A young Twilight Sparkle walked through the streets of Canterlot. A book, as usual, was held aloft by her magic, drowning out the rest of the outside world.
“Honestly,” Twilight Velvet thought, “if I weren’t here watching her, she would fall right off the edge of the city!”
Twilight Velvet jumped as she heard her daughter slam her book shut and let out an exasperated groan.
“Mom, I don’t see why we’re going to the park anyway; I was perfectly fine reading my book in the yard!”
Velvet sighed, “Well, Sweetie, in our yard you can’t make any friends, now can you?”
“But I don’t need any friends! I have Shining Armor!” Twilight insisted. “Besides, I just became the personal student of the Princess, and she gave me a day off! And when the Princess gives you a day off from lessons, you use that time to study! And if I don’t study, I’ll get behind, and if I get behind, she’ll fail me, and if she fails me-“
Twilight Velvet quickly saw where this panic-ridden train of thought was going, and put a hoof on her daughter’s shoulder, and gave her a small, calming nuzzle to silence her imagination and ease her worry.
“Twilight, she gave you a day off to relax. She sees how hard you’ve been working, and the progress you made. Why just yesterday, the Princess told me how far ahead you were in all of your studies; she doesn’t know how you’ve been able to learn so quickly!”
Twilight Sparkle looked down and felt her cheeks turn a proud shade of red at the Princess’ comments. “But-“
“No buts, honey,” Twilight Velvet interjected. “Today, we go to the park, and you’re to play with the other kids.”
“So… what you’re saying is,” Twilight Sparkle said with a small grin, “making friends is my assignment for the day?”
Twilight Velvet put her hoof to her forehead and realized that there was only one way her daughter was going to go along with this.
“Alright, Twilight,” her mother said as gently as she could while holding back her frustration. “Yes, this can be like an assignment. You are to make one new friend by the end of the day today, and I will give you an A+, how does that sound?”
“…. Can the A+ come with carrot cake?”
Twilight Velvet chuckled. “Yes, Sweetie, the A+ can come with carrot cake.”
Twilight Sparkle beamed, and suddenly couldn’t wait to get to the park.
“Alright honey, I have a couple of errands to run,” Twilight Velvet said as she levitated a small purse over to her daughter. “Here are a few bits, in case you and your new friends want to get some treats!”
“Friends? Like, plural?! But mom, you said I only had to make one friend!” Twilight Sparkle objected.
“I did say that,” Twilight Velvet said with a warm smile on her face as she rustled her daughter’s hair, “but I know you’re an overachiever, and who doesn’t love a little extra credit?”
Twilight Sparkle gave her mother an uneasy smile. “Yeah, heh, extra credit…”
“Anyway, I’ll leave you to make new friends. I’ll see you in a little bit, love you!” Twilight Velvet said as she began to trot off to run her errands.
“Love you too mom…” Twilight Sparkle nervously said as she turned towards the park, seeing all of the other little foals playing. Twilight Sparkle gulped.
“What have I gotten myself into?”
Twilight Sparkle sat underneath a tree, studying all of the little fillies and colts playing. It had been two hours, and Twilight had yet to even approach anyone.
“Alright, Twilight,” she thought, “you’ve observed them plenty. You know what they like, you saw them interact, and you’re ready to join them. By Celestia’s witness, you will make a new friend, and you will get that cake- er, I mean, A+!”
Twilight stood up, determined to succeed after her inner pep talk. She confidently began trotting over to her soon to be friends, ready with her opening line. “Hi there, my name is Twilight Sparkle, what’s yours?” She smiled, knowing it was only moments away that she would be making a new friend, and only a few hours away before she would be biting into a delicious piece of her mother’s carrot cake. She closed her eyes to imagine it. “That warm, carroty, moist piece of carrot ca-“
“Um, hello?”
Twilight froze and her eyes bolted open. In front of her was a group of foals, staring at her uncomfortably. She stood there terrified, wondering how long she had been just standing in front of them with her goofy smile and drool running down her fa-
“Drool?!”
Twilight sucked up all of the drool she had managed to compose thinking about the cake, and realized she had inhaled a bit too ferociously. She began a coughing fit, choking on her own saliva, as her quickly-dying-chances-of-being friends looked on in horror and confusion.
“It’s okay, I can still fix this!” Twilight thought. She began trying to sputter out her name through her choking fit, which only ended up making things worse.
The foals screamed and ran, worried that they might catch whatever sickness this purple filly might have. Twilight tried to lift up a hoof and yell to them, but they were already too far gone. Before Twilight could even regain her breath entirely from her coughs, she felt the sobs start to take their place, and the tears of pain from her fit, turn into tears of rejection. She galloped back to her tree on the side of the park, and cried. Twilight knew she definitely had failed her assignment.
