Reminders
Twilight crumpled another draft of a letter to Celestia into the trash.
It was nearly half full now. She would have to burn those later.
This is futile, Twilight thought to herself, I can't allay Celestia's fears about changelings, not without telling her the truth.
Twilight threw up her hooves in disgust. She had arrived in the library in the dead of night. Spike was still asleep and so, sleep nipping at her heels, she had attempted to write a letter to Princess Celestia about the changelings.
Absentmindedly, Twilight looked up at the clock, and went back to fail at writing another letter. Seven seconds later, she looked back up at the clock in a sleepy haze. Her sleepy mind clicked its way around, telling her that it indeed was not the afternoon.
"Three thirty!" Twilight exclaimed. Suddenly, she felt a LOT more tired than before.
She looked down at the letter she had been failing to write and decided she could wait to dispose of them, nobody would be digging in her trash anyway.
Passing by on her way to bed, she did not notice a small purple dragon, who had been watching her agonize over the letter for the past five minutes.
"Boy," Spike said to himself, "She really looks like she could use some cheering up."
----------------
Twilight unfolded the newspaper and blearily checked the headline. She was not a morning pony. She was a "stay up until morning studying" pony, so being up in the mornings wasn't her best trait.
Almost immediately after looking at the paper though, she was as awake as if somebody had given her a kick in the ribs.
The front page read, in bold, large-font letters: "Princess Celestia to preside over closed court for Changeling Queen."
A single hair twitched out of place on Twilight's mane.
Twilight Sparkle seismologists would have marked this event as at least a 3.5 on the Smarty scale. And the subsequent events throughout her daily routine would have definitely raised the alert level to "general warning: stay in your homes." Unfortunately, there wasn't any such thing as a Twilight Sparkle seismologist, so she was free to drop her checklist for today and go outside to get some fresh air.
Constituting a 7.0 on the Smarty scale.
Everything is fine, Twilight told herself, I just need to get out of the library, and get my mind off changelings.
Twilight steeled herself and stepped outside the library's front door, and was met with a wonderful day in Ponyville. A perfect 75 degrees, with no chance of rain.
A slight breeze wafted an enticing smell to Twilight, and she finally remembered: today was the Summer Sun Celebration!
The festival was in Ponyville for the second year running. It was all she could do not to squee in excitement. Maybe she could pick up some funnel cake this year!
Most thoughts of changelings forgotten, Twilight trotted off to join the festivities.
----------------
Twilight hit her first snag as she was about to take her first bite of funnel cake, when she saw, off in a corner near one of the tents, two foals playing with some dolls.
Twilight watched in mild horror as a Celestia doll proceeded to defeat and stomp a changeling queen into the dirt. Instantly, she was brought back to the newspaper article from this morning.
I mean even if she made an unjust ruling, ponies would object if she just had Naudia turned to stone. Twilight thought, as she watched one of the foals demonstrate the "amazing magic missile" action feature to launch the doll's horn at the changeling. It wouldn't just be me, would it?
Her demeanor threatening to fall apart as fast as her hair, the noticeably more disheveled looking unicorn walked into a stall without bothering to check what it was first.
Inside she found a nerdy shop filled with models and miniatures. Instantly perking up, Twilight was somewhat more in her element. After all nerds and geeks were... well, to be honest, she wasn't quite clear on the difference, but she knew that she was one of them and at least a metaphorical sister to the other.
She smiled as she looked through the glass at the immaculately detailed figures. Some of them even had period-accurate weapons! And then she saw the razor in the candy floss: interspersed throughout the display were figurines of changelings. Every one of them was painted up to be as evil looking as possible.
One could almost hear the twang of her nerves as paranoia reached a new relative peak. Twilight turned to a comic rack, thoughts racing.
What if I'm asked to testify against Naudia? What if I'm outed as a changeling sympathizer when that happens? What if- Twilight bit her lip, trying to stifle the thought before it could even fully form, but it was inevitable now. What if Celestia lets her prejudices get in the way as the judge?
But even the comic rack failed to remain unaffected by recent events and Twilight found herself staring at "The Fight of the Century!!! Power Ponies Vs. The Changeling Swarm!" On the cover, a costumed version of herself faced down a fierce looking changeling queen.
Twilight fled the fair, looking much more disheveled than she did coming into it.
And in a small secluded room in Canterlot Castle, the official Smarty Pants Seismometer peaked at a never-before-seen 9.3.