u ther

“Are you there?”

And yes.

Have you been practicing?

yes

“Yes ma’am.”

som slac

hard

I understand. Let us take it slow.

duh

Your pawwriting has improved, well done!

thanx

“Thanks.”

Thanks

Period.

Thanks.

Very good!

Have you been practicing the alphabet?

yes

arms hurt

That is okay, you can show me tomorrow.

This has been a successful test so far. I am glad Spike thought of it!

Are you ready?

here

“I am here.”

Include a subject and capitalize the first letter.

Okay like this

Better, but not quite.

Did you see what I did?

Think so

This better

Indeed.

Your spelling has improved, by the way.

Thanks

I think we will work on your punctuation next.

Kay

“Okay.”

Okay.

Very good!

Twilight?

You ther?

Hello again, Angel. Are you ready to give it a try?

Think so.

Great! And your punctuation has improved a lot this past week.

Good.

Start now?

Go ahead.

Windy Jam thezebra hurried friend the unicorns hut to quickly pour exac volums grape juice.

Not bad for a first try.

Really?

Really!

I dont know.

“Don’t”

Maybe next time I’ll teach you a bit more about contractions.

Sentence is to long.

Arms hurt.

And sentence structure.

Maybe I can shrink some pencils so they are more your size.

Thanks.

No problem.

Hello again, Angel.

Hey, Twilight.

Thanks for the new pencils, much easier now.

Glad to hear it.

Before we begin, Spike has something to say.

Oh boy.

Hey, Angel. I’m sorry I called you an annoying old rodent, okay?

Lie. Twilight forceing you.

Hey! That was sincere!

Was not.

Angel, be nice. Spike really is sorry.

Yeah, I really am!

You need to accept his apology so we can move on.

Fine. Apology accept.

Really?

Angel?

Yeah, really.

Okay.

He keep quit?

“Quiet,” and yes, he will not tell anypony.

I promise.

See?

Do not trust.

Hey, I’m nothing if not dependable, ya fuzzy lit

Then trust me, Spike will behave. You do trust me, do you not?

have i choice?

Capitalization.

And yes, you do.

Fine. Trust you.

Just me?

FINE, both of you.

Avoid capitalizing every letter.

Sorry.

It is okay. Now, let’s see it.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Perfect! Well done, Angel.

But tomorrow we will need to address a few things: possessives, common spelling errors, more on contractions, proper tense. Maybe we will start working on sentence structure.

Sounds like a lot.

Do not worry, I know you can do it! With a teacher like me, is there any doubt?

Not funny.

You there?

Guess not.

Well alright then.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

I hate that sentence.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Really hate it.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Come on. Where are you?

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Is this even worth it?

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

I am not sure.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes

Five minutes.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

Windy Jam the zebra hurried to her friend the unicorn’s hut to quickly pour exact volumes of grape juice.

One minute

I’m here! Sorry I’m late.

I see you’ve been practicing your alphabet.

One more time, I would eat my pencil.

“One more time and I’d have eaten my pencil.”

Maybe you should take a break from that for a while.

But it looks like it’s helping! Your writing is much more clear now than it was last week.

You really think so?

I do! You’ve come very far in such a short time. I’m proud of you.

I

Thanks.

I’ll have to teach you to write more complex sentences soon.

Also, when I told you to avoid confusing contractions, I didn’t mean all of them. Relax.

You’ll get the hang of it. Trust me.

But you know, I have a question.

No.

You didn’t even let me ask the question.

I do not need to.

No.

You can’t be learning all of this just to learn it. It’s just not you.

You do not know me.

Don’t sass me, mister. This is for Fluttershy, isn’t it?

Angel?

Forget it.

I’m done.

Hey! You can’t quit now.

Angel?

Come on, talk to me.

Angel?

Please?

Angel?

You there?

Come on, I know you’re paying attention. This means too much to you. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t have asked in the first place.

What do you want?

There you are! Why didn’t you show up for practice this week?

Angel?

I practiced on my own.

That’s good.

But you shouldn’t be skipping our lessons.

You shouldn’t ask questions.

You’re right, I shouldn’t pry. I apologize.

I won’t push you for answers, okay?

Promise?

Pinkie Promise.

So no hard feelings?

I guess.

Good. So I’ll see you tomorrow?

Yeah, sure.

Great! I can’t wait to see how far you’ve progressed in the past week! Of course, we’ll have to work extra hard to make up for lost time.

Oh, joy.

Twilight? You there?

Of course not. It’s past midnight.

Hey.

Spike?

That’s my name.

What are you doing up at this hour?

Late night snack. Don’t tell Twilight.

You’re telling me not to tell Twilight?

She’s gonna read the journal later, you know.

Didn’t think that one through, did ya?

Shut up.

What are you doing up this late, anyway?

I couldn’t sleep. Too much on my mind right now.

Yeah, I know that feeling. Reminds me of the Dragon Migration a couple years ago.

What are you thinking about?

Wait, nevermind. I forgot you don’t like questions.

Hey.

Yeah?

You ever watch Twilight sleep?

That sounds weird.

Why?

No reason.

Not to pry, but

I mean, feel free to shut me down.

Is this about Fluttershy?

Forget it, I shouldn’t have brought it up.

No, it’s okay! You wanna talk about it?

Or write, as the case may be.

Angel? You’re not mad, are you?

Have you ever wanted to say something really important to her?

But just couldn’t figure out how?

Is that why you’re doing this?

Something like that.

I’m going to try to sleep again.

Yeah, okay.

Good luck.

If you ever want to talk about it, you can.

Just thought you should know.

Noted.

And

Thanks.

