Twilight's Tale
Ponyville - twelve years after Luna’s return
Spike turned the invitation over in his hand, re-reading Pinkie’s flowing script. She had made the dots over all of the “i’s” into little yellow and cyan balloons… Of course she had.
You are personally invited to a Sugar Cube Corner Exclusive Event!
Tomorrow at 11:00 AM, as described in today’s issue of The Ponyville Press,
Sugar Cube Corner will host the First Annual Ponyville Pie Bake-off!
Your discerning taste buds will be put to the test as you compare the pastries of one Pinkie Pie
versus a mystery challenger as yet to be named.
Prizes and fun guaranteed to all participants! Bring your invitation, and bring a friend!
Scratching at his ear fins, Spike couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. He always retrieved the mail from the castle’s mailbox, and he could have sworn that this invitation wasn’t with the stack when he carried it in. He usually sorted through the mail earlier in the day, but sometimes life just has one too many distractions to ever fully get oneself back on course.
“Spike!” Twilight’s voice sounded out from up the stairs. The echoing of the castle’s crystalline walls made it difficult for his sharp senses to exactly pinpoint her position, but it sounded like she had just emerged from the map room.
“I’ll be up in a second, Twi!” Spike called back. He rummaged through the pile of letters and documents before finding what he was looking for, picking up and folding today’s issue of the paper.
A flash of magenta light heralded the young alicorn’s arrival before Spike could take another step. Twilight gave him an amused smirk. “Couldn’t get to the mail until now, eh?”
“Yep. Been one of those days.” Spike held out the invitation from Pinkie, waving it for emphasis. “Have you seen one of these around town today?”
“No, but I heard about it. Another Sugar Cube event, huh? Wonder what Pinkie is up to this time?”
“Could be anything with that mare.” Spike grinned. “Here’s the ad in the paper as well. But that’s not what I was looking for.”
Twilight’s eyes widened a bit as Spike held up a colorful periodical carefully packaged in a plastic sleeve. “It finally came? That’s great, Spike!”
“I know, right? The last issue of Power Ponies left off at such a horrible cliffhanger, I can’t wait to get started!” Spike looked up from the comic he was brandishing, and noticed an apologetic look on Twilight’s face. “What is it?”
“Um, remember when you owed me that favor last week? I need a little help with an experiment…”
* * *
Twilight rolled her eyes as Spike’s voice called up to her from the landing below, panting as he adjusted his grip on his burden.
“Twilight, couldn’t this experiment have waited until tomorrow? I mean, it’s after eleven o’clock!” This was the fifth trip up the castle’s central stairwell, and while his maturing dragon musculature was easily sufficient to carry boxes of lab materials and binders all night, Spike thought a little higher of himself than a simple beast of burden. Besides, Power Ponies!
“Seriously, Twi—either teleport this stuff, or ask some of your guards to carry it. What’s the rush?”
Continuing her way up the staircase with more delicate lab equipment, Twilight risked a glance back at Spike as he trudged up behind her. “Spike, while I know this isn’t an emergency or anything, I depart for Fillydelphia in two days. This project can’t wait! Well, it can, but I want to spend some of my travel time analyzing the data!”
“Ane you can’t teleport this because…?”
Twilight pressed her lips together. “Because teleportation usually knocks my more sensitive instruments out of calibration!”
Spike looked down at what he was holding in his arms. “And the notebooks?”
Turning her nose up, Twilight increased her pace. “Not when there is a .02% chance that some of my notes could get singed!”
“Singed? You haven’t had a teleport mishap over ten years!” Spike looked to the side as he recalled the event. “In fact, the last time your teleport misfired and singed something, that something was an unsuspecting draconic assistant! And that was while you were still a unicorn!”
Twilight huffed out her response. “Fine. Just leave the notebooks there, I’ll send them the rest of the way. But if just one word gets slightly singed, smudged, or smoked, you’re gonna hear about it.” The dragon rolled his eyes in response, dropping his load where he stood.
