The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale

by StormLuna

Planning for the Worst

Expressing My Concerns

Three months had passed since Cerberus left his post and no evil had yet to rear it's ugly head. Yes the economy continued to suffer, protests continued in the big cities but in the smaller towns where ponies grow their own food, hunger was not a problem. It wasn't the protests and hunger in the bigger cities that worried me the most. Despite nothing bad happening since Cerberus left his post, it was quite some time after I returned Cerberus the first time that Tirek finally made his presence known.

Spike came into the throne room while I was pacing back and forth frantically. He asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? I haven't seen you act like this since the time travel incident."

I replied, "Spike, I can't help but worry that something bad is going to happen. What if something bad escaped when Cerberus left his post?"

Spike sighed, "Twilight, you said that when you got him back to his post everything looked ok."

I became more frantic as I replied, "But Spike, that is how it was the first time. Given that he was not locked up for as long, if Tirek did escape he will recover his strength much more quickly."

Spike replied, "Twilight, calm down, I'm sure everything will be ok."

I sighed, "Ok, maybe you're right but I'm not going to let my guard down."

Spike suggested, "Twilight, I know how you get when you are stressed. Why don't you go and see your friends?"

I replied, "That is a good idea, seeing them usually helps me unwind when I am stressed."

I headed to my balcony and took flight towards Sweet Apple Acres. While all of my friends may not be there, I'm sure that Applejack and Pinkie will be.

---

Bad News Hits Home

When I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres it was abnormally quiet. As I looked around I couldn't find anypony, not Applejack, not Pinkie nor anypony else. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Did everypony leave to go visit some relatives? Did they go out to the rock farm and bond more with Pinkie's family? I continued walking around the farm for probably an hour looking for my friends but as I was getting ready to leave I suddenly felt the ground disappear beneath me and I began falling down some stairs.

I groaned in pain but that would soon be interrupted, "Twilight, are you ok?"

I was so happy to see a friendly face. It was Applejack standing over me making sure I was ok. I replied, "Ugh....not really. Falling down a bunch of stairs is painful." I looked around and saw that all of my friends, all of Applejack's family and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were down in the apple cellar. I asked, "Why is everypony down here?"

Applejack replied, "Ah'm wondering why you would be out and about. Shouldn't you and Spike be hiding in your castle?"

When she said that, I couldn't help but have a sense of dread strike me. Given that nopony is scared of Zecora anymore I couldn't help but wonder if something did indeed escape when Cerberus left is post and is just now causing problems. I asked, "You know something I don't, don't you?"

Before Applejack could reply I heard a quiet "Mhmm" come from the back of the cellar. I quickly discovered the source of the voice, it was a gray pony, one of Pinkie's sisters.

I looked at her and asked, "Who are you and what is it that all of you know that I don't?"

I would soon learn that this pony was very shy and that Pinkie did most of the talking for her. Pinkie replied, "Twilight, this is my sister Marble Pie. She was able to get away from the rock farm before he stole her magic."

Marble confirmed what Pinkie said with, "Mhmm."

I gasped, "What? She escaped before he stole her magic? Are you telling me that Tirek escaped?"

Pinkie asked, "You didn't know? You didn't know that Tirek escaped?"

I replied, "No, I did not." I cast my gaze upon Marble once more and asked, "Ok, do you know how much magic he stole and where he headed?"

Marble replied, "Mhmm."

I was frustrated that all this pony would say was 'mhmm.' I glared at her and asked, "Well, how much has he stolen and where did he go?"

Just as Marble was about to say something Pinkie interrupted, "He has stolen quite a bit and headed towards Vanhoover didn't he?"

Marble replied, "Mhmm."

I sighed, "So I take it he is already in his larger, red muscular form?"

Applejack replied, "Yeah, that is what Marble told us he looked like when he stole her family's magic."

Rainbow interrupted, "Well Twi, it looks like we are going to have to use our rainbow power on him again and send him back to Tartarus."

I replied, "I wish it were that easy Rainbow but that was unleashed when we unlocked the chest. I don't think the six of us are going to just be able to gather together like that."

Rarity asked, "Twilight, what are we supposed to do then? How are we going to defeat him?"

Fluttershy asked, "Couldn't we just take the elements from the tree and use them to defeat him?"

I replied, "I wish it were that simple but we can't do that. The Tree of Harmony is located in East Equestria and if we even attempted to cross the border Starlight would consider it an act of war and invade."

Applejack asked, "But how would she know that we went there? That is a mighty long border."

I replied, "It is a long border but she has the area around The Tree heavily militarized. She knows that at some point we may need the elemets again and if she can keep us from accessing them that we will be doomed." I began to yell as discussing her made me more angry, "And she wants us to fail! She wants to have to come in and save us because she knows that if she was to save the ponies here, that they would want her to be their leader."

Applejack asked, "Seriously Twilight? The ponies here would want her to lead them despite her being an Eastern pony? Despite her being the one who took you captive?"

I replied, "Unfortunately yes. You've seen how bad things are here now. If she took over, the ponies in West Equestria would no longer be cut off from the wealth of East Equestria."

Rainbow finished for me, "Which would mean that things would go back to normal, for the most part anyway."

What Rainbow said hit me wrong. To me it was a sign of her wanting Starlight to come in and take over so the economy would improve. I shouted, "What was that? Things would return to normal for the most part if she took over?"

I think Rainbow could tell that I was upset. She shied back, "I'm sorry if it came out wrong Twi. I'm just saying that some ponies may see it that way."

I replied, "Oh it's ok Rainbow. I just took it wrong. She has done so much to me in my life that I would likely react negatively to most anything involving her."

Rarity asked, "Twilight, like I asked earlier, what would we do to defeat her?"

I replied, "Well I could always see if Sunset Shimmer would come through the mirror and help. She does have strong magic if she taps into it."

Rainbow gasped, "What? You want her to come help you? You want the one who stole your crown to come help you? She would probably side with Starlight and betray you!"

I replied, "Girls, Sunset has changed. When I was in the human world I saw her go from being bad to good. She has aided in bringing down evil villains there, even the human version of me that turned evil. I know she would want to help me save West Equestria, she might even want to help me bring down Starlight."

Rarity asked, "Twilight, even if she were to want to help you, would she have enough power to aid in defeating Tirek?"

Applejack added, "And even if she did help you bring down Tirek, who is to say she would be able to help you bring down Starlight? Y'all know how powerful Starlight is. Ah don't know if all of us combined could bring her down."

I replied, "You don't know how much Sunset has grown since I defeated her over there. Well I am going to get going, I am going to try to get in touch with Sunset and see if she will help."

Fluttershy asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

I replied, "Yes, just lay low for now. If Tirek comes and can't find you, he won't be able to steal your magic."

They all nodded as I left the cellar. While I looked forward to hopefully seeing Sunset again, there was one thing that I dreaded but knew that it had to be done. I would have to address the town and let them know that Tirek did indeed escape and let them know to stay indoors. Who knows where he is now. He could have stole magic from most of the ponies in West Equestria already and would then set his sights on Ponyville to come and take mine. All I can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Author's Note:

This chapter will be told in the first pony by Twilight.