A Rewrite of Equestria Girls based on the story of My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship which adds one male character to the mane six and several other OC characters to the story of Friendship is Magic
After Twilight was summoned to take part in her very first Princess Summit in the Crystal Empire, her crown was stolen by two mysterious ponies who took it with them to another world. In order to get the crown back, she and Star Twinkle decided to go to this other world in order to bring the crown back to Equestria. But soon they found themselves in completely different bodies and a world that they yet had to understand.
This story takes place after Season three of My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship (After Chapter 65) and is a rewrite of the first Equestria Girls movie. To put it short: The story of My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship involves around a stallion added to the mane six and several other OC who were added to the original story of Friendship is Magic. It is advised to read through Chapter 1 - 65 if you want to read this story in the original order.
A knocking from downstairs abruptly woke up Star Twinkle from his sleep. Here he thought he could get a rest from all those things that happened recently and relax for one day but he figured that this was simply too much to ask for. He rubbed his eyes after sitting up from his bed and let out a big yawn before he heard some knocking from downstairs once more, indicating that he didn't even have time for that.
With a heavy sigh, Star Twinkle rolled out of his bed and went downstairs to get the door, his mood, obviously grumpy. “I should really put a sign on my front door that says: Do not bother me this early,” he thought to himself bothered while walking towards the door.
When he opened the door, there was a really nervous purple-coated-recently-Alicorn-ascendant mare standing in front of his door. “Star Twinkle! It's horrible!” She said in frustration.
Star Twinkle's eyes shut open. “What is it!?” He replied a little worried.
“Princess Celestia invited me to a Princess Summit over in the Crystal Empire!” She explained in a panic.
Star Twinkle's eyelids dropped down halfway and he made an annoyed expression. “Is that all?” He asked, clearly not understanding the problem.
“What do you mean, “Is that all?” This will be the very first Princess Summit I'll ever attend to! I have no idea what to expect or what I have to do there!”
The first thing Star Twinkle wanted to suggest, would have been that she shouldn't break out in a panic. However, Twilight seemed to be way past that point already. “I'm sure the other princesses will tell you how things will go once you arrive. You know all of the other princesses so I don't think that they will be too hard with you,” he assured, in an attempt to calm Twilight down again.
Twilight's mood didn't seem to be fully changed from that but she did calm down a little after thinking about those facts. Twilight's coronation was just a few days ago and looking at how she behaved since then, definitely showed that she had to get used to all the changes. Especially the wings on her back. Rainbow Dash had offered her help to teach Twilight some flying lessons but so far, it didn't come to any of those. Star Twinkle remembered all too well, how Rainbow Dash offered the same to him, once he gained the ability to grow wings. Luckily, Star Twinkle's “Transformation” was not permanently and he didn't have to get used to two wings on his back constantly. Looking back at it, Star Twinkle would probably freak out as well if he suddenly turned into an Alicorn.
Eventually, Twilight's regained her calm and talked normally to the green-coated Earth Pony. “You're probably right...still, would you mind coming with me to the Crystal Empire?” She asked with puppy eyes that were hard to resist against.
“Of course,” Star Twinkle replied, though it was in a very bothered tone. He also came up with another idea. “How about we get the others as well? It's not often that we visit the Crystal Empire. We can turn this more into a trip so that you look forward to something after the summit,”
Twilight definitely gave this idea a shot and thought about it until she fully agreed to it. ”That sounds like a great idea!” She said enthusiastically. “I knew that visiting you was a good idea,” she added while she smiled in joy. “I go and grab the others. We meet at the train station in a few hours,” she finished before she walked away waved Star Twinkle goodbye.
Star Twinkle waved back at Twilight and let out a heavy sigh after realizing that there this day would be a little more stressful than he originally planned. “So much for a quiet and relaxing day, huh. Well, at least it will be nothing too troublesome...” he mumbled to himself before he went inside to get ready for the trip.
Later, at the train station of the Crystal Empire...
Everypony was excited to visit the Crystal Empire again. If one would look at the group then they would nowhere nearly expect that they “escorted” a princess to a summit. It rather looked like a group of ponies who were on a trip to visit the empire, which in hindsight was exactly what Star Twinkle intended to in order to make the visit for Twilight more comfortable.
The group went spent some time in the empire while there were at it. The summit wouldn't be held until the next day anyway. Eventually, the group went to the direction of the castle, once they were done with their trip.
Twilight began to worry once she realized that the fun part was over and that she now had to focus on her duties, whatever those duties would be. “Hoo-wee!” Applejack said in excitement for Twilight. “Your very first Princess Summit. You must be over the moon, Twilight,”
“Oh, I am excited. But, to be honest, I'm a little nervous, too,” Twilight replied.
“You're 'nervicited'!” Pinkie Pie joined in, making Star Twinkle feel like as if his brain shut off for a moment, figuring out what this word meant. “It's like you wanna jump up and down and yell "YAY ME!!" But you also wanna curl up in a teeny-tiny ball and hide at the same time!” She said as she literally curled up into a ball for a moment before she stood up again, for some reason some kind of mechanical sound in the process. “We've all been there!”
“I'm there almost every day,” Fluttershy admitted, which didn't surprise anyone.
Realizing that Twilight was a little troubled, Applejack tried her best to cheer her up but Rarity quickly interrupted the two with even bigger concerns. At least when it came to Rarity... “TWILIGHT! Oh, sorry, darling, but I just realized you're not wearing your crown. You haven't forgotten it back in Ponyville, have you?”
“It's in my bag,” Twilight assured. “Just feel a little self-conscious about wearing it. Haven't really gotten accustomed to these yet, either,” she said referring to the two wings on her back.
But Rarity insisted. “You are a princess now, Twilight. Embrace it! I'm telling you, if I had a crown like that, I would never take it off. Why, I'd sleep in the thing,” Yet another statement nopony was really surprised of.
“She probably needs some more time to get used to all of this,” Applejack said.
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash joined in. “Soon she will fly with those wings like me! Well, almost like me of course,” she corrected.
“I was actually referring to the whole princess thing...” Applejack pointed out to which Rainbow Dash simply rubbed her neck a little confused.
The more the word “Princess” fell, the more Star Twinkle could swear that Twilight would become more and more upset. He advised that they should go the castle to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible and hopefully distract her from anything related to being a princess. Unfortunately, as soon as the group entered the main hall of the Crystal Castle, the complete opposite was the case. When they opened the door to the main hall, there was a huge line of ponies, mainly consisting of Crystal Guards who all played horns to announce the arrival of Twilight. Being greeted like that and looking around a little embarrassed actually made Twilight walk into one member of the Royal Guards by accident. However, he didn't seem to mind and proudly announced Twilight's arrival. “Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
If there was supposed to be any distraction from being a princess, it was certainly gone now. Luckily, as soon as Twilight spotted the other princesses, she seemed a lot happier. Princess Cadance was the first one to approach Twilight and embrace her. “I haven't seen you since the coronation!”
Of course, Princess Celestia and Luna were not far behind and greeted the group as well. They didn't seem to bother that Twilight was accompanied by her friends, which only proved that Twilight didn't have much to worry about this summit in the first place. Star Twinkle figured that they wouldn't just throw Twilight into some kind of duties without showing some consideration that she just became a princess recently.
Princess Celestia pointed out that the summit would be held on the next day and suggested that the group should take it easy for the rest of the day and rest. An idea that Star Twinkle could fully get behind. Looking out of the windows of the castle, the group could already see the sunset and figured that it was a little late to do anything else now so the group was sent away to get some sleep.
Later that night...
Spending time in a castle sure was something. The beds were comfortable and it was peacefully quite outside, besides some wandering hoof steps that came from some Crystal Guards outside of the room. But it was not enough to keep Star Twinkle from his good night sleep. However, another thing did, that caused him to get up. He sat up in the middle of the night and made a bothered face once he realized why he woke up all of the sudden. “...bathroom...” he simply said before he walked outside of his room.
While wandering through the castle he just now realized how big it was. The ceiling was so high up that it almost made him feel dizzy. It was the only thing he could concentrate on because, to his dislike, he couldn't take care of his more immediate concern. “How am I supposed to find the bathroom in a castle like this? Everything in here looks the same!” He thought frustrated as he tried to find what he was looking for.
Suddenly, a loud noise made Star Twinkle snap out and he turned around after realizing that it came from behind him. Luckily there was nothing but the sound may come from around the corner so he decided to peek around the wall. When he did, he only saw a Crystal pony knocked unconscious by something or somepony. He quickly found his answer after he focused his eyes a little more. A few steps away from the Crystal Guard on the ground, stood a pony, wearing a black hood. This pony was most likely the one who knocked the guard down. As soon as the pony noticed, that he or she was being watched at, it ran away into the opposite direction and fled from Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle was the only one to witness what happened there so he had no choice but to run after the pony. Star Twinkle didn't have any problems catching up and was only steps away from this hooded pony. The chase was only straight forward. The hooded pony wasn't taking any lefts or rights and kept running in one direction. Soon, Star Twinkle realized that this pony was running straight to where his and his friend's rooms were, meaning that he could scream for help to get this pony.
There was a right coming up that would lead to his friend's rooms but the pony still ran straight forward. Star Twinkle had to shout that there was an intruder in the castle to get his friends attention but before he could shout, another hooded pony came running past him from the right. “Huh?” Was the only reaction that Star Twinkle could do before he ran straight into somepony. He and the pony he ran into were both knocked to the ground. Seconds later, Star Twinkle recognized the pony on the ground. “Twilight!?” He said in surprise, seeing her on the ground because of him but also because he was confused why she was running around in the castle at this hour.
“Star Twinkle, quick! This pony has my crown!” She said fully ignoring that little clash of them and pointing towards the pony that just ran past Star Twinkle seconds ago.
When Star Twinkle looked at the direction of the pony that he followed before, he noticed that he or she was nowhere to be found anymore so he decided to chase after the pony that Twilight was following. The rest of their friends seemed already alerted about the intruder and chased after the pony as well.
Twilight quickly prepared a spell and teleported herself in front of the pony, blocking his or her path. However, the hooded pony did exactly the same and teleported right behind Twilight while dropping the black hood right into her face. The hooded pony revealed to be a Unicorn mare with an amber colored coat, a red mane with yellow stripes, cyan colored eyes and a red and yellow shimmering sun as a Cutie Mark. She was also wearing a saddlebag where the stolen crown of Twilight was most likely in.
The chase continued to a room with some kind of mirror at the end of it. The mare seemed relieved to reach this room, indicating that this is where she wanted to run off to. Star Twinkle was the one who was the closest to this mare right now and noticed how she was trying to get right to the mirror for some reason. Eventually, Star Twinkle decided to use his ability to transform into a Unicorn and tried to cut off the mares path by teleporting himself right in front of this mirror. To the mares surprise, she stopped abruptly in her track and was soon jumped from Twilight, causing her to drop the crown in the process. The crown shot out of the bag and wildly bounced off from the ground and the walls until it flew right in direction of Star Twinkle, who reached out his hoof to catch it. “I got it!” Star Twinkle said as he reached out one of his hoofs.
But suddenly, he was knocked away from somepony who charged at him from the side. The pony placed itself in front of the mirror and caught the crown instead. Star Twinkle's head spun for a second but he did notice the pony standing a few hooves away from him. The hooded pony took off his hood as well and revealed to be an Earth Pony stallion with a light red coat and a dark rust colored mane, yellow eyes and a yellow and orange colored sun with a red dot in the middle as a Cutie Mark. “Nope. I got it,” he said victoriously as he held the crown in one of his hooves while smiling smugly at the light green pony.
Star Twinkle's response was a shot from his horn right at the light red stallion. However, his shot was a little inaccurate and almost hit the crown itself, causing the stallion to clumsily drop the crown right at the mirror. But instead of like breaking the mirror or something, the crown went right through it, much to the shock of everypony, except the two intruders.
“What happened to my crown?” Twilight asked in confusion towards the mare who was right next to her on the ground because of the previous ambush.
“Sorry, it had to be this way...” The mare returned with a sinister smile on her face before she teleported herself next to the stallion in front of the mirror. “Princess,” she mockingly added. “Let's go!” She said towards her companion before she literally walked through the mirror.
The stallion raised a hoof and waved over to the group. “Don't forget to greet the Princess for us!” He said in an uncertain tone in his voice that could either be sarcastic or mocking. He soon stepped into the mirror as well and left everypony in confusion.
The group didn't know how to react to this situation. The first thing that Twilight attempted was to walk right through the mirror as well but Star Twinkle pointed out that this was a really bad idea since they didn't know what was behind it. The next best thing they came up with was informing the Princesses about this. Obviously, a much better decision.
The group went to the Princesses and Celestia did seem to know some things about the two intruders. “Two ponies who came from the other side of the mirror,” she said quietly as she rubbed her chin. “Judging from your description, they must be Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast,”
“Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast?” Twilight returned confused.
“Sunset Shimmer was a former student of mine. And Radiant Blast was once a member of the Royal Guards,” Princess Celestia explained.
“Great...one more Royal Guard that we have to take care of?” Star Twinkle thought a little annoyed, referring to Fade, who was the previous Captain of the Royal Guards. A threat that they had to take care of not too long ago.
Princess Celestia continued. “Sunset Shimmer was often close to me when she started her studies and soon met Radiant Blast who was starting to become a Royal Guard around the same time. This caused both of them to become friends over time. However,” she started to hesitate before she continued. “Once they realized that they didn't progress as quickly as they expected, they decided to pursue their own paths. One that has sadly led to her stealing your crown,”
“She replaced Twilight's with this one,” Spike pointed out as he showed a crown that almost looked identically to Twilight's with the exception of the Element inside of it.
“I suppose they thought you wouldn't notice right away that this was not yours. And by the time you did, it would be too late to go after your crown and Element of Harmony,” Princess Celestia explained.
Of course, that didn't exactly explain the question where those two went of to after walking through the mirror. Princess Celestia advised the group to follow her in order to get the rest of the answers. Soon, they all found themselves in the room where the mirror was inside. Princess Luna walked next to the mirror and explained “This is no ordinary mirror. It is a gateway to another world. A gateway that opens once every thirty moons. It has always been kept in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. But when Princess Cadance took over the Crystal Empire, we sent it here for her to watch over,”
Princess Celestia sighed. “I had always hoped that those two would someday use it to return, to come back to Equestria seeking my guidance. Obviously, this is not what has happened,”
Clearly, the timing couldn't be more perfect. Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast just had to come out of the mirror as soon as Twilight and her crown was there too. Still, knowing about those two and where they went off to, as well as knowing that they didn't have much time to retrieve the crown, meant that somepony had to go to this other world to get it back. With one of the Elements of Harmony gone, the rest of them wouldn't work which would mean that Equestria was in great danger if someone dangerous would appear in the future. There was also no telling what Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast would do if they used the power of the crown in this other world.
Twilight, obviously, was chosen to go to this world to get the crown back and the rest of her friends were ready to accompany her but Princess Celestia surprisingly was against this idea. “I'm afraid I can't let you go,” she said in a serious tone, making the excited mood that everypony was in vanish in an instant.
“What?! Why not?!” Rainbow Dash asked confused.
“Sending all of you could upset the balance of this alternate world, creating havoc that would make it impossible for Twilight to get the crown back,” Princess Celestia explained.
“Also,” Princess Luna joined in. “There is no telling if the mirror has enough power to send too many ponies to another world. However, since both Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast managed to get through it, it seems to at least have enough power to send two,” she further explained while she kept her eyes to the mirror.
“Yes. Two should be fine,” Princess Celestia agreed.
“Alright! Then it's settled!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “With me and Twilight, over there, we will have the crown back in no time!”
“Actually,” Twilight interrupted. “Not to be rude or anything but I would rather have Star Twinkle with me,” she said, causing Star Twinkle's ears to stand up in surprise.
“What!? Why?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“Yeah! Why!?” Star Twinkle agreed shocked.
“I also think that Star Twinkle would be the best choice,” Princess Celestia added, much to Star Twinkle's dislike. “While each of you possesses many positive features, I think that Star Twinkle's nature combined with Twilight would be best to confront Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast,”
“You got to be kidding me...” Star Twinkle thought, not being happy at all to be put into this situation.
“Time is of the essence,” Princess Luna joined in. “On the third day, when the moon reaches its peak in the night sky, the gateway will close. And once it does, it will be another thirty moons before you will be able to use it to return,” she pointed out further.
Twilight walked up to the mirror and stood confidently in front of it waiting for Star Twinkle to come as well who still seemed to hesitate. But after seeing how everypony looked at him, made him eventually walk towards the mirror as well. “Alright, alright, I'm coming,” he said annoyed as he slowly walked in front of the mirror and next to Twilight.
They both hesitated at first and poked at the mirror to make sure that it was safe. Once their hooves touched it, a light came right from it, causing them to turn their heads around one more time to look at the others. Star Twinkle looked at the mirror with some uncertainty and fear on his face but as soon as he noticed how Twilight gave him a confident smile, he began to take a deep breath and made formed a confident look on his face.
Both of them then went through the mirror at the same time and saw some kind of light that blinded them for a second. What happened next couldn't even be described in words. They seemed to swirl around as they crossed worlds. They were lights and colors flashing all over the place and it felt like as if they were on a roller coaster that went into all kinds of directions. Thankfully, this “roller coaster” didn't last for too long and the two found themselves on the ground somewhere.
They both opened their eyes slowly and tried to figure out where they are and if they were alright. The first thing, that Star Twinkle saw, was a gray road with grass surrounding it. There also seemed to be some kind of building in front of him. Then there was some kind of purple dog wearing a spiked collar around its neck in front of him. Something about this dog looked really familiar.
“Are you two okay?” The dog asked in an all too familiar voice.
“Huh? Spike! You're not supposed to– “ Twilight's voice said from Star Twinkle's right side who was clearly confused about why Spike was there as well, hadn't it been this strange form that he was in now. “Spike? Are you a... dog?” She asked confused.
Star Twinkle's head was still spinning so he couldn't quite concentrate to move his head properly and only heard Twilight's voice next to him. Spike, who really seemed to be that dog in front of them inspected himself and realized just now that he clearly was a dog now. “I... think so,” he said in his realization before his eyes wandered to Star Twinkle and Twilight. “But I have no idea what you two are!” He said heavily confused.
