“That was a fantastic show, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said as she approached her student, the delegates of Saddle Arabia following beside her. “Especially the fireworks display. As to be expected of my top student.”

Twilight bowed respectfully to her mentor, but shifted her eyes to her left. “Thank you, Princess. But I can’t take credit for those fireworks; they were done by another Unicorn.”

“Oh? Well, I would appreciate if you told this other Unicorn that we were rather impressed with her performance,” Celestia said, the delegates behind her nodding in agreement.

“Sure thing, Princess,” Twilight said rather hurriedly, shifting her eyes to her left once again.

“Is something the matter, Twilight?” Celestia asked. “You look like there is somewhere else you would rather be right now… Did you have plans?”

“Well, actually…” Twilight raised her head and shot a determined look towards her mentor. “If I may be excused, Princess… There’s something I fell I really have to do.”

Celestia nodded, and smiled down at her student. “Of course… I pray things go well.”

“Thank you, Princess.” Twilight Sparkle sped off down the streets of Ponyville, desperate not to make the same mistake she felt she had made last time.

Twilight ran for five minutes, before she finally found what she was looking for. Or rather, who she was looking for.

Trixie was lying under a tree, not too far from the entrance to Ponyville. And she was crying her eyes out, seemingly unaware of Twilight’s approaching presence.

“Trixie?” Twilight called out, placing a hoof on the former showmare’s shoulder.

“Ah!” Trixie yelped as she jumped up to her hooves, startled by the sudden appearance of another pony. When she that it was Twilight, she calmed down a bit, and tried to hide her tears by turning her face away. “Oh, it’s you…”

“What’s wrong? I said that I forgive you, and nopony blames you for what happened while you were under that amulet’s influence.”

“… But, I went to that amulet of my own volition. I was the one who put it on, knowing full well that it was probably too much for me to control.”

““Probably”?”

Trixie flinched and kicked the ground. “Fine, definitely. Anyway, it was all my fault.”

Twilight put a hoof around Trixie and comforted her with a warm hug. Trixie didn’t move into it, but she didn’t pull away, either. “But I’m the one who let you run away, on your own, without checking if you were okay. I’m the one who abandoned you, when what I should have done was make sure you had a friend by your side in your time of need.

“The blame rest on me just as much as it does you, Trixie. Maybe… Maybe more so.”

“You think things would have been different if you had come after me?”

“I do,” Twilight said confidently. “You seem to underestimate the power of friendship. I used to, as well, but it really is the most powerful force in the whole world. It did stop beings like Discord and Nightmare Moon, after all.”

“… No, I went down the path of revenge of my own accord. I should have let it slide, but I didn’t. I should have just come back and asked for help, but I didn’t know how to… Nor did I want to. I’m the only pony who should be blamed for this.”

Twilight let out a small giggle, confusing Trixie. “First you boast about defeating an Ursa Major, now you boast about being solely responsible for turning Ponyville upside-down. That’s some ego you have there… But it’s what makes you you. There’s nothing wrong with it, you just need a friend to help you make sure it doesn’t get too out of hoof.”

Twilight’s ear flattened, and she let out a depressed sigh. “Every week, I have to write the Princess a letter about something I’ve learned regarding friendship.” Trixie wondered where Twilight was going with this, but didn’t interrupt her. “After you fled Ponyville, I did the same thing… Only this time, I got an F. The first F in my entire life. And it was at my request.”

“But… Why?”

“Because, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I let you go off on your own, not even considering how you might be feeling after such a disaster, or that you may have nopony to turn to. I just assumed… But I shouldn’t have. I should have made sure, and now, I see where my mistake led me. I’m just glad everything turned out as well as it did.”

“No friends… No family… No job… And no hope,” Trixie said, sniffling as she felt her tears starting to well up again. Twilight extended a hoof forward, and Trixie looked up into her smiling face. “Twilight?”

