A Letter Short

by rainsilent

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 1011

Twilight gave an assignment to the Young Six. To write a letter about a friendship lession that each had while Twilight was away. Before Twilight starts to read the letters she realizes that one is missing.

Twilight gave the Young Six an assignment before leaving on a trip. To write a letter to her about a friendship lesson each had while she was away. Now that she has returned she cannot wait to read the letters that they had written. As she sits to read them she realizes that a letter is missing.

This story is a lipogram in tribute to the typewriter that broke at Bronycon2019. For those that don't know, a lipogram is a composition in which the writer chooses to not use a certain letter, or letters, from the alphabet. The letter in question for this story is the same letter that broke on the typewriter. The letter n.

Also many thanks to Csquared08 for editing the story for me.

Published 2019-08-30 21:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-08-30 21:50:01 UTC

That letter sure would have been useful

Twilight liked the idea because it brought back memories of the letters that she wrote to Celestia. Have each of the youthful six stars of her school write a letter to her while she was away. The letters were to be about what they had discovered with respect to their fellowship over the time that she was away. Specifically a discovery each had made that had to do with their fellowship with each other that had allowed it to grow over that time. With her back from her voyage, Twilight was eager to get to her room. She was made aware that the letters were placed there before she arrived. She could hardly hold her composure as she was excited to read the letters.

She threw wide the door to her room. She jumped to her chair via a teleport. She made herself comfortable while she grabbed the letters with her magic. She took a tally of letters that were there. She stopped with a vexed look because she had just five letters before her. Alarmed, she started to search through the rest of the items that laid before her about the top of her desk. However, it was without success. Flustered, she repeated her search through the stuff atop her desk. After that failed to come up with the letter, she searched the drawers of her desk. That search resulted without the letter just like her prior search. Fear started to build over the fact that she had yet to come up with the letter.

“Oh, where is it?” she said. “It has to be here. They assured me they wrote them. I was told that they were all here.”

Perturbed, she searched the whole of her room thoroughly. However, the letter was yet to appear.

“Oh, this is bad. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad! It has to be here! Where? I just have to discover where!” she said as she searched twice, but her search was still without success.

“Urgh! Where is it?! WHERE ARE YOU, LETTER?!” she shouted. Horrified that she was short a letter, she thought out loud with a rapid pace to her speech. “Stop. Relax. Take a deep breath.”

She reached to her chest with a hoof while she took a deep breath. After a brief time out to relax, she restarted her search. “Maybe the letter is elsewhere. Maybe somebody has the letter. That’s it. Somebody else has it. I just have to figure out who. Hmmm. I’ll start with the teacher’s room. Somebody is sure to be there. They might be able to help me figure out who has the letter.”

Sure of her idea, she teleported to the teacher’s room.

She arrived at the teacher’s room amidst a light violet flash that came with a wispy pop. She still had a disheveled look about her after her searches. She took a look about the room. She discovered that Rarity was the sole soul there. Rarity looked surprised at Twilight’s abrupt arrival.

“Oh, Twilight...” Rarity started. Rarity’s look quickly shifted from joyful surprise to a more quizzical, yet worried, look after she observed Twilight’s messy look. Rarity asked, “Is there a problem, dear?”

Twilight grabbed Rarity as she exclaimed, “The letters I gave as a project to the six while I was away. I was told that they had each wrote a letter. That all six were ready for me to read. I just have five! I am missi--”

“Relax, dear. I am sure it will pop up from somewhere. They all were hoofed to Starlight at the time they were due. Starlight likely mixed the letter up with some other papers. So she probably has it.”

At that, there was a tap from the door.

“Yes?” Rarity called.

Starlight Glimmer appeared at the doorway as she set the door agape. She saw Twilight. It was clear that a matter at hoof had Twilight hysterical, so Starlight proceeded with care.

“Twilight, there you are. By some fluke, a letter for you got mixed with my papers for the day. I headed to your office with the thought that you were there, as I saw you pass by my office as you arrived, but I saw a flash of light from your room as I approached. With the idea that it was you, well it had to be because who else would it be? I figured you teleported somewhere. I guessed this would be my best choice because you likely wished to sort out the curriculum for the rest of the year with you back. Here is your letter,” Starlight said with a sheepish smile that she hoped hid the guilt she had as she revealed the letter to Twilight.

“You got the letter!” Twilight exclaimed as she grabbed the letter with her magic before she abruptly teleported away.

“Whew. Looks like we averted a crisis. She was about to overreact by the looks of it,” Starlight said with relief.

“Actually, she already was,” Rarity said.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, dear. It was a mistake. You resolved it before Twilight got completely hysterical. It is a trivial matter at worst.”

After some thought, Starlight asked, “Have you ever mused over the idea that Twilight would be better off as a less obsessive type?”

“That would be a travesty, dear. It is a part of why we love her. Of course it is difficult to deal with at times. At the same time, it offers up some lighthearted memories that we get to cherish. It allows us to tease each other. After all, it is our flaws that help to keep us together. Could you picture what it would be like without her like that? Of all the possibilities it would be the! Worst! Possible!”

At that, Starlight rolled her eyes as Rarity melodramatically proceeded forth. “Picture me as the…”

It was at that time, as Starlight face-hoofed, that she realized she should have kept that thought to herself.