Trixie Goes Purple
Reading, Repairing, and Reading Some More
Over on Twilight’s couch, Trixie rested with her hind legs held up on the cushy armrests, and her head on the tasseled couch pillows. Every few seconds, she’d blink a few times, almost falling asleep. Eventually, she lifted her head yet again to check up on Twilight. “It’s been an hour, Twilight! I would like to get some food sometime in the future.”
“I’m… close…”
The Princess refused to turn and speak correctly. Her eyes were glued to the words, not even bothering to make a glow of her horn for the damaged front of her house before starting this rigorous task. Trixie huffed an exasperated sigh, rolling onto her back. “I’m bored! You promised you’d take Trixie out to lunch, Twilight Sparkle. I’m hungry, and…” Twilight lipped the contents of her book as Trixie said, “Oh, Twilight, I’m sorry. I just get so restless when… well, resting!”
Twilight simply ignored Trixie, not even hearing a word she said. Not even the growl of Trixie’s stomach caught her attention. “Yes, that’s nice…”
The more Trixie laid there, the more slumber was beckoning her. With her eyes barely open, her horn started glowing a dim shine. Soon, a book flew by Twilight’s head. Another one brushed her ear. “What the…?”
Twilight glanced above her to see multiple entries of magical research swirling around in the air in a strange dance. One flew dangerously close to the fire, bringing Twilight to plead, “Trixie, stop! You’re gonna destroy my books! If you do that, I’ll never forgive you!”
Trixie snapped out of her dream with a small yelp, getting to her hooves. The books all fell down in a hard clutter. “Y-you’ll never what?” Trixie asked, unbalanced.
“If you destroy my books, I’ll banish you.”
Trixie let out a small, nervous laugh. “Y-you’re kidding, right?” Twilight didn't reply. “I-I mean you couldn’t possibly do something like that, right?” Twilight only scowled, her eyes locked like steel. “I mean, y-you are a Princess, but still…” Twilight remained silent. Trixie zipped her lips. Only the still air made a sound.
Knocking came from the front door, just in time. Amongst the rubble and ruin, the door still stayed. It opened through the top middle to show Rarity poking through, concern showing clearly upon her face. “Hello, dearies… Err, this isn’t a bad time, is it?”
Two set of eyes turned toward her, one scared, one stern. Rarity needed no hint that something was severely wrong. That, and the fact that there seemed to be TWO Twilights, one with no wings, and a different hair style. A completely different Cutie Mark helped in telling them apart, too. Of course, this didn’t exactly inform Rarity of what really happened.
Not only was Twilight’s home punched out, and ruined. It was also messy with books littering the floor, and one big book laying in front of the fireplace. Twilight sighed, bringing her hooves up to massage her temple. “Don’t worry, Rarity, you’re fine. Just stay still for a second.”
Suddenly, with little sweat, Twilight repaired the house, restored the broken branches and cleared the air of residual dust or ashy smells. Then, she made a simple beam of light shine in the air, bringing her books to shelf themselves all correctly. Just like that, everything was back to normal, but that’s only because of Twilight’s newer powers. As a unicorn, all that would've been impossible, not without a whole day’s time.
With the door opening, and Rarity walking in, she giggled, “Nicely done! Now, what happened? Why is Trixie purple, much like yourself Twilight, and why was the front of your house obliterated, and-”
Twilight shushed Rarity, explaining everything. As Rarity listened to what Twilight had to say, her eyes went wider and wider. At the end of it all, she was left almost speechless. “Wha-- Bu-- You mean…” Twilight nodded slowly while Trixie’s downcast look worsened. “She copied you? Right down to the magic?” Twilight, again, nodded with an annoyed look aimed at Trixie. “But, how is that even possible?”
Rarity stood up quickly, staggering around like she was drunk, earning an eye roll from Twilight. She knew full well what was coming. “This is… This is… This is the. Worst. Possible. THING!” And with that, collapsed on a very familiar red couch.
“Trixie!” Twilight cried.
“Sorry,” Trixie said after summoning the furniture for Rarity. “It just seemed like it’d be needed.”
“Don’t encourage her, please.” Twilight cleared her throat, grabbed Rarity and brought her to the book. “I’ve been researching into the matter.”
Rarity shuffled away haphazardly, chanting, “No, no, no,” at the book. “I hate the study of tampered magic!”
Twilight wrapped a hoof around her, saying, “You got me and Trixie into this, Rarity. From what I can tell, the cosmetic spell has a cancel timer that’s triggered at midnight. Trixie’s alterations to the spell, and new magical properties has a ninety eight percent chance of that cancel timer acting severely different from its original function.”
Rarity shook her head. “I won’t read it!”
Twilight pushed her forth. “You will, and you’re gonna help me find out what happens at midnight!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
While the two fidgeted with one another, Twilight winning in the end, Trixie wandered off into the city. The door was wide open, they’d take all night, and Trixie was hungry. So, into the city she went. Having a new coat color, after all, can make one’s reputation change suddenly.
Almost like being a new mare, Trixie had hardly any problems with passersby. The stallions tipped their hats, and the mares said hello. Soon, Trixie arrived at a local food shop, the first of many more disasters to come, for nopony like Trixie could possibly control their powers very well without proper training.
Meanwhile, back at Golden Oak’s Library, Rarity and Twilight were still going at it. They had reached the point in which they were muzzle to muzzle in a fit of rage. Finally having enough, Twilight let out a mix between a scream and a grunt and threw her fore-hooves into the air. “AGH. This is getting us nowhere!”
The sudden end to the argument caused Rarity to step back. “Hmph. You’re quite right. If someone didn’t insist she was right, we’d probably have it figured out by now.”
Twilight looked upon her friend with dismay. Shaking her head, she fixed Rarity with a glare. “Look, let’s just try and cooperate so we can figure out what happened. Now... What do we know?”
“Well… It changed her hair color.”
“Right. And it also changed her coat color.”
“It gave her the means to destroy the world.”
“Ignoring that,” Twilight grumbled, “This spell had a time limit… Time, it’s the essence of the body… Body, which page is that?”
Rarity flipped to it quickly. “Here!”
“Page sixty four… Six, it’s the contents of alteration. Alteration can mean physically, too. Then that means we need to go to page five!” They arrived at page five, a blank page. Twilight and Rarity stared at it blankly. “This isn’t working…”
Rarity looked at Twilight, and said, “This is making me fall asleep…”
Twilight looked up. “Sleep, midnight, at twelve.” She turned to page twelve. Really, she didn’t know what she was doing by then. “Here we go!” Twilight said, reading line after line… And then, her smile turned into a frown. “She only has until midnight, true… but not for the spell to cancel. In this case, she’ll stay that way, mane color, powers and everything!”
A vision flashed inside Twilight’s head. “Twilight? Rarity asked, looking over at her.
Twilight saw Trixie wearing her element crown within her mind. “AH!” Twilight yipped. “We’ve gotta find the cure! Read!”
Right about that time, Trixie was getting her meal...