Knock, Knock
“Come in.”
“M-Miss?”
“Oh. Hello there. Please take a seat.”
Click
“O-Okay. Miss... I-I...”
“Please, don't cry. It'll be alright.”
“I...”
“Here. Blow your nose.”
“...”
“Feel a little better?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Now, it's not often I see you like this. Could you tell me what's wrong? What happened?”
“My friend...”
“Yes?”
“She...”
“Yes?”
“She ran away! She was sad, and she ran away from home! Now she's in the hospital, and it's all my fault! It's... it's... it's all my...”
“Shh, shh, please calm down. There is no need to shout or cry. That's right. Take a deep breath.”
“...”
“Are you okay now?”
“Y-Yes, Miss.”
“Good. Now, Miss Cheerilee informed me of the situation shortly before requesting you come speak to me. She knows that you two were always together in class, and thinks you might be able to help us sort out what happened.”
“...”
“She also heard from the family at the hospital that your friend is just exhausted from her ordeal, and will make a full recovery in a few days time. You might even be able to visit her later this evening.”
“It doesn't matter, Miss. She's never going to talk to me again! She hates me! It's all my fault she's there!”
“Shh.”
“My... fault...”
“Shh.”
“...”
“Now, why in Equestria would something like that be your fault?”
“Because it is!”
“Does this have anything to do with your fight from yesterday? The one Miss Cheerilee told me about? She thought it might.”
“...”
“Well?”
“Y-Yes...”
“Tell me. What were you fighting about?”
“Didn't Miss Cheerilee tell you?”
“Yes, but I would like to hear it from you. What happened?”
“She... She was making fun of that blank-fla—”
“...”
“I-I'm sorry, Miss.”
“It's quite alright. Go on.”
“She was making fun of a filly in the front row, and I told her to stop.”
“Why was she making fun of her?”
“You know... she doesn't have...”
“I see. And why did you tell her to stop?”
“Well, she was being mean, and I didn't...”
“You didn't what?”
“I didn't like it. I... I kinda' like that other pony.”
“But Miss Cheerilee told me you've made fun of her yourself before. Is that true?”
“Y-Yes, Miss. My friend...”
“Yes?”
“She...”
“She made it seem like fun, didn't she? Teasing?”
“Yes, Miss...”
“So, what changed?”
“I... I saw that filly in the front row crying one day. After that the... fun kinda' ran out.”
“I see. And after that?”
“I thought maybe we should have stopped. Maybe we should have just left her alone.”
“What did your friend have to say about that?”
“She laughed. She thought I was joking.”
“...”
“...”
“You weren't, were you?”
“N-No...”
“Did you apologize?”
“No...”
“Why not?”
“I couldn't...”
“That's not an answer, my little pony.”
“I just couldn't!”
“Couldn't what? Apologize?”
“No. Couldn't lose her...”
“Lose her? You mean your friend?”
“If I apologized, I knew that she would find out! And then she'd say I'm friends with a blank-flank, and she'd leave me all alone! I don't want to be alone! Nopony else here likes me! Not when I'm not with her. Not when I'm... alone.”
“...”
“...”
“I see.”
“No, you don't! It was my fault! But I couldn't just sit there and do nothing!”
“That pony your friend was mocking. Did you at least apologize to her after class?”
“No. I couldn't look at her. By the time we were out of class she was crying again. I'd just make it worse.”
“What about your friend?”
“Miss Cheerilee made us apologize to each other, but...”
“But...?”
“It was her fault!”
“I thought you said it was your fault?”
“I-It was! But, n-not this! If she just stopped, I wouldn't have... Wouldn't have told her... And then she'd still be... It's all my fault!”
“...”
“I-It's all my fault. I fought, and I should have told them I was sorry. Both of them... It's all my fault.”
“I want to tell you something, my little pony.”
“M-Miss?”
“I want you to listen to me very carefully. Your friend running away. That was not your fault.”
“But, Miss—”
“Shh. Yes, you could have apologized on your own time. But you had no reason to suspect she would do something like this. None whatsoever.”
“But, I should have talked to her! I was her friend! Why didn't I talk to her?”
“Yes, and that, among other things, was a moment of weakness for you. But those moments have their own reasons for happening.”
