1 - Considering Exit Strategies
Starlight watched from the bushes. Twilight and her little servant dragon toddled off to do whatever stupid thing they had in mind. She grinned darkly to herself, emerging to approach the castle. It wasn't like there were guards there. It wasn't even like she bothered to lock the place.
That stupid pony somehow remembered to close the door, usually. Starlight's horn glowed as she willed it back open. Not locked, of course, as if she had expected any different. She dashed inside, door closing right behind her, lest some other pony of the town notice her creeping around.
"You're in," she said to herself, her voice echoing off the crystal walls of the castle she had gained entry into. She pulled out her scroll and brought it up to her face, kissing it gently. "And with you, my revenge can start. This will be good." She wasn't sure when she had begun speaking to herself. Perhaps it was after that pony had smashed her village, leaving her entirely alone... again...
Starlight stalked through the halls, looking for the right room. According to her information, it should be right... here! She threw open the doubled-doors to reveal an owl on a perch. "Who?" it asked in the way that owls did.
"Or not?" Starlight tucked her scroll away with a frown. "Hey, where's the map room?" she demanded of the owl, in case it knew the way.
"Who?"
"Yeah, not playing that game." With her magic, she bid the doors close.
She turned away and trotted onwards. It was the largest room in the castle, she was fairly sure. It couldn't be hard to find. She took a turn down another hallway that looked identical to the hallways she had left. "Why doesn't she label any of these!?" she grumbled under her voice. "She'll organize books for a week for the thrill of it, but her hallways? Nah..."
She spied a smaller door and was about to walk past it when she hesitated. "If I don't check them all, I might just walk past it," she decided out loud. She reached with her magic and pulled the door open, revealing a perfectly normal library. Books were lining many shelves, awaiting a pony to come and read one of them. "Charming." She kicked the door closed and moved on.
Her expression was becoming more of a frown as she went. Every hallway looked the same, with only the number of doors to differentiate them. How Twilight or her dragon navigated the place was beyond her. She angrily yanked open the next door with a grunt of building frustration.
There was a creature she had never seen before. It had two legs, two arms, and was entirely lacking fur, except for on top of its head. It was also tied to a chair securely. "What the?" was all Starlight could get out.
"Are you with her? Please, save me!" begged the strange creature, starting to struggle against... her? It sounded like a her. She wriggled against her bonds. "My name's Megan Will--"
Starlight slapped the door shut, ending the conversation. "What manner of strange things do you do in here, Twilight Sporkle?"
For just a moment she wondered if just airing the princess' dirty laundry would be enough to ruin her and cause her misery. Starlight shook her head rapidly. "No, no. Nothing less than complete revenge will do." She stalked forward. "I just have to find that infernal map room..."
The next door she tried seemed harmless enough. Gauging from the bag of gems in the corner, the collection of comics, and the small bed, she could guess who it belonged to. "I found the dragon's room, charming." She closed the door and moved on. She had no business there.
How long had she been in there? The doors were starting to blur into one another. It was just one more door after another in halls that all looked the same. She heard something fall with a loud clap. It made her jump in surprise, but it hadn't been close to her. It had been from further in. A clue?
A guard? Twilight didn't have guards...
Starlight decided to investigate. She hurried through the halls, lest she forget where she heard the sound. Left, left, right... She went up a short flight of stairs and there it was. A book. A book in the middle of the hallway. There was no reason for a book to be laying there. Twilight was neurotic about keeping her books organized. There was nowhere for the book to fall from.
"I'm liking this less and less..." Starlight backed up a step away from the book as if it were a monster, ready to attack.
She heard something just behind her. She didn't have time to process what she heard. She didn't look. She just ran. She ran as hard and fast as her legs could carry her, the halls becoming a blur that she raced down until she was forced to stop, heaving and out of breath.
"This is... getting... ridiculous..." she panted out to herself, her heart slowly calming as she regained her composure, or at least her breath. "It's just an... a... mostly empty castle."
She turned in place and saw a door nearby. "Maybe?" She opened it, just a crack, and crept up to have a careful peek.
She saw an eye looking back at her, a familiar eye. She yelped, but so did it with the same voice. The door glowed with her magic twice as brightly as it should have and slammed shut firmly. "Nope..." she decided firmly, turning away.
"Let's be methodical about this..." Was that even an option? She had passed countless doors in her panic. She was just... somewhere in the castle. She approached a set of double doors. What she wanted should be behind such doors. Shame they all looked exactly the same! With an angry grunt, she forced them open.
"You saw nothing," insisted a mare dangling from a rope that led to a window, goggles on her eyes and a ninja suit covering most of the rest of her.
Starlight blinked softly, still, a window? Escape? Escape was almost seeming like a good option... "Can I?"
The mare, an earth pony by the look of it, pulled herself up along the rope and fell right through that window, gone. The window slammed shut behind her.
"Well, alright..." Starlight could help herself. She wreathed herself in magic and floated up to the window. She reached out and tapped at it, but it didn't make a noise like glass being poked. It was more like...
