Chapter 268 - Twilight's Perspective
You…
You are…
You are Twilight Sparkle. The eve of Hearthwarming has arrived. You stood watching over the scared ponies of Ponyville from between the old thrones of the sisters. You had felt, for now, hiding those who had not changed, and bringing them within the walls of the old castle, was best.
That castle, no doubt it was created by Tirek. But how? Although it had been clear that it was forged through chaos magic, you couldn’t imagine Anon nor Discord creating it for him. Not of their own free will anyway. Did they too succumb to this strange ‘change’? Or did Tirek take Anon to force Discord to do as he wishes?
Ponies within Ponyville, their eyes, they all changed to a glowing soft blue. Their will was taken from them as they silently swore their allegiance to the enemy, as they only referred to as their ‘best friend’. Those that hadn’t succumbed were brought to the castle to hide, but for how long?
“Twilight?” Said a familiar voice from behind you. It was Spike.
“Hm? Spike… How is Starlight’s scouting going?” You asked him.
“So far her drone has been able to scout as far as the end of the dungeon. Scrappy was right, the entrance from the castle’s sewer grate is totally unguarded. But, uh, are you sure we should be doing this? Y’know, making plans for an attack?” Spike asked you, clearly concerned.
“The longer we wait, the more powerful this spell becomes. We can’t hesitate.” You tell him, with a militaristic infliction in your tone.
“Look, I get all that. But the elements of harmony haven’t been working since yesterday. I don’t know what Tirek is doing, but if he overpowers you guys, it’s all over, for real. Shouldn’t we try to figure out what happened to them before we do this?” Spike asked.
“I appreciate your concern, Spike. But Tirek won’t wait for that. He’s somehow acquired chaos magic and is using it to morph the town and warp the minds of innocent ponies. I fear he’s somehow found a way to control Discord, and is forcing him to do what he wants. We can’t wait, we have to confront him the moment we have the opportunity.” You said, furrowing your brow as you began to ponder on your own words. Anon and Discord, how? How did Tirek manage to capture the both of them so easily?
Spike sighed, and crossed his arms as he began to think on it himself. “Twilight, I don’t like this. I’ve never seen a bad guy take over this fast, it’s too weird. Are you sure it really is worth just going in instead of finding a way to get the elements to work?”
“There is no other way, Spike. If I had to guess, Tirek may be using Anon as leverage to force Discord to do what he needs him to. That’s the only way I can see this happening. If we can save Anon, Discord won’t have any more reason to help him. It’d then be all of us versus one of him. That being said, what about the dungeon itself? Any prisoners?” You asked him.
“Totally empty. If you’re right, Twilight, Tirek is probably keeping Anon close. This could also all be a trap. Tirek could be setting it up to capture you. And… Wait…” Spike suddenly came upon an epiphany. “Hold on, what if we get Chrysalis to help out? Sneaking into places, is like, her entire thing. Maybe she can help figure out how to save Anon and Discord.”
You shook your head at that suggestion. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What?! Why not?!” Spike asked, in surprise of your statement.
“Too much risk. We have no idea what she might do, or who she’ll hurt. It has to be just us.” You explained to him, hoping he’d understand.
“Mngh, Twilight… I guess you’re right. If Chrysalis runs into any of our friends, she might just blast through them to get them out of her way. But this is still super dangerous, we don’t know what he has up his sleeves. A lot is at stake here, and again, it could be a trap!” Spike said, trying one last time to convince you to think things through better.
You just turned and began to walk through the hallways of the castle to the old bedroom of Celestia where your friends reside. “Spike, Tirek isn’t as clever as he thinks he is. Even if it is a trap, he’ll want to face me down. I can’t imagine his last defeat sat too well with him. It only takes one mistake, and once we’ve freed Anon, Discord will be able to do what he needs to do.”
“That’s assuming that’s even what’s going on. What if he found some other way to control chaos magic?” Spike asked you as he followed.
“Impossible, Anon and Discord are the only ones capable of that.” You tell him.
“What about the Storm King? He had that crazy staff, remember?” Spike reminds you.
The Storm King? For some reason, you only vaguely remember these details. But it was clearly an important fact. But a memory you more vividly remembered was Anon getting rid of him. Along with something else. “And as I remember, Anon got rid of him. If the staff was still around, somepony would have used it already.” And then there was Jimmy. You remembered Anon’s explanation about him. He too was gone, and as you remember, stripped of his powers. Tirek controlling Discord through Anon was the only thing that made sense.
“Huh? Hm… I guess that’s true. Power-hungry maniacs like Tirek wouldn’t have waited to use that thing the moment he got his grubby hands on it.” Spike theorized.
“And even then, he has no way of controlling that kind of chaos without converting it to bolster himself. Unless you can think of any other way he could use chaos magic, Spike, this conversation is over.” You tell him rather harshly, not wanting to spend another moment on the subject.
