“And that, Twilight, is why focus is essential to the study of magic.” Celestia looked up from her notes with a gentle smile on her lips. “Do you have any questions, Twilight?” She frowned to herself and turned. “Twilight?” She looked at the empty, small desk that she could have sworn had been occupied by her tiny student a moment ago before lifting a hoof to her forehead. “Oh dear, not again.”
Twilight Sparkle stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as her horn sparked. Above her on the counter, was her prize—Princess Celestia’s personal cookie stash.
“Ngh! Almost...almost... Woah!” The cookie jar wobbled a bit and Twilight’s eyes widened before she pushed the cookie jar back. “Phew, that was way too close.”
She frowned to herself. How am I gonna get up there?
After a few seconds of searching, she grinned slowly before opening up the drawers to form a staircase all the way up to the countertop. Slowly, she crept closer to the jar before reaching out with a hoof. The jar was solid, and the lid on tight.
Again, a frown formed on her muzzle. Tipping it over would be next to impossible, not to mention all the noise it would make. Twilight circled the jar once, her eyes darting around as if expecting to be jumped on at any moment, before climbing onto her hind legs and slowly pushing off the lid.
Twilight winced at the loud noise as it clattered on the tiled counter and stood perfectly still. Her ears flicked to see if she could hear any hoof steps approaching.
Silence
Twilight breathed out and poked her head into the cookie jar, licking her lips at the sight of the triple chocolate peanut butter clusters. Her horn glowed a bit before cringing at the feedback as it sparked.
Okay, using magic to get these cookies just isn’t going to work… Slowly, she poked her head further into the jar and grabbed the first cookie in her mouth—biting down with a satisfying crunch. Quickly, she finished the first cookie and moved on to the second. A third cookie followed and so on as she slid deeper into the jar with each cookie eaten.
Finally, only one remained just out of her grasp. She wiggled a bit more into the jar—her little hoof slapping at the cookie before she felt the jar begin to teeter.
“Uhoh…”
Princess Celestia sighed as she checked Twilight’s favorite hiding spots for the third time. She really couldn’t blame the filly for having the attention span she had. After all, she was little more than a foal. Nor could she blame Silent Shadow, Twilight’s guard, either as she wasn’t quite graduated from the academy.
There must be a way to keep track of her though. It’s only by Harmony’s good graces that she hasn’t gotten hurt, but what can I do? I shouldn’t need to assign more guards. I don’t want to interfere with her curiosity…
She continued on a moment more before her eyes widened.Mm… yes! That’s it! Satisfied with her decision, Celestia walked into her personal kitchen to see an odd sight. Two tiny, purple back legs bicycled madly as they stuck out of her favorite cookie jar. As a navy blue and purple streaked tail wagged back and forth, Celestia quickly figured out what had happened. A smile played across her face as she shook her head. Getting her giggles under control, she slowly lifted her student out of the cookie jar by her tail.
Twilight looked into Celestia’s eyes—still hanging upside down—her muzzle covered in cookie crumbs. “Um… There is a ra...rationel explanation for this.”
Celestia lifted a eyebrow and Twilight slumped. “I wanted a cookie…”
Celestia set her student down on her back and left the room, the final cookie in her mouth as she crunched it.
Twilight frowned as she poked at her new accessory with a hoof. She looked up at Celestia as it gave a clear little dingle. “I don’t like it.”
Celestia shook her head and wrapped a wing around Twilight, giving her a short hug. “I know you don’t, my faithful student, but this bell will let somepony know if you need help. It’ll only be for a short time. Just a trial period, okay?”
Twilight looked at the chain around her neck that held the small silver bell and sighed. “Okay, Princess.”
“Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty! Ready or not Twilight here I come!” Princess Cadance grinned as she slowly looked around in the garden she and her favorite filly were playing in. Twilight always seemed to win their games but Cadance was determined fix that.
When her left ear flicked at a little ringing sound, her grin grew wider. Cadance snuck towards a innocent looking bush, her wings folded back as she parted the bush with her magic to see Twilight stare up at her.
“Ha! Finally! After so many games, I won!” Cadance chortled to herself as Twilight frowned at the bell that had rang when she got a mild poke from a branch.
Her ears pinned back as it dingled again. “Stupid bell.”
Twilight sighed happily as she curled up in the sunbeam at the royal library, a storybook in front of her. Her eyes grew a bit heavy as it was almost time for her nap. Her eyes closed a bit more and her head bobbed a bit before her hoof caught the page wrong. “Ding a ling.” The bell sounded a few times before several older students from Celestia’s school turned towards the four year old. Some almost glaring as she slowly slunk out of the library, her ears pinned back and her tail between her legs. Once the doors had closed, she glared down at the now silent bell.
“Stupid, stupid bell!”
Twilight had finally had it with that bell! It wasn’t letting her do anything fun. Worst of all, she couldn’t take it off! It had taken a bit of digging but she had found a freeze spell that should stop the bell from ringing every time she got even the slightest bit hurt. Closing the spell book, she took a deep breath and began casting the spell…
Celestia was a bit worried. A guard had seen Twilight stomp into her room around ten minutes ago but had heard nothing from inside since.
She knocked once on the filly’s door. “Twilight, are you alright?”
When no answer came, her frown deepened and she opened the door. Her eyes widened and a horrified gasp escaped her as she saw a frozen solid Twilight Sparkle. Celestia quickly acted. Casting the reversal spell and ran to warm a bath.
Hours later, Twilight curled under Celestia’s wing. Dressed in warm pajamas and drinking hot cocoa, she still shivering a bit.
“Well, my faithful student, I think the bell experiment is over as it shattered when you tried to freeze it. Now, what did you learn from all this?” Celestia looked down as Twilight squirmed closer to her. Either for heat or comfort, Celestia wasn’t certain.
Twilight gave a little yawn before looking up at her. “Princess, today I learned that being a statue really sucks.” With that said, Twilight firmly nodded and closed her eyes. Quickly falling into an easy sleep as Celestia giggled and shook her head
“Well put, Twilight, well put.”