Twilight Sparkle vs. the Yaks

by Silver Letter

Chapter 2

As much as it pained her to have to use force, Twilight knew in her heart that she couldn’t have avoided it. A princess has a very special relationship with her subjects and she was no exception to this. To hear the Yaks declare an intent to hurt them was too much after she had seen what they were capable of. They tried to hurt Fluttershy’s cute animals and almost seriously injured her loyal friend, Spike the dragon. If it wasn’t for his tough hide, it might have ended badly for him.

But what was worse out of all that was that she had to face her old mentor, Princess Celestia. Twilight paced in her long hall, wondering how the news would fall upon her ears. She was alone in the castle, having sent her friends away some time ago, and all was silent except for her thoughts that were so loud with judgment. If the princess was angry or upset then Twilight knew she had to be the only one to face her full wrath and worse, her disappointment.

She wasn’t punished yet but Twilight’s time spent alone was nothing but one long metaphorical flagellation and it was bad enough. She ran countless scenarios about what she should have done. Even the aftermath was not something she was even close to being prepared for. They had to dig an impromptu pit in the ground deep enough so the yaks couldn’t escape. That had to make do as a dungeon of sorts until the royal army arrived. She couldn’t help but feel that her friends were right to criticize her for not wanting any guards around. She thought that having stern stallions at every corner wouldn’t promote much in the way of positive feelings of friendship. But having them could have prevented so much. Or maybe not.

Celestia entered the main hall. She was also alone and quiet. Her demeanor was serious but not in her usual way. Out of the many ways she could have shown it, she looked quite glum, even depressed. But few other than Twilight could have picked up on it. Maybe her sister or perhaps Spike. And whenever she was sad was when there was a situation when even she didn’t know what to do.

“Twilight Sparkle….where are the Yak ambassadors?” she asked. She was probably more concerned for her former student than for the foreigners themselves.

Twilight tilted her head askew so she could glance elsewhere. It was still very hard to admit her failures to Celestia. Their relationship has gone through so many phases but being equal was still not something Twilight was used to. After all, what former student wanted to risk looking weak in front of their teacher and friend?

“They are probably resting. We made an underground room of sorts,” Twilight said.

“Very well. I shall retrieve them at once. They must be escorted back to the far north so no further diplomatic incidents may occur.”

“But, princess, how do you know for certain that things won’t get worse?”

Celestia sighed. “I can’t be certain. It’s the nature of diplomacy. But we shan’t fret. I don’t believe that the Yaks pose a danger to us, despite their words to the contrary. But I am afraid that with things as they are, it will be many more moons before we get another chance to mend our relations.”

That realization was a heavy weight on both of their minds. Twilight’s especially. She hated having no answers or admitting that things just didn’t make sense. Things like friendship wasn’t something that could be studied in a book. Nor could conflict easily be read or understood. She knew that more than anypony else. If it were then she could befriend anyone with as little effort as casting a basic levitation spell. But things could never be that easy.

“Twilight, I hope you realize that there is little to blame yourself for,” Celestia assured her. “You’ve done all you could. It’s true that I wanted to see you succeed with the Yaks but a pony’s will only goes so far.”

“Even a princess’s?”

Celestia put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m afraid so.”

Those words did little to help. Even if the situation was tenuous for a princess, there still had to be a reason why she was chosen for the job. And she still failed. There was no denying or overlooking that fact.

“Princess…I wanted to bring up something about my duties as the princess of friendship,” Twilight said softly.

“What is it?”

Twilight’s body felt tense. “I wanted to make my concern known that as a younger princess, I might not be up to the task towards being a mediator between yourself and guests from foreign lands.”

“Because of one situation?” Twilight felt some worry that she might have disappointed Celestia but she received a quick nod. “It is certainly easy enough to understand. Seeing what happened would disillusion most ponies. But not you, I think. You’re better than that.”

“Well…in a way. I certainly never met creatures like those.”

Celestia smiled. “But I have. I’m sure you’re wondering why I hadn’t built up a relationship between Equestria and them in such a long time?”

“I would be lying if I said I was not interested.”

Celestia walked to the door, preparing to slip into the sky. She had that look she used to have as her teacher; her eyes would grow and sparkle and she would have a kindly smile. When Twilight was so close to making a breakthrough in her studies and Celestia didn’t want to show her but just help her to where she needed to go.

“Then I’ll be sure to expect you at the Crystal Empire shortly. Princess Cadance will as well,” she said.

It wasn’t long after her departure that Twilight was hastily writing in her notebook. If Celestia wanted her to figure out why the Yaks were so hostile then she needed to study non-stop. Her mentor would expect nothing less.