Chapter Four - Tears for a Princess
Twilight and Pinkie Pie stood on the Ponyville Train Station platform waving toward the departing train. Applejack and Rarity waved backed through the window of the departing train as they began their overnight journey to Manehattan. It had not been long since all four of them gave their goodbye hugs to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as well. Due to their ability to fly, the pair of Pegasi left shortly after their meeting and were surely winging their way towards Cloudsdale en route to Griffin’s Nest. Spike opted to stay back at the castle and try to catch up on his chores.
Twilight tried to remain positive as she saw her friends off on their unexpected missions. The burden of saving Equestria didn’t seem to weigh so heavily on her own shoulders this time around. It was a feeling she wasn’t particularly used to. She wasn’t so sure she liked it this way. Delegation of duty wasn’t a part of her princess role up until just recently.
“I’m sure they’ll all be back before we know it,” said Pinkie confidently.
“I appreciate your optimism, Pinkie,” replied Twilight. “In the meantime, I think we’re going to have our hands full tracking down the Element of Disharmony plaguing Ponyville.”
On the short trip across town to see her friends off at the train station, Twilight noticed that every face she saw was missing one thing—a smile. Everypony was going about their normal routine, but nothing was being done in the normal cheery manner. Even the patrons of Sugar Cube Corner seemed to lack their normal level of joy in biting into a fresh lemon tart or salivating over a giant frosted layer cake. The entire town was still worried about the chaos cloud invasion from the day before.
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” smiled Pinkie. “I’ve got just the thing to snap Ponyville out of this smile slump—a party!”
“I’m not so sure that’ll to do the trick here, Pinkie,” said Twilight, mired in a bit of a funk herself.
“Why not? Everypony loves a good party—it’ll be just the thing to get all the ponies of Ponyville right as rain.”
“Well, we can certainly give it a try. A party may be able to help us find the source of all the sadness and despair that seems to be hanging over the town.”
“Right. I’ll get the streamers and the balloons and meet you back at the castle tonight. We can get all the banners ready and plan the perfect Rainy Day, Go Away party for tomorrow.” Pinkie Pie gave Twilight a big grin as she saluted and then bounced away into town.
Twilight walked back toward the castle by herself. As she passed through town, she took in the sight of the sad and depressed ponies that she passed. Bon Bon and Lyra sat on a park bench staring at the ground. Cheerilee lay in a patch of daisies plucking the leaves from the stems one at a time—in less of a ‘he loves me’ and more of a ‘rip the flowers apart’ action. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had their hooves full with half a dozen moping customers and two crying foals as they struggled to keep their shop running. Derpy Hooves seemed to be the only pony unfazed by the general feeling of despair as she hopped from mailbox to mailbox delivering the mail.
Twilight finally reached the steps of her castle. As she walked inside, a familiar voice called out.
“Twilight! So glad you finally made it home.” Discord stood in the foyer dressed in a maid’s outfit and holding a feather duster.
“Discord! Shouldn’t you be trying to track down the missing elements?”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing, princess. Or at least I was until I got here and noticed your—help—decided to take the day off. I just got done with a wonderful session of focused thinking at my thinking tree and I wanted to share with you my latest thoughts on the matter.”
“Hopefully this is good news?”
“Why of course, Twilight. I always do my best thinking in my thinking tree. The good news is that I’ve found the element of sadness—it’s right here in Ponyville!”
“Not to burst your bubble, but I think we’ve already discovered that, Discord. All the ponies in town look like they haven’t smiled in days.”
“Actually, it’s only been one day. You see, the chaos clouds weren’t just raining chocolate rain. They were dispensing bittersweet chocolate teardrops.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that everypony in town has a case of rainy day depression. Except, of course, for those that are immune to the effects of the rain—like yourself and your closest friends. Being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony does come with a few intrinsic benefits, I suppose. Although, I’m not so sure given your cheery demeanor that you escaped the effects of it completely”
“Well, I guess that would explain why Pinkie is off planning a party and not curled up in a ball crying.” Twilight shook her head trying to get the image of Discord in a dress out of her mind. “You don’t need to worry about me, Discord. I’m just having a bad day is all. I’ll feel much better once this whole situation is resolved and my friends are safely back in Ponyville.”
“That’s right! I hear that you sent four of your dear friends off into the world by themselves. Whatever will they do without you to lead and guide them in their quest?”
“My friends are strong and they will not fail. I have complete confidence that they can retrieve the Elements of Disharmony on their own.”
“But…”
“But what?”
“I sensed a ‘but’ coming there and had to ask—don’t you feel even the tiniest bit of trepidation for their wellbeing? I mean, poor little Fluttershy is so sweet and all—how could you ask her to track down the element of hate all by herself?”
“She isn’t by herself—she’s got Rainbow Dash right there with her.”
“Of course she isn’t alone, but wouldn’t she benefit from the support of all of her friends and not just that brash child you stuck her with?”
“Discord, I don’t know what you’re getting at here, but I trust my friends and I know they will work together to get the job done. We may be stronger when we’re all together, but that doesn’t mean we’re weak and helpless on our own.”
“Sorry to question your judgment, princess. I just wondered why you felt that splitting up the team was the right thing to do.”
“Because, Discord, we need to contain this problem before it gets out of hand. We have no idea the kind of chaos that could be affecting the rest of Equestria right now. If Ponyville is experiencing the effects of a single element, I can’t imagine what is happening to the rest of the kingdom.”
“Once again, Twilight, you are correct. The sooner you and your friends can contain the Elements of Disharmony, the sooner your lives get back to a normal balance. You are all such good friends to be helping with this little problem of mine.”
