Twilight Sparkle in your Document
Five missing assignments, an essay due by midnight, and an exam worth 30% of your grade at the end of the week—those were the hurdles you had to jump over before you could even think of enjoying your weekend. In short, it had been a tough beginning of the week and, without a doubt, it had been a long, long day…
Finally getting a bit of time to yourself where you could concentrate on your assignments, you sit down at your cluttered desk, determined to finally tackle that important essay for your college class. The topic is mind-numbingly boring, but it has to get done; there is nothing you can do about it (except hunker down and get it completed, of course). With a sigh, you power up your computer, wait for the usual startup lag, and open Google Docs. The blank document stares back at you, a silent, daunting challenge.
But wait… something's different today. As you move the mouse to the page, you notice a peculiar, purple glow emanating from the screen. Before you can blink, an animated figure materializes just an inch or two to the right of the center of your document.
"Where am I? What is this place?" a high-pitched, frantic voice exclaims, obviously worried.
You rub your eyes, convinced that you're hallucinating. But no, there she is: Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony (your absolute favorite show of all time), trapped inside your word processor.
"Hey, you! Yes, you! Can you help me?" Twilight Sparkle demands. Her tone is filled with a mix of worry and irritation as she seems to look out beyond the monitor of your screen. "I need to get back to Equestria! This isn't funny!"
You lean back in your chair, stunned. "Uhhhhh, Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing in Google Docs?"
"Do I look like I know? One moment I was in my library, and the next, I'm here! Now, please, help me get out of this digital prison!" she pleads, her big, expressive purple eyes looking directly at you through the screen.
A mischievous idea crosses your mind. "Sure, Purplesmart, I'll help you. But first, let's have a little fun."
"What do you mean by 'fun'?" Twilight narrows her eyes suspiciously. “And don’t you dare call me ‘Purplesmart’!!”
“Okay Tail Light Spackle” you chortle.
“No, you foolish ape. It’s Twilight Sparkle, not Tail Light Spackle. Show some respect; I am a princess after all.”
“Well, excuse me, princess!"
Twilight is clearly ticked off.
You grin and start typing a sentence: "Twilight Sparkle wears a funny hat." As soon as you hit enter, a large, polka-dotted party hat materializes on her head.
"Hey! What is this? I don't have time for silly games!" Twilight huffs, shaking her head in an attempt to dislodge the hat while having a hard time to reach the spot with her hooves.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. You just looked too serious," you reply, laughing.
Twilight's annoyance is palpable. "Alright, you've had your fun. Now can you please focus on getting me out of here?"
"Sure thing, but let’s see what other features this word processor has," you say, still grinning. You highlight a paragraph of placeholder text and change the font to Comic Sans. Twilight's expression immediately changes to one of horror.
"Comic Sans?! Really? Do you have any idea how tacky that is?" she groans.
"Come on, it’s just for fun. Look, I'll change it back," you say, but instead, you turn the text bright pink. "How about this color?"
Twilight facehoofs. "I can’t believe this. I’m stuck in a word processor with a prankster. This is juuuust great."
“Or how about this,” you say as you do a quick Ctrl+A and select the green fill option for the document.
“What the heck!” cried out Twilight, as she also found herself a dark forest green hue.
"Alright, alright, I’ll stop," you say, although you’re barely able to suppress your laughter. To rectify things, you execute a quick Ctrl+Z, returning Twilight to her natural color.
“Better?”
“I guess so…” responded Twilight, relieved but still clearly rattled.
"How did you even end up here?"
Twilight sighs. "I was experimenting with a new spell involving transdimensional portals, and, well, I guess it worked too well. Instead of sending me to another part of Equestria, it sent me here, into your document."
"Hmm, that’s quite the predicament. Maybe if I just—" you start to type another sentence: "Twilight Sparkle sings a song."
Suddenly, Twilight's eyes widen and she begins to sing in a melodious voice in the key of A major, completely against her will. "Twilight Sparkle is stuck in a scree-een, needing help to be free-ee-ee..."
"Wow, that spell must have some real power if it can make you sing like that," you comment, thoroughly entertained.
"This isn’t funny! Please, stop this and help me!" Twilight pleads between verses.
"Okay, okay, I'll help you," you say, deciding to take pity on her. "Let's see... maybe if I insert a hyperlink to Equestria?"
You add a hyperlink, typing "Equestria" and linking it to a random website. Twilight clicks on it, but nothing happens.
"That was a ridiculous idea," she says flatly. "You need to think more magically. Do you have any knowledge of portal spells or advanced computing?"
"Not exactly my area of expertise; I’m an economics major" you admit, scratching your head. "But I do know how to use a few Google Docs tools. Maybe the ‘Add-ons’ can help?"
Twilight gives you a deadpan look. "Add-ons? Really?"
"Hey, it's worth a shot," you reply defensively. You open the Add-ons menu and browse through the options. "How about the 'MathType' add-on? Maybe some advanced equations could simulate magic."
"You're just making this up as you go along, aren’t you?" Twilight mutters.
"Pretty much," you admit with a shrug.
"Fine. Just... try something, anything that might work."
You start typing out complex equations and magical-sounding phrases, hoping one might trigger a reaction. Twilight watches with a mix of hope and skepticism.
Suddenly, the screen flickers, and a portal begins to form around Twilight.
"It’s working! I think it’s working!" she exclaims, her voice filled with excitement.
You lean in closer, watching as the portal widens. "Alright, Twilight, looks like you're going home!"
"Finally!" she says, smiling with relief. "Thank you for—"
But before she can finish, the portal collapses, and Twilight is thrown back into the document, looking disheveled and even more annoyed.
"Really? That’s just... ugh!" she groans, slumping down.
"Sorry, Twilight. Guess we’ll need to try something else," you say, feeling a bit guilty now.
Twilight sighs deeply. "Alright, no more pranks. Let’s just focus on getting me out of here. Please?"
You nod seriously. "Okay, let’s do this. For real this time."
You and Twilight brainstorm ideas, trying different commands and combinations of text, each one failing to bring the transported princess any closer to freedom.
“Hmmm,” you thought. “What if I just keep pressing undo until you eventually go back to Equestria? That seems like it could be a reasonable plan…”
“Alright, I guess there is some logic to that.”
You start pressing Ctrl+Z over and over again like a madman, erasing Twilight’s hat and all the other inputs you had done earlier until you got back to the initial black screen.
“Just one more time…” you thought, pressing undo once more.
A powerful vortex opens up, and Twilight starts to be pulled in. She looks back at you with a grateful smile.
"Thank you! And next time, maybe don’t mess around with magical creatures!" she calls out as she vanishes into the portal.
A bit saddened that you didn’t get a chance to give your side of a more formal goodbye without your favorite character and your one true crush in this world (though you would never admit that), you were happy to see her escape this universe in order to go back home.
The screen returns to its normal, blank state, and you sit back, feeling a strange mix of satisfaction and relief. You glance at the clock and realize that you’ve spent nearly an hour helping Twilight.
With a sigh, you open a new document and start typing your essay, hoping your professor will understand if the essay seems a bit rushed. After all, it’s not every day you help a pony princess return to her magical world.
