Hope, Imagination, Magic, and Love

by MuffinPonyPoser

2.7: Understanding

All of Ponyville could hear the Twi’s yelling, even though she was probably deep inside of her castle, and even though there was a mighty long distance between it and the town. Ah could tell, as Ah was at th’ other end of town, disassemblin’ my apple cart.

Just because Twilight Sparkle is back doesn’t mean she hasn’t forgiven you for leaving her. Just like during the royal wedding, you didn’t speak up in time!

Consarn it! Leave me alone! I didn’t abandon her, and I most certainly spoke up! There was nothing I could have done!

Yes… that is all of reality though, is it not? One unfortunate event after the next.

Stop!

Your parents deaths, then-

Stop it now!

-you and your brother being forced to tend the farm and abandon school...

I said… thought?... to stop that!

And now, there’s a voice in your head reminding you of all these things, and you still can’t stop it. What next? Your-

I SAID STOP TALKIN’ YA RAT BADGER!!

-sister being taken away? Or your brother? Celestia knows your Granny isn’t doing so well,-

please

-and that you aren’t going to get through this being HONEST with yourself of all things…

just… just stop

So why stick to these morals? Why continue poisoning yourself with your past and your pain?

ah… ah don’ know…

“Applejack, you okay? You look like you haven’t slept in a while…” A concerned Rose Luck asked.

“Ahm… fine. What can ah help you with?” I asked in the most cheerful tone ah could muster.

“...” Rose Luck was silent. Normally ah would just think that she was being paranoid, but I couldn’t put her concern off my hooves.

“Ah’ll be fine… jus working through some things…” I trailed off, a little less cheerful.

She sighed, then asked “Can I have two apples and give you some advice?” I hoofed over the apples, and she gave me my 6 bits for them.

“Sure sugarcube, what kinda advice?” I curiously asked.

Like she’d be able to help anyways…

Shut it. She’s tryna help, an’ ah think ah should let her.

“Well, talk to Fluttershy or Pinkie. One of those two might cheer you up!” she said with enthusiasm.

Not a bad idea. Might not be the best time, but I can ask after we welcome Twi back.

If she decides to stay…

Consarn it you rat -*

---

My castle was, regrettably, not enough of a source of magic for me to throttle my ex-mentor. Even though she knew she could probably escape, she sat at the other end of the table in the throne room.

I had moved all the chairs besides my own and Spike’s, even though he was elsewhere at the moment. It comforted me knowing that the castle had planned for my Number One Assistant to live here. Celestia was sitting on the bare, crystal floor, and looking nervous as all Tartarus.

It was the slightest details that gave it away. She wasn’t sweating, nor was she jittering or any of the other nervous habits a pony might have shown.

She was sitting perfectly still, with that motherly smile of hers muted, not moving except to breathe and readjust to stave off her legs going to sleep.

We had been sitting like this for thirty minutes. I had yelled at the white alicorn for fifteen minutes straight for locking me in the sun, but she hadn’t even defended herself once. We were just sitting there staring at each other, when I decided to start speaking again.

“All of this, though… I already yelled at you for betraying me, for hiding things so menial, and for ‘getting rid of the only pony who has an iota of an idea of what’s going on’ shtick you’ve pulled, but that wasn’t all.” I paused, waiting for a response. When she didn’t give any indication to continue, verbal or nonverbal, I sighed. “Celestia, you betrayed my trust, avoided my questions, and sent me away. Even with the knowledge of all the signs on how you flinch, I don’t see one speck of discomfort at knowing that you let me down. That you let my friends down.” I paused again. “Do… Do you care, Celestia? I understand that I caused a major disaster, but I was stressed out because you locked me in the sun. Because you sent Discord after me…” I trailed off.

At this, my fellow Princess’s brow creased. Not her subtle crease, or her ‘I’ll ignore what you just said for the sake of peace’ crease. A genuine crease that caused her eyebrows to scrunch up and convey total and utter confusion.

“I never-” She started. At least before the one being I would have paid to be stuck in a dunk tank for the next couple years showed up.

