• Published 18th Sep 2012
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Faith and Doubt - defender2222



After everyone fails to heed to her warnings about Cadence, Twilight gives in to her darker thoughts

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The Corner

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

~Author Unknown


It was a subdued group that sat in Sugarcube Corner.

Normally the Cakes would have been rolling their eyes at Pinkie for bringing a gaggle of ponies into the bakery, especially at 2 in the morning. Despite what Pinkie might think, the main dining area was not party central. But taking one glance at Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence had stopped any protest dead. That, and the fact that Pinkie and her friends look so utterly beaten down had led the couple to scurry about and begin waiting on them before they had returned to bed.

The group had mulled about, the events of the day weighing heavily upon each of them. The fact that so much had happened in so little time had left everypony struggling to understand how things had become so twisted so easily. Shining Armor and Cadence were supposed to be in the honeymoon suite of the Canterlot Grand Hotel, enjoying their first night as husband and wife. Velvet and her husband had expected to spend a night at the castle with Twilight and her friends, recovering from the reception and dreaming of the Post-wedding breakfast that would await them. Celestia had planned to meet with her sister and share with her all the happy details of the wedding.

But fate had played a cruel hand and the group found themselves sipping hastily made coffee and nibbling on what few day-old treats were available. Shining and Cadence remained unmarried, Twilight’s friends and family were reeling, and the Princesses were left to brood upon long lost truths.

"We can't fight with each other," Cadence finally said. As the only one in the group to make any sort of headway with Twilight she had been silently elected the head of the meeting. "No matter how much we all wish to bicker about who started this that will only waste time. There is blame to be placed on every pony.” She held up her hoof to silence Shining, who was moving to speak. “Even me. I should have demanded you tell Twilight about us, Shining. It was a mistake and maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so bad if we had been honest with her.” The love goddess shook her head sadly. “But none of that matters. We have two days to get Twilight back and we have to-"

"We can't get Twilight back," Night Light said softly.

"Now don't ya go thinkin' like that," Applejack stated firmly. "We're going to work hard and-"

"You misunderstand," Night said, interrupting once again. "Before we go any further we have to take Princess Luna's advice and accept some hard truths. First and foremost... Twilight has changed. Our Twilight, the one we knew from a day ago, is gone."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "But we can fix that!"

Fluttershy gently placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "What if there isn't anything to fix?" Every eye was on her and normally she would have begun waking at being the center of attention. But for Twilight she forced herself to be brave. "Twilight chose all of this. She wanted to become an alicorn and none of us have the right to tell her she should change back."

“So you are saying it’s hopeless?” Shining Armor grunted.

“No… there is always hope.” Several of the ponies made a move to speak but Fluttershy, drawing on her time as "New Fluttershy", merely kept going, forcing them to be quiet. "Rarity, do you know what made me question what Iron Will taught me?"

"You were horrified by what you had done," Rarity said, remembering how Fluttershy had locked herself away in fear of the monster she had briefly become.

Fluttershy nodded. "It took me seeing the truth to snap me out of it. Even though you and Pinkie kept telling me I was being mean I didn't listen because I didn't want too. It took me looking within myself and seeing my own actions to make me realize what I had been too blind to see. The same is true with Twilight. We can't force her to give up something she wants... we don't even have the right to."

"You can't believe that her being that... dark alicorn is a good thing," Velvet argued. She felt so conflicted… on one hoof she was horrified by her daughter’s new form, the anger in her eyes and the rage in her heart. But a small part, a very small part, was thrilled that her child was now an immortal… powerful and strong.

"I honestly don't know at this point,” Fluttershy admitted.

Cadence nodded in agreement. "She's caused harm but it only occurred when she felt threatened. At the hospital she woke up during the middle of an operation. I would have reacted the same way if I found strange ponies filling me up with foreign magic." Cadence lips twitched. "Ok, not exactly the same way... and at the club, she was perfectly happy just to dance. It wasn’t until I messed up and tried to force her into coming back to the hospital that Twilight stopped being… Twilight. Before that she was herself. Maybe a bit rougher around the edges but she was Twilight." The love goddess smiled slightly. "I know none of you will like hearing this... but she was actually better than Twilight."

"What ever do you mean?" Rarity asked. “How could you say that about our Twilight?”

Cadence thought back to the bulk of the conversation she had shared with the lavender unicorn. "She was free. Even when she was little Twilight was tightly wound up.” Cadence looked over at her future in-laws and they nodded in agreement. “But at the club she was loose... there was no tension." The pink alicorn shook her head in amusement. "To tell the truth, when she was mad she was more like the Twilight I remembered when she was throwing a fit."

"Twilight doesn't yell and have tantrums," Velvet said.

"Or toss nurses into walls," Rarity added.

"But she does get upset and it makes her do stupid things. The same thing happened at the club and the library was the same situation. Things weren’t going as she planned and her first reaction was frustration and trying to get her plans back on track… by shoving us out."

Celestia finally spoke up. "As much as it pains me to admit, for now we must accept Twilight as she is now: an alicorn who looks upon all of us with distrust and scorn. Doubt did well to stack the deck against us."

"Can we really trust him not to continue to do so?" Shining argued. “All we have to go on is his word and right now I am not ready to trust a pony who is literally all smoke and mirrors.”

