IV.IV - Stability
Aloe and Lotus put any Bridleway actress to shame. Even with an unusual injury staring them in the face, they acted as though Starlight never lost it at all! It's almost like they're decent ponies, some quiet, naive part of her brain had surmised. As if Starlight knew anything about the gossipy spa ponies personally, how they really formed opinions. They could be extremely judging, like Rarity or Trixie.
Starlight isn't so crazy as to ogle them, either; for all she knew, they probably stole a glance when she wasn't looking, or stared from the peripherals of their welcoming eyes; or, more likely, their dedication to providing a comfortable atmosphere overwhelmed their natural, Equestrian tendency to balk at the unusual.
But that was too hopeful. In all likelihood, the twins communicated their feelings through those sharp, emotive eyes of theirs.
Yeah, those delighted looks were a facade; those flapping gums an effective trap, a distraction, and worked on Starlight in the heat of the moment. As she laid face-down, alone with her thoughts and her best friend beside her, the details just didn't make sense.
If they were trying to be polite, then they'd do what everypony had done, and act on that emotional urge to pity her. But from Aloe and Lotus, nothing. As if they already made their judgements when word spread of Starlight's scene at Hayburger yesterday.
Oh, gosh, that has to be it! A great weight ground up Starlight's back, Aloe's hooves. If Trixie, my best friend, really thought that I was 'done with life,' then what's stopping the rest of Ponyville from just up and assuming such nonsense?
Oh, gosh, the damage control for this might be even harder than it'll be for Twilight. No doubt about it. Starlight, now, really didn't want this pony on her. Judging her.
On deeper reflection, this massage needed calling off. Like, now.
“Ex’zhale, Missus Stah'light,” Aloe cooed for the hundredth time, moving to knead her barrel like dough. "Breathe deep, and clear you're mind." Starlight did, that sweet, milky scent of coconut oil snaking up her nose, hooking her in the brain. Intoxicating her, blossoming from her shoulder, painful, and oh so relieving at once.
"Y-you're definitely making that... Oh, jeez." Starlight bit down on a moan, and her foreleg. Her belly swelled in such a way she didn't hate. "How long've you been doin' this?"
"Z'is? Three, minutes," Aloe enunciated, sounding even prouder as she added, "On a grahnder scale, since I was seven." A deep, circular motion crept towards both cutie marks, irksome muscle-knots fleeing a centimeter ahead. Aloe will destroy the pests.
"Such tension, everywhere I touch!" she cried, the curl of her silky, cyan tail bobbing in tandem with her massaging. “Ponies do not do well with stress, you know. And z'e body always always speaks truth of how we treat ourselves, what we feel, even what we eat!" Starlight was a literal book for Aloe to read. Perfect. "So sorry if that triggered you, Missus Stah'light. My mouth, it is always a step ahead of my brain."
Her blush was almost perceivable; if the voice wasn't all there was of her, Starlight would have missed Aloe's quiver, her anxiety.
What did she have to be uneasy about?
Starlight, for both their sake, shut her analytical brain out. "And what does my body say about me?" Hopefully not as malnourished as Twilight fretted. Those cringe-inducing weeks of stalking the princess came to mind; memories of eating bi-daily with loose bits scrounged from the streets made the present a joke by comparison, but still... Starlight had been terribly wrong before. "I mean, sure, I've not eaten the bes-oh, gosh!" Her left flank exploded with blinding pleasure.
"Ah! One knot down," Aloe purred, speaking far, far away from the fluffy cloud embracing Starlight. "Now, as for the story 'neath z'e mare... You’ve not given your body time to, ah, breathe. Or, to acclimate, I should z'ay, if I were to guess. Your mah'scles are tense, even now, Missus Glimmer! If I may, dwelling on past woes do you no good. Especially in this moment, as makes it all z'e harder to provide a koala-ty service."
How wise, so sagely. Completely obvious. And yet Starlight almost forgot that "dwelling" was all she'd done and been doing, and it's done her no favors. Ever. "Mm, sorry," she managed, throat closing from equal parts pleasure and regret. "I know I've not helped it, but the thing is, it's!" A tight little ball of pain zipped down her left leg, and was simply gone.
"Exhale..." Aloe began kneading her rear-end like dough, hooves exuding sickly-sweet coconut oil aromas.
Sighing, Starlight's chin thumped back into her cradling forelegs. "The thing is it's, my woes're quite... quite present. Oh, my butt feels great, by the way. Thanks."
Her masseuse clacked down upon the floor, both hind hooves, keeping her front pair kneading the thin, clenching muscles of Starlight's back-left leg. "Do not v'orry, my dear. Locate your 'appy place, and let Aloe take care of you," purred the spa pony, her words wrapping Starlight like a blanket, beckoning a dreamlike state only a crazy pony would hesitate to dive in.
Nothing existed but a gentle, pleasurable tingle all over. Like magic. That's all reality really was, just magic given physical form. Starlight understood this better than most ever will, and once, she was a part of that, too. A pressure swelled in her belly, surging up to Starlight's face.
“So’oh, that’s the spot! So, it's a good thing Starlight's happy place is right here, hm?”
Starlight popped her eyes open in surprise, a tickle on both cheeks. "You're still awake?" Woah, Aloe does good work, Starlight thought, her coat glossy and groomed as each cheek rubbed against her foreleg.
"Ah-h'ah. Ah-h'ah. No, I just know how to relax. Unlike some ponies," Trixie teased.
Starlight had to restrain herself by remembering, It's just Trixie. She'd never understand something so nuanced. "Let's swap roles, Trix! See how cool and aloof you are when the tables are turned."
A chuckle. "Sweetie, Trixie's always acting."
It made sense, she did usually cover up shortcomings she's painfully aware of with bravado and self-hype. She could be acting right now! "Wait, what do you mean by-?"
"Oh, did I say that out loud?" Trixie made a tittering noise. "My mouth runs off with some ridiculous notions sometimes. Trixie is great and genuine in everything she does!"
Starlight grinned. "Okay, Trix. Sure thing." She shut her eyes.
"Z'at is dopamine drowning your thoughts. It extinguishes fears, loosens lips."
"Aloe," admonished Lotus, "do not interfere with z'ere healing. Z'is is their spa experience, not ours."
A thin fog drifted before them, white watercolors swirling upon a chestnut canvas. Lips parted, Starlight breathed deep, trying not to be crushed by the sauna's humid atmosphere.