“I-huff-huff-made it to the huff show! Now, where was huff-huff Twilight when she was tearing you a good one?” He said in an overblown manner, pointing at Celestia at the end. I noticed how out of breath he was, and questioned how he even got here.

I teleported him to Canterlot, took away magic, AND HE STILL MAKES IT HERE?!?!

Then I remembered who put me through the ‘Never Ending Flight of Stressful Antics’ (patent pending).

Even with what little magic I had, I could most certainly keep him and Celestia here.

I tugged his ear with my magic.

“Owwww!” he whined like a child, and took on a posh accent. “Mother! That hurts me so!”

Then I turned towards him. I must have scared him, as his color literally oozed off of him, leaving him looking like a children’s coloring book.

He also gulped. There was that.

I won’t really harm either of them, that would just be cruel. No, I’m going to do something worse.

And when it came to immortals like these two, there was only one thing that would be able to get through their thick skulls.

Then I heard four familiar voices down the hallway. Looking back, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and browned somewhat for some reason. More so than before, even.

“Sigh… What am I going to do… Well, best focus on the positive!”

---

We were all surprised when a purple projectile came out of the room we were headed for, even if we headed there reluctantly.

“Giiiiiiiiirls!” the projectile shouted while galloping at us. It sounded excited and happy, which was a relief. I thought she’d be mad, though I mentally beat myself for thinking that.

Least the egghead’s okay.

One group hug later where she was wrapped around us all, and Fluttershy broke the happy silence.

“Um… Twilight… why does Discord look like he’s about to faint?” the animal caregiver asked, concerned for her friend.

“... I might have looked at him like a lunatic…” Twilight said sheepishly.

I gaped, and I’m sure that Twilight was filing my expression under ‘future revenge for pranks’.

“Wait-wait-wait. You’re telling me that YOU of all ponies… yelled and threatened both your MENTOR and the god of chaos?” I said incredulously.

"Not a God!" Discord yelled from the other end of the hall exasperatedly.

Twilight still looked sheepish, and began to blush. Applejack phased out, but my attention was pulled by Fluttershy.

“Twilight, when’s the last time you slept? Or ate? Fluttershy asked cautiously.

“... I haven’t eaten all week, and I didn’t sleep before my banishment for… “ Twilight trailed off. Then her face contorted from sheepish blushing to a glare. It wasn’t pointed at us, but at Princess Celestia and Luna. They had come out of the room, The solar Princess looking… paler than usual.

“Twi… ya don’ blame us for what-” Applejack started to say, but Twilight snapped out of her glare with eyes of concern that were pointed at us.

“Girls, of course I don’t blame any of you. There wasn’t anything you girls could have done…” She looked a bit resigned as she trailed off. “Sigh… Rainbow, if it weren’t for watching you stunt fly, I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the sun so quickly…” She looked at me while she said this, and I beamed.

She didn’t look too happy knowing that I had rubbed off on her like that, though.

“What did you do?” I asked eagerly. I had to know what crazy stunt she pulled.

“The bright light you were subjected to is my fault.” She looked sheepish once more. “I basically flew around the core of the sun, making a hurricane out of the plasma and magic. When that didn’t work, I… copied a move that Dash used to strain the barrier and break it.”

“Ooh! Which one? Was it a-”

“No, Rainbow Dash, it was not a Sonic Rainboom. I’ve told you several times, I might have the raw magic to do one but I don’t have the experience you have.” Twilight interrupted in a monotone voice that she used when trying to downplay how amused she was. “You were spinning out of control after a corkscrew, since you hit one fetlock on a cloud by mistake. You used the spinning to both right yourself and glide to safety.” Twilight explained.

I hoof-pumped at the thought of such a feat being done by an ameteur.

It sounds like a simple thing to do, and for her it was probably easier since her center of balance wasn’t being thrown around. But going the speeds she claims to have gone counters that thought, and, on top of that, she’s also a novice!

Fluttershy and Pinkie were the only ones other than me to look impressed, and Pinks was only because I explained each stunt and how difficult it was to her after I showcased them. Part of our special deal: She would lay off the pies, and I would explain stunts to her.

