Friendship Day

by Crescent Pulsar

Chapter 11: The Tower

Twilight Sparkle didn't know how long she had lain on the balcony with her face buried in her forelegs, consumed by guilt and regret, but it became apparent that it was long enough to find herself looking down at a blue sky once again.

The sudden shift of position and view jolted her out of her despondency, and she began to panic because she wasn't prepared for it and had no plan on how she would move forward after what she had just experienced. She sat up quickly and got to her hooves, her mind racing, when she caught sight of Pinkie Pie's inevitable approach in the distance. Not knowing what else to do, she ran away from her and hid behind the closest house.

Thinking that Pinkie Pie might follow her if she was noticed, she frantically thought of what she could do to avoid her while looking around. Eventually her gaze turned upward, and she immediately seized upon the idea of hiding on a roof when she saw one. So, she teleported to one that she had a good view of, which was thatched like many of the buildings in Ponyville.

It was with unsteady steps that she walked across the ridge and positioned herself behind a chimney before looking around it, to see if Pinkie Pie had tried to follow her or not. Said pony was standing at their usual meeting place, who appeared to be deep in thought while she stroked her chin. She also noticed Spike nearby, who was searching for her with squinted eyes and calling out for her in confusion.

After pulling away and resting her back against the chimney, she sagged and breathed a relieved, "Whew..."

"Woo!" A familiar voice shouted right beside her.

"Eeyah!" She yelped in surprise, and reflexively scrambled to get away from the source of the sudden noise.

Unfortunately, that led to a tumble off of the second-story roof, leading to a bounce off the first story before landing on the ground side-first and having the breath knocked out of her.

"Ow..." She croaked.

It wasn't long before Pinkie Pie was standing over her, looking down at her with concern. "Are you okay? That looked like fun, but you should be more careful when you're falling off a roof."

Twilight Sparkle struggled to her hooves with a groan, from both the effort and the comment, and regarded Pinkie Pie with an unamused frown. "How did you do that?"

Pinkie Pie cocked her head to one side. "Do what?"

"Get onto the roof so quickly and quietly," Twilight Sparkle elaborated. "It couldn't have been more than three seconds since the last time I saw you on the ground."

"Oh, that's because I didn't want to miss the celebration," Pinkie Pie nonchalantly answered, as if that explained everything.

Confused, Twilight Sparkle asked, "What celebration?"

"Didn't you go 'woo?'" Pinkie Pie responded, now confused herself.

Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth to correct her, but paused when the implication of her answer registered: first, that she had heard her quiet expression of relief; second, she "copied" said expression a split second later. Which couldn't be true, because she couldn't even accomplish that herself with the aid of teleportation — and the flash wouldn't have been inconspicuous, besides. Even three seconds, unless her own eyes had deceived her, was a feat that she couldn't readily explain.

She closed her eyes and rubbed the area between them. This was too much after what she had recently gone through, and there were more important things to worry about, anyway. "I have to go. The Summer Sun Celebration isn't going to oversee itself."

She had already turned around and began to walk away when she got a chipper, "See ya later," in reply, and focused her attention on what she would do during the current loop instead of responding.

Nothing decisive came to her by the time she spotted Spike, who was still looking for her. Before she could call out to him, however, she heard a stallion exclaim, "Here she is!"

Turning toward the source of the voice, she saw one of the royal guards who had delivered her to Ponyville rushing over to her. His voice had also alerted his partner and Spike, who also made a beeline for her. This stopped her in her tracks because she hadn't expected it, but her mind, which was still intent on continuing its current mission, saw an opportunity arise from this development and began to formulate a way to grasp it.

Upon his arrival, the royal guard that had first spotted her concernedly asked, "Are you alright, ma'am?"

After waiting a few seconds, until the others were close enough, Twilight Sparkle tried to allay their concerns with, "Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine."

"What happened?" Spike asked, once he was beside her.

"Spontaneous teleportation," Twilight Sparkle tersely replied, before refocusing her attention on the royal guards. "But never mind that: can you please take me back to Canterlot castle?"

The two royal guards shared an uncertain glance before one of them hesitantly said, "Um... Sure?"

"But we just got here!" Spike retorted, looking confused.

"I know that," Twilight Sparkle calmly acknowledged, "but my teleport made me concerned about our security, and as the overseer of the Summer Sun Celebration it's my responsibility to make sure that everypony are on top of things."

It took a few seconds, but Spike realized what that meant and said, "Oh, I get it! And Shining Armor is the captain of the royal guard!"

