The six ponies looked down at the town. Well, what was left of the town.

“In retrospect,” Twilight said, breaking the nervous silence, “I probably should have read the description of that spell before I cast it.” She looked to the other five, hoping that one of them would take up the burden of justifying her decision. When none of them did, she testily added, “But, well, come on, who has time to muddle through two pages of fine print when you could just cast the darn thing and find out firsthoof?”

The other five ponies looked at her in silence, and Twilight shrunk down a bit. “Twilight,” Rainbow Dash began. “You’re, like, the biggest egghead I know. Isn’t reading boring stuff in teeny-tiny letters kind of your thing?”

“The spell was called ‘Colticus’s Continuous Caramel Cascade!’” Twilight snapped. Does that sound like a dangerous spell?”

“Um, what part of ‘Continuous’ was confusing ya?” asked Applejack.

Twilight huffed. “I’m just saying, this was clearly a product error. Misleading labeling, and all that.”

Pinkie Pie looked back down at the town, then whistled appreciatively. “Ooh, a wave just took out the Ponyville Caramel Emporium and Interactive Museum.” She scratched her head. “Twilight, is that irony?” Twilight answered with a glare. “What? I’d look it up, but, you know, library full of Continuous Caramel Cascade and all that.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Wait, is that ironic?” Twilight glared harder. “I mean, irony’s not really my thing. I’m more into slapstick!” She grabbed a nearby tree branch and gave it a few cuffs, grinning hopefully at Twilight.

Twilight glared hardest.

Pinkie sighed, tossing the branch away. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

Silence descended over the group once more. They stared down at what was left of Ponyville, as more and more of it vanished under the rising tide of browned sugar.

“Heh,” Dash finally said. “Slap-stick.” She looked around. “Get it? ‘Cause she slapped the stick?” Dash shrugged. “Eh, you’ll figure it out.”

Fluttershy stepped up to Twilight, putting a supportive hoof on her shoulder. “Well, Twilight, I want you to know that I certainly don’t blame you for any of what’s happened. What’s past is past.” She smiled supportively, but the grin faltered as she looked back to Ponyville. “But, um… now what?”

Twilight sighed. “I can’t reverse the Cascade without the original spell… which is currently somewhere in an ever-growing lake of caramel.” She tried to grin at her friends. “Don’t worry, though! There’s another copy in the Fillydelphia Royal Archivararrium. I sent for it right away, so now we just have to wait for the archivists to find the spell and send it here!”

Rarity eyed the rising tide apprehensively. “And how long will we have to wait?”

Twilight glanced up at the sun. “Well, today is Thursday…”

Rarity stepped forward. “Darling, you know I am very fond of you.” Twilight winced in anticipation of the but which she knew was coming. Rarity did not disappoint her. “But, given that you’ve just deluged Ponyville in sucrose—”

“Fructose, actually,” Twilight couldn’t help correcting.

“...In goop,” Rarity continued, “I think it’s only fair that you tell us what we’re clearly all wondering.” She took a deep breath, and stared deep into Twilight’s eyes. “Why on earth did you cast that spell in the first place?!”

Twilight quailed. “Well, Spike did such a good job cleaning the library this morning that I said he could have a bowl of ice cream with his lunch, and we were all out of toppings…”

All of the ponies stared at Twilight incredulously. Rarity recovered first. “So… is Spike still…”

Twilight pointed down toward the library. From the hill, the ponies could just make out Spike paddling about in an ice cream-carton canoe, using his spoon as a makeshift paddle. He didn’t seem to be making much progress, if only because he kept stopping to lick the spoon.

Rarity sighed. “Next time,” she finally said, “just make an extra trip to the market.”