Who we are is who we used to be

by Gabriel LaVedier

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Slice of Life, Sweetie Belle, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 2064

The odd couples explained

Sweetie Belle comes to Twilight for advice, on an important and curious subject, one which the studious Twilight knows all about. Not from books, but from life.

Published 2011-12-24 08:22:58 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-24 08:22:58 UTC

Who we are is who we used to be

Twilight Sparkle sighed contentedly in her library home, engaged in one of preferred activities. She was casually resting on a very mushy pillow of finest Canterlot-produced eiderdown, a very small stack of books on casual subjects beside her. She delicately sipped at a warm cup of tea, a blend of apples and tender prairie grass she had received as a gift from Braeburn and Little Strongheart. It was delicious and unique indeed; She’d need to send a letter of thanks to them. This was her life and she relished it. This was what she had become and she loved it.

During this quiet moment of esoteric pleasure, the library door opened somewhere far below her private living space. Twilight Sparkle didn’t bother to look up. It was a library, after all, and besides, Spike was down there to tend to any matters that might come up. In fact, she heard from below, “Oh, hey Sweetie Belle. Need some more play-writing stuff?”

“No, I really need to talk to Twilight. Is she free, or do I need to come back later?”

“Well, she’s up having tea and reading, and I don’t think she wanted…” Spike began.

“Spike! Let her come on up. I’m not too busy. It’s just some elementary books on magic.” Twilight Sparkle looked over the edge of her living space, down on Sweetie Belle and Spike.

“Thanks for letting me up. I mean, I know you have things to do, and you can’t always see any little filly that comes around.” Sweetie Belle slowly ascended the stairs leading up to the living space in the upper reaches of the tree house library.

“Please, I always have time for you. You’re Rarity’s little sister after all. And, truth to tell, a friend in your own right, after you came to me for all that advice before.”

“And I need some more of the same kind of advice.” Sweetie Belle settled herself onto a small cushion that had been levitated out of her, right in front of the other unicorn.

“Oh? I thought things were going well for you and Scootaloo. You said you were going to tell her how you felt. That play was a pretty good indication of it. Did she… Did she not feel the same way?”

“No, she felt the same. She kissed me the first time I told her. Then again a minute later. She was glad I finally came out and said it. It’s a different problem. It’s a problem with me.”

“You? You’re the one that wanted to tell her. I know you were worried but I told you that the stories you read were just stories. No pony is going to make you break away from Scootaloo. It’s all up to the two of you. And you have your love, like I have mine. That’s all you need.”

“But that’s just it… Scootaloo is all… Action-y, and loves doing cool moves on her scooter and stuff. She hates fashion and singing and all kinds of other things that I really like.”

“She really hates singing?” Twilight Sparkle cocked a disbelieving look at Sweetie Belle, head tilted and eyebrow raised.

“Well… She hates to have a lot of girly singing happening all around her. But she likes to listen to me sing. Mostly, she just hates sitting still. She wants to go fast, just like Rainbow Dash. And I don’t want to go fast all the time. We’re so different. And that’s why I came to you.”

Twilight Sparkle slowly nodded her head, horn glowing as she took a book down from one of her own shelves. “I think I understand. You’re wondering how ponies with nothing in common can stay together. First of all, I think you have a lot in common. You both like doing what the other does, sometimes. You don’t have to like it all the time. You’re your own ponies. But more than that, well, take a look.” The book was set down before Sweetie Belle and the pages flipped open.

“What’s this? A photo album? Oh hey! It’s you as a filly! Oh my gosh, back when you were a blank flank.” Sweetie Belle looked down with amusement at the book, flipping through pages of pictures. They all showed a smiling little Twilight Sparkle, both studying and having fun, especially with her parents.

“Lots of happy memories from when I was a filly like you. Look at that huge smile on my muzzle. Way back when I studied for regular school, and played a lot. I didn’t really have friends, but what I had was boundless energy and a sheer, gleeful abandon. You’d see me bouncing down the street just acting like a silly filly. Errr, I think that may be WHY I didn’t have many friends. But I didn’t care. I had all my cheerful energy and that was enough for me.”

Sweetie Belle flipped page after page. The young filly in the photos seemed to have a boundless supply of manic energy. She was all over the place. Parks, amusement centers, a fair at one point. And there was always the smallest bit of a blur, at least, around her limbs somewhere. She was almost incapable of keeping still. “This is great, but… What does this have to do with me and Scootaloo?”

“Well… I thought you might not understand. Keep looking through there. Find what I look like the older and older I get.”

Pages flipped slowly, Sweetie Belle carefully scanning each photo. She saw a bubbly, effervescent unicorn in the full flush of youth, much like herself. Then there was a series of pictures, taken at one of the Summer Sun Celebrations. The energetic excitement was in full force, an awestruck look present in every captured image.

After that set of pictures, the photographs became more consumed with interior scenes, pictures of a bedroom, various libraries, a living room. Books piled up around the smiling unicorn at the center of each shot. The enthusiasm and exuberance were undiminished, but their focus was channeled into the piles of books around her.

