A Bit of Empathy

"Oh, Midas, you're my only real friend," Princess Crystal Rose sighed as she rolled over on her bed and faced the glass bowl that rested on her bedside table. Her aquatic companion stared at her, floating in place for a moment as if he was replying to his owner's claim.

Crystal rolled her eyes at the goldfish's reaction. "Trust me, buddy. You're more of a friend to me than any of those jerkfaces could ever hope to be." Midas again replied only by staring blankly at her.

Finally, the white alicorn relented. "Do you really want to know what happened today?" Instead of staring blankly, Midas swam down to the purple and blue gravel that lined the bottom of his home, as if he was taking a seat and lending an ear to his angst-ridden friend. Crystal sat up and aimed her horn at Midas' bowl. A purple aura surrounded it, and slowly but surely a giant ball of water arose from the bowl.

"Careful, Midas," Crystal warned as the goldfish darted around the inside of the ball in a panic, "We don't want to have another scare, do we?"

The last time she'd tried this spell, Midas actually swam out of the water, totally forgetting that the glass was no longer there. He went flying out from the ball, breaking her concentration and causing the ball to fall to her bedroom floor and splash in a very loud and very wet mess. She'd had to improvise quickly and scoop the poor fish into a flower vase while she refilled his bowl, grabbed a towel, and attempted to explain the mess to her parents.

This time, Midas calmed down, and settled into swimming in small circles in the middle of the floating ball of water. Crystal took a deep breath as she levitated the ball closer, never wavering in her intense focus. Slowly, she poked her horn into the ball, taking care to not hit Midas. She closed her eyes and muttered a spell that her Aunt Twilight had taught her long ago.

Her horn glowed even brighter. Midas, mesmerized by the sudden brightness, started to swim in circles around her horn.

Suddenly Crystal's eyes flew open, glowing with a bright white light.

They were transported back.

"Hey, everypony! It's the Wannabe Princess!"

Crystal Rose immediately recognized the voice echoing down the hallway of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Her eyes narrowed and she trotted faster to her first class. Hopefully, she'd make it there before they--

THUMP!

Too late, she realized as she felt her saddlebags suddenly become several pounds lighter. Once again, she and her poor books were victims of Honey Bee's magic and gravity.

She stooped down to pick her books up by hoof--levitating too many things at a time gave her a headache, and she needed to focus for first period Equestrian History--only to have her left foreleg brutally crushed by a too-familiar yellow hoof.

"Say, princess, why do you need those books, anyway? It's not as if you're ever actually gonna need them!"

Honey Bee laughed, her black and yellow mane bouncing around her face as she gleefully mocked her target. Crystal yanked her foreleg out and backed away.

Another filly from Honey Bee's posse joined in on the torment. "Yeah, the only reason why she even got admitted to this place is because her aunt owns it!"

Crystal knew that was far from the actual truth, but they didn't care. They never did. Any attempts she had made to prove herself worthy of the title "Gifted Unicorn" were met with scorn and cruel laughter from the group of fillies that she'd dubbed 'The Swarm'.

She tried to turn and walk away and continue her way back to class. She tried to hide the rage and frustration that was bubbling up inside her. She tried to ignore the snide remarks that continued to follow her regardless.

"What a snob. She thinks she's so perfect."

"The only thing special about her is who she's related to and the fact that she happens to have wings and a horn."

"Can you imagine what she'd look like flying?"

"Oh my Celestia! She'd be too busy flying around with her nose in the air to actually see where she was going!"

"I'm glad I'm not a pegasus, with someone like her in the sky!"

"What kind of a princess is she? She doesn't even have her cutie mark!"

"Now that's just pathetic."

"Well girls, that's the difference between princesses like her and queens like me. Princesses are just whiny, bossy, stuck-up snobs who will never amount to anything. Queens are actual leaders."

"Yeah, like you, Honey!"

"I'll always be the Queen Bee around here."

Crystal blinked rapidly as she regained consciousness. Her eyes and horn started to lose their unnatural glow. She quickly levitated Midas' water ball back to his bowl, then collapsed onto her bed.

Her horn burned. Her heart pounded. Her lungs gasped for air. Every muscle, joint, and organ in her body screamed for rest.

She just lay there, panting heavily and staring at the ceiling, for what seemed to be hours. Finally, she recovered enough energy to sit up and run her hoof through her sweat-soaked rose-colored mane.

She turned towards Midas, still swimming around in his bowl as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't just used a powerful Alicorn Magic spell to re-live the events that had transpired earlier that day. As if she wasn't being constantly berated and ridiculed by her classmates.

As if he was a normal fish with a normal owner.

She sighed. Her half-lidded eyes focused on the bruise that had started forming on her left foreleg. She thought about how much fun she would have trying to explain the dark mark on her white coat to her parents.

"I just wish I could be normal, Midas," She croaked half-heartedly. "I just wish that there was somepony else who knows what pain I'm going through."

Her frown intensified. "Why am I so lonely, Midas?" Tears started forming in her eyes. She fought against them valiantly, but fatigue and emotion overcame her and the floodgates broke open.

Midas watched as she buried her head in her pillows and muffled her sobs of despair and loneliness.

From the other side of the young princess's bedroom door, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor exchanged worried glances as they listened to their daughter's breakdown.