//------------------------------// // Regret, Part 1 // Story: Remembering Harmony // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Crickets echoed through the near black early morning of Sweet Apple Acres. Even with only a couple hours of sleep, Twilight didn't find them too relaxing as she took a solitary stroll through the trees of the north orchard. What this late-night-early-morning walk did was put her mind a little bit at ease. It gave her a little peace, which was more than could be said of the empty, cold halls of her castle. She was so focused on the blowing leaves and rustling branches that she didn't pay attention to the heavier hoofsteps that had closed in on her. "Twilight?" A deep, familiar stallion's voice asked calmly, not wanting to startle the princess. Twilight turned. "Big Mac. What are you... Well, I would ask what you're doing out here at this hour, but I think you're about to ask me the same question, aren't you?" She replied to the tall red farmer. "I imagine we're out here for the same reason. Times like these, I don't reckon there ain't no beatin' the peace the orchards can bring you." Big Mac replied. "So... How have things been? I know I haven't been down here that often since..." The princess trailed off. "We've been managing. My biggest worry has been Apple Bloom. She's... Well, I think she's using her chores and then some to get through her grieving. She's been doing considerably more than her share. I'm afraid she's trying to make up for AJ. I don't think I can do much more than make sure she doesn't collapse from exhaustion." The stallion explained. "How about you?" "Well I'm still not sleeping well, I get a nap in when I can. I've been dealing with it as best I can. I know farm work is supposed to be hard but safe. But I suppose the way the Tree of Harmony called her for other things... I always knew there was a risk that she... Well, that there was always a chance she wouldn't come back. I wouldn't ask her to take any of her choices back, though. She saved a whole lot of ponies. She leapt into the fray to save you, and here you are, safe." Big Mac's gaze fell to the ground as he took a deep, quiet breath, before looking back up at the princess. "Sugar Belle's been a real big help with getting me through this. She's talking about moving down here to be with me. Even with everything that's happened, I think I'm ready to take that next step." Big Mac told Twilight, managing a small smile. "That's great news. Listen, I know cider season is coming up, and if you need any help at all, please don't hesitate to ask me. Work like that would be a great distraction from everything else that's been going on these past few weeks." Twilight told him. Big Mac nodded in understanding. Distractions were all too important during periods of loss and grieving. "I will certainly keep that in mind, Twilight. Say, the guest room is available if you'd like a place to get a little sleep without walking all the way back to town." Big Mac offered. "No, but thank you, for the offer, and the talk. I'd better be heading back to get my chariot ready to go by sunrise. I've got somewhere to go." Glitter Drops poked at her campfire she had made to put together her morning haycakes and coffee, which had long been the norm in her years as an arctic patrol mare in the northern reaches of the Crystal Empire. But right now, she would honestly take a frigid morning up there over this. With the E.U.P. gone, it felt like she was camping in a graveyard, and she was getting concerned with how lonely it would potentially get here. Her morning didn't stay lonely, however, as she began to hear beating wings over the crackling of her campfire. She peered up into the dawn sky, and saw a chariot descend down towards the village. The pair of E.U.P. pegasi pulling the chariot slowed and gently set down a dozen feet from her campsite, and she saw Princess Twilight Sparkle stand and exit. The unicorn wasn't quite sure what she was going to say, so merely stood up in front of her fire and waited for her to close the distance, and the Princess of Friendship came to a stop on the adjacent side of the fire. "Glitter Drops, I'd like to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It will never be my position to dictate or judge how you remember a friend. I'm very sorry. I want you to know that you'll be getting an entire E.U.P. construction platoon tomorrow morning. They'll help with whatever you need to do to complete your memorials before the colder weather sets in." Twilight told her. Glitter's eyes widened in surprise. She honestly wasn't expecting something like this, so quickly, or quite frankly, at all. "Th-thank you, Princess." Glitter replied. "There's something else. Princess Starlight says that you and I are having a very similar problem right now, and she's hoping that we can help each other through it." Twilight told her, sitting down on the ground, looking at Glitter through the flames. "What kind of problem are you having?" She asked the princess. "What I did to Tempest... Or what did you say her name was? Fizzlepop? It's haunting me. I'm not sleeping well." Glitter Drops' expression turned a bit uneasy as she heard those