Lesson Zero

Lesson Zero is the third episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the twenty-ninth episode overall. In this episode, Twilight Sparkle realizes she has not sent a weekly friendship report to Princess Celestia in almost a week and tries to find a friendship problem to write about.__TOC__
==Production and airing==
The episode is the first of the series' second production span, which includes all of season two except for the first two episodes. It is one of two episodes to feature a remastered version of the theme song, the other being Luna Eclipsed.
The episode was #7 in the We Heart Ponies Fan Favorite Mare-a-thon, in the leadup to Hearts and Hooves Day.
The visual gag showing the Cutie Mark Crusaders' ball expanding and popping to reveal Twilight Sparkle inside was added by Raven M. Molisee.
==Summary==
===Checklist: Check!===
 At the Golden Oak Library, Twilight Sparkle and Spike produce a checklist of errands for the day before heading outside to complete them. They stop at Sugarcube Corner at one point to pick up cupcakes for a picnic with their friends, though Twilight notices some uneven icing and tries to fix it with a nearby spatula, resulting in a series of overcorrections that eventually leave only a small amount of icing on each cupcake. Satisfied regardless, the pair leave the bakery and continue their errands.
 Twilight and Spike finish their checklist and return to the library. Spike nurses a claw cramp and expresses relief that they have no friendship lesson to write, sending Twilight into a sudden bout of concern when she realizes they haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia in the last week. After convincing herself that failing the letter's weekly deadline will cause her to get sent back to "magic kindergarten", Twilight determines to resolve a friendship problem before sundown. Finding nothing to address with Spike, she heads outside to search for an issue.
===Off to find a problem===
 While looking around Ponyville, Twilight hears a loud shriek coming from the Carousel Boutique and rushes in to find Rarity distraught from losing some diamond-encrusted ribbon she needs for a dress. As Twilight vows to help her, however, Rarity finds the ribbon and casually returns to work. Disappointed, Twilight decides to check on her other friends and heads to Sweet Apple Acres, where she finds Rainbow Dash destroying a barn. Twilight assumes Rainbow is angry at Applejack and intervenes to counsel her on the underlying dispute, only to learn that Applejack asked her to destroy the barn to make room for a new one. Rainbow resumes her demolition duty as Twilight walks off in dismay.
Remarking that Fluttershy "always has some fear" to get over, Twilight travels to her cottage to offer assistance. She finds Fluttershy in the backyard and looks on in disbelief as her friend appears to defeat a large bear in combat. After Twilight leaves in despair over the apparent personality shift, Fluttershy chides the now relaxed bear for waiting to come to her with its shoulder tension, revealing that their "combat" was simply physical therapy.
 At a park bench, Twilight talks to her reflection in a puddle in an effort to comfort herself. As she mistakes the mirth of foals playing nearby for derisive laughter, Spike shows up with the cupcakes they bought earlier and reminds her about the picnic with her friends. Twilight arrives at the picnic visibly disheveled and distraught, prompting her friends to ask if she's alright. When she relays her concern about the late letter, however, they dismiss it outright and advise her to stop worrying, leading Twilight to teleport away in frustration.
===The doll===
 Feeling desperately short on time, Twilight determines to manually create a friendship problem so she can solve it. She spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing in a field and, teleporting herself between them, offers them her childhood doll Smarty Pants in the hopes that they will argue over who plays with it first. When they instead argue over not playing with the doll, Twilight casts a spell that makes it highly desirable to anyone who looks at it. When the Crusaders see the doll again, they immediately start fighting each other to possess it.
Twilight tries to intervene with a friendship lesson but is unable to stop the fighting. She finds Big McIntosh nearby and enlists his help to retrieve Smarty Pants, only for him to fall under the spell and run off with it. As more and more ponies see him running with the doll, a stampede forms and eventually reaches the Mane Six's picnic site before breaking out into widespread brawling. Twilight catches up and warns her friends about what happened just as the sun falls below the horizon, whereupon Princess Celestia appears and neutralizes the doll's spell before instructing Twilight to meet her at the library.
===Apology to the Princess===
 Inside the Golden Oak Library, Twilight explains her fear of submitting her friendship report late to Princess Celestia, who in turn assures her that it doesn't reflect poorly on her as a student. Believing that their friend may be sent back to Canterlot, the rest of the Mane Six barge in and plead for the Princess to be lenient as they confess their earlier indifference to Twilight's feelings. Celestia tells them she will forgo punishment on the condition that they each report their findings on friendship when—and only when—they occur. Just before the Princess leaves, Twilight asks how she knew to intervene and learns that Spike wrote her a letter out of concern.
After receiving a hug from Twilight, Spike transcribes a letter as the ponies reflect that you should always take a friend's worries seriously even if it you don't think there's anything to worry about, and that you shouldn't let your worries turn small problems into big ones.
==Quotes==
: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?
:Spike: Ready!
:Twilight Sparkle: Item one: create checklist of the things I have to accomplish by the end of the day.
:Spike: [sigh]
:Twilight Sparkle: We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week?!
:Spike: Why? Is that bad?
:Twilight Sparkle: Bad? BAD? 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 10 days, every single week!
:Rarity: Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the! Worst! Possible! Thing!
:Twilight Sparkle: Rainbow must be angry with Applejack! She must hate her guts! How wonderful!
:Twilight Sparkle: It's just terrible.
:Mane Six sans Twilight Sparkle: Yes?
:Twilight Sparkle: Simply awful.
:Mane Six sans Twilight Sparkle: Yes?!
:Twilight Sparkle: It's the most horrific trouble I've ever been in and I really really really need your help!
:Mane Six sans Twilight Sparkle: YES?!
:Twilight Sparkle: My letter to Princess Celestia is almost overdue, and I haven't learned anything about friendship!
:Mane Six sans Twilight Sparkle: [sighs]
:Fluttershy: Oh, thank goodness. I thought something really awful had happened.
:Twilight Sparkle: Clock is ticking, Twilight. Clock. Is. Ticking!
:Twilight Sparkle: Big McIntosh! Thank goodness! You gotta help me get that doll away from those girls!
:Big McIntosh: Eeyup.
:Twilight Sparkle: Oh, thank you so much! Now, if you could just give her to me—
:Big McIntosh: Eenope.
:Twilight Sparkle: Goodbye, girls. If you care to visit, I'll be in magic kindergarten, back in Canterlot.
:Princess Celestia: Looks like you all learned a pretty valuable lesson today.
:Mane Six sans Twilight Sparkle: Mm hm.
:Princess Celestia: Very well. I'll forget Twilight's "punishment" on one condition: from this day forth, I'd like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship—when, and only when, you happen to discover them.
==Gallery==
==References==
de:Twilight flippt aus
es:Lección Cero
fr:Leçon zéro
id:Pengajaran 0
ja:トワイライトがピンチ！
ko:트와일라잇, 패닉에 빠지다!
pl:Lekcja zerowa
pt:Lição Zero
ru:Нулевой урок
th:Lesson Zero
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