A Part To Play
A Part To Play
Ah, the Summer Sun Celebration. Truly, a joyous holiday. A day to reflect upon the wonders of Equestria and to, well, celebrate, Princess Celestia's defeat of Nightmare Moon all those moons ago. Nopony who is anypony would miss out on the festivities.
At least, you think so? This is your first one. Oops.
It's been a few weeks since your good friend Twilight Sparkle's coronation. She has been firmly established as Equestria's newest princess, though there are still some doubts over what exactly it is she is supposed to do. The coronation went very well in no small part thanks to you. You readily took on the job when asked by Princess Celestia (how could you not, seeing as you're her special somepony after all, human or otherwise) but you will admit that you probably weren't the most qualified for the job. Still, you've seen enough movies with big party endings to know how to make a shindig, and between your knowledge of royal affairs thanks to your relationship with the princess and your knowledge of regular affairs thanks to your friendship with Pinkie Pie, everything went pretty much exactly as planned. For once.
In the days since, your life has mostly returned to normal. You are seeing Tia much more frequently, which is nice. The only other thing that comes to mind was the incident involving a unicorn named Sunset Shimmer. Apparently Tia used to have a student like Twilight that was kind of not a great mare to be around? And apparently she was banished into a mirror? That led to an alternate world of humans?! But like, only sort of humans? Like they definitely look more like you than these ponies do, but the humans from your world definitely didn't come in blue or purple. They also didn't turn into demons when wearing magic crowns or sing about friendship in high school cafeterias. On one hand you'd really like to check out this other world, especially when the fate of the world isn't hanging in the balance, but on the other hand you imagine the uncanny valley would probably make the whole scenario really uncomfortable for everyone involved.
For now, though, you are helping your friends prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. At least, most of your friends. Twilight is going to be standing alongside Tia and Luna during the main event over in Canterlot. As much as you'd like to be there to support her (and Tia), Mayor Mare was adamant on having you and the rest of your friends help with the festivities in Ponyville. You suppose it can't be helped. Being a trusted member of the community can have its downsides.
As you finish preparations, you start to think about what the celebration really means. It is apparently meant to celebrate the summer sun (go figure) but you learned from Tia that to many, it has evolved into a celebration of the defeat of Nightmare Moon long ago. It's a bit morbid from Celestia's perspective, of course. Still, as of the last celebration, it is now also a way to remember the return of Luna. With any luck, that will raise Tia's spirits a bit. You do hate to see her upset.
Of course, it is only thanks to your friends that Luna returned at all. In fact, it was what brought them together in the first place. They each bound themselves to an Element of Harmony and, by extension, each other. That said, you know perfectly well that there is much more that holds them together than some magic gemstones. After all, they're friends with you, aren't they?
And you don't have an Element of Harmony.
Do you feel left out? Well... you can't really say no. You'll never tell them that, of course. It isn't their fault that you weren't around when they faced off against Nightmare Moon. Not that you would have gotten an Element in that scenario, either. You aren't THAT presumptuous. You can't laugh in the face of danger like Pinkie Pie. You're scared of giving someone a harsh truth like Applejack. You might give good gifts, but you certainly aren't as generous as Rarity. You don't trust yourself to stick to your friends as well as Rainbow Dash can. You definitely don't hold a candle to Fluttershy's kindness. And, well, you just started learning magic a few short months ago, so you can't hope to compete with Twilight.
You're just... you. Sure, you punched some sort of abomination when everyone else was defeated by its mere presence, but you aren't some reliable hero that Equestria has come to count on time and time again. You've been talking with Twilight and Tia since the former found you sobbing over your orchard in the Everfree Forest, and with their support you have come to appreciate that you have a place in Equestrian society. You're accepted by the community and by your friends. Your life is pretty good all things considered, and it's really hard to complain about any of it.
Why should you feel left out? Why does it bother you that you don't get an Element of Harmony? Is it not enough to be their friend? To support them in their time of need? You ponder these questions as you make your way to the Golden Oak Library. It's... quiet without Spike and Twilight around. You lock the door behind you and descend into the basement where your cozy little bedroom awaits. Tomorrow should be a great day, and you get to experience a new holiday. You imagine not many people get to say that.
