Twilight had been kind of quiet for a couple of days. Now I found her looking out a window towards the sun shimmering ocean below as the airship drove us back towards Canterlot.
Walking up next to her, I stopped and looked out over the ocean for a moment before I looked at her, “...Are you still angry with me?”
Twilight blinked as I pulled her from her thoughts before she met my eyes, “Angry?” she asked and then she sighed and shifted closer, her wing slipping across my back as she rested her head against mine for a second, “Page, I was never angry with you,” she said, “...not really. Just the entire situation.”
I leaned against her in turn for a second, “So what’s up?” I asked, “You’d been down since we left for Equestria.”
She shook her head, “Just… been thinking,” she said with a small sigh before looking out the window again.
“About?”
“Ponies. And other creatures,” Sparks explained and frowned, “Just that…” she started before she stopped and looked at me, “I lived in Canterlot. Before Ponyville, I mean.”
“Yes?”
Twilight flicked her ears to the sides, “Do you know how many non-ponies I met before I moved to Ponyville? Buck that, even after that. Before the changelings ”
I frowned, “Well, most of the population are ponies, so I’d guess not that many?”
“I counted. Seventeen. Seventeen non-ponies,” Twilight exclaimed, her wings raising, “And that’s only because I spent time at the castle with the Princess! I may have seen more at a distance, but that’s how many I talked to before the changeling invasion. Ever!”
“Well, tha-”
“I’m the Princess of Friendship!” Twilight continued and stomped her hoof like she didn’t hear me, “I was the student of Princess Celestia! In Canterlot! I didn’t meet more than seventeen non-ponies in my life and the great majority were creatures going to Canterlot for official purposes!”
Twilight made a snorting sound and shook her head, turning to me, “Is there a wonder ponies react with fear to other creatures!?”
“I thi-”
“Nevermind other creatures!” she continued and took a couple of steps away, stomping one hoof, “They don’t see ponies any more often! Or even other creatures!” Twilight exclaimed and turned to look at me, “you were right about the thestrals, there wasn't enough exposure for them to ever be accepted as it is now. There are changelings all over Canterlot and ponies there aren’t even that used to them yet! Yet alone the rest of the country!”
“Maybe if you didn’t call them crea-”
“I’m the princess of friendship!” Twilight continued, her wings spreading as she stomped her hoof again, “How am I meant to help everycreature become friends when there aren-”
Okay, the Sparky one is in a loop. Time to break the cycle.
Stepping up, I slipped a wing and a foreleg around her, spun her around and kissed her hard.
Twilight tensed, struggling for half a second before I felt her relax and she started to kiss back. Finally breaking the kiss, I bumped my nose softly against hers, looking into her eyes, “Feel better?” I asked gently.
Twilight looked up at me with a small sigh as she blushed slightly, “...A little...” she admitted, twisting out of my grasp and down onto her hooves before she slipped her wing around me again, resting her head against mine, “I...I just don’t know what to do. If the griffons and yetis had been talking in the first place, we wouldn’t even have needed to be there. If thestrals had been accepted, Nocturnis would never have been needed. There wouldn’t even have been a curse in the first place!”
“Sparks,” I told her seriously, “You’re the most brilliant pony I know. But I’m not sure even your planet-sized brain can solve xenophobia and preconceptions in an afternoon.”
Twilight shook her head, resting it against the side of my neck for a long moment, “No. But…” she started before she shook her head again and went quiet.
“What?”
“I was just thinking,” Sparks said, “If ponies and everycreature else could get used to everypony else… meet everycreature more often…”
“Knowledge and familiarity is the enemy of fear,” I agreed, “But I’m not sure how you’d even do that.”
She nodded, “I...I may have an idea,” she admitted, “I’m not sure how well it’d work, yet along convince everypony else to go along with it, but I can’t get it out of my head.”
“What is it?”
Twilight looked at me, “A school. A school, not just for gifted unicorns or pegasi or earthponies or even ponies. A school for everycreature, griffons, changelings, yeti… yaks… dragons...” she said and smiled, “Someplace where they can learn while also learning about each other, getting to know each other when they are little. Somewhere where… somewhere where understanding can start. Make friends. From the start.”
I considered that for a long moment, shifting my wings as I sat down.
“...Maybe,” I finally said, “But it would be difficult. And possibly self selecting as the ones that do send their children would likely be the ones that already are accepting of other species.”
“I was thinking the same,” Twilight agreed, sitting down across from me, “But you have to start somewhere. Or nothing will ever change for the better.”
She was right about that. If nopony ever tried to make things better… dared to dream that it could be…
Then it never would be.