The White Phoenix

by Quick Fix

A Personal Twist

February 18th, Year 23 under the Four Princesses

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It was a warm but windy day in Manehatten, now cleared of the winter snow that had blanketed the city since late November and giving way to a light dampness from the previous day's rain. It had done nothing to extinguish the spirits of the local ponies though. The Equestrian new year had arrived two days ago and the celebrations had been grand, a marker of another year of peace under the rule of Celestia, Luna and, to a lesser extent, Twilight. They did their part for their land, once the day was over everpony else had to do the same. Most ponies would agree that the MPD were certainly doing theirs, there hadn't been any sign of The White Phoenix making any new movements in over a month and most ponies seemed content to credit the police with the new sense of calm it had brought to Manehatten, though officers had repeatedly stated that they were increasing their state of alert to ensure that they would catch any new signs of activity.

It had left Sweetie Belle with a lot less to do though. Without having to work on the case she had a little more time to focus on where her life was going now that her singing career was on track again. She wanted to make the most of the opportunities it brought her, use it to help other ponies as much as it had helped her, though the current police stance on the Phoenix case meant that anypony connected to it had to remain in the city, hampering her options considerably. A chance had finally come up though, one of her latest offers had been to do a school talk in central Manehatten. The offer had appealed to her even more since the topic was cutie marks, a chance to share her story with a new generation that may well be inspired to go on and do even greater than she had.

That was how she found herself here now, in the main hall of the Unified Equestrian School of Manehatten, standing on a simple wooden stage before at least a hundred fillies and colts, possibly two , all aged between six and nine and the majority of them blank flanked. She couldn't help but smile a little inside at the fact that she'd seen Solo Act among them as she came in. There'd probably be time to talk to her afterward, for now she was telling her own cutie mark story, her time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders followed by how she'd started to overcome her worries about her singing talent after Rara's encouragement and begun to do something about it.

"It wasn't until May of Year two that my chance came," Sweetie said, by this point having shaken off the worst of her nerves about talking in front of a crowd. She wanted to do a good job for youngsters after all. "It was the school's talent show and I decided to enter on my own. The other crusaders were...Disappointed at first but they understood once I'd explained, especially when they remembered how well all of us singing together went," She giggled slightly at the memory before noticing a hoof going up in the audience and seeing it belonged to a gold coloured unicorn colt with a black mane, blue eyes and no cutie mark. "Yes, young colt?"

"Crescendo, Miss Belle," The earth colt answered nervously, even though Sweetie had already fielded several questions and had said from the start that she liked knowing the names of ponies she was answering. "Did you have any ponies at school who made fun of the fact you didn't have a cutie mark?"

"Excellent question!" Sweetie replied, using her enthusiasm to mask any tenseness she felt welling up at that particular memory. "And yes. A pair of fillies called Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who...Well they were pretty relentless when it came to bullying those without cutie marks. They weren't bad ponies though, just misguided. DT's actually the mayor of Ponyville now and doing well at it. Silver, we'll get to that in the story. It was due to them though that we founded the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the first place though, so it wasn't all bad."

"So, you're saying bullies can be reasoned with?" A blue-grey, blank flanked pegasus filly that hadn't given her name yet blurted out, sounding like she expected there to be repercussions for what she was saying when classes ended. Sweetie Belle frowned slightly at that and decided to go off-topic for a second. Well, not entirely, she was still speaking from personal experience.

"They can, and it doesn't have to be anything big or flashy. Bullies enjoy the sense of control that it gives them, that by picking on somepony weaker they can gain a sense of self-worth that their own lives deny them fully. The most important thing I found in ending that peacefully is to show them that you're not scared of them, you can be something better than just a chew toy for them to unleash their stress on, that you can be a friend to them that gives them what they've been missing in a better way."

She didn't realise the way that her voice had steadily grown more confident during that tangent, speaking from the heart on an issue she had struggled with for years. Her posture had shifted as well, standing closer to the edge of the stage and making sure to look at everypony as she spoke. There would be fillies and colts on both sides of the issue in this crowd and she hoped that her words had spurred at least one of them to think about how to change what they were going through. Her eyes glanced to the back of the hall and met those of one of the teachers, an older earth stallion. While he looked like he appreciated her stance, he was also giving her a silent indicator to return to the original topic. She shook her head slightly and stepped back again, thinking how she could segue from this back into the story.