words. "Could you tell me a bit about her?" Twilight asked, and Glitter's face softened. "Certainly." She replied, returning to her sitting position, sipping at her cup of coffee. "Fizzlepop, Spring Rain, and I grew up here in this town. It was always our dream to go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. We always spent our free time practicing our magic together. One of our favorite games was to play catch with telepathy and a ball. We were usually pretty good at it, but one day..." Glitter paused to sip at her coffee again and start into her first haycake before continuing. "One day we were headed up that northern forest path towards the mountain. It was my throw to Fizzlepop. I don't know if my trajectory was off, or if she just wasn't ready. But, she didn't catch it, and it bounced into the old mining cave. It had long been abandoned. She went in to go get it, and..." "She told me what happened." Twilight told her, when Glitter paused in her story. "She did?" "She said that after that, you and Spring abandoned her because she couldn't use her magic anymore." "I'm really sorry that she saw it that way. It really wasn't. After she got out of the hospital, we were ready and willing to change what we did together, but... She seemed hellbent on fixing herself. For a time, she seemed to think that it would grow back. She kept trying to use her magic. We didn't want abandon her, but it got to a point where being around her was dangerous while she was trying to use her horn. You don't understand, there was no convincing her to give it a rest. We found another unicorn to start practicing with and one day... She disappeared. Her parents had no idea where she had gone. Search parties went out, and they came up with absolutely nothing." Glitter offered Twilight a cup of coffee, which she accepted, but turned down a helping of haycakes. "Spring and I made it into Celestia's school, but not even a semester passed before we realized how much over our heads we were in." Twilight nodded in understanding. The School of Magic was no joke when it came to the pace of the accelerated coursework. Dropouts happened every year, because you either kept up, or got overwhelmed. "I stayed there long enough to find I had a certain affinity for illusion magic. I thought about Fizzlepop less and less, and when the Crystal Empire reappeared, I found an opportunity up there in their arctic patrol division, keeping the outer areas and citizens safe from the more dangerous wildlife. Life became exciting but manageable. Until that invasion happened." Glitter finished her cup of coffee and took a deep breath. "When I saw front page newspaper pictures of her in Canterlot, and on the airships above Bostrot and Manehattan... I didn't know how to feel. It was like she was back from the dead. When I had heard what she had done to her hometown, and learned that it was where she finally paid the ultimate price, I decided to come down here and do what I could to put everypony here to rest. Then... Then the nightmares started. Of that cave and that damned ball. Every night. I was too afraid to go in after it, and she was always the bravest of the three of us..." "Glitter Drops, what happened to her isn't your fault." Twilight told her. "How isn't it? I didn't stop her, I didn't even say anything as she disappeared into the black, over a stupid ball! A few moments later she came staggering out , horn broken and one hell of a cut on her right eye." Glitter took a deep breath after her short tirade, pouring herself another half cup of coffee. "So what about you? Why does one princess think I can help another princess?" Twilight took a moment to gather her thoughts, now that it was her turn. "The... The days after the attack on Canterlot were the most tumultuous of my life. In the blink of an eye, I had lost nearly everyone I had ever gotten close to... And it was all because of her. Once we had liberated Canterlot from the Storm King, I tracked her down to here. I touched down pretty much where we're sitting now... Except there were bodies everywhere. When I found her outside that cave, she had just slain that ursa that had attacked her all that time ago. Our battle was heated, but it was the power of three alicorns versus one. When I had her beaten and near motionless on the ground, she asked me for mercy, and..." Twilight paused, motioning towards the path to the north. "And I buried her under half the mountain. I showed her the same mercy she showed my friends and mentors." "After everything she did... To Canterlot, Manehattan, Bostrot, this place... I'm not judging you for what you did, Princess." "My mind has been doing plenty of that myself. I'm the Princess of Friendship. I should have considered her plea. She was no longer a threat. I didn't have to do that, but I let my emotions get the better of me." "Your emotions are part of who you are, Princess. You shouldn't deny them, royalty or not." Glitter offered. "I also shouldn't let them take over in matters of life and death." Twilight replied. "Fair enough. So what should you and I do?" Twilight stood up, motioned to the path towards the cave. "We are going to put this to rest. Both of us, together."