Poison Smoke

by Shaded Changeling

Rating: mature
Tags: Drama, Random
Length: 5550

Spike is stressed, so he decides to unwind. But what to use after the Weed is gone?

As the years passed, Twilight has been given more duties as a Princess, Spike has been feeling the burden of that weight, as he tries to keep the Castle clean and ready for each of the new delegates that enter the castle. The weight has become quite the problem… So he found a new way to unwind.

One day, he wants to continue this, but what is a dragon to do once the weed is gone, and he is inside of Everfree? His choice leads to a very bad day.

Request done for: RustyAce Based off the cover art.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-28 18:00:01 UTC

Blue Haze

Spike needed to relax, badly. Twilight had been keeping him running around the castle, finding a variety of different books while she tried to sort out whatever problem was facing her this time. So he had been making sure the castle was up to protocol for the next dignitaries from some foreign place he couldn’t pronounce.

As the years went by, and Spike began to grow, he longed for the days when he could just sit back and relax in his bed without somepony blasting his ears off. He tried a variety of stress relief methods: going to the spa, yoga, and meditation. As the list continued to grow longer, Spike doubted if he was ever going to get another moment to calm down.

That was when he discovered a method that Tree Hugger had suggested, Marijuana. Spike had been skeptical at first, but after trying it, he found it extremely useful. At the time, Spike only really used it if the workload was really bad. Eventually, as Twilight began meeting with more and more dignitaries, Spike found himself needing to use it more and more to get through a day without a massive headache. So he had to get a more… Portable version.

If Spike knew what kind of demon he was waking up… He would have left it there.

When Twilight had found out what he was doing, she looked ready to skin him alive. She demanded that he hand over the plants as she turned them to ash in front of him, making a very clear warning about the safety risks and the diplomatic relations that it might destroy.

She had been very adamant about it, saying that if she caught Spike with it inside of the castle again, she would ensure that he couldn’t use it anymore, completely oblivious to the reason he was using it in the first place.

One day, when Twilight was busy handling all of the diplomatic relations Celestia couldn’t handle, Spike seized the opportunity. He told her he was going to walk around the town, try to find Rainbow Dash to ask her something. Twilight, too busy and stressed in dealing with the others, didn’t remember that Rainbow Dash was currently in Cloudsdale with the Wonderbolts.

So with that obstacle out of the way, Spike did indeed walk around the town a bit, if only to make his story more credible, before sneaking off towards the forest, to unwind a bit.

The Forest was widely known for its dangerous creatures and plants, but those only appeared once you went to the more densely forested area. Spike was just going to be a little bit away from Zecora’s cabin.

As he walked through the path, he came upon his destination; somewhere no sane pony would want to be, right next to a patch of light blue bell-shaped flowers. As he reached the clearing, he let out a sigh.

“Finally.” He said, walking up to a hole in a gnarled tree, covered by hanging moss, he pushed the moss to the side and pulled out the glass bong. “Good thing Twilight didn’t know about this.” He said, looking over the clear tube. “I’ve been keeping this thing secret for just such an occasion…”

Spike looked into the hole in the tree, finding the small bag of crushed up leaves. He frowned as he looked at the small amount. “It’ll be enough…”

Spike laid down against the tree, removing his pack and taking out a bottle of water, beginning to fill the bottom of the bong with the water, making sure to put only a little, as to not block out the smoke, and not splash into his face.

When he made sure there was enough of the water in, he took out the crushed weed and put it into the small bowl on the side of the bong. He picked up a nearby stick, breathing fire on it before placing his lips inside the bong’s tube. He lowered the stick to the bowl and waited to see the flames flicker. He watched the glass slowly fill with the gray smoke, before taking a deep breath.

He removed the bowl from the bong, placing his palm over the top of the tube. He held the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds before letting out a relaxed sigh, slumping a bit against the tree.

“This is just what I needed…” Spike said. “Cloudsdale Kush… Fly like a Pegasus with one use… I believe that.”

Spike sat there, continuing the actions needed to fill up his lungs with euphoric, stress relieving smoke. Making sure as little of it as possible escaped into the air around him, he would need it until he could manage to get more.

As the smoke became thinner and thinner, Spike looked at what was left on the bowl to see only a few small specks of the weed remaining. He let out a groan. “Just a few more… Is that too much to ask?”

Spike looked around, picking up the clear bag, looking at it in the hopes he left some within the bag. Seeing none of the small green remnants of the weed, he sighed, before his gaze moved over to the bell shaped flowers.

