The Might of a Quill

by derpyland

Prologue: “We're not all lucky”

Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped out onto the balcony of her enormous crystal castle and looked over the quiet city of Ponyville. Celestia had raised the sun just a few moments before, which bathed the sleepy town in a soft amber light. The sky above her was filled with clouds, but she could see that the weather pegasi were already hard at work dissipating them. Except for Rainbow Dash, Twilight thought to herself, grinning. There's no way she's up this early! Only Applejack rises at this hour. Nopony works harder than she does.

The gentle harmony that Twilight witnessed in the city below perfectly reflected her own inner peace. The previous week had been surprisingly uneventful – which was nice for a change. Rarity was in Canterlot, showing off her latest line of designer clothing to some important pony in the fashion industry. Fashion wasn't really Twilight's thing, but she knew it was important to Rarity and she tried to be supportive. Still, she was glad that she wasn't the one who got stuck in all those stuffy parties with those aristocrats. Rarity seems to enjoy it, though, Twilight reflected. I guess it suits her.

Fluttershy and Treehugger were in the Everfree Forest, searching for rare and exotic magical creatures. Twilight really hadn't had much of a chance to get to know Fluttershy's new green earthpony friend, but from what she saw at the Gala Treehugger seemed nice – if a bit spaced out at times. The Forest could be a scary place, but Fluttershy knew what she was doing. She might be timid, but when she had to she could stare down a dragon – or a cockatrice.

Pinkie Pie – well, she was still Pinkie; you never really knew what you'd find her doing. One moment she was inviting you to a party to celebrate the party you went to the day before, and the next day she was winning the turkey calling championships. Even her dreams were pure chaos. You just kinda have to roll with her, Twilight thought.

Rainbow Dash had made herself scarce that week. Normally Twilight would have attributed that to her innate laziness, but this time she actually had an excuse. Due to a mix-up at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, Ponyville had become behind in its rainfall. In order to make up for it a major storm had been scheduled for last night. Rainbow personally led the team to make sure that the upcoming storm didn't hurt anypony. Her pegasi spent days pruning trees, searching the area, and making sure everypony was safe. When the storm hit it had been a real doozy – but as Twilight looked down upon the city below, she couldn't see any signs of damage. Nice work, Rainbow. I guess you've earned yourself a nap.

And as far as Applejack went –

In the distance Twilight heard a sharp crack, as if a tree had just broken in half. The princess shook her head. That's gotta be her. Only the Apple family would wake up this early to start clearing dead trees! The word 'relax' just isn't in their vocabulary.

Since Twilight's friends had been otherwise occupied, the princess of friendship had spent the week doing what she loved best: reading. Her new castle didn't have the same library as her former tree home, but ever since she moved in she had been trying to remedy that. Now, thanks to her tireless efforts, new shipments of books were arriving on a weekly basis. It was a bit expensive, but she was a princess, after all; she could afford it.

Twilight yawned, stretched, and walked back inside. She lazily wandered downstairs to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea. I wonder what book I'll read today. Maybe this would be a good time to begin my study of squirrel culture. The possibilities are endless!

A loud knock on the front door startled her. Who in Equestria could possibly want my help at this hour? Twilight wondered. “Hello?” she called out. No one answered, but a moment later there was another knock on the door. She heard a muffled voice, but she couldn't make out what the pony was saying.

Of course – they can't hear me from here! How silly of me. Normally Spike handles these situations. I guess it's up to me today.

Twilight got up out of her chair, stretched again, and began making her way to the front door. She hoped that whoever it was would wait until she got there. The castle was enormous, and it took a bit of time to reach the door. Twilight could have just teleported to the entrance, but she was feeling a bit lazy. They can wait, she decided. After all, it is pretty early. They're lucky I'm not still in bed.

Whoever was at the door couldn't be one of her friends; they would have just let themselves in without knocking – which was how she liked it. Princess Celestia definitely wouldn't have knocked either. No, this had to be some stranger. Perhaps it's the start of a quest? Twilight wondered.

As she walked by the castle's throne room she glanced at the giant map that took up most of the room's floor space. It was silent. Must not be a friendship emergency, then, she thought.

There was another knock on the door again, followed by a muffled shout. “I'm coming,” Twilight shouted back. She hurried on down the hallway.

Twilight failed to notice that the cutie mark on Applejack's throne had lost all its color. If she had noticed – well, it still wouldn't have mattered. It was already too late for her to save the life of her friend. Life in Equestria was about to change forever.

