//------------------------------// // Interlude I - A Conversation With An Old Friend // Story: Subject #4: "Determination" // by Starlit Rose //------------------------------// Hey Sunset! Just wanted to see how are you doing in Canterlot High. I'm sure you are having a great time since the battle of the bands. Don't tell your Rainbow Dash this, but you're the best singer out of all of us - and that's a scientific fact! Your friend, Twilight Heya interdimensional neighbour! Aww, thanks Twilight! But it's not just me in the Rainbooms, all of us are great singers! It's been going up here since the dazzlings were beaten. Before the event, everyone ignored me as if they still had resentment for what I did in the Fall Formal. Not that I'd blame them- But now I feel like I've turned a new leaf! I guess all it takes is defeating a group of megalovaniacs bent on dominating the world to earn everyone's respect, doesn't it? Oh, that's quite a quick response, Sunset! Also; Ha. Ha. Very funny. I suppose it does then. Maybe after you save the world a few more times you'll become a princess like me! Then perhaps we can do a combined research paper on the effects of ascension! How about the change in physiology from changing races! Maybe an analysis of the magical signature imprinted in the arcanical field - Think of the sheer possibilities! Interested research partner, Twilight Sparkle Twilight, you can stop right there before you ramble on. I don't think I can handle any more magic over here for quite some time now! I do appreciate your unbridled enthusiasm to my joke however. Say, you haven't looked into the magical transmission from Equestria to here, have you? ... ... ... Twilight, you there? Sorry! Just had to fix a little thing- Something happened? No, nothing happened. I totally didn't need to sanitise the floor of my drool from thinking about research into alicorn magic. No, nothing at all like that. If you say so, Twilight. By the way, Sanitus Expellere works wonders for cleaning liquid spills on books. So Twilight, about that issue with magic; Back when I was Princess Celestia's student, I learned best by physical field-work. You know, actually doing something instead of studying ancient books. Unlike some people ponies others, I like to solve magical mysteries by rolling up my sleeves and getting my hooves hands dirty. But after all the testing on the girls, I've come to a definitive conclusion that I have no idea how magic works in this world. So, would you be able to lend a hand hoof with this? Thanks for the spell Sunset- Not that I needed to use it or anything! I'd love to help you, but I'm kind of swamped up in Princess duties over here. Maybe once I settled the matter with this prophecy and the elements, I'll be able to help you. They have been giving me a headaches for the past few weeks, more so after conversing with Princess Celestia. Well of course, Twilight; I don't want to distract you from your princess duties! I'm sure you're already busy enough as it is, and I don't want to burden you with my issues when you should be fixing yours. Instead of chatting to me through our messaging diaries. Let me inform you, Sunset Shimmer, that as the Princess of Friendship it is in my duty to correspond with ponies who I am in regular contact with, according to section 2, rule 34 of Les règles de l'amitié. I'll have you know that the penalties are quite severe. You- You're not serious now, are you? Please tell me this is another one of your 'jokes'. I- Hey! I can be funny too! But, yes, that was a 'joke'. But I made sure I followed the book down to the exact word this time though! Thank goodness Twilight! You actually had me worried there for a second! I think we can both agree to that you really need to get out of the books. They are not always the answer to life, the universe and everything. Though if you don't mind me for being curious, why did you want to talk to me all of a sudden? Well, I do need breaks every now and then from my research! My alicorn magic doesn't let me study strenuously without feeling the side effects of it, so I imposed myself a restriction. ... Fine, you got me. Apparently, reading Hooflysses and foregoing the need to eat and sleep somehow necessitates an intervention, despite my alicorn status easily sustaining me for months with no breaks. So Spike and the girls decided to set me a 'break' every few hours, despite its impracticality and inefficiency. ... Okay, that wasn't the only reason. I just want to chat with a friend, honest! ... "Why me?" you may ask, to which I say, "Well, why not? I do what I must, because I can!" Is it wrong to just simply talk with you? ... ... ... Am I just not allowed to‽ Twilight! I was only gone a minute to get a drink, and then the diary started jumping! Is something wrong? Wait, Sunset, you weren't ignoring me on purpose, refusing to acknowledge my reasons for writing to you? Not that I'm aware of? Like I just said; I went to get a drink - it's getting chilly and a cup of cocoa seemed quite nice at the time. At least, it would've been If I hadn't spilled it in my rush to get over to the thrashing book. Are you sure nothing's wrong with the magic? That was embarrassing; I'm not sure what came over me then. Please disregard my previous messages as I clearly wasn't thinking through before writing them. However, this does lead to a curious observation. You say that the book has been physically moving? Well it almost seems as if it can sense emotive magic and transmits it through physical phenomena. Intriguing, though I must say, emotive magic is still quite the new field of research, so I can't say for certain the cause of the curious behaviour. I heard a loud crash and saw the book bouncing around the room, so does that qualify as physically moving? Also, emotive magic? As if when you're sad or angry? Wait. Is something wrong for you? Actually, looking at what you wrote, my gut tells me something is bothering you. Is that why you wanted to talk to me? That would also explain why the window of my apartment now has a book-shaped hole in it (though I'm not sure how the journal remains inside the