Spike blinked at them for a moment. His brain’s internal cogs moving, remembering a few of the side effects of the plants from when he began looking them up. He remembered one entry that might have said something along the lines of a relaxant when ingested. He also remembered the spores being highly unpredictable when it impacts your skin.

Spike shrugged. “I can always blame it on one of Rainbow’s pranks.” He said looking at his claws as he leaned down and gripped the stem of one of the flowers, making sure the flower didn’t touch his scales. Ripping the flower off, he placed it into the bag and made sure to close it. He laid the bag on the ground and raised his tail, bringing the hardened tail onto the bag, crushing up the flower’s petals before pouring the powder into the bowl and lighting it.

He watched as the gray smoke was turned to a light blue, he waited until the bong was full of the light blue smoke before taking a deep breath.

He felt the smoke flow down his throat into his lungs, creating a strange buzzing feeling within his lungs. He covered the top of the bong as he pulled away from it, letting out another sigh. “Oh yes… That’s what I’m talking about…”

He let out a little hiccup as a little bit more of the blue smoke left his body. The buzzing feeling flowed through his body, beginning to condense more around the bottom of his tail, it flowed through the rest of his body and eventually left wit ha very tingly sensation in it’s place.

“I need to do this more often…” Spike said, closing his eyes as he slumped against the tree. He was going to hope to drift off into a light nap, when a bright glow suddenly caught his attention.

Looking down at his left claw, which was currently covered in the yellow glow, he raised it in front of his, twisting it a little, flexing each of the claws, scratching his back. But when he pulled it back, he noticed that the clawed hand was now lacking certain appendages.

He blinked for a minute and just looked at the stub before chuckling. “This is some weird hallucination.” He said, attempting to flex his claws again, but being met by no movement on the stub, and no feeling against his palm. “Whoa… It feels so real…”

Spike put down the bong, and looked at his right claw, which was still a five clawed hand, he twisted and turned the two different looking appendages and noticed that the left elbow was now facing the wrong way.

“Okay… This is getting weird…” Spike pushed himself against the tree, helping him stand himself up, he looked down at his legs, seeing the left leg having about the same problems, it was rounded at the bottom, the knee was facing the wrong way, and it too was covered in that weird yellow glow.

“What is going on?” Spike asked himself, looking at the leg, and then looking back at his tail to see the small scale at the end had flattened out and was currently not made of scales.

He flicked his tail up towards him, using his right claw to run along the surface, once he came to where the scale should have been, his claws slipped through. He twisted the claw and saw that the hair was caught in it. Spike’s eyes widened. “Not a Hallucination! This is actually happening!”

Spike looked back at his leg to see the golden glow had worked it’s way across half of his stomach, leaving a light purple coat where it touched. As the glow worked over to his other leg, he saw the knee bend backwards as it accommodated the new shape of his leg and foot. As he looked back at his tail, he saw that it was turning to hair before his eyes, the yellow glow working it’s way up and turning his muscular tail into nothing. As he watched his stomach changing, he began to notice one rather important feature was missing.

“Where’s my dick?” Spike shouted, looking at the extreme lack of the muscle or even a sheath. “No. No. No! I’m not a mare!” Spike said quickly looking around for some way to stop the change that was happening. But all his panic seemed to be doing was expediting the process; his upper half was already being covered with the yellow light, he looked at his back, seeing his row of green scales shrinking into his body. He fell to all fours as the light covered his other claw, turning it into a hoof as well as making his back change to accommodate the shift.

He felt his neck growing out as he screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the rest of the changes. He could feel his snout shortening, his head growing, his ears moving to be placed by the top of his head, he felt his teeth changing, and he saw the yellow light flood his closed eyes.

After about thirty seconds of nothing happening, and Spike being afraid to open his eyes, he finally decided to try opening them to get a look at what happened.

He (or she) barely opened her eyes as she turned her extremely flexible neck to look back at her body, before opening his right eye. Her entire body had changed into a pony; his muscular tail was now a bundle of light green hairs all extending from her rear. On her mulberry colored flank, was an image of a green flame swallowing a scroll. She looked up towards his forehead, seeing nothing there.