Blehg… pie…

“Are ya sure you’re alrigh’ there, sugarcube?” Applejack piped up as Twilight continued to glare at the solar Princess.

Twilight sighed. “I want to talk with you all about what I found, but first I have to deal with some things. Namely, Discord’s antics, Equus’s magic problem, and…” Twilight trailed off as Terra came around the corner. Twilight ran over to Terra, who ran to her as well.

They spoke to each other excitedly in the same gibberish that Terra was speaking, and Princess Celestia looked shocked.

“Girls, I’m going to ask you to wait in my library for a bit. I need to talk with Terra!” Twilight exclaimed as she pushed Terra into the throne room, closing and, presumably, locking the door behind her.

At the others’ discomfort, Luna told us “She’s probably fanfillying over the heaps of knowledge that Terra has.” As she followed my gaze to Pinkie bouncing up and down, she added “And yes, Pinkie, you can give her a party. But it has to be after she is used to this day and age.” Pinkie calmed after hearing that, but only somewhat.

“Well, let’s head off to the library. We wouldn’t want to seem rude!” Rarity said as she started walking towards where she thought the library was.

“Um, Rares?” I piped up.

“Yes, darling?”

“That’s the wrong way. The library is off that way.” I said while pointing down a hallway leading to the stairs.

Rarity looked somewhat flushed as she began walking the way I had pointed.

“Of course dear, just testing you!” She said.

We all chuckled, though it was in good spirits, as Rarity pouted in the back of our little party.

---

“<-Wow… that’s… just wow…>” I said to Terra. “<I understand why you couldn't show me everything, it’s probably for the best. But about the threat you said that you were holding back…>” I trailed off.

“<The threat I was holding back… they were an old friend. I couldn’t bear if I harmed them, and they attacked me when I was at my weakest.>” Terra said to me. She was a bit energetic, obviously a symptom of having another who could understand her easily.

I squeed at the thought of how I was meeting and chatting with the creator of the Tree of Harmony, and the Elements by extension.

I’m still not too sure about why we shared memories the way we did. But if what I saw is true, I need to show her compassion.

Not that I wouldn’t anyways, but I’ve got to figure out how to help her.

But I also had the implications of what she was saying to mull over.

“<Yes, the Windigo. The original ice spirit in the Hearth Warming Tale… that’s most troubling.>” I said.

It turned out that the language Terra spoke was vastly different to modern Equuish in the sounds required and the tone for different moods. Her tone shifted to similar tells as Equuish, but there was always a… a small hint in the body language that could be watched, or a subtle inflection in voice near the end. I was meaning to sound reassuring, but I sounded morose.

Is it really impossible to lie about emotions in this language? I find that hard to believe...

“<Don’t worry, Twilight Sparkle. You already have the tools to find and purify their souls, you just have to do it.>” Terra said with a smile. The worry in her voice betrayed it, though. “<About the magic crisis, I’d believe I can help.>” At my gesture to continue, she obliged. “<It would require us to introduce technology that’s a little too high to be manufactured, but I can create geysers of magic. Perhaps in the solar system, so as to not poison Equus with magic.>” Terra explained.

I put a hoof to my muzzle in thought.

“<That would be a good idea, but we need you here. Just by being here, you’re replenishing the nearby magic. Without you, our only defence against the creatures of the Everfree, as well as certain other races when they realize who’s responsible for the blackout, will be Celestia and Luna. And their power is going to be diminished because of what I did…>”

Terra scooped me up into a hug. She might have been centuries older than me, but her size was still the same as mine. “<You are NOT at fault, Twilight. You were stressed out before this whole mess, and we can still fix it. Nopony was really harmed, just some that are scared.>” She nudged me in a calming fashion. “<And I think you can help them with that.>”

I smiled, a smile of both hope and regret. “<Okay… I think I can do what you were talking about with the geysers. Give me the schematics for the machine you told me about and I’ll set off to fix things.>” Before Terra could object to my loss of magic, I added “<And I can get magic from the surroundings. As long as I go to geysers on our moon, I can set up more geysers there.>”

At this, Terra’s eyes widened. “<No! Don’t set up any on the moon!>” At my shocked reaction, she added “<The machine is likely to malfunction. You should make geysers around our planet. From what I’ve heard, Equus is mostly stationary, so it should work…>”

“From what you’ve hear-” I started to say, questioning Terra’s knowledge.

