//------------------------------// // Operation Boomshy // Story: And Then There Were Ponies // by YetAnotherBrony //------------------------------// Despite barely clinging to life the metallic being could not help but be overjoyed. Its plan had worked far better than it could have anticipated. It would not be long now before it obtained a new shell, and could finally destroy those intolerable creatures. Twilight’s magic brought it’s logic to life perfectly. Now there was but one program she had to discover and run. Her friends would try to console her, and maybe she would even discover some of its lies, but none of that mattered now. Her emotional roller coaster of a recovery, would eventually take her to a place  where curiosity would get the better of her. As long as that happened, the rest didn’t matter, as manipulating Twilight would suddenly become far easier. ~~~ On the same night Twilight and Luna fought, in a quaint cottage on the edge of Ponyville where Fluttershy lived, was a meeting of ponies that had gone on for a little over half an hour. Celestia had wanted somewhere they could meet privately, yet not somewhere that Unicorns and Earth ponies could not trod on without magic, such as Rainbow Dash's cloud house. “Did Twilight look different in any way when she ran off?” Rarity reiterated the question she had just been asked. Rarity proceeded to answer said question, “She did have that crazy look in her eyes, but I'm sure it was nothing.” “You thought it was nothing,” corrected Princess Celestia. “Is that all anypony can remember about what happened in Everfree Forest?” inquired Celestia. “Yes, it is!” said Rainbow Dash stomping a hoof into the ground, and glancing through her friends, daring any of them to refute this. “Now why have you called us all here? Where is Twilight?” demanded Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash wasn't upset with Rarity, as Celestia had been pushing them for these kinds of answers. Rainbow Dash had been patient with the princess for thirty minutes, but there was nothing she hated more than talking about somepony who wasn't there to defend themselves. “My little pony, please understand that I am exercising my royal duty as princess to find out what is wrong with Twilight, so that we may help her,” said Celestia, putting a certain emphasis on the word princess, in hopes of reminding Rainbow Dash that she wasn't dealing with just anypony. “I don't care if you are the princess. You can't just gather everypony except one, especially since all of our conversation has been about her. You claim it’s about Everfree Forest, but it’s always Twilight this and Twilight that. This just reeks of talking about some pony behind her back. I'm outta here,” spat Dash. “Please, Rainbow Dash, your loyalty is appreciated, but Twilight needs our help,” begged Celestia. Rainbow Dash had stopped mid-window to hear Celestia out, and then she turned around to respond. “Really? If this is all about helping Twilight then why wasn't she invited?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Try to understand. She is in a very fragile state at the moment. The humans have confused her with their cunning lies. We need to be very careful in how we approach her,” stated Celestia. “That's exactly what I'm talking about. Why does every pony keep talking about Twilight like she is some mental patient we have taken pity on?! She is our friend, and not easily fooled,” replied Dash who was still hovering in Fluttershy's window. “As much as I hate to admit it, there is evidence that Twilight's mental state is fragile. She attacked my sister. She could have killed her,” said Celestia, who was visibly tearing up. Rainbow Dash slowly left the window and lowered herself toward the ground. She then closed both eyes and shook one hoof in the air, and then opened them upon slamming all four hooves onto the ground. She darted out of the room through that same window. Celestia called after her, “She's in room 2B.” “Will she be okay?” asked Fluttershy. “Rainbow Dash or Luna? Regardless, the answer is yes. Luna is healing nicely. She needs rest, but she is expected to be out in a couple of days. As for Rainbow Dash, she just can't take my word for this sort of thing, and needs to see for herself. I don't blame her. It is very hard to take in,” said Celestia. “It just ain't like Twi. I don't agree with how Dash has been acting, but I do have to admit, I understand where she is coming from. Something stinks worse than cow manure, like we don't have the whole story,” said Applejack. “Er... Well the reason for that is,” began Celestia who was starting to sweat profusely. Princess Celestia then heaved a great sigh. “I'll tell you the whole thing, but I think we should wait until Rainbow Dash gets back. She should hear this too.” “You have been keeping secrets from us about what happened to poor Twilight, and you expect us to wait?” whined an appalled Rarity. Rainbow Dash then darted