Not a Tragedy
First attempt to writhe fanfics. Inspired from FIM Season 2 Episode 1 and 2 when Twilight Sparkle, after having failed to stop Discord,returns to the Library.
I tried to imagine what Twilight was thinking when she recovered from the shock, and to put my personal interpretation of how she recovered from that moment and turning the tides.
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Twilight Sparkle opened the door. Her mane and tails were covered with dark patches of chocolates. They were getting sticky by now. She did not care. Her legs were really cramped from carrying the heavy rock (of which Rarity referred as ‘Tom’). She did not really care. Her hooves still had some soap left, making her walk to the room quite difficult. Even that she gave no bucks at all.
“Come on, Spike. Pack your things. We are leaving here.” Twilight Sparkle sighed heavily as she magically moved her suitcase and began to pack her belongings. She looked at the Crown, the final piece of the Elements of Harmony. With it she and her friends defeated the Nightmare Moon. It was definitely one of her favorite possessions. She remembered Rarity talking for hours and hours commenting on the intricate ornamentation. While Twilight did not share much interest with the jewel-loving pony, she could partly see why Rarity paid special attention to jewels. The golden crown, adorned with several clear light-blue lapis lazuli, a big amethyst star adorning at the center. Truly it befitted its role, representing the Elements of Harmony: the final piece to call forth the Magic of Friendship.
“Ughhh.” Groaning, she telekinetically threw the crown in the dustbin. Usually she would have cherished it to a level of worshipping. Even Rarity was impressed with Twilight applying special treatment to the crown to keep its magnificent figure. She even asked Rarity to help her find some books about handling and maintaing jewelries, of which Rarity happily obliged. It was one of the few times she asked others for advice on finding books.
Right now, however, the crown’s lustrous glamor did nothing to lighten up her mood. It was useless. The spell did not work. Discord was still free on the loose, wrecking chaos everywhere. The cruel, mocking laugh of his still reverberated in her ears, ever so clearly. It did not work, it did not work! Twilight almost felt shouting out loud, but could not be bothered to do so. What was the point of saying something that was obvious? It had become a plain truth.
It failed. Failed horribly, beyond any doubt. The fate had been sealed. Destiny chose its path. End of all hopes. This was where life would lead Twilight to, her final destination. Like a sad ending, or to be more exact, a downright tragedy, Twilight thought and smirked a little. Even when the Element of Disharmony was working on its sinister Celestia-knows-what plan, she was still in the habit of depicting her life as a book. Books were her favorite things after all. She could swear (with the Pinkie Pie method, which meant that it was very close to the divine truth) that her cutie mark would have been any images involving books had she not passed her entrance exam to the Royal Canterlot Academy of Gifted Unicorns. Her desire for reading books was never truly satisfied, even within the Royal Canterlot Library, where bookshelves thrice the height of Princess Celestia seemed to stretched forever and ever.
One of the first things Twilight did when Princess Celestia took her to Canterlot was to rush straightly into the Canterlot Library. The moment she arrived, she was by no doubts in love with the place. No, she thought. It was more than that, her head filled with pure bliss as she entered the entrance of the library. Later, Twilight discovered borrowing books were not enough. She needed to have them. Her own books, so she could lay her hooves and read them whenever she wanted to without going through the rather complicated check-out system of the Canterlot Library. Soon enough she began to buy all the books she desired for, of which she put into her own room. She called her place, with some pride, the ‘Twilight Sparkle’s Library’.
So it was no wonder that Princess gave Twilight a giant tree-library as her home. Books everywhere, from bottom to the ceiling. The places were literally filled with books. When she was not hanging out with her friends, Twilight was usually in the library, reading whatever she could lay her hooves on. And not just books about learning magic spells. Her house was Ponyvill’s library to start with, and the building catered Ponyvill residents’ craving for books. Certain type of books, to be exact..
