Chapter 4
"And as the series progresses, we find more and more new and interesting characters that will prove to be some great challenges for us!" Pinkie beamed, rocking around in her chair while she admired the screens and television crews around her. "At the time, we sure did think many of these ponies weren't really friendship material, but wow are we glad that we learned that nopony is beneath becoming a good friend.
"This episode shows one such character; one we thought irredeemable and would have to wait for so much growth before we were finally able to reach an understanding. I am, of course, speaking about the sixth episode installment of My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic: the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
"Come on Twilight, you can do it!" Spike cheered on from the side, watching as the lavender unicorn's horn flared up while she charged her spell. This spell in particular, while more of a trick, had stumped her the first couple of times she'd tried it already, but now she felt certain that she knew what she was doing. Her concentration focused harder, and a blinding white light filled the room for the briefest of flashes, then a pulse of magic restored their vision. Twilight sighed in relief, hopefully glancing at Spike to see if the trick had turned out how she had planned.
Spike tentatively looked down passed his nose, and his eyes widened in joy as he beheld the beautiful new mustache now being sported on his lip. She giggled as he ecstatically began to twirl the fine black piece through his claws, the young dragon dashing back to a checklist with over two dozen items listed. He picked up a marker and scratched out one towards the bottom. "Ha ha! You did it. Growing magic; that's twenty-five! Twenty-five different types of tricks, and counting!"
Twilight was a little flustered by his praise, especially with the dragon usually being so reserved and critical.
"Onto the next one, which I'm sure you'll figure out in no time!" Twilight was grateful at how quickly he changed the subject, though the moment he saw himself in the mirror, it seemed that he had forgotten entirely to claw over the scroll to her. He chuckled to himself as he continued to twirl the mustache in his claw, using his free one to snap at his reflection.
"And I am looking good." He he nodded while doing another once-over of his appearance, smoothing out stray scales as he found them. "Hello, Rarity. Hm? What's that? Oh, this is nothing, just my new, awesome mustache that Twilight got me!"
Twilight did always enjoy it when Spike dropped his doomsayings every now and then to act like the foal he was, which is why it was particularly difficult for her to cut away at his time to enjoy the new look. She lit up her horn as he turned to her. "I'm sorry, Romeo; but as attractive and enticing as you look, this was just for practice and it's gotta go."
Spike seemed to deflate a little as the mustache glowed a faint lavender, curtesy of the unicorn's magic color matching her coat, but the loss didn't bite until the mustache was truly gone, followed with equal parts magic popping and a baby dragon sighing. And as much as it sucked for Spike to miss out on something as fun as a large, new mustache to wear around town, Twilight much preferred having her number one assistant the way he always was. "Alright, Spike, toss me the next scroll so that we can try to make flowers grow instantly!"
He grabbed the top scroll from among a pile that she had had him designate for practice earlier, this one being the typical red-ribboned scrolls that she used for her fancy spells. The scroll had barely left his had before she had it enveloped and magic and pulled on over to her, whipping the ribbon off in a heartbeat and peeling the thing open.
Her eyes quickly scanned the contents, a brow furrowing on her face in concentration as she tried to grasp the concept. Spike was a little worried about that look, but after suffering the most recent lost of such an amazing mustache, he chalked it up to her insane concentration skills.
"Okay. . . ready Spike?" She sighed heavily, preparing herself to cast another complicated spell, though her hesitation was damped when he nodded enthusiastically, popping a flower pot down between them so she had something to work with. Closing her eyes in concentration, her horn lit up brighter than before as the spell began to take form in her head. It wasn't long before she gathered all the energy she needed, though she silently thanked her photographic memory for that, and then she cast the spell, clenching her features as the wave of magic passed through her skull and out her horn.
There was a loud pop as the magic ball hit the pot, then a startled yelp from Spike that meant that something must have gone wrong. Unfortunately for Twilight, she was unable to figure out what as she had blacked out. . .
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Ahhhh . . . Skip!
Twilight awoke with a groan, cracking her eyes to see Spike panicking over her, presumably freaking out that she had overextended herself. She was off put by it though, she couldn't quite remember the last time she'd blacked out due to magic overloads, and this wasn't exactly the kind of spell that would do that to her: most ponies would have been able to do this back at Canterlot. All she had done was make a slight change to the spell for a more colorful variety of flowers. She sat up with another groan, but the pain was quickly subsiding, so she looked to Spike, who was still freaking out. There was an intense ringing in her ears, so she couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but that was minute compared to the more glaring issue.