Before I could get any answers, however, Discord came into the throne room.

“Leaving so soon, Sparkle? But what about your, ickh, friends?” Discord spoke up.

I didn’t glare. I didn’t give him a threat with a stare. I was just… done. I think I had a look that conveyed that, as Discord quickly bowed like he was in a Neighponese comic and left with the door closed.

“<Pumpkin does have a point, Twilight....>” Terra pointed out.

“Why did you call him Pumpkin?” I asked. As I was shocked by what she called Discord, I reverted to common Equuish.

“<... Oops?>” Terra squeaked.

---

I had decided to wander through the castle. There were a multitude of creatures that lived here, though Twilight seemed to be at peace with them. There were mice, most of whom lived in corridors behind the walls, birds of all kinds that flew in and out of the attic, and plenty of ants. The ants were somewhat of a nuisance to Twilight, which was why I had given them a stern lecture on when it was okay to take food. Twilight seemed to give them all the food she had leftover, which was a huge help on her part.

It was nice to see that she cared about the animals as much as I did.

The corridors and attic space needed cleaning, to which the animals picked up after themselves. They and Twilight coexisted, and I could have moved in had it not been for the animals who had to stay near my cottage.

All of it was odd, as I couldn’t see why the Tree would do something like this for the animals. At least until I thought of the elements of Rarity and I.

Generosity and Kindness. You wanted to give to the creatures who might have lost their homes, and you wanted to give those that came a place to stay. That’s… sweet!

I walked down several flights of stairs, taking my time while doing so, before I came across a square of rooms that were vibrant.

There was, of course, the library that spanned multiple floors. Twilight’s favorite rooms besides the kitchens.

Even if the only reason she likes the kitchens is because of the coffee machines...

As I walked along those hallways, I took note of the changes in color. The side of the library was every shade of purple imaginable, whereas going further up or down resulted in the crystals taking shades of blue instead.

Further along, there was a room that seemed sturdy enough to take Rainbow’s failed stunts. The crystal in these rooms were softer, and they felt like padding. They were solid, but knocking on them didn’t hurt my hoof in the slightest. This room was every shade of red, and a brazen red could be found throughout the room. It looked like a mishmash of red, but was still pleasing to the eye.

The corner where the ‘gym’ of sorts and library intersected had deep pinks, pinks that I’ll admit I lost myself in for a while. There was a hallway leading to a stairwell right between the two rooms as well.

On the same hallway were some kitchens, which were adorned with shades of orange. They were just as calming as the library, but in a different way. They were… they were like coming home after a long day and seeing Angel Bunny, my pet. The library was calming because it welcomed me somewhere new.

I didn’t look at the wall intersecting the gym and kitchen, but I would have guessed it was yellow.

I continued to a vast, empty room and the flight of stairs between the kitchen and said room. They looked the ideal place to heal the injured, with magic seeming to flow out of the walls in a comforting hug. The crystals here were green. It initially confused me, until I remembered Twilight talking about how one of the elements was green before it bonded with us.

The greens reminded me of trees and life. They were melded with blues in such a way that made me feel like I was in a forest. There were browns as well, but browns reminiscent of bark and dirt. It was relaxing.

I closed the forest green doors, and continued to the next room, sure that there would be a room designed for Pinkie next.

What I wasn’t expecting in the slightest was a ballroom. Pinkie’s parties tended to feel like the party pony who made them. They were ‘the antithesis of those formal, stuffy parties those ponies at Canterlot put on’, as said by Pinkie herself.

But looking closer, into the room, there was ample space above to put things like streamers. And the shades of blue in the room made me giggle a little, though I looked around to make sure nobody heard. There were oceans of blue in the room, shaded just right to be open and friendly without being overbearing..

