Rebuff
Sunset and Celestia turned to leave shortly after Cozy and Luna departed. Silence pervaded the meadow, and awkward looks went around all the ponies gathered there.
"Well!" Twilight piped up, clearly uncomfortable as any of us, "I guess I can set the sun now! I should do that! Now!"
She forced a deeply uncomfortable laugh and flew into the air, and set about beginning the overdue night. I turned to leave, but Bree's voice caught me off-guard.
"Wait... Starlight, wait."
Oh, good grief. What now?
I turned back to look at the mare, and I was surprised to see what seemed to be legitimate anguish on her face. She looked at the distant, retreating forms of Luna and Cozy, and then back to me. I heard a note of panic in her voice when she spoke.
"What... what do I do? What should I do? It seems like everypony hates me..."
She was on the verge of tears, now, and I restrained the urge to roll my eyes. I took a deep, bracing breath, and considered my response before I spoke.
I'm not falling for this mare's pity-me routine again. She's only sorry she got caught.
"Everypony's angry at you because you did bad things, Bree. And you don't seem sorry about that. I don't even know if you fully understand why what you did was wrong. I saw in your record that you were arrested after Cozy filed a report with the Canterlot police; I'd have hoped they would try to reform you in prison, but I guess it didn't stick."
Bree grimaced, and she angrily opened her mouth to say something, but flinched and hesitated. She looked down at the ground and sighed. "I... they had to drop most of the charges, because Cozy disappeared right after filing them. I guess she went to that friendship school."
My eyes shot open. "Wait, is that why you never looked for her before?"
She's completely shameless, isn't she?! Then again... I guess she's admitting this for a reason. Maybe she really is sorry, but I can't afford to believe her.
She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I figured she had decided to let it go, and... I didn't have much choice but to do the same, unless I wanted to stay in prison longer. I took it all as a warning. Besides, I really was trying to get my other two kids back at the time."
I groaned, rubbing my head, but then suddenly dropped my hoof and stared at her. "Wait, is that why you came running over here to Ponyville as soon as you heard she was back? You wanted to make sure she'd keep quiet?"
Bree flinched and waved a hoof at me, shaking her head frantically. "No! I just saw what I thought was a chance to fix everything, to put my family back together!"
I stared at her, narrowing my eyes. "Really?"
She dropped her hoof and sank back down. "I won't say it didn't occur to me, but I figured if Cozy hadn't brought it up already, she wasn't going to."
Well, I guess that makes sense, and it would be weird for her to admit all of this if she wasn't having second thoughts. Still, I don't know what she wants from me.
I chewed my lip over for a few seconds. "I guess I buy that. But since you managed to slip out of a proper prison sentence, I guess you're going to have to work on reforming yourself."
Bree looked up at me, pleadingly. It struck a deep chord in me to be on the other side of this situation. "How? I don't even know where to begin."
"Try making new relationships. Go find somepony who shares your interest and make a friend."
Bree frowned, scuffing the ground with a hoof, reminding me of Cozy. "And what will stop me from ruining that, too? I apparently can't hold any relationships together."
My mind went back to a similar conversation I'd had once, and I sighed. "It's not easy, but you just have to work through it and do your best to make sure that never happens. And as for where to start, well..."
I brushed the last of the dark crystals off of my horn; they had been slowly chipping off ever since I'd been hit, and it looked like I was finally free. I magically opened my saddlebag and floated a copy of the friendship journal over to her.
"You might find this helpful."
Bree took the journal under a wing, and hesitantly reached a hoof towards me. "Do you think you—"
I held a hoof up. "No. I'm sorry, but... no. I'm friends with Cozy, and you really shouldn't come around Ponyville again. We saw how badly she reacted this time, and I think if she keeps worrying about you showing up again, it'll be a serious problem for her. But there are all kinds of ponies and creatures out there who'd be willing to give you a chance."
Bree set her hoof down, and seemed deep in thought as the guards came to take her away from Ponyville. I turned to leave, but called over my shoulder as I went.
"Everypony deserves a second chance, Bree, but if you cling to your past it will just keep you from building a future."
I started trotting away. The sun had gone down while we were speaking, and Twilight had just lifted the moon and landed by the time I reached her. We set off, and I noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack keeping pace with us; the others seemed to break off to head to their homes. Twilight sighed and patted me on the shoulder.
