The ever familiar scent of Canterlot titillated Twilight’s nose as she, for the first time in days, walked outside of the Canterlot Castle. Rich perfumes and exotic flavors in the air from the various store’s vendors, bringing back memories from years ago. Whilst keeping a respectable, graceful sense of calm, her nerves nipped at her knees, causing her to stumble now and then. Ever since she had started her sessions with Quill, her nights had been rather taxing.
When she arrived at the castle her dream were empty, nothing but a pitch-black void that continued endlessly in every direction. No matter how far her hooves would carry her, no matter how much magic she used to teleport somewhere, all of her efforts seemed to be in vain. She would run until she could only crawl at a foal’s pace, and even then she still forced herself to go forward. The nightmare only ended when she awoke in a cold sweat.
“I need to take my mind off things,” she said to nopony at all. Twilight’s sense of security slowly whittled away as she entered the artisan’s street, as from the various shops lining the sides ponies would cast quick glances at her. Some sneered, while others seemed to hold her in silent contempt and moved out of the way as if she was a rabid chimera. She could make out some of the words ponies whispered behind their hooves. Broken, Addled, or even something as drastic as Should’ve been shacked up in the Whack-o-Basket.
Fully aware that letting those snobs know that their words had gotten to her would only worsen the matter, Twilight pushed their curses from her mind. Deciding to get out of dodge, she caught sight of one of her favorite spots from her days at Canterlot University, and double timed to ‘The Jeweled Juice Bar’. The enchanted sign hung high above the roof, the magically charged crystals emitting a noticeable glow even in the noonday sun. Pushing through the oak double doors, a peculiar face was beaming at her.
“Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in. It’s nice to see you again, Bookworm.” The green pegasus was scrubbing the inside of a tankard with a dirty rag. On the tips on his outstretched wings were two roughly grasped beer steins. “From the black and white rag, I expected you to be tied up somewhere in the funny farm, Looney Tunes.”
“Amazingly enough, you’ve stayed unmarried this entire time, Fizzles.” Drawing up a chair Twilight sat, for the first time she could ever remember, at the bar stand in front of Pop. Giving her a coy grin as he placed both containers on a rung high above with his outstretched wings, Pop began tossing bottles between his wings. “It’s good to see you too, old stallion.”
Pouring himself a tall glass and beginning to nurse his drink, Pop shot Twilight a know-it-all smirk. “Is that how ya’ greet an old friend, ya’ nutcase?”
Twilight crossed her forelegs with a rather annoyed harrumph as she settled herself on a barstool. Fizz Pop’s age belied a strong stallion with a wit just as sharp as his drink’s pungent taste. Sliding a fizzy, fruity drink across the bar’s top, the viridian-colored pegasus finished cleaning out the cups and settled them back on the wooden pegs behind him. “Good to see you out and about without a straightjacket there, Purple Prose,” he joshed merrily.
“Is there ever a day you don’t spout some kind of wisecrack, Pops?” said Twilight with a snort.
Pops yanked a small calendar out from beneath the bar and began to quickly fly through the pages that it ruffled Twilight’s mane. “Nope! Wise crackin’, smart-ass comments are scheduled for the next twelve months. Sorry, sweetheart.”
Ignoring his usual migraine inducing comments, she decided to settle with sipping at her drink as Fizz Pop sidled up across from her. “So, Twilight, I gotta ask. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“I want to know what’s going on as well, Pops. How does everypony seem to know what happened in Ponyville? Ever since I went out of the castle, all I’ve gotten are dark stares from everypony I’ve come across!”
“Gee, I wonder why,” said Pops as he flopped a thoroughly hoofed newspaper onto the countertop. Twilight felt her eyes bulge out of their sockets as she saw herself, head hanging low, where Celestia stood off in front of her with a disappointed look painted on her face. With her mouth agape, Twilight snatched up the newspaper as he pressed it against her face.
“What in bucking Tartarus is this?” Multiple pages covered the night that Celestia had decided to pull Twilight away from Ponyville in deep, absurdly damning, detail. Several pictures were splayed across, in monochrome format, presenting a crude, yet tail tingling accurate recollection of her banishment from her home. “Who does this Quick Shot think he is?” she said stabbing at the reporter’s name on the page.
“Hey, journalists need to make a living too, Wackaloon. Now, it’s not unusual to see your mug in the papers, specially the funnies,” said Fizz Pop.
Giving the stallion a sneer that made his handlebar mustache stand on end, Twilight’s eyes were dead set on the story scrawled out over the newspaper. Most of the details were so grossly overly exaggerated that only the simplest minded pony could believe in. However, what was truly horrifying was how accurate the article was in its entirety. “Great, now everypony thinks I’m loony.”
“Well, I knew that years ago.”
“Pops, has anyone told you it’s amazing that you’ve stayed single for fifty-odd years?” said Twilight, in a painfully matter-of-factly tone. Despite her insult, the weathered pegasus merely gave her a meek smile before saddling her up with another drink. “Honestly, I came in here to feel better, not for you to put me down.”
Pops yanked a crystal bottle with a cork stopper and poured a fair amount of strong liquor into a small shot glass. Downing the golden brown contents, the pegasus’ wings snapped out with an audible thwack. “I’m at level with you right now,” replied Pop, the sudden incursion of alcohol already affecting his speech. “I care for ya like I would my own, but I’m worried about what goes on in dat head of yours, filly.”