“Speaking of help, shouldn’t you be concentrating on helping us track down the last two elements?”
“Right you are again.”
“Can’t a dragon get some sleep around here?” shouted Spike from the upper landing.
“Sounds like you’ve got a cranky baby problem of your own to deal with,” said Discord. “I think I’ll go back to my thinking tree and do some more—thinking. Please do let me know if you are able to track down the element of sadness in town.”
Discord snapped his claw and vanished before Twilight could respond. She now faced the prospect of helping Pinkie plan for a rainy day party as well as dealing with her cranky baby dragon assistant. Twilight headed up the stairs to deal with the latter.
The curtains were drawn around Spike’s little bed. Twilight entered the room and padded over towards the restless dragon. She whispered down through the covers, “Spike, are you still awake? Can we talk?”
“Yeah, I’m still awake,” grunted Spike. “Can’t get much sleep around here with all the distractions recently.”
“Spike, what’s the matter with you? Why are you trying to sleep in the middle of the day?”
“What’s the difference? It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“What’s gotten into you? Why are you being so grumpy?”
Spike stood up and faced Twilight. He continued, “You want to know the problem, Twilight? I’m just not appreciated.” He folded his arms and turned his head to the side.
“But Spike…” Twilight hesitated, “you certainly are appreciated. I could never handle being a princess without you right there to support me.”
“It sure doesn’t feel that way.” Spike hung his head as a tear formed in his eye. “I never get to be a part of the team. Whenever there’s a threat to Ponyville, or to Equestria, it’s always, ‘Spike, can you stay and watch the castle? Spike, can you make sure the books are dusted? Spike, can you watch our pets while we go on our cool adventure?’”
Twilight was in shock. Her best friend in the whole world was sad about being left behind. The last thing she wanted to do was to make him feel unwanted or unimportant. She quickly changed her tone and started to apologize. “I’m so sorry, Spike. I had no idea you didn’t feel like you were part of the team. Lately it’s just been hard with all the problems surrounding my new role as a princess and all of our roles as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I’m sorry I haven’t tried to include you more.”
Twilight edged down closer to her faithful assistant. She swung her foreleg around his neck and pulled him in close for a hug. Spike’s tears, which had been freely flowing down his cheeks, began to slow as he sunk into the powerful embrace of his closest friend.
She continued, “You are my number one assistant and even more importantly, you are my very best friend. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She gave her little friend the biggest hug she had ever given.
As the tears rolled down his scales and onto the floor, they suddenly evaporated. Instead of simply drying up, they turned into a glittery, glowing essence. The magical vapor swung around the pair as their embrace continued. The gemstone on Twilight’s crown began to faintly glow as just a small part of it began to illuminate while the particles coalesced within.
Twilight drew herself up with a start. “Spike, look what just happened!”
Spike responded, “Yeah, Twilight, I don’t know what came over me. I don’t usually cry like that. Even though I am still a baby dragon, that doesn’t mean I’m a crybaby.”
“No, Spike—Take a look at my crown!” Twilight was almost cross-eyed at this point trying to glance up at the tiara and magic gemstone that sat proudly on top of her head. “I think we just found a little bit of the element of sadness.”
“Wow, Twilight. That is kind of cool.” Spike gazed up at the little spark of magic as it floated around the star shaped crystal. “Did that come from my tears?”
“We need to find Pinkie Pie!” squealed Twilight as she hopped around the room. “A party is just what we need to solve this problem.”
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Huh. A diffuse element? That's kind of a neat idea, actually.
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:)
I'm trying out the idea of the Elements of Disharmony not being tangible objects - more of an essence. All kind of part of the chaotic nature at play here.
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Well, when you think about it, the Elements of Harmony aren't really physical either since they're held within the ponies that represent them. The jewels are just foci for those powers. So it seems obvious in retrospect, but I think makes for a far more interesting plot. They can't just chase down and take some bauble away from a willing/unwilling baddie... they have to deal with the essence itself. :) I like it.
(Sorry I haven't been here in a few days; been volunteering for a local festival.)
So Twilight and Pinkie Pie see AJ and Rarity off on the train before returning to town. (R.D. and Fluttershy have already left by now...)
Gee, could it be a party?
Oooooooh, lucky guess!
So they head back into town to get decorations for the "Rainy Day Go Away" party - improvement on writing Pinkie's randomness. Good job. (Writing: +1) - and we see that the entire town is down in the dumps.
When they get to the castle, Pinkie splits off to get the decorations and Twilight...
Tell us something we don't know.
So after a bit, Discord questions Twilight's decision to delegate her duties to her friends and split them up.
Not your most persuasive argument, Twilight. We've seen on more than one occasion that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy don't exactly work well together. Examples? R.D.'s cheering lessons in "Sonic Rainboom" and the jousting demonstration in "The Crystal Empire," to name two.
So Discord heads back to the Tree of Harmony to try and locate the remaining two elements (and possibly a sixth), and Twilight goes up to check up on Spike, who's throwing a temper tantrum. (First time I've seen him do this since "Secret of my Excess.")
So Twilight is able to soothe him, and...
Is that what I think it is...?
Wait...."a little bit of the Element of Sadness?" So Spike wasn't the sole bearer of it?
Okay, so if cheering the people up will reveal the Element of Sadness, then Pinkie has the right idea.
AAAAAAAND this chapter shows Pinkie Pie's party-loving side; something we were SORELY missing from the previous story! Improvements have been made! Good job!