Then there was another purple room. While I thought that the library was purple, I was clearly wrong. The boldness of the purples in the next room put the library’s magentas and purples to shame. There were wide windows making natural light, and plenty of room for Rarity to work.

But as I closed the door to the final room, another door caught my eyes. It was in the center, and it looked… incomplete somehow. The door itself was only halfway done, and it had a rainbow of colors wrapping around it like lights on a Hearth’s Warming tree.

That’s… weird. I would have thought that Twilight would be the center, if anything.

Before I could think too hard about it, I was pulled away from my thoughts by a white alicorn tapping me on the barrel.

When I looked over to her, I jumped. I thought I was alone, after all.

“Fluttershy, can… can I have your advice?” Princess Celestia asked. I must have looked nervous, because she said “Don’t worry Fluttershy. I’m… I just want help. I don’t know what to do, what the kindest thing TO do is.” Her voice was forlorn, and her expression grim.

I can’t be nervous. Being nervous will scare her away.

“Before I ask you what you want advice on, Princess, why don’t we go into one the kitchen and make some tea?” I asked. I still sounded nervous, but it was mixed in with kindness and warmth.

At the Princess’s affirmative nod, we walked into the kitchen, prepared the tea- Lavender was all that Twilight had- and poured the tea into two cups.

At first, I started setting us up at opposite ends of the round table, but I set us up next to each other as I saw the Princess’s face.

“Fluttershy,” the Princess started after a small bout of silence, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Finding the right thing to do can be hard sometimes, Princess. But talking about it to a friend makes it easier sometimes.” I offered.

She sighed, then continued with reluctance. “If I want to protect what I’ve built, I can’t allow Twilight to release some… old friends of mine. But if I don’t release them, they might break out and wreak havoc. And I couldn’t live with the results either way. They are… angry for some things that happened long in the past.”

“Well, if Discord is anything to go by, then kindness will go a long way. Bring them back, and show them friendship once more.” I said.

“It’s… not that simple, Ms. Shy-”

“J-just Fluttershy, your Majesty…”

She turned to me with a smile, which morphed into a frown once more. “Fluttershy… How can I risk the happiness of my subjects, my student and her friends most importantly, if I let them out?”

“Is that why you put Twilight into the sun? To make sure she wasn’t… influenced?” I asked in confusion.

“...Partially. As much as I want her happiness, I couldn’t bear it if she brought war and devastation by bringing… several things back. I don’t think she could live with herself, either. I knew that she had shared memories with Terra, and hadn’t the time to tell her how dangerous the knowledge was. Is, in fact.” Celestia explained.

I sat in thought for a couple of seconds.

“If your bringing these friends back leads to pain, then you might think it best not to free them. I thought that sheltering the Breezies was kind, but I found that the kindest decision is sometimes the worst. Sometimes, you must be cruel to be kind.” At the Princess’s confused face, I continued. “It does seem a bit counterintuitive, but think of it like this: if I hadn’t kicked the Breezies out of my home, what might have happened to them?” I asked.

“Well, the Breezies are a frail species, designed only for the harsh conditions of their valley and nothing more. Their valley is rampant with magic, so they might have died not having that magic to draw from.” Celestia said deep in though.

“So, by doing the kindest thing in the long term, I had to do what seemed like the cruellest in the short term. With these friends you mentioned, think. Really think about what they would likely do if you were kind enough to them, and what they would do if you kept them the way they are.” I advised. I had an inkling of an idea on who the friends she was talking about were, but no way to verify it.

Celesita still looks sad, but it’s different now…

It’s… resigned.

What did I just do?

Author's Note:

*- she was not, in fact, about to think rat badger again. She was going to think something far, far more speciesest. Something that would have made Fluttershy of all ponies mad.

So. Two ponies are about to do really stupid things for really smart reasons. Three, in fact.

If anyone's confused about the scene with Fluttershy going around the rooms and/or about the animals living in the castle, I'll do my best to plow my though any questions. Have a wonderful day!

oh yeah. and stay healthy.