Something about Spike had. . . changed. She didn't know what it was, but he definitely seemed different than before, which would have explained why he was freaking out: though the difference wasn't clear to her yet. She rubbed her ear with a hoof, standing on three others shakily, when Spike finally seemed to realize her condition.
He dashed over to her, placing a steadying claw on her side, looking at her with sparkling pink eyes full of concern. His compassion towards her was always the greatest, and she shared a brief smile while returning the look. . .
'Pink eyes.' She realized, looking down at the baby dragon, which had taken a few more physical changes as well. She blinked in surprise, seeing a tiny pair of wings sprouting from his back, and a much smaller snout, with super adorable fangs jutting out from under his lips and a bunch of lovely lashes around his eyes. His deep purple scales seemed to glow with a vibrant pink sort of sheen.
"Spike?" She asked, grabbing his with both hooves as her shock overrode every other feeling in her body. "Spike what happened to you?"
Instead of answering with words, he simply held out the scroll in a clenched claw, which she took with hesitant curiosity, carefully glancing at the very top of the scroll. Her trust in his choice of scroll had left her carelessly missing that this was not the spell she had wanted to cast: this spell was more along the lines of a gender transformation spell. The revelation was horrifying for her, because this was an untested spell that she hadn't been able to properly measure the safety concerns for.
There was a tick in the back of her mind celebrating that she had cast such a revolutionary spell, though it was dwarfed and silenced by her concern for her dear Spike. Quick apologies were made, and though he seemed more shocked than anything, she considered herself grateful that there wasn't any major psychological damage to him yet.
Still, she was worried that any prolonged presence like this might mean permanent damage to his psyche, and that was more than enough motivation for the pair of them to rush towards fixing the problem. Twilight's first proposed solution was to cast the spell again, in hopes that a second casting would just reverse the effects. And while she was nervous about the amount of magic she would be using, nothing was too much when it might help Spike, so she readied herself for another wave of magic. Spike patiently waited for her to cast the spell, nervously rubbing his claws together while doing so.
"Ready?" She asked, to which he nodded rapidly. Inhaling sharply, her horn lit up as she gathered all the magic she could, focusing the spell in her head and harnessing everything she needed. After a second of heavy focus, another flash of light filled the room, and a loud pop resounded across the library.
Once the light had faded, Twilight glanced towards Spike, worrying over the lack of energy drops for her, leading her to believe the spell was a dud. Sure enough, as her eyes readjusted to the normal light levels of the building, Spike was his abnormal, pink-glowing purple female dragon self. With her ears drooping, she sighed and walked over to him, pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Spike. I didn't want this to happen, but I promise you: I will find a solution to this! There are a ton of books in this library, surely I'll be able to find something in here!"
He returned the hug, though internally, he doubted that she was going to find anything really helpful. Still, he was not going to give up and let himself be stuck like this: if Rarity saw him. . . he had no idea what he'd do.
And so, he ignored his trepidation towards finding a solution in favor of being Twilight's number one assistant and helping her scour the library for anything of use.
About an hour and a half into their search, with absolutely nothing to show for it, Twilight groaned, slamming her head onto the book she had just finished scanning. Spike looked up from his own pile, though he couldn't read as fast as her, he knew that he could at least help her by moving old books and helping her get new ones. He'd just finished moving a stack to her table when she made her feelings about the affair known. "Still nothing?"
"No. I can't seem to find anything at all." She sighed, picking her head up to look forlornly at her poor little Spike. "Perhaps I should go get us some hay burgers for lunch. Maybe some food is just what we need."
"Uh. . ." Spike shifted nervously, twirling his tail like he had done to his mustache earlier, an action he often did when he was embarrassed or nervous. He looked back at his smaller, though existing, wings, and the pink glow that permeated in his scales, before glancing at her with fear in his eyes. "Are you sure we should head out, I'm not exactly famous in Ponyville, but ponies do know who I am and what I look like. What if they see me? What if ponies start making fun of me because I look like a shiny filly's pet?!"
"Spike." She calmed him down with a sympathetic smile. "If you don't want to go outside, you don't have to: I'll just run down the the burger place and get us something to eat, then I'll be right back. You won't even notice I'm gone."