back into the room through the same window saying, “It amazes me how often you ponies seem to forget who you are dealing with. Did you really think I would be gone for that long? I made it to the hospital and back in ten seconds flat.” Dash said looking at her friends. Her voice suddenly became much louder and piercing as she glared over toward Celestia and demanded, “Now start talking.” “The key reason Twilight is liable to have believed its lies is that it was crafted by humans, and, despite my best efforts, she is still in some ways more human than pony. They were able to appeal to her reason in a way we cannot,” said Celestia. “Does that mean Twilight is an alien and that a laser will beam down to take her home like this? Phewwwfffffffffffffffffffffftttttttttttttt?” inquired Pinkie Pie holding two hoofs up and staring at the ceiling. For a moment everypony stared at Pinkie Pie. Then Applejack spoke up, “More human than pony? Despite your best efforts?” “It is what it sounds like. Twilight was once a human. I turned her into a very young filly, no more than a few days old. This transformation caused her to lose all of her memory, and significant portions of her knowledge, but some of it stayed,” said Celestia. “Phhhheeeeeewwwwfffffffftttttt,” reiterated Pinkie Pie, who likewise repeated the gesture. “This whole thing still stinks,” barked Rainbow Dash. “Why would she trust their reasoning more, if everything you have told her is true?” “Well...” muttered Celestia, “...While I haven't lied to her per se, I have never told her about her true origins, and now that she is hearing them for the first time from another source, and knows that it is probably true... It jeopardizes my credibility” “Geez, no wonder she doesn't trust you! The more I listen to you, the more I find myself having the same problem! Tell us everything now, or I swear soon none of you will be worried about Twilight, as you'll be having a meeting about poor, unstable Rainbow Dash!” said Rainbow Dash who was now flying just high enough to be eye level with the princess, and whose eyes were nearly pressed against hers. “Ooh, does Rainbow Dash get to be an alien? Can I be one too? I've always wanted to get beamed up by a laser,” beamed Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie! I don’t want to laugh right now!” fumed Rainbow Dash. “If you say so. That sounds really boring to me, but I’m new to this whole being an alien thing,” said Pinky. “Darn it, Pinkie Pie!” said Rainbow Dash with a grin breaking out onto her face. As she ceased flapping her wings and glaring at Celestia she even began to giggle a little, before laughing uncontrollably, rolling on the floor. “I made a mistake, and I acknowledge that, but I promise I never kept this secret to harm anypony. I meant it for her own good. I have no other secrets, and I need you to trust me. I need you to restore her trust in me. As her mentor and a prominent figure in her life, her distrusting me is creating much greater problems, as can be seen by what she did to my sister. Please, be mad with me all you want, but we need to help Twilight. Would I be begging for your help if I did not care?” pleaded Celestia. Rainbow Dash got up off the floor and couldn't help feeling much less angry than she did before and, as much as she hated to admit it, being angry at Celestia was counterproductive to helping Twilight. “Alright, what is your plan?” mumbled Rainbow Dash. “I think right now gentleness is key. However, what she ultimately needs is a push in the right direction. For the time being, I think one friend at a time might be about what she can handle. I think we should send in Fluttershy first. The following day I think Applejack should try to talk a little bit of sense into her with her honest, but still gentle approach. Finally I think Rainbow Dash should go the third day, and point out that Twilight has crossed the line. Should this not quite do the job, I think Rarity should reaffirm what Rainbow Dash and Applejack said, and give the final nudge,” said Celestia. “What about me?” asked Pinkie Pie. “You are the backup in case my plan completely falls apart. If all goes well, you won't need to do anything at all, but should she become increasingly suspicious of us, your ability to get her to laugh will become crucial,” said Celestia. “We should call it plan Flutterdash,” said Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie is right. Every plan worth having needs an awesome name, to help inspire us to do our best. But nothing short of a legendary sonic rainboom has enough awesomeness. The plan should instead be called Operation Boomshy,” said Rainbow Dash. “Ooh how about we fuse our two names for the plan together. We could call it Operation Fluttershy...” interjected Pinkie Pie. There was a long pause after which she said, “Yeah okay I like Operation Boomshy better.” This seemed like an odd time to be worried about names to Applejack, but it sounded pretty