What You See... is Not Always What you Get
“Ugh! Why can’t I find it! That nice stallion with the eyepatch sitting behind Sugarcube Corner said I could find it around here!”
Twilight trotted through the Everfree Forest, gazing to her left, then to her right. The studious unicorn, derelict to the possible dangers of simply trotting alone into these menacing woods, grew increasingly frustrated with the progress of her task at hoof.
Twilight was searching for something. She had not composed a friendship report to the princess in a while, thus she believed a little favor for a fellow Ponyville citizen would do the trick.
There was only one problem.
Twilight had no idea what brandy was, what it looked like, or where exactly to find it. All the stallion, who Twilight found sitting in a large box behind everypony’s favorite confection shop, said was, “Git me some brandy from that place in those uh... Everfree woods, will ya? I just ran out.”
Twilight gazed at his cutie mark, which resembled a strange-looking Erlenmeyer flask.
“Oh, are you a scientist?”
After a moment of staring at the lavender unicorn, the stallion's face lit up. “Oh, uh yeah! That’s what I am! I need some more brandy for erm—some experiments. I am a scientist after all.”
Twilight wasn't sure what experiments could be done sitting in a box behind a bakery, but she figured a friendship report was a friendship report. Helping this strange and smelly stallion seemed like the perfect opportunity for Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice to help somepony, earning herself another friendship report.
As Twilight continued down the gloomy path in search of this ‘brandy’, tenebrous and scraggly tree branches began to permeate closer and closer from both sides. Ironically, it was the unicorn’s brilliant and over-calculating mind that often pitted her downfall in such circumstances, like the time her future self appeared. Despite a lack of evidence of an impending disaster, the princess’s personal student became more fatuous as her search continued.
Twilight had absolutely no idea what she was actually looking for, and the normally shrewd mare paid little attention to her direction as daydreams and fantasies involving the pleasing and approval of her mentor began penetrating her psyche whilst continuing down the increasingly amorphous trail.
Deep within the mind of the unicorn, Twilight could picture her dream letter now...
“Spike! Take a letter!”
“Of course, Twilight!”
Twilight cleared her throat,
“Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that helping those you don’t know is just as important as helping those you don’t know so well. All you need to do is ask somepony what they need, go get it for them, and wallah! You’ve made a new friend! It’s really that simple. I mean, what else is there to it? I don’t think the end of the world can stop me from making new friends!
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle”
And the Princess would certainly respond,
“Dear Twilight Sparkle, My Most Faithful Student,
You have now learned and mastered everything about friendship, thus making you the greatest student in the history of Equestria! Your utter trust of complete strangers is what making friends is truly all about. You are now ready for your final level of studying, and that is...
OUCH!
Twilight snapped back to reality when her coconut made contact with a peculiar wall of wood. Falling backwards, the unicorn held her head with one of her front hooves. In a daze, the lavender mare examined her surroundings. There appeared to be a good size clearing next to her, outlined with masks, each one more bizarre and eccentric than the last. Upon further inspection, she noticed the wall of wood had windows and a front door. It all seemed very familiar...
“Zecora!” exclaimed Twilight. “She knows everything about strange and powerful magic, so why wouldn’t she know about brandy?”
The unicorn trotted over the front door, and knocked three times. A few seconds passed—no answer. So Twilight knocked again.
No answer.
Believing there was nozebra home, a defeated Twilight began to slowly walk in the opposite direction of the zebra's hut.
As soon as she reached the treeline, a faint crack could be heard reverberating behind her. Before she was able to find the source of the mysterious sound, a familiar voice whisper to her...
“Twilight Sparkle! If you wish to know the truth of our world’s fate, then step inside and promise—to not be irate.”
Completely ignoring the possible meanings of the outlandish sentence, the unicorn spun one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees to face the source of the voice. “Zecora! How nice it is to see you! I was just wondering if—,”
Zecora rolled her eyes as Twilight spoke her meaningless balderdash. “What you seek to ask is not important at this very time, for Equestria will soon be struck down—with you, at your very prime.”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean, Zecora, is something terrible about to happen?”