"I thought that pony'd never leave us alone." Trixie plopped down as did Starlight, a pitched whine piercing the sauna's stillness as an aura flashed into existence about her horn, their towels, and a ladle steeped in a bucket beside the coals. "Tryna tell us how to enjoy the spa..." she grumbled, the three magenta stars cutting the gloom apart; their towels stacked, settling between them, the other lifting the dripping ladle to the room's centerpiece.
"We did do it wrong," Starlight's 'you know' was drowned in the apparent seething of some great serpent as Trixie dumped water upon the ruddy stones. "It's not like this is our first time doing this." Plumes of white, sweltering heat slapped them in the face, smelling of sweet cedar and many potent oils.
"If we wanted the sauna, then as customers we have that right," said Trixie.
"Boy, you're acting more entitled than usual," Starlight joked.
Instead of acknowledging it, Trixie continued, "And if we wanted those ponies' advice, you'd have asked them for it."
Ah, so that's why she's mad. "I didn't realize you became my mother." A sideways glance revealed the unicorn setting her jaw, chin jutted forth. "Oh, come on, Trixie. If I wanted you to be my hero, I'd have asked for it." Starlight slid her foreleg off her belly, a heavy, cloying imprint left upon her coat. "H'oh, this is what I needed, for real..."
"You wish Trixie'd swoop in and save you." It was amazing Trixie could pull off her 'Great and Powerful' act in this sleep-inducing heat. "But, nay, it was a total breach of privacy, and that's the problem here. They were eavesdropping, for pony's sake!"
"They were literally on top of us."
"Still!" After two seconds, it was clear that's all she had.
If in her place, Starlight would rebuttal that it wasn't the twins' job to give their clients two cents, even the obvious stuff Starlight really ought to have ingrained, being a semi-adjusted adult of society. On the other hoof...
"Are you jealous they gave me some helpful advice?" Starlight couldn't suppress her smile, especially when Trixie looked to her utterly dumbfounded.
But instead of rejecting the very notion of what was a ridiculous statement to her, Trixie only asked, "The pink... Aloe," she corrected, as Starlight's gaze sharpened almost hearing the label, "she was actually helping?"
Somepony wasn't hearing me thank her up and down. Steam wafted up from the low, lazy glow within the basin-thing; things were lighter, she noticed, even the bench beneath her. Starlight wasn't afraid to say, "A little bit. Got a bad history of letting things fester, you know. And Aloe, she made it so easy for me to just... let go. Even though I know that won't last forever. For now, I won't let anything bother me." Trixie, who was the reason she even obtained this advice, turned away, staring ahead as well. "This was a great idea, Trix. Going for the sauna."
From the corner of her eye, a proud smile spread across the magician's muzzle. "What can I say? I'm a spontaneous pony."
It was for that reason Starlight originally enjoyed Trixie's company; there was no guessing what she'd do, but her actions, her mind, was always clear. There were few secrets between the two of them. "Yeah, what actually made you wanna do more than the massage? Be honest. This whole trip was kinda off-the-cuff, even for us."
"Uh-"
"Steam's thinning, by the way."
"You do it." Starlight let that stupidity hang long enough for Trixie to realize. "Uh, I mean-"
"I'm hornless, remember?"
"Right, yeah. Sorry."
"You're fine," Starlight assured lightheartedly. Trixie, frowning, ladled more water over the coals, suffocating the sauna in a milky atmosphere, hot and moist like the inside of a mouth. Tingles shuddered all over Starlight, she couldn't help but sigh in pleasure. It was almost too good, her belly writhing, restless.
"And that, my friend, is why," said Trixie, bumping her with a hoof. "That look on your face? You must not have smiled like this in forever."
"Not since the last time we came here." Starlight grinned, and smiled deeper being regarded with a flat stare. "Oh, I'm just teasing! You're absolutely right, Trixie. This's what I needed after all this drama and craziness."
"Good. I'm glad."
Trixie's voice was so soft, so genuine, it was almost hard to believe that was really her. It formed a tightness in Starlight's chest, a twinge of guilt for forgoing any mention of Fizzlepop out of fear of making Trixie spiral into a bout of thinly-veiled insecurity. Her first time meeting Maud was too pitiful not to forget.
Starlight smiled at the memory, a thing of the past, as were a great many things. Beads of sweat rolled down her neck, face, belly, all over, her troubles and woes mixed with them. Warmth like the hottest, most sweltering summer day filled her lungs, touching every part of her, seeping into the very depths of her core. Starlight had no problems, not here. Not with Trixie, who only wanted her happy, at least for the time they spent together. "Thanks... a lot."
"No sweat!" She flicked a hoof at Starlight, sprinkling her to both their amusement.
"But I mean it," she continued. "I appreciate you talking to me like this. Like nothing's different. Heck, even the way you forgot I was hornless was just amazing."
"I... totally understand." Probably not, but Trixie wasn't the kind of pony to look compliments under scrutiny. "Speak nothing of... oh, phooey, I can't keep up the act," she muttered, just as softly. "Don't bother thanking me for being your best friend, okay Starlight? This is what we do for each other."
Something bucked Starlight in the chest, so hard she frowned. A pressure in her eyes welled. Maybe it was the steam fogging her mind, smothering that anxious little voice in her brain. Perhaps the weight of everything she'd ignored was finally breaking her, all the friends she hurt, what Starlight'd done, and lost.
And still had. It all congealed inside and made her unusually courageous. "So, even if I wanted to cry, here and now? You wouldn't judge or make fun of me?"
A weak gasp, maybe a laugh, maybe a sob. "Am I really that shallow, Starlight? Is... Is that why you've avoided me?"
"I don't know," Starlight answered before she could think twice. "I've been stupid lately, alright? I've just been afraid of everypony, everyone I see on the streets. And I've no idea why... It's like I knew this whole time I did something stupid, and in my head it's like that is all anypony thinks about. It's stupid and selfish, I know, but..." The silence killed her; Trixie awaited her to spill it all. To be done crying, bellyaching. Then she would say it's all okay, for Starlight was strong and it was expected of her by this point. Even Luna said so. Starlight would continue not being totally okay with it, no matter how much she wanted to be.
"But it makes so much sense, because ponies are that judgemental." Trixie always found a way to make every hangout special, unexpected, great, and so very powerful. "Trust me," she added, smile audible, "I know what that's like."
"Gosh," Starlight swallowed, forcing it all down, deep into her groggy, sweating brain, "is there any way to go back in time and take back how I'd acted? Then I'd tell myself to just... well..."