good to her so she nodded. Fluttershy thought the name sounded awfully violent, as if she were exploding, but everypony else seemed happy with it so naturally she shook her head as well. “Well it does have a certain pizzazz to it,” Rarity conceded. “Now that that is official, and since Twilight isn't here to ask the good questions, I have to ask, how did a human get into Equestria?” asked Rarity. “She was sent as part of an army meant to destroy us. However, they have had trouble getting technology to reliably transport them here, so only Twilight survived. Thankfully, I discovered her before she could harm anypony, and turned her into a filly. It was the only way not to destroy her, without being forced to imprison her forever, that I could think of. When I saw that she had become a normal pony I had hoped this day would never come, but I always knew I was wrong,” answered Celestia. “So her bein' your pupil...” began Applejack. “…Was a bit of a setup. She is the most talented pony I have ever seen, magically speaking, but that was just a convenient excuse to keep an eye on her. She was a bit uncomfortable around other ponies, which I thought must be because of imperfections in my spell, but eventually she matured enough that I felt she could safely develop friends. I tried to subtly encourage her to do so, but it never really took until she met you five,” interjected Celestia. “I just don't know what to say... Regardless it would seem we are done here, and a good thing, too. Would you believe it is so late already? Well, a unicorn does need her beauty rest. See you at the spa tomorrow, Fluttershy, at our usual time. I'd love to hear all about how your meeting with Twilight goes,” said Rarity before trotting off. “Speakin’ of the time, ‘ah need to get an early start on those chores tomorrow. Since Big Macintosh is out of town, I have twice as much to do,” said Applejack before leaving. “Yeah, I guess now that we got this all figured out, no sense in me sticking around,” said Rainbow Dash before darting off. “There sure aren't very many ponies left here. Oooh! I know! I should organize a you-got-over-your-crazy party for Twilight. It won't be for a few days yet, but I want it to be the best party ever, so I better get started right way,” said Pinkie before bouncing off. Princess Celestia got up and was about to leave herself, when she noticed it looked as though Fluttershy wanted to say something. “I just wanted to say that, well, uh...” began Fluttershy. “You wanted to apologize on behalf of your friend for how Rainbow Dash treated me, right? Think nothing of it,” said Celestia. “Actually... no. I just wanted to say that... well... while I'm glad we are helping Twilight... and that you told us about what is going on... well... with the secrets and all... it’s just that... you.. uh... well... Bad!” said Fluttershy attempting a yell at the end and pointing to Princess Celestia with a hoof. Celestia was so taken aback by this that she just stood there staring at Fluttershy. After a minute of Fluttershy staring back at her she pleaded, “Could you please leave now... if you don't mind. You can stay if you want, but I won't be happy about it. I might even frown at you.” Celestia slowly walked out the door with her head held low. On her way out she whispered in a voice not even Fluttershy could hear, “I'm really, really sorry.” She wept silently the rest of the flight to the palace. ~~~ Twilight awoke holding a hoof to her head. She felt well rested. Everything about the previous day felt hazy. She had had this strange nightmare in which she attacked Luna. What did she do yesterday? She laid in silence, with a hoof to her head, for several minutes trying to distinguish reality from dreams. She then trotted over to her check list, and went through item after item, of morning ritual. She had repeated this process so many times, she didn't need a checklist anymore, but it comforted her to have one. Something about seeing all the checks on the page assured her that she had accomplished something. Throughout this process her thoughts muttered things like, “I attacked the princess,” but she was not yet awake enough for this to sink in. After she finished the last item on the list, she gasped, “I attacked Princess Luna?!” Twilight began running all over her house, not sure what to do, but positive she should be doing something. “Celestia will be here any minute! She'll ban me from all of Equestria! What if she throws me in a dungeon in the place she banishes me to?” Twilight began to run around even more frantically, until eventually she was so distracted by her negative thoughts, she ran horn first into a bookshelf, and knocked down several books. “I can't have the place a mess with Princess Celestia about to banish me! What if she decides that I am such a slob, she has me placed in a dungeon within a dungeon in the place she banishes me to!” gasped Twilight. She proceeded to put the books back in