"So wait, you and the others went and dressed up as a costumed superhero to save ponies before Rainbow can?"
"Well, we had to do something. Rainbow was getting so full of herself, and having a fan club that was stroking her ego wasn't helping either," Twilight stated as she and Sapphire were heading over to the farmer's market after having a meal at the Sugarcube Corner. After cleaning out Sapphire’s kitchen of her spoiled food, the Elements and Sapphire went to one of the local restaurants for dinner. There, they were served quickly by a sweating waitress who stuttered quite a bit when talking to them, much to Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s amusement. After their meal, the Elements bid their farewells to Sapphire with Twilight promising to return in the morning to help Sapphire with her groceries as promised.
“Okay, I won’t disagree that Rainbow’s ego had to be kept in check, but couldn’t you just have an intervention where you sat her down and discussed this problem?” Sapphire asked as she ignored the stares of the ponies that were either surprised by the presence of an alicorn in the midst, or the fact that the princess was lugging a cart. Or maybe both.
“We could, but sometimes Rainbow just won’t listen to what we say, and we felt that we should show Rainbow the error of her ways,” Twilight explained.
Raising an eyebrow, Sapphire replied, “By dressing up as a masked hero, and showing Rainbow up when she goes to rescue others, and then being praised by the town?”
“Well... we didn’t go off bragging about it,” Twilight countered, which prompted Sapphire to raise her eyebrow even higher.
“Then what about this Mare Do Well celebration you told me about?” Sapphire asked, causing Twilight to blush a bit before letting out a sigh.
“Alright, there may have been a better way to handle Rainbow than showing her up like that,” Twilight admitted, before adding, “But it did work out in the end.”
“Yeah, after all that effort just to keep up the act,” Sapphire said as the pair arrived at the farmers’ market, where most of the ponies there were just staring at Sapphire. No pony was making a sound, leaving the area quiet except for the chirping of birds and somepony shouting about apples. Frowning, Sapphire walked up to Carrot Top’s stand, watching as the mare’s eyes start to shrink with each step. Reaching the cart, Sapphire simply said, “I’ll take forty carrots please.”
Nodding rapidly in response, Carrot Top scooped up the request carrots before putting it in a bag as she held it out with a hoof while saying, “Here you go your majesty, forty carrots, on the house!” She then bowed her head so fast that it nearly slammed against her stand’s counter, much to Sapphire’s distaste.
“I think not,” Sapphire said, eliciting a surprised look from Twilight. “I’ll be paying you the standard price for your carrots, nothing less,” Sapphire stated while levitating from her saddlebags the required amount of bits before placing it in front of Carrot Top, who looked up in surprise as well.
“I... I... You’re so generous, your majesty!” Carrot Top exclaimed before bowing her head down again, this time slamming it onto her counter.
Cringing at the reaction, Sapphire deposited the bag in her cart before backing away as she cast a quick glance at the rest of the farmers. Noticing that they were still staring at her, Sapphire sighed as she said, “This is going to be a long morning.”
“Really? I thought you would be overjoyed by the idea of free food,” Twilight stated as they were walking up to the cabbage stall.
Snorting, Sapphire replied, “Not when it was due to being a princess. Even when I was a foal, despite my physical differences, I was still treated the same as anypony else. At least, until my magical potential was discovered. But even then, I had a choice in my future, and wasn’t forced into the trappings of the crown.”
Twilight then held a hoof to Sapphire’s chest, which caused her to glance at Twilight in surprise. Giving Sapphire a calculated look, Twilight stated, “I know that you dislike being a princess, but you’re an alicorn for a reason. And before you say anything, I don’t think you were born to fight the Beasts of Destruction. You were born to save the ponies of your world, to save your world,” keeping her voice low enough for other ponies to strain their ears to hear them.
“Then if that is my destiny, why am I here? Why am I living the life of a princess instead of being back in my world, helping my clan?" Sapphire stated.
"I don't know, but until you remember everything, there could be so many explanations to that. Maybe you are helping them, but forging the connection from Equus to your world, perhaps to get some relief to your world. Or maybe to learn the magic of our world that could help your clan. Maybe you're the key to reuniting the four clans. Until you remember what brought you here, we can't say why you're here in the meantime, but when you do return, they will learn that you're the sole alicorn of their world, along with that our alicorns that are princesses. You could say that you might have been sent here to learn how to be a princess," Twilight speculated.
Blinking in surprise, Sapphire stared at Twilight for a while before saying, "You... actually have a point there... maybe I should look at why I'm here instead of what brought me here. I may not know my past yet, but I can still try to better myself so that when I finally find a way to my clan, I would be even more capable of helping them out."
Nodding with a smile, Twilight replied, "Yes, but in the meantime, let's go get your food with our heads held up high," as she pointed at a cabbage owner, who was still staring at Sapphire.