Starlight could only shrug. There wasn't anything she could realistically do differently. "Ponies like to act as if they'd make different choices looking back. The thing is, they made their choices because that's who they are. They didn't know any better." They'd be stuck in their own heads.
"Nothing would change, would it?" wondered Trixie. "No matter who'd grab you by the legs, kicking and screaming, you'd still end up doing anything to save Twilight. And those... things, you were talking about back there." Starlight grimaced, still feeling that Aloe's hooves stop upon her shoulders, hearing of another foalhood story made real. How could she be so deep into the massage, that she forgot who was doing the stupid thing? "Those things would only want one thing from you anyhow." Trixie's voice, and the heat filling Starlight's breast as she inhaled, melted any tightness away.
"I guess?" Whether there was a reason they wanted such a useless extremity for payment, or this was all part of Starlight's fate as they'd ordained, was maddening enough to make her forget it entirely with a deep breath, a spicy-sweet smell prickling her sinuses. "Nothing would change about my decision either way, Trix," Starlight sighed. "If it came down to either me or Twilight, I'd pick her every time." The silence scared her out of opening her eyes. "I'm sorry, Trixie. That's just who I am."
"I know." She sounded sad.
Almost disappointed. "Trix?" Starlight turned...
...and Trixie, mirroring her, was smiling. "That's why I'm really, really glad that I'm your best friend. Right?"
She was. She really, truly was. "Thanks, Trixie." Starlight smirked, adopting a joking tone with her frail voice as she clarified, "Thanks for not demonizing me. It's a relief to hear somepony appreciating what I'd done."
"Tch." Trixie glared ahead. "'The Princess of Friendship' my plot. She oughta realize how great she has it, being with you."
"No, she's absolutely grateful! Though, you wouldn't think it if you'd talked to her."
"I did, and I don't think it. She doesn't sound 'absolutely grateful' to me at all." Trixie's sneer bounced off the wooden walls.
"It's a little more nuanced than that. Unfortunately. See, she feels at fault for making me lose my horn, right? And I get it. I hate it, but I'd definitely be in the same boat if she'd went and done that for me. So I get why it's hard for her to feel comfortable with being a hundred-percent grateful."
Trixie snorted. "She can't accept that you're a big pony who can make big pony-choices, can't she? And neither can you. Twilight's the one who's your mother, Starlight. Not me. Trixie's like your cool cousin."
The last thing Starlight wanted was to get in an argument about Twilight. So she filed the debate away for another time, and replied, "There's a broad umbrella of descriptors for you, Trix. And I'm sorry, but 'cool' is not one of them."
She knew Trixie would be flustered, which is why she barked out laughing when the pony snapped, "Oh, and like you are?"
"Definitely not! But I'm not ashamed to admit it."
"Trixie is great and powerful; one cannot be great and powerful and, and uncool."
Starlight could think of a few, key moments when her friend demonstrated that such a thing was possible.
Starlight frowned. "You really do have selective memory sometimes." Being neck-deep in gross, egg-smelling mud was a fitting local for this horse manure of an argument.
"What?" She winced, Trixie's shrill voice right beside her. "How was that uncool?"
"Jeez, Trix, I dunno! Wigging out worse than Fluttershy is probably the lamest thing anypony could do in a crisis situation!"
"I was justified in being terrified! Our home was being invaded by love-sucking monsters!"
"Former monsters, Trix. It's attractive to be politically correct."
"Whatever! How could you make fun of me for that?" Trixie actually whimpered. Thank goodness cucumber slices prevented her from seeing if it was genuine; Starlight might have actually felt bad.
"I didn't say it was unjustified," she worded carefully. "I understand why you were scared, which is why I never, ever brought it up until now. The thing is, I needed you to work with me more than anything. And you, well, weren't. Like, at all. You chose to distract yourself by sparring with Discord when so much was on the line, for one."
"I told you I was sorry! I even baked you an apology cupcake!"
"You bought me an apology cupcake. And licked the frosting off anyway."
"Just a dab!"
"It was my apology cupcake!"
"I bought it though!"
"Sweet Celestia, you're impossible sometimes." Starlight set her head back against the cushion.
The next instant her friend barked, "Ha! I win. Trixie's cool."
What was so surprising? Leave it to Trixie's legendary deafness toward any form of criticism, it's make even her best friend go nuts. "And one who willfully ignores all the other times I just brought up."
"It was a foolish argument from the start. You just enjoy lording over the Great Trixie!"
"Dude, really?"
Trixie snorted. "Like," she grunted in a deep voice, "since when have you started saying 'dude,' brah?"
Starlight's eyes popped open to a pair of moist, green screens. "Swiftly ignoring that," because I don't even know why, "just because I surrendered doesn't mean you've won the argument, m'kay?"
"Keep telling yourself that," Trixie sang.
"You are impossible sometimes. What kind of logic are you running on, kid? A foal's?" 'Kid,' Starlight said, even though she was about three and a half years older.
Trixie cackled, like the lovable witch that she was. "And I'm the one who cherry-picks memories? I'm not the arrogant foal who made decisions on 'the road to friendship' because she believed she was right."
Starlight swore her cucumber slices began to sizzle, her face heating like a frying pan. "Ugh, you had to bring that up?"
"Well?"
"What are you trying to prove here?"
"That...! I don't... quite know!" Trixie sighed, dropping her weak bravado. "That you aren't perfect, if I were to hazard a guess. It's silly now that I'm thinking about it." It was as if she'd only acted on instinct, always, with little thought to her actions.
How irresponsible, but Starlight had no room to cast judgement. Of any kind. "I never thought I was perfect, Trixie."
"I know..."
"I make selfish, boneheaded decisions on this subconscious basis that I'm the smartest mare in the room." She smiled, huffing a laugh so Trixie wouldn't think this a pouty-pony session. "Why do you think we're even here in the first place?"
"To relax. To forget about your woes, and dismantle all these imaginary problems."
"Huh?"
"Starlight, whatever's going through your mind, as your best friend I can guarantee that most of it's crap."
"Well, then." Beneath her jokingly flustered response, Starlight really was taken aback by this. It was in-line for Trixie, but she seldom held such beliefs for ponies that didn't directly affect her life.
"It doesn't matter what other ponies tell you, or what you build up in your head. Okay, Starlight? In my opinion, you've proved time and again that you knew exactly what you were doing. And if you don't believe me, just ask the Two Sisters. Or Pharynx. Or even Princess Twilight, when she decides to get her brain out of her fat, purple butt."
