a burn mark shaped like her cutie mark left where she was standing. The all began to audibly panic as to what had happened to their friend.
"Cut!" Discord shouted, ending the scene.
Chrysalis sighed in relief, glad to still be in one piece after being in the middle of the magical hurricane. The other participants of the scene were also still buzzing after the intense magic show they had just experienced.
"That was… intense…" Rainbow Dash remarked. She couldn't start to comprehend the amounts of magical awesome she had just witnessed.
"It was kinda scary though," Fluttershy confessed. "Especially that last part of the scene." She looked back at the spot where Chrysalis had been, now marked by the burn shaped like Twilight's cutie mark.
"Trixie? Did you really make that burn mark?" Applejack asked.
Trixie uncharacteristically shrugged a smile. "I thought it would be appropriate."
"Nice touch, Trixie!" Rarity nodded her approval.
The activity of the special effects got Starsong's attention from Twilight's bedroom. The pegasus floated downstairs to the group.
"Pinkie? What on earth was going on down here?"
"Sorry about that, Starsong. We were trying to get another scene shot for the show."
"Well, could you warn us next time? Spike thought for a moment the library was about to explode."
"Well, I didn't expect the magical effects were going to be that big."
"That was our fault," Luna admitted. "Trixie and I never realized we were going a tad overboard back there."
"Don't worry, it looked great on camera," Discord pointed out.
"Oh by the way Pinkie, Twilight and I convinced Princess Celestia to do the song number," Starsong reported.
Pinkie clapped her hooves together. "Great! Now we can focus on Twilight’s transformation scene. I was was thinking that we could do it at the royal castle. It seems appropriate to have it happen there."
"Hold the farm," Applejack objected. "What about the scene right after that? You know, where we find out 'Twilight' is an alicorn? Weren’t we doing that right here in Ponyville?"
Pinkie groaned. The farmer pony had a point. "I forgot about that! And we just zapped ‘Twilight’ out of the library in that last take."
"Well here’s an idea, Discord thought out loud. "How about ‘Twilight’ gets sent to a mystical plane of magic or something? That could be where the transformation takes place."
"That would be a perfect setting for Celestia song! And then she gets her wings and she comes back to Ponyville as an alicorn!" Starsong grinned.
"But how are we supposed to find an other worldly realm to film it in?" Rarity asked.
"I think I could whip up something," Luna smirked. "There's plenty of room over by Sweet Apple Acres. I could whip up a dreamscape just like how we did for Scootaloo's episode. It shouldn't be that hard too..."
The episode planning session was interrupted by a frantic knocking at the library's front door. Being the one closest to the door, Chrysalis, who had forgotten to change back from being Twilight, goes to answer it.
"Hello, can I help..."
She wasn't able to finish as she was immediately mobbed by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. The stallion grabbed the purple unicorn and embraced her in a hug that nearly crushed her insides.
"Twilight!!! We heard there was an accident so we came here as soon as we could!" Shining Armor shouted.
"Wait... I'm not..." the unicorn Twilight gasped for air.
Cadence didn't listen. She began to spout out a series of questions. "Are you hurt? Were you attacked? Do we need to take you to the hospital? How's you're vision? Here let me test it. How many hooves am I holding up?"
"Listen… I'm fine... but I'm not really..."
Shining Armor hushed the unicorn from speaking any further. "Shh! Don’t say another word! Let your BBBFF handle everything. I’ll make sure my little sister is all taken care of."
Shining Armor then her a kiss on the forehead, making her blush slightly. The other ponies in the room looked at each other nervously throughout the scene. Things were about to get very awkward. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. Somepony needed to straighten out this misunderstanding.
"Uh, Shining? Cadence? That's not Twilight."
"It's not?" Cadence asked in surprise. The couple took another look at what they had assumed was Twilight Sparkle. In a flash, the unicorn had transformed back into the Queen of the Changelings.
"Um… Hi?" Chrysalis squeaked sheepishly.
Needless to say, the sight of the figure that nearly ruined his wedding day by impersonating his wife and using him to launch an invasion against all of Equestria was a bit too much for Shining Armor to handle. He slammed Chrysalis into a nearby wall in rage.
"What have you done with Twilight, Chrysalis? Answer me!"
Discord quickly separated the two. "Relax, Shining Armor. She’s had her muffins for the day. She’s harmless."
"So where’s Twilight?" Cadence wondered.
"Brother? Cadence?" A voice asked from the staircase.
The married couple looked to the staircase and saw Twilight standing besides Princess Celestia and Spike, who rode down on Celestia's back. It didn't take very long for them to notice Twilight's new set of wings.
"Twily?" Shining Armor asked in disbelief.
Cadence rubbed her eyes. "How… how did this happen."
Pinkie sighed a frustrated sigh. "Does anypony want to handle the explanation?"
Chrysalis raised her hoof. "I guess I'll do it," she volunteered. She then turned to the two newcomers.
"You see, what happened was..."
Two hours later...
"So in conclusion, you shouldn't overmix the batter when you combine the wet and dry ingredients. You should just mix only until everything is just moist to get a lumpy batter. A smooth batter will just give you tough muffins, and everypony hates tough muffins!"