Books about Equestrian history, famous ponies, myths and legends, romance, ghosts, and much more. Twilight loved them all. She was never a picky reader. To her, every genre of books had its own merit. Even books about jokes and humor were valuable because it taught ponies to have good fun. Though there were some books that Twilight liked less than others. She never hated them. It was just that she really disliked some kind.
Especially tragedy.
Twilight could still remember her reading that book for the first time. She felt her vision going blurry, and tried very hard swallow something that was at the tip of her mouth to come out. She was not vomiting. It was just that her chest felt so heavy and depressed. There was something in her stomach. Not spoiled food, something else. Something that could only be the result of reading sad stories, she concluded. It was as if her sorrow manifested into a tangible being, like a very heavy lead. She felt sick, and immediately gasped for breath. She could feel sweat rolling down her forehead. Every part of her body was feeling downright sad.
She could not recall the title right now, but the story she could hardly forget: a love story between a handsome stallion and a beautiful young mare, their names started with R and J, which in the end both died because the stallion’s family and the mare’s family had a long history of feud that could not be settled until the very end of the book. Only the death of the sweet young couple ended the conflict once and for all. Twilight could never understand the story being so cruel, to let both protagonists die. She thought there had to be another way. Maybe the loving pairs could talk sense out of their respective families. Why was nopony in the book thinking rational and reasonable? Only later did she learn that was how tragedy worked. In its own way, this genre had its own special merit: it made ponies sad (though what was the point in making oneself sad, Twilight could hardly understand. There were other functions as well, but at current state she was not in a mood to go into scholarly thinking process). She really disliked it. If her life was a book, it was definitely not going to be a tragedy; she was going to make sure that was the case. There may be some sad moments that would temporarily make anypony with watery eyes, but in the end everything, everything would go back to normal. The end was supposed to be a happy ending. Always. That was how her world worked, according to Twilight Sparkle. Her life was not going to be a tragedy.
“I guess it is after all…” She concentrated all efforts not to break into a sob. There was no doubt by now. Her life was a tragedy. It seemed to go so well; too well, she reminded herself. That was how tragedies worked. The protagonist would briefly have a good fortune. Then it would be gone all too quickly, even before she can realize what was going on. Twilight arriving at Ponyvill and meeting her friends-Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie-it was just a momentary fortune, which would be soon reversed as the story progressed. She also remembered that in tragedy, after the initial luck and the turn of fortune the protagonist would quickly go through a spiral of downfall. The protagonist would try her best to avert the inevitable tide; then at the very climax she realizes that all of her efforts were for naught, her role only to wait for the final doom. The end, of which Twilight really disliked (to be honest, she could say she indeed hated it), was the protagonist pony accepting that there was nothing she could do avoid the ultimate fate.
And to Twilight Sparkle it was crystal clear, so obvious to the degree of using the common cliché, that she was the protagonist in the tragedy. The momentary luck she had, coming to the Ponyvill, was quickly replaced with the ultimate downfall, of meeting Discord.
“Spike, did you hear me? We are leaving Ponyvill.” Still, there was no reply. Instead what came out of the dragon were only disgruntled moans. Gasping for air, he was curled into the corner, scrolls literally piled into a big mountain beside him.
“Sorry, Twilight…can’t move...oooohh” Spike looked as if he was doing his best to breathe. “Princess…keep sending…since I came upstairs!” With that his belly suddenly extended as if to burst, but to Twilight’s relief he merely belched in green flames, signaling another letter-scroll bearing the red ribbon and Royal Seal, the emblems only used by the two Alicorn princesses. “Make it stop…” Spike was almost wailing now.