It was then that Star Twinkle's head stopped spinning and he finally could move his head properly. He tried to get up but seemed to have some struggle by doing so. It felt like as if his legs responded a little different, making it hard to stand up on his hooves. “What is going on?” He though confused as he tried to get up.
Suddenly, Twilight began to scream in terror making Star Twinkle's head almost explode. He looked over to her “What's wrong Twi-” but he stopped in the middle of the sentence after he saw how Twilight looked a lot different now. Her legs were a lot longer and skinnier and she no longer had any hooves. She also didn't seem to have any ears on her head anymore and instead had some round ones on the sides of her head. Also, she was wearing some strange clothes, like a light blue top with a purple bow tie, a dark purple shirt with her Cutie Mark on it, dark purple sock that went up to what looks like to be her knees, and black shoes. Her mane, or whatever it was now, looked almost the same and her coat seemed to be replaced by some sort of skin. It was also worth pointing out she was still screaming the whole time.
Soon, there was another thought that shot through his mind. “Wait...if that is Twilight then what happened to...” he said before he tried to exam his own body as well. He raised his hooves but instead of seeing two hooves, he saw the same things that were on Twilight as well, fingers. Star Twinkle's heart was beating faster. He then tried to get up with those things and stumbled, causing him to fall on his behind, with his hind legs in front of him now. There were the same long and skinny legs that Twilight had. Star Twinkle's heart began beating even faster. He then looked to the left and saw a confidently placed puddle on the ground where he could examine his face further. He was afraid to look at himself but curiosity won him over and he decided to take a look. Inside the puddle, he saw himself. His ears, placed on the sides on his head, and his mouth and nose being a lot smaller than before. He had a light green skin. His mane remained unchanged but for some reason, he had a white and light green cap on his head with a white star on it. He was also wearing some strange clothes. He was wearing a jacket which upper half was dark green and the lower half white, light gray trousers and black shoes with a light green line one it.
Star Twinkle did his best to remain calm but the longer he looked at his reflection the more frustrated he became. Soon, there was only one thing that he could come up with doing in this situation. One thing that fully expressed how he felt right now.
“Aaaaaahhhh!” Star Twinkle continued to scream alongside Twilight after realizing the situation and the state that he was in right now, trapped in this weird body and it's slim legs and arms.
The two actually managed to hold their screams for quite a while, definitely breaking their own personal records by a long shot. This probably would have continued for a while if Spike wouldn't have stopped them finally. He started by slapping Star Twinkle's face, causing him to stop his screaming. “You two have to get it together!” He insisted almost sick of hearing the two scream like that.
However, Star Twinkle was not easily calmed by this. “Get it together!? Have you looked at us!?” He replied annoyed, almost jealous of Spike being a dog, rather whatever he and Twilight were supposed to be.
Twilight didn't pay much attention to the two and continued to inspect her body. “What does the rest of me look like?” She asked, clearly having other priorities right now.
“Um, like you. Only not you,” Spike replied, which was actually a rather accurate description.”Your muzzle's really small,” he felt the need to add, causing Twilight to inspect her nose and panicking again, however, Spike covered her mouth with his paws to prevent her from screaming again.
Maybe it was because Star Twinkle was in this kind of body as well but after inspecting Twilight a little more, he figured that she wasn't looking ugly or deformed in his point of view. She actually looked fine to him. But maybe that was because he knew that she was still the same pony inside.
Eventually, everyone decided to just deal with the situation. There was no point of panicking like that forever. As soon as they get back to Equestria their bodies would return to normal again...hopefully. This only gave them the motivation to continue with their task, and that was getting Twilight's crown back.
Meanwhile, Spike asked the most important question right now. “Where are we?”
This gave Star Twinkle the time to further inspect his surroundings. This was definitely not Equestria. That was the only thing they realized right away. There was a big building right in front of them, making it worth checking out, and some kind of road behind them, on which some strange vehicles were driving on from time to time. As they looked behind them, they noticed a statue under which some kind mirror was. Twilight inspected it a little further and realized that this was the mirror that could send them back to Equestria again, meaning that they at least knew how to get back now. Realizing that, made Twilight a little more confident and reminded her that time was limited for the three of them. “We need to find my crown as soon as possible and get back there,” she said determinedly.
“Agreed,” Star Twinkle quickly agreed on. “The sooner we can go back, the better,”
Their eyes both turned towards the big building in front of them since it was probably a good start to search in there first.
“I suggest we start searching the castle first,” Twilight suggested as she pointed towards the building in front of them.
Star Twinkle and Spike agreed to that idea and made their way towards it. At first, it felt a little weird to walk since their hind legs have changed and were a little longer than their front...legs...but it was nothing too difficult. However, Spike noticed why that was the case after he saw someone else walk by the three. The person next to them was only walking on the longer legs and not on all four like Star Twinkle and Twilight. The two quickly got up embarrassed after they realized that this is how you are supposed to walk in this world and attempted to adapt to that as well. However, it was a lot harder than it looked like. Star Twinkle came to the conclusion that the person who walked past them might have been an expert when it came to walking.
Eventually, with some awkward movements, the two former ponies managed to walk up to the door. Twilight supported herself on Star Twinkle. “This is a lot harder then I expected,” she said a little frustrated.
“Yeah. We have to find the crown quickly so that we don't have to spend any more time in these bodies...“ Star Twinkle replied with the same kind of frustration in his voice.
“Yes, you're right,” Twilight said as she let go of Star Twinkle and stepped in front of the door to open it. But Star Twinkle got a little confused by how Twilight tried to open it. She waved her head elegantly and then suddenly, slammed her head right against the door, making her head hurt in the process. It looked really painful.
“What was that?” Star Twinkle said confused by Twilight's action.
Twilight hold her forehead. “I tried to open the door of course!” She replied. “But my magic doesn't seem to work properly,” she wondered as she made a focused face, probably trying to open the door again.
This made Star Twinkle wonder if Twilight had even realized it yet. “I think it might be because you are missing your horn...” Star Twinkle pointed out, making Twilight actually just now realize that she was missing her horn. While Twilight tried to comprehend this, Star Twinkle tried to do something else that was worth giving a shot now. “I wonder...” he thought as he concentrated for a moment. It was just like he expected. “I can't transform. I can't grow a horn or two wings...” he shared with Twilight in a rather bothered tone.
This caused Twilight to forget about her horn. “Could it be that there is no magic in this world at all?” She began to theorize. “Then why did Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast steal the crown in the first place?” She asked confused.
If magic doesn't work in this world, then there was no reason for the two to steal the crown. The could be a chance that they simply didn't know. Or maybe the crown was powerful enough to create magic on its own since it came right from Equestria.
There was no point thinking about this stuff at this moment. “Whether the crown works here or not, we just have to get it back,” Star Twinkle said as he now stepped forward to open the door in front of him. He reached out his arm and tried to grab the handle but working with those fingers was simply too difficult. He couldn't fully control his fingers or rather was not used to have any and pushed with his fist against the door in order to open it. “This is difficult!” He thought frustrated as he attempted to pull the door open with his balled hand.
Twilight noticed the frustration in Star Twinkle but didn't want to interrupt him, since he was so focused at the moment. He might be able to open it after a while.
But he wasn't. He decided to give up and was actually exhausted just by trying to open a door. It was ridiculous. He tried to come up with another solution and leaned towards the other door next to it. Suddenly, his body was moving forward without any warning and he fell. The door he leaned against could be opened by pushing it, making him land face first to the floor. Twilight and Spike quickly rushed to his side to make sure if he was okay but luckily he was, except for some damage from the inside. “There...I opened it...” He said defeated as his face was still kissing the floor.
Twilight helped Star Twinkle up again and both of them took a look at what this place was where they just entered. It was a big empty hall. Pretty much like any other castle, even though it looked a little more different then Canterlot Castle, there could be seen some resemblance to it in some way. The first thing that caught Twilight's attention was some kind of showcase with a bunch of stuff inside. She quickly came to the conclusion that it must be some other stuff that Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast must have stolen. The crown was not inside there, however. While Twilight looked up, she saw her mirrored image on the glass and for the first time, saw how she looked like now.”What am I?” She asked in confusion as she inspected her head a little more.
Star Twinkle and Spike didn't know the answer to that, of course. While Twilight was at it, Star Twinkle also looked at his reflection in the glass. His skin, hair, and eye color matched his looks as a pony but his nose mouth and ears were a lot smaller. The only thing he could think about it was that he looked weird. On his head, he was still wearing the dark green and white cap which had his white star Cutie Mark on it. Then there was this dark green and white jacket, his gray trousers and his black and light green shoes. It looked different but the way he looked or was dressed right now didn't really matter to him since the three didn't plan to stay in this world forever so he just had to go along with this new “style,”.
A shrieking sound made the three turn around in surprise. Some kind of alarm seemed to go off. What followed were probably hundreds of people that walked through the once empty hallway. There was no time to react to all of this and the two got pushed and dragged away by this avalanche of people in different directions. Star Twinkle was heavily annoyed by all of this. First, he was asked to accompany Twilight to this world, then he was stuck in some weird body and now he felt even more uncomfortable in this big crowd, one of the things he disliked the most. Thankfully, he managed to get some space and escaped outside of this crowd, however, while doing so, he accidentally ran right into someone, making him fall down on the ground again, due to his lack of keeping his balance on this two legs.
“Hey, you're okay?” The male voice of the one who Star Twinkle ran into asked, as he offered his hand to get Star Twinkle up again.
Star Twinkle accepted and took the hand, he even managed to move his fingers by imitating how the person who helped him up opened his hand. After he got back on his feet, he apologized to the person for running into him. “Sorry, um...” He then widened his eyes after he got a first look at the person in front of him. It was a really tall guy, with a light brown skin, silver hair and dark blue eyes, who was wearing a brown carpenter overall with a white shirt under it which had a hammer on it. There was one name that instantly came to mind once he saw this person. “Steel Hammer!?” Star Twinkle asked surprised, without realizing that it should be impossible for his boss from Ponyville to show up in this world.
But to Star Twinkle's surprise, the person replied and introduced himself just like that. “Yep, my name is Steel Hammer,” he replied with a smile on his face before he formed a rather suspicious face. “But how do you know me? I don't think I ever saw you around here,” he added as he inspected Star Twinkle further.
“Oh! Uh...” Star Twinkle only managed to bring out of his mouth.
“Must have heard from me, right? Best Wood-shop teacher in Canterlot High, or something like that, right?” Steel Hammer further explained, making it easy for Star Twinkle to go along with that.
While he was at it, Star Twinkle took the opportunity to get some more information. “Canterlot High...is that what this place is called?”
“Of course. Must be some kind of transfer student, are you? Coming from somewhere else?” Steel Hammer tried to dig up.
“You could say that...” Star Twinkle replied, which was technically not a lie.
Star Twinkle would have liked to talk some more but Steel Hammer said that he had to leave now, leaving Star Twinkle on his own again. Of course, the first thing that he wanted to do now, is finding Twilight and Spike again. If there was one thing that was worse than walking around in a weird body in a weird world, then it was walking around in a weird body in a weird world alone.
While he looked for Twilight, Star Twinkle made sure that he inspected how these people acted around each other and how this world seemed to work. Those “hands” seemed to be pretty important. Everyone used them for pretty much everything. No one was using magic or their mouths to do anything so Twilight's guess that there was no magic in this world at all was right. This certainly made things a little harder and forced Star Twinkle to use his hands as well. Something that he really didn't look forward to.
There was still no sight of Twilight and Star Twinkle began to get a little more frustrated. He decided to go inside of a door where some people went in and out from time to time. After entering the room, he finally came across something that he could identify immediately. A toilet. Star Twinkle took the opportunity to walk up to the sink to wash his face. Thankfully, he paid close attention to what kind of people went in and out of here so that he wouldn't accidentally walk into the wrong bathroom. That would be something that he certainly had no nerve for now. On his way to the sink, however, he noticed how the ground was a little slippery. Someone must have cleaned the floor recently, much to Star Twinkle's dislike who managed to actually not fall to the ground despite that, even if it meant that he had to support himself on the sink. “Things just get better and better...” he thought annoyed, finding it already difficult enough to walk on this two legs.
He splashed some water on his face and tried to focus. If he wouldn't find Twilight and Spike, he just had to find the crown on his own but since there was not much time to get back, he also had to make sure that he found the two before he would leave this world. Finding Twilight and Spike was necessary, one way or another. “Don't worry, Star Twinkle...we will find this crown and return to Equestria in no time...” he said to himself in order to cheer up a little.
“Are you?” Said a male voice, that came from someone that stood right at the door of the toilet entrance. “I wouldn't be so sure about this,”
Star Twinkle looked over to the person and quickly had an assumption who it was. In fact, he was sure of it. “You are...” he said in his realization after he inspected the person further. The person had a light orange like skin color, dark rust-colored hair, and yellow eyes. He was also wearing an open dark blue jacket with a red shirt beneath it which had a sun on it, black trousers, and dark blue and yellow shoes. Mainly the hair gave Star Twinkle and indication who he was dealing with now. “Radiant Blast?” He asked the person who was still standing in the door with his arms crossed confidently.
“Bingo!” Radiant Blast replied smugly. “Sunset and I already expected that Princess Twilight would come to this world to retrieve her precious crown but we didn't think she would have someone come with her as well. Since she is the princess, I'm assuming that you are her knight in shining armor?” He added while keeping up an confident smile.
“No...that would be her brother...” Star Twinkle jokingly but also really seriously replied.
Radiant Blast raised his eyebrows confused and began thinking about this reply but he shook his head and concentrated again at what he had to say. “Think you are really smart are you? Well, you are not! In fact, I'll take a wild guess that you have no idea where the crown is in the first place,”
While that was true, Star Twinkle attempted to not show that he was in the disadvantage right now. He couldn't let his enemy know that he was already having trouble doing anything in this world. It would only make them feel even more superior. It was usually not how Star Twinkle would do things but in times like this, he was just desperate. “Maybe I do know?” He bluffed.
Radiant Blast widened his eyes in shock. “You do!?” He asked in more confused tone, pretty different from how he was acting before. There mere fact that Star Twinkle's bluff worked was just astonishing. However, Radiant Blast quickly saw through this bluff and grabbed his head in confusion. “Argh! You are tricking me, are you? There is no way that you know where the crown is! Not even I know, so far!” He said angrily as he pointed towards Star Twinkle who only returned a confused look. This confused look was also showing up on Radiant Blast's face before he continued. “Wait...did I say that out loud?” He added as he scratched his chin in confusion before he grabbed his head once more. “And here I was supposed to be all intimidating and stuff...”
Needless to say, this behavior confused Star Twinkle who was just standing there confused. “What's up with this guy? Isn't he supposed to be dangerous? I start to think that he is not really the brightest...“ Star Twinkle thought confused as he looked at Radiant Blast.
Radiant Blast realized how he was stared at and quickly returned to his business. “Anyway! You are an obstacle for Sunset so I have to make sure that you won't interfere with her plan!” He said angrily as he was done talking and started to run right at Star Twinkle to attack him.
Star Twinkle was shocked on how this guys mood changed so fast and he didn't know how to react to it. He didn't know what he was about to do to him but with a body like that, there was no way to defend himself, he could barely stand on his two legs because it was still slippery, making him resort to supporting himself on the sink. But luckily, this slippery ground ended up in Star Twinkle's favor. Radiant Blast was having problems running towards Star Twinkle and began to slip. He slipped right past Star Twinkle with a loud “Woaaah!” accompanying his slide and slammed right into the wall. Radiant Blast was out for a moment and his head spun a little. He was definitely not able to do anything for a few moments. This could be Star Twinkle's chance to ask Radiant Blast some questions but right now, finding Twilight was much more important so he left him and went outside.
Getting out of Radiant Blast's and Sunset Shimmer's way was very important as well so he made sure to walk away fast to not cross his way again, even if it meant almost running into some other people on the way. “I have to find Twilight! Maybe she found out where the crown is by now!” Suddenly, he slammed into someone else on his way, even if it was just the shoulders of him and the other person that clashed against each other. “Sorry...” Star Twinkle quickly apologized as he continued his way, He didn't have any time to worry about it. He saw that it was not Twilight and that is all that matters. Time was running shortly after all.
The person he ran into only waved her fist angrily at Star Twinkle. “Watch where you're going!” She said angrily but Star Twinkle didn't hear her and continued his way, making the person even angrier. “He's lucky that I have more important business to attend to...” she said with her teeth almost closed while saying that. The person had a light orange colored skin, red hair with yellow stripes and green eyes. She was also wearing a black vest, with a light purple shirt beneath it that had a shimmering sun on it, an orange skirt with a purple and light yellow line on the side and long black and purple boots.
“Sunset!” Radiant Blast said from behind, causing the girl to turn around.
Sunset Shimmer instantly noticed how Radiant Blast looked a little dirty and got a little worried. “Radiant, what happened! You look like as if you were in a fight. Don't tell me that this Twilight did this to you!” She asked angrily.
“Nope, I just slipped in the toilet,” he replied while he rubbed his neck a little embarrassed while smiling.
Sunset Shimmer rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “Radiant, we can't goof around like this,” she said while she prompted him to follow her. “Princess Twilight already came to retrieve her crown,” she added as she walked next to Radiant Blast.
“I know! Let me tell you what happened in the toilet...” Radiant Blast started before he was stopped by Sunset Shimmer.
“I don't want to know!” She said in disgust, clearly not interested in what Radiant Blast had to say.
“No no not what you think!” Radiant Blast assured before he explained the details further to Sunset Shimmer so that they could continue their plan. Whatever this plan might be...
Getting used to this new body and this new world provided to be a little harder than expected. Walking alone was enough of a challenge so that Star Twinkle barely had time to get accustomed to his surroundings and how this whole world works. He kept telling himself that there was no time for that anyway but it certainly would help to stop Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast from getting Twilight's crown.
Thankfully, Star Twinkle managed to find Twilight and Spike after spending a while looking for them. He quickly exchanged information with them about how he met Steel Hammer in this world, even though he is supposed to be Equestria. To his surprise, Twilight and Spike met someone familiar in this world too.
“Fluttershy?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“Yes,” Twilight replied with a nod before she put together the information that Star Twinkle gave her. “But not only her. I've seen a lot of familiar faces in this school. What you told me only confirmed my theory that this world is maybe not a whole different world but rather a parallel world where everyone we know exists as well,”
Even though Star Twinkle nodded in agreement while listening to this explanation, he had to admit that this was a lot to take in. Spike did look a little confused as well and probably didn't even bother to comprehend this information. May it be a parallel world or not, the goal didn't change so Star Twinkle focused his mind on the crown which reminded him of his other meeting. “I met Radiant Blast a while ago. He didn't seem to know where the crown was either, meaning that we probably have the advantage,” Star Twinkle pointed out.