Luna closed her eyes, her mane hanging nearly as limp as Pinkie's did when she was down. "We can trust him," Luna stated sadly. "It... hurts to admit it but I was the one that stated we must focus on the truth. Doubt cannot lie; it is simply not in his nature. Doubt... the emotion and the alicorn... does not work in lies but truths. Selective truths, but truths. If he says he will give us two days, then he will give us two days." Luna looked at them all, answering the unspoken question. "But he will defend her if he views us as a threat, so we cannot hope to kidnap her and free her from the magics he gave her."

"If we even should," Applejack said, earning a slight smile from Fluttershy.

"This is all well and good but it doesn't help us," Shining said, playing Devil's Advocate. "We don't even know where to begin. She just... hates all of us."

Rainbow Dash thought back to the fight between her and her friend. "She said we were apologizing for the wrong reasons. She wasn't upset that we didn't believe her... she was mad because she felt like we all abandoned her. She felt like we were all dropping her and didn't want to listen to her."

"And we did," Rarity admitted sullenly. The rest of the bearers nodded their heads in agreement.

"So... we need to show her that we are there for her," Rainbow Dash said firmly. "We need to show her that we are loyal and even if we fight we aren't going to turn our backs on her."

"But how to break through to her and let her know that?" Celestia pondered. Not since Luna had taken the mantle of Nightmare Moon had Celestia felt so lost. All her usual methods to getting Twilight to talk to her were no longer at her disposal. She could almost see the bond between her and the unicorn-turned-alicorn fraying, coming apart as they were pulled apart.

POMPF!

All of them turned as Pinkie's mane and tail suddenly went from straight to frizzle. "We need an expert!" Pinkie dashed out of the room, but before any of them could even wonder what she was doing Pinkie zipped back in, carrying a basket and wearing a huge grin. "Spike managed to get through to her... I'll bet he knows the answer!" Pinkie dropped the basket and looked down at the yawning baby dragon.

"What?" Spike stammer, looking at the grinning face of Pinkie, then at the princesses and the bearers. "Man, not this dream again."

"Spike... we need your help," Shining said softly, dropping his head so he could look the baby dragon in the eye. "You told me earlier tonight that we needed to make up with Twilight... somehow you managed to do just that."

"I don't know if you realize this, Spike, but things have progressed much further since you fell asleep," Celestia stated.

"Twilight has turned into an alicorn!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"And it appears the 6th element of harmony, a being now known as Doubt, has been providing Twilight with negative information, turning her against us," Night Light said.

Pinkie nodded. "So you need to tell us what you did to make Twilight not a grumpy gal and we will each do that and then Twilight will be our friend again." The party planner was practically beaming. "Then we can throw a 'Twilight is now an alicorn!' party!" The mare's eyes got even bigger as she considered other options. "Oooo! Maybe once Twilight is better she can fix Mr. Doubt and then he can let us be alicorns too and we can hold a party that lasts for weeks since we'll all live forever!"

The others chuckled at Pinkie's antics. They needed a bit of laughter after the day they had and the dreams of the pink pony were a balm on their souls.

Spike hated ruining the good mood but knew he needed to answer their question. "I didn't do anything special, really. I just ran to her and apologized and I've been sticking by her ever since."

Twilight Velvet sighed. "I doubt that will work for us... Twilight is ready to blast each of us the moment we look at her."

"Maybe, maybe not," Cadence said. "There is still a chance for us."

"What do you mean?" Applejack asked.

"Twilight's anger is focused on those that attended the wedding. Even though she made me...doubt myself... she still cared about me." Cadence cringed slightly at her words; even though she had been freed from the darkness (which she now realized was Doubt's influence wielded by Twilight) she saw the truth in the unicorn’s words. "She said when I was ready to talk to see her... I think I should."

"Cadence, she and Doubt will corrupt you again!" Shining exclaimed in fear.

"They can't, my love," Cadence said softly. "They can argue my faults but now I understand my own failings and I am ready to face them. They will not be able to infect me again because I will take their arguments and make myself stronger. Doubt, both the alicorn and the emotion, has no power against a pony who is willing to work past their mistakes and failings."

Celestia nodded. "A very wise statement and something each of us must remember. Cadence, you will go and talk with Twilight... perhaps you can go with her Spike and help smooth over any tensions. Meanwhile, the rest of us will brainstorm-"

"No," Spike said quickly. The others blinked, staring at him in shock and the little dragon realized how harsh his words had seemed. "Uh... I mean yeah, I'll talk to Twilight, but you guys shouldn’t brainstorm together."

"Why not?" Luna asked.

Spike sighed. "If you try and come up with some big gesture Twilight is going to see through it. She is looking for all of you to pull a stunt to try and trick her and if she thinks for a moment you're all in league with each other she will just stop listening."

"Then what should we do?" Rarity asked.

The baby dragon shrugged. "Think of something you can do on your own... something simple. Something that will show her you care but doesn't feel like a con job." When he saw the morose faces he sighed. "I know it won't be easy but you have to try. Twilight might be mad right now but I know she is hurting and even if she won't admit it... she needs each and every one of you in her life."

"But what if one of us does something wrong and screwed it up for everypony else?" Shining asked.

"You can't have any doubt... that is what got us here in the first place," Spike said. "We have to believe in each other. It is our only hope."