Wild Growth took a deep breath and lightly tapped on her parents' bedroom door. It was a light tap for her anyway, it likely seemed a hard knock to her parents. Her family had gotten used to the fact she had a hard time being gentle with things so they weren't going to be mad about the loud knock.
What they were going to be upset about was that Tattered Wing had her under house arrest. No pony had even escorted her here. She was under house arrest completely on the trust system. As had been pointed out, there was no way to confine her against her will--not when walls could be broken down with little effort by her, teams of crystal ponies couldn't drain enough magic off her to make even a small dent in her power, and unicorns magic just couldn't apply enough force to keep her still. They could have the military stand armed guard over her, since bullets likely still worked, but no pony was comfortable putting her under armed guard.
"Come in," Jean called out.
Wild gently pushed open the door to her parents' room and stepped in. They were both sitting on the bed and looked like they had been speaking to one another before she arrived. The room was completely in order, as was most of the house except for her room. The family had done a good job getting everything unpacked and moved in over the course of the last week.
Her papa looked at her with concern. "Something wrong, sweet pea?"
How was she supposed to have this conversation? How do you tell your parents you've just personally leveled a building and only by luck and other's quick thinking did no one get seriously hurt, or worse, died?
She lowered her head and her tail hung limply behind her. "I did something really bad today. I'm supposed to stay at the house till somepony figures out how to punish me."
Her parents looked at her in shock and confusion. Her papa got up from where he had been sitting and walked over to her, then kneeled down beside her and put a hand gently on her shoulder.
"What are you talking about?" Roger asked. "What could you have done that is so bad? While I don't like some of the things you've done lately they aren't as bad as all that."
Wild started tearing up as she worked herself up to where she could say what she did. "Papa, I lost control today. I lost control of my temper and lost control of my powers...it was bad."
"What happened?" Jean asked fearfully from the bed. Wild felt worse hearing that fear in her mama's voice. How many times could she do something she didn't intend with her power before her parents started to fear being around her?
"I lost my temper at Tonya at the town clinic..." She said slowly, still not sure how to say this. She decided to skip to the end result. "There's no more clinic now. I brought the entire thing down. I lost control of my power and completely split the earth around where the clinic stood. It only took one hoof stomp to completely demolish a building. If there were other buildings right next to it they'd probably be gone now too."
She felt her papa's hand tense up on her and it made her want to cry. He was scared.
"Like what happened in the backyard the other day?" Roger asked.
Wild nodded. "Exactly like that, only bigger this time. I even realized what was happening at the last second and tried to hold it back."
"Did anyone get hurt?" Her mama asked, still sounding fearful.
Wild shook her head. "Everypony is alright, no thanks to me. Sunset was able to figure out what was happening and got everypony to safety before the building came down. I just stood there like a scared little filly and if they were relying on me they'd be dead now." The last part came out bitter on her tongue.
"You are a scared little filly, Catherine," Roger said. There was no anger or fear in his eyes as he looked at her. It was the same type of look that he would give her when she was little and she'd come home with a skinned knee. "You try so hard to be grown up and to try to shoulder everyone's troubles. The truth is, even though you have all this power, wealth, and a promising future...you're still just a seventeen-year old girl."
Her automatic retort was already on her lips. "I'm a grown..." Her papa cut her off with a finger placed on her mouth.
"You are full grown, that's true," Roger said. "Being full grown doesn't mean you're an experienced adult. It isn't something that just happens overnight because you've reached some arbitrary age. Thinking back I don't think I actually count when I started being an actual adult until I was done with my bachelor's degree...maybe not even then."
"I'm not a foal," Wild said, more snappishly than she intended.
"You're in between adult and child, it's a transition period," Roger said softly. "Like a fruit that's hanging on a tree that isn't ripe yet. Your mother and I are watching as you start to transform from our bookish little teen girl into a young woman...or young mare if I'm using pony terms. We're a mix of proud, excited, wistful, anxious, and scared to watch that happen."