But Twilight didn't seem to share the relief that Star Twinkle showed. “I'm afraid, that at least, Sunset Shimmer knows where the crown is as well,” Twilight explained before she shared some more information about how she confronted Sunset Shimmer. Apparently, Fluttershy found the crown after it fell out of the mirror and gave it to Principal Celestia, much to Sunset Shimmer's dislike who was blaming Fluttershy for ruining her plan to get the crown herself.
“Princess Celestia is here!?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
But Twilight stopped before Star Twinkle could extend his thought further. “Remember, it's not the same Celestia that we know. However, she does seem to rule over this place so it would be best if we go to her, even if she doesn't know us. She should understand if she was like the Celestia we know,” Twilight explained.
To a degree, those words seemed to make Star Twinkle feel a little more confident but there was something that bothered him. If what Twilight said was true, then Sunset Shimmer already knew where the crown was as well. This could be a problem since she probably got a hold of it herself. But judging from what Twilight explained further, this doesn't seem to be the case. This only meant that Star Twinkle and Twilight had to take their chance to ask for the crown.
Twilight knew the way to Principal Celestia room and lead the way while Star Twinkle and Spike followed her. They stood in front of the door which Fluttershy told was the room of Principal Celestia. Naturally, since they knew they were about to meet the ruler of this school, they both bowed down as they entered the room after knocking on the door and waiting for Celestia's allowance to enter.
To their surprise, the room was much smaller and not filled with guards like Princess Celestia's throne room in Equestria. In fact, it was a really small room with only a desk at the end of it where Principal Celestia was sitting at. The Celestia in this world seemed a little more modest. At least that's what Star Twinkle guessed.
“How may I help you?” Asked the figure behind the desk who was busy reading some documents in front of her, not noticing who just entered her room.
But no answer came from either Star Twinkle or Twilight. They just now realized that the situation that they were in, was probably not the most believable. Telling Principal Celestia that they came from another world, which was filled with ponies instead of those two-legged creatures, was probably not the best idea. She would call them crazy. That's what Star Twinkle would say if somepony would tell him that he or she came from a world filled with two-legged things instead of ponies.
Princess Celestia noticed the silence that came from Star Twinkle and Twilight and got confused. She dropped her document and looked at them puzzled, still awaiting an explanation for them to enter the room. She definitely resembled the Celestia that they both knew. She had the same multicolored hair color and her skin was pale white. This only further proved that Twilight was right with her parallel world theory. There really seemed to be someone for everyone in Equestria.
Because Star Twinkle was unable to come up with an explanation, he decided to let Twilight do the talking. Surely she had a plan. “My name's Twilight Sparkle and this is Star Twinkle,” she introduced herself and Star Twinkle. “. We are new here, and... Well, I understand that Fluttershy found a crown this morning and gave it to you,” she explained briefly, cutting to the chase quickly since she clearly had no plan on how to explain everything herself.
“Yes. I've had Vice Principal Luna put it somewhere for safekeeping,” Principal Celestia's replied. “No idea how it ended up in the front lawn. Were you interested in running for Princess of the Fall Formal this year?”
It felt weird for Star Twinkle to just stand there saying nothing but he let Twilight continue. “Uh, no. Not exactly. The truth is... Well, the truth is I... You see, the crown is actually...“ She struggled with her explanation. Now it was pretty obvious that Twilight had no idea how to explain the situation. This ultimately caused her to change the subject. “Princess of the Fall Formal?”
Principal Celestia walked past the two and approached a calendar marking a certain day on it as she explained. “It's Canterlot High's big Fall dance,”
“Oh!” It suddenly struck Star Twinkle. “Like the Grand Galloping Gala,”
But Principal Celestia had no idea what to make out of this term. “Uh, Grand Galloping Gala?”
Twilight quickly explained. “It was a big deal at our old school,”
“And was there a princess?” Principal Celestia asked.
“Yes, but she wasn't exactly a student,” Twilight briefly explained.
Principal Celestia continued her explanation. “Here at Canterlot High, the students select one of their peers to represent them. She receives a crown at the Fall Formal,”
Star Twinkle had a feeling where this was going to and how it would make things more complicated. Principal Celestia must have thought that Twilight's crown was the crown that was intended for this fall dance. Of course, it couldn't be as easy to just ask Celestia to give Twilight her crown back so that she and Star Twinkle could return home.
But despite this news that made everything more complicated, Twilight replied surprisingly confident. “You asked me if I was interested in running for Princess. Can anyone run?” She asks out of the blue, which felt a little out of place since it didn't make things easier getting the crown like that.
“Yes,” Principal Celestia replied. “You just need to let the head of the Fall Formal planning committee know you'd like to be on the ballot,” she informed, making Twilight's think about it for a second. “Was there anything else?”
“Um, nope! That was it!” Twilight replied before she walked outside of the room again with Star Twinkle following her confused.
Principal Celestia closed the door behind the two. Spike, who was forced to hid inside of Twilight's bag since it was forbidden for animals to roam free in this school for some reason, came out of the bag and asked the most obvious question right now. “Twilight, why didn't ya just tell her the crown was yours and ask for it back?” He seemed as confused as Star Twinkle.
“It definitely would have made things easier,” Star Twinkle agreed.
“Oh, I was going to, but imagine if one of them showed up in Equestria saying they came from a place filled with tall, fleshy, two-legged creatures with these?” She explained as she hinted at her fingers. “We'd think they were crazy!”
While Star Twinkle had to admit that this was true, he still thought that they could have made another reason up to get the crown. Lying would not be the noblest way to get the crown back, but it was Twilight's and they needed it back if they didn't want Equestria to be in danger. But if they would have lied, then it could have caused even more problems. All Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast had to do were exposing their lie and the plan failed, maybe ruining their chances to get to the crown at all.
“But that means, in order to get the crown back...” Star Twinkle started as he looked over to Twilight worried.
“Yes! I'll have to become Princess of the Canterlot High Fall Formal!” Twilight said determined as she raised her arms and smiled in victory.
Spike, however, pointed out a problem. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”
“I have no idea!” She replied as she didn't break her smile one bit.
“Sounds like something that I would say in this situation...” Star Twinkle thought as he hid his face in the palm of his hand.
As frustrating as the situation seemed right now, there was still some help that the two could expect. And this help came in the form of this world's Fluttershy. She was going to this school and probably knew about this fall dance. But then again, it was not really hard to find anyone who knew less than Star Twinkle, Twilight and Spike about this world. Still, it was their best bet right now.
Luckily, they found her in the canteen of the school. She was getting something to eat there. Eating something was no bad idea right now. Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike didn't eat anything since they came to this world. But before it came to that, Twilight introduced Fluttershy to Star Twinkle. It felt a little weird to be introduced to someone that he already knew, especially since this worlds Fluttershy was also really similar to Equestria's. She had a light yellow skin and pink long hair and green eyes. She was also wearing a white top, a light green skirt and light green boots. Needless to say, her character was the same as the ones that Star Twinkle knew.
Star Twinkle and Twilight followed Fluttershy as she grabbed something to eat. Twilight seemed to pick the same things that Fluttershy picked, most likely to not stand out or anything like that. Star Twinkle, however, just picked some things randomly. When it came to food, he wasn't too picky, especially since the food didn't look too different from what they could find in Equestria as well.
Twilight quickly cut to the chase of asking Fluttershy for help and being pretty much the same Fluttershy they know, she agreed to help in any way. Twilight was glad to hear that and didn't waste any time. “I've decided to run for Princess of the Fall Formal, and–“
But Fluttershy reacted in shock and dropped her food right at Star Twinkle. “Oh, gosh! Sorry,” she said embarrassed before she quickly took some towels to clean Star Twinkle's clothes hastily.
“Don't worry...” Star Twinkle replied. “Why did it had to be me, though?” He thought annoyed.
“Running for Fall Formal Princess is a really bad idea,” Fluttershy said, explaining her shocked reaction to the two. “Sunset Shimmer wants to be Fall Formal Princess, and when she wants something, she gets it! She'll make life awful for anyone who stands in her way. Just ask the girl who ran against her for Princess of the Spring Fling,” she explained further as she walked away to look for a table to sit on.
“I have to try though,” Twilight said as she walked next to Fluttershy.
It was not like as if they really had another choice. They had to get the crown back to Equestria. But of course, they couldn't just say that to Fluttershy so she explained further. “Oh, I don't think you understand. You'd have to convince everyone here to vote for you instead of her,” she said as she pointed towards multiple groups that they walked past. “the athletes, the fashionistas, the dramas, the eco-kids, the techies, the rockers...” she said as she pointed at each of the groups individuality. The groups were all easily identifiable just by their names. The athletes looked like...athletes, the fashionistas were dressed with style and so on. They all seemed to represent some kind of factions within this school. Something that was yet too confusing for Star Twinkle to get behind.
“Why is everypony separated this way?” Twilight asked.
“Every...pony?” Fluttershy asked confused.
At first, no one got the confusion of Fluttershy but then they realized that there were no ponies in this world, which is why the term everypony might seem a little strange for everyone else.
“I think, she meant to say...every...body?” Star Twinkle corrected in an attempt to not cause more suspicion.
However, Fluttershy didn't seem to mind too much about it and continued. “Maybe it was different at your old school, but at CHS, everybody sticks to their own kind,” she explained before she sat down on one table, followed by Star Twinkle and Twilight doing the same. “One thing that they do have in common is that they know Sunset Shimmer is gonna rule the school until we graduate,”
Hearing that only motivated Twilight further to do something against it. “Not if I can help it!” She said determined before she grabbed an apple with her mouth before chewing it. Fluttershy was giving her some strange looks and she looked at Star Twinkle to ask him what that was about, only to find out that he was eating the apple exactly like that as well.
“What?” Star Twinkle asked confused while he was chewing his apple, that he was holding in his mouth.
Later...
Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike found out where the head of the fall formal committee was at the moment, thanks to Fluttershy. In order to run for Princess of the Fall Dance, Twilight had to sign up first just like Principal Celestia said. They made their way to something that looked like the gym of the school. According to Fluttershy the person who could sign up Twilight was supposed to be decorating the place at the moment. But when they arrived, there was no one there. There was only a stage at the end of the room which was most likely for the dance.
“Fluttershy said she'd probably be in here,” Twilight said as she kept an eye out.
Suddenly, a loud and strangely familiar female voice startled the two of them. “Incoming!” The voice shouted which then caused a barrage of confetti and streamers to fall right on Star Twinkle and Twilight, covering them completely.
The person who was responsible for that didn't feel the need to apologize or even talk to the two and continued with the decoration. She must be the one that Fluttershy meant. There was no one else in the room after all.
“Wait...is that?” Star Twinkle thought confused as he took a look at the girl in front of them. Twilight didn't seem to pay attention and just wanted to speak with her about signing up for the dance.
The girl was blowing into a balloon but interrupted by Twilight who started the conversation. “Hi, my name's Twilight Sparkle and... “ This caused the girl to turn around with her balloon in her and, causing Twilight to duck under it. It was then that Twilight realized that this girl looked strangely familiar to her. “Pinkie Pie?” She asked confused, causing the girl to look a little confused, as the balloon deflated in her hand due to her surprise.
It was Pinkie Pie. She had the same bouncy pink hair, a light pink skin, and blue eyes. She was also wearing a blue jacket and a white and purple top beneath it, a pink skirt with three balloons on the site, just like her Cutie Mark, and blue boots. But of course, her character was the most obvious thing that gave away that she was Pinkie Pie.
Confused by the question why Twilight knew her name, she instantly vanished for a second before she appeared right behind Twilight, in Pinkie Pie style. “Are you psychic?!” She asked shocked as she grabbed Twilight head.
“Uh, no. I don't think so. Unless of course, that's something you can do here,” Twilight replied.
“Fluttershy said this is where I'd find the head of the Fall Formal planning committee. Is that you?” Star Twinkle asked, trying to get to the point quick.
“Fluttershy, huh?” Pinkie Pie replied almost offended after hearing that name. “Don't let the whole "shy" thing fool you. She can be a real meanie,” she added, which was strange since the Pinkie Pie that Star Twinkle and Twilight knew would never say something like that. Unless...
“You two aren't friends?” Twilight asked confused.
But instead of answering, Pinkie Pie decided to get back to Twilight's first question. “Waited a bit to get your name on the ballot, huh? Dance is day after tomorrow,”
“I'm brand new here,” Twilight replied.
“Oooh! I thought you didn't look familiar. Though, now that I'm really lookin' at you... “ She said as she literally inspected every inch of Twilight's body. “Do you have a twin sister who lives in the city, has a pet dog named Spike that looks just like that one?” She asked as she pointed at Spike who escaped from the bag to play with a balloon on the ground.
“Uh, maybe?” Twilight replied confused, not knowing what exactly to do with this information.
Pinkie Pie didn't seem to bother with this and just continued to get the important thing out of the way and gave Twilight a pen to sign up for the dance. While she was trying to figure out how to work with this pen, Star Twinkle couldn't help but think about what Pinkie Pie said. This thought already crossed his mind before but now it got him thinking. There must be versions of him and Twilight in this world as well if it really is some kind of parallel world.
“Say...” Star Twinkle began trying to get some more answers out of Pinkie Pie. “Hypothetical...you wouldn't happen to know someone who is called Star Twinkle? Who looked kinda like me?” He asked, trying to be subtle about it.
“Yup, must be your twin brother, right? Lives in the city as well,” Pinkie Pie causally replied while Twilight was still writing her name on a board that Pinkie Pie was holding for her.
“Really?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
“Done!” Twilight said victorious after she was done writing her name.
Pinkie Pie took a look on the board and was almost shocked. “Wow! You have really bad handwriting. It's like you've never held a pen before,” she said, which ironically, was true, making Twilight burst out in some nervous laughter.
Everyone's attention was then brought to the entrance after another girl entered the room while carrying a box in her arms. “Somebody order a dozen cases of fizzy apple cider?” The girl said as she brought some drinks in the room.
Star Twinkle and Twilight quickly realized who that was. The girl had a light orange skin color, blonde hair, green eyes with some freckles under them. She was wearing a white and green top, a blue skirt, brown boots and most noticeably a brown stetson on her head. It was obviously Applejack.
“Can you bring in the rest?” She said before someone else entered the room with a whole bunch of boxes in his arms, saying “Eeyup,” after he entered the room. This guy had to be Big McIntosh, only proving Star Twinkle's and Twilight's guesses. He had a very light reddish skin color, orange hair, and green eyes. He was also wearing a red jacket, blue trousers and red and white shoes.
Twilight decided to walk up to Applejack to introduce herself but Applejack said that she already knew her. “You do?” Twilight asked confused.
“Sure. You're the new girl who gave Sunset Shimmer the what for today,” she said almost as if she was glad or rather proud at Twilight before she took a bottle of her cider and drank a good amount of it, due to her exhaustion.
“Twilight Sparkle here is gonna run against Sunset Shimmer for Princess of the Fall Formal,” Pinkie Pie informed, causing Applejack to spit out her cider in shock and showing the same reaction as Fluttershy.
Much to Star Twinkle's dislike, she spits it right into his face. “Why me again?” He thought annoyed before he cleaned his face dry again.
“I'd think twice about that. Oh, sure, she'll probably approach you all friendly like... sure am lookin' forward to some friendly competition. But then, here comes the backstabbin',” she informed Twilight which was kinda unnecessary since Star Twinkle and Twilight both already knew what they were going up against. However, the sentence after that was what surprised the two. “About the only girl in this school you can trust less than Sunset Shimmer is Rainbow Dash,”
“Rainbow Dash?” Star Twinkle and Twilight asked in unison confused.
Yet another thing that the Applejack from Equestria would never say. According to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash was the captain of every team at Canterlot High. “She's also the captain of sayin' she's gonna do somethin' for ya, and then turnin' around and not even botherin' to show up,” Applejack added rather angrily, again, not pretty Applejack likely.
“Thanks for the advice, Applejack, but this is something I really need to do,” Twilight explained briefly, of course not fully explaining why that was the case for obvious reasons.
“Hey, how'd you know my name is Applejack?” Applejack replied confused.
This meant for Star Twinkle that he had to take care of the situation. “It sure was nice meeting you all but we have to take care of some things so if you excuse us,” he hastily said as he pulled Twilight away and out of the room. Leaving like that was maybe not the smoothest way to deal with the situation but the truth was, that they really had to take care of the whole crown situation. And from how everyone is trying to talk them out of going up against Sunset Shimmer, it was unlikely that they would help them anytime soon.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie didn't question this behavior and just went on with their work. That is until two people entered the room. One of them being really angry after seeing the decoration in the room. “This looks terrible! There should be more streamers near the stage and fewer balloons,” she complained as she walked inside.
The other person who entered the room was Radiant Blast who was walking up to some of the balloons playing around with them a little. “I don't know, Sunset. It looks pretty colorful to me,” he said as he hugged one balloon to his body. However, Sunset Shimmer only gave him a disappointing glare to which he quickly replied a little surprised. “I mean, yeah! More streamers and fewer balloons!” He said in a forced angry tone as he punched away the balloon and crossed his arms, followed by a forced angry face.
Sunset Shimmer then walked up to the cider that Applejack brought in for the dance, only to complain about it as well. “Fizzy apple cider? Ugh! This is my coronation, not a hoedown,” she said in disgust. “Who would ever drink something like that?”
Applejack could have answered but all she did was pointing towards Radiant Blast who was about to take one of the bottles in order to drink it, if it hadn't been for Sunset Shimmer, looking at him in disappointment again. “Uh...yeah! Who would ever drink something tasty...Err I mean disgusting as...” He began looking rather sad for saying that. “This,” he said almost regretting to say it.
Eventually, Applejack couldn't take it that her cider was badmouthed like that anymore and stepped up. “Well, now, it ain't necessarily gonna be your coronation this time around,”
“Oh, is that so? You country folk really aren't that bright,” Sunset Shimmer said as she pulled down Applejack's stetson covering her face. “Must be why the other students say such awful things about you,” she added, causing Applejack to turn boiling red in anger. “Obviously it's gonna be my coronation. I'm running unopposed,” she said confidently before Radiant Blast read out loud what was written on the board that Pinkie Pie held.