"Thank you, Starlight. I know that must have been pretty hard for you, but I couldn't have done better myself." She smiled sheepishly. "Actually, I don't think I could have even handled it that well."
"Aww. Thanks, Twilight. I appreciate it. I kinda started this mess, so I felt like I had to do whatever I could to fix it."
Rainbow Dash huffed as she pulled up besides me. "Honestly, I'm surprised you were as nice as you were. That mare deserved a lot more than a smack and some yelling!"
Applejack pulled in beside us as well, swatting Rainbow Dash on the shoulder. "Dash! That's Cozy's mother you're talkin' about!"
I cringed slightly. Right, we haven't had a chance to explain the full situation to them, yet.
I opened my mouth to interject, but Rainbow rolled her eyes and beat me to it. "Uh, no, Luna is Cozy's mom. That," she pointed behind her with a hoof, "was just somepony she used to know."
Applejack grumbled. "I thought you learned the importance of appreciatin' family a while back, Dash."
Rainbow Dash fixed Applejack with an uncharacteristically severe look. "I did. And that's why I know the difference between somepony who happens to be related to you, and somepony who's actually family. Or, what, is Scootaloo less of a sister to me because we don't have the same parents?"
Applejack stammered slightly. "Ah-alright, now, simmer down. I didn't mean to say that, I just don't think it's right for there to be so much anger between kin, is all. Reminds me of the feud that took Grandpear away from us for so long."
Rainbow Dash's look softened, and she relented with a wave of her hoof and a roll of her eyes. "Yeah, okay, that's fair enough. Sorry, AJ. I still don't think Cozy should give her the time of day, but, like... I see where you're coming from."
Applejack bumped into Dash playfully. "Same here, Dash."
Twilight snickered. "You two sure have gotten better at dealing with your disagreements over the years."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. Getting more awesome over time is my thing." She grinned playfully, and I snorted and cut in with, "And what about AJ?"
Applejack barked a laugh. "She must jus' be rubbin' off on me."
Rainbow Dash laughed at that in turn, and they traded a hoofbump. I smirked. "With setups like that I'm shocked you two didn't end up being champions at Buckball."
Dash just huffed, and affected a Rarity impression. "Our awesomeness can't be contained to a mere sports field, darling. The world is our stadium!"
Applejack hooted with laughter, and even Twilight was snickering hard. I snorted and rolled my eyes as we continued walking. After the laughter had died down, Twilight brushed me gently with a wing to get my attention.
"How is Cozy doing, though? Really? I haven't been able to drop in on her since she got back, and, well... seeing what happened today didn't make a great impression."
I sighed. "Honestly, I haven't gotten to see much of her, either! We spent some time together the other day, and she seemed fine – I mean, she was a little depressed maybe, but I had no idea she had feelings like... like that pent up. Even with Sunset's warnings I didn't really get it until I saw it with my own eyes."
Twilight nodded, eyes downcast. "Me either. I keep wondering if there was more I could have done to keep things from coming to this..."
I nudged her. "Hey. Nopony can do it all themselves, right? That's why you have all of us! We took care of it."
Twilight frowned up at me. "But you saw her! She used dark magic – a lot of it! That's going to leave a mark on her for sure."
A new voice suddenly came from above us.
"Oh, I don't know if I'd worry so much about that. Besides, isn't anypony going to ask about me?"
We all looked up to see Discord floating past in midair. Then he suddenly fell to the ground with an audible grunt, and picked himself up, looking at his lion's paw in irritation. I gasped when I realized it had been turned to stone.
"Discord, what happened to you?!"
Discord smirked, gesticulating wildly with his stone paw. "Oh, this? I thought I'd go for a 'cockatrice chic' look this season, you know. It's really 'in' with the villains; just look at Tirek!"
That got a snort out of Dash, but Twilight was having none of it. She flew up to look at his paw with concern.
"How did this happen? This is harmony magic! But none of us...!"
Discord smirked. "Well, that little filly you were oh-so-concerned had fallen to the Dark Side apparently has disagreements on whether or not it will forever dominate her destiny."
We all just stared at him for a second.
"Huh?"
"Whaaa...?"
