Lesson Zero

Lesson Zero is the first fictitious story in the Luna the Miracle Boy series.
In this fictitious episode, Luna realizes that he has not written his weekly letter on friendship to his mother – Princess Finlandia. He struggles to find a friendship problem and decides that his only option is to create a friendship problem himself.
==Summary==
===Checklist: Check!===
The episode starts off with Luna and his dog – Spike, walking from Vernadia, collecting items on a checklist for a picnic. In the Primavera Cafe, Luna goes to pick up his order of cupcakes and finds out that Mrs. Cake added one extra cupcake whose icing was touching another cupcake's icing. Worried that his friends might get jealous of whoever gets the cupcake with the "extra" icing, Luna hastily tries to "fix" the icing problem, leaving only a tiny amount of icing on each cupcake. Spike is left covered in frosting, which she licks off. Afterwards, they head to Canterlot Presidential University, with their checklist complete. Spike points out that Luna has not written a letter to Princess Finlandia this week, causing the civilians to panic.
Luna checks his calendar and finds out it has been exactly one week since his last letter to his mother, and he is terrified of the possibility of being tardy. In a state of extreme anxiety, Luna speculates that his mother could punish him with an exam to prove he has been taking his studies seriously, which Luna fears he would fail as well as Princess Finlandia abandoning Roman's ones due to her disgrace. Luna envisions himself sitting in a classroom surrounded by mocking students, but the thought is "popped" by Spike as it is the reason that Princess Finlandia would never allow such a thing to happen. Ignoring his assistant's words of wisdom, Luna becomes determined to solve a friendship problem and have a letter written to Princess Finlandia before sundown. He first drills Spike on its problems, but when it is revealed to have none, Luna goes out to find a friend in need. An exasperated Spike groans and states, "This won't end well".
===Off to find a problem===
While looking around Canterlot City, Luna overhears Tobias crying at her shop, having lost some diamond ribbon she requires for a dress. Before Luna can help her, however, Tobias finds the ribbon she needed, much to Luna's disappointment. While searching for his other friends, Luna finds Jason, destroying an old barn in Applejack House. Luna thought that Jason and Dennis are fighting with each other, and stops Jason. However, Jason informs Luna that Dennis asked him to destroy the old barn to make room for a new one, which Dennis confirms before Jason finishes off the demolition by diving into the barn and creating a colorful mushroom cloud explosion.
Still determined to find a problem, Luna decides to visit Vincent. However, when arriving at Fluttershy Cottage, Luna sees Vincent fighting a bear and decides to back off, exclaiming, "Of all the days he had to stop being such a scaredy-boy, he had to pick today?!" As Luna leaves in despair, it is revealed that Vincent was actually aiding the bear with a tense shoulder and giving it a massage.
===Crazy picnic===
Luna, growing more worried and rapidly becoming unhinged, starts to tearfully talk to his own reflection in a puddle, adopting two separate tones, one terrified that he will not make the deadline, the other insisting that it is still possible to solve a problem in time. He starts hallucinating some kids laughing at him before Spike intervenes, revealing that the "laughing Petrovs" are just some kids innocently playing jump rope nearby. Spike then reminds Luna about the picnic and he heads off to meet up with his friends.
A very agitated and slightly crazed Luna arrives at the picnic and explains to his friends that he needs them to help him find a lesson about friendship to write about to Princess Finlandia. The other five friends brush off his issue as nothing, laughing and claiming Luna has nothing to worry about, and he angrily runs away to continue his search for a problem.