"Scared because of my powers?" Wild asked as she stared at her papa's feet.
"Not as much as you think," Roger answered. "What scares us most is the fact that you're not the little girl we could take care of everything for, we're also scared because you've taken so much on yourself and keep taking more on yourself and it's more than an experienced adult would be able to handle and you're just getting into your adult life."
"You don't think I can deal with it all?" She asked as she looked up at him with her ears laid back.
"I think you might be able to, but we worry about the cost," Roger said as he raised his hand up to brush the side of her face. "You can't be responsible for everyone and yourself. You barely have had time to figure out who you even are and you're trying to take care of everyone else. This should be a time in your life when your really discovering yourself."
"I'm trying to make my own way, make my own decisions. You and Rosetta fuss at me for everything I do though when I try," Wild said as she started to cry again.
"We caution you because we want you to do well," Roger corrected. "Your sister is just finished stabilizing who she is and who she wants to be. She just went through the stage of her life that your diving into now. She worries because she has regrets that she'd like to do over, and doesn't want you to have regrets. I'm your father, I'm just going to worry no matter what."
"You get on my case about Number Crunch, and imply I'm turning into a drunk or something," Wild muttered.
Roger gave a reserved chuckle. "I wish you having friends I didn't like and me worrying about my college-aged daughter drinking were all that I need to worry about with you. Those are the kinds of things I expected to have to worry about once you graduated and went off to college. You were going to go to my Alma Mater which I know has a reputation as a party school. I would have been shocked if you didn't end up passed out drunk at least once if not more times over the course of your time there, if I'm being honest. I fuss about those things because I already had those discussions planned out in my head, and already went through them with your sister."
"Um, Rosetta's never been drunk," Wild said skeptically.
"No, you've never seen her drunk because when she tried to come home drunk I took her to a hotel and told her to sleep it off and be sober before she even thought of setting foot into the house," Roger said with a smile. "I wasn't about to let you see your big sister in that state. Believe me, she prepped me for all kinds of possible situations I might expect from you when you went off to college. I had my lectures ready to go if needed. Want my lecture about safe sex and making sure he's wearing a condom?"
"Aaah! Papa, no! That conversation will just feel weird to have," Wild protested wide eyed.
"Good, because I honestly don't know anymore now that your a pony what that entails," Roger said as he sat and slumped forward slightly. "I had this whole set of things to say for advice and cautions and now I just don't know anymore. Now you aren't even human."
"That's just the start of it though," he continued on as he looked at her sadly. "You worry about controlling your powers and I don't have any point of reference to even begin giving advice. Instead of making sure your making good grades you're worried about whether you'll personally be providing jobs for thousands of people. You're getting involved in things bigger than any college kid ever had to think about in secret meetings with powerful people. I don't have those lectures. I don't have the right kinds of advice for that. I don't have any answers, and that makes me so scared for you."
Wild didn't know what to say to that. Instead she just pushed herself forward and carefully wrapped her hooves around him in a hug. Her papa hugged her in return, and a moment later her mama was there too, joining them in a group hug. There was crying, a lot of crying, but it was good crying. It was the kind of crying that said I love you.
The hug was eventually interrupted by a knock on her parents' door.
"Wild? Are you in there? There's a pony here to see you. She's really big and her mane is really weird," came Miguel's voice from the other side of the door.
Really big with a weird mane? She couldn't really place that description to any pony she could think of.
"I'll be right down. It's probably somepony from the Enclave wanting to ask me some questions about something that happened today," Wild called back as she untangled herself from her parents.
<Go on down. Your father and I need to talk about a few things and then we'll come down too.> her mama said softly in Spanish.
<Okay, Mama. I love you both.> Wild replied back as she gave them both one last hug.
<Love you too, sweet pea.> her papa said as he wiped away a tear.
Wild quietly left the room and trotted down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she didn't see any other ponies around. She did see both her little brothers trying to inconspicuously peak out the front window at something.
<You didn't leave her standing outside, did you?> She demanded, forgetting to switch back to using English.