With another magenta flash, the stack of materials had disappeared from where Spike set them down. “What I was really hoping you could do is join me in my research. You have to admit it’s been a while.”
“Nope.” Spike brought up his as yet unopened and unread comic book. "This favor is now concluded."
“Ah c’mon, Spike! You’d be more interested if you heard what I was researching about!
Spike folded his muscular arms before giving a nettled sigh. “Not really. I am sure that whatever your new project is, the results will either be flammable, unstable, caustic, explosive, radioactive, magically hazardous, or will simply warp time and space and open a dimensional portal to some weird alternate reality, featuring a planet with furless, intelligent, bipedal monkeys.”
Twilight gave him a flat look before remote-teleporting the laboratory chalkboard up into the corridor, effectively blocking their path. “I’ve already been there. Besides, you can’t blame me for that portal. Now keep your scales on!” Taking a piece of chalk from the tray, Twilight wrote across the top of the board, titling it Starswirl’s Three Laws of Magical Manipulation. Below this, she numbered three simple statements.
“Now, what I am trying to do is establish, for the very first time, is that there is a fallacy with Starswirl’s Third Law of Magical Manipulation!” She circled the third statement.
Spike’s voice sounded tired as he piped up from behind her. “You’re aware that it’s called Starswirl’s Third Law for a reason—because it’s… you know, a law?”
“Not so fast,” Twilight insisted with a hungry grin.
Spike just gave a long sigh. “Hoo boy. Okay, tell me what you got…”
***
Twilight’s eyes tracked the arcs of magical discharge from the Arcane Resonance Coil. While the coil was similar to its electronic analog, invented by Neighkoli Tesla, it differed in that it magnified and resonated mana instead of electricity. It was a device of her own creation, but Twilight was too modest to put her name on it. Although, calling it the Sparkle Coil did have a nice ring to it.
Completing her latest inscription, Twilight switched off the A.R.C. and pulled off her protective eyewear. She held the current specimen, a 4 carat fire ruby, aloft in her magic. Bringing a loupe up to magnify the inscribed surface, Twilight examined the etched lines for imperfections before jotting down a few notes in a notebook. Satisfied with the results, she set the ruby down, reviewing the previous thirteen experiments in her mind. So far there had been no deviation from the equation, but she wasn’t out of ideas yet.
Heaving a sigh, Twilight channeled some magic through her horn into the rune inscribed surface. The rune was for Ardere, the magical representation of the concept of heat. Completing the procedure, Twilight turned around and placed the now glowing ruby inside a waiting calorimeter, sealing the container.
“Alright. Test number fourteen, inscription of the rune Ardere. Depth of cut: ¼ centimeter. Beam resonance: tuned at 60 Hz. Beam intensity: exactly forty-five Thaums.”
While monitoring the calorimeter, Twilight glanced over at Spike who was sleeping nearby on his favorite couch. Researching side by side with him had been fun while it lasted, with the two of them excitedly chatting, alternating topics between the latest gossip in Ponyville and the next half-baked method they were going to use to destroy Starswirl’s Third Law. Now the room was mostly silent, occasionally interrupted by either Twilight’s commentary or Spike’s rumbling snore.
It was after attempt number eight where things unfortunately went South. Twilight had just released Spike to the comfort of his comic after catching him making eyes at it for the third time. He had no sooner curled up on the couch when he had to leap up again and come to her rescue. Apparently, after she had ignited the next experiment, she bumped the glowing crystal into the waste bin. She had quickly magicked it back out, but by the time she had processed that something near the bottom of the bin had caught fire, Spike was already in motion, approaching with a fire extinguisher.
“Go on. I know you’re dying to say it.”
“Me? I wasn’t going to say anything...” Spike grinned. He leaned back on the couch lifting his comic book higher to obscure his growing smile. That didn’t stop his voice from emerging from behind it a moment later. “It’s just that I’m not the only fire hazard in this castle… Pyrelight Sparkle…”
Daybreak was fast approaching, and Twilight had just finished experiment twenty-seven, eliminating another variable in the process. She started pacing the room, planning her next move. Since the School of Friendship was closed for the coming holiday, maybe Principal Glimmer would take interest and offer her expertise to the project.
