You Never Know What You Have ‘Till it’s gone
When Twilight Sparkle was young filly in Canterlot, she always appreciated magic for what it truly was. Now that she’s older and living on her own in Ponyville, she still sees magic for what it is, but has almost fallen to taking it for granted since it’s around, and is a part of her constantly. Never would she stop and think it could all be taken from hen in a snap, and what life would be like without it.
It was like any other normal day for Twilight Sparkle: constant study, practicing spells, and the sorts. Later, she decided to spend the night studying on her balcony, as it was very comfortably warm and clear that evening. This was the third straight night in a row that she’s gone through her library for research without a wink of sleep. Spike, her assistant, could tell from years of experience that Twilight was absolutely exhausted.
“Twilight, you seriously need to get some sleep. Remember what happened last time you went this long without sleep?” Spike said with obvious traces of concern in his voice.
“Yes… I remember. I nearly sleep walked half way across Ponyville. You don’t need to remind me,” Twilight replied, sounding very annoyed. “I’m nearly done with my report for the princess, just let me finish this, and I promise you I’ll get some sleep.”
Spike walked off with a huff and left Twilight in peace to finish her report.
“Wait a second,” Twilight said silently to herself, hastily looking over the large stack of books in front of her. “I think I’m missing a book I need! Oh no...” Twilight had been known throughout Ponyville to overreact to very minor situations, this being a prime example of one. “Ugh, forget it… I’ll have Spike look for it tomorrow morning. Now where was I? Oh, what I learn today about friendship is…” Twilight fell asleep before she finished her sentence.
Twilight remained asleep on her balcony for most of the night. That is, until Rainbow Dash decided it would be a good idea to pull a prank on her.
* * * * *
Rainbow had been waiting in the leaves of Twilight’s tree house until she saw her fall asleep. Once she finally had finally noticed Twilight fell asleep, she decided to check if Spike was asleep, which he was.
“Oh my Celestia, this is going to be the most funny prank I have ever pulled! This should probably teach her to never stay up this long without sleep! Either that, or to remind her to never leave herself vulnerable to a prank,” Rainbow whispered loudly to herself in excitement.
She slowly hovered her way down on to the balcony Twilight was peacefully resting on, making sure to avoid all books on the floor and to keep as quiet as possible. She tip-hooved her way behind Twilight, taking nearly two minutes to do so, readied her air horn, and…
*HHOONNKK*
Twilight gasped loudly, "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!” Twilight screamed as she back-pedaled in pure shock as quickly as she could away from Rainbow.
"NO, TWILIGHT! WAIT!” Rainbow yelled as she saw Twilight was back-pedaling directly towards the small railing of her balcony. She still continued to back-pedal away from Rainbow, not heeding her warnings.
All time seemed to slow to a minimum speed as Twilight tripped over her balcony’s railing, and plummeted to the ground.
* * * * *
As Twilight fell, she felt it was her end, and her entire life flashed before her eyes in seconds: hours upon hours studying and reading, being accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, becoming Celestia’s personal prized student. And moments before hitting the ground: her family and friends.
With that last image of her loved ones, she faced her fate; and smashed head first into the ground.
Everything went black.
* * * * *
Rainbow stood on Twilight’s balcony shocked at what she had just witnessed. There was only one question that ran through her mind as she stood there motionless: “What have I done?” After overcoming her shock, she flew as fast as she could to the local Ponyville hospital in order to get medical attention for Twilight.
As Twilight regained a minimal amount of her consciousness, she only saw Rainbow flying from her balcony, as tears started falling from where she flew. She yet again slipped into an unconscious stupor.
She re-awoke with minimal consciousness yet again, with little to no motor capabilities, to hazily see that a small squadron of white ponies with various-colored manes in white doctor overcoats rushing towards her with Rainbow Dash by their side. She slipped into unconsciousness yet again.
The next time Twilight regained consciousness, she could see ceiling lights of a hospital roof rapidly pass her eyes. She groggily and slowly looked to her left and right to see doctors on both sides rolling the hospital stretcher Twilight was on, galloping at full speed to get her to the emergency room. That was the last time she saw the waking world. She found herself lying on the ground of an empty, forever-stretching black space. She slowly remembered the incident she was in, and started to panic as she thought she was dead.
“Come…n…we...ing her!” She barely heard a voice call out from nowhere. “CLEAR!” Just then, she felt an extreme shock and intense amounts of pressure on her chest, and started to see light glow around her. As the light grew brighter, she felt as if she had been falling from a tremendous height. She awoke with a loud gasp in a hospital patient room.