“Y-yeesh, I was just trying to help.” Spike said as he faltered behind, feeling hurt from your words. But then he realized you had to be under a lot of stress, and rushed back to your side. “Okay, okay, fine. I get it. I’m here for you, Twilight. If you need anything, just let me know.”
“Just stand watch over the townsponies. We have to make sure Tirek’s influence doesn’t reach here. I know Scrappy seems immune to the change, given he took it upon himself to scout the castle. But what about you, have you felt anything?” You asked, staring deep into Spike’s eyes for any sort of change.
“Nope, nothing. Do you think it only affects ponies?” Spike asked.
“So far…” You said in a lower voice, peering past him into the abyss, knowing the situation was more dire than what you let on.
Leaving Spike, you entered the bedroom. Starlight was hard at work peering into a crystal ball, her magic flowing into it as the image of the inner sanctum of the castle wrapped around the orb. The rest of your friends stared in earnest, studying what they were looking at.
“How’s it going? Starlight, have you found anything interesting so far?” You asked her.
“More than you know. None of the ponies inside seem to notice that the drone exists. It’s almost like it doesn’t exist for them at all. I’ve been able to see inside a lot of the castle and I can say Tirek isn’t keeping the place well guarded. Unfortunately, there’s some bad news too. This is as far as I can get the drone, any further and the image gets really fuzzy. So, aside from the throne room, there's a few other parts of the castle I didn't get a chance to check out.” Starlight said as she focused on keeping the drone hovering.
“Hmph, Tirek probably thinks his little spell can affect the likes of us. I bet he thinks he’s untouchable.” Rarity said as she let out a huff.
“Yeah, but there ain’t something right about that there spell. Everypony affected by it got their minds clouded more than an incoming thunderstorm. They all call him his ‘best friend’. Ain’t never known a bad guy like him to care about friendship.” Applejack noted.
“That’s because he’s nopony’s friend!” Fluttershy suddenly let out, angry, crying. “He has Anon and Discord! He’s hurting them! Discord would never do something like this. A-and we’re just standing here, doing nothing. W-we can’t even use the drone to see if they're okay.” Fluttershy began to cry even more, bending over, shattered. “I shouldn’t have let him go on his own. Tirek has him, Discord, and Cozy Glow. I-I bet… I bet that Winter Krumb was him all along, tricking them…”
Rainbow Dash, sensing how traumatized Fluttershy was feeling, rushed over to her and held her, comforting her. “Fluttershy, you gotta relax, okay? We’re the elements of harmony, remember? We’re just gonna do what we always do. Bust in, kick some butt, and rescue everypony. It’s gonna be fine.”
“B-but… The elements, t-they’re not even working” Fluttershy said in a long melancholic whine.
Applejack tensed from those words, and looked over at you, concerned about the entire situation. “She’s got a point, Twi. I’m all for some raw action, but this is Tirek we’re talkin’ about. Do you really think we can take him without the power of the elements?”
“We don’t have a choice. If we wait, and even one other pony succumbs to his spell, it’ll be over. Applejack, do you think you’d be able to focus on anything if any of your family changed?” You asked her, knowing the answer.
“Ngh… It’d make me angry, that’s for sure. But I saw how them ponies were acting, they were throwing themselves at us to try to stop everypony from escaping, as if they didn’t care about themselves. Ah don’t know what I’d do if I had to fight my sister, brother, Granny Smith…” Applejack took off her hat, and looked over at the crystal ball. “Alright, if this is gonna be our last rodeo, let’s make sure we go down swinging.”
“Hey, it sounds like a party to me! We only gotta save Anon to get Discord to stop the spell, right? Easy peasy! Even if he changes half of us, Discord will show that meanie who’s boss and fix everything!” Pinkie said with a cheer.
“Horrible, to think he’d use a foal to get him to do what he wants. Tirek is the lowest form of uncouth scum, and I for one will feel no sympathy for what Discord will do to him. As for me, if it means saving Equestria again, then you know that I simply must be a part of it.” Rarity said, prepping herself, stomping her front hooves down to show how ready she is.
“Normally, I hate not getting enough action, but if I can distract him with my wicked skills and speed, then we should be done and ready for Hearthwarming before you know it!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she pumped her hoof forward.
“...” Fluttershy walked over and stared at the crystal ball, feeling anger, and perhaps… Even hatred well up inside her. “He hurt my family. He’s hurting them right now. If I have to break a chair over Tirek’s head to save my family, then I’m going to break a chair over his head to save them! And I won’t apologize! And I won’t offer first aid! I won’t even offer a kiss to make his booboo feel better! He’s going down! RAGH!” Fluttershy grabbed the crystal ball and angrily threw it to the ground, shattering it into bits.
“Flutter-Agh! Ogh…” Starlight yelled, then whined as her crystal ball was shattered to pieces. “Well, so much for that.”
“Ngh… S-sorry…” Fluttershy said, genuinely apologetic, but her anger still welling up inside her. “B-but… I’m so angry, I just… I never felt so much anger in my life.”