Zecora, a blank expression plastered on her face, simply motioned for Twilight to follow her inside.
Forgetting about her plan to aid the stallion in his brandy experiment, Twilight quickly followed Zecora into her bizarre, primitive, and completely undeveloped tree-home.
“What do you mean the end of the world is near?” Twilight gazed at the peculiar objects scattered about Zecora’s home, before taking another swig of the extremely bitter but strangely captivating liquid in her cup. After the last incident with overreacting when future Twilight appeared, the mare knew better than jumping to conclusions without proper affirmation. “What evidence do you have to show for it?”
Zecora rolled her eyes. “Look, Twilight Sparkle, at what I have here, for it is undeniable proof— that the end is indeed near.”
Twilight witnessed as Zecora slowly, with her hips rather obnoxiously swaying from side to side, ambled to the opposite side of the tree-house where a decent sized circular-shaped object sat covered with a dirty tarp.
The ever so adept and obviously ingenious zebra grabbed the tarp and unveiled the object to Twilight.
“What—what is that?” bellowed Twilight, her eggheaded jaw tottering to the floor in amazement.
Leaning against the wall stood a massive grey-tan colored slab of stone. But this wasn’t the typical run-of-the-mill massive slab of stone. Oh, no, not at all. This stone possessed many deep engravings intrinsically placed in an aubade-like pattern. In the middle, however, existed a large impression of a face. Not a pony face, but rather that of a zebra. The face also seemed to be wearing some type of strange headdress.
“This, my dear, is the calendar for the souls of my kind, sent to me by those who hail from a land far away, a land—undefined.”
All Twilight could do was stare the relic. In her mind, the unicorn couldn't recall ever seeing such remarkable craftsmanship and so much attention to detail. The unicorn had never set her eyes on anything like it before, whether in person or in the vast quantity of reference encyclopedias she was known for divulging into rather often.
Eventually, Twilight regained her composure. It was a very nice relic indeed, but upon closer inspection it all appeared as a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to the undeniably astute unicorn.
“What does it mean, Zecora? I mean, why does a Zebrian calendar have anything to do with the apparent impending end of the world?” chuckled Twilight as she rolled her eyes. Twilight knew the zebra to be a sage in potions and strange magic, but this was beyond odd. Surely this was some kind of joke.
Zecora shook her head. “For many years now I have seen this day coming, while the rest of Equestria sat around dumbing. For my kind has been aware of this impending disaster for the longest time, a disaster with proportions worthy of the greatest—sublime.”
Twilight could feel a pit form in her stomach. This zebra was talking serious business, this was no buffoonery. “Zecora, what are you talking about? What disaster?”
Zecora placed a hoof on the immaculate slab, and appeared to analyze the bizarre markings closely as if to double check her findings.
The zebra turned to face the somewhat alarmed unicorn. “On the ancient calendar of my kind, the twentieth of this month represents the last day our sun will shine. After which, when the twenty-first of December shall come, our world will be little more—than an inhabitable slum.”
Now Twilight was very serious and concerned. Such a respected po—zebra, who lived ostracized in the middle of deep dark woods, surely knew exactly and unequivocally what she was talking about. Obviously.
The unicorn was now physically shivering with fright, an angst she had not experienced since... since Nightmare Moon made her presence known at the Summer Sun Celebration exactly six months earlier. The twenty first, the shortest day of the year, was tomorrow!
“Zecora, how exactly is Equestria going to end? Who or what is going to be responsible? What does it say on the rock?” muttered Twilight.
Zecora made her way back to the table in the center of the room. Twilight noticed her usual personality had changed. The wise and witty zebra she knew was gone, being replaced with one that was a bitter as the mysterious beverage she was drinking,
“One cannot say how this world will end, as it cannot be found—in these words penned. All I can say is go home Twilight Sparkle, enjoy this night. The future ahead of you—is not so bright.”
Zecora trotted towards one of the several cabinets, grabbed a large bottle of yellow liquid, then ambled back in Twilight’s direction.
