The Peculiar Tale of Twinkle Shine

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 6: Intermission

“Hiya squirt!” Hitch says with a smile on his face as he trots in through the door with an orange alicorn behind him.

As Hitch trots in, Sunny quickly trots up behind him to circle around his left side so she can embrace Izzy, standing in the middle of the living room, in a tight warm hug!

Izzy returns the hug with a smile on her face, as Twinkle looks onward from the left side with a frown on hers.

Hitch looks at Twinkle, “So uh, Izzy said you had something you needed to tell us?”

Twinkle looks up at the stallion, “Um, yes!” she nods, “I needed to tell you all about my origin and where I came from!”

Hitch frowns, “And why you woke up in that courtyard?”

Twinkle sighs, “Well uh, I know why I was there now!” she widens her eyes, “Still no idea what woke me up though or why I’m here and the two others aren’t?”

Hitch widens his eyes, “A mystery huh? Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon!” he smiles, “And hey! You’re not alone anymore!”

Twinkle smiles, “Yeah…”

“Well, hey! Zipp and Pipp should be along any minute now, but would you like to have a walk-along with me tomorrow?”

Twinkle frowns, “Uh, a walk-along?”

Hitch nods his head, “Yeah! You can walk along with me while I do my sheriff things in Maretime Bay! It’ll give you a chance to get out there, see the world, and maybe meet new ponies?”

Twinkle normalizes her mouth and nods, “Uh, sure Hitch! I’d like that!”

Hitch smiles wider, “Great! I’ll be by to pick you up around eleven tomorrow morning!”

Suddenly, there’s another wrapping on Izzy’s front door as a boyish voice says from behind it, “It’s me! Zipp! Pipp is here with me, but she’s doing something on her phone! Uh, give her a sec!”

Izzy smiles and looks beyond Sunny to the door to make the knob glow blue and have the door swing open inward to the left to reveal a white pegasus with a red and blue fauxhawk manecut and a smaller pink pegasus with a flowing orchid mane, standing on her left, currently looking at her smartphone held in her left-wing with an excited smile on her face.

Zipp quietly says to her sister, “Put the phone away sis! Real-life stuff is about to happen!”

Pipp widens her eyes and puts the golden device away somewhere near her neck, but again, Twinkle still can’t tell exactly where.

Izzy chimes up, “Come on in, everypony!”

The pegasi both trot in, first Zipp as she curves her path around her sister before Pipp timidly trots in behind her and shuts the door with her right forehoof while turning her head that direction and then, affixing her gaze to the pink filly in the middle of the room as Zipp trots further forward to give her some seeing room.

Twinkle nods to all the ponies present, “Right! Zipp already knows this story, but now, I get to tell you!”

Pipp raises her eyebrows, “Tell us about what?”

Twinkle stares at the pink pegasus, “About where I’m from…” she looks down slightly and closes her eyes while saying, “Now, I don’t actually remember doing these things…” she opens them to the other ponies, “But I uh, apparently once stole all the magic in Equestria and tried to take it over!”

Pipp frowns, “But from what I read in the records, Equestria hasn’t had any magic for over a thousand years!” She widens her eyes and stares at Sunny on her right, “Well, until recently!”

Twinkle blinks, “Yeah, this was two thousand years ago!”

Suddenly, everypony stares at Twinkle.

“What?” Hitch asks loudly.

“Huh?” Pipp asks.

Sunny frowns, “How is that even possible?”

Twinkle sighs, “I was just getting there! You see…” she blinks, “after I uh, did what I did, they were pretty upset about it… They froze me in stone…”

Hitch lowers his gaze at the filly, “I see… So, why are you free now?”

Twinkle stares at the stallion and smiles dimly and says with a half-giggle, “We actually don’t know! But uh, I think I know what those other two piles of gravel were on the platform…”

Sunny stares at the filly intently, “What were they?”

Twinkle sighs as she looks down, “I think…” she stares up at the alicorn, “I think they were once Chrysalis and Tirek…” she blinks, “The two other villains that were with me when I tried to take over Equestria the last time…”

Sunny lowers her gaze, “I see… So, why are they dust and you’re here?”

