Version 1
Minutes after they had seen her disappear in a flash of light, Twilight's friends all saw Twilight's cutiemark descending from the sky. They all ran outside to where it finally came to the ground. It then faded and revealed Twilight standing there, and she appeared to be her completely normal unicorn self.
"Twilight!" they all gasped, running up to her.
"Are you okay? What happened?" asked Rarity.
"I'm not sure," said Twilight. "I was transported to another dimension or something, and Princess Celestia was there… I think. It's all a little fuzzy."
Suddenly their was a flash of light behind them. They all turned to see Princess Celestia appear behind them from a teleport.
"Princess Celestia!" they all gasped.
"Hello my little ponies," she said sweetly in her motherly voice. Then she turned to Twilight. "Twilight, you have created a brand new form of magic, and have accomplished something that even Starswirl the Beared couldn't. Unfortunately, he didn't understand the magic of friendship the way you do. I am so proud of you. You have learned so much since you became my student. And now, I believe you're ready."
"Ready for what, Princess," asked Twilight.
Celestia stood tall and stretched out her wings dramatically as she spoke. "Twilight, you have completed my training. There is nothing more you need to learn from me. You graduate as my student. I now declare you a Master Conjurer!"
"R-really?" asked Twilight excitedly, the others all gasping in happy surprise, except for Pinkie Pie, who just had a confused look on her face. "I've completed all my lessons?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes Twilight. I want you to know that being your teacher has been true joy in my life. You must continue your journey on your own from here. Continue to learn about magic and friendship on your own. Of course, should you ever need my council, I will always be there for you." The princess leaned down and nuzzled the side of Twilight's head. "But I have no doubt that you will do great things, Twilight."
"Thank you, Princess," said Twilight as all her friends, except for Pinkie Pie for some reason, began to gather around her and congratulate her.
Celestia was about to tell Twilight when her graduation ceremony in Canterlot would be when Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.
"HOLD EVERYTHING!"
Everyone stared at the pink pony in surprise at her sudden outburst.
"AREN'T YOU GOING TO MAKE TWILIGHT AN ALICORN PRINCESS?" demanded Pinkie.
Everyone's eyes widened in shock at what Pinkie said.
"What?!" exclaimed Celestia in confusion.
"I thought you were going to make Twilight an alicorn princess like you. It's what we've all been waiting for… I think."
Celestia continued to stare down at the pink pony in surprise. "Why on earth would I do that?" she asked.
"I thought that was the whole reason you were teaching her for?"
"Where is this even coming from?" said Celestia, still confused. "Have I ever said that Twilight was going to be an alicorn princess someday?"
"Well… no," said Pinkie.
"I know she hasn't said anything like that to me," said Twilight.
"Exactly," said Celestia. "So why would you think I was going to make Twilight an alicorn princess? For one thing, even if I WAS going to make her a princess, why would I turn her into an alicorn too? What would even be the point of that? What's wrong with being a unicorn?"
"Well, nothings wrong with it," said Pinkie. "I just thought that only alicorns could be princesses."
Celestia looked appalled by that statement. "Pinkie Pie, that's not true at all! Not only would that be incredibly stupid, it would also be rather racist. All species are equal, Pinkie Pie, whether they be alicorns, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, zebras, donkeys, mules, buffalo, griffons, dragons, and so on. As far as I'm concerned, any individual of any species can be a ruler, or anything else for that matter, as long as they have what it takes. To change somepony's species over something like that would just be wrong! No species is better than any other. Twilight should be proud to be a unicorn, just like Applejack and you should be proud to be earth ponies, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy should be proud to be pegasi."
"Okay," said Pinkie, understanding. "But why can't she still be a princess though? Hasn't that what you've been preparing her for?"
"Pinkie, I've been teaching her magic, not politics!" said Celestia. "Magic and politics are two completely different things. Making Twilight a Princess would be like… Merlin becoming King instead of Arthur. It just wouldn't make any sense."