The zebra handed the bottle to Twilight. It appeared to be the same bitter potion the unicorn took a few sips of earlier. “Take this my dear, go back and share it with your friends. For when tomorrow comes, the darkness of our terminus—shall descend.
“What—what is it?” Twilight sobbed, tears running down her cheeks as she nearly dropped the bottle handed to her. For some reason, the unicorn couldn’t seem to keep correct posture as well.
“This here is the finest of brandy, surely you know it’s good for a short dandy?”
A confused Twilight accepted the drink before she exited the hut. She still wasn't sure what Zecora was talking about, but she figured a wise creature like her would know what she was talking about.
Meanwhile, Zecora returned to examining the stone slab.
Twilight watched Princess Celestia’s almighty sun dipped down beneath the tallest peaks in the west for the last time. The depressed mare thought about her life up to that point. All her time studying in Canterlot, all the magnificent books she had read studying under Princess Celestia’s wing, and all the friendships formed whilst her stay in Ponyville. It was all for nothing now.
She pondered what she should do—write a letter to the princess of course. Obviously. Perhaps the most powerful mare in Equestria could at least do something to avert this impending gargantuan crisis.
“Maybe the princess could—HMPH!”
The ingenious personal student of Celestia herself had committed the glorious act of tripping over her own hoof.
Twilight catapulted herself into the hard and unforgiving earth, the side of her head taking the full brunt of the impact. A beaming flash of white light filled the mare’s vision, then other colors, shapes, and coveted books. She saw Applejack’s older brother Big Macintosh... his husky figure, his alluring golden mane, and could’ve sworn she heard his trademarked ‘eeyup’. Why was she picturing Big Macintosh of all ponies?
It was at that moment it hit Twilight...literally. The unicorn felt something on the tip of her horn as she attempted to her hooves. She felt another object, something warm and quite soft, almost like a parasprite. They almost certainly infested these befouling woods after Applejack directed a giant ball of them into here.
However, it wasn’t a parasprite, and neither thingamajig weighed more than a parasprite. In fact, it was a roll of parchment. And a muffin. A blueberry muffin.
A flyer for the Canterlot Hearth’s Warming Eve Ceremonial pageant uncoiled itself next to Twilight as it struck the ground. Before examining the flyer, the unicorn gazed up into the twilight sky attempting to discover the source of the rogue parchment. It didn’t take long for Twilight to spot through a few branches a grey pegasus mare carrying a bag full of large scrolls in the general direction of Ponyville.
Twilight rolled her eyes as she put together the mystery of the falling parchment and pasty. It was Ponyville's mailmare as she made her way into town. Her memory was foggy after leaving the hut, so she couldn't remember her name. However, she was able recall the time she dropped a piano among other things on her head...in this case, she preferred the muffin.
Despite the utterly recrementitious amount of kinetic energy inflicted on Twilight that day by the mailmare’s apparent blunder, she wasn’t irascible nor resentful towards the mailmare. Twilight heard that she suffered from a rather nasty case of Strabismus, and after all, the injuries inflicted upon the unicorn only really amounted to a mere flesh wound.
Twilight gazed down at the Hearth’s Warming Eve poster. Despite the increasingly miniscule amount of protruding through the scraggly and lusterless tree branches of the everfree forest, she could still make out a few notable facets.
Living in Canterlot for most of the young mare’s life, Twilight had attended plenty of ostentatious Canterlot Hearth’s Warming Eve pageants. Thus, the unicorn had most certainly seen her fair share of posters and flyers advertising its magnificence once a year.
This one was no different. The flyer depicted hundreds of mares, stallions, colts, and fillies standing in front of a large stage. They appeared to be singing in unison and harmony the most cherished of friendship carols in all Equestria.
As always, the princesses could be clearly seen sitting in their luxurious royal box. Princess Celestia on the right, and Princess Luna on the left...
Something seemed odd about Princess Luna. Not they way she looked, her brilliantly flowing blue mane looking as magnificent as always.
“Princess Luna,” said Twilight as she continued to stare at the Princess of the Night.