“Not this time, Sunset,” he said as he took a glance at the board and seeing another person signing up for the princess.
“What!?” Sunset Shimmer said in shock. “Who!?” She asked.
Radiant Blast grabbed the board out of Pinkie Pie's hand and attempted to read the name out loud. “Her name is...uh...the name is...” he mumbled trying to decipher Twilight's name on it. “I have no idea what this is supposed to say...” he gave up as he handed the board over to Sunset Shimmer so that she could read it herself.
“I know. Her handwriting is really bad,” Pinkie Pie admitted as Radiant Blast looked over to her.
Radiant Blast walked over to Sunset Shimmer as she tried to make sense of the writing herself. But judging from her angered expression, she seemed to figure out who it was. “Where is this Twilight Sparkle?” She said sinisterly and angrily to herself.
“Uh...Psst...” Radiant Blast said as he grabbed Sunset Shimmer's shoulder, as he pointed towards Applejack and Pinkie Pie who overheard her saying that.
Sunset Shimmer looked a little embarrassed and hid her face behind the board before she came up with an excuse. “I'm looking forward to meeting the competition!” She said followed by a nervous laugh before she turned to Radiant Blast, wanting him to follow her out of the room.
The two walked outside and discussed what to do next. Sunset Shimmer looked angered while she walked through the hallway while Radiant Blast looked a little more casually next to her, even going so far to put his arms behind his head as he walked next to her. “So what are we gonna do now?” He asked casually.
“First, we confront them. Officially...and make them know who they are up against,” Sunset Shimmer replied confidently.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Radiant Blast replied happily with a smile on his face.
Sunset Shimmer smiled back. “Every plan I come up with sound good to you,”
“Of course,” Radiant Blast replied. “Because no matter what we are up against, if we work together, there is no one who can stop us!” He added as he raised his fist in victory up into the air, accompanied by a huge confident smile on his face.
Sunset Shimmer's mood seemed to have changed from angry to happy after hearing that. “Exactly,” she agreed happily. “Now let's just make sure that our little princess get this message too,”
“Right!” Radiant Blast agreed as he followed Sunset Shimmer.
Soon the two would confront Star Twinkle and Twilight. The question was just if the two were ready for the dangers in this new world and how they can deal with them in order to get the crown back to Equestria before anything bad happens.
Star Twinkle and Twilight walked through the school halls confused and almost lost of what to do next. It was all so frustrating that they both knew where the crown was but in order to get to it, they had to make sure that Twilight would become the Princess of the Fall Dance here in Canterlot High. But in order to do that, she needed to convince most of the students to vote for her instead of Sunset Shimmer. And with Sunset Shimmer basically ruling over the whole school, in a way, chances were slim that they could archive that in just a few days.
Being aware of that, made Star Twinkle's worry grow. “The others sure don't sound like as if they think that you can win against Sunset Shimmer,” he pointed out after he remembered how his friends of this world all tried to talk Twilight out of going up against Sunset Shimmer.
“But we have to try. If we don't, then the crown will be gone,” Twilight simply replied.
Of course, Star Twinkle knew that. Getting the crown was at the highest priority right now. Princess Celestia was counting on the two...or rather, three of them now. They just had to focus on what to do next.
“What are gonna do now? Where are we going anyway?” Star Twinkle asked as he wondered why he and Twilight were standing right at the end of the hallway.
“I don't know. I just followed you,” Twilight replied casually.
“But I thought I followed you!” Star Twinkle replied frustrated.
Spike only rolled his eyes, seeing how the two were absolutely lost. They found themselves in a dark corner of the hallway. It was almost menacing how dark it was in this specific corner. As if there were some dangers in there, waiting to approach the three.
Soon, exactly that happened. “Are you lost?” A voice said from inside the darkness of the hallway. Star Twinkle quickly recognized the voice as Radiant Blast who walked out of the shadows.
Not only that but right behind Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike, another figure approached. Star Twinkle slowly recognized that it was the girl that he bumped into a while ago. ”So that is Sunset Shimmer, huh?” Star Twinkle realized as he took a first look at how Sunset Shimmer looked like in this world.
Sunset Shimmer walked up to the two with a sinister smile on her face. “Shoulda known Princess Celestia would send her prized pupil here after my crown, along with her little dog and her...what?” She asked after she took a look at Star Twinkle. “Her knight in Shinning Armor,” she added as she tipped Star Twinkle's cap away from his head, causing it to fall down on the ground, making Star Twinkle pick it up again, annoyed.
“No. Shinning Armor would actually be her brother,” Radiant Blast corrected.
Sunset Shimmer got confused by those random words that Radiant Blast just had to share right now but didn't mind it much and walked right next to him, focusing her attention to Twilight again. “Whatever. This is just a minor setback for me. You don't know the first thing about this place, and I already rule it,” she said confidently.
“If that's so, why do you even need my crown? You went to an awful lot of trouble to switch it with the one that belongs here,” Twilight pointed out, which actually was a really good question. Sunset Shimmer seemed to a good job intimidating the whole school already. She didn't even need the crown to do all this. This only further raised the question why she was after it.
Fortunately, Sunset Shimmer was doing everyone a favor and explained, in a way. “Pop quiz: what happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world?” She asked. She seemed to expect an answer from Twilight but none came. This only amused Sunset Shimmer. “You don't know? Seriously?” She said amused, clearly feeling superior, laughing about Twilight's unawareness. ”And you're supposed to be Princess Celestia's star student? Then again, what were the chances she'd find somepony as bright as me to take under her wing after I decided to leave Equestria? Bit embarrassing that you were the best she could do,” she further added which eventually caused Spike to growl at her angrily.
Despite being startled for a second by that, Sunset Shimmer wasn't intimidated. “Oh, and I'd keep an eye on your mutt. Hate for him to be... taken away from you,”
“Is that a threat?” Spike replied.
“Oh, of course not,” Sunset Shimmer replied. “But I'd cut down on the chatter if I were you. Don't want everyone to know you don't belong here, now would you? You wanna be a princess here? Please. You don't know the first thing about fitting in,” she said as she walked away confidently about her own words. “Radiant, let's go,” she added, causing Radiant Blast who was just standing there the whole time, letting Sunset Shimmer do the talking, to follow her slowly.
Those last words of Sunset Shimmer did a good job to make discourage Star Twinkle and Twilight. Sunset Shimmer didn't look worried in the slightest that Star Twinkle and Twilight came to this world to stop her. She didn't take them seriously at all and Radiant Blast didn't make the expression to be worried as well.
Still, Star Twinkle couldn't just stand there and let that discourage him. He knew the moment that he set hoof...or rather foot in this world, that things wouldn't be easy. He just had to ignore Sunset Shimmer's words and continue to support Twilight. Ironically, this support came in the form of getting something to eat. Worrying about Sunset Shimmer's words would only waste time which was something they were short of now. Granting, grabbing something to eat was not helping them getting the crown back as well but that shouldn't keep them from eating something.
“So...how is this gonna work?” Twilight asked confused.
“Well, there is food inside so there must be a way to get to it right?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
They both stood in front of some weird...thing. It was kinda like a showcase but filled with food. Little snacks could be seen inside of it. Some of them, Star Twinkle even recognized. Other Students were eating some of the stuff that he saw inside of this thing so they somehow must have got them out. Now the problem is, how Star Twinkle and Twilight were about to do that.
Star Twinkle didn't have the nerves to deal with little things like that. “Well, got no choice then...” he said determined before he placed his hands on the ground and turned his legs towards the machine, raising one of his legs up.
“What are you doing?” Twilight asked confused, by Star Twinkle's action.
“Breaking it open,” Star Twinkle casually replied.
Twilight was about to tell him that this was a very bad idea, hadn't it been for another girl showing up behind him and giving him a rather confused look. “Excuse me,” the strangely familiar girl said as she wanted Star Twinkle to step away from the machine. The girl stepped in front of the machine. “The Great and Powerful Trixie! ...Needs some peanut butter crackers,” she said as she pulled out a bit...or at least what Star Twinkle thought of being the currency in this world and put it into a slot on this machine. Only seconds later, something came falling down from inside of the machine and the girl grabbed what she was probably after. “Voilà!” She said victoriously as she walked away with her crackers.
Trixie walked away from the two and minded her own business again, leaving Star Twinkle and Twilight still in front of the machine. Knowing how this machine worked was a good start but having actual money from this world would be great too.
All of the sudden, Star Twinkle noticed how Twilight's mood was getting worse. It came from the sudden realization that Sunset Shimmer was right about Star Twinkle and Twilight not knowing anything about this world. This made it even harder to deal with Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast who were probably, right now, making sure that they would get most of the votes.
Star Twinkle didn't like to admit it but the chance for Twilight to win was very slim so he decided to start thinking about a solution. “Come on. There's got to be a way to find out more about this world and how to properly fit in...A place to get some research...” Star Twinkle mumbled to himself as he scratched his head.
“That's it!” Twilight said in a sudden mood change. “This place has a school. I have to believe it's got a...” she started as she coincidentally stumbled across what she was looking for. “library!” She said excitedly before she stepped into a room that was this school's library.
Being a library, of course, it was filled with books. Books that could contain information about this school and even the dance and how to become a princess. If there was anyone who could get some knowledge out of those books within a short amount of time, then it was Twilight. This would have gotten their spirits up if they wouldn't have stumbled across their next obstacle.
“So I just push the letters here, and then the words and moving pictures will come up here?” Twilight asked uncertainty in hope that Star Twinkle would give a clear answer as she tried to operate some other machine in the middle of the room. It was some kind of board with letters on it with a screen behind it.
“Um...maybe?” Star Twinkle guessed in uncertainty as he tried to make sense out of this thing himself and lifting the screen-thing up to inspect it.
“That's right,” a cheerful voice said next to the two before she took the screen away from Star Twinkle and placed it on the table again.
Twilight pushed some of the buttons and noticed a change on the screen. She didn't know exactly what she was doing but it was good that her previous assumption proved to be right. “Maybe this place does have magic,” she said happily, finding something that was similar to Equestria at least.
They continued to find out how this thing worked but suddenly music came from another table right next to them. There were three younger girls who were enjoying the music. But the lady from before reminded the three that this was a library and that it was supposed to be quiet. Star Twinkle took a look at the three while Twilight mashed some buttons on the machine in front of her. They looked strangely familiar and given that Twilight figured that this was a parallel world, Star Twinkle even had a guess who they were from their behavior and voices alone.
“It's just as well, y'all. Some of the comments about our song were really awful. "Epic fail"... "Funniest thing I've ever seen"?!” one of the girls began.
“Funniest thing they've ever seen, huh?” Another one of them said, causing all three of them to smile in victory, clearly misunderstanding those words. But before Star Twinkle could explain that to them, the three wandered off and out of the library, making it a lot quieter now.
Twilight continued to press some buttons but Star Twinkle was not sure if she actually knew what she was doing. Then again, he probably wouldn't know what to do either so he just watched and hoped that Twilight would get some answers. Still, it didn't felt right to just let Twilight do all the work so he offered his help which she gladly accepted. “I think I'll manage to get the research done on my own but...” Suddenly, a loud growl could be heard from her stomach, making her feel a little embarrassed.
“Alright. I got it. I see if I can find something to eat for you,” Star Twinkle replied before he walked towards the entrance of the library.
“Thanks,” Twilight replied. “I'll see if I can get more information out of this thing,” she added before she focused back to the machine in front of her.
Of course, the last time when Star Twinkle found something to eat, it was in a strange machine where they didn't know how to get to the food. So finding something to eat might not be as easy as he initially thought.
“Food...just where do I need to start looking for that?” He began to think. “Maybe the mess hall is still open?” He wondered as he looked around the hall, only to realize that he didn't remember where exactly it was, thanks to his poor sense of direction. He grabbed his head out of frustration and released some annoyed grunts as he scratched his head. That is when he realized that someone was watching him from behind.
“You really don't know how to deal with this world, huh?” Radiant Blast said as he was leaning against the wall right next to the door of the library, crossing his arms and giving Star Twinkle a rather serious look. Star Twinkle didn't even notice him when he walked outside. And he wished he wouldn't since dealing with Radiant Blast would only be a bother, like the last time.
“What do you want? Are you trying to get in our way?” Star Twinkle said as he gave Radiant Blast a serious expression, which mirrored the expression that Radiant Blast had.
But Radiant Blast's expression changed his expression to a more confident one after Star Twinkle's words. “I don't have to...After all, it's just like Sunset said...you have no idea about this world. There is no need for me to stop you. You've already lost so just give up now before you get your false hopes up for nothing,” he advised smugly.
“Pretty intimidating words for someone who knocked himself out back then in the toilet,” Star Twinkle said, reminding Radiant Blast to their previous encounter.
“This was an accident! They happen!” He burst out as he stomped on the ground offended. It didn't take long until he calmed down, coughing in his fist in the process due to some embarrassment. “What I am trying to say is, you could avoid a lot more trouble if you just sit back and admit defeat. That way, you won't get embarrassed or hurt. I'm trying to warn you,”
A warning was the last thing that Star Twinkle expected from Radiant Blast. It caused him to be cautious. He didn't know what Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast were about to do once they get the crown but whatever it was, giving up and letting them do as they please would only be bad.
After that, another action from Radiant Blast caught Star Twinkle by surprise. “Here, catch,” he said before he threw an apple at Star Twinkle. Star Twinkle clumsily caught the apple and just more questions. “I overheard that your little princess is hungry. You should eat something,” Radiant Blast added as he avoided eye contact with Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle didn't know what to think about this and straight out mistrusted Radiant Blast. “It's not poisoned or anything, isn't it?” Star Twinkle asked in distrust, narrowing his eyes.
“Of course, not!” Radiant Blast replied offended.
Star Twinkle just didn't know what to make out of this guy. The more he talked with him, the more he got confused by his actions. The only thing that he did was giving him more questions. “Tell me something...” Star Twinkle began, causing Radiant Blast to listen to what he had to say. “All this time, everyone is warning us to go up against Sunset Shimmer. She also said herself, that she wants to the crown for herself. You also want her to have the crown...”
Radiant Blast didn't quite understand. “And your point is?”
“Where do you come in into this picture? What are you after?” Star Twinkle asked which actually seemed to caught Radiant Blast off guard for a moment. “I have the feeling that you are not helping Sunset Shimmer because you want to,” Star Twinkle pocked in further, causing Radiant Blast to give him an annoyed look.
“I don't need to tell you anything. All you need to know is that if you are planning to stand in Sunset Shimmer's way, then I will stop you,” Radiant Blast was clearly done talking with Star Twinkle and walked away. “It doesn't matter what I am after as long as Sunset Shimmer gets what she deserves,” he added while he looked at Star Twinkle menacing, not breaking eye contact even once.
This could be a pretty intimidating scene if it wasn't for what happened next. Radiant Blast, due to looking at Star Twinkle the whole time, accidentally walked head first into a wall. He probably thought he was walking around the corner and didn't see how he walked right into the wall. Needless to say, he grabbed his head with his hands out of pain but then looked over to Star Twinkle embarrassed. In a matter of seconds, he gave Star Twinkle a serious look and again walked away without breaking eye contact as if nothing happened just now. This time he didn't walk into the wall and disappeared out of sight and around the corner.
“This guy...I don't know if I should be cautious or ignore him...” Star Twinkle thought after this weird encounter. He almost forgot what he was about to do if he didn't realize the apple in his hand. “I should return to Twilight...” he said as he walked back into the library.
Twilight was surprised how fast Star Twinkle returned and of course asked where he got the apple from. To that Star Twinkle only explained that someone gave it to him. There was no need to tell Twilight about Radiant Blast. The only thing it would do is distract her from her research so he decided to not mention Radiant Blast at all.
Later...
Star Twinkle, Twilight and Spike spent the rest of the day in the library. Twilight did most of the research though. Star Twinkle tried to read some books as well to help her but for him, it was almost impossible to read so many books at once and remembering everything in them. For Twilight it was no problem. Not only was she reading ten times as fast as he did but she also managed to read ten books in the time that Star Twinkle would take for only one. It was insane, to say the least.
It was already getting dark outside and a voice that came from inside the library announced that it would be closed soon. The two realized that they did enough for one day and started to prepare to go to sleep. There was only one problem, though. “Oh no!” Twilight said in a shocking realization. “I was so focused on doing research, that I didn't think about where we gonna sleep tonight!”
Star Twinkle had to admit that this thought didn't cross his mind as well with all the things that happened today. But to their surprise, Spike got up from his little nap and explained that he had taken care of it. “Way ahead of you two,” he said as he prompted both of them to follow him. He was leading the two to some corridor of the library which didn't seem to be visited too often, judging from all the dust that was on the shelves and the books. In the corridor, there were two things hidden under a sheet. Spike removed the sheets and revealed two beds that were made out of books. It looked really provisionally but it was better than nothing.
“It's perfect Spike,” Twilight thanked as she petted Spike, much to his liking.
“Well, in emergencies, even Celestia eats flies...” Star Twinkle thought as he looked at the “bed“ in front of him. “Thanks, Spike,” he expressed towards the little dog, making him shake his paws as if he wanted to say “It's nothing”.
Star Twinkle sat down on his book-bed and quickly cut to chase. “So if remember right, we only have two more days left. Did you manage to find something that would help us?”
“Kinda,” Twilight replied with a smile on her face. “I found this book. It's called a yearbook,” she explained as she showed Star Twinkle and Spike a blue book with a yellow hoof on it. She began to open it for the two. “It seems to be something they use to keep a record of things that have happened at the school,”
Something like that would definitely handy in order to understand this school a little better but that was not the only reason why she was so interested in that book. “Here, take a look,” she said, causing Star Twinkle to sit beside her and inspecting a picture on the site that Twilight pointed at. The picture showed five girls. Three of them looking very similar to Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The two quickly came to the conclusion that the two other two girls in the picture were Rainbow Dash and Rarity, judging from the way they looked alone.
“They do look like our friends but...” Star Twinkle started while showing a worried expression.
“Yeah...you realized it too, right?” Twilight said, thinking the same thing that Star Twinkle did, in this very moment.
Spike seemed to be the only one who didn't understand their reaction. “What? Is something wrong in this picture? They look happy to me,”
“Exactly...” Twilight replied a little worried. “In fact, they look like really good friends in this picture,”
“And what's wrong about that?” Spike replied, still not getting at what Twilight meant.