“Okay… Nothing to worry about…” She said, clearly panicking. “I’ll just walk to Zecora and get a bit of the cure…” Spike pushed herself onto her hind legs and proceeded to fall backwards. “Celestia damn it…”

A few minutes later, Spike was back on her hooves, taking slow, shaky steps. Front right and Back left, Front left and Back right… Alternate… And… Spike tripped, landing face first in the dirt. Cursing under her breath, she pushed himself up and began trying to walk again. Eventually she managed to get far enough along without face planting into the ground to get her bearings.

She followed the dirt path away from Ponyville, heading towards the small hut that Zecora, the local witch doctor Zebra. She had originally made the cure for Poison Joke… Maybe she had some way to fix this.

About half an hour later, Spike had made a trip that normally would have taken only ten minutes. “Please have the cure….” Spike groaned as she walked over to the door, raised her hoof, and after a very long wobble as she steadied himself, she knocked on the wooden door, hoping that she wasn’t out gathering dirt or whatever.

When the door opened and Spike saw the black and white striped Zebra, she just started talking before Zecora could even think up a rhyme.

“Thank Celestia you’re here, Zecora!” Spike said quickly. “I really need your help! And you have to keep this quiet from Twilight!”

Zecora looked at Spike curiously. “You seem familiar, yet you are new. Pray tell dear mare, who are you?”

Spike blinked for a moment. “It’s me, Spike! I… Had an encounter with some Poison Joke and I’m stuck like this! Please tell me you have something to cure this!”

“This indeed seems quite grave, I will see if I have what you crave.” Zecora stepped to the side to let Spike in, as she took unstable steps down the stairs. As she took the final steps she nearly fell to the ground, but managed to catch herself.

“This is quite a strange, I have never seen such a change.” Zecora said as she walked around Spike, inspecting her new body. “You say a joke of poison caused this? I believe that something is quite amiss.” Zecora began searching around her shelves. Taking a variety of bottles and herbs off of them.

“Yeah… I don’t want to talk about it…”

Zecora looked at the mare. “I an understand you silence, but it is not with out consequence.”

Spike’s eyes darted around to try and come up with a reason why he was there before letting out a sigh. “Promise me you will not tell Twilight.”

“My lips are sealed, but what have you not revealed?” She took the leaves and put them into a pestle and began to turn them into a powder.

Spike sighed. “I’ve been really stressed lately, with all these meetings with dignitaries Twilight has been having, and nothing was really working… So I turned to more… medicinal means. Does that make sense?”

“In a way, though I must ask what caused such dismay.” She said as she poured some red liquid into the pestle, making the powder into a small paste.

“Well, everything really. We’ve had so many diplomats come to the castle, and each one is seeking something different. Twilight keeps trying to please everypony, but it is putting real stress on both of us, and because of… Things… I would rather just take a few days off, but our schedules are full for the next three weeks with meetings and formal gatherings. It was the only way to take off the stress.” Zecora nodded as she poured in a bit of green liquid. “What are you making?”

“I have never met one to light the flowers, this will show me its powers.” Zecora replied, taking the bowl over to Spike. “It only needs one more component, for us to see this opponent.”

“And that would be?” Spike asked.

“A quick lick, that should do the trick.” Zecora said, holding up the bowl to Spike.

Spike groaned and looked at the disgusting purple sludge. She stuck out her tongue and let it run along the side of the bowl, as it came back into her mouth, she proceeded to gag, raise her hoof to cover her cough, fall to the ground, and eat some dirt, which tasted much better than what she just put in her mouth. “Now what…”

“I must spread the paste, from your head to your waist.” Zecora put her hoof into the bowl and put a long stripe down Spike’s chest, she spread it across her legs and made a few spots around her ears and eyes. She painted three stripes along both of her sides. When she was finished she sat down in front of Spike.

Spike looked down at her body where the paste was smeared. “Is something supposed to be happening?”

Zecora hummed, and then walked up to Spike. “Open your jaw, there may be more within your maw.”

Spike opened her mouth as Zecora looked inside. She let out a hum and then closed her mouth, looking directly into her eyes and then into her ear. “This is quite distressing…”

“What is it?” Spike asked panicking.

“I cannot stop this change from progressing.”

Spike’s ears fell as her heart skipped a beat. “What? You can’t be serious! There has to be something you can do!”

Zecora shook her head. “While I am familiar with your plight, I have no brew to make this right.”

“But… But… Is there a way to stop this?”

Zecora rubbed her chin with a hoof. “There may be a remedy, but this may be your new destiny.”

Spike shook her head. “No! No! I can’t be stuck like this! What do I have to do?”

