Author's Note

The exact script from "The Last Problem" will not be used for Luster's meeting with Twilight in this.

The Penalty for Rejecting Friendship

Meeting in the Throne Room

Thirty years had passed since Princess Twilight Sparkle ascended to the position of ruling all of Equestria and like her predecessor, she ran a magic school. While she did have many promising students, one seemed to stand out above the others but also had one major problem, she did not care to make friends. She felt as though that it stood in the way of achieving the same kind of greatness that Twilight had achieved.

When Spike arrived he said, "Being a friendship advisor is tougher than I thought. Trying to make peace between the Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs is not easy."

Twilight replied, "Well that doesn't surprise me but I'm glad you're here. I'm having some issues of my own, issues with my best magic student."

Spike asked, "Oh?"

Twilight replied, "She seems to think that friendship is not important."

Spike broke down laughing, "Now where have I seen that before!"

Twilight sighed, "I know, I know."

They would soon be interrupted by the royal guard interrupting, "Your Majesty, she's here."

"Ok Gallus, send her in."

Gallus opened the door and Twilight's best student, Luster Dawn, walked in. She had a nervous look on her face as she knew that while she was spectacular when it came to magic, that she left much to be desired in the friendship department. Given the role her teacher in the past she knew that she wouldn't exactly be thrilled.

She approached the throne, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I'm so glad that you're seeing me."

Twilight replied, "Luster, I may be your teacher and the ruler of all of Equestria but in the end I'm still just your teacher."

"I know but as you know, I'm not real big on making friends," Luster said "it just doesn't seem like it is worth wasting my time over if it don't last forever."

"What?" gasped Spike

"You know Luster," Twilight began "you remind me a lot of how I was when I was in Celestia's school. I had ponies I studied with and they called me their friend but I felt that friendship was a waste of time, I felt like it would hinder me from becoming a powerful unicorn and maybe achieve what Celestia did."

Luster exclaimed, "So you do know how I feel!"

Twilight gave her a frown, "I do but you want to know how far I would have made it without friends?" She took a breath and continued, "I wouldn't have made it far and without my friends, Equestria would be blanketed in eternal darkness and Nightmare Moon would be ruling Equestria and you likely never would have been born."

Luster gave her a slight smile, "But that was back then! All the villains have been defeated so if I ever was to wind up in your position, I wouldn't have to worry about that."

Twilight suggested, "You know something Luster, how about you and I have a little mare to mare talk." She stood up and motioned for Luster to follow her, "Follow me."

Spike asked, "Twilight, do you need my help?"

Twilight replied, "No Spike, I'm good."

Luster's Last Lesson

Twilight then led Luster out of the throne room and the two began to go through a whole maze of hallways. Luster was not sure where she was being led but the further along they went, the less lavish the castle began to look. By the time they reached a door, the walls were simply painted a dull white and there was nothing special about it. When Twilight opened the door she ordered, "Follow me Luster, you and I need to have a good, long talk about your issues with friendship."

When Luster followed Twilight through the door, she suddenly found herself being led down a dank and dimly lit stairwell. Luster began to get nervous because this was something that she would never imagine. She never thought that such a place would exist in the most grandiose building in all of Equestria.

When they got to the bottom of the stairwell, Twilight opened the door and led her into a room that looked like it was from medieval Equestria. The walls appeared to be stones held together with concrete and the place was lit with torch light. Luster suddenly got a very bad feeling about the whole situation and asked, "Twilight, what is this place?"

Twilight gave her a laugh, "The place where we are going to have our little talk."

Luster became more concerned when Twilight opened the door to an old wooden cabinet that had seen better days. Twilight began getting multiple instruments and placing them in a bag, keeping them out of the view of Luster. After what seemed forever to her, Twilight closed the cabinet and then motioned for Luster to follow her towards a chair in the center of the room.

She pointed towards it and ordered, "Sit down Luster."

