• Published 9th Feb 2013
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The Next Level Of Your Studies - cleversuggestion



Twilight Sparkle gets a letter from Celestia that sets her on a quest for knowledge which will transform her more deeply and completely than she ever imagined was possible.

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2. Celestia's Request

1217 CE, shortly after the Crystal Restoration

Warmth and pressure blossomed without warning in Spike's chest. He hurriedly set down the book he was carrying, opening his mouth before he burst. A gout of green flame erupted from his throat, and he swiftly snatched the heavy parchment scroll it contained in his claws. “Twilight! Letter!” he called through the library. (Twilight, for some silly reason, had vetoed calling it the libratree.)

“Is it from the princess?” Twilight asked excitedly, ears perked up and the scratching of her quill coming to a halt.

Spike broke the sunburst seal and saw a familiar salutation. “Yep! Want me to read it to you?” Twilight nodded and so he unfurled it fully and read, in his most impressive voice,

My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight,

I hope that you have rested after your adventure in the Crystal Empire, but knowing you I imagine that you're eager as ever to get back to work.

A lifetime is not long enough to learn and enjoy all friendship has to offer, so please still send me friendship reports whenever you or your friends learn something new. As I promised, it is time to begin the next level of your studies. First, some homework: focus your personal attention on rationality. I recommend you get started with epistemology and decision-making under uncertainty.

I know you will continue to impress me with the speed of your learning and depth of your understanding. Please have a report ready in a month and present it to me in Canterlot.

-Princess Celestia

Spike walked over to and set the letter on Twilight's desk, knowing she would want to read it again (and again). He saw Twilight's furrowed brow and sped to the kitchen, starting a pot of tea. He had gotten enough practice at reading Twilight that he could often tell requests were coming before Twilight thought to make them. Whenever Twilight wanted to digest something big, she would sit at her desk, either slowly sipping tea and staring at nothing in particular as she thought or scribbling hurriedly as she made list after list. The Princess's letter had been full of praise--he puffed up a little thinking about how proud everyone was of the pony that he thought of as his big sister--but the new request for Twilight was something he knew she would take a little too seriously. Maybe more than a little.

As the kettle boiled and Spike thought about it some more, the request worried him a little. When the Princess had told Twilight in an offhand way to make some friends in Ponyville, Twilight rediscovered the Elements of Harmony and saved Equestria from eternal night. When the Princess asked Twilight to write reports on friendship, those letters were what Twilight needed to climb out of the despondent depths Discord inflicted on her and restore Harmony. Clearly, Celestia was a good judge of the wisdom of doing something. Here was another special request for Twilight, and Spike feared it would be necessary sooner rather than later.


Twilight had read the letter twice after listening to it before she started deconstructing it. The Princess was... well, the Princess. Twilight had never met a wiser pony, and studied everything she could about her carefully. Being praised by the Princess was one of the best emotions she had ever felt, and she was almost euphoric from the amount of praise in this letter. She already knew the place of honor it would get in her collection of letters: a understated gilt frame placed high enough that she could see it over the foot of her bed, directly above the letter she had received after scoring perfect marks on Twist Hobble's final exam. The last sentence filled her with a familiar fire: she would learn everything there is to know about rationality and impress the Princess. The Princess would be so impressed, she would make Twilight her personal advisor at the castle in Canterlot, and Twilight would get to spend all day talking with the Princess or reading through the Canterlot library.

The rattle of a teacup on a saucer brought her back to reality. Spike had brewed her some tea as quickly as lightning; or, perhaps, her fantasy had gone on a bit longer than intended.

“Why, I was just about to ask you for some tea! Thanks so much, Spike!” She smiled broadly and levitated the cup to her lips as Spike preened. She stifled a giggle by drinking instead. Spike worked so hard to be her number one assistant, and she felt positively blessed to have him as a friend. And, right after she thought it, she decided she ought to say it. As she carefully placed the cup back, she said to Spike, “You really are the most thoughtful assistant a pony could ask for. Thanks.” He blushed, and left to do other chores with an “aw shucks.”

Twilight took another sip of tea, warmed in her belly and in her heart. After the book on sleepovers led to the smashing success that was her first sleepover, she decided she would see if she could find a book on friendship. (She wouldn't dream of plagiarizing the book for her friendship reports, but once she realized the importance of friendship she wanted to devour everything she could about it.) In less than two years, she had almost worn out her copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence Ponies” by Dale Carneighee by reading it again every month. He had stressed repeatedly the power of compliments, a lesson Twilight tried to work into her life whenever she could. It amazed her sometimes the power of happiness to create more happiness- truly, this was deep magic.

As she set down her cup, she summoned several rolls of parchment and a quill, ready to organize her thoughts as create a plan. Decision-making and uncertainty seemed like obvious topics, but epistemology not as much. She was pretty sure it was the philosophy of knowledge, but thought it was worth checking. She levitated a dictionary over, quickly confirmed her memory, and then went back to her checklist. She wrote at the top, then carefully underlined,

Epistemology and Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

-Books on philosophy. (Check library index, publisher's catalog. Might not have everything here in Ponyville; interlibrary loan should help.) Check tables of contents and indices for mentions of epistemology.

-Books on decision-making. (Same as previous.)

-Books on uncertainty. (Same as previous. Additional keywords: probability, chance. Ignorance?)

-Friends. How do my friends learn things? How do they make decisions? How do they cope with uncertainty?

When she couldn't think of anything else after a minute, she moved to the second roll of parchment, listing all of the books she had remembered reading that mentioned epistemology. The third listed books she remembered on decision-making, and the fourth roll listed all the books she had remembered reading on probability, statistics, and related math. The fifth roll listed her friends and some initial hypotheses. She noted with pleasure that she had come up with a category that wasn't books on her first try- she wouldn't have thought of that two years ago. Now, she knew her friends have a wealth of experience that she could draw on.