Midnight has never been so shocked in her life before. She’s never seen a situation like this before. Midnight wasn’t sure what to do. All these thoughts were going through her head. What am I going to do? What if I fail? What if I let my friends down? What if I let my siblings down? What if I let my parents down? What if this situation shows that I’m not good enough to be princess?
“Midnight,” yelled Jade.
“What?!”
“Are you okay. What’s going on,” asked Lightning Rose.
“I’m fine. It’s just...I..”
“Well what’s going on sis,” asked Flashlight.
“I’ll handle this,” said Starlight, “Our parents have been kidnapped. And we have to go save them.”
“Okay. Who caused this? And how is your mom able to write so fast,” asked Sweet Apple.
“Well, it’s not from my mom,” said Starlight.
“Then who is it from,” asked Rainboom.
“It’s from *gulp* Lord Tirek.” Everybody gasped.
“Why would he want us to go save them,” asked Sweet Apple.
“Don’t you get it,” said Appleseed, “He’s the villain. It’s a trap. He wants us to come so he can trap us as well.”
“Well we gotta go,” said Flashlight.
“No way. I’m not gettin trapped like our moms,” said Appleseed.
“We gotta go,” said Midnight finally getting herself together, “We have to save our mothers.”
“Tirek is tryin to lure us in,” said Appleseed, “And you’re saying we have to go face danger to save our mothers who can defeat anything with the magic of friendship.”
“Well yeah,” said Midnight.
“They can defeat him with the magic of friendship can’t they?”
“I guess they could.”
“Actually no they can’t,” said Starlight.
“Huh?”
“Each time they’ve defeated something with the magic of friendship, they’ve learned something about friendship. When they defeated Nightmare Moon, they learned about how much they actually care about each other. When they defeated Discord, they found out that friendships have their ups and downs but they will always have each other’s back. Didn’t mom ever tell you that time she went through that portal and had to defeat those Sirens. They went to just use the magic of friendship and it didn’t work because they didn’t learn anything,” explained Starlight. Everypony just stared at her. “What?”
“You’re ten. You are the youngest of the twelve of us. You just stood up to your older sister who is the smartest pony out of all of us,” said Cheesecake.
“Yeah?”
“I think what she means is that we were not expecting that,” said Misty.
“Oh yeah. I get that a lot.”
“Anyway, Starlight is right. They can’t do it right now. We have to go and save them.”
“I guess your right,” said Appleseed.
“Alright. Let’s go save our parents,” said Midnight.
‘Well where are we going,” asked Strawberry.
“I have no idea,” replied Midnight.
“I know,” said Starlight, “We’re going to the Castle of the Two Sisters.”
“Okay how do you know that,” asked Midnight.
“It’s right there in the note.”
“Oh. Well everypony, let’s go to the Castle of the Two Sisters!” All the ponies ran out the door to the Everfree Forest.
“Mom says we’re not allowed to go in the Everfree Forest without permission,” stated Sweet Apple.
“Well Ma’s not here. We can’t really ask her for permission can we,” said Appleseed.
“Appleseed leave your sister alone. She’s just nervous that’s all,” said Strawberry.
“Nervous? Ha! I’m not nervous,” Sweet Apple said as she trotted into the forest. The wind started picking up, and the leaves on the trees made ruffling sounds as the wind went through them. This spooked Sweet Apple causing her to hide behind her big brother.
“It’s alright Sweet Apple,” said Apple Slice, “We’re going to go through the forest together, and nopony is going to separate from the group.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“Well we better get going if we want to get to the castle before sun down,” said Midnight. The ponies walked for several minutes. Most of them were determined to get to the castle, and the others were just bored out of there minds.
“Are we there yet,” complained Starlight.
“My hooves hurt,” complained Sweet Apple.
“My wings hurt from flying all the way over here,” complained Rainboom.
“Y’know you have hooves right? You can just walk,” said Misty being annoyed by her younger brother.
“I don’t want to walk. My hooves will start hurting”
“Well I guess you’re going to have to deal with the pain in your wings,” said Sweet Apple.
“Wow. Since when did you get sassy Sweets,” said Starlight.
“I don’t know. When did Rainboom get so arrogant?”
“Excuse me miss, but I’ve always been arrogant. If you haven’t noticed, I’m the son of Rainbow Dash. What would you expect from a pony who is the son of that kind of pony.”
“Well yes, but you aren’t really loyal like your mom,” said Starlight.
“Well you’re one to talk,” Rainboom said to Starlight.
“What is that supposed to mean!?”
“I at least have my arrogance and my dream to be in the Wonderbolts in common with my mom. Sweet Apple has almost everything except for honesty in common with her mom. What do you have in common with your mom? What that your a unicorn and she used to be a unicorn. That you’re both female?”
“Well those are physical traits,” said Sweet Apple, “We’re talking about personality traits.”
“Okay well there’s my point.”
“What,” said Starlight.