Luster sat down and Twilight knelt down to where she was at eye level with her student. She began, "Luster, I get it, you think friendship is a waste of time because it impedes your study time but in the end, how is rejecting friendship going to benefit you?"

Luster could tell that Twilight was dead serious here. She sat there in silence for a good couple minutes before Twilight asked, "Well?"

Luster gulped, "Well it is just that so many ponies advance so far by studying. From what I understand, Starswirl didn't exactly have friends until Stygian brought him and the other Pillars together."

Luster's answer frustrated Twilight greatly, so much so that she did something that she had never done to any other student before, she smacked her. She then got in her face and yelled, "Well let me tell you this Lusty, I control your destiny and don't you forget it! You can go on and on about how you'll advance if all you do is study but as long as I'm your teacher and I rule this country, that's not happening!"

Luster deep down knew this was the case but then something else crossed her mind, massive amounts of studying, "Well what if I studied enough that I was to be able to ascend myself into being an Alicorn?"

Deep down this infuriated Twilight but she wanted to play it cool and give her suddenly disobedient student a sense of false security. She gave a laugh, "You know Luster, I never imagined I'd have to teach a student this kind of lesson!"

She then grabbed Luster in her aura and pulled a drill out of the bag. She turned it on and almost immediately Luster knew what was going to happen. She attempted to yell and struggle as much as she could but being held in Twilight's aura, she was unable to. She let out a shriek of pain as the drill struck her leg. Twilight continued to drill through her leg and when she hit the bone, she managed to actually break her leg free from Twilight's aura.

This infuriated Twilight. She intensified her hold and yelled, "Oh, so you're going to be this disobedient huh? Well now you shall find out what happens to the most disobedient students!"

Twilight then got back to work with the drill and eventually drilled all the way through the leg of the chair. She then grabbed a bolt and ran it through the hole. After that she tightened it with a nut, securing her leg to the chair. Luster was howling in pain after Twilight was done, which also angered the princess. She stood up, smacked Luster and yelled, "Would you shut the buck up? Such noise is unacceptable!"

Twilight then got to work on the other leg and intensified her hold on the one she was torturing, making securing her much easier. Once Luster's back legs were secured, she began to turn a crank that straightened her hind legs out before turning another that had her laying flat. Luster was flailing about, her front legs were swaying and coming close to striking Twilight.

This did not sit well with Twilight so she fired up her drill and laughed, "You know something Luster, I never once imagined I'd have to do this to anypony but I should have known better when it came to you."

Luster yelled, "What do you mean by that?"

Twilight again smacked her and continued, "You are the child of wealthy ponies and those ones always turn out to be the most disobedient. Hell when I learned that your parents were very wealthy, I should have just denied you right then and there. It would have freed up a position for a deserving unicorn and kept me from having to punish a disobedient little bitch!"

Luster began to beg and plead for Twilight to stop the punishment but she paid no attention to her. She drilled holes through her other legs and then secured them in the same way, making it to where Luster could not move at all. Twilight stood over her and laughed, "Now let me see, how shall I continue?" She laughed for a moment before continuing, "Hey Luster, have you ever wondered what the inner workings of a pony looks like?"

Luster's eyes shrank when she heard this. She screamed, "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

Twilight laughed, "Oh I don't know about that but I do plan on making you realize that friendship is important!"

She leaned over Luster and began to rip into her torso with her teeth. Luster was screaming in agony while she was doing this and when Twilight wasn't biting and eating her hide, she was laughing hysterically. Eventually Twilight had ate enough that she exposed her rib cage and her organs that lie underneath. Twilight laughed, "Oh Luster, if only you could see this! Your precious heart is pounding so hard!"