So why do you have this weird sense of dread?
You are awoken by the sounds of shuffling and voices upstairs. That's odd. You definitely locked the door, and Twilight and Spike aren't supposed to come back until the day after the celebration. You don't have any way of knowing what time it is considering you live in a window-less basement, so you cast a minor illumination spell, lazily throw some clothes on and start heading upstairs. You aren't all that concerned about who might be up there. Ponyville is mostly crime-free, after all, and you know pretty much everyone that lives here by now. It's probably some misunderstanding or Pinkie being... herself.
When you reach the top of the stairs you are met with a curious sight. All of your friends (bar Twilight and Spike, of course) are rummaging through dozens of books. They look worried about something. You rub your eyes a bit before catching their attention.
"Hey, everypony. What's, uh, what's going on here?"
"My goodness, darling! How have you managed to sleep through all of this?"
"All of what?"
As you finish your question, what appears to be a black thorn-covered vine smashes through a nearby window before being sliced in half by Rainbow Dash. Outside, the time of day seems completely indiscernible. The sky is filled with both the sun and the moon, day and night. If you weren't currently in a relationship with the pony in charge of moving the freaking sun, you would feel inclined to comment on how the moon does not necessarily equate to nighttime, but you digress.
Wait. There is obviously something going on, but if the sun and the moon aren't behaving as they should, does that mean something happened to the princesses?
"Long story short, sugarcube, the Everfree Forest is tryin' to take over Equestria! And we have no idea what's goin' on with the sky!"
Pinkie piped up, not an ounce of worry in her voice as she held up a book of Sudoku puzzles. "Yeah, and we're doing some research to try to figure out how to make it stop!"
Aw, great. Another "fate of Equestria" kind of day. You're more used to this than you'd like.
"We're having a bit of trouble because the clouds seem different, too. They're fighting back when I try to move them! The unicorns can't get their magic to work right, and the earth ponies can't do much about these vines, either!"
Rainbow Dash's comment is somehow also not surprising to you. Still, no magic may be a problem.
"No magic? I just used an illumination spell. Here, let me try again..."
You cast a simple telekinesis spell on a nearby book. Lo and behold, it worked just fine.
"Maybe it's just unicorn magic that's being affected?"
"Well that's wonderful, darling, but it still won't help us much in the long run."
"Alright, let's hit the books, then."
A lot happened in a short span of time. Twilight and Spike came crashing down from the sky. Turns out Celestia and Luna are missing. As far as you're concerned, that's the most important part of this ordeal. You want to save Equestria, of course, but you promised Celestia after Twilight got her wings that you would protect her. You might not have the element of loyalty, but you keep your promises. You have to find her.
Not long after, your friends decided that Discord was the most likely culprit. You never really liked that guy. He's obviously really shady, even after being "reformed" by Fluttershy. Though you won't voice your concerns out of respect for her, you have no intention of ever giving him your complete trust. If not for your sake, for theirs. One day someone is going to abuse their friendship, mark your words.
Turns out Discord isn't behind it, and one convenient potion from Zecora later, Twilight has deduced that they need to go save some "Tree of Harmony" deep within the Everfree Forest. That sounds absolutely ridiculous, but then again, you've experienced stranger since coming to Equestria.
Your little band of heroes makes it to the edge of the forest before you all hear a crashing sound. A large vine is smashing against a nearby house, and its inhabitants are screaming from the inside. You act on instinct and run towards the house, preparing a basic spell that shoots a beam of energy that Twilight taught you for self-defense. It cuts right through the vine, and you ensure that the ponies inside get out safely. Your friends catch on to what you were doing and run up to you before Twilight begins to speak.
"Your magic is actually working?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so."
"I don't mean to make it sound like I'm trying to brush you off or anything, but do you think you could stick around here while the rest of us look for the Tree of Harmony? If your magic really is working, you're the best equipped out of all of us to make sure Ponyville is safe while we're gone. Between the two of us, I don't really see Discord helping much in that regard."
Discord's voice rings out from behind you, feigning offense at Twilight's comment. "Hey, I heard that! But, you do make a good point. This is MUCH too fun! I'd hate to see it come to an end so soon!"
