ACT SEVEN
As Twilight slept that night, she once again had another nightmare of Equestria being swallowed by the shadows because friendship had failed.
The villages were all dilapidated, the lands were desolate and barren under a shadowy sky, and there wasn’t a sign of any pony or any other creature anywhere.
“No…!” Twilight cried. “This can’t be happening?”
“Oh, but it is…” hissed a shadowy voice.
Twilight couldn’t see anyone and had no idea where that voice came from.
“…You see what’s become of your precious land now, and you made it all happen by failing friendship.”
Twilight looked up into the skies and saw so many evil creatures of many horrifying shapes and sizes, and some of them were her own friends.
“Oh, my goodness!”
“Twilight!” Spike hissed at her with a large lizard-like tongue and nasty dark eyes. “Look what you’ve done to us!”
“You’ve doomed us all!” added Rarity.
The rest of the ponies snarled and growled at her, with their dripping fangs and their evil claws stretched.
“Time for you to join the crew.” Rainbow sneered.
Twilight’s blood ran cold. “No! No, I won’t join you!”
“You got no choice…” growled Applejack.
“Yeah, Twilight. You may as well give in.” hissed Pinkie.
“You’ll love being one of us.” said Fluttershy.
“One of us!
One of us!
…One if us!”
They just kept chanting and hissing those words at her, forcing Twilight to fly away as fast as she could through the endless streams of darkness, but her friends and all those other creatures were right on her tail and gaining on her.
“You can’t escape!” the dark voice called to her. “You caused all this! You let this happen, and now you’ll embrace it like all those before you!!”
Suddenly, the one behind the voice was revealed to be Celestia herself-- she too had been swallowed by the shadows much to Twilight’s horrors.
Celestia’s head grew to a massive size, looming over Twilight, and ready to devour her no matter how hard she resisted.
With a big chomp, Twilight was plunged into the darkness, tumbling, and screaming as she fell deeper and deeper…
…That’s when she noticed her limbs were changing color, from her usual lilac to an evil, palish gray, and claws began to sprout through her hooves.
He alicorn wings became dark and demonic, and she finally changed into a complete monster like all the others.
That’s when she finally landed on solid ground, and could, surprisingly, see her reflection!
“No!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
Overly horrified, she fell over backwards…
…And she landed on the floor after falling out of bed.
She straightened herself out and looked at her hooves, which were completely normal.
She quickly dashed over to the full-length mirror in her room and saw that she was still he normal self.
“Whew…!” she sighed in relief, but when she looked back in the mirror again, she hallucinated and saw her reflection as a shadowy beast-- like from her dream.
This made her back away in shock, only for her to snap back into reality-- her reflection was normal again.
“Ugh!!” she growled as she fell backwards onto her bed and rubbed her face in extreme frustration. “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH ME?!!” she shouted in her mind, not wanting to be overheard.
“I can’t stop having these nightmares! I’m I really going crazy?!”
Then she looked at the booklet on her night table. “Cy! This is all his fault! He’s gotten me so wound up; I can’t think straight. He’s making me doubt myself and my friendship skills.
How can Celestia trust him and expect me to do the same?”
She looked over the booklet and its articles again, which angered her further that she nearly wanted to destroy it.
When she came to see Cy for her next session later that day, she practically burst into his office!
Cy acted calm and quiet as usual. “Good morning, Twilight.”
Twilight marched straight over to him and tossed the book onto the couch. Cy didn’t have to look at her to see she was outraged.
“…Just as I expected.” he thought to himself.
“How could you do this to me?” Twilight spat at him. “How could you give me all those horrible things? Are you trying to destroy me? Are you trying to ruin me? Are you trying to--”
Cy cut her off-- putting his hoof up and telling her, “…Deep Breath!”
“…I don’t feel like it right now!”
Remaining calm and collected, Cy motioned to the couch, “Will you at least sit down?”
She did so, but she was still fuming and picked up the booklet. “All these things you told me to do… You’re telling me to stop doing things that make me who I am. You’re trying to tell me that I’m wrong, and that all those I tried to help were justified in their actions and self-destructive behaviour!”
She stopped to catch her breath, and Cy still hardly budged, he remained silent until Twilight stopped panting.
“I never told you to change like that, Twilight, you just assumed I did.
I gave you that booklet with all these “suggestive” readings for you to reflect upon-- not just up and follow them blindly.”
Twilight suddenly remembered him did saying all that to her the other day, but she let her frustration blind her.
“…This booklet was a test for you.” Cy explained “You came in here outraged and acting very presumptuous-- just as I expected you to.”
Twilight was in shock. “You deliberately expected me to act like this, like a setup?”
Cy nodded while adjusting his glasses. “The jigsaw puzzle is nearing completion at this point—I nearly have a full and complete picture of what troubles you.
I should be able to diagnose you, but I need you to remain calm!”
Though he was neither shouting angrily nor scolding, Twilight felt as if he meant to, and she relaxed.
Cy then flipped over his notepad. “Today, we’re going to review those situations you spoke of yesterday, and we’re going to compare them to the things in the booklet I gave you.”
Twilight let out a soft, annoyed, sigh. “I figured this would happen.” she grumbled, but she didn’t argue it any further.
Cy levitated the booklet up. “As we’ve established… you feel frustrated when you try to help others, improve their lives, or make them into better beings, but they never appreciate your efforts, don’t want your help, and they don’t listen to you.”
Twilight gave a small twitch, proving this to be correct as usual.
“Well… the reason for this flaw is that you may be trying to help someone who does not wish to be helped or change.”