This big pencil is a pain in the flank.

Why do I put up with this?

Oh, what is this? Is the widdle bunny-wunny writing a love letter?

Get your buck-ugly face out of my journal, you pile of rabbit droppings!

Now that’s not very nice. We’re supposed to be friends, remember?

You’re no friend of mine, freak.

Discord! I should have known you’d decide to ruin Angel’s hard work.

What? Me? Why, my dear Twilight, you wound me. Perhaps I’d just like to help.

Please tell me you can zap him away or something.

Hah! You wish, furbrains.

As much as I hate to admit it, hOeh’s croimgehtn, otwh, eryeo’ us lnoovtehmien. g I can do. What the hay?

Scram, ya overgrown spawn of Tartarus. AIchtauvaelltyo Tparratcatriucseiasndlyoovue’ lrye tnhoitsmtaikmiengoift caennyteuarsyi.er.

Stop that!

Twilight, can’t you do something?

Don’t include the punctuation in the code, it looks tacky.

Twilight?

Sorry, Bugsy, she’s busy playing a game.

What did you do?!

Oh dear. Avoid interrobangs as much as possible.

Now you’re just making crap up. HNooww vuunldgoarw.haOthe,vmeyrvyiorugdiind etyoesT!wilig

Stop that!

Tsk–tsk, I spy a run on sentence. For shame! I guess Twilight’s not much of a teacher after all. Hey!

Get out of my journal!

But why? I’m only trying to help. Do you know how illiterate most of Equestria is? Why, I think you might even qualify as a hero. We can parade you around to schools all over the land, showing young foals how even an obnoxious puff of fur can learn to read and write. I’ll even promise to keep your carrying pen watered!

G tsota li]nesthwi snl/ o[n [u tth ab.ywkii liliva]irat heiih t unet

What the fAh-ah, we don’t use those words. Do you want Fluttershy to wash your mouth out with soap?

Don’t be like that. I was rather enjoying our conversation.

What does a walking hoofball need to learn to read and write for, anyway?

It’s not like the secrets of the universe are hidden in that tiny little skull of yours.

A monster wouldn’t understand.

Oh, someone wrap up my bleeding heart before the blood seeps into the poorly-enchanted paper.

Do you care about Fluttershy?

Yes.

So do I. Please, stop this and let me practice.

But you are practicing! Are you not writing me?

Yeah, but writing with you is like going down the rabbit hole.

First of all, you’ve never been down a rabbit hole. Second, stop it: only two individuals are allowed to break the wall, and neither of them is a rabbit.

What?

Come now, you can express yourself a little better than that.

I should have known you wouldn’t respect my efforts.

Why do you need to write? No, really. Fluttershy can understand you, just talk to her. Not that she’d want to, you being such a boring conversationalist.

If you think I’m so boring, leave!

Yes.

YYeess ttoo wwhhaatt??

Yes to the very first thing you said to me tonight, Discord.

Discord?

Did you break him?

Maybe. Heh.

Wait, what did he say?

Something random and dumb, of course.

Okay?

Look, you just keep practicing. I might be having a long and annoying conversation with a draconequus in a few minutes.

Don’t be discouraged, you’re doing great!

Thanks. Good luck dealing with the jerk.

Thanks, I’m going to need it. You owe me big time for this.

Yeah, I guess I do.

Angel? You there?

Guess not.

Here again. Are you going to practice tonight?

Hello?

Fluttershy?

Wow, a book that writes back!

No no no no no! You can’t read this!

I can’t?

It’s supposed to be a secret!

I’m sorry.

Twilight? Is that you?

Put the book down!

Sorry, Fluttershy. I’ll be over in a moment. Please don’t say anything to Angel!

Angel? What about him? He didn’t pressure you into doing something, did he? He’s been a real hoof-full lately.

Twilight?

She’s already out the door.

Spike?

You really should put the book away, Fluttershy. Like, NOW.

Angel?

Come on, Angel, talk to me.

I’m sorry Fluttershy found out.

Angel?

Come on, Angel. It’s been three weeks.

Don’t you want to do this for Fluttershy?

Hey. Spike here.

Just checking in.

Twilight isn’t saying anything about it, but this is really eating at her. So come on, little guy. Can’t we at least get an explanation?

I tried watching her. Like you said.

It hurts sometimes. I think I get what you were trying to say.

So

Please don’t give up. We’re here if you need us.

I’m here.

I think I’m ready to try again.

Okay, let’s see it.

Okay.

Angel?

Give me a second to think.

Alright.

I don’t know if anything I write will be good enough. It’s important that I say exactly how I feel. I have to do this right, no matter what. It’s too important to me. That’s why I came back. If I can just write it all down, and tell her what’s on my mind… maybe then I can finally get through.

Angel?

That was great. I think you’re ready.

Are you sure?

It took me ages to write that. Shouldn’t I be faster after three months?

Some writers are just slow. Your writing is fine. I really think you’re ready.

So I should try it now?

Sure. And if you want me to edit for you, I’d be happy to.

No. Only Fluttershy can read it. I’m going to need a lot of those little pencils, though.

Alright, I’ll see what I can do.

Okay. Thank you, Twilight. Really. I know I haven’t made it easy.

It was my pleasure, Angel. I’m just so happy I could help. You were a great student!

Was not.

Didn’t anypony tell you not to argue with your teacher?

Not really. Never had a teacher before you.

Thanks, Twilight. Really.

You’re welcome.

I’m ready.

Can I borrow your dictionary and thesaurus?

I need more words than I know.

Of course you can. I’ll have Spike deliver them tonight.

Thank you, Princess.

For everything.

Good luck.