"Oh," said Pinkie, scratching her head. "But then what were you training Twilight for all these years?"
"Pinkie, don't you remember me telling you?" said Twilight. "Princess Celestia HAD to take me as her student because my magic was out of control when I was a filly? If she hadn't taught me how to control it, I would have been a danger to everypony."
"Oh. Right," said Pinkie, remembering when Twilight had told her and their friends that story, which also happened to be the story of how Twilight got her cutiemark.
"Besides that, why would we even need another Princess?" said Celestia. "We already have more than we need as it is. I was able to run Equestria all by myself for a thousand years while Luna was trapped in the moon, and everything went fine. Now Luna's back, and we also have Cadence now too. I think we're quite okay."
"But what if something happened to you all?" asked Pinkie. "Who would take over for you?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow at Pinkie. "You're not serious, are you?" she asked. "First of all, Luna and I are immortal, so we should be around forever. Second of all, we're powerful enough to move the sun and the moon! If we're powerful enough to do that, we should be able to handle just about any threat we encounter. And even if we can't, we can always just have you and your friends save the day with the Elements of Harmony, just like you always do. Third of all, in the unlikely occurrence that something might happen to Luna, Cadence, and myself, I have plenty of ponies in the royal court, advisors, stewards, politicians, and council members, ready to step in and handle things during our absence. I've been doing this for thousands of years, Pinkie Pie. Logically, I have back up plans and protocols ready for any possible situation. I think I know what I'm doing."
"But what about the sun and the moon?" asked Pinkie. "If something happened to you and Princess Luna, who would control the day and the night?"
Celestia shrugged. "Well, I guess all you ponies would just go back to doing whatever it was you did before Luna and I were ever even around, which I believe was all the unicorns in the world combining their magic and working together to control the day and the night. Plus, since Discord is good now, Fluttershy could just ask him to do it, seeing as he likes her."
"Oh, yes," said Fluttershy with a smile. "I'm sure he would do it if I asked him nicely."
Celestia nodded. "Besides," she turned to look at her former student. "Twilight, no offence, but you wouldn't be my first choice to run a kingdom anyway."
Twilight's eyes widened at that. "Huh? Why not?" she asked her former teacher, frowning.
"Well… Twilight, I love you, but for somepony so smart, you can be incredibly thick sometimes."
"What?!" Twilight gasped. "How so?"
"Well…" Celestia began. "For one thing, when Discord got loose the first time, you couldn't tell that he had put spells on all of your friends that caused them to act like jerks."
"How was I supposed to know?" asked Twilight.
Celestia facehoofed. "Twilight, it was obvious! They were turning GRAY, for crying out loud!"
"Oh."
"For another thing," said Celestia, "none of you could tell that Rarity was flat out lying to you all that time she was staying in Canterlot on business and you came to visit her."
They all turned their heads to look at Rarity, who suddenly began twitching in place nervously.
"She did what now?" exclaimed Applejack.
"Um…" began Rarity. "Oh dear! I-I think I left the iron on in my house! Got to go!" And with that, she ran down the street as fast as she could.
"And for another thing," continued Celestia, "when Trixie apologized to you at the end of the whole magic duel incident, you couldn't tell that she was just pretending to be sorry so you would let her go scott free, which I still can't believe you did. She's probably somewhere laughing at you right now, planning her next revenge attempt."
....................
Meanwhile, in a pub somewhere, the great and powerful Trixie was sitting at a bar stool, a mug of cider in her hoof. Sitting beside her, on her right, was Gilda the griffon, and on her left, sat Lightning Dust the Pegasus.
"And they just let you go!?" Lightning Dust exclaimed in disbelief. "After everything you did!?"
"YES!" laughed Trixie loudly, being careful not to spill her mug of cider. "All Trixie had to do was use her great and powerful acting skills to pretend to be sorry, make a fake apology, and that purple unicorn just let Trixie go! Sweet Celestia, Sparkle may be powerful, but she is SO dumb!"
