Unexpected "Guests"
I was in a very peaceful slumber when the phone rang. Like it is with other ponies, being woke up in the middle of the night pissed me off. I turned the light on and answered the phone. I growled, "Who is this? This better be important."
The voice on the other end said, "Starlight, I am sorry to bother you at this hour but we have captured some invaders from West Equestria."
I yelled, "What? What were they doing?"
The voice replied, "Well they were trying to steal the Elements of Harmony. They said something about retrieving them and taking them to Twilight so they can defeat......"
Oh boy, now this really angered me. I knew what their plan was, they were going to get them and try to come over and defeat me. I yelled, "Get them here to Fillydelphia as soon as possible." I slammed the phone down and yelled, "Ugh, those ponies are not going to get away with this and Twilight will wish she was never born!"
When I woke up the following morning I was dead tired because after that phone call, I could not get to sleep. I still could not believe that Twilight would have the audacity to send her friends into MY COUNTRY and try to retrieve the Elements. I had a scowl on my face and my eyes were red when I got to the dinner table. My parents could sense something was wrong. My mom asked, "Starlight honey, you look awful! What happened?"
I replied, "Well I got a rather disturbing phone call last night."
Dad asked, "What kind of phone call."
While I normally would not reveal information like this to anypony except my top military advisers, I knew my parents could be trusted. I replied, "Don't tell anypony but last night five of Twilight Sparkle's friends illegally crossed the border and were trying to remove the elements from The Tree of Harmony."
Mom yelled, "They did what?" She calmed down a bit and asked, "So what are you plans?"
I replied, "Well if I were to do what the separation agreement allows, I would declare war immediately but I want to wait until those that were captured are brought here. I want to get answers from them."
Dad asked, "Starlight, I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have other plans."
I replied, "I might. I'm going to let you two be just as surprised as everypony else will be!"
Interrogating My Enemies
Two days had passed since I got that phone call when I heard a knock on my office door. I asked, "Who's there?"
One of the guards peeked his head in and replied, "It is me along with those who crossed the border."
I said, "Bring them in."
As he led them in I could see a sense of nervousness in most of them, except for the blue pegasus who was giving me a cocky, arrogant look that reeked of a superiority complex. While I knew who they were I decided to see how honest they were. I glared at them and ordered, "Please state your names."
"Pinkie Pie."
"Fluttershy."
"Applejack."
"Rarity."
Rainbow Dash sneered, "You better let us go or you'll be sorry. Twilight will make you pay for your crimes."
I laughed, "Ha! Twilight make me pay for my crimes? Leave it to the arrogant Rainbow Dash to say that."
Applejack asked, "So Starlight....."
I interrupted, "That is either Premier Starlight or Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second to you five. Now would one of you kindly tell me WHY you invaded East Equestria?"
Applejack replied, "Well Premier Starlight, we have a problem over in West Equestria. You see, Tirek has escaped from Tartarus for the second time and has already begun to steal magic. We figured that if we had the Elements of Harmony we would be able to defeat him and save this whole continent, both West and East Equestria from his wrath."
I asked, "And you couldn't have just contacted me and let me know about this? Why didn't you just contact me and let me know what your plans were. When it comes to Tirek, I would have actually let you get them as long as you returned them to the Tree after defeating him."
Applejack replied, "We didn't tell you that because we figured that you would simply tell us no. We figured that since Twilight would be involved in this that you would either say no or demand something in return, such as more territory."
I laughed, "Come on now, you really think little old me would say no to something important like this?" I became more serious and continued, "But, you did not ask me so now you must be punished."
Rainbow growled, "Oh and while you punish us, what is everypony going to do about Tirek? What are you going to do when he invades East Equestria and begins stealing the magic of your citizens?"
I replied, "Oh I don't think we will have to worry about that. There is more than one way to handle Tirek, a much more effective way, a much more permanent way."
Applejack asked, "Oh and what do y'all mean by a more permanent way?"
I replied, "Oh you'll eventually find out. What a pity you will have to hear about it here rather than back in your precious Ponyville with your beloved tyrant Twily."
Rainbow yelled, "Yeah right. You won't keep us here, Twilight will free us from you."
I had enough of their smart talking, especially the blue pegasus's bloviating. I levitated five glass jars to myself, opened them and grabbed the five in my aura. They screamed in pain as I removed their marks and placed them in my jar. I couldn't help but smile when I saw them laying on the floor with their equals sign cutie marks. I laughed, "Well now, it looks like you can be all the same again."
I put my hoof under Fluttershy's chin and added, "You know Fluttershy, despite you exposing me in 'Our Town' I might decide to treat you a bit more special than the others."
Fluttershy asked, "Oh, and how would you do that?"
I asked in return, "What would you think of getting your cutie mark back?"
Her friends began to yell and tell her that I was up to something, that she should not trust me. I nuzzled her and continued, "Don't listen to them, you know I would never do anything to you."
Fluttershy asked, "What would I have to do to get my cutie mark back."