It had been five years since the attack of the Storm King. Once that incursion had been dealt with, Celestia arranged for the inaugural Friendship Festival to become an official national holiday. Friendship Day was now exploding in popularity: a day for ponies to either mend a broken friendship or make a new friend, alongside of all of the festivals and the gobs of food, of course.
As nice as that was, however, Twilight was beginning to have a growing suspicion that her mentor had ulterior motives in creating a holiday centered around friendship and the friendship princess. Cynical though the thought might be, Twilight was beginning to believe that the real reason Celestia instituted Friendship Day was to add to Twilight’s fame, all part of a master plan for delegating more of the country’s leadership duties directly to her protégé. Twilight’s coffee infused mind came up with increasingly ridiculous scenarios, such as Celestia packing her bags, activating a magical disguise, and laughing all the way to some tropical paradise with nothing but muscular stallions serving cake.
Twilight shook her head to clear it from such lurid thoughts. At least there was one exceptional thing that came out of the Storm King’s attack: Fizzlepop Berrytwist. For all of the clout and notoriety that Royal Guard had, Twilight’s personal Security Detail had routed the highly trained specialists from both the Lunar and Solar divisions at the most recent wargames event. The Canterlot brass passed this off as a fluke, but not Twilight. She knew it was due to Captain Berrytwist’s rigorous training and intense leadership, honing a ragtag group of ponies into a polished and fantastically coordinated fighting force. It made her feel a little more at ease, knowing she had such a stalwart and trustworthy guard captain.
Blinking, Twilight shook herself from her thoughts to look around with some confusion. Why was it getting brighter in here?
Oh, right. Looks like my research used up the entire night. Guess I discovered exactly twenty-seven ways how not to make an amulet.
Giving an internal sigh, Twilight started to file away her notes and organize the rest of the lab equipment. More trials would be needed, but that would have to wait until tonight. She also needed to get a large supply of cut gems, so she added a visit to Carousel Boutique to her growing list of to-do’s for the day. Blinking some of the weariness from her eyes, she stretched her wings out wide, shuddering with a huge yawn.
Not realizing that she had flicked her tail to the side, Twilight was startled by a snort before Spike gave an enormous sneeze. Twilight flinched, not so much from the sudden noise as from an ominous burst of greenish light and intense heat. The heat intensity was strong enough to make the skin under her coat prickle uncomfortably. Twilight spun around in horror, checking over the state of her coat while the odor of burning hair hit her nose.
“Spike!” Twilight screeched, “You burned off my tail!”
Horrified, she extinguished what was left of her beautiful tail while she watched the remainder float up towards the ceiling as ash and smoke. Her mouth hanging open, Twilight slowly turned her head to glare at Spike, who was only now blinking and crossing his eyes to focus on the bits of ash that had landed on his snout.
“What’s up, Twi?” Spike looked back up at her, and sniffed at the air. “And what’s that smell?”
“My tail, to both of your questions, Spike!” Twilight growled.
“Your… what?”
"I swear to Celestia, even your sneezes!" Twilight grumbled. "Spike, ever since you’ve started your explosive growth spurt in the summer, it’s like living around a pyromaniac!” She pointed a hoof back at her smoldering tail. Then she repeated the gesture, only with more emphasis. “I mean, look at this!”
Spike’s eyes widened in dismay. “Aw, jeez, Twilight. I didn’t mean to—I mean—what even happened?”
“Well, as for me, I was just yawning and enjoying a perfectly nice morning stretch. But then, all of the sudden, you startled from your dormant status and proceeded to scorch me with your pyroclastic flow!" Twilight noted her voice was beginning to become more shrill, but she didn’t really care at the moment. “I have speaking engagement coming up in two days. What am I supposed to do now?”