You look back at the vine-covered Ponyville. Many ponies have evacuated already, but plenty more haven't. Some are trying to fight back, some are running, and plenty more are just in a state of confusion about what is happening around them.
"I understand what you're asking of me, but I promised Celestia I'd protect her. And I'm willing to bet good money that she's in the Everfree Forest, too."
"We'll get her back! I promise. She's strong, you know that. I'm sure she's okay. The same can't be said for everypony in Ponyville! I'm one of their princesses, and as such, I'VE made a promise to THEM to keep them safe, and right now, I'm failing. Please, you're the only one I can count on for this."
You sigh. She does have a point. You shoot another beam of magic at a vine attempting to wrap around her leg.
"Fine. Just promise me that you'll be safe, and that you'll find her. Pinkie promise!"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" It was really adorable how all seven of them said that in unison.
You watch as they all run into the forest. All right, all you have to do is keep the town safe until they come back. Easy, right? You prepare magical beam spells in each hand and start unloading on all of the vines around you.
At first, it looks like you're making progress. Over time, however, you start to realize that these vines are spreading very, very quickly. It's a good thing you've greatly improved your magical prowess and endurance over the past few months. You don't know how long this will take, but for now, you just have to keep on fighting.
Things are starting to go from bad to worse. Your efforts, though working, simply aren't enough to slow the spread of the forest. Although you're getting better at magic, you don't know all that many spells yet, so you have to focus on only a few vines at a time. Considering there are hundreds if not thousands of the buggers, it seems clear that this isn't sustainable. Still, SOMEBODY has to do this. If you can't follow your friends into the forest, you have to trust that they will succeed. You just have to protect Ponyville until then. You have to keep going.
It's hard to tell how long you've been at this. It has certainly felt like hours, but in actuality it has probably only been a couple of minutes. These vines are absolutely relentless, but you have to be too. As you think this, you feel a bit more invigorated, and the basic energy spell you were casting seems to change. From your hand, rather than a typical burst of magic, a bright orange light seemed to flare up. Out of your hand shoots an ember that collides with a particularly large vine. The vine is suddenly engulfed in flame and it seems to writhe before falling to the ground, the fire going out just as quickly as it spread. Okay, that was pretty cool. So, uh, how did you do that?
You attempt the same spell again on another vine. The orange glow starts up once more, but it seems to putter out in a puff of smoke. Dang it. You'll have to tell Twilight about that later. For now, you should just go back to your usual spell.
...Dang it! A few more minutes of struggling have passed and the vines seem to have figured out your MO. Every time you cast a spell they just wiggle around it or retreat back into the ground. Some have gotten a few hits in on you, and you're starting to get a bit bruised up. You ready another spell and just as you're about to release it, the vine starts to retract out of your reach. Just sit still!
In a similar sensation to just a few minutes ago, the spell forming in your hand seems to change, but rather than going from its usual color to an orange glow, it turns a verdant green. Next to the vine sprouts yet another vine, but this one seems to be different than those coming from the Everfree Forest. It's a verdant green, just like the spell you seem to be accidentally casting, and it's covered in grapes. It looks a bit familiar, actually. As you think this, the vine shoots towards the Everfree vine you were just aiming at, curling around it tightly before splitting it entirely in half. You look at the vine in shock, then back at your hand. You're still holding the spell. You look to another vine, and once more, a new grape-covered vine seems to sprout and attack it. This vine attempts to struggle a bit more, and you take the opportunity to prepare your typical magic blast spell in your other hand. With the green vine restraining your target, a clean hit was practically guaranteed. Whatever it is you're doing, it's working!
Come to think of it, this is just like your one tree orchard you accidentally grew in the Everfree Forest! You would love to make some assumptions about your own abilities based on this, but that's a discussion for later. You still have a town to protect, and now you might have a real chance of doing just that!
Just as you are filled with this sense of hope, you feel something... off. You don't know why, but your attention is pulled toward the Everfree Forest itself. Just as you looked out at it, a bright white light that seemed to originate from the heart of the forest flashed out for just a moment. For some reason, that light fills you with a sense of dread. A distant sound rings out around you. Like dozens of trees being cut down simultaneously, or the sound of tons of rubber being pulled as far as it can before snapping.
