• Published 24th Apr 2012
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record - The King of Hearts



A new pony is introduced to Equestria just before the fight with Nightmare Moon in Episode 1. Changing the entire story.

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Return: Epilogue

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Return: Epilogue
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The confusion felt by everypony was almost limitless.

Even Dash, who discovered his identity herself, was still baffled by the series of events that had taken place.

“Well…” The real Alpha said quietly, his voice echoing throughout the room, “I think we all know what needs to come next.”

“I need to eat something!” Alex laughed, snapping back to his usual, happy attitude, as he trotted back toward his friends, still dressed in his armor, “And… Check on Pinkie and Applejack, I guess.”

Just then, Princess Celestia, Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, and two guards walked in from the side entrance.

“I think you have some explaining to do.” Celestia said seriously, as she looked across the room, giving disapproving glances to everypony, including Luna.

“And I’ll be happy to!” Alex nodded rapidly, coughing nervously, “But I haven’t eaten anything besides hay, water, and err—the queen. So, let’s go someplace I can get some chow for the love of Luna.”

“Goodness! He used my name as a—“

Celestia gave Luna a particularly dark glare, eliciting a tiny ‘eep’ from the princess of the night, silencing her completely.

“We’ll go to the dining hall, all together.” Celestia said sternly, “And guards, please escort this changeling to—“

“Oh, no.” Alex said quickly, “Hear me out first.”

“Please?” Twilight asked quickly, “I, uh, have some questions for him right now.”

“Fine.” Celestia said, as a guard stepped next to Alpha on her command, and she looked to Alex, “But I don’t want to see either of you try anything.”

“Yes ma’am!” Alex smiled, gluing himself to Rainbow Dash, as the other guard joined them.

The walk was pretty awkward for everypony. Alex and Dash walked as if they were joined at the hip, while Alpha stayed behind them all, his head hung to the floor.

Twilight kept with the Luna and Celestia, casually glancing back to the changeling, now fully aware that he was the one that had kissed her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Along the way, Applejack and Pinkie were picked up, completing the group. However, they were just as left out as the rest of their friends.

“So,” Celestia began, as they all took a place at the large dining table, while Alpha stood at the door, “How do we know you’re the pony you say you are?”

“I understand that you would all have your doubts,” Alex said, agreeing with their suspicion, considering the harm he had caused them over the past year, “But it’s me. Ask me any question, I’ll know the answer.”

The group murmured amongst itself, as they tried to decide on a question he would be able to satisfy them with.

“What’s your favorite food?” Pinkie asked quickly, deciding to ignoring the group in her endeavor.

“Here?” Alex asked, referring to Equestria, “Probably cakes?”

“Ohmygosh!” She said, looking to everypony else, “It is him!”

“I’d like to be more careful, if you don’t mind Pinkie,” Celestia said, looking back to him, having come up with something herself, “How was King Sombra defeated?”

Alex sighed at the thought of that trip he had taken into the past with Rainbow Dash and the Doctor.

Even Luna and Rainbow Dash were put off by the question, since they were both also present during this particular battle, and both of them knew how it played out.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Alex asked, not having told a soul about that day, “I mean, the Princess—“

“It is fine, Alex,” Luna nodded, giving Alex all the permission he needed.

“Well… In a fit of rage over the loss of her child, Princess Luna attacked King Sombra,” Alex explained, as his friends around the table gave each other slightly worried expressions, “She poured pure chaotic magic into him, and melted him.”

Everypony gasped.

“He didn’t die though,” Alex corrected quickly, shaking his head as his suit clanked, “She just turned him into a shadow.”

“That is correct.” Celestia nodded, knowing that only Alex, Rainbow Dash, she and Luna could have answered that question.

“That trip was also the first time that Captain Dash ever went down—“ Alex stopped himself as if he had been frozen in time.

“Where did she go?” Luna asked, clearly intrigued.

“ALEX WHERE DID SHE GO?!” Pinkie screamed, on the edge of her seat… for some reason.

Most of them knew Alex had been about to say something quite inappropriate, but he had stopped himself.

“That was Dax,” Alex said quickly, tapping his head with his metal hoof, “He was trying to make me say something dirty.”

