It had been an exhausting day. First the fire, then seeing Melody hurt, then me rushing all over Canterlot trying to help. I’d found Strong Wing and told him. He’d rushed off immediately. Then I got the things Melody had wanted.
Then I got her flowers, a card, a plant, a cake, cookies, juice, a stuffed animal, a card because I’d forgotten about the first card, takeout from Mangiatoia, six books, twelve magazines, two newspapers, and a “Get Well” balloon. I only stopped because I’d run out of bits.
She’d been overwhelmed by it all. I didn’t mean to overwhelm her but she had been. It was another awkward moment. I’d popped into her hospital room with all that without seeing if anypony was there.
There were ponies there, though. Strong Wing, her commander, a few ponies from her squad or unit or whatever. I got names but I was just so embarrassed and out of sorts. I’d dropped it all off and made some pathetic excuse about needing to get to work.
That, of course, actually wasn’t a lie. I’d gotten so caught up in the moment that I was, in fact, late for work.
Without any energy, I pulled the door of the Maire Contraire open and wandered in. It was slammed. Of course it was. It was Saturday evening.
When I went behind the bar Dolly was glaring at me. “Sunny Day! I give you a promotion and on your first day you’re la—Sunny what’s wrong?”
First I sniffled. Then my eyes teared up. I threw my hooves around Dolly and sobbed, “Melody got hurt!” The weight of it all just came down on me all at once.
“What?! What happened?” She hugged me tightly.
Between the hitches in my voice and whimpers, I managed to explain the whole situation. Dolly just listened and held me. Once I was done, she pulled me back into her office and sat me down.
Softly, she stroked my mane. “It’s okay, sweetie. I understand. That sounds extremely frightening but she is going to be okay, right? The doctor said she’d be okay?”
“Yes, but what if she wasn’t!”
“But she is.”
“But what if she wasn’t! She just ran into a burning building to save ponies. Strangers. Who does that?”
Dolly nosed between my ears. “Royal guards and fireponies? They save ponies like you and me. That is what they’re trained for.”
“But I don’t want to lose my friend.”
“Well, Sunny, that might happen but it isn’t likely. I understand you’ve never had to face anything like this before. Young ponies always do sooner or later though and it is scary. Mortality is scary. It’s okay to be scared, though. You did good. You took care of your friend.”
I sighed and wiped my eyes. “I made a fool of myself.”
Dolly squeezed me. “No. You got carried away but did a nice thing. She’ll have plenty to do for a while. You should go see her tomorrow.”
My head shook. “I made all of her royal guard ponies think we’re fillyfoolers.”
The older mare tweaked my ear.
“Ow!”
“Sunny Day! First of all, you are a fillyfooler, or a half-fillyfooler at least! Second of all, when did you ever care what ponies thought about you?”
“I don’t! But Melody does! She doesn’t want ponies to think she’s easy like me.”
Dolly snorted. “I doubt anypony would suspect a pony that receives a get-well package like that of being easy. One night stands don’t do that. Right?”
It was hard to argue with that. “Right. You’re right. I just… I don’t want to do the wrong thing. Melody isn’t like most ponies and I just want to be her friend.”
“Then be her friend. Now, tell me honestly, how much did you spend on all of that?”
I met her serious look and replied, “Every bit I had. It only dawned on me to stop because I couldn’t pay for the movie projector I was trying to buy for her.”
Dolly squeezed me again. “You’re such a sweet filly. I’ll reimburse you. Now if you feel up to it, clean your face and come to work. If you don’t, that is fine, too. You can go upstairs and sleep on my couch. Just try to calm down a bit.”
“Why would you do that?” I asked softly.
“Sunny, the world is an amazing place. You need your bits and you spent every last one on your friend because you felt bad and were worried. You wanted her to feel better and you didn’t think about yourself. Well, you’re my employee and I don’t want the lesson you take from this to be that the world punishes us for doing good things. It doesn’t.”
Dolly patted me on the head and continued, “When we can help, we should. When it is within our power, we are obligated to. I can afford to help you make your friend feel better, so I will. Simple as that. Now, it is busy out there and I need to get to work. If you want to stay with me tonight you can.”
She turned to go and I caught her tail. “I love you. You’re the best pony in the world and you’ve never, ever been anything but good to me,” I said softly.
The older mare smiled and replied, “I love you, too. You’re a good filly. Now seriously, don’t get me started crying. Busy night tonight. We’ll chat more later, okay?”
“Okay,” I repeated before letting her go.
The world doesn’t punish us for doing good things. Melody had done a good thing and gotten hurt but not too hurt. She’d get better and those ponies had lived. Maybe we should all do more good things. Maybe I should do more good things. Things that matter. Things that would let me help ponies like Dolly helped me.
I wiped my eyes. Melody was going to be okay. I was going to be okay. Right now, though, Dolly needed her new junior-apprentice sodajerk and I wasn’t going to let her down. It was time to get to work.
