The whole Gilda situation could have been handled a lot better than it had been. She wasn’t entirely sure how, but she felt it should have gone better.

She slid off the necklace and stared at the faceted surface of the sapphire. Spike had indeed given her the gem, but not as a gift. She had asked for it, and he had willingly given it up. She had then set the gem in a mount and put the leather cord on it.

She touched a facet with her horn, and the true purpose of the gem revealed itself.

“Tch! That wimpy Pegasus… I still don’t know why Rainbow gives her the time of day. She’s a failure of a Pegasus that’s so scared of the sky she refuses to live in Cloudsdale.”

With another touch of her horn, the playback function ceased. Twilight sighed and put the gem down. That was her plan B. Get Gilda to talk about what she was doing and record it. Rainbow Dash couldn’t ignore hard evidence like that.

First of all, the fight shouldn’t have happened. Twilight had let her emotions cloud her judgment and she ended up calling Gilda out. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash apparently wasn’t as hard headed as she had thought she was, and that made guilt crawl up Twilight’s spine. She had seen Rainbow Dash’s jock-like attitude and instantly assumed she was stupid and naive. Well, she knew better now, but she still felt bad for applying a stereotype to her friend like that. For Celestia’s sake, Bruce pretended to be a billionaire playboy philanthropist when not wearing the mask! She should know better than to make assumptions like that!

She sighed again and let her head settle against the surface of the table. ‘Why am I making these mistakes?’ she asked herself. She had long ago learned those lessons and made use of them since, so why now? Why did it feel like all that experience had just washed down the proverbial drain?

She frowned lightly. ‘Maybe it’s because of this Hero Soul thing,’ she theorized. She was, after all, a lot younger physically now, and in a female body at that. Her emotions were bound to be different, thanks to her experience as Twilight Sparkle. In fact, it could be that the experiences of Twilight Sparkle and Clark Kent were at odds. Not like what had caused her mental breakdown, but in such a way that she was making choices she otherwise wouldn’t have. Her emotions were definitely harder to control at least.

She snorted. She was looking at it wrong again. Twilight Sparkle and Clark Kent were not two individual people, but the same person with different experiences. She sighed again. ‘Princess Luna was right. I avoided the biggest pitfalls, but not the most dangerous.’

Her eyes lit up at the sudden realization. “Luna will know what to do!” she exclaimed before heading off to find Spike.

Spike wasn't at home, and Twilight only remembered that he went to visit Rarity after her third search of the library. After going to him and convincing him to send of a letter to the Princesses for her, she made her way home. On the way, she came across a flyer that caught her attention.

Coming to Ponyville August 11th
Magic unlike any other!
Tricks beyond comprehension!
Wonders to bedazzle all!

Come see the Great! The Powerful!
Trixie Lulamoon!

8:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Town Square

Tickets can be purchased until the day of the show in the Town Hall.
Ages 13 to 18 - 10 bits
Ages 19 and over - 15 bits
Children under the age of 12 - Free Admission (must be accompanied by an adult)

Twilight blinked at the flyer blankly for a very brief moment, before grinning widely. "Ooooh! A magic show! I love magic shows!" she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together in excitement. She immediately galloped off towards the Town Hall to purchase a ticket. Actually, make that two. Spike liked seeing the things display magic could do too.

Hmm... Should she buy some for her friends as well? 'Why not? The worst they'll do is say no.' With a nod, she decided on her course.

Once Twilight finally got home, she stashed the tickets in her room and went to see if Spike had come home yet. She had gotten caught in a line and ended up waiting at Town Hall for an hour before she could get her ticket.

While Spike wasn't home, he apparently had been recently. She found a scroll on her bed, with a note pinned to it from Spike saying it was the response from Princess Luna. Eagerly, Twilight opened it and began reading.

First of all, allow me to thank you for remembering that I am indeed here to offer advice for you if your status as a Hero Soul troubles you. It is nice to know I am valued.

But to get to the point, I know of what you speak of. What you are experiencing is your younger and less experienced memories taking precedence over your older and wiser memories, leading you to make choices that, in hindsight, you really should have known better than to make.

While this is a condition all Hero Souls deal with, it is not a severe one. As you grow accustomed to your status as a Hero Soul and start calling on both sets of memories equally, it will balance itself out. Think of it as experiencing puberty a second time, though without the embarrassment.

In the meantime, the only thing you can do is take extra care to consider what your choices will do before you make them. You are, of course, not expected to be perfect, as emotions running high will circumvent any attempt to be reasonable at times.

I hope this advice serves you well. Also, I wish to remind you that our next appointment is due this Friday.

Twilight put the letter down and considered what she learned. It certainly explained why she seemed more emotional. Her mind was basically still sorting and categorizing everything it now had access to, leaving her already sorted memories semi-sort of at the helm.

A second puberty... Twilight shivered. 'No thanks! It's bad enough I have memories of experiencing puberty from both sides of the fence. Let's not make it worse,' she thought.

After having such an exciting day, Twilight decided to call it in early and go to bed. She was optimistic that tomorrow would be a better day.

Hero Souls: Awakening

by SvenFoxx

12. New Show in Town