Star Twinkle finally explained. “She means that they don't seem to be friends right now. So something must have happened between them to act like that now...” Star Twinkle continued to guess.
“And I bet that this something was Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast,” Twilight concluded.
“I wouldn't put it past them. But they wanted your crown 'cause they are planning on doing something even worse!” Spike pointed out, reminding everyone of their original goal. “If you're gonna stop them, you have to focus on making friends here. Can't worry about why these girls aren't friends anymore. Even if they do remind you of your Ponyville friends,” he further explained before he began yawning a little.
It may sound a little cold but in the end, that's exactly how it was. They would leave this world in a few days anyway so there was no reason to deal with all problems. Right now, just like before, getting the crown back still had the highest priority. And that meant dealing with Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast and making Twilight a princess in this world.
“We should get to sleep now. Even if it is a little strange sleeping on books,” Star Twinkle said as he tried to get comfortable.
“I think it's not all too bad,” Twilight said as she laid down on her bed.
“Sleeping in a library surrounded by books sure don't seem to bother you, but I would gladly love to spend the night in a real bed...” Star Twinkle said even though he was relieved that he didn't have to sleep on the ground.
“Don't worry, Star Twinkle. Once we stopped Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast, we can go back to Equestria...to our friends...” Twilight said as she closed her eyes and covered herself with a sheet, with Spike already sleeping right next to her. “But for now, let's just get some sleep. Night Star Twinkle,”
“Yes...good night...Twilight,” Star Twinkle replied as he closed his eyes as well to get some rest so that he could wake up in the morning and hopefully deal with everything then.
Sleeping in a library with a see-through-roof surely was good for sleeping at night but once the sun raised, it was impossible to hide the eyes from the light, waking you forcefully in the process. But then again, sleeping on books was nothing that someone should extend any further. Because of that, Star Twinkle sat up and felt how his back was really stiff. He looked at his body to see if all that happened the day before wasn't just some weird dream. To his dislike, it wasn't.
Once he stood up, he proceeded to stretch a little. All while making a rather bothered face. “Yep. Just as I expected. Sleeping on books...not the best idea,” Star Twinkle said as he stretched a little.
Twilight was nowhere to be found and only Spike was left on her “bed”. He began looking for her, once he was done stretching. Knowing her, she was probably still somewhere in the library but the thought that she was going to do something to convince the other students to vote for her on her own, also crossed his mind. But that thought proved to be wrong once he saw Twilight sitting at a table with her eyes glued to a book.
Twilight noticed how she was being looked at and greeted Star Twinkle happily. “Oh! You're up. You must be an early bird as well,” Twilight figured with a smile on her face.
“Totally...” Star Twinkle replied sarcastically. Of course, it was a miracle for him how Twilight could read a book so early in the morning. Star Twinkle was practically still half asleep at this moment.
Twilight then closed her book and stood up. “Once you're ready, we can start talking with some of the students. The earlier we start, the better,” she said highly enthusiastic.
“I...suppose that's true...” Star Twinkle agreed, scratching his chin, though he was all too excited to get to work this early.
Before he knew it. He, Twilight and Spike were already ready to leave the library. Star Twinkle saw how some students were already entering the school by looking through the glass door in front of him. School clearly began just now or was about to. Principal Celestia was greeting the whole school through some kind of P.A system and reminded everyone to vote for the Fall Formal Princess. This instantly reminded Star Twinkle to Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast and how they were wandering around the school as well. And how they needed to be stopped.
“So...what's the plan?” Star Twinkle asked, clearly wondering how Twilight could be so excited before and what she was about to do against her competition.
“Fluttershy said I'd need to win over all those different groups if I wanna become Princess of the Fall Formal. So I've compiled a list of talking points,” she proudly said as she pulled out a bunch of papers.
“Of course, you did...” Star Twinkle replied while rolling his eyes, not in the least surprised.
Spike clearly was more amused by this. “You made a list? That's so unlike you!” He said jokingly as he laughed his heart out. However, his laughter was interrupted by Twilight who opened her bag and reminded him to get inside of it since animals are not allowed in school. “Uh... Please... Continue,” he said nervously before he wandered inside of the bag.
Twilight continued with the explaining of her plan.“I'll start introducing myself, sprinkle in some things I learned about their world into the conversation, show them how I fit in here!”
“Things you learned about this world? Like what?” Star Twinkle questioned in a little disbelief.
“Just trust me. It'll be fine,” Twilight replied confidently before she stood ready to open the door in front of her to start her plan.
“Okay...” Star Twinkle simply replied.
All this time Star Twinkle was just glad that he wasn't the one who had to do the talking. But talking with the other students about things in this world also sounded like a plan with flaws. Especially if you are not of this world. Twilight probably just got some minor ideas of how the world actually functioned so the best thing would be not to talk about anything like that. But then again, Twilight became a Princess in Equestria because she was good with everything friendship related so maybe Star Twinkle was just underestimating her.
“Okay. Time to make a good first impression on my fellow students,” Twilight said unshaken before she opened the door in front of her to confront the students that she was about to befriend soon. “ The whole world sorta depends on it,”
As soon as the door opened, the two walked through the hallway. Both of them smiled, Star Twinkle a little more forced then Twilight. Star Twinkle didn't want to ruin Twilight's plan and decided to just watch for whatever Twilight was about to do or whoever she wanted to talk to first. But that was really hard since everyone who they walked past laughed at them. At first, they thought that they were just imagining things but after seeing literally everyone laughing at them, whether it was in secret or openly, they knew something was off.
“Is it just me or is everybody laughing at us?” Star Twinkle whispered to Twilight.
But before she could even answer, Twilight was dragged into a room so fast by someone that he could even react in time. Of course, he quickly ran after her but the door closed right in front of him. Star Twinkle was sure that it was either Sunset Shimmer or Radiant Blast who captured Twilight so he opened the door and came to Twilight's rescue.
As soon as he entered the room, the door was shut closed behind him. He turned around and saw the one who closed it and was about to confront her but first he looked around to find Twilight. He quickly noticed that she was in the same room as him but she looked a little different. She wore a blonde wig and over her clothes she was wearing some green clothes.
Naturally, Star Twinkle got confused by this sudden getup. “Why do you look like this, Twilight?”
The person behind Star Twinkle seemed upset by those words. “You recognized her? And I was doing such a great job on this disguise...” the girl added frustrated.
The voice of that girl sounded very familiar, not to mention the way she looked. Purple curly hair, white skin color, dark blue eyes, a very light blue top, and a purple shirt with three blue diamonds on it and purple shoes.
“Rarity?” Star Twinkle said confused.
Moments later, the door opened and Applejack showed up, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who were all entering the room, claiming that they were looking for Twilight. Every one of them quickly realized that it was Twilight under the disguise, much to Rarity's dislike for some reason. Pinkie Pie approached Twilight and stated her opinion. “I like your new look!” She complimented.
Rarity picked up on that and seemed a little angered. “I do have an eye for these sorts of things. Not that you seem to care,” she said bitterly, causing Pinkie Pie to clench her teeth in anger. When Twilight was wondering why Pinkie Pie would not care, Applejack and Fluttershy made sure to give some signals behind her back to not ask any further. Seems like there were more complicated reasons indicating that Rarity wasn't friends with Pinkie Pie.
Just like Spike said the night before, there was no reason to worry about why the girls were fighting in this world so Star Twinkle changed the subject. “Why were you all looking for Twilight?
The girls had all very worried expressions on their faces. “Oh, they haven't seen it yet,” Fluttershy said before she covered her mouth.
“Seen what?” Twilight asked.
Shortly after, Pinkie Pie placed some strange device on a table which resembled those “computers” from the library only that it seemed to have the buttons and the screen on only one device. Whatever it exactly was, the important seemed to happen to the screen so Star Twinkle focused on that instead.
“Oh, it's really not that bad,” Pinkie Pie said before she pushed a button on this thing and laughing nervously.
Soon, a video started in front of everyone that showed Twilight back then when she was in the library, mashing on the buttons of the computer randomly. It wasn't all too graceful to look at and to top it all of, Sunset Shimmer's voice could be heard over this video. “Twilight Sparkle wants to be your Fall Formal Princess,” she said in a rather mocking tone. What followed were some more clips of Twilight. All of them showing her doing some really clumsy and awkward stuff that only put her in a bad light. Accompanied by Sunset Shimmer's mocking in the background, it only made it worse. “But what does it say about our school if we give someone like this... such an important honor?”
Star Twinkle felt the need to add something after seeing this. “That was pretty bad...” he said without thinking, causing the girls to glare at him for that unneeded statement.
Twilight looked shocked to see all this. Of course, if everyone saw this by now, it was no wonder that everyone was laughing. And of course, it was all playing in Sunset Shimmer's favor. “What am I gonna do? No one is gonna vote for me after seeing this!” Twilight said frustrated after seeing the video.
“Not that it'll make any difference, but I'll still vote for you,” Fluttershy assured but Twilight only dropped her head on the desk in frustration since one vote will really not make a difference.
Pinkie Pie also joined in and offered her help. “If ya still wanna run, maybe there's something I can do to help!”
But Fluttershy quickly advised Twilight to not accept this offer. “Don't accept her help. She doesn't take anything seriously!”
While this may be true in a way, the way Fluttershy said it was a little bitter and Pinkie Pie got angry by this. “Ugh! Why do you have to be so awful to me?” She said offended by Fluttershy's words.
“Oh! Don't play innocent, Pinkie Pie!” Rarity joined in. “You are no better than she is!”
“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Pinkie Pie replied offended.
“I am happy to offer up my assistance as well,” Rarity said. “To someone who would appreciate what I have to offer!” She added which was directed towards Pinkie Pie, accompanied by a glare.
This soon escalated into more arguing between the girls. Everyone except Applejack, who just sat on one of the desks, advising that the girls should all carry on and stop the fighting. But Rarity didn't like hearing that from her. “You mean like how you've gotten over what happened with Rainbow Dash?”
“She said she'd get the softball team to make an appearance at my bake sale. I tell everybody they're comin', and then not one of 'em shows up! She made a liar outta me! That's different!” Applejack protested angrily.
Soon she joined to argue with the rest of the girls. It became really loud in the room and both Star Twinkle and Twilight couldn't stand all of this. It was obvious that something happened between them and that it didn't matter to worry about their problems since Star Twinkle and Twilight would leave this world again soon but this was just too much. It also didn't help Twilight to get her crown back.
“Shut up!” Star Twinkle exclaimed, getting the girls to stop arguing for a moment. “What is wrong with you all? Weren't you supposed to be friends before!?” He added, after the image of the picture from the yearbook that Twilight found yesterday popped up in his mind.
The girls seemed to pick up on that and looked at each other. Soon, Twilight stepped up as well. She grabbed the yearbook that she found yesterday out of her bag and presented it in front of everyone. “You were friends once, remember?” She said as she flipped open the page with the picture of her friends. The girls quickly recognized the picture and felt some nostalgia after seeing it, forgetting their fight for a moment. “Something must have happened. I think that something was Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight concluded, even though she didn't have any proof of it.
“Well, it's a nice theory, darling, but Sunset Shimmer had nothing to do with it,” Rarity said, surprisingly defending Sunset Shimmer.
“She's right,” Fluttershy agreed. “Sunset Shimmer isn't the one who ruined my silent auction for the animal shelter by bringing fireworks and noisemakers! It was supposed to be a serious event, and Pinkie Pie ruined it!” She added, again blaming Pinkie Pie for it.
“What are you talking about?” Pinkie Pie replied angrily. “I got a text from you saying that you didn't want a silent auction. You wanted a big party!” She then replied.
“Uh! I never sent you a text!” Fluttershy replied confused.
“You didn't?” Pinkie Pie replied confused as well.
Rarity came to another conclusion. “You don't think she's the one who's been sending me those e-mails, do you? Every time I volunteer to help with the decorations at a school function, I get an e-mail from Pinkie Pie saying she has plenty of volunteers! And then I find out she's done everything herself,”
“I never sent you any e-mails!” Pinkie Pie replied confused.
All those reveals caused Applejack to come up with something as well. “Maybe she's the reason Rainbow Dash didn't show up for my bake sale!”
It all came together. Those were way too many misunderstandings at once. Star Twinkle remembered that Sunset Shimmer was always winning every competition that she attended to. The thought that those five would come in her way crossed probably her mind so she needed a reason to take care of them by destroying their friendships. This was only Star Twinkle's theory, however. According to Applejack, she never talked to Rainbow Dash about why she never showed up at the bake sale, making it unknown of why that happened.
To get some answers, the only one who could help them was Rainbow Dash herself so they decided to talk with her. Rainbow Dash was supposed to be on the “football field” outside of the school building. Since the only one who got into a fight with Rainbow Dash, Applejack went to see her on her own while the rest of the group waited for the result of their conversation. At first, it looked like as if the two were starting to argue but then Applejack seemed to apologize to her. She must have explained the situation to her and Rainbow Dash listened. After a while, the two hugged each other as if they were relieved to not argue anymore.
The group was relieved to see this picture. Finally, all five of them seemed to get along like their counterparts in Equestria. It was...nice, thought Star Twinkle, even though he planned to not interfere with all this in the first place. But seeing them all like this again surely made him happy as well.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash came walking towards the group. This was the first time that Star Twinkle could take a better look at Rainbow Dash. She, of course, had her rainbow colored hair color, a sky blue skin color, purple-reddish eyes, a blue vest with a white shirt under it showing her Cutie Mark, a pink and white skirt with black shorts under it and blue shoes.
Applejack explained. “Somebody, and I think we can all guess who told Rainbow Dash that my bake sale had been moved to a different day. Dash showed up with all the softball team and thought I'd canceled on her!”
As expected, another misunderstanding. Things seemed to point directly at Sunset Shimmer more and more. It also gave everyone a reason to help Twilight now. Sunset Shimmer basically ruined everyone's friendships. There was no reason to not go up against her.
Rainbow Dash greeted Star Twinkle and Twilight, ready to help them as well. “So you're lookin' to dethrone Sunset Shimmer and become Princess of the Fall Formal, huh? Gotta say, I'd really love to see that happen. I'll totally help you out!” She said happily, making things easier...at least for a second. “All you gotta do is beat me in a game of one-on-one,” she then said, taking the excitement out of Twilight.
“What?” Twilight replied confused.
“First to five goals wins,” Rainbow Dash said before she showed off her skills by kicking a ball into a goal from where she stood right now.
Of course, Twilight accepted. If that's what it meant to get Rainbow Dash to help her, then she just had to prove herself. Twilight walked up to a ball and attempted to mimic what Rainbow Dash did by kicking the ball at one of the goals. Needless to say, it didn't nearly look as professional as it did with Rainbow Dash. In fact, Twilight didn't even hit the ball properly at first. Given, how Twilight was not too good with sports in the first place, that was to be expected of course.
Star Twinkle saw only one solution for this. “Mind if I take her place?” He said all of the sudden, getting a surprised look from Twilight. “I haven't done anything to help you so far. You don't have to do everything on your own. I want you to win as much as everyone else here,” he said determined as he walked towards Rainbow Dash.
Twilight appreciated how Star Twinkle stepped up and accepted. “Alright,” Twilight replied with a smile on her face. “I trust you, Star Twinkle,“
Shortly after, the game began and Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash stood in front of each other, ready to start. The goal was to kick the ball in the middle into the respective goal five times. Shouldn't be too hard, Star Twinkle thought before the game started.
However, what followed was not exactly what he planned. In fact, it was a total disaster. Rainbow Dash completely destroyed Star Twinkle. He barely managed to get the ball a few times and when he did, it was only snatched away shortly after. Rainbow Dash was way better at this than him, despite Star Twinkle doing his very best. If it wasn't his friends who were watching this, he would have totally embarrassed himself in front of everyone.
After a while, it was four against zero and Rainbow Dash was already on her way for the fifth goal. This is when Star Twinkle's adrenaline kicked in. He had to make his comeback now. And that comeback had to start with one goal. He charged at Rainbow Dash and actually managed to snatch the ball away from her. “I did it!” Star Twinkle thought victoriously. Whether it was out of pity from Rainbow Dash or actual skill from him, he had the ball. Now he just had to kick it into the goal.
While running towards the goal, he prepared himself to kick. He actually hit the ball perfectly and made it fly right to the goal. “Yes!” He said excitedly to get one goal at least. However, instead of landing right into the goal, the ball bounced off from the bar and came flying back right towards Star Twinkle, coloring his face in shock. The ball directly hit his face and sent him falling to the ground. While he was getting hit, his cap fell off from his head and landed right on his face as he laid on the ground. Once he was able to see straight again, he noticed how Rainbow Dash was already shooting the ball into his goal, ending the game and making her the victor of this game.
A sigh of defeat was the only thing that he could do after this, covering his face with his cap in embarrassment. Rainbow Dash then walked up to him and looked down with a victorious smile on her face. “Hehe, you lost,” Rainbow Dash said smugly before she offered Star Twinkle her hand to get him up.
“You think?” Star Twinkle replied sarcastically before he reached his hand out to let himself get picked up by Rainbow Dash. He could see how the rest of his friends walked up to him, causing him to turn his head away. “Sorry...” he then apologized, mainly towards Twilight.
“Don't worry, Star Twinkle,” she replied. “I don't think that I would have been any better,” she admitted, though she was a little sad that Star Twinkle lost.
The mood was a little down after Star Twinkle's defeat, Rainbow Dash was the only one who was still in a good mood. “So what's the plan? How can I help you be princess instead of Sunset Shimmer?” She then said out of the blue towards Twilight.
“What!?” Star Twinkle replied confused. “But I lost!”
“Of course you lost. I'm awesome!” Rainbow Dash replied. “But I'm not gonna help just anybody tries and beat Sunset Shimmer. No one would vote for Sunset Shimmer because they want to. They only do it because they think they have to. However, you and the others are ready to go so far for Twilight to make her a princess. A princess represents the whole school so it should be someone that everyone trusts instead of someone who forces everyone to vote for her, don't you think?” She explained, much to the relief of everyone else. Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash out of thanks and was just happy that she and the others were finally friends, just like in Equestria.
Later...
