The Story (no way never could've imagined)
It was a fairly average day in Ponyville: sounds of laughter filling the air, the city of Canterlot glowing in the darkness, a large, red centaur sucking out the magic of all living creatures.
So, okay, maybe it was a little more hectic than normal, but for Alex, it was just another Saturday. Every single time, the ponies do something which riles up the whole town and suddenly everyone's panicking over nothing. Really, it's amazing how long they've lasted as a species. Perhaps that was thanks to the Princesses; though, seeing as one of them is an instigator of most of these "episodes", maybe not.
Regardless, Alex shut his doors, locked all of the locks on said doors, closed the windows, boarded up all entrances, and began to wait for the only sane pony in the town, Pinkie Pie. Sure, she was a bit silly… and broke any and all laws of physics to the point where she actually sent them to a mental hospital, but she was sweet when she needed to be. Nonetheless, she always managed to get into his house no matter how much he locked it up, so instead of fighting it, he made a deal with the devil and had her inform her when the events were over. In fact, she should be here any moment now.
…Any second…
Suddenly, furious knocking could be heard on the other side.
“Alex… you… need to run!” Came the unnaturally scared voice of Pinkie on the other side of the door. Alex stood up and bolted to the door.
“Pinkie? What’s going on? If this is another attempt to get me to be friends with your friends, this isn’t funny!” Alex could feel the hardened glare through the door.
“No! Big bad meanie stealing magic…! I ran here to try to warn you before you locked up but…” He could hear her struggling to catch her breath. At this point, Alex was panicking slightly; Pinkie wasn’t one to lose her breath that easily, or, at all really. And her not just appearing in his house to warn him of this made him all the more worried, “…you just need to run! Unlock your back door… and just go!”
Before he could even take a step, he heard a loud laugh, the same one from earlier, and a loud explosion. “Oh no… he’s here, Alex! Run!” Her voice faded away as she was seemingly moved away from the door before the roof was violently ripped off to reveal the man-horse himself, Tirek.
“Hm? You’re not a pony. What exactly are you, I wonder? If you’re so-called 'friends' with that pink creature, I’m sure you’ll help with bargaining.” Before Alex could get a word off, he was being forcefully gripped in Tirek’s magic and carried over to where the others were being held, a small cage in a cave close to Ponyville. Looking around, he could see the fine town of Ponyville; in all honesty, he could have left long ago, but he grew attached to the small town despite the antics it gets up to. That and he figures that the bigger the city, the bigger the antics would happen.
Pinkie looked up to see Tirek return with Alex in his magic with a tear in her eye, “Alex…” He was roughly thrown into the cage, which, isn’t exactly the best for a human who doesn’t go outside all that much. Alex’s face slammed into the bottom of the cage, thankfully not breaking anything but his nose, but still causing him great amounts of pain.
“Gah! God… augh!” Alex moaned for a minute, trying to get his bearings; magic always made him feel disoriented, and being chucked into what felt like solid steel did not help matters in the slightest.
Pinkie walked up to him, “I’m… I’m sorry. If I’d been there sooner, you…” Alex held up a hand to her muzzle.
“No, no. You weren’t able to do your weird teleporting trick. That wasn’t your fault. I wouldn’t be surprised if your power was linked to your magic in some capacity.” Alex slowly stood up and examined the cage they were all in before noticing a certain figure among the ponies, "What... or, who is that?" The creature gave a small smile and wave before Applejack spoke up.
"That thing is Discord. He's the reason we're all in here instead of fighting out there." Applejack scowled at him before looking away quickly, "He was supposed to STOP Tirek. All he did was just joining him in his conquest for power." The aforementioned draconequus cringing at the way he was talked about.
Alex looked back and forth between the two of them, "And... he's in here with us because...?"
This time, it was Rainbow Dash who spoke up, "Tirek took his magic and tossed him in here with the rest of us. Serves him right for betraying us!"
Alex watched as Discord sulked and was just about to ask a few questions, but just when he opened his mouth, bubbles appeared around all of them and they flew up to see the devastation Tirek had on the environment. Mountains had holes in them, parts of Ponyville were on fire and… the Golden Oaks was completely destroyed. Nothing but ashes. Alex sighed as he saw Spike also float from a bubble near the library. He was safe. Spike’s the one that convinced Twilight not to disassemble him after all. Or, rather, he’s pretty sure that’s what he made her not do. Didn’t believe magic existed at first.