“You have almost nothing in common with your mom. You’re not really book smart. Your not next in line after your mom, your sister is. You can’t even get your magic to work correctly,” explained Rainboom. Starlight was on the verge of tears.
“Why does the matter,” she yelled.
‘Well in order to save our moms, we must have the same traits as them.”
“No we don’t.”
“How else would you save them?”
“Well I-”
“Exactly. You’re basically the reject child”
‘WELL AT LEAST I HAVE FRIENDS! THAT’S SOMETHING MY MOM HAS THAT I HAVE!” Starlight at that point was balling her eyes out.
“RAINBOOM,” yelled Misty as she marched back to her brother. “Starlight, go with your sister. I’m sure she’ll make you feel better.” Starlight nodded and walked to her sister.
“Rainboom what were you thinking,” Misty said interrogating her brother.
“I don’t know,” said Rainboom.
“You realized you probably lost a friend. You’ve been best friends since forever. Why would you say stuff like that.”
“I don’t know. I’m kind of in distress. I mean our moms are missing. What if we never see them again. You know how I get when I’m in distressed.”
“I know. But you’re gonna have to make it up to Starlight. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Pinkie Promise?”
“*sigh* Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“Good boy. Now I’m gonna go back to talking with Cheesecake.” Misty walked back to where she was before.”
“Sweet Apple, you think you could help me with this apology?”
“Rainboom, you may be my best friend, but I know when not to help a best friend when he should be the one to fix the problem he caused. I’m gonna go walk with my brother now,” Sweet Apple said as she walked away.
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Midnight looked down at her sister who was really upset. “Hey sis, you alright?”
“Midnight,” Starlight started, “Do I seem like, the reject child?”
“Why would you ever think that?”
“Well it’s what Rainboom said. I have nothing in common with mom. You have so much in common with her. And Flashlight has so much in common with dad. Everyone has something in common, except me.”
“Oh Starlight. You’re not the reject child. Mom and Dad love you as much as they do Flashlight and me. I can also ensure you that Flashlight and I couldn’t have asked for a better little sister,” Midnight said as she hugged her sister with her wing.
“But what about my magic? I haven’t been able to do anything with my magic.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get it one d-” The two of them fell down a cliff along with two other ponies. The each were able to grab on to rocks and shelves that were on the side of the cliff.
“Midnight! Starlight! Strawberry! Jade! You guys alright,” yelled Lightning.
“Yeah,” all four of them replied.
“You guys need help.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jade, “I can get myself back up.” Jade clawed herself back up. Jada enjoyed having claws at the end of her hooves. They’ve come in handy in many situations, mostly involving her talent.
“Wow. I always forget how well your claws come in handy,” said Lightning.
“The joys of being half dragon,” said Jade.
“Um hello! Three ponies still hanging on for our lives here,” yelled Strawberry.
“Sis. Grab my hoof,” Cheesecake said leaning over the edge. Strawberry grabbed her sister’s hoof and climbed up.
“Midnight,” Flashlight yelled, “You have wings, just fly up.”
“I can’t. My left wing is hurt,” said Midnight.
“Don’t worry. Grab my hoof.” It was one of these moments in which Flashlight was truly worried for his sisters. Midnight was just about to grab her brother’s hoof when she realized something.
“Wait! Starlight,” she yelled. She looked down and saw her little sister hanging on for dear life on a little shelf.
“Help,” Starlight yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Don’t worry sis. I’m coming,” Midnight said sliding down the cliff. Starlight was scared to death. She didn’t want to fall.
“I have to get back up,” Starlight said to herself. She looked up at her horn. “Come on. Just to help this one situation.” She tried to levitated herself, but all that came out of her horn was little blue sparks. “I can’t do anything.” The rock that she was hanging on to broke off.
“Starlight,” Midnight yelled. She jumped off the cliff the save her sister. She was able to grab her sister. She was expecting the two of them to fall to the ground, but the didn’t. Midnight opened her eyes. She looked at her sister who’s eyes were shut closed in fear. She looked up and saw ponies hanging on to each other. Cheesecake was hanging on to Midnight, who was being held by Lightning, who was held by Misty, who was held by Jade, who was held by Appleseed, who was held by Strawberry, who was held by Flashlight, who was held by Apple Slice who had Sweet Apple and Rainboom hanging on to his tail. They were able to get the two ponies up to the top of the cliff.
“You-You guys saved us,” said Starlight.
“Well of course we did,” said Jade.
“Yeah we wouldn’t let our friends fall to their deaths,” said Cheesecake.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” said Sweet Apple hugging Starlight.
“Me too,” said Rainboom. “To be honest, I wouldn’t have let you fall even if it was to save my own life.” Starlight smiled. “Y’know, I’m so sorry at what I said earlier. I didn’t mean ANY of it.”
“Apology accepted,” said Starlight.
“Hey guys,” said Lightning, “There’s a safer way to get down the cliff we can just take that path.” The 12 ponies took the safe way down and continued on their journey.
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The ponies have been on their journey for a long time now.
“I can’t believe we got this far,” said Midnight, “And Lightning, how’d you know what to do with that manticore?”
