All night, Twilight tossed and turned, regretting many things. The top of the list: not indulging in Spike's "sleeping remedy."
She sighed and sat up, hugging herself as she stared out beyond the window by her bed. She stayed still like that for a long time, even into the bleak morning hours. All the while, the words of her fellow villagers—especially the bitter, bickering ones—swam through her head. The more she "listened," the more she honed in on one angry tone and one alone: that of her cold words during her spat with Spike.
It bothered her that they had come to such an impasse, and yet she didn't have to say a single, dishonest thing. Glancing aside, she saw her reflection in the window, lit up by the floating "0." Spike was the one who had lied, yet Twilight couldn't help but feel as though she was the one at fault, the uglier of the two.
"You were right, Rainbow," she muttered aloud. "It does hurt." She groaned and ran her hooves through her mane. "Ughhhhh... Celestiaaaaaa, come here soon already!"
Silence hung over the shadowed lengths of her bedroom. The darkness was a very familiar thing to Twilight, a quiet shroud that the bookwoorm was once all too well acquainted with before fate and providence brought her from the lonely chambers of the Royal Palace to the sunny lengths of Ponyville. There, the wondrous light of friendship revealed the undiscovered corners of life to herself, and she had explored every nebulous nook and cranny with great vigor, bolstered by the foundations that trust and companionship had so recently provided.
But now, those very same things appeared fragile and fragmented, easily dissolving into that familiar old darkness, a place in Twilight's youth that only the beacon of Celestia's lessons on honesty could illuminate.
"Without the Elements, my life just feels so..." She winced before ultimately murmuring, "Threadbare. Like all the magic is gone."
Just then, a sliver of gold light shimmered over the east horizon. Twilight blinked, and she thought of a mare whose mane matched that immaculate shine.
"Perhaps I've just lost track of the most important Element that eludes me right now!" she said, beaming to herself.
Though she had been sleepless all night, Twilight now bounced with renewed energy. Hopping out of her bed, she swiftly washed up, brushed her mane, and made her way out the door, heading west towards the farm fields just outside of Ponyville.
Twilight figured that Applejack would be up already to do morning chores. When she rounded the final hill leading to Sweet Apple Acres, she realized—to her joy—that she was absolutely right. She approached the red barn where Applejack was busily loading baskets full of freshly harvested apples into a wagon.
"Uhm... hey there, AJ."
Applejack glanced over, and her emerald eyes lit up, catching the morning light rising from the east orchards. "Why, howdy there, Twilight!" She adjusted her hat and wiped a fresh sheen of sweat from her orange brow. "My stars, fancy meetin' you at this hour! Yer usually restin' that smart lil' noggin' of yours until nine o'clock sharp, aint'cha?"
Delighted to be in the company of her honest companion, Twilight giggled and leaned against the wagon with a smile. "If you must know, Applejack, I couldn't sleep."
"Oh?" Applejack raised an eyebrow as she heaved another basket into the wagon beside them. "I don't reckon it has somethin' to do with this downright bothersome spell that's got the whole town bent out of shape?"
Twilight gulped and gazed down at her hooves. "I've... had a lot on my mind, Applejack. Recent events have gotten me all mixed up inside."
"Tell me about it!" Applejack panted, sweating some more as she lifted another basket. "I had to give Apple Bloom an earful the evenin' before last. With the early apple harvest that the family's deliverin', we ain't got time for no trouble-makin'! As of now, she's havin' to refrain from hangin' out with her rambunctious friends for an entire week while she does extra chores so she can think about what ruckus she's put the town through! My, my, don't I feel a might bit responsible for it all! I should have been more suspicious about her when she first asked about borrowin' that gul-durn shovel to begin with."
"I hear you," Twilight said with a nod. "I just... had a rather nasty argument with Spike over being dishonest myself."
"Oh? Our lil' baby dragon? That Spike?"
"Yeah, can you believe it?" Twilight ran a hoof through her bangs and sighed. "The thing is, even though he was the one I caught lying about something, I can't help but feel guilty about the whole thing."
