Twilight woke and got out of bed, eager to face the day. Yesterday had been very productive, and she had slept well. She was refreshed, relaxed, and ready for anything. She walked over to her calendar, and with a smile on her face, tore off yesterday's page. As the details of the new page slowly permeated her consciousness, her smile started to falter. With a blink, and a shake of her head, the true horror of the day was revealed.
It was Sunday, the twenty-ninth of February.
"No, no, no, no," she cried to herself, "We can't be due for another Leap Year yet! We only had one four years ago..." When the realization of what she had just said hit home, it took an enormous effort to resist smacking herself in the face with a hoof.
The young alicorn walked over to her desk, and pulled down her schedules. Looking over them, the complete disaster of the situation hit home.
"I've got nothing to do today!"
"What's that, Twilight?" Spike asked in a sleepy voice as he waddled away from his basket.
"Spike! It's a Leap Year. Again!" Twilight said in a tone of frustration. "And this time 'round it falls on a Sunday. I've messed up my schedules!"
"What, exactly, has happened? Can you explain it to someone that doesn't plan their life out in fifteen minute increments?" Spike asked in a calm manner.
"Gah!" She exclaimed. "I've told you this before. I work out my schedule in my monthly planner. So, for February I set everything up to get done in twenty-eight days. I then moved on to March. Now, because my weekly planner runs from Sunday to Saturday, I didn't notice that that I had a whole day with nothing scheduled. I'd even scheduled transposing my monthly planner to my weekly planners for Monday the first of March. I've got a day, a whole day, with nothing scheduled. What am I going to do?"
"I don't know. It's obviously a catastrophe." The young dragon decided to lay the sarcasm on extra thick. "Why don't you think over it while we have breakfast?"
"Breakfast? No, Spike, wait. We can't eat today." Her statement was punctuated by her rumbling tummy.
"What?"
"I haven't taken today into account for our groceries and household accounts. We can't eat anything today, or it will throw my whole budget for the year out." Her stomach grumbled again.
"Sounds like there is some dissent in the ranks." Spike smiled as Twilight's tummy rumbled a third time.
"Spike! You're not taking this seriously!"
"Okay, calm down. If we have three square meals today, are we going to run out of anything before we go grocery shopping again?"
"No, but it will cut into my carefully calculated emergency reserves."
Spike blinked. After he analysed that sentence a second time, he decided to blink again. "I'm making breakfast. It's going to be one of those days, and I'm going to need to face it on a full stomach. Pancakes?"
Twilight considered protesting again, but the look on Spike's face stopped her. "Pancakes," she confirmed, "With extra syrup?"
"Yeah, and a double serve of butter. Something tells me we're going to need to keep our strength up today."
Breakfast past in relative quiet. Once she had stopped trying to calculate how much of her emergency reserves were going to be hit, Twilight actually enjoyed herself. It didn't last, however. As Spike was gathering the dishes to start washing up, the reality of all her free time hit home again.
"Spike, what am I going to do? I have a whole day with no schedule, and no plan. How am I supposed to fill the time?"
"Why don't you go out and see your friends?" Spike smiled, the obvious suggestions were always the best.
"I can't. they'll think something's wrong." Twilight twiddled her hooves.
"Come again?" Spike didn't bother trying to hide his confusion.
"I never just turn up unannounced. I always plan and confirm in advance. If I go out to see them today, they'll think something's wrong, and I'll have to tell them I forgot it's a Leap Year. They'll think it's 'Smarty-Pants day' all over again." The lavender mare paced the floor of the library.
"Why do we even have Leap Years?" Spike asked. "It seems pretty inefficient. I'd have thought Princess Celestia would have organized things better than that."
"I think she set it up as a joke on her astronomers a couple of thousand years ago, and just never bothered to fix things. I asked her once, and she gave me some malarkey about the year actually being three-hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days. I always thought that not rounding things off was kind of silly." Twilight sat at her favourite desk.
"Huh," grunted Spike. "Sounds like a weird way to run a solar system."
"Yeah, but that doesn't fix my current problem. What am I supposed to do with all this free time?" Twilight lamented.
"How about just going for a walk around town? That could fill a couple of hours."