Starlight opened her mouth, staring into the moist covers over her eyes. She shut it, then opened it again. What could she possibly say to that? She couldn't agree, but... so many problems would still exist had she never acted.
Was Trixie, in a rare moment, absolutely right? "Trixie," was all she could manage to say.
"And here's another truth for you, bestie: horn or not, you're still my great and powerful assistant!"
Starlight felt something heavy sink deep inside her, her mind flashing with images of ponies laughing at the idea of a magician's magic-less assistant. "Uh..." Or a thousand eyes drawn on her crippling injury, in the likeliest and most horrible scenario.
"Don't start getting cold hooves on me now, Starlight. Where's your passion?"
Gone, along with my horn and my reason for even joining you. But Starlight had no idea how to put that, or is she ought to in the first place. But she couldn't just say no to her friend who'd done nothing but help today.
"Trust me," Trixie resumed, like it was nothing. "Once you're on stage, you'll realize how much your presence adds to my Ponyville shows!"
She just wants to help me feel normal again... Almost all of Starlight's being wanted to cry and hug Trixie just for being such an amazing friend, but on the other hoof...
"Thanks, Trixie. But I'm gonna have to give that a hard pass."
A jeering remark was to be expected, beginning the first of many explanations before Trixie fully understood.
Trixie was an unexpected mare, in more ways than one. Her demonstration of such in the sauna, and outside her wagon, reminded Starlight of that.
But in a familiar way, she, too, was wholly predictable. "Wwwhat?"
It was like paint, dried and flaking, prickling her face with the slightest of touches. "I don't know why this is so hard to understand," Starlight enunciated, teeth gnashed; to scratch this stuff away like it were an outbreak of pox, that would be a dream come true.
"Oh, I understand it perfectly, Starlight."
Starlight swallowed the drive to scrape all over, all her being focused on Aloe's clawing through her mane, even as it left a fresh, glowering trail of itchiness along her scalp.
"I'll say it again, Starlight: you're afraid of failure."
"That's so not true!" It's sad how easily Trixie kept her mind off all this; that Starlight felt so offended by a simple, hard truth.
"Uh, yah it so is!" Trixie laughed, over Lotus's murmuring of, 'Settle down, Missus Lulamoon. "It's practically your brand at this point."
"Oh, please." Aloe left her mane as it was, heavy, yet lighter from her face. "Name one instance, Trixie. Humor me."
"The Sunset Festival at Our Town?"
A sinking feeling was uprooted in a lurch as someone, no, merely Aloe, took Starlight's foreleg in between her hooves. "Oh, come on! This is reaching. That wasn't fear, it was guilt." She winced at that weak excuse. "Amped by fear, if I'm being honest."
"Point being, you were too afraid of being judged to even try becoming their friends."
"Hey, if you were me, you'd feel the same!"
"Ha! Unlike you I meant to torture somepony." Trixie really did have selective memory; not that that made Starlight's intentions any less horrible. "A whole town's worth, if I'm not mistaken," she continued, very soft. "And any who laughed at me got it, too. After Trixie's humbling, you know what she did?"
"What?" Starlight asked, genuinely curious.
"Trixie sucked it up, accepted what she'd done, and returned to each and every town with her head held high!"
Starlight said nothing, realizing her friend was totally right, and that she had greater courage than the mare refusing to face the music. Again.
"How about a recent example?" Trixie continued, confident, in her head clearly on a roll. "You were afraid of seeing me because you thought I'd be upset with you." Of course, this would be brought up again. Trixie forgave easily but never, ever forgot. "And you've known me longer than those wasteland scrounging ponies, at that!"
Factually incorrect, but it wasn't the point. "Didn't we already go over this?" Starlight whined, because she really didn't want to relive the jaws of guilt clamped upon her heart.
"Sure, but I'm still confused about why you'd think something so badly of me, personally."
"It wasn't personal, that's the thing."
"Exactly." Starlight's gut sank, and not solely to Trixie's serious change in tone. "You've just admitted to making the same mistakes over and over, am I right?" She already knew that answer, another from Starlight was unnecessary. Not to mention, incredibly rude. She'd no right to bring this up again in front of dang Aloe and Lotus, as if she didn't even care about Starlight's feelings in this moment, at all. "Come on, Starlight. Break the wheel already! What are you waiting for?"
She was just trying everything to force something upon Starlight. "The end result of all this is to get me to join your show, right?"
"Of course that's something I want," said Trixie, annoyed, but carefully. "But in the end, I want you to stop hurting yourself like this. It sounds awful to always be afraid of your closest friends judging you."
That's because ponies did; they always hid their true feelings from one another. Starlight, after all, would never tell Trixie she's overbearing and annoying at times (like this very moment). Twilight may be honest to a fault, but right now she probably thought Starlight an insensitive, bad friend, and for the sake of their friendship it was in line for her to hide this inside.
"Okay, Trixie. Let me make this as clear and honest as possible, so you don't think I'm hiding a single thing from you."
"Okay?"
"I don't. Wanna be. In your show. For the fifty-millionth time, I am not feeling it in the slightest. Yeah, I don't want ponies staring at my horn. And, yeah, I can see myself having fun with the role, like always. But things aren't the same anymore: I'm a magicless mare, Trixie! And don't get me wrong, it was about helping a friend first. But a lot of the fun was in..." The thought lodged itself in her throat. "It was fun doing magic with you... Anyway, the fulfillment I'd have gotten from this gig is gone now, and it'll never be replaced." Silence, but the soft scrape of a file on Trixie's hoof; the other of Starlight's was now being kneaded by Aloe. "I'm sorry. I really, really am. But there is zero motivation for me to get on that stage again."
"...Okay Starlight. I understand. I'll stop being pushy." And that was that - their argument petered out like a weak little flame. Knowing Trixie, it'd probably roar to life on the eve of her next show. For the sake of her friend and all she'd done for her, today and long before then, Starlight might stop playing the timid, neutered animal and return to being normal Starlight Glimmer.
She forced down the dull ache inside and focused on the muscles beneath in her leg, flattening and rolling, Aloe's hoof polished in scented oils rubbing down her coat. She was going to look normal again leaving her, perhaps she'd feel the same, too.
As if a new manecut would change anything. Starlight really was a foal, wasn't she?
She sure acted like one when she got upset. Trixie once told me she coped with her mistakes by never thinking about them. Advice that was borderline good. But it helped Trixie face the future without any fear. Yet Starlight was the strong pony, the one who was praised while rolling in the filth of her mistakes like a piglet in mud.