“Well, could you magic it back together? Spike asked hopefully. “I mean, you are the Princess of Magic and all, right? Remember back when I was always asking you to give me a moustache?”
“Princess of Friendship, Spike.” Twilight sighed. “Besides, the moustache spell is a temporary-substantive illusion. Did you happen to notice any sort of color match?”
“...I guess not.”
“Starswirl’s Second Law. Transmutation of organics is highly unstable due to the latent magic within the creature. Susceptibility to transmutation is proportional to the— “
“ —okay, okay!" Spike waved his claws defensively. "Please don’t tell me what susceptibility to transmutation is proportional to.”
Twilight stopped mid rant and sat down. Spike was correct, and ranting about it wasn’t going to fix the problem. She forced herself to relax and performed what she called the Cadence Maneuver, taking a deep breath in through the nose and expelling it out through the mouth, pushing the imagined stress away with a hoof. “So anyway, Magical transmutation of organics is unstable. If I attempt to grow my tail out with magic, even if I reinforce it with an enhancement or permanency spell— “
“ —poof?”
“You’re darn right, ‘poof!’ We just better hope that Zecora has some of that new potion on hand that she invented last year, because it takes about thirty-six hours to brew the stuff, and even then, it takes about forty hours for the accelerated regeneration to even come close the the length my tail was at!”
Spike lifted up a claw. “Hold on, what is this ‘we’ stuff? I was gonna— “
“ —offer to accompany me to Zecora’s? Why thank you, Spike! Normally our new Captain, Ms. Berrytwist, would be on hand, but she is out doing training maneuvers. What did she make you promise?"
Spike sighed. "To be your bodyguard if she was unavailable. Yeah, Twi, but it's only the Everfree. It's way more passable since that new road was put in."
"Nope. You made a promise. Besides, I think it’s time our local Zebra Shaman gets a chance to examine you and your weird growth spurt.”
“Ugh, seriously Twi? You already dragged me to Doctor Horse last month, and even Fluttershy gives me a clean bill of health!”
“I know, but I’m still worried about you! So we will consult a more holistic source! You aren’t squirming out of this one, mister.”
Spike studied her for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. “Fine. Hey, can you pass me a roll of parchment?
Twilight lifted one of her unused scrolls from a shelf in the desk before sending it over to Spike. “Who are you writing to?”
“Rarity. I’m sending her a message to explain why I won’t be able to get her new shipment of fabric bolts sorted in her warehouse until the afternoon.”
Spike quickly penned the message, his old habit of poking his tongue out to the side still evident as he finished signing his name. “And off we go.” Spike blew a small jet of green flame on the scroll, activating his dragonfire magic to send the message straight to Rarity. Imprinting the magic flame spell for each of Twilight’s closest friends had proven quite useful over the past few years.
“Okay, Spike! Help me finish cleaning my lab equipment up, and we’ll head down to the castle kitchens for breakfast."
“Fair enough, Twi.” After a few moments of quiet work, Spike stood up and looked at Twilight, stroking his chin. “Huh. I wonder what Princess Celestia thought of your message.”
“...What message?”
***
Squealie-eee-eeek… Squealie-eee-eeek…
Melon Seed glared at the offending wheel of her serving cart. This was her first day since she was switched from dish room worker to breakfast server, and she did not need this kind of aggravation.
The massive windows to either side of her, depicting iconic scenes in the history of Equestria, would have been a sight to gawk at. Would have been if they weren’t reflecting back the ear piercing shriek the tea cart wheel was making. She wished dolefully that she was just attending one of the twice-a-day tours that go through here instead.
Melon’s ears twitched as she thought she heard a snicker from behind her. Turning her head slightly to regard her co-worker pushing the completely silent cart behind her, she cocked an eyebrow. “This… isn’t some sort of rite of initiation, is it? Give the new server on staff the humiliating serving cart? Is it?!”
