My Faithful Student

My Faithful Student is a short story by PhantomFox hosted on FIMFiction. It is a slice-of-life story that takes place some time after Sunny Skies All Day Long. It is remarkably similar to "Lesson Zero", in that it tells of Twilight going crazy stressing over preparing for a magic competition Princess Celestia signed her up for.

Summary
The story opens with Twilight arriving late to a lunch date with her friends due to receiving a letter from Celestia recommending that Twilight compete in the upcoming Unicorn Arcane Arts competition. Her friends are very supportive of the idea and Twilight rushes back home after lunch to start figuring out her presentation. Pinkie Pie stops by at the library later to talk about having a party that night. Twilight declines, and in a lapse of judgment allows Pinkie to keep her company while she studies. Pinkie eventually gets her hooves on some of Twilight's coffee, thinking it's a potion that Twilight is working on and turns into a hyperspeed blur of pure pink energy after drinking it.

The next day, Twilight demonstrates her chosen act to Rarity and Rainbow Dash so they can give her notes on her performance. They are less than impressed when Twilight's routine consists of using a reverse-teleport spell to pull Angel Bunny out of a hat. Rainbow tells Twilight that she needs to do something big and spectacular, befitting Princess Celestia's prized and most powerful student while Rarity suggests something beautiful and artistic. Rainbow and Rarity get into an argument about spectacle versus beauty while Twilight slinks back to the library and begins to drive herself crazy over the next few days by researching nonstop without sleep, proper food, or even a break. All attempts by her friends to coax or drag her out of the library are repulsed with increasing violence.

When Twilight finally steps outside, it's only to attempt the big spell she's been preparing, but her fatigue combined with Pinkie Pie showing up suddenly and asking for more coffee breaks her concentration and sends her into spell-slip, or complete loss of control over her power. The resulting storm of magic turns Spike into a plant and prevents the ponies from getting close enough to help. Princess Celestia suddenly appears and helps Twilight calm her magic before putting her fears of letting the Princess down to rest. When asked how she'd been alerted to the problem, Celestia explains by way of demonstration that Pinkie had downed some more coffee and zipped over to Canterlot to deliver the alarm.

Now calm and having learned a lesson on friendship, Twilight creates a presentation for the competition revolving around the Elements of Harmony and their role in various schools of magic and wins.