//------------------------------// // The Deal // Story: The King of Equestria // by nobody_in_particular //------------------------------// Twilight groaned after another failed attempt at trying to figure out what Bill was doing. “It just doesn’t make sense!” she cried. Everything around her faded to grey and Bill appeared in front of her bubble. “That’s the point!” he said, taking off his top hat and pointing to his top acute angle. “What do you want? Why lock us up if you’ve drained our magic?” Twilight demanded. “Take a walk with me, Twi.” he said. He flew forward and Twilight’s bubble followed. “Look around and think about what you’re seeing.” Twilight looked at the lakes that had been turned to blood and the shattered remains of what once was. There were fires here and here and buildings that had been knocked over. A flock of eye-bats sat in a dead tree. She saw shards of crystals everywhere and wondered what had happened. Then she realized in horror that there was a gaping hole in the side of her castle. “This’ll keep going on for eternity if you don’t give in.” Bill said. “Give in? To what?” Twilight asked. “To power! I always knew you wanted to be powerful!” “I wanted to be good at magic!” she exclaimed defensively. “Those are practically synonyms! I can get you a thesaurus if you’d like.” Bill said, shoving a thesaurus in her face. On the page it said, Powerful: adj. Definition: What Twilight Sparkle wants to be. Synonyms: Full of power, power filled, power crazed, addicted to power Twilight glared at him. “So, I take it you’re not enjoying being locked up and watching your home be destroyed. I can understand that. But if you really want this to end we’ll have to make a deal.” “What do you want? To take my horn and used it as an accessory? To rip my highlights out and make a quilt out of them?” Bill rolled his eye. “Woah, calm down. Let’s say you join me and we leave Equestria. You never come back, but all your friends and family are safe.”He held out a flaming blue hand. “I’d never join you!” Twilight yelled. Bill shrugged. “I hope you enjoy watching the life you’ve built up get destroyed.” He laughed and laughed and laughed. Twilight opened her eyes to see that she was with her friends, who were also in their bubbles. They stared at her with confused expressions. “What?” Twilight asked finally. “Well,” Applejack said. “You fell asleep, and you were mumbling a lot.” She sighed. “Bill tried to get me to join him. He said if I did then he would leave Equestria.” “And I hope you said no. Spending an eternity with that ruffian is the last thing I’ll ever do.” Rarity said. “But it would kind of hard to say no, wouldn’t it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “There’s no way out of this except for if Twilight agrees to go with him. Look at this place! Everypony might be dead and there’s never going to be a loophole! “We’ll sit here for eternity, watching everything being torn apart! So could you guys please stop acting like there’s going to be some other way? You guys are always like, ‘The magic of friendship will save us!’ but there’s nothing friendship can do for us now, is there?” “I’m sure that makes Twilight feel so much better about the decision she’s having to make.” Applejack said sarcastically. Twilight closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to look at everything. She pretended she was back in the castle, sitting and reading all the new books she had. She could still hear Applejack and Rainbow Dash arguing, along with Rarity who had somehow gotten involved in the conversation. Pinkemina sat curled up in a sad little ball of depression. Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, who-judging by her appearance-had more or less recovered from Bill telling everypony about her crush on Discord. “Do you think she’s right?” Twilight asked softly. Fluttershy sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight. But it is your choice.” “I wish choices weren’t so hard to make. If I say no, then we stay together but nopony is safe. If I say yes, then we never see each other again but Equestria is saved. You guys won’t forget about me, right?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Of course we won’t. How could we?” Twilight almost smiled. “Thank you.” Gravity Falls “Hey, Dipper, where do I put the Nome?” Mabel asked. Dipper looked up from the Journal and glanced at his sister, who was holding a Nome at arm’s distance, not wanting him to scratch her up. “Wait, hold on.” He walked over with a pair of scissors and cut of a handful of its beard. Mabel let go and the Nome ran into the forest. Dipper set the tangled hair in a pot that was already filled with other liquids. The hair melted instantly.“It’s done, Mabel. Now we have to smear is on the mirror.” Dipper announced. “Hey dudes, what’s going on?” asked Soos, who had been fixing the golf cart after Wendy had busted it again. “Just a portal where we can go to pony land and see the unicorns.” Mabel said. “Can I come, too? New opportunities for ‘Fixin It With Soos!’ he begged. “Alright Soos, you can come along. Just don’t get lost.” Dipper said. He put a towel over his hand and dunked it in the pot. He smeared the substance all over the mirror. The glass swirled around and around, while it turned pink. “I can’t see anything.” Dipper said, trying to see inside the mirror. “Now I don’t know if it even worked. This could be the portal to, like, Mount Olympus or something.” “There’s only one way to find out!” Mabel said excitedly. She ran at full speed at the portal. “Mabel, don’t!” Dipper cried. “NOTHING CAN STOP ME!”