//------------------------------// // S2, Chapter 5, Trust Lost // Story: Friendship is Life // by alejin //------------------------------// Alex woke up after some hours of sleep. His marefriend hadn’t returned yet; he feed the animals as she asked him, he then ate something, laid down on his bed, walked around the house, but after some hours he started to get bored. He promised Fluttershy he would not go back to the Sister Castle but he needed to get his stuff, so he put on his Metapendant and started his way there. When he arrived, he heard some noises coming in from the castle. He was a little surprised from this noises so he took some precautions “somepony is in the castle” he said to himself. He followed the sounds that seem to come from the Castle’s Library. When he got inside, he noticed all the mane 6 and Spike. “Damn! What are they doing here? Did Fluttershy tell them to come here?” He discarded this possibility after noticing everypony was looking for some books instead of him. Sighing in relief, he rushed to his room to get his stuff. -------------------------------- “Oh C’mon! there is nothing here! I honestly think we should be looking for Alex instead!” “Easy Sugarcube, ah want to find our friend too but ah also think solving the mystery of that box is important too” “But. . .but, c’mon!” “She is right Rainbow Dash, the search for Alex can wait. Let’s focus in helping Twilight for now so that she can open that box.” Everypony was shocked after hearing Fluttershy say this. She was supposed to be the most interested in finding the human, but for some reason she was calmed. It almost seemed as if she knew they would eventually find him. None of them said anything, it was nice to look at her in a good mood. Suddenly, Twilight noticed something in a diary they were writing. “Girls, I think I have something!” ---------- Alex returned to the cottage, he unpacked his computer and watched a movie, all of Fluttershy’s pets were watching the movie too, they were all enjoying it. After some hours, they heard hoof steps coming towards the cottage, he put his stuff back inside his backpack and ran upstairs while the pets went back to their regular places and activities. He silently waited in his room until he noticed it was his marefriend. “Alex? Alex are you here?” She shouted. Alex came down the stairs and hugged her “Oh! Thank Celestia you are alright!” She said. “Ok, why shouldn’t I be ok?” “well, you see; according to Twilight, right now there is an evil being roaming Equestria, and somehow he is stealing magic!” “Stealing magic? Wow! Who is he?” “He is a centaur named Tirek, an enemy Princess Celestia and Luna imprisoned a long time ago but it seems he found a way to escape from his prison.” “That sounds really bad. But I believe the Princesses are dealing with the problem, right?” “Oh yes! They sent somepony to deal with him, somepony who uses dark magic. I’m sure he will be able to handle that meanie” “Dark magic? You don’t mean?” “Yes, Discord is looking for him right now!” “Well, I guess he is the God of Chaos after all. Let’s hope for the best” “I’m glad to see you also trust him as much as I do” “I honestly don’t know if I trust him THAT much, but as long as you and the princesses are ok with it. Now, because of the way you sound Fluttershy, it seems not everypony trusts him, right?” “Sadly not, but I’m sure pretty after he catches this villain, everypony will finally see how lovely and good of a friend he can be!” “Probably. And, why were you worried about me?” “Because many ponies have been attacked by this enemy already” “Well, you don’t need to worry that much. Babe, you know very well I can defend myself!” “I know that but I’m your marefriend, one of my jobs is to always be worried about you” They smiled and hugged each other very tightly. Fluttershy, remembered something important: “Oh my! I almost forgot, Twilight told us to warn everypony to go hide inside their homes, sorry Alex but I need to go now. I almost forgot I had to warn everypony else; you don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine.” Alex hugged her again “I know you will, now go!” Fluttershy left her house to meet with the rest at Ponyville, leaving Alex alone again. He decided to eat something “Well, I guess we’ll have to watch another movie guys!” After several hours, Fluttershy wasn’t back yet. Alex knew this was normal during this kind of emergencies because everypony would be doing something to help the princesses. However, he was feeling uneasy; he remembered having a bad feeling the other day, after thinking about it for several minutes, he finally decided to go out and check the town, he put on his metapendant and went left the cottage. The road to Ponyville was really nice but the more he walked, the more he knew something was wrong. He trotted a little more but noticed how the place was completely silent. All of the inhabitants were hiding in their homes “Maybe I should do the same. I am pretty sure the girls don’t need to going around the place looking for strange things...” He was about to turn around when he had a bad feeling, as if somepony important to him was in trouble. “What the. . . what was that? . . . Fluttershy!” Alex trotted faster towards his destination, when he finally reached Ponyville’s entrance, he saw something shocking: trapped inside a cage, the Mane 6, Spike and Fluttershy, Discord was trying to open the cage from the outside. “Why isn’t Discord using his magic?” Alex asked himself. It seemed as if Discord was saying something to the rest inside the cage. Alex walked his way to the cage, carefully going around the bushes; making sure he wasn’t spotted by the ones who had trapped his friends. When he was close enough, he heard Discord speaking to the group: “I’m sorry. . . I’m so sorry, I was a fool! I don’t know what else to say, I’m so so sorry everypony...” Alex got nearer, he could swear there were some genuine tears in Discord’s eyes, that was really weird; something was definitely wrong, Alex noticed nopony was even paying attention to Discord, everypony including Fluttershy. “Well. . . this is not exactly the reunion I had in mind but...” Alex left his hideout, took off his pendant and started walking towards the cage. ------------------ “I know I screwed it and I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness but I will get you out of