//------------------------------//
// The shadow of a solution 
// Story: Into the shadow of the beast 
// by TwiwnB 
//------------------------------//

“Hum…Isn’t there any other way?” asked Fluttershy who was against pitying the two monsters.

“I’m afraid there isn’t. We can’t let them threaten us any further.” replied Twilight.

“So what are we waiting for?” asked Rainbow Dash, who was more than willing to act.

The six friends focused and called the power of the rainbow to transform them, which it did. Twilight felt the huge power under her control and knew she was ready to do what had to be done.

“Let’s finish it.” she told her friends.

They approached the two beasts that had transformed Ponyville into a field of ruins and ashes, then caught their attention and unleashed the power of the rainbow on them into one powerful blast, as Twilight was focusing to master the effect of the miracle tool at their disposal.

When the rainbow disappeared, all the six ponies set hoof on the ground again and looked at the two tiny shrew mice standing before them and fighting for the white sphere that was as big as they were.

“So… what now?” asked Applejack. “Won’t they just grow huge and threaten everything once again?”

“No, they won’t.” replied Twilight. “I’m deeply sorry.” she added at the intention of the two tiny creatures.

They never replied. They only began to fade away and both the two shrew mice and the white sphere disappeared, replaced by a single crystal.

“What is it?” asked Applebloom, who had come along with pretty much every pony else from Ponyville.

“A prison. A dimension filled with only void for them to fight as much as they want for all eternity.” explained Twilight. “I have no idea what is going to happen to them. Maybe they will happen to learn to live together. Maybe not… I wish I could have helped them. In the end I couldn’t.”

She wasn’t really mourning the loss of the two Leliels. She hadn’t known the creatures for long enough to mourn them. She was, however, feeling very guilty not only for having been the cause of the whole fight, but for not having found any other solution than throwing the problem away like that. It was feeling like a great failure. At least for the alicorn, as well as for her close friends who understood her thoughts.

The other ponies, however, were cheering for the fact the two monsters were gone and even if they would have gladly passed on having to rebuild Ponyville, they were feeling everything was for the best and even began singing, both praising the princess and her friends who had protected the town and to give themselves encouragements to work hard.

Applebloom came to her big sister, followed by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who had learned about everything too.

“I guess I couldn’t help them after all.” she said.

“Well…” replied the big sister. “Sometimes, things do not go the way you want. They had decided to solve their problem with violence and that path can only end into a disaster anyway as it implies someone has to lose in the end, and usually everpony loses in the end.”

“Is that why you told us not to fight at school?” asked Applebloom.

“Yes.” answered Applejack. “That’s exactly the reason why. Fighting never solves anything, it just creates more problem in the long run.”

Applebloom and her two filly friends nodded in silence, trying to learn the lesson.

The rest of the week was used by the whole town to rebuild everything and in the end the town looked even more beautiful than before, the sun was shining high and strong, providing what was quite a beautiful day in Equestria.

In her laboratory, Twilight successfully created the new ice cream flavor she had been working on and somewhere near the school, Diamond Tiara was taunting the three cutie mark crusaders.

“You know.” said the little brat, “Perseverance is a quality, but there is a point where even the dumbest of dumb pony should see that it is time to give up. I mean, how many years had it been that you are still trying to get those cutie marks of yours? You should know by now that you are destined to be blank flanks forever.”

Scootaloo just clenched her teeth together and Sweetie Belle just breathed as best as she could to ignore the insults. As for Applebloom, she was just looking down on the ground to focus on the little rocks and the dust.

“Just admit you have no special talent.” said Diamond Tiara. “It will make you life easier.”

Those rocks were highly interesting by the way. So many different shapes.

“Because you aren’t special. That is, if you don’t take how prone to failure you are.” the filly kept on taunting.

Legend says Luna had only rocks as companions during her exile. Applebloom was discovering why rock observation can occupy a thousand years of solitude.

“You know, if you need more ideas to make yourself look ridicule, I’ve got quite a few that would fit you just right.”

The existence of rocks is also something Applebloom had never thought about. Who had created them? Why were they created the way they were? Could a rock be sentient? Could a rock feel something? Have emotions?

“You have never tried to be clowns for example, when you are very good at making ponies laugh at you.”

How would a rock who could feel emotion live with itself? Being a rock means you can’t interact with the world around you. A sentient rock would just be like being thrown into a cell and being ripped from all freedom, ripped from the right to exist.

“Or you could try to be statues. You would be very ugly statues, but it would be hard to fail at that, even for you…”

Being free is important. Free to move around, free to speak, free to exist, and free to act when it is necessary to act. Applebloom certainly didn’t want to become a simple sentient rock.

“Why don’t you try to make a flying balloon? It wouldn’t probably leave the ground, but all three of you are all already used to that, aren’t you?”

She actually never got to say those last words, because of a violent pain that had appeared into her jaw. And then another violent pain into her forehead and another violent pain into her chest. Applebloom was hitting as hard and violently as she could, unleashing all the rage and frustration she had accumulated against Diamond Tiara in every single blow she was able to make.

By chance, both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, as well as Silver Spoon, intervened to separate the two fillies and Diamond Tiara and her accomplice ran away as fast as they could to go complain to their parents about what had happened and find the comfort of a loving family they needed.

“What has gotten into you?” asked Scootaloo. “Don’t you remember what your big sister said? Haven’t we learned anything at all?”

“I’m sorry…” replied Applebloom.

A little silence ensued, and then she added:

“But no, I didn’t.”


THE END