Twilight Sparkle sat amongst the group of zebra foals as they each came up to her and offered a hug or pat on the back. She wore her red cap again, hiding the sickly horn protruding from her forehead. She also wore a wide smile as she gladly accepted the offered comfort, as though her magic was the least on her mind. “I suppose you want to know how this all happened, right?”
Keeping her face expressionless, Trixie said, “She admits, the thought crossed Trixie’s mind.”
The children all giggled, causing Trixie to raise an eyebrow. “What’s with them? Did Trixie say something funny?”
Twilight smirked and gave the children a knowing look. “Kinda. They like the way you say your name all the time.”
Trixie’s eyes narrowed, watching the little foals continued snickering. Shaking her head, Trixie turned back to Twilight. “Brats. Whatever. You were saying about your horn?”
“Right, that,” Twilight said with a sigh. The zebras huddled around Twilight, forming a pile of warm, fuzzy bodies. “Well, when we all got knocked off the airship that day, I got separated from everypony.” She tightly closed her eyes and licked dry lips. “Even Spike.” Opening her eyes, she stared off into the distance. “I’ve been looking for him ever since. I thought he might be back at Neighshe so I headed towards there, but I never made it. On the way my horn started acting funny and my magic wouldn’t cooperate. It wasn’t until I got a look at myself in a stream that I saw what it looks like now.
“I didn’t know what to do. I was all alone and so scared. I thought I was going to die. That’s when Sunset Shimmer found me.”
Trixie glanced to the side where Sunset stood. The mare appeared to be trying to seem imposing and noble, but Trixie could spot the contours of her face softening as Twilight spoke.
“Do you want to take over, Sunset?” Twilight asked. “It’s your story, too.”
Sunset jerked as though stung and rapidly shook her head. “N-no, that’s alright. Please, go on.”
“Alright. Let’s see, what happened next? Oh, right, Sunset kinda stumbled upon me and we got to talking. It didn’t take long before I noticed her cutie mark and asked her what esper she bonded with.” Twilight paused, taking a breath. “She didn’t know. In fact, she doesn’t know how she got where she was or even who she was. It was like… looking at my reflection. She was where I had been, with no memory of anything. I think it might have been a slave crown, but we have no way to know for sure.
“We agreed to go with each other to help cure both of our conditions. We traveled around for a while and even found Stardust; he didn’t know anything about what happened to my horn, and none of the potions he had worked on it. That’s when he suggested we go see the zebras. They have a lot of knowledge about obscure illnesses.
“But… when we got here…” She trailed off, gazing over the room full of fillies and colts. They looked up at her with wide, shining eyes. Some whimpered and cuddled closer to Twilight. “All the adults had been turned to stone.” Falling silent, Twilight held the children close to her tighter.
When it became clear Twilight wouldn’t continue, Sunset spoke up. “Well, um, we thought it’d be best to stay and look after the kids.”
The room grew quiet again, the only sounds the scuffling of the zebras and the occasional sniffle. Trixie looked around, her expression unsure and hesitant. She sighed and said, “So what caused them to be turned to stone?”
“Who do you think?” Sunset spat.
“Figures. Do you know why?”
“We weren’t here to see it, but the kids tell us he just appeared out of nowhere, snapped his fingers, and all the adults changed to stone. He said something about not changing ponies into stone, but since zebras aren’t ponies—”
“He made an exception,” Trixie finished. She smiled and puffed out her chest. “But not to worry! With Trixie’s stupendous and awesome magic, she will cure the zebras of their curse!”
“Don’t you think we’ve tried?” Sunset said, turning to face Trixie. “What makes you think you can do it?”
“Do you have healing magic?”
“Well… no…”
“Then you haven’t tried everything. And, since Twilight’s healing magic is out, it falls to Trixie to make things right!” She whirled around, her cape billowing dramatically behind her, and headed for the door.
Before Trixie could reach for the handle, Sunset bared her way. “No! You can’t go out there!”
“Stand aside and watch a professional do her stuff!”
“I don’t care who you are!” Sunset lowered her head, her horn pointing directly at Trixie. “You aren’t getting past me.”