===Clock, is, ticking!===
With the sun about to set, Luna – now sporting disheveled hair and an insane-looking grin, decides the only option left is to create a problem so he can solve it. He spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing with a ball, which begins growing until it pops with Luna inside it, a visual gag added by Raven M. Molisee. Luna approaches the Crusader Girls to try and get them to take his Oda Nobunaga doll in the hopes that they will argue over who gets to play with it first. When they instead react negatively to the doll, he casts a "want it, needs it" spell on it, making the Crusader Girls want the toy so badly they resort to physical blows. He tries to break up the fight but is unable to. He asks Hideyoshi – who is passing by, to get the doll. However, upon easily retrieving it, he too falls under the spell and runs away with the doll. Eventually, nearly all of Vernadia fall for the spell and begins to fight over the doll. The sun finally sets as Princess Finlandia intervenes to undo her son's spell, returning all of Petrovs to normal. She sternly instructs Luna to meet her at the Vernadsky Family House before leaving. Luna tearfully bids farewell to his friends, who realize they may never see him again.
===Luna's apology to his mother===
In the Vernadsky Family House, Luna explains his actions to Princess Finlandia while Spike overhears. Princess Finlandia shows her immense faith in her son and says that she does not require a letter every week. The Petrovburg Heroes barge in and plead for Princess Finlandia that she is supposed to be merciful to her own son: they admit that they were wrong for denying Luna's help when he needed it most, and they apologize. In lieu of punishment for Luna, Princess Finlandia requests that all of Luna's friends (including her daughter – Celestia) write her letters about friendship from now on, but only when they actually find one. Before she leaves, she tells Luna that Spike made her aware of Luna's fears getting the best of him, and after she leaves, Luna gives Spike a loving hug.
The episode ends with all the Vernadians, as well as Spike, offering a collaborative report, showing that they learned about taking a friend's worries seriously, even if it does not seem so, and not letting problems go out of proportion in order to fix them.
==Quotes==
:Luna: Great. 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!
:Luna: Item one: create checklist of the things I have to accomplish by the end of the day.
:Spike: [sighs]
:Luna: We haven't sent a letter to our mother this week?!
:Spike: Why? Is that bad?
:Luna: Bad? BAD? Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send my mother 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!
:Luna: She's actually my sincere mother. Do you know what the lecturers 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 abandon my study like Princess Roman was.
:[repeated line]
:Tobias: Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the! Worst! Possible! Thing!
:Luna: [watching Jason destroys barn] Jason must be angry with Dennis! He must hate her guts! How wonderful!
:Luna: Now, Jason, why don't you tell me all about your issues with Dennis?
:Jason: I don't have any issues with her.
:Luna: You don't? Then why are you destroying her property?
:Jason: Because she asked me to.
:Luna: It's fine. It'll all be fine. The day isn't over yet. But it will be over soon! [groans] It'll be all over! My time in Vernadia! My advanced studies! No-no. You're a good boy. You can do this. Ooh! But what if I can't? You can! You just have to keep it together. Keep. It. Together!
:Luna: [Looking at sun starting to set] Clock is ticking, Luna. Clock. Is. Ticking!
:Luna: Hi, girls! [twitching]
:Colin: Oh, hi, Brother Luna.
:Benedict: [Looking at Oda Nobunaga doll] I really like his... beard?
:Luna: I'd hate to cause a rift between such good friends.
:Luna: Mr. Hideyoshi! Thank goodness! You've gotta help me get that doll away from those girls!
:Hideyoshi: Ja.
:Benedict, Colin, and Jerry: [continue arguing]
:Luna: Oh, thank you so much. Now if you could just give him to me?
:Hideyoshi: [muffled] Nnnein.
:Princess Finlandia: Meet me in home.
:Tobias: Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst possible thing!
:Dennis, Vincent, Celestia, Jason: [giving her a dirty look]
:Tobias: What? I really mean it this time!
:Princess Finlandia: Looks like you all learned a pretty valuable lesson today.
:Dennis, Vincent, Celestia, Jason, Tobias: Mm-hmm.
:Princess Finlandia: Very well. I'll forget Luna's "punishment" on one condition.
:Dennis, Vincent, Celestia, Jason, Tobias: [All right, etc.]
:Princess Finlandia: From this day forth, I would like you all help Luna to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship when, and only when, you happen to discover them.
:Dennis, Vincent, Celestia, Jason, Tobias: [cheering]
==Gallery==
==References==
#Main course
#*https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Lesson_Zero
Category:Story episodes
Category:Fictitious stories