//------------------------------// // Friend or Foe // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// “So you’re Astelle.. it’s nice to finally meet you.” Twivine says, slightly bowing her head and Astelle says nothing for a bit until her eyes stop glowing and she backs up a bit. “Likewise.” Astelle says before looking at Midnight. “So are we almost ready to begin our plan.” She asks and Midnight nods in response, still having a smirk on her face. “Almost, but I’m not free yet.. I can feel the legion of doom causing more and more chaos but it’s not enough.. but maybe they need some help.” Midnight says before looking at Twivine. “Twivine? Have you ever heard of the Sirens?” She asks and Twivine nods, causing her smirk to grow. “Good, then you know what they can do and possibly who they hate.. I want you to bring them back to Equestria.” Midnight says and Twivine almost agrees until she remembers what Sunset told her and what Starswirl and the Pillars of old did. “I would your majesty but.. there’s two problems..” Twivine starts and Midnight tilts her head before she continues. “They don’t have their powers anymore and Starswirl the bearded made it so they could never come back to Equestria.. trying to bring them back could have fatal consequences.” Twivine says and Midnight growls in annoyance before she gets an idea. “I know what spell he used and you can use it to bring them back, then leave the rest to me.” Midnight says and Twivine nods, smirking evilly and Midnight does the same. “We’re so close Twivine.. don’t fail me now.” She says and Twivine nods once again, fully intending to please her Queen.. no matter the cost. “See? I told you. She’s meditating.” Starlight says to the others who she had asked if they had ever seen Twilight meditate. Of course they all said no and when she told them she was doing it now, none of them believed her. So she decided it better to show rather than tell. “She’s been doing it for about seven minutes now.” Starlight says as she steps in front of Twilight once again, still not getting a response. “But.. that’s so unlike her. I mean..sure she does breathing exercises that Princess Cadance taught her but this? We’ve never seen her do this before.” Fluttershy says, confused just like the rest of her friends and Rainbow Dash walks up to her and tries getting her to wake up. “Hey Twi! You there?” She asks slightly shaking her friend but getting no response. “Wow, she’s really out cold.” She says and Starlight is about to use a spell to try to see what Twilight is really meditating on until Twilight suddenly opens her eyes and grabs her by the throat so quickly that everyone is startled by the sudden violent outburst from their friend. Her hold on Starlight’s throat is enough to cut off her airways and start strangling her. She tries to speak and ask Twilight what she’s doing and tell her to calm down but she doesn’t need to because after a few seconds, Twilight finally calms down and lets her go and quickly gets up, looking guilty. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to-! I just-!” Twilight stutters as she tries to explain and apologize but Celestia is immediately by her side. “Twilight calm down.. breathe in,” Celestia tells her and Twilight takes a deep breath, “breathe out.” Then she exhaled it and she keeps this up for a few more seconds before she looks around at all of them and helps Starlight to her feet. “I’m sorry.. I don’t know what came over me. I was just coming out of it and I saw you right in front of me and I just.. reacted. I guess I’m still a bit jumpy from what I went through with the Legion of Doom.” Twilight explains and it wasn’t exactly a lie, she had no idea Starlight had followed her but she wasn’t affected by her torture anymore. Had the others not been around, she might’ve killed Starlight because of Twivine.. and she still wouldn’t know why she acted like that. “Can you forgive me..?” She asks. Starlight smiles and nods. “Of course I can, it’s not your fault. I’d still be shaken up too.” Starlight says and Twilight smiles and thanks her for understanding. “Just one question.. while you were meditating.. why were you using your magic?” She asks and that is a huge slap in Twivine's face. She had to come up with a lie and quick. As soon as Twilight closes her eyes to try and think, that’s when Twivine takes over again but keeps her eyes normal when she opens them. “Ummm.. I was trying out a new spell to see if my magic still works right.. while I was captured there was a ring on my horn that dampened my magic soooo.. I wanted to try a new spell I learned first before I tried any others.” Twivine says, hoping they’ll believe her and to her relief, they do. “Maybe it is a bit early to try using your magic if it causes you to react that badly to surprises, I would advise getting more rest.” Luna says and Twivine opens her mouth to protest but Celestia speaks before she can. “Twilight, we understand that you don’t wish to take any chances but you need to trust that we can handle things while you rest. You’re just one pony, you can’t handle all of this alone.” Celestia says as she puts a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and smiles at her. "So promise that you’ll get some rest.. if not for yourself then do it for the ponies who love you.. and those who are depending on you.” She says and Twivine seems to think about it, then nods, planning to bring back the Sirens when everyone leaves. Her answer causes Celestia's smile to grow before she and everyone else leaves the room. Twivine smirks as soon as she’s alone and makes an illusion of herself in her bed in case anyone comes to check on her then she teleports to where the mirror is in the castle which is the same room it was in before it was moved to her own castle in Ponyville. She then uses the spell