Twilight was the first to catch up. "Wait, you're saying Cozy Glow did this to you? How?!"
Discord stretched himself to his full height. "Well you see, I saw Sunset's distress signal, and realizing it was probably related to Cozy Glow, I rode in like a knight in shining armor to save the day!"
He snapped his talons, causing a suit of armor to suddenly appear around him, complete with a shiny sword. Then it all suddenly fell off of him, just as he was posing dramatically. "Err... I said, I rode in like a knight in shining armor to save the day!"
He snapped again, and the armor re-appeared around him, only to fall off again. The sword flopped down in his talons like it was made of soft rubber. He sighed.
"Oh fiddlesticks. My magic's still quite on the fritz. In any case, just use your imagination. So there I was! Saving the day, confronting Cozy Glow while she threw dark magic THIS way and THAT way, and I tried asking her if she was really quite alright. Only, she didn't seem to understand what I said, and became quite agitated."
Twilight balked. "But, dark magic can't even affect you! I saw—" she was hushed by a stone paw padding her lips as Discord shushed her.
"Now now, Princess, it's rude to interrupt. So she was quite upset, and seemed to believe I had come to wreak havoc on Equestria, or somesuch. Honestly, she wasn't making much sense, but I figured if I just calmed her down and maaaybe cancelled out her magic, I could talk some sense into her. Imagine my surprise when her response to my attempted spell was to shoot me with a miniature blast of harmony magic!"
Twilight was studying his paw with intense interest. "Fascinating. So somehow, tapping into her dark magic also let her harness her other feelings and focus them into a magical expression, even without a horn! This could be a huge breakthrough in diffuse thaumaturgical dynamics!"
Discord stared at Twilight flatly. "Riveting, I'm sure. And certainly the main thing you should be focusing on when looking at my petrified paw, Princess."
Twilight looked at him in confusion, then blushed and shrank away sheepishly. "Oh, right. Sorry. Here."
Her horn charged brilliantly, and I had to shield my eyes as she focused her magic on his paw. The stone flecked away, and after a few seconds his paw burst forth from its prison. Discord flexed it experimentally a few times, and then sighed in relief.
"Well thank you, Twilight. Honestly I was worried that would take hours to work itself out. If it weren't for the extenuating circumstances, I'd be honor-bound to prank that Cozy Glow in response."
I cocked my head in surprise. "You mean you're not mad at her for doing that?"
Discord laughed at that, and suddenly appeared above me, bending over backwards in midair to put his face uncomfortably close to mine. "Of course not! I'm mad at the pony I should be mad at! Honestly, Starlight, what good is vengeance if it's misplaced?"
I recoiled. "Uh... do you mean me?"
Discord rolled his eyes so hard they fell out. It was gross. "No, no. Obviously, I mean that Bright Eyes lady. I mean, she shows up out of nowhere," he popped his eyes back in and huffed a cloud of steam, "and ruins my perfectly-good Cozy Glow reformation arc! That's just rude."
I hesitated, leaning back. "Uhh... yeah, I think we can all agree she's a piece of work, but are you sure pranking her is really a good idea? She seems pretty miserable just being herself."
Discord appeared a short distance, leaning backwards and holding his paws up as though he'd just been shoved. "Oh my! Starlight, has anypony ever told you that words can hurt?"
I snorted. "I'm just being honest. She's a miserable mare, both emotionally and to ponies around her."
Rainbow flew up between us and look at me, gesturing at Discord. "Y'know, if he keeps her busy with his pranks, maybe it'll keep her from coming around and causing trouble again."
I frowned. "Rainbow, that's still just being mean. She needs to get a fresh start on life, not get harassed over her past mistakes forever."
Discord's voice suddenly came from under me, and I leapt back with a yelp when I realized I was standing on him, somehow. "Oh, just so, Starlight, just so. Something you and I are quite familiar with, the need for second chances." He leaned up into a sitting position and smiled at me. "In which case, I'll go ahead and give her that fresh start you're talking about."
I eyed him suspiciously. "And why do you suddenly care about all of this so much?"
Discord's smile vanished, replaced by a faint frown. He stared at me for a few seconds. "You know, Starlight, I used to have fun making ponies act crazy or miserable." He thumbed over at Twilight. "I once drove our great Princess to despair, you know. She couldn't deal with losing all of her friends at once."