Trixie, comparatively, kept her eyes ahead.
After all, dwelling on one's past never yielded any favors. Whatever Trixie's was, before her first encounter with Twilight Sparkle, it burned this knowledge in her mind forevermore. It wasn't a particularly wise approach (having burned conceitedness into her personality), but it was a sound design when comparing the two together.
Starlight would never be as strong as Trixie, never live up to everypony's expectations, if she didn't truly learn.
And she would never learn by repeatedly getting lost in her own imagination; by retreating to it when things seemed a little out of her control.
Control... Sweet Celestia, it always came back to this, didn't it?
"Trixie?" A soft grunt. "Ever since I woke up, I've had it in my head that everypony else were the ones acting weird. I wanted everything back to the way it was, before Twilight got sick. But the thing is, I'd no idea what that even looked like until today." Trixie wasn't the sole teacher in this, but Fizzlepop, too, reminded Starlight of what normalcy looked like. Ironic, considering she was anything but. No, not normal. Normal isn't a thing - but Fizzle was a pony who acted as if nothing was different.
And Starlight definitely wanted that again. Every day. Whatever it took, it'd be worth the effort. Starlight's heart rose and rose, so high it did, she felt it could reach Elysium.
"Starlight?"
"Ah! Oh, sorry! Sorry, got lost in thought," she tittered.
"I'll say! What changed? You sound more upbeat now than you have all day. I didn't even notice until now."
There were probably a ton of things about her presentation Starlight was blind towards. "This... this'll sound kinda silly, Trix, but I think I realized my problem."
"Oh? Do tell!"
Starlight didn't feel hot under her mask as she announced, "It's me. I'm the one who's acting bizarre. And I just expected the world to treat that like it's normal when I just can't."
"I could have told you that," joked Trixie.
Luna's words floated in her brain, twisting around images of Starlight manipulating her friends like puppets in her own little nightmare. I'm responsible for my own mistakes. And successes; how I make the world react to me is up to me, and me alone.
"I think I've known this, too, at least for a little while," she confessed. It was so stupidly obvious that Starlight just wanted to crawl in a hole and die, but that wouldn't be very productive. "And if I really want this, whatever 'normal' looks like now," like this whole day, from Fizzlepop's table to this very chair, her best friend getting a hooficure alongside her, "I have to be the one to do it."
Silence, and it went on a second long enough for Starlight to wonder why Aloe and Lotus had zero input. They hadn't given any since their massage, of course, but still. That didn't stop them before...
"I'm gonna be honest, Starlight," said Trixie, softly, "I don't understand a lot of what you're saying. But," boisterously, she finished, "if there's anyway I can help, just say the word! Your great and powerful best friend shall any way she can!"
The mask cracked beneath her eyes, cool air prickling Starlight as she grinned. "You already have, Trix. Thank you." She thought, then asked, "Is there something special you'd like to do after this? My treat!"
"Oh, goody! I've got options."
"Yeah! Anything you want. I'd like to make it up to you, so, if there's something you'd like..."
Another brief silence, but this time Starlight could hear the devilish smirk in Trixie's voice as she echoed, "You wanna make it up to me?"
The trek rendered Starlight plopping down upon the grassy, wrapping her silky-smooth tail around her, as the magician faced her and said, "Alrighty, then! Teach Trixie how to shoot fire!"
That explained why they were on a hill, overlooking Ponyville, as opposed to practicing in the castle like always. "I thought you wanted to practice for your show," panted Starlight.
"I do! Wouldn't Trixie's presentation look amazing if she conjured up magical pyrotechnics?"
A thousand horrible images came to mind, making Starlight's chest hurt more than it already did. "Uh, it'd be breathtaking, I've no doubt! But pyromancy is a ball park I never even tried to study. Sorry, Trix."
"What?" She gawked, as if awaiting a deeper explanation that didn't exist. "You, the most magically-apt pony in the world, never graced an entire school of magic?"
Having forgotten all about her horn, Starlight chuckled, breath finally steadying. "Hey, thanks for the compliment. But there's at least six ponies alive today who were more powerful than me. That aside, I hadn't learned it because I never trusted my emotions enough to give it a shot." Trixie's face fell, realizing in all likelihood that she was just as bad, if not worse, in this respect. "According to myth, every pony practitioner or pyromancy is said to lack eyebrows. Except for Princess Celestia, of course, since she's the godmother of the art... Trixie, chin up! It's inherently uncontrollable. Even I'm smart enough not to play with fire!"
"Ugh, fine. Continue living on the safe side, Starlight. Trixie will let you sleep comfortably knowing her best friend is stuck with subpar fireworks."
Feeling cheeky, Starlight beamed. "I can live with that!"
"Meh. Fine, if we won't do that," Trixie took a wide stance, "then drill me on the firing of laser beams!"
Starlight stared, then facehoofed; all spells involved "laser beams" in some way. Having seldom spoken with non-mages about magic, it took a moment to deduce the average pony's perception of a concussive blast. "Right," she realized. "Okay. Now, I'm not saying 'no,' but should I be concerned for your future fans? These aren't very flashy, nor're they a safe substitute for fireworks."
"I know that," Trixie snapped. "Quit worrying about me. This is purely for self-defense."
Her proud little smile was unshakable, even under Starlight's leveled stare. "Trixie, nopony will ever go after you. Why waste time learning this, when we could be expanding your transfiguration?"
Trixie bristled at the notion. "I'll have you know this won't be a 'waste,' Starlight!" Oh, that's what she was offended over. Strange sense of pride. "You wanted to make it up to Trixie, and if pyro-fancies or whatever they're called, are off the table, she'll have to settle for laser blasts." Starlight could only stare, ready to pry into her true intentions. "This is my demand!" Trixie gave a little stomp.
Starlight rose her hooves, hoping to ease this peculiar, heated reaction. "Alright, alright! Sorry for asking, I won't bother you. Just don't go firing this willy-nilly like you do every time I teach you a new spell."
"Pssht! When has Trixie ever?"
"Don't make me start." She had to be joking. She was. For the sake of Starlight's sanity, Trixie was only trying to push her buttons.
"Okay, now," Trixie re-adopted her battle stance, "what's the secret to doing a laser blast, Master?"