Midnight taught her and after a few failed attempts, she eventually gets it as she sees three silhouettes coming through the portal formed in the mirror. She then smirks and backs up but her smirk fades when the castle seems to shake and the mirror starts cracking. She quickly tries to stop whatever is happening but when she does the cracking gets worse and worse. She hears footsteps but can’t get away in time as her friends turn the corner and see her and all say the same thing. “Twilight?!” They yell but before they can say anything else, the portal starts to collapse in on itself until.. it finally explodes and when the smoke clears and Spike, Starlight, Luna, Celestia, and the castle guards all reach the room.. the mane 6 is gone. But in the center of the room, the Dazzlings/Sirens are all laying in the rubble that now covered the floor but they weren’t their gigantic, terrifying, scaly selves.. they were three unicorns. They slowly open their eyes and all get up and look around confused but their confusion quickly turns to aggression when they see the ponies before them. Before they can do anything though, they all become engulfed in black mist and taken to a different location. “Now where are we?!” Aria asks with more frustration than anything else. None of them know what had happened. One moment they were about to walk into their shared house that they had gotten about two years ago when suddenly they were surrounded by Equestrian magic and taken through the portal that still lied at Canterlot High and then they were in that room. They needed time to process everything. As they looked around, they realized that they were in some sort of terrifying tomb that not even the deepest darkest depths of the ocean compared to. “T-This place is kinda scary.. why don’t we go ahead and find a way out?” Sonata suggests but before her two older sisters can agree with her, they all hear a voice coming from behind them. “Oh I wouldn’t leave just yet.. unless you don’t want to reclaim your former glory.. and powers.” The voice says and they all freeze up and slowly turn to see who’s talking and see a shadowy figure that is clearly an alicorn and they are very intrigued by the offer and Adagio, being the oldest sibling, decides she should be the one to step forward and hear them out. “Go on..” She says and Midnight can’t help but smirk evilly. Everyone was absolutely shocked by the events they just witnessed and also confused. The mane 6 was gone but the Sirens were somehow back in Equestria and the mirror was now destroyed. Starlight and Celestia paled at the realization that Sunset Shimmer was still on the other side.. and now she was trapped there. “Rarity.. Twilight.. guys!” Spike calls as he and the others looked around for them and he gets no response.. until they all hear something and somepony emerges from the rubble and Starlight and Celestia are immediately filled with some relief. “Sunset Shimmer!” They both say excitedly as they go to help her up and she accepts their help while coughing and dusting herself off. “We thought we weren’t going to see you again..” Starlight says and Sunset takes a second to catch her breath and take in everything that just happened before looking at Starlight and Celestia. “Of course you’d see me again, why wouldn’t you? Oh and.. what happened here?” Sunset asks, gesturing to the mess in the room until she sees the destroyed portal and the realization hits her like a train. “No..” Sunset says before falling to her knees and Starlight immediately tries to comfort her. “It’s ok.. we’ll fix it and you’ll see them again.. when this is all over or if we get a chance before it is..” Starlight says and Sunset slowly looks at her and stands up. “Till what’s all over?” Sunset asks and Celestia puts a hand on her shoulder and sighs. “Sunset.. we have a lot to talk about.. but first we have to get back to the matter at hand. Finding Twilight and her friends.” As the mane 6 all wake up, they find themselves in separate locations that they’ve never seen before. Twilight was underground somewhere, Rainbow Dash was high in the mountains, surrounded by storm clouds, Applejack was somewhere inside a volcano, Rarity was in what seemed to be a tundra, Fluttershy was in a massive forest and not far from a waterfall, and Pinkie Pie was in some sort of rocky maze. They all look for each other and try to find a way back but they only end up in the same spot that they started in. They try and try and try again over and over but to no avail. They slowly start to give up, except Pinkie of course, until they all hear something and see the slightest hint of a shadow running or flying off to somewhere and they give chase after the silhouette, hoping whoever it is will lead them to the way out of their current situations. They continue to give chase until it disappears somewhere and they’re all standing in front of giant representations.. of their own cutie marks. They question why it lead them there and then they all can just slightly see where they last were in Canterlot inside their cutie marks. They all hear a voice that says something that catches them off guard. “You are here because you are a bearer of one of Equestria’s elements of harmony.. because you are meant to protect it from the evils that lie ahead.. but your current power is not enough to stand up to it. Will you, (Name of each one), answer the call..? Do you accept this power and the right to fight for Equestria?” The voice asks and they all take a minute to process all this before growing determined looks and nodding and answering at the same time. “I do..” they all say at the same time before their cutie marks suddenly start looking very sinister. The voice then says something that sends chills up all their spines before everything goes dark. “Then let the test.. begin.”