Five Times Twilight Saved a Friend

by GalaxyGirl0917

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Sad, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Suicide / Self Harm, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life
Length: 2537

. . . and one time they saved her. A series of one-shots.

Twilight is Equestria's rock. As the newest and most popular princess, everyone's looking to her for everything from advice to fashion trends. Sometimes, she still has nightmares from her and her friends' various adventures, but she has to stay strong. For Equestria.

Sometimes, the heroes need saving, too.

Published 2019-04-06 22:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-04-06 22:00:01 UTC

Honesty

Applejack groaned as she rammed her back hooves against a tree, watching wearily as the apples fell into the baskets in perfect piles. Part of the Earth Pony magic.

"Hey! Hey, Applejack!" Two fillies ran up to her. "Can you tell me if she's lying?"

Applejack ran a hoof down her face. "Girls, Ah'm not a lie detector any more than you are," she explained, keeping the annoyance out of her voice. It wasn't their fault.

"Aww . . ." the fillies said in unison. "But I heard you could destory a whole barn with a single buck!"

"I-"

"And that you're the strongest pony in Equestria!"

Applejack was really getting annoyed now. She just wanted to work, for heaven's sake! She wished she were Twilight. A princess would never have to deal with these kind of things.

"And that-"

Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Applejack!" Twilight called cheerfully. Noticing her friend's glower, she turned to the fillies and quickly surmised the problem.

"Hey, girls," she said quickly. "Why don't you go work this out with your parents?"

The fillies got up from their hilariously low bow and smiled hugely. "Yes, Your Highness!"

They ran off, and Applejack let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Twi. Ah don't think Ah could've stood another moment! Ah hate people who just automatically assume things."

Twilight's eye twitched, but the flash of anger and pain in her eyes was gone so fast AJ was convinced that she'd imagined it. "Yeah . . . no problem, Applejack. You sure you don't need any help with the harvest?"

Applejack chuckled. "Don't worry, Twi. Ah learned mah lesson from applebuck season."

"Good."

Twilight flew away.

Kindness

"Hey! Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy cringed at the sound. She knew that voice - and it never foretold of good things to come. That was the voice of Scootaloo, AKA one of the CMC, which meant that all of them were there, which meant nothing good.

Forcing a smile and mentally berating herself for such thoughts, Fluttershy turned around and greeted them. "Hello, girls. What's on your mind?"

"We were wondering if we could help you out with the sanctuary!"

Say no! Be strong!

"I thought you got your Cutie Marks."

Okay, fair question. It'll lead into the rejection.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't help a friend out!" Cue the puppy eyes.

RESIST! RESIST!

"Uh . . . of course, girls!

. . . weak.

"Great!" Sweetie Bell said with a smile.

This is going to go terribly wrong, isn't it?

"Girls, don't-

"That's not-

"Please don't-

Tears stung as Fluttershy wasn't sure where to turn her head. The CMCs were wreaking havoc on the sanctuary in eery corner, and she was't sure what to do. Discord would be proud of the mess they were creating.

"Fluttershy? Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

Fluttershy heaved a sigh of relief. Twilight was here, and she always had the answer to every problem.

"I-I'm fine, but my sanctuary . . ." her voice petered out as Twilight took in the destruction.

"Don't worry," Twilight assured, her eye twitching. "I can fix this." Lighting up her horn with a magenta glow, a beam of the same color expanded from the tip in every direction. When the flash subsided, the sanctuary was back to its normal, peaceful state and the CMC were frozen in place.

"What gives, Twilight?" Scootaloo complained. "It was going great!"

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "I don't know if you noticed, but you wre destroying the peace of the sanctuary. Apologize."

"Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy," Apple Bloom said.

"Ditto," Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell said in unison.

Twilight smiled. "Well, go on, now."

The CMC ran off, talking and laughing with each other.

"Thanks, Twi," Fluttershy said, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest. "You always know what to do. Where would we be without you?"

"Dead and down a hole," Twilight joked, but if Fluttershy had looked closer she might have seen that the weight that had left her and found a new home in the Bearer of Magic.

Loyalty

Rainbwo Dash was pushing herself harder than she ever had before, which was saying something. After officially making it into the Wonderbolts, Spitfire had been annoying her with reminders to practice, which she was finally putting to rest today.

Of course, you need to build your stamina up, but Rainbow Dash didn't care. She wanted to prove that she was worthy of being a Wonderbolt.

