Twilight Sparkle pulled back the curtains from one of the windows in her library, allowing more light to fill the darkened room. She had spent most of the night coming up with and perfecting a useful new spell she knew she was going to need in the foreseeable future. Though she knew it was unhealthy to skip sleep, she knew everything would balance out with this new piece of magic.
In order for the spell to work properly, she had to make sure she performed it properly, like making a fine meal. Her stomach grumbled at the thought of food. Perhaps she would make herself some breakfast after she had finished testing.
Focusing her magic on the nearest quill and a blank sheet of paper, she levitated both closer to her and began writing the first assessment sentence: "I lyke to eat cookies. They taste berry good."
Instantly, the quill broke free of her manipulation and crossed out the erroneous words from the sentence. Once plainly crossed out, the words quickly faded from the parchment, leaving behind no evidence that they had ever existed aside from two blank spaces.
The quill then wrote in these spaces the correct spellings of the purposely flawed words, coming to a rest on the edge of the paper. The sentence now read: "I like to eat cookies. They taste very good."
Twilight smiled at the quill and yawned as her exhaustion finally began to creep up on her. She would need some tea to go along with her breakfast if she was to make it through the day.
"Twilight!" Spike yelled from the floor above. "Where are you? I was going to give you breakfast in bed, but you're not in your room."
"Bring it down to the kitchen, Spike!" Twilight yelled back to her diminutive companion. Using her magic, she lifted a small stack of papers, the recently used quill, and an ink bottle and brought them up with her to the next room. Spike wobbled into the kitchen as well, cradling an absurdly large tray of toast, eggs, and pancakes. The pancakes themselves were at least a meter tall, slightly swaying with every movement Spike made. "Spike, you didn't have to go to all this trouble. It is almost your birthday, after all."
"I know, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you." Spike replied with a warm smile. As Twilight began placing the writing supplies on the table, he muttered under his breath, "And to make sure I get a super big surprise party in return..."
"What was that?"
"Uh, nothing. Nothing." Spike responded quickly as Twilight levitated the breakfast tray on the kitchen table.
Twilight set one of the sheets of paper at one seat of the table and drew a plate from one of the cupboards. Removing a few pancakes from Spike's tower, she placed them down on plate and onto the placemat.
"Speaking of birthdays," Twilight said, yawning softly. "what do you want for your present this year?"
"Twilight, it's supposed to be a surprise. You can't just ask somepony what they want. It has to come from the heart," Spike said as he rolled his eyes.
"Hypothetically, what would you want for your present this year?" Twilight inquired as she poured syrup on her pancakes.
"Oh, that's easy. I want a pet duckling," Spike answered gleefully. "I've always wanted a pet, and Fluttershy has the cutest- I mean, coolest ducklings at her cottage."
"I'll check with Fluttershy later today, then," Twilight said as she made a mental note of it. "I'll send her a letter to make sure she knows."
"Don't you have to get ready for the Miss Ponyville pageant? It's only a few days away," Spike reminded his caretaker.
"Yes, I have to rehearse my act for the talent portion," Twilight replied as she took a bite of one of the pancakes. "I almost wish Pinkie wasn't so adamant about me participating. I'm not really cut out for the demands of beauty pageants."
"Do you have a dress ready?"
"Oh, right. I need to ask Rarity if she can make me one. I guess I'll send her a letter too," Twilight shrugged as she yawned yet again, much louder than the times before. "And I have to see if Apple Bloom still needs help with her long division for school. Applejack's going to get a letter as well, I guess."
"You sure have a lot on your plate, Twilight," Spike remarked as Twilight yawned again. "You shouldn't be doing so much when you're tired like this."
"I'll be fine Spike," Twilight affirmed. "Though I suppose Rainbow Dash might be able to run some errands for me and help me out a bit. I need some roses for the new vase I received last week. I'll ask her about it, I suppose. "Yawning again in the most boisterous tone yet, Twilight got up from her seat and levitated her papers and quill off the table.
"Twilight, you just got here! Aren't you going to finish your breakfast?" Spike asked as she trotted up the stairs.
"I need to get straight to work on these letters, Spike," Twilight answered. "I'm sorry. Can you please clean the table up when you get the chance?"
Spike stared at the staircase with his mouth agape long after Twilight had left his field of vision. He then slowly turned his head to the leaning tower of pancakes behind him. The table was a bit above his reach, and the pancakes looked as though they could topple at the slightest imbalance.
"Okay, Twi," He gulped after a few drawn out moments of awe. "I can handle it."