"I couldn't let myself be scared, even though I was terrified to go out there and sing alone in front of a crowd. There were less ponies there but I knew each of them. Close friends spurring me on, family watching proudly, those same two fillies who would make sure I'd never hear the end of it if I messed up, especially after their attempts to unnerve me in the days before. I couldn't afford to get this wrong for so many reasons, but I knew in my heart that I wouldn't. I was going to show everypony what I could really do. I sang 'The alicorns watch' out there, you may need to ask your parents about that song but it's slow and soulful. I was too focused on my voice to worry what anypony was thinking mid-song, but when I finished the entire audience was silent, rendered speechless. For several moments I wondered if that was a bad thing, until I heard a single pair of hooves clapping. Anypony want to guess who it was?"

She stood there for several seconds, waiting to see if anypony would try to answer. When none did, she simply smiled softly, closing her eyes for several seconds as the memory came back to her like an old friend missed for far too long.

"Silver Spoon. The same filly who had seen me as nothing before, was now the first pony to applaud my performance, before my parents, my sister or any of my fellow crusaders. As others started to join in, she reached a hoof up to her face and I realised her eyes were damp. She had been moved to tears by my performance and I don't think she was the only one," She smiled more, remembering the rush of joy she had felt as she stood before that crowd decades ago. "Despite how much everypony enjoyed it, I was still surprised to be called back up to the stage for the awards. It turned out that by a clear vote, including some of the other performers, I had been declared the best act of the whole thing. I just remember standing there, realising that I had done it. I had conquered my fears, turned them into my talent and standing before that cheering crowd, realised it really was what I wanted to be...And that's when it happened."

She turned slightly and looked back at her cutie mark, smiling more at the memories. Several of the foals in the audience broke into applause of their own, including, she couldn't help but smile at, the worried sounding filly from before that had now pushed her long amber mane out of her green eyes to watch more closely. Maybe she should have been a speaker, she seemed to have gotten through to at least some of them despite her concerns.

"So..." The pegasus filly started before realising she hadn't given her name yet. "Oh! Err, Stratus, miss. So, what happened when you realised what had happened?"

"Personally? It took longer to sink in for me than anypony else there," Sweetie admitted. "But, it was one of the best feelings I've ever had, realising that I finally had my cutie mark. The audience had gone wild for my moment in the spotlight and next thing I knew, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had jumped up on stage and were hugging me like my life depended on it. That's something else important about getting your cutie mark, your friends are still gonna be there for you even if you get yours a little sooner or later than them. There's no right time for it to appear, I mean it took Scootaloo nearly another year to get hers and yet the Cutie Mark Crusaders remained as close as ever during that time and even afterward."

"Even now?" Crescendo asked quickly, getting an approving nod from Sweetie in return.

"Even now, twenty years on and they're still my best friends. They're not the only ones I've known for that long though. After the show ended, me and the other crusaders were starting for home when Silver Spoon came up to me, she didn't look like she wanted to pick a fight with us this time, she just looked...Happier. I remember her saying to me 'Thank you, for the inspiration.' and left again. Next day at school, she sat down next to me at lunch time and explained that she'd never heard something as beautiful as my voice, that I had such talent and ability to move ponies. She actually wanted to learn how to do something like that in her own way, I just told her that she needed to look at what she wanted to do instead of what Diamond Tiara wanted her to do."

"Did she?" An earth colt asked, one that Sweetie recognised from an earlier question as Axe Grinder.

"At first, I wasn't sure. A few years later though, I saw her talking to a musician that lived in town, sounding like she was getting advice on what instrument would be best for her. I never learned if she chose anything directly, since her family moved to Baltimare not long after. She wrote to me though and we've stayed in contact that way. Turns out over the years she's learned to play the clarinet and now takes it round that city both for work and to play to those she feels need some more joy in their lives. She's not really famous, but she gets by and she's happy." Sweetie smiled happily and glanced up at the clock above her in the hall. "Well, I think I'm out of time to keep speaking. I'll be here during break time though, if anypony has questions or wants a photo with me."

