Friendship isn't just Magic, it can heal hearts too

by Raumo

Chapter 28

I lifted the bag of feed onto my shoulder. I walked through the door of the store to see an impromptu parade with Pinkie in the middle of it, singing about making everyone smile. So, of course, it made me smile. Eh, something about the pony. Even with her over-the-top antics, she still finds a way to genuinely make you smile.

The parade ended and headed to the cottage. I opened the door and set the feed bag near the others. I walked out the back.

"Hey Little Shy. I got that feed you wanted, and put it near the other ones." I sat down near her, where all the animals were listening to her read. Some of the animal moved to my lap and I started petting one by one. Amazing these animals like me.

"Thanks Alex. I would have gone with you to the store, but I got caught up in an impromptu parade." She hid a little behind her mane.

I chuckled. "Yes, I saw a bit of that parade. Pinkie sure can make you smile. Even if it's in unconventional ways."

She giggled. "Yep. Do you want to read?" She offered me the book. The animals looked at me eagerly. Fluttershy had told me they like my deeper voice once in awhile.

I nodded, "Sure." I took the book and got comfortable. Starting in a nice easy voice I started reading.

Hmm...this is nice, once in awhile, to just have a quiet day.

---

(Few days later)

I was walking to Fluttershy's cottage after hearing a few comments of her being quite mean. Kicking ponies out of taxi's, dumping garbage on them if they don't move out of her way? What's up with that?

I saw Fluttershy talking to Rarity and Pinkie. I walked up just in time to see Fluttershy push Pinkie down making a comment about 'her little brain'. "What in the world is going on here? Fluttershy, why on earth would you do and say that to your friend?" I spoke up.

"Just setting them straight. They're trying to tell New Fluttershy how to live her life. How can they do that when they spend their lives on frivolous pursuits?" She said in an angry voice.

"They are doing that, because they're your friends and want the best for you. I have to agree with them, your taking the assertiveness too far. Standing up for yourself is good, but there are ways to go about it that aren't so...mean."

"I am not being mean!"

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You soaked your gardener, dumped garbage on a couple of ladies, stuffed your mailman into the mailbox and just now yelled and insulted your friends."

"I...I..I'm a monster."

She was about to run off when I gently put my arms around her. "You are not a monster."

"Indeed you are not." Spoke up Rarity. "You just got some really bad advice from that Iron Will."

"Yeah. It was him that made you really nasty." Pinkie piped up.

I gave her a dry look then turned back to Fluttershy. "How about we go to your cottage. We can show you different ways to be assertive. Or in other words, confident, secure, and firm, yet still pleasant."

She nodded hesitantly and we all headed to her home. For the next few hours, we worked on it. She was almost, yet not quite there when Pinkie noticed Iron Will walking up. "Oh my. Rarity and I are going to stall him." The two ran out.

Fluttershy paced nervously. "I don't think I can face him right now. I'm not satisfied with his method, but I don't know if I can say that without yelling and being mean."

"You'll be fine." I brought her to her mirror. "Now look at yourself, what do you see?"

"I see a pony who is a doormat and doesn't know how to be assertive without turning into a monster."

"Well that's too bad. Because I see my little sister, who has a heart filled with kindness. I see a pony who can walk with her head high and confident, filled with joy at the beauty of the world." I then looked at her fully. "You can still be your sweet self, and put your hoof down."

"You really think I can do it?"

"I know you can, besides you almost had it. Just one more step and you're there." I pointed to the door where Iron Will was knocking.

I smiled as she calmly stood her ground and refused to pay as she wasn't satisfied with his methods. There you go Little Shy. Oh it's good to have you back to your sweet self. Hearing and seeing you act so mean was not the highlight of my life.

I walked out to see the girls hugging. Not wanting to break them moment I silently started to leave, then got enveloped in a hug from Fluttershy. "Thanks for your help Alex."

"You always had it in you. Just needed a bit of coaxing to come out right." I patted her mane then headed to the cafe to get some food. Another crazy day, yet I'll take these girls and their problems any day over the isolation I had before.

---

I know I said I was fine dealing with the girls crazy problems, but Cerberus? Really? Does this world have every mythical creature in existence? I sighed as Fluttershy just flew up and started petting the creature.

As Twilight then levitated a ball in front of him, and started running to the gates of Tartarus, I flew after her. That makes me really worried that there is a place here named that. Hopefully none of those creatures escape.

I walked into the library after Twilight and just leaned against a wall. When she got the same cut as Future Twilight she started pacing. And pacing. And pacing till there was a groove in the floor. Huh, didn't know it was possible to do that in such a short amount of time.

I sighed as Twilight went still believing the future would change if she stood still, which resulted in her mane being burnt off once Rainbow arrived. I spoke up, "You know, sometimes you can cause the disaster to happen by trying to prevent it. That's why 'foresight' isn't the best gift in the world, no matter how good it seems at first."

"Nah, I don't believe that." Spike spoke, then turned to Twilight, "If you want to see the future, I know some pony who could help." He and Twilight left.

I turned to Rainbow, "Need something from the library?" She shook her head. "Well then I'm going to take a power nap."

I woke up to see Twilight rushing around with a bandage on her head. I then confiscated all of the ice cream and locked it away from Spike. He glared at me. "It's for your own good." Then turning to Twilight, I tried to get her to sleep.