Starlight took a second to think, stroking her tail while doing so, feeling its smoothness. It felt good, inside and out, to be presentable again. "Like all magic, it's connected to our emotions. A concussive blast is a concentrated manifestation of... hm, of a sort of determination, I'd say. You have to see what you want to hit, visualize it being zapped, and-"
A short, sharp whine preceded a boom that blew Starlight's mane back, and apparently, Trixie flat on her back. "...OW!" she snarled, smokey fingers snaking from her face toward the heavens.
"Aaand let it blow up in your face before I have a chance to finish!" Starlight stood and offered a hoof. "Patience, young one."
"Ouchies..." Trixie winced, staggering as Starlight helped pull. "What more is there? This's so simple, I've seen you do this countless times with no problem!"
"That's because it took me years to master it. You're not gonna cast it without thinking on your first attempt!" Trixie groaned dramatically. "Oh, quit fussing! Next time, find the right fit for you, the right feeling. Then you let the power begin to well. Once you can do that without thinking, then comes the breakneck firing rate."
"Okay, fine! Let's give this another shot..."
Trixie had picked up transfiguration quickly. She got the mechanics of teleporting in no time. They'd needed refining, sure, but on a fundamental level Trixie had a bit of magical power on her side. But the sky soon took on a burnt orange, streaked with pinks and purples, by the time they both deteriorated.
"Ahhhhhhhhrgh," bellowed Starlight. Trixie opened her mouth. "Ahhhhhhhhrgh!"
"What in Equestria are you droning like that for?!"
"I'm mocking you, because you're not listening to me: stop. Being. So angry. Cool your jets; focus. This isn't a brain-dead easy spell like levitation."
"How about you say something different?"
"I didn't even know it was possible to come up with this many metaphors until today. How else do you want me to explain it? I can't exactly give you a demonstration."
"That Tempest pony could do it no problem!"
"Tempest isn't casting a spell, Trixie! She's just firing off pure, magical energy, which is incredibly dangerous, might I add." Trixie dropped to her butt, forelegs crossed. "Oh that's real mature." Starlight marched around her, as she'd done the last couple hours. "Come on, when've you ever called it quits?"
"There's a difference between quitting and letting go of an impossible dream." Trixie's grimace softened, a pitiful sort of emotion coming to surface. "I want to learn this quickly. But if it's going to take me years to get as good as you, then there's gonna be no point. So let's just get some dinner, okay?"
Always the dramatic. "Trixie, you can do this. It's easy. Just focus on one thing, one emotion. That's all there is."
"How exactly am I supposed visualize, feel, and power up all at once?" Trixie wondered, as Starlight took a seat across from her, hind legs crisscrossing. "I still need to pour everything into teleporting, and that's supposed to be an easy spell!"
Uh-oh. She was angry. It was in one ear, out the other (more so than usual) now. "It takes practice," was the easy answer, but she pointed to her temple as she had a thousand times already, adding, "and stability. You'll get it in time. There's no rush."
Trixie furrowed her brows, glaring at the grass between them. "Ha!" Trixie barked out of nowhere. "If I can't get it now then I'll just have to work harder. No rushing? Stability? Starlight Glimmer, you've got alotta nerve, toting something like... that..." Her face, voice, and words fell at once, and Starlight didn't register this immediately.
She smirked. "Please. As if you're any better?" Trixie continued to stare, neither dumbfounded nor shocked. There was nothing in her eyes. Starlight was ready to ask what the look was about, until she followed the blank stare piercing through her.
Past her shoulder, a sight brought Starlight's entire body scrambling up and around. Whatever the hay they were just talking about was gone, too, as a boulder-like weight took place within.
"Maudie," said Trixie, the sound of grass shuffling behind Starlight, continuing on her level, "how'd you find us?"
There was no reading that unfazed glare, surely zeroed in on Starlight's soul. "I want to talk," she announced. "Can we?"
It was such a simple question; too simple to make any sense to Starlight, considering the mare before her. Since when did Maud ask for permission? She'd always stated what she wanted, thought, or felt; at least around Starlight.
Was she angry? Wanting to settle the score? No, she wanted to "talk;" obviously about yesterday, certainly to get her feelings out, or Starlight's. Hopefully both. Goodness, Starlight hoped that's why she was here.
Or maybe she was here to break off their friendship for good.
Chest tight, Starlight sprung with an answer before she could instinctively decline. "O-of course! We can... yeah."
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I'm excited for Maud POV next chapter. I don't think I've ever read anything written from her POV before.
Is Trixie not privy to the fact that Starlight had her own little Hut 101 back in Our Town?
9218245
Why on Earth would anyone spread that little tidbit around? The only ones who know that either live in Our Town or are now Starlight's friends who want to help her fit in.
In my story, I go with the idea that ponies generally know that Starlight did some bad stuff, but aren't really clear on any details.
9218245
Trixie, nor really anyone, would consider willful brainwashing of already unstable, unhappy ponies to be torture. Just misguidance on everyone's part.
In our world, what Starlight did to the Mane Six was "torture" but in a cartoony way. Torture has such extreme connotations to it these days when, say, any form of bullying can be construed as torture. It's not like this was A Clockwork Orange: the Mane Six, if anything, were being annoyed and held prisoner. Any change in their personalities was a result of losing their marks, but their actual feelings and beliefs didn't change a bit.
9218389
Okay, no. Mutilation (please don't try to sell me on cutie unmarking not being traumatizing: the ponies it's done to have pained facial expressions, is shown with a tearing animation, cutie mark loss in Twilight's Kingdom, the previous episode, left ponies listless and forlorn, and the denizens of Our Town were oppressed by their equal sign marks in the most literal sense - constantly feeling a source of external pressure on their actions, thoughts, and feelings), isolation, confinement, bombardment with noise, and probably lack of food are all, as you say, actual real forms of torture. Pointing that out is not succumbing to some soft, effete zeitgeist, it's a humanistic principle.
And for further "no," you open with a truly horrifying bit of victim-blaming. Being unstable and unhappy to begin with does not grant anyone license to do anything to you, especially not mutilation, isolation, confinement, etc. That you say Trixie would not appreciate that opens up a repulsive moral void at the heart of her character. That you ascribe that morality to "anyone" reasonable. . . I don't even know what to say.
9218867
You need not say anything, and instead take a deep breath. Because you're doing a lot of projecting.
The act of losing a mark is painful because it's a piece of your soul (something Starlight is aware of after the fact). But Night Glider describes it as a "beautiful experience." I'm not saying they thought the actual feeling of losing their mark was beautiful, but in losing them they felt their lives were improved in the act of something impossible made possible by Starlight. These ponies genuinely believe they are happy without their marks because, in one way or another, they felt as heartbroken as Starlight had and thought, or was led to believe, their marks were the cause of it.