Trixie looked down her nose at Sunset, seemingly unperturbed by the pointy bit aimed at her. “Again with the bravado. Trixie hasn’t seen you do anything to earn it.”
“As if you’re one to talk!”
Smirking, Trixie flicked her hoof against Sunset’s nose, causing the other mare to sneeze. “I’ve earned it, a thousand times over, while you I can tell are as fresh as the cadets just before bootcamp. Trixie doubts you have what it takes to step on a flower.”
Sunset stomped the ground and snarled, “That’s it—”
“Please, stop!” A purple blur shot up between the two, pushing them away from each other. Twilight heaved from the sudden exertion, her face pleading. “Please, please, please, we can’t be fighting, please!” She turned to Sunset and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Sunset, thanks for being so concerned. Could you go over to the children for a minute?”
“But—”
“Please?”
Sunset looked past Twilight to stare hatefully at Trixie. A moment later, her gaze settled back to Twilight. “Fine.” She stomped past the two unicorns, keeping her eye on the foals the entire time.
Trixie watched her go with one raised eyebrow, then smirked at Twilight. “You have your own servant, I see. Way to step it up.”
“Trixie, now’s not the time,” Twilight said with an exasperated sigh. “But Sunset’s right, you can’t just go up there like this. There are more things than just monsters around here.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”
Everypony in the room cringed at the roar of a deep voice from somewhere above. The zebras cowered next to Sunset while Big Macintosh readied his drill. Twilight gasped and whirled away from the door and backed up, as though expecting the hounds of hell to burst through.
“Like that.”
Acting swiftly, Twilight rushed over to Flame Sabre hanging on the wall and gripped the pommel in her mouth. She made a face, as though tasting something disagreeable, and slipped it off its hooks. She headed back to the door, propped the sword against it, and turned back to the others. “Everypony, stay here. I think I can get him to go away like last time by talking to him. Don’t let him know you’re here.”
“Okay, hold up,” Trixie said, raising up a hoof. “What is going on? Who is this ‘he’?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time. Sunset can tell you. Don’t follow me, please?” With that, she picked up her sword, opened up the door, and headed through. The door closed seconds later and a click could be heard on the other side.
Trixie was left staring at the closed door. She blinked and growled, grasping the door handle with her magic. She gave a tug but the door wouldn’t budge. Huffing, Trixie withdrew Save the Queen and readied it for a swing.
“What are you doing?!” Sunset cried, once again rushing over to place herself in front of the door. “Didn’t you hear what she said? We have to stay here.”
“Trixie heard what she said and Trixie thinks she’s lost the last of her marbles. Stand aside before I move you myself!”
“No!” Lighting up her horn and spreading her stance, Sunset stared down the pony holding a sword.
“Oh, for the love of—”
“Sunset, we’re going up there.”
Sunset whipped her head towards the voice of Big Macintosh. The stallion walked up to her and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. She flinched at the touch but didn’t move from her spot in front of the door.
“Sunset, I know you respect Twilight 'n' all, but she’s always been a bit naive. Words aren’t gonna be enough, sometimes.”
“But, it worked last time…” Sunset said, though her tone didn’t match her statement.
Big Macintosh shrugged. “Sure, but I ain’t willing to take the same chance twice.” He gave a push, moving Sunset away from the door. Sunset didn’t offer any resistance.
“Oh, sure, when you say it, it makes sense, but when Trixie says it, she’s a looney.”
Big Macintosh gave a small smile. “It’s just the way you gotta say it, is all.” He lifted up his drill and gave it a whirl. “Ready to go?”
Trixie readied Save the Queen. “Always.”
.o.O.o.
Twilight Sparkle tossed Flame Sabre onto the ground and pushed the stump back over the hole. With the others sealed up and out of the way, Twilight picked her sword back up and ran towards the middle of the village. The zebra statues on the way silently watched her go. When she reached the village square, she thrust her sword point first into the dirt and yelled, “Tirek! I’m right here!”
She waited a few minutes, the only sounds the wind whistling through the houses. Then, the sounds of heavy hooves against the ground came towards her left. She twisted and took a deep breath as a creature with the black body of a horse and the red torso of a human stepped out from behind a home. He spotted Twilight, smiled, and casually walked up to her. Stopping only a few hooves away, her looked down at her, towering above her by two full grown ponies. “Twilight, how nice of you to come out and greet me.”