room after that). Oh shoot, I'm sorry Sunset if I caused that! I'll remember to try and pay for that sometime later, and that's a Pinkie Promis as well. Actually; Cross my heart, Hope to fly, Stick a cupcake, In my eye! There, now I can be reminded by Pinkie just in case I forget. But I guess the data doesn't lie, does it? Yes, something has been bothering me I suppose. There's a simple question that I just can't for the life in me seem to answer - through neither science nor philosophy. Okay, that sounds like a problem you of all people ponies would have. Shoot. Okay, here it goes: Do you think I do well as a princess, Sunset? ... Sunset? Oh wow, you have been learning! That. Was. Brilliant. No, you had me literally rolling on the floor laughing out loud. Man, I take back what I had implied about your humour. Set-up - Check! Reinforcement - Short and Sweet! Punchline - Subverting expectations into believing nonsensical truths! No offence Twilight, but that was terrible. Because that wasn't a joke. That was my poin- wait, what? Do you want me to repeat it? Here it is again: Do you think I do well as a princess? Hold up there, Twilight. What on Earth Equestria are you talking about? It's a simple question, isn't it? One that I was thinking of in the Plunderseed Invasion. One that I was thinking of during the time that led to Tirek's Outburst. One that I thought I had solved after everything had happened. But it appears that I'm wrong, and I'm not sure to the exact reason why. You're being serious here? Come on, Twilight! You taught me the value of friendship when no-one else dared to stop me in my demonic reign. You gave me a second chance when no-one else wanted to be with the she-demon. You were the first true friend I ever had. Of course you are a great Princess Twilight! I would say the same thing to myself, but I'm starting to have doubts again. Why? What happened for you to lose hope in yourself? Well, it's been some time since my coronation, and as the Princess of Friendship, I'm expected to resolve any relationship issues with ponies. Yet, I've failed to make it up to an old friend of mine who I've abandoned before moving to Ponyville. Her name is Moon Dancer, and she used to be a recluse just like me. As in, when Celestia had tutored me before sending me off to Canterlot. I tried to talk to her, and she refused to listen. I've organised dinners and parties - I've even brought Pinkie along to help - and that left her bawling her eyes out before teleporting away. I tried to go to her house by my lonesome to apologise for everything, but again, another failed attempt. Well, I don't mean to sound harsh on you Twilight, but you do realise some ponies just don't want to be friends anymore. You must had known that anyway, right? That's what I kept telling myself. That not everypony can be amicable to each other. But, looking back over my actions, do you know what I had done? I just gave up on her! I didn't realise it at first, until Spike called me out on it. Actually he yelled out for all of the Canterlot nobles to hear about my ‘failure’, which had ticked me off slightly. I guess I still don't take too lightly to criticism about my Princess duties. Regardless, it was fortunate of me to have bottled up my anger; only Celestia would know what could have happened if instead I let my emotions loose in the cobbled streets of the city. I'd already - accidentally let me tell you as well - blasted an earth stallion just a few minutes earlier out of instinct, and that left him hospitalised. And to think that I had done so in exchange for a meeting in a letter from a dubious pony of the name 'Bartholomew' - (seriously, what kind of a name is that?). I just can't get rid of this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I've made a terrible mistake which will bite me in the rump some time down the track. Not to mention the fact that this should be my forté as Princess of Friendship. ... Oh, what am I doing; I'm going into an existential crisis again, aren't I? I think, that maybe Rarity's rubbing off on you a little too much. Have you, by any-chance, been stress-eating while contemplating the futility of your life, Twilight? Wait, she gorges on ice-cream in your world too? Like you wouldn't believe it! Spike has been complaining about missing ice-cream, so there might be a correlation here. Twilight, don't do that to yourself. Listen, I promise to help you out in anyway possible- Actually, you know what, I'll come through the portal myself. Then we can have a real conversation. I've got a few weeks of break over here, and I'm sure I can wrangle something at work. How about that? Sunset, you don't have to do that. Besides, I'm heading over to Canterlot tomorrow, so I don't have enough time to set the mirror here. Another strange pony named, "Torah. L. Embow" handed the elements of harmony back to us (That is, being informed by the letter from Mr. Bartholomew). I'm going to study my element in the laboratories set up near Celestia's castle. Something tells me that they aren't what they seem to be. It doesn't matter, Twilight. I'm sure I can travel over to Canterlot by myself. Are you sure? I know that you used to live here before, but that would have been years ago. Do you still know the train routes from here to Canterlot? Twilight, not all ponies memorise the train schedule and routes like you. I'm perfectly sure that I can simply ask at the station when the next one is coming. Trust me, I can take care of- Bits. Do you have bits? ... Well then. I guess that plan is cancelled for you then. ... Sunset? ... Fine! I'll set the mirror up in the Canterlot Castle while I'm there so you wouldn't be troubled to reach me. Wow, I'm surprised the silent method actually worked a second time. I knew you would find a way quickly! Sunset, I just- Nevermind. Step through the portal at precisely 3.14 pm on your end tomorrow afternoon. And yes, I have accounted for the difference in timezones between both worlds. If everything goes smoothly, I'll be there waiting for you. If not, then Equestria as a nation has fallen. I'll see you then, Sunset. Do not be tardy. Please.