First Checklist Item [Misc Journal Shenanigans / Action]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

[ In the middle of the day, Luceti is treated to the following eloquent series of letters: ]

DDDDD

[ So this is what happens when a hoof gets ahold of a drawing-to-text synthesizer. This is followed by a voice post about three minutes later: ]

... triangle, a couple of straight lines, and a square have to do with...

[ Several minutes pass, and then a video materializes. The viewer may be greeted with a pair of huge, intense violet eyes. ]

A-ha!

[ The sight of this particular creature might seem out of place to anyone who doesn't know Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. You can now see a purple pony with a horn protruding from her mane. The horn is bathed in a magenta glow, as is a pointy stick that is way too close to the camera. Like mankind before her, Twilight is learning how to use tools. ]

Hi, um... anypony who's watching this! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and... I don't recognize these woods at all. [ She looks around, probably for the umpteenth time. Twilight's found herself deep within the forest, to the southeast. Not that she knows this. ] It doesn't look like any part of the Everfree Forest I've been to. [ A cloud parts and the sun shines in her face through the unseen treetops. Twilight shields her face with a hoof. ] Oh. Actually, I guess I could...

[ She looks back at herself and spreads her wings. Not her small Luceti wings, though. A huge pair of alicorn wings, of the same purple as her fur. She prepares to take off, then remembers the journal and hits it again with the stick. Video feed switches off. ]

---

[ Following this recording, the population of Luceti may witness a purple shape flying around the sky, observing the village from above. She'll circle a few times, trying to orient herself, before deciding to alight in the fountain square.

Two areas will grab Twilight's interest fairly quickly. First, she'll see her coronation outfit in the window of the clothing shop. She'll find this strange enough to go inside and consider buying it.

The other building she'll notice is the library (with a squee of excitement). Good luck extracting her from perusing the many, many, many tomes that now litter the floor. This is why Twilight needs an assistant librarian. What she wouldn't give for Spike right about now.

Feel free to interact with her in the square, at the clothing store, in the library, or in the air: she's several yards up but not out of shouting distance. ]

Comments

[mysicksadlife]

I don't mind it, but I have to say it's more of a means to an end. [Doing well in school? Her ticket to the adult life she wants.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

For me, it's both! But what sort of end? Do you know what you'll do after you graduate?

[mysicksadlife]

You could say being here has given me a big kick in the pants in the right direction on that one.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Well, I expect you won't be here forever! In the meantime, this might give you more time to decide.

[mysicksadlife]

It turns out I'm probably going to end up being a writer after all. A columnist for a newspaper.

What about you? Do you have a career all lined up in magical pony land?

[fourthgenerationprincess]

A writer sounds like a great career!

And I guess I'm going to be a princess now. Whatever that entails!

[mysicksadlife]

Of course. What else could a magical sparkling pony possibly be for a career.

[The monotone sarcasm, it drips.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

[ Now that's taking it a little too far. Twilight ruffles her wings. ]

Well, I get to work with Princess Celestia, who's been my mentor for most of my life. Or at least, I think I will.

It's a great honor for me, though. I've been working with magic for so long, I never thought I'd be able to write my own. That's what made me this way. [ With a healthy dose of friendship, courtesy of the Elements of Harmony. ]

[mysicksadlife]

[Please don't go on with those thoughts.]

I can understand wanting to work with a mentor you already look up to, but what does writing new magic have to do with it?

[Despite herself, she's actually asking.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

It's how I got my wings. You see, Starswirl wrote this spell centuries ago. Maybe he was trying to achieve a similar effect. But it didn't work, so... I fixed it. [ With a slight detour involving temporarily altering her friends' destinies. ] Which means I must know the magic of friendship well enough to be able to create my own!

[mysicksadlife]

The magic of friendship.

I feel like I've wandered into the rainbow-vomit-inducing corner of Candyland.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Well, I guess my friends and I are the colors of the rainbow, so... yeah?...

Friends are the most important things in your life, though! So I don't think that's a bad thing!

[mysicksadlife]

[Not... quite what she meant, but the misunderstanding is probably preserving this conversation. Anyway, Daria lets it go.]

I like the ones I have, but I was pretty used to not having them, too, so I don't know if they're absolute essentials.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Well, so was I, at first. And I was studying magic at the time, too. What I didn't realize was that friendship is the most powerful magic there is.

[ Taste the diabetes, Daria. Taste the diabetes. ]

[mysicksadlife]

[She can. It tastes like the creepy kids Quinn babysits that she had to fill in and babysit once herself.]

Until friendship is sending me home, or maybe just letting me win the lottery, I'm afraid calling it magic doesn't quite seem appropriate.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

It's worth a try! My friends and I have done a lot with the Elements of Harmony.

[mysicksadlife]

I'm sure you've made everything bright and sparkly. But I don't see you going home, either, since you're still here.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Well... I haven't found the Elements yet. They might not even be here. But maybe there is some way out of this that we just haven't figured out yet!

[mysicksadlife]

We've found something to agree on. I don't like thinking there's no way out at all.