"Really?" He sniffled, fighting back a single fearful tear, leaping at her to give her a huge hug when she nodded her affirmation. He squeezed her tightly for a second then backed off, escorting her to the door so she could be gone and back without any further delays, as his stomach felt like it was about to complain for food any moment now. Twilight giggled as he did so, but she let him have his moment, the pair of them hoping this was over sooner rather than later.
"Alright Spike: I'll be back in just a few minutes, so how about you start organizing this mess we made so we don't wind up rereading several books that won't help us?" He nodded at her suggestion, though it was clear he was anxious to slam the door shut before anypony walked by and saw him in his state. Sighing to herself, she turned and started trotting through town, hoping that the hay burger place restaurant wasn't too busy.
Crossing town had proved to be simple enough, and she was eternally grateful that most of the usual occupants of the place were elsewhere, meaning she was able to just walk in an place her order. And her food arrived even more quickly once she hoofed over the bits, thanking the lovely mare at the register before immediately turning to leave. She had made it about halfway out the store before two little colts started shouting as they bolted passed.
She recognized them as Snips and Snails, two of the. . . less bright colts that went to school here. They made a mad dash running around, nearly slamming into some random passerby pony. The pony managed to dive out of the way before the pair of colts tripped over each other and fell to the ground. Twilight trotted over to them, using her magic to pick them up and dust them off. "What's going on?"
"Why, haven't you heard?" Snails began, perking right up at the chance to spread this news they seemed to be super enthused about. "There's a new unicorn in town!"
Snips decided to throw in his piece of the message at that point. "And they say that she's got way more magic power than every other unicorn EVER!"
That little bit of boasting got Twilight's ears to flop back against her skull once more, as she back off shyly. "R-Really? Where is this unicorn?"
"Oh! She's down in town square!" Snails grunted, pulling both Snips and Twilight along towards the mentioned location. "Come on!"
0_0
Set up on a large platform before the town hall, a massive crowd of ponies stood watching in awe as a wagon began spewing out unbelievable quantities of pyrotechnics. Twilight gasped at the grand display, working her way to the front of the crowd, where her friends were also standing, staring curiously at the display. Before she had a chance to greet them, a loud, resounding voice echoed across the crowd, cutting clean through the explosions and whistles of a flashy show. "COME ONE, COME ALL!
"COME AND WITNESS THE AMAZING MAGICAL POWERS OF THE GRRREAT AND POWERRRFUL TRRRIXIE!" The crowd gave a general acceptance of the grand entrance, the baby blue unicorn waving her hooves around in dramatic fashion. "Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of pony magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!"
Another round of excessive pyrotechnics burst off, leaving with several of Twilight's friends with a sinking suspicion in their stomachs, as well as leaving more than one of them unimpressed with the overly dramatic performance. Once in a while would be fine, even exciting, but they all knew exactly what kind of show this was going to be. So, under the cover of flashy lights and loud bangs, Rarity commented to her gathered friends: "My my my! What boasting! Oh, hello Twilight."
"Hello Rarity."
"Where is Spike?" She asked nicely, offering the lavender unicorn a friendly smile.
"Oh. He, uh, is home." She frantically tried to come up with an excuse before another blast of fireworks startled her free. "He's sick right now. There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?"
"Nothin' at all, 'cept when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons." Applejack commented, turning a frowning look upon Trixie, who was busy summoning a bouquet of flowers from nothing. Twilight picked up that none of her friends were too impressed by this showpony anymore. Rarity nodded.
"Just because somepony is good with magic does not make them better than the rest of us." That comment, while she was sure was not said directly to hurt her, made Twilight cringe internally, fearing that at some point, word might spread of her abilities and her friends would shun her. She did consider herself lucky that at that point, Rainbow Dash got their attention by making a typical Rainbow Dash comment:
"Especially when you got me around being better than the rest of you." The arrogant phrase got Applejack to come down hard on the cyan mare, who winced at the death glare the farmer had given her.
"What do you mean 'typical' arrogant Dash. . ." Pinkie gasped, the static screen of Rainbow Dash leaning away from Applejack starting to warp and wave as Pinkie jumped up from the bottom, revealing a stern, then thoughtful expression. "Okay, nevermind. I see where you are coming from, but you better watch yourself 'Hinterland Seer,' I'm on to you. Rainbow Dash knows what she's good at, and I'm only giving you a pass because this was before we really had a chance to work on her ego. Just. This. Once. Though. If I ever catch wind of you saying meanie things like that to any of my friends, or anypony really, you and I are going to share some words!"