Dash simply face-hooved, as everypony groaned at their sudden understanding, while Alex laughed weakly.

“Can we move on?” Celestia asked, sighing, “We still need to deal with this changeling here.”

“No, wait!” Alex said, as soon as Alpha was mentioned, “He helped us! You need to look past what he’s done!”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, not understanding how he had ‘helped’ them at all, “What has he done for us besides absolutely nothing?”

“That’s exactly it!” Alex said, trying his best to explain everything, “He was supposed to kill Rainbow Dash!”

“What!?”

Everypony was stunned, as they all looked at the changeling in the corner.

“But he didn’t!” Alex assured, looking to his mare, “As we can all see.”

Nopony was quite buying it yet.

“He was also instructed to use a spell to shut me down, in case I went rogue like I did,” Alex continued, easing everypony’s minds a bit, “We only won today, because he did the right thing, by doing nothing!”

“Come over here, Alpha.” Twilight said to him, as he reluctantly joined them all at the table.

“Would you mind explaining yourself?” Celestia asked.

“How did you survive?” Dash instantly asked, “I remember hearing that the teleport was going to kill you guys!”

“It killed most of us…” Alpha admitted quietly, uncomfortable with the topic, and the company, “Not even I got away unscathed.

“What happened to you?” Dash asked, not seeing anything wrong with the changeling, “You look just fine to me.”

Alpha sighed and stepped back, flaring his wings.

A collective gasp was shared amongst the group, as they all saw his missing right wing, and pink, singed flesh in its place.

“Oh my gosh…” Twilight said quietly, “A-are you okay?”

“It’s fine,” Alpha dismissed quickly, shaking his head, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive,” Luna apologized, “But I wish to hear the story behind today’s events.”

“Right,” Alex nodded, “I’ll explain from the start. Alpha will fill you in on everything else I don’t know.”

Everypony listened intently.

“It all started about eighteen months ago, when I was freed by a team of changelings that infiltrated the city,” Alex began, remembering the bright light from their machine as he opened his eyes for the first time, and just how scared he was when it happened, “Then, they used my post petrification sickness to their advantage, and moved me back to their kingdom.”

“And then what?” Dash asked.

“I was immediately placed into some kind cocoon, that kept me from moving, and using magic,” Alex continued, still able to feel the heat from the liquid he was placed in, “From there, they used the same magic from Haven Station, to condition me into… well, Iron Pony.”

“Why you though?” Spike asked, still trying to get his head around the entire situation, “Couldn’t they have stolen somepony else?”

“It was probably because of his chaotic powers,” Twilight guessed, looking to Alex for agreement.

“Well, you’re half right,” Alex nodded, as Twilight frowned a bit at being wrong in the first place, “It was because of my mastery of the element of chaos. They needed me to help master the others.”

“What do you mean, ‘the others?’” Celestia asked, intrigued by his mentioning of their currently useless Elements of Harmony.

“I guess that’s the next thing, right?” Alex asked, thinking back to his conversation with Discord, while they were both still frozen, “The Elements…”

“What’s changed about them?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah!” Applejack asked, “Ah’ like fightin’ an’ all, but we’re gonna need to use’em at some point here, right?”

“We are,” Celestia nodded, looking to Alpha, deciding to move on to him last, “So, what did Discord tell you?”

“We had a few conversations,” Alex recalled, “But it seems to me, that each Element is going to need to be harmonized.”

“So, we need to turn them back to normal?” Rarity asked, “Make them Elements of Harmony once again?”

“I should rephrase,” Alex said quickly, waving off her answer, “We need to unite the chaos, and the harmony inside them, to make something new.”

“Is that possible?” Twilight asked, practically leaning her entire body over the table, “How would we do that?”

“Well…” Alex said hesitantly.

“You’ll all need to go through the same process as him,” Alpha spoke up, piquing their interests.

“What process is that, exactly?” Spike asked.

“Each of you will need to face your chaotic sides, just as Alex did, with his counterpart Dax,” Alpha explained, as mixed emotions spread over each of their faces, “Kindness will need to be faced with her cruel side, Generosity will need to accept her greed, Laughter will need to be very serious, Loyalty will need to show betrayal, and Honesty will have to learn of deceit.”

“Wait!” Pinkie cut in, “Didn’t we already face those things?”

