In the library of her crystal castle, Princess Twilight Sparkle, with a peaceful smile, gave a sigh. On her stomach, Twilight lay on her favorite pink couch, levitating a green book in front of her face with her magic. Hmm, I could use this in my students' next friendship lesson, Twilight thought to herself.
Between grading papers, thinking up lesson plans, getting tricked by power-hungry fillies, and fleeing from tiny harmless ladybugs, being the Headmare of the School of Friendship was very hard work. Twilight truly loves teaching friendship at her school, but she also enjoys to sometimes being able to sit back and relax. Often while reading a good book.
Or books. Beside her couch, the purple Alicorn had a pile of fifty or so books on the floor. If she would need more, Twilight had many more books all around her, in the bookshelves lining the walls of her library. Purple crystal pillars grew through the floor near the bookshelves. More grew from the floor to parts of the walls. One pillar reflected away moonlight that shined in from a half-open green window.
Not long ago, Twilight and four of her best friends found themselves in a dilemma. One of their friends, Pinkie Pie, picked up a new hobby, playing the Yovidaphone, and loved playing it. However, Pinkie's playing had much to be desired, as it bothered not only her friends, but of everypony in Ponyville, and even damaged apple trees. At first, Twilight simply told Pinkie to stop playing the Yovidaphone. However, she took it extremely hard and became deeply depressed. Eventually, the six friends settled on a solution that would allow Pinkie to play her Yovidaphone whenever she wanted, but without bothering anypony, and it was a surprisingly simple answer. Even as she read her book now, Twilight thought to herself, why didn't I think of that before?
But as the Princess closed and lowered the book she was reading in front of her, and eyed another from her big pile of books on the floor, the room's silence shattered. The green double-doors to the library flew open wide with light-blue magic, slammed into part of a crystal pillar growing around the doorway, and made the entire room shake. Behind it was a purplish pink figure with a horn that released red smoke.
The figure was Starlight Glimmer, roaring Twilight's name, which echoed throughout the library, and could be heard even outside the castle. Twilight yelped, sat up, and lifted her head towards the angered Unicorn. With a fierce scowl, teeth that came close to cracking from being gritted so tightly, Starlight stormed through the now-open doors of the library, stomped her way to Twilight, until they were both two feet away.
"Starlight? Is something wrong?"
"Twilight, what were you thinking? I mean really, what were you thinking?!"
"What do you mean? What did I do?!"
"I heard about what you tried to do about that Yovidmuffinphone problem with Pinkie, that happened when I was away."
"You mean 'Yovidaphone'?"
"Yeah, that. I just asked Rarity about how Pinkie's playing of that Yavidayakphone was when I was with Trixie, and she told me everything I missed. Including that you wanted to fix things with spells!"
Twilight thought to again correct Starlight's mispronunciation of the Yovidaphone, but wisely choose not to. She instead turned her head down in shame. "Yeah, Starlight, I did, and I will admit it wasn't a good idea, and I should have known better. But what does that have to do with you being so mad?"
Starlight snarled, while Twilight stared back in return, moving no body part except her eyes that carefully followed Starlight's movements. Starlight herself took a few steps back, turned to her left to pace back and forth, grumbling. Though what she said could not be recognized by Twilight's ears. Five seconds after she started, Starlight slowed down her pacing to a stop, then turned to face Twilight once again. The Unicorn took a deep breath, which allowed the smoke leaking from her horn to go back to where it came from.
"Because, one thing you got on my flank about after I reformed, was using magic to solve my problems! And now you go and want to do it!"
"Well...yeah, I did tell you to don't rely on your spells too much, but--"
"When I did it, you always told me 'Starlight, you shouldn't solve your problems with spells!' Or 'Starlight, it's bad for you to rely on your magic so much!' Remember?"
"Yes, I do. But, Starlight, I can explain--"
"Do you know how hard I worked for you, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Huh?" Twilight rubbed and tilted her head slightly to the right. "How hard you worked?"
The scowling on Starlight's face lessened. Her lips bore not a frown filled with rage, but one showing mostly disappointment, almost a hint of sadness. Starlight's ears flopped down and she gave a sigh. Starlight, in a much calmer voice, admitted, "For two seasons, Twilight, to thank you for letting me learn friendship under you, I busted my flank to make myself look worse than I really am, so they would stop laughing and making fun of you."
"Who's 'they', and why were 'they' laughing at me?"
"Well, 'they' are the bronies. And they -- especially the writer that's watching us and writing this fanfic -- are still laughing about how you went crazy, and used a mind-control spell to create a friendship problem."
"Oh, you mean the bronies, but that writer laughs at everything, Starlight. And more importantly, when did I use 'mind control' spells?" Twilight raised her head towards the ceiling, mentally digging in her brain for anything that could be what her former student was talking about. After a few tense seconds, a long-forgotten memory surfaced in Twilight's mind, and she returned her head back to Starlight's. "Wait, do you mean that time I really stressed out about being tardy, and I went a...little crazy?"
"Yeah, that. And I'd call that anything but a 'little' crazy, Twilight. And I know crazy: I'm no Pinkie Pie, but I'm still Starlight Glimmer."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with how hard you worked?"
