With all the parts collected, Twilight felt ready to build her prototype fast cart. She was standing in the small backyard of her castle, looking at the blueprint she had sketched up earlier. An aura of magic appeared around one of the fireworks from Pinkie, and it floated to the back of the cart as some of the rope began to levitate. When the rope had affixed the firework to the cart, Twilight bid it to wrap around the cart in an X shape. Activating a dictation spell on the quill and paper next to her was the final step. "Test #1, prototype 1," she stated for the record. With an expectant smile, Twilight sent a match over to the cart and lit the fuse. The firework's first stage went off somewhat quietly. Twilight's smile slowly turned into a frown as the cart inched forward slightly faster than a snail. Then the second stage went off with bright sparks and an ironic celebratory whistle. "The cart barely moved," Twilight sighed.
***
Twilight's next nine tests didn't yield the best results. She tried adding more fireworks, which resulted in a faster cart. However, their collective second stages were far too dangerous and destroyed the cart almost beyond magical repair. The next prototype had a similar number of fireworks, with only a few at a time being lit. This resulted in the cart moving too slowly. Twilight next enchanted the fireworks to provide more thrust with a smaller second stage explosion. The cart moved fast enough, but only for a few seconds before the rope burned away and released it. Twilight had run out of fireworks by this stage, so she attempted to enchant the wheels of the cart to move instead. The spell was actually somewhat successful.
"How's the cart thing going?" Spike asked as he exited the back door of the castle.
"It is better than when I started," she responded.
The dragon raised an eyebrow. "How much better?"
"Now it doesn't explode!"
Spike took a small step backwards. "Anyway, somepony's here to see you." Twilight stared at her prototype as her assistant began to speak again. Making the wheels move magically took a lot of power, and wouldn't work for long trips. Some sort of mechanical system to drive the axles could greatly increase the range of travel. Maybe if explosions drove some pistons-"Twilight!"
The princess-turned-inventor jumped. "Yes, Spike?"
"Don't you wanna meet the student?"
"Uh...yeah! I'll meet her right here!"
Spike tilted his head. "It's a him." Twilight gave a slow nod as she realized her mistake.
"I'll meet him right here," she corrected. Spike sighed as he left the princess of friendship to her musing.
***
Oloy Victorium stood nervously in the main foyer of the Castle of Friendship, wishing there were plants there. The crystal floor was cold and unforgiving and the color palette reminded him of a gaudy carnival stall. The abrupt return of the Savior of the Crystal Empire distracted Oloy from the castle. "Let's go," Princess Twilight's assistant said. As the two walked the halls, the student found the courage within himself to ask a question.
"Does the castle have any plants?"
"Nah. That would be too much work."
"I always heard you had a strong work ethic."
The dragon sighed. "I don't water plants. Please don't ask Twilight about it." The pair arrived at a door with an engraving of a chrysanthemum on it. "The princess of friendship will see you now." Oloy walked through the door cautiously, wincing as it slammed behind him. Just a few meters in front of him stood Princess Twilight Sparkle. He took a moment to admire the strange mechanical contrivance she was focused on. It was similar to a wooden cart, but with a large device on the front right corner attached by rope to the axle.
"What's my first lesson going to be, princess?" Oloy asked. His question prompted Twilight to jump.
"Gah!" she yelped, before coming up with an answer. "You can help me test this cart!"
Oloy's eyes widened in confusion. "What does that have to do with friendship?"
"A true friend helps a friend test a volatile new prototype!" Twilight proclaimed, stepping closer to Oloy and shaking his hoof. "Hello, my name is Twilight."
"Oloy Victorium," he said.
Twilight smiled. "So you're the pony who won the contest. Congratulations! Now let's get to work. Please stand on the cart." He did so, taking notice of some straps under him. "These are for safety," the alicorn noted as she wrapped all four straps around his hooves. Oloy started to worry when he saw Twilight's smile grow unnaturally large. Her ear twitched as she enchanted a quill and paper next to her and spoke. "Test #13, prototype 13. It's gotta work this time!"
"Wait!" Oloy begged.
The alicorn's eyes shrank as she gazed at the cart. "You'll be fine! There's nothing to worry about! The straps will save you!"
"but-" the cart's front corner began to vibrate and make lots of noise. The wheels it was attached to spun into the ground a bit before launching it and its reluctant passenger across the yard. The device on the corner suddenly stopped, but the cart kept rolling. As it sped past the Ponyville border, Oloy suddenly realized he was enjoying the ride, and let out a cry of elation. Then the back wheels fell off, bringing his journey to an abrubt end.