Like A Phoenix

by Coda Singer

Chapter 4: two years later

"Come on, you can do it!!!" Twilight tried her best to encourage Sweetie Bell, they had recently been practicing summoning, Sweetie Bell's come a long way from catching rocks in mid air. Her magic has been getting a lot stronger, with Twilight's help and with age. Sweetie Bell was ten now, they celebrated her birthdays with some cake that was a lot easier to make with Sweetie Bell's help. Sweetie Bell was much taller now, she was almost at Twilight height. Ponies usually stop growing at around 15 and so far it looked like she was going to be taller than Twilight. They also celebrated Twilight's birthdays. She was thirty now. Twilight found it amazing that she was three times Sweetie Bell's age.

Sweetie Bell squinted her face as hard as she could. "Come on!" Said Twilight again.

"I'm trying!!" Sweetie Bell shouted.

"Focus on a pane of glass, but don't just imagine it simply, Focus on each and every molecule." A shimmering blue aura appeared in mid air, Twilight could see a transparent, tiny, cube of glass appear, and more glass was appearing out of nowhere.

"Come on! I need these windows!!" At that, an entire pane of glass appeared and began to fall. Twilight leapt forward and caught the glass between her two hooves. Sweetie Bell let out a sigh of relief, her face was covered in sweat and she looked exhausted.

"I think that's enough for today," Said Twilight, clamping onto the pane of glass and setting it on the table. "You've earned yourself a cupcake, on me." Twilight slipped on her saddle bags. "I'll be back from sugar cube corner."

"I still think its pointless going there, you're just going to make it yourself." Said Sweetie Bell, crossing her hooves and leaning against the cave wall, which was now straight. The entire cave was renovated to a cube with seperate rooms. They even carved a fireplace out of stone which sat at the side of the room.

"Sweetie Bell we've talked about this," said Twilight, "I spent a lot of time with my friends in that place and so have you. Sugar Cube Corner means a lot to me and so does the rest of Ponyville."

"But I thought the spell Discord cast turned all of your memories bad." Said Sweetie Bell.

"The spell stopped working for some reason, not that it matters. By now most of my memories have changed. I still have one or two that I didn't think about while the spell was in action." Twilight stopped suddenly. "Why am I explaining this? I'm making you a cupcake! Stop complaining." Sweetie Bell rolled her eyes. "Don't give me attitude. Looks like our next lesson needs to be on respect." Twilight opened the door.

"Sorry, I just think its weird."

"It is weird, but it makes me feel better." Twilight stepped out of the door, "be right back!"

"See ya!" Said Sweetie Bell waving her hoof, Twilight shut the door, smiled and walked into town. After a two minute walk she made it to Sugar Cube Corner.

"Hey mr. Cake! Just here for a cupcake."

"..."

"Yeah chocolate will be fine thanks."

"..."

"Yeah Sweetie Bell managed to summon an entire pane of glass this time! So I thought we'd celebrate with a cupcake... You know what? Make it two, I've done a good job too."

"..."

"Thank you! Oh and can you tell Apple Jack I can't help her today? I need to do some house work."

"..."

"Thanks again!" Twilight smiled, clamped onto the tray of cupcakes and happily trotted out the door. She looked up the flight of stairs and stared for a while. "What the hell." Twilight set down the tray and walked up the stairs. She made it all the way to the door with her hoof on the handle. She waited for what seemed like two minutes then she slowly turned the knob. The door squeaked as it swung inwards. It was open about three inches wide. Twilight shut the door and sighed. next time. She thought to herself. She walked back down the steps, picked up the tray and walked back to the cave.

"Sweetie Bell! I got you a chocolate cupcake! Your favorite!" Twilight said as she opened the door. No response. "Hello?" Twilight called.

"Hey." Said a voice behind Twilight. Twilight jumped and nearly dropped the cupcakes. She whipped her head around and saw Sweetie Bell holding some pieces of wood.

"Sweet Celestia you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry! I went out to get some fire wood."

"We'll leave a note or something. Say something before you start talking!"

"That doesn't make any sense." Sweetie Bell chuckled.

