//------------------------------// // Act 4: You're a Disgrace // Story: Friendship is Failure #24- Twilight in Therapy // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT FOUR As Twilight walked through Canterlot town, she couldn’t stop thinking about Cy’s words about her being overworked and trying to juggle too much at once. “How can I just not do all that I do?” she wondered. “I’ve always been a hard worker, and all I want is to give to others.” Her thoughts were suddenly disrupted by the sounds of arguing. Two little colts were having a tug of war with a single apple. “It’s mine!” “No, it’s mine!” “Give it to me!” “No! Let go!” Characteristically, Twilight had to see to this and marched right over telling the boys to cease. “What’s going on here?” The boys explained… “It’s the last apple and I had it first.” “No, you didn’t, and I want it all!” The boys began to pull again, and Twilight did the only thing she could. She used her magic to pull the boys apart. “I think I know how to settle this…” then she magically sliced the apple into two equal halves and gave one each to the boys. “There you go, now you each get some of it. Problem solved.” That’s what she wanted, but to her absolute shock, the boys were now madder than ever, and threw the two halves to the ground, and began to walk off in a huff. “Wait a minute!” snapped Twilight, but the boys turned and balked at her. “I wanted the whole apple!” “Me too! You didn’t solve anything.” Twilight tried to teach the boys, “Don’t you think it’s better to have a little some than none at all?” “NO!!!” the stubborn boys yelled, and then they were gone leaving the now, useless apple halves on the dirty ground, and Twilight felt many passersby were staring awkwardly at her. She felt most uncomfortable. With the apple halves now dirty from lying on the ground, Twilight sought to toss them away, but someone beat her too it as the pieces were magically levitated and thrown into a familiar looking trash wagon, by a familiar pony. “…Stone Heart!” she growled under her breath. The trash-picker, once struggling writer, now self-help book author. She tried to help him change his groove once before, but ultimately failed. Stone was now a successful writer-- in his own way-- like he always wanted to be, but he still worked as a trash picker to keep bringing more money in. He gazed at her with a sneer. “Well, well… Princess Twilight.” He looked far less than pleased to see her than she did. “…Still can’t get it through your head that some just aren’t like you, and don’t seek the friendship path.” Twilight already felt her blood boiling at the sound of his tone. “See you’ve hardly changed. You’re still opposed to friendship.” “Let’s not start that again.” insisted Stone “You tried to control me, and you failed, and now I’m better than ever thanks to my multiple jobs, and my new books.” He motioned around at how some ponies were reading some of his self-help books-- the titles of which appalled Twilight. “Friendship is Not Everything.” “The Art of Being Alone.” “Think For Yourself.” Twilight could not bear it. “How can any pony want to read books like those?” she wondered aloud, and she turned to Stone scolding him, “You’re trying to turn all ponies into selfish, spiteful beings.” Stone glared at her, “…Just as presumptuous as ever, I see. You obviously never learned a thing from when you got in my face the last time.” Twilight growled at him and looked ready to start a fight, but that would not be good for her in an open public, not to mention would put a serious bad spot on her reputation. “Why am I even talking to you?” Stone grumbled, “You never learn anything, even from your own lessons, and you continue to butt in where you’re not wanted and make things worse. You did it to me… to Talon Ted… to Strings… and others too.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “How do you know all this?” “Puh-lease!” sneered Stone “I read the papers, and I see things on my routes. What you do is hardly any secret to any pony.” He then broke out into a mocking song which publicly denounced Twilight and insulted her. You always just get in the way, You always push yourself in everyone’s face It’s plain for all to see that… You’re a disgrace! You’re vain, snobby, and low, You always make things fall out of place, There’s not much else to say but… You’re a disgrace! Why bother to fix things or help out? In all of the pony race, The way you handle stuff is clear… You’re a Disgrace! Twilight felt every word strike her like a burning blow, but she remained calm the whole way through. Feeling proud of himself, Stone then said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to continue to do my job and contribute to this community more than you do.” All this combined with seeing people reading Stone’s books, as well as the trouble with the colts and the apple made her stomach turn again. She began to hallucinate the very images from her nightmares… The world around her was warping into darkness as ponies argued and acted hostile. This time, things were far worse…! The anger, hate, and hostility was growing so strong, that the ponies were starting to change shape-- from their normal, colorful selves, into dark, frightful demon-like creatures with fangs, claws. They would roar, snarl, breathe fire, or shoot beams out of their eyes spreading chaos and destruction everywhere. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Twilight screamed, only to snap back into reality and see so many ponies were staring at her, making her cheeks turn red as she slumped silently away. That night, she was having dinner with Celestia at the palace. “Are you alright, Twilight? You’re hardly eating.” Twilight just couldn’t get the horrifying thoughts out of her head. “I guess I’m still just a little twitchy from therapy today.” She lied, and Celestia could sense it, and it concerned her. “You must be twitchy… to hide your true feelings from me.” Twilight looked up, now remembering how foolish it was to keep things from her former teacher, but rather than explain her fear directly, she asked her, “Don’t you ever get worried sometimes…? I mean, does it bother you that one thing can lead to another, and another, and another, and before you know it, everything just flies into chaos?” Celestia blinked once at her and admitted, “Yes, occasionally it does, but I try not to let it get to me. I’d never be able to concentrate on my work and duties if I was always fretting of the unknown.” Twilight wasn’t sure to feel proud or shocked that she would say such things. “But how can you be so sure that bad things won’t happen?” she had to ask. Celestia finally understood where Twilight was coming from, and the only advice she could give was, “All I know is that we can only judge others and things by what happens and things they do in the present; not by a future we cannot see or foretell. If things like that happened-- if you always kept worrying more about your future-- you’d be afraid of everything, maybe even your own self.” Twilight clutched herself softly. She was still in deep thought as she lay awake in bed. “What’s wrong with me?!” she wondered to herself. “I’m getting all messed up, but Celestia knows how to keep herself calm and collected. How can she think like that when so much could be at stake? We’re looking at Equestria’s future!” Then she thought of today… Those two ungrateful boys she tried to help, and Stone Heart came along to rub it in her face and remind her of other missions that didn’t succeed. She angrily slumped into bed, sulking, “Why does no one understand that I’m just trying to help improve their lives-- make things better for them?” At least it was giving her ideas of what to say at her session with Cy the next day. Far, far away, Spike was up at the doorway to Twilight’s room, just staring at the empty bed, wondering if she was okay. He, and the others, were asked not to write letters to Twilight during therapy, as she needed to stay focused for the sessions. Spike really hoped she was getting the help he knew she needed, but he still missed her, and rather than go back to his own bedroom, he climbed onto Twilight’s bed and fell asleep on it, to feel like she was with him. The next day, Twilight showed up on time for her next appointment. She didn’t look like she had slept too well the other night, which Cy noticed. “Trouble sleeping?” he asked. Twilight answered in a slight grumpy voice, “You could say that…” “Is it anything you wish to speak of today?” Twilight folded her limbs as if she wanted to refuse, but, really, it was exactly what she wanted to deal with. “I really don’t get other ponies who don’t appreciate my actions when all I’m trying to do is help them. I know, yesterday we talked about “Good Intentions” and “Good Results.” but even that’s not what always gets me. Even when my intentions are good and pure, and even when they can yield good results, they just refuse my services, or they don’t appreciate what I’ve done or am trying to do for them.” Cy looked up from his notepad and asked, “…And you believe they should?” “Of course, they should!” snapped Twilight, then she apologized, “I know, I know… deep breath.” “Very good…” Once Twilight had calmed down, Cy asked, “I’ll need some examples of all this. Can you tell me about these ponies you tried to help?” As if Twilight struggled enough with all her bad memories, she wasn’t looking forward to re-explaining them, but she did want to prove her point. Almost all of the ponies I tried to help expected only their wants and needs to be catered to without even bothering to truly work for them. Do you know the writer named Stone Heart?” Cy nodded, “Yes, I know him, but just by reputation. I’ve even bought some of his books.” He motioned over at the bookshelf where a few of Stone’s self-help books lay. “I found them all to be rather interesting.” Twilight smacked her forehead in disbelief, but she carried on with her story.