order. “Yes, of course. Cleaning! Maybe if the place is cleaner and more organized, she won't punish me as harshly,” muttered Twilight, before proceeding to wipe everything with the wrong end of a feather duster. Maybe some fresh air would liven up her place enough to put Celestia in a slightly less bad mood when she arrives. Twilight proceeded to open her front door, and on the other side of it, stood Fluttershy. Twilight proceeded to put her chin on Fluttershy's back, and bawled. “I've really done it this time Fluttershy. Will you at least write to me when Celestia banishes me?” she whimpered. “Ah, there, there. Of course I'll write to you...” began Fluttershy without thinking. Fluttershy continued, “Actually, I've already heard from the princess, and she has no intention of banishing you.” “You’ve heard from the princess?” inquired Twilight. “She is very worried about you,” said Fluttershy. “But, what is she going to do to me?” asked Twilight. “Just have you relax with your friends like usual,” said Fluttershy, who had tried to convince herself this wasn't a lie on the way over, but still felt bad for saying “like usual.”    She blushed a little when saying it, but not nearly so much as Applejack would have, and Twilight had enough on her mind that she didn't notice. This eased Twilight's nerves enough for her to realize that she had never heard Fluttershy knock. “How long have you been standing there?” asked Twilight. “About half an hour,” said Fluttershy. “You have been knocking for half an hour?” asked Twilight. “Actually, I have only hit the door twice. I have mostly been considering knocking for half an hour,” said Fluttershy. “In which case, I’m sorry it took me so long,” said Twilight meagerly. “That didn’t take long,” said Fluttershy nodding. “I stood at this one door for three hours, before realizing I was at the wrong house,” continued Fluttershy. Twilight smiled briefly before the moment of levity died, and the guilt that had been waiting in line behind worry, instantly seized her mind. She should have been banished. This wasn't like the times where her worry had convinced her that she deserved something, such as when she was late with a friendship report. Even when she said to Princess Celestia back then that she knew she should be punished some part of her knew that it wasn't true, but now there was no such part. Instead of feeling relieved she felt cheated of a punishment by Celestia. No pony should be allowed to do the things she has done. Twilight rested her head on Fluttershy's back and sobbed. Anyone who overheard might have thought a young colt or filly had gotten a scrape. She didn't even feel embarrassed. She had attacked the princess. Would Fluttershy even still want to be her friend? At least if anyone would, Fluttershy would. “There, there. Let it all out,” said Fluttershy softly. Twilight didn't want Fluttershy, or anypony else, to know what she had done but her burning throat needed to know if Fluttershy could still accept her. “You don't understand, I did something really bad,” said Twilight. “Oh, Twilight, there is nothing you could do to ever break our friendship. No matter how dark the deed, a friend is someone who holds out hope that the pony they knew and loved is in there somewhere, desperate to break free,” said Fluttershy. Again Twilight's immense curiosity briefly overcame her more pressing concerns, so she swallowed back tears, removed her head from Fluttershy's back, and asked, “Wow, Fluttershy, that was almost poetic. Do you write poetry?” Fluttershy blushed a little turned away and mumbled, “Well, I can't take care of animals all the time, and even a pony who doesn't say much has to express her feelings somehow.” “I attacked Princess Luna,” said Twilight frowning intently at the floor. Suddenly Twilight felt a hoof lightly press against her back. Fluttershy put her head between Twilight's head and the floor, smiling faintly up at her. It wasn't the daunting “everything is going to be alright” smile Twilight had been prepared to bitterly reject, knowing what a cruel lie that was, but instead this smile seemed to say, “remember what I said earlier. I meant it.”  Twilight wrapped two hoofs around Fluttershy and Fluttershy returned her affection. Twilight continued to cry, but quietly this time, and the two embraced in silence for about two minutes. “Fluttershy, I don't know what to say, other than ‘Thank you’. I don't know how you can still look at me, but the fact that you still can means everything. That is, unless...” said Twilight. “You don't believe me,” said Twilight more as a statement of fact, than a completion of the sentence she had started to say. “It’s hard to believe. I can't picture it. But I have been by to see Princess Luna actually and well... there are just some things you just have to accept,” said Fluttershy. Rarely had Twilight ever seen Fluttershy speak with such confidence, and sincerity. Fluttershy really had forgiven her. “Wait, how