this!” Discord was trying to open the cage with all his strength but it was tightly shut. After all, it was created with his own chaos magic. But now, his own was had been stolen. “Give it up Discord! – Rainbow Dash said – Tirek not only got all of our magic, he also took our energy, you just don’t have the strength to open this cage” “I. . .I will do it! you’ll see, it’s the least I can do!” “Just stop it Discord! get out of here now while you can! you think this will change something? You betrayed us!” Discord felt his heart being stabbed but didn’t stop trying to open the cage. “I. . .I know and I’m sorry but please, at least let me do this!” “Please Discord, just leave!” Suddenly, everypony inside the case looked surprised. Discord stopped “What? Do I have something on my face?” But he noticed they were not looking at him, they were actually looking past him. “. . . Alex?” Spike asked. “Alex? What are you talking about little dragon, that human? He is not here” “Are you sure about that dude?” A voice asked from behind Discord. He slowly turned around and saw him. There he was, the human, the very same who had broken Fluttershy’s heart, it wasn’t a secret since the day he saw Fluttershy crying in her bed whispering his name and asking herself what she did wrong, he disliked him with all of his heart. Discord narrowed his eyes and walked towards the human, Alex didn’t slow down, he kept walking. “What do you wan. . . .” The Draconequus was interrupted by a hard punch on his muzzle. He landed on the ground, hissing in pain, he looked at the human, shocked. “I heard everything! I will deal with you later! Now I have some friends to help!” Discord was bleeding, Alex didn’t hold back at all with that hit. Alex reached the cage and inspected it, it seemed it was magically locked, nopony inside it said anything. After he finished checking the cage, he looked around it and found what he needed. “Fluttershy, Thank God you are ok!” - he said. Fluttershy reached for the edge of the cage and extended his hooves trying to her human, he grabbed her and kissed her in her forehead. “Alex, you are here, I knew you’d come!” “Of course I would, don’t worry I will get you out of here in no time!” “I know you will...” Everypony was looking at the scene. They were all in shock; why was Fluttershy talking with Alex like that? Wasn’t she crying for him a couple of days ago? It was like she already knew he was in Equestria. Alex and Fluttershy noticed it, he said: “Hi everypony, I know there are many things we all need to say and I promise we will have time for that but first things first, please, get to the other side of the cage!” Everypony nodded and did as he said. Alex put on his metapendant again, once he became a unicorn. His horn started glowing, then two spectral katanas materialized to his sides, Alex swung them cut the bars in pieces. Once they were free, Fluttershy ran to her boyfriend. He hugged her tightly and soon everypony else was doing the same. Rarity gave him a kiss on his cheek. He didn’t know what so say, he was still someone who ran away after all. “Hi. . .everypony! Look I know...” He was silenced by Rarity’s hoof covering his mouth, she shook her head and said: “No need for that darling. I mean, my brother! You are here and that’s all that matters.” Alex smiled, Rainbow and Applejack hugged him again. Rainbow Dash got close to them and whispered into Alex’s ear: “Just be grateful I’m not at my peak right now, once I recover, you can expect a good bucking in your stomach!” “That goes for me as well partner, sorry but you know we have to do it” - Applejack said. Alex looked at them “I missed you too Dashie and AJ” he replied. Most of his friends let go of him, most of them but Pinkie Pie “Hey there Pinkie, you can let me go now…” “No!” “What?. . .why?” “I’m . . . I’m afraid” “Afraid?” “I’m afraid the moment I let you go, .you will banish again, just like you did before, you will leave again and I will never see you! I don’t want that, please. . .don’t disappear again, it has happened twice now. I would not stand for a third one!” Pinkie raised her head to look at his eyes directly, Alex looked at her eyes and noticed how they were full of tears and sadness, there was also a hint of happiness, but most of all they showed worriness. She meant every word she just said, Alex felt like the worst piece of crap in the entire universe, he had never realized how much pain he caused her. He hugged her like he never did and said: “I promise you I will never leave you again Pinkie. I’m here to stay with you, with everypony!” Pinkie’s eyes widened – “Really?” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye” A huge smile showed up on her face “And remember, you can’t break a Pinkie Promise...” “EVER!” - he finished the sentence. Alex turned his head and saw Spike standing near him. He got near the dragon but his words failed him. Much to his surprise, Spike only extended his claw for a shake. “Why did you take so long?” Alex smiled and extended his hand. He knew exactly what to say: “Kept you waiting uh?” They hugged each other strongly. Alex felt some tears falling on his shoulder but didn’t say a word. He knew words weren’t necessary. --------------------------------- Alex put on his Metapendant and the whole group went to SugarCube corner; he took Discord with them using his magic. Once they were there, he was tied up with a rope. Nopony said anything but Fluttershy “Are. . . are you sure this is absolutely necessary Alex?” “After what he did, he should be grateful I’m not as mad at him as I was with Bright Courage!” “But. . .he apologized and well, he seemed pretty honest to me...” “He did that just because he lost his magic. Sorry Shy, but at least for now, having him tied up seems fine by me, I can’t take any risks with him.” “Aren’t you taking things too far?” - Fluttershy asked. “I’m just being cautious Shy, I promise we will deal with issue the best possible way, but I need you to trust me now.” “ok” Fluttershy replied, she decided to trust him with all of her heart. Discord didn’t say anything, he didn’t even refuse to get tied up. Closing his eyes he lowered his head and took a deep breath while the group started telling Alex everything he needed to know. --------- Far from them, an evil Centaur was looking for a specific Alicorn. He was ready to steal all of her Alicorn magic, FOREVER.