//------------------------------//
// Paradigm of the Decent and Insignificant 
// Story: The Everycraftery 
// by Liquid Truth 
//------------------------------//

Sweetie Belle walked through the streets of Ponyville, carrying a sack full of instant gardening powder. It wasn't her Ponyville, though, yet it looked almost all the same.

It looked familiar but for the crystal castle in front of her, the glittering walls inviting onlookers like a mother, ushering her children in for dinner. That and the building next to it which resembled a military bunker with a sign in front of it saying, "Totally not the portal to the human world please go away." On the ground in front of it, under the shade of the castle, sat Kepler and Princess Celestia, talking animatedly and only interrupted by the occasional giggles, laughs, and Kepler's inhalation of an electronic cigarette, making torus-shaped clouds at Celestia as he exhaled. Celestia, in turn, slurped them as if they were breathable donuts.

Sweetie watched them in amusement while waiting for the massive crystal doors to open. Next to her, Sunny stared at the direction of the School of Friendship with disinterest, taking the occasional swig from her flask and fidgeting with the sword on her belt.

"I don't need to be escorted, you know?"

Sunny glared without looking at her. "You nearly died, Sweetie."

"But I didn't."

"You nearly did."

"But I didn't. Doesn't that prove that I can take care of myself?"

Sunny sighed. "Look, Sweetie, I know you're upset that I don't trust you with your own well-being, but with recent events, my paranoia is justifiable. Even Lucy is worried."

"I know." She sighed. "But Lucy's home universe is relatively safe, right?"

"Yes," Sunny answered, "but not if we take the multiverse into consideration. Princess Twilight has quite the number of enemies out there with interdimensional traveling abilities, not to mention Lucy."

"And you," Sweetie interrupted. "The Council of GoD is still upset, more so now that you disappeared from The Shimmer Cup."

Sunny waved her hand in a swatting motion. "Nah, as insufferable as those snuck-up deities are, they won't harm you. They'd kidnap you at most, but they'd also make sure you're unharmed."

Sweetie giggled. "Parke actually put me in one of his guest beds when he kidnapped me. It was fun!" She blinked. "Huh. I think I have Stockholm Syndrome."

"No, you don't," came another voice from behind the doors. As it opened, Jan-Erik Olsson's head popped out. "Believe me, I'd know. Now, how may I help you?"

Sweetie took out the commission sheet from her mane and read it. "A package delivery of one Zen Garden." She looked up at the human and smiled. "For Princess Twilight. Is she home?"

"She's castle," he said, opening the door wider. "Currently handling Chrysalis. Wait here, I'll call her."

And so Sweetie got in and gently put the sack down. Looking around the foyer, she found Princess Luna and Shakesphere sitting together on a sofa on the left side, silently watching something on the laptop in front of them with earphones shared. On the second floor just after the stairs stood Starlight and Ben Franklin, drooping tiredly on the railing. Olsson walked passed them with a friendly nod and disappeared to the right corridor.

An explosion came from where Olsson had disappeared, followed soon by Luna's deep breath of mild annoyance and the door near Starlight shining brightly from the gaps.

Newton came stumbling out of the door with a scowl on his face. "I swear," he mumbled, "I'd kill her if Twilight's not so . . . Gah!" He ran toward where the explosion had come.

Another explosion came, and the door lit up again and Newton stumbled out just like before. "Son of a—" He ran toward the explosion.

Another explosion came, and Newton ran to the right without saying a word.

Another explosion came, this time accompanied by a victorious exclamation before another explosion followed. The door shone twice and out came Newton and Olsson, the former looking ready for the French Revolution while the latter just sighed in exasperation.

Another explosion came. Luna and Shakesphere pulled out their earphones with synchronized grunts of extreme inconvenience and closed their laptop.

Newton came out of the door again. Before he disappeared toward the right corridor, Princess Twilight came walking and stopped him. "Give her some time," she said. "We'll try to talk to her again tomorrow."

"But—"

"To-morrow, Newton. Everyone's tired, including Chryssi—" (Don't call me that!) "—including Chrysalis. Give her time for herself."

Newton sighed and shrugged. "Well, as you wish, Your Highness."