"Guilty? In what way?"
"Oh, it's a whole crazy mess, Applejack," Twilight groaned. "I-I probably shouldn't have come here, especially this early." She gulped. "I apologize. There's no need to bother you with it all."
"Oh Twilight," Applejack cooed. "T'ain't no problem whatsoever." She swiveled about, panted one last time for breath, and said, "You know that I always have time for you."
"Well, in that case, I—" Twilight froze, her eyes wide.
She had just heard a chime.
"Twilight?"
With a quivering lip, Twilight looked up.
Applejack was squinting at her, her head cocked aside in an expression of concern. None of these details, however, could make Twilight ignore the unmistakable shimmer of a "1" over Applejack's blonde mane. "Is somethin' the matter? You look like you just gave up the ghost..."
"I... I just..." Twilight shook her head in disbelief.
"Twilight, calm down, darlin'." The farm mare gave a consoling smile. "I'm yer friend! You can relax and tell me anythang; I don't mind!"
Another chime. The glaring "1" morphed into an even more hideous "2."
Twilight started trembling uncontrollably. When she spoke, her voice came out in a foalish whimper, "AJ? AJ, h-how could... h-how...?"
"Twilight...?" Applejack breathed, taking a worried step towards her. "What's the matter? Talk to me. You know you can trust me, sugarcube."
Chime. "3."
"N-no!" Twilight spouted, her violet eyes springing forth tears as she backtrotted from her, hyperventilating. "Not you t-too!" She sobbed, openly. "Please, not you!"
"What about me?" Applejack's face paled in confusion. "I only want to help you—"
"4."
"J-just stop talking!" Twilight shrieked, shaking her head furiously. "Just stop! Ohhhh..." She turned about and galloped straight out of Sweet Apple Acres.
"Twilight! Wait up!" Applejack called after her.
It was too late. Twilight ran towards the rising sun, her body heaving in mid-gallop. Applejack's voice was a distant, warbling sound. All that Twilight could register was the noise of her own sobs.
Hours later, as the sun climbed its way towards the noonday position, much of Twilight's tears had dried. The exhaustion of the previous day had fallen upon her shoulders once again. She sat in a lethargic slump atop a wooden bench bordering the town's grassy park. Her tired eyes swam over the distant image of Carousel Boutique, its windows boarded up with a melodramatically painted sign displaying: "Closed Temporarily Due To Magical Crisis."
Twilight sighed. She rested her tear-stained muzzle on folded forelimbs and shut her eyes, remembering days of foalhood when she rested within the crook of Celestia's warm embrace as the two of them studied history, magic, and astronomy together in the royal archives. Aside from memories of her mother, Twilight couldn't recall another time in her existence when she felt so safe, secure, and at ease with the world.
Everything had been succinctly concrete and pure, presented to her in truthful clarity by the matriarch of Equestria, the one equine in all the land who refused to let down the ponies of that glorious kingdom. Celestia brought light to the world, exposing all the lies and holes in reality, so that Twilight had grown to respect—from early childhood—the undeniable power of conviction and integrity.
The warmth and toastiness of this delightful reminiscing almost distracted Twilight from the sound of voices behind her. Opening her eyes, Twilight sat up and glanced curiously over her flank.
"You mean we have to go for another day without school, Miss Cheerilee?" Snips asked. He and his lanky companion, Snails, stood before the schoolteacher on a bend of the park's dirt path. "That's like four days in a row!"
"Oh, what's this, now?" Cheerilee knelt down to smile at the two young colts. "You suddenly want to sit for hours on end in the classroom?"
"Well, erm..." Snips stirred nervously. "It's just that we have nothing to do, and our moms and dads aren't in the mood to go outside and do stuff."
"Plus, it's kind of freaky to not have school like normal!" Snails blurted.
"Shhh!" Snips slapped Snail's side with a hoof. "No, it's not! Stop saying stupid stuff like that, dummy!"