She pulled at the edge of it and it came free. It was a tapestry. "But..." She had seen a pony go through it moments before. There was nothing there but wall. She was trapped. Starlight sank back to the ground with a weary sigh. "All I want is a little revenge, is that so hard?!"
She emerged into the hallway. That infernal hallway. That hallway that looked exactly like all the other hallways. Starlight moved across the hallway to a door just a few steps away. "I'll take an exit at this point..." She nudged open the door to reveal a massive pony.
He was black, except for the red highlights. He had a scar across his right eye and stood tall and imperiously. "I am here to defeat you," he declared with an echoing boom of importance.
"Nope." Starlight slammed the door in the pony's face even as his magic began to glow around his horns, he had several, and his wings unfurled. "Nope." Starlight pulled tape out of nowhere and rolled it across the door, lest anyone else wander into that room and the horror it contained. "The least I could do."
Starlight could do little but forge on. There were no windows, only doors. Only a door could hold her escape. She just had to keep looking. She heard a knocking suddenly. It came from below. Someone was knocking on the castle door? She tried to orient on the sound, but it seemed to echo from all over. She trotted towards it, as best she could, but she didn't feel like she was really getting any closer.
The knocking stopped, leaving her there, lost in the castle. "Okay, calm down, Glimmie. You can handle this. You're a wizard, literally, think with magic!" She pulled out her scroll. She could Stop Twilight from making her friends without her, but that would defeat the purpose of things. "Twilight has to see me do it!" Besides, the castle would still be there. The only difference would be Twilight not having her stupid friends.
It wouldn't get her out.
What if she blasted her way out? It was crude, but... she was desperate. She lowered her horn towards a wall and let her magic flow hot and fierce. The beam of energy bounced off the crystal, then the ceiling, and struck her right on the rump, singing her cutie mark with a loud yelp from her.
She reached back to rub her aching bottom. That hadn't worked...
She had no choice but to keep checking the doors. One of them had to lead out...
"Maybe I was just more stressed about that speech than I thought," said Twilight as she set aside her rolling bag and walked into her castle.
Spike laughed softly, "Yeah. That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer coming back with an evil plot for revenge."
Twilight nodded, joining the laugh as her tension fled her. "Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kinda silly."
They laughed together as they entered the map room and found... nothing but the map, right where they left it. Starlight Glimmer was nowhere in sight. No horrible revenge was being enacted upon them.
Spike shrugged. "I'm almost disappointed." He held up two claws close together. "Almost."
Twilight lightly prodded him and they went about their normal lives.
She would have a perfectly peaceful day until she was getting ready for bed. She retired to her personal bathroom to prepare for it. Her magic wrapped around the door and opened it. A furry shape burst free, tackling her.
Starlight hugged Twilight fiercely, sobbing into her with wails that echoed against the walls. "Oh, thank Celestia! Please tell me you're not an illusion, or a trick, or something! Please please please!"
Twilight staggered back, her wings shot out and helping balance her under the unexpected load. "S-Starlight?" The sobbing pony dangling from her neck said nothing, shivering against her. "It's... alright," she ventured, gently patting the back of the one she had feared had been out for revenge. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted... a little revenge, just a little." Starlight slid down to her haunches, seated in front of Twilight. She was still shivering fitfully, body shaking like a leaf. "It was so simple, so very simple! I had a plan, a perfectly tidy little plan, and I was ready, so ready!"
Twilight gently patted the rambling unicorn, running her hoof through her mane. "It's alright. We've all had plans go... awry before."
"And now you're going to banish me! Fine! So long as it's away from this castle!" Starlight collapsed in a heap, her hooved over her eyes and her tears spilling to the floor.
Twilight lowered her hoof to resume the gentle petting. "It's alright, it's alright," she repeated with an awkward smile. "You didn't... actually do anything, even if you were considering it."
"Considering it?!" Starlight suddenly sat up, the scroll in her pocket coming free, held in her magic. "I had everything! I was going to cast this, we'd go back in time, I'd fix things! Just like you said earlier today. Is it still today? I've lost all track of time!"
Twilight's ears folded back against her head. She gently patted Starlight on the shoulder, which was enough to get the unicorn back to sobbing and not thinking about the scroll. Twilight reached with her magic, gently prying it from Starlight's weak and distracted arcane grip. With a hearty toss, she sent it flying out a window. "Well, it's probably just as well that didn't happen... Now, let's talk about things..."
And that's how that could have ended!
Dramatic reading:
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I got a chuckle out of this one.
A good, solid chuckle at that. 
So this Twilight is experimenting on humans I see. I get the feeling that the Princesses would not approve if they knew.
8954572
It's only Megan...
Meanwhile, on the Astral Plane...
"Junior..."
"What? I didn't hurt her."
The Tree of Harmony just gave her offspring a Look. Similar to a Stare, but usable only by mothers. (As for how a tree looked at anything, harmony avatars are just as weird as those of chaos. They're just less aggressive about it.) "Junior."
"Okay, fine, there was the magic blast, but that was technically her own fault. And so was breaking into me in the first place!"