Looking from the polished hooves of the alabaster mare up to her eyes, partially hidden by the rosy color of her curly mane, Melon spotted the ghost of a smirk. Vina Maderis had held the position of day-shift food service here for the past fifteen years.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Ms. Seed. We, here at Canterlot Castle, would never stoop to something as plebeian as that! Snrk.”
“That… that was a snicker! I swear, Vina!” Melon growled.
“Hush, we’re here!”
Glancing ahead again, Melon’s eyes grew wide as she took in the double doors of the Royal Dining Hall. She straightened her posture and willed her expression to tranquility. There was nothing for it, so she pushed past the door attendant.
The feeling of walking in was surreal. Averting her gaze from the two rulers, Melon felt suddenly like she was treading on sacred ground and softened her hoofsteps in order to minimize her intrusiveness.
Pausing in her approach, Melon Seed furrowed her brows in consternation. What was that horrid, ear-piercing sound?! Of all the— wait, that was the cart wheel. Her serving cart wheel.
Horrified, Melon slowly looked up from the wheel to the visage of Princess Celestia, who seemed to be regarding her from over the top of her newspaper with a smirk. After giving her a wink, Celestia glanced across the table at Vina who was busy pouring Princess Luna a cup of tea.
“The old, squealing cart prank, Vina?” Celestia gave a wry smile. “Isn’t that one a little stale?” Still smiling, Celestia levitated her teacup closer to the stunned mare.
Blinking away her confusion, Melon filled Celestia’s cup. She would have to get Vina back somehow. Perhaps Princess Celestia would have some ideas if she ever got up the courage to ask? Vina was lifting the cloche of her service tray, so Melon copied the gesture on her end of the table. She looked down at the presentation, surprised by what she saw. Arrayed in rows across the tray was nothing more than a bunch of gooey pastries and sticky buns.
Is this all that the princesses have for breakfast? Truly? Hiding a shrug, she held the tray aloft with the primaries of her wings.
Shrugging, Melon tossed her blond mane to the side before presenting the tray with the extended primaries of her lime-green wings. Celestia smiled warmly as she selected no fewer than five, and then her gaze fell upon Melon again.
“Thank you, my dear pony." Celestia smiled warmly as she magicked several buns onto her plate. "And what shall I call you? I like to know all the names of all of our serving staff.”
“My name is... uh, I uh…” Melon swallowed audibly. “It’s Melon Seed, your highness!”
“It's a pleasure, Ms. Seed. While we're at breakfast, you may call me Celestia."
“...Or Five Fritter Flanks For Friday,” Luna murmured, not looking up from her document. Frowning for a moment, Celestia’s horn gave off a gentle glow as one of Luna’s sticky buns lifted itself off the table and impaled itself on her majestic horn.
Melon Seed’s eyes popped wide open. She had never envisioned the princesses would be like this. Of course, it was similar to the way she acted around her sisters. But would this banter between the two be considered classified information? Melon almost swooned at the thought.
Before her mind could wander further, a sizzling burst of smoke and greenish fire erupted directly above Princess Celestia’s head. In two seconds, the greenish flames had all but evaporated, leaving in their wake a cloud of ash and flaming bits of debris that looked suspiciously indigo-colored hair.
What was this? Somepony’s assassination attempt? What in Equestria?
Nopony moved or made a peep as Celestia blinked, trying to process the situation. She looked up at the rising smoke, and then back down at her tea and bun, along with its new toppings. Finally, it was Luna that broke the silence.
“Pffffth—BWAH-HAA-HA-HA-HAHAAAAA! Tia? What? Whatever have you seasoned your sticky bun with?” Her laughter continued, interspersed at intervals with a rather unsophisticated snort. The documents Luna had been reading were all but forgotten as she held onto her sides with her forehooves.
Celestia rolled her eyes as she fruitlessly tried to dust off her ruined bun with her magic. “Luna, please. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation...” Her attempt to clean the sweetened pastry was only marginally successful, the rest rather being blended into the mess instead of removed. This particular sticky bun would not be able to give its life in selfless service to the Princess.