“The only cure I can ponder, is one that relates to wonder. You must speak with Princess Twilight, she may have the power to dispel this blight.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “You want me to talk to Twilight about this? There is no way!”

“Did you not say she was stressed as well, perhaps talking will make this stress dispel.”

Spike sighed. “Fine…”

“Thank you for understanding Equestria’s stance on the issue Ambassador.” Twilight said with a small bow. “I’m sure I could come to an agreement on the prices of the Griffon Steel with my fellow Princesses. I will contact you once an agreement has been made.”

The Griffon Ambassador, a tall half owl, half tiger, bowed. “I will be eagerly awaiting your letter Princess. I shall try to ward off any unfair additions to prices.”

“Thank you, Ambassador. I hope to hear of a fair deal between us.” She stuck out her hoof, which the griffon grabbed and shook. “Until we meet again, Princess.”

The Griffon walked out of the castle doors, and as soon as he was gone, Twilight let out a sigh. “Finally!” She groaned as she unrolled a letter.

Princess Twilight, we regret to inform you that the Prince of YakYakistan will not be joining you today on the ground of: ‘Bug Horses need to be taught not to steal Yak Snow!’ We will reschedule for two weeks, or at your earliest convenience.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief, she pulled over her planner, putting a long line across YakYakistan. “And… That’s everything.” Twilight said happily, she looked up at a clock. “Seven hours of free time… I can’t even remember the last time I had that much time.” Twilight removed her crown and placed it in its case.

“Spike!” She shouted through the building. “Spike, the rest of the day is clear. Looks like we can… Spike?” She looked around the castle for a bit before remembering him saying something about…

“Hold on… Rainbow Dash is in Cloudsdale!” Twilight said out loud. “SPIKE!” She shouted, beginning to walk towards the front door. “I swear… If I catch him using Cannabis again I am going magic his mouth off… Honestly.” She continued her rambling mumble until she reached the front door, when a knocking caught her ears. “Who could that be?”

She walked up the door and opened it. “Oh, hello, Zecora. You haven’t happened to see Spike anywhere have you?”

“Good afternoon, Princess Twilight. I have seen him, but he suffers from a small plight.”

“Oh no… What happened to him?”

Zecora motioned to the cloaked Mare next to her. “He was ready to pull out his hair, but now he seems to be a mare.”

“Hi, Twi…”

Twilight blinked for a moment. “Is this a joke? Because I don’t get it…”

“Perhaps this would be best handled inside, away from the prying eye.” Zecora replied.

“Sure… Come in…” Twilight replied, looking at the mare that seemed to be Spike in confusion. When all three of them were inside, Twilight closed the door. “First, how do I know that you are Spike?”

The mare shrugged a little before her cheeks puffed up and she began making gagging sounds. After a few dry heaves, a wet scroll dropped out of her mouth. “That is so much harder without fire breath…”

Twilight picked up the scroll in her magic and unrolled it. ‘My Faithful Student, I have heard about the unfortunate turn with regards to the Prince of YakYakistan, I will see what is…’ Twilight lowered the scroll. “Spike?”

The mare waved but then fumbled a bit before steadying herself. “Hi…”

“Oh my Celestia, what happened to you, Spike?” Twilight asked, looking at Spike. “You’re… a mare!”

Spike shrunk back a little.

“I believe that our friend wishes to speak to an end.” Zecora replied.

“Okay, tell me everything! What were you doing?”

“I…” Spike sighed. “I needed to blow off some steam, so I went into Everfree, and took a little secret stash I had in case you found out that I was…”

Twilight’s eyes shrunk in anger. “SPIIIIIKE!”

“Wait! Let me talk!” Spike said, seeing Twilight’s horn light up as she scanned Spike, looking for any remaining drugs in her system. “I’ve been so stressed because of all of these tasks that need to get done every single day to keep everything up to regulation. The fact that we have so many different diplomats and problems that I can’t help with and have to instead focus on trying to clean everything in the castle does not make it any easier. So I turned to it because it helped me relax and feel better…”

“So you thought smoking Cannabis in the castle would help? Spike that stuff reeks! You have no idea what kind of damage that could do if they think that I’m the one who is using it. That could have drastic effects on relations! On top of that, you are too young to be using it!”

“No, I’m not!”

Twilight sighed. “We’ll talk later…”

“No! I’m getting this out of my system, I’ve been working practically non-stop to keep this place cleaned, all you’ve been doing is talking to griffons and Yaks all day.”