“…how about a trade, Princess Twilight?” Alex snapped out of his thoughts to see a purple alicorn facing off against the mountain sized beast. “Their release for all the alicorn magic in Equestria.” Was alicorn magic more powerful than regular magic? Alex pondered this for a moment; he was under the assumption that alicorn magic was just the combination of all three major tribes.
Applejack was first to speak up, but was instantly drowned out by the rest of the ponies protesting against Tirek’s proposal. Alex stayed quiet the whole time trying to figure out what the best choice here was when Tirek got impatient.
“Enough! I want an answer, and I want it now!”
Alex could see Twilight’s wings fold in on themselves, “I will give you my magic… in exchange for my friends.”
Tirek sneered, “As you wish.” The five ponies floated down to Twilight and their bubbles popped.
“All of my friends.”
Tirek’s eyes narrowed, “Even after the way he betrayed you, you still call him friend?”
Twilight did the same, “Release them!”
“If that is what you wish.” Discord floated down after them, leaving Alex still by Tirek.
"This isn't funny, Tirek." But all he did was smile.
"You asked for your friends, you got your friends. Don't think I haven't heard of your escapades with this fellow. Magic tells tales that mortals are reluctant to," Tirek let out a belly laugh, "In fact, why don't we ask the creature in question?" Alex was brought down in between Twilight and Tirek, "Now then, who would you rather be with? The soon-to-be king of all creatures? Or the lowly princess who will soon be robbed of her power?"
Alex looked between the two choices. On one hand, the only pony in Twilight's little circle that he actually enjoys being around is Pinkie Pie and he would rather her live than anything. On the same hand, but a different finger, the best way to keep her safe would likely be staying with Tirek, but what about him? Would he still be fine?
Tirek chuckled, “The fact he’s said nothing tells a depressing tale, don’t you think?” Twilight said nothing, “No retort? No angry comment about how I better let him go?”
Twilight kept her hardened face, but her ears fell slightly, “If he doesn’t want to come with us, he doesn’t have to.” The others gasped and looked at Twilight.
Pinkie walked up to her, “Twilight…”
Her voice began to crack, “I-it’s okay, girls. I’m fine.” Tirek began to draw on Twilight’s magic as he grew even further. Alex just watched this unfold as he was grabbed by a massive red hand.
“Now leave. You have nothing more that I want. I have some business to take care of." Alex was carried off, with their destination being Canterlot.
----------<--->----------
They were a few minutes off from Ponyville when Tirek stopped to examine the human. Alex squirmed in Tirek's grasp, which only served to make him squeeze harder.
"You have no magic, creature. What could they possibly want from you?" Tirek's didn't wait for an answer, "Perhaps you were an experiment gone wrong of some sort. Their magic did have a certain bitter taste towards you, so then why haven't they just imprisoned you yet?" Alex attempted to speak up, only to have his lungs crushed by the centaur's fist, "It's likely they knew I was coming after the missing pony reports came out and they attempted to create a weapon without magic so I couldn't take it." He gave off a low chuckle, "The fools. They forget just how strong I truly am."
Tirek threw Alex onto solid ground and stood above him, "Though, I do rather enjoy having assurance of my success. If you truly ARE a threat to me, I will personally see to it that you are destroyed." He raised a hoof over Alex and began to stomp
Alex attempted to escape, to no avail, "P-please... I-I just... someone save me..." He whispered the last part, almost like a prayer to a divine entity; and like a divine entity, a sphere of pure magic enveloped him at the last moment and completely blocked Tirek's assault.
Tirek seethed, "WHAT?! I thought you had no magic!"
Another, familiar voice cried out, "He doesn't, at least, not in the form that you know it!" The magic around Alex began to repair his body, enough to where he looked over and saw the winged unicorn with a white aura around her and white glowing eyes; Alex paled.
Twilight's stared directly at Tirek when she spoke, "I may have given you my Alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all!" The other five ponies circled around her as a rainbow shot up into the sky, causing Alex to gape and Tirek to attempt to punch the six ponies, but before he could, the rainbow hit him and he began to shrink, "No! No, no, NO! My powers!" Tirek screamed as he reverted back into a magicless form.
Twilight teleported Tirek into Canterlot’s royal dungeons and rushed over to Alex, “Are you okay? How bad does it hurt? How many hooves am I holding up?!”
Alex groaned and stood up, “I’m fine… thank you ma’am.”
“'Ma’am'?”
“Yes, ma’am, I would never disrespect the goddess of friendship.”