"Spike! It's Febuary! Does 'the middle of winter' mean anything to you? Nopony is going out in this weather if they can avoid it."
"Heh, I guess you're right." Inspiration struck, and Spike walked across the room. Swinging past the bookshelves, he grabbed a book and dropped it in front of Twilight. "Here, read something."
Spike went back to the kitchen, to start washing up after breakfast, and left Twilight to her favourite study nook. The young dragon breathed a sigh of relief. If she settled in to read it thoroughly, it should keep her busy for hours. He ran the sink full of hot water, and started to plan for lunch.
"Spike! What made you choose this book!"
"I just grabbed a random book, Twilight. What's the matter, have you read it before?" Something in Twilight's tone set him on edge.
"Has somepony given you 'the birds and the bees' talk yet?" She asked in a stern tone.
"No, but I have figured a few things out for myself. Why do you ask?"
"Would you tell me what you think happens between stallions and mares, please?"
"When a stallion and a mare get certain urges, they go somewhere private to engage in a gross biological act. The aim of which is to get the mare pregnant. Traditionally, it was just between a husband and wife, but in these progressive times often ponies..."
"That's surprisingly sophisticated, Spike." Twilight interrupted with an impressed tone.
"I'm a bit fuzzy on the details beyond that," Spike said. "Why the sudden interest, Twi?"
"The book you gave me is a sex manual Spike. It's all about making that 'gross biological act' even gross-er and more biological. I just wanted to know why you picked it out for me to read." Twilight kept up her stern tone, but there was a hurt look on her face.
"Aww, I'm sorry Twi. That shelf was half way between where I was standing, and where you were sitting. I just grabbed it because it was the largest book on the shelf. I didn't even look at the title. I didn't put any more thought into it than that. Honest."
"Well, okay. But don't recommend anything on that shelf to anypony in the future, Spike."
"But what if the Cutie-Mark Crusaders..."
"Especially to the Cutie-Mark Crusaders. Equestria isn't ready for that kind of disaster. Now, I'm going to the bathroom."
"You're taking that book with you?" Spike asked, puzzled.
"When a stallion, or a mare, get certain urges, and they don't have a very special somepony to act on them with, they'll go somewhere private and easy to clean..." Realization struck, and the young alicorn choked off her reply. "That's already more than you need to know. I'll be casting a soundproofing spell, so don't bother listening at the door either."
Spike watched as the bathroom door slammed shut, and the glow of Twilight's magical aura shone around the door jam. He turned back to the dirty dishes, and started work again.
"Just as long as it keeps you out of my spines for ten minutes," he muttered under his breath.
Twilight slid the book back on the shelf with a satisfied sigh. She took note of some of the other similar titles, for future private study sessions. She trotted back to her bedroom to look over her schedule. She toyed with the idea of rearranging things to add 'find a very special somepony' at some point. Or perhaps even penciling in a 'torrid one-night-stand' for one of her weekends. In the end though, she left her schedule exactly as it was. Aside from the hiccup that was today, it was near perfect. Messing around with things would only complicate matters. She did, however, add them as topics for discussion at her next spa appointment with Rarity and Fluttershy.
"Lunch is ready, Twilight. It's just sandwiches and hay fries I'm afraid." Spike called out.
"That's fine, Spike. I'll be right down."
"So, Twilight," Spike began as the mare settled in at the kitchen table. "Is there anything in the books on that shelf that would help me woo Rarity?"
"Stay away from that shelf, Spike." She shook her head, and floated a sandwich to the plate in front of her. "That shelf is more than you're ready for just yet."
"Come on Twi, I've always been pretty advanced for my age."
"No, Spike. Just, no."
"Aww," he said, crestfallen.
"Eat your hay fries," Twilight said around a mouthful of her sandwich.
The rest of their midday meal passed in silence. The alicorn mare was content to just sit and eat, while her draconic charge sullenly pushed his hay fries around the plate. Hunger eventually overcame his bad mood, and soon they were both done. As Spike began clearing the table, Twilight turned her attention to the clock.
"Gah! Today is moving so slowly," she muttered to herself.
She walked back out to the main library, and sat by the window. All this idleness was wearing on her nerves. She watched as a pegasus on the weather team chased after an errant cloud. Her thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash. Before she could stop it, the thought "What would Dash do?" floated through her mind.
