Alex listened to the explanation about everything that happened with Tirek, even though all of them were worried about Equestria’s fate, it was obvious that their main concern was Twilight. All of them assumed Tirek was looking for her simply because she was an Alicorn and of course he wanted to steal all of her magic.
Once they were done explaining how they ended up trapped in the cage and got their magic stolen, Alex felt an urge to beat Discord. Trying not to do it, he approached him.
“I hope you are happy traitor!”
Discord didn’t say anything. Narrowing his eyes he turned his head away.
“I guess you are not. Anyways, enjoy your last day in Equestria. Because once we solve this I will ask Celestia to send you into exile forever!”
Everypony was really surprised of hearing Alex talking like this, but none of them dare say anything. Fluttershy knew very deep in her heart that Discord could face a severe punishment for what he did. Exilement could be one of them, it was either that, being turned into stone again or even death. But it was better not think about it.
After trying a couple of times Alex finally gave up. It was obvious Discords was not going to say anything. Alex turned around and started to walk away. But suddenly...
“What gives you the right?”
Alex stopped. He clenched his fist and slowly turned his head.
“What did you say?”
Discord eyes were so full of hate. It was easy to tell he would kill Alex if he could.
“What gives you the right to judge me?”
Alex grabbed his own chin. He seemed to be thinking deeply before giving an answer.
“Mmmm, what gives me the right? Let see… First of all, you betrayed the Princess and helped a crazy Centaur literally steal everypony’s magic in all of Equestria and then, you betrayed your only friend; who, in case you forgot, IS MY MAREFRIEND!”
Discord closed his eyes and started to laugh.
“Your mare friend? Hahahahahahahaha! Excuse me for forgetting it. I guess I just forgot after seeing her cry every night asking me what she did wrong that caused you to leave her.”
Alex wasn’t prepared for that. Discord didn’t stopped there, the “dagger” had to go deeper.
“And let’s all not forget what an amazing friend and lover you are. So amazing, you decided to abandon everypony who cares for you without even minding how heartbroken would your friends be, oh yeah! I am totally sure the princesses will award you for such amazing feats!”
“Discord! That’s enough!” Fluttershy said. She stood next to Alex, grabbing his hand with her wing.
Discord noticed how she grabbed Alex’s hand “Why are you doing that? Did you just forget about all the tears that you…”
“STOP!” Fluttershy shouted “We are back together and we’ll keep it that way!”
Discord was about to say something else but Alex stopped him:
“You are right Discord, I know there is so much I need to do to make up for all the things I did to my friends; I know I abandoned them, I know I hurt them and the fact they forgave me so quickly makes me feel happy but it also makes me feel even worse for all the wrong I did. I made mistakes, horrible ones, but I tell you this, I will set things right; I will make Fluttershy be the most happy mare in this World and I will be the best friend I can be for all of them. I will atone for my sins, because I know I ran away, but at least I don’t have to live the rest of my life knowing that I betrayed them! Knowing that I’m the reason Equestria may fall to an enemy, and worst of all, knowing I betrayed my best friend for a beast who only used me because I was so stupid and blind to fall for his lies!”
Everypony was so shocked. Even though it seemed Alex was going a little too far, they knew he was right. It seemed that Discord’s betrayal would be something really difficult to forget.
Alex didn’t want to talk to Discord anymore so he turned around and walked away. Fluttershy noticed this and got in his way.
“Alex? What do you think you are doing?”
“What do you think baby? We need to...” He kept walking towards the exit but Fluttershy pushed him a little.
“You are not thinking about facing this Tirek, are you?” Spiked asked from a distance.
“What? No! unless it is totally necessary. We need to find Twilight first, and once we are all together, we can think of a plan to stop him!”
“But that monster is still out there darling, what if he sees you? He will try to steal your magic too! Please don’t go out”
Everypony seemed to agree with Fluttershy. They didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
“Listen - Alex said - I am confident in the fact that Twilight can defend herself, but I just can’t stay here knowing she is out there and that this monster roaming around.”
“At least let us go with you partner!” Applejack replied.
“Sorry AJ but your magic has just been stolen and it’s obvious you are pretty tired. All of you should rest before you try anything.”
“That’s not true!” Applejack shouted, she tried to argue but Alex proved his point by gently pushing her with his hand, Applejack fell on the floor. She was barely able to stand up. It was no secret that Applejack was the strongest of the group, yet, she was so weak and defenseless right now.
Alex turned around wanting to get outside but Fluttershy was still standing in his way.
“I’ll be fine, I promise!”
Fluttershy’s answer was a crushing hug “Please, come back to me.”
Alex seemed very surprised after hearing this “Are you not trying to stop me or coming with me anymore?”
“I know I will only be a burden if I come with you - she answered - I also know I can’t stop you from doing this. As I told you before, we are a team and I choose to trust you.”
Alex was amazed at her words. He didn’t want to let go of her. He wanted to remain in her arms forever, he was so in love with her. This was a force impossible to resist but he knew he had to go. He let go of her and walked towards the exit. Before leaving, he turned around and saw all of his loved friends; all of them looked so worried and they were unable to hide it. He looked at them and said:
“This time, I will not disappear, I’ll be back with Twilight, I promise you all with all of my heart!”