"But you were telling me the other day how creepy this whole spell thingy felt and—"
"I said can it!" Snails barked.
"Now now, boys..." Cheerilee leaned forward and rested a hoof on both of their shoulders. "Be nice to one another! What's all of this about, really?"
Snips and Snails hung their heads, not saying a word.
"You know..." Cheerilee smiled, ignoring the numbers hovering over their craniums. "It takes brave stallions to admit that they're scared of something."
Snips sniffled and gazed up at their teacher. "Really?"
"See?" Snails muttered. "What did I tell ya?"
Cheerilee stifled a giggle and said, "It's the truth! But I'm glad that I got a chance to run into the two of you. I now have a chance of delivering the good news!"
"Huh?" Snips looked up, his face brightening slightly. "What good news is that?"
"That Princess Celestia showed up here just overnight!" Cheerilee said with a bright grin. "And she's already cured the magical curse!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow from afar.
Snips and Snails did double-takes, their eyes wide. "She did?!" they both chanted at once.
"You betcha!"
"But..." Snails raised an eyebrow. "How come we still see numbers over ponies' heads?"
"Yeah! You even have one over yours right now, Miss Cheerilee!" Snips added.
"Do you?" Cheerilee waved a hoof over head, oblivious to the rising counter. "Well, I don't see any numbers over yours!"
"Huh...?"
"It's simple, really!" She smiled. "The spell is wearing off, but it does so at a different rate for each and every pony. Adults are the first to stop seeing numbers, but that doesn't mean you get to start telling lies left and right!" She winked. "This whole thing was just a test, you see, to see if Ponyvilleans like us could work well with one another while knowing what the other was thinking!"
"What—you mean Celestia made it up from the beginning?"
"Pretty much!" Cheerilee smiled.
"Wow, we sure failed the test, didn't we?" Snails said with a big dumb grin.
Snips chuckled. "Yeah! I'd say!"
"Did you really fail?" Cheerilee smirked. "Right now, I see two brave ponies in front of me who realize just how important this magic spell has been to the town, as well as to their families. It's one thing to be afraid of imaginary monsters and creatures under the bed—but as you grow older, you start having to deal with different, far more real concerns, such as how what you do and say can affect those around you. I think you both have gotten a very real taste of that way of thinking, and I can already see how genuine your concern is for your fellow equines."
"We just want everypony to get along with each other, Miss Cheerilee," Snails said. "It's no fun when we're all nervous around each other."
"Then live in a way so that you don't have to grow up building walls around each other," Cheerilee said, standing up straight as a gust of wind blew at her fuchsia mane. "Life's precious, and it's meant to be shared. You can't do that without trust and respect, now can you?"
"Heheh... I guess not..." Snips said.
"So... uhhhh..." Snails blinked. "The spell is gonna wear off? Does that mean we'll be going back to school on Monday?"
Cheerilee shook her head. "This week has had a toil on all of us. I think an extra day or two of recess is in order."
"Permanent recess!" Snails reared his front hooves and cheered. "Yeaaaah!"
Cheerilee giggled. "Now I didn't say it was permanent, my little ponies! I'll send a message to your families when I'm ready to start teaching you in class again."
"Thanks, Miss Cheerilee!" Snips waved as he and his buddy trotted off towards the green fields of the park. "Even when you're not teaching us, you're teaching us!"
"Heh... imagine that!" Cheerilee waved back. "Play safe, now!" She exhaled softly, all the while the numbers above her head ticked up until it settled on a glowing "23." She turned and gazed over at the bench, as if she had been aware of Twilight's presence the whole time.
Twilight gazed back, silent as stone. A lump was caught in her throat.
Cheerilee trotted over and stood beside the bench. "No doubt, you would like to chastise me now, Twilight."
"Well, no... n-not really..." Twilight gulped, trembling slightly. "It's just that... that you utterly lied to them just now." She narrowed her eyes. "Your students."