“Tirek, you need to leave,” Twilight said, trying and failing to stop the quavering of her voice. “There’s nothing for you here.”
The centaur sighed and ran a hand through the tuft of white hair on his head. “Must we go through this again? It doesn’t matter if your magic doesn’t work. I can still take it.”
“It won’t do you any good. Please, I beg you, leave me in peace.”
“Ah, but I’m not the same as I was last time.” Tirek spread his arms wide, as though offering Twilight a hug. “Don’t you see? I’m more powerful now. While you managed to drive me off before, that won’t work this time.”
Twilight inched closer to her sword. “Please… just go away.”
“And give up the most powerful magical pony for miles around?” Tirek swept his hand across the village and all the stone zebras contained within it. “Look at this, Twilight, and look well. I can fix this. I can destroy Discord and restore this place to what it once was. You will be heralded as a savior to the whole world. All I need is your magic.” He smiled, showing rows of large, white teeth. “It won’t even hurt.”
Swallowing, Twilight grabbed her sword by the mouth and held it up, pointing it at Tirek. “Ah shed no!”
Tirek sneered. He stood back and folded his muscled arms. “Very well. We’ll do this the hard way, then.” Lowering his arms, he stepped forward.
Twilight stepped back, keeping the space between them as large as possible. Tirek snorted and rushed forward, closing the distance in only a few strides. Gasping and nearly dropping her sword, Twilight latched down, closed her eyes, and swung it from side to side. Her third swing struck with a meaty thunk. Daring to see if she had feld her foe, Twilight opened her eyes.
Her sword had indeed impacted Tirek, specifically, the palm of his right hand. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to faze Tirek in the slightest. Giving a cruel smile, he closed his hand, entrapping the blade, tugged, and yanked it from Twilight’s grasp. Tirek flung the sword away where it landed somewhere with a thud. Wasting no time against his disarmed opponent, Tirek formed a fist with the same hand he used to throw away the sword and brought it down hard onto Twilight’s back.
Twilight didn’t even have time to scream as her stomach impacted the ground, knocking the air out of her. She tried sucking in oxygen, but her lungs wouldn’t obey her. She felt a sensation of being lifted and her vision was soon taken up by Tirek’s grinning face.
“Perhaps I misjudged your power if that’s all the resistance you can put up,” he said to her, his black horns glowing crimson as he held her up with his magic. “But beggars can’t be choosers, so I’ll take what I can get.” Tirek opened his mouth wide and breathed in deeply. Wisps of magical energy began to leak off of Twilight and down his throat.
“Put her down this instant!”
Tirek paused in the act of sucking in Twilight’s magic and turned to the new voice. A pair of unicorns and an earth pony charged at him, each brandishing a weapon. The yellow unicorn wielded Flame Sabre in her red magic aura. Chuckling, Tirek held Twilight out before him. “Twilight, you never told me you had friends. And I can sense magic from all three. Coming here will be worth the effort, after all.”
“Put her down, now!” Sunset demanded again. She held up Flame Sabre, the fire sword trembling slightly in her aura.
“As you wish,” Tirek said. He placed Twilight on the ground behind him. She collapsed on the dirt, her eyes vacant. “I’ll finish with her once I’ve taken care of you.” A fireball formed in the space between his horns, a beam of blazing heat shooting out towards the ponies.
He snickered when Trixie jumped in front of his attack, holding up her sword. His amusement died as the beam struck the sword and felt his magic being drawn in against his will. Cutting off his beam, Tirek reared back and regarded the newcomers with wariness. “What is this? Who are you?”
“Your doom,” Trixie answered. Her horn lit up and sent a pulsating purple ball towards him.
“Feh.” Tirek reached out to swat the incoming attack away. That didn’t happen, as the ball proceeded to bounce off his arm, impact his chest, and pass through him. A dozen smaller purple balls shot out of his back, scattering and dissolving in the air. Tirek let out a gasp of surprise, instinctively channeling his magic. His surprise grew as less magic than before welled within him. “What… what did you do to me…?”