I grimaced. "So? What's your point?"
He continued staring at me, not doing anything the least bit zany. It was honestly unnerving. "Because, Starlight, even I've never made a pony as miserable as Cozy was. There are certain lines I won't cross, like trapping a being in stone with full awareness of their surroundings, for instance." His pupils distorted slightly, turning sharp and glowing for a second. "Hurting a foal like she did isn't acceptable."
I took an uneasy step backwards, and everyone was quiet. He frowned at me, looking bored, and snapped his paw, disappearing. I lifted a hoof unsteadily. "Uhh... anypony else worried about that?"
Twilight paused for a second, like she was calculating something, and then relaxed and shook her head.
"Don't stress out over it, Starlight. Like he said, Discord has lines he won't cross."
I gawped at her. "Wait, seriously?! He just did the Discord equivalent of storming off to give somepony a piece of his mind, and you're not worried? About Discord causing trouble?"
Twilight shrugged with a smile. "He's a friend. I'm choosing to believe in him until he gives me a reason not to."
I facehoofed. "Didn't he cause the whole Battle of the Bell with his antics?"
She smiled uneasily. "Ahahaha! Yeah, well... he meant well. And honestly, he tried to make it up to us. I've moved past it."
I sighed and smiled, setting my hoof down. I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright. Fair enough. We'll just see what he does. I can't deny he did a good job with Cozy."
Rainbow snickered. "What's the worst that can happen, he makes Bree miserable? Fine by me!"
I fixed Dash with a stern look. "Rainbow, where is all of this aggression coming from? You seem awfully angry at Bree. I thought you didn't even like Cozy."
Rainbow froze, hesitating, and drew back a bit. She shrugged unconvincingly. "Well, like, anypony could see how awful she was. That stuff she said to Celestia was vile."
I skeptically leaned in with an eyebrow up. "... and?"
Dash leaned back, grimacing and looking around, but Applejack and Twilight were scrutinizing her the same as I was. She finally just slumped onto her rear and threw her hooves up.
"It's complicated, alright?! I mean, Cozy really hurt my friends! Twilight was a wreck after what she did, and you were upset, too! Neither of you could believe one of our students could do that – I didn't believe it! Out of every lesson she had, every element she was supposed to learn, she went back on mine the hardest! How do you think that made me feel?"
I was taken aback by the sudden outpouring of emotion from the normally-composed pegasus, but she didn't let me get a word in edgewise. "But the thing is, she's Luna's daughter now, and Celestia's niece, and Sunset's cousin-friend-thing, I don't even know... and I don't know any of those ponies all that well, but they're all still friends of mine, and they're friends of my friends, so it's not like I can just pretend Cozy is nopony to me, either."
She took a few deep breaths, and closed her eyes as she continued. "And then Sunset told me about how we were friends in the other timeline, how apparently Cozy modeled her whole 'super hero' thing off of me, and it would be rough for her when she got back because we wouldn't be friends anymore. How am I supposed to deal with all of that? She remembers us being friends, but the last time I saw her, she was stabbing all of us in the back!"
Rainbow was visibly upset now; not on the verge of tears, but I could see she was in pain.
I had no idea this was eating at her so badly... she never speaks about it at all. Why didn't she mention it?
Dash sighed and rolled her eyes. "I've just been avoiding her. I didn't know what to think, so I stayed busy and kept my distance. And then the next time I hear about her, she's apparently having a hardcore freakout because her evil ex-mom came to visit, and now we might have to hit her with the elements of harmony again? The first thing that went through my head when Twilight filled me in was, 'is this because of me?' Was it because I hadn't given her another chance? What if I could have prevented it? There's no way I could bring myself to hurt her if it was my fault she'd lost it."
Dash looked off at the clouds in the moonlight, shaking her head. "And then I got to see what her old mom was like, and I was just thinking, 'we messed up so bad with that filly.' She needed a lot more than we could give her, and we threw her in Tartarus when the real monster was somepony else all along."