“Well I am the daughter of Fluttershy. I may be a gardener, but I know what to do with a lot of animals.”
“Hey Sweet Apple,” said Cheesecake, “How did you know about our mom’s giggle at the ghosties theory.”
“My mom told me about all the adventures our moms had,” said Sweet Apple.
“I can’t believe that sea serpent knows our moms,” said Jade, “Especially my mom.”
“Guys,” said Misty.
“I know weird,” said Lightning.
“Guys.”
“I saw somethin that looked very much like your mother’s tail,” said Apple Slice.
“GUYS!”
“Um yeah Misty,” said Midnight.
“The castle’s right there,” she said pointing her hoof at the castle.
“Oh, well, let’s just go across the bridge.” The ponies crossed the bridge and got to the castle. They all looked through the windows before going inside. Inside the castle was Tirek. He looked as if he got almost all of Equestria’s magic, but he didn’t have all of Equestria’s magic. Beside Tirek was a cage that held six ponies. It was there moms. They all had their magic drained by Tirek. None of them wanted to face Tirek, and it looked like they were having some conversation.
“Why are none of you ponies are facing me,” Tirek asked.
“Why should we face you, you took all of our magic,” said Rarity.
“Yeah,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Um, I agree with Rarity and Pinkie,” said Fluttershy.
“What are you waiting for Tirek,” asked Rainbow.
“Yeah. We’ve been sittin here for ages,” said Applejack.
“I’m just waiting for more, guests,” said Tirek.
“Whatever do you mean,” asked Twilight.
“You’ll see,” replied Tirek.
Outside the ponies could see what was going on.
“We have to go in,” said Midnight.
“We can’t go in there,” said Appleseed, “We’ll get our magic drained.”
“We have to do something.”
“How’d he get so big like that anyway,” asked Strawberry, “He only drained the magic of six ponies.”
“Six ponies who possess the most powerful magic in Equestria,” said Midnight.
“Oh right.”
“We gotta go in there,” said Midnight, “It’s the only way.”
“I’m with Appleseed on this one,” said Flashlight, “I’m sorry sis, but if he drains our magic how are we supposed to save our moms?”
‘What would our moms do,” Midnight asked.
“Well-”
“They’d help anypony no matter the situation,” said Starlight.
“That’s right,” said Midnight, “So are we going to be like the ponies our moms are or are we going to forget about them and let Equestria fall.”
“We’re going to help our moms,” said Starlight.
“Okay. We all in?” Everypony else nodded and they ran inside the castle.
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“Tirek,” Midnight yelled, “Playtime is over!”
“Well well well. If it isn’t the rest of my guests. Hey ponies, why don’t you turn around and see who the rest of my guests.” The six ponies turned around to see their own children standing there before their very eyes.
“KIDS,” they all yelled.
“MOM,” the children yelled as they ran to their mothers. Unfortunately, Tirek had snapped his fingers and trapped the six kids in a cage.
“Great,” said Flashlight.
“Tirek let our kids go,” yelled Twilight.
“Okay. I’ll just do something first.”
“No,” Twilight whispered to herself. Tirek started levitating the ponies. He immediately drained their magic.
“Told you,” said Appleseed.
“Now I have all of your magic. There is no way you can defeat me now.”
“Actually we can defeat you still,” said Starlight standing up.
“Star? What are you doing,” asked Twilight.
“Don’t worry mommy. I go this.”
“Um hello? Giant monster about to destroy Equestria here,” said Tirek.
“What I’m saying is that you may have our magic physically, but you don’t have it mentally.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No, it’s not. What you have on the outside isn’t the same as what you have on the inside. We have the magic of friendship, and you can’t take away friendship,” Starlight said as the other ponies stood up behind her. “Friendship is a special kind of magic that can’t be taken away or given to. You have to find it for yourself. I’ve learned that friendship can be hard, but your friends care about you so much that they’d do anything for you.” Starlight started glowing along with the others.
“Well even if that’s true, you don’t have a pony for each element,” said Tirek.
“True,” Starlight started, “But each of us could represent an element. Actually, we all represent all of the elements. There’s always that something in us the makes us represent all of the elements.” Colors stared appearing on each of the ponies manes. “You may have taken our magic, but you can never take the power of FRIENDSHIP!” The colors of each ponies’ coat started shooting towards Tirek. Tirek shrank back to the size he was before the magic and disappeared. The cages disappeared, the ponies got their magic, and the ponies returned normal.
“Starlight, I’m so proud of you,” said Twilight running to give her kids a hug. “how did you figure out all that.”
“You know mom, I thought I was nothing, but it was my friends who helped me realize that.”
“Starlight is right,” said Lightning.
“Yeah. We found out stuff about ourselves by trusting in our friends.”
“Why don’t we go home, and you guys can learn more about the magic of friendship,” said Twilight.
“I agree. I’m tired and want to go to sleep,” Starlight said as she yawned.
Everypony laughed as they enjoyed the moment together with all their friends.