Luster knew at that point that she likely wasn't going to survive. In the past, she never would have done such a thing but she decided it was time to tell Twilight how she truly felt, "You know what Twilight Sparkle, I had always looked up to you. I had always looked up to your hard work and I always thought that you got to where you were through hard work. I always thought that whole friendship thing was just a side thing, I never knew you needed friends to help you accomplish anything." She began to laugh, "And that right there is proof that you can't do anything on your own, proof that you are a loser! Celestia didn't need friends so why the hay should you?"

The comment infuriated Twilight but she didn't want to make Luster's suffering end too shortly nor did she want Luster to think that she could rattle her. She smacked her and laughed, "A loser huh? If I'm a loser, what does that make you?" She smacked her again and continued, "It makes you completely worthless! I should have known a lowly grub like you could never succeed in my school."

Luster yelled, "Lowly grub?"

Twilight laughed, "Yes, a lowly little grub!"

Twilight then returned to the cabinet and grabbed multiple items. The first was a saw. She then used it to cut one of Luster's hind legs off. Before Luster could lose too much blood, she cast a spell to stop the bleeding. She then began to eat the meat off of the leg but before she picked it clean, she held it up to Luster. "Hey Lusty, want a bite?"

Knowing that even if Twilight didn't kill her that she would be permanently disabled devastated her. She began to cry, "Please don't do this Princess Twilight. If you spared me and reattach my leg, I'll make friends, honest!"

Twilight gave her a frown, "Sorry Luster but only one pony out there knows the right magic to reattach limbs but she is incredibly busy today and even if she weren't, I know she'd never help a lowly little grub like you." She began to laugh, "Hell, she'd probably help me in carrying out your punishment!"

Twilight then began to club Luster with her leg and began laughing, "Hey Luster, why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?"

Luster let out a scream, "I'm not! You're the one hitting me."

Twilight laughed before digging another instrument out of a bag. She grabbed an instrument that had a tiny yet incredibly sharp point. She eyeballed Luster's lungs and snickered, "Oh this is going to be too much fun!"

She took the instrument and poked a tiny hole in the bottom of Luster's right lung. Luster let out a horrific scream before breathing for her became problematic. Twilight knew that given the tiny size of the hole, that it would take some time before the lung would collapse entirely.

As the lung was collapsing, all Twilight could do was sit there and laugh as breathing was becoming more difficult for her student and just for laughs, she blew cool air into her body cavity, making her breathe harder and increase her heart rate. Luster started screaming, "Why are you doing this......."

She then began coughing as speaking was beginning to become more difficult. Twilight gave her what looked like a motherly smile and laughed, "Luster, I am doing this because you failed to see the importance of friendship. You acted like you could be just like me with studying alone and the fact that you would bring up learning enough to ascend yourself didn't help any."

Luster tried to say something but could only get out a gasps and this amused Twilight, "So you have no response?" She blew on her heart and caused Luster's body to begin to shake. Her body shook so hard that she wound up breaking all of her legs. Luster was able to get out an ear piercing scream before falling silent again.

Twilight continued, "You know Luster, one time I read a series of books about a dentist who would do this to patients who didn't take care of their teeth. I always wondered what it would be like to play the role of that dentist and now I'm doing it and I must say, it is really fun!"

Luster attempted to say, "C-Col."

"Yes, Colgate's Practice." She laughed again, "What a shame she isn't a real pony. I'm certain she would be very proud of me!"

By this point Luster could only let out sighs while Twilight continued to laugh at her condition. Once her lung had fully collapsed, Twilight began to wonder what else she could do. She knew that some parts of her body would be fatal if she either cut open or tried to eat so she took to the collapsed lung. She took a blade and cut it out of her body.

Luster looked on in horror as Twilight began to eat it with a smile on her face. Blood was pouring out of her mouth and to make things worse for Luster, she held her face over Luster's and allowed her blood to flow all over her face, staining it red. Twilight began laughing again, "My my Luster, aren't you the messy eater?"