That was when it happened. In the distance, right from where the light came from, an object seemed to be flung into the sky. A... black ball?
Oh, that thing is flying in an arc. It's... coming right this way.
It's big.
It's very big.
It's really freaking big.
It's a massive ball of Everfree Forest vines, and it's probably going to hit the ground in about thirty seconds.
THAT THING IS GOING TO DESTROY PONYVILLE.
The spells in your hands fade as you begin to panic. What can you do about that?! Judging from its size it likely weighs several tons! Your magic isn't strong enough to do anything to that at all!
In that moment, time seemed to stop. Not literally, of course, but still unnatural to you. You haven't had THAT many insanely high-pressure situations in your life, but when you have, you had a tendency to panic and mess up when it was most important. But right now, you seem perfectly capable of thinking clearly. Is it because you're in a better mental state? Is it because you know this is a life-or-death situation for not just yourself, but most of Ponyville? You don't know, but the fact of the matter is the same: You have to do something. Anything.
Doing your best to judge the ball's landing point, you sprint to where you believe the impact will happen. This just so happens to be right on top of the town hall, which you also just so happen to be very close to. You look around frantically before noticing two pegasus mares also attempting to fight off the vines. You think their names are Flitter and Cloud Chaser? They don't seem to notice the ball of death hurtling towards them right now. You call out to them.
"Hey, can you lift me to the roof of the town hall? Please, it's an emergency!"
They look confused for a moment, but thankfully they just nod and lift you. You expected them to have some trouble since you're comparably so large, but they seem to be way stronger than you thought.
"Thanks, now get as far away from here as possible!"
You turn to look at the ball of vines. It's going to hit you in about seven seconds. You hear the mares fly off quickly.
Okay. It's now or never. It's time to stop this thing.
...How, though? You still don't have a plan. You catch your breath for just a moment and time seems to slow once more. Everything seems to go quiet. You decide that now would be a great time for Twilight's breathing technique. In... and out.
You're not sure why, but you decide to place your arms in front you. Five seconds to impact.
You slightly bend your elbows and open your palms. Four seconds to impact.
You plant your feet as firmly as you can on the slanted rooftop. Three seconds to impact.
You close your eyes and imagine your friends fighting their way through the forest. They're going to succeed. You know they will. Two seconds to impact.
Your mind drifts to Celestia, likely trapped somewhere in the Everfree Forest. One second to impact.
You think of the tea you've shared with her. You think of the nights you've spent with her. You think of the promise you made to protect her, no matter what.
Impact.
...
You're still alive. At least, you think you are. That said, you're in immense pain. An indescribable amount of pain, starting from your arms and spreading throughout your whole being. You open your eyes to take stock of the situation in front of you.
There isn't much to see. Your eyesight is mostly just black. As you adjust to the perspective, you realize what you are seeing. The ball of black Everfree Forest vines is so large it is taking up your entire peripheral vision. The black is only broken up by two things: the occasional stray thorn, and your arms. Said arms are glowing. Your magic seems to be coursing through them, enough to withstand the force of the ball. Still, this doesn't make much physical sense. Magic aside, the ball shouldn't have any more forward momentum. It feels as though something is pushing it into you. You cannot let your concentration slip for even a moment. The second whatever spell you're accidentally casting drops, you will crushed, along with most of Ponyville and whoever may not have evacuated.
You feel your knees start to buckle. You've never been in as much pain as you are now. The roof seems to be giving out below you. You think back to your friends and to Celestia. Whatever magic is coursing through your arms seems to spread. Your whole body feels like it's on fire as you push back against certain death. Your ears are ringing. Your head feels like it's going to explode. You would like to be anywhere else right now, but you have to keep pushing. You have to keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
You keep thinking this. You have to. You don't realize it at first, but your thoughts seem to be in rhythm. You push and push and push, and the force you're exerting seems to be coming and going in small bursts, matching your heartbeat. You start taking advantage of it.
