Growing up a la Twilight

by Webby

Chapter 2

“Correct.” With authority not unlike the Princess herself, the judgement was passed, Twilight releasing her shoulders to slump in result. “And what is the name of this tree?”

“It appears to be an Oak.”

“Correct. Do you like Oaks?”

“It’s hard to hold an opinion of a tree, in honesty. I don’t dislike them, for I have no reason to. I suppose the positive features of an Oak tree do outweigh the negative, so I surmise that it should be said that I like them?”

“Correct.”

Questions had been coming one after the other for what felt like hours. Twilight didn’t usually mind having questions directed at her; in fact she delighted in it for the most part of its occurrence. But this was different. What she found herself faced with was a constant barrage of inquiry that was proving to be as stressful as it was inescapable. And it was just that, inescapable.

Twilight had tried to start a real conversation, but hideous doubt of her social abilities rendered her incapable of thinking exactly what might be good to say. She felt so outside of her zone, so blocked by inner conflict that it was impossible to conjure thoughts that she was confident would make any sense, or at least would be valid input. The ever-present inquisitive bombardment wasn’t helping her regain her composure in the slightest, either.

“Twilight, where are we now?” Twilight struggled to find a good adjective to describe her feelings towards the voice that was assaulting her so; she would call it tiresome, but it seemed never unable to find a way to freshly displease her. She would call it displeasing, but there was nothing she could specify about it that she felt should be annoying her. She would call it annoying, but that thought had her immediately filled with guilt, for surely she should not wish for this voice to stop hounding her as it so was, the voice belonging to who was supposed to be her new friend?

“It would appear that we have arrived at the food court.” Twilight had considered escaping, too. When she could not think up a good excuse to leave that she was confident would not result in feelings being hurt, she even mused the idea of simply running. But a mixture of not wanting to give up, foresight of monstrous guilt, not wanting to disappoint Ama and a lack of faith in her good decision making kept her securely attached to her current company. She was just going to have to soldier on and hope for the best.

“Correct.” Twilight was beginning to ache from her exertion. She was finding it increasingly hard to fight the distractions buzzing through her mind and pay attention, but it seemed a lost cause. Panic rose and crushing self-consciousness clawed at her insides as she realised how much of a fool she must appear in front of her new ‘friend’: she was struggling to answer the simplest of questions (with answering of questions being something in which she prided herself greatly). She was breathing more heavily than she imagined was normal, but simply could not halt herself. She was beginning to heavily doubt any future dabbling in friendship, if it were to be this difficult. She had wondered what friendship could be. She was less than happy to find out.

“And Twilight, what would you like to eat?” Twilight froze. What felt like the weight of the world crashed down onto her shoulders as she realised one horrifying fact.

“I… I’m…” She could feel herself begin to heat up as the sheer enormity of this new obstacle became clear to her.

She could not answer.

“Twilight, what would you like to eat?” The impatience was unmistakable. Eyes darting everywhere, she felt numb from a venomous mixture of burden and self loathing. She felt unable to breathe, unable to draw even a breath to seal her fate with an answer. Any answer. She felt as though she were being squeezed by a gargantuan Serpent, an ophidian manifestation of her newfound shameful lack in ability.

She was being examined, her very soul on trial. Tested for any volume of competence she may possess.

“Judging by your silence, I take it you lack an answer. I therefore conclude that I am correct in assuming you don’t know what you would like to eat, Twilight Sparkle?” The sneer came, soaked through with intoxicating mock.

What she already knew to be the absolute truth was mercilessly confirmed.

She had failed.

From her suspended position in the air, a rubber stamp was inked and plunged onto her brow, leaving in its wake a large F as proof of its conquest. Tears gathered as the beast vanished, leaving her to plummet down towards the earth. Her stomach lurched as she closed her eyes. She did not care about falling; she did not care about her fate that was hurtling towards her so violently. None of it mattered. She had failed. She had given her best, but had failed.

It was strange, though, after a massive jolt that feeling in her stomach she had not a moment before seemed to be absent.

Opening her eyes slightly, all around her was white. Not the kind of white light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel white, more of a soft, fluffy, warm white. A white that was comfy, that smelled familiar. It appeared to be a white that was breathing, too.

Heavy eyelids struggled to finish their venture upwards as Twilight slowly became more aware of her surroundings. She was moving, but she was not telling her legs to move at all. In fact she couldn’t; her legs felt rather restricted, for there was something big in-between them.