Nearly a minute after the mysterious pony began knocking on her front door, Twilight finally reached the entrance of her luxurious castle. She quickly opened the massive doors and looked outside. “I'm so sorry about the wait,” she said quickly. “I was in the kitchen.”

In front of her was standing a white stallion with a short brown mane. Beside him, on the ground, was a small stack of very thin books. Twilight noticed that the pony had a gaming controller for a cutie mark.

The pony's eyes widened when he saw the princess. “Wow! Um, sorry about that, your highness. I kind of figured that Spike would answer the door. Doesn't he normally handle that for you?”

“Spike's out of town right now,” Twilight replied. “He's up in the Crystal Kingdom visiting my brother. The crystal ponies think very highly of Spike, you know. He's a very important dragon.”

“Right. Well, that explains it, then.” The stallion paused. “Could you do me a favor, then? My name is Frosted Arrow. Spike ordered these comics a couple months ago, but they were backordered and didn't come in until now. Could you maybe give them to him when he comes back?”

“You're a delivery pony?” Twilight exclaimed, surprised. “Isn't it a little early to be making deliveries? Who delivers mail at this hour?”

“I'm not a mailpony,” Arrow corrected. “I actually work in the comic book store just down the street from here. Normally I don't deliver anything, but since Spike had been waiting so long for these I decided to come by here before my shift started and hand them to him. You know – as a favor to a friend.”

Twilight glanced at his cutie mark again. “But isn't your special talent gaming? Why do you work in a comic book store?”

Arrow sighed. “We're not all lucky enough to have jobs that use our special talent. Gaming doesn't really pay the bills, you know? You've got to make ends meet somehow.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight remarked. “Rarity's special talent is finding jewels, but she makes her living creating designer dresses. She only uses the jewels as accents.”

“Right,” Arrow replied. “Because there's no possible way anypony could earn a living digging up incredibly valuable jewels. Rarity is just another broke unicorn, struggling to live her dream.”

“Oh, I don't know about that,” Twilight said absently, as she levitated the stack of comics off the ground. “I think she's pretty rich, actually. Hey, you're right! I thought you were delivering books, but these are just comics. Well, that's disappointing. I was hoping my shipment of encyclopedias had arrived.”

“Hey now! Comics are books too,” Arrow said defensively. “In fact, they're quite popular among the younger crowd. There are lots of ponies who really enjoy our products.”

In the distance Twilight saw a small group of medics race off down the street. That can't be good, she thought. She then eyed the comic that was on the top of the stack. Its cover showed a group of six ponies dressed as superheroes.

In the corner she spied the publisher's name. “Enchanted Comics? Isn't that the company that makes those evil comic books that suck you into the story?”

“They're not evil,” Arrow said, offended. “They're actually a lot of fun!”

“Fun? Are you crazy? When I got sucked into one of those things, there was this evil villain with a really strange mane problem.”

“Mane-iac.”

“Exactly – a real maniac! We had to fight her, and things got rough, and we all would have been killed if it hadn't been for Spike. It was not a relaxing afternoon. I'm surprised those things haven't been banned.”

Arrow's eyes widened. “Please, please don't ask Princess Celestia to ban them! Look, I think you just had a misunderstanding of how the comics work. You were never in any actual danger. The comics are enchanted, yes, but it's impossible to actually die in them. If you didn't like the way the story was turning out you could have left at any time. You didn't have to finish the story. We're not psychos, you know!”

“Are you serious?” Twilight replied. “We could have left at any time?”

Arrow sighed. “Normally when these comics are sold to new buyers, we give them a page of instructions that explain how the magic works. Apparently Spike missed that part. I think he bought that one in Canterlot, and they're probably not as careful up there. But you have to realize that most of our customers have a really great experience – if they didn't, they wouldn't buy any more and we would go out of business. You have to please the customer if you want them to keep coming back.”

“I suppose,” Twilight said dubiously. “Honestly, though, I just don't see the appeal. Why not read a good book on history instead?”

Arrow shook his head. “Of course you don't see any value in them. You're a superhero in real life, so it would be completely pointless for you to daydream about what it would be like to have superpowers. You go off to save Equestria practically every other weekend! Entering an amazing comic book world where you finally have magical powers is meaningless when that's already who you are in real life. And on top of that, you live in the biggest castle in Equestria!”

