Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 3
Heh, been a while since I’ve dusted this off and written in it. Most of my journal writing nowadays is in my “other” diary. I guess that’s another good thing about having friends…you find people who are more meaningful to talk to than books. But I still think it’s a good idea to reflect on what’s going on from time to time, and I figured now that school is back in session this is a good time to go over it.
That’s right…I’m still in school. I was a senior last year, but, to be honest, I’m only getting the full experience now. This is where my friends are and although I’ve mastered most of this world I still have some deficiencies to catch up if I’m going to be living here the rest of my life… So I had a bit of a talk with Principal Celestia and mentioned how I had cheated on pretty much every last test I had ever taken at Canterlot High School until a year ago before school resumed. As a result, she had it put on my record that I’m still deficient in grades and I need to repeat at least one more year. I think I might very well be the only student in history happy to be held back.
Things have gone well at school. I'm not the "black sheep" anymore. I guess joining in to help the others defeat the Dazzlings kind of was enough to finally overcome my reputation. Other students aren't ashamed to be talking with me or hanging out with me anymore. Never thought I'd be so happy to be...a "normal" student. Time in school was good my last few days of the previous term, and they’re good so far this year.
I’m still feeling a bit awkward for right now… You see, Rarity got the idea that if I really wanted to make a completely fresh start, I needed a new look. She suggested I dress in blue, of all colors. Dash obviously loved the idea but I was more than standoffish. I asked her wouldn’t it clash with my “fire” style?
“Oh no, dear.” She told me. “Think of it as the sun rising on a new day with this sky blue color.”
A new day. That sold me.
To help drive it home she did some highlights to my mane hair. First time I changed the style in years, but it gives a lighter color now. She also insisted on giving me a new jacket. That was…more of a problem on my end, but she said the studs were too “biker”. I protested that I actually liked bikes. Back when I still “ruled the school” I blackmailed the driver’s ed instructors into letting me take them for a spin once in a while. We eventually settled on a compromise…I lose the studs but gain a racing stripe.
One other thing… I went to Vice Principal Luna about it and there was some argument, but in the end she agreed that if I really wanted to make a “fresh start” that it was for the best and allowed it.
She granted me permission to go in the trophy case and remove my former pictures of me winning the Fall Formal.
It was a tad painful to look over them. I barely recognize the girl in those pictures anymore. Even the one from freshman year who looks so happy and cheerful. I know exactly what she did to other people to get that fake feeling of pride and admiration. Seeing her pumping her little fists in the air as if she’s so admired and loved when she had to poison other people against one another to get that for herself… And, of course, it only got worse from there. The girl got meaner and crueler. This victory, just like her position in the school…it started off as a stimulant like a drug, something to chase away pain or depression. Then it grew into a full-blown addiction. At long last, it became a necessity.
Fluttershy later asked me when she saw the picture frames in the garbage can if I didn’t want to at least take the first one home…if I didn’t feel just a small bit of pride in it. I answered her that I didn’t. The Sunset Shimmer who won that competition only cared about herself and making herself feel powerful and safe. The only achievement it showed was how far she was willing to hurt other people to get ahead in life.
It isn’t something I ever want to think about again.
Aside from that moment, I guess the only other thing I should report on is talking to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Funny…we barely ever saw each other as we “really are”. I have a hard time not picturing her hunched over a table with a pen in her teeth and her hands forgotten and unused hanging in the air. I’m not sure I can even write with a pen using my magic anymore… But it feels great to talk to her, even when I’m just writing a letter about what I learned about friendship this week.
I guess I still like the “validation”…how I’ve spent almost as much time with her as an enemy as well as an ally, and yet she still calls me her friend. How she can learn something about friendship even from someone like me.
Phew…this is a lot for the first new entry in a while. I’ll try to keep it more frequent so I don’t have to do this too often from now on…
Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 4
Oh Celestia…I am psyched. But what does this mean?
Ugh…forgot this isn’t my diary to Twilight…I’ll have to start over…
I ended up staying late yesterday and trying to get more of an edge on the literal piles of books I still need to catch up on for this year and headed to the roof for some fresh air. There’s a window in the geodesic dome in the library that’s never locked so getting out was a cinch. While I was up there, seeing as it was big and open and the other students had already gone home for the day, I figured I’d try out that song I had been working on for the Rainbooms.
I ended up getting pretty “into it” and moving around, and while I was trying to finish it I suddenly felt energized and lighter. Almost like back in Canterlot when I was using my magic, or back at the Battle of the Bands…or, and this was the wild part, almost a little like back when I put on the Magic Element. So I looked down and, to my shock, I was flying. Not only that, but I had grown flaming wings and a pony tail!
I was scared when I realized what had happened. I thought something was making me turn into that demon again… It wore off soon enough and I was back on the ground, though, and after thinking about it I realized the fires weren’t the same kind as they were when I was corrupted. Those ones had felt hot and smelled like brimstone… These ones were…I don’t know…“warmer”. Like sunlight…or a hot fire on a freezing day. It seemed almost like when I ponied-up that one time (oh…that’s the name Dash gave our new transformations…it’s kind of odd to me considering I still consider myself human in that form, but I guess they feel like ponies in theirs… Heh…almost makes me wish I could take them into Equestria so they could really know what it really feels like to be ponies…).
But that doesn’t make any sense. I was singing, not playing my guitar. And the rest of the girls weren’t with me. It’s definitely odd. But I’m just concerned about it for now. Since it’s not “the demon”, then I don’t have to worry about it doing anything bad. I’d like to know why it happened though…
P.S.
One other thing before I forget… When I was headed down from the roof, I thought I noticed something. The city bus pulled up outside Canterlot High. I think someone got off just to take a picture of the school or two. They got right on the next and went on. Weird. Then again, I wasn’t really paying attention. I might have imagined the whole thing.
Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 16
The first couple weeks back in school have been interesting. Now that I’m hitting the books harder, I’m…actually doing great. More than great. I’ve aced all my quizzes so far and I don’t see any reason the first round of tests shouldn’t be the same. I’m a little stunned I’m taking to the material so easily. Principal Celestia said if I keep this up she might end up looking foolish for holding me back a grade.
To be honest, everyone in Canterlot High School has been doing better since Twilight first showed up in this world. While…well, let’s admit it…what I did here for four years didn’t exactly help the situation that much, the truth is this school was never quite as “cohesive” as it could have been. Definitely nothing like Equestria. But following her run for the Fall Formal, everyone has gotten together. The “Magic of Friendship” apparently hasn’t been confined to me and my friends, but it’s spread.
Smarter students are helping struggling ones pass classes. Athletic students are helping non-athletic ones train. It took a little while to see the results, but apparently our school is moving up in regional rankings. In our opening soccer game for the year we beat the Griffonstone Griffons. We haven’t beaten them in twenty years. Another senior just won a scholarship. No one’s done that since that one student who was the head of the senior class my freshman year…Cadance (had to look it up in my journal…oh boy, I think I'll steer clear from here during the class reunion).