She pulled off a Sonic Rainboom and grinned as people gasped and pointed at the sky.

"Looks like Rainbow's at it again."

Rainbow grinned. The Rainboom was her trademark, and it was nice that people were recognizing that. Shaking her head to clear it, she strained herself even more. Come on, Rainbow! she thought, frustrated. No distractions!

The next thing she knew, she was passed out on the ground, vaguely hearing hoofsteps coming up.

And now . . .

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, RAINBOW DASH?!"

Twilight. Rainbow smiled ruefully. She was really channeling the Mama Hen. "I'm sorry, Twi," she said honestly. "I just wanted to prove I was worthy of being a Wonderbolt."

Twilight sighed. "I get that, RD, but you need to work up to the level you were trying to go to today. You of all people should known that."

Rainbow's ears flattened with shame. "I'm sorry." She grinned up at Twilight. "I'l kill you if you tell anyone I said this, but . . . today, you were the hero."

Another block nestled into Twilight's heart.

Magic

It was Twilight Sparkle's brithday, and she was twirling a sword in her magic, faster and faster until all you sould see of it was a silver blur. She figured that, with the record Equestria had going, the next time a threat popped up she'd best be ready for it. There would inevitably come a time when the threat - like an army - would be too big for the Elements of Harmony to handle.

She twirled it faster and faster, and when she stopped, it was pressed against her neck.

Would she do it?

No, she thought, yanking the blade away from her. Too many people needed her, looked up to her, idolized her, were counting on her . . .

And isn't that the root of the problem?

To be frank, Twilight Sparkle was tired. When she'd pictured her future, she'd imagined herself as a professor at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, perhaps a foreign emissary or a wizard. Certainly never a princess. Certainly not one in line for the throne, especially since Celestia and Luna's announcement. She was tired of the frequent attacks, the sense of something bigger - a legacy of alicorn royalty that she had to uphold.

The adoring faces of her friends when she helped them, when they called her their hero - heck, even Rainbow Dash had admitted to it!

But none of them had seen that that was the last thing she wanted.

They failed to realize that eveery time someone called her their hero, their savior, their role model, she felt the crushing weight of responsibility on her heart and soul. Once upon a time she had relied on her friends for this, but it seemed they, too, had succcumed to the safety that looking up to Twilight had brought them.

Tentatively, the blade returned to her neck. Would she do it?

Just then, the door burst open and the Bearers (Starlight had sent her a card and present beforehand; she was traveling with Trixie) came in, Rarity levitating what was obviously a Pinkie-made cake and Applejack pulling a wagon full of presents. They all froze at the sight of the cold blade pressed against her neck.

"Aw, egghead, don't be like that," Rainbow said in a shaky voice, flying over. "Put the blade down." She pulled the metal away from the purple alicorn.

Twilight let the sword out of her magical grasp. "I-I wasn't going to do it anyway," she rasped.

Fluttershy had silent tears pouring down her cheeks, Rarity looked close to fainting, Applejack looked like she was lost in a memory, and Pinkie's mane was flat. Her voice was too. "Twi, what happened? What drove you to - to this?"

It all came pouring out of her. She was tired of hiding, tired of crying in the night, tired of forcing a Faust-damned smile every day for other people, anyone but herself.

In the end she fell asleep leaning against Applejack, who looked at her like Twilight was her child instead of her friend.

"I-I had no idea," Fluttershy whispered.

"Me neither," Rarity said.

"I think . . . I think that we should talk to Celestia. Even if we fix what we've done, it doesn't do annything about the citizens," Pinkie said.

Applejack nodded. "Spike! Can ya come here for a second?"

Spike came in. "What's wrong?"

Applejack filled him in, and Spike's eyes grew wide with horror. "Ah need you to write ta Queen Celestia," Applejack said.

Spike nodded, and wrote down everything. It ended up being way too long for any respectable letter. He sent it.

Soon, Celestia and Luna teleported into the throne room and immediately cantered over to Twilight. "I knew we should have checked in sooner," Celestia muttered. She turned to the Bearers and Spike. "Twilight's always had a problem with image. When she was my student, she always had her nose in a book to live up to expectations. I had hoped that after the incident with Luna, she would get over it, but evidently her . . . habit hasn't left."

They all looked at the sleeping mare.