“Ugh…my head…what happened…?” Twilight asked. She made an attempt to move her neck to the right side to face a doctor near her, but had no luck. She immediately noticed she had a brace around her neck, and started to panic. The doctors all exhaled a sigh of relief as Twilight spoke, clearly conscious.
“You had a terrible accident, Ms. Sparkle. You’re lucky your friend here got us to you before it was too late,” the stallion doctor explained to Twilight.
“Well…I greatly appreciate it. Where’s…Rainbow? I need to thank her,” Twilight asked the group of doctors around her.
“She’s outside waiting for us to finish with you. I’ll go get her if you would like me to.”
“That…would be wonderful. Thank you.” The doctors left the room to retrieve Dash, and she entered as the last doctor left the room.
“Hey Twi’, how are you holding up?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight heavily sighed, "I’ve been better,” she replied with a light chuckle.
“That’s gr-“ Rainbow said staring at Twilight’s head with small pupils, mouth gaping.
“What are you…looking at?” Twilight asked wit great concern.
“I’m… so sorry. I-I didn’t mean for it to go this far…” Rainbow said while tears formed in her eyes.
“Rainbow…I’m alive and okay. I’ve already forg-“
“No, Twilight,” Rainbow said cutting Twilight off from finishing her sentence. “I didn’t see it until I got closer to you. Here, take a look.” Rainbow held a small mirror up to Twilight, and she saw for herself what Rainbow was talking about.
Her horn was broken completely in half.
Twilight only lied in her bed, gawking at her own reflection. She couldn’t muster up any words, as she continually thought about her future. How would she cope without magic? How would society view her? And worst of all: how would Princess Celestia take this? Her gut sank deeper and deeper as more worry set in.
Rainbow could see it in Twilight’s eyes: tears were welling up, and she had to do her best to try and comfort her.
“I’m at a loss for words here, Rainbow. I…I don’t know what…or how I should react to this. *sigh* my life is…practically over…” Twilight said sounding mellow.
Rainbow sniffled. "I know…I told you I didn’t mean for it to go this far. All I wanted to do was to get you to stop staying up for three days straight at a time and go to sleep for once.” By this point, Rainbow was trying to hold back all her tears by this point.
“I’m not mad at you, Rainbow. You had no intention to do actual harm to me, and I forgive you." She sighed. "What I have to do now is go see Princess Celestia about-“
“NO!” Rainbow interrupted. “Please! Don’t go to her to punish me! I didn’t mean to inflict any harm to you!”
“If you would have let me finish,” Twilight started. “I was about to say I need to see Princess Celestia about how this is going to affect me being her personal student. I’m hoping that this incident won’t affect our relationship.” Single tears at a time started to fall from Twilight’s eyes, and streak down her cheeks. “In the deepest recesses of my brain, this idea keeps nipping at me; that she may have a spell to repair my horn for me, but I highly doubt it.”
“Well,” Rainbow started. “Never give up, even if she can’t repair your horn.”
“Thanks, Rainbow. I’ll try.”
* * * * *
After spending at least a week in the hospital, Twilight was finally discharged on the orders to take things slowly.
While walking to the train station, Twilight saw numerous eyes staring at her, and she saw some of peoples’ reactions: Some people were absolutely horrified at the sight, some parents even covering their children’s eyes from the sight; some were deeply saddened and sympathized to her. All the same, she felt like an outcast to even her closest friends; as some of the ponies she knew well gave her awkward looks.
The train ride to Canterlot wasn’t any better. She saw at least half of the passengers on the train staring at her, her neck brace, and broken horn. Each pair of eyes staring at her felt like a boulder crushing her self-confidence.
By the time she was walking through the busy streets of Canterlot, she was openly sobbing. She got plenty of awkward stares. Since a large majority of the population of Canterlot was unicorns, they sympathized with her. One brave soul even approached her, a complete stranger, and gave her a hug.
“There, there… It’s all going to be okay. You’ll pull through,” the stranger told as he hugged her. By this point Twilight was openly crying into his coat, matting it down with her tears. “Sorry, but I must leave. Sorry I couldn’t properly introduce myself. If we ever meet again, I’ll stop and say hello.”
The stranger continued on his way as Twilight continued with hers. In what felt like hours, Twilight arrived at the front gates of the castle that housed Princess Celestia. Royal guards stopped Twilight in her tracks before she could enter the castle’s main doors.
“What business do you have here?” the guard asked.
“I wish to speak to Princess Celestia, it’s an urgent matter,” Twilight told the guards with sadness still balled in her throat.
The guard saw her broken horn past the neck brace, and wore a shocked expression, but didn’t stop to ask her about it; for he knew why Twilight wanted to see the princess.