“What?”
“Your friend had her own fair share of blame in this, to be certain. But she must have been more hurt by your argument than any of us realise. She might have been just as afraid as you were of losing a friend. Afraid of losing you.”
“...”
“Tell me. Do either of you have any other friends?”
“Miss?”
“In class? Outside class? Anywhere, really?”
“No, Miss. We just had ourselves. I told you nopony else likes me.”
“...”
“Miss?”
“Loneliness. It comes from weak behaviour.”
“What are you talking about, Miss? A-Are you making fun of me?”
“No, of course not, my little pony. I just understand what you are going through.”
“Y-You can't understand! Nopony under—”
“After your fight, and your apologies, did Miss Cheerilee have you two do anything else?”
“Miss?”
“Well, did she?”
“She... She made us sit apart from each other, Miss. We always sat together, but she made us sit apart for the rest of the class.”
“Yes, I thought so. And I think I know why I she did that.”
“...”
“I think she did that because she could see that neither one of you were behaving like friends. Friends always sit together, don't they?”
“Yes... but, I don't get what you're saying, Miss. Of course we were friends.”
“Really? Friends fight, don't they?”
“Yes...?”
“Yes, of course they do. But, consider this: Do friends shrug off each others' feelings like she did to you?”
“What are you... talking...?”
“Do you remember what you said? You asked her if you should have left that other pony alone, and she didn't listen to you, did she?”
“N-No...”
“No. Also, consider: Do friends stick with each other only so they feel better about themselves?”
“N-No, I guess they don't.”
“And finally: After they fight, don't friends make up with each other as best they can?”
“Yes... But, Miss. Miss Cheerilee made us say we were sorry!”
“Did you feel sorry?”
“Well...”
“Yes?”
“No, I didn't. I was still so angry at her. Angry at me, too.”
“Of course. That was why I think Miss Cheerilee separated the two of you. She could see that neither one of you was doing anything to make the other any stronger.”
“...”
“...”
“I'm so stupid...”
“No.”
“M-M-Miss?”
“You are not stupid. Never tell yourself that, my little pony. Never.”
“But, Miss, it's tr—”
“No, it is not. And it never will be.”
“...”
“Do you remember that I told you I understood what you were going through?”
“Yes, Miss.”
“The reason I understand is because I was like you once. I can never claim that I faced what you are facing now, a friend in the hospital, but I remember the loneliness. I remember that most of all.”
“Huh?”
“A school, a class, and somepony who I thought was my friend. That was who I was for a good number of my years. It was only when I was a bit older I realised how wrong, and lonely, I was. How wrong she was.”
“She, Miss?”
“Yes. There was one pony, another filly, who I always went and went along with, no matter what. We both had our cutie marks at a young age, and we were both born into wealthy families. In short, we both felt like we had a lot in common. Maybe that was why me and her were so stuck to each other. We seemed to be the same.”
“Seemed?”
“I am not proud to admit it, but that other filly and I were not always the best behaved, or the nicest to our classmates. Like you, I soon came to the conclusion that I did not want to pick on ponies anymore, and that I wanted it to stop. Like you, I was met with less than successful results, at first.”
“Miss?”
“There was a group of three fillies in that class of mine. Always stuck together. All three of them from average families. All three of them without their cutie marks. They were almost our opposites.”
“But, what did they have to do with you and your friend?”
“Well, I said I had wanted to stop picking on ponies. And it started with one of those three in tears. I suppose you could say the fun in teasing... ran out.”
“...”
“I didn't apologize either, I will admit. Not at first. I kept quiet, but I started to think. And as I thought, I realised just how little I knew about my supposed friend, and soon enough I asked her the same thing. That was how we fought. It was a bad fight, to be certain, but I knew as angry as she was at me, she was thinking the same things that I was. We both knew we were wealthy, we both knew we had our cutie marks, but what else? What, besides teasing those three fillies, did we do together? What secrets had we shared between each other? Why were we even friends? We didn't have a clue.”
“...”
“It was around that same time that one of those three fillies got her cutie mark. The other two followed not long after that. The three of them had never cared about not being wealthy, so our cutie marks were what we always would tease them about. And even though I was done with teasing I could still see it: we had lost the one thing we had over them, no matter how small it was. And I could finally see then that they had always had one thing over the two of us.”