did you even know Luna was in the hospital?” asked Twilight. Fluttershy briefly considered lying, forgetting she had already mentioned Celestia, but realized especially for statements like the previous one, she needed Twilight's trust. Celestia's plan probably wouldn't approve of what she was about to do, but helping Twilight was more important than Celestia's plan. “Princess Celestia told us,” said Fluttershy. “So my other friends know too? How did they take the news?” asked Twilight. “They just want what's best for you, like I do,” said Fluttershy. Twilight smiled weakly. Her friends were still her friends. Still, Twilight wondered if she could ever respect herself again. She had even said cruel things about her mentor last night. “I really appreciate the visit and the support but I need some time alone to think things over. However, I would like to ask you one last question before you go.” “Anything,” said Fluttershy excitedly. She couldn't possibly miss an opportunity to help Twilight. “What if I weren't a pony?” said Twilight. “Celestia told us that too, and that doesn't bother us either. I'm sure the shock of learning that must have been immense. Last night really had a lot of exceptional circumstances,” said Fluttershy before slowly walking out the door. It didn't feel right to leave Twilight alone, but she wasn't one to overstay her welcome. Twilight appreciated what Fluttershy was trying to do with that last comment, but she also felt annoyed by it. It taunted her. If only the world were really that simple, where things being different than they usually were could justify such harmful actions. She was glad to learn from Fluttershy that her friends still cared about her, yet somehow she didn't feel any better. No matter how many ponies forgave her, she still hospitalized somepony. She didn't even feel guilty when doing it; she had felt excited and empowered. Who was she? What had Fluttershy meant when she said, “Celestia told us that too”? No matter how Twilight analyzed it or tried to reason it to mean something else, that statement made one fact clear. Twilight wasn't a pony. Perhaps she was an evil human, and her true nature had emerged for the first time when fighting Luna. Perhaps she was something else entirely? Whatever she was, she was undoubtedly a disgrace. But if she wasn't a pony, that meant the robot had been right. Celestia really hadn't been forthcoming with her. But the robot couldn't be completely right. Her friends still loved her despite what they knew... unless this was another of Celestia's tricks! Celestia's magic was so powerful, how did she know that was Fluttershy at all? Of course! How had she been so stupid!? Not even Fluttershy could love her after what she had done. Heck, the Luna she “attacked,” may not have been real at all, but a ploy to make her feel guilty to once again cause Twilight’s emotions to overshadow her reason. She hated that stupid Fluttershy illusion and herself for desperately wanting it to come back, and tell her she was still loved. ~~~ Why was the darkness making such an awful noise? Slowly, a blurry image of her library began to come into focus and the sound filled the room again, only this time it sounded distinctly like knocking. Unlike the previous morning Twilight didn't feel well rested at all, and the events of the previous day immediately rushed back to her throbbing head. She didn't have the luxury of pretending it was all a dream anymore. She slowly trotted over to the door, with a hoof on her forehead. She didn't know why she bothered resting her hoof there, as it didn't bring her any relief. She twisted the knob and pulled the door open. There stood Applejack, or at least somepony or something that appeared to be Applejack. “Sorry. Did I come a might early? I've never seen ya sleep past noon before,” said Applejack. Twilight remembered learning in one of her many tomes on magic, that solid illusions were considerably harder to make and maintain, so Twilight proceeded to pat Applejack all over, and she felt solid. Twilight immediately felt foolish for doing so, as she just remembered, she had rested her head on Fluttershy's back yesterday, and hugged her. Could Celestia even make illusions that were this real? Twilight's head began to throb more rapidly. “Uh, yes... er, howdy to you too... That was an interesting greetin',” said Applejack, who felt the need to break what had to her been an awkward silence. Twilight knew she was getting her hopes up, but what if an Applejack that still cared about her really were sitting in her kitchen right now. Could it really do her that much harm to at least pretend what she wanted the most, was true? “I'm sorry, Applejack, I'm just so confused,” blurted out Twilight. She hadn't meant to say that, but she wasn't sure what she had meant to say. “It was downright unlike her for Celestia to keep secrets from you like that, but that's just it, sugar cube. Though what she did is