At the mention of their superior's name, the pair of royal guards stiffened their postures.

"Exactly," Twilight Sparkle replied. "And while I'm confident in my brother's abilities, I can't give him special treatment just because he's family."

She gave the royal guards an expectant look, who got the hint and went to hitch themselves to the chariot. Before she moved to follow them, she turned to Spike and said, "While I take care of this oversight, you can stay here and have some fun." Leaning her head over to his, she lowered her voice and suggested, "Why not check out the town hall? I heard that there should be something special there until the preparations are complete."

With Spike's interest piqued enough to happily accept that arrangement without question, just as she had hoped, she parted ways with him and boarded the chariot.

---

After Twilight Sparkle arrived at the castle, she quickly went to the areas where the princess' agenda routinely placed her throughout the course of a normal day. When she didn't find her in those places, or on the way to them, she began to ask the guards and staff where they had last seen her, and when that was. Fortunately, right when she was beginning to think it would be a bust, and she would actually have to find her brother and try to get his help, she encountered a custodian who not only gave her the most recent account, but placed the princess near a conspicuous part of the castle.

The location in question was a tower, and the corridor that granted access to it. It was the latest addition to the castle, built roughly two years after she had become the princess' student. As far as she knew, the tower was off-limits to everyone save the princess, and it stood out for other reasons as well: one, it was the tallest structure of the castle; two, its appearance deviated a bit from the rest of the castle, incorporating some features that were more common a thousand years ago; three, no one, except the princess, knew its purpose.

When she arrived at the corridor, she immediately noticed that there were no guards stationed there to discourage entry, which wasn't normal. Furthermore, the corridor had undergone a bit of a makeover, with the inclusion of a night theme and some related symbols, including those that she had seen in the Castle of the Two Sisters. The double doors at the far end, in particular, bore crescent moons, and above them was a lunette containing a mural of a stylized, dark-colored alicorn that flew above a sleeping world and below a starry sky.

She raised a foreleg, to take her first step into the corridor, but hesitated. This wasn't just anyone that she was about to confront, after all. Even with the reassurance of the time loop, and being so sure that she could get an important piece of the puzzle, just the thought that she could make the princess disappointed, which was among the least of her concerns, caused a wave of anxiety to wash across her body. Such was her regard for the princess, which was without compare.

But she set her jaw, put her hoof down, then transferred her weight to it as she forced herself to move forward. She had to know what was going on. She trusted the princess, couldn't imagine her doing anything with ill intent, but the same couldn't be said of that so-called seer. Was what they were doing being done out of the kindness of their own heart, or was it simply to gain the princess' trust, so they could take advantage of her? Was the princess' sister the chink in her armor? Or did certain things have to happen in order for something nefarious to be possible?

Whatever was going on, she'd face it head-on, just like she had been willing to do with Nightmare Moon.

Despite that, when she reached the doors, she paused and took a calming breath before opening them. A winding staircase awaited her beyond it, which she began to ascend with measured steps, knowing that she had a long climb ahead of her. Along the way, she continued to try and work out exactly what she would say to the princess, and how she would say it, to get the desired results, since she had failed to do so during the chariot ride.

When she reached the room at the top of the tower, she was met with another pair of double doors. They shared a similar theme to the last one, only more elaborate. As harmless as they appeared, however, the possibility of the princess being in the room beyond made them loom over her in a scary way, almost like the tests that the princess issued without letting her know that she should have studied, or prepared for it in some other way, beforehand.

With her heart hammering in her chest, she steeled herself and knocked on a door.

A response didn't come in a timely fashion, which didn't help her nerves any. She was just beginning to feel a bead of sweat roll down her brow when the doors swung open, revealing Celestia, whose confusion transitioned into surprise upon seeing who her unexpected visitor was.

"Twilight? Why are—" She swiftly collected herself and schooled her features. "I thought you left for Ponyville."

Between being emotionally distraught, and using all the willpower that she could muster to remain relatively calm, Twilight Sparkle didn't notice the shift as she replied, "I did, but... Um... I might have accidentally magicked myself into a time loop and a lot of things happened...?"

Celestia stared at her awkwardly-smiling student as she digested that information, neither expecting it or knowing how she should feel about it. However, when she saw that her lack of an outward reaction was brewing a panic attack, she stepped aside and forced a disarming smile to help ease her anxiety, even though she felt like frowning with worry. "Why don't you come inside?"