While I’m still a little surprised I’m doing so well, I also kind of see why. For most of my life I spent my time fearful of others or trying to find ways to backstab people and twist them against each other. What I used to think was me being so clever and brilliant was really me fighting day and night to maintain my control on the school. I didn’t have time for studies any more than friendship. But now that I’m actually trying to learn, I’m a bit fascinated.
I’ve shared some of the things I’ve learned already with Princess Twilight. Heh, to be honest, I think one day when I was sitting in front of the statue writing about chemistry, the portal rippled. I think she nearly gave into the temptation to burst in and find out about it. Seriously, though…science is pretty remarkable. Humans used to believe in a lot of magic in this world too, but eventually they used science to explain it and now harness it in their machines. Actually, I think the only “real” magic in the world is what’s here at Canterlot High School.
Oh, speaking of which, the student body seems to have “accepted” not only the fact that there’s students who can use Equestrian magic but that Twilight could pop in from another world from time to time. Well…I’d say that’s weird, but considering the fact the humans think the world where I come from doesn’t even have a sun and moon that rises and sets on its own, and I think I can understand them getting used to several things.
There was actually an assembly at the beginning of the year that was “off the books” in which the principal and vice principal told the student body to keep it a bit of a secret. I can understand that. I realize now what very well may have drawn the Dazzlings to this school in the first place was what happened the night of the Fall Formal. Goodness knows how many other things from Equestria have found their way into this world over the millennia…
Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 23
Here’s something I definitely never thought I’d do.
I’ve been talking on with Twilight about the magic that seems to be permanently present in Canterlot High without the Magic Element of Harmony or her being here, and I started getting into science theories I heard of such as the Law of Conservation and Thermodynamics. All of these theories ended up leading her to suggest I try researching the magic myself.
Well…I never really thought of myself as much of a “nerd” like Princess Twilight (hope she never reads this…), but I’ll admit I’m going great in school. I breezed through the first round of tests no problem and I’m at the top of the science classes. And the school has all sorts of facilities for this sort of thing. So maybe it’s worth a shot.
Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 25
So much for science.
The girls were more than happy to help out with all of my research but, aside from finding new ways to blow myself up and risk death from electrocution (not to mention about five thousand dollars worth of property damage to the school), I found next to nothing.
When I told Twilight about it, she laughed at the whole thing. She said it was just like the time she tried to research “Pinkie Sense”. (I don’t think even I’m nuts enough to try making any discoveries about Pinkie Pie…) She said not to worry about it.
Well…that might be easy for her to say in Equestria, but I’m realizing that both times magic came out a lot more people than those at school had to have seen it. I’ve been worried that other people might start suspecting something is up with the school and start poking around it. After all, I experienced firsthand what happens when someone tries to use magic that “doesn’t belong to them”… The fact that the girls have proven humans can use Equestrian magic themselves means that other humans might try to get their hands on it.
But I think what gets me the most is I can’t shake the feeling that, in spite of what she said, if Twilight was here she would have discovered the secrets already. Why not? She may not have all the answers but she always seems to get us going in the “right direction”. The best I am at the moment is an “apprentice in friendship”.
On that note, walking home yesterday, I passed by the bus stop a couple blocks down. This one person in a hoodie shoved by me with a backpack overstuffed with what looked like sensors; like a multimeter, a plumbing sniffer…even a Geiger counter. They were trying to catch the bus before it left so I didn’t get a good look at them, but they looked like they were coming from the direction of the school.
I think I’ve seen that hoodie before.
Year of Celestia 1004, Early Fall, 4
I started keeping an eye out for any more individuals with a hoodie. Turns out it was good timing. I had just shown up after school, thinking there was some sort of new emergency going on when Dash called me up. Turns out all she needed as a guitar string so that we could show off our “pony” forms to other students. Well, that turned out to be rather bad timing, because Vice Principal Luna caught us and let us (mostly Dash) have it. She said the whole purpose of the assembly had been warning the students against carelessly leaking the secret that we have magic at this school, and we just flaunted it “on a whim”.
Both she and the principal seem to be worried about keeping our school in a good “reputation” nowadays…
I actually wasn’t there at the time. I was outside writing to Twilight, seeing how she was doing and telling her about how things at school had been going. The truth is I probably said the same thing I did in our last journal entry, but…I kind of noticed I’ve been writing to her more and more. Now that I have a way to talk to her permanently, I’m looking for advice from her all the time. Always asking what she thinks of this, that, or the other thing…
To be honest, I feel kind of uneasy about it sometimes. I know when it comes to doing things “on my own” I have a history of flubbing it…but even as the “old” Sunset Shimmer I took a bit more initiative. Now I’m usually scared I’ll mess something up before I even try. Let’s be honest: I think maybe by the end of the year I’ll need to take off my shoes and use my toes to count the number of times I’ve been able to take the lead on something involving friendship.
Twilight, on the other hand, is the “Princess of Friendship”. She would know better than me, right? Maybe she doesn’t have all the answers, no…but I figure she’d know more in a lot of cases than I would.
At the same time…I kind of wonder if she’s becoming a “crutch” to me. Like I need to take the lead myself more often. Of course, I’ve only really been her “student” for a couple months.
Ugh, forgot what I was writing about in the first place. After the girls took off, “hoodie” popped in again. I couldn’t make anything out about them. The clothing was “gender neutral” and the hood was up. The eyes and face were covered up by these really big, really-thick-rimmed “nerd” glasses. Didn’t say a word, just came right up to the monument with some sort of machine in their hand. I’ve never seen anything like it, and searching on the Internet only turned up something on a sci-fi movie… Point being, they were headed right for the monument like a bloodhound.
I tried to call out to them this time. The second I did, they broke for it. I chased a bit. I can’t confirm it, but the body shape looked female when I got a bit closer, but I wasn’t able to catch them. The city bus pulled by again and my guess is whoever it is managed to duck on it.
There was only one other detail I managed to pick out.
The skin coloration. It was purple…just like Twilight’s.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 5
I have a sinking suspicion of who the person in the hoodie was. To be honest, if I’m right…I don’t know whether to be shocked, amazed, or even a bit nervous.
But first what led up to it…
I talked to the girls the next day about what happened. They didn’t seem to mind too much so long as it was no one like the Dazzlings. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t; just someone snooping. I told them I suspected they had been tipped off by all the “magical goings-on”, but I have to admit if that’s true it’s curious that only one individual is looking into it. I thought they’d have notified higher authorities or something…
Naturally, I also wrote to Princess Twilight about it. Nothing back from her yet…
The girls brought up the idea that it might have been a Crystal Prep Academy student spying on the school. (I can guess why…both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie recently had detention for being caught spying on them last Friday…) I've never mentioned Crystal Prep in this diary before, so I guess I should explain. They were a bit “before my time”. Part of the reason Canterlot High did so pitiful in sporting events and academic success is because all the “smart” kids and “talented” kids go to Crystal Prep…at least the ones who can afford it. It’s a school in the city proper. Private boarding school. Real highbrow.