Cheerilee nodded quietly. "I know."
"Celestia hasn't even remotely reversed the spell. She won't be able to do it for another day at least, and we both can see the numbers above those colts' heads as clear as day."
Cheerilee looked across the park towards where Snips and Snails formed two distant dots on the sunny green horizon. "They weren't the first of my beloved foals whom I fabricated that story to today, and I seriously doubt that they'll be the last."
"But... why, Cheerilee?" Twilight gulped and rubbed invisible tears off her cheek. "I mean, I-I really don't mean to be ridiculing you or anything. I just... I just want to understand—"
"Why I would lie to a child and not feel remorse? Twilight, I am a bearer of knowledge. It isn't just my job to teach; it's my calling in life." The sun glinted off the smiling flowers on her flank as she trotted over and squatted on the bench beside her. With a warm breath, she said, "I've been thinking about it ever since our... chat that we had yesterday afternoon."
Twilight fidgeted, avoiding her gaze.
Cheerilee continued. "I thought about what life must have been like for you, having Princess Celestia as your only source of information and inspiration for so long. How lucky you've been, Twilight! The very apprentice to Equestria's bringer of the Sun! With a teacher like that, what I have to do or say must come across as relatively insignificant."
"Oh, Cheerilee—" Twilight began to protest.
Cheerilee raised a hoof and smiled. "And then I realized something, and it's what has allowed me to sleep for several hours last night. I suspect it will help you sleep as well."
Twilight gazed at her with a foalish expressin. "What's that?"
"It's fair enough to label each truth as 'good' and each lie as 'evil,'" Cheerilee uttered. She stared at Twilight as she then said, "But what is 'good' and what is 'evil' does not always factor into what is wholesome."
Twilight blinked at that.
"I want my students to learn, Twilight," Cheerilee said. "But more than that, I want them to live... free from fear, free from worry, and free from paranoia. I do not condone erecting a façade for our children no more than we already do for each other, but I do have faith that Celestia will come and free us from this spell, and furthermore I have every reason to believe in a beautiful tomorrow. I want ponies like Snips and Snails to believe in the same thing. Sometimes, I think... yes... I think that the facts of life stand to be the biggest and most distracting walls that stand in the way of embracing the feelings of existence, things such as friendship and love, which are precious qualities that can withstand even the rockiest blunders made in one’s commitment to trust."
Twilight gazed at the schoolteacher, her lips pursing. She glanced off towards the distance, thinking aloud. "The biggest and most distracting walls... walls..." She gulped. "The 'Wand of Walling.'" Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Of course!"
Twilight hopped down from the bench, landing on wobbly legs.
"I-I gotta get back to the library and research something!" Twilight exclaimed. "Something that the Trudians forgot to make obvious!"
"And just what is that, Twilight?" Cheerilee asked.
Twilight was already galloping away. "What else?!" She smiled in mid-sprint. "The truth!"
Really nice speech, Cheerilee. Lies do not simply equate Evil.
Love the premise.
That having been said, the lie that took Applejack from #0 to #1 felt so … banal. If she'd managed to go several days without a single lie, it doesn't feel like she would have broken her honesty for that sort of platitude.
I wonder what happens if someone tells a provable falsehood that they nevertheless believe with absolute sincerity? Does a four-year-old get dinged for saying "Santa Hooves will bring me gifts on Hearth's Warming Eve"?
---
Edit: Hah. Both questions directly addressed in Chapter 5. Well done.
Really nice story, just one thing:
"I said can it!" Snails barked.
Should be Snips, if I understood the dialogue correctly.
Hey, hey! Look at that! Fancy!
I got to say, this story is making me think. There's a really nice blend of sentiments and comedy going on here.
I don't believe Applejack saying she'll be there for her friend is a lie, but Rainbow's stupid stories are true.
After reading the last chapter and knowing why AJ lied, I still don't like it. It just feels off.
2274042
perhaps there is a changeling in their mist? i hope not, because that is one of the biggest cliches to explain why you can't write an in character pony that has a set personality in canon
2274294 dont you mean 'midst'?