“It’s fine… Okay, so, Twilight, it sounds like you have a plan.” Starlight said, as she began to slap her face a bit, to ready herself. “If you need me as backup, just say the word!”
“No, the six of us are going in through the dungeon alone. You need to stay here with Spike. And if worse comes to worse, and we don’t come back, take everypony to Chrysalis’s manor. Spike knows where it is.” You told Starlight.
“Wha?! Why there?! She’s totally not going to let us use her place as a safehouse.” Starlight said, utterly baffled by your plan.
“In an emergency like this, I think she’ll make an exception. Even then, there should be no reason we can’t take him on. Discord, even by his command, will hesitate to even try anything on us. I somehow doubt Tirek is at full power, which is why he’s using Anon to control Discord. If we all move in and attack all at once, he won’t be able to stop at least one of us from saving Anon.” That was your plan. You felt you knew Tirek enough that he’d be boastful and meander on a decision before he even tried anything. It’d give plenty of time for immediate actions to be done.
“Twilight, are you sure Anon is in the throne room with him? What if he’s somewhere else? Tirek would have to be pretty dumb to keep Anon in the same place he’s controlling Discord, he’d only have to slip up once and Discord could rescue Anon himself, then get rid of Tirek.” Starlight said, finding the plan a little too risky, given what is at risk.
“Discord is connected to Anon in more ways than one at this point. Hiding Anon from him is impossible. Tirek will keep Anon close by, close enough to destroy him before Discord could try anything. I can use my magic to stun Tirek the moment we burst into that throne room, that’s the only moment we need to turn things around.” You explained. There really was no other way to do it, it’d have to be an immediate attack and getting Anon to safety. Hopefully, Discord will be smart enough to react once Anon is out of danger.
“I’m gonna have to fill my party cannon until it's ready to pop! The moment we get in there, BAM, there’s gonna be so much confetti, that you can swim in it!” Pinkie said with excitement, until she suddenly slumped over. “Except, I left it back at Sugarcube Corner… And it’s not Sugarcube Corner anymore…”
“Hey, whatever, don’t worry about it. There’s six of us, he can’t focus on all of us.” Rainbow Dash said as she zipped around the room, before stopping and letting out a cocky chuckle. “He won’t even be able to catch me, things are gonna be fine.”
“See? Starlight, I’m telling you things will be fine. But if they don’t, I need you to take them to the manor. It is made up of chaos itself, so it should hold off the effects of the spell. I know you think there’s no chance she’ll let you all in, but trust me, I don’t think Chrysalis is willing to let us down now that she’s changed.” You explain to her again, hoping she understands.
“Okay… Just, please come back, alright?” Starlight said with heavy concern, wanting all her friends to return safely. “A-and, if Anon says any wild stuff, cut him some slack. He's got every right to say whatever he's got to say.”
You nodded, before looking at your friends. You knew they were ready, but you had to make sure their morale was up, that they were willing to follow you to the end, should that be the case. “Girls, I’m not guaranteeing that we’re going to win this. I know we don’t have the elements, and a full assault seems, well, crazy. But we have our in and we know the castle is barely defended from the inside. If we charge forward, we will be able to stop Tirek. We will save Anon, and Discord, and everypony else that is trapped. I can’t do this alone, but I don’t want to force any of you to come along. So, if you want to stay behind, say so now. Nopony will blame you for staying.”
Nobody said anything, until Applejack gave you a cocky little smirk and said. “Now, Twi, you know when we do somethin’, we all do it together. Ain’t none of us gonna chicken out of this. Right, girls?”
All of them nodded and agreed, with Pinkie in particular blowing on a party streamer to emphasize her readiness.
“Thanks, girls.” You nodded.
This was it…
Just as quickly as Tirek came, he would be defeated. You’d stop at nothing to make sure he goes down for what he’s done.
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....Not gonna lie, I'm strongly looking forward to the idea of them learning Anon was "shattered to pieces" by Tirek's hands, that, and learning Discord was defeated straight up after Anon was.
Why do I feel like the little change spell did get into Twi and is making her utterly and completely shove the idiot ball so far down her throat it becoming one with her very soul? Cause Spike was spiting out some legit facts and concerns, and she just steamed rolled over it all.
I guess after Anon was killed, the StupidSauce™ that had previously been sloshing around in his head was transferred to Twilight.
11516378
Because listening to other's ideas isn't her strong point. Without someone who represents authority to her she won't back down even when others make good points.
Just a heads up: there might be a considerable gap between comments from me.
Now for potential errors:
whom (?)
inflection (?)
Missing comma after ‘long’. (?)
How many chapters will it take to gather everyone together. Chrysalis, Starlight, Tempest, they all will help. I just wonder how.
The THE THE THING SHE WAS WORKING ON!
Fluttershy’s reaction to Anon’s death is going to be interesting.
WTF FLUTTERSHY?!?
Ohhh, their excitement won’t be lasting very long.