In spite of your agony, you make an effort to double down on your magic. Every heartbeat, another push. In truth, the ball isn't going anywhere. But it also doesn't have to. You know you can't get rid of it, but your friends will. You know they will. You feel the magic in your arms and legs. You feel your forehead which, if you didn't know any better, you would think was splitting right down the middle. Strangely, as you push, you feel your back ache in rhythm as well. Not as in the force being exerted on your back, but something... different. It's as though there are a couple of forces all their own coming from your back, helping you push forward. Right now, though, you can't afford to think about it. Just keep pushing.
...
It has been nearly an hour. At some point you thought you heard Twilight and Discord's voices, but your ears are ringing and you couldn't be sure. You can hardly think anymore. You keep pushing.
Suddenly, a boom. The sky is filled with color. Rainbows seem to overtake your vision. The vines attacking the town seem to disintegrate. Eventually, a warmth spreads across you, and although your vision is mostly obscured, you can tell that the strange half-day half-night has faded as the sun bathes Equestria in its light. Your friends have won. Celestia is safe. You knew they would do it. Cheering rings out from the citizens of Ponyville.
In spite of this, you are still being crushed by a massive ball of vines. However, it feels a bit lighter. You continue to push to the beating of your heart. You don't really have a choice. At least now you know help is coming.
And come it did. Some ten agonizing minutes later, you hear some familiar screaming before the ball is surrounded by a magical energy. Several energies, to be precise. The weight is taken out of your hands. You hear a disgruntled male voice.
"Oh, all right, fine."
You hear what sounds like someone snapping their fingers before the ball disappears entirely. You have nothing left, magic or otherwise. All of the magic being exerted by your body disappears. Your legs give out and you begin to roll helplessly off the roof.
"Don't worry, I've gotcha!"
The familiar sound of Rainbow Dash's ludicrously fast wings fills your ears as you feel her catch you and gently bring you the ground. She tries to put you on your feet, but you immediately collapse to the ground. You are still in pain, but at least you're alive. You won. You hear Celestia start to speak in an uncharacteristically worried tone.
"Are you okay?! Please tell me you're okay!"
You're pretty sure you're looking at her, but your vision is so blurry you can only make out a few shaky shapes and colors. The best you can give her is a small thumbs up. You don't have the strength to speak. This proves to be a bit aggravating as Rarity makes a comment that you can't respond to.
"My goodness, darling! What are THOSE?!"
What is she talking about? Luckily for you, Fluttershy seems to pipe up on your behalf.
"Um, I think they're wings. And, um, and a horn."
You have what now?
"It looks like they're disappearing." Twilight sounds confused and a bit disappointed by that.
"Come now, everypony. How about we bring my little human to the hospital rather than leaving them face down in the dirt, hmm?" Celestia seems mostly back to her usual calm demeanor, though you recognize that she's still a little shaken. Applejack responds to her first.
"Don't worry yer majesty, we'll get 'em there safely."
"Thank you Applejack. My sister and I must return to Canterlot for the time being to let our subjects know that we are okay, but I will come back as soon as I can. We can discuss today's events more then..."
As she said those words, you finally lost consciousness.
When you open your eyes, you are immediately hit with a wave of discomfort. Your entire body aches, you're groggy, and you're parched. Your eyes adjust to the scene around you. First of all, you're laying on your back. Your head is propped up a little bit... yup, that's a pillow. You're in a bed, it seems. You're also in nothing but your undergarments. It's pretty drafty.
Around you is a sizeable room. The walls appear to have a blue and brown pattern, and the floor is tiled. There's a small desk with a lamp next to you. You attempt to reach over to turn it on, but you're met with an aching pain in your arm. You're familiar enough with the feeling to know that you're sore, but this soreness is definitely on a level you've never come close to experiencing. You can still move your arm, it just hurts. Really bad.
Turning on the light doesn't reveal much more to you. There is another empty bed to your left, and what looks to be a retractable curtain that can be unfolded between it and the bed you are in. This is definitely a hospital.
You haven't been to the hospital much in your life, and you aren't really sure what to do now. Do you get somepony's attention? How could you? There's nopony in here but you, and the door is closed. Yelling just seems like a bad idea. You're in pain, sure, but you don't think you're dying or anything like that. Thankfully you don't have to ponder for much longer, as the door slowly creaks open. A familiar white-coated mare creeps inside before noticing the light coming from the lamp and subsequently seeing that you are awake.