There was only one answer that came to mind. Rainbow Dash would take a nap.
A nap. Why hadn't she thought of that sooner? Hours would pass in blissful unconsciousness. It might make falling asleep tonight more difficult, but it would make the time now just fly past. It was the perfect solution. Twilight started looking around for the perfect spot to sleep.
Which was a pretty silly thought, when she had a perfectly good bed upstairs.
The purple pony trotted up to her bedroom. She had a plan, and that put a smile on her face. She lay across her bed, lying on top of the bedclothes, and rested her head on the pillow. With a contented sigh, she shut her eyes.
And opened them again a few minutes later when she couldn't fall asleep.
This was frustrating. Rainbow could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. What was keeping her awake? More to the point, how did ponies fall asleep?
Without any prompting, her mind turned to analyze the situation. The first thing she thought of was how she was trying to disrupt her natural circadian rhythm. Pushing that aside, she thought about physical exhaustion, and what kind of trigger that was for sleep.
Well, her session in the bathroom had been vigorous, but she couldn't really call it physically exhausting.
Mental exhaustion could also put ponies over the edge. She remembered how she had collapsed in bed after grueling lessons at school. Well, she hadn't spent much time today in deep thought. So that wasn't an answer.
Stress, that was something that kept ponies awake. Twilight had to admit that she was feeling stressed. That was probably a big reason what she wasn't able to sleep. The question was, how could she reduce her stress enough to enjoy this unscheduled nap? The best way to reduce stress was to resolve whatever conflict was causing the feelings of stress.
She grunted and rolled over. That was the whole point of taking this nap in the first place. She had time on her hooves, thanks to this stupid leap year, and nothing to fill it with. The stress of her blank schedule was stopping her from taking a nap, in order to get her schedule back on track. Perhaps she should go down and reread 'Catch 22.'
The lavender alicorn tossed and turned again, and in the process managed to roll off the bed. In a heap on the floor, she kicked her legs out, and knocked the trunk of her foalhood belongings with a hind leg. She got up, and patted her head, feeling for blood or bruises. Satisfied that she wasn't hurt in any meaningful way, she opened the chest to look inside.
There it was, sitting on the top of all her old toys. The answer to her problem. The perfect solution to this disastrous day. An excellent method to fill in the rest of the afternoon.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled. "Do you feel like a game of 'Monopoly'?"
"Double six. Oh, lucky me. That roll puts me right on 'Park Place.' I'm definitely buying that one."
Twilight smiled as she shook the dice cup in her telekinesis. This was going far better than she expected. Time was flying by. She looked over the game board, before slamming the dice cup down. As she lifted the cup, she couldn't help but grin.
"Double one! It looks like I get to buy 'Boardwalk' as well. That could just be the deciding move of the game." The alicorn rattled the dice cup again, and slammed it down on the board.
"Hold it right there," Spike spoke as he laid his claw over the cup, preventing Twilight from lifting it. He looked over his pile of play money, and compared it to Twilight's. "How did you wind up with so much cash?"
"I must be better at managing my money than you are," she said smugly.
Spike ran a critical eye over the board before asking again, "How did you get so much cash?"
"Well, I get a stipend for being the banker," Twilight tried to justify.
"That's not in the rules," Spike growled.
"Oh? I thought it was. We could switch, if you like. You want to take over being banker?" She tried to tug at the dice cup, but Spike wouldn't release his iron grip.
"When I lift this dice cup," Spike spoke in a low and angry tone, "the dice are going to show a total of either three, six, eight, or eleven. Those four rolls all put you on 'safe' squares. Missing all my properties, and the tax square. The dice also won't show a double, as this is your third roll, and you don't want to go to jail."
"Spike, we're using a dice cup. How am I supposed to affect the roll without being able to see the dice?"
"By feeling the indentations on the surface of the dice." He lifted the cup to reveal a four and a two showing on the dice. “Really Twilight, I thought you were above this."
"Shining Armour always cheated when we played as kids," the young mare pouted. "I just figured it was my turn."
Spike gathered up his play money and property cards, and tossed them straight up in a fit of anger. He stood and watched as they rained down around the library floor.
