Lessons in quirks

by Mike84

Chapter XXXVII

Feeling as numb as Mr. Rich had sounded, Twilight shuffled down the cobbled way and out of the gate. The others were following her and Fluttershy and Rarity closed the gate as they were the last to leave the yard. None of them spoke for a while and Twilight trudged ahead, her head low and not looking back. It was a very rare mood of Twilight, for it was only ever triggered by the sense of utter failure and Twilight hardly ever failed. This however made her particularly unforgiving to herself whenever such a rare occasion occurred.
These rare times left her friends utterly at a loss on whether their company and comfort or some seclusion and tranquility were what Twilight was looking for. Most likely she wanted both and neither of the two at the same time, so there was kind of an equal chance of doing the right or the wrong or both of the two with the same action.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy exchanged uneasy looks that told more than many words could have. Finally Applejack took a deep breath and accelerated her step to catch up with Twilight, but before she reached her, Fluttershy held her back, shook her head slightly and made to catch up with Twilight herself. This was not the moment for straightforward honesty but for gentle kindness. Fluttershy caught up to Twilight and just walked close beside her. She didn't address her and didn't give her any questioning looks. She was just there, close beside Twilight, offering but not imposing company, helpful but unobtrusive, leaving all options open to Twilight and allowing her to accept or refuse with no need to feel bad on her own behalf, no matter which decision she made. Fluttershy felt easier around most animals than around many ponies, but she had come to understand that in moments of distress and sadness ponies were often not so different from animals at all.

Twilight was feeling devastated. She had erred and been mistaken before and it had never been easy, but she did not remember having ever seen another pony suffer so directly as a consequence of her failure as she had in the moment when Swallowtails had spotted Diamond Tiara standing in the door of the mansion. The servant had done nothing to endear himself to her and she hadn't forgotten about all the snide and arrogance he had given her, but it had been her who had suspected and accused him of a crime and been disproved thoroughly. She still couldn't comprehend just how all the evidence she had based her accusation upon had been dismantled in just a few minutes, making her look like a fool. It had all appeared so solid before. Twilight had expected to make tomorrow's public hearing of Frank unnecessary and to be able to write a triumphant letter about her success to Princess Celestia.

A letter to Celestia... the thought made Twilight shiver. She would have to tell her about a miserable failure, about causing severe harm to a pony who already was struck with the misfortune of being a blank flank and incapable of using magic, about... her own doubts as to whether a pony who caused such misery through her rashness and lack of care was fit to be a Princess of Equestria with all the responsibilities this position held.

Twilight noticed Fluttershy walking beside her and the presence of her friend was soothing and reminded her to think of the here and now rather than of the letter to be written or of abstract thoughts about the future. She had reached a corner of the Rich Mansion's premises; there was nopony but them around on the streets here, but with all fears, remorse and despair assailing, Twilight wasn't sure if she would have cared about decorum at this time, even if others had been around. She just sat down and cried and when Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder, she pulled her into a fierce hug. The others were catching up too now, closely surrounding Twilight and Fluttershy.

"I was so certain!" Twilight sobbed. "It all seemed to fit!"
"It did, Darling", Rarity agreed. "And this Mr. Swallowtail certainly could have made it a lot easier. If he had just..."
Twilight shook her head fiercely while wiping her eyes with one hoof: "No! I am not blaming him or shirking responsibility for what happened! How would anyone of us react if we were falsely accused of that kind of thing?"
"Well, I for once would certainly not trick a princess into crashing against some kind of magic barrier", Rarity declared. "Does it still hurt?" she asked concerned.

"A little", Twilight admitted. In fact the impact had hurt more than she let on about and she was aching all over, but at the moment this was the least of her concerns.
"He could have just told rather than making such a show of it", Applejack said.
"Yeah, 'fancy colored courtier', I mean, really?" Rainbow Dash growled.
"Surely, if it hadn't been for Fluttershy, Pinkie and me, you might have ended up as the one to face a public hearing tomorrow, Rainbow!" Rarity said.
"He was really asking to get his flank kicked!" Rainbow Dash said defiantly.

"Blank flank who hardly ever leaves the house", Twilight wailed, shaking her head. "It reminds me of something Frank told me when he arrived here. He said that many ponies think of adult blank flanks as having no talents whatsoever. Mr. Swallowtail probably got a lot of hard time already."
None of the others said anything to that.
"I just failed! Princess Celestia would have never—" Twilight began a high-pitched lament.

"Hold it right there!" Applejack said firmly. "Ya know I don't always agree with Rainbow, but she made a very good point earlier today, Twi! You are not Celestia and you don't have to be Celestia yet, or ever for that matter! Stop thinking of you yourself as a failure every time you happen to make one, sugarcube!"
Twilight looked up at Applejack distressed.
"I am not trying to be Celestia!"

It was the kind of look now that let everyone know that a wrong word could make Twilight burst into white flames, make her let buildings jump into the air or unintentionally let other things happen that would have done Discord proud. But Applejack had seen Spike's way of handling such situations. He knew Twilight longer than anyone of them and though there was no guaranteed success in moments like this, Applejack still felt that the moment for some straightforward honesty had now come.
"Then stop bringing her up every time you feel you weren't good enough, Twi! You had some mighty good points telling you that this Swallowtail was behind all this! You were not the only one to think it was him!"