"Eh-I mean. . ." Caught in the act, the rainbow-maned unicorn chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "yeah, uh, magic shmagic. BOO!"
It seemed that their conversation had drifted beyond the duration of any form of loud distractions, as Trixie just waltzed up to the edge of the stage of stared down towards the girls. "Well, well, well. It looks like we have some neigh sayers in the audience."
Her words were punctuated with a lively neigh right as she got to that word. "Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie?! Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?!"
Rainbow Dash, being her usual, egotistical self, couldn't help but snort, before finally blowing a raspberry towards the mare. While most of her friends shared the mentality, they didn't actively seek to provoke this new unicorn quite like she wanted to, it appeared. Rarity, however, did mumble to Twilight about the issue: "Just WHO does she think she is?"
Trixie smirked at Dash's display, using her 'powerful' magic abilities to blast several more bursts of pyrotechnics into the air, resulting in an aggravating display of smugness that not even the pegasus could stand. Doing so was such an affront to Dash's own ego, that she actually soared into the air, flying right into the unicorn's face to confront her, complete with air quotes and everything. "So, 'Great and Powerful Trixie," what makes you so awesome anyway?"
There was a faint chuckle from the unicorn.
"Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the DREADED. URSA. MAJOR!" There was a loud boom as a very special, though apparently preconceived firework shot into the sky, exploding in a cloud of sparks resembling the night stars. The shape took the form of the named fiend, as a large blue bear with a star on its head. The audience loudly gasped in awe at the claims to such a feat, one so very few ponies ever had the luxury of claiming. "When all hope was lost, the wonderful ponies of Hoofington had nopony left to turn to, and the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in to save the day!"
Another firework went off, this one containing some of Trixie's magic in to manipulate it so that a poor resemblance of the mare was now waving a wand at the vicious image of an Ursa Major. "And with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major back to its cave in the Everfree Forest!"
"Awesome!" Snips screamed victorious, leaping on the stage to pull Rainbow Dash back down to the crowd. "That settles it: the Great and Powerful Trixie is the real deal!"
Snails soon joined him on the stage, declaring with passionate glee: "Trixie is the greatest, most magical unicorn in all of Ponyville."
Snips only had a single response to that: "No. She's the greatest, most magical unicorn in all of Equestria!"
"How do y'all know that!" Applejack spoke up, surprising many of her friends, though they realized that, her being the Element of Honesty, probably felt that something was off with this. "None o' y'all was there when this was s'pposed ta happen. None o' y'all saw a thang!"
"Why, are you truly calling me a liar! Well, I can assure you; all of this is true, my enthusiastic little admirers." She responded with a haughty laugh as she continued to bombard the audience with grand displays of her stockpile of pyrotechnic explosives. "The Great and Powerful Trixie certainly is the best in Ponyville!"
There was a long moment of silence, where the cheers had gone, as it seemed that the few voices that stood up against her had disillusioned the crowd to her claims. So, after that silence, Trixie took a look of confidence and glared out into the crowd, before her gaze fell upon Twilight and Rarity, the two unicorns. "Don't believe me? Well, then I hereby challenge you, all of Ponyville! Bring your best magic users and I will prove to you: anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anypony?
"Is there truly nopony willing to attempt the impossible, or is Trixie destined to be the greatest pony to have ever lived?" Another grand display from the egotistical mare, who was desperately trying to compete with Rainbow Dash for the highest esteemed title. There was another pause, and it seemed that the two mares Trixie had been hoping would stand up were going to keep silent, and she didn't want to lose in front of the crowd, so she pointed to Twilight after a moment's pause. "Hm. How about you?"
"Hiya all! Pinkie back for the super long and boring commercial. But before we get into that super boring, though necessary stuff, I'd like to take a moment to share a little message from pretty much everypny out there. It was thanks to the wonderful viewer, you guys, that this show had so much success, and all us Ponies in Ponyville, well all of Equestria really, have so much to thank you for: it was your devotion and encouragement that made us who we were, and what brought us to our current standing. It was also all you guys out there in the Brony fandom who made many of these super awesome stories and ideas possible. This fandom has brought so much life to the series, and us ponies would love the chance to thank you for all the support and love you've given us!
"And now that the super sappy stuff is over with; onto the fun stuff! Today, during this fine commercial break, I wanted to give you guys another relatively simple trivia question, though it will come in two parts: here goes the first.
