My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Lesson Zero

A/N: Hey, everyone, Sunrise Blossom here, and I'm posting on the behalf of Dede42. The poor girl was up late because her sister, Panda94, woke up during the night, and Dede42 chose to be the good big sister by staying with her until she went back to sleep well after midnight. Because of this, Dede42 is going back to bed while I'm posting this chapter and the second chapter on her behalf.

Discord: Why didn't she just wake up a different member of the family to look after her sister?

Sunrise Blossom: She knew that the other family members were going to work and school in the morning, and she didn't want to be rude to them.

Discord: Oh.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: BEING TOO ORGANIZED

It'd been a week since the Mane Seven defeated Discord and made two new friends in the process. Since then, things have returned to relatively normal in Ponyville. In the library, Twilight Sparkle was making sure that she had everything, and Spike was checking everything off the checklist.

"Quill," the purple unicorn said, setting a quill down on her desk, so that there were three of them.

Spike marked it off on the list he was holding. "Check."

Twilight Sparkle then magically summoned a stack of parchment and set it on the desk so that it was between the quills and the pot of ink. "Parchment."

The baby dragon nodded and marked it off. "Check."

"Extra ink," said the purple unicorn, magically collecting a second pot of ink to put next to the first one.

"Check," Spike said, marking it off, and he rolled his eyes when she retrieved a third pot of ink, and marked off her "Extra extra ink". "Check."

"Is that everything on the checklist?" Twilight Sparkle asked, walking past him after glancing at the desk.

The baby dragon nodded. "Yep."

"Great," said Twilight Sparkle. "Now that we've completed the checklist of things we need to create a checklist, we can make my checklist of the things I have to get done by the end of the day. Ready?"

"Ready!" Spike confirmed, holding up his quill.

The purple unicorn nodded. "Item 1: Create checklist of the things I have to accomplish by the end of the day."

Spike sighed and hung his head, earning a curious look from his friend. Sometimes Twilight Sparkle could be too organized.

After completing the various checklists, Twilight Sparkle and Spike headed out to collect everything they would need for a picnic with their friends later that day. They were walking through the square when she glanced back at the baby dragon, who was dragging a very long to-do list behind him.

"How are we doing, Spike?" she asked.

"Let's see…" Spike said, checking on what they've done since leaving the library. "We've already dropped off your cape at the cleaners, returned the blackboard you borrowed from Cheerilee, placed that order for shampoo at the Apothecary, ordered new parchment and quills from the stationery shop…"

Twilight Sparkle stopped walking, surprised to hear that. "Hmm… Seems like we just placed an order for those a few days ago," she remarked.

The baby dragon suppressed an eye-roll while glancing at the super-long list. "Can't imagine why we go through so many of them."

The purple unicorn shrugged that off. "Sounds like we're ahead of schedule. What's next?" she inquired.

Spike checked the list and his face brightened. "Cupcakes!" And they hurried to Sugarcube Corner.

Entering the shop, they went over to the counter, where the box holding their order was waiting, and Spike began drooling when he saw the cupcakes with their delicious pink frosting. "Whoa…"

Twilight Sparkle magically pulled him back and she frowned when she saw thirteen cupcakes instead of twelve. "Uh, I only ordered twelve," she pointed out as Mrs. Cake came out of the kitchen with a tray of cupcakes to put in the display cases.

"Oh, I know, dear, but I had an extra," said the shop owner as she trotted back into the kitchen with an empty tray. 'So I thought I'd make it a baker's dozen."

The baby dragon tried to get around the purple unicorn to get close to the cupcakes, but Twilight Sparkle wouldn't let him. "Oh, that was very thoughtful of you," she said politely as Mrs. Cake came back out and joined them at the counter. "It's just some of the icing from the extra cupcake is getting all over the one next to it. See?" She pointed to where the extra cupcake was touching the nearest one.

Mrs Cake was a little taken aback since she'd never had any pony complain about that before. "Ohh… sure…"

"It's just that I'm planning on sharing these at a picnic later and I don't want any pony to feel like somepony else is getting more icing," the purple unicorn added.

"Oh, no… of course not," Mrs. Cake agreed uneasily.

Twilight Sparkle magically retrieved a spatula from the back, and she went to work on adjusting the frosting on the cupcakes. "Not to worry, I'll just move some of this one to… hmm… I think I may have scooped too much… oops! Now those two have more. Let's just try this again… Hmm, no, that won't do. Let me just… hmm… put some here, and… no, that's not right. A little more on this one, a little bit… and wait… I'll just… ooh, a little bit here, and here, and… perfect!" And when she was done, there was a small amount of frosting on each cupcake, and she'd made a bit of a mess, too.

Mrs Cake nodded uncertainly while wiping the frosting off her face. "Hmm, oh yes… much better…"

"Okay, time to tackle the next item on our- oops!" said the purple unicorn, putting the lid on the box and turned to see that the baby dragon was nearly completely covered with pink frosting. "Looks like we're going to have to add 'give a baby dragon a bath' to our list."

However, Spike used his tongue to slurp up the frosting, cleaning himself off quickly, and Twilight Sparkle chuckled as they left the shop.