Twilight Sparkle heeded the invitation, albeit belatedly, and tried to center herself again while she took in the room. Said room was rife with the dark, muted and pale colors of the night, mostly of various shades of blue, purple and white. It really gave the feel that it was night time, despite the sunlight entering from the balcony, and it even felt cooler compared to the rest of the castle. What stood out to her the most, however, was the bed, whose frame was shaped and colored like a crescent moon.

She was jolted out of her examination of the room when she heard the door close with a soft click, and she turned to see the princess walking toward her. Turning around to face the princess, who came to a stop a few steps away, she couldn't help shrinking into herself a bit as she gazed up at her, her anxiety spiking once again.

Celestia placidly considered her student, and went over the words that she had spoken a moment ago, before surmising, "I take it that you didn't seek me out because you wanted to be released from the time loop?"

Not knowing how to feel about how calmly the princess was handling the situation, and how she was able to deduce why she was there, Twilight Sparkle did her best to ignore her dry mouth while she gave her response. "In the last loop I sent you a letter, and the reply you sent to me was... Well..."

"May I see them both?" Celestia requested, curious and wondering if it may not involve something serious after all, since her student made mountains out of molehills often enough for it to be possible — even under the current circumstances.

Twilight Sparkle looked around for a flat surface, to project the letters onto with a spell, and had to settle for the floor. With that being the case, she stepped back and projected them onto the space between them and indicated which letter was which, so the princess could read them in order.

Celestia leaned her head down and began to read them. When she finished the first letter, she dreaded starting the second. However, she knew that she had to find out exactly what "she" had written back to her student, even though she had a pretty good idea, so she reluctantly continued and read the second letter. Upon reaching the end of it, she closed her eyes and murmured, "I see."

After a few, tense seconds of silence, she raised her head and locked gazes with Twilight Sparkle before solemnly saying, "Twilight... As your teacher, it's my responsibility to provide you with knowledge, lessons and experiences, in order for you to reach your full potential. Toward that end, I'm willing to go to lengths that you would probably find horrifying, were you to learn of them right now."

"However," she went on, continuing to stare at her wide-eyed student, "there are some things that I wish to protect you from..." Her expression softened. "Not as a teacher, but as a friend. And your inquiry touches upon a subject that I believe you would be better off remaining ignorant of, and not just because of what a taste of it had done to one of my former students."

She lowered her head, to be on the same eye level as Twilight Sparkle, in addition to shortening the distance between them, and softly said, "But I'm willing to bet that you won't stop thinking about it. Short of me doing the unthinkable to you, what knowledge you've gained is going to distract you at some point, possibly even against your best efforts, and it will send you astray." She turned her head aside, but maintained eye contact. "Perhaps, if I told you what you wanted to know, everything would work out. Maybe I've been worrying over nothing all this time."

She released a sigh of resignation and straightened up. "Ultimately... I might be wrong to think that this is my choice to make."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Twilight Sparkle managed to get out, who was troubled by what the princess had planned for her, as well as the thought that she could be heading toward something worse than that.

Celestia regarded her with an unreadable expression and replied to the question with one of her own. "Twilight, do you truly wish for me to reveal what I know? Even with the knowledge that I will be entrusting you with both a great burden and responsibility, that must be borne for the rest of your life, if I do?"

Twilight Sparkle's ears wilted as she gazed up at the princess' stony visage. Normally she would be excited to be trusted with something significant, and she could feel a ghost of it despite the gravity of the situation, but the knowledge being offered seemed so consequential that — for once — she was unsure if she was willing to pay the price for it.

Then she remembered that this wasn't just about her. The princess was already dealing with the unspecified burden and responsiblity, and helping her was more important to her than anything she could ever learn, even if it only meant sharing the same hardship.

With that realization, she found the determination to nod her head.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

So it looks like she repeated the time loop again but she still feel guilty for what happened to Rainbow Dash even though she won't remember it it was painful to see her like that but anyway it look like she's going for Plan B go talk to the princess and it looks like when she got there she told her everything what happened and apparently Celestia has another idea and do I have a feeling that something big going to happen like what happened season 3 finale but early on I guess we'll find out next time

[Venerable Ro]

"Twilight, do you truly wish for me to reveal what I know? Even with the knowledge that I will be entrusting you with both a great burden and responsibility, that must be borne for the rest of your life, if I do?"

Considering we're stuck in a time loop, she'll have plenty of time to get over it, yeah?

[Ali della Morte]

Looking forward to the next chapter.