"Princess Luna kick started the series as the very first villain of the fourth generation of My Little Pony, appearing as the heinous Nightmare Moon. However, neither characters were finalized until rather late in development, and as such, they have some interesting character tidbits you can find about them. The first question is this: Due to the later finalization of Luna's character, what was her original name going to be?
"The second trivia question is similar in idea to the first, but still revolving around the first episode and her antagonist/villain. This time, we look to Nightmare Moon, the inspiration of many absolutely beautiful works of art in music, literature, film and digital media. However, this villain also had an entirely different concept behind her, as well as another simple, yet formidable name. Who here remembers the original design of Nightmare Moon's character, and what was that name going to be?
"While you think about those fun little questions regarding the best Princess in Equestria, lets take a look at our (not) sponsors!:"
Insert random super boring commercial that leaves your brain the moment it ends.
Insert incredibly long, super useless ad for some strange contraption that kids will never know the use of.
Play trailers for a brand new movies from a great series with amazing mythical creatures that will most definitely be on our 'must watch' list.
Insert a horribly deflating ad that follows such an amazing movie trailer.
"And commercials are over!" Pinkie squeals with glee. "So, now we can finally answer those fun little trivia questions that I'm certain at least most of you might have answered, seeing as how they come from the best Princess and one of the more original villain concepts to come out of films and shows recently. I'll skip the silly intermission stuff and get to the answers I know you've all been just dying to here.
"The answer to the first trivia question is this: Princess Luna started out being known and Princess Selena. What a shocker that would have been! But things only get more crazy from there, because during the original writing for this series, Nightmare Moon was going to be a tad different, with the original idea leaving her as the now infamous 'Discord!'
"Just try to imagine that: Princess Selena going mad with jealousy and turning into Discord to overthrow her sister! Such a weird way things could have ended." Pinkie sighed, taking a sip from a mug of coffee. "Anyway, let's get back to the episode to see how the hay Twilight is supposed to beat Trixie and fix Spike!"
"So, what will it be? Does anypony here have anything they can do the the Great and Powerful Trixie can't? Twilight gulped, weighing her options. She was desperate, but she doubted that this traveling showpony had enough magic to solve her problems. Dash interrupted her train of thought by accepting the challenge.
The pegasus did a series of complex maneuvers involving a mill that spontaneously appeared in Ponyville (Pinkie, explanation?), several rain clouds and a dash of raindrops. After soaring above the sun, making everypony stare in awe, she looped back through the busted remnants of several clouds and slammed down on the stage with a perfect landing. A moment later, the rain she'd collect showered over her, and in the sun made a dazzling rainbow appear above her. "They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothing."
"Let's see about that." Trixie replied smugly, her horn lighting up and the rainbow that had dazzled above Dash warped and enveloped her in a tornado of colors. After the crowd had a good laugh about it, Twilight was sure that this unicorn was going to be a problem, and decided that she might be able to solve two problems at once. She teleported back to the library, grabbing a surprised Spike, before popping back.
"I've got a challenge for you!" She declared triumphantly, using her magic to hold Spike aloft. "It's a simple spell, really: just cast the spell to change this dragon's gender, and with somepony as powerful as you, this would be a piece of cake."
"Oh, such an amateur spell." Trixie scoffed,waving a hoof around to show her lackluster amount of care. "Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie waste her time doing something so simple. Next!"
"What? Afraid you can't do it?" Twilight was risking a lot on this, but she knew that she was going to prevail.
"Hardly. I just-"
"Then prove that you're better. I've already cast the spell twice, but I suppose I should also remind an amateur like you that dragons are naturally resistant to most magic, making any spell cast on them doubly hard."
"Very well. I'll prove my superiority." Trixie scoffed, though Twilight could see the sweat beads forming on the mare's brow, which was both relieving and saddening. Twilight had genuinely hoped that this unicorn would have been able to perform the spell, to succeed where she had failed, but it seemed like that was for naught. She knew she'd have to find another way to help him.
"Spike?" Before Rarity could gasp in horror, Trixie's horn lit up, and a beam of magic hit the dragon, though nothing happened for a moment. Trixie waited for a moment, then beamed proudly, flaring her cape like she was the greatest pony in Equestria.
"I have done it! This dragon has successfully been turned to the proper side!"
"Which is?" Twilight asked smugly, knowing she had Trixie now.
