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// Bonus Chapter: Equestria's Newest Dictator 
// Story: Inflata-Belle 
// by Wise Cracker 
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Dear princess Celestia,

I am writing this with a dictation spell I learned recently, so there may be some mistakes in my writing here and there. Sorry in advance. 

Anyway, this is Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s sister, and I thought I’d write this letter to tell you about an important lesson I learned. Don’t worry, it’s really important, and I wouldn’t try to send it if I thought it’d waste your time. 

*ahem* A few days ago, I had an accident involving magic. I tried to practise, I overdid it and I kinda hurt myself because I was getting stressed out about it. I got into it too much because I felt like magic should be something I can do and I could hard to get it. Work hard, I said work! But as I got better, Twilight Sparkle showed me that magic isn’t about getting what you want; it’s about letting things happen as they need to happen. 

Wait, does that need a semicolon or a colon? Oh, where’s that book? I had it here a second ago. No, Miss Cheerilee, I’m not doing anything. Phew, that was close. Now where’s that book? Wait, is this thing still writing? How do you turn it off? Argh, dumb spell!

Okay, anyway, Twilight taught me magic isn’t something you work like a muscle. While muscles can grow with the strain you put on them, your magic can only grow when you grow. It’s important that you don’t overdo it, and you don’t get obsessed over mastering spells. If you do, you can really hurt yourself, and scare the ponies who care about you. 

So, in short, Princess Twilight taught me that I shouldn’t get caught up on mastering spells just because I think I should. I should decide for myself what kind of magic I’d like, and nopony else can decide that for me. I should only learn spells that I know are worth learning, spells I can use, and most importantly: spells I can enjoy learning and using. Because if magic can’t be fun, why do it, right?

I also finally learned what Shining Armour meant with what he told my sister at the wedding. I’m not sure why they were talking about it, but I understand what he meant now.

“The best kind of attack spell isn’t the one you don’t need to cast; it’s the one you only need to cast once."

Finally, I learned that it’s wrong to use magic to scare your classmates, even if they are bullies and even if they dare you to. You should never use your magic against your fellow ponies, and you should never use magic when you’re angry. Not because it’s wrong, but because even if you can reverse it, like, oh, I don’t know, turning some ponies into balloons for only ten seconds… maybe twenty… thirty, tops. Well, an hour isn’t that long, either, especially if you keep them company and go playing together. It’s not like they don’t float in water when they’re like that, and it’s not like anypony would want to lose their pooltoys, ever. Anyway, you shouldn’t do it because it’s not fair and it’s a lot scarier when it’s against ponies who see you every day. It’s not nice to make ponies scared of you, even if you yourself were scared of them before. Although, I guess that goes both ways, since you see bullies every day, too, and they don’t stop. I don’t know if turning bullies into balloons for a while would make them be nice. You might need to ask somepony to do more research on that, Your Highness. I’d be happy to volunteer, if you ever, you know, officially announce that kind of research. 

Your newest dictator (at least I think that’s what that word means), 

Sweetie Belle

Young lady, what do you think you’re doing? I’m not doing anything, Miss Cheerilee, honest! What is that? Are you using a spell to write a letter during detention? Quick, Spike, express delivery!

Express wha-warghl-ptooey!

End transmission. See spell mutation for additional options.





Celestia furrowed her brow and rubbed her forehead as she read the hastily written letter by the little ‘dictator’. She sighed. “Oh, Luna, what horrors have I wrought?”

Luna took the letter in her magic and read it. “Oh. Oh, my. What did she… oh, balloons, even? Back in our day, we were happy if we got toads, especially the nobility. Goodness, though, that is quite the achievement for such a little girl. Can’t imagine that spell came easily.” 

Celestia gave off the most royal of ‘urghs’ known to pony ears. “Somehow, the word ‘achievement’ wasn’t the first to come to mind. I do hope Sweetie Belle doesn’t make a habit of it, or keeps sending letters. It is sweet, and she’ll learn her lesson, I’m sure, but I can’t have every little foal in Ponyville sending me letters. I shudder to think what it would do to Spike’s digestive system.”

Luna chuckled. “You should feel honoured, Celestia. Though I will admit, little Sweetie Belle seems to be taking her newfound power rather lightly. I’d surmise the value of moderation hasn’t been a part of her curriculum yet.”

Celestia stared at the wall. “Indeed. It seems that by making Twilight Sparkle a teacher in her own right, I have created a monster that creates other monsters.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Mother would be proud, sister.”