melodiesoflife | A Shadow of Yourself [OPEN}

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A Shadow of Yourself [OPEN}

Who: Twilight Sparkle and YOU
What: Twilight decides to face her Shadow and confront the unsettled problems she has.
Where: Palitutu's lab
When: 11/14
Warnings: None ATM

Twilight let out a sigh. She really didn't want to do this, but she had to. There was a lot of unsettled things she needed to solve and she needed to start somewhere. And that somewhere had to be facing down her Shadow. Others had done it so far, so now it was her turn. In Palitutu's lab, Twilight stood with her Moogle, Mooglton.

"Is everything ready?" Twilight asked.

"Everything is all set and ready to go-kupo!" the Moogle replied, nodding.

"Well... let's get this over with. Start it!" Twilight said. With that, the Moogle initiated the process to bring about the Shadow self. She was glad that she could still feel her regular magic - if it took her Custom Job when it came out, she'd be helpless.

"Well, well. I see you're looking quite chipper." the Shadow said, a virtual carbon copy of Twilight herself.

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Cloud appreciated that Twilight hadn't done what others did and tried to rush ahead and get this all done without asking anyone else to accompany them. He knew that this was pretty much as personal as things could get but the dangers were real and he didn't want his friends putting themselves at any more risk than they already were.

He stayed quiet, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword. He hoped this wouldn't turn into a fight but he'd be ready if it did. For now, all of this was up to Twilight.

They don't know each other at all but it hadn't seemed to stop anyone from coming to Vanitas' confrontation with his Calamity Self. He stood at the back of the room, near the door just in case the individual in question didn't want him here. Sora would understand if he got sent away but really did want to help as many people as he could. Maybe he won't be any help at all and all he'll be able to do is stand back and watch as others do all the work. That's okay too.

Just so long as everyone left this room alive, it would all be okay. He could cast as many healing spells as possible and then rely on his medical training when he can't any longer. Sora can give uplifting speeches even to people he hasn't even spoken to yet - either way, he won't leave this room unless the one facing their Calamity Self told him to.

Naminé watches the Shadow emerge, brow furrowed with worry. Her presence here is another effort in creating friendships with the resident Heroes of Light, just like Sora. But the second time around, offering her support for someone she doesn't know like this, probably won't be any more easier than the first. There are so many personal things that she barely has any authority to comment on when these Calamity versions emerge.

She hasn't been here long enough to learn anything more than the standard Cure and Esuna from the White Mage job, but she'll cast it as many times as she needs to, if it comes to a fight.

"And an audience!" The Shadow said. "Good. They can hear your problems, too."

"They don't have to be a part of this. It's just between you and me!" Twilight said, staring down her counterpart.

"Oh, is it? As far as I can tell, you'd rather want to kick them to the curb!" The Shadow shot back. This little revelation shocked Twilight.

"Wh-what?! N-No, of course not!" Twilight shot back.

"Come now, Twilight, you know how much these Heroes irritate you. You call yourself the Princess of Friendship and yet you can't stand how the Heroes act." The Shadow replied. "You can't stand it when they act different from you. You can't stand it when you're ignored. When you're belittled."

"Of course I do! Everyone does!" Twilight countered.

"But, what of those who have ideas that don't run the same to yours? Or when you flip-flop on your problems!" The Shadow shot back. "You can't stand it when a problem presents a simple solution and the Heroes have to take the long path!"

Cloud frowned as he listened to the words of the shadow. He knew that Twilight was one of the more vocal Heroes when it came to the disagreements that cropped up. He couldn't say he disagreed. With so many voices it was frustrating sometimes how someone would begin to nitpick a plan at the very last second or after it had gone into motion. Too many cooks and all that.

It was all frustrating and maybe things would go easier if everyone just followed along or did things the quick way. And there was never any promise the simple solution was the correct one in the long run. But few things could ever promise to be the right answer.

"You're not the only one who thinks that way." He said softly, aiming to be heard but not to interrupt, "But friendship isn't simply bowing to the decisions of others. Nor is it forcing them to do what you want." Boy did he learn that lesson as a kid.

Already he's learned a whole lot about Twilight that he hadn't known coming in here. That she's different from the other Heroes and how that has affected her on an emotional level. Sora could understand that much. He was the same way - see a problem, come up with a solution and then fix it. If he was reckless about it then his friends would call him on it.

