//------------------------------// // A Surprising Talk // Story: Twilight's NEW Friends // by BelleofdaBall //------------------------------// Twilight sat at a wooden desk in the palace library, re-reading a book of advanced spells she had read many times before. Ever since she had deposed of the princesses, she had become the figurehead of Equestrian government, though her friends on the League of Extraordinary Misfits had taken over most of the duties the royalty had. Her days were mostly full of reading and practicing different spells; some things she was quite familiar with. Though somehow, her daily activities didn’t feel as fun as they had in the past. Now they felt tedious and sad. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on why, however. Twilight tried to shrug off the feeling of melancholy by focusing her attention on a spell she had always been curious about but hadn’t yet tried; a shapeshifting spell that could transform the magician or a volunteer into any creature they wanted. The lavender unicorn took a deep breath and closed her eyes, picturing the animal she wanted to become in her mind. “That’s it. Just focus,” she told herself. She concentrated her mind on the animal, feeling her magic sweep over her body like a wave. As Twilight focused on the mental image of the animal, she felt her body begin to change. Her forelegs slowly lost their hairy cover and split at the ends into fingers. Her hindlegs began to sprout catlike toes. Her tail morphed into a paintbrush-like appendage. Wings began to grow from her back. Before she knew it, the spell had completely taken her over. Twilight opened her eyes as she felt the magic begin to disperse. She hurried over to a nearby mirror to observe the changes. Looking back at her was a magnificent griffon with purple eyes. “Ha ha! It worked! Oh man, if Rainbow Dash saw me looking like Gilda…” The unicorn stopped midsentence. “Rainbow Dash…” she repeated the name sadly. No wonder she felt so low practicing her spells; it wasn’t nearly as much fun trying out new magic without her ex-friends encouraging her. Not that she didn’t try out new spells for the League, of course. She remembered the previous day, she had performed a difficult teleportation spell that had taken her several tries to master in front of Ursula and Maleficent. And while the two ladies had been very impressed when she pulled it off, it wasn’t the same as Rainbow Dash drumming on her back encouragingly or Pinkie Pie throwing a “Twilight just did a new spell” party. Twilight sighed, letting go of the spell, her body turning back into her regular unicorn form. While part of her was still furious with the Ponyville ponies and her brother for turning their backs on her at the wedding rehearsal, part of her had to admit she kind of missed them all. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Twilight yelped as she looked up from her desk at the discord goddess watching her from the doorway. “Eris, hi. No, you’re not interrupting anything at all. I was just reading up on some new spells.” “I can see that,” Eris smirked as she saw the overturned book on the desk. “Advanced spells. Impressive. Have you found anything in there about controlling celestial bodies?” “Huh? You mean like raising the sun and moon?” Twilight asked. Eris nodded. “Why would there be a spell in the book for that? Only alicorns can control those things.” “Oh really?” Eris smiled, shifting into mist and reforming lying on her stomach on top of Twilight’s desk. “Because I seem to recall that before Celestia or Luna were even born, unicorns controlled the sun and moon.” “Yeah, but that was eons ago,” Twilight retorted. “That magic has died out in unicorns since the princesses took over. And now, we have Luna performing double duty. Even if I COULD find a spell like that, why would I need to?” Eris chuckled and shifted into mist, reforming next to Twilight. “Come now, Twilight, what kind of talk is that? Do you think you would have been chosen as Celestia’s personal pupil if you had held that “I don’t need this spell, so I’m not going to try to learn it” mentality when you were a filly?” Twilight thought about that. “Well, no, I guess not. But I still don’t see why you’d WANT me to learn that spell.” “Because I’m your friend, Twilight,” Eris explained. “Friends encourage each other to be the best them they can be, right?” The unicorn nodded. “Well, by learning a spell to raise the sun and moon, you’d be becoming your best self.” “I guess that makes sense,” Twilight replied. “Kind of.” Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Twilight, the traitors would like to have a word with you,” Maleficent told the unicorn. Eris sneered. “Tell them that Twilight is busy learning new magic.” “No, it’s all right,” Twilight argued. “I’ll go talk to them, then get right back to learning those spells.” Eris looked annoyed, but seemed to comply with this idea. Twilight didn’t know why Eris cared whether or not she learned the spell, but she appreciated having her friend’s support. Twilight followed Maleficent and Eris down the hall towards a large spare bedroom, which had been converted into six upper class prison cells like the one Luna was kept in, only these were protected by a force field rather than iron bars, so while the ponies could move around more, they still couldn’t escape. The only way out was if one of the magical beings let the field down, which only happened when the ponies were needed to perform their new roles as servants to the League. Twilight went into the prison room, where her five former friends and older brother were waiting for her. “I can handle it, ladies, thank you,” she told the fairy and goddess. Maleficent nodded and left the room; however, Eris stayed behind, in case the prisoners got too rowdy, Twilight supposed. The unicorn looked solemnly at the prisoners before her, each looking back at her with unreadable faces. “You wanted to speak to me, I was told,” she spoke up. Shining walked up to the edge of his personal force field so he was seemingly inches from his younger sister, though he couldn’t touch her. “Twilight, we’ve all gone through a lot these past few days. While I was once a proud, decorated member of the Royal Guard of Canterlot, now I have been reduced to plaything for your fairy friend. These mares, once noted career ponies, are mere servants to this League of Extraordinary Misfits that you have become enleagued with. Our sun princess is now a stone decoration, and our moon princess wallows in the Canterlot dungeons. And through it all, I have just one thing to say to you.” “And what would that be?” Twilight asked coldly. “I love you.” Twilight blinked, thrown a bit off guard by her brother’s words. She had expected him to say that he hated her, that he never wanted to see her again, that he thought she was the scum of the earth for becoming a part of the League. “I’m sorry, what was that?” “I love you, Twilie. I’ve loved you from the second you were born, and I’ll love you until the day I draw my last breath.” The unicorn looked flabbergasted. She couldn’t be hearing this right. “You…love me?” “Of course I do.” Shining smiled, a warm, kind smile. “You’re my Little Sister Best Friend Forever.” The Ponyville ponies walked up to the edges of their force fields. “We love you too, sugar cube,” Applejack spoke up. “We do, you’re the most wonderful friend any of us could ask for,” Fluttershy agreed. “Yeah, and we don’t blame you for being mad at us,” Pinkie added. “We were real stinkers back at the rehearsal.” “We acted absolutely horridly,” Rarity concurred. “We tossed aside your loyalty, your trust, your friendship for some fancy-schmancy pony that ended up not being worth a hill of horse apples,” Rainbow Dash grunted sadly. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself for throwing you out of my wedding, Twilie,” Shining sighed. “I was a real flankhole to you, and all you ever did was care about my wellbeing. I know you’ll probably never forgive me, or any of us, for what we did, but we want you to know that we are all truly sorry.” One by one, the Ponyville mares offered their apologies as well. “I’m so sorry, sugar.” “Really, really sorry.” “Exceedingly sorry, darling.” “Super-duper sorry!” “Sorry, Twi.” Twilight stood there, unable to move or talk. She felt as if something inside her was going to burst. Before she could find a word to say, though, Eris cleared her throat. “Well, isn’t that a LOVELY little show,” the goddess commended, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “But your little crocodile tears show isn’t going to sway us into giving you six any special treatment.” “Hey now, that’s not what we were trying to do!” Applejack cried out. “We really ARE sorry,” Fluttershy piped up meekly. “Shut it!” Eris pounded her fist on the force field in front of Fluttershy, making contact like it was a plexiglass wall, making the yellow pegasus jump back. “Come on, Twilight, you don’t have time to listen to their pathetic schlock. You have a celestial spell to learn.” Twilight looked silently from the League leader to the ponies in the force fields, then back to Eris. She seemed to want to say something, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. She simply gave a sad nod to the other ponies, then walked out the room, followed closely behind by Eris, who slammed the door behind her. “How did it go?” Maleficent asked, having waited outside the door. “Just as you’d think it would go,” Eris replied. “Those little ponies tried throwing a little pity party to lure Twilight back into their trap, but our girl is too strong for that, aren’t you, Twilight?” “Yeah…” Twilight responded, not really paying attention. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back into the library now.” “Good girl, good girl, find that spell and master it for me,” Eris encouraged her. The lavender unicorn gave a small nod and walked off. “What spell?” Maleficent asked the smirking goddess. “Let’s just say that once Twilight masters that spell, there’ll be no need to keep little Luna alive any longer.”