"Oh, thank goodness! You're finally awake!"
You're so glad to finally see her properly after her disappearance. "Yeah, I'm awake, alright. Sore all over, too. More importantly, are you okay? I was worried sick after I'd heard you disappeared!"
"Yes, I am doing fine, as is Luna. I appreciate the concern, but thankfully neither of us were harmed. Physically, at least. You gave me quite the scare. You've been unconscious for two days!"
"Two days?! I could have sworn I was only out for a little bit! Did anything happen? How is Ponyville?"
"Well, Ponyville is fine. There was a bit of damage done to the buildings, especially those close to the Everfree Forest, but thankfully nopony was seriously injured thanks to you. In the meantime, we completed the Summer Sun Celebration in Canterlot. Twilight did her part perfectly, and after my sister and I cleared up what had happened, everypony's spirits seemed to rise."
"Oh, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the celebration. I promise I was with you in spirit!"
She let out another of her giggles that you never get tired of hearing. "I know, my dear. Are you comfortable? I know you typically prefer to have clothes on, but the hospital doesn't have a gown made for humans."
Yes, yes you certainly do prefer to have clothes on. Of course, Tia is one of the few ponies that has seen what you look like without them, so you aren't particularly embarrassed at the moment. "As comfortable as I can be, I guess. Why are you here, by the by? It's the middle of the night, isn't it?"
"Yes, but you didn't think I was going to leave you alone here, did you? I have my duties during the day, and I've been having Twilight and the rest of your friends keep an eye on you when I'm gone, but at night, I haven't left your side much. We didn't know if you were going to be okay or not. What you did was... indescribable. I've had some of my own personal doctors take a look at you, but even the best medical practitioners in Equestria have a hard time diagnosing a species they know nothing about."
You couldn't help but laugh at that. It hurts to laugh. "If it makes them feel any better, I probably know about as little as they do about my own body!"
The door opened once again, though this time a different alicorn princess walked through it. Twilight gives you a bright smile. Sometimes you have to remind yourself how strange it is that the company you keep is so important to Equestria.
"Oh! I hope I am not interrupting! I was going to bring Princess Celestia my report on Ponyville's rebuilding efforts, but I see we have more important business right now! I'm happy to see that you're awake! How are you feeling?"
You explain to the pair how sore you feel after your ordeal a few days prior before Celestia speaks up once more.
"On that note, would you mind explaining to us exactly what happened? As far as we know, we emerged from the Everfree Forest confident that Twilight and her friends had gotten rid of the problem, just to find you struggling to keep a gargantuan ball of vines from crushing the town. Between Twilight, Luna and myself, we were able to help you lift it before Fluttershy convinced Discord to get rid of it altogether for us."
"Well, it started not long after we split ways. I accidentally cast some sort of flame spell..."
You continued to recall the events that occurred after you were left in charge of Ponyville. Both Twilight and Celestia appeared to be deep in thought.
"That's quite strange," Twilight said, "because I should have seen you when I briefly returned from the forest. I could have sworn I felt a powerful magic coming from the middle of town, but Discord had my full attention. Plus, that ball was so big, I should have been able to see it..."
Celestia chimed in after Twilight started to trail off. "Plus, where did that thing come from? The forest shouldn't have had any means to conjure that thing, nor the ability to fling it. And you said it felt as though it were being pushed down by more than gravity?"
"I understand that sounds strange, but it's the truth."
"Hm. We shall have to do some more research into this later, and perhaps question Discord about it. That said, what of your magic? You say you don't know how you cast any of those spells?"
"Sorry, but no, I don't."
Not missing an opportunity to talk about magic, Twilight began to explain her thoughts on the matter. "Spells that conjure fire or make plants grow aren't entirely unheard of, nor are spells that give a little boost to your physical strength. Though, in the latter case, it is extremely difficult to pull off. It's a wonder how you were able to cast spells at all seeing as the forest prevented myself along with all the unicorns from using our magic. But what I'm most intrigued by are your horn and wings."
