That Which was Lost

by LadyRFC

Small Acts of Kindness

“Anything?”
“Nothing at all,” Rarity replied, smiling a little.
“It’s sand!” Pinkie cry out, jumping around in the glistening desert soil.
Twilight was always amazed at how little made that pony happy. She was also surprised at how easily her spell had worked out. Even though it was still early morning and they had little time to test it, so far it appeared not to hinder her friends in the slightest.
“Well, we’ll still have to try it for a few hours to be sure…” she murmured to herself.
“Come on, Twilight! Come on in! The sand is great!”
Twilight eyed Pinkie swimming through the sand wearily, but couldn’t help a small smile. She took a few steps closer to the sand herself, wondering if the spell would work for her as well. After all, she could already walk on clouds, so perhaps the spell added something else…
Flinching in pain, Twilight immediately retreated.
“Didn’t work, hon?” Applejack asked, walking across the sand to her friend who was panting on the pebbles nearby.
Twilight shook her head and took a breath. “No.” The frustration she was beginning to feel tainted her voice. “I don’t get it. Why is it doing this? And why does it hit me the hardest?”
“Your talent is magic, right?” Rainbow landed next to her.
The alicorn sighed. “Yeah,” she stretched her wings and glanced back at them, “and I bet being an alicorn doesn’t help matters…”
“Are you going to fly then?” Fluttershy asked cautiously, landing beside Rainbow.
“I don’t have much of a choice,” Twilight answered with another sigh.
“Are you sure you can, dear?” Rarity asked, concern clear in her tone as she walked up to them. “You’ve only had your wings for a few weeks, after all.”
Twilight caught sight of Discord’s still sleeping form under a tree closer to the town’s edge. He had been too exhausted to join them. She turned back to look at the desert and her eyes became slits of determination. “I’m gonna have to.”
“But wouldn’t it be better to stay here, dear?” Rarity asked again.
“Yeah, you could stay here,” Applejack added, “and we can go and report back to ya when we-“
Twilight stomped her forehoof on the ground in frustration. “No!”
At the wide eyes of her friends she closed her eyes to calm herself down somewhat. “No, sorry,” she looked around at them all. “I know you each mean well, and I’m happy you all care for me. But I need to do this. This isn’t just any investigation. We’ll be visiting another nation and talking to them. I was sent to represent Equestria. If I back out now just because it’s a little dangerous, what will this other country think of us?”
At the still worried expression on her friends’ faces she added softly, “Don’t you all trust me to take care of myself?”
“Why, of course we do, sugarcube,” Applejack assured her.
“We know you can get through anything!” Rainbow added, flying into the fly with a grin.
“Even when no one else believes you. Like when the changlings attacked Canterlot and you stood up to them no matter what! And you got Cadence out of the labyrinth and everything!” Pinkie cried out happily with a little bounce.
“We trust you, Twilight,” Fluttershy nearly whispered with a smile.
Rarity put one hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “We know you can do anything you set your mind to, dear. We’re just don’t want you to force yourself to do something dangerous on your own. We’re your friends and we’re all here to help you.”
Twilight relaxed. For an instant she had worried that they were treating her differently because of her new status. That was something she didn’t want to ever happen. But she knew better now.
“Thanks, you guys,” she looked around at them with a warm smile.
“Are you done?”
Twilight turned around to find Discord stretching out his differing arms and yawning.
“A bit early for this kind of thing, isn’t it?” he gave another yawn, his eyes blinking out of sync.
“Oh,” Fluttershy flew up to eye level with the daconiquus. "Are you feeling any better?”
He gave her a smile. “Why, yes, much better now, Fluttershy.”
“Donuts!”
Twilight turned towards town again to see Spike waddling at a rapid speed towards them, a large pink box held by both his claws above his head.
“Just in time, Spike,” Applejack called out with a grin. “We’re gonna need all the energy we can get!”
The box was opened and everypony took out their favorite kind.
“What is that?” Rarity asked, a slightly disgusted tone in her voice.
She was staring down at one of the most confused donuts Twilight had ever seen. It was a mixture of pink and purple icing and orange sprinkles on top, shaped roughly like an apple fritter and looked half burnt on one side.
“Oh!” Spike looked up from gobbling his own jelly filled donut, strawberry jam covering his mouth. “That’s for Discord. I thought he might like it cause it’s so…. chaotic.”
Discord gently lifted up the donut in one hand, an expression of awe and surprise on his face. “You got this for me?”
Spike shrugged. “Well, yeah. Didn’t think I’d forget to get you one too, did you?” He sniffed in a manner that would have been dignified if not for the jam and powdered sugar on his chin. “I’ve been Twilight’s number one assistant for years. I never forget anything!”
“Anything?” Twilight teased, giving her assistant a look.
Spike blushed. “Ok, ok, so I forget to pack a fourth quill now and again. It only happened once, geez.”
Twilight smiled and looked up at Discord, who looked like he might cry as he continued to gaze at his donut. It was hard to believe that not too long ago the creature standing before her was terrorizing all of Equestria. But Fluttershy had made a point that was as clear as day and still rang true. Small acts of kindness and friendship can go a long way. They can change everything.
“You know," she said softly to her old foe, “donuts are for eating.”
The daconiquus blinked and then gave a smile. “Oh, yes. Of course!” He then took one small bite and his smile grew. He glanced over at Spike. “Thank you, Spike.”
“Don’t mention it,” the dragon replied, continuing to lick his claws clean of his morning treat.
Twilight felt pride swell inside her. The baby dragon had grown so much. She turned back towards the sands, feeling far less dread than ever before. In fact, the sands didn’t look threatening at all. If the creature of chaos and disunity had turned around out of kindness and friendship, anything was possible. And nothing was really worth being afraid of.

“You might get tired flying so much,” Discord said, walking to her side and gulping down the last of his donut.
“Yeah, but I’ve got to try,” Twilight answered, her eyes glued to the desert.
Discord sighed. “I guess I have no choice then. You’ll just hurt yourself otherwise.”
The creature snapped his fingers and a small wooden cart appeared before them. It was just big enough to carry one pony comfortably.
Twilight looked up at Discord with gratitude. “Thank you, Discord!”
The draconiquus wasn’t smiling. He was glaring at the cart. “Darn desert. It’s not funny at all.”
Twilight decided it best not to ask what he had originally intended it to look like.

Comments

[Starcat5]

I still say cloud shoes would have worked better. However, if one were to interpret the Cloud Walking spell as tricking one's native magic into acting like that of a Pegasi, than of course it wouldn't work on Twilight. Nice way to keep all the Party Members together, while Nerfing Twilight. It keeps her Earth Pony enhanced strength from factoring into the story at all. (Her Earth Pony "Green Hoof" and Pegasi Weather Control are not relevant, and you already covered her lack of flying skills.)

[Razzy]

I see Twilight is taking the short cart.