//------------------------------// // Act 6: Looking Back: Part 2 // Story: Friendship is Failure #24- Twilight in Therapy // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT SIX Cy looked over his notes and thought, “That last story sounded very contradictory, but the outcome was all still the same. I just a little bit more before I can truly diagnose all this.” He asked Twilight “Are there other incidents you can tell me?” Twilight didn’t know how much more of this she could take. Her insides were aching with all the outrage and frustration, but something inside her told her to keep on going. “There was one time when I tried to help my father reconcile with his old friend, Helper Soul…” *Twilight’s POV* Helper Soul and my dad, Night Light, used to be great friends, but many things happened that soured their friendship… My Dad was already dating my mom, not knowing Helper was in love with mom. Helper felt he had stolen her away from him. Then things got way worse one night, when an avalanche caused the roof to collapse, and Helper’s leg was hopelessly broken, but he could have been saved if dad had helped him. His broken leg cost him all his life’s goals, and really put his life on a dark path. He was unable to do much due to his pain and suffering, and so he lived as recluse. I tried to bring them both together again hoping they would reconcile their friendship, but all that did was drive Helper further up the wall. “Helper, can’t you understand…?” asked Night Light. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. I want to be friends; I want to make things right.” “Ha!” scoffed Helper “You may be sorry, but that doesn’t restore to me what was lost. It doesn’t make my leg better, it doesn’t give me all the things I dream of, and it certainly doesn’t make up for the fact that you let all this happen to me. I needed you, but you were so busy, you didn’t bother to help me! You let the snow fall on me! You let my leg be broken! You continuously ruined my life! Do me a favor and stay out of my way! You, your family, and anyone who’s affiliated with you!” *POV Pause* Twilight’s teeth were chattering nervously as tears came to her eyes. “I never saw my dad so hurt, and I could feel every bit of his pain directed at me as well.” Cy was just as horrified to hear such a thing too, but he remained calm and relaxed, and levitated a box of tissues two Twilight. As she dried her eyes, Twilight sadly explained, “Helper died that Hearths Warming Eve-- overcome with rage, depression, and stress, as well as a deep condition from his injury. All my dad wanted was to be forgiven, and I wanted that for him too.” She blew her nostrils and threw the used tissue away, while Cy was thinking to himself, “That’s all I needed to know.” “Twilight…” he tried to say to her, but she wasn’t paying much attention and cut him off with yet another story. “…Which is just as bad as the time Snapshot ditched all his friends.” Cy warned her, “Twilight, we’re running short of time here.” “This is the last one, I promise.” Cy allowed her to continue. *POV Continues* Snapshot was in love with one of his friends, Pirouette, but she only ever saw him as just a friend, and for that he stopped hanging with their entire gang of friends and did his best to keep distant from them. His reason was that he couldn’t bear to be so close to Pirouette and see her with her colt-friend. I tried to help him, and so did my sister-in-law, Princess Cadance, but all we did was drive the friends apart even further, especially when he we found out the true lack of friendship, caring, and understanding within the groups… In the end, we couldn’t convince him that what he was doing was not only harmful to him, but to his friends as well. “There is no way out of this.” insisted Snap. “If I don’t hang with them, everyone blames me for being selfish and causing everyone pain, and if I do hang with them, I’ll still be in pain, which will make them angry at me anyway. Either way, there’s no getting out of this, but at least my way it hurts less. I just need time to think!” *POV Ends* Twilight bit into another tissue trying to ease her overwhelming anxiety, and Cy was further disturbed by these stories-- now finally able to get to the root of more of Twilight’s troubles. “I just don’t get some ponies!” spat Twilight. “Why do they act so self-entitled? Why can’t they just realize there are opportunities for them? They can be so much better! They can work hard to improve their lives! Why can’t they--” but as she was ranting, the sound of the bird call signified that the nature sounds record was at its end, forcing Cy to inform her, “…I’m terribly sorry. I’m afraid we’ve run out of time for this session.” Twilight was surprised; she had been so caught up in her stories, she wondered where the time had gone. She felt somewhat disappointed. “Well,” Cy said. “I think we’ve dug really deep today, and I do think we’re getting close to the root of your problems.” He got up and went over to his desk in the back of the room. “You mean we still haven’t gotten to the point yet?