☼
Melody’s hospital room wasn’t so bad. She had it all to herself since the other bed was currently empty. Then there was the fact that I’d decorated it up a little bit. Emphasis on a little bit. I didn’t go overboard this time.
The mare was still laughing and shaking her head. “You are really going the extra mile for somepony you barely know.”
“No, I’m going the extra mile for my friend. Come on, I’m trying really hard here! I felt like such an idiot after yesterday. I’m really sorry about that. I hope I didn’t get you into any kind of trouble with your general.”
Melody snickered and shook her head. “No. The lieutenant just thought you were sweet. I’m pretty sure Strong Wing thinks we’re together, though. Which is fine. After yesterday you’re his number one pony.”
“Why?”
She snorted. “Why? You’re not a royal guard and you didn’t run away scared. You followed the ambulance, you waited here for me, you informed him, and you brought me all kinds of things. He thinks you’re great.”
“Oh… well, that is nice of him. I think you’re great for what you did. Will you get a medal?”
“A medal? I suppose so. Some kind of bravery award. It is nice but that isn’t why I did it or why I do my job.”
I settled into the chair next to her. “Do you do it because you can and it is the right thing to do?”
Melody blinked and stared at me. “Yes… that is exactly why. How did you know?”
“You and Dolly seem a lot alike. I don’t do anything like that. I just make fizzy drinks.”
With a wink, Melody replied, “You took care of me and didn’t have to. Besides, somepony has to make fizzy drinks. Could you imagine a world where we couldn’t get fizzy drinks? What would be the point of saving anypony then?”
I smirked and then laughed. “Fine, fine. I get it.” I picked up one of the Cosmarepolitans I’d purchased for her. “Okay, do you want to learn 30 ways to please your stallion or hear about the latest news in fashion?”
Melody’s nose wrinkled. “Seriously, those are my options? I guess read the bit about stallions. I might as well hear about how other mares live.”
“Oh, we live well, thank you!” I flipped to the page in question and cleared my throat. “Number one. Get a fresh tomato, cut out the center, and…”
☼
Monday came a little too quickly for me. In the past I hadn’t really cared too much but now that I had a job, school, and a friend in the hospital, my social card was pretty full. Still, it wasn’t busy in a bad way, just a different way.
I was also having different thoughts about school. Melody’s experience had me thinking a lot. Not about where I was going to be tonight but where I’d be next week or next month. How about in a year? I’d never thought like that before.
“Sunny Day?”
Who? Me? I blinked and found Princess Celestia staring at me. The rest of the class, too. I’d zoned out during the lecture. That was probably a mistake.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Are you paying attention?”
I shook my head. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”
“I thought not, but that is okay. I’m sure you have your reasons. I asked if you could explain an unethical way to use your magic. Individually, that is. Not magic in general. Could you do that for us, please?”
“Yes, ma’am. That is pretty easy. My magic is heat- and fire- based. Pretty much, I can’t think of any ethical reason to use it at all. So, more or less, I only have one rule: don’t point your horn at a pony! It seems so simple I’m not sure I need the class.”
Princess Celestia smiled. “It is quite straightforward with your magic. Either you use it for bad purposes or you don’t use it at all? I think that is your view. Never point it at a pony... Cute. What about ponies whose magic is more subtle?”
That was, more or less, my view, yeah. “How do you mean?”
"What if a unicorn has magic that could influence the way a pony felt about another pony and used it on them without their knowledge? What then?"
Did that sort of magic exist? “That would be unethical.”
"Now, what if those two ponies were a wife and a husband having a fight, and that unicorn's magic simply made them remember why they got married in the first place?"
“Then it would be ethical?”
"And what if by falling in love again they didn't resolve their issue, so they only fight again later because the unicorn didn't actually help the root of the problem?"
“Unethical?”
"But what if they are stronger in the second fight and come through it on the other side still together because of their renewed love due to that magic spell?"
“Ethical? Princess, this is really confusing.”
She smiled brightly at me. “Yes. Then what is the harm in having a class to at least discuss it and help ponies to think in those terms?”
Well, now she had me. “Ethical?” I said with a smile.
Princess Celestia laughed softly and just shook her head. “I’m going to take that to mean you understand my point.”
“Yes, Princess, I do.”
“Very good. We’ll stop there for the day. Sunny, could you remain behind a moment?”
Oops. Well, perhaps I should have been a little less honest. “Yes, ma’am.”
The rest of the class cleared out leaving me alone with the princess. As in the ruler of our entire kingdom. The alicorn. The one that raised the sun and moon. The most magical pony alive. All of the bravado drained out of me and I just stared at her.
“Sunny, would you like me to give you a pass on this class? I can do that,” she said softly.
A pass? “I have to take this to graduate, Princess.”
She smiled and waved a hoof. “I know. I’ll give you a passing score. As in, you pass the class but you don’t have to come anymore. You clearly don’t want to.”