Trixie smirked. “Like it? It’s something Trixie came up with all on her own. It depletes your magic reserves. Trixie calls it rasp.”
“Impossible! It’ll take days to regain that power again!” Roaring in fury, Tirek forgoed further magic and rushed the trio of ponies. Grabbing a large cooking cauldron that lay outside a zebra house, he ran towards them and threw it with all his might.
Big Macintosh acted this time. He held up some type of mechanical device with a nozzle, flicked a switch, and pointed the nozzle at the incoming pot. A loud whirring noise filled the area as air got sucked through the nozzle opening, forcing the pot to change course. The bottom of the cauldron impacted the nozzle, causing the stallion to stagger back, but the cauldron remained firmly attached. With another flick of a switch, the pressure in the nozzle reversed, shooting the cauldron back at Tirek like a cannonball.
Tirek didn’t bother avoiding the incoming projectile, simply forming a double fist and smacking the cauldron to the side. He now bore down on the ponies, reaching for the nearest one, Sunset.
The unicorn screeched and swung wildly with Flame Sabre. Much like Twilight before, Tirek caught the blade with his palm and pulled. The sword came free, rendering her weaponless, and Tirek opened his mouth to suck in her magic.
Sunset managed to react first, firing off a ball of flame right to his face.
Tirek chomped down on the fireball, swallowing it like it was hard candy. “Spicy, but I’ll manage.” His mouth opened again and began to pull in her magic.
“Fool!” Trixie stabbed up with her sword, intercepting Tirek’s suction. “Ignore Trixie and you will pay!”
Growling in frustration, Tirek turned to deal with the loudmouthed pony.
Only to receive a bright flash of light to the eyes.
Tirek roared and covered his eyes, but it was too late. He blindly flailed about, uncaring what he hit or what he trampled over. He felt a biting cold strike his back, followed by an impact from a kick. Sensing more incoming attacks, Tirek made a decision.
“You haven’t seen the last of me!” With that, he broke off from the ponies and ran. His vision only partially restored, he ran through obstacles rather than around them, collapsing buildings and knocking over statues alike. Within moments, he reached the outskirts of the village and out into the wilderness.
.o.O.o.
“He’s getting away!” Trixie said, sheathing her sword and reading to give chase. Next to her, Big Macintosh put away his flash to do the same.
Sunset blocked their path. “Forget about him! We need to check on Twilight.” Without waiting for acknowledgement, Sunset turned and rushed to Twilight’s fallen body. A quick inspection found a fist sized bruise forming on her back, but she was breathing. “Quick, let’s get her back to the hideout.”
Minutes later, after some careful application of telekinesis, Twilight lay in a bed surrounded by concerned zebra colts and fillies. Trixie cast a healing spell while Big Macintosh fed her a tincture. The combined actions were enough for Twilight to weakly open her eyes.
Sunset was at her side in an instant. “Oh thank goodness, you’re okay.”
“What happened?” Twilight slurred.
“Don’t worry, Tirek is gone. We managed to drive him away.”
“Oh.” Twilight shifted in her bed, wincing as the pains from the battle began to make themselves known. “Good.” Her gaze swiveled over to Trixie, giving the unicorn a sad smile. “Doesn’t look like I’m in any shape to go with you.”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “While I thought your excuse before was lame, Trixie admits that it would be best for you to stay here and get healed up.
“Though she has to ask. What happened out there?”
Twilight looked away and squirmed. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think when the magic was released a year ago, it also released a couple of things that had been sealed up. My guess is that Tirek was one of them. He can steal others' magic and grow stronger. He says he’ll use the power to stop Discord, but I can tell he means to do more than that. He’d be even worse than Discord if he gets his way.”
“Wonderful,” Trixie said, letting out a huff. “So it’s not just Discord that has to be dealt with, but potentially a bunch of magically powered creatures that also want to rule the world.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. Sorry.”
Sunset cleared her throat, her expression grim after the mention of Discord. “Okay, let’s not bring him up again and let Twilight get her rest. As for you,” Sunset pointed a hoof at Trixie, “since it’s obvious Twilight isn’t going to come with you, I think it would be best to leave now before something else happens.”