A young unicorn stallion trotted along the side of the street, enjoying this beautiful day. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, the sobs of a small filly in the background…
The stallion stopped in his tracks. “Wait, am I hearing that right?”
He looked around for the source of the noise, and pinpointed it to behind a tree off in the grass. The stallion cautiously began to make his way over to the tree, not sure what lay on the other side.
The stallion turned and reached the source of the noise; a young purple filly lying under the shade, tears rolling down her cheeks. He didn’t know who the young one was, but he knew she needed help.
“What’s wrong, little filly?” The stallion asked.
Twilight jumped at her sudden being discovered, and looked up to see a tan coated stallion with a concerned, yet caring, look on his face.
“Oh it’s nothing,” Twilight sniffed. “I just… I was supposed to make some new friends today, but I just scared everyone away instead…”
The stallion frowned, and sat down next to the filly. “Well, who said it’s too late to try again?”
Twilight pointed over to the park, and the stallion turned his head to see that it was empty. “Wow, she really must have given them a scare, didn’t she?”
The stallion looked back to her to find the tear streaked face of hers looking up at him, eyes red and puffy.
“Would… Would you like to be my friend?”
The stallion felt his heart melt and smiled. He ruffled her hair and said “Of course, silly filly, I would love to be your friend.”
Twilight beamed and gave the stallion a big hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you!” she yelled to him. “Oh!” She quickly opened her eyes and realized that she hadn’t properly introduced herself yet to the stallion that had helped her pass her assignment. “By the way, my name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle,” Said the stallion. “My name is Smarty Pants.”
Twilight smiled and shook his hoof. Suddenly, she felt her stomach growl, and realized she forgot to have something to eat! “Hey Smarty Pants, are you hungry? My mom gave me a few bits to get something to eat with my new friends!”
Smarty Pants smiled and nodded, letting the excited filly lead him to wherever she wanted to eat.
The two new friends shared about themselves over a couple of hayburgers. Twilight’s eyes widened as she learned of Smarty Pants’ new position as a professor at Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, only to be followed by Smarty Pants’ jaw dropping upon learning that he was having lunch with Princess Celestia’s new personal protégé.
Smarty Pants smiled, quite satisfied with his delicious meal, and wonderful conversation to go along with it. He reached for his wallet and levitated out a few bits and set them on the table.
“Hey, what are you doing?” a look of confusion stuck on Twilight’s face. “I told you I was paying for lunch!”
Smarty Pants chuckled at the foal’s stubbornness, and knew from the look on the filly's face that this was a battle he just was not going to win. He looked around and spotted a toy store just across the street.
“Alright, Twilight, you can pay for lunch.”
Twilight put a smug smile on her face, glad that she was so easily able to achieve victory with her new-found friend.
“But in exchange,” Smarty Pants continued, “you have to let me buy you a new toy, to make sure you remember your new friend.”
Twilight’s smile grew uneasy, and she nodded meekly.
Smarty Pants noticed the sudden change in emotion, and was mildly thrown off. “What’s wrong, Twilight?”
“Well…” Twilight began, “It’s just that, I don’t really play with toys much. I’m more of a books girl.”
Smarty Pants stared in astonishment. “A little filly that doesn’t play with toys?! We’ll have to fix that right away!”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Twilight, most ponies have a toy that is their favorite, one that they enjoy no matter what. They find that toy that they share a bond with that is almost... magical.”
Twilight’s eyes widened at the last word. “So you’re saying that I have to use my magic to find a toy for me? Like a test?”
“Not exactly, Twilight. It’s more of-”
“An exam? Or maybe a quiz? How about an assessment?”
Smarty Pants sighed. He had heard of Celestia’s new pupil being a bit more enthusiastic than the usual pony when it came to her studies, but this was ridiculous.
“No, Twilight, none of those things. You don’t have to use your actual magic to find the right toy for you; it’s more of something that, when you see it, you’ll know it.”
“…. I don’t get it.”
Smarty Pants put his hoof against the bridge of his nose, and took a deep breath. “Here, follow me, and I’ll show you.”
Twilight and Smarty Pants walked into the toy store, where the little filly’s eyes grew in amazement. She had never seen so many toys in her life! Dolls, games, little vehicles, and things she didn’t even know how to describe!
Smarty Pants looked down at Twilight and smiled. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
Twilight could do nothing but nod, eyes still transfixed on all of the bright colors of the different toys.
“Okay, Twilight, go ahead and take a look around, and see if you can find a toy that you feel that magic with. I’ll stay here, and just come find me when it finds you, got it?”
Before she could even give Smarty Pants any sort of acknowledgement, Twilight darted off. She needed to see all of these new toys!
Twilight started with the toy carriages, zooming them across the floor as fast as she could. The little filly then made her way over to the balls, bouncing around on top of the largest one she could find and squealing in delight. Twilight never knew how much fun toys actually were! After making her rounds through almost the entire store, Twilight found her way to the final section; the dolls.