The tone in Starlight's voice deepened, and become one filled with frustration, as she added, "Twilight, for seasons six and seven, I bucked up over and over with spells, or with my insane plans, to make the bronies pick on and sometimes even hate me! And I did all that, so they would leave you alone! By now, if they look up 'spells' in dictionaries, they would probably see a picture of me!" Hopefully looking cute.
"Oh, so that's why I saw...uh--" Twilight shook her head with an audible rattle. The last thing she needed to do, was to say something to prove her friend's point. "I mean, so when you...bucked up, you did it on purpose, Starlight? For me?"
"Yep! And I even used one powerful spell after another to make them forget how OP you are, by making myself look even more OP. I did all that so you won't be hated for it."
"Well, I guess I am a little 'OP'. But still, even if I did use that spell, Starlight, how could it had ruined everything you did?"
Starlight's frown full of frustration evolved into one full of ire, joined with a deep scowl from her eyes. In a louder voice, she seethed, "Because, by you wanting to use a spell to solve that Yavidpoofaphone problem, the bronies could remember that it's not just something I did! And if they do, they'll remember you doing that mind-control spell, and then how you can be OP, ruining everything I did for you!"
"It's 'Yovidaphone'. But the bronies can think what they want and even laugh at me. And now that I think about it, I was pretty hilarious when I broke down over being tardy." Twilight's lips formed an embarrassed grin, and nervous laughs came from her mouth, trying to ease the tension between herself and Starlight.
It had no effect.
After the failed attempt to calm Starlight down, Twilight cleared her throat and said, "And our show isn't just to teach friendship lessons to the bronies even if they don't always use our lessons themselves but to entertain them. So it's okay, Starlight."
Starlight shook her head severely, making her mane smack her over the face, but the pony's rage made her immune to noticing it. "No, it's not okay! Because that's not the only reason I'm mad!"
"Okay, then what are your other reasons?"
"Because, if you weren't going to learn your lesson, Twilight, I would have never done all that after I reformed! I only did it to help you!"
"Really? Wow, Starlight, if I knew you were--"
"And if that's not enough, if I never bucked up, even with how high she raised the bar, I might now be objectively better than Sunset Shimmer! In fact, I might have even become an Alicorn!"
Hearing her former student's confession, Twilight lowered her head in guilt. "I...I'm sorry, Starlight. I didn't know."
"Well, now you do! And with only one season left for our show, it could be too late for me to get my wings! I made myself look like I couldn't learn my lessons, slowed my character development, and the worst part is...is..."
Starlight's horn again leaked red smoke, veins appeared on her neck, and her outrage and scowl were at its most intense yet. The anger was overflowing, and the Unicorn inhaled in several deep breaths to attempt to calm herself down. Though it did next to nothing. She glared into Twilight's eyes, while Twilight herself gulped and leaned back with a frown from her furious friend.
Starlight lifted and pointed her hoof at an angle to the ceiling. It was as if the pony was pointing at an invisible camera. In her most booming voice yet, forcing not just the library, but the entire castle to vibrate, shook books off the bookshelves onto the floor, and cracked the green-colored windows of the library, Starlight bellowed, "The worst part is what my wonderful, loyal, incredible, amazing fans had to put up with, and who I don't mind laughing at you!"
"Wait, do you really have...uh, I mean, you're angry for your fans, Starlight?"
"YES! Whenever things got hard for me, knowing they were there watching and cheering me on, kept me going. They stuck by me, no matter how bad I messed up, and even grew with me. But because I messed up so often for you, they had to protect me from my haters so much more than they needed to! My fans deserve much better than that, Twilight Sparkle, and I might not even get to pay them back by becoming an Alicorn for them!! And it's all because I tried to make you look better! And after I made them go through that, you go and want to fix a problem with that Zenithrash with a spell, making it all for nothing! Ugh!! I'm so sorry guys!"
"Wait, what 'Zenithrash'?"
"Well, that's what that Yovidbuttphone was supposed to be called!!"
With red smoke still flowing from her horn, Starlight spun away from Twilight, gave another brief, but ear-piercing yell, and stomped out of the library, muttering. The slam of the double-doors that followed knocked down even more books from the bookshelves to the floor, leaving only half still in the shelves. Though Starlight did return three seconds later to fix both the damage her yelling caused, as well as placing the books that her voice knocked on the floor back to where they were, before leaving again.
With Starlight's fading hoofsteps being the only sound that could be heard, Twilight remained on her pink couch, with widened eyes and mouth, not moving a muscle.
After ten silent seconds, Twilight's mouth finally formed the words, "Well, that happened."
Unsure of what to do or think, Twilight Sparkle simply stood up from her couch, walked around the library to check for any damages or books that Starlight Glimmer overlooked, thinking to herself, It's days like these that make me wish I stayed a Unicorn.
Author's Note
The Yovidaphone was supposedly going to be called the "Zenithrash", but its name was later changed to "Yovidaphone."
That's why Starlight said the ~~Yovidbuttphone~~ Yovidaphone was "supposed" to be a Zenithrash near the end of the story
