Cover Image

Fear of Success

by DuncanR
Did you love "Lesson Zero?" Well, then, you'll love... wait. What? You HATED Lesson Zero? No-no-no, come back! This story's TOTALLY different! It's got spaceships and dinosaurs, and... oh, wait. You were kidding? Well, ha ha.

Only halfway through her career as Ponyville's resident librarian and friendologist, Twilight Sparkle is already well known for her expertise with magic. You don't become the personal protege of a princess by making rookie mistakes, after all! But when Celestia issues a seemingly harmless homework assignment, her most faithful student must face a puzzling paradox locked in a curious conundrum: To succeed, Twilight Sparkle must fail.

Set immediately after the finale of Season 2, this story explores Twilight's obsession with perfection like never before. Can she complete her assignment with her sanity intact? Can her friends finally talk some sense into her? Will her seemingly innocent experiments plunge Ponyville into a fate worse than doom?

No, no and yes. Batten down the hatches, cause a storm's a brewin'… and this one's been a long time overdue.

Everyone
Incomplete
Comedy
Adventure
Dark
 

144717 words: Estimated about 12 hours to read
Download:textHTMLePUB

24 Chapters:

  1. %i%: The prologue you'll probably just skip over anyways. Naw, it's cool. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    3484
  2. %i%: Twilight gets a letter and brews some tea. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    3762
  3. %i%: Non-deterministic problems... won’t. Polynomial-time problems... can’t. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    4674
  4. %i%: Twilight solves for X... TREME!! 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    5918
  5. %i%: Pinkie Pie reconciles the deterministic nature of the cosmos with the metaphysical libertarian view of free will. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    4388
  6. %i%: Pinkie Pie wins a pickled-onion eating contest. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    8514
  7. %i%: Twilight changes Applejack’s... mind. Heh. Hehe! MUHAHA*snrk*HAHA! 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    4689
  8. %i%: Twilight loses her glasses. Wait... she wears glasses? 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    7858
  9. %i%: Into every generation, a seamstress is born... 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6042
  10. %i%: FIGHT THE FUTURE 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6108
  11. %i%: Applejack runs out of time. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6036
  12. %i%: Twilight goes beyond the impossible. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    7671
  13. %i%: Fluttershy is the only pony who can save Equestria! We’re doomed. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    7677
  14. %i%: Pinkie Pie sings and dances. Doesn’t narrow it down much, does it? 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    4761
  15. %i%: Twilight Sparkle dies. She dies in this chapter! TWILIGHT SPARKLE TOTALLY DIES!!! 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    7332
  16. %i%: Then she gets better. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    7100
  17. %i%: It's hard to be humble... 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    8692
  18. Chapter 18 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6197
  19. %i%: “We don’t need no education” is a double negative. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    5378
  20. %i%: Apple family motto: Faithful to the core. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6488
  21. %i%: Knock Knock. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6424
  22. %i%: Who's there? 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    8323
  23. %i%: A few loose ends to tidy up. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    6194
  24. And now, a very special message. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    1007