"...Or be creeped out by how much staring everypony is still doing... are they even registering what is going on before them?" Sapphire commented with a frown as Twilight's foreleg slowly started to drop down back to the ground.
"Thanks Big Mac, it's nice to have somepony that would actually sell me their produce... instead of giving me some since I'm a princess," Sapphire said before gritting her teeth at the score of farmers that all wanted to simply please her.
"Eeyup," Big Mac said with a smile while watching as Twilight was dumping some bits onto his counter as Sapphire loaded the third basket of apples unto her cart.
"I still wonder why you have to get these many apples, Sapphire," Twilight grumbled out as she inspected the remaining bits in her pouch. "No offense intended, Big Mac."
"Oh, it's because Applejack had sent in one of her letters a list of apple-based recipes while I was in Vanhoover. Which was odd that she sent me that entire list after I mentioned about having some really good pear pancakes," Sapphire explained as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. All the while, Big Mac just clenched his jaw as he forced himself to keep smiling.
"Oh... well, it would be interesting to see how you would cook them, especially since your magic could be used to help you out with some of them," Twilight stated as she put her pouch away as Sapphire hitched herself back into her harness.
"Maybe... I still don't know that much about cooking, only what Rarity had taught me during my time with her. And I definitely know that I didn't have any cooking skills from my past," Sapphire stated as she began the trek back home.
"What makes you say that?" Twilight asked as she walked alongside Sapphire.
"Simple, breakfast was grass loaf, lunch was grass stew, and dinner was grass cakes. All the time," Sapphire answered, causing the color of Twilight's face to turn slightly green at the thought of eating those grass-based dishes.
"You... can't honestly have only ate grass in your past, Sapphire," Twilight stated as she fought to keep her breakfast down.
"Oh no, I'm being serious about that. I recall so many meals that only consisted of those three things and nothing else. And with the number of memories I have of that, and how things looked in some of those memories, it seemed that only grass was the available food source at those times. So it's food made out of grass all the time," Sapphire replied with a shrug.
"Augh, no wonder you were... skinny... though if we're talking about your past right now, is there anything about the magic of your world that you can remember?" Twilight asked as she grabbed onto Sapphire with a gleeful look on her face.
"Umm... sure, but do you have to cling to me... in public?" Sapphire replied as she tried to pull away from Twilight while other ponies were still staring at them.
"Oh... umm... sorry about that," Twilight said as she got off of Sapphire, her cheeks red with embarrassment as her eyes darted about.
Sighing, Sapphire said, "Hopefully nopony would remember this clearly since they're all so intent on staring at me... how long do you think this will carry on?"
"Oh, I say just a few days, which should be enough for ponies to get used to you coming by everyday. It helps that you lived here for a while since I doubt that anypony would be able to get used to the idea of Princess Celestia living here on a daily basis," Twilight answered.
"Ah... well... just how much do you know about runes?" Sapphire asked as she glanced at Twilight, who was looking forward with her brow furrowed in concentration.
"It was an art used by unicorns to enchant objects and clothing, until it was discovered that gems were far easier to enchant and could carry a magical charge for a longer period of time, hence removing the need to recharge it after using it. Why do you... wait, are you saying that magical runes were used in your world?" Twilight asked as she summoned her notepad and quill to herself.
"I don't know for sure, but it may be a possibility since Runic Cloak... well, that name says enough on its own. But ignoring his name, I remember him wearing a cloak that had various magical runes woven into it, along with my earth pony teacher having a war hammer that had runes in it as well," Sapphire answered as Twilight scribbled down all her words.
"Interesting, it may be circumstances that promoted the growth of rune inscribing while hampering enchanting. But just imagine, a world where rune magic flourished and a world where enchanting flourished instead. I can't even fathom the possibilities of what both styles could bring to ponykind if we figure out how to work them into one another!" Twilight exclaimed with excitement as Sapphire gave her a flat look.
"Okay... but first thing first, Twilight. I need to recover the rest of my memories before we can even try to comprehend how to even travel to my world without it being a one-way trip," Sapphire countered, bring Twilight's mood down as her scribbling slowed a bit.
"Yeah... you're right about that... but that doesn't mean you can’t plan for it!" Twilight stated with a shine to her eyes, causing Sapphire to feel the need to start backing away from her. A feeling that she sustained by changing her direction a bit so that as they were walking along, a gap starting to grow before them. "I need to draw up some lists, plans for how to reach your world once your memories have returned, lists on what samples of enchanting we can take to them, and lists on what areas that enchanting has failed in that we might find a solution in rune magic!"
"Alright Twilight, you can do that as much as you want... after you finished filling out my fridge. We just have milk, cheese, and eggs to grab, all thanks to that list you made!" Sapphire commented, causing Twilight's ears to lower at that as she checked her bit pouch, remembering how light it had gotten.
"Oh horseapples. I would never imagine that making lists would betray me like so."