Romancing the (Martial) Artist

Chapter 47

Twilight Sparkle was pacing. Worse yet, there was no one around to put a stop to her restless pacing. Spike was doing errands with Rarity and Starlight was off doing something or other with Applejack. So Twilight paced in solitude, the throw rug bearing the brunt of her endless circling.

And why shouldn’t Twilight be pacing? She had failed. Dress it up however you like, Ranma’s very soul was in grave danger and NOT. A. SINGLE. BOOK. Held any answers. Not so much as a way to track his soul to whoever currently held it. Her wings fluffed in irritation. Some Alicorn Princess of Friendship she was. If she couldn’t even help a friend in a time of dire need. Even if she didn’t consider Ranma himself a friend, whom she did, he was still the boyfriend/part-time girlfriend of 3 of her closest friends. It was truly vexing.

This whole ordeal brought back foul memories of the Tirek incident. At least with Tirek, she could fight back. She could see the threat in front of her and had been able to do something about it! At least until he used her friends as meat shields. And now she felt that same powerlessness and this time there wasn’t a crystal tree to bail her out.

All she could do was wait for those with more experience, those who knew better, who were stronger to do something. Malcontent was certainly one way to describe how she felt. Cursing her own inadequacy seemed to be something she did a lot these days. She needed to improve. But how?

Celestia was the obvious answer. Yet her mentor, who had already been busy with running Equestria, was now split even further communing with eldritch horrors to try and find Ranma’s soul. She had too much on her plate.

Luna was likewise in a similar position to her sister. Busy with royal duties, a relationship, and finding Ranma’s soul. Twilight was almost tempted to go back in time and tell her past self to get off her lazy ass and learn the ropes of her Alicorn status before it became too late. But given the mess that had happened last time she tried that, well, she held off for now.

Then of course Cadance was busy with the Crystal Empire and her pregnancy. Twilight wouldn’t bother her with this when the baby was due any day. Shining was probably already stressed enough for the both of them. She didn’t need to add to that burden.

So with no answers, no way forward, all Twilight could bring herself to do was pace in circles as her mind chewed on the problem like a dog with a bone. There had to be something she could do! Anything! But for all her tireless pacing, no blinding revelation came to her. No moment of clarity shining the way she should go. Her mind was in complete chaos.

…Chaos? There was one being she could possibly ask for help from and could maybe help her. But even if he could help, would he? After the Tirek incident Fluttershy had sat them all down and gave them a long lecture about being better friends to Discord. It had been a bitter pill to swallow that their shallow pettiness towards Discord had been a large factor in how Tirek had come to power. Even if Discord didn’t always make it easy, they were supposed to be teaching him by example and none of the girls save Fluttershy could honestly say they had been very good examples. The shame of it still roiled in Twilights gut.

So, why not kill two birds with one stone? To actually try to be Discord’s friend properly and ask if there’s anything he can teach her. Twilight huffed in amusement. The Twilight of yesteryear would have been appalled at the very notion. Yet the Twilight of today was ashamed she hadn’t put forth more effort sooner and that the idea hadn’t occurred to her sooner. Old habits die hard it seems.

The more Twilight thought about it, the more she became convinced this was a good idea. Even if he couldn’t teach her, well, she was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. It was high time she cleared this black mark from her record.

Author's Note

The situation in the house continues to deteriorate. My sister is getting on everyone's last nerve. I dunno how long it'll be before a major blowup.