We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.
~ Epictetus ~
When Twilight Sparkle was first offered the position of head researcher at the San Palomino Marina, she wasted no time in turning it down. The very idea seemed all too absurd. The unicorn had already lined herself up with a esteemed seat at one of the most prestigious colleges of magic, her application having been practically gobbled up by the school. She had excelled in all areas during her studies, her multiple degrees highlighting the potential success she would surely receive in her lifetime.
Only a fool would let such a thing as a broken horn keep them from hiring such a promising investment.
But there Twilight was, sitting in front of the dean with her rejected application staring back at her. She had tried finding the words to explain herself, to convince the mare behind the desk that her lack of magical ability would not hinder her teachings, but all the wind had been sucked out of the purple pony's dry throat.
The dean gave a deep sigh to break the silence. "Miss. Sparkle, please do try to understand were we are coming from. You're a promising candidate, but it would be unethical to our student body for you to take up teaching here."
"Unethical?" Twilight finally spoke in a raspy tone, lifting her head in confusion. "What's so unethical about wanting to share my knowledge?"
"Well, your disability would make it difficult -"
"No. No it wound't!" And why would it, Twilight honestly thought. Yes, it was true she could not perform the spells in a visual manner, but blackboards and textbooks could easily fill in the pictures. She'd even given thought to having an assistant help her on occasion; on her own dime no less. Twilight knew she could do the job, was confident in her abilities, so why would anypony else think otherwise.
Taken aback by the sudden outburst from the normally reserved unicorn, the dean huffed in agitation. She pushed the rejected application farther across her desk till it was almost falling off the other side. "Miss.Sparkle, it is my duty to provide the best education I can to the students under my care. You, unfortunately, do no meet the criteria we are looking for. You are intelligent, but intelligence alone will not provide you with employment at this institute."
"But I can do this!" Catching the paper just before it fell, Twilight held it up and pointed. "How can you not see this?"
By now the dean was growing tired of this. Could this broken horn not take a hint? She had already put it as bluntly as she could. "I can see very well, thank you. But that does not change my decision on the matter. Students, those student parents, pay good money in return for the best and most capable teachers provided. This college did not earn it's reputation on hiring those who lack - " The dean coughed, turning her gaze away "- the proper equipment. If you yourself love knowledge the way you say you do, then you know better then to let your own unrealistic ambition get in the way of a child's education. That is, unless my impression of you has been wrong this whole time?"
Twilight was once again caught at the crossroads of breathing in and out as a lump of sour breath settled behind her tongue. This was unbelievable. Anger that had been contained only by the sheer wall of disbelief started to boil under her skin. She had had to deal with a lot of horse manure in her life, but this was a new level altogether. The constant teasing and bulling had been one thing. The pitying looks another. But this horrid indecency, after years of hard work and long studies to make up for that one shortcoming, would finally break the camels back.
It also found Twilight Sparkle being roughly escorted from college premises by two frightfully large security guards. "AND DON'T YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND I WON'T BE SUING! YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM MY ATTORNEY YOU LITTLE BIT-!" But Twilight didn't quite catch the last part of the dean's yelling as she was tossed out the gate.
"Really? A paper weight?" Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow as she tried to hold in her giggle. Her hooves however did a poor job at muffling the sound. "Considering it was you, I of thought a book. Like an encyclopedia or a thesaurus." All hints at hiding the growing smile were abandoned as the fiery haired mare snorted loudly.
Twilight just sank even deeper into her salad, wishing she could drown under a sea of croutons and strawberry vinaigrette. It had been an atrocious response to the situation, she had to admit. Plus, it didn't exactly do anything to change the dean's mind. Apparently giving a pony a black eye was a poor persuasion tactic.
"Oh, hey now." Sunset said, placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder from across the small cafe table. "They were a bunch of bigots anyway. Totally not worth working for. So why worry?"
Twilight tossed her hooves into the air. "Because! It's The Canterlot University of Magical Arts! More then haft of Equestria's best known magical scholars graduated from or taught in those halls! Do you know what it would mean for me to be among them!" Just as she had gotten worked up, Twilight slumped against the table. She made little circles with a hoof. "And now it's all gone for me."
Sunset sat quietly as she watched the bewildered pony. There wasn't much she could say to bring up her spirits. From the time they had first met in magic kindergarten, Sunset Shimmer had been very aware of Twilight's love of all things spell based. Growing up, when most foals would be out in the world playing with others or finding themselves apart of wild shenanigans, Twilight was neck deep in a pile of books. Even though she had self taught herself on all sorts of subjects from the advance techniques of rock farming to the quantum mechanics of chaos, the filly had always been partial to anything pertaining to magic.