There was a loud round of cheers and stomping applause from the fillies and colts in the audience as she made her way off the stage just as the bell for the end of classes rang. She waved to the crowd and fetched the saddlebags she'd brought out, checking the camera she'd brought was working alright. A small part of her hoped there weren't too many questions forthcoming, after an hour speaking her voice needed a rest and she wouldn't be able to take one for at least another twenty minutes.

---

As the bell rang to mark the end of break, Sweetie Belle let out a silent sigh of relief. There was so much satisfaction to be found in talking with these schoolponies but it was rather taxing on her throat by now. Quite a few of the blank flanked youngsters had come to her asking if they could become Cutie Mark Crusaders, though Solo Act had remained nearby and happily fielded a lot of answers about that for her. Crescendo and Stratus had shown a lot of interest and Sweetie couldn't help but think that the Manehatten CMC would have a full second generation before long. That was something to look forward to in future though, right now she had a cool drink to look forward to.

The last little ponies made their way out of the hall, a signed photo of them with the unicorn star carefully clamped in their mouths. Sweetie waved them off before turning and rubbing her throat, moving over to a small table that had a pitcher of water, a glass and a newspaper on it. Thankful that something had been left for her to wind down with, she picked up the glass, filled it and took a long drink, the sensation of her dry throat being rehydrated more welcome than she could have imagined. She poured another glassful and took the newspaper in her magic, looking at the day's headlines. It was fortunate that she didn't have any water in her mouth at that point, otherwise she would have spat it all over the paper as she saw the headline, quickly grabbing the paper and reading the story.

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Below the Bar

Last night saw the main round of new years celebrations in Canterlot take place in the city's Royal Equestrian Arena. This year's celebrations had a focus on Princess Twilight Sparkle, told via a number of illusions maintained by skilled unicorns Delusion and Trixie, backed by performances from some of Equestria's best talents such as Perfect Tone and The Wonderbolts. The talking point of the night though is how the show was marred by one performer who simply proved not good enough for an event of this scale.

At the climax of her part in the performance, stunt rider Scootaloo collided with a metal ring in mid-air and crash landed in full view of the audience, suffering several head injuries and forcing the show to be halted while she was removed from the arena. Scootaloo was unresponsive to medical ponies on-site and quickly moved to Canterlot Central Hospital for further evaluation and treatment, though doctors there refuse to elaborate on her current condition. After an hours delay, the decision was made to end the celebrations early as word of the potential severity of the incident spread throughout the stadium.

Questions remain over just what happened, most principally, why it happened. Reports from backstage suggest that Scootaloo was unfocused prior to beginning her routine and had been struggling with her scooter control, suggesting that she was, performance-wise, unfit to be included in such a premiere event. Coupled with fresh accusations that she has been faking her inability to fly for some time, the biggest question may just be how her career can survive such a disastrous turn of events. Story continued on page 4.

---

It took several seconds for Sweetie Belle to realise that her hooves were shaking in a mixture of heartfelt worry and burning anger. One of her closest friends had been badly hurt doing what she loved, and she couldn't do anything to support her, not even leaving Manehatten to go check on her due to the MPD's current alert stance against The White Phoenix. Just the thought that Scootaloo was currently stuck in a hospital bed, suffering through Celestia-knows what while the...She glanced up the paper and growled slightly when, as expected, she saw it was the Equestria Today that was shunning aside details of what might have happened in favour of tearing the pegasus apart, again! Did they not have any concept of tact? Honesty? Basic pony decency?

Sweetie set the paper down and sighed, letting her frustration bleed off while there was nopony around to inadvertently take it out on. She took the filled glass and had another drink while she thought about what she could do about this. Because something had to be done now, she could have taken the hostile stance of theirs before but attacking a helpless pony was one step too far. Luckily, she remembered that the newspaper's central offices were based in Manehatten. A small grin broke out on her face as she remembered that they had invited her there for an interview some time ago as well.

Now seemed as good a time as any to take them up on that offer.

Author's Note:

It's a bit weird to me that for all my focus on the CMC in my main stories so far, it took until now to even think about what Silver Spoon would have got up to. Hopefully it all sounds about right though.

Something else about myself I learned in this chapter, I seem to have a problem with overusing OC names that begin with an S. Also, I cannot do journalism titles to save my life.