“What?”
“Friendship. The one they shared was real. Is real.”
“B-But, miss... your friend...”
“She couldn't keep teasing those three fillies anymore than I could. I got the feeling she had grown tired of it as well. But in turn, we had grown tired of each other.”
“So...”
“Yes. That filly and I didn't share even our own company again for years.”
“But, Miss. I don't understand. You've always told the class you had friends as a filly.”
“Yes, and that is the truth.”
“Then, who were they?”
“Those same three fillies, of course.”
“What? B-But, you teased them, Miss! You said so!”
“I did. But haven't you teased a filly just like that one in the group I mentioned?”
“I guess...”
“Didn't you say you kind of like her? Wouldn't you like a friend?”
“Of course!”
“...”
“That's kind of how you felt too, wasn't it, Miss?”
“That is exactly how I felt. That day I finally went up to that filly, the one that had cried at her desk years ago, and said my first sorry to her. That was the day I made my first real friend.”
“The rest too?”
“Yes.”
“Even...?”
“Eventually, yes, even she came around.”
“I don't know, Miss. That seems way too big. I could never do that.”
“Of course you could. You're halfway there already.”
“Huh?”
“You might not see it just yet, my little pony, but that day in class you did something very brave. Friends are meant to make each other stronger, help one another. But you cannot help them if you cannot even find the strength to help yourself. You stood up to what you felt was wrong that day, even though you were scared of doing it, and both you, your friend, and that filly are stronger ponies for it. Wanting to change is just as important as changing in the first place. Even if it means you might have to leave somepony behind to do it.”
“...”
“It's not easy taking the first step, is it?”
“No...”
“But you've made it. And you if truly want to be friends to those ponies, to anypony, you must keep going. You owe yourself and them that. You've done the hardest part already.”
“...”
“You're not stupid. And one other thing.”
“What's that, Miss?”
“You're not alone. She's not alone. You were never alone, and you never will be.”
“M-Miss...”
“The fight. Your silence. Her running away. All of your mistakes were just that: mistakes. Nopony here is going to abandon you for that. And if nopony else will ever tell you this, I will: I care about you. Both of you.”
“...”
“Do you understand me?”
“...”
“...”
“Yes, Miss.”
“When you see your friend next, I want you to let her know all of that. That route she took is never the way out of a problem. So, show her what is.”
Knock, Knock
“Come in.”
Click
“Miss?”
“Ah, hello there.”
“Y-You?”
“You?”
“Oh, yes. I forgot to mention. After some discussion, Miss Cheerilee and I thought it best to arrange for the two of you to meet with each other before you went to see your friend in the hospital.”
“M-M-Miss...”
“Go on ahead, my little pony. There is no need to be nervous.”
“B-But...”
“...”
“...”
“Alright... S-Short—”
“Huh?”
“Short Stop?”
“Yeah?”
“I... I'm so sorry. For everything.”
“Really?”
“Really. I... I can understand if you don't want to forgive me, or even talk to me, but I want you to know that I know: we were wrong—I was wrong—to make fun of you. I'm so, so, sorry.”
“...”
“...”
“It's okay.”
“Really?”
“Y-Yeah, Gold Fleece. Really.”
“Oh... Oh, good.”
“Good?”
“R-Really good! I'm just... I was just so scared, I...”
“Are you okay? You're crying.”
“I'm fine. Um, I'm going to go see Pretty Penny. I've got some things I need to talk to her about. Do you want to come with me?”
“Oh, uh... Are you sure? I mean, I know you guys don't exactly like—”
“N-No! I... want you to be there.”
“...”
“...”
“Okay.”
“Oh, thank you!”
“H-Hey, no need to hug!”
“...”
“...”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome, I guess. Do you... want to get going?”
“Okay, sure. Oh, one more thing.”
“Huh?”
“Hugging everypony today, Gold Fleece?”
“I-Is that alright, Miss?”
“Of course.”
“...”
“...”
“Thank you, Miss Silver Spoon. Thank you.”
“It's quite alright, my little pony. Off you go now. You and your friend. I'm sure Pretty Penny will be happy to see you.”
“Thank you, Miss. Goodbye.”
Click