"She said she wanted to stay outside," Jose said as he pointed out the window. "She's not a normal pony."
<Don't be rude.> Wild chastised as she walked towards the door.
Jose crossed his arms. "You're being rude. You're speaking in Spanish when there's a guest. Mama said we're not supposed to do that."
Wild rolled her eyes as she opened the door and stepped outside, pulling it closed behind her as she went. When she turned around to see who was waiting for her she let off a gasp.
"Wild Growth, we meet again, though for the first time in person," Luna said as she approached from the side of the porch. "That other language you were speaking, Spanish, seems a very pretty language. Is that your native tongue?"
Wild opened and shut her mouth twice before she could bring herself to answer. "I grew up learning both English and Spanish. My family came over to the mainland a few generations ago from Puerto Rico and most people speak Spanish there."
"I see, a carry over of cultural heritage then? I will have to see about learning that language sometime soon," Luna said with a smile as she sat down in front of Wild. "I'm not here to learn about culture and languages though. I wanted to speak to you after all I've heard. You seem like a pony that cannot help but make great waves."
Wild's shock finally completely broke and gave way to bitterness. "If by great waves you mean almost hurting ponies because I can't control my magic when I lose my temper then your right."
Luna looked sympathetically at her. "Sunset Blessing told me about your incident today. I don't care much for that unicorn, but her concern for you seemed legitimate. It is part of why I decided that I would take the time to see you while on errand here. Do you wish to speak about the incident?"
Wild laid down on the porch and put her head on her forelegs. "What's to talk about? I lost my temper and it ended up destroying an entire building and part of the area around it. And that was with me pulling some of my power back. It was lucky that nopony got hurt."
"And now your afraid of your power?" Luna prompted.
"I'm afraid of my temper, of losing control like that. I'm not a normal pony, I can't afford to lose control," Wild said. She didn't know how she still had tears left, but she found herself crying again.
"You are a very powerful pony. I've not seen an earth pony of your power before, only heard tales from before even my time, and a tale or two from when I was...indisposed," Luna said thoughtfully. "An earth pony such as yourself isn't a once and a generation thing, it is far rarer than that. Those who are most gifted often bear some of the heaviest burdens."
"So there's no pony that can understand how to help me?" Wild asked.
"I didn't say that," Luna said calmly. "I know most on this world are now familiar with Twilight Sparkle. She wasn't always an alicorn you know. Once she was an extremely gifted unicorn. Do you know what she did as a filly that made all realize how gifted she actually was?"
"Probably didn't level a clinic to the ground," Wild muttered.
Luna ignored her mutters. "She was taking an entrance exam for my sister's school. The test was a magical strength test. She was supposed to try to hatch a dragon's egg, something that ponies shouldn't have been able to do, but the amount of effort the foals put into the task gives the instructors an idea how powerful the foal's magic is even though the foal will fail."
"A test they can't pass? That seems a little cruel to give to foals," Wild said with a frown. "Let me guess, she managed to hatch the egg where no other pony could even though she was just a foal."
Luna grinned. "She did indeed, and at the same time turned both her parents into potted plants, restrained all the proctors of the test magically--despite them all being among the most highly skilled magic users, and then made the dragon hatchling grow to an enormous size in seconds--shattering the ceiling. It was a wonder the building didn't collapse."
Wild stared. "She turned her parents into potted plants!?"
Luna waved a hoof dismissively. "They got better."
How do you get better from being turned into a potted plant? Wild might grow plants and humans would cheer, but if she actually turned a human into a plant they'd probably form a mob with pitchforks and hunt her till she was dead.
"The point is that Twilight started off with a wild display of magic but rose to be one of the most skilled and precise magic users I have ever met. Just because your powers are hard to control now doesn't mean you can't learn to control them with precision in time," Luna explained.
"But I can't do anything with them without strong emotion," Wild explained. "I can do little things now, sure, but the big things I am almost always angry when I do. I'm so scared of getting angry. Look at what happened today."