“Yeah!” Applejack agreed, “Ah’ve already seen mah’ lyin’ side!”

“You did, yes,” Alpha agreed, remembering the reports from their informant two years back, “But this will be many times worse than those experiences. You each have a dark side associated with these attributes, and you will each need to accept them as a part of yourself.”

“That’ll be easy!” Pinkie said, “I’m serious sometimes! Does that mean I’m done?”

“Just give us a second, Pinkie,” Alex said, knowing the details just as well as Alpha, “We’re getting to that.”

“Okie dokie!”

“Hey!” Twilight jumped up, not hearing her element in that list, “Don’t I have to face something?”

“What would be the opposite of magic, anyway?” Spike asked, thinking to himself.

“Atheism?” Alex tried, laughing a bit to himself before feeling a bit awkward, “Mmmmaybe science?”

“There is no opposite to that one,” Alpha explained, knowing all of this information like the back of his hoof, “Your Element, magic, responds to the elements it’s around. Your harmonious friends make it harmonious, but, when they start showing their chaotic sides, you’ll be influenced, and possibly act different as a result.”

“That sounds a little scary…” Twilight admitted, not realizing that she might have to change according to her friends.

“Does that answer everything?” Alex asked, looking to Dash and smiling, “Because I seriously need to get to bed.”

Celestia sighed, she was convinced this was Alex, and her questions were now answered… But so much had happened tonight that she needed to know about.

“Oh yeah!” Alex said, as if reading her mind, “Princess Luna saved ALL of us.”

“I did!” Luna smiled, winking at Alex for him fulfilling her request.

“Well,” Celestia sighed, quite tired herself, “Before any of us can go to bed, we need to deal with Alpha.”

Alpha nodded, and stepped away from the table.

“I understand that you can’t take any chances, Princess,” Alpha said politely, “I’m happy to be placed in the dungeon.”

Celestia considered this for a moment, as she mulled over other possibilities.

“I think a guard detail, and a guest room will be fine,” Twilight cut in, surprising everypony with her forwardness, “Come with me, I’ll show you the way.”

“Twilight,” Celestia cut in, giving her student an odd look, “I haven’t made up my mind on what we should…”

Celestia trailed off, as Twilight gave her a ‘I’ve made up my mind’ look. There was no fighting her student today.

“Alright,” Celestia nodded finally, “Two guards outside, and place make sure there are no windows he could escape through.”

“Princess, I hardly—“

“Twilight, please,” Celestia said, quite surprised by her zealous behavior over Alpha, “If Alex says he doesn’t pose a threat, then I’ll entertain it. But he’s still no guest.”

Twilight nodded solemnly.

“Thank you, Twilight,” Alpha said, smiling to her as he was led out of the room by the guards.

“Do you need any assistance getting out of that armor?” Celestia asked, as she headed for the exit herself.

“That would actually be—“

“Nope!” Dash cut in, “He’ll be fine, thanks!”

“Alright, my little ponies, rest easy,” She said as the door closed behind her, going to raise the sun.

Alex looked to Dash with a bit of confusion, wondering why she had insisted he stay in the suit. It wasn’t exactly something he could sleep in. But, when he made eye contact with her, he quickly realized that she wasn’t ready to sleep just yet.

Everypony else noticed the exchange going on between the two of them, and decided to leave them be. Everypony could welcome Alex back a second time tomorrow.

“Why don’t we go to my room?” Dash asked quietly, her eyes glazed over, “This is my second chance to come clean to you. And it had better not be a repeat performance.”

Alex knew what she was talking about, and nodded.

Speed.

////

Dash and Alex entered the room, giving Dash the same pause she felt the last time she came clean about her night with Speed. But, this time, Alex wasn’t a changeling in disguise, and he already knew what she had done… But, this still needed to happen. There was no stopping it.

“Alex,” Dash said, turning to him as soon as the door closed, “I cheated on you. I slept with somepony else, and I’m so, so sorry. But- But I can’t handle you leaving me over it. I think I might die! So, please, just--”

“Colors,” Alex said softly, clearly showing some trouble in his own gaze, “You don’t need to apologize to me.”

“Y-you’re not mad?” She asked, her heart leaping, hoping this would be over and done with.