With all friends finally working together, there was just one more thing to take care of. And that was coming up with a plan to convince all students to vote for Twilight. The discussion for that was postponed to a nearby cafe. Twilight was still ordering something while the others were already at a table, putting their heads together to come up with an idea. Given that Star Twinkle didn't know too much about this world in the first place, that was easier said than done for him.
“Any ideas?” Rainbow Dash asked into the round.
“Nope...” Pinkie Pie replied, speaking for basically everyone right now.
Twilight joined the group and sat down at the table as well. Strangely enough, she didn't come back with anything. “You didn't want anything?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
Twilight seemed to be a little embarrassed. “I kinda splashed my drink on somebody,” she said as she played with her hair while making an embarrassed face.
“Okay...” Star Twinkle got confused by this behavior but couldn't concentrate on that for now.
“All right. Dance is tomorrow night, and we still don't know how we're gonna get Twilight the votes she needs to be named princess,” Applejack pointed out. “Right now, folks only know the Twilight from the videos Sunset Shimmer posted online. We need to help 'em see her differently,”
With everyone in the school seeing the video, chances were that everyone already decided to vote for Sunset Shimmer, whether she was nice to the students or not, seeing Twilight in her most awkward moments in the library probably convinced everyone that she wasn't the best pick for being a princess. At least in the eyes of everyone besides her friends.
Before anyone could even attempt to come up with something Rarity stood up “I'VE GOT IT!” She screamed excited through the whole cafe, causing everyone in there to look at her surprised. Of course, Rarity noticed that she might have been a little too excited and got embarrassed for a moment. But she calmed down again and explained. “Now this may be an absolutely preposterous idea, but what if we all wore these as a sign of unity?” She said before she pulled out something out of her bag.
“Are those pony ears and tails?” Star Twinkle asked confused after inspecting the things that Rarity pulled out of her bag.
They were headpieces that had pony ears on it and bushy tails both in blue and yellow color.
“In Freshman year, they were very, very popular. A way for everybody to show their school spirit! You know? "Go, Canterlot Wondercolts!"“. She said as she jumped up and down excited. I mean, the five of us are obviously very different, but deep down, we're all Canterlot Wondercolts! Sunset Shimmer is the one who divided us, Twilight Sparkle is the one who united us. And we're gonna let everyone know it! What do you think?”
“Worth a shot, right?” Star Twinkle replied, definitely speaking for everyone right now. “But how do we do that?”
Later in the mess hall...
Star Twinkle walked into the mess hall. It was filled with students which was perfect. Perfect for him and his friends to start their plan. He placed some kind of musical device on the ground that the girls gave him. Everyone except Twilight was inside of the hall sitting in some random place. All of them wore a blue top with a yellow hoof on it to represent their unity. They also began to wear the head and tail pieces once they realized that Star Twinkle was ready.
The girls began to make noises by either clapping their hands or stomping on the ground, making everyone in the room notice them. After some of the student's attention was grabbed, Star Twinkle pushed a button on his music device, making music come out of it. Once everyone looked at the girls now, they began singing and officially started the plan.
“Hey, hey, everybody We've got something to say We may seem as different As the night is from day But you look a little deeper And you will see That I'm just like you And you're just like me. Yeah!”
The students were wondering what happened all of the sudden but didn't seem to mind it either, giving the girls all the more reason to continue. They began to approach some of the students one by one as they continued their song.
“Hey, hey, everybody We're here to shout That the magic of friendship Is what it's all about Yeah, We thought we were different As the night is from the day Until Twilight Sparkle Helped us see another way So get up get down If you're gonna come around We can work together Helping Twilight win the crown So get up get down 'Cause it's gonna make a sound If we work together Helping Twilight Sparkle Win the crown!”
Before the last line kicked in, Star Twinkle stood ready at the door and opened it, revealing Twilight, who was walking into the room and joined in the song as well.
“I'm gonna be myself No matter what I do And if we're different yeah I want you to be true to you If you follow me We'll put our differences aside We'll stick together and Start working on that school pride!”
Finally, all the students joined into the song and the whole room was filled with people dancing and having fun. Completely different how it was only a few minutes ago. The school was now united as one, thanks to Twilight and her friends. This brought them one step closer to the crown as well. Finally, things were going to everyone's favor.
However, there was still someone outside of the hall who didn't share the same happiness and watched the singing with a bitter expression on her face. “What is going on in there?” Sunset Shimmer said as she looked through the glass door to the mess hall.
“I don't know,” Radiant Blast replied as he stood next to her. “But it sounds like fun! Should we join in as well?” Radiant Blast suggested, causing Sunset Shimmer to glare at him angrily. “Or maybe...we could just continue to watch...”
Sunset Shimmer, instantly saw how Twilight was responsible for all the commotion inside and focused all her anger towards her. She now realized that she had to take care of things to secure her victory. After all, she couldn't just let her come to “her world” and mess everything up what she had worked for so long.
“Let's go, Radiant. We need to make sure that Twilight and her friends will not make any more mistakes by standing against us...” she said with a bright evil smile on her face.
Radiant Blast saw her expression and it sends some shivers down on his spine. “Yeah...sure...” he said a little hesitantly. “Just say what I can do and I will,” he added confidently awaiting what Sunset Shimmer had in mind.
Whatever it was...it would only get in Twilight's and her friend's way...
Everything went well, at last. Instead of being split into different groups, the school was finally united. And that was all thanks to Twilight, who reminded her friends of their friendship which eventually led Rarity to come up with her plan. This again got the group closer to Twilight's crown.
The group took a look at the other students as they walked past them in the main hallway of the school. “Doesn't everyone look just fabulous?” Rarity commented as she looked over to all the students who were now wearing her headpieces and tails. Uniting the school was one thing but she also liked selling her accessories along the way.
“It was a great idea, Rarity!” Twilight said happily.
However, for everything good, there also needed to be something bad. And that bad was just walking towards the group. Sunset Shimmer.
“Don't know what she's smilin' about. Twilight's the one that's gonna be Princess of the Fall Formal,” Applejack said confident but also confused by Sunset Shimmers expression which was just a plain wide smile.
The thought that she already had something in mind to counter Twilight's effort to unite the school already crossed Star Twinkle's mind but he somehow wished that it wasn't like this. She couldn't possibly have another ace up her sleeve already.
But instead of confronting Twilight and the others, Sunset Shimmer merely walked past the group without saying a single word. Though she did turn her head around as soon as she walked past them, still having a huge smile on her face.
“Just ignore her,” Rainbow Dash advised.
“Yeah, she probably is mad at you and tries to play tough right now,” Applejack added with a smile on her face as well.
It did seem to calm Twilight down a little. “Yeah, you're probably right,” she replied, trying to not focus on Sunset Shimmer anymore, even if that was easier said then done.
Star Twinkle wanted to believe that as well but the only way he could calm down was once Twilight got her crown back. Until then, his worry would not simply vanish like that.
Later...
Star Twinkle and the others wanted to make sure that Twilight would get the most votes and talked to most of the people or groups. All of them seemed relieved that they could spend time with each other. Of course, being separated in groups before made it hard to interact with each other so they were all happy that they found new friends now. It didn't look like as if anyone was against Twilight which was perfect since everyone was pretty much against Sunset Shimmer winning the crown. Twilight will win the vote. Not even Sunset Shimmer could stop her now.
“Looks like we will be back in Equestria by tonight. Along with the crown,” Star Twinkle said relieved as he walked through the hallway with Twilight next to her.
“Looks like it. The others are already preparing everything for tonight. After all, it is still a pretty important night,” Twilight replied happily, getting a little excited about tonight. “I think Rarity even prepared some fancy clothes for you,” she jokingly added slightly poking Star Twinkle's sides with her elbow.
“I'm just glad that we can return home...” Star Twinkle replied, not bothering to answer to Twilight directly. “But I have to admit, meeting our friend's counterparts in this world was kind...nice,” he added with a smile on his face.
“Yeah...I will miss them...” Twilight said a little saddened but also happy.
“Me too...” Star Twinkle said in almost the same manner as Twilight.
The two were then suddenly interrupted by someone. “Twilight Sparkle,” a voice then said in a very serious tone behind the two, causing them to turn around.
The one who was talking to them was a tall person, with dark blue hair that had some light grayish colors in it. Her skin had a blue-grayish color and her eyes were opal green. She was also wearing a light purple top, dark blue trousers and white and pink shoes. Star Twinkle was by now getting used to finding out who was who in this world and it was easy to find out who that was. It was Vice-Principal Luna.
“Is something the matter?” Twilight asked nervously because of Vice-Principal Luna's serious tone in her voice which definitely made her feel smaller in this moment.
“You need to come with me,” Vice-Principal Luna said in a very serious tone which easily made the two feel a little smaller just by standing in the mere presence of her. “You will come with me now,”
From what Star Twinkle and Twilight knew so far, Vice Principal Luna was the second highest in charge of Canterlot High so the best thing was to just do what she said before getting into more trouble, even though it looked like as if she was already in some kind.
Star Twinkle was not allowed to enter Vice-Principal Luna's office and waited outside. Whatever the reason was for Twilight to get into trouble, Star Twinkle believed that it was just some kind of misunderstanding. That was until he saw Radiant Blast walking up to him with a smug smile on his face. He already didn't like what Radiant Blast was about to say to him but all of the sudden, he now realized why Twilight was in trouble.
“Looks like your little princess is in trouble,” Radiant Blast said as he smugly leaned against the wall.
“You!” Star Twinkle said angered. “It was you and Sunset Shimmer who did this, right?” He quickly suspected. “What did you do?”
“Perhaps it would be better if I show you,” Radiant Blast said before he wanted Star Twinkle to follow him.
Star Twinkle had a hard time trusting Radiant Blast but he was also curious what he or Sunset Shimmer did, to cause Twilight to get in trouble so he followed him with his eyes peeled about anything suspicious what Radiant Blast might do. Star Twinkle followed Radiant Blast to the gym. It was the place where the dance would be tonight which Pinkie Pie decorated. However, once he arrived at the gym, everything inside was completely ruined. The decoration was destroyed and laid scattered on the ground. It was a mess, to put it in more simple words.
Radiant Blast began to explain after he realized how shocked Star Twinkle was by this picture. “With your little dance from before, which caused everyone to band together, there was no way that anyone would not vote for Twilight so we just had to make sure that she will be forbidden to compete against Sunset Shimmer at all. Which is most likely what is Vice-Principal Luna doing right now,” he explained with a confident smile on his face.
“So you blamed this all on Twilight?” Star Twinkle figured angered after hearing Radiant Blast's explanation. “That is dirty! She should have won!” He added angered towards Radiant Blast.
“I think I told you before...If you get in Sunset Shimmer's way, then I will stop you,” Radiant Blast replied, not getting intimidated by Star Twinkle in the slightest, causing Star Twinkle to glare at Radiant Blast who just smiled back cheerfully. “Hey, don't give me that look, okay? It's really nothing personal. Really, if you wouldn't have stood against Sunset Shimmer, then we might even get to be friends,” he said before he turned around leaving the gym, waving Star Twinkle goodbye.
Star Twinkle just looked at the gym and it's ruined state. With the gym looking like this, there was no way that the dance could be held in there tonight. This was a problem since Twilight had to get her crown back tonight because the portal to Equestria would close after that, trapping him and her for thirty moons into this world. And all that was because of Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast. The latter one he could only give one more glare.
“Why are you doing all this!?” Star Twinkle exclaimed towards Radiant Blast who had already set foot outside of the gym but stopped after he heard Star Twinkle behind him. Since Star Twinkle had Radiant Blast's attention, he might as well continued. “Why is Sunset Shimmer so obsessed with Twilight's crown? From what it looks like, she seemed to have everything under control before Twilight showed up. So why does she want the crown? What is she planning to do with it?”
Radiant Blast turned around and felt like answering after coming so far already. “You're right. Everything was fine until you showed up. Sunset Shimmer worked so hard to get to this point. To have the school under her full control. But that wasn't enough. Ruling over this world means nothing to her. She wanted something else...” he explained surprisingly calm.
“And that is?” Star Twinkle asked, feeling that he calmed down a bit as he listened to Radiant Blast.
Radiant Blast kept a serious expression on his face and almost emotionless answered, which sent shivers down on Star Twinkle's back. “Equestria...”
The mood became really serious all of the sudden. Star Twinkle could only return a confused and slightly concerned look towards Radiant Blast who was doing him a favor and explained further.
“As you might have noticed, there is no magic in this world. Sunset Shimmer once asked if you know what happens if you bring a magical artifact like Twilight's crown into this world,” Radiant Blast explained, causing Star Twinkle to remember how amused Sunset Shimmer was after she found out that Twilight didn't know the answer. Star Twinkle didn't say a thing and let Radiant Blast continue. “Since this world has no magic, there is no way that it can defend itself from Equestrian magic. That means that we can use the magic to control the people in this world to attack Equestria,”
“Attack Equestria!?” Star Twinkle replied in shock, despite already knowing that Sunset Shimmer was planning something evil. However, Star Twinkle's determination to stop her was unshaken. “All the more reason to stop her!”
But Radiant Blast's determination didn't change either. “And I will do everything to stop you from doing that! Like I said before,”
“Is that really what you want!?” Star Twinkle asked a little more angry, not understanding how Radiant Blast was helping Sunset Shimmer like that. “She is trying to put Equestria in danger! The place where you once lived as well! Don't you see that what she is doing is evil?”
Radiant Blast's determined face slowly began to change. He lowered his head and looked towards the ground with a frown on his face until he finally answered. “Of course, I do...” he then said in a rather depressed tone in his voice, much to Star Twinkle's surprise who didn't exactly knew how to respond to that. “Do you think I'm stupid?” He added to which Star Twinkle could answer, judging from some previous encounters but he decided not to. At this very moment, he was more surprised about Radiant Blast's answer.
“You know?” Star Twinkle replied confused. “Then why do you keep helping Sunset Shimmer if you think the same way like me?”
Radiant Blast avoided eye contact and hesitated at first to answer since he felt it wouldn't change anything. But eventually, he decided to continue anyway. “Because I am Sunset Shimmer's friend. That's why ” he answered while his eyes met Star Twinkle's
“So?” Star Twinkle replied still confused. “That doesn't mean that you have to agree to everything she says,”
“So I just leave her alone!?” Radiant Blast exclaimed frustrated, causing Star Twinkle to get startled for a second by those words. “In case you didn't notice, Sunset Shimmer is not really...liked by everyone here. They are either afraid of her, or worst, they hate her because of the things she did here. Because of that, she needs someone to be at her side. A friend. Me,”
Star Twinkle, for the first time, sympathized with Radiant Blast. Since the very beginning, he thought Radiant Blast was just some kind of henchman for Sunset Shimmer. Someone who didn't know how to stand up against her and just did as she said. But now he saw someone completely different in front of him. Someone who was prepared to do anything for a friend. Radiant Blast had no bad intentions like Sunset Shimmer. He just did what she said because he is the only one in this world that she can call her friend.
But despite that, the things they did can't be excused by that and Radiant Blast knew that as well. “Sunset Shimmer might be your friend but that doesn't mean that you can just continue like that. In fact, as a friend of her, you should tell her how you feel about all this,”
However, Radiant Blast did not bother to listen to those words too much and decided to end this conversation. He turned around again and this time he was about to walk outside for good. But not until he gave some last words to Star Twinkle. “All I have to do is helping Sunset Shimmer by staying at her side. That is what I did when she left Equestria, and that's what I will do here...” he said in a very threatening way which was this time not ruined by him walking into a wall or something, making it actual threatening.
But Star Twinkle didn't have time to worry about Radiant Blast. Right now, he was a little worried about Twilight and what Vice-Principal Luna talked with her about. Star Twinkle was on his way back to Vice-Principal Luna's office to meet up with Twilight but to his surprise, Twilight already came running towards him with a stressed-out look on her face.
“We got a problem!” Twilight said as she grabbed Star Twinkle's shoulder in frustration.
“What is it? What did Luna want from you?” Star Twinkle asked obviously.
“What?” Twilight replied confused, seeming to forget about that for some reason. “No. That has been taken care of, don't worry,” she assured, shaking her head in the process. “We got a bigger problem! The gym has been ruined by someone!”
“I know. It was Sunset Shimmer or Radiant Blast,” Star Twinkle replied. “Though I can't really prove it...”
“No! No! No! You don't understand!” Twilight said further stressed out shaking Star Twinkle back and forth in the process. “The dance has been postponed to tomorrow night because of that!”
“What!?” Star Twinkle replied shocked, now finally getting why Twilight was acting like that. “Isn't the portal closing tonight?”
“That is why we have a problem!” Twilight repeated frustrated.
The two calmed down at last and tried to think. Having the dance postponed, meant that they wouldn't get the crown until tomorrow. That would already be too late. The portal would have closed by then and trapped the two into this world for thirty moons. Having one of the Elements of Harmony absent, not to mention one of the princesses of Equestria, would be too dangerous. Not too mention that the two couldn't live in the library for that long.
“What are we gonna do now?” Twilight asked frustrated, pretty much asking for an alternative right now.
“I have no idea...” Star Twinkle replied, crossing his arms while trying to come up with something.
Spike, who also came out of Twilight's bag tried to join the two in coming up with a plan. Unexpectedly, he casually shared an idea with the two. “Why don't you tell the others the truth?”
Star Twinkle had a hard time taking this seriously. “Sure...why not?” Star Twinkle replied sarcastically.
“Yes, Spike, if we tell them something like that, then they probably won't help us anymore if they found out we're too different. We can't take that risk,” Twilight agreed.
However, Spike disagreed. “But what if they don't? Those girls helped you not because you were like them but because they saw what was inside of you. You could have just tried to get the crown yourself and ignore those girls problems. But you didn't and now they help you because they saw who you really are and not because you are like this or ponies or whatever,”
Star Twinkle and Twilight had to admit that those words left an impact on them. It even caused them to give Spike's idea a chance. It's not like they had any other idea anyway.
“Wow, Spike. That was a really good advice for once,” Star Twinkle complimented.
Spike didn't know why Star Twinkle had to use the word “for once” but he accepted the compliment. Twilight picked him up from the ground and lead the way to the girls, preparing herself to explain the situation to them. “You think they will believe us?” She still asked with some doubt towards Star Twinkle.
“They probably think that we are crazy...” Star Twinkle said in an amused tone, trying to think positive.
It was their only chance to get the crown tonight. The others just had to come up with an idea to make that possible. That is...if they believed Star Twinkle and Twilight. The girls were at a nearby boutique so the three went to it as fast as possible to tell them the truth, in hope that they would believe them.