"I think perhaps you spend too much time trying to bottle up or suppress strong emotion out of fear of the outcome and create your own downfall," Luna said as she reached over and ran a hoof over Wild's mane. "And you said your almost always angry. That means sometimes you're not."
Wild couldn't help letting a small smile form on her lips. "Yesterday afternoon, I grew the crops for town without getting angry. Tonya...Tonya got the whole town singing for me and I just felt so much encouragement; I felt so loved. I was able to pull on my powers with no problem."
Luna nodded in acknowledgement. "Love is a very powerful thing to feel. I noticed you tripped saying Tonya's name though."
Wild scowled. "She made my best friend into a murderer. I'll never forgive her for that."
"Why?"
Wild stood to her hooves and felt her anger rising again. She drew back her lips to bare her teeth as she glared at the alicorn. "Why? What kind of fucked up question is that? She made my friend into a murderer, that's why."
Luna looked at her with a stoic calm. "Are you angry that the pony is dead? I've spent time with your sister. I know the blood lust she had for Swift Strike. If given the opportunity I can't say she wouldn't have attempted to end his life. Would you have been as upset if she sated that blood lust by murdering him?"
Wild unbared her teeth. "I don't know. It's different."
"How so?"
"Because Number Crunch didn't want to do it! Tonya made Number betray who she is."
Luna kept her stoic calm. "It is my understanding that Tonya's powers require some part of the pony to want what she makes them do it think. By that reasoning Number Crunch wanted to kill Swift Strike."
Wild took a step back. "Not enough to actually go through with it."
"Not under normal circumstances, but the seed to do it was there if Tonya made her do it," Luna said calmly.
Wild took another step back. "Why are you defending her? She's a monster!"
Luna shook her head. "I'm not defending her, I'm asking you why you will never forgive her."
"I just told you why," Wild said as she narrowed her eyes.
"No, you didn't," Luna said with that same irritating calm. "You explained why what she did was wrong. That wasn't the question you were asked though. I asked you why you will never forgive her."
Wild snorted and then took another step back, shaking her head. "Are you trying to make me angry. Didn't I just tell you what happens when I get angry? Stop this, please, before I hurt somepony."
Luna raised an eyebrow at her. "Wild Growth, you're one of the most magically powerful ponies from this planet, perhaps the most powerful for all I know. However, I'm on this planet at the moment and you're not stronger than me. I'm an alicorn and I have already prepped myself if I need to counteract something you do. If you must yell, and scream, and rage I'll still want the answer to my question."
Wild started taking deep breaths. "I don't want to forgive her. She may have ruined my friend's life. She betrayed Number's trust in her. I trusted Tonya and then I found out she had done this."
"And do you feel this is representative of who Tonya is?" Luna asked.
Wild licked her lips. "I don't know...it doesn't seem like it, but she's already shown she can't be trusted. Why are you making me answer all of this?"
Luna sighed. "Because this is resentment and anger that you're holding on to and not letting go. These things can fester in the best of ponies. In a pony like you that could lead to great tragedy. If you don't want to be a monster then you must learn not to hate and open yourself to forgiveness."
Wild sat down and stared at the grains of wood in boards that made up the porch. Was she hateful for not being open to forgiving Tonya when Tonya regretted what she had done?
"You destroyed a clinic today," Luna stated softly. "Ponies, as you said, could have died in your moment of rage. Tonya had a moment of rage as well. A pony did die. It was luck and chance that yours did not end the same way. So much can happen in a moment. Do we let it define our lives? Should we never forgive those who had the worst of moments?"
Wild sniffled. "I don't know."
Luna stood up and walked off the porch then looked back at her. "Tonya will face the consequences of her moment soon enough. Whether you forgive her or not those consequences will come. The choice to personally forgive her is still yours. As is the choice to personally forgive yourself for your own moment. Consequences always come, and must be faced, but that doesn't mean we must hold on to resentment and anger. I leave you to consider that. Take care, my little pony."
And without another word said Luna teleported away, leaving Wild deep in thought on the porch.