I leaned forward and pressed a hoof to Dash's barrel. "Rainbow, just because her mother was a monster doesn't mean Cozy's actions can be ignored. She made choices – really, really bad ones – and those are still her choices. It's not like her siblings turned into villains just because of their upbringing. You can't just—"
Dash scoffed and pushed my hoof off. "I know that! I'm not saying it excuses her, or whatever. It's just, like, we just thought she was bad. Or I did, anyway. I just thought she was bad, and so she did bad things, but it's all a lot more complicated than that. If she can be a monster in one timeline, and a hero in another, and it's the same filly, then there's clearly a lot more going on with her. And I missed it, even though I was supposed to be her teacher... and that's on me."
I hesitated, unsure of what to say to that, and Twilight swept in and wrapped Dash in a big hug. "Oh, Rainbow, I had no idea you felt that way! I'm so sorry! I didn't think asking all of you to be teachers would be so hard on you!"
Dash struggled against Twilight, frowning. "H-hey, Twilight, stop with the mushy stuff, okay? I don't regret being a teacher, I just regret not being a better one to Cozy."
I took in a sharp breath. "Dash, the School of Friendship is new. We're all learning as we go, making mistakes and growing wiser. You can't hold that against yourself."
Dash huffed out a small laugh, still trying to push Twilight off. She spoke so quietly I almost missed it.
"Yeah? Watch me."
I frowned, thinking over what she'd said. "Rainbow, did you keep all of this to yourself because you thought we'd brush off your feelings? Or think they were silly?"
Dash stopped struggling with Twilight for a moment, and slumped slightly. "Yeah... I guess I didn't think you guys would get it."
Twilight, still latched onto Dash, frowned. "Well I get it. And I'm sorry you went through that alone."
Rainbow shrugged, taking a deep breath, and forced herself to perk up a bit. "It's alright. I don't have to anymore, right? So it's all good."
Applejack, who had taken off her hat and studied the ground during Rainbow's speech, nodded. "I felt the same way you did, Dash. Cozy made me wonder if I was wastin' my time at that school. When Discord said she was better, it made me wonder... if we'd been better at our jobs, would she still have turned on us? I dunno, but it sure didn't make me feel good about mahself."
I sighed, rubbing my head. "I was the school guidance counselor, and probably the closest pony to her, and even I didn't see what she really was or what she needed. I felt the same way, so I was avoiding her, too... it was only after I was worried about Bree coming down here and causing trouble I finally went to go see her."
Applejack took a deep breath and put her hat back on, adjusting it, and fixed me with a serious look. "I think I missed somethin' about this whole mess. I thought we were here to stop Cozy, or help her reconcile with her, uh, old mother."
"Birth mother," Twilight put in with a smirk, finally releasing Dash. Applejack shrugged.
"I mean, we weren't given a whole lotta' info aside from Cozy going crazy, and we had to be ready to stop her with the elements. When we got here, Bree was actin' pretty rotten, but I chalked that up to her lookin' for her kid. What was with the guards escorting her out, and all?"
I sighed, looking away, and I felt heat creep into my neck as I thought about my role in this. "Bree isn't allowed near her kids any more, Applejack. There's a court-order against her for abuse."
Applejack's eyes bugged out. "Wait, what?! What in tarnation did she do to'em for that to happen?"
I cringed. "Well... what we know for sure is that she hit them, locked them up, made them go hungry, that sort of thing. Way beyond what could be considered disciplinary treatment."
Applejack recoiled in shock, her accent growing thicker as she grew agitated. "What the hay?! What would she do that for? Ah've heard of some folk spankin' their foals, but Ah always thought that was reserved for really serious situations."
Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow at Applejack. "Didn't I hear Granny Smith say something about," she bugged an eye out and affected her best old-pony voice, " 'tannin' yer hahd, applejeck'?"
Applejack snorted and rolled her eyes at the impression. "Sure, she'd say stuff like that, but all we'd ever get was an ear-chewin'. Even after the whole mess with the apple blight, she never laid a hoof on Mac or me. It's jus' an expression. Ol' Apple family wisdom is, if you beat a puppy, it grows up into a mean dog."
I winced. "I hope nopony ever tested that theory."
Applejack raised an eyebrow at me. "Ain't that what we just saw, though? I mean, dog metaphor aside, Cozy definitely grew up mean, and I think I can see why, even if it don't excuse her behavior."
