A Friend In Need

by sopchoppy


11 - Repercussions (Part 2)

Twilight trotted along the paved path, wanting space, but hoping to avoid drawing the attention a full gallop would have garnered. She knew without looking that this exercise in subtlety was pointless. Since the battle, there had always been at least a dozen eyes trained on her at any moment. Given gossip’s noted ability to exceed the speed of light and break causality, she was quite sure the fact that she was upset had already reached the far side of the planet and likely already spanned the distance to Equestria as well.

She came to a stop on top of a small stone bridge that spanned a narrow neck of the lake, noting her watchers’ attempts at not looking like they were concerned with her sudden movement and had just found their new positions more favorable by coincidence. She reared up and placed her hooves upon the stone railing, looking out over the lake. As she stared at the water, trees, and the towering buildings beyond she felt a wellspring of snark bubble up from the lake of confused emotions swirling around in her head.



“Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that making friends can imperil the universe and that sometimes friends, even ponies you thought were the pinnacle of wisdom and intelligence, can be stupid enough to entrust the fundamental concepts of friendship and magic to an anti-social shut in, without asking!

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle
Princess of What-The-Flank-Were-You-Thinking

PS: Nice touch sending your sister to break the news. Perhaps there exists another set of elements you forgot to mention? Betrayal, Deception, Manipulation, Selfishness, and Egoism with a sixth hidden element of Cowardice that only appears when you bring the others together?”

Twilight’s face contorted, the snark and disdain in it replaced with a wistful, longing sadness.

“PPS: Help.”



Twilight took a deep breath, bringing a hoof to her chest, and let it back out. She wasn’t sure if she felt a little better now that she let that out, or if she was just confusing resignation with catharsis. Part of her was thankful at least that Spike wasn’t there to send this particular letter off until she cooled down, while another part was equally resentful of the same fact. She was just starting to theorize about what would be required to craft a trans-dimensional message flame spell, which was in no way an intentional attempt to not think about everything that she should be thinking about, when Taylor walked up beside her.

“So, I’ve got about thirty-five tons of bugs under my control at the moment. I’ve found that a large number of problems are resolved with a sufficient application of insects,” Taylor said casually, cocking her head questioningly. The subtle background noise from the insects in the area increased noticeably for an instant before fading away again.

The sudden image of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia swarmed under a mountain of bugs startled a anxious laugh from her.

“Ha! Hic, I, well it might be satisfying, but I don’t think it would really solve anything. I’m not sure it’s something that can be solved really. I just have to accept it somehow, but I’m not sure I can,” Twilight replied, her wings fidgeting nervously.

Taylor stepped closer and threw one arm across Twilight’s withers, pressing against her in a warm side-hug.

“I think we’ve had a conversation like this before. Sunrise instead of sunset. When you can’t fix what is bothering you, work on something else. Go with your strengths.” Twilight smiled a little and leaned into the hug, grateful for the contact and encouragement. Then frowned as an unwelcome thought intruded.

“What if my strengths are the problem?”

Taylor, even through her mask, managed to convey incredulity. “Ok, I don’t know what you and Princess Luna discussed, but what you just said makes no sense. In a month you’ve done more for our planet than anyone I can think of has in a lifetime.”

“But-“ Twilight started to speak but Taylor interrupted her.

“No. Whatever this is about, you’re overthinking it. It doesn’t matter how strong you are or where your strength lies, what matters is what you do with the strength you have. What matters is who you are underneath that strength. You’re Twilight Sparkle, that’s enough for me.” She then flicked a lighter in her left hand and a small flame burst into a fireball that Flame Dancer jumped out of before extinguishing itself. The costumed girl wasted no time before hugging Twilight as well. Before Twilight could respond Taylor spoke up again. “She made me promise to call her as soon as I was done talking, because apparently it interferes with proper hugging.”

“Shh,” Flame Dancer whispered.

As the three of them stood quietly together and watched the last of the red fade from the sky, Twilight let the worries that were consuming her drift away. They would be waiting for her, as sure as Celestia would rise in the morning, but for now, in this moment, the only thought that remained was this: it’s nice to have friends.

Hours later, Twilight stood looking out of a large glass window at the city and park stretching out below her. The suite of rooms that had been provided to their…whatever you called the semi-official diplomatic hodgepodge and honor guard, was magnificently furnished and quite lovely. Twilight had found, however, that while efforts had obviously been made to try and modify things to better suit Twilight and Luna’s physiological differences from humans, there was only so much that could be done on short notice. Every passage and doorway was too narrow for a quadruped to turn around in without risking paintings or knocking into the walls. When combined with a ceiling height more suited to manors and palaces, it left her feeling like she was looking into a funhouse reflection of a noble’s house rather than the real thing. No matter how awkward the proportions were for her, however, she was sure they were worse for Luna. She was quite sure she had heard some old-equestrian curses while Luna was bathing that had probably peeled the paint from the room’s walls.

Still she was impressed by the thoughtfulness their hosts had put into the arrangements, especially the arrangements. Nearly every flat surface held at least one tastefully designed bouquet, many of which featured daisies prominently. She had been disappointed in the taste after longing for them for so long. Her first bite had been marred by a harsh chemical residue that she discovered covered most of the flowers. Some kind of preservative possibly that the hotel attendants had not thought of removing given the rarity of flowers in human diets perhaps. She apparently hadn’t hidden her grimace at the taste well, and she was afraid she had offended or insulted the dignified and polite attendant the hotel had assigned her given the quickly disguised shock that had passed over his face. He reminded Twilight of Celestia’s royal scheduling advisor and she wondered if a “butler” was the human equivalent of the title.

