//------------------------------// // Splitting the Work: Twilight's Test // Story: The Time Ponies (Fail to) Take a Vacation // by My name is R //------------------------------// As Starlight walked into the library with Twilight, she yawned. They’d been up all night studying, and it showed. Twilight turned back to face her, yawning herself as she did so. She brought her scroll up to her face and seemed to at least partially shake off her exhaustion. “I've prepared a full day of spells. You've been doing great, but now it's time for a real challenge!” As she spoke, Twilight shifted into a forward posture, one hoof raised as if ready for action. Starlight smirked. “Oh-ho-ho! It is on! Where do we begin?” Twilight grinned back. “Teleportation. Multiple locations. Try to keep up.” Twilight closed her eyes and teleported, Starlight following suit. She used the slowly fading signature left behind by Twilight’s spell to determine her destination, ending up outside of Twilight’s castle about a hundred feet in the air. Fortunately she had been expecting this, so she held herself aloft with her telekinesis. Twilight teleported again, and again Starlight followed, this time ending up on a tree branch in the Everfree forest. As soon as she had her bearings Twilight was already halfway-through her spell, and Starlight followed again, this time finding herself underwater. She instinctively shut her mouth and opened her eyes wide in not quite panic, but pretty close to it. She hurried to follow Twilight’s signature, and then took a moment to catch her breath. They were somewhere rocky, on two different pillars of stone. But before she could take in too much detail they were off again. This time they were hanging upside down in a cave full of bats, which all began opening their eyes. Not in that super creepy all-at-once way you hear about in campfire stories, but it turned out that a hundred or so bats could be plenty creepy without any attention to stagecraft. By the time they had finished the shields portion of their duel, and the necessary attacks on those shields, the library was a mess. The books were all on the floor, though thankfully unharmed, the ladder was hanging askew from the tallest shelf, and Twilight’s supplies were scattered amongst the books. Fortunately, Starlight had a solution. “As you know, speed spells like Accelero are not easy,” Starlight said with a grin. “But if done correctly, they can allow you to be much more efficient with your day.” She leaned back, began the spell, then took off at a trot as it took effect. From Starlight’s perspective she worked as quickly as she could by hoof and mouth, since she couldn’t reliably hold Accelero and another spell at the same time. She picked up the library quickly, but it was nothing compared to if she or Twilight had cleaned it with their horns. From an outside perspective, however, things looked very different. There was a purple and green rainbow that streaked around the room, and wherever it passed everything was instantly set to rights. Twilight and Spike stared, turning this way and that, as the messy room was cleaned in moments. When she was done Starlight released the spell, coming to a stop in front of them. Spike raised a fist in celebration. “Way to go, Starlight!” Starlight chuckled. “I’m not finished!” She lowered her tone from playful to scholarly. “I've discovered a very old spell, Similo Duplexis, when combined with Accelero in just the right way…” She lifted her head and began casting the spell. Unlike most spells, even moderately hard ones like Accelero, hern horn didn’t just glow. A trail of pure white grew along the conical spiral of her horn, and a blue sphere appeared at the tip. Slowly the sphere grew and diluted until her entire forehead was obscured. Then, in a flash of white light, the spell was finished. There was a rainbow like when she had cast Accelero, but it only moved a few feet before resolving into a second Starlight. Both Starlights finally let their horns dim. “You can literally be in two places at once,” they said as one. Then their horns lit up once more and they recombined. Starlight sighed in a tired sort of satisfaction. “Now I'm finished.” Twilight offered her a smile. “I have to admit, your skills with magic really are nothing short of amazing. I'm very impressed.” Starlight gave a little laugh and started playing with her mane. “I've always been something of a natural.” Starlight’s satisfied smile turned to a frown as Twilight levitated a clipboard and frowned at it. “However, it doesn't look like you've tackled any friendship lessons since our trip to the Crystal Empire.” Starlight took the clipboard in her own magic and spun it around to read it. “Are you sure? I could've sworn there were a couple in there somewhere…” Twilight took back her board and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure.” “I see…” Starlight grinned nervously as she backed up slowly. “Well, I'm really quite busy this week.” She turned around and kept walking. “ So many commitments. I'll try and find some time in my-” She was interrupted by Twilight teleporting right in front of her and leaning into her personal space, suddenly all smiles. “No time like the present!” Then