Luna stood up with glee. “Oh, I know! It must be something that was imported from some of our nation’s docks to the south? Or maybe something from Flankfurt? Oh, I know! It is a rare spice only harvested at Twilight!”
Celestia gave Luna an annoyed look, before her eyes focused her younger sister’s horn that was still garnished with a lone pastry. Magicking two more pastries onto her horn to join their comrade-at-arms, Celestia leaned back with a more placid expression, sipping her tea.
"Those puns only rate 3 pastries out of 5, Lulu."
Luna only replied with a raspberry, but strangely enough, she did not remove the items from her horn.
Celestia placed her cup down again. “So, then. If we are through with this nonsense, I take it your night was pleasant?"
Straightening her comportment at once, Luna mimicked her sister’s posture, gracefully sitting back and sipping her tea, with a gleam in her eye. “Why yes, Tia. Yes it was---"
Stunned, Melon could only watch the developments as her eyes tracked back to Celestia, who’s tray had somehow been inverted so that all of her pastries were pressed upside down onto the table. Melon hadn’t even noticed Luna’s horn lighting up to do that. She wasn’t sure where this interaction might lead, but for the moment she was rooted to one spot, unable to move or even hardly breathe. Besides, Luna looked absolutely ridiculous.
“---Very pleasant, I must say. But not as pleasant as…” Luna’s muzzle scrunched as she struggled to rein in her laughter. “...watching you enjoy Sparkles on your donut!” Luna burst out into guffaws again, now smacking the table top with a hoof, knocking her teacup over and drenching her pastries in the sluice.
Fidgeting desperately with her hooves, Melon Seed looked on in consternation. Were the Princesses like this every morning?
With a sigh, Celestia stood up and looked at Melon Seed conspiratorially. “Excuse me, Ms. Seed?”
“Princess?”
“I am going to need something stronger. Bring some black coffee to my study, and... put a little rum in it.”
“Coffee… Rum… Right!” Melon Seed nodded her head emphatically.
Standing up, Celestia poured herself a new cup of tea before snatching the three pastries still perched on Luna’s horn and tucking one in her mouth. “You know where the Tholar Thtudy isth, my little pony?”
“Yes, Princess! I’ll be right back!” Melon Seed scurried down the hall to perform her duties. Who knew that serving the Princesses for tea would be like this? Uncle Crenshaw was never going to believe her.
***
Castle of Friendship...
“Spike…” Twilight’s voice was a flat monotone, devoid of emotion.
“Yeah, Twi?”
“You sent half of my bucking tail… TO CELESTIA?!”
Spike backed up a step. “Well, yeah! Why is that a surprise?”
“Well, maybe that possibility didn’t occur to me because my tail was on fire!”
Spike had seen Twilight get in panic attacks before. He knew the signs. There were certain tells and quirks that his trained eye could pick out, to give him ample warning that Twilight was on her way to a toasty day in conniption-ville. Like now, when her mane managed to spring out of position of its own accord. Which meant it was time for damage control.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, Twi!” Spike said, waving his claws in a placating manner. “It’s just that your tail tickled my nose! It’s not like I could get out of the way, right? I was asleep! Besides, why were you still in the Map Room? Another all-nighter?”
“Whether I went to bed or not is entirely beside the point! And whether you meant to or not is irrelevant—I mean, what if Celestia was in the middle of day court?”
“It’s too early for that, Twi.”
“Well then, what if she was soaking in her royal baths?!”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Not unless she completely flipped her schedule. In all time that we’ve known her, she has always done her bathing rituals before she raises the sun.”
Twilight stomped a hoof and growled. “Fine then! What if she is currently having delicate diplomatic relations with an ambassador from Yakyakistan?!”
Spike shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“Spike!” Twilight fumed. The air around her was starting to shimmer a little, and that was a very bad sign.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, alright? I’m sorry… Just calm down!”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! I. AM. CALM.”