I started, "Well Fluttershy my dear, being the leader of a country can get very exhausting and very stressful at times. Sometimes a pony simply has to unwind but sadly I have nopony to unwind with and you are incredibly sexy!" I gave her a deep, passionate kiss and continued, "Fluttershy, if you will become my lover and someday become my wife, you can have your mark back but you must stay with me. After all, wives do stay together."
Fluttershy replied, "Uhm."
Rainbow shouted, "Don't do it Fluttershy! She doesn't really care about you."
Rarity added, "She doesn't and all she would want you for is the sex and the joy of controlling you."
I asked, "Well Fluttershy, do you want your mark back or not?"
Fluttershy yelled, "No! Not if it means being your wife! I do not love you and I know you don't love me. You just want my body!"
I pushed her to the ground and replied, "Aw what a pity. Well I guess you'll have that equals sign on your flank for the rest of your life."
Applejack grunted, "So Premier Starlight, what are y'alls plan for us? Throw us in a dungeon, kill us, force us all to be your love slaves?"
I replied, "Oh you'll see but first there is something very important that must be done and the whole nation will get to see it!"
Addressing the Nation
I led the five into my address room and notified my broadcast crew to be ready to override all the channels in the country so I could let the country know what has happened. I ordered the five to stay out of the camera's view at first. Once everything was all set, I ordered the signals to be overrode. Now on every television screen in the nation I was sitting there behind a desk. I began,
"Citizens of East Equestria. I am coming to you today over a matter of great importance. Two days ago five invaders from West Equestria, Ponyville to be exact, climbed over the border wall and illegally entered our nation. Under the terms and conditions involved in the release of Twilight Sparkle which were finalized upon her release, this constitutes an act of war by West Equestria. Under normal circumstances the moment I was notified of this invasion, I would have immediately sent troops to crush our enemies to the west but given who these ponies are, I wanted them to come and tell me about their situations."
I motioned for them to step into the view of the camera. Once they were in front of the camera I stood by them and continued, "These five are the best friends of the tyrant princess of West Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. The blue pegasus is Rainbow Dash, the yellow pegasus is Fluttershy, the white unicorn is Rarity, the pink earth pony is Pinkie Pie and the orange earth pony is Applejack." I pointed at her and continued, "Applejack, would you kindly tell the citizens of East Equestria what caused you and your friends to invade our sovereign nation?"
Applejack looked directly at the camera and began, "Howdy y'all. As Premier Starlight said my name is Applejack. There is a reason we crossed the border and went after the Elements of Harmony. Ah'm not sure how many of y'all have heard about this but Tirek has escaped from Tartarus and has begun to steal magic from the ponies in mah country. Mah friends and I do not want him to steal everypony's magic and while y'all probably think y'all are immune, after he steals all the magic from West Equestria, Ah'm pretty sure he would have come for yours as well. What mah friends, including Twilight could have done with those elements was defeat Tirek and save both East and West Equestria from his dark magic so if y'all really care about East Equestria, y'all will contact Premier Starlight and let her know that y'all wants us to get those elements, use them on Tirek and banish him back to Tartarus."
I ordered them back over to the side and stepped in front of the camera. I continued, "Citizens of East Equestria, while it may seem that Applejack makes good points there are some things many do not know. I have done my research on Tirek and there is more than one way to defeat him, and the method I am thinking of would involve a spear that would go far enough into his eye that it would hit his brain and kill him. After all, that mutt Cerberus likes to leave his post and let Tirek escape so I think it is best if our military and I were to march into West Equestria and KILL Tirek." My voice grew more grim as I continued, "And while I am at it I can take down Twilight Sparkle and truly avenge our ancestors. For so long the Western ponies controlled the whole continent, now the time has come for Eastern ponies to control this whole continent. While it will be one single nation, it shall continue to be known as East Equestria."
I returned to sitting behind my desk and finished, "Because of the violation of our border with West Equestria by these five, I Premier Starlight Glimmer, declare war upon West Equestria. Twilight Sparkle and her cronies will pay for violating our borders. The five I presented to you shall remain in prison here in Fillydelphia while I have special plans for Twilight Sparkle." I began to laugh as I continued, "What a pity Celestia abdicated over there. At least if she were there this wouldn't be a cakewalk."
Once I finished my address the cameras went black and everypony was returned to their regularly scheduled programming. I ordered my guards to haul my prisoners to the jail. I looked at Fluttershy and smiled, "You know Fluttershy, it isn't too late. You can still get your cutie mark back." I groped her flank with my wing and continued, "But that is all up to you."
Fluttershy smacked my wing with her's and yelled, "No Starlight! I am not going to be your little toy."
I sighed, "Whatever. Guards, get them put in their cells. I need to gather a thousand soldiers and head to Ponyville. Their military is weak and fractured so this shouldn't be overly difficult. I am hoping we can get this over and done with before too long."
My guards saluted me and hauled my prisoners to the jail. As I headed to the military base I was full off confidence. I knew that Twilight was all alone over there since Luna is now queen in the Equine Empire and I had heard about how Celestia abdicated and took over in Saddle Arabia. I said to myself, "Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook, Mage Shadowstar, it won't be long until us Eastern ponies will control the entire continent. I will not let you down, I will make you proud."