Twilight trotted into Sugarcube Corner, looking extremely frustrated. Pinkie Pie popped up right next to her. "Hey Twi! What's got you down?"

Twilight shrugged. "Just hit a bit of a rough spot in a text I was working on. I can't get through it no matter what do, so I decided to take a break."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like you at all."

"I was recently reading some new neuroscience research." Seeing Pinkie's blank expression, she added, "Neuroscience is the study of how the brain works."

Pinkie waved it off. "Well, pfft. I knew that. Obviously."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Sure. Anyway, they said that ponies actually learn much better when they take breaks every once in a while. It gives the background functions of the brain time to work on the problem, and sometimes they can solve it. It's really neat, actually! I figured I would try it out. So, I'd like a chocolate milkshake, please. The best thing for relaxation, I've found." She levitated two bits to Pinkie.

Pinkie placed them in her hair. "Coming right up!" She reached one arm out impossibly long, over to the milkshake machine, while still standing in front of Twilight. "Y'know, the other thing that helps you work out complex problems is talking about them with a friend! Even if that friend doesn't understand the issue, sometimes just explaining the problem is enough to make it click!"

"How did you know that?" Twilight asked, baffled.

Pinkie shrugged. "Solving problems makes you happy, so I wrote down all the ways I can help you solve problems and put them in your folder!" Her hoof returned, holding the full milkshake.

Twilight shrugged and sat down, absently sipping at the milkshake. "I don't think you can help with this, but I guess it's worth a shot. See, I came across the term 'the rule of ten' while I was reading an old scroll, and it seemed like it was referencing something expected to be widely known at the time. I've heard of the rule of three, that makes sense, but I've never heard anything about a rule of ten! I looked through my entire library, all the oldest references--the ones from around that time period--but I couldn't find anything! I might have to go all the way to the Canterlot archives to look it up."

"Oh, there's no need for that. I know what it is!"

"You what? How?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "It's like, Comedy 101!"

"I don't think that's-"

"See, when you repeat a running gag three times, that's the rule of three. After three, it's not very funny anymore. But then if you keep going and you keep repeating the joke and you do it a whole ten times then suddenly BAM! It's funny again!"

Twilight blinked several times. "Huh?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I think it's because everypony thinks 'No way, they're still doing that?' and then the more you repeat it, the funnier it gets, because the joke is still going and it just gets ridiculous."

Twilight finished the last of her milkshake and handed it to Pinkie. "Well, thanks, but this is an ancient Southern Equestrian scroll on magic and arcana that's so old I have to translate it out of the hieroglyphics, so I don't think it's talking about comedy. I guess I learned something new, though."

Pinkie stretched her arm out again, dropping Twilight's dirty glass into the sink. "No problem! I hope you figure it out!"

"Thanks, Pinkie." She stood, stretched, and trotted out of the Corner, back towards the castle. As her legs moved, she allowed her mind to wander.

Back to work, I guess. Why do hieroglyphics have to be so hard to translate, anyway? I mean, the glyph for "magic" and the glyph for "laughter" are, for reasons that escape me, so close to each other that I kept misinterpreting the "magic" glyph as "laughter"! It might as well actually be a scroll on comedy, for all I can-

Wait.

No, no way. That can't be right.

Can it?

It's Southern Equestrian, the same place Somnambula was from, and it's all about her magical techniques to raise ponies' spirits. She was the predecessor to the Element of Laughter, and I couldn't see any magical runes or any sign of actual spells in the scroll, none of the stuff you'd expect from a text on arcana...

She broke into a gallop. I don't believe it! Pinkie Pie was actually right!

She'd have to share the scroll with Pinkie, once it was fully translated. Maybe they could work out a few lesson plans based on it! With that thought to look forward to, she eschewed even galloping and teleported straight into the library. She couldn't wait to get back to work.

Author's Note

This might be the first time I've used that much of an internal monologue. Is it too stilted? It feels a little awkward to me, but as we all know, a writer is their own worst critic.