The Equestria Healing Process

Chapter 7

"Twilight Strong: Part 2"

Ever since she saw her library and former home go up in flames, Twilight Sparkle had many sleepless nights and although she had the power to magically restore the library to its former glory, to her, it was just not possible. Tonight was no exception as Twilight left her new castle and walked over to the library, which was nothing more than a shadow of its former self. Only the library portion remained and many of the books that were recovered were brought back to either the Crystal Empire or Canterlot for restoration and repairs, but Twilight walked through many destroyed books that she treasured so greatly. Walking up to the door, she easily pushed it out of the way and for the first time since Tirek's rampage, she walked into the destroyed library…alone, without her friends, without the princesses, without anyone.

Although her friends had tried to save anything that had survived, everything that was inside the library was gone. Nothing remained and anything that was beyond repair was left behind. Twilight then walked over to the spot where the horse's head once stood in the center of the library and laid down in front of it as tears formed in her eyes. Despite everything that Twilight and her friends attempted to save what was left of the library, nothing could reverse the effects that she was experiencing.

"No," she cried, feeling cold and longing for the old days to return. "Why would Tirek do this? Why now?"

After a moment, Twilight could no longer control her emotions and began to sob her heart out. Her sobs were heard throughout the night air and following his time with Fluttershy, Discord was on his way to console Twilight when he heard the sounds of crying coming from the Golden Oak Library. Almost immediately, he could sense that it was coming from a princess, but not just any princess, it was indeed Twilight herself, the pony that was reinvigorated to defeat Tirek and open the magic box that was at the tree of harmony.

Following his flight from Fluttershy's cottage, he transformed from a Pegasus pony into his normal self and walked over to the destroyed library, peering through the open entrance to see Twilight lying on the floor and sobbing quietly. Although he had hurt many ponies during his time with Tirek, Discord felt that he had strongly hurt two of them: Fluttershy and Twilight. After all, he had considered Twilight as a friend after he put her through that friendship test while Cadence was visiting.  Seeing her sacrifice the alicorn magic for the freedom of her friends as well as his own had inspired him to fully embrace the magic of friendship as Celestia had always wanted him to embrace.

But, all Discord ever wanted was to have friendship and magic and staring down at Twilight was a sign that he went about it the wrong way. Discord quietly walked in and placed his paw on Twilight's shoulder as he knelt down to her level.

"Twilight," he whispered to the crying princess of friendship. "I came by and wanted to apologize to you personally for what I put you and your friends through, if it makes you feel all the more better.  I know you have been hearing this a lot, but if there is anything I can do to help you..."

But Twilight just laid there not realizing Discord was there and although he had done plenty of atoning for his actions, he could see that Twilight's emotions was not something that was going to be fixed so easily.

Suddenly, Twilight felt Discord's paw on her shoulder and looked up to see the ex-master of chaos sitting right next to her. At that moment, Twilight calmed down and although she was still crying, she was trying to pull herself together now that Discord was here.

"I know why you are here, Discord," cried Twilight sadly, opening her tear filled eyes as she stared at the master of chaos. "You wanted to apologize for what you have done. I accept it, you were just misled. It's just that Tirek took away everything I ever had, all the memories that I made here were lost because he wanted our alicorn magic and nothing more."

"What he did was wrong, Twilight," replied Discord, stroking her mane gently. "I should have known better than to be influenced by someone like him. Your fellow princesses made me realize that before my mission to bring Tirek back to Canterlot."

Twilight then got up when she noticed a singed hairbrush not too far from where she was sitting and a puff of stuffing from her mattress was also spotted. The hairbrush brought back memories of the time that Twilight and her friends were affected by the Poison Joke and that it led to her meeting Zecora for the first time.

"I don't know how I can make this up to you, Twilight," sighed Discord, feeling upset for his second closest friend. "My magic may not be good enough to repair your library. It's only used for chaos and not magic restoration."

"That's because it isn't, Discord," said Twilight sadly as she observed the hairbrush. "Ponyville was founded by Earth ponies and if this library would ever return, it would be brought back by what Earth ponies did many years ago."