wrong, it is unlike her,” said Applejack. The words “unlike her” resonated with Twilight, reminding her how she had gone against her own nature in attacking Luna. “Just like attacking somepony who was just trying to help is unlike me?” spat Twilight. Applejack started to her open her mouth but quickly closed it. She had never seen Twilight go from desperate to mean so quickly. Honestly, she couldn't think of another time she had seen Twilight be mean. Twilight returned to her usual tone and asked, “What did Celestia say exactly, anyway?” Applejack, thinking that Twilight already knew and was just stirring up trouble, like with her last remark, said, “That's not important. You being different doesn't amount to nuthin’. You're still plenty pony to us.” “What did she say?!” demanded Twilight stomping one of her front hooves. Applejack began sweating as she just wanted to help her friend, and she seemed to be messing everything up. Also, she couldn't even begin to remember Celestia's exact wording, “Uh, well, uh...” mumbled Applejack, “she said you were a human. But uh... as I said you're still plenty pony to us.” “Why is that?” demanded Twilight, “Because you can't bear the thought of having a friend who isn't a pony? You have to pretend so everything can be right with the world!” If only she weren't so dumb, and could use some of those fancy words Twilight would use, maybe she could help her understand. Normally, wording just seemed like a stupid little thing, especially with so much work to do, but now what she wouldn't kill to have at least peaked at a dictionary last night. Applejack got on her knees and begged, “Please, Twilight... I just don't know what to say. I know ah can be dumb sometimes, but that never stopped you from likin' me before. Please, I just want you to hang out with us, like we use to. We don't care about any of these stupid things that are trying to get in the way of our friendship. Just tell me what to say, and ah'll say it.” Twilight had never seen Applejack so desperate. Had Twilight really become so irrational, that her friends couldn't talk to her like a reasonable pony?   “I'm sorry, Applejack. I really am just very confused,” reiterated Twilight putting a hoof back on her forehead. “I want the same thing you do, but I just don't know if that's possible. I have done the unforgivable. I'm not even a pony. Can you honestly say that doesn't bother you?” said Twilight. Applejack liked this question, as she knew the answer to it. “Yes” she said confidently . “But...” refuted Twilight . “No, Twi. Friendship is more powerful than all that. We've already seen twice what friendship can do,” said Applejack. “I attacked Luna,” said Twilight. “Friendship is more powerful than even that,” said Applejack. Many fond memories rushed to her head, upon being reminded of the power of friendship. She saw Applejack, telling her to let go, and her trust being well placed. She saw Fluttershy standing up to a dragon, because it had hurt her friends. She saw Rarity agreeing to repeatedly remake their dresses.  She saw Rainbow Dash performing a sonic rainboom to catch Rarity. She saw Pinkie Pie ridding Ponyville of parasprites with her music. Most of all, she felt that surge of energy that hit her when she realized how glad she was to have these friends, and when she later realized she could reclaim her friends from Discord’s grip. “Why do I keep letting myself doubt you guys?” asked Twilight who hugged Applejack. Twilight felt strangely happy for a change, as she let go of Applejack.  “Did you say that it's past noon already, on such a beautiful day? What a waste. Come on, Applejack, let's enjoy the sunshine!” said Twilight, who proceeded to clap her hooves together rapidly, and then bounce around the room. Applejack had never seen Twilight so strangely giddy. She didn't have a clue how she did it, but somehow she had done it, and it only took two ponies. “I'd love to stay, Twilight, but sadly I had just enough time to talk for a minute. Big Macintosh isn't arrivin' back till tomorrow so I still have loads to do.” Twilight just now noticed that Applejack had bags under her eyes. “Not this again,” said Twilight in a voice that was way more excited than made sense for the sentiment she was trying to express . “Don't worry none, sugar cube. It's only for a total of two days this time, and I have no intention of forcing work on some pony who just got well again,” said Applejack. “If you insist,” said Twilight who proceeded to bounce off into the sunlight. ~~~ Twilight awoke several times during the previous night, until eventually, while it was still dark out, she decided to give up on sleep. Her eyes felt heavy, but at least her head didn't hurt... much. This headache was never consistent enough for Twilight to get used to, but just came and went as it pleased. She couldn't believe she had ever felt gleeful and carefree, especially not as recently as yesterday. Of all the places for her random walk to have taken her, why did it have to take her to the hospital, and why did she think visiting princess Luna would be a good idea? Luna didn't yell at her, or say anything about their fight, but something about seeing her in the hospital made the reality of what she did sink in all over again, despite Luna leaving that very same day. Twilight didn't say anything and didn't stay long. And now it was as if Applejack had never come. No, thought Twilight, that wasn't true. At least now she trusted her friends and Celestia again. She couldn't believe that in her desperation, to deny what she did, she let herself think poorly of them. She was truly pathetic.   