"Excuse me, Your Highness," said Olsson as he tapped Twilight's shoulder. He gestured to the first floor, where Sweetie and Sunny were standing. "You have guests from The Everycraftery."

Twilight nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Olsson. And please, call me Twilight."

"As you wish, Your Highness."

Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled before turning her eyes to Sweetie. As their gazes met, Sweetie waved energetically. "Hey, Twilight! We got your Zen Garden!"

Twilight nodded, her face lighting up and any trace of tiredness was replaced by a toothy grin. As she climbed down the stairs and met Sweetie, she extended her wings and pulled her to a wing-hug. "Hey, Sweetie! How have you been?"

Sweetie giggled and broke the hug. "Oh, I'm great! There's this one yesterday—"

"She nearly died," blurted Sunny.

Twilight frowned. "Yes, I've heard." She began scrutinizing Sweetie. "Are you hurt? The robot didn't hit you, right?"

Sweetie grunted as Twilight turned her head left to right. "I'm fine, Twilight. It's just a—"

"What is this!?" Twilight turned her muzzle, showing a bruise on her chin. Sunny kneeled and took a closer look.

Sweetie swatted Twilight's hoof away. "I'm fine, Twilight." She stepped back and sat on her rump. "I ran into a table."

Sunny raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "'Ran into a table', huh? Now, let me—"

Another explosion came from the left corridor, this time MacGyver stumbling out from the upper-middle door. "Cozy," he muttered. "She can make a bomb out of a rubber band, a paper clip, and bubble gum. How does that work!?"

Twilight gestured at Sunny. "Sunny, can you help him, please? I'll take care of Sweetie."

Sunny sighed and took out her sword. "Fine." She nodded at Sweetie. "Stay safe, Sweetie."

"I'm literally here."

As Sunny ran up the stairs and to the left corridor with Starlight and Ben, Twilight used Sweetie's distracted state to have a closer look at her chin. She hummed. "Sweetie?"

Sweetie turned her gaze toward her. "Yes?"

"Sunny's gone now." She put a hoof on Sweetie's shoulder. "Tell me what happened."

"I told you, I ran into a table."

"Sweetie? That's suspiciously shaped like a hoof."

She sighed. "It's Lucy. But don't blame her!" she quickly added. "She's just upset, that's all. It's really my fault."

Twilight shook her head. "That doesn't justify her actions. I bet she said that, too." Twilight began casting a minor healing spell, making Sweetie's chin feeling comfortably cold. "What did you do, exactly?"

"It's . . . personal."

"Tell me about it."

Sweetie leveled a stare. "Really?"

"I'm your legal guardian, Sweetie. And, as Lucy put it, 'Princess of Staying Silent While Others Make Annoying Noises'." Twilight pressed the bruise, ignoring Sweetie's grunts. "You can tell me anything you want."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Do you?"

Sweetie opened her mouth, then shut it back. "Well . . . promise you won't tell Sunny?"

Twilight smiled warmly. "I won't tell anyone, Sweetie."

Sweetie sighed. "She's . . . upset at my indecision. She told me she's disappointed that I couldn't choose a way of life." She huffed. "I can't just choose to be like her. I learned that long ago similarly with my sister."

"Well," Twilight began slowly, "what did she want you to choose, exactly?"

Sweetie dropped her head, leaning to Twilight's hoof entirely. "You know when you're feeling optimistic and hopeful? Well, of course you do." She giggled. "You always are. That's what I felt at times, believing that the world truly can be a better place." She waved her hoof around. "But I also know I can't do that. I'll never be able to, with how small of an influence I can ever hope to have in the entirety of the multiverse." She grunted. "But at the same time, I know that I'm not going any closer to that dream by staying silent."

Twilight frowned and sat by her side, draping a wing over her. "Is this about how Lucy 'saved' lives and 'reformed' villains?"

Sweetie nodded. "And yours." She looked at her in the eye. "You're so good at persevering. Like Chrysalis there. She really wanted you dead, but you still believe that she can be better." Sweetie sighed. "I want to be like that."

"But you know you can't?"

"Also that I don't want to. No offense, but . . ."

Twilight giggled. "Don't worry, Sweetie. Say all you like, I'll listen."

Sweetie leaned into her shoulder. "When you focus on these few people that you think can change . . . how many else do you leave behind?"

"What do you mean?"