"Why, this is now a female, of course." Trixie never would understand just how lucky she was with her guess, but nopony would have a chance to do anything before Spike shrieked in horror, dashing away flailing through the crowd like a crazed lunatic. Twilight winced as she caught the glances of her friends, knowing she'd have to explain the situation to them after the show, though Spike was a much bigger threat right now. She dashed back to make amends with him, leaving the rest of Ponyville to gasp in wonder at the false trick Trixie just profited hugely from.
After severe condolences were had, and a fierce explanation for her friends, Twilight and Spike had an awkward sit down with them, trying to form a plan to stop Trixie, that was. . . until the shaking began. They all exchanged curious glances between each other, the repetitive thumping in the ground turning confusion into worry. Wondering just what was going on, they all made their way out of the building, though Spike had his reservations about doing so. They had barely made it out of the building before both Snips and Snails bolted passed them. Twilight called for them to stop, but they were in too large of a rush.
"Can't talk right now. Got a MAJOR problem." Snails called as they dashed by, though Snips was slower to catch up with his slower legs.
"Yeah, URSA Major, to be exact!" The shorter colt called before they vanished into town, presumably to get Trixie. The six mares and dragon exchanged worried looks before following after them, the deadening drum of a massive beast lumbering towards town. "TRIXIE!"
The two colts pounded on the unicorn's door until she opened it up, groggy and obviously irritated at having been woken up. However, that irritation soon morphed into fear as she heard and felt the loud quakes that followed the Ursa as it towered into town. "Trixie, we need your help vanquishing this Ursa major!"
"What?!" She gasped, turning to face them. "What happened?!"
"We figured you could prove how great and powerful you were by vanquishing this one too!" Snails replied happily, and something about this situation, either how satisfied the colt seemed with himself, or that an Ursa Major was lumbering through town, angrily charging towards the two colts, caused the unicorn to snap. She shrieked with dismay, shouted nonsense to the two colts before making a dash for cover behind some buildings, shouting lividly how she had made up the entire story and how she had just wanted to sound super cool.
The revelation left the two colts flabbergasted, as they found themselves facing a very big problem, and their idol filling them with lies. Spike rammed Twilight in the side to get her attention. "Twilight, you have to do something!"
"But-" She looked to her friends, who all bore terrified expressions at the lumbering beast now towering over them, growling at the colts with droll dripping from its gaping maw. She didn't know what to do, but she knew that something had to be done. She stepped forward, earning the Ursa's attention, her horn flaring to life as she charged up some energy, still completely uncertain what she was going to do. She knew her time was limited, and without any time to form any kind of strategy, she let instinct take over.
Out of her control, but through her magic, a sort of spectral wind picked up, carried towards the colossal beast by her spell, powered by a surge of magic she hadn't felt in a long, long time. As if this was something she was born for, the magic intensified, ripping at reeds and pulling at trees, making everything reach towards the Ursa.
There was a shift in the world, and as the reeds snapped, a soft lullaby began to float across the skies, so soothing that it seemed that even the stars were destined to sleep. This was a form of magic so pure, so primal and perfect, it was a stroke of fate, something to remembered across the ages. The song carried itself with such grace, such beauty, that the world seemed to be the flowing water that trailed behind the perfect swan. The Ursa seemed to react in kind, like this pure melody, this combination of a unicorn's magic and the very fabric of reality, was equal to its mothers soothing voice. Its eyes drooped and the entire creature seemed to rock gently, teetering on the verge of falling over. Twilight's horn surged in power, illuminating the whole town as her magic picked up the Ursa and carried it across town and back into its cave in the Everfree Forest.
After the heavenly music had faded like a distant memory, the town was left gaping at the feat Twilight had just performed. Everypony returned to their dwellings then, but not before each pony offering a sincere thanks to her, and well after running Trixie out of town. Though the town was saved, and Twilight and her friends had each called it a night and separated to their own retirements, something kept Twilight awake.
Deciding that she would benefit from writing a letter, she pulled out her quill and a parchment, finely detailing her thoughts to the Princess.
Dearest Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that it is easy to over-exaggerate one's abilities, and to be far too boastful about them, while it is also easy to fall into not giving yourself enough credit when it is due. Though we all have our own strengths and shortcomings, I learned that it is always important to just be honest about who you are, to both yourself and others.
- Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
P.S. I may have accidentally cast a gender-swapping spell on Spike, and I might need you help in figuring out how to reverse the issue.
That morning, both Twilight and Spike received a surprise visit from the Princess, who was more than happy to help Twilight fix Spike's little problem, as well as getting a fresh recap on how her studies were going.