Apparently whoever founded it had a hand in helping get Canterlot High built too and they're under the same school board, so they have a tetrannual tradition where the two schools square off in an academic/athletic marathon known as the “Friendship Games”. Heh…real misleading title, if you ask me. More like an excuse for Crystal Prep to show off how slow and stupid we all are. Applejack tells me that while the principal and staff get all excited about it, we always lose and lose by a huge margin. That’s because while the principal wants to make this all in the spirit of “fun and friendship” and lets whoever wants to volunteer compete to participate, they always pick their best students.
Best students at an expensive preparatory boarding school versus a bunch of “average joes” from a public school? I can imagine how one-sided that is. Applejack’s right…how are you supposed to be friendly with a school who shows off how much “better” they are than you every four years?
Like I said, I knew of them for a while but didn’t pay them much mind. I was still hiding out in this world’s version-of-me’s manor during the last Friendship Games, but when I started school the better students were still bitter about the whole thing. In general I tried to avoid it. I had enough trouble trying to control Canterlot High without worrying about a school with that kind of discipline and regimen, not to mention smarter students that might sniff me out. Worst of all, I assumed if this world’s version of me ever showed up again, they’d probably be rich enough to go to Crystal Prep, and the last thing I needed was to run into the “real” me and ruin my plans.
Nowadays, I have to admit I don’t care too much for the games myself. Winning some school competition is kind of mild in comparison to some of the stuff we went through.
But…
Fluttershy did point out to me that not everything has to be life-or-death. And this is obviously really important to them. I have to remember that even if I’m a unicorn from a world where chimeras will devour you if you go down the wrong path and you have to hide during the dragon migration, the girls here are human students. And this is pretty important to them and the school. I can’t really call myself “one of them” if I don’t try to share their enthusiasm for it.
And now that I’m thinking about Crystal Prep, I’m starting to realize Dash might have had a good point. There’s a good chance “hoodie” is from there; maybe not spying (at least not in the sense she thinks) but who had enough know-how and technical background to pick up what’s been going on in school and is following up.
As for my “suspicion”…a brainy student with purple-tinted skin…and the fact that, like me, Twilight Sparkle’s own “version of her” in this world is unaccounted for…
Maybe it’s nothing. Just my imagination.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 7
Well…Friendship Games tryouts are here. And since I’ve decided to get in the “spirit” of everything and I know the girls would prefer it if I helped out, I tried out myself. Seriously though, I think I’m a shoe-in, and for once not because I rigged the contest. I’m near the top of my class in science and math and part of the events are academic in nature. We may call for volunteers in this school, but that still doesn’t mean they don’t try to pick the best-of-the-best. Seeing as I also play guitar and I’m decent in PE, and it looks like I have a good chance of getting the spot.
See, one of the things about the Friendship Games is no one knows exactly what the events are going to be until they get here. They’ve already blocked off the athletic field with covered fences to start working on it, since it’ll be held at our school. (I’d like to say it’s an act of goodwill, but I think Crystal Prep actually gets outraged when they have to spend money to modify their own athletic field for this…) And what game you get to compete in is also random. It actually helps keep things a bit more “fair” as it mitigates one student blowing away the competition, but it also means everyone who participates has to be a “jack-of-all-trades”.
I ended up showing off some of my guitar and that one bit of polyethelene I made in science class. Organic chemistry is supposed to be a bit “above” the high school level, so maybe it’ll work out.
The girls seemed to think it was good enough. I’m not sure if they’ll get in either…although I kind of think after Rarity brought out no less than 25 different outfits for our school to wear, the principal and vice-principal would probably feel a bit bad if they said she couldn’t compete.
But aside from that, things are tensing up around here. I think Lyra and Bon Bon had to spend the afternoon in the infirmary after they took their competing for the roster a bit too far… (Celestia only knows what they’ll do to Crystal Prep…) And I’m still seeing spots before my eyes after Photo Finish went on what I can only describe as a “photo blitzkrieg”, and I wasn’t even the intended target (I explained to her after one “brief” session a couple months ago in which she got about 20 pictures of me that I wasn’t giving her permission to use my face in school-related media). Everyone’s getting psyched about all this…
I wish I could say the same, but to be honest the problem of magic at school has been nagging at me along with “hoodie”. I told the girls about how frustrated I was, and Pinkie…well, I don’t think I can remember her exact wording to reprint here, but it was one of her long “blasts” of explanation that made some sort of random sense. Until now I’ve been thinking of the magic that’s in this world being brought over from when I brought the Magic Element here. But there’s a chance that I didn’t simply bring something here but set off a “catalyst” of a sort. Getting back into chemistry terms, assuming we can think of magic as a form of energy, it didn’t so much “change state” as it may have triggered an atomic reaction; with successive reactions taking place as a result of the first.
I kind of hope that’s not the case. The Dazzlings, wherever they are, may be harmless now as they couldn’t feed on Equestian magic even if it was spread out in front of them like a feast, but I’m not sure I relish the idea of magic being able to pop out at random. This isn’t Equestria. I think human society might collapse if magic became even a fraction as commonplace…
Anyway, no sense worrying about that right now. I’m checking in on the lineup, but even if I didn't make it Rainbow Dash volunteered to head up the “pep rally” for our school going into the Friendship Games tomorrow, and the girls and I need to set some things up for it.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 8
Terrific. It’s been a while since I’ve felt “pressure” on an assignment. The one plus side to everyone hating me after the Fall Formal was no one expected anything good out of me or for me to be responsible for anything.
Now, though…
The rally had been going pretty well. Dash managed to get the crowd pretty pumped about what was coming up. It seemed the school body got excited when they remembered that the student body has overcome actual magical monsters…even if I was one of them.
That’s when something happened.
Part of the reason I’ve only been mildly concerned about that time I transformed on the roof was because it seemed kind of natural. I mean, I may be in a human body now, but I’m actually a unicorn. So it kind of makes sense that I’d be able to tap into magic at least a bit better than real humans.
Well, while Dash was getting excited about getting everyone in school psyched about being Wondercolts and singing, without playing her guitar, she suddenly “ponied up”. She was able to fly and everything. As crazy as this sounds, the school body wasn’t startled. By now, whenever something like this happens, everyone just gets more excited.
But it confirmed what I found out earlier. We neither need Princess Twilight here to use these forms, nor do we all need to be gathered in one spot singing at the same time. The Equestrian magic in this world seems to slowly be growing more “innate” to us, just like it is to actual Equestrian ponies.
I’m not sure what that could lead to.
Whatever the reason, the real part I’m worried about is what came after. The girls didn’t seem to mind the transformation that much, but Vice-Principal Luna did. She ended up charging me with finding out how it happened and, more importantly, how to keep it from happening. She’s afraid…and I guess rightly so…that using magic in the games could get us disqualified. I figured someone saying “they used magic!” in this world is kind of silly, but…all Crystal Prep needs to do is see something unusual and then they can blame it on technology or performance enhancement or whatever.
I immediately wrote to Twilight for help and I headed to the library to start working on it. This is a big moment for me, after all. The school staff is actually asking me to do a favor for them, and I would be the expert compared to anyone from this world. But these books are no help. The only mention of “magic” they make is to laugh at older humans for thinking it was real before launching into a scientific explanation. And Twilight hasn’t gotten back to me yet…
I almost figure she might know the answer immediately; her being so great at science and magic in our world… But it’s making me nervous that it’s getting late and I still haven’t heard anything.