“That's not true,” Twilight replied. “Celestia's castle in Canterlot is actually bigger. Not by much, but still.”

“And she shares that castle with a whole bunch of other ponies – like her sister, and the guards, and her staff, and who knows who else. Tell me – who lives with you?”

“Just Spike,” Twilight admitted.

“My point exactly. You see, princess, most of us aren't like that. I don't live in an enormous castle that dominates the entire skyline; instead I've got a small apartment. I don't get to go out and save the world; instead I sell comic books to ponies that really don't get the respect they deserve. I don't have any magical powers, or a throne, or any magical super-friends. I actually have to work for a living. I have bills to pay, you know, and I've got problems.”

“Hey – I've got problems too,” Twilight insisted.

“Sure you do. But when you've got problems, why, you have the might of the entire country to solve them. Celestia herself has got your back. You can actually throw entire mountains around, if that's what it takes.”

“I don't remember ever doing that,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“But I'm sure you could,” Arrow countered. “The point is, you have pretty much everything anypony could ever want. If something goes wrong in your life, you've got options that the rest of us don't have. Your life really couldn't possibly be much better than it is.

“For normal ponies – like me – life isn't that much fun. It's hard work, no one really respects you, and it can be excruciatingly boring. So often it feels like we're just not making a difference. We get up, go to work, and do the same thing day after day after day. I would love to save the world – just once – but that's never going to happen. I would love to be the hero and save the day, but instead I sell comic books to customers who dream of having a better life but who probably won't. Do you have any idea how soul-crushing it is to know that you're never really going to make much of a difference?”

“But you are making a difference,” Twilight said quickly. “You're, um, delivering these comic things.”

Arrow sighed. “Yes, precisely. I am delivering these 'comic things'. If I had never been born, somepony else would be standing here delivering these 'comic things'. Nothing much would change. Now, if you had never been born then all of Equestria would be dead several times over. We'd all be changeling food or something. You make a tremendous difference every day, and I never will. If I get eaten by some monster this afternoon the world will happily continue on its merry way. If you get eaten then we are all doomed.”

“That seems kind of morbid,” Twilight replied. “You don't really believe that, do you? Everypony's life has value. We just have different roles, that's all.”

“Says the royal superpony who lives in a magical fairy castle,” Arrow scoffed. “Your role in life is apparently to have everything that you ever wanted, all of the time – so of course a magical comic book world isn't going to appeal to you. Your reality is actually better than any fantasy we could create – which is kind of sad, in a way. But for most ponies our comics give them a chance to experience a better life. They can actually be the hero and make a difference. For a few hours they can live the sort of life that you live every single day. Don't take that away from them, princess.”

“I'm not going to take anything from anypony,” Twilight insisted. She eyed the comics again. “Still, I'm just not sure about this. I don't know if I want Spike to get sucked back into a comic book again. I don't think he had much fun last time.”

Arrow sighed. “You don't have to worry – these aren't enchanted. I mean, they are from the publisher that is named 'Enchanted Comics', but they're not magically enchanted to suck you into the story. They're just ordinary comic books. Spike thought that would be safer.”

“Great!” Twilight said. “Thanks – I'll make sure he gets them. Is there anything else that you need?”

“Can you tell Spike that I came by and said hello?” Arrow asked.

“Absolutely,” Twilight agreed.

The stallion paused. “You do remember my name, right?”

Twilight froze. A look of panic crossed her face. “Um, your name. Right. I've got this.” She paused for a moment. “Are you the one they call Derpy?”

Arrow face-hoofed. “Of course not! Derpy is a mare. She's the one who dropped a piano on your head that one time! I'm – oh, never mind. Just tell Spike that some random pony delivered those comics. He'll know who it was. Have a good day, your highness.”

The white stallion turned and walked away, leaving the princess alone. As Twilight started to close the door, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a group of ponies dashing off into the distance. “That's odd,” she muttered. “It looks like they're heading straight for Sweet Apple Acres.”

A bad feeling came over her. A loud noise, medics, and now a crowd – no, that can't be good at all. I'd better get over there immediately. Something is definitely wrong.

Author's Note:

This is the start of a friendship problem - but this one is going to take Twilight more than 30 minutes to resolve. Some lessons are harder to learn than others. (For the record, I have great respect for Twilight, but sometimes she's not very good at seeing what is right in front of her. She does mean well, though.)