Wait. Wait. Letters tied in red ribbons with the golden Royal Seal. Wait a minute, Twilight said to herself. She made it sure that her eyes were not making up things, like in tragedy where the protagonist was often tricked into believing there might be last minute savior. But her sight did not fail her. There were letters. Not a hallucination. Not Discord’s foul trickery. “These are all the letters I wrote to Princess Celestia since I arrived in Ponyvill!” She could barely hold her surprise. From the very beginning, right back when it all started. Starting from…
Defeating the Nightmare Moon,
The two tickets for the Gala,
Applejack’s applebucking trouble,
Finding out true friends,
Busting the boasting of the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie,
Going up the mountain to persuade a dragon,
The slumber party with Rarity and Applejack,
Meeting Zecora for the very first time,
Pinkie Pie luring away the Parasprites,
Discovering her talent as organization in Winter Wrap-up,
Formation of the Cutie Mark Crusaders,
Competition between Applejack and Rainbow Dash,
Rarity making dresses for the upcoming Gala,
Learning about the ‘Pinkie Sense’,
Finding out how Rainbow Dash’s sonic Rainboom made them what she and her friends were,
Fluttershy using the ‘stare’ to banish cockatrice,
Saving Rarity from Diamond dogs,
Fluttershy’s brief experience as a fashion model,
Mediating between buffaloes and Appleloosa ponies,
Fluttershy trying to save Philomena,
Having her own owl pet,
Pinkie Pie’s mental breakdown (which was happily resolved afterwards),
Finally, the wonderful night at the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot with her friends.
Friendship, friendship everywhere, ever since the first day she arrived in Ponyvill. Reading all the friendship reports, Twilight could almost turn her memories into a clear succession of images, one by one played in her heads as she scanned through the letters she wrote to the Princess.
Most of all, she remembered the fight against the Nightmare Moon, and the daring adventure she and her friends took. Looking back, there sure were dangerous moments. But each time, Twilight, with help of her friends, overcame each difficulty presented to them. Honesty, kindness, generosity, kindness, loyalty, and friendship makes it all complete; they overcame the impossible, defeating the impending doom of the eternal night. Not only that, they were able to save Princess Luna from the Nightmare moon’s grasp, returning her to her original self in the process. A happy ending it was. There were difficulties, but Twilight and her friends overcame all of them.
There were difficulties, but she and her friends overcame. Twilight felt the switch inside her go ‘click’ as she finished reading the latest letter: Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…
Not a tragedy. She said to herself. "Today I learned my life was not a tragedy."
This moment could not be her downfall. Twilight wanted to shout out that her life was not a tragedy. The very moment was just another adversary situation that she had to overcome by any means. That was how story progressed. Living in her familiar world, the protagonist is forced to move out when some events happen. Then she encounters difficulties, of which she must defeat them and move forward. As the story progress, the antagonistic elements intensify greatly, but protagonist wins over them all. At the very climax, comes the biggest challenge. That too, the protagonist pony eventually conquers. In the end protagonist triumphs and returns to her old world.
“I have to fight to get back the Magic of Friendship! For me, for others, for Equestria!” Twilight shouted aloud, herself almost surprised at the brave tone of her voice. “That was it Spike, that was it! Oh, oops.” Spike was still coughing as another letter came out, and Twilight thought it be best to leave her assistant to recover a bit. Sending such huge amount of papers definitely took its toll on the small dragon. “Why don’t you stay here till I get back? I’ll…take care of this friendship problem by myself” Twilight felt sorry for the little dragon, but decided to close the door and leave. He would come around to his senses once the letters were all sent.
On the other hooves, there was much more serious problem that had to be solved: returning her friends from Discord’s influence, and ultimately saving Equestria from the eternal chaos. It was not going to be easy, but she grinned lightly. This was what all protagonists were supposed to go through, wasn’t it? The obstacles that was almost impossible to surmount. In tragedy, the protagonist pony never went past beyond this line. She would accept her limit and turn back, falling into the abyss that waited her. But this was not a tragedy Twilight Sparkle was in. Her life was anything but tragedy.
“First stop, Apple Acre Farm. Ready to overcome the antagonist? Check.” Twilight galloped through the chocolate-covered road. She could see the red painted barn by now.