The Magnificent Six

by Paradise Oasis

Fourth Lesson- Conversation

Fourth Lesson- Conversation

"Put the scrolls over here, Tornado." Twilight told him, as he helped her pick all the scattered texts up. "That way, the librarians can re-shelve them when they get the time."

"Glad to be of help, Twilight." He smiled, levitating several of the scrolls up onto the collection desk. "But I still don't get why nobody has seen you for a week."

"I told you, I was doing research." She levitated a few more books back onto the shelf. "I didn't want any distractions, so I've been slipping in and out of the palace each day unnoticed, and coming here."

"Does the princess know what your doing?" Tornado asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was her suggestion I try to find an answer here." The pink unicorn snorted. "That's why she kept telling you, that I was all right!"

After the two ponies had cleaned up the mess they had made, they trotted over to the fantasy section, where Twilight still had a few books she wanted to pick up. Seeing an oppurtunity to talk to this lovely young unicorn a bit, Tornado decided to try and strike up a conversation.

"More fairy tales and adventure books." Tornado noted, looking up and down the shelves. "I must say you have good taste, my dear."

"Oh! You like these kind of stories, too?" The pink unicorn's ears perked up. "I thought most adult ponies were too serious to be enchanted by such books anymore."

"Well, mom always did say I was childish." Tornado replied, adjusting his glasses, and looking over the shelves. "And besides, a pony without and imagination, is just a boring old mule."

"These were always my favorite kind of stories as a foal, you know." She said with a smile, encouraged by his words. "Enchanted kingdoms, faraway lands, and lovely princesses." She sighed. "When I was little, I always dreamed a dashing stallion would sweep me off my hooves, and carry me off to the kingdom in the clouds."

"Well, at least those were realistic childhood dreams, Twi." The blue unicorn replied, noting to himself that all of those things actually existed in the world they lived in. "What was it like, growing up at Dream Castle?"

"Like a fairy tale, Tornado." She smiled at him. "My friend Paradise and I-she was a Pegasus, and could fly, you know- we would pretend we were Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, off on some adventure to save Equestria. Or we would go swimming in the moat with the sea pony foals, pretending we were mermaids!"

"Sounds like a happy childhood." The blue unicorn noted, as they trotted over to one of the windows overlooking the library's garden.

"It was, except..." Twilight stared out at the garden, lost in her own thoughts.

"Except for... what?" He asked curiously.

After a few moments, she spoke. "Ever since I was little, there was always a pressure on me to succeed, to excel. The proud house of Twilight- ours was a bloodline that had lost it's luster, our only prestige being the memory of the great harmony bearer we were descended from. But my parents were determined their offspring was going to change all that."

"So they put pressure on you to live up to the family name." Tornado nodded, understanding.

"Well, not at first. When I was little, I was loved and treated like any other little filly." She closed her eyes. "But as soon as I turned ten, the lessons started- magic lessons, etiquette lessons for the royal courts, having books on math and science shoved into my face, and being told I should be able to understand them." The pink unicorn continued, trying to hold back her tears. "Sky Shine and Star Shine poured all of their hopes and dreams into their little filly, pushing and pushing her to learn magic, to strive, to be the Greatest little filly in all of Dream Valley!"

"...And never bothered to ask what their own little filly what she wanted." Tornado finished.

"And it wasn't just me, either. I had a cousin from the Royal Oasis- Wish Shine- her parents put the pressure on her, too. But they were even worse than my parents were with me!" Twilight rambled on, letting it all pour out. "All she ever wanted was to use her magic to follow her special talent, and decorate cakes- but oh no! Mommy and daddy wanted a Twilight Sparkle clone! But when little Wish couldn't live up to their great and grandiose visions, all they could do was yell and scream at her, and tell a little filly how worthless she was!"

"Twilight, please! Get ahold of yourself! We're in a public library!" Taking her by the hooves, he guided her down and out into the library's small courtyard. Sitting her down on "It will be all right Twi. Just try to calm down."

"I-I'm so sorry, Tornado." She told him, still sobbing. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's all right, you need to get it all out." He told her reassuringly. "Now, what happened next?"

"A-after Star ran away from home, mama and papa stopped pressuring me to be something I wasn't. But I could still tell they were disappointed, and they never did treat me the same after that." She shook her mane sadly. "I just spent most of my time wandering around the nearby human towns, coming up out of the mists mysteriously, and using what little magic I had learned to grant villagers their wishes."

"So that's where all the stories of the mysterious wish granting unicorn of the mists comes from." Tornado replied, sitting down on the bench beside her. "Granting wishes... that seems to be your special talent, I noticed. Magic though wishes... that explains your little mantra, whenever you use your unicorn abilities."