Twinkle widens her eyes, “Pretty sure I just said that I didn’t know?” she looks up with her eyes, “Was sure I did?”

At that point, Sunny widens her eyes and stares at the filly blankly, “So uh, what are you gonna do now?”

Twinkle looks at Sunny, “I don’t really know?” she looks at Izzy, “What do fillies do in Bridlewood?”

Izzy widens her red eyes to the filly, “I need to get you enrolled in school!”

Twinkle starts, “Huh?”

Izzy looks down at the filly, “Well, you want to continue your life, right? Well, you’re gonna need an education!”

Twinkle widens her eyes, “Oh golly!” she narrows them, “Okay, so when do you wanna do that?”

Izzy looks off to the right and narrows her mouth, “Well, you got that walk-along thing, with Hitch tomorrow?” she looks at the filly intently, “How about the day after tomorrow!”

Twinkle smiles, “In two days, huh? Okay, Izzy! I’ll go to school in two more days!” she looks at everypony in the room, “So uh, what do you think now that you know more about me and wh-what I did?”

Sunny frowns down at the filly, “Well uh, that was two thousand years ago and nopony really remembers anymore?” she lowers her gaze somewhat, “I mean, does any of this stuff really matter at this point?”

Twinkle smiles, “Well, I’m good as long as I don’t try to take over Equestria anymore, right?”

Sunny grins and giggles, “Right! No more of that, little filly!”

<*****>

Twinkle lays on her left side on the bed, deep inside her pillow nest, while clutching Fred the octopus. Izzy slips behind her from the bottom and soon, embraces the filly in her hooves, which causes Twinkle to snuggle her back from behind, and smile happily as she squeaks out, “I love you Izzy!”

Izzy holds the filly tightly and feels the warmth of her little body, and this only causes the unicorn to grin as she says, “I love you too, Twinkle Shine! Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Izzy!” Twinkle says before snuggling Frank close to her chin and happily closing her eyes while smiling…

Izzy closes her eyes too while holding the foal tightly and thinking to herself that she’s more than just a friend at this point, although she still can’t put her hoof on exactly what yet…

<*****>

Twinkle once again, finds herself inside a cave, somewhere deep under the earth and she witnesses the mysterious blue glow surrounding her as she stands in the center of the atrium on her hooves… She once again, hears the same filly outside that sounds like her, “Cozy Glow! Time to wake up, Cozy Glow!”

Twinkle frowns and looks up as she says, “I’m not Cozy Glow!”

“Sure, you are!” The voice happily replies, “You remember!”

Twinkle lowers her gaze at the far wall, “I am not! I would never do the things she did!”

“Oh, would you now? After everything, I’m surprised you’re even arguing with me!”

Twinkle’s eyes widen slightly, “After what? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Stop playing, Cozy Glow!”

“Alright, look!” Twinkle shouts while moving her right wing around her body, left to right, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know what you want me to do, and for the last time, I am not Cozy Glow!” She raises her little chin defiantly, “My name is Twinkle Shine, now!”

The room is silent for a moment as Twinkle gazes upward with her face level. Finally, she hears the familiar voice say, “Surely you remember why you did those things, right?”

Twinkle widens her eyes, before sighing and finally saying, “Does it even matter, anymore? That was two thousand years ago! I mean, golly!” she blinks and sighs, “That was a long time ago, and this is my life now…”

The voice is finally silent…

Twinkle raises her neck, “My name is Twinkle Shine now, and the past is dead and buried… I don’t know who Cozy Glow is, nor do I really care anymore…” she shakes her head, “It, it doesn’t matter, okay?” tears begin to form in her eyes as she continues, “I don’t remember my pain and I want to keep it that way! I don’t want to remember whatever it was that made me evil! I don’t want to go back there!” She lowers her head, closes her eyes, and sighs deeply. "I don't need to know anymore..."