Even when adults had tried to steer her away from her passions, Twilight didn't let this quash her curiosity for the world of mana. Just because she couldn't levitate a tea cup or open a door from across a room wound not stop the growing unicorn from doing what she loved.
Yet the day had finally come where even pure love could not overcome such a gigantic hurdle.
If only there was someplace else that was willing to accept Twilight for who she was. Sunset Shimmer almost spat out her water as her memory piqued. "What about the marina?!"
"The marina?" It was Twilight's turn to raise an eyebrow. "In Palomino?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not?"
There was a whole ton of 'why nots'. A multiple story, four bedroom, three baths with a pool list of 'why nots'. Firstly, it wasn't the most prestigious academy in Equestria. Right off the bat, that was a huge difference. Then there was the very importer factoid of it being over 200 hoof-clicks out from Canterlot! 201.78 to be exact. It'd be an impossible commute if she wanted to stick close to home like planned. It was an absolute horrid idea; no arguments needed.
Sunset already had a good guess at the excuses her BFF would conjure up. Her face growing serious, she knew her next words would be harsh, but they had to be said. "Twilight?"
"Hmm?" The purple unicorn had made it pretty far down the mental 'why not' list by now. "Did I daze off again? Sorry."
"Yes, but that's not what I wanted to say. Twilight, you should go to the Marina." The word go was pronounced firmly with emphasis. "It's the only place you can go."
It felt like an anvil had been dropped into the pit of Twilight's stomach. She knitted her eyebrows. "What are you saying, Shimmer?"
"You know what I'm saying." With a quiet sip of her drink, Sunset continued solemnly. "Your whole life has been spent with a singular goal in mind. But you have never - no that's not right - you have refused to see that maybe this goal isn't the one you are meant to aim for. I always wanted to work in the palace, get into politics, have a chance to talk one on one with the princess. But look where we are. Am I strolling in the royal gardens? Rubbing elbows with the elite? No, I'm just some little pony librarian."
"And a great one, Shimmer!"
Shimmer shook her head with a slight smile. "Yeah yeah. But that's not the point. I wanted with all my heart to be up there, standing besides the sun. To be some pony important. But I forgot I didn't have the wings to carry me that high. I'd let my ambitions consume me; turn me into a monster who was willing to shove pass those trying to help in my quest to reach the stars. When I finally fell, I fell hard."
The mare took another water pause. The sharp sting of those day still hurt; the wounds not let fully healed. "For a long time I was angry. Angry at the world, angry at my life, and most of all, angry with myself."
Twilight ears had slowly started to pin back the more she heard. When Sunset Shimmer had moved away for school, she knew the mare had found trouble in her studies. But this? All of this was unknown to the purple unicorn. "H-how come you never told me this before?"
"Shame, mostly. I had humiliated myself. When I came back home I wanted to leave that all behind, start anew. You were that first step."
"Me?" With a blush, it was Twilight's turn to sip from a cup of lukewarm tea.
"I've known you forever, but I never became your friend. Group play dates, project partners, a passing wave in the halls, but that was the extant of it. Yet when I returned, you were the first pony who came over to welcome me home. With a stupid grin from ear to ear, you presented me with a welcome back abacus on my doorstep like it was the best thing this side of the moon. You were so happy for me, even if I didn't have a fancy diploma to show off."
The blush on Twilight Sparkles nose grew cherry red. It had been a really nice abacus.
"What I'm trying to say here Twilight, is that the last thing I want to see is you repeating my mistakes. If I had known my limits before hoof, had reined in that poisoning ambition, taken the helped offered, you and me would not be sitting outside on a beautiful afternoon shooting the breeze. There are days I still long for that old pipe dream, but they soon pass and are replaced with better days spent with my best friend. If I got a second chance to go back and fix my mistakes at the cost of never getting that warm welcome, I don't think I would do it. Do you understand?"
In a sense Twilight did. Sunset feared for her happiness. She was afraid of seeing her go down an ugly road lead on misguided dreams. Not when something better could be waiting. With a hoof to the jagged edge of her horn, the unicorn felt her face grow damp. In one fell swoop everything had changed. "Thank you, Shimmer. I-I needed that."
Sunset puffed out a long held breath while passing over a napkin. As Twilight dabbed at her face, trying not to make a scene in public, Sunset felt a great wash of relief in knowing her reality check had succeeded where others had failed. "Will you at least consider the Marina?"
It might have still seemed somewhat absurd, but Twilight was willing to give it a chance. She would take the time to talk to her parents before writing a reply. This time she would make sure they understood what they were getting, broken horn and all.
Finishing there lunch, Sunset was startled when she realized how late it had grown. She still had to alphabetize a new shipment of books and re-spell the protection hexes on the older tomes. The two mares gave a long, comforting hug, before parting ways.
When Twilight got home that night, she read over that position offer at least a dozen times.