"We - I think that we should just have some time each week for her to wind down," Luna said. "Celly and I had each other, but no alicorn is close enough for her to talk with." She turned to the distraught mares. "The best you can do is make an effort to sympathize. It's not ideal, but it's a start. Coping is a lesson every ruler has to learn. Cruel but necessary. Just make sure she never gets to the place she was today. I . . . I never checked in on her dreams. For this, I am sorry."

"I never asked how she was feeling."

"I never considered what it would be like."

Then, in that room, everyone made a silent pact to never to this to her again, bound with magic.

The magic of friendship.

Laughter

Pinkie was exhausted.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were on vacation, and Pinkie had insisted on watching Sugarcube Corner in their absence. Now, she was wondering whether she should have taken a vacation too.

"My order was a CARROT muffin, not a BLUEBERRY muffin!" one particularly grumpy construction worker roared at her. Pinkie flinched and plastered a fake smile onto her face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Here, let me-"

"THERE'S NO POINT NOW!" the worker roared at her. "I'll just get my muffin somewhere else!"

As her stormed out, most of the customers looked at her sympathetically, but virtually no one asked her if she was okay. Twilight would, Pinkie thought to herself, discreetly tuning into the conversation.

". . . don't you think we should make sure she's fine?"

"Puh-lease. Pinkie's always fine. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her not-happy!"

Pinkie gritted her teeth and continued her day.

Heaving a sigh, Pinkie flipped the sign from 'Open' to 'Closed' and let her face rid itself of the disgusting fake smile she had every day.

Sure, she loved being happy and making other ponies happy, but she was drained. She was so tired of always thinking of others and never thinking for herself. She couldn't even seem to plan a good party anymore.

I thought this day would never happen, she thought to herself glumly, but it seems you've partied and smiled yourself out, Pinkamena. You should have limited it to one party a week. Flopping onto her bed, she stared at the roof so the tears wouldn't leak out.

A knock sounded.

Pinkie opened the door to see a sheepish purple alicorn there. "Twilight?" Pinkie asked. "What're you doing here at this time of night?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing, Pinkie," Twi told her. "I heard what happened today. You wanna talk about it?"

Pinkie's façade cracked. "Everyone thinks I'm happy all the time, Twi! No one in the entire bakery asked if I was okay, and I'm not! I'm . . . I'm drained. I don't know if I can even throw a party anymore, or smile."

Twilight draped a wing around her shockingly pink friend. "Pinkie, I think you should focus on planning a party."

Pinkie's smile fell.

Twilight put a hoof to Pinkie's chest. "There's nothing wrong with being pooped, Pinkie. You should try to be nice to other people, but you don't need to be happy all the time or pretend to. The party you should focus on first is right in here."

Pinkie smiled. Even if Twilight had never been through what Pinkie was feeling, she always seemed to know the right thing to say. Her mane poofed a little. "Thanks, Twilight," she said softly. "I'll focus on the party in here for a while."

Twilight hugged her. "Good."

Twilight was a true hero.

Generosity

Rarity looked around nervously. This was her first high-society gala - excluding the Grand Galloping Gala, she refused to think of it and had convinced herself that it was that stuck-up prick Blueblood's fault - and it seemed her date had stood her up.

Of course, they had been going as friends, but Rarity had already told everyone she had a date and it was such a faux pas to show up without one. A noble confronted her now.

"Oh, sweety, you were going with Posh Pillow?" she asked with mock sweetness. "He stood you up, didn't he?"

Her lackeys a ways away snickered. Sometimes it disgusted Rarity the amount of similarities between a ballroom and a high school hallway; but that was neither here or there. She had to defend her reputation. "Of course, my dear," she said. "And I would be loathe to think otherwise."

The mare grinned like a pirahna. "Well-"

Suddenly, a very handsome pegasus stallion swept in and draped his wing over Rarity's back. "Actually, she's my date."

Rarity was suddenly very glad that she'd never specified her date's name.

The mare squeaked and blushed. "M-my apologies, good sir," she said. "I-I was-"

"Spare me your excuses. My date and I have better places to be."

Rarity and the mysterious stallion went into the gardens privately. And suddenly, the stallion transformed into Twilight!

"Oh, thank you, Twilight!" Rarity gasped. "You always know what to do, don't you?"

Another weight settled on Twilight's chest. She forced a smile. "Of course, Rarity! I would never leave a friend hanging. Now, let's go back to Ponyville. I doubt that stallion will be showing up anytime soon."

Rarity grinned, taking up the change of topic like it was nothing. "Did you see that mare's dress?"