Yet another pony asked her The Question. Twilight Sparkle hated that question, yet it kept coming up. She had tried to explain it, but no one really believed her. They brushed it off. Some said that it was just a side effect of so much magic. Some said she was making it up, creating excuses to cover for using mind-changing magics.
She had wondered about writing a book about it. As if it would stop ponies from asking her The Question. Yet she knew it would not stop many. They would keep on asking her the same question.
“Do you really think reformation just happens by blasting them with magic?”
No. She did not believe it. Maybe she would, had somepony else been in her place and she were just a librarian or teacher in Canterlot.
But she was the Element of Magic. She had been there when the Elements of Harmony had ‘blasted’ them. She knew exactly what happened, how they were ‘reformed’. And it was why she wanted to fight every pony who asked her that question.
The first time she used the Element of Magic, she was so confused. She did not know exactly what she had expected the Elements to do. She had made theories, of course. The most likely one was that they would trap Nightmare back in the Moon. Though that didn’t stop her from worrying that the Elements would not be as kind the second time.
But she had expected just a blast of magic. Just a few seconds of power before whatever happened, happened.
Instead, there was a white void, and she could feel everything. She could feel the magic itself, of course, but she felt the emotions so much more. The emotions of her new friends; they were hope and courage, excitement, curiosity, and relief.
Yet she also felt other things. Anger, jealousy, sadness, and fear. She felt like screaming or crying, but she knew the emotions were not her own. There was a mare, blue and beautiful, that was radiating those emotions. She felt it, she understood it. The mare looked almost trapped in it, wearing the emotions like a costume.
Twilight remembered reaching out, offering her hoof to the blue mare. She wanted to help her. She tried to radiate that feeling towards her, to show her that she could help her find another way. The blue mare hesitated, but took her hoof.
At first, she had thought it was just a dream. But seeing the blue mare once more, she was glad it had happened.
The second time she used the Elements, she had expected the void. Yet she did not expect the emotions. She had expected pride and anger.
She got fear, loneliness, and detachment. It was overwhelming, honestly. She did not know what to think. Tentatively, she offered her hoof to him, trying to do as she had done with the blue mare, and offer him a chance. He stared at, and she felt a small burst of nostalgia from him. He began to reach for it, but barely had lifted a paw before pulling back, more fear pulsing out of him. Then the void ended.
She used the Elements on him again. The same emotions were back, but there was also curiosity, desperation, and maybe a bit of hope. She offered a hoof again, and this time, despite the feeling of detachment still lingering, he took her hoof in his paw.
The third time was so similar to the first. Her friends were once more feeling hope, courage, excitement, curiosity, and relief. She felt the nostalgia, as this certainly was similar. It was their first time using the Elements here, so of course they would feel similar. Yet that was not the only thing that reminded her of that night.
There was also a mare, full of anger, jealousy, sadness, and fear, wearing them like a costume. She was so much like the blue mare she had met, the blue mare she had helped, that had become one of her friends. She wanted to do it again. She reached out a hoof to the orange mare, surprised to see a hoof at all. She smiled when the orange mare accepted.
The fourth time, she hesitated. His emotions were not like the others. There was anger, yes, but there was also greed, hatred and disgust. She felt what he felt, but she didn’t understand it. She felt no remorse.
Yet, she still offered a hoof. He smacked her hoof away. She felt a wave of rage, aimed at her, before the void cut out.
The fifth time was just as strange as any.
Three mares stood there. They were confused, regretful, scared. Yet there was something else. Desire. Like the two mares before them, they were trapped in it. It felt so much more literal this time, as if the emotion itself had tied them to it. She could feel them screaming, begging to stop. But they weren’t begging her, they were begging themselves. They were trapped, and they wanted out.
She did not offer her hoof like before. Instead, she rushed forward. She wanted to help them. She tried to pull them out. She tried to use her horn to dispel the Desire. The mares tried to help, as much as they could.
Eventually, the Desire shattered. She wanted to offer her hoof to them again. No, she wanted to run to them, tell them it was okay. But as the Desire shattered, so did the void. By the time she reached where the three had stood, they had run. Already long gone.
Every time a pony asked her The Question, she wanted to scream. She wanted to cast a spell, to make them feel what she felt. She wanted them to know what they felt, why they felt what they felt.
Still, she knew she couldn’t. Though she could still recall the emotions, still feel them within her magic, they were never hers. She would not let others know about those feelings. They weren’t hers to share.
So she kept getting asked The Question. But she always remembered The Answer instead.
Author's Note
I've been thinking about this for a while, and definitely since Friendship Games aired, but I finally got around to writing it.