she leaned back, but stayed where she was. “Spike and I are headed to Canterlot. Princess Celestia wanted me to give her students a quick overview on the history of enchanted objects in Equestria. We'll be back after the presentation, which should be…” She frowned and thought for a moment. Spike walked up carrying a stack of books taller than he was. “Twenty moons from now?” he grumbled. Twilight frowned and shot him a look. “Tonight.” Then she smiled and returned her gaze to Starlight. “It's a quick presentation.” Spike rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.” Twilight started walking past her as she continued. “You can tackle a friendship lesson today, and we can review your progress when I get back later this evening.” Starlight grinned nervously back. “Of course. No problem. Friendship lesson... On it…” “Great! Can't wait.” As she began talking to Spike about her flashcards Starlight frowned and walked off. Hopefully she could think of something. Starlight lay on her bed, floating some building blocks above her. She’d been hoping that Twilight wouldn’t ask after those lessons. Powerful magic was easy, it just sort of… clicked. Sure, it took a lot of hard work and studying, but with time she always figured out how it worked. There was a lot to keep in mind, but you could keep everything in mind. These friendship lessons, not so much. Just then a knock on her door startled her, causing her to drop the blocks on her chest. She sat with a start and glanced at the door. Then she scrambled into her desk chair and levitated some papers to look busy. When she heard the door open she started making little studying noises. “Hey!” Starlight turned and watched as Spike walked into the room. “Twilight and I are about to head to Canterlot. Just checking to see if you need anything before we left.” Starlight shook her head. “Nope, not at all! I'm good here. Oh, not good – great! Not a problem in the world! Heh.” As she spoke she kept switching her posture, trying to be as casual as possible. Eventually she settled on leaning on her desk and grinning. Spike gave her one of his looks. The ones that said ‘I won’t say it to your face, but you’re either lying through your teeth, or horribly mistaken.’ “Uh-huh. So... what are you doing, exactly?” Starlight spoke as slowly as she dared, trying to buy time to think through her answer. “I was…” She decided to pull the indecisiveness card, and started speaking in a rush. “Just trying to decide which friendship lesson I was going to tackle while you two were in Canterlot.” She leaned down and started rifling through her trash bin. “Bap-ba-du... Oh, yep, right here, where I just left them a second ago.” She pulled the flashcards from the very bottom of the rather full bin and gave as big a smile as she could. Spike blew the dust off of them and began to pace as he read. “Bake a cake with Pinkie Pie. Scrapbook with Applejack. Sew with Rarity. Help an animal with Fluttershy. Chillax with Rainbow Dash? What is chillaxing?” Starlight looked up to her ceiling, knowing it had no help to give. “No idea.” “You know, uh, if you're nervous about your friendship lessons, it's totally okay to say so.” Starlight trotted over. “Nervous, me?” She threw her head back as far as she could without hurting herself as she did her best approximation of a laugh. “Hch, Ha ha, ha ha. Oh, Spike, you really are hilarious, heh heh.” She ‘recovered from her mirth’ and put on her ‘stern lecturer’ voice for the next part, hoping to distance herself from the underlying truth. “You think I'm nervous that I'm gonna fail something as simple as baking a cake?” “Well, if you were, it'd be-” Starlight spun around and spoke right into his face. “Silly!” Then she backed up and allowed herself some pride at her next words. “Twilight just said how impressed she was that I combined a speed spell and a duplication spell. That was a challenge. These? Pfft, hah! I could combine all five of these at the same time without breaking a sweat.” Actually, maybe if she did them all at once it would help overshadow any of the mistakes in the individual lessons… “I think maybe you’re missing-” “An opportunity to really impress Twilight?” She said, voice slowly rising. Then she gasped. “Great idea, Spike! I'm gonna get right on that! Good talk.” And with that she trotted away in high spirits. Preparations were needed if she was to truly impress Twilight. Starlight knocked on the door of Carousel Boutique, then walked into Sugarcube Corner as she waited. “Hello Starlight! Are you ready to get baking?” “Yep! We’re gonna bake the best cake Twilight's ever seen.” Pinkie went utterly still and stared, eyes wide, right at Starlight. Slowly her grin spread wider than should have been physically possible. “Did you say ‘the best cake Twilight’s ever seen?” “Yes…?” Starlight said nervously as she opened the door and looked around for Rarity. “I don’t have all the ingredients, but with your magic, and my baking skills, I think it’s time for…” Pinke grinned manically and narrowed her eyes ominously, “a road trip.” “Oh, hello darling! I was just finishing getting the shop set up for our session.” It was proving very difficult to manage two different instances of herself at the