The Brightest Star (One-Shot Chapter)
Twilight Sparkle was known as being a prodigy. With her massive expansion of knowledge, the prime being magic, she was known as a walking library to her friends and loved ones. The Princess of Friendship and the Element of Magic had everything she could ever want. Knowledge, love, friendship, a place to call home...
But why-
Why did she feel so sad? Why did her chest feel so tight...so empty?
The sadness would crush her at night and stifle the happiness and gratefulness she had for the day, but for some reason, she became unbearably sad as the sun set and the moon crawled into the sky. She read through her books to try and find a solution, but nothing was brought forward. Not a single spell that detailed what she had to do to erase such a feeling.
She could only huff in irritation as the feeling made her heart ache even more. The purple Alicorn gritted her teeth irritably and wished she could swallow this emotion down like the others. It should have been simple. To focus. Look, and focus. Re-read and focus.
Concentrate on the words and nothing else.
But then, as she was reading, a faint memory darted along her mind and if she hadn't been paying attention, she would have missed it.
A memory...of when she was just a filly.
When she could make crowds of fillies and colts part like waves when she walked by for she was the 'bookworm' and the 'freak' of the class. She had always had her head stuck in a book, and everypony assumed that that was the greatest crime ever committed. She was weird for not finding board games interesting, or finding some jokes to be lackluster and non-laughable. She was the student in the front of the class. The Teacher's Pet.
She had been bullied for it.
Her books ruined, her notes destroyed, sometimes even left in a locker until she had to finally use her magic to teleport herself out of it.
Yet, Twilight carried on like a soldier. Without a tear, without a single cry, she continued on with her studies. Even with Lemon Drop and the other fillies, she carried on and rarely expressed interest in social activities and would rather delve into a book. They tolerated her and she considered them friends because of that but looking at the friends she's made now, it's daylight and dark.
She had been encased in her own darkness that prevented her from being close to anypony with the exception of Celestia, Cadance, and her family. The tiny Unicorn could only carry on and shove her emotions down and work harder.
Until now.
The pages of the book she had levitated to read began to collect tear stains as the liquid rolled from her eye to her chin, only to drip onto the page below. For years, she locked away those feelings of hurt and anguish and only focused on studying harder, but nothing can be held in forever.
The bottle will break at some point.
A choked sob escaped her throat as her magic failed and dropped the book onto the floor beneath her. Her locks fell into her face as she hanged her head and allowed the tears and hurt to be let go. She had kept it in for so long and now letting it go hurt so much more. She had been so alone and even Celestia's teachings had its limits.
Friendship was magic, but not all magic is good. Despite the fillies and colts being so ignorant to how much it hurt to be called so many names and be harrassed and bullies, Twilight only realized that this was the true reason she struggled so hard to be where she's at now. She wanted to feel happiness. She wanted to feel accomplished. Satisfaction.
She wanted to feel...safe.
She would never really feel safe for her memories would always remain. No memory magic could successfully eradicate the sting that had ruined her heart. It had scarred the thing that beat so loud in her ears currently as more and more sobs escaped her throat. Her eyes clenched tightly and her wings folded over herself as a shield, hiding herself from prying eyes.
The Princess of Friendship did indeed have friends, but not always.
Her knowledge wasn't based out of curiosity, no, no...It had been based from desperation. Desperation for a way to escape reality. If she focused on magic, she could leave her mind to wander, to create, rather than wail and sob in the middle of the night. She wanted nothing more than to escape.
Princess Celestia had seen this, and even though she tried so desperately to help, the Princess of the Sun couldn't understand being ridiculed. The goddess of the realm would never understand the ways of the darkness that whispered and wormed its way into Twilight's heart.
The darkness isolated the young unicorn filly, made her delve into more books and libraries of knowledge rather than try to make friends. She barely slept, barely ate, but she surpassed her peers by light-years and had eventually became the Princess's own personal student.
From there, she saved the land from Nightmare Moon, made friends along the way, and had even became a Princess with her own castle in the town of Ponyville.
But why...why did it hurt so bad even now?
Shouldn't that ache have been erased…?
She sniffled, using a hoof to wipe her eyes slightly. Picking herself up off the ground, Twilight soon made her way into her room and crawled into her bed. Those eyes that glimmered with the curiosity of magic when she was a tiny, tiny filly had dulled as she grew. For ponies like Trixie Lulamoon, magic was indeed fascinating. However, for those like Twilight, magic was an escape.
An escape from the cruel world.
Her friendship was magic, and when the sun rose, she would rekindle that magic once again to erase the tears that stained her cheeks and hopefully ease the ache in her heart.