Well, there’s still some time left.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 10
Ugh…hoped to be farther along by now or, more importantly, to have gotten a message back from Princess Twilight by now…but it’s too late. I’m having to pack up and leave school as I’m jotting this down.
The Friendship Games are officially getting started tomorrow. As Crystal Prep is a fairly big drive from the city and they want the events to start normally, the CPA students will actually be staying close to the school. Opening events are tomorrow and both teams need to get assessed by each other's staff (security issues and all that), so they’re heading in tomorrow afternoon to sign in and we don’t waste time.
This is starting to get frustrating. I’m not finding anything on this, and I only have one more day…
I suppose…there is another way to get in touch with Princess Twilight rather than wait for the journal to get a response…
It makes me even more nervous than this assignment, but I may not have a choice.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 11
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a couple shocks in one day… Today could honestly be going a lot better. At least it confirmed one thing to me…
The Crystal Prep Academy competitors have arrived. As yet another worry on top of my current concerns, I’m trying to focus enough on the competition to be excited about helping out the school. I kind of need to be now considering the fact the girls and I all made the roster. Heck, we’re taking up half the positions on it. That’s practically begging for a situation where our Equestrian magic is going to come out.
Doesn’t help that one of our alumni is now an instructor at CPA.
Dean Cadance is now wandering about the school greeting the staff again. Terrific… All I need is her to spot me and start dragging up things I did my freshman year. It’s a good thing I’ve got these new highlights and clothes because it’s going to be a bit hard for her not to see me when she’s judging me in the competition.
The situation is getting worse. When we all tried to get one last practice in at the band room, Rarity suddenly showed off that she had taken enough time out to make us all Canterlot High School official outfits for pretty much every conceivable event possible. All in our own sizes too. (Don’t ask me how she got mine…I don’t need to dwell on figuring out even more things…) She got so excited about being able to make us all these clothes…then it suddenly happened. Just like Rainbow Dash the other day, she spontaneously “ponied-up”. She was starting to hover and grew her ears and tail-like hair again.
But then something a bit more upsetting happened. Suddenly she dropped out of it. That energy aura around her faded and so did her ears and tail. It wasn’t just “wearing off” either. She nearly collapsed, looking like she had just gotten done with a marathon. She recovered quickly enough, but…this scares me. This is the first time using Equestrian magic has actually caused one of us to suffer in some physical manner after using it. I would have immediately started to grill her about what happened, except something happened soon after that which kind of made everyone forget about the whole thing.
Twilight Sparkle walked through the door.
No, not the Twilight Sparkle, although, just like the others, I thought it was her for a moment.
She was a bit different, of course. This one kept her hair tied back tightly rather than let it hang. She had these giant black rimmed “nerd glasses” and she was dressed in a Crystal Prep uniform with this weird glowing device around her neck. She even had a dog named Spike that looked identical to the Spike we know. But she bore a stunning resemblance in all other ways, including her voice.
It wasn’t her though. I should have realized it before Pinkie Pie, but it made sense. There’s another version of everything from Equestria in this world. Obviously there’s another Twilight Sparkle. Heck, I even theorized that not too long ago.
And now that I look on her, I’m kind of having a hard time seeing her as Princess Twilight at all. Princess Twilight had uncertainty and doubts in herself that she wore on her sleeve, but this Twilight looked as if she was scared the whole world would “bite her” if she wasn’t careful. Princess Twilight was awkward and clumsy but she tackled things with energy. This one is fearful and uncomfortable; like she’s too timid to put out energy in anything. Princess Twilight had these “big eyes” full of wonder, as if she was always fascinated by new things. The eyes of this one are different…more probing…more searching…as if she likes to learn new things too but is fiercely searching for them.
In that sense…she almost looks more “aggressive” than the Twilight I know…
Most of all, I know this Twilight isn’t like her because I took one look at her, and my “old self” realized I could have ground her under my thumb in no time. That was made clear when we found out she’s a Crystal Prep student and her own principal, this stuffed shirt named Abacus Cinch, came in and led her away…and she pretty much just cowed under her like a whipped puppy even though there was nothing wrong with her being in the music room to begin with.
At any rate, the other girls were worried about her. If she’s anything like Princess Twilight Sparkle, that means she’s probably a genius, which is trouble for the academic competition. Also, none of them have ever seen Princess Twilight in her real body, so this is a psychological problem for them…the idea that their friend is going to be competing against them even though this really isn’t the same individual.
I wish I could sympathize more, but…I’m too obsessed with my own problems now. Especially since I remember those glasses… She was the one snooping around the school those times before.
So now not only do I have to figure out how to keep our magic from coming out, we might have someone actively looking for it to come out. And it’s Twilight, of all people.
And still no answer from Twilight...our Twilight (this is getting confusing). I told the girls just how upset I’m getting about her not answering, but they just gave me a schpiel about how she can’t be expected to just drop everything and come running when we call. I guess that’s true…she does have her own world to take care of…and I guess it would be nice if I felt I was in a position where I could
Nevermind. That’s not important, or realistic for that matter. The bottom line is while it may not be important to Equestria it’s important to me. I see this world as my home now even if I “started out” as a unicorn.
I guess there’s nothing for it…
ADDITION
What in the world did that other Twilight do?!
I finally got up enough courage to try to test out the portal myself…hoping that Princess Twilight had “left it open”. I thought I could get an answer directly. But when I reached out and touched it…I felt something burning. My hands had hardly gone in a centimeter when it felt like the entire statue was on fire…and like there was something making my hand stick into it…
I managed to rip it free and fell to the ground, and I heard something. It sounded like electronics as well as the sounds we make from those "magic auras" we get in this world. I got up and looked to the sound as it went quiet, and I saw Twilight (ugh…this is getting confusing… I’ll just call her “Sci-Twi” to keep her distinct) Sci-Twi getting up and running off too.
And when I felt out for the portal again…nothing! It was solid stone just like before Twilight opened the portal!
Now there’s no way for Twilight to get here at all! In fact, there’s no way for me to get a message to her! I tried writing in the book and nothing! The words just stuck to the page this time!
She did it…but how?
And why? What is she up to?
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 12
“Sci-Twi” is rubbing me the wrong way more all the time. I haven’t been feeling this irritable around someone since…well, Twilight.
Opening ceremonies were today. I showed up irritable, of course, in spite of being “back in red” thanks to Rarity. Maybe not as upset as I was yesterday… We’re not cut off from Equestria forever, after all. If nothing else, I can wait another couple years and the mirror will open again… But we’re definitely cut off for the moment and I know Sci-Twi was behind it.
So I used to the opportunity of the gathering we had of both schools in the gymnasium to confront her. After all, it wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty of hostility already. Everyone was giving each other dirty looks the second I walked in. I think one student actually smashed us in “cup effigy”…which I wasn’t sure even existed until now.
Yeah, some “spirit of friendship” that this competition is eliciting…
At any rate, we got so mixed up in arguing with the rival school that I didn’t get a chance to grill Sci-Twi…although she looked about as guilty as a cat surrounded by bird feathers.