As the unicorn pondered, she also felt rather thirst. Thus, seeing that there were no sources of water in sight, Twilight pulled out the large bottle of ‘brandy’ potion from her rucksack with her magic. “Zecora told me it’ll help me feel better, and she’s obviously never been wrong about anything in the past so—why not.” Twilight withdrew the cork and placed her lips around the entrance of the bottle, before swallowing a large gulp of potion.
The liquid delivered a burning sensation as it traveled down the mare's esophagus. The feeling was so intense, it nearly caused the unicorn to vomit. After suppressing her gag reflex, she released she did feel better. The thought of losing everything and everyone she held dear didn't bother her as much.
Like a bolt of lightning on a sunny day, the reason to the worlds demise hit her out of nowhere.
Twilight stared down at Princess Luna again. “Tomorrow is the twenty-first of December, the shortest day of the year! Zecora mentioned something about the, um, darkness overtaking the world, and what better day for her to do it than on the day with the most night? Therefore, Luna must be planning on transforming back into Nightmare Moon!”
Twilight ceased talking to herself for a moment in order to catch her breath, feeling quite pompous for figuring it out. “Except this time, she’s not going to bring everlasting night. Oh no. She’s going to bring forth everlasting… um— nothingness to Equestria forever!”
The unicorn glanced forward in the direction of Ponyville, a look of audacity now plastered on her face. “I must tell my friends, and we must do something about this!”
The newly energized Twilight Sparkle galloped as fast as she could towards Ponyville, stumbling multiple times along the way.
“Princess Luna’s up ta what?” bellowed Applejack after taking another swig of brandy and passing it to Rarity. “And woowee! This stuff sure is stronger than the cider we make back at the acres!”
Everypony just silently stared at Applejack for a few seconds, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about, before turning back to the librarian.
Twilight and her friends sat around a table inside the Ponyville Library. The lavender unicorn alerted her friends of the situation, which called for a mandatory friendship meeting. Per Zecora's request, Twilight shared her brandy ‘potion’ with all her friends. Even Spike and Fluttershy got in on the action, taking several gulps each. Spike almost immediately passed out on the floor, but nopony seemed to notice.
“She’s going to end the world you guys,” said Twilight with an accompanying burp. “That’s basically a condensed version of the summary of the abridged story Zecora told me...I think.”
Despite Twilight announcing the exact same thing, everypony gasped with utter shock and bewilderment for a second time. The evidence was irrefutable.
“H—how mean of her!” screamed Fluttershy so loud, it knocked the library’s copy of Famous Misinterpretations of Zebrian Mythology right onto Twilight’s head. Yet nopony seemed to observe the outright ludicrous volume at which Fluttershy had spoken.
“Hey Twilight, do you think that maybe, um—,” Rainbow Dash needed a few seconds for her mind to catch up with her mouth, since she wasn’t exactly the brightest of mares, “maybe that book on your head talks about whatever Zecora told you? I don’t know, this does all seem kind of out of the blue and unlikely. And couldn’t you just send a letter to Princess Celestia anyways?”
The unicorn utilized her magic in order to levitate the book in front of her. Not two seconds after reading the title did Twilight toss it away, which subsequently landed atop Spike.
A look of intense animosity now loomed onto the Librarian’s face. “Don’t you dare try and tell Twilight Spar—, I mean, me that this might be fake! Of course it’s real, Zecora could never misinterpret something! She’s always right about everything! And sending a letter to Princess Celestia? That will never work! Luna is probably already intercepting all mail in and out of Canterlot!”
A moment of awkward silence filled the room. Then Rarity moaned in her most elegant of tones, “Twilight’s absolutely right! We simply must do something to stop her!”
“Yeah, that big meanie-pants, she wants to make it so I can’t host any more parties!” shrieked Pinkie Pie, as she managed to swallow a gulp of brandy before passing it to Rainbow Dash. “And I drink this potion all the time my parties guys!”
Twilight suddenly jumped onto the table, lifting her right hoof towards the ceiling. “Nightmare Moon will not return! There will be a December 21st if the… uh—Elements of Arm… whatever have something to say about it!”