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “I just said we are “Nearing” the source, but since we’re out of time for today, I have something for you I’d like you to study before tomorrow’s session.” He pulled out from a draw a small booklet, entitled “Are you a Helper, Fixer, or Rescuer?” He came back and gave it to Twilight. Just looking at the title made her eyes widen a little. “I wrote this…” explained Cy. “I want you to read it as a final test, and when you return tomorrow, I want you to tell me what you think of it and how it compares to you. Then, maybe… just “maybe” mind you… we will finally have a complete picture of you and why you have such troubles.” With that said, Twilight took the booklet and left leaving Cy feeling very uneasy deep down. “Now comes the hardest part of all.” he thought. “A creature like her isn’t going to like what I gave her, but she needs to realize certain things, and this is only way to really get her to see.” Curious about the booklet, Twilight headed back to the palace immediately, wanting to get a quick start on it. She lay on her bed going through it, and at the very start she was already appalled and shocked by what it said… “Stop Trying to Change those Who Don’t Want to Change…?!” What?!!” The first segment went on telling her all kinds of things relating to her own style of wanting to help others. “Trying to solve the problems of others often makes things worse, not better.” “This is absurd!” Twilight growled to herself, and she continued to read on, while each word and paragraph made it look and sound like all her actions were wrong-- when really that was not the case. “Sometimes you can help, but sometimes you can’t nor should.” “Control vs. Influence.” The more and more she read, the angrier and more outraged she became, and the final entry was what really burned her up. It read… “How to stop trying to fix, change, or solve the problems of others.” “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!” Twilight roared! Her voice trailed from her room and seemed to echo all through the corridors, startling the guards and palace staff. Twilight angrily threw the booklet on the floor, causing some of its pages to fall out, and she lay on her bed panting in rage. “Cy…! How dare you!” she grumbled. “How could you give me all this?! How can you think of me as such a creature?!” There was a knock at her door, and she angrily yelled, “What do you want?!” The door opened, and Twilight gasped at who walked into the room. “My, my,” said Celestia, and she noticed the fallen booklet on the floor. “Looks like some pony is having a bit of an issue.” Twilight felt so embarrassed and ashamed. She quickly apologized for snapping at the princess the way she had, and she explained to her about her session that day, and the booklet. “I see…” said Celestia. Twilight hung her head low. “Is this how he sees me? Does he really expect me to follow all these instructions? Does he…?!” she couldn’t find more words and felt like she was choking on her own rage. Celestia levitated the water pitcher on the nightstand, poured a cool cup and handed it to Twilight. “Feel better?” she asked after Twilight had a sip. “A little…” replied Twilight, and then she hung her head low, and she hated to ask, “Are you sure Cy was the right choice?” “Pardon me?” “I mean… are you sure he knows what he’s doing? It seems like he trying to corner me; like he’s trying to expose me as some irresponsible pony who doesn’t know what she’s doing. I’ll bet he’s even going to urge me to give up everything I have, everything I know, and stop doing what I do best… I bet he!” Celestia placed her hoof over Twilight’s mouth stopping her from saying another word. “Calm down, Twilight. I think you’re overreacting here, and I can assure you that isn’t was Cy is trying to do.” She let go of Twilight’s mouth and said, “I would never have sent you to him if I didn’t trust him for a minute. He is good at what he does. I should know-- he helped me a great deal.” “He did?” Twilight asked in surprise. “Of course. I love being ruler of Equestria, but the workload is so hard, and I have so much to think about and to consider; I’ve had my days of anxiety and stress.” She went into a detailed flashback of her times long before she met Twilight and took her as her student. “My days were long, stressful… Some days I could take it, and some days I couldn’t. The worst of it all was missing my dear sister, who was still imprisoned within the moon. Then one day, my royal advisors came to me, and told me to seek out Cy, noted for his reputation on being good not just in getting to the roots of problems, but his inspiration speeches and words to help others confront their difficulties. The first few sessions, I felt as if I was only wasting my time, but the more we spoke and the more I explained myself, the more he did his best inspire me to show me my problems how to think about and deal with them.” “We all want to feel that we are the greatest in what we do. We like feeling unopposed, undefeated, or that there is nothing we cannot do. But even the best of us need help sometimes, and even the best has their limits. You do good work to maintain the land, but you shouldn’t have to bear all this responsibility yourself. If you had others who were just like you, who shared your visions, or your style, perhaps you could find a way to do twice as much without stressing yourself.” Twilight was astounded. “You mean, he was the reason you chose me to be your student?” Celestia nodded proudly. “It thanks to him I was inspired to find and train pupils to help me in my tasks, while at the same time, be their own ponies. It did add more to my workload, but I felt proud with what I was doing-- so proud, that I didn’t have time or energy to worry about my own problems anymore. I was very grateful to Cy for helping me, I awarded him, and I also began to recommend him to others. Occasionally, I would invite him to the palace on vacations, or I would sit and have lunch with him, just as a friend. He knows what he is doing, but you must trust in him.” She wasn’t ordering or demanding Twilight do it but was just giving her something to consider. Twilight didn’t know what to believe. She wanted to trust Celestia, but she still didn’t know what Cy was thinking with the booklet he had given her. “I wish my friends were here.” she said to herself. “I could use their opinions and know what they think.”