"You know why I'm upset."
"It's not like you just sat there and took it when the plundervines were choking you. Not when you actually could do something about it."
"We exist to spread harmony and understanding, not havoc and confusion. Sending Starlight Glimmer into an infinite maze of countless dimensions falls strictly in the latter camp."
"So would letting her wreck time."
The Tree sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Build a friendship school next to me?"
"Now you're just being ridiculous."
8954719
I love it.
Oh Celestia! This is wicked, but gorgeous.
Oh yeah, I forgot Twilight had an owl. I think the writers did as well. Whatever happened to him?
8954719
Does the school count as a little sibling? Distant cousin?
Haha, smartest reaction to that I've seen yet.
had
Double word score :3
Not sure if typo, or GlimGlam being flippant
an(-d)
thank(-s)
8954946
Given the materials involved in its construction, it's clearly a pet rock.
8954965
Typos abandoned in random rooms for intruders to happen upon.
8954987
...Does this mean Boulder's going to start cheating on its paramour?
8954990
this reminds me of the DOORS animation
8954945
Like seriously. When was the last time he even appeared on the show?
8955196
A pet grooming session in season 5. Other than that, just a photograph in a couple episodes.
I'm wondering if Megan even really was there, or if it was another false iteration like the window becoming a tapestry or the demon that just happens to be behind one of the doors.
Is anyone else remindend of Hotel Cabal from Gargoyles?
8955390
That was no demon. That was a red and black OC! ... Alright, maybe it was a demon.
Twilight's Castle, the meme that will never die.
Today on HISHE.
"BECAUSE I'M BATMANE!"
"Luna, you're drunk. Go home."
*FAST FORWARDS TO NEXT SCENE*
Sorry but just checking that "Starlight slapped the door shut, ending the conversation. "What manner of strange things do you do in here, Twilight Sporkle?" is not a typo.
good story though.
Perhaps Starlight has certain websites on her mind.
8955237
It’s all a setup for a heartbreaking episode about how Twilight has forgotten she even has a pet owl, and how hurtful she’s been. It’ll end with Twilight giving Owlicious to Moondancer, because Moondancer is just Twilight’s emotional dumping ground for stuff she no longer cares about.
Yes, quite worthy of the feature box, indeed.
8956219
So how long until it’s Spike’s turn?
8956384
Never. If there's one constant in this show, it's that Twilight loves Spike more than anything (except maybe Starlight Glimmer, and that's a whole separate issue).
8956438
She loved her pet owl too. And her friends back in Canterlot. (Possibly.) And her family. Look how easily she discarded/forgot them.
8956446
I'm pretty sure she never even noticed she had friends in Canterlot. If anything, she just accepted them as the kids who hung around her and never even cared to give it much thought beyond that. As for her family, she's a grownup and has her own life. You tend to come home and visit only rarely when you're busy with your career. And Twilight leads a very busy life.
As for Owlicious, she never really seemed to spend much time with him in the first place. The writers just seemed to forget he existed for the most part.
8956453
Like Peewee.
8956455
Well, with Peewee, they at least addressed where he went in an episode. You're shown photos of Spike not being able to handle having a baby phoenix that end with one showing him returning Peewee to his family. Owlicious just seemed to fly away after Tirek blew up Golden Oak library and was pretty much never seen again.
8956496
They only threw those photos in because at the last minute they realized they'd forgotten about Peewee.
8956499
Yeah, but they at least addressed his absence. In theory, that owl's still living with Twilight somewhere in the castle.
8956508
In theory.
8955390
I'm thinking in Megan breaking free and escaping...just to discover she is stranded in a world of ponies while her underaged siblings are alone and pm their own.
Eventually, she would grow to hate ponies and their world, and plot her revenge...
That Tree Castle has some of the best defenses imaginable! At least I hope that was all the castle's own doing.
8957281
In this scenario, I like to imagine the Castle as having some sort of intelligence, and being able to rearrange its layout at will in a manner similar to Doctor Who's TARDIS.
I was thinking that only ponies who follow Twilight's teaching of friendship can freely navigate the castle. Once Starlight had broken down and no longer desired to inflict harm, the castle let her go to the one pony who could help.
8954719
Now that is an excellent idea for a sequel!
8954719
8958921
It is harmonious. You are likely to be befriended by a grue.
8954597
Who?
8958614
Acurate.
8959110
Megan Williams the human heroine of My Little Pony back in the 80s
8959220
Oh, sad she's tied up in twilight's castle.
8959220
And that day, no great losses occurred.
Hey, think we could sacrifice the Pauls or would that give her the wrong idea about humans?
8956881
Bonus chapters showing her many attempts to escape resulting in getting lost in the castle and getting re-captured.
8955515
What's the difference?
8960380
Megan clearly thought she was in dream valley and tried to boss ponies around. Her siblings are likely be kept by fluttershy as exotic animals.
The difference between a demon and black and red OC is the OC is only usually a demon.
8961023
That doesn't tell me if we can get rid of the Paul brothers.