2270944
Izanami of Persona 4, http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Izanami "Then why should these mortal reject my beautiful fog? They don't want to face reality. That much is VERY CLEAR. They WANT to live and breath in falsehoods!"
2274042
She said she always has time for a friend. Applebuck season disproves that. If she had said she'll make time she probably would've been okay.
"single" and "dishonest" don't seem like coordinate adjectives, so they probably don't need a comma separating them.
This should probably be past perfect like the rest of the sentence.
Aww. I was hoping she got the chance to meet Celestia before she accepted that lying wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
A thousand year old politician. Dear Lord, I was looking forward to seeing Twilight's reaction to the inevitable large number over her idol's head. I guess I'll just settle for the number itself.
Unless there's a more important emergency.
a. It's nearly impossible to relax when one is THAT stressed
b. She doesn't want to hear magical technobabble, because she can't make sense of it
c. Not minding is not thinking, or not caring. If she didn't mind, she'd be ignoring
Well, there was that one time after the rodeo. And just now, I wouldn't be so sure if I were in Twilight's position.
And eat, sleep, breathe, etc.
Bam.
The best thing about Cheerilee being the lecturing one is that she's got the same voice as Princess Celestia.
I'm sure SSAE thought about that when thinking about the pony playing a key role in this story.
Honesty is a virtue but it could be your downfall
You're making me think. That's good!
These little social situations are interesting. We all know that a person tells a lie when they say that they always have time for one another. But to see a physical manifestation of that truth that's a lie must cut deeply. And then we reach Cheerilee's conclusion. I'm not sure what I think about it. One must be truthful, but that doesn't mean one should not be tactful. One must be truthful, but one needn't share every truth.
These are of course the whitest of white lies. Applejack loves Twilight, she's one of her best friends, and she always tries to make time for her. She just doesn't always suceed, because she has other responsibilities as well.
Applejack is -- by all reasonable standards -- one of the most honest beings one could possibly meet. Twilight is being way too hard on her.
Note that all the lies she tells are very techncial, but are all things Applejack is smart enough to be aware of as at least theoretical possibilities.
"I always have time for you." No, sometimes she might be too busy.
"You can relax and tell me anythang; I don't mind!" No, something Twilight might say might be upsetting enough to Applejack for her to 'mind.'
"Talk to me. You know you can trust me, sugarcube." No, that's the point. Right now Twilight doesn't know if she can trust her.
"I only want to help you—" Well, no. Applejack demonstrably has other desires, some of which have nothing to do with Twilight Sparkle, and some of which might even theoretically involve impeding her.
By any sane standards, though, Applejack is a very honest Pony, and Twilight Sparkle's true friend.
Snails would have a lot to be worried about if this were a "Glittershell" world ...
And note -- there was no increment on her lie counter there. Teaching may be the one thing about which Cheerilee is the most idealistic. She is normally a very honest Pony herself, but her love for her students is more important to her than anything else in her world. That was why she was willing to lie to them.
Cheerilee gets an Awesome point for this in my book! But then, if you've read Collateral Damage, you'll notice that I regard even filly Cheerilee as a pretty awesome Pony.
Mac would agree with me on that.
Incidentally, in that story, Cheerilee saves her family with one well-chosen lie.
Is it bad that I expected much, much worse from applejack?
Wait, what happens if somepony says "The bell will ring"? If it does ring, they would be telling the truth, but they would also be telling a lie because the bell means they lied. And vice versa.
4773736 If you actually believed that it would ring, it wouldn't, since at the time you thought you weren't lying. If you didn't think it would ring, however, it would!
Yay paradoxes!
DUDEEEE I JUST REALIZED THAT THE STORY COVER IS PI
4690800
I have another fic to add to my annoyingly long "I'm reading FiMFiction again" list
Yay! I was hoping we'd get to find out about more (all) of the wands!
Problem, though:
"There's no need to bother you with it all."
