Twilight vs Tirek

by RainbowSparkle3


Meanwhile...

I smiled and waved at Twilight and Spike as they entered the portal, but as soon as I was sure they were gone, I sighed, and said to myself, "Well, I guess it's just you and me, castle!"

I walked around for a bit, exploring the huge castle, but I soon got bored and decided to head outside. Sure, it was dangerous, but having your life at risk is WAAAAY better than boredom. 

I wandered aimlessly for a while, glad just to have the fresh air hitting my face. I found a good stop for training and did just that for a little while, but then I continued with my walk. 

And then, I stopped, and slapped my face. "Uhhhh. I'm bored anyway! Why did Twilight have to leave me here? Being in another dimension would've been so fun!" Then I got an idea that WOULD be fun! Maybe it's time I familiarized myself with Twilight's friends. I recalled them telling Twilight they would go back to Ponyville, and so I wandered around until I found a shop with a map of Ponyville and teleported there. More specifically, I teleported to Sugar Cube Corner, which was apparently "the most delicious shop in Equestria! Literally and with its treats!" (I know, that joke was so bad. The house wasn't even actually made of sweets) and then I heard my belly rumbling. I chuckled and walked into the store.

The shop was completely empty, dust collecting in random parts of the store, though the treats themselves were still in the display area. "Oh, riiight," I said, realizing that Tirek had just been in town.

"Wh-who's there," a mare called out, shakily. 

"Um, just a customer," I replied as casually as I could, but couldn’t completely hide how weird this was.

A blue mare with pink hair that looked like cupcake frosting slowly stepped out into the open. “O-oh!,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting any customers anytime soon! What with the Tirek incident and all…”

“Well, it won't help to dwell on that. Anyways, can I get that cupcake?” I pointed at a scrumptious looking, blue cupcake.

The mare immediately regained her composure and brought out a notepad, writing something down and then saying, “Of course. That'll be 2 bits.”

I pulled out the money needed for the delicious looking treat, gave it to the store clerk, and picked up the cupcake she took out with levitation. “Thank you. Goodbye!” I said as I walked out of the empty shop.

I then realized that I had no idea where to find Twilight’s friends, which was the only reason I came here in the first place, so I walked back and asked, “Would you happen to know where Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy are?"

The mare became suspicious and raised an eyebrow. "Yes...why?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but in short, I recently befriended Princess Twilight and would like to become more acquainted with her friends."

She continued to look a bit suspicious, but then shrugged and whispered to herself, "Well, she doesn’t seem to be with him," and then looked up and said, "They're actually right here upstairs. They should be in the room to the right when you get up there."

I thanked her and started to head upstairs. I could hear faint talking coming from the room the blue mare had told me about. I then stopped halfway up, and I started to get worried. I wonder what they'll think of seeing me right after I stole their cutie marks and imprisoned them... I shook my head and took a deep breath, then continued until I reached the top. The talking stopped, presumably because they heard my hoofsteps. I walked up to the room they were in, and knocked on the door a few times. 

There were a few moments of silence, until I heard an elegant voice asking, "Come in?" She said that a bit cautiously, which wasn't surprising at all. I used my magic to slowly open the door and saw all of Twilight's friends standing and sitting around the mostly empty room.

"Um, hi?" I said, waving a hoof and forcing a smile. 

"Oh, it's you," Rainbow said a bit grumpily. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, me and Twilight did face Tirek, but it didn't go so well. And then some stuff happened with a journal and magical portal, and long story short? I had some free time, so I thought I'd come to get to know you all."

"Oh, is that all? You should've said so in the first place!" Pinkie said cheerfully. Though the cheeriness seemed a little low, probably because of Tirek still having her magic. "Where should we start?" She tapped her chin with her hoof a few times, then raised it and shouted, "Aha! We'll all sit in a circle and say something about ourselves after saying our name!" She ran around and pushed everyone, including me, into a tight circle, then Pinkie smushed herself in between me and Applejack. "I'll start, and we'll go clockwise!" She pointed a hoof at herself and she said, "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I love spreading joy and happiness everywhere I go." Then she frowned and looked to the side. "The opposite of what Tirek's doing..." This made the mood in the room go from light to tense in a split second. Suddenly everybody was looking down, looking guilty as they played games while Tirek was wreaking havoc.

I frowned and gave everyone a smile. "Don't worry. You don't have your magic, so you can't be expected to go up against Lord Tirek. Me and Twilight will handle it after she gets back. For now...why don't you go, Applejack?"

Applejack looked up and tipped her hat to me. "I reckon you're right. It ain't gonna do us any good to fret about it. She lifted her hat from her face and said in her country accent, "I'm Applejack, and I love nothing more than bucking apples on a beautiful summer day." Her eyes seemed to light up as she thought about bucking apples.

I realized then that I liked Applejack. After all, apple juice was all I drank back in the day. "Ha!" I suddenly heard Rainbow Dash laughing and she puffed out her chest in pride. "I'm Rainbow Dash and I love zooming around, impressing everyone with my incredible speed."

I rolled my eyes in slight amusement, then I looked to Fluttershy, who was next. She spoke in a demure voice. "Um, I'm Fluttershy, and I like looking after cute little critters."

I also like critters, but they don't seem to like me quite as much. Lucky Fluttershy. "Ahem," Rarity said, snapping my attention away from Fluttershy and onto her. "I am Rarity, and nothing brings me greater joy than creating beautiful dresses that I can share with everypony."

That was everyone. Now the only one left was me. Everypony stared intently at me, waiting. I took a deep breath and started. "I'm Starlight Glimmer, and..." I had planned on saying I was a skilled magician, but then I was reminded of what I had used the magic for, and so I instead said with a regretful look in my eyes, "I...I used my magical talents to brainwash a whole town and ruled with an iron fist, not allowing anyone to deviate or have any semblance of uniqueness."

There was silence for a long time after that. Nobody seemed to know how to respond to that, until Applejack sighed and patted me on the back. "Sugarcube, that's in the past. Now you're doing all you can to help Equestria."

A sigh escaped me. "I suppose," I mumbled.

Applejack could see that I wasn't satisfied. "You aren't content just sittin' around playing games, are ya'?" She asked. I shook my head, and she continued. "In that case, why don't you go help Twilight? That should keep you busy."

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean go through the portal?" Applejack nodded. I rubbed my hoof against my chin for a few seconds. "Well...she did tell me to try to keep an eye on Tirek, but I don't think that'll be very useful...and I could be of use to her with whatever she's doing..."

Everypony looked encouragingly at me, and I smiled. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna do that."