"The others that you could've helped only if you let go of these few bothersome people. Is it really how you're going to live the rest of your life? Leaving those behind because you're too focused on the few that's impossible to fix?"

"No," Twilight answered after a few seconds. "That's why I opened the School of Friendship. I know I can't help everyone; that's why I seek friends to help me help them." She caressed Sweetie's bruise more gently, the spell, in turn, increased in intensity.

"But there's still a lot more you can help if you just dump the insufferable ones, right?"

Twilight frowned. "If you're implying that I ignore those that I don't directly help, then know that it's not true." She smiled. "I know that they can change too, but they don't necessarily need guidance all the time. I nudged them here and there, the rest I leave it to them to grow themselves. Having trust that they can help themselves."

"But that doesn't always work, does it?"

Twilight closed her eyes, keeping her pensive smile. "No. At times I failed. Sometimes I miscalculated how well they can fare with themselves. And there's also a point that a single individual can't physically reach, and I know that." She opened her eyes and locked it with Sweetie's own. "Lucy does, too. Her way and my way, that's simply a choice of how you want to accomplish something. I chose to let my emotions and instincts guide me to my goals while keeping a close eye on how irrational it could be. Lucy chose to let her mind and superior knowledge calculate the definitive steps to reach her goals while keeping a close eye on the small things that can deteriorate her from being a person."

"Lucy? Really, now?"

"It's not that she's amoral, she simply has different values than the majority of us. That's why she has to keep a close eye on her steps; Sunny is a good example of one of her regrets—Very deep regret, but don't tell her that." She winked. "Ever wondered why she kept you around?"

Sweetie opened her mouth, then closed it back.

"That's right: you're compassionate enough to know when she began slipping away. She's actually deeply troubled at keeping you in the dark about many of her plans because that would mean not getting your feedback."

"And the same applies to you and Starlight?"

"To remind me of my slipping conscience and remain reasonable.

"We're not that different at all. As I don't agree with how utilitarian she could be at times, she doesn't agree with how irrational I could be. But we understood how, as contrasting as our ways are, we still have the same goal in mind." Twilight lifted Sweetie's chin up, the bruise now gone. "But . . ."

Sweetie stared into her eyes, those caring and motherly gaze offering her comfort at this time of turmoil. Yet she couldn't shake the chill running down her spine.

"But that's us." Sweetie felt her entire body frozen in cryostasis. "What about you, Sweetie? What is it that you really want?"

Sweetie shut her eyelids tight. "I-I . . . I-I can't—"

"Sweetie, look at me."

"I . . . I need time."

Twilight frowned. "Sweetie?"

Sweetie shook her head and jerked her body backward, breaking their hug. "Give me some time, please."

"You've had all the answers, Sweetie. There's no real reason for you to stay ambiguous anymore."

"Why not!?" She took another step back. "I've been living my whole life like this. Why can't I stay like this? Either of you would be there to take care of the problem, right? And now that I know what my role is, I can tell Lucy if she does anything stupid. I'm the janitor, for goodness' sake! I don't need complex paradigms to help other people like you do! I'm here to fix people's messes, and that's that!"

Twilight shook her head. "There will be times when you need to make your own choices, Sweetie. You can't always depend on other people to become a whole person." She reached out her hoof again. "Come on, reach inside you: Who are you, Sweetie? What is it that you really want?"

"Just . . . just give me time, alright? Later."

"You mean nev—"

"Give. Me. Time!" Sweetie turned around, taking a few shuddering breaths as she felt Twilight's cold blade of disappointment stabbing her in the back.

Twilight took a deep breath, then let it out. Sweetie bit back a sob. "Alright," she slowly said. "Alright. I'll give you time." Sweetie heard the sound of Twilight's hoofsteps walking away.

A few seconds passed, then Sweetie abruptly turned around. She managed two steps before Twilight raised her hoof, gesturing her to stop. She gave Sweetie a sidelong glance, the glitter in her eyes visible. "Just—" Twilight slowly put her hoof down. "Just set up my garden. Ask Mendel for the layouts."

Sweetie growled and yelled, "What's the worst that could happen anyway!?"

"Well," Twilight answered in a distant voice, "you'll kill yourself, waking up as two completely different beings that can never truly be a whole person anymore."