“Spike, there are other ways you could have gone about this…”

“None of them are as quick, do you have any idea how huge this place is? It takes me all day to get everything cleaned and ready, when the Yaks show up, forget it! This place gets trashed! It’s like your taking advantage of my…”

“Taking Advantage? You are kidding me!” Twilight shouted. “When have I ever asked you to do stuff like that? The castle is clean enough to eat off the ceiling! I would never ask you to clean this whole place.”

“You never said anything about it.”

“I’ve been busy, Spike! I’m helping run the country, that hardly gives me time to look around at everything.”

“That doesn’t mean you should treat me like your Servant!”

“Servant?” Twilight said surprised. “When have I ever said you were just a servant?”

“You didn’t have to. Everyday I’m working to help fix up the Castle, and sometimes I don’t even get a thank you! The first time you talked to me in months was yelling at me! How am I not supposed to feel like a servant? Every time that you tell me to do something, you’ve been getting more and more distant. I can’t even remember the last time you talked to me like a friend. It is always, ‘Spike do this, Spike do that.’ When have you ever said ‘Take a break,’ or ‘Good job, Spike.’ Because I can’t even remember!” Spike’s eyes started to water. “I’ve been feeling like you’ve forgotten about me. Like everything I’ve done is just going over your self-entitled head!” A few tears ran down her face. “I’ve done so much around here, the cooking the cleaning, and all I get is you yelling at me because I try to unwind! Can you think about something other than pleasing Celestia for one damn day! No you couldn’t! Now I’m stuck like this!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “What?”

“I’m stuck like this! I don’t know how to fix this!” Spike shouted. “Zecora says there isn’t a cure!”

Twilight looked back at Zecora who simply nodded. “Oh, Spike…” She walked over to Spike, putting a hoof over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry… I just… I’ve been so stressed out recently. I didn’t even think about what you needed. Now look at what happened.” She pulled Spike into a hug. “I promise, I’ll look for anything that could fix this. No matter how difficult, I’ll try to fix this.”

Spike sobbed into Twilight’s coat. “B-but what if I’m stuck like this f-forever?” She cried. “W-what am I going to d-do?”

Twilight rubbed the back of Spike’s neck. “It’s alright, Spike. I won’t stop until I find something. You are more important to me than some silly diplomats I shouldn’t have forgotten that. I’m making some serious changes, starting right now. From now on, we are taking a few days off from this diplomat business every week. It’s doing nothing good for our stress, and I’m sure that relations can hold on for a day or two. I’ll send the letter to Celestia today, with my luck she’ll receive it in a day or two…”

“B-But what about the rest of today…”

“Prince Rutherford cancelled. Since I planned the rest of the day around trying to not start another war with them… We have the rest of the day to find someway to fix this, and for you to just relax. I’m not having you get stressed out any more than you already are. You just relax, at least until I can fix this…”

Spike sobbed a bit more. “But… What if I’m stuck like this?”

“Shh…” Twilight said comforting her. “I’ve fixed worse, I’m sure there’s something I can do.”

“Only time will tell, if we can break this spell.” Zecora said.

“So… You are sure there is no cure…” Twilight said.

“That I did not say, though I believe it is on its way.”

Spike looked over at Zecora. “W-what do you mean?”

Zecora smiled. “Look at your tail, I believe you will know why I feared no fail.”

Spike looked back at her tail, seeing the familiar yellow light at the tip. His eyes widened as he watched it spread over her tail, slowly changing back to the muscular purple appendage she was used to. Spike flicked the tail, just to make sure it as really there, watching as the glow spread back over her body, replacing all of the fur with scales. The change was much quicker than the first time, being over in about half the time. Leaving the Dragon standing in Twilight’s hooves in a bit of confusion.

“I’m… Me again?”

Twilight looked over at Zecora. “I thought you said there was no cure?”

Zecora shook her head. “The words I spoke: I was familiar with this joke, however I had nothing to stop the smoke.”

“But… What happened?” Spike asked. “Why am I back?”

“Poison Joke is quite the trickster, though nothing would make you a victor. I came across this once before, curing it was quite the chore. If the smoke is in the air, the affects can cause quite a scare. While more potent when inhaled, all who do eventually prevailed.”

“But… How?” Twilight replied.

“The smoke caused this despair, all you needed was a breath of fresh air.” Zecora replied.

“Are you saying that… I just had to wait?” Spike said.