After she had given the butler leave and rinsed the flowers thoroughly, she found them a pale echo of the daisies they so closely resembled from her home. They lacked the distinctive zest of their Equestrian counterparts. It was the thought that counted, however, and it had not stopped her from consuming three of the most artfully made arrangements. Even a pale echo was a taste closer to home than she had since she arrived. Besides, it would be rude to let all of that food and effort go to waste.

She had steadfastly held onto her conviction to not disturb the beautiful bookcase full of what looked like delightfully thick and musty tomes of human literature in the fear that if she started, she would be unable to stop before dawn and the obligations that she would need to be fresh and ready for.

Just like that, her carefully planned innocuous musings had led her right back into deep breathing territory. There was simply no way the situation made any sense to her. She felt both too small and too big for what was going to be asked of her.

Either the humans were going to be negotiating an inter-species and extra-Equestrian treaty with a glorified librarian or they were going to be treating with an embodiment of the universe itself. Both ideas were patently ridiculous on their face. The whole idea of Twilight Sparkle as she now understood it was beyond ridiculous. She would bring, at the best, incompetence or, worse still, ruin to whatever she was involved in. What was she even doing here? What had Cele- No, deep-breath, deep-

“Twilight?” The soft voice of Flame Dancer from behind her caused Twilight to leap and twirl in the air, spreading her wings in an instinctual response to gain altitude. The result was two broken vases and a slightly bruised human and pony in an uncomfortable tangle on the floor. Twilight groaned and managed to untwine her legs from Flame Dancer’s. The human girl took the opportunity to rearrange herself into a cross-legged seating position that looked anything but comfortable to Twilight’s equine eyes. Before she could think any more on it, Flame Dancer’s hand found its way to the back of her neck and started a firm massage that drove that and, any other thought, out of her head for the next several minutes.

“You’re not going to mess up you know,” Flame Dancer said after slowly easing off the massage and turning it into a one-armed embrace.

“…What?” Twilight intelligently replied to the non-sequitur.

“You’re not going to mess up,” the girl beside her repeated. “You worry about it all the time. From the moment I first meet you, I’ve felt you worrying about it. The only time you’re not worrying is when you’re doing, and every time you’re doing, well, you’re doing just fine.”

“That’s…that’s not true. I’m not…I wasn’t prepared for this! Any of this. It’s too much for me and people keep dying or getting hurt, or cities I show up in get attacked by crazies and monsters! Come to think of it, I’m quite sure Celestia’s endorsement is the only reason I wasn’t run out of Ponyville long ago. Even before I came here I was a walking disaster. The Princess should have used the Elements on me! Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, wheel-hating unicorns driven mad by dark magic, Jack, Leviathan, the Simurgh? Do I somehow unconsciously call monsters to me like an autistic pied piper of the Apocalypse? Are they just the introductory act to the destruction I’ll one day reap on my own, wholly un-assisted?!? Maybe my special talent is really destruction? I certainly destroyed the building I was in when I got my cutie-mark.” Twilight was halfway to standing again when she felt Flame Dancer’s grip on her neck tighten and her entire weight come down across her back. Her hooves slid out from under her and she landed on her barrel with an audible “ooph” that dazed her long enough for the girl to swing a leg over her back and seat herself completely on top of Twilight. Before Twilight gathered herself, Flame Dancer went back to working the knots out of the muscles of her friend’s neck.

“Stop that. Stop doing that to yourself. You’re the most wonderful pony or person I know. Just because bad things have happened to you or around you, that doesn’t make you bad. And they only happen so much around you because I’ve never seen you turn away from someone in need. Even if you don’t think you can help, you always try anyway. You’re always there. The monsters aren’t following you Twilight, you’re chasing them down.”

“No…I, I mean…you’re just saying that because I broke y-”

“Shh. Just listen to me, ok?” she asked as she worked her hands through Twilight’s mane. “I know you worry about that too. I’ve seen the looks you’ve given me when you thought I wouldn’t notice. After we fought the Simurgh, after you talked with Luna. I, I am different. There’s no way I couldn’t be a different person from who I was and be safe to be around. You healed a hole in me that was filled with ashes and pain and put love and acceptance in its place. I’m not that girl any more. She’s gone, but I remember her and I remember how she thought and there’s nothing she wanted more than what you gave her-me. I have friends. I’m loved and cared for and I love and care for them in return.” Flame Dancer took a deep slow breath and let it out, closing her eyes as a smile spread across her face. “If I concentrate, I can feel it. I can feel you and Taylor. I can feel Princess Luna and the others. I can feel them caring, and worrying, and bickering, playing. I have friends and it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever felt and you’re the one that showed me it was there, just waiting for me in the light.”

Flame Dancer took another breath and let it out before continuing in a somewhat lighter tone. “So stop putting my friend down. Stop digging for the dark parts of yourself and stop straining so hard to hear the bad voices that live inside of you. Because you’ll find them. I don’t think anyone lives without them, but the dark is so small next to your light Twilight. I’ve seen it. You’re so bright it hurts to look at and I still can’t turn away. As for the voices, you showed me that they’re no match for the voices of your friends when you’re willing to listen to them.”

Twilight released the breath that she’d been holding, let her friend’s words soak into her, and felt some of the tension that had been building up inside her unwind. There was no doubt that Flame Dancer was unbelievably biased when it came to her, possibly unhealthfully so. At the same time there was no doubting the sincerity of the girl. There was no duplicity in her, something Twilight was sure was true both before and after her exposure to the Elements. Flame Dancer was right about one thing. Even if she couldn’t trust herself, she could trust her friends. They wouldn’t let her fall. And quite possibly she could convince one or two of them to help her practice her speech tonight so she wouldn’t look like an idiot tomorrow.

Twilight smiled. She might not be ready to take on cosmic responsibility, but lecturing a captive audience? Yeah, she could do that.

“Flame Dancer?”

“Hmm?”



“Find me some note cards.”