“You okay back there Twiley? You haven’t stopped fidgeting for five minutes straight.” the Whiteness spoke a friendly tone, calming her still-racing heart.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Just had a bad dream is all.” She chuckled to herself as her brother nodded in recognition. That was all it was, a bad dream. Absurdity incarnate. Madness that was anxiety moulding her subconscious in ways most uncomfortable, but only that. None of what she had just experienced was real.

Not that that made it any less terrifying.

A deep breath and happy thoughts were to be had.

She took a few moments to properly gather herself. Now fully awake, Twilight could properly and sensibly assess her situation, and formulate a plan for events to come. She was on her way to meet Amaranth’s daughter, whom she has never before met. They were to have fun together and perhaps become friends. How hard could that be?

Pushing back haunting images from her most recent venture into her subconscious, she began to think about what exactly ‘having fun together’ meant. She had been informed by Ama that her daughter was not one for books, which was very unfortunate considering that’s entirely what Twilight was one for. This meant she may have to talk about something she was not accustomed to, such as… something else?!

The more she thought about it, the more the blinding panic began to resurface. What if she got angry when Twilight doesn’t know what to say? What if she tries to hurt her? No, don’t be foalish; she knew enough spells to deal with a physical threat… unless Ama’s daughter is a powerful sorceress! What if she banishes Twilight to the Canterlot Dungeons, and then becomes the Princess’ student instead of her?! Oh Celestia, what if she banishes the Princess to the Canterlot Dungeons too, and then takes her place in an unstoppable reign of tyrann– don’t be silly, nopony could possibly beat the Princess in one versus one combat, not even Shiny.

Oh that’s right! Shiny! He wouldn’t let any evil pony hurt her, or banish her away anywhere… unless the evil enchantress disguised herself and deceived him, convincing him to work against her! What if she used her magic to brainwash him, and then used their powers combined to then defeat the Princess and throw Equestria into an era of terror and oppression? –Twilight gasped– What if she filled in his plot hole?! —Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what this meant, but she’d once witnessed some construction ponies offer to do it for a passing mare in what could only be described as a rather sinister manner, which left the mare positively mortified as she quickened her pace. Whatever it meant, it was certainly not something to be desired.*

Twilight jumped as she was pulled out of her frightening musings by a concerned voice. “You sure you’re okay sis? By the look on your face you’ve got something pretty heavy on your mind.”

Realising her cheeks were beginning to hurt; she released the uncomfortable guise her face had adopted, opting for one more gentle. “I must admit, I’m growing concerned that my next venture may be one both unsuccessful and catastrophic for my wellbeing.”

Stuck for what to say that wouldn’t sound rude, Shining Armor could only hope that his sister was to continue explaining whatever was worrying her. Fortunately, Twilight took the pause as a cue that he wished for her to elaborate, so she did.

“What I mean is I have no idea what to do when I arrive.” She said obviously, unaware of how belittling she sounded when she explained the erratic workings of her mind.

Ignoring the condescending tone he knew she didn’t mean to do, Shiny donned his best ‘good guy big brother’ persona. “Don’t worry Twiley; it’s not something that’s supposed to be difficult. Ask her what music she’s into, what hobbies she has, that sort of stuff. You’ll be best friends in no time, I know it.”

Cheering at his success as he saw his input had triggered her list-making face and a smile, Shiny turned to again face ahead and allowed his prior-occurring thoughts to return, thankful that Twiley could not see the goofy smile his face had again donned.

*Note: I sincerely and ashamedly apologise for this paragraph.

Or do I

Comments

[fluttershywriter]

I love this story! MOAR!!

[meme-asaurus]

Not a bad chapter. Twilight sorta reminds me of Mr. Spock in this, only she's nerdier.

[Lucen Aurora]

DAT paragraph, DAT Plot!

[nomore]

Are you going to write more? I for one don't have a problem with the "chunkiness" because I think that that is just how Twilight would think, even at that young of an age. Please write more!!!!

[Webby]

1921826 Hooooboy.

A lot of shit has happened since I started this, haha. More shit than I'd have liked.

I've also since having had this on unofficial hiatus learned a lot about world building/story crafting in general. And I mean a LOT, relative to what I knew prior (ie when writing this). Reading this again makes it evident how little I knew where I was going with anything; I sorta just made some characters and then made them do stuff, writing down whatever seemed viable in a flurry of improvisation. I'll have to do some serious thinking and adapting to get this to work as anything that might resemble any sort of good story, starting with the first damn chapter.

I'll get right on it when I finish homestuck `3`

[fferror]

1921826
That was my reaction as well; this reads like the inside of Twilight's head. And I'm thoroughly enjoying every word of it. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[sakuralovelight]

hope to read more soon