“Dash, I was around when it happened,” Alex said, still unsure in his tone, as he looked to the floor, “I helped burn that town down.”

“Y-yeah…” Dash said quietly, knowing this wasn’t going to be as simple as she had hoped, “H-how did you feel?”

“Well, I was under mind control at the time, but it still hurt more than any punch, or cut, or gem through my cheek ever did,” Alex sighed, swallowing hard, “I think I even cried a little… Not that my face showed the expression at the time.”

Dash felt her heart sink as he explained himself to her, knowing full well how horrible this had been for him, considering she could place herself in his position easily enough.

“The whole time I was the armored stallion, I worried every day that I would hear about some new guy you were dating, or some one night stand you might have…” Alex said, feeling his heart sink at the memory of that time, “I mean, you were leading a team to save me, so I always had that security…”

“Alex, I had no interest in anypony else. Never.” Dash squeaked, obviously moved by his admittance of his trust in her, “Speed was… A stupid, stupid mistake.”

“I know.” Alex nodded, looking back up to her from the floor, “I heard the reports of what you did the next morning.”

Dash was half-way between blushing and crying. It was truly a new experience for her.

“But, after everything, you were still faithful,” Alex continued, as he smiled weakly to her, “You made one mistake, but you never made a second one.”

“I couldn’t.” She shook her head, feeling one of her tears escape and roll down her cheek, “I’ve felt like a monster ever since I did it, and I never want to feel that way again.”

Dash leaned forward, pressing her head in to his metal covered chest, as her tears began to flow freely. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and she was bare to him. All she could hope, was that he would comfort her, despite her own wrong-doings.

Alex could feel his heart wrench at her emotions. She didn’t deserve any ill will. He had been hurt when she slept with Speed, but it was a single mistake. One that he could never hold against her… Now all he had to do was come clean about his own exploits.

“Dash, I have something to admit myself,” Alex said uneasily, as she kept her place on his chest, “I… May have been doing something with somepony else, while I was under their control…”

Dash pulled her head back, and gave him a truly confused look.

“I… I may have been forced to… please the Queen.” Alex said quietly.

“Come again?” Dash asked, cocking her head, the tears now fully stopped.

“Well, it started out as an embarrassing walk-in on the changeling queen… But it ended with some pretty regular-rutting.” Alex said, his own heart racing as he tried to read her blank expression.

“…How many times?” She asked, not showing anything emotionally.

“Uh…” Alex began, counting the number of times as best he could, “Forty- Forty Two.”

Despite her attempt at being stoic, her slowly lowering eyebrows told a different story.

“Don’t be mad!” Alex said quickly, before she could go into explode-mode, “I had ZERO say in the matter! I was basically rape!”

“Was she better than me?” She asked, now fully frowning, confusing Alex with that odd question.

“Like a hotdog down a hallway,” Alex said, hoping that expression would translate over to her.

There was clearly a battle going on inside her head as she considered the information she had just heard. The Queen of the changelings forced herself on a helpless Alex.

He had no say in the matter.

“That bitch!” Dash shouted, as Alex pulled his head away from her, hoping not to get punched in the face, “How could she take advantage of you like that?!”

Alex exhaled, his eyes wide, bullet dodged.



“Look, Dash,” Alex said quickly, placing a hoof on her shoulder, as she jolted a bit at the contact, “We’re back together. We have each other again.”

Alex leaned forward, and gave her the kiss he had been dying to give her for the past year and a half. It was simple, and yet it had more passion than any of their previous ones. Their unmoving lips conveyed their happiness with simplicity, as they enjoyed nothing more than each other’s company.

Pulling back, Alex smiled to her, almost crying himself. “I love you so much Rainbow Dash.”

“I love you too...” She squeaked, keeping herself from turning into a blubbering pile of tears.

“You look good in that coat,” Alex grinned, looking her over, “May I take it off?”

“Y-yeah…” She said, just staring at him, finding herself smiling at nothing more than his presence.

“And, while we’re on the topic,” Alex began, lifting her up with a spell, and unbuttoning her captain’s coat, “Can I please, please break you in half?”

Dash exhaled quickly, as the final button came undone, opening the coat and exposing her chest. Next, she kept completely still, as he lifted her up and placed her on the bed, knocking over a huge pile of notes in the process, spreading them all over the room.