More photographs followed, but seemed to be spaced further apart. More books, more focus. Then after a small flurry of photographs with Princess Celestia, there was another stretch of few photos. The books increased, the smiles decreased. Seriousness lined the young Twilight Sparkle’s face. She ceased being shown outside at all. There was only a library, and a concentrated focus on the books that were a ubiquitous presence.

“You stopped looking so happy and didn’t bounce around as much. What happened? You were happy and bouncy.”

“Yes. I was. Then I discovered how much I loved magic. I was moved by seeing Princess Celestia at the Summer Sun Celebration. So I became the most absorbed student you ever saw. All that energy is still there. It just went into my studies. It’s why I’ve become so good at it. It still comes out now and then. I can get enthusiastic about things. But did you notice what I used to be like?”

“Yea, you were all happy and hyper. Always outside bouncing around and having fun. You acted like…” The intent of being shown the photos struck Sweetie Belle like a bolt of lightning. She looked down at the page, seeing a serious and studious filly, then flipped back to near the beginning, seeing one hopping about with carefree abandon. “Like Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded her head, smiling at Sweetie Belle’s sudden comprehension. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I used to be like her. Maybe not exactly like her, I wasn’t into throwing parties all the time and I really couldn’t sing too well then. But I know the inclination to bounce around and be exuberant.”

Sweetie Belle slowly closed the photo album and nodded her head a little bit. “You understand Pinkie Pie. But what about Pinkie Pie? How can she understand you? She’s a bouncy, party-throwing pony.”

Twilight Sparkle laughed softly, giving a sigh afterwards and turning to look at a photo above her bed. It was herself and Pinkie Pie, in Canterlot, standing before the highest waterfall in all of Equestria. The sight was breathtaking. “She is… Now.” To someone that had never even realized anything could be that big, it was almost unbelievable.

“Oh right. She told us that she lived on some kinda farm. I didn’t really know what to think of it. I mean, there’s no such thing as an actual rock farm, is there? They just arranged rocks and broke them up for gravel or slabs or building stuff, right?”

Twilight Sparkle opened and closed her mouth several times. She thought carefully about what she was going to say. “There is… A complicated answer to that. I am a professional thaumaturge. Which means I know about magic itself. Magical energy circulates throughout Equestria, and is utilized in many ways. In certain areas, that manifests as growth of ordinary rocks. Earth ponies can take these rocks and, with proper cultivation, create specific types of stone, from simple granite to fine marble. It means that excavation can be saved for metal and jewels. The Pie Family rock farm is a simpler place. You’re right, they do slabs, gravel and fine rock dust for mortar and concrete.”

“Oh… That’s kinda weird. I mean, Pinkie Pie was telling the truth.”

Twilight Sparkle chuckled and shook her head. “Aww, she’s always honest. It’s just that the things she talks about are just a little out there. But no matter what, she’s very truthful, and you can count on the majority of the things she says.”

“Oh… Well, so she lived on a farm… And what does that have to do with my question about me and Scootaloo?”

“Pinkie Pie’s parents, her whole family and her community are very strict group called the Cannonites. They believe in plain, simple, austere lives without many of the modern conveniences we ponies take for granted these days. They don’t even like using any magic except for earth pony magic which keeps their farms healthy and their rocks growing. That was what Pinkie Pie came from. Secluded, dour, all studies in rock farming and being a good, obedient filly. No fun at all.”

Sweetie Belle looked down at the photo album once more and flipped to the very end. The last photograph taken and placed in the book. It was in a library, a gigantic one, shelves piled to the heights. And in the center, a serious, narrow-eyed mare among a pile of books, whose titles were long and complicated. “No… Fun…”

Twilight Sparkle gently placed a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, urging her to her hooves with a smile. “Back then, I used to be Pinkie Pie, a cheery and bouncy hyperactive… Spaz, let’s say. And back then, Pinkie Pie used to be a quiet, boring, staid, dull… Ok, well, you get the idea. Don’t you, Sweetie?”

“You used to be just like Pinkie Pie when you were a little filly. And Pinkie Pie used to be like you. So… You mean that you understand how Pinkie Pie works, because you were like her. And Pinkie Pie can understand you, because she grew up like you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that I can UNDERSTAND Pinkie Pie, but you’ve got it. We can be avoid the heavy friction because we can get into a mind-set that lets us see what’s causing it. However, there’s a bigger and more important issue, the one thing that looms even larger than our understanding.”

“What is it? Scootaloo and I haven’t been each other. And if there’s something more than that, please tell me! Please!” Sweetie Belle looked up to Twilight Sparkle with huge, dewy eyes, pawing at her chest with her dainty hooves.

There was a moment of silence, Twilight Sparkle’s sudden surprise being slowly replaced with a caring and beatific smile. She reached out. Hoof slowly moving the filly’s two-toned hair out of her face, to fully reveal her teary eyes. One look in them told her of her sincerity. Exactly what was required. Her head leaned in and she whispered into Sweetie Belle’s ear, “We love each other. With all our hearts and souls, we love one another and will do anything it takes to keep that.”

The End