“Okay, Twi! You’re calm, you’re calm! We can do something about this, we can fix it!”
Growling in frustration, Twilight spun on her heel, stalking off to a cabinet near the window. After a moment, she returned with a tape measure held aloft in her telekinesis. It sailed over to him, lightly touching the front of his snout, before extending down the floor, snapping taut. Spike raised an eyebrow as he crossed his eyes to regard the invading instrument.
“Let’s review. You have increased in size by exactly one-hundred and eighty-three percent since we moved into this castle, but amazingly, most of that has been experienced over the past two months. Your sneezes in that span have increased in ferocity by a margin of two-hundred and twelve percent. Your average output is now up to fifty-eight CTU’s!”
“Uh... What’s a CTU?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Celestial Thermal Unit, Spike… Our grill out back only emits 22 CTU’s at maximum.”
“Heh. Fifty-eight, huh? Not bad!”
Twilight gave him a caustic look that could corrode glass.
“ I mean, my sneezes haven’t been that dangerous! This entire time I have kept everything under perfect control! I haven’t lit a single thing in the library on fire!”
Twilight pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes and twitching her tail for emphasis. Point made, she dropped the tape measure to the floor with a clatter.
Unabashed, Spike continued. “Well, except for today!” Spike folded his arms. “I can’t be held responsible for being tickled out of my sleep by your tail!”
“Spike,” Twilight sighed, “I doubt anybody else in this town would startle awake from a tickle by lighting everything ON FIRE! I mean, I already lost one library to a deranged, power-mad centaur! What am I supposed to do, wrap you in magical flame retardant?!”
Frowning, Spike was about to make a retort until a bright green flame burst forth, quickly re-forming into scroll sealed with Celestia’s insignia. Instead of catching it, Spike left his arms folded and watched it fall to the castle floor. For a tense moment, nopony moved.
After taking a few measured breaths, Twilight reflected on the last minute of their argument, realizing that she was probably being a little unfair. Yelling about it wouldn’t bring her tail back, and now the verdict was lying there on the floor between them. She scraped a forehoof against her leg and gave a weak chuckle. “Um. I’m sorry about that, Spike. I may have taken that a little too far. You are nothing like Tirek.”
The dragon raised an eyebrow. “You think?”
“And… you are right, it’s my own fault. My tail did tickle your nose. I was just upset about being anurous for my upcoming speech in Fillydelphia. I just… well, I feel sort of naked! Forgive me?”
Spike held his pose a moment longer, before shrugging. “Sure. Heh, it’s not every day you get to use the word ‘anurous’ in a sentence, huh?”
“Don’t push it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He picked up the scroll and flicked the seal open with a claw. “So, shall I read the damages?”
Twilight rubbed a hoof against her temple and sighed, nodding her head.
Scanning through the document, Spike pursed his lips. “Well Twi, I have some good news, and some bad news.
“Okay? Well, what’s the good news?”
“There was no ambassador from Yakyakistan. It turns out that the princesses were only sitting down for morning tea…”
Twilight dropped her hoof. “Phew! Well, that’s a relief! Okay, what’s the bad news?”
“It seems that you are cordially invited to retaliate against Luna’s teasing with a… prank.” Spike looked up and scratched behind his ear spines. “That’s kind of ominous. Can’t Luna gain access to your dreams whenever she wants?”
Twilight’s eyebrows quickly shot up.
Spike waited a second longer before turning on his heel and striding for the door, tossing the scroll over his shoulder.
“Spike! Where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here. I don’t want any part of it! Make my forwarding address ‘care of the CMC Clubhouse.’”
“… That’s not funny, Spike!”
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Everything from the opening of the scene with Celestia and Luna on was hilarious.
Yes, a very nice ring. All it needs is to sparkle.
I'll be honest, I'm more intrigued by this story than the main one right now. Don't let it deter you and continue to write the main one though, as it's just me and how I enjoy seeing the main characters interact with each other though.