I wish you explained what you meant by "the most literal sense." The equal signs themselves, being a replacement for this vital piece of their soul, subdued any defining traits of their being. While Starlight instilled a sense of "external pressure" in a combination of mob mentality and emotional manipulation. Though they continued to believe Starlight's philosophy was good for them, they couldn't help but long for more color in their life. But they didn't just disobey Starlight and revolt because her friendship was that important to them, and thus her beliefs seemed genuine. When she was revealed to be a fraud, that's what broke their hearts all over again and declare her whole philosophy as a sham/a way to exert power/whathaveyou.
The lack of food was not willfully implemented torture but a result of Starlight's inefficient society. As for the rest, that is where she took things too far, but we don't know if this was a regular happening in the village. For all we know, this could have just been implemented for Twilight and co. (which is how I interpret it).
You're twisting what I'd said - which is my fault since I didn't want to break this down in detail but now I do.
Starlight had a belief. One way or another, those who have had equally as troubled pasts as her found themselves at Our Town. Finding kinship in one another, and thus friendship, those who founded Starlight accepted her beliefs and integrated them into their own lives. Over time, perhaps, Starlight abused her power to enforce what she believed was right, and those who believed in her went along with it. Most of your language is projecting on a people who likely went through this process willingly, and was afterwards brainwashed into thinking this was all okay just as Starlight had.
As for Trixie, whatever you're feeling about this particular matter, in this moment in the story she is trying to make Starlight feel better.
9218867
You are right though, in that my language there could have been better - I went back and edited Trixie's line to make her say, "At least I meant to torture somepony, a whole town's worth if I'm not mistaken."
9218930
I meant "the sense closest to the etymology of the word." "Oppression" comes from "pressure," and is meant to convey a sense of carrying unnatural, imposed, and stultifying weight.
For all we know, nothing. Party Favor was subjected to the same course of treatment. And you don't have books and loudspeaker systems just lying around.
My god. Consent isn't a cure-all, no matter what boxing promoters and murder fetishists say. Some things you just don't do to people, and most reasonable people appreciate that.
9218981
In cartoons, you do. Especially when half your statement was a joke at the dictatorial "books give ideas" trope.
I suppose you just don't inflict pain on people, but if give consent for it then they're not in the right. I get that your argument is "these people are crazy because you just don't do that to people ever," but so were Starlight's people - so was Starlight herself. It doesn't make what happened at Our Town any more, or less okay. It was a cult, through and through. And both parties involved were shown a better way to live by the actions of that useless character you love to harp on about - Twilight.
And if you actually think my playing of devil's advocate reflects on my true character, you should get a grip and not assume nonsense about random people on the internet.
9219003
The giving of consent for people to do unacceptable things to you is morally neutral. That is to say, it does not make anything about what happens next more right or more wrong - the unacceptable thing remains unacceptable regardless. And no, my argument has nothing to do with passing judgment on the people of Our Town. Again, what they thought about what was done to them doesn't matter. What matters is what was done to them.
In fact they were not. The ponies of Our Town were shown a better way to live by Pinkie Pie, and after Starlight was exposed by Fluttershy, ran her out of town themselves. Then they laid the town on new foundations themselves, with no further guidance. Starlight herself was not shown any kind of better way in The Cutie Map, and figured one out for herself with no external prompting in The Cutie Re-Mark.
The one thing Twilight tried to do in The Cutie Map, give a speech summing up and taking credit for everything everyone else had accomplished, got shouted down. And good riddance.
9219032
By stating this, you're still imprinting these things with a sense of morality, but we're just going to keep going back and forth on this so let's drop it.
And neither Our Town nor Starlight would have been improved if not for Twilight: her presence, her viewpoint, her friends. None of this would have happened had she not gotten involved and brought the rest with her - that is what I originally meant
Well, stage magic is all about redirecting audience's attention, so that should be a good thing, right?
Starlight very well meant to torture Twilight. With extreme prejudice.
9219099
As opposed to what, an amoral approach?
She didn't get involved, and didn't bring the others, affirmatively. The map told the group where to go, and they simply followed its directions. You can say that wouldn't have happened if not for her actions in Twilight's Kingdom, because there would have been no map to be a plot device, but there's no proximity to the cause.
9219122
Starlight would wholeheartedly agree. But Trixie is also trying to make her feel better by making herself seem worse by comparison. She'd argue that Starlight, at least, thought she was doing something good. That makes it marginally better than actively seeking to torment those who mocked her.
9219176
Trixie thought tormenting people who mocked her was good. Has done ever since she trussed up Applejack with a rope and stuck and apple in her mouth like a sucking pig.
9219153
In essence, yes. You're deeming the morality of a given thing while ignoring the world, culture, individuals, and all around context of what was involved. You're saying there's some things you just don't do to people, yet, that is ignoring whether or not those who had it done to them wanted it or not. In this way, every scenario is unique and should thus be treated differently, depending on the context.
There's a reason why doctor-assisted suicide isn't a clear-cut debate. It's a nuanced debate, though you probably think it's murder either way given the logic presented to me thus far.
For a relevant example, in Our Town, what the ponies were doing to themselves was terrible for their minds, bodies, and souls. Unfortunately, it's not that simple, which brings us back to what started all this: was Starlight torturing these ponies?
The clincher here is the speaker room, which depends on how you read the episode. So when it comes down to it, it's about how we perceived it. Starlight did torture the Mane Six, but Starlight did not intentionally force anything on her subjects. Their accepting of her belief was, in all likelihood, completely willful. But she at some point ruled with fear as a result of her need for control, and... yes, you can see why we've gone back and forth about this. It's complicated.
9219184
Trixie's perspective lies in Starlight at least trying to benefit the lives of others - whereas she was always for herself.
9219201
Sorry to break it to you, but Equestria is not an intricately-built world. There are a couple unique concepts like "ponies are the masters of nature" and "cutie marks are signifiers of maturity and aptitude," but they don't inform the rest of the setting, which is basically postwar North America with some Greek mythological elements sprinkled here and there. The world, the culture, the individuals are not alien, but familiar. As they should be - given that FiM is in large part a morality play, meant to teach applicable lessons!
Of course it is. Because morality isn't just about interacting with the world respectfully, it's also about holding ourselves to ethical standards of behavior. I come back to the boxing promoters. When people die or suffer crippling injury in the ring, the defense is always that they consented! But consent doesn't make the corpse less dead or the brain less battered. These are things that should not have happened, and they should be prevented from happening, consent be damned.