"I sure believed it was him!" Rainbow Dash admitted. "I wish it had been him."
"You didn't, Applejack", Twilight said. "You were not convinced."
"I had some doubts", Applejack agreed. "But I couldn't pinpoint them. Didn't know why Ah thought we might be mistaken. Ah didn't think of it and Ah was convinced enough to come along. Trust me when I tell you, Twi, that Ah would have never played along if Ah hadn't thought there was a very good chance Swallowtail had done it. Come to think of it, Ah should have thought of asking Granny Smith about him. That was a mistake and Ah made it. So that's that, but there is no need now to get all worked up about it. We thought Swallowtail did it. Turned out he did not. We got one suspect less to think about and that's a good thing, right?"

"You don't understand, AJ", Twilight sighed and whatever Twilight was going to say, Applejack knew that she had said the right things to at least snap Twilight out of her state of absolute unpredictability.
"Don't you see how I ruined everything for Swallowtail? Did you see his look when he saw Diamond Tiara and when she saw that he was a blank flank?"
"Ah say he did a fair amount of digging himself on that hole he ended up in!"
"Up?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Down in a hole?"

Applejack ignored her and continued: "If he hadn't made such a secret out of being a blank flank and not being able to use magic, he would never have been under any suspicion to begin with. It was quite clear Mr. Rich knew and he didn't seem to give Swallowtail a hard time about that. And as for that daughter of Filthy Rich, if she didn't know and has any problem with that... well from what Apple Bloom is telling me, Ah think there is hardly a pony in Ponyville more in need of such a lesson to get her to think about her own attitudes!"

Twilight still felt bad about the failure and she remained firmly resolved to bring it to Princess Celestia's attention, but somehow Applejack had managed to break matters down to some hard facts that looked a lot less catastrophic than the overall picture.
She nodded slowly and gave Applejack a thankful look which the earth pony accepted with a little smile.
"But what about the whole case?" Rarity asked. "If it wasn't Swallowtail and if it wasn't Mr... Frank, then who else could have done it?"
Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, but before she could say anything she was silenced by Rainbow Dash: "Not now, Pinkie!" she insisted sternly. "It was not Twilight!"

Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment and it was not quite clear if that was because she had only just remembered something or if it had been on her mind before but she had been unwilling to bring it up: "You know, we know someone else who could have done it."
"Who would that be?" Rarity asked surprised.
"Right...", Rainbow Dash said rolling her eyes, "...like none of you thought of him."
Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy exchanged confused looks while Twilight was biting her lower lip, having a fair idea who Rainbow Dash was talking about.
"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash howled.

"Well, if you're talking about Discord—", Applejack began.
"Of course I am talking about Discord!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"It wasn't Discord", Fluttershy said. She said it calmly, discarding the idea without much vehemence but without any doubt either.
"You know that for a fact?" Applejack asked cautiously. "Ah mean, Rainbow does have a point..."
Fluttershy shook her head and her face bore an almost masklike expression of certainty.
"Darling...", Rarity began and put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, "...he does have all the magic powers it would take to do this."
"Same as Twilight!" Pinkie Pie agreed, earning herself an angry look from Rainbow Dash.
"But why would Discord steal money when he can steal cakes or speculoos?"
"Discord could make almost everything just appear", Fluttershy said. "He doesn't need to steal anything from anyone."

"We are talking about Discord here!" Rainbow Dash said. "He may not care a bit about golden bits, but isn't all the chaos and confusion this caused already exactly his kind of thing? I bet he is laughing his ugly head off somewhere with a bag of popcorn or something like that!"
"He didn't do it!" Fluttershy insisted somewhat louder, brushing Rarity's hoof from her shoulder.
There was a moment of silence before Applejack spoke up again:
"Fluttershy, I mean really no offense, but do you know this for sure or is it just a feeling of yours?"
"He is my friend", Fluttershy said calmly. "You are my friends. I know that he didn't do it for the same reason that I know none of you did it."

Rainbow Dash was visibly struggling to maintain self-control and not shout as she asked:
"So we are all the same as Discord to you, Fluttershy?"
"You are all friends", Fluttershy said. Her eyes began to get teary. "And friends stick together. I think that representing the Element of Loyalty you of us all should be able to understand this, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash uttered an almost gurgling sound and nearly bit into one of her hooves which she pressed before her mouth as if to force back whatever she wanted to say. She didn't want to hurt Fluttershy and there was not much that made her feel more uneasy than seeing Fluttershy cry, but in moments like this one she couldn't help wondering how far kindness and loyalty could be stretched before turning into all out naivety.

"Discord and Frank had a bit of a run-in at your place", Twilight said bleakly, looking at the ground and avoiding to look at Fluttershy. "Is it not at least possible... just possible... that perhaps to him this appears like nothing more than a petty little prank? That he may not even grasp how serious this is?"
"No!" Fluttershy insisted. "And also, why would Discord attack poor Miss Cheerilee?"
"Why does Discord do what Discord does?" Rarity mumbled.
Fluttershy shot her and everypony else a defiant glance while her eyes had by now become really tearful: "Just why can't you ever give him the benefit of doubt?"
"Long or short list?" Rainbow Dash blurted out before she could keep herself from saying it. Her face became rueful right away and at the same time very desperate.
"He was with me after the party yesterday", Fluttershy shouted. "He came home with me and stayed
until I went to sleep. He was very unhappy!"
Fluttershy gave everyone another look, but her self-composure now cracked up for good and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Darling...", Rarity began and wanted to embrace Fluttershy, but she backed away.
"I want to go... if you don't mind", she said, turned around and galloped a few steps before flapping up into the air.
"Fluttershy...", Rainbow Dash called and flapped a short distance after her before just stopping to flap and landing uncharacteristically inelegantly.
Hanging her head she mumbled: "I didn't want to make her feel bad..."
Nopony said anything and Twilight felt almost as miserable as she had right after leaving the Rich Mansion.

Author's Note:

Last edited on December 13th 2015.