Twilight Sparkle

Twilight stared out of her window. Her crown seemed useless, compared to the killing. And what was the point of her wings? She couldn't fight any ponies, much less fly into battle.

Fluttershy opened a book about beavers. "Twilight…" she asked softly. "Are you okay?" Her new crown was a thin golden necklace chain that hung on her forehead. Her element of kindness, a soft pink butterfly charm, was at her forehead. She had been miserable ever since the battle started; her animals had retreated and wouldn't come out. Even her new horn seemed to wilt.

"No, I am absolutely not fine!" Twilight snapped. "Princess Celestia is losing the battle!"

Fluttershy flinched, and Twilight felt a stab of pity. It wasn't her fault the war started, and Twilight felt like she had suffered the most.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "I've been going through a lot of stress since the battle started, and now I feel like we are going to lose." It was true though. The shadows seemed to coat the sky, and it seemed to thicken with every step of the sun.

Fluttershy nodded. "Princess Celestia will win." She said, trying to be encouraging.

Twilight shuddered at the thought of forever living in darkness. She felt calmer that Fluttershy was with her. Even more, she longed for the times when she was a simple unicorn, free without responsibilities or with the threat of war hanging over her head.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Fluttershy tried grabbing for a book, tripped over the large wings she had, and fell. The book bounced off Fluttershy's head and dropped onto the floor. "Oops." She looked down. "Sorry Twilight."

"It's fine." Twilight said. She was about to use her magic to pick up the book back on the shelf… When a thought occurred to her. She let go. Again, the book fell to the ground.

"Umm…" Are you okay?" Fluttershy cocked her head a little to the side.

"Fluttershy, you're an alicorn now! Why can you use your powers to put the book back onto the shelf?"

"It's hard…" Fluttershy meekly replied.

"I'll teach you." Twilight said. "Unicorn magic is like your hooves. When something is heavy, it requires much more work and effort to pick it up. Often, you will have to rest for a long period of time if you push your limits. When you do unicorn magic, it takes your heart and you have to be well rested to be successful at it." Twilight held up a quill from her work desk, this time without her usual magic. "This would be easy to hold. It weighs very little. When you bring the object back to you-"

Twilight threw the quill across the room. Fluttershy flinched, expecting to hear the clatter of the quill hitting the floor. However, at the last second, Twilight used telknises to pick up the quill. The feather floated up in a magenta aura. "It's like you are carrying the quill with your own hooves. The more you practice with your magic, the more spells you can do, and the knowledge you have will increase." Twilight explained. She put the quill back onto the work desk. "You try."

Fluttershy strained. A small spark appeared form her horn. Turquoise magic enveloped.

"That's great!" Twilight exclaimed. "Now, picture the quill coming toward you."

"The… quill… coming… to… me…" The quill filled with an aura gently made its way forward.

"Omigosh Fluttershy! You're doing it!"

"I am?" Fluttershy's eyes were clenched shut. "I am Twilight! I'm doing it!" she squealed.

"Keep going!" Twilight called. "Just don't open your eyes!"

From there to Fluttershy's spot, the quill was going slowly and steady. "Don't open..?" Fluttershy's eyes snapped open, the quill face to face with her. She yelped, and the quill dropped to the ground. "Oops." She said meekly.

"It's okay!" Twilight said. "We can teach our friends-" she stopped. "Oh, who am I kidding? What friends?"

Fluttershy walked next to Twilight and whispered, "You've done things that many ponies couldn't have done. Maybe you can do it again."

Twilight looked up at her soft spoken friend. "Maybe I can."

"You can." Fluttershy confirmed. "Everything needs a new start."