“Right this way, please. The princess is currently in her study looking over a few things.”
The walk there felt like an eternity to Twilight as the two guards led her to Celestia’s study. As she walked, she thought about how the outcome of all of this may turn out. Would Twilight still be the Element of Magic? Would she still be Celestia’s personal student?
Eventually, the two guards and Twilight reached Celestia’s study. The guard knocked on the door twice and poked his head inside.
“Your Highness, Ms. Twilight Sparkle has come to talk with you,” the guard said.
“Wonderful. Send her in,” the princess said in a gleeful tone.
Twilight walked in her study, approached the princess, and lied down next to her slowly. The room felt like an auditorium to her, as Celestia and Twilight were surrounded by shelves and walls filled to the brim with ancient, worn books.
“Hello, Princess. It’s nice to see you again.”
“The feelings are mutual, Tw-“ She stopped mid-sentence and looked at Twilight with concerned, wide eyes.
“Oh my goodness, Twilight,” She said in a low, shaky tone. “Are you all right? What happened to you?” She asked this only looking at the large neck brace holding Twilight’s neck in place, not noticing her broken horn right away.
“I was uh… studying on my balcony… and I tripped on one of my books. I fell over the railing… and landed head first." She sighed heavily. "The doctors said I’m lucky to be alive, but this isn’t the reason I’m here to see you.” Twilight explained.
“Then why are you here?”
“My neck brace hides it very well.”
“Hides what? I don’t see a-“ At last, Celesita saw what Twilight was talking about: she saw her horn was broken in half, and immediately trotted over to her to give Twilight a hug with her wing.
“I’m so sorry, Twilight. I-I wish there was a way to fix this…” the princess trailed off.
“I take it that’s the answer to my next question,” Twilight said softly. “There’s no way to rebuild my horn?”
“Sadly, there isn’t. If there were, I would without a doubt use it on you.”
The two sat there and held each other for a short while longer, until Twilight finally spoke up.
“Princess Celestia?”
“Yes?”
“I have one more, very painful question I must ask.”
The Princess sniffed. "Go on…?”
“Am I still...The Element of Magic?” After she asked this, Twilight broke down sobbing into Celestia’s coat, matting it down with more and more tears.
“Well,” The princess started. “You still are. You still have the magic of friendship inside of you and your five friends. Sadly, you won’t be able to perform any magic. Sorry to lay it on thickly.”
Twilight sighed. "It’s okay. I need to… learn the truth about all of this sooner… or later,” Twilight said between sobs.
“And always know too, that you will and always will forever be my prized personal student.”
“Thank you, Celestia.”
Twilight and Celestia spent the next hour in her study, until Twilight broke the silence.
“I guess I should be getting back to Ponyville soon,” Twilight said.
“Twilight, before you leave, I have a question to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Would you…want to take a teaching position here at my School for Gifted Unicorns?”
Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t know whether to take that as a once-in-a-lifetime offer, or an insult.
“I… would love to,” Twilight answered, “but I have one concern: do I have to move here to Canterlot? I don’t want to leave any of my friends behind in Ponyville.”
“That’s where one of my latest creations comes in. I’ve developed small teleportation tablets that are used to teleport ponies to the front gates of the school. They’re very easy to make, and they help teachers who want to still live in their current home to get to the school efficiently. They were meant for the Earth ponies, but…” The princess trailed.
“I understand. I take it there are also tablets to teleport home too?”
“Correct.”
“Excellent, I’ll be starting in about three weeks; when I’m able to take off my neck brace.”
“Great. Here’s a pouch containing one hundred of both tablets: one for teleporting here, and one for teleporting home. Just place one on the ground, and stomp on it to activate it.”
“Okay, I’ll be seeing you in a few weeks, then.”
“Goodbye.”
Twilight left Canterlot and took a train ride home to Ponyville, still receiving many awkward stares.
* * * * *
Three weeks went by in a flash for Twilight, as she and her friends spent every day in Ponyville together doing something fun: whether it be having a sleep over, an occasional party or two, or just hitting the town, they had fun.
When Twilight’s first day of teaching came, she was very nervous. She had visited Cheerilee’s class before and taught about a few things, but the reason she was nervous was because her broken horn was a new addition to her appearance. She had only noticed very few students staring at her whilst she walked through the halls, so she had a good feeling about meeting her new, and first class.
Twilight stood like a statue in front of her classroom door when she arrived. Rainbow’s words rung through her head like they were said only moments ago.
"Never give up, even if she can’t repair your horn…”
“No turning back now,” Twilight silently whispered to herself.