"Of course I love magic through wishing, that's how it works in all of the fairy tales!" Twilight looked up at him, her face brightening a bit. "Wishes are the magic behind pony's desires- they're hopes, their dreams! Of course I want to help everybody get their wishes, because that's what makes them happy!"

"You are quite a remarkable mare, Twilight Shine." Tornado smiled at the pink unicorn filly. "Caring so much about the feelings of others!"

"Why thank you, my good sir!" She smiled back at him. "But tell me, Tornado, why do you run around with those three goofball friends of yours- Thunderbolt, Lightning, and Fireball?"

"Oh, they've been my friends as long as I can remember!" He replied thoughtfully. "We met our first year of school, and kinda stuck together. They always rely on me being the brains of the group, figuring stuff out for them... though they don't always listen to me."

"So you're the smart one, huh?" She cocked her head, interested in his story. "Though history seems to be your thing."

"I love old stories of the past, Twi- great battles, lost civilizations. History is so full of them!" He looked away, lost in thought. "It was always better that what was going on at home, mom and dad...." He stopped suddenly, turning away.

"Your mom and dad.... what?" She asked, putting a hoof on him. "It's okay, if you don't want to-"

"No, it's okay." He turned back towards her. "My family was... a mixed marriage- mom was Ponygan, dad was a Zoroponthian. There was always trouble among my parents- the fighting, the yelling. They tried not to get me involved, but I could hear them, late at night, I could hear the arguments on how I should be raised, what I should believe in. I hated seeing my family torn apart so!"

"Oh, Tornado!" She whinnied, putting a hoof to her mouth in shock. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's all right." He replied, shaking his mane. "That's why I buried myself in my history books, to escape what was going on around me." He sighed. "Eventually, when dad passed away, I decided my heart belonged to the path of Zorypontha. Mom never forgave me for that, she felt like I had betrayed her and her family's traditions."

"Did, did she ever forgive you for it?" Twilight asked, already dreading the answer.

"She and I never reconciled.. right up until the day she died." Tornado replied bitterly. "alicornism has caused me nothing but pain, and I hate it for what it did to my family!"

"Oh, Tornado, I never knew!" She sighed, looking away. "Now I wish I could make your pain go away!"

"Oh, it's all right, I've learned to live with it, really." He smiled at her. "Thanks for listening to me whine about my troubles. Sometimes, even with my friends, I feel like I'm so alone... with nobody to talk to."

"Thanks for listening to mine." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "By the way, something I meant to ask you about..."

"Oh?" He asked, curious. "What is it?"

"Glory told me that while we were in Hoofkaido, she saw you looking through a book, filled with medieval artwork of Twilight Sparkle. she said you were staring at her image, fascinated." She stared into his eyes. "Is that why you were trying to make friends with me? Because I reminded you of one of your favorite historical subjects?"

"N-no... that's not it at all, Twi." Tornado looked away, blushing. "I had a crush on her when I was little, so smart, so sweet. But I knew I would have never matched up to her standards... I'm too much of a lazy dreamer to have ever caught Twilight Sparkle's eye."

"So you just wanted to stare at a living likeness of a relic?" Twilight snorted, scowling at him. "That's why you tried to make friends with me?"

"No, Twilight Shine. That's not it at all." Tornado turned away, trying to hide the pained look on his face. "You may have a lot in common with Twilight Sparkle, but you are far more of a romantic dreamer than she ever was. I don't like you because you're like Twilight Sparkle, I like you because you're Twilight Shine- the best of everything that Twilight Sparkle was!"

"Wait, you... like me?" Twilight's eyes went wide, dumbfounded. "As in... you like like me?"

"Yeah, I know." He admitted sadly. "Pretty stupid of me, isn't it?"

Twilight Shine, the romantic filly who had dreamed about her steed in shining armor for years, stared at him blankly. A deep, pink blush spread slowly spread across her face. Finally, the unicorn filly closed her eyes, and gently learned her head against him.

"Twilight, what are you-?" Tornado asked, surprised.

"Just letting you know, Tornado..." She smiled "... that you're not alone anymore."

Comments

[Vinyl Mix]

"You may have a lot in common with Twilight Shine,"
I thought you might want to know that you accedentaly put t. shine instead of t. sparkle, Don't worry about it though, you are doing a amazing job, keep up the AMAZING work

[StarshythePegasus]

me at the end: KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS!!! XD :

[Styrofoam]

Tornado and Twilight! Finally! lol

[PinkiePieCupCakeSlayer]

1929713 Same reaction...

Now excuse me as I go explode from happiness

[Pinklestia]

I will wonder what happened to Wish Shine...

[Draco Dei]

"A-after Star ran away from home
-Do you mean Wish?