Later...
“So let me get this straight...” Applejack started once Twilight explained the situation to her and the others. “You two...are ponies?”
Star Twinkle and Twilight nodded.
“And you come from another world?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Star Twinkle and Twilight nodded.
“And that crown is a magical artifact that you need to protect your world?” Fluttershy asked.
Star Twinkle and Twilight nodded.
“And if you don't get it back by tonight, you will be trapped here for a really long time?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Star Twinkle and Twilight nodded.
“And to top it all of...you are a princess?” Rarity asked towards Twilight.
Twilight nodded embarrassed and scratched her head.
There was an awkward pause after those questions. Star Twinkle couldn't take this silence and just wanted this to be over. “So...what do you say?” He asked a little awkwardly.
But no one answered. Once again it was up to Spike to save the situation. “Wow, you were right, Star Twinkle, they do think you are crazy,” he said casually, of course drawing the eyes of everyone on him instantly.
“He can talk!?” Rarity exclaimed shocked after seeing a dog talking for the first time.
“Oh, yeah! And back where I come from, I'm not even a dog! I'm a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon!” Spike then explained, bending the truth a little while doing so.
Rarity didn't know how to react to that but Fluttershy was obviously excited to see a talking animal for the first time and inspected Spike. Seeing a dog talking like that surely was something that was not normal in this world, making the story of Star Twinkle and Twilight at least more believable. Still, the girls didn't quite know how to react to all of this and looked at each other.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash summed up what everyone else was thinking at this very moment. “That... is...awesome!”
The girls began to get more excited after knowing the truth and asked more and more questions which Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike answered as best as they could. It was just awesome that they believed them and still offered their help to get Twilight's crown back. Looks like no matter what world they were in, their friends would always support them, no matter what.
But the happy chatter had to wait for a little while since there was still things to take care of. And for that, the group returned to the gym, seeing the mess inside of it for the first time as well.
“I simply cannot believe they did all this!” Rarity said frustrated after looking at the decoration scattered all over the ground.
“If I only had some kind of... party cannon that could decorate everything super fast!” Pinkie Pie said, ironically.
“I know it seems impossible, but, maybe if we all work together?” Twilight started.
Applejack, being the natural hard worker, of course, picked up on that. “Now that's the kinda can-do spirit I'm lookin' for in a Fall Formal Princess! Let's do it, y'all!” She said almost excited.
Though, Star Twinkle was against hard work, if it can be avoided, he also did his best to clean the place up and even did some repairs at the stage or the tables. Being a carpenter pony in Equestria sure was handy in this moment, even if it was a little weird to work with hands instead of hooves or his mouth. His work was definitely not as good as it was in his pony form but it was still good enough to call it decent.
As they cleaned up the place, more and more people began helping Star Twinkle and the others. It was like as if the whole school was suddenly helping them. Not only did it help because some people helped with the electronic or some heavy lifting which was too much for Star Twinkle's or the other but with so many people helping, the amount of time spent to clean up the place was shortened. It also looked like as if most people had some fun while doing some work with others.
Before they knew it, the work was already done and the place looked as good as new, if not even better then before. But the work would have been meaningless if Principal Celestia wouldn't allow the Dance to be held tonight. Fortunately, Principal Celestia took a look at the gym and was happily surprised to see it in this state. Her next words were exactly what everyone was hoping for. “All right, everyone! Fall Formal is back on for this evening,”
The students began to cheer after those words, clearly happy to have the dance back tonight. Principal Celestia reminded everyone to send in their votes before they left the gym and from the looks of it, everyone was on Twilight's side. Again, Twilight was on the safe side to win the vote but Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast were still out there, probably scheming something again to prevent that. Knowing that still worried Star Twinkle.
Later...
The group was getting ready for the big night. The girls made sure to be prepared by trying on various dresses and accessories that Rarity provided. Of course, Star Twinkle was not too much into those things and just grabbed a suit that Rarity recommended. It was a simple yet elegant black suit. It was in strong contrast to the white suit that he was wearing back then at the Grand Galloping Gala. Star Twinkle liked it and decided to wear it for the dance. He also still, wore his cap since he thought it would fit.
After trying on multiple dresses, the girls were finally ready as well. They all looked very good and put clearly much more thoughts into their dresses than Star Twinkle did with his suit. But for him, there was no reason to put more thoughts into it since he knew that he would just stand or sit somewhere in the corner. Parties were not really his thing after all. No matter which world he was in.
The group went back to the school once it began to get dark and before the dance was about to start. Some of the other students were already arriving at the school as well. The group, with the exception of Star Twinkle, were all very excited to enter the building and went inside.
“Um, hey!” A male voice then suddenly said towards Star Twinkle who was the last to enter the building. He turned around and saw someone approaching him. It was a boy wearing a black suit like him. The boy had dark blue hair a light orange colored skin and light blue eyes. Star Twinkle wasn't sure if he knew who this was. For some reason, the boy wanted to talk with Star Twinkle about something and judging from the nervous expression on his face, it seemed very important. “Hey...I know we don't know each other at all but...do you mind if I ask you something?” The boy humbly asked as he scratched the back of his head nervously.
“Sure?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
The boy then puts aside his hesitation and spit out what he wanted to ask. “Do you mind if I ask Twilight out for a dance?”
Star Twinkle didn't know why this boy had such a hard time asking that and only got more confused before he decided to answer. “Why would I?”
The boy seemed surprised to hear this answer and expected this to be a little more difficult. “Well, I thought that...since you are always around her...that...I mean...you are not...uh...you know?” And again, he was hesitating to get out the words that he wanted to ask. But once he realized how Star Twinkle reacted to this behavior he again, pulled himself together. “So you don't mind if?”
“I don't...” Star Twinkle replied confused again. “But you obviously have to ask Twilight if she doesn't,” he advised.
“Of course!” The boy replied, like a recruit that just got an important order from his captain. “Thank you!” He then added happily as he rushed inside of the school, probably looking for Twilight at this very moment.
“For what?” Star Twinkle wondered before he walked inside of the school as well.
The night went pretty much like Star Twinkle excepted it to be. The girls were having a lot of fun and Star Twinkle was sitting in the corner somewhere, enjoying some drinks and listening to the music. The girls didn't worry about him too much and let him be. They already knew his behavior when it came to parties and crowded places. He didn't hate them but he was also no fan of them so he would always stay somewhere and wait for the party to be over.
Even if he wanted to, the thought that Sunset Shimmer was planning something right now didn't exactly put him in a party mood. He also kept thinking about Radiant Blast's words. Twilight was about to win the crown instead of Sunset Shimmer and since Radiant Blast wanted to do everything to prevent that, there was no telling what he probably was about to do.
Twilight and the others, however, didn't seem to get bothered by this and enjoyed every moment of the dance. As expected, the boy who asked Star Twinkle before was dancing with Twilight for a while until he returned to the stage to play some music with his band. Twilight seemed to enjoy spending time with him as well.
Eventually, the moment of truth was here. Principal Celestia walked up to the stage and the music was toned down. The students all stop dancing for a minute and focused their eyes on her for what she was about to say.
“First off, I wanna say how wonderful everything looks tonight. You all did a magnificent job pulling things together after the unfortunate events of earlier,” she said, clearly thankful as well that the dance could be held tonight. “And now, without further ado, I'd like to announce the winner of this year's Fall Formal crown,”
Now the moment was here. Vice-Principal Luna brought a box to the stage and opened it. Inside of it was Twilight's crown and there were only mere moments left until either Twilight or sunset Shimmer were elected to become Princess of the Fall Formal Dance. “The Princess of this year's Fall Formal is...” Principal Celestia said before she paused, obviously building up some tension.
The group was very nervous and waited patiently for the name. Star Twinkle was far in the back of the gym but could everything very clearly. He also had Twilight in clear sight and saw how she was nervous as well.
Principal Celestia finally stopped with the pause and revealed the name of the Princess of the Fall Formal. “Twilight Sparkle!
The gym was filled cheers of joy, laughter, and excitement. It was obviously the result everyone expected and in the end, wanted.
Twilight walked up to the stage and finally received her crown after Principal Celestia congratulated her. Principal Celestia placed the crown on Twilight's head, finally returning it to her. The goal was reached and all that was left to do now was to return to Equestria. Star Twinkle smiled at the sight of seeing the crown back on Twilight's head but his attention then was drawn a little to the other corner of the gym. There was someone he definitely didn't want to see right now. Radiant Blast.
With a serious and determined expression on his face, he sneaked up on Spike, who was hiding in a corner of the gym since animals were not allowed to join the dance. Only moments later, Radiant Blast had him in his grip. “Help!” Spike then shouted, causing Twilight to notice how her dog was kidnapped by Radiant Blast and how Star Twinkle was already after him.
In an attempt to get Spike back, Star Twinkle charged right at Radiant Blast. But Radiant Blast only returned a serious expression and began running away. He ran outside of the gym and through the hallways of the school. Star Twinkle was right behind him and he noticed how Twilight and the girls were following him as well.
The chase eventually led the group back outside. In front of the portal to be specific. There, Sunset Shimmer was already waiting for them. “That's close enough!” Sunset Shimmer warned, causing the group to stop with a sledgehammer in her hand.
Spike screamed for help but with Radiant Blast having him in his grip, the group had no choice but to do whatever Sunset Shimmer wanted.
“Don't hurt him!” Twilight said towards Sunset Shimmer.
“Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. I'm not a monster, Twilight,” Sunset Shimmer replied. Surprisingly, she did give Radiant Blast a signal to release Spike and let him return to Twilight and the others.
This only raised the question of why she would go to the trouble to even get Spike if she was about to release him again. But soon it was obvious what she was about to do. “You don't belong here. Give me the crown or else...” she said threatening before she swung the sledgehammer in front of the portal that would get Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike back to Equestria.
A choice had to be made at this moment. Either Twilight would give Sunset Shimmer her crown and would be able to return home. Or she would keep it and she, Star Twinkle and Spike would be trapped here forever...
There was no telling what would happen next. Sunset Shimmer was about to destroy the mirror that would lead back to Equestria. The only way to prevent this was to give her Twilight's crown. But if she got her hands on it, then Equestria would be in danger as well, if what Radiant Blast said before was true. Sunset Shimmer would use the crown to control the students and attack Equestria, and with one of the Elements of Harmony in her possession, no one would be able to stop her. Needless to say, the decision was not easy and Twilight struggled what to do next. Star Twinkle was not sure what he would do himself so he just waited patiently for Twilight's answer. So did the others and Radiant Blast who stood next to Sunset Shimmer.
“Tick-tock, Twilight. We haven't got all night. The portal will be closing on its own in less than an hour. So, what's your answer?” Sunset Shimmer said, still swinging her sledgehammer around, threatening to destroy it.
Twilight still hesitated. Sunset Shimmer's words didn't really help much.
“Just give her the crown,” Radiant Blast then joined in, slowly losing his patience.
Star Twinkle noticed that Radiant Blast did act a little more serious recently which was surprising since, in the last conversation they had, he said he didn't like Sunset Shimmer's actions.
“Don't you see what you guys are about to do?” Star Twinkle then said, watching Sunset Shimmer holding her hammer, still determined to crush the mirror in front of everybody. “Didn't you want to take over Equestria? How are you gonna do that if you destroy the portal?” Star Twinkle said quickly seeing through Sunset Shimmer's possible bluff.
This caused Sunset Shimmer to look over to Radiant Blast. “How does he know about my plan?” She then asked towards Radiant Blast who could only turn his head away ashamed. But she then focused back on Star Twinkle and the others. “Doesn't matter. This isn't about me. It's about you returning home! So you better make a decision!”
There was less than one hour left until the portal closed. Time was running short either way. The decision was up to Twilight. And Star Twinkle had an idea what she was about to do next. He looked over at her and she looked back with an expression that practically said: “It has to be done”. She knew that Star Twinkle won't like what she was about to do but he also realized that something far greater was at stake then him, Twilight and Spike not being able to return home. With that in mind, Star Twinkle nodded and smiled, ready to accept Twilight's decision.
Twilight then looked over to Sunset Shimmer with a serious expression on her face and gave her a straight answer. “No,”
“What!?” Sunset Shimmer replied in shock, not believing what Twilight just said. “Equestria! Your friends! Lost to you forever! Don't you see what I'm about to do to the portal?!”
“Yes, but I've also seen what you've been able to do here without magic. Equestria will find a way to survive without my Element of Harmony. This place might not, if I allow it to fall into your hands. So go ahead. Destroy the portal. You are not getting this crown!” Twilight replied determined as she grabbed her crown on her head and taking back those words.
Sunset Shimmer didn't like this answer. She was furious to be precise. Radiant Blast noticed that and couldn't help but stand next to her helplessly as she glared at Twilight. At the same time, Radiant Blast looked over to Star Twinkle who was giving him a worried but also serious expression. It was like as if he wanted to tell him something. Radiant Blast remembered the conversation that they had before. He knew that Sunset Shimmer's actions sometimes went too far but was it worth never going back to Equestria? Was that going too far? Those questions circled around his head, realizing that Sunset Shimmer would soon prevent Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike to ever go back to Equestria. They would never see their friends ever again. The moment he imagined himself in this situation, only made him sad.
One moment later, he saw how Sunset Shimmer was raising her sledgehammer, ready to smash the mirror because of the choice that Twilight made. Seeing that only left him in shock. “Fine! Have it your way then!” She said before she raised the sledgehammer above her head in order to swing it right at the mirror.
The group widened their eyes in shock and gasped loudly, mainly everyone except Star Twinkle and Twilight who were now fully prepared for the consequences. Star Twinkle, however, still couldn't look and closed his eyes and just waited for the sound of shattering glass that soon could be heard.
But to his surprise, there was no sound. It was silent, except for one more gasp that came from the girls behind him. Wondering what that was about, he opened his eyes again and saw something that he didn't expect.
Radiant Blast was stopping Sunset Shimmer from destroying the mirror by grabbing the sledgehammer as she was about to swing it. Needless to say, Sunset Shimmer was shocked to see this. “What are you doing Radiant!?” She asked, obviously confused by her friend's action.
At first, Radiant Blast hesitated to answer, especially after seeing Sunset Shimmer's betrayed expression but he couldn't just stand there and watch how things were going out of control like this. “This is going too far, don't you think?” Radiant Blast said in a heavily nervous tone in his voice.
“What do you mean!?” Sunset Shimmer asked confused. “On whose side are you on? I thought we are friends!”
“We are!” Radiant Blast desperately assured. “I just think that destroying the portal and not letting them go home is going too far,” he explained.
Sunset Shimmer widened her eyes in confusion but then quickly looked over to Twilight and the others. Her eyes narrowed and she quickly became angry. Radiant Blast was never questioning Sunset Shimmer's actions before, except once Twilight and her friends showed up. She quickly put one and one together clenched her teeth giving an angry look towards Twilight. “It was you!” She then said angrily as she pointed towards Twilight. “First you take away my title as a princess, then you steal the crown that was supposed to belong to me, and now you make Radiant go up against me!?”
Twilight, of course, didn't know what to say to that. Sunset Shimmer was obviously looking for someone to blame and Twilight was the best candidate for that.
“No! It's not like that, Sunset!” Radiant Blast said, trying to calm Sunset Shimmer down, however, she didn't listen and walked up to Twilight, dropping her hammer in the process.
Star Twinkle tried to calm Sunset Shimmer down as well. “Yes! Listen to Radiant Blast! He-” he tried to say but Sunset Shimmer was almost blinded by anger and continued to walk up to the group.
“Once I have this crown, everything will be how it is supposed to be!” She exclaimed as she charged right towards Twilight, jumping at her and throwing her on the ground and letting the crown fall to the ground. Sunset Shimmer tried to reach it but luckily, Spike grabbed in front of her. He tried to run inside of the school but he couldn't reach the door handle and was stuck in the corner once Sunset Shimmer stood right behind him, ready to grab the crown.
Rainbow Dash was offering some help and Spike threw the crown right at her, out of Sunset Shimmer's reach. Once, Rainbow Dash realized that Sunset Shimmer came closer to her, she threw the crown away again and towards Fluttershy who clumsily managed to catch the crown but once she noticed how Sunset Shimmer ran angrily towards her, she was paralyzed by fear and didn't know what to do. This caused Applejack to take action. She pulled out a rope and snatched Fluttershy towards her. Unfortunately, Fluttershy dropped the crown and Sunset Shimmer caught it. But before she could place it on her head, Pinkie Pie appeared behind her and threw the crown to the girls who began to throw it at each other once Sunset Shimmer got close enough.
When the crown ended up in Twilight's hands, she threw it away behind her. Unfortunately, the one who caught it after that was Radiant Blast. Radiant Blast looked at the crown for a moment and didn't know what to do with it. Needless to say, Sunset Shimmer was happy to see him in possession of the crown. “Good job, Radiant. Now give it to me,” she said relieved walking up slowly to her friend.
“No!” Star Twinkle then interrupted, causing Sunset Shimmer to get angry once more. “Think about what you are about to do next! What the right thing is!”
“I knew what the right thing to do is...” Radiant Blast said with a serious tone in his voice. He then threw the crown to Sunset Shimmer who happily caught it.
Sunset Shimmer had an evil grin on her face as she looked at the crown. “At last! More power than I could ever imagine!” She then said before she placed the crown on her head, ready to use its power.
However, once the crown was on her head, some kind of dark magic began to surround her, causing her to react in shock. The group had a similar reaction to that after a pillar of magic began to surround Sunset Shimmer that slowly began to transform her.
Once the pillar vanished Sunset Shimmer revealed herself flying in the air. Her body transformed into that of some kind of a demon. Her skin color turned red and her eyes were black combined with her usual opal colored eye color. Her hair remained the same as well but it was shorter and stood up. Her ears, who became pointier, the tail that grew out of her and the big wings on her back gave her that more demon look. Her clothes were slightly changed as well, her skirt matched her hair color and her top was black, she also still wore her black boots.
Sunset Shimmer inspected her body and seemed to be happy about this change. It most likely was because of the strength that she could feel at this very moment. Radiant Blast didn't expect this to happen and he also didn't seem to be happy about it. Still, he didn't look like as if he regretted it, much to Star Twinkle's surprise.