“You really don’t want to remember, huh?”

Twinkle opens her watery brown eyes before staring back to the far wall, illuminated by a blue glow boldly as she says, “I don’t need to anymore… That was a long time ago… I no longer care…” She lowers her gaze and sighs again, “And that’s also precisely why you need to go away now Cozy Glow…” she shuts her eyes, “Your time is over…” The voice is silent once more as Twinkle takes a deep breath and opens her eyes before wiping the tears from her cheeks…

The voice whimsically replies, “Alright, Twinkle Glow! I want to make a wager with you! Call it, a bet! You willing to do that, Cozy Shine?”

Twinkle scrunches her brows, “WHAT?”

“Oh, feisty tonight, I see!” The voice clears its throat, “Okay, I’ve seen you with your new friends… There’s five of them, huh? I want you to hang out with them and experience friendship! And while you’re doing that, I want you to keep something in mind… I want you to think about the power you’ve gained, by having these ponies in your life… You think you can do that for me?”

Twinkle is silent as she stares at the wall, with a blank expression in her eyes.

“Oh, what’s the matter? Finally, nothing to say?”

Twinkle says in a low growling voice, “I’m not like you, Cozy Glow… I’m better!”

The voice snidely replies, “Just keep in mind what I said…”

“Go to Tartarus!” Twinkle bellows out in the center of the cave with her eyes narrowed and an angry defiant frown on her face.

<*****>

Twinkle wakes up on her left side in Izzy’s hooves underneath the covers inside her pillow nest while clutching Frank the octopus with a wide-eyed start, “I told her off!”

“Hmm, huh?” mutters a drowsy Izzy behind her.

Twinkle nods, “I finally told Cozy Glow that her time is through… She needs to go away now…”

Izzy tightens her grip on the pink filly, “Well, what did she say?”

Twinkle blinks slowly as a tear forms on her lower right eye and she soon wipes it away with her right forehoof and says, “She uh, told me a bunch of stuff about how friendship is power, or whatever… I yelled back that I’m not like her… I’m better than that…” she sniffles.

“Twinkle! A-are you uh, crying?”

Another tear forms in the filly’s left eye, “I don’t know!” she wipes that away with the same forehoof, “I don’t know why I would cry, and I don’t know what set me off?” she sniffles again, “There was something about her voice and something about that place? I just keep going there, night after night, and I don’t know why?”

“Well, don’t you think we need to find out?”

Twinkle widens her eyes as she leans forward in Izzy’s hooves, “NO! N-no…” she looks down and to the right as she lays there on her left side and sighs, “There’s no reason to…” she closes her eyes, “I don’t need to know…”

“Uh, well whatever it is seems to be causing you problems?”

Twinkle normalizes her eyes and corrects her neck, “It’s not important anymore Izzy…” she closes her eyes tightly, “Can we just go to your kitchen and smoke now?” she shakes her head and opens her eyes while continuing to be held by the unicorn behind her, “P-please? I don’t want to talk about this…”

<*****>

Izzy licks the glowing king joint in mid-air before floating the cardboard-tipped end into her mouth and clamping down with her lips before a glowing red lighter floats up from the lower right of the table and sparks to ignite before her red eyes, as they stare into the pale glow of the light. She slowly moves her face towards the lighter and inhales, so the flame begins to lick the end of the joint and ignite it in her mouth, while she breathes in... Soon, the lighter disengages and floats back to the table.

Twinkle stares at Izzy with wide auburn eyes from the left side of the table, “You know, we really should do other things than just smoke together?”

Izzy chuckles as smoke billows out of her mouth and she says out the right corner of her mouth, “Yeah, I know! I’m just always so busy doing craft things, well, mostly birdhouses right now, that I just don’t have time to do much else!”

Twinkle smiles, “Yeah well, thanks for getting me those adventure novels!” she frowns, “Still not sure how the gratuitous flank shaking, and obscene poses plays into the story though, but the earth pony barbarian hero is pretty cool!” she says while normalizing her mouth. *

Izzy widens her eyes while taking a drag of the joint and making the cherry glow, before floating it before her and turning it in the air to glide down to Twinkle’s mouth, where her lips soon clamp and purse on the tip.