“Indeed, my scaled fellow. I thought it best to rid you of your yellow.” Zecora said. “Perhaps now you can have less stress, and perhaps cause less distress.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, I hope you didn’t influence this to happen at all.”

Zecora shook her head. “I saw the chance, I could not simply glance. Now I must return to my home, before something uses it as a dome.” Zecora walked towards the door, taking her cloak as she did so.

When the door was closed, Twilight sighed. “So, any ideas on how to unwind for the rest of the day?”

Canterlot

Celestia was sitting in her throne, going over a report on the pricing of Griffon Steel, which they were gladly lowering. When a green smoke puff appeared in front of her, condensing into a letter.

Celestia unrolled the letter, and looked over it.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am sorry to be writing you about this, but I must request a reduction in the diplomatic workload I have been receiving. I understand that what I am doing is important to the well being of Equestria, however it has put both Spike and I under some undue stress.

Said stress has caused a rift to form between the two of us that was resolved only recently. Due to the workload, Spike sought relaxation through chemical stimulation, which I attempted to put a stop to. However, instead of simply talking about the issue, I reacted violently as the tensions to keep relations perfect decreased my patience, the ensuing argument only made this rift grow wide as I failed to listen to his reasons, instead preferring my own stance adamantly.

Following this, Spike sought to use these substances within an isolated section of the Everfree forest, since he was too stressed to notice the dangers. He then proceeded to inhale smoke produced by the combustion of Poison Joke, this resulted in him becoming a Mare for a short time. He sought Zecora’s medicinal knowledge, but she claimed there was no cure. After returning here and after I consoled and comforted him, the effects wore off. Zecora proceeded to explain that the vapors of the Poison Joke react at an astonishing rate, but has only a limited effect.

Zecora helped teach me that I should not have put my own desires ahead of my friend’s and family’s feelings. I only wish I could have remembered it sooner.

I am sorry for the Hiatus from my workload, but it seems to be the most effective way to relieve stress at this point in time

Your Faithful Student,

~Twilight Sparkle

Celestia smiled as she looked at the letter. Twilight had been overbearing herself nearly day and night, despite the warnings that all three of them gave her. Celestia didn’t think she would last this long without tearing out her mane. Guess Luna is getting twenty bits…

Celestia picked up a scroll and quill and was about to begin writing out a response, when another scroll appeared in front of her. She opened up the letter and began to read it.

Dear Princess Celestia,

After all of the practice I’ve gotten writing these letters for Twilight and the others, I never thought I would be the one giving you a lesson, sorry if this is a bit clumsy, turns out I’m not good at this.

I’m sure you have already read Twilight’s letter, so I won’t go into depth about the details, though I will say that many of these problems could have been solved earlier had I simply talked to others. But like Twilight, the stress was getting to me, and I failed to see the issue. In fact, if it wasn’t for Zecora, I doubt that the issue would have been solved. I learned that if you are ever having trouble with your feelings, it is best to talk about them with your friends, even if they are the cause of it.

Anyway, thanks for your time,

~Spike.

As Celestia read through the letter, she thought back to the days before Luna’s banishment, when neither one wanting to express their true feelings steadily pushed the two farther and farther apart. Those feelings had brought a lot of grief later, from the banishment, a thousand years of jealousy that had only been purged upon actual talk. The Tantabus, a creature Luna created to punish herself, despite Celestia’s words against it.

Spike’s letter reminded her of herself, trying to find the quick and easy solution, something that would delay the problem, while Twilight’s reminded her of Luna, when she had so much emotion behind her actions, she forgot who her family was, seeking to get rid of the problem without thinking.

Celestia sighed as she picked up a quill.

Dearest Twilight and Spike, the letters both of you have sent me struck close to my heart, reminding me of follies my sister and I once committed.

In my case, It was similar to Spike, I sought the easy way out, ignoring the problems present and pushing them aside, seeking comfort in food instead of friends (This is why I am trying to cut back on the cake). And in Luna's Case, her jealousy was equating to Twilight's obsession with work. She was ignoring others with her obsessions that she forgot her friends and family, blindly seeking a solution without thought on the consequences. Consequently, it was only after the Tantabus did both of us truly learn these lessons.

I am glad neither of you had to endure as great a tragedy. If only we had learned these before Luna's fall, then Nightmare Moon may never have come to pass. I shall keep these lessons close to my heart, for fear of repeating needless tragedies.

-Princess Celestia.