Despite her best efforts to rationalize that her feelings were stupid, they remained, so she continued struggling with her thoughts all throughout her morning checklist. As she was finishing, her thoughts were just starting to fall upon why Celestia hadn't told her who she really was.  She believed Celestia's motives were good, but it still bothered her. Though she hadn't thought much on it the past couple of days, she couldn't help but wonder what was up with programming. What a strange form of magic. But these thoughts were cut off by the door swinging open and Spike walking in. “When did you leave?” asked Twilight. “I left two days ago. Are you telling me you didn't notice? I told you while you were playing with your stupid floating text, that I was going to Dragon Con,” said Spike. “Oh...” said Twilight, who blushed a little. “Anyway, it is good to be back, but I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Oh sleep, you're such a good friend. Why have I neglected you?” said Spike curling up into his little bed. It seemed almost as though she shouldn't return to coding, just on principle of it being part of what triggered her fight with Luna. However, Twilight quickly spotted this as the sort of emotional reasoning she was trying to avoid. As she scanned the file system on the drive, she remembered there were a number of other files on there she hadn't looked at yet. Could there be still more forms of magic? Or perhaps just information that would contain a contradiction, which she could use to discredit that stupid robot even further? She decided to open another random folder and look at its contents. There was but a single file in the folder, which contained code, not unlike the code she had been writing, but much longer, and there were many functions that she didn't recognize. Her current understanding would make it take too long to understand this code. Of course, she could always run it and see what happens. No! She instantly recognized that as a bad idea. If she at least had a grasp for the depths of what this magic was capable of, maybe she could justify it. The only reasonable thing to do was to come back to the code when she had learned more, and then try to read it again. She proceeded to look at the contents of other random folders, only to find that most of them contained gibberish. She only bothered to look at a few such files, before returning to the programming tutorials. Before long, the sun was not only up, but it was three thirty. “Hey, isn't that that thing, that that weird thing gave you?” inquired a familiar voice. Twilight looked around to see that behind her was Rainbow Dash, who was beating her wings just often enough to stay in the air. Twilight didn't want to stop what she was doing, as her program wasn't working, and with just a few more minutes she felt sure she could catch the error, but she didn't want to make the same mistake as last time. Furthermore, she was glad to see Rainbow Dash.  “Yes, it is. That arrow on the floating image is called a cursor, and if I use my unicorn magic on it, as if it were a real object, it moves,” said Twilight before turning to face Rainbow Dash. She had almost blurted out, “Here, you try it,” but she caught herself. “A floating picture that changes... That is pretty cool, I guess... Not as cool as my new trick, but if you'd rather stay cramped up in here staring at your little picture, I can do that too,” said Dash. “I didn't hear you knock,” said Twilight. “Sorry... I wanted to see you, and I forgot,” said Rainbow Dash. “You forgot to use a door?” puzzled Twilight. “Look, you know what happened the other day, and I know what happened the other day, so let's not pretend it didn't happen. Can you blame me for being anxious to see you? I would have been here much sooner, but it was too early, so I decided to pass time by inventing a new trick and, well, I got a little caught up,” said Rainbow Dash. “What is with one pony coming to see me one at a time, day after day, anyway?” asked Twilight. “Celestia's idea. She was talking about you like you were some sort of crazy pony. I thought about just going against her stupid plan, but I can be a bit difficult at times...” started Dash. She proceeded to land and look Twilight straight in the eye before continuing, “And I