Friendship is Magic Issue 84

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #84 is the eighty-fourth issue of IDW Publishing's. In the issue, Ocellus struggles to complete a big project for the School of Friendship midterm.

Summary
The issue begins at the School of Friendship halfway through the school year. Headmare Twilight Sparkle announces that instead of doing normal midterm exams, the students will create personal projects based on what they learned about the history of friendship and present them in front of the school in two weeks. In the school library, the Young Six discuss what to do for their own projects, and Ocellus is particularly worried and indecisive. Yona has already finished her project, planning to perform an old Yakyakistan ceremony before giving woven friendship brackets to her friends.

When Smolder reminds Ocellus that she is a changeling and thus has a wide range of creative options, Ocellus comes up with an idea for her project and leaves. Some time later, she appears before her friends and explains her project idea: an interpretive dance about the history of Equestria in which she transforms into multiple key figures of Equestrian history. Her friends point out that the presentation is only ten minutes long and worry she is overdoing it, but Ocellus is determined to make sure her project is perfect.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Ocellus works around the clock on her midterm project. As a result, she spends very little time with her friends and sleeps through all of her school classes due to lack of sleep. Silverstream thinks she and the others should inform Twilight, but the others do not want to upset Ocellus on top of having their own projects to worry about. When Silverstream confronts Ocellus about how much she is overtaxing herself, Ocellus gets defensive, saying she wants to show that a changeling can use their powers for something good and beautiful.

A few days before the day of the midterm presentations, Silverstream and her friends stage an intervention for Ocellus in the middle of the night. In an empty school classroom, they find her practicing her dance and transforming into multiple ponies until she eventually stumbles from over-exhaustion. The rest of the Young Six finally decide to tell Twilight about what is going on, but Ocellus still insists that she can handle the demands of her own project.

Twilight arrives and asks to speak with Ocellus in private. In their one-on-one conversation, Ocellus reveals to Twilight that she planned to transform into over three hundred creatures in under ten minutes for her presenation--out of a desire to convey every important aspect of Equestrian history in her project. Twilight empathizes with Ocellus' desire for perfection and taking on more work than she handle, and she advises Ocellus to pick one smaller story, saying everyone will be just as impressed.

On the day of the midterm presentations, Ocellus presents her history of friendship project to the school. Instead of the three hundred creatures she originally planned to transform into during her interpretive dance, she transforms into a select few that matter the most to her, including the Mane Six and the rest of the Young Six. Ocellus' performance is met with much positive reception, and her friends congratulate her.

Quotes

 * Sandbar: You know what this means?
 * Smolder: We're gonna have to spend the next couple of weeks memorizing a textbook for a test?
 * Yona: Yona no like to remember so many pony things!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Actually, memorization will not be required for this midterm.
 * Students: Whew!
 * Twilight Sparkle: In fact, there's not going to be a test at all!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Each of you will create a project that conveys what you have learned about the history of friendship. And what it means to you. It can be a poem, performance, work of art. Anything you want, in fact. As long as it's a reflection of you.


 * Twilight Sparkle: Yes, Smolder and Gallus?
 * Smolder and Gallus: Can we memorize a textbook and take a test?


 * Spike: [to Twilight Sparkle] No memorization? No test? I don't even know who you are anymore.


 * Smolder: [to Ocellus] Has it occurred to you that you have a bigger creative advantage than the rest of us? You're a changeling. You can just change into friendship... things.


 * Smolder: This is not going to end well, is it?
 * Gallus: Nope.


 * Gallus: What is that?
 * Smolder: It's the Tree of Harmony made out of rock from the Dragon Lands.
 * Gallus: OK... What's the presentation going to be?
 * Smolder: Me talking about the Tree of Harmony without eating any of these gems!


 * Ocellus: [to Silverstream] This is my chance to show that a changeling can use their powers for something good and beautiful. And it needs to be perfect! I'm sorry if you wall don't understand that. But you need to respect it.


 * Ocellus: Every creature is going to love it! They're all going to be so excited to see it. I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so... scared.


 * Twilight Sparkle: How many creatures were you planning to change into during the ten-minute presentation?
 * Ocellus: Three hundred forty-six.


 * Ocellus: Instead of trying to tell the history of Equestria, you made me realize that I just should tell my story. The story of what friendship means to me.