"Even after you locked the mayor in a birdcage, they still just let you go!?" laughed Gilda. "Unbelievable! Doesn't that stupid town have ANY law enforcement at all?"
"None that Trixie can tell," she laughed and then took another drink from her mug. Then she frowned in sadness. "Although, unfortunately, that still puts me back to being no better off than I was in the first place."
"Well that's your own darn fault for being stupid enough to take off that alicorn amulet thing," laughed Lightning Dust.
Trixie glared at her angrily. "Oh, very funny, Lightning." Then she smirked evilly at the Pegasus. "You know what else is funny? If you had just behaved a little better at the academy, you'd probably be a Wonderbolt by now."
"Oh, burn!" chuckled Gilda with an amused grin while Lightning Dust gritted her teeth in anger.
....................
"She was lying?!" exclaimed Twilight in shock. "Aw, she seemed so sincere," she said disappointedly.
"Of course she was lying!" said Celestia, facehoofing again. "Remember how mean and selfish she was when you first met her? Plus, she clearly blames you for ruining her life. Ponies don't just switch from mean to nice like that in a single day. Character growth like that takes time. I mean, can you imagine what Avatar The Last Airbender would have been like if Zuko had went from being a bad guy to a good guy in only ONE episode? It would have been completely stupid!"
"I guess," admitted Twilight.
"And there was also that Hearts and Hooves day where you just gave a book full of dangerous spells to three little fillies, who have been known for getting into all sorts of trouble, and as a result, they made a love poison that almost ruined two ponies lives. Not to mention that you have a habit of overreacting to the smallest things. Like when you caused the whole town to fall in love with your old doll because you were freaking out just because you thought you were a little late on a report."
Twilight hung her head in embarrassment at that memory.
"So, yeah, you definitely wouldn't be my first choice to run a kingdom," said Celestia. "Now, protecting a kingdom from an evil villain on the other hand, you and your friends would definitely be my first choice for that," she said with a smile. "Infact, maybe I should consider knighting you all. You've definitely saved the world enough times!"
"Well, then what is Twilight supposed to do with her life now if she's not going to be a princess?" asked Pinkie Pie. "What is her big destiny?"
"Pinkie Pie, you don't need to be a princess in order to be something great! The word 'princess' is just a silly title. IT isn't what makes me, or Luna, or Cadence great. What makes us great are the things we do." She gestured over at Twilight. "Twilight is free to decide her own destiny, just like everypony else. All I've done is give her the skills and knowledge she needs. What she does with that knowledge now is entirely up to her."
"But I thought our destiny's were determined by our cutiemarks," said Pinkie.
Celestia frowned. "No. That's not it at all. We already established back in season one that your cutiemark is just a reflection of your special talent. Not your destiny! Besides, Twilight isn't the only pony in Equestria with her cutiemark. Photo Finish and Masquerade also have the exact same cutiemark as her. Do you think that means they have the same destiny as she does?"
"Well… I guess that would be pretty unlikely," said Pinkie.
"Precisely," said Celestia. "Like I said, everypony's destiny is entirely up to them."
"Well," began Twilight thoughtfully. "I was kind of thinking of becoming a professor, and continue doing research on magic. And maybe I'll even start my own magic school, and teach other unicorns to master their magic as well. Also, I was thinking I should share all that I've learned about friendship with the rest of the world, so maybe I'll even write a book on that subject, so that that knowledge will be available to everypony."
"Excellent idea, Twilight!" Celestia said as she smiled down at her former student. "Those sound like very sensible and intelligent things to do with your skills and knowledge. I'm sure you'll do many great things in your future."
"Thank you, Princess," said Twilight.
Pinkie Pie sighed. "Fine."
And with that, Celestia told them that Twilight would have a big graduation ceremony in Canterlot in a few days, and then in a flash of light, she teleported away.
The End