Twilight brought the hairbrush and puff of mattress back to where she was sitting as Discord looked at the items she had found. Looking at them made Discord realize of just how much Twilight had lost. True, Twilight was a princess now, but she was only a pony and she had feelings and emotions much like everypony else and Discord knew it. After all, he too had spent time in this library when he had that mock flu to test her friendship to him. He even lay in her bed too, hence why looking down at the puff of stuffing brought back memories of that day as well.

"Well, it's up to you Twilight," said Discord as looked over at Twilight's sad expression on her face. "Perhaps the loss of this library may have given you a much better and stronger library in your castle with all the books you can possibly imagine. But, you can make it just like home again in no time at all. This will take time, Twilight, just as it took time for Fluttershy to reform me into who I am today."

This had to make Twilight feel better slightly. Discord was right, everything that Twilight was experiencing would indeed take time to pass and run its course. He was a reformatted soul now and wanted to learn the ways of friendship and the magic it provided and it seemed that he was giving Twilight a lesson of his very own.

"You're right, Discord," said Twilight rising to her feet and realizing now what Discord was saying. "This will take time, but how long will it take? I can't go on like this forever. Tirek may have destroyed my home, but that doesn't mean I can't always keep the good memories that happened in here forever."

She then looked over at the mantle where her treasured pictures once stood. All her pictures from events that she and her friends took part in, including Winter Wrap Up, the Grand Galloping Gala, the Royal Wedding and her Princess Coronation were completely destroyed as well as the picture of the six of them when Twilight first moved to Ponyville.

Or was it?

As Twilight looked up at the destroyed mantel, she felt something crumple underneath her hoof. She looked down and saw that very first picture of her and her friends, lying in the soot and dust. Using her magic, she picked it up and a small tear came down her face again. But this time, it was happy tears. This picture was something that was important to her since it was the first one she had ever taken with her friends, right after Nightmare Moon's defeat.

Looking at the picture now made her realize that Tirek failed to defeat Twilight's determination for her friends and those that were closest to her. Twilight was right when she told Tirek that although she had given him the alicorn magic of her and her fellow princesses, she possessed the most powerful magic of all and that was the magic of friendship.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Discord, who waited for a response from Twilight. But she was so overcome with emotion over finding that picture that she just stood there in silence. After a moment, she turned around and starting crying again.

Thinking that he was going to be in an ocean of tears caused by Twilight, Discord snapped his fingers and donned a yellow raincoat, boots and hat. But, fortunately, Twilight didn't cry for very long and he snapped his fingers, removing the raingear that he had donned.

"I'm going to start over again," said Twilight, filled with determination, but with her voice filled with plenty of emotion. "This is the beginning of the next chapter of my life, Discord. My life as the Princess of Friendship and with the fall of this home and library will come the rise of another home and castle."

"That's the spirit, Twilight!" laughed Discord and he and the princess of friendship embraced each other once again as Twilight began to cry happy tears once again.

True, her original home was indeed gone, but her own spirit and the spirits of her friends, family and fellow princesses were stronger than ever and not even Tirek himself could destroy it.

Meanwhile, Princess Luna had overheard what was happening and flew over the destroyed library and saw Discord and Twilight embracing. In her mind, this was confirmation that Discord did indeed fully atone for his actions and that he was indeed truly reformed.

"You have done well, Discord," thought Princess Luna as a small happy tear came down her face. "You are now starting to learn the true meaning of friendship as we have always wanted you to have."

So, the Princess of the Night took off to resume her duties as it seemed that Discord fully understood what he had done and was now looking forward to aiding Twilight and her friends on their new adventures. Grabbing her picture and whatever still undamaged items that she found, Twilight was led by Discord from the destroyed library and back to her castle. Now, although she had recovered that one important picture, Twilight was still saddened by the loss of her pictures from all those important events in her life that she shared with her friends and all those closest to her.

But, she couldn't think about it for very long as tomorrow was also going to be emotional for her as she was determined to let Tirek know how she felt about what he did to her and her friends.

Of course, Discord could also see that he had to do something about it, but it would all have to wait until Tirek's judgment day had passed at the hooves of Twilight and the other princesses for all the crimes that he had committed against Equestria…