I hung my head low. "And it's my fault Bree knew that Cozy was back. We've been looking for Cozy's parents since the magic-theft incident, and I was so excited to finally get a chance to look into her background I let the fact that she was free slip."
Rainbow winced. "Jeez, so you're the reason that mare was here? No wonder you've been acting so down about all of this. I'd have expected you to get more up in Bree's face, but it seemed like you were almost going to make friends with her at the end there."
I shuddered. "No. No way. If that mare wants to start over, she's going to have to do it on her own. If nothing else, I can't let her come around Cozy ever again; I owe the filly that much after my mistake."
Dash snickered. "And that's coming from the mare who was going to be there for Chrysalis."
I looked away. "Yeah, well, that was different. Maybe it seems silly to you, but I felt like... I felt like I'd have better luck with Chrysalis than Bree. I don't know what it would take to reform that mare; she already had love, family, and friendship, and she destroyed it all herself. Maybe I was wrong to turn her away, but I just... I couldn't stomach the idea of trying to be friends with her at the same time as Cozy. Not after everything she did."
Rainbow Dash huffed, giving me a playful swat to the shoulder. "Welcome to 'loyalty 101', Professor Dash here. You get an 'A', Starlight. I mean seriously, why would you feel bad about turning her away when you need to protect Cozy? It's obvious Bree was just looking for another way to get at her; or at least, that's too big of a possibility for you to ignore. You were just being a real friend to Cozy. You don't have to run around being nice to every jerk and enable them to hurt other ponies just because you're not proud of your own past; heck, is that what you'd tell Cozy Glow to do if she asked?"
I stared at Rainbow for a few seconds in thought. "N-no! You're right, I wouldn't tell her that. I didn't even think about that, but... you're right, I felt like Bree would just use me to hurt her. It's just, I feel like after all of the bad things I did, how can I leave a pony out in the cold like that?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You didn't leave her out in the anything, Glimglam," I groaned at the nickname as Dash continued, "she's a grown-up mare, she brought this on herself, and even though she used your kindness against you, you still threw her a lifeline. You're done with that mare. Wash your hooves of it and move on. Trust me, it's not worth wasting your friendship on somepony who doesn't deserve it."
I felt Twilight's hoof on my other shoulder, and glanced over to see her smiling softly at me. "Starlight, Dash is right. You aren't obligated to be friends with anypony, regardless of what you did in the past. You gave her a way to better herself; now it's up to her to follow it. You gave her nothing but the benefit of the doubt since you met her, and she used that against you; that's why you're so upset over your 'mistake', right? I think you were being a good friend, turning her down."
I choked up slightly, chewing my lip over. "I guess kindness needs to come with firmness, too, even if you feel bad about your own past."
Twilight winked at me. "Sunset and Fluttershy have both written about that, but I think this case is just complex enough to warrant a new entry in the next edition of that journal. And Rainbow can help you write it."
Dash groaned playfully. "Aww man, homework."
Applejack cleared her throat, and then looked at Dash quizzically. "Say, Rainbow... you were pretty dead-set against Bree from the start, but you didn't know any more'n I did comin' in to this, right? How come you saw what she was all about so fast?"
Rainbow went silent, taking a few deep breaths and scanning the night sky for a few moments before replying. "Gilda. Lightning Dust. The Wonderbolts. Heck, even before that... I've been in a lot of situations where the best thing to do is to just walk away from somepony, Applejack. And I do get the importance of family, which means I also know how bad things have to be for somepony to walk away from one."
She shrugged, looking down to the ground. "When I heard Luna had adopted Cozy, I knew that must mean one of two things: either Cozy never had a family to begin with, or her original family was terrible. So when I was told her birth-mom was here and she had freaked out, I knew the score. It's not like Bree did anything to dispel the image I had of her in my head when I saw her, either; the stuff she said, the way she acted, I recognize all of that. It's one thing to argue to get what you want the way Twilight does, with logic and stuff, but that's not how Bree was going about it at all. She attacked Celestia's relationships, her loyalty and her own failures, just like she'd gone after Starlight."