Twilight’s friends, now more zealous than ever to save Equestria for a third time, lifted their hooves in mutual agreement.
“But Twilight, dagnabbit it’s eleven o’clock already! That means we only have an hour t’ save ours and everypony else’s flanks. How in the hay do y’all reckon we’ll ever get there in time to inform Celestia in person so we can save Equestria again by harnessing the amazing, er, powers of the almighty Elements of Harmony?”
Twilight pondered Applejack’s ridiculously long question for a moment, before an idea hit her like Rainbow Dash likes to hit other nice ponies.
“I’ve got it! I’m sure the princess will understand my reasoning. Everypony follow my lead!” vociferated Twilight.
Thus, the Element of Magic and her five rather elementary friends galloped out the Library door and out into the night to stop Nightmare Moon’s obvious imminent return, leaving a still unconscious Spike all alone on the floor.
What complications with Twilight’s unmistakably foolproof plan could possibly occur?
“Just imagine how proud Princess Celestia will be of us for figuring out Princess Luna is still completely evil!” said Twilight with a grin whilst the six friends galloped off towards the train station.
Drip... Drop.
Drip... Drop.
Why is my face all—wet?
Twilight jolted awake, and immediately felt the need to bring a hoof to her temple. The most splitting headache Twilight had ever experienced permeated inside her noggin. The unicorn then attempted to rise to all fours, and was abruptly forced to relocate her hoof to her midsection. For the first time in her life, Twilight was experiencing a forcible stomachache. "Oh Celestia...my stomach feels like I spent the evening drinking bleach. Wait a minute...how do I know what bleach tastes like? I can't remember anything!"
In fact, Twilight could not recall hardly anything from the previous night. What happened? Where was she? Surely this wasn’t the library, the ground was way too—indurate.
After many unsuccessful attempts at picking herself up, the mare finally succeeded. On wobbly legs, she attempted to look at her surroundings, so she could get a better feel for her situation.
Twilight sat in a rectangular room, with cobblestone walls rising up three sides. One contained a small window. The floor and ceiling were also cobblestone, a tiny trickle of water dripping slowly from the plafond. The other side appeared to be a barred fence-like wall, which the unicorn could see through.
The mare summoned super-pony amounts of strength in order to accomplish her goal of looking around the place. When she finally reached the bars, Twilight noticed several other ‘rooms’ that strongly resembled her current luxury suite.
The ominous thought unanticipatedly crossed her mind. Was she in... prison?
Twilight spun around, and stared at the sunlight pouring in through the small fenestration in the opposite wall. Sunlight... why did that seem more odd than her current whereabouts.
“The Sun!”
Everything came gushing back into Twilight’s psyche. Zecora, the end of the world, the ‘brandy’ potion, her friends, rushing out of the library. But everything afterwards—now that was still a blur. Twilight tried to summon the thoughts, but they simply would not come.
The sun had rose, the world clearly had not ended. Twilight couldn’t believe it, but Zecora’s prophecy was completely and utterly wrong.
“How could that be?” the unicorn muttered. “Zecora had that rock to prove it and everything!”
Nevertheless, another rather positive thought quickly invaded Twilight’s mind.
“She was wrong! Nightmare Moon hasn’t returned! We’re going to live!” she rejoiced as the mare hopped around the prison cell, completely forgetting the ailment from which she suffered.
Twilight stopped. “Wait, where are my friends? And why the heck am I a prison cell? Somepony, please, you’ve got the wrong librarian!”
Abruptly Twilight heard hoofsteps. Very familiar hoofsteps, then the creaking of an opening door invisible to Twilight down the hall.
A few seconds passed, and the hoofsteps drew closer and closer.
Soon, Twilight was happily gazing into the intoxicating purple eyes of her mentor, none other than the almighty Princess Celestia. However, the sun goddess’s face was one of not so jubilant properties. Her student’s euphoric grin quickly faded as the princess stared daggers into the eyes of her pupil.
Twilight was beginning to comprehend just how much she was up to her mane in trouble now...