"I think I heard you guys talking about that before I passed out. I have no idea what you're referring to."
"When we found you, after you collapsed and ended up on the ground, we noticed that there were some... almost ghostly looking wings sprouting from your back, and a similar horn protruding from your head. They were clearly magical, and they started to fade away pretty much right after we saw them." Twilight seemed quizzical as she spoke before Tia chimed in once more.
"In truth, I would ordinarily think nothing of it. There are plenty of spells that can cause a pony to temporarily sprout wings or a horn, but as far as I could tell yours were not the product of such a spell. Plus, to point out the obvious, humans do not have wings or horns. Do you think you can replicate it?"
"Um, I can try, I guess."
You try. It doesn't work. Big surprise there.
"I'm not too worried about not being able to do it again. I'm sure I'll learn these spells eventually. After all, I already proved I can do them, right? And Equestria is safe now, right? Everything can just go back to normal."
"I suppose so," Tia replied. "Twilight, now that we know everyone is okay, I think it would be best if we went back to our usual schedules. I'll happily hear all about your report tomorrow, so please go get some sleep. You deserve it."
"Thank you, princess. I'll do just that. Goodnight, to both of you!" Twilight gave a little wave as she walked out.
"I suppose now that I know you are okay, I should be heading out too."
"Hey." You can't let her leave just yet. "I, um... I'm sorry."
She tilted her head a bit at you. "What do you have to be sorry about?"
"I broke our promise. I told you I'd protect you, no matter what. But it was Twilight and our friends that saved you, not me. Heck, I didn't even know you were missing until they woke me up. Twilight asked me to protect Ponyville, and I know that was the right call and everything, but still. I feel terrible knowing that something happened to you and I was powerless to stop it. I... I was terrified. I'm so sorry."
You turn your head downwards as you feel tears starting to fill your eyes. As you do, you hear Celestia take a few steps towards you. You look up at her, only to feel her kiss you suddenly. You stay there for a long, quiet moment before she backs off again.
"Do not apologize. You didn't break any promises. You knew that the Elements of Harmony were necessary to getting me back, and you acted accordingly. You trusted your friends to save me on your behalf, and you stayed where you were needed. Those are the qualities of a wonderful leader. As far as I'm concerned, you DID protect me."
"Still, I wanted to be there for you..."
"You had a part to play, my love. You might not have an Element of Harmony, but that does not mean we don't need you. Please, do not blame yourself, and do not feel sorry. It hurts to see you like this."
You wipe the moistness from your eyes (ouch, still sore) and give Tia a smile.
"Okay. You're right, just like always. Um, don't let me keep you. I imagine you have a lot of royal duties to attend to in the morning."
"That I do. Let me know once you're let out of here. We can get you a cake or something, hm?"
You chuckle at that. "For ME? Are you sure about that?"
She starts making her way to the door. "Hmhm. Goodnight, my little human. I love you."
"'Night. Love you too, Tia."
As she closes the door behind her, you can't help but smile to yourself. Once more, everything turned out okay. Celestia is safe, your friends are safe, Ponyville is safe, and you may or may not have some incredible latent magic hidden somewhere within you. Your life feels more and more like a fantasy every day, and you're beginning to love every moment. You reach over to turn the lamp back off and get a well deserved peaceful sleep.
Ouch, still hurts.
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Well this was lovely, wonder what the deal with the vine ball is though.
Well it seems "Equestria Girls" is past this story. I wonder our little human will find something on the other side of an alternate world "Rainbow Rocks" after the events of Tirek's Reign?
I have to say, reading your stories (One per night, before bed) has been a lovely treat.
It's refreshing to see a HiE story that's wholesome and genuine, and not afraid to lean into the usual cliches from time to time.
More specifically, though, I appreciate the way you adopted FiM's storytelling: using your stories as standalone "episodes" that are still connected linearly, but not exhaustingly serialized.
Your stories have done some interesting things (particularly regarding the explanation of how magic works), but ultimately I think your greatest strength is how sincere and genuine your writing is. It isn't tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic,
I look forward to more, if there will be more.
Badass Humalicorn stuff.
Noice.