Background Pony

VII - Bridge

Dear Journal,

When do we know that we've lost something? Is it after we've spent all of our days trying to earn our keep, only to have all that's special to us taken away before our eyes? Or is it after we've claimed something, only to have somepony else steal it from us? Does a life of pride and hard work equate to pure agony when all of that effort is laid to ruin?

Or, perhaps, we stand to lose something that is essential to us, something that makes us who and what we are. Then, someday, that part of us crumbles away, and what choice do we have but to stand back and reevaluate ourselves, wondering if we were ever made up of the substance we used to value so heavily?

I thought I had lost everything when this curse happened. And, perhaps, I indeed had. But there's something worse than loss, and I've come to believe that it's the actual knowledge of loss.

Everything dies. Of this, I am convinced. Of this, I have no doubt. But, until now, nothing had ever made that palpable to me. Nothing had ever marched in on my life-cursed or uncursed-and showed me with the pale emotionless light of truth what it means to be part of something, and then to witness that something crumbling away.

After all, the best things in life could very well be those that have been collapsing for as long as we've been alive. Can a simple song restore the gaps of us that will forever remain empty? Or can some of us-some of us who are blessed-be capable of filling those gaps with new and promising things that even death itself will tarry to drown?

"Well, I'm certainly glad you came to me for practice, Miss Heartstrings," Twilight Sparkle said. I heard her voice slowly orbiting me. It was difficult paying attention to both her and the field of energy I was summoning above myself, but I did the best that I could to multitask. "Though this mostly takes careful concentration to master, it's not something that a unicorn can so easily learn on her lonesome."

"I'm beginning... to understand... just how difficult... this is..." I struggled to utter.

Her voice giggled. It should have been distracting, but it only made my heart jump. "You're straining too hard," she said. "This isn't a telekinetic spell. Protection buffs are all about summoning magic fields to do the hard stuff for you. You don't need to put all of your strength into it. The key is to relax."

"Relax?" I stammered, feeling all four knees wobbling beneath me. "Relax how?"

"Well, for one, you don't have to keep your eyes shut like that."

I took a deep breath. Carefully, I opened my lids. A foggy library came into focus, in the center of which was Twilight's smiling face.

"There. Isn't that better?" My foalhood friend said with a pleasant tone as she stood before me. "There's no need for you to be inflicting so much stress on yourself. You've already opened the necessary channels to your leylines. Take slow breaths and allow your horn to do all the rest."

I gulped and nodded shakily. "Okay, Miss Sparkle."

"Heehee... Call me Twilight."

"Okay, Twilight..." I managed a weak smile. My eyes twitched under the mint-green glow emanating directly out of my forehead. I couldn't help but feel nervous. My special talent was in music. Sheer magical strength just wasn't my forte, and yet here I was in the middle of Twilight's domain, attempting to cast a low grade protection spell.

As a matter of fact, much of my life since the curse began has consisted of me forcing myself to exercise magical feats that I would never have considered attempting before. Until I came to Ponyville, the most I ever used my horn for was floating small objects around the house or strumming my lyre. With each progressive month spent in that town, I've found myself lifting logs to build a cabin, casting light beams to illuminate the world at night, sparking flame to light a fireplace, and-of course-performing enchanted symphonies that flung my entire world upside down.