Framed

by Princess Glitzy

Prologue

This day was a calm one. Everything had finally settled down. The sky had returned to normal. The vines had disappeared. Equestria was at peace, something harder to find each and every day. Everypony was able to go about their day, happily.

But, one mare could only stare out at all the happy ponies and sigh. "How long will it last?" Her companion, Cherry Berry, looked across the table at her with concern.

"How long will what last?" Simple Serenity had expected this response. How could she expect her to see it as she saw it?

"This. Me being able to talk to you without someone trying to kill us all." Cherry sat back and took it in. It had only been days since the incident, but she had moved on and continued to do what she usually did.

"I'm not sure what to say. I guess I've just gotten used to it by this point." Simple knew she would say something of that nature. That's how it always was now. Something terrible happens and then you move on.

Her whole life had been as her name stated, simple. Life was calm in her small town of Ponyville. Back then it was calm everyday, not just on rare occasions.

Now it was just a matter of time before some huge problem arose and threatened to take over Equestria or destroy Ponyville. It seemed like Equestria was the target of all evil, as if something, or someone, wanted the whole nation to crumble. It wasn't an unreasonable response, since many had tried to take over their beloved land.

Simple wished she had what she once had. She wanted to be able to walk over to her neighbors and engage in polite conversation about the weather. Now all anypony seemed to want to talk about was Twilight Sparkle and her friends. I'm tired of hearing about Twilight Sparkle.

She was sick of hearing about how perfect she was. She was sick of hearing about every stupid thing that princess did. She was, quite frankly, done with her.

Twilight had "saved" the world multiple times, but each time she was the root of the problem or helped cause the problem in the first place. It was her fault that everything had happened to these poor ponies, yet they still bow down to their wonderful princess and savior.

Simple had a feeling in her gut. She was somepony who believed in trusting yourself and not letting your heart steer you wrong. This feeling told her that Twilight was not to be trusted. It had all started when she got to Ponyville and it had been relentless since she chose to stay.

Her gaze turned away from the ponies prancing about and she turned towards Cherry. She took a deep breath, one showing inner-turmoil. "What do you think of Twilight?" It was a simple question in spirit, but the way it was said spoke more than what came out.

"She's smart, kind, helpful-" Simple silenced her with a hoof.

"What do you think of her? I'm not asking what she is, but how you see her." Cherry stared into Simple's hard eyes with sadness.

"She's a hero. She's protected us from many things. She is also crazy, unconventional and though very organized, a bit impulsive. She has more faults than I can count, but she is also a picture of a true leader. She will do great things for us," She looked over at Simple, and it disheartened her to see that a grimace had developed on her face. "That wasn't what you wanted to hear."

She laughed lightly. Cherry knew her far too well. "No, it wasn't, but it was what I knew you would say," Her eyes once again scanned the crowd. "I think it's her fault."

"What's her-" She began to speak, but knew the answer already. "Why?" Simple sighed. She thought about it. It made sense. It started when Twilight got there and Twilight had been involved in everything bad so far.

"I could start by saying that I feel it. I don't know," She collected her thoughts. "She seems fake to me. I don't trust her. It all started because of her. Everything is ultimately resolved by her.

"She could've planned it. Being the princess's student and an expert in magic she had anything she would've needed and every possible resource available. What if she just wanted the credit for the win? Maybe she just wanted to gain our trust. Well, now she has it. She's our perfect princess who promised that everything would be "just fine" and that Equestria would sparkle.

"How long did that last? A day? Not only that, but if you think back, some things just didn't add up. Princess Celestia couldn't even beat Queen Chrysalis, a changeling, when she has the power to raise the sun with ease every day! I think she was sabotaged. But, Cadence beat her to victory that time. Twilight, the most powerful unicorn, just happened to mess up a spell to make parasites stop eating so much? I don't think so.

"Tell me you don't find that at least a little suspicious?" Cherry looked at her with uncertainty. The gears in her head were turning, processing the information given to her. As her head began to wrap itself around the idea of Twilight being a terrible pony, she became less and less sure if she wanted the answer.

"How could it be true? She's still an element of harmony either way! Which means that she still represents magic!" Simple smiled.

"Think about it. Does magic really include friendship? Laughter: with friends. Generosity: with people in need. Honesty: to those in need of justice. Loyalty: during your darkest times. Kindness: to strangers. Magic… to yourself in a room filled with spell books."

Then, she was suddenly sure of what she thought was true. She knew her answer. She turned to Simple Serenity with a look of intensity, yet still with hesitance. "I think you're right."

Simple smiled softly. "I think so, too."

"What are we going to do about it?" She thought for a moment and came to a conclusion.

"Word of mouth. Spread it around in little ways. Let it fester in everypony's minds," Her eyes sparkled with determination. "It only takes a simple phrase to spark a revolution."

Comments

[Harwick]

An editing note for you:

But, one mare could only stare out at all the happy ponies and sigh. "How long will it last?" Her companion, Cherry Berry, looked across the table at her with concern.

"How long will what last?" Simple Serenity had expected this response. How could she expect her to see it as she saw it?

"This. Me being able to talk to you without someone trying to kill us all." Cherry sat back and took it in. It had only been days since the incident, but she had moved on and continued to do what she usually did.

"I'm not sure what to say. I guess I've just gotten used to it by this point." Simple knew she would say something of that nature. That's how it always was now. Something terrible happens and then you move on.

The way you are breaking up the paragraphs containing dialog is somewhat confusing and hurts the general flow by making the reader struggle to identify who is saying and doing what. As a rule, each character's words and and actions should be contained in separate paragraphs from the next character. So something more like this would be the result:

But, one mare could only stare out at all the happy ponies and sigh. "How long will it last?"

Her companion, Cherry Berry, looked across the table at her with concern. "How long will what last?"

Simple Serenity had expected this response. How could she expect her to see it as she saw it? "This. Me being able to talk to you without someone trying to kill us all."

Cherry sat back and took it in. It had only been days since the incident, but she had moved on and continued to do what she usually did. "I'm not sure what to say. I guess I've just gotten used to it by this point."

Simple knew she would say something of that nature. That's how it always was now. Something terrible happens and then you move on.

The actual dialog and actions are interesting, though, as is the premise!

[Dustchu]

Hmm, this seems interesting. I like it ^^

Nice work on this start my friend :) you've captured my interest.

Keep it up :)