Narrowing her eyes, Trixie said, “Are you suggesting that that beast came here because of me?”
“No. I’m suggesting that you’re a menace and—”
“Sunset.”
Sunset bit her tongue and turned to Twilight. “W-what?”
Even bed ridden, Twilight could still give a disappointed look. “Stop antagonizing Trixie. I might not be alive today if it weren’t for her. Apologize, now.”
“To her?! But—”
“Sunset.”
Head bowed, Sunset faced Trixie, her mouth twisted as though she had bit into something bitter. “Sorry.”
A round of giggles passed through the zebras as they watched the antics of the older ponies.
Trixie rolled her eyes and headed for the door. “Whatever. This whole trip has given Trixie a headache. Big Mac, we’re heading towards Nikhay.” Big Macintosh nodded and began collecting his stuff.
“Good luck, Trixie,” Twilight called out.
Trixie glanced back, smirked, and stepped out to the stairs beyond.
It was as she was climbing out of the secret hole that Trixie encountered a whole flock of chocobos milling about the village. She stared, frozen in place as one of the chocobos separated from the group and came up to her. Trixie looked up and frowned.
“Oh, it’s you.” “Oh, it’s you.”
Stardust and Trixie blinked at the synchronization.
Stardust recovered first. “So, we meet again, I guess.”
“Yes, joyous day and all that.” Trixie looked around at the other chocobos. “Trixie takes it you found your clan?”
Perking up, Stardust gave a sharp nod. “Yeah, some of them. Though all chocobos now are kinda all one group. Kinda hard to form a clan when only one or two members have been found.” His tone dropped as he said, “Still no sign of Moonlight, though.”
A moment later, Big Macintosh climbed out of the hole and spotted Stardust. “Why, hello there. Was hopin’ we’d run across ya on our way.”
Stardust waved a wing. “Hey, Big Mac. How’s Twilight?”
Big Macintosh frowned and shook his head. “Not so good. Tirek came back and he did a number on her.”
“Does she need healing?” Stardust blurt out, placing his pack down to sort through it.
“Eeyup, best ya got.”
“Here.” Stardust placed down a collection of clear bottles with different colored liquids. “Tell her to take a sip of each every few hours.”
“What’s going on up here?” Sunset popped her head out of the hole, taking stock of the new arrivals. “You guys are going to draw attention standing around like this.”
“Wow, is there a party going on over here or what?”
All heads turned to a pair of ponies trotting up to them, a mint green unicorn and a pale yellow earth pony. The unicorn waved and said, “Hi, I’m Lyra and this is Bon Bon.”
Bon Bon waved herself. “A pleasure.”
“... Charmed,” Sunset said at length. “Can we… help you?”
Lyra grinned and rubbed the back of her head. “Oh, sorry. We hooked up with these chocobos when we got to Nikhay and have been traveling with them since. We’ve been looking for a good spot to settle down.”
“We’re a couple, if you hadn’t guessed,” Bon Bon added. “We thought about South Fillygaro, but, well, you-know-who pops in there quite a bit, lately. We figured he’d ignore someplace out of nowhere, like this.”
Trixie snorted. “Doubtful.”
“All the same, we figured it was worth a try.”
Sunset shook her head. “Look, not to be rude, but this isn’t the place for you. Monsters still show up and we just got done driving off a demon trying to hurt my friend. More ponies will just draw more unwanted attention.”
“Oh, we can help with that!” Lyra exclaimed, her grin growing wider. “You see, about a year ago when the world went all nuts, I got this sudden urge to start learning to play music. I’ve gotten really good and can even play tunes that force monsters to run away.”
“I can vouch for that,” Stardust spoke up. “It’s really neat. We haven’t been bothered by monsters the whole way here.”
“And if any monsters don’t run away,” Bon Bon said, forming her own grin, “I’ve got this.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a silver cylinder. She pressed a button on the side and it expanded into a large mallet. She took a swing and struck the ground, leaving a deep divot. She pulled it out with little effort and let it hang over her shoulder. “Got it in South Fillygaro.”
Lyra gave a firm nod and beamed at Sunset. “So, what do you say to that?”
“No.”
“Aw, c’mon!”