"We'll sorry my brain's trying to make sure my heart's still working." Twilight handed a cupcake to Sweetie Bell who levitated it and merrily took a bite. Sweetie Bell trotted inside and set the firewood in the stone fireplace at the side of the room. Sweetie Bell took another bite and trotted over to her own journal which sat next to Twilight's, much thicker journal. She scribbled away with a smile on her face, shut the book and walked over to her own section of the wall where she had her own marks, representing the days since she arrived.

"Day number... 730!!!" Sweetie Bell jumped around with a smile on her face.

"Happy 2 year anniversary!" Said Twilight happily. She leaned against the wall and munched on her own cupcake. "You've grown so much since you we're a little filly." Twilight looked over at the wall next to the fireplace. There they had marked Sweetie Bell's height every day. "Go on, lets see how much you've grown today." Sweetie Bell hooped towards the wall and leaned against it, making herself look as tall as possible. Twilight grabbed a piece of chalk and drew a line against the wall starting at the tip of Sweetie Bell's horn. This line was at least two inches higher than the last one. "Wow, you grew overnight!"

"I'm gonna end up taller then you!" Said Sweetie Bell, she was jumping around the room, pure joy on her face. If there was any time for her to get her cutie mark, it would be now. But no such luck. It looked like Sweetie Bell was thinking the same thing, because she suddenly stopped and looked back at her flank. And the look of joy vanished as nothing appeared. Her flank stayed as blank as a new piece of paper. Sweetie Bell's look of hope was destroyed and she turned her head back towards the ground. A tear hit the stone floor.

"Hey, hey," Twilight walked over to Sweetie Bell and stretched her hoof around the young Mare's shoulders. "Don't worry. It'll all be okay." Said Twilight, rubbing Sweetie Bells back. Twilight wiped the tear off of Sweetie Bell's face.

"Sometimes i think I'll never get my cutie mark." Said Sweetie Bell, another tear hit the ground. The sound echoed through the stone room like thunder on a peaceful day. Twilight stood up.

"What's so important about a cutie mark anyways?" Asked Twilight, getting to her hooves and pacing around the room. Sweetie Bell lifted her head, a puzzled look on her face. But that puzzled face turned into an even more hopeless expression.

"It tells who you are. It shows your destiny." Responded Sweetie Bell, her voice was soft as cotton at this sentence. Another roar of thunder shied through the room in the form of a second tear drop.

"And who determines this so called 'destiny'?" Asked Twilight, a half smile curled on her face as she kept pacing around he room.

"Nopony." Sweetie Bell was still puzzled. "It's just something that you've always been good at."

"And what if you don't like what you're good at?" This really confused Sweetie Bell. "Say you we're allergic to pears, and you just happened to be really good at cooking pear related foods. You literally would not be able to fulfill your so called 'destiny'. You would have to make another destiny."

"But you can't!" Interrupted Sweetie Bell.

"Why not." Replied Twilight, now with a full smile on her face. "You say there's a predetermined destiny for everypony. But I say... You make your own destiny. You are a young, beautiful mare with the whole worl in front of her, but You can be as old as Granny Smith and still not have a cutie mark. Just because you don't hav a wierd symbol on your flank, it doesn't mean you don't know who you are." Twilight stopped pacing. "You are Sweetie Bell, and you make your own destiny."

"Thanks Twilight." Sweetie Bell got to her hooves. "I feel a lot better."

"Not bad for an old, crazy mare." Twilght smirked and Sweetie Bell chuckled.

"Hello!?" Twilight and Sweetie Bell jumped and turned their heads. Out the window Twilight saw a figure wandering through the trees. "Hello!?" The figure called again, Twilight slid the blade out of her C.L.A.M.P, signaled Sweetie Bell to stay in the room and wandered out into the Everfree forest. Twilght saw a creature she hasn't seen since Rainbow Dash brought her friend to Ponyville. The figure noticed Twilight and jumped into the air.

"Who are you?" Both of them said at the same time.

Comments

[Coda Singer]

5442445 these are references to my last two books. So if you want all of the details I suggest reading those. But I will be answering them with considerably less detail later so... BTW I really appreciate input put in by readers; so if you have any suggestions feel free to tell me.

[Coda Singer]

What do you guys and gals think of the length of my chapters, should I make them longer? Because I think I could only do like 2,500 words maximum before I have an aneurism.

[Coda Singer]

5442445 what's a good name for a gryphon?