Then again, there were a couple minutes in which things went better. Heh, should have realized at this point that Pinkie Pie couldn’t tolerate a party where no one was having fun. She ended up whipping out a ton of new favors and a pair of party cannons (yeah, as I’ve said before, I don’t bother questioning it… “it’s Pinkie” is the only explanation). For a while, we were actually getting together. Like I’ve said, I’ve barely been focusing on the games, but what little I have I’m normally taking up the spirit of the rest of the school that we’re going to get creamed by a bunch of prep school snobs. It actually seemed…nicer for a while.
But then we got a double-whammy. It turns out while she was in the middle of the party-throwing, Pinkie “ponied-up”, a lot like Rainbow Dash and Rarity did. But just like with Rarity, she nearly collapsed. She told us later that she was feeling fine one moment then “drained” the next.
That’s the exact wording she used…drained. Rarity mentioned she felt the same way. That doesn’t make much sense to me. If anything, whenever we pony-up, we feel more energized. So why are we suddenly losing energy?
Anyway, the second part was when Principal Cinch gave her own “opening remarks”.
I’ll sum up the gist of it: your school, its students, and its philosophy as a whole sucks and we’re about to give you yet another humiliating defeat.
By the time she was done doing it, we were taking opposite sides of the gym all over again.
You know…thinking on that moment, I don’t really get it. I really don’t need to be wasting time thinking about stuff like this right now, but I couldn’t help but notice that both sides got agitated. Obviously our team did because she was flaunting all of our past losses at once. But why did the Crystal Prep students feel the same way? They beat us all the time, don’t they? If anything, they should think this whole “Friendship Games” thing is going to be a breeze. Like it’s not even a challenge worth taking. And yet they’re more hostile to us than we are to them.
That seems a bit odd to me. I know I used to get mad at other students when I was younger for being “demeaned” enough to have to be in the same class as them, but I don’t think this was the same thing. It’s like they want to cream us in the competition for some reason.
I never really thought about this before, but…I guess it comes with appreciating the people in this world more. Celestia and Luna may not be “perfect” school administrators, but at least they’re taking this whole thing as an experience to foster greater school unity. At least they’re treating both CHS and CPA as equals. Cinch, on the other hand, looks like she’s getting some sort of almost sadistic satisfaction lording over how much better her school is.
You know, maybe tomorrow when I show up for the start of the games…I’ll tell the principal and vice-principal how much I appreciate what they do around here.
P.S.
Pinkie Pie later told me she actually managed to rope Sci-Twi into helping her bring out the party cannons right before she ponied-up, but ran off around that time. That made me nervous. That means she was right there next to Pinkie when she used Equestrian magic. I’m afraid she may have spotted her. That’d be wonderful…being disqualified for cheating before the games even start…
Wait a minute.
Didn’t Rarity feel drained right before Sci-Twi showed up yesterday?
And wasn’t Sci-Twi at the portal too?
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 13
To try and take my mind off of things, I’m focusing on the Friendship Games. Good timing for it and all, seeing as we’re actually beginning them this morning…
The competition is going to be split into three events over three days. Today’s event is the Academic Decathalon. We’ll be randomly put into various school activities in a subject matter. However, only the highest-scoring students in either event get to move on, which is almost always who wins the respective event. Tomorrow, the six highest students from either school move on to the Tri-Cross Relay, which is going to be a total mystery until later today when we get to go up and survey the playing field at last. Finally, one student gets picked out of the those six to do the last event, which is always a mystery until the day it starts.
On the plus side, I don’t think we have to worry about “ponying-up” at the start. Not like Equestrian magic is going to help us in math or chemistry, after all.
I’ll add how we did later. I’m hoping I managed to learn enough of that “pre-Calculus” stuff they have in this world to measure up as our own team already decided I’d be best for the math portion…
ADDITION (I)
I suppose now should be where I say “to absolutely the surprise of nobody”, but…I don’t really feel like it in this case.
Bottom line: we lost. I should have focused a bit more on Trig than Pre-Calculus, it seems…
We gave them a run for their money, though. We were pretty even in Chemistry (even with one of our students nearly blowing herself up…), Pinkie Pie dominated in Home Econ, but we slipped in both Wood Shop and English. We were actually even until we got to the final event, where I got picked to go up against Sci-Twi.
I’ve kind of got a chip on my shoulder about her at this point, so this was a bit personal for me. And…I did a lot better than I thought I would, to be honest. Even determined to win, I figured if Sci-Twi was anything like Twilight Sparkle she’d literally “take me to school”. But I was only off because my mind slipped and I added five numbers wrong, so my answer was off by ten degrees. Otherwise we would have tied…
What was really shocking, though, was that no one at Canterlot High School was that unhappy. We may not have won, but we were within one point of tying, which is closer than we’ve ever been. And everyone at school was happy about that. What more…and I know this sounds smug or being a sore loser…but, in all honesty, we handled losing gracefully.
When we won an event, everyone at the school was just happy about it and encouraging each other, which Crystal Prep just looked as if it was the end of the world. When we lost an event, Crystal Prep immediately gloated about it and mocked us, but we just still kept supporting each other so no one lost their temper at anyone else or was even bummed out.
By the time the events were over, you’d almost think we had won. I almost wondered if I had heard Cinch declare me “incorrect” accurately when the girls ran up and cheered me on. We were all just glad to have gone that far.
By comparison…CPA looked as if they had been the ones who lost. No applause. No cheering. Just cold indifference.
I was stunned, honestly. I wondered...were they that upset that they didn’t totally dominate that part of the competition? I actually tried to listen in a bit after that happened, and, to my surprise, they actually were badmouthing Sci-Twi a bit. It sounded as if they were actually bitter that she had won even though it helped their school succeed.
That’s when it hit me.
The reason we’re doing better now, both here and as a school in standing, is because everyone’s victory or defeat is now everyone else’s…except when we lose, everyone is there to keep the individual “part” from feeling too bad. It's not about any one person. It's about everyone having a good time and succeeding together.
But Crystal Prep... These are prep school students. Private school residents. The best of the best. Yet we came so close to actually beating them in academics. Maybe even a statistical tie. And it makes sense to me…everything about their school is about one individual. It’s all about who in particular wins and loses. If you win or lose, it’s all just a mark against you personally. All victory is only yours and all defeat is only yours. All they care about is which one of them can succeed and fail.
No. No, that’s not quite it.
It’s worse than that.
I noticed whenever there was a loss for Crystal Prep that principal of theirs came around and gave them a look like a judge at a murder trial. Like during the Home Econ game. Those two students from their school made this fantastic multi-layered chocolate cake. In any other setting it would have been wonderful; it just wasn’t as good as what Pinkie Pie could make. And Cinch came by and looked at them as if they had just burned down her house...because it cost her an event in the games. Because it made it harder for her to win.
So…them losing does impact something else: the Crystal Prep reputation.
Those CPA students…they’re in a “no-win” situation. If one of them wins, the only one who cares is the student. But if one of them loses, everyone hates them because it ruins the school’s reputation. In both cases, they only end up being hated by everyone else…because that place is totally void of friendship.