"That's right, sometimes friends are gonna argue but that doesn't mean you stop being friends because of it. Everyone has a different opinion and should be allowed to express it, they deserve to have it heard and considered. In the end, friends are going to stick together no matter what decision is made."

It sometimes meant taking the long path - a harder path but no one ever said life was easy.

"Being different or thinking differently can be scary and upsetting when other people don't understand you, or don't make the effort to," Naminé adds softly. She knows this all too well.

"I'm sorry that you think other Heroes have been ignoring or belittling you. It's not kind of them, and nobody deserves that, least of all someone like you who is only trying their hardest to help. But like Cloud and Sora said, friendship isn't so simple as right or wrong, one thing or another. In a place like this, with so much depending on our actions, I don't think problems can ever be solved that easily."

She obviously hasn't been around as long as Twilight has, so she knows she can't understand that frustration. But compromises can always be made.

"Maybe other people want to take a longer way, but good things can come out of everyone having a different opinion, too. Just like with a puzzle, if many people contribute one tiny piece, it's easier to finish the puzzle compared to doing it all by yourself. New ideas might come easier, or you might find an even better solution than all the rest combined...because friendship inspires that kind of collaboration."

The Shadow Twilight just couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, if it was only that simple, really. Back in Ponyville, things usually could get straightened out in, oh... thirty minutes at the very minimum. Maybe a song or two in-between. Here? You're lucky not to have someone's head lopped off!"

"She's right." Twilight said, hanging her head. "It's not that simple. Not when you have such extremism with life and death here. When you have people like Jack advocating saving everyone because it may tie to saving this world and you have people like Deadpool advocating just... killing everyone and letting the world sort it out."

"I've had to fight before coming here. I don't like it, but I have. But, I can't advocate either of their mindsets!"

Twilight's head shot up once more. "Killing everyone is too easy and trying to save every living thing on this planet is too naive. I feel like... if I'm going to get over all of this, to solve all of this, I... I need to take a middle path."

Cloud nodded in agreement. He wanted to save everyone he could, but he knew that the world wasn't a golden place. He'd heard about the end of the Wutai war from the other ShinRa grunts and he fought against their last gasp attempts at victory in Midgar. He lost friends fighting against the more radical cells of AVALANCHE. He knew what was going to happen to his hometown if he were to return to the point he left.

But he also knew that undoing those events, preventing them didn't necessarily solve the problems. And that the solutions that would come would have as much pain as they had hope. But people kept moving on.

"You're right. There's nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but the middle path is important. We need more Heroes like you Twilight. To keep us from making bad decisions out of anger or getting too wrapped up in hope." He smiled now, "You're not the only one that thinks this. And we need more people to talk about it or else we're just going to get into arguments every time something happens."

He knew his words might seem a bit sharp to Sora and Namine, but he didn't think he was going too far to say it. If you tried your hardest to save everyone but couldn't, that wasn't a failure. It would only be a failure if you gave up the fight because of that dilemma. The Heroes needed to be able to keep moving forward in the face of their troubles.

The words are sharp but it isn't a lesson that Sora needed to learn in this moment. Maybe the real Sora could save everyone, could defeat the bad guys and still end up saving them somehow like how Axel became Lea again. Maybe he would be forced to take Xehanort's life in the final battle, maybe he'd fail to save someone but he wasn't that naive person anymore. He's failed to save people more than he'd like, certainly, but Sora doesn't see the world as light and darkness anymore.

"A middle path. Sometimes you can walk a path that would save everyone and maybe there are times when you can't save anyone at all. But that isn't the only option. We can hope to save as many people as we can but we're not perfect. Accepting one path over another isn't going to bring peace - someone is always going to protest because we're all so very different and have different opinions. We can't make everyone happy with one decision."

Sora shrugged lightly, smiling at Twilight. "Hope is important to have when these kinds of things happen, sometimes people cling to it so tightly that it's hard to see that what they want might be impossible. Am I going to do everything I can to save everyone I possibly can? Yeah, sure. Am I going to be upset when I fail to do just that? Absolutely. But I'm gonna keep going because giving up just isn't an option for me. Everyone is going to have to choose which path they want to walk and at the end of it all, you're the one who has to be okay with you did. Don't let yourself have any regrets about what your choice is. Don't let your choice change you in a way that you end up disliking. Speak up when you disagree, argue and fight for your beliefs because no one is going to do it for you. As far as I've seen, no one I've met here so far is gonna hate you for sticking to what you believe in."

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A Shadow of Yourself [OPEN}

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