“Twilight Sparkle!”
Princess Celestia poised herself to gaze in the direction of the burning fireplace. Twilight, whose eye’s remained glued to the floor after ambling into the room, stood at the opposite end of the princess’s personal quarters. Princess Luna leisurely rested on a rug to the unicorn’s right. Celestia’s personal pupil did not respond.
“Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was for me to go and retrieve my very own personal student and her best friends from the Canterlot penitentiary?” Celestia slowly circumducted to face the unicorn. “Almost everypony in the city witnessed it.”
“But Princess,”
“You deliberately intoxicated yourself and your friends, and even the minor Spike in Ponyville, leaving him all alone in the library whilst hijacking the Canterlot express train in the middle of the night.”
“But,”
“After arriving in Canterlot, you and your friends embarked on an inebriated and boisterous crusade, proclaiming ‘the end is near’,” Celestia glanced over at her sister, “and ‘Nightmare Moon’ had returned.”
Princess Luna rose to all fours, and joined her big sister in the dagger-staring. “Thou Princess of the Night is very disappointed in thee. How could one forget the night you saved thy princess from the evil that was inside of me. That evil is vanquished forever, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna glanced at her sister again. “How could thy sister’s apprentice speaketh of such atrocities ever returning?”
Twilight lifted her head and finally made eye-contact with her mentor. “Princess, I was told by—”
“None of that matters, Twilight. Do you have any idea how much damaged you and your friends caused last night in the city?” The unicorn shook her head. “Well, your two pegasus friends decided to break into the market and steal cantaloupes to play dodgeball with. That resulted in the destruction of many upper story windows.”
Fluttershy? Playing dodgeball with Rainbow Dash? The thought of that actually made Twilight almost chuckle.
“Your earth-pony friends decided to break into a local school and draw chalk pictures of rocks and Oranges all over the walls.”
Now that was odd for Applejack and Pinkie Pie...
“And your unicorn friend broke into and looted Hoity Toity’s fashion boutique!”
“Typical” muttered Twilight under her breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!”
A few awkward moments passed, before Princess Celestia spoke again.
“And you!”
Twilight gulped.
“You were found attempting to break into the castle by continuously colliding head first with the front gate, despite the stallions standing guard on either side asking nicely to cease your actions for several minutes. They had no choice but to drag you to prison. Since I knew you were the instigator, I sent your friends home soon after they were detained.”
“But princess! This was all a big misunderstanding! All I was trying to do was help somepony out so I could write a friendship report to you!” asserted Twilight. “I ran into Zecora...well actually I ran into Zecora's house, but that's not the point. She told meall this stuff about the end of the world, and she gave me this ‘brandy’ potion, and told me to share it with my friends.”
“Well Well Well... it seems Twilight Sparkle had really fallen under my spell.”
The unicorn jumped around, and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she witnessed Zecora and the ‘scientist’ enter the chamber behind her.
“Wait, wha—what’s going on?”
Celestia trotted over by the unicorn’s side. “Twilight, you did receive that new encyclopedia, the Famous Misinterpretations of Zebrian Mythology, correct?”
Twilight pondered a few seconds, before remembering that specific title. That book came in just a few days earlier. The mare’s heart once again began to sink into her stomach. The pieces were starting to come together in her mind. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you consult the reference guide before making your decision as to if Zecora’s myth was accurate or not?”
Twilight remained silent for a few moments, before answering, “Are you saying the myth wasn’t rea—?”
“This myth in my culture is indeed a genuine one, it did announce today our days should be done,” interrupted Zecora. “However, if confirmation is what you seek for this certain myth, you will find—that there is indeed none.”
“This was a test, my faithful student, a simple test designed to assess your common sense.” Celestia trotted back to the fireplace again. “And you failed my Twilight dear, on all levels. Not just failed, you went above and beyond. The word ‘fail’ now seems like an understatement to me.”
Celestia stared into the fireplace. “Common sense dictates you do not go running around in dangerous woods for a stallion you’ve never met before.”
Twilight could feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks, and splashing onto the tiled floor below.