She pushed the handle on the classroom door down very slowly, preparing herself mentally for her class’s reaction. As she opened the door, she heard a loud group of collective gasps. Her neck brace was off, revealing her severed horn. She walked slowly over to her desk, and she could feel every eyeball staring at her, like she was a freak. Twilight approached her desk and sat down, letting one single drop of sweat roll down her forehead. After sitting down, she gazed upon every single student of her class: their mouths agape, and eyes wide. She at last mustered enough courage to speak to her class; a staggering sixty students.
Twilight sighed heavily as she approached the front of the classroom. "Good morning, class. Welcome to your first new day at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. And before any of you ask or approach me about it, I had a terrible accident. Not to have a swelled head… but I… used to be very talented with magic. I may not be able to demonstrate any spell whatsoever for you, but I will certainly be able to notice if you’re doing it correctly. Now, let’s start off class by…” Twilight lectured as she followed with an assignment.
She felt the amount of awkward stares and gaping mouths subsiding, which in turn made her nervousness subside drastically.
“…Come on…!” Twilight heard from nowhere.
“All right, who’s complaining?” she asked. The entire class remained silent, staring at her with rather confused expressions.
“Ms. Sparkle, are you… all right? Nobody said anything,” one student spoke up.
“I could have sworn on my life that I heard somepony yell ‘Come on!’” She replied to the student.
“…Celestia damn it... Sh… ent flat! Charge it!” She heard a second voice call out again, but only louder.
“Wait! Who in the name of Celestia is saying that?!” Twilight yelled with frustration and anger in her voice. Every student in the room was shaking from extreme nervousness. “Somepony get me some water, I think I’m suffering from dehydr-“ She was cut off from speaking as she heard another voice, even louder than the first and the second.
“Three! Two! One! CLEAR!” it yelled. Immediately after the voice vanished, Twilight suddenly felt two extremely painful shock waves travel throughout her chest, forcing her leg joints to buckle, and she collapsed to the ground in a heap. There wasn’t a source present to cause the massive shock wave.
Every student immediately rose from their seats to aide the fallen Twilight. Some were starting to tear up as they panicked, and few of the strongest stallions in the class picked her up, and attempted to get her to the school’s head nurses’ office.
“Celestia damn it! What the buck is going on?!” Twilight yelled.
“No luck! Try it again!” she heard the same voice yell out. “Three!”
She saw her parents holding an acceptance letter to Celesta’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
“Two!”
She saw Celestia approach her, asking her to become her personal student.
“One!”
She saw her friends and family, all as she was being hauled to the nurse’s office.
“CLEAR!”
Nothing.
* * * * *
As Twilight regained slight consciousness, she immediately felt this was a case of déjà vu. She saw the exact same doctors working on her when she woke up in the hospital for the first time. She also noticed that her neck brace was mysteriously put back around her neck, and she was in the same patient room she woke up in after her accident.
"It… was all… just…” Twilight mumbled.
“Oh thank Celestia! Good work everypony,” the doctor congratulated his team. “Ms. Sparkle, you had one nasty accident. You’re lucky your friend here got us in time, the doctor said with relief in his voice. “Do you remember what happened?”
Twilight waited several moments before responding. “Y-yes, I… fell off… my balcony…”
“Good, good.” He scribbled down some notes on his clipboard. “We’ll be back in a moment to treat your other minor injuries. Your friend that contacted us wanted to come in and see you as soon as she could. I’ll send her in.”
“Wait, before you leave,” Twilight started. “How… how long was I out?”
“About seven minutes,” one doctor replied.
Hearing this, Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. She had spent weeks with a neck brace, and she was only unconscious for seven minutes?
“…Okay,” Twilight replied.
Immediately after the doctors left the room, Rainbow trotted in. She walked next to Twilight’s bed, running her mouth a mile a minute.
“Oh my Celestia! Twilight, I’m so sorry! Please forgive…” Twilight zoned out from Rainbow’s constant pleas.
She didn’t know if what happened really happened. Did Celestia really ask her to become a teacher? Did she spend three weeks in a neck brace? Was she practically shunned throughout Ponyville because of her broken horn? Did her horn even break? She lifted her right hoof to her forehead, and felt it.
Her horn was completely intact.
"None of it ever happened...” Twilight softly spoke. After hearing, this Rainbow stopped speaking, and gave Twilight a confused expression.
“What didn’t happen?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight let tears of joy and relief roll down her cheeks and on to the hospital bed’s sheets. She leaned upright, and gave Rainbow the biggest hug she could muster.
“Oh… Nothing, Rainbow…”