His attention was then brought back to Sunset Shimmer who finally spoke up again. “I did it! I gained the ultimate power to rule not only over this but also Equestria!” She said happily before she broke out in laughter. She then looked towards Radiant Blast with a smile on her face. “Radiant! Come! Have a taste of this power as well!” She then said before she focused some magic in her hands.
Star Twinkle tried to warn Radiant Blast to not let himself be consumed by this magic as well but Radiant Blast stood there and let Sunset Shimmer transform him too. There was a frown on Radiant Blast's face once he was engulfed with magic while he looked over to Star Twinkle in an almost apologizing expression.
Soon, Radiant Blast also turned into some kind of demon creature similar to Sunset Shimmer. His skin color turned to a bright red color, his eyes turned black, his ears became pointy and he also grew wings on his back. His blue jacket turned black and his lower body turned red like his skin as well as if his trouser had merged with it.
Once, Radiant Blast's transformation ended, he stood in front of everyone motionless and with a frown on his face before he used his wings to lift himself up in the air next to Sunset Shimmer. It was now time to set her plan in motion. Sunset Shimmer turned towards the school where some students tried to escape but then went inside once they noticed, how Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast looked over at them.
“I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should have been mine all along,” Sunset Shimmer said as she growled at the students angrily. However, she calmed herself down immediately once she realized that she was no in control of the situation. “But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now, and you will be loyal... to me!”
Sunset Shimmer used her magic to destroy the school entrance and flew right into the building. The next step was exactly what Star Twinkle expected. She mind controlled the students with her magic so that she can use them to attack Equestria. Every student walked mindlessly outside of the building, like a herd of zombies. With these many people against Star Twinkle and the others, there was no way that they could go up against the students. There were way too many.
Still, Twilight didn't lose her confidence to go up against Sunset Shimmer. “We have to stop her!” She exclaimed towards her friends while also focusing on Sunset Shimmer.
This was of course, not unnoticed by her. “Stop me? Oh, please! What exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!” She said amused.
The sad thing was, that it was true. There were Sunset Shimmer, Radiant Blast and a dozen of students in front of seven, plus one dog. But The rest of Twilight's friends didn't think so and still supported her. Rainbow Dash stepped up and let Sunset Shimmer know that they won't give up. ”She has us!”
Not only was Sunset Shimmer not impressed at all but she also intended change that determination. She remembered the way how Radiant Blast was disagreeing with her before and that made her angry again. But instead of showing it, she smiled again once she came up with something to lower Twilight's determination. “Let's see how you react if I'll take someone away from you as well,”
Sunset Shimmer used her magic to levitate Star Twinkle away from the ground and getting him a few feet closer to her. There was nothing that Twilight or her friends could do at this moment because of the lack of magic. Star Twinkle struggled but he couldn't get free at all. Radiant Blast wasn't looking like as if he wanted to stop Sunset Shimmer this time, judging from the constant frown that he had on his face.
“Don't hurt him!” Twilight exclaimed worriedly.
“Oh, I won't,” Sunset Shimmer returned amused. “I will just make sure to do the same that you did with me and Radiant. I will make sure that you know how it feels having a close friend betray you by turning one of your friends against you,”
Sunset Shimmer used her magic to surround Star Twinkle in some kind of mist. She was most likely planning to turn him into a brainless zombie like the other students and wanted him to go up against Twilight and her friends.
The more magic Star Twinkle surrounded, the more he struggled. But it was no use. He couldn't get free. His friends also could only watch until Sunset Shimmer was finished. Eventually, Star Twinkle's ran out of energy to struggle anymore and closed his eyes. The magic that surrounded him felt weird. It didn't even hurt. In fact, it felt strange and familiar. Like a while back. As soon as Star Twinkle realized what it was he opened his eyes immediately. He let out a short scream and the magic around him vanished, setting him free from Sunset Shimmer but also letting him fall down to the ground much to his demise. But instead of falling, he was slowly descending to the ground.
He had wings. Two wings were on his back. He was able to grow two wings on his back just like in Equestria. Once he came in contact with Sunset Shimmer's magic, he somehow was able to use it to transform. He was surprised in this very moment. So was Twilight and her friends, not to mention Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast who had no idea what was going on at all. This confusion was perfect to take advantage of.
Compared to feet and two legs, wings were actually something that he was used to, making it easy to fly right at Sunset Shimmer. “Maybe if I remove the crown, then she turns back to normal?” He thought as he charged right at her. Luckily, Sunset Shimmer was too much in a shock to even realize what was happening right now and couldn't react in time.
Star Twinkle was dangerously close to Sunset Shimmer but just as he reached out his hand to grab the crown, Radiant Blast interfered and grabbed his arm, overpowering Star Twinkle and preventing him to get any closer. “You won't harm Sunset,” Radiant Blast said threatening as he focused his eyes right on Star Twinkle.
Realizing that Star Twinkle was probably the only one who could be a threat for Sunset Shimmer, Radiant Blast pulled Star Twinkle away from her. He wanted to take care of him before things could get out of hand. He made sure to take Star Twinkle as far as way as possible from Sunset Shimmer so that she could take care of Twilight and the others.
“At first, I thought that you finally made the right choice. But then you crawled right back at her site!” Star Twinkle said as he kept flapping his wings flying on the same height as Radiant Blast.
“I'm doing the right thing!” Radiant Blast replied angrily. “I disappointed Sunset. I let her down. But I intend to not repeat that!”
“You are trying to put Equestria in danger!” Star Twinkle replied in the same angry manner than Radiant Blast.
“I'll do anything for a friend!” Radiant exclaimed. “You should do the same!” He then added.
Star Twinkle was not sure what he was getting at but he soon looked over to Twilight and the others and realized that Sunset Shimmer was still a danger to the others. Just now, he realized that Sunset Shimmer was attacking his friends. Star Twinkle was so occupied with Radiant Blast that he didn't even notice that the very friends that he cared so much about were in danger.
Sunset Shimmer shot a magic blast right at Twilight. Seeing this, instantly made Star Twinkle rush to her side but unfortunately, he was too late. Her friends managed to cover her before she got hit but Star Twinkle was not sure if they were okay at this moment. After the beam of magic connected, Sunset Shimmer began to laugh maniacally at her victory but she stopped once she noticed Twilight and the others surrounded by a light purple light. It was magic.
Twilight seemed confused about what happened at this moment but eventually, she figured it out and shared it with Sunset Shimmer. “The magic contained in my Element was able to unite with those that helped create it!” She explained.
Shortly after, the group began to transform. The girls all had pony ears growing on their heads and Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy began to grow wings on their backs. Their hair also grew a little longer, making it almost look like as if they had tails. Magic was covering the girls and Twilight was no longer afraid or nervous but rather confident to defeat Sunset Shimmer now. “Together with a crown, they create a power beyond anything you could imagine, but it is a power you don't have the ability to control! The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship!”
Seconds later, a rainbow formed around the girls. The rainbow began to shot up into the air and flew down right at Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer stood no chance and was helplessly surrounded by the rainbow while screaming in fear. “No! What is happening?!” She said as she was slowly covered in the rainbow before it completely surrounded her.
“Sunset!” Radiant Blast screamed out as he saw Sunset Shimmer being attacked. He wanted to help but the shock left him paralyzed and helpless.
Soon, the light from the rainbow traveled to the other students and helped them to turn back to normal. Once that all was over, the girls laid on the ground exhausted and slowly began to stand up again. Sunset Shimmer was left in a crater that was created from the previous attack. Twilight got up again and walked up to Sunset Shimmer. “You will never rule in Equestria. Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart,” she said, as if she was scolding her for what she has done.
“She will rule over Equestria!” Radiant Blast exclaimed angrily towards Twilight, causing her to turn around to see what became of him. To her shocking surprise, Radiant Blast did not turn back to normal and was still in his demon-like form. Not only that but Star Twinkle laid on the ground right in front of him, seemingly hurt. “Stand away from her!” He advised as he focused some magic into his hand threatening to hurt Star Twinkle if Twilight would do something rash.
It was at this moment, when Sunset Shimmer got up again. She looked over to Radiant Blast and instead of having a happy smile on her face, like someone would expect from her by now. She looked over at him in worry, seeing him in this monstrous state, intending to do evil.
Twilight, of course, wanted to help but the closer she would get, the more in danger Star Twinkle would be. “Don't hurt him!” She said as she reached out her hand in concern.
“I won't if you let Sunset win! If it means to hurt your friends to get to that, then I will do that!” Radiant Blast explained further before he focused more magic in his hand, ready to fire at Star Twinkle any time who was not aware of any of that due to being half unconscious.
Sunset Shimmer was watching all this. She remembered the cheerful and easygoing Radiant Blast but right now, she only saw a monster. A monster that she created. Her lips began to tremble at the sight of that.
“Sunset worked so hard to get to this point...and she was so close to archive her goals. But then all of you came along and ruined everything!” Radiant Blast explained further, his magic getting even stronger in his hand. He was slowly consumed by anger and couldn't even control his next actions, causing him to snap. “No, I will take something away from you to show you how that feels!” He then exclaimed angrily before he pointed his hand to Star Twinkle on the ground, ready to fire at him.
“No!” A female voice then shouted, which Radiant Blast couldn't even identify due to his anger at the very moment. He figured that it was Twilight who was worried about Star Twinkle but that soon proved to be wrong. He felt someone on his back. Someone was hugging him from behind tightly. Once he turned his head around, he saw Sunset Shimmer who was crying as she hugged her friend. “Stop...Radiant...please stop...” she said quietly in an ashamed tone in her voice.
It didn't take long for Radiant Blast to feel bad now. He wondered if he was the reason why she cried right now. His eyes began to tear up seeing Sunset Shimmer like that and he turned his head around again. A bright light emerged from him. The light soon removed the demonic appearance from him and turned him back to normal. “Sorry...” he then said quietly, causing Sunset Shimmer to finally release him. He turned around to face Sunset Shimmer and smiled the way how she always remembered him.
However, their “reunion” was interrupted by Twilight and the others who walked up to the two. This caused Radiant Blast to place himself right between them and Sunset Shimmer so that he could protect her. But of course, neither Twilight or her friends were out for more fighting.
“You two...The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere. It's not too late for you to seek it out, instead of trying to control or driving everybody apart,” Twilight advised in a warm voice, trying to come up to the two.
Sunset Shimmer was not sure if that was possible in her case. “But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship,” she said frustrated.
“Do you?” Star Twinkle then spoke up before he got up to his feet again while looking at Radiant Blast. “I think you do,” he added with a smile.
“And if you have any more questions, then I bet they can teach you as well,” Twilight said, hinting at her friends who stood right behind her.
Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast looked at each other after realizing that it was not just the two now. Sunset Shimmer was not wrong. Until now, she didn't seem to care much about friendship. That somehow caused her to not notice how Radiant Blast was always at her side. It was just now that she realized that.
Spike eventually, decided to lighten up the mood a little. “Those are my girls! Woo-hoo!” He then cheerfully said.
This worlds version of Steel Hammer then showed up, happy about how everything went out well. “Well, looks like there will be some repairs around the school because of this mess but hopefully...wait! Did that dog just talk!?” He asked in surprise after just now realizing that.
Spike was questioning how that was the thing that confused at this moment.
Soon, Principal Celestia walked up to Twilight to finally return her crown. “I believe this belongs to you,” she said before she presented the crown to Twilight, causing her to kneel down. “A true princess in any world leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her. We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight,”
Twilight opened her eyes and looked over at her friends. She knew what Principal Celestia was getting at and fully understood it already. “I do,” she still said in gratitude.
The students began to cheer. The fight was over and Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast were dealt with. There was nothing to worry about. Except for maybe the time that was left in this world. Though it was short, there was still some time left to enjoy the party for a while. The group went back to the school and enjoyed every minute of the dance. In Star Twinkle's case this, of course, meant to stand in the corner somewhere, patiently waiting for the party to be over.
“Hey,” a voice then said, causing him to turn around. It was Radiant Blast who was accompanied by Sunset Shimmer. Both of them looked really embarrassed to even show themselves at the party but judging from how Radiant Blast came up to Star Twinkle, they wanted to speak with him about something important. Radiant Blast at first struggled a little to get his words out but eventually, said what he wanted to say. “I...we...just wanted to say sorry. For everything,” he said while he rubbed his head while Sunset Shimmer nodded along to that.
Star Twinkle could tell that Radiant Blast was sincere about his apology and accepted. “Don't worry about it,” he replied happily.
Sunset Shimmer eventually spoke up as well, feeling mainly responsible for everything that happened so far. “I hope it's not too late to make for everything I've done...” she said ashamed.
Sunset Shimmer couldn't even bring herself to look at Star Twinkle while saying that. It was pretty obvious that she was taking all those things to heart and that she was sorry. Star Twinkle was not sure what exactly was causing her to do all those things but he also didn't care too much about that since she was regretting it by now. He truly believed that she wanted to change. He already met some ponies in Equestria who tried to change as well and could tell that she was not lying.
“I don't think it is too late for that as long as you mean it,” Star Twinkle replied, clearly speaking from experience.
The two left after receiving those words. They felt still a little ashamed to talk to Star Twinkle about that which again brought out the question why they talked to him in the first place out of all people. But before he could even get to that question in his mind, another person walked up to him. This time it was Twilight.
“Enjoying the party, Star Twinkle?” She asked with a smile on her face.
“Can't you see?” Star Twinkle jokingly replied. He clearly referred to him just standing somewhere in the corner.
“I know, I know...too crowded, right?” Twilight asked as she began walking next to Star Twinkle. “How about a dance to distract you?” Twilight offered.
This question caught Star Twinkle a little off guard. He needed to come up with an excuse. “I'm not really a good dancer...especially with those legs...” Star Twinkle replied a little embarrassed.
“I'm sure there are worse dancers out there,” Twilight replied to which Star Twinkle could reply easily after seeing how Twilight was dancing. But Twilight really wanted Star Twinkle to go and dance with her and would not give up so easily. “So you want a princess to dance all on her own?” She teasingly said. But Star Twinkle easily saw through this.
“Didn't that one guy asked you to dance with you before?” Star Twinkle asked, referring to the guy who asked him before for an “allowance” to dance with Twilight.
“He did. But he is also playing in the band that plays the music for this dance. The others are all dancing with someone and you are the only one who is free so I thought...” the longer her words kept going, the more she got quieter and embarrassed to ask Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle noticed and tried to not make it any harder for Twilight and finally agreed and walked towards the middle of the room. “You better watch out for your feet...” he warned.
Twilight followed him happily and the two began dancing. As usual, Twilight's dance style was really weird. She was dancing on her hands and feet and randomly kicked around as if she was still a pony. Even if she wasn't in this form, it would still look really weird as a pony. But Star Twinkle didn't say anything to that and just went along, even imitating some of her dance moves. Though he was embarrassed a little, the fact that he was about to leave this world made it better. Even if someone would see him dance like that, he wouldn't have to worry about someone thinking that he was weird since he would see this someone for a while.
Time was running out for Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike. Only minutes were left until the portal would close and the three had to go through it soon. Of course, there was still enough time to say their goodbyes to the girls. Star Twinkle was sad but he tried to not to show too much of it, Twilight, however, had tears running down on her cheeks even before she said anything. “I know we've only been friends for a short time, but I'm gonna miss all of you so much,”
Star Twinkle didn't to ruin this moment but he had to remember Twilight about how time was getting short. “We better get going,” he said which caused Twilight to turn around and walk up to the mirror. She, Star Twinkle and Spike were ready to leave this world and return to Equestria.
They all looked at each other without saying anything for a moment and then stepped into the mirror. For some reason, the trip was not as weird like before when they left Equestria. They also didn't land on the other site with their faces on the ground which was already a good sign. Though, once they came out of the other site, they instantly walked on their hind legs. Walking on all four was certainly something they had to get used too again.
“Twilight! Star Twinkle! Spike” A bunch of female voices said once they arrived on the other site again.
It was only then, that they realized how everypony was greeting them already. They must have waited there for a while for Star Twinkle's and Twilight's return. The girls came rushing towards the two, some of them had tears in their eyes and some of them instantly noticing that Twilight's crown was back as well.
“I knew you could do it!” Pinkie Pie said as she hugged Star Twinkle and Twilight at the same time.
“Oh, we were so worried,” Applejack added, whipping some tears away from her eyes.
Princess Celestia was glad to see the two back as well but she also wanted to make sure about something else. “Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast, are they alright?” She asked curiously but yet worried.
“I think they gonna be fine. We left them in good hands,” Twilight replied happily.
However, the girls didn't quite understand what the last term meant and got confused. “What are hands?” Rainbow Dash asked confused.
It was obvious that there was a lot of explaining to do which Star Twinkle wasn't exactly looking forward to since he just wanted to go home but he figured that there was avoiding that for a while. He didn't saw his friends for three days now so he just accepted it.
When they left the mirror room, they were bombarded with questions of how it looked like on the other site or where they lived and what they did. Questions that were answered one by one. As Twilight was answering one question after another, she accidentally bumped into a member of the Royal Guard. It was a Pegasus stallion with an orange coat and blue eyes. He quickly helped Twilight up again and apologized “We've got to stop bumping into each other like this,”
“Yeah...he he,” Twilight replied a little embarrassed as she got up again. The Guard walked past the group and once he was out of sight, she asked Princess Cadance who it was.
“He's a new member of the castle guard. Flash Sentry, I think,” Princess Cadance replied. “Why? Do you know him?” She asked further.
“Not exactly. I think...” Twilight replied a little confused herself.
“Now that you mention it...” Star Twinkle joined in. “He does look kind of familiar,”
“I wonder why?” Twilight said with her eyes narrowed confused.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie spoke up raining down some words that left Star Twinkle, Twilight and Spike speechless. “Does he totally remind you of a guy you met in the other world who played guitar, was in a band, and helped prove you didn't destroy all the decorations for a big dance, so you could still run for princess of the big dance, and then asked you to dance at that dance?! Right?”
She pretty much summed up what happened on the other side. Without even being there...technically...
“How did you know that?” Star Twinkle and Twilight both said in unison, heavily confused.
“Just a hunch!” Pinkie Pie replied casually followed with a smile.
There was no way that anyone could explain this. But that doesn't matter. Star Twinkle could only look at each other confused, yet amused. “Well, and here I thought things in the other world were weird...” Star Twinkle said before he continued walking through the hallway of the Crystal Castle.
Whether it was weird in this or any other world, just now he was happy to be home with his friends. And that is certainly something to be happy about...