Dash grimaced. "Using somepony's fears and doubts against them is low already, but when those fears and doubts come from their love for other ponies? That's evil. Trying to turn friendship into a weakness..." Dash shuddered. "Yeah, no, that pretty much sealed it for me, even before I saw how Cozy reacted. I'm not surprised to hear Cozy was abused, either; that violent outburst at Bree trying to touch her gave it away. Remember when we had to study the warning signs for abuse to get the school EEA certified, Applejack?"
Applejack's eyes widened, and she nodded. "That's what they meant? The coursework on that was pretty light, so..."
Rainbow huffed. "Not for me. They classified my class as gym, so I had to learn ten times as much about foal reactions to being touched and stuff like that. And... I guess it came in handy, so maybe that was for the best. I just wish I'd realized it sooner, or... that I hadn't avoided her since she came back. Maybe I could've helped."
Twilight frowned, her wings flapping slightly in discomfort. "I still haven't spent any time with her. Not since she got back, anyway. I don't even know if she'd want to see me."
Applejack sighed, pulling the brim of her hat down in shame. "The first thing I asked her when I saw her in the market was... why she did it. Why she'd lost it on us. She said she'd never really understood love 'fore she met Luna. Ah didn' even know what to say to that. She seemed scared of me."
I nodded, thinking back. "She seems a little scared of everypony. Or scared of offending them, I'm not really sure. She's been punished pretty severely a few different times, and I think that's made her skittish... plus, she just went from being a powerful hero to being a regular pegasus foal, or pretty close. I think she's been waiting to see if the other shoe is going to drop ever since she got back."
I groaned, facehoofing. "Maybe that's why she hasn't come back to the school. All of us have been avoiding her, and she's not sure any of us want to see her again, so nopony is willing to make the first move."
Ugh, stupid, Starlight! You should have done something about this as soon as she got back!
Twilight caught me off guard by smiling at me and laying a hoof on my shoulder.
"Well, that's nothing we can't fix. We should just get together and see her, sometime! Or maybe just one on one, if you think she'd be more comfortable with that. I'm sure everypony would love to hear her stories about being a hero, though, if nothing else."
I sighed in relief. And that's the Princess of Friendship to the rescue, everypony. "Thanks, Twilight. I think you're right, and she'd probably love to talk about that."
Dash stepped up closer and nodded. "I'm always up for awesome stories, or stories about awesomeness, so count me in."
Applejack smiled and set a hoof on my back. "Shoot, I don't figure it'd hurt anything to hear how she spent her time in the other world, and it might help us put all that bad blood behind us."
I smiled at all of them and nodded. "Thanks, girls. I couldn't ask for better support."
And here's hoping it makes up for my mistake.
We said our goodbyes and parted ways shortly after that, but I felt a sense of purpose as I went back to the crystal castle, head held high. The headmare of the School of Friendship knew what she was doing!
It was with that confidence I opened the door to the crystal castle. Two Lunas were standing there, apparently mid-conversation, and froze when they saw me. I held up a hoof.
NOPE.
"Carry on with whatever this is, I don't want to know, I'm going to bed."
I passed by the both of them, and only stopped as I reached the end of the hallway. I glanced back. "This isn't some changeling-invasion-type-deal, right?"
One of the Lunas shook her head. "No, Starlight. This is—"
"Good enough for me!"
I went to bed.
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As much as you got me to hate Bree I love the way Starlight handled her.
God bless you, Twiggles, you poor nervous cinnamon roll who cannot catch a break.
Gee, I wonder why.
Also: "Then perish."
Man, I have to admire the sheer mettle of Starlight, here. Reaching out, trying to make something good happen here, even when her instincts told her to walk. That's some real conviction, and I have to admire it.
I started this paragraph ready to comment how hard Rainbow went to bat for Scoots when her parents were being dullards, but then Rainbow Horse had to just beat me to it.
Guess there's a reason she's the fastest mare in Equestria.
He has ARRIVED!
Starlight may see the snark as an ally, but she merely adopted it. Discord was born in it, molded by it.
Why am I suddenly seeing a bunch of purple "ゴ" symbols floating in the air?
"Hello, Bree was it? Hi, I'm the Lord of Chaos and the Spirit of Strife, and, just let me say, I really want to show you my edgy Alternate Character Interpretation."
I mean, Dash has a thing about saving people. She also just likes dunking on bad guys. This isn't really that OOC for her, but I suspect we're about to find something out.