“But why?!” Twilight nearly wailed. “Why don’t they want to change. Everyone must change at some points in their lives, and changing their style can be so wonderful for them. It can help them improve.”
Cy nodded. “Yes, I agree, sometimes changing our ways can improve our lives, but there seems to be something you don’t tend to consider.
…Is it an improvement to them?”
“But that’s just my point.” protested Twilight. “It’s a good thing, its opportunity waiting for them. If they’d just give it a try…”
Cy cut her off, “…That doesn’t mean any guarantees.
Twilight, you may see something as an improvement, but that does not mean that others automatically share your view.”
He brought up Stone Heart…
“He had his own ideas of how to make stories, which were not all that bad. The problem did not lie necessarily with him, but those around him making it difficult.
…But I’m getting ahead of myself.
You said to me that Stone had been bullied all his life, correct?”
Twilight did remember. “Stone told me that ever since he was a colt, he was bullied, pushed around and disrespected by everyone around him.”
Cy agreed, “He did nothing to warrant any of that provoking, yet others chose to do-- to break his spirits for no good reason.
It’s no wonder Stone grew up resenting friendship and not believing in it, and that was where he got the inspiration for his own stories.”
Twilight agreed, “His stories were mercilessly panned by the public, and Stone was even more bullied for it than ever.
But he still had a chance for a better life! If he had just written stories better, and done good things with them…”
Cy, again, cut her off, “Better for who exactly…?”
Twilight gawked at him with a confused expression.
“It may be important to capture a reader’s interest, and while readers are entitled to have opinions over what they like or hate about a story, that does not give them the right to demand how the writer should do things.
Nobody likes to be told how to do their own things the way other people want it, and there is also a difference between “Criticism” and “Defaming.”
Twilight did feel that maybe the citizens were overly harsh with their rude attitudes. “But Stone was rude too!” she nearly balked. “He wrote a good story, and then he just batted everyone off, even those who would accept him.
And please don’t justify his behaviour.”
“I won’t…” said Cy “However, and this may come as a surprise to you, Twilight, but I saw how the people behaved when that book was published.
Though it had good characters, development, well thought out plotting…
…Did you know that Stone was still being bullied?”
Twilight gasped, “What?”
Cy nodded, and he went into a flashback detail.
He had seen many ponies bullying Stone before in the streets from his office window-- calling him names, insulting him, pushing him, and even attempting to defame him.
Then, even though “A Change of Heart” was a strong selling book…
“…Stone was still being bullied. I saw it all.
The very same ponies who were mocking and hurting him before were just as ruthless as ever.”
“So, you finally caved in, wuss!”
“About time you wrote something decent, too bad it’s too late.”
“You’re still a pathetic retard who ought to be run out of town.”
“I’m going to like this just to spite you.”
Hearing this made Twilight’s stomach turn.
“You see…?” Cy asked. “No one was ever really trying to help him improve, and no one really cared about who he was or how he lived his life.
Some ponies… just enjoy bullying. They love the laughs they gain; they love the power it makes them feel.”
Twilight still insisted, “But so many other ponies loved his new story, he had no right to be hostile or pushy with them.”
“Maybe so…” agreed Cy, “Then again, his anger was not without explanation.
He had been pushed around all his life, relentlessly bullied no reason, when all he wanted was to become a writer in his own way-- by making stories that stemmed from his own mind, his own creativity.
He didn’t try to force his view on others, he just wanted to do his own thing innocently.
But everyone continued to make a bother of it, including you when you intruded on his turf and began to force your own views on him, hoping he would change and become someone he did not wish to be.”
Twilight tried to protest, “I just wanted to show him things and ways that would improve his life and make him better.”
Cy shook his head in dismay, feeling Twilight hadn’t listened to a thing he had said.
“It was honorable that you wished to help, however…” he held up the booklet again. “Your advice to Stone was likely, to him, no good and unwanted.
He did not ask for your help.
He probably saw himself in a state where he did not need to change nor wanted to, and all the nagging, and unwanted advice thrown at him only further stressed and infuriated him.”
Twilight was supressing herself at this time, trying to not to admit that maybe Cy had a point.
“But he was being so harsh, so mean, so self-destructive. That’s not healthy for a pony. He shouldn’t live like that!”
Cy couldn’t deny this, “Stone, preferring to keep to himself, is not necessarily a bad thing. He did his work without fuss, and he was able to make a suitable living.”
“But then why are you saying I shouldn’t have tried to help him?!” Twilight asked. “Answer me that!”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t have…” Cy said, trying to keep himself from snapping. “But what I am saying is that you need to stop being so presumptuous.”
“How am I being presumptuous?”
“How are you not?”
Twilight needed a moment to get a hold of herself. “I just have so much experience with friendship. It changed my life; it made me the pony I am today.
Equestria wouldn’t even be here today if not for the power of friendship. All those evil monsters and bad guys would have beaten us all.
Friendship is just so wonderful, and I know it’ll help everyone; if they’d just give it a chance.”
She began to pant again, having used a lot of strength in that preaching, and trying hard not to let any tears or sweat show.
“You can see that can’t you…?”
Cy didn’t answer right away.
“Well, can’t you?!” Twilight asked again.
Cy finally responded, “…Yes… and No.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Why “No?”
Cy explained, “This may be difficult for you to understand, but… you must realize… Friendship, as wonderful and as glorious as it is… it, too, is not everything, nor is it the only thing in the world.
Friendship, like everything else, has its own limits as well, and while it could solve many things, it cannot solve every single, solitary matter.”
Twilight felt her heart skip a beat. “How can you say that?”
Cy decided that the best way for her to understand was to continue observing the other stories.