It was at this point that Chrysalis finally noticed that her audience all had the exact same expression, eyes wide and jaws dropped in silent disbelief. A sudden realization hit Chrysalis as she figured out what just happened.
"I... went a bit off topic back there, didn't I? Hold on, let me try again..."
"NO!!!" everypony shouted in alarm, desperately wanting to avoid another muffin lecture.
"I think I should explain this, Chrysalis," Twilight laughed nervously.
And so, Twilight Sparkle recounted the events of the previous 24 hours to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, everything from the discovery of the Alicorn Amulet to her accepting Celestia's offer to become a princess.
"Wow," Shining Armor said as Twilight finished. "It sounds like you guys had quite a night, huh?"
"That's putting it mildly," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
Cadence gave her now-fellow alicorn companion a big hug, which Twilight returned warmly. "Congratulations Twilight."
Shining Armor was next. The two sibling shared a long embrace, pools of liquid pride trickling in their eyes.
"I’m so proud of you, sis."
"Thanks, Shining. Thanks Cadence." The soon-to-be-crowned princess smiled.
"But there’s still one thing I don’t understand from all this, Twilight," Shining brought up as he finally broke away from the hug.
"What’s that?"
"Who won the fainting contest?"
Twilight frowned. She wasn't amused by that question at all considering everything else that happened.
"Princess Celestia did," she answered sarcastically.
The announcement made Rarity gasp loudly in shock. "WHAT?!? How could Celestia win? Her form and follow through were completely off! I demand a recount!" she stomped her hooves defiantly.
Everypony could only laugh at Rarity's overreaction.
~~~~~
The filming for the rest of the episode went by incredibly smoothly despite the circumstances. The following day, with the encouragement from her faithful student and her little sister, Princess Celestia delivered a beautiful solo to 'Twilight' which led up to the big transformation scene, with Trixie again standing by to deliver the magical effects. Fittingly, the first scene Twilight shot for the show as an alicorn happened at the day's twilight. Unfortunately due to the time crunch, there wasn't enough time to offer exposition for much of the turn of events in the show. There was simply too much to do in this last part of the episode. However, this drawback seemed to work out in Pinkie's favor as a new storyline idea developed in her mind for season 4.
So now the scene had shift over to Canterlot and the filming of Twilight's coronation. Everyone was dressed at their best, and nearly everypony was their to witness it. Even Derpy had made it to the celebration! To save time, they shot the coronation as a part of the show. Starsong had surprised the cast by not only writing a song for Celestia in a short amount of time, but also coming up with two new songs for this occasion, one for when Princess Twilight makes her first appearance and a second song, which was a reprise of the song that began the episode in the first place where Twilight had sung that it was a perfect day in Ponyville. It was a great bookend and it tied the whole, admittedly disjointed, episode together rather seamlessly. Everypony now set themselves up to shoot this last song, the final scene of the third season.
"Everything’s ready to roll!" Discord shouted, ready to operate the camera.
"Is everypony ready?" Pinkie asked her friends.
"We're ready!" Twilight shouted from her chariot.
Pinkie Pie closed her eyes. She smiled. There was that feeling again. This episode had been special indeed.
"Count us down, Discord" Pinkie said.
"In 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ACTION!"
The camera's red light blinked on.
With the crowd of ponies cheering her on, Princess Twilight Sparkle's chariot makes its way down the parade route, the two royal sisters looking on proudly. After a while, Twilight hops out of the chariot and trots down the street alongside her friends and her number one assistant.
"Life in Equestria shimmers,
Life in Equestria shines,
And I know for absolute certain,
That everything….. Yes everything….
Yes everything is certainly fine…..
The group appear on one of the royal balconies as they sing the last line. The camera starts a long zoom out from the balcony to a long shot of Canterlot. A few seconds later, a figure is seen flying off the balcony, making a few loops towards the camera. We see that it is Twilight Sparkle, taking to the skies for the very first time.
"Yes! Everything’s gonna be just fi--AAAH!!!"
WHAM!
"Oww....."
"CUT!!!!" Discord shouted.
From the small monitor placed on the balcony, Pinkie and the others cringed as they saw that Twilight missed her mark and instead flew straight into the camera.
"Reset and do it again, everyone," Pinkie simply instructed.
Rainbow Dash could only laugh at the irony. "Figures we wouldn’t be able to get out of this episode that easy!"
A few moments later, Twilight landed back to the balcony, rubbing her nose in pain.
"Sorry about that, girls," she apologized.
"You ok, darling?" Rarity asked.
Twilight blushed. "A little embarrassed, but I’m ok."
"I thought after Smarty Pants, nothing would be embarrassing anymore," Spike muttered to himself.
Twilight took another look at her wings. "I guess I still have a lot to learn about how to use these things…"
"It’s ok Twilight," Fluttershy smiled. "Not everypony gets it right when they fly for the first time."
"Besides, you’ll have the best flying instructor in all of Equestria showing you the way." Rainbow Dash nudged Twilight on her shoulder.
Applejack shot a sneaky smirk over at Rainbow Dash. "Ah didn’t know Snowflake was teaching ‘er!"
That hit the cyan pegasus right in her pride. "Low blow, AJ. Low blow."
"Come on guys, let’s try to wrap this episode up, Ok?" Pinkie giggled.
Thankfully, Twilight nailed the maneuver on the second take.