“You have no home, right? You can stay with me, at least until you manage to get you career back up again. And I mean your real career, not just part-time jobs to pay the bills.” Twilight smiled and used her magic to straighten out Trixie’s hat, which was slightly lopsided on the showmare’s head. “Surely the Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t ready to call it quits just yet?”

Trixie frowned, and batted the hoof away weakly. “Are you pitying me?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m helping a friend, who’s down on her luck.” Trixie looked at her with eyes as wide as dinner plates, and then turned her attention back to Twilight’s hoof. “You don’t have to be alone this time. You made a mistake, but so does everypony at times. What went wrong in your case, is that you had nopony to lean on. I’ll be that somepony, if you’ll let me?”

Trixie stretched her hoof forward, and connected it with Twilight’s. Suddenly, she was pulled up off of the ground, and pulled into another warm embrace by Twilight.

“Thank you, Trixie! I promise, you won’t regret it!”

Trixie smiled, and returned the hug. It felt nice. It was a warm, pleasant feeling. She’d never felt anything like it before, and already, she was feeling at peace once more. Is this what she’d been missing out on all these years?

‘I think I’m starting to see what all this ‘friendship is magic’ business is about,’ Trixie thought to herself as the hug was ended.

“Alright, first thing we need to do is get you cleaned up,” Twilight said, giggling as she wiped a few tears away from Trixie’s eyes. “I don’t know how you’ve been living for the past year, but I’d prefer anypony staying at my library to be clean and hygienic.”

Trixie harrumphed and stomped her hoof on the ground. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will have you know that, even when homeless, she always did her upmost to look and smell as presentable as possible.”

Twilight turned around and motioned for Trixie to follow her. “We’d better hurry,” she said, leading the way back to Ponyville. Trixie followed her for a bit, but then Twilight slowed down, so that they were walking side-by-side. “If I know Pinkie Pie, she’s already set up a party for you by now.”

Trixie grinned wryly at Twilight. “You had so much confidence that you could get Trixie to come with you that you told you friends to set up a party? My, who’s the cocky one now, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight shook her head, and let out an exasperated sigh. “No, I told nopony. I was afraid I wouldn’t find you in time if I did… But, somehow, I think Pinkie has still set up a party for you.”

“This ‘Pinkie’ is the one who mouth I ‘deleted’, right?” Trixie hesitated when Twilight nodded, and was about to ask her next question, but Twilight answered before she could.

“She forgives you,” Twilight said. “All of the ponies do. They know that you couldn’t control yourself… Just, don’t go using any more evil artefacts, and you should be fine. Okay?” Twilight asked in a playful tone.

Trixie pretended to think about it, and answered in an equally playful tone: “The Great and Powerful Trixie will do her best, but she isn’t making any promises.”

Both mares laughed as they entered Ponyville together, and Twilight found that something in her heart had been lifted. Something heavy that had been weighing her down, ever since she had first laid eyes on the letter F on her paper… No, ever since she realised that she turned her back on a pony in need. The feeling that she had not only failed as a student, but as pony altogether. But now, she was finally free from it.

Twilight looked to her side to see Trixie smiling. An uneasy smile, but a smile nonetheless. ‘I’m lucky,’ she thought to herself. ‘Not everypony has the chance to make up for a mistake they make, but I was able to do so. I’m just… So happy that Trixie has given me this chance.’

‘I’m lucky,’ Trixie thought to herself. ‘I was corrupted by hatred, and the desire for revenge. I made a horrible mistake, turning to destruction, attempting to change reality to suit my needs. I’m grateful that Twilight is giving me this chance to start over agai- No, not start over. She’s letting me use my past as an example, to make sure I don’t repeat the same mistakes again.

‘For once in such a long time, I can feel at peace with myself once again.’

As Princess Celestia’s chariot soared over Ponyville, a delighted smile graced the lips of the Regal Princess. “Twilight Sparkle. I’m so proud of you. Whilst getting an F is never a pleasant experience for a teacher, seeing their student take that F, and use it as an example to do better, is always a heart-warming experience.

“You’ve grown so much. As your mentor, and as a pony in general, I am truly proud to know a pony such as you.”