…
You know…I never really thought about this before, but…
I never realized just how much power Princess Celestia had over me and the rest of the students. I used to think she was so stupid and old-fashioned, but she had it in her power to make us feel good or terrible. She had the power to build us up…build me up…or make us feel worse than any of my old bullies ever could have. She could have made the smallest spell we barely managed to succeed at feel like we were on par with Starswirl the Bearded, or make the most amazing achievement seem like a basic cantrip.
She wasn’t just trying to help us succeed in school. She was setting us up for who we would become.
Someone like Cinch…she only cares about the school’s reputation. To her, her own students are nothing more than means to an end. The real reason she picked the “best of the best” wasn’t because she admired her selections or wanted pride in her school…she just wanted to make it easier to win.
You know what the “funny” part is? There was a time I would have given anything to be a Crystal Prep Academy student. Where all I ever had to worry about was how much power and glory I could have given myself. Now…
Now I can’t honestly dislike those students anymore. I pity them. They’ll be the best at what they do one day, and all they’ll have is their talent and nothing else.
I almost wish Twilight would have visited that school instead of mine.
Well, no sense getting too “sympathetic” to them yet. We’ve still got two more games to win and if we don’t win tomorrow it won’t matter about the third. And even though I lost that math competition, all of my "work" was correct so, combined with my other scores in the other events, I'm moving on along with the girls.
That athletic field is open for viewing, so we better check it out…
ADDITION (II)
Did I say I didn’t dislike those students?
I meant to say most of those students.
Sci-Twi, on the other hand…
Fluttershy saw her looking depressed after the Academic Decathalon. Can’t say I blame her considering the lack of response and how her own classmates are still treating her like a black sheep…but she ended up trying to cheer her up. She carries Angel and no less than three other pets in her own backpack every day, after all. She says she let her hold onto him for a bit, and then, just like before, she started to “pony-up”…
But then she finally noticed an important detail that neither Rarity nor Pinkie Pie had told me. Remember that weird thing around her neck I mentioned? She says it glowed and opened up when she took that form and then it somehow drew the aura she was generating around herself into it; accompanied by, you guessed it, her feeling drained and falling out of the form.
On hearing that, Pinkie mentioned she had seen the same thing back in the gym. And Rarity, having an “eye for detail”, noticed she was fiddling with it when she walked into the band room. Finally, I remember I heard an electronic sound back at the portal. I’ll just bet I was hearing that device…
That means Sci-Twi has a machine that can actually collect Equestrian magic. I suggested to the girls that she’s actually stealing it, but they disagreed. Pinkie Pie even mentioned she called it a “big word” and said it was to be used to detect and analyze “other big words”, but the bottom line is she didn’t seem to be the “stealing type”.
I suppose they have a point… Really, the only thing I noticed that seemed kind of “negative” about Sci-Twi is that look she gets gazing about campus sometimes. The way her eyes narrow and her lips turn, like she’s analyzing everything and almost angry at herself for not being able to figure it out… The rest of the time she’s always meek and unsociable, usually running from anyone or looking like she wants to crawl into a hole and hide. It’s like science and knowledge are the only things she wants…
Well, even if she isn’t stealing it, her device is still collecting it. And I want to know why…or what she plans to do with it. And like I told the girls, the only one who can help is totally unreachable.
I’m on my own here…but what exactly can I do? I’ve had a couple weeks now to research this and I can’t come up with anything, while a human I never met looks like she knows more about it than me…
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 14
We won the second event.
If this is how “being a winner” is supposed to feel, I’ll take “being a loser” any day.
Things got bad going into the match pretty quick. The Relay itself was insane. It was a combination archery against moving targets, roller derby, and finally a motocross challenge (now I know why we all had to be licensed to compete…). I thought this was a bit extreme for Equestria, let alone the human world, but that hardly matters. The point being is at one point we were having a commanding lead because Sci-Twi wasn’t doing well, and the rest of her team couldn't continue until she hit her part of the events. Applejack stepped in to give her a few pointers simply because she couldn’t stand it anymore and, well…she was “honest”, so she ponied-up. As a result, that device Sci-Twi has opened again and absorbed it…
But it was a lot worse this time.
That thing she built can’t contain the magic it stole. It started spitting it out in the form of “rifts”…rifts to Equestria, specifically…and to be more specific, the Everfree Forest. It spawned about four different portals full of man-eating giant plants. It nearly killed one of her teammates in a crash during the relay, and I would have gotten eaten myself if Rainbow Dash hadn’t popped in and saved me…
Well…a lot went on after that. Naturally everyone saw that, so “magic” is being thrown around school left and right now by the CPA students. It’s definitely not a secret to them anymore.
The one thing Principal Celestia wanted me to do…and I blew it. I never learned about it or how to control it, and so now they’re struggling to fend off Cinch from accusing them of cheating. Because of that, even if we win, Crystal Prep might say they didn’t really lose and the victory was invalid…
Yes, I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it means a lot to the students here. And this was my chance where I could do something for the students here after three years of tearing everyone apart. Something only I could do. Winning may mean nothing to Crystal Prep but it means a lot to my friends, and that makes it mean a lot to me.
But while I was stewing over all this, Sci-Twi walked up to us and confessed everything. She had been the one I’ve seen every other time, and she had specifically been trying to research magic at this school. No doubt she caught a glimpse or reading of what I did as a demon or the Dazzlings did and she’s been studying ever since. But then, right in the middle of everything, her device not only opened up and drained Rainbow Dash, but it broke open another one of those rifts right in front of me.
And…and I blew up at her.
There’s no way of putting it mildly. I haven’t been so angry at someone since…you-know-who.
I’m not even sure it was Sci-Twi Twilight I was mad at. I remember how I thought nothing more of magic than a means to an end. I understood nothing about how it worked or the power of friendship behind it…I just wanted it to make me feel powerful and get the feeling of being “safe” and “above everyone”. And I brought it into this world so carelessly. When I yelled at how irresponsible she was, how she didn’t know anything about magic, let alone how to stop it from opening rifts or give it back to my friends...
Somewhere deep down inside, I could see a flaming-haired demon in front of me.
Somehow…I felt by yelling at how stupid and foolish she was…I was somehow going back in time and telling the “old me” things I wished I had said to her long ago.
After it was done, Twilight had run off sobbing, and I had calmed down, Applejack came up to me. She said during that archery competition, when she was struggling to hit the target, Sour Sweet did nothing but go on and on about how she was ruining their chances. How she was messing everything up. Twilight actually burst into tears. She had to have felt only two inches tall… I know because, from unicorn to human, I’ve felt the same way and I’ve made dozens of others feel that way. Applejack said she helped her not for good sportsmanship but because it “wasn’t right”. This is supposed to be about fun and friendship; not about publicly humiliating your classmates.
And that really got me thinking. This whole time, maybe the real reason I grew to hate Twilight was because I saw so much of myself in her. Like she’s a reflection of aspects of who I used to be. The fact that she’s “in the image” of the individual who I’m always comparing myself to now as so much “better” only made it worse.
