I Am Twilight Sparkle

by Mike the Red

Bonding

"You said we have to strengthen our bonds of friendship?" Jacob asked. "How are we supposed to do that when the company keeps splitting us up every day?"

"I will have to have a little chat with them to get them to understand the severity of the situation. I don't know if the company is aware of Discord's existence, but I'm sure they've noticed the changes to the calendar as well. Some of you are very recent additions to our group, so we're just going to have to find a way to not only get along with each other, but do things together as well so we can become better acquainted with each other and work together so we can defeat that dragonequus," I explained.

"Darling, you lecture just as much as Twilight herself does!" Rarity chided me gently. "Is that why she lets you control her as much as you do?"

"I identify very strongly with her, so yeah, I guess she is willing to let me run the show, so to speak. I don't know how much time we have or what Discord's up to, but we have to move quickly on this. As far as getting the Elements of Harmony, that's another problem. Princess Celestia told me she's not willing to lend hers to us, so I'm going to have to figure something out, although she did tell me she could make duplicates, but doubted their efficiency."

"So, um ... how do we go about strengthening our bonds of friendship?" asked Fluttershy.

"That's easy! We have a party!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"That's a good first step, Pinkie, but there's more to it than that. We're going to have to have more than one party and do other things together to increase our trust among each other as well as our friendships," I responded.

"Stop being such a party pooper and let us throw this party!" Pinkie exclaimed, producing her party cannon from somewhere and decorating the room haphazardly with streamers, confetti and other paraphernalia associated with parties. I won't go into the details, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, though some of the activities had to be changed to accommodate both pony and human personae. Eventually we retired to our rooms to get some sleep.

The following day was named in honor of Ulysses Grant and we were to be split up yet again. I talked to the exec who was in charge of arranging our publicity events and told him about the situation. He simply chuckled and stated that he didn't think Discord existed for real. I told him that we had been visited by the dragonequus and that we needed to strengthen our bonds of friendship, that we should remain together for as long as possible in order to allow the Elements of Harmony to work properly. He simply responded by handing me a travel itinerary and gave us our assignments, regardless of any of our desires. He also stated that failure to comply with the company's assignments might be grounds for immediate termination of employment, something that worried me a bit, as well as driving the concerns of the others in our group.

"You realize what changes have been made to the calendar -- that's something Discord did and he told me himself that he was responsible for it. If we can't strengthen our friendships, we might not be able to stop him," I told the executive.

"We have already arranged your assignments for the next month or so," he replied calmly. "So we can't exactly keep you together. Suppose he were to return and abduct one or more of you? What then?"

"You have a point there. That doesn't mean he can't teleport into our rooms and take any of us whenever he wants to," I replied.

"So you understand what pressures we're under. You are all a blessing to us, and we wish to capitalize on the opportunity you present. Especially you and Trixie. We have some rather big plans for you two," he stated. I glowered at him. "That is, of course, unless you wish to breach your contract. Did you read it carefully? You are our property, remember? The terms of your continued employment with us require you to accept any assignments we give and you have no legal recourse to refuse our assignments," he said, giving me a smug smirk.

I pulled out my trump card, which might have been a mistake. I heard Twilight tell me to cool down. "Of course, Princess Celestia might have something to say about this," I mused, giving him a saccharine smile.

"Well, unless she can come here and meet me face-to-face, I think you're bluffing," he stated. "Now, you and Trixie need to come with me. We've arranged transportation for you to a local outdoor arena." He left the room and returned with Gwen, who was protesting about this plan. I hung my head and followed the exec from the room, down the elevator from our hotel, out the front door and into a limousine. Trixie hopped into the back of the car with me, the exec sitting next to her and eyeing her in a manner which upset me. I glared at him again.

"You don't have the right to stare at Trixie like that," I stated sternly.

"Trixie can handle her own affairs -- she does not need your assistance, Sparkle," she stated dismissively.

"Look, Trixie, can't you see they're using us?" The exec laughed heartily a second after I asked this question.

"Trixie does not care as long as she's being treated well, Sparkle," she said, offering a smug smirk.

I gave up trying to reason with her and silence reigned during the rest of the drive to the arena. I was not looking forward to this magic duel, which Trixie seemed to anticipate with gusto. I saw her grinning as the limo came to a stop and the doors were opened for us. We were escorted to a locker room, where we met with a trainer.

"Is this strictly necessary?" I asked.

"Just for formalities, that's all," he responded.

"Trixie is ready! She does not need a trainer!" she stated in a condescending tone of voice.

Comments

[Pinklestia]

Yes she does!