Ah, yes, the old "resolve complicated emotional snarl by appealing to a common enemy" tactic. I know it well.
Also... shit. That sucks, Rainbow.
Ah, "what if;" a most toxic proposition when one stands in the wreckage.
Shit.
I am sorry to undercut this serious moment in my head, and I get that it's a phonetic accent rendering, but something about that word looks so horribly misshapen I find it funny to look at and try to say.
Anyway, I've said my piece. Carry on with making me cry some more, old chum.
There was a sudden flash as Discord appeared over Applejack's shoulder.
"Oh, let me show the list, Applejack, dear!" With that and a snap, an absurdly long scroll appeared before Applejack who stared at it, first with simple squinting, then a frown, then a steely look, and then, finally, unrelenting horror.
She didn't make it halfway through before she had to go vomit.
Discord turned to the rest of us and smiled smugly.
"Now that we are all up to speed, excuse me." He smiled as he pulled a thin, curved, piece of metal from somewhere in his fur. "I am finding whole new ways to use fish hooks!" With that, and another snap, he disappeared again.
I see Starlight isn't the only mare on the bomb squad.
Man, you know you fucked up when the Princess of Friendship says "Nah, ghost that bitch."
Fluttershy had a whole episode about that! And, like, three about the opposite of that!
... Character development?
Hey, Twiggles is doing Starlight's thing of reading my mind for her next lines.
And this is exactly why I reacted so negatively to Starlight's idea of going to find her. Child abuse was about the only thing that made sense of all the data and I kinda felt, and still feel that Starlight should have been able to figure that out. Not to say I felt she was poorly written; all of her mistakes were plausible, but they were still mistakes, and ones that could have been rectified if she'd taken the time to consider the whole picture.
Pffft! Bureaucracy saves the day!
Also: oof.
Yeah, Applejack, because you bushwhacked a scared kid who hated themselves with a quiz about why they were such a piece of shit. You were relatively chill about it, but you are not, in fact, the Princess of Tact.
Shit...
Man, this has been one, big, long circle of "I dun goofed."
Damn straight.
Also, this is a proven tactic since we saw it work in a prior Celestia chapter.
The fact that she preempted this is probably why she was the Princess of Equestria.
I have faith in you, Sad Color-Whose-Exact-Name-I-Cannot-Find Horse.
Yeah, fair.
Yeah, and she knows exactly how to handle them!
I see the luna's are gonna pull a prank
The story can’t seem to make up it’s mind on what it wants to say. I’m.. Hmm. I’m glad we’re at least addressing this, but the extremely inconsistent tone it’s doing the narration any favors.
I really do appreciate that it’s Starlight saying this.
This is both amazing and also concerning.
THANK YOU.
Still surprised we’re turning around this quickly in the tone of the story. It’s… a strange feeling. Maybe I’m too emotionally charged about all this to examine the pacing in a neutral way? It could be that you’re just running things through a racetrack with the pacing, nothing more esoteric like what I’ve been thinking.
Discord is that friend you secretly fear is going to blow something important up by accident one day.
My respect for you continues to grow, ol’ Solo.
Aaaand thank you Applejack.
Why do we lay all the wisdom down NOW of all things?
Okay, so, this makes me feel right silly. Allow me to point back at my rants, my multi-paragraph analysis, my thoughts on the matter and my reservations, and then let me read this chapter and go
"Well gosh darn hootenany, he addressed virtually every single point I had, that's funky, that." My method of reading this in tiny jumps has actually harmed my perception of the story, and there's unfortunately not much I can do about that.
You did good, Solo. You did real good. I should learn to reserve judgment.
I still think your inconsistent pacing is a mess, though.
-GM, master of derp.
Oh, bullshit. Discord's actions were monstrous. The only reason he didn't go further was the rating the show had and what he did was pretty damned horrific already. As for him being turned to stone? I didn't feel one bit sorry for him. He was willfully evil and delighted in the pain and torment he inflicted on others.
No. the show messed up badly. You tried to stop a monstrous cipher with all the development and backstory of a stormtrooper.
I really wish the show had given us this lesson.
Is it wrong to want to play poker or Mario Kart with alternate universe me?
10074259
I wanna fight a duel in minecraft with an alternate universe me