But…Twilight must have a miserable life. In that school…under that horrible woman…without a friend in the world... Maybe she wants to understand everything else about the world so much because she’s too scared to focus on herself or her own life. No one else ever gives her a single word of kindness or support. No one at that school cares whether she lives or dies. She’s the smartest student and all it earns is jealousy from everyone else.
Maybe I can’t figure out why magic is going haywire or how to give it back to my friends or get the portal open. Maybe Princess Twilight could and she’d solve everything in a few minutes. But one thing I know I could have done…that I should have done…is what all the other girls have been doing all along.
I could have been a friend to Twilight. I could have told her I know what it’s like to be alone and cling to the only thing I have going for me so hard that I hope it will eliminate any other need. That the world isn’t just like Crystal Prep Academy; there’s places in it where you’ll find people like the girls who will love and accept you for who you are. Who will believe in you whether or not you can do anything for them.
Right now, I don’t really care about the rifts or the magic or the Friendship Games or even the fact that the portal might never open again.
Right now…the only thing I want to do is tell Twilight I’m sorry.
Celestia, I can’t wait until these games are over tomorrow…
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 15
Truthfully, you would think after everything that’s happened to me, I should learn to be on the lookout of what all can happen in just one day. Or that I should believe more things are possible…
Diary, you’re probably getting tired of me saying things like this, but…let’s see if I can recap it all.
We were all sick to death of the games by the time the final event got here. Between the portals, the magic, how the competition was getting on everyone’s nerves, and, most of all, how this was putting off getting a chance to talk to Twilight again, we all wanted this to be over. I almost didn’t care if we lost at this point; just so long as it ended. It seemed easy enough. “Capture the Flag”. No chance of ponying-up at that point for me, right? (Especially since I was the only one left who could still pull it off…)
Then I spotted it.
As the teams were getting ready, Cinch went over to Twilight. She and the rest of the students surrounded her like they were doing a hazing ritual. And when she came out, I saw her starting to go for that device she made…and it clicked.
Cinch knew we were using magic. She wanted her school to win at any cost. At the field yesterday there had to have been a time she spotted Twilight using her device. And that look in her eye when she took the field…that same look I noticed before…that she wanted to learn more and understand more no matter what…
I saw her move to open the device. I tried to tell her to stop, but…even if she heard me, I don’t think it would have mattered…
What happened next was…unsettlingly familiar.
Now I got to see what it was like from the “other side”.
Twilight was filled with all of the magic she gained, but she lacked any “friendship” behind it. Anything to put it in its “pure” form. It corrupted her and turned her into what I can only describe as a dark alicorn goddess…a “Midnight Sparkle”, in a sense… Everything good and virtuous about Princess Twilight warped and twisted into a sickening parody of itself.
But she was worse. That look in her eye I had only glimpsed before…now it filled her vision. It was pure insanity. She started literally ripping this world into pieces. Her face was filled with nothing but desire. Her voice was warped…no longer meek or frightened but now reveling, but also insatiably greedy. Hungering for more knowledge. Hungering for more understanding. Willing to rip apart anything that got in between her and what she wanted…
Like I said…unsettlingly familiar.
I was scared of her, to be honest. Not just because she had the power to shatter space and time like a dish. Not just because it was as if I was looking at Princess Twilight corrupted into something ghastly and evil. It was because I was looking into a mirror again. It was because I knew what it felt like…
But I think it was because of that reason that I didn’t run in fear.
Somewhere beneath that madness, beneath that laughter, beneath that power radiating off of her…I knew she was still the same frightened, timid, shy student I had seen that first day. At that moment, she was so “drunk” or “high” on the power of magic that she was using it to drive off any negative feeling or doubt she had, but I knew if it was gone…she’d still be the same lonely, sad girl I had seen before. When I looked at her like that…I was able to feel it again. The same feeling I had last night when I thought about her again. In spite of how monstrous and evil she looked, I knew that wasn’t “her”.
I knew who really needed someone to save her at that moment was Twilight herself.
I tried calling out to her; telling her I knew what she was doing. That I knew exactly what she felt like right now. Most of all…that this wasn’t going to make her happy. I know now that even if I had conquered Equestria that night, I’d be as miserable as before. My journal made that obvious. No matter how much power or dominion I had, I still felt helpless, vulnerable, weak, and alone. For a moment, she almost looked like she was thinking about what I was telling her…but whether it was because she still thought I was angry at her or she was too intoxicated with magic, she didn’t back down.
So I got an idea. I saw all of this unleashed magic had restored the girls. So if Twilight’s device had gathered their power and given it to her…then what was to say it couldn’t do the same to someone else?
I was afraid for a moment. Afraid that I’d bring out the same demon as before. Maybe there’d be two monsters trying to destroy this world instead of just one…
So as I used it, I kept holding onto the same feeling I had in my heart…
The only thing I want to do right now is make Twilight understand she has a friend.
It wasn’t anything like the previous transformation. Before I felt like I had lost all control. That now I was just a mad creature that acted without thinking; that obeyed passions and ignored all else. This time, I felt fully in control. My head was clearer, because all the little nagging voices inside me that were trying to tempt me into hating Twilight or wanting to see her beaten down or even just to run away in fear of her were silenced.
I felt…pure.
I had more power coursing through me than ever before. The sort of power I used to imagine Princess Celestia possessed. And yet, at that moment, when I finally was the most powerful…I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about was trying to help that wretched, miserable creature in front of me…
Even when I spiked her rage by sealing her rifts…even when she attacked me with her full hate at how I was cutting off her passion…even when she began to cackle in delight because she was beating me…I didn’t hate her. I only wanted to help her. And that’s why I knew I had to win. Not because I wanted the glory of “smacking her down”, but because it was something I had to do…both for this world as well as for Twilight.
I probably still would have lost, though…if not for some unexpected help: Spike.
Her only friend.
He ran out to her while she was reveling in her power and moments from victory. He called her, and when she looked down at him…that “ravenous glare” vanished. For just a few instants, she went back to being the same wide-eyed student I met a few days earlier.
Spike undoubtedly saved my life today…probably all of this world and possibly Equestria with it.
I used the chance…not because I wanted to hit her when her guard was down, but because I knew this was the only moment I would get to stop her…to save her. I overwhelmed her. I heard her cry out. I knew if I pushed harder I could slam all of the magic back out of her again…
I didn’t want it to end like that, though.
I meant to save her. I wanted to start that now…show her I wasn’t doing this because I wanted her hurt and whimpering. I was doing this because I wanted to show her a better way to live.
For a moment, she looked like she once did. In spite of her flowing hair, twisted horn, and black wings…she shrank and cowered away from me as if I was going to slap her as soon as I got close enough. I offered her my hand. I told her I’d show her a “better way” if she took it.
She hesitated still, but…I like to think, in that moment, she remembered everything the others had done for her that I neglected to do. Realized that there was such thing as individuals who would care about her and be there for her. That she didn’t need this power or to understand everything to survive. And she took it.
Well, just as I was, Twilight is back to her old self again. She apologized to everyone, but I know for a fact she’s worried for nothing.
They forgave me after all.