“I’ll be insulted if I can still walk tomorrow… Before you do anything,” She said quietly, looking him over and getting a naughty idea, “Do you remember the second time you took the healing spell from me?”

Alex thought back for a moment. He had shown up, got his henchponies to leave, and then…

“Was it when I pinned you to the floor and… Oh!” Alex nodded, getting the idea quickly.

“Put your helmet on, and do it again,” She grinned seductively, her breathing ragged, and her heart pounding.

Grinning confidently, Alex tapped his neck, bringing his helmet back to his head, hiding his face completely, just as it had for the past two years.

Pinning her legs to the bed, he stepped on to it, and placed himself over her, just as he had a year ago.

“I’ll bet you taste nice…”

////

Twilight made sure to make a mental note of the room Alpha had been placed in, so she could send herself there after everypony had gone to sleep. She had some questions she needed answered from the changeling, and wasn’t willing to wait till tomorrow to find them out.

Alpha was shocked to say the least when the purple mare appeared in his room, but, he decided not to make any noise. The last thing he needed to do was alert the guards and get her in trouble.

“Alpha,” Twilight said quietly, gesturing for him to get closer to her, “I’ll give us some privacy.”

As soon as he was within range, she used a spell to incase them in a bubble that she often used when she needed complete silence, and didn’t want to alert anypony to loud noises she might be making. In this case, it was just so they could talk without getting the guards involved.

“Why are you here?” He asked, examining the shield around them.

“You know why,” She said, thinking back to their night in her room, “You kissed me!”

“Yeah…” Alpha said, nervously scratching the back of his head, “I’m sorry about that.”

“Why did you do it?” She asked instantly, not giving him any free time to get a word in, besides his answers.

“I- I don’t know,” He stammered.

“Answer me.”

Alpha sighed and rolled his eyes. This was the trouble with mares… Always so insistent.

“For the same reason I kissed you at Haven Station, okay?” He admitted with a frustrated sigh, “You’re just… exceedingly my type.”

“And what type is that?”

Alpha wasn’t sure if Twilight was out for some kind of self-gratification, or if she was genuinely curious, but he decided to play along with her regardless.

“Smart, and hot as all hell,” He said, finally breaking her statue-like expression, with a deep blush and look away, “Is that all you wanted to know?”

Twilight fought back the blush and returned to a normal stance, “I- I did have one more question…”

“What’s that?” He asked, curious if she was here for more than just a conversation.

“When my friends have to face their dark sides, how much will they be different?” Twilight asked, surprising him with the topic change.

“They won’t be your friends,” Alpha said, shaking his head, “They’ll be the darkest, and worst parts of themselves. They have no idea what’s coming for them.”

“Okay,” Twilight nodded quickly, satisfied with his answer, “I guess that’s it then!”

The spell around them broke down, as Alpha gave her a bit of a sad look.

“So… no kiss goodbye?” He whispered, with the shield now broken.

“Please.” She smirked, as she vanished in a mass of sparks, leaving him feeling lonely.

“Stupid!” He scolded himself, banging his hoof on his head, “That’s not how you talk to girls!”

Twilight giggled silently, watching him from where she had just been, but invisible instead.

He seemed nice enough… But he still has to atone for a few things before she would consider him to be a suitor. She was a very picky pony!

////

Life had finally returned to normal for everypony, more or less. And they were finally ready to move on to bigger, and much more pressing things.

Master their dark sides.

Fight their unknown enemy.

Be wed.

Have children.

That was the plan of course. But, things loved to deviate from the plan for these ponies. So, they would just have to take it one step at a time.

For now, however, all they had to worry about was that ‘It’ had returned.

The Crystal Empire.

Author's Note:

Alrighty! All set to keep going.

The breakdown of the series will be very different from here on in, as I'm going to be mixing season 2 and season 3 episodes together, since two years have passed. Certain episodes will never happen because they were dictated by time itself, (Hearts and Hooves, Hearts Warming Eve, Nightmare Night,) But others will happen, so long as they can happen on any day.

Also, as for all the comments i've been horrible at responding to, i'm very sorry! I'll try to keep up from now on.

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