Luster let out another gasp while Twilight watched in amusement. She then decided to try something else from the series that she liked so much, she leaned down and clamped her teeth around Luster's horn. She was then easily able to rip it out, nerves and all. This caused Luster to let out another scream despite only having one lung. Twilight then walked back to where she was standing over her and was very amused over how fast her heart was beating.

Twilight did have her concerns though that her student may wind up dying before she wanted her to so she cast a spell to lower her heart rate. Twilight then remembered another thing from the books, something that made acquiring hearts much easier. She grabbed a hold of Luster's rib cage with her teeth and broke it open, causing Luster's body to spasm and caused her to scream. Twilight again was afraid that her student would die prematurely so she cast another spell to calm her down.

Twilight then looked over her student and saw that she was in a truly terrible state. She knew that even with all the spells out there that she would likely die before too long so she decided that the time had come to put her disobedient student out of her misery. She pulled her heart out of her body cavity and asked, "Shall I Luster? Shall I end your miserable pathetic life?"

Luster was only able to let out a slight gasp causing Twilight to laugh, "I'll take that as a yes!"

Twilight leaned down and placed Luster's beating heart in her mouth. She did not bite down on it right away though. She gave Luster plenty of eye contact and when she saw a look of complete despair in her eyes, she took the heart out and began, "My my Luster, you're weak. You are horribly weak and truly pathetic. If you were even remotely deserving of becoming anything like me, you would be fighting, you would be struggling and you certainly wouldn't be at my mercy!"

Luster let out a weak gasp before Twilight would smack her again. "Ha!" Twilight laughed "You want to know something Lusty, I bet even a newborn earth pony would put up more of a fight than you!" She smacked her once more before adding, "But rather than showing strength today, you have shown nothing but weakness. You have shown nothing but stupidity and ignorance when it comes to the magic of friendship."

Again all Luster could do is muster a sigh and then Twilight decided to use one of her favorite lines from the book series, "And now you must be punished!"

She again grabbed Luster's heart and put it in her mouth. Rather than continuing to tease Luster, she clamped down on it and ripped it out, causing Luster to let out one final scream. Blood began to squirt all over Twilight before she could get the whole thing in her mouth, chew it up and swallow it. She knew that her coat was soaked in blood but she did not care, she was actually relishing the fact that she was covered in the blood of who was her protege, her disobedient protege.

She gave Luster's remains a smile and laughed, "And this my dear Luster is what happens when one rejects the magic of friendship!"

Twilight began to think about how much fun she had torturing Luster to death and began to wonder who else she could do this to. She was thinking about all the ponies she had encountered in her life and who had wronged her in one way or another. Then it hit her. She said to herself, "Oh taking all of them out is going to be so much fun! This will be the funnest meeting ever!"

Twilight's Admission

After finishing off Luster and making future plans, Twilight headed back up to the throne room. On her way there she encountered a few guard ponies who gave her looks of shock but quickly turned their gaze away when she gave them deep glares. When she returned to the throne room, Spike saw her and was in a state of shock. He never expected to see her in that state.

He asked, "Twilight, what in Equestria happened to you?"

Twilight laughed, "Well let's just say that a spot in the magic school opened up, a spot for a pony who won't reject friendship!"

Spike was horrified. He had a look of fear in his eyes as he asked, "Twilight, did you kill Luster Dawn?"

Twilight gave him a stern glare and replied, "Yes I did and unless you want to wind up as a corpse in the dungeon, you'll keep your trap shut, got it?"

Spike was shocked that such a thing would come from Twilight but knew that if she would so easily kill a student over something as trivial as not accepting friendship that she'd have no problems killing him. He said, "Alright Twilight, my lips are sealed."

Rather than staying in the throne room in the event somepony may need to speak with her, she headed to her chambers. Once she arrived she sat on her bed and said to herself, "Well now Spike has got to go. He knows I killed Luster and I can't risk him spilling the beans." She then began to laugh, "I'll kill his crush and make him watch before I kill him! Oh this is going to be so much fun!"