Part 4: The Autistishank Redemption

>there's a soft hoof on your face, gently shaking your head
>there's a pair of deep purple eyes staring into your own
>the eyes are embedded in a light purple face
>there are words coming from the face
>"Anon? Anon? Are you waking up?"
"Uh, Twilight?"
>"Okay it looks like you didn't suffer any head trauma. I wasn't sure, because you look pretty beat up."
"Oh… no… I just… jumped out of a building… and then off of a cliff."
>everything is still pretty groggy
>no, wait, it's just you that's groggy
>you shake your head to clear it up
>"You what?"
"The guards. They were trying to get me."
>"Looks like they did."
"Yeah, but not before I waltzed right into the castle."
>time seems to be moving at its usual pace again
>"Why would you do something like that?"
"I was coming to rescue you."
>Twilight cocks her head
>"Why?"
"Applejack visited me the other day. She said that you deal with this sort of thing with friendship beams or something."
>"Oh, yeah, I guess I do, with the help of my friends."
>this whole conversation feels painfully awkward
>it's probably about time you addressed the elephant in the…
>you look around at your surroundings
>…dungeon cell
"I-I'm s-"
>"Anon, we need to-"
"Y-you go first."
>"About our last… altercation. Is that what you were going to say?"
"Yeah."
>"You're sorry?"
"Yeah."
>"Anon, don't be. I'm the one… I figured out later that Sombra threw hot water at your face, I was just…"
"N-no. No matter how you look at, I was wrong to-"
>a gag rings out from behind you
>"Ugh, can you both just be wrong and cut the mushy stuff?"
>there, in the cell directly across from yours, stands Spike, the baby dragon who snores like a freight train, standing with his stubby arms crossed over his puffed-out chest
"Oh, uh, Spike's here."
>"That's right. And for the record, it was me who stopped Sombra last time, not Twilight."
>"With. My. Help. Of course."
>Twilight's eye twitches
>"In any case, Anon, I'm sorry, and I forgive you."
"D-do people really just… forgive each other like that?"
>"Friends do. Especially friends who are slated for execution in the next week. We need to find a way to escape and stop Sombra right now."
"Oh, uh, well then, uh, m-me too then. What's your plan for getting out of here?"

"Well then what's your plan?"
>Twilight's ears flatten against her head
>"Well, strictly speaking, I don't have one. It's just difficult with what's going on right now."
"Oh, I meant to ask you. What exactly is going on right now?"
>Twilight sighs
>"Sombra managed to infuse the entire Crystal Empire with dark magic. In so doing, he's reversed the magical polarity of all of Equestria, so that dark magic is stronger than light magic."
"Uh, which means?"
>"For the vast majority of ponies, it means no magic, no flight, no strength, and no special talent. For a master of the dark arts like Sombra, it means enhanced magic, strength, and special talent. The crystal ponies also get enhanced abilities, but their minds are corrupted and under Sombra's control. You probably noticed that in the guards who tried to capture you."
>Spike pipes up
>"And no fire for dragons."
"Those were crystal ponies? They weren't very crystally."
>"They wouldn't be, under the influence of all this dark magic, but their bodies still have the magical properties of crystal."
"Magical properties?"
>"Crystal is highly absorbent to magic, and once it's got a magical charge it produces and radiates whatever magic is inside of it. That's how this whole problem works."
"Why the hell were you keeping Sombra in a city of crystal then?"
>Twilight puts her hoof up and opens her mouth
>she puts her hoof back down and closes her mouth
>"That's a good question."
"Anyway, why don't you just put some good magic in a crystal and use that to make things normal or something?"
>"Have you been listening to me? I'd do something like that, but I can't do any magic right now. Watch."
>Twilight's horn glows purple, but nothing else happens
>"See? I can't even wiggle your shoelaces."
>hmmm…
"But you can make your horn glow."
>"What?"
>you reach over to the evil black wall and break off an intimidating yet impractical spike
>"How did you do that?"
"Well it wasn't on there very securely."
>"No, I mean, remember what I said? No strength."
"Well that all has something to do with magic, doesn't it?"
>"And there's… no…  magic where you're from!"
"Right."
>"Non-magical strength! Non-magical talents! Anon, do you realize what this means?"
"I've got a feeling."
>"Anon, right now, you might just be the strongest and most talented being in all of Equestria!"
>oh fuck, why
>considering that you're completely DYEL and totally useless, that's saying a fucking lot
>Spike speaks
>"You mean, except for Sombra and his army of darkness?"
>Twilight calms down a bit
>"Oh, that's true."
"Yeah, well, not for long."
>you touch the crystal to Twilight's horn
"Magic this thing up."
>Twilight's horn glows purple
>the purple coloring slowly creeps through the crystal, displacing the black
>it's working
>Twilight's horn stops glowing
>she bows her head and pants with fatigue
>"It's no good. My magic isn't strong enough to take root."
>well shit

>Twilight sighs and claws at the ground with her hoof
>"If my cutie mark was working I might have been able to pull this off."
>her cutie mark?
"Oh, you know, I meant to ask you once, what does your cutie mark mean?"
>"It's magic, and it'd really give me the boost I need right about now."
"So your talent is magic, but you're the "princess of friendship?"
>"Well, friendship is magic, you know. It's a very powerful form of magic."
>Twilight sits down
>and then gets back up
>"Wait, that's it!"
"What's it?"
>Twilight lays her horn on the crystal in your hand and rests a hoof on your waist
>"Okay, Anon, be my friend!"
"What? Twilight, it's not that simple. I can't just 'be' your friend."
>"You're wrong, Anon. It is that simple. Friendship is a choice. It's a decision. It's a realization!"
"What?"
"You just have to believe. You… you have to care!"
"What? Twilight, stop."
>"Didn't I ever tell you how I met my friends?"
"No."
>Twilight groans
>"Remind me to do that sometime. The important part is, when it mattered most, I just… decided to–to-to-to let them in-in-into my heart, to realize and-and accept them as my friends, then…"
>she's getting really worked up about this
"Then what?"
>"Then our magic came to light, and we saved Equestria from eternal darkness,"
>you don't completely understand what she's on about
>but since she's getting so excited over it
>and since it might just get you out of here
>you're willing to give it a try
"Okay, Twilight, you are my friend. Twilight Sparkle is my friend."
>nothing happens
>"Ugh, Anon, you don't believe a word you're saying! You're too afraid! You're not letting me in! Anon, you have to-"
>Twilight rears up on her hindlegs, wraps her forelegs around your midsection, and lays her head against your chest
>"-relax…"
>for a moment you do the exact opposite of what she says, tensing up to the point of spasm
>but your hands find their way to the back of her neck
>and you breathe out
>you're vaguely conscious of the fact that Spike is making a gagging sound
>but mostly, you're conscious of the warm body pressed tightly against your own
>and finally, you're conscious of a brilliant light
>Twilight's horn is glowing with all the colors of the rainbow
>she lets go, gets back on all fours, and smiles up at you
>"People like you were  - and like I was, a long time ago - tend to over-complicate the concept of true friendship. That, right there, is all there is to it."
>her words coax you out of a trance-like state
"I feel like you cheated a little."
>Twilight laughs, and lays her horn on the crystal shard again
>in seconds, a swirling, shifting rainbow of color displaces all the blackness away from the stone and fuses into a brilliant white.
>that's it