"Easy, easy," Twilight stepped back a little. The little blue filly in front of her trudged past, her horn blazing with energy. "You have to control your output, Gadget. Don't let it all out in one go!"

"Urk--" Gadget hiccuped. The aura enveloping her horn fizzled out, as did the teal glow floating above her. "--ow!"

"See what I mean?" Twilight picked a tin can off the ground. "You're still at the age where your magic reserves run out quickly. You have to be careful not to burn through all of it at once."

Gadget sucked in a breath. "Yeah. Can I try again?"

"Can you light your horn?"

The filly's eyes shot upward. She stuck out her tongue, watching the barely-visible tip of her horn as she felt for that not-quite-familiar flow of energy. Twilight said it was something like feeling warm water slosh over her, though it felt a lot more like when she puts her hoof over the top of the toaster. Either way, it was supposed to feel hot.

And hot was not what she felt.

Twilight ruffled her mane. "Looks like you need some time to recover first. You wanna know how I did it?" she crouched down, a smirk spreading across her face.

"...How?"

She glanced over her shoulder before returning her gaze to Gadget. "Ice cream. So much ice cream."

"Bu--"

"No buts!" Twilight shot back up. "Your parents don't have to know. What's a little ice cream between a filly and her foalsitter? You don't have any allergies, do you?"

Gadget shook her head.

"Great!" she scooped up the filly and placed her on her back. "You know how I got all that ice cream?"

"Mmm..." Gadget turned her head. She pointed a hoof at the towering tree behind them. "Coupons for being the only librarian in all of Ponyville?"

Twilight stuck out her tongue. "I was going to say 'abusing my credentials as Celestia's student', but that works too."

"Should you really be saying that out loud?" Spike waddled up beside the pair. "Remember. Just because you're Princess Celestia's top student doesn't mean you should be using that status to get whatever you want."

Gadget slid herself off of Twilight's back. She leaned in close to Spike, nearly pressing her face against his. "But free ice cream!"

Twilight joined in on goading her assistant, her grin just as wide as Gadget's. "C'monnn, I'll getcha your favorite flavor too if you come with us."

"Uh-huh," Spike folded his arms. "Y'know Twi, with the way you act sometimes, it feels like I'm the one who should be raising you."

"I'll also buy you this week's issue of Power Ponies while we're at it."

"Deal."

"Remind me again why Celestia reimburses you for every purchase of ice cream you make?" the grizzled stallion at the checkout counter half-mumbled. He kept his eyes glued to the register as he punched in each tub Gadget and Twilight set on the counter.

"Officially, the Princess likes one specific flavor that's only available here in Ponyville and expects me to send a tub back whenever we buy some," Twilight slid one final tub of ice cream onto the counter. "Unofficially," she lowered her voice to a near whisper. "I think she's trying to get me accustomed to her own eating habits."

The stallion shook his head. "I swear, the things our taxes go into these days. There's your total, by the way."

Twilight fumbled a little with her saddlebag before extracting a satchel of bits. She floated each coin out one by one, placing them on the counter. "There you go, that should be the exact amount there."

The stallion nodded in response and transferred the money into the cash drawer. "Have a nice day."

"You too!" Gadget waved. She stopped at the end of the counter, staring at one of the tubs of ice cream for a moment before lighting her horn again. A few stray sparks preceded the burst of mana that then enveloped the tub. Even then, her magic flickered, lowering the tub bit by bit until a pink glow supplanted her own strength.

"Careful now," Twilight lifted the tub into a bag. "Don't wanna drop it before we've even had a taste."

"Still coming up short?" the stallion leaned past the counter. "Pretty late bloomer for her age."

"Hey!" Gadget spun around. "I'm still trying..."

"Just sayin'."

"Alright now, let's go before we hold up the folks behind us," Twilight nudged Gadget along. "Spike's waiting for us in the bookstore. We can practice your magic some more alongside Sweetie Belle later today, 'kay?"

Gadget stared at the bag of ice cream tubs, then back at Twilight. "Does that mean we're sharing the ice cream?"

"Depends on if you can finish a whole tub by yourself. Which you know neither myself nor Spike will let you if you tried. And definitely not your mom and dad."

"Fiiiiiiine."

Author's Note

cutesy slice-of-life Project Emphenom chapter while i work on a much bigger story pitch chapter for PE#16