Everypony nodded, Alex smiled and put on his Meta Pendant, leaving the place.
-----
Alex was wandering around Ponyville. As before, Ponyville was a now ghost town; every house was closed but he knew some inhabitants were still in their houses as he felt their eyes looking at him.
It was a fact all of them were afraid. Considering there was a crazy monster looking to steal all of their magic, it was understandable. He wandered around for a couple of hours but Twilight was nowhere to be found.
“Where could she be? - he asked himself - maybe in the Two sisters Castle’s library? Well, that is a little far away so I better start my way there”
Alex started trotting. He didn’t want to go to fast because he wanted to save some energy, just in case he needed it. Just in case...
-------
Alex was still on his way to the castle “I really hope she is in there. Otherwise, how am I going to find her in this huge world? It’s not like she would appear in front of me out of nowhe…”
A bright light blinded him but he was quick enough to move out of its way. Twilight appeared right in the middle of this shining light “Twilight! Is that really you?” Alex asked.
She had her eyes closed and it seemed she was dizzy “This is too much magic, I can’t control this crazy teleportations!” She said, clearly irritated.
It seemed as if she hasn’t listened to him so he got closer to her:
“Twilight?”
The Alicorn opened her eyes after hearing Alex’s familiar voice. She turned around and saw his friend, not in his human form but looking like a charming pony.
“Alex?”
“Yes Twilight, it’s me, how did you...”
He wanted to ask a couple of questions but he was immediately interrupted by a hug from his alicorn friend, she was so strong he felt his ribs were almost broken.
“Oh it’s you Alex! It’s you! It’s so good to see you again!”
“I’m glad to see you too Twilight but. . .god please! If you keep hugging me like this you’ll break me in half!”
Twilight remembered her strength was magically enhanced and immediately let go of him “Oh sorry! … Hey! Don’t forget why I should be mad at you right now!” She replied. She seemed a little furious.
“I do Twilight, and I’m sorry. I promise we will discuss this matter later, but for now, I must bring you with me back to Sugarcube Corner, all our friends are waiting for us there!”
“Really? - she asked - Are they ok?”
“I will not lie to you Twilight, their magic was stolen but they seem to be fine. Do you think you can teleport us there?”
“I can’t, it would be dangerous for you if I do!”
“Why? As far as I know, you are an expert with this teleportation things.”
“Well, under normal circumstances I am, but right now… you see...” - Twilight told Alex about how the three Princesses gave all of their magic to her in order to protect it from being stolen by Tirek and how she was having trouble controlling this great amount of power. Alex understood the situation and felt a little bad for her, it was a great responsibility to lay on a little pony like her. Celestia had so much trust on her. Alex also explained Twilight how he rescued their friends and had Discord tied up. Twilight didn’t say anything about it, she was still hurt about his betrayal but deep inside wanted to believe he was truly sorry for his actions.
“I see - Alex said - so how about we trot there instead?”
“I like that idea, let’s go” She answered.
Alex smiled, but before they could start their way back to Sugarcube, they heard a powerful voice screaming her name:
“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!”
They heard the evil Centaur screaming in the distance. It was weird, Tirek wasn’t suppose to know about her existence as an Alicorn.
“It seems you have an admirer Twilight, how about we ignore him for now and try to get to Ponyville in one piece?”
“Another good idea Alex!” Twilight answered, trying to ignore the fact that a crazy beast was looking for her.
They were doing an excellent job in hiding from Tirek while on their way to Ponyville. Unfortunately for them, he had reached their destination too. He was right in the entrance to Ponyville furiously charging his horns with magic. Alex was speechless, Tirek was indeed a huge monster, red skin with black fur covering his four legs, his black eyes and white beard made him look more frightening.
He noticed he looked a lot like the Tirek he remembered from the movies. He had kept a lot of his appearance but seeing him in real life made him look more evil and a lot stronger.
The powerful Centaur opened his mouth again and shouted:
“PRINCESS TWILIGHT, IF YOU DON’T APPEAR BEFORE ME WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES! YOU CAN KISS PONYVILLE GOODBYE, DID YOU HEAR ME?!”
Twilight closed her eyes and gasped: “Coward...”
She turned to Alex and smiled. What she was about to say was pretty obvious.
“I have to go Alex, otherwise he will destroy Ponyville and our friends!”
“I know Twilight, let’s go!”
The look in Twilight’s eyes was pretty clear too “I’ll go alone Alex...”
“What?” He asked. He couldn’t let her do that.
“Alex - she said - he has stolen all Equestria’s magic, except the Alicorn and the magic that was given to you by the amulet. I am sure he is insanely strong by now. I don’t even know if I can stop him!”
“That’s more a reason to take me with you Twilight, I know we can do this together!”
“But Alex, I…”
“Twilight! I know we can do this together, trust me!”
“Promise me this Alex, if things get too difficult, you’ll run away.”
Alex smiled.
“You know very well I won’t do that Twilight, we start this together, we end this together!”
Twilight knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. She knew the human was determined. She smiled and nodded, Alex smiled too.
These great friends started running at full speed towards the powerful enemy that was threatening the life of everypony.
“Ok, hora de patear un culo enorme”