“You’re not the only one...” Dr. Quill flashed in Twilight’s mind, causing her to flop her head helplessly onto the wooden oak top of the bar. It had only been two days since she started seeing him, and yet his words struck deep, thanks to his ability to be so invasive and polite at the same time. How is he so effective? No pony can be that good at getting under a stranger’s skin. It’s like he knew–
“Hey, Ground Control to Little Miss Bookworm. This is Major Tomcat, can you hear me?”
Ridding herself of her current train of thought, Twilight looked up to see that she had already finished off her second drink. “Sorry, my mind’s all over the place.”
“No kidding, my corgi isn’t this friggin’ mopey when I give him a bath. You know whatcha need to do?”
Polishing off her drink, Twilight plonked her glass down hard on the wooden surface. “I think I could use some of your sagely advice,” she said, drilling home the word.
“Reconnect.”
“What?” replied Twilight in utter confusion.
“Look, you’ve gone through a heck ov’ a lot of junk in the past few days. Whatcha’ need right now is ta find your center. Take your mind off things in plain Equish is what I’m gettin at’.” Fizz Pop yanked the glass off the counter and placed it gently behind the bar, out of Twilight’s vision.
“You keep working yourself up like this, you’re gonna get a worse widow’s mane than this what I got,” Pop said, combing a hoof through his balding top.
Pausing a moment to consider his words, Twilight nodded her head before reaching into her pockets. A green, stumpy hoof grabbed her foreleg. “I’ll let ya put it on yer tab dis time, Twilight. Fer now, get out there and unwind fer once, wills ya?”
“Thanks Pops, what would I do without you?” Twilight said gently.
“Pay up a thr’ thousand bar tab?”
“What?”
“Hmm? Anyways, get outta here. Can’t have a downer like you’s, driving away business, especially a wackaloon like you,” joshed Pops, flicking his hoof at her in a mocking fashion.
Celestia’s sun hung in the middle of the sky, the intense rays warming Twilight as she left the Jeweled Juice Bar. She was struck by inspiration to find a friendship report to give to Celestia this week. Maybe that would show her teacher she was completely and without-a-doubt ready to return to Ponyville. Reacquainting herself with her old classmates from her younger years in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns would surely earn her freedom.
- - -
Passing through the marble archway leading up to the prestigious academy, Twilight forced her brain to recollect her peer’s names. There was Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts that had all been in her class. One particular pony that had always been her equal in her studies, or at the very least as close to anypony she had felt as her equal, had resurfaced in her mind.
Twilight’s eyes scanned over the ponies that were sitting and traversing over the steps of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Students were scurrying to and fro, some giving her a wave whilst others bolted in front of her as they rushed towards the next lesson. An odd wave of nostalgia crashed into her as she recollected her university days, trying to cram for exams and keep up with assignments. A vanilla colored white mare with an orange mane, set off by a purple streak in the middle, flashed into her mind.
“Moon Dancer…” The one filly who cared more about studying and learning than possibly herself while she was enrolled in Celestia’s school. She'd be a perfect way to get back into the routine of things. Now where was her house again? Her hooves instinctively guided her more than her brain as she walked to the ‘lower’ part of Canterlot.
There were none of the extravagant furnishings that decorated the houses or personal coat of arms adorning the doors or placed above their doors. Despite how plain these ponies homes were in comparison to the ones found in the higher district, they all held a peerless craftsman’s quality. Then, it, came into view.
“What the..” A ramshackle of a house was at the very end of the street. The purple door that seemed to be lodged into the doorframe was cracked and broken. In fact, the entire house could’ve easily been placed in the dictionary as the definition of ‘broken’ seeing how the current owner keep it in the poor maintenance that it was in. It was a black stone among a bed of pure white pearls, its very presence sinful for it to even be still standing in the golden city of Canterlot.
“Urrgh. Guess Moon Dancer has been so busy, perhaps she just hasn’t had the time to keep up with the yardwork,” Twilight said to nopony in particular. As she rapped against the door, a chunk of wood dislodged itself and dropped on Twilight’s head, making her give out a small yelp.
“Hold your stirrups,” shouted out a feminine voice curlty. A deep purple eye peeped through the newest hole that formed in the door. With a violent jerk the door was flung open, causing paint chips and a long thin crack to form right down the middle. “Twilight Sparkle? What do you want?”
Despite the less than polite greeting from one of her old time friends, Twilight’s pleasant smile never left her face. “Well, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by and say hello to one of my oldest and bestest fillyhood friends.”
“Really?” spat Moondancer.
“Really, really,” said Twilight.
“Well then, maybe you should go look for said particular good fillyhood friend, seeing as there are none on the current premises, and stop bothering somepony whose studies don’t need a nosy screwball from occupying said pony’s time.” With a snap of her hoof, Moondance slammed the door, dropping a few chips of stone unto Twilight’s head.
A stray tear lept from Twilight’s eye. Anger, regret, fear. So many emotions surged forth as Twilight ran away from Moon Dancer’s home and escaped down a random road. The purple mare didn’t care where her hooves took her, just as long as she continued to run. Over the past few days, she had lost her mentor’s trust, her friends, and now when she finally had gained freedom, she discovered that there wasn’t a soul left in Equestria she could turn to.
Fwit.
Twilight tumbled head over hooves as she tripped over a stray stone in Canterlot’s usually perfect road. Dirt and tiny rocks dug into her as she fell to the uncaring earth. Grief pummeled her as she laid there, weeping silently.
“Twilight…”
A pink hoof stroked Twilight’s hair, magic pulling blades of grass and pebbles from the unicorn’s mane and body. Looking up, Twilight felt elated to see one face that she could remember fondly.
“Cadance!”