“You do not accept a bottle of a random and suspicious potion you’ve never seen before, even if you may know that pony, or in this case, zebra. For the effects of in this case ‘brandy’ can be truly devastating. Who knows what could have happened to you.”
Celestia once again turned to face her student. “And most importantly. Above all else, you never truly believe the end of the world is upon us without undeniable proof. Zecora had no proof other than an ancient slab of rock that doesn’t really speak of impending doom. You even could have looked this myth up in your new book, but you chose not to. Instead, you decided to overinterpret without due cause. Either way, it doesn’t matter now. You now understand the damage created by your poor decisions, and I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
The room remained almost completely silent for nearly a minute. Only the sound of the blazing fire could be heard over the deafening silence.
Eventually, Twilight spoke, “I have learned my lesson, Princess Celestia, I promise I will never make those asinine mistakes again!” Twilight breathed in deeply, then continued, “Does this mean you’re not punishing me?”
The unicorn was disconcerted to see a small grin amass itself on her mentor’s face.
“Of course not! I am very disappointed in you, and severe punishment only seems fitting.” Celestia glanced over at her younger sister. “What do you think, Luna, does the—maximum punishment sound fair to you?
Twilight was even more flabbergasted to witness the Princess of the Night chuckle at her mentor’s statement. “Ah yes! The maximum punishment does seem adequate for thy student’s actions.”
“And what is that sentence, my sister?” chortled Celestia.
Princess Luna sucked in a disproportionate amount of air—enough to make the most brilliant unicorns in Equestria scratch their heads at the physics of it all.
“ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!” shrieked the Moon goddess in the most awesome of Royal Canterlot Voices.
Twilight swore she could feel her heart drop into one of her front hooves. However, the feelings of incredible consternation quickly lifted as everypony around began to laugh.
“No Twilight, my most faithful student, you will not serve any time in prison, you will not be banished to a faraway land, and you will not be imprisoned in the land you won’t be banished to. You will not be sent back to Magic Kindergarten. All I ask is the use of common sense in the future, thus preventing another such event in the future.”
Twilight’s eyes sparkled with regained excitement, the mare galloping towards her mentor. Twilight wrapped her hooves around the princess’s, and Celestia the same with her personal student. For several minutes, Twilight and Celestia embraced in a tight hug.
“Now, go back to Ponyville and learn all you can about the magic of friendship,” whispered Celestia ever so softly into her student’s ear. “And I’ll be expecting some mail.” said Celestia with a wink.
Twilight grinned and nodded, before finally releasing the princess and trotting by Princess Luna, Zecora, the, erm, ‘scientist’, and out the door.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned the true value of something we often overlook in our lives. The value of common sense. I realized that just because somepony, or somezebra, may ludicrously claim the end of the world is near, one should not believe it. For that is almost certainly not the end of the world. Today I discovered what the end of the world feels like for a few moments in your quarters, the end of my world. I learned that with a little common sense here and there, ponderous events such as those from the previous night can be avoided altogether. When somepony is not busy with the consequences of poor judgement or decision, that time can be used to build stronger friendships all around.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Delivery for Miss,” the mailmare needed to analyze the letters closely in order to dictate the rather unusual name correctly, “ZA-CORE-AH!”
Derpy had flown many times over the Everfree Forest for deliveries, but never before had the mailmare flown into the forest for one.
The door creaked open slightly. “The end is near! The end is near! So come inside, and have some beer!”
“The end is near?” chuckled Derpy. “The end of my shift is near, if that’s what you mean. Muffin?”
Derpy handed a blueberry muffin through the crack of the front door. Suddenly, the door swung wide open, and Zecora stood inside, sweat rolling down her cheeks.
The usually tactful zebra rolled her eyes. “Just come inside and drink this stuff with me, it will make you feel better about being forced to speak in rhyme to everypony except you.”
Derpy’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m so totally up for hanging out! Say, do you have any chocolate muffins? You seem like a chocolate muffin zebra!”
Zecora simply rolled her eyes again whilst she closed the door of her home behind her.