She could do that? Of course she could do that! That would be great! One less course. One less stupid lecture about things that didn’t make sense. Things I’d never understand. Things I didn’t need.
Yes. Yes, this would work… but why? Why would she do that? Did she not want me here?
“Sunny? Do you want me to pass you?” she repeated.
“Yes… but you can’t.”
“I can.”
“No, you can’t. I mean, you can! But you can’t.”
The princess tilted her head. “And why not?”
“I haven’t earned it.”
“But you don’t want to be here.”
No, I didn’t. But I’d also been learning that adults had to occasionally do things they didn’t want to do. Like work for bits. “Sometimes ponies have to do things they don’t want to do. Maybe I don’t need to be here. Maybe I do. I wasn’t too keen on learning math either, to be honest. Do you want to give me a pass?”
Princess Celestia shook her head. “No. I find you funny and refreshing. Most ponies don’t look their monarch in the eye and tell me they weren’t paying attention.”
I felt my face burn red with embarrassment. “I’m so, so sorry, Princess! I’ve just got a lot on my mind. It isn’t that you’re not interesting—”
“It isn’t?”
“Okay! I’m sorry, you aren’t! It totally isn’t interesting. I don’t get it because all of my spells are similar other than my little utility ones. But I swear, today I wasn’t ignoring you because of that. I really do have a lot on my mind.” Wait. Sunny Day, did you just tell the princess she was uninteresting and that you were ignoring her? Yes, yes you did. Good job!
The princess started laughing and just shook her head. “Yes, you’re most certainly fun. You should stay in my class for that reason alone and you just might learn something, too. What is on your mind that has you ignoring me?”
I sighed and shrugged. Should I really burden the princess with my trivial life? She had asked, and she seemed to like honesty… “I just… my friend got hurt. She’s a royal guard and she got hurt saving some ponies. I’d never seen anypony get hurt like that. They were in danger and she just ran right in to save them. And it made me think about myself.”
“I’m sorry about your friend. How does it make you think about yourself?”
“Poorly? Maybe? I mean, I make fizzy drinks and go to school. When I’m not doing that I go on dates. That doesn’t matter at all, right? I mean, I’m not doing good! I’m not saving ponies. And my magic?
“Princess, all I can do is blow things up! What am I supposed to do with that? It is clear that I’m just supposed to keep my magic to myself. So I get frustrated sometimes coming here. Like… why bother? Just don’t use major magic. Keep it to the minor stuff that foals could do.”
The princess stood there and listened intently. It was like she actually cared. Finally, she asked, “Don’t you think a young pony should start small?”
I blinked. “What?”
“Shouldn’t you start small? I was small once. Twice, actually. You start small. Yes, today you’re making fizzy drinks, but tomorrow you might own a fizzy drink company. And is it not in fashion for young ponies to go on dates these days? How else are you supposed to learn what kind of pony you’d like to be with?
“Why do you have to do great things today? Aren’t you building a foundation so that you can do them tomorrow?”
“I… I don’t know if I am. Of course, I’ve never thought about it that way. I mean, Dolly… Dolly is the owner of the bar I work at… Dolly is training me. I started washing glasses, now I’m making fizzy drinks. But Melody does good now.”
The princess chuckled. “Well, unless something has changed in the last minute, you are Sunny Day, not Melody. Melody grew up different than you, I would bet. She might have been ready sooner. Sunny, don’t rush into too much responsibility. There will be plenty of time for that. Go at your own pace.”
“And my magic?”
“That is a tougher question, my little pony. Magic can be fickle in how it manifests itself. Even I do not profess to understand it fully. Some unicorns can barely use more than a few utility spells. Some have the endless potential to learn them all, but cannot muster the strength for major magic. You have that power, but only in a narrow way. What kind of magic would you like to have instead?”
That was not an easy question. I’d never bothered to think about it. Then it hit me. It should have been obvious! “How about the power to heal ponies? That magic exists, right? I could use it to help Melody?”
Princess Celestia took a soft breath and her head bobbed. “It does, Sunny, but that is some of the most powerful, difficult, and taxing major magic in existence. Even I struggle with it. Do you know how rare it is for a unicorn to be able to use even the basic spells from that source?”
“No, but should that stop me from trying if I really wanted to?”
“No, but are you prepared for the potential of disappointment?”
“I’m not sure, but I’d rather try and not succeed than do nothing. Dolly says that if we can help we’re obligated to. Maybe I can use the magic, maybe I can’t. If I can, though, don’t I have to?”
“Dolly sounds quite wise. Very well. You and I will practice together after class for half an hour. We can see if you can find the spark within you. If not, perhaps I can give you some clarity on your own magic.”
I gasped. “You’re going to tutor me? Why?”
“Because Dolly says that if we can help we’re obligated to. I can help, so I will. Now, let’s get started. We’ve already cut into our time today.”
Quickly, I nodded. “Yes, Princess! Thank you, Princess!”