Unless Twilight has the "convince herself that it's true" thing down pat, she should have a number of at least 1. Cheerilee's number seems awfully low for having told that story several times (maybe she considered the whole thing one big lie instead of a series of small lies, and that's why the number only ticked up at the end?), but I suppose that could be understood. However, Twilight's counter seems to have an entirely different system or sensitivity from those of Rainbow Dash and Applejack... ESPECIALLY Applejack's #4. She does want to make money, sustain honor for herself and the Apple clan, not die, etc., but in that context I would have considered it to be the truth (why would Applejack have an ulterior motive in her action? Maybe she thinks of "want you to feel better" and "want you to feel better, because you're my friend AND so you'll stop buggin' me during mah work" as two different things?), and I have trouble believing that she racked up those particular four lies despite having maintained a zero for well over 20 hours while still having had enough pony contact to know the situation.
I'm more than a little disappointed that Cheerilee's honest fabrications contributed to her lie counter, but placated by how honourable she is. This is the Cheerilee we need.
Also, I agree with 2271633, especially since that seems like the one thing Applejack would never lie about, intentionally or otherwise.
5530202 I realized it as soon as I clicked chapter one. ding
As soon as I saw the story. ding
When I saw the title page. silence
I was just trying to be modest, honestly. silence
Nice speech Cheerilee, legitness, props goes to you!
I feel bad for AJ ;n;
Nice job though.
I don't like this. I don't get what AJ is saying that constitutes a lie and Cheerilee's gray speech is confusing to understand. Honesty and integrity is the best policy to live by. Of course, there are specific circumstances where lying serves a greater good, especially for undercover police officers and whatnot. Cheerilee's example is....not something I can accept. I prefer that my teacher gives me the honest truth, not a false sense of security. To do the latter does not help in the long term when the harsh reality hits us.
6762330 There is no one who wouldn't rather be told the truth than a lie except in retrospect. If the saves you from something either by the placebo effect or by a simple change in causality than it is 100% justifiable. I am very content with the false sense of security that is given to me at all times. I am repeatly told without words that I will, without a doubt, wake up tomorrow, but even that is uncertain. Governments lie about crime rates in saying that they are lower than they actually are, and this has been proven to help instil a feeling of safety, security, and lowered real crime rates in the next year. This is a well documented example of lies promoting long term security.
AJ's speech constitutes as a lie because she is being courteous. She doesn't have the time for Twilight's woes and frankly doesn't care. If your two year old daughter walks up to you with a drawing and asks your opinion I assume you would do the same; you would lie and praise it as a beautiful drawing despite the fact that you have taxes to do and you'd seen better art produced by a spilled trash bag.
There is a clear difference in honesty of intent and honesty of speech.
That spell must have more to it than just detecting lies. Granted Applejack technically lied when she said she'll always have time for her friends. cause we know the farm takes up a lot of her time, but at the same time she was truthful in her desire to help Twilight out with a problem. And then the detector kept chiming even when Applejack wasn't lying at all. So something's up here!
I figure AJ doesn't always want to hear Twilights fancy-pants ramblings on magic, and that's where the lie is coming from.
8757822
That, or AJ is lying to herself. She wants to believe what she's telling Twilight, but she knows deep down that she's still just a pony, and there will come a time where she can't be there for her friends.
Yeah, society really DOES run on polite lies. AJ wants to help, but she won't always be there. Truduan society sounds totalitarian.
Now, I know that we established their trust in Cheerilee before. But still, they literally numbers going up over her head as she speaks. This part feels a little bit forced - I don't believe Snips and Snails trust Cheerilee enough for them to believe the stuff she says despite having the counter say "lie" all the time.
That's my only complaint about the whole story, which is awesome.
9813677
You'd be surprised.
When dealing with trusted members of authority, someone implicitly trusted in a field. That a person's grown up believing. Then they'll trust them implicitly, even if proof they aren't quite honest.
Because people want to believe in them.