Izzy exhales smoke in front of her and looks down at Twinkle, “Well, maybe we can go to the bookstore later?”

Twinkle smiles as she’s taking a drag, “Yeah!” and she purses her lips to make the cherry glow as she inhales.

Izzy stares down at the filly as cannabinoids begin to overtake her normally flighty mind. She smiles dimly as she says, “I don’t know if I’m your new mommy, or best friend, or smoking buddy, or what, kid!”

Twinkle exhales smoke out the right side of her mouth as she grins, “Yeah, it’s a mystery, huh?”

Izzy shakes her head as the filly takes another drag, “But I’ll tell you one thing…” she smiles, “You make me feel needed…”

Twinkle takes the joint out of her mouth with her right forehoof and exhales smoke before smiling at the unicorn, “I’m glad I can do that for you, Izzy…” then, Twinkle brings her hoof to her mouth for another drag.

Izzy smiles onward as the filly lifts the joint from her mouth, and she stares at the filly’s raised hoof before causing the roach to glow and float towards her and turn around in mid-air before going into her mouth, where she purses her lips and inhales to make the cherry glow.

Twinkle exhales smoke between her and Izzy before looking down and frowning, “There was an alicorn in my dreams earlier though…”

Izzy looks down at the filly as she exhales from the right side of her mouth, “Oh?”

Twinkle nods, “Yeah!”

Izzy floats the joint from her mouth to the glass ashtray on the table for snuffing as she looks at the pegasus, “Okay, this is important! What color was she?”

Twinkle blinks, “Purple!”

Izzy’s eyes widen, “Purple? Uh, did she have a blue mane and tail with colorful streaks in them?”

Twinkle frowns as she stares up at the unicorn, “How did you know?”

Izzy’s mind is now laser-focused on the filly as she concisely asks, “Okay, precisely what did this alicorn say to you?”

Twinkle blinks, “She said that my past isn’t important… That I needed to just forget it…” she shakes her head, “But that doesn’t explain what Cozy is talking about?”

Izzy frowns, “Cozy might not be speaking the truth?” she looks down, “Don’t you think anypony that nefarious might also be a liar too?”

Twinkle widens her brown eyes to the unicorn, “You know, that’s actually a good point, now that you mention it!”

Izzy gives a wide-eyed start, “Um, yes! Of course!”

Twinkle frowns, “Which could only mean that I’m not really Cozy Glow… Um” she raises her eyes to Izzy, “who am I?”

Izzy eyes the filly, “Uh, you’re Twinkle Shine, remember?”

“Oh yeah!” The filly says while giggling.

Izzy nods, “Right! And since Sunny knows a lot of stuff about Twilight, you should definitely bring it up to her later, when we’re all eating breakfast together!”

Twinkle frowns, “Twilight? What?”

Izzy shakes her head, “Oh! Uh, the alicorn you saw was probably Twilight Sparkle! Right! She’s the purple one with the blue mane and tail!” she looks down at the filly, “That’s why I wanted to know her colors…” she frowns, “There’s several alicorns in our history books…”

Twinkle stares at Izzy blankly, “Golly! Twilight Sparkle?” she looks back up at her, “What time did she say she’d be by?”

Izzy nods her head and says, “Nine thirty!”

Twinkle nods, “Okay, what time is it now?”

Izzy looks at the clock on the wall beyond Twinkle before staring back to the filly, “A quarter after nine!”

Twinkle blinks, “You know, I think we’ve had this conversation before?” she shakes her head, “Okay, but let’s polish off that roach first!” she nods, “Better to be ready!”

(To be continued…)

Author's Note:

*You know those cheesy adventure novels with scantily clad women and the big muscle-bound barbarian hero on the covers? That’s what Izzy got for Twinkle because she honestly wouldn’t know the difference! Funny true story, neither would Twinkle at this point!