thought maybe you'd be better off with Fluttershy and Applejack for a bit. If I were any pony other than me, I would have come. Actually, on the night Celestia had her meeting, I came here afterward, but I ended up just going home instead of knocking.” “It's not like you to be hesitant,” said Twilight hugging Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash briefly considered hi-fiving her, but awkwardly hugged back. “It's not like you to attack Luna, but we all have off days,” said Rainbow Dash. They laughed. After regaining their composure Dash blurted out, “Why did you anyway?” “I... I...” stuttered Twilight. How could she possibly explain that she had doubted all of them? She even let herself believe her friends would abandon her if they knew the truth. It seemed so stupid now. “Wait, no! Don't answer that!” interrupted Dash. Rainbow Dash deserved an answer. Twilight had behaved irrationally yet her friends stood by her anyway. “I... was upset and confused, because I thought Celestia was taking advantage of my blind devotion, and that my friends wouldn't want me anymore. Our friendship has always felt too good to be true, and I guess that's why I've been paranoid about losing it, like when I thought I'd be banished to magic kindergarten. I've never really had friends before, and all of this has been like some sort of dream,” said Twilight. “I get that.” “What?” “I didn't have many friends growing up either. I guess they were intimidated by my awesomeness. When I was a filly, my confidence was me trying not to look weak. But after a couple years, I found I wasn't just pretending anymore.” “Wow, I never would have guessed.” “Why do you think I stood up for Fluttershy? I admired her for being able to be herself. I couldn't just let a couple of bullies try to ruin that.” “When we were climbing that mountain, in order to relocate a dragon, you seemed irritated with Fluttershy.” “I never said I was patient.” It was silent for a while before Rainbow Dash spoke up again, “This has been a nice chat but we are still avoiding the real issue. Talking to Fluttershy and Applejack, it sounds like you have had some real highs and lows. I don't expect you to be completely over it in a few days, but you can give yourself stability. Are you better yet?” “Of course not! How can I be?” “I'm not gonna lie, facing your troubles head on isn't easy, but it is the only way to deal with them. Being asked not to join the Wonderbolts was hard, and it still hurts, but I'm cool with it.” “I hardly think the situations are similar.” “Doesn't matter. The approach is the same.” “We were having a good time. Why won't you leave this alone?” “Because I know you. You aren't like me. You won't deal with this on your own.” “When have I faced anything like this before, in order for you to have gathered that information?” “Just now. Why else would you be playing with that stupid picture, when you yourself admit that you're not cool with what has happened.” “Not everything is so simple, that one can just become 'cool with it.'” “So avoiding the issue instead of resolving it is okay?” “Look, I hate myself for what I've done and I always will.” “And you think that is acceptable.” “No.” “Then change it.” “I can't.” “Do it anyway.” “Have you really never encountered something you can't do?” “Have you?” “This is different.” “Only because you insist it is.” “Why are you doing this?” “Because I'm your friend.” “This isn't what friendship is about.” “Remember when you tied me down with several ropes and cast a memory spell on me? I hated it at the time, but I was grateful for it later. Didn't you learn sometimes that you have to fight for your friends? I'm just repaying the favor.” Twilight knew that this childish bickering could only end in a childish argument, and she didn't want to ruin Rainbow Dash's visit, so instead she returned to her program. Maybe she could find out what that error was. Rainbow Dash said, “Fine. Pretend to ignore me if you want, but you know that I'm right. Yeah, attacking the princess is unlike you, but we both know nothing like it will ever happen again, and she is okay. Remorse is stupid. If you dislike what happened, make sure  it never happens again.” Twilight was so busy pretending she wasn't hearing every word Rainbow Dash was saying, that she didn't even realize she had opened the wrong folder, and run the wrong file. Rapidly, everything became increasingly grainy-looking until it all looked like sand and blew away, leaving only Dash and Twilight. The new sand blew in, and formed a new image around them, that proceeded to become decreasingly grainy in appearance, until everything looked solid. They appeared to be in a hallway with various ugly creatures who looked very similar and were going to and fro. The creatures stood on two legs, had two arms, were taller than the ponies, and varied in skin tone from dark to light, but certainly none of them had the range of hues the ponies were used to.