//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: The Friendship Inception // by Schrodinger's Pony //------------------------------// Chapter Four: It Begins United we stand, divided we fall. -Aesop Twilight Sparkle boarded the train to Canterlot. She'd just received a message from Princess Celestia telling her that she needed to see her personally right away. She couldn't tell Twilight why, just that she'd need to be away from Ponyville for the remainder of the week. This was a big deal, and as it was, Twilight had to cancel her brunch with Applejack, and two Pinkie Parties. "Miss Sparkle." The conductor seemed to be sweating. "Coming aboard?" "That's right Mr. Whistle." Twilight