@Background Pony #9886
(the castle is in bad shape. Applejack just floated by and implied that Big Macintosh believes in Spider-Man’s mantra. Twilight and Spike enter)
Twilight: what…is…going
on!?
Starlight: Oh my gosh, thank Sunbutt you’re back! I was, uh, just practicing my magic and it kinda, sorta
violated our friends’ minds and misplaced their free will Ahem! and everyone was super-creepy and they kept calling me by my full name! Or as much of my full name as they know. And Fluttershy was covered in bugs and Applejack kept saying non-sequiturs whenever I stopped listening to her for a second!
Applejack: It’s like Apple Bloom always says: “Twist never talks anymore, it’s startin’ to scare me. Do ya think she’s alright? Why are you laughin’, Granny?”.
Starlight: See? Also, I’m pretty sure there’s no such pony as ‘Twist’, so she’s making up names, too.
Twilight: Back up for a second. You ‘kinda, sorta’ did
what?
Starlight: It’s really not as bad as my wording makes it sound.
Twilight: Yeah,
most things aren’t as bad as what you said! ugh. Spike, stay here and go “LALALALALALALA” so nopony overhears Starlight’s voice.
Spike: Eh, whatever grants me a moment’s respite from sweeping!
Twilight: Starlight Fudgiepudge Glimmer,
come with me.
Starlight: why did i tell her my middle name?
(in the library)
Applejack: (from outside the room)
it’s like big mac always says: “stupid feather bangs. why’d ya have to go an’ be so dreamy?”
Starlight: Okay, let me have it.
Twilight: (sigh) I guess my biggest question is ‘what the heck possessed you to do that!?’.
Starlight: I haven’t been doing my friendship lessons,
okay!?
Twilight: Most of my close friends are standing mind-broken in my foyer. Your right to cop an attitude about this is revoked. Also, why haven’t you been doing them? One of them was literally “relax with a friend”.
Starlight: Because the idea of baking a cake with Pinkie Pie was so…! What if I wasn’t good at it, despite easily making a cake she said was good not too long ago? What if I just held her back? It freaked me out. …in hindsight, my spell-cocktail only changed
why the experience freaked me out.
those eyes..!
Twilight: oh my gosh, i can’t believe i almost lost to you. Do you know why I had you bake with Pinkie instead of just reading cookbooks?
Starlight: Because teachers enjoy making things harder than they need to be?
Twilight: So you could
bond with her! Do you know why I wanted you to relax with Rainbow Dash instead of by yourself?
Starlight: She calls it “chillaxing”.
Twilight: I know, and her unrecognized portmanteaus are infuriating! But the reason was
so you could bond with her! And do you know why I told you to help with Rarity’s sewing? So you could bond with her and make Spike some clothes! Do you know how hard it is to clothes-shop for a bi-pedal, spine-backed creature in
Ponyville!?
Starlight: …fairly hard?
Twilight: The point is, the friendship lessons weren’t about what you were doing. They were about becoming better friends with others.
Starlight: Oooh. I think I might have missed the point.
Twilight: Yes. You missed the point that “friendship lessons”, which I made sure to call them regularly, were about…
friendship! Somehow! (sigh) Well, you might have missed the point, but I sure didn’t.
Starlight: Oh?
Twilight: (smacks her horn right on the point) Idiot!