Sunset stuck out her tongue and made to close the hole, but a red hoof prevented her. “Sunset, we should talk to Twilight about this,” Big Macintosh said. “If Tirek comes back, they can help.”
“Or they’ll get sucked dry!” Sunset countered.
The stallion shrugged. “Always that chance, but in my experience, it’s better to have numbers on your side.”
Sunset let out a disgusted groan. “This has been the worst day.”
She led them down to the concealed room, taking the potions Stardust provided as well. When the group convened and retold the whole story to Twilight, she looked positively glowing. “This is great news. We’ll get the help we need to protect the village.”
“But it’s dangerous, Twilight!” Sunset protested.
“I know, but it’s dangerous everywhere, Sunset. Nothing can change that.”
“Hey, Trixie is working on it,” Trixie said.
Twilight grew silent, her gaze distant. Finally, she said, “You’re right. I wish it wasn’t so, but you need just as much help as we do.” She looked up at Sunset and motioned for her to come closer. The unicorn did so, sitting down next to the bed and waiting intently. “Sunset, I want you to listen to what I have to say.” Twilight took a breath, ignoring her pains. “I want you to go with Trixie and Big Macintosh.”
Sunset stared at Twilight as though she had grown a second head. “Wha… what?”
“This is important,” Twilight continued, keeping her eyes locked to Sunset’s. “Discord has to be stopped. Nothing will change while he’s still around. You can go where I can’t.”
“Twilight, stop talking. You’re not feeling well and need rest.”
Twilight gingerly laid a hoof over Sunset’s shoulder. “Sunset, I know what I’m doing. When I lost my memory, I went on a journey. It was very scary and I saw many horrible things on the way. But, it helped me, it really did. I met so many wonderful friends that helped me every step of the way. I grew stronger, and in time, I was able to help those that helped me. I even regained my memories.
“This is your chance to do the same, Sunset. You’ve been a wonderful friend to me, and I cherish our time together. I’m not doing this because I don’t like you anymore. I’m doing this because I know it’s what you need to do. Go out, become stronger, and maybe you’ll remember who you really are.”
“But I don’t care about that!” Sunset’s voice cracked, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’ll gladly go my entire life without remembering anything to stay here!” She grabbed Twilight’s hoof between her own. “Please, don’t send me away.”
Twilight closed her eyes and smiled. “I won’t force you to, if you really don’t want to. It’ll be your choice. Gosh, it feels like it was so long ago when Mayor Mare gave me the same choice.” She opened her eyes, her smile still in place. “Do you know what I said to her then? The same thing you’re saying now. I was so scared to get involved, to hurt others. I didn’t want any of it.” Twilight looked away and sighed. “But, things happened and I got involved anyway.”
Pushing Twilight’s hoof away, Sunset tucked her in, making sure she was covered up completely. “Here.” Sunset levitated over the bottles Stardust gave her, giving her a sip of each. “The medicine will make you feel better. Get some sleep.”
“Yes…” Twilight’s voice trailed off and soon she was sound asleep.
Once she was sure Twilight was secure, Sunset turned towards the others who had stayed silent during the whole exchange. Rubbing at her eyes, Sunset said, “Look, it’s getting late. Why don’t we all get to bed and then you guys can head out tomorrow.”
There came no argument. The zebras stayed in the hidaway while everypony and chocobo made camp up top. Lyra even provided a soothing lullaby with a lyre that quickly lulled everyone asleep. All but one.
Sunset remained awake, her mind too active to rest. Instead she tossed and turned within her blanket until giving up and trotting a short ways out of the village. There, she sat and looked at the stars, as though urging them to give her the answers she needed.
Dawn came, and with it the chocobos began packing up. They promised to check in with the village on a regular basis, even though it was way out of their way. Trixie and Big Macintosh left with them while Lyra and Bon Bon stayed to begin fortifying their new home.
The small caravan had only gone a few miles when the sound of approaching hooves from behind caught their attention. They turned to see Sunset Shimmer galloping up to them, Flame Sabre held to her side in a makeshift sheath. Once she reached them, she took a few moments to catch her breath. Her eyes locked with theirs, and while there was still some uncertainty in hers, they could also see the embers of determination turning into a flame. “I’m coming with you.”