I was expecting this, and you've got the logic backwards. Physician-assisted suicide is founded on the right of the patient to refuse life-saving treatment. It is a withholding of consent.
None of the ponies unmarked themselves. They couldn't. It was done to them by someone else, whose modus operandi we've seen: cajole, then if that doesn't work, maniuplate, then if that doesn't work, force. All those affirmative acts? Those are on Starlight's head. Not on her victims'. If we're in the business of bringing up hot-button comparisons, the victim-blaming here is on a par with blaming a rape victim for having worn a short skirt.
The dictionary definition of torture you've given is inadequate. Punishment and interrogation are somewhat beside the point. The project of modern, psychiatry-inflected torture (MK Ultra was practically run out of the McGill psychiatry department) is breaking and rebuilding people in the desired mold. Which is precisely what happened to Party Favor: he was shacked and came out with his behavior completely altered. The episode gives every indication that shacking is an omnipresent threat for stepping out of line, and anywhere from occasionally to infrequently applied. Now, it's possible that some torture victims might want to change as people. But that doesn't make torturing them acceptable. Because torture is bad in itself, and because there are less heinous alternatives.
9219212
Increasing the amount of Trixie in others' lives, and reminding others that Trixie is above them, is helping others in Trixie's moral calculus. That has always been the case, and has never changed. Not in the show, and certainly not here.
No one truly thinks he is doing evil.
9219243
This is ignoring the fact that you're asserting Starlight initially manipulated and forced, and assuming that I'm holding her "victims" responsible across their whole history. I'm not. I've said many times that Starlight and her people seems to have been part of a consensual agreement to live under her philosophy, and that her dictatorial tendencies, which is where her evilness lies, came over time. You're asserting she used these things from the start, which was what I was arguing with from the start. Because if she didn't, if it was mutual on both sides, then in my opinion that doesn't put blame of any kind on anyone. It was just an unfortunate situation where both parties involved were messed-up people, and like many dictatorships in history it began with good intentions on part of the dictator but deteriorated because of said intentions.
In my opinion, it started as an ethically neutral situation, considering both parties were in agreement on the benefits of what was being done to them.
Please stop twisting my arguments to make me seem like a horrible person. It's not cool, and I don't know if you're just misunderstanding them or this is how you get your kicks.
9219812
Victim-blaming again. It is not a blameworthy thing to be suckered, or to be open to being suckered because of your mental state or life circumstances. It is blameworthy to sucker people, to take advantage of mental state and life circumstances. Bob Avakian is a monster. The RCP and ANSWER rank-and-file are kinda tragic, when they're not making asses of themselves in his name.
9220208
You're under the impression Starlight was suckering ponies, when, in an ideological sense, she was a doctor offering a cure. Starlight was wrong, but in her head she wasn't wrong. So stop painting her as though she were intentionally deceiving others.
9220246
I don't assume she sincerely believed her own spiel, no.
9220291
Then you are wrong, and should pay attention to her dialogue in the season five finale.
9220294
And you should pay attention to how the episode played out. Supposedly, Starlight was swayed by a few words from Twilight, and some critical self-examination. But Twilight's words were hollow, and the kind of mind capable of sincere belief, of real faith, is necessarily incapable of real self-criticism. So either the episode failed at what it was trying to do, or Starlight's belief was never terribly sincere in the first place.
Then again, it doesn't much matter what Starlight believed. She had eyes to see and ears to hear, could see the grimaces on her victims' faces as she unmarked them and could observe how they lived their lives afterwords. Starlight wasn't a deprived urchin who could reasonably mistake Our Town for the good life. She was an upper-middle class girl who knew what the good life was. It was clear that Our Town was not it.
9220330
Starlight's beliefs were a reaction to the pain of losing a friend. Over time she thought the problem was cutie marks, when it was just bad circumstances and a failure not just on Sunburst's part but hers as well. Starlight set out to prevent others from feeling that pain, and subconsciously believed that nipping the problem in the bud, eliminating differences caused by cutie marks, would prevent the falling out of friends. Twilight's words were hollow to you, but Starlight heard them and realized she'd been stuck in her terribly flawed mindset for so long. She WAS unable to self-criticize, and no one ever pointed out her flawed logic (her actual flawed logic about cutie marks leading to friends failing).
It was an easy fix but that doesn't change the truth of what the characters felt. Starlight's backstory was meant to teach a hard lesson: we're in control of the strength of our relationships. If one fails and withers away, then we shoulder at least some of the responsibility.
9219176
I'd say revenge on a level of "killing you slowly would be too easy" doesn't look like something good. And Starlight is very unlikely to forget that.
9220208
Is it blameworthy to sucker people because of your mental state or life circumstances then?
9220387
Of course.
Good chapter with Starlight and Trixie. Absolutely love their friendship and it seems this is the happiest Starlight’s been in a while.
9231820
I've been on a MHA kick.
Helps that All Might is a boss who... Well. Spoilers so i shall not say.
Also, why the surprise? You're a good author.
~Skeeter The Lurker
9232098
I mean I'm all caught up with the manga, so you don't gotta worry about me. All Might IS a boss, and episode 11 of season 3 is just... amazing. On every level.
You do me a kindness, calling me a good writer. But I'm just happy you're reading this story in particular, enough to fav and press forward, because it's clearly not everyone's cup of tea. I've learned on this site that a lot of people won't even read anything that's about putting Starlight in a good light, let alone a severe character-based drama about anyone.
9232256
Well... Getting past the part where she makes the deal is making me rethink it.
A good thing! Means it has that impact.
Also nice to see I'm not the only one who goes manga first, anime second.
~Skeeter The Lurker
9233939
Glad to see you're into it so far. It's good you're noting the payment - just keep in mind that Hydia specified "that which is most important," meaning a singular "thing." Not saying you're right or wrong, just planting a seed in your brain is all
9234086
I hope it would be! Means it's doing its job.
9232294
Ehhhh I did anime first, but it's amazing. I cried twice during the fight with Shoto. The manga is solid in its own right but it lacks that magic the music and animation bring to the story, as well as all the extra bits that have nothing to do with the main three characters. I picked up the manga after season 3 ended and sped through it in a day - season 4 is gonna be nuts.
if Trixie really wants to learn Pyromancy she should talk to Sunset Shimmer
9753458
I wish Sunset actually knew that kind of magic.
I mean, not no, but the pony most qualified is, er, indisposed.