Twilight rolled her eyes as she approached. “’Pony plays dress up’, ‘Pony plays tea party’, ‘Pony plays nurse’, blah blah blah.” She wasn’t too intrigued by this section, as it looked so boring, but she had not found a toy that really spoke to her yet. “With this selection, I might just go check the ball section again.”
Twilight quickly glanced over the toys, seeing nothing that really stood out to her. Unsurprised, Twilight turned to head back to take another look at some other toys, when something caught the corner of her eye.
“Is that a… quill?”
Twilight turned back to the dolls to examine, and sure enough, found a small quill sticking out in between two of the “Pony Plays” playsets.
Twilight pushed the sets aside, and was surprised to find a small doll tucked behind all of the other sets! Twilight used her magic to pull it out and examine it. It was not much to look at, and, quite frankly, did not look like it belonged here in the first place.
It was a gray-coated pony with a gray and black striped mane, wearing a pair of blue trousers with white polka dots. Where its place in this store came into question, however, were its eyes. It had two buttons for eyes, but one was blue, while the other was red.
Twilight did not understand how such a mismatch could have possibly passed through inspection and made it here to the toy store, but did not really care either. Her curiosity was still piqued on why it came with a quill.
Twilight continued to look back farther behind the other playsets, when she came across what looked like…
“Is that a notepad?”
Pulling the object forward, her suspicions were confirmed. It was a notepad, albeit a rather miniature version of one. Twilight looked at the objects and beamed as she put the three together. “This doll comes with its own homework supplies!” As soon as she made this realization, she felt something click in her head, a spark alight, a…
“A spark of magic!”
Twilight galloped to the front of the store as quickly as she could, almost knocking over Smarty pants on the way.
“Smarty Pants, I found it!” Twilight exclaimed as she levitated her newfound doll in front of Smarty Pants’ face.
“That… That’s the one you want?”
“Yes!”
“You felt the magic?”
“Yes!”
“… You’re sure?”
“YES!”
Smarty Pants smirked and took the doll in his own magic, walking it to the desk to buy it. “Well I guess I can’t doubt that confidence, now can I?”
Smarty Pants set the doll on the counter, “How much?”
The clerk looked down at the mismatched doll on his desk. “For this piece of junk? One bit.”
Twilight smiled as she walked with Smarty Pants back to the park. With her new doll sitting on her back, quill and notepad stored safely in her mane, she looked up at the sky. With all of the excitement of the toy store, Twilight didn’t realize how late it was getting, and her mother would probably be back to pick her up soon.
Upon reaching the park, Twilight sat at a bench where she would wait for her mother, and Smarty Pants smiled down at her.
“So Twilight,” Smarty Pants asked, “did you have a good day?”
Twilight smiled up at her new friend and nodded vigorously, causing Smarty Pants to chuckle a little.
“I did too.” Smarty Pants said, as he turned to walk away.
“Wait!” Twilight quickly yelled to stop him before he got too far away. She jumped from the bench and stood next to him, “Where are you going?”
Smarty Pants turned to face the small filly and smiled, “I have a class this afternoon I need to teach, I am a professor after all.” He said with a wink.
“But…” Twilight stammered, “will we still get to spend time together? I don’t want to lose my new friend…”
“Oh Twilight,” Smarty Pants began, wrapping the foal up in a hug, “of course we will. I’m sure that I’ll be teaching you in the near future at the school. Besides, I think I found my new lunch buddy, if you would be interested.”
Twilight beamed up at Smarty Pants, squeezing him even tighter and chuckling. “Deal!”
Twilight Velvet trotted back to the park, looking around for her daughter and her hopefully newfound friends. After scanning the park, she sighed when she found the filly sitting at a bench by herself. “Looks like it didn’t work.”
Twilight Velvet approached her daughter and prepared to great her, when Twilight Sparkle looked up with the biggest grin on her face.
“Mom, I made a new friend today!” Twilight Sparkle blurted out as loudly as she could. “And look, he gave me this new toy!” she then held up the doll with its quill and notepad right in front of her mother’s face.
Twilight Velvet felt as smile spread across her face just as fast as the little filly was reminiscing about her day. “That’s wonderful, sweetie! Sounds like we better get home so I can make someone some carrot cake!”
If Twilight Sparkle’s smile could get any wider, it would. The entire walk home, she continued to tell her mom about everything her and her new friend did, her doll riding on her back the entire time.
Twilight Velvet looked down to her little daughter, smiling as she heard about the great day she had with her new friend. She then thought for a second, and realized that she had not mentioned her new friend’s name, yet.
“Sweetie, may I ask what the name of your new friend is?”
Twilight Sparkle beamed as she looked up at the new doll on her back, reminding her of the friend that she made today, that gave her something she would love for a lifetime.
“Smarty Pants.”