"No. I can't prevent the future by doing things, or doing nothing, and I can't predict the future, so I am going to monitor EVERYTHING." Her eyeballs were centimeters from mine. I could see red lines developing.

"Okay then." She started dashing around again. "This is going to be a long night."

I sat on the library steps the next morning. I had dozed off and on, but no real sleep. And Twilight...she was bordering on the crazy she had when she couldn't send a friendship report. Pinkie bounced in. Twilight ended up having to wear an eye-patch.

How do I end up in these situations? At least there are no guards ready to shoot me at the slightest sign. I was once more in my mission suit. I had put this in the bottom of my chest of belongings, hoping to never have to use it again, but no. I end up wearing it to sneak into the locked archives to try and stop time.

"Guard! Hide you guys!" Twilight whispered yelled. I dived behind a bush, as the others posed as statues. Twilight kept rolling and diving around, ripping her suit on a branch she didn't notice. Perhaps I should improve her sneaking skills. That could've been a costly mistake in my world. I thought about it, then shook my head. Nah, there will never be a time where she would truly need to sneak around for her life. A cold breeze blew through.

We went through the window. I watched as the others walked off. I sighed and leaned against the wall to wait.

"Alex? When did you get ahead of me?" Twilight asked confused.

"I didn't. This is where we came in." I then pointed behind her. "You passed right by the wing. You really need to get some sleep. You're missing a lot of details."

"Wow, look at all those priceless magic scrolls. It's more than I could ever imagine."

"Twilight, the guard." Warned Pinkie.

Twilight panicked and huddled in the middle of the hallway. I face-palmed. Thankfully the guard recognized her and opened the locked door. We walked in. The others frantically ran around looking at scrolls. Surprisingly, the scrolls were ordered alphabetically. I headed to 't', and started scanning scrolls. Pinkie soon joined me. The day then dawned

I walked out of the aisle to see Celestia greeting Twilight. Then she noticed me. "My, you look like when I first met you. Just without the cold, blank look. Oh wait, never mind, there it is." She then walked off.

I gave a slight growl of annoyance, then watched as Twilight transported herself back in time. Yeah, that's what caused the trouble in the first place. Twilight realized that as soon as she came back.

"Oh well. Now you know to let the future play itself out. You can influence it by your choices, but it's always changing." I said.

"I agree now." Said Twilight laughing at herself.

Yes the future is always changing. I was set to die alone, but you girls changed that.

---

"We're following him right?" Rarity whispered.

"Of course." Replied Twilight as I walked up behind them and Rainbow.

"Following Spike where?" I asked. They jumped about a mile high. They looked around nervous. "You do realize if you're sneaking off somewhere I am following you, right?"

"Of course." Repeated Twilight. "We're following Spike as he goes on a quest to find out who he is."

"Wonderful, looks like I'm wearing my mission suit as well as my wings. And lots of food. Luna was kind enough to send me a pouch where you can put an unlimited number of items in it. As long as it fits through the opening."

"Why your mission suit, darling? Could you not wear the bodysuit I made you?" Asked Rarity.

"Oh I could, but my mission suit is fireproof. You do realize we are following a dragon to more fire-breathing dragons that aren't as nice as Spike, right?"

We quickly got our things and subtly followed Spike. We reached where the dragons were congregating. The girls quickly brought out the dragon costume they had made. I sighed frustrated as I realized I couldn't follow them. "Don't get yourselves hurt you, hear me? Otherwise I am never letting you girls go anywhere, ever again." They nodded enthusiastically.

I hid and watched the mountain they had climbed. Sometime later I saw them headed down towards the forest. I quickly and stealthily followed them. I caught up with them right as they reached the forest. "Care to explain?"

"Alex! Stop sneaking up on us. They took Spike on a raid. We have to hurry."

I nodded and dashed into the forest. I was able to find Spike just as he was about to smash an egg. Don't do it Spike. Don't change who you are just to fit in. I sighed in relief as he chose not to, then tensed as the other dragons became angry. The girls caught up. Spike backed right into them.

When Spike yelled run after admitting the girls were his friends I activated my wings. Oh darn it. It had to be a forest. I maneuvered through the trees and caught up with the girls and Spike. Twilight was trying to activate her magic, but was failing repeatedly. I brought my guns out for the first time in months, flipped over and shot the lead dragon. It was still set to stun, so it didn't hurt him too much, but threw him off track.

Twilight activated her spell. I felt the magic surround me and suddenly everything went chaotic. Color and whatever were surrounding me. As suddenly as it came, it went to normal and we were out of the forest. I cut the power off, retracting the wings and just let myself fall, there was no way I could fly with the amount of disorientation I was going through.

I shakily got up. And looked at the others having a group hug. They looked at me. I tried to stand up straight, but failed. "Never use that spell on me again, unless absolutely necessary. Oh I feel like my insides are all mixed-up."

"Sorry Alex. It gets better, as you go through it more, though." Twilight tried to comfort me.

"Whoo hoo. I get to go through this a few more times before it gets better." I stated sarcastically. "Fine, as soon as possible, we are getting me used to teleporting. Then never use it on me again unless in dire straits." She nodded in agreement. I turned to Spike. "Nice to have you back. What kind of egg is that?"

"It's a phoenix egg." He replied.

"Incredible. Take good care of him. They are a part of your family now." He nodded enthusiastically.

Family. It still feels strange to have one. Strange, but nice.