"It's time I started dinner," he said in a level tone. "It will be alfalfa stew."
"Blergh, are you trying to poison me?"
Spike glared at her with a look that said 'don't tempt me.'
"I'll be more subtle about the way I cheat the next time we play," Twilight said.
"With," Spike cried out, "a side serve of broccoli!"
Twilight tried not to gag as Spike left for the kitchen. "I'll just pack up the game, shall I?" She called after him.
"Spike, I'm sorry about the way I behaved during the Monopoly game."
"Yeah, whatever," he replied as he took another bite of the green slop on his plate.
"And I totally deserve this..." She caught sight of the cold stare the young dragon was giving her, and changed tack. "...wonderful alfalfa stew, with a side serve of steamed broccoli."
"Right," Spike made a point of chewing with his mouth open, and was rewarded by watching Twilight's face turn as green as her meal.
"I promise that I will never cheat when we play Monopoly. Ever again."
"If we ever play that stupid game again."
"Yes, well. I know that today hasn't been easy on us. And I'm sorry I got so freaked out by my schedule. I just like the security that it gives me." She gave Spike a pleading look. "You know how I can get when I'm not in control. My schedules, planners, and checklists are my safety net. I just find it easier to cope if I have that organization behind me."
"Yeah, I know," Spike sighed. "You just need to understand that you can step away from your schedule every now and then, and the world won't fall apart."
"I know, Spike. It's just been a major part of my life for so long now, that it's hard to give up."
"It's just that when you fly to pieces, the rest of us get hit by the shrapnel. You've gotta learn to just 'go with the flow' a bit more."
"Yes Spike, I'll work on that," Twilight smiled, and waved a hoof at one of the cupboards. "There's some crushed quartz in a bag in that cupboard. Do you want to sprinkle some over your ice cream?"
"Really? Thanks Twi!" He dug the bag out, before walking to the refrigerator to get the ice cream. "You know, this might make a great letter to the Princess."
"Oh, no. There is no way I am going to tell Princess Celestia about today. She still gets a fit of the giggles every time she remembers the last Leap Year."
"Did the griffon ambassador really threaten to go to war over that feather of his you plucked to use as an emergency quill?"
"Spike," she growled, "Let's not make a terrible day worse by bringing up that incident. I don't like Leap Years, and we don't need any more discussion on the subject."
"Yeah, just make a note of it somewhere for next time. We can't go through this every four years," Spike said as he slurped his ice cream.
"I'll do the dishes, then lets go to bed. I want to put today behind us, and never speak of it again."
The following morning, Twilight stood in front of her calendar. It was a new day, and yesterday was about to become nothing more than a bad memory. She tore off the page for Sunday the twenty-ninth of February with a sense of overpowering glee. The cursed Leap year was over, and her life was about to return to normal. It was Monday, the first of March, she had her schedule, and all was right with the world. With a satisfied sigh, she smiled and was ready to face this new day.
Spike woke, alarmed. He barely had time to sit up before...
*BURP*
...his dragon fire spat out a scroll held tight with the Royal Seal. Twilight plucked it from the air, and unrolled it.
My dearest Twilight Sparkle,
There is a matter of great urgency that requires your personal attention here in Canterlot. I must ask that you take the next available train, and meet me in my private study. I will explain everything when you arrive.
I apologize for the short notice, but it is unavoidable. I do hope that this is not too disruptive for you,
Faithfully yours,
Your mentor and friend,
Princess Celestia.
Spike watched in horror as Twilight's world crashed down around her.
"My schedule," she spoke in a soft and plaintive voice.
"Aww, come on. You don't want to keep the Princess waiting," Spike tried to reassure her.
"But, my schedule," she whimpered.
"Well, you'll be able to rewrite it from scratch when you get back. Won't that be fun?"
"My schedule!" She cried, throwing herself to the floor and covering her head with her forelimbs.
"Let me just go and get your 'summoned to Canterlot on an emergency' checklist, huh?" Spike asked.
Twilight's ears perked up, and she lifted her head from the floor. "Checklist..." she said, her voice growing stronger.
Author's Note
Link to my full author's notes. Thanks to everyone that has read, commented, favourited or rated this story. I really appreciate every one.