"Very efficient! And a little bit gross."

By the time that they got back to the library after doing the rest of the items on the checklist, poor Spike was exhausted and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. "Eh," he moaned, and brightened when he checked the list. "Looks like that's everything!"

"Almost everything," said the purple unicorn.

Spike rolled his eyes and checked the last item on the list. ""Triple-check checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything when we double checked the checklist!" Uh… check!" he declared, dropping both the rolled up list and the quill so that he could clutch at his aching claws. "Ugh… I've been holding that quill so long, I've got a claw cramp!" he complained. "Well, good thing we don't have anything to report to Princess Celestia this week… I don't think I could write another word!"

Twilight Sparkle, who been examining the cupcakes almost dropped one when he said that. "We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week?!" she asked, alarmed.

"Why? Is that bad?" the baby dragon asked, using a herbal remedy on his sore claws that Sunrise Blossom had made for him to use when he got claw cramp.

"Bad? BAD?" the purple unicorn repeated, panicking. "Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week, telling her about a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week, not every ten days, every… single… week!"

Spike looked at her blankly. "Huh?"

Twilight Sparkle raced up to her study and began a frantic search. "Ohh… Where's my calendar, where's my calendar?!"

The baby dragon followed her and rolled his eyes, pulling her planner out of a drawer. "Where it…always is?"

The purple unicorn magically yanked it over, causing him to crash into the podium as she opened it, magically flipping the pages. "When did we send the last one?" she asked desperately.

"Last… Tuesday?" Spike guessed, rubbing his sore head.

Twilight Sparkle nodded, still flipping the pages. "And today is…"

"Tuesday?"

Twilight Sparkle landed on today's date and yelped when she saw the red 'x' on it. "Argh! Nononononononono!" She raced up to her room and looked out the window, where she could see the sun slowly moving across the sky like a clock hand. "If I don't send her a letter by sundown, I'll be… tardy!" she moaned, flopping back on her bed.

"What's that now?" the baby dragon asked, entering her room.

"Tar-dy, Spike!" the purple unicorn explained. "Late, I'll be late! Oh, how could I let this happen? I'm usually so organized. I've never been late with an assignment." She moaned and covered herself with her blanket.

Spike stood there for a moment, blinking, and then he snorted. "Oh, please!" he scoffed, pulling the blanket off of the purple unicorn. "You're the most studious student ever! I'm sure the Princess will forgive you if you miss one little deadline. Besides, I'm sure that even Sunrise has missed a deadline or two over the years, and she doesn't freak out about it."

"I'm afraid to take that chance, Spike," Twilight Sparkle admitted, rolling off the bed and she began pacing. "And if Sunrise is late with her reports, she has an honest excuse since she runs the Apothecary, but I don't have that kind of excuse, and this is the ruler of all of Equestria we're talking about. The pony who holds my fate in her hooves! What if she doesn't forgive me?"

"Yeah… I don't think she-" the baby dragon began, but the purple unicorn was already in full panic mode, and it was too late for him to talk her off the ledge, but he was going to try.

"What if instead she starts thinking I'm not taking my studies on friendship seriously?" she questioned, the panic rising in her voice.

Spike tried to get a word in edgewise. "Why would she-"

"What if she makes me come back to Canterlot and puts me back in school and makes me prove I've been taking them seriously by giving me a test?!" the purple unicorn yelped, her pacing becoming for frantic. "What if I don't pass?!"

The baby dragon considered that question. "Well, why wouldn't you pass-?"

"She's my teacher," said Twilight Sparkle, now in full panic mode. "Do you know what teachers do to students who don't pass? They send them back a grade! But she won't just send me back a grade. She'll send me back to… magic kindergarten." She stopped pacing and sat down as mental images of young fillies laughing at her filled her head.

Spike went over to his friend, who was shaking with a panicked expression etched on her face. "Twilight?" he asked waving his claws in front of her face and getting no reaction, he shook her. "Twilight!"

The purple unicorn blinked and shook her head, returning to reality for the moment. "Huh?"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" the baby dragon exclaimed. "You're not going to be sent back to magic kindergarten."

"You're right," Twilight Sparkle agreed, getting up with a determined expression on her face. "I have no reason to worry. Because I'm going to solve a friend's problem and get that letter to Princess Celestia before sundown!" she declared, getting an exasperated sigh from the baby dragon since that isn't what he meant. "So… got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I as a good friend could help you solve?" she asked eagerly.

Spike thought about that for a minute. "Huh. Hmm. Huunh. Huh… I got nothin'," he confessed.

Twilight Sparkle sighed and headed for the door. "Then it looks like I'm going to have to find somepony who does."

Spike watched her leave and he also sighed. "This won't end well," he muttered and went to send a warning letter to Sunrise Blossom and Princess Celestia about a certain purple unicorn going off the deep end…again.

A/N: Oh boy, my sister is suffering from tunnel vision again.

Pinkie Pie: I don't see a tunnel.

Sunrise Blossom: It's an expression, Pinkie, where someone or some pony gets so focus on one thing, they ignore everything else.

Pinkie Pie: Ooh. Ok! R&R everyone!