And unlike me, she had people coercing her on every side all along. I think even the principal and vice-principal realized it hadn’t been her idea to release the magic in her device in the first place… And wouldn’t you know it…her classmates owned up to it. While they definitely placed most of the blame on Cinch, and probably rightly so, they admitted they had only cared about winning themselves and joined in on it. They also pointed out that Cinch had been blackmailing Twilight all along to even compete in the games. By the end of everything, even Dean Cadance had turned on her.
Principal Celestia suggested that both teams be declared the winners. That in and of itself was enough to enrage Cinch. After all, just like the school philosophy, it’s only good if the achievement is her school’s reputation and that alone. But there was no way she was going to be able to complain to the school board about students using “magic” in the first place and be taken seriously (this is a magic-less world, after all)…and after running and hiding, abandoning her own students, and then her blackmail exposed, there wasn’t another student or staff member at Crystal Prep who would back her up. She ended up having to settle for walking away without a word, and Dean Cadance accepted the medals on her behalf.
But you know what? In spite of the fact I got a few seconds to “feel like an alicorn”, in spite of the fact we’re on good terms and finally “won” the Friendship Games, what really made me happy at the end of all of this was just seeing Twilight smiling. To know that she knew she wasn’t alone anymore and that she had people who cared about her.
As corny as this sounds…no, as corny as I used to think it sounded…I guess the real “magic of friendship” only comes out when you share it with someone else.
Heh…boy do I envy that princess of mine.
Year of Celestia 1004, Midfall, 16
I guess this silly gold-painted pewter medal does kind of grow on you after carrying it around a bit.
Hey, it definitely feels better than a tiara with a Magic Element attached to it.
Anyway, everything’s winding down. There’s always a “post-games” celebration that our school usually skipped out on. Why hang around to just let Crystal Prep rub our faces in it after all, you know? But…this one was better, obviously. No one was unhappy or glaring daggers at each other anymore. Everyone was in a much better mood. I suppose big magical threats nearly destroying the school have that going for it at least. :)
Twilight’s with us now. She announced she had fast-tracked her transfer to CHS. I’m actually rather happy about that. Now that I’m no longer blinded by my own problems, I see she’s a pretty nice girl. Unlike her classmates, who were just as obsessed over their own personal betterment, she never became cold or callous to other people. I think she may have had the “seeds of friendship” in her all along but, unlike Princess Twilight, she never had anyone "help them grow".
If nothing else, I’m glad she’s here instead of Crystal Prep. Someone like her may not be Princess Twilight Sparkle, but she’s a smart and kind person who deserves to be surrounded by people who will build her up…not live her life alone and fearful. And it looks like we’re back up to seven again.
Well, eight including Spike…who it looks like that magic “knocked something loose” in regards to being able to talk…
On that note, I never did get a response from Princess Twilight, but
Hold on. Someone’s coming.
…
I got interrupted. I’ll finish now.
I never did get a response from Princess Twilight, but I don’t think I need to anymore. I’ve realized by now what’s behind the magic. It might not be something scientific, but it makes sense. The true power of magic lies in friendship. The reason it came out before was because we were all working together as a band doing something we loved and used it to share each other’s friendship through. But that just acted as the “catalyst”, a way in which the magic was able to get into the rest of us. Now it happens whenever we demonstrate it in our own way.
Whether it’s because they parallel Equestria or by their own virtue, the girls embody the Elements of Harmony. So naturally when they show that element “off”, it causes the magic to appear.
It really wasn’t that hard to learn, but…I think I was short-circuiting myself all along. I don’t think I was really trying to see it to begin with because I expected Princess Twilight to come do it instead. I didn’t really see that there was any way to deal with an “Equestrian threat” on my own until now…or, rather, I didn’t try to see it. I may not be the monster I once was but I’m still having trouble seeing myself as the “hero”. I saw myself as part of the group…someone who Princess Celestia might be proud of one day…but I don’t think I really believed I could ever be the same as Twilight or Celestia.
At first, what I saw in the mirror was a “promise” to me; something I’d eventually get like an inheritance and that I demanded as my due. Then it became an ideal that I could never reach but only aspire to; something that shows what my nature could have been and I’ll have to settle for “good enough” now.
For the first time, I’m starting to see that alicorn in the mirror as something I can choose to become.
Maybe even something I will become.
Oh, by the way…
The reason I got interrupted before was because of Dean Cadance coming up to me. I think I got a touch of “Sci-Twi” myself there as I kind of wanted to squirm away, but it was too late. I tried to act friendly and nonchalant at first.
So you can imagine how I felt when the first thing she said to me was: “Sunset Shimmer. You started that rumor that caused me to break up with my boyfriend my senior year, didn’t you?”
After about two seconds of “writhing” I started to stumble over an apology, but she actually just laughed and said not to worry about it. As mad as she was at the time, she thought about it after the fact and she realized the two of them never would have worked out. He was far too obsessed with winning at their own sporting events and he ended up being too rough and arrogant. Her attention ended up shifting to a person she met at her own “round” of the Friendship Games: Shining Armor for Crystal Prep Academy. She noted he actually had pride in the school itself during those games; cheering on his classmates and the school itself rather than just milking his own glory for all it was worth.
After they both graduated, they met again while job hunting, and after finding out her interest in education he said it would be nice if they had an instructor like her at Crystal Prep Academy…someone actually interested in building up the students as people and not just helping them succeed academically. He mentioned his own little sister was doing well in studies but was socially awkward, and she would be starting there soon and love it if someone like her was there.
Long story short, she ended up being an instructor and was currently engaged to him, and as for his little sister…apparently she had just recently joined our group of friends. :)
She further said she had known it was me for a while because she had hardly arrived at Canterlot High School when Vice-Principal Luna accidentally began to leak the school’s recent history to her, and eventually got the whole story. She encouraged me; saying that just because things don’t always happen the way we would have wanted them doesn’t mean we can’t end up with an outcome better than we imagined. She mentioned if Cinch hadn’t blackmailed Twilight she never would have met me or the girls. If Twilight hadn’t opened that device which warped her, she might have spent the rest of her life a timid, shy introvert who would have sacrificed her future happiness on an individual educational program. She also assumed (and assumed right) that if I hadn’t tried to “rule the school” myself all those years ago, I’d never be the individual I am now.
“I don’t think anyone ‘gets it perfect’ the first time around, Sunset. The important thing is to just keep moving forward. After all, if people couldn’t grow from their mistakes, they’d never grow at all.”
She left soon after, but she said in passing that she wanted to thank me. Until now she encouraged students as best as she could, but she says after seeing me out there it might work better to get the students to start encouraging each other. I’m actually glad she’s headed back to Crystal Prep Academy if that’s true. Goodness knows that if Cinch is still running the show there, the students need someone to encourage them to be more than competitors.
I guess nothing to do now except settle in and wait for Princess Twilight to finally get the message. The portal’s open again, but…I think I’ll hold off on that for now.
Who knows? Maybe one of these days, Princess Twilight will ask me to come in and help her out.
But until then…I think I need to start planning how we’re going to introduce her to, well, her. It should make for a noteworthy diary entry to say the least...