Princess Celestia flew through the late morning skies, high above Equestria. Her sun shined brightly down on her, warming her gleaming white coat and chasing away the chill. She scanned the ground below, her rose colored eyes taking in the details as she searched.

The princess felt... conflicted since she received the letter inviting her to visit. She cared very much for her former student, and was quite happy to hear from her. There was also curiosity as to what it was that the young unicorn wanted to show her. Twilight was always a brilliant filly, and could do amazing things when she put her mind to it. At the same time, Princess Celestia felt trepidatious about the matter. Twilight was brilliant, but also very obsessive. Once she set her mind to something, nearly nothing would discourage her. There was also an issue of Twilight sometimes resorting to questionable magic or practices to explore possibilities that had her interest. Granted, she normally claimed it was "solely for the sake of knowledge," but others would not be so willing to keep it as such.

What are you up to now, Twilight?

Catching sight of the mansion, Princess Celestia slowed down her flight as she came in for a landing. Her great white wings spread wide, holding it as she glided down. She gave one last flutter as her hooves touched the rocky ground, stopping herself as she went from flying to walking.

Before she had even taken a full step, the doors to the mansion opened and the familiar purple young mare came running out, a grin on her face.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called out as she ran toward the princess. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"I am glad to see you again as well, Twilight," Princess Celestia said, leaning down to rest her neck against Twilight. "I am also quite curious to see what you have been working on since you have left my tutelage."

"Of course," Twilight said. Stepping out of the hug, she turned and started toward the mansion. "I'll show you immediately. Spike should have tea and cake ready when we are finished."

Princess Celestia smiled slightly to herself as she followed Twilight Sparkle. It seems that her former student had picked up some skills about proper hospitality and being a good hostess since leaving.

The interior of the mansion did not look much better than the exterior. The walls were crumbling, with small bits of vine and moss beginning to poke through the stones. There was no dust, but the air held a hint of dampness and mildew. The carpets that they walked on was frayed and worn, the stones underneath being visible in some spots. Similar claims could be made for what remained of the tapestries that hung from the walls. In some spot, only the tops of such things remained. There were no signs of any new furniture, or any for that matter.

Twilight seemed unusually quiet to the princess.

"So tell me," Princess Celestia stated, "what is it that you wish to show me? You had a great many ideas in mind when I last saw you."

"I need to show you first," Twilight replied, not looking back. "What I have done is so amazing, you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it for yourself."

That was an unexpected response, one that made Princess Celestia's eyes go wide with surprise. What could Twilight have possibly accomplished that made her think that the princess would not believe it unless actually seen? The possibility left Princess Celestia curious, and more than a little nervous. After all, this was the same unicorn who -- during an unexpected flare up of her power -- not only managed to hatch a dragon egg thought non-viable, but managed to make the hatchling spontaneously grow into adulthood (albeit temporarily), to say nothing of what she caused to occur to the other ponies in the room at the time.

It was when the pair had reached what Princess Celestia could easily identify as Twilight Sparkle's laboratory did things look different. The air no long smelled of must and mildew, but of antiseptic. The walls and floor were immaculate, or as much as they could be. There were multiple tables, including one that was covered in chemistry equipment. There was a set of free-standing shelves, filled to overthrowing with numerous books of varying ages, all focused around magic and science. Strangely, there was something covered by a large white sheet.

It was the last one that Twilight Sparkle made her way toward. Her horn glowed with power, taking a hold of the sheet. Once beside the object, she turned to face the princess, grinning widely.

"Princess Celestia, I present to you" -- she yanked the sheet off -- "my latest success."

Beneath the sheet was a cage. Inside was what looked like a pony.

Princess Celestia's eyes went wide and her wings flared out in surprise. Head down, she moved closer to get a better look at it. The pony-like creature was a stallion. It was on the large side, with thick muscles on its chest and limbs. Its (his?) mane hung down as it looked up, staring with wide eyes at the two ponies outside the cage. Each part of the creature's body was a different color, thick black stitches holding them all together. There were more stitches on the part of the chest that Celestia could see, as well as around the top of the thing's head.

"I call him Pitch-Patch," Twilight announced, grinning. "What do you think?"

Princess Celestia turned to look at her former student, eyes still wide as she tried to process what was before her.

"How... How..."

"How did I do it?" Twilight finished, grinning widely. "The hardest part was actually finding the proper parts. I used the parts from all three of the different pony types that I believe would be the most useful or effective. For instance, the lungs of a pegasus since they have to breathe in thinner atmospheres, the heart of an earth pony since they need to have strong circulatory systems for their muscles, and the digestive tract of a unicorn since we supposedly are more efficient at breaking food down into energy. Except the eyes. Those are from a griffon which are supposed to have better vision since they are predators.

"Once each part was collected and put together, I used the storm from last night. The raw electrical energy of the lightning and trace amounts of pegasus magic was mixed with my own unicorn magic as it entered the body, allowing it to be animated as a new, living, intelligent creature."

Twilight shifted.

"Well... I think he's intelligent at least. He seems to respond to stimuli and contact. He is able to make some grunts and noises, but can't actually speak. I think that it might be necessary for him to be re-taught how to talk among other things.

"So, what do you think?"

Princess Celestia stood there, staring between Twilight Sparkle and the creature dubbed Pitch-Patch. The princess' mind worked, processing all that she had been told. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"What you have done is impressive," she stated, turning to look at her former student once again. "However, when I suggested that you make some friends, I did not mean for you to do so literally."

Author's Note

That's it. That was the point of this whole thing. I pretty much created this entire story just so I could make that joke. The entire work was made solely to culminate into a single pun.