same time. The spell helped give her two bodies, but she still only had one mind split between them. “Are you sure we need to go on a road trip? We need to finish this before Twilight gets back.” “Don’t worry, this is gonna go great!” Pinkie rushed downstairs and started putting various tools and ingredients into her saddlebags as she continued talking. “The first ingredient we need is The Meringue of Boulangerie. It’s waaay to the East, so we’ll need to catch the train to Griffinstone. Then it’s just a hop skip and a jump to the other two!” As she finished talking she closed her bulging saddlebags and took off at a trot, Starlight close behind. “Of course, the train is supposed to leave the station any minute now, so we have to hurry.” Just then they heard: “All aboard!” “Oh no they don’t,” Starlight muttered. She sped up, and Pinkie followed suit. Just as the last car was pulling away from the station they jumped onto the balcony behind the caboose. Starlight let out a sigh as they stepped inside. “That was a close one.” Pinkie pointed through the front door. Starlight followed her gesture and saw the conductor making his way through the neighboring car. “Hold on,” she said, and teleported them onto the roof. ”Come on!” she called over the wind. “Let’s see if we can get into a car he’s already checked!” Starlight was a master of many forms of magic, and multiple telekinesis was no exception, but Rarity was something beyond even that. She lacked the power of Starlight or Twilight, indeed, she was probably a less talented spellcaster than Minuette, but clearly in this one area she had poured much of her practice in the arcane arts. Meanwhile, Starlight was still trying to decide whether she was facing an incredibly subtle test of fashion, or an insidiously cunning test of character. Rarity had asked her to choose between four samples of fabric which all appeared to be the same. Upon close inspection Starlight had determined that one of them was shinier and smoother to the touch than the others and one was marginally darker, but she was still unconvinced that there was any difference between the last two. In a fit of desperation Starlight grabbed the shiny one, figuring that it looked sort of regal, and maybe that would help. This was going to be a long day. Starlight and Pinkie were sitting at the only empty pair of benches they could find in the busiest car in the train, keeping a low profile and hoping that the conductor hadn’t memorized the layout of empty seats. “Do you have any twos?” Pinkie asked. Starlight raised an eyebrow as she handed Pinkie her only card. “Pinkie, I didn’t think it was possible to clear out somepony’s talon in one turn. Are you sure you’re not cheating?” “Nope!” “Alright…” Starlight cocked her head. “Wait, no you’re not cheating, or no you’re not sure?” “It’s your turn silly!” Shaking her head Starlight drew a card. “So, what exactly are we baking?” “The MMMM. Got any sevens?” “Nope, go fish. What’s mmm?” Pinkie drew a card. Miraculously, it apparently wasn’t a seven. “Not mmm, MMMM! The Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness! The Cakes spent months working out the perfect recipe for the national dessert competition a few years ago. It’s a shame that it never made it to the final round.” “Oh, I was expecting it to have won the contest, what with how you’ve been hyping it up. Any princesses?” Pinkie shook her head, prompting Starlight to draw a seven. She fought to keep the smile off her face as Pinkie answered. “Oh, it wasn’t disqualified. It was part of an elaborate string of baking vandalisms. You wouldn’t happen to have a three, would you?” “Go fish.” Pinkie drew and Starlight grinned triumphantly. “I’ll be taking your sevens, please.” “I don’t have any, go fish.” “But, but you just asked for one!” “Yeah, because I didn’t think you and I had the same card.” “I… nevermind. So, about the string of bakery vandalisms?” “Oh, that’s a fun story! You see, it all began when…” “And that’s how Twilight and I solved the Mysterious Mystery Malingering Malevolently of Baking!” Just as Pinkie finished her tale of bakery intrigue the whistle blew. “Next stop, Griffinstone!” “Well, that’s convenient timing. Come on Pinkie, the game is ahoof!” As they waited for the train to come to a stop Starlight folded up her map. Then they made their way through the now-empty car and stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight. Pinkie started bouncing through the woods East towards the mountain and Starlight followed behind. “Wait, I thought the path to Boulangerie was to the South?” “Don’t worry, I know a short-cut! Follow me!” Pinkie pulled a little green pendant out of her saddlebags as they approached the mountain. She seemed to shake it a bit, sprinkle a red powder on it, and it started to glow. “I bought this in Miskatonic’s Parlour of Forbidden Curiosities for just twenty bits! Isn’t it cool!” “Pinkie, what does it do?” “Watch!” Suddenly a swirling rift of entropy incarnate manifested in the side of the swiftly approaching mountain. “Jeronimo!” Pinkie shouted as she leapt into the portal. “I really hope neither of us end up regretting this.” Starlight took a deep breath, held it, and jumped in after her friend.