A Vignette of Harmony

by Draxonos135

#ElementofMagic

Vignette stood uneasily at the front door of Sunset's apartment.

Twilight, the supposed bearer of the last Element of Harmony, was staying with her for something, and it was the perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone.

Not literally, of course, that would be terrible, but you get the idea.

Eventually, Vignette knocked the door, and Sunset answered in the blink of an eye.

"Vignette! I was just waiting for you!"

Vignette raised an eyebrow. "But I thought you had a visit?"

"Twilight doesn't mind. Come in!"

Sunset grabbed Vignette and pulled her inside, closing the door just as Vignette scanned her surroundings.

Twilight was resting on Sunset's bed, while on Sunset's laptop, there was the title screen of something that caught Vignette's attention.

"Harmony Quest?"

"One of the most popular MMORPGS I've ever played, and also one of the most fun!" Sunset chirped. "You ever played it before?"

"What? No, I uh, just heard of it, I've never played it before. In my life," Vignette said in a wooden manner. "Anyway, the Elements?"

"Right, you're probably anxious about that," Sunset clasped her hands. "Well, brace yourself, Vignette! I'm gonna tell you about the last Element of Harmony! The Element of-"

"Magic, yes, I know," Vignette waved her hand. "Please, just give me a quick recap about it so I can go home."

Twilight stood up and stretched. "Did learning about the other Elements tire you?"

"That, and the fact that Magic appears in my doorstep once again," Vignette rubbed her forehead. "I don't know why, but the idea of Magic being one of the Elements completely escaped me."

"Right, I forgot you really don't like Magic," Sunset folded her arms and frowned. "But, it's okay, I understand how you feel."

"You do?"

"Magic can be used for good things, and for bad things," Sunset raised her head. "It all falls down to who gets it and what they use it for."

"Actually, now that I remember," Vignette snapped her fingers. "You made a joke about becoming a demon once. Did that happen because of the Elements?"

Sunset eyed Twilight, whose response was blunt:

"Now's the best chance you'll ever get to tell Vignette about it."

Sunset sat on her bed, and Vignette soon followed.

"Remember Princess Twilight? Before her, I was the student of Princess Celestia, and when I discovered she had obtained everything that I didn't, I was overcome with so much jealousy, that I stole her crown, which contained the Element of Magic."

Vignette scratched her chin. "So the gem on her crown... is the Element of Magic?"

Sunset nodded, and continued. "During a moment of desperation, I put on the crown, and the Element of Magic overwhelmed me so much, I turned into a monster. It was one of the most painful things I've ever experience, at least until the Camp Everfree incident."

"So, an Element of Harmony caused havoc," Vignette rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised it's the Element of Magic?"

"Putting on the Element, though, wasn't the only reason I turned into a demon," Sunset lowered her head and took a deep breath. "When I put it on, all I had on my mind was that I wanted power. That I wanted to become a Princess. That I deserved those things. And in pursuing those things, I threw away what Magic was really about and well... let's just say it didn't like that."

"Magic itself isn't evil, Vignette," Twilight said, Sunset nodding in agreement. "It's the people who use it wrong that are evil."

"I know what you're trying to say, but my only experiences with Magic paint it in a negative light," Vignette crossed her arms and looked elsewhere. "I mean, this first experience, I was at fault, I'll be blunt with that. But the second experience, with the Pony of Shadows? That was a wild ride, and not of the fun kind."

"I see, and I understand what you mean," Sunset put a hand on Vignette's shoulder. "But we insist Magic isn't evil, Vignette. Keep your mind open, and you might come to like it eventually."

"Eventually..." Vignette repeated with a frown.

Twilight was quick to intercept, "Hey, you spoke with the other girls, right? Did their answers help you?"

"Yeah, and in fact, I don't doubt their Elements one bit. It's Magic somehow being part of friendship that puzzles me, and not just because I don't like it."

Sunset smiled. "Well, keep hanging around with us, and you'll get to see it soon enough."

"See what, exactly?"

"How friendship is magic," Sunset replied with a cheerful smile. "Anyway, until then, wanna play some videogames?"

"You don't mind?"

"Nah, it's fine," Twilight waved her hand. "I was growing tired of beating Sunset anyway."

"Uh, excuse me?" Sunset shot a look at Twilight. "I'm the one who always beats you."

"Yeah, in your dreams," Twilight adjusted her glasses. "But I always win in reality."

Vignette looked at the duo. "You sure you want me to stay? You seem to have a fine dynamic by yourselves."

Twilight and Sunset exchanged looks, laughed out loud, and grabbed Vignette's arms, dragging her towards them as Sunset began setting up the videogame.

Friendship is magic... that was something Vignette had to see for herself.

Author's Note:

Okay, kind of a sudden ending, but an ending nonetheless.

I was planning to have one more chapter to cover Sunset's hypothetical Element, but I decided to scrap it to keep the story simple.

Anyway, that's another Vignetteverse story done. And hopefully, this one might stay canon XD

That's all from me today, though. Draxonos135, flying away.

Comments

[Draxonos135]

10546886
I already edited the chapter to add that. I can't believe I missed it.

Thanks for pointing it out.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Hmm. Not sure how I feel about this conclusion. Honestly, I think that maybe you could have unpacked or elaborated on this scenario more thoroughly, because basically, to me, it just comes off as reinforcing Vignette's prejudice against magic and thinking that it's dangerous and evil. I feel that if Sunset had explained (or even just speculated) that the reason she turned into the demon was because of her selfish pursuit of power and magic over friendship and its virtues.

I hope Vignette figures out how Friendship IS Magic, i.e. how the different Elements of Harmony go into creating the power of Friendship, the true magic. I think (and she is not alone in making this mistake) that people forget that Magic (as an Element, in this setting) is less about some kind of power in and of itself and more about the synthesis of those Elements, or virtues, or whatever you want to call them. How they all come together to make something great, not how the one Element stands above the rest.

[Draxonos135]

10546980
I guess I got a plot for the next Vignetteverse story.

Speaking seriously, though, you're right: this wasn't the best conclusion, and although I will add to it eventually, Vignette pretty much has to experience what Magic (and also friendship) truly is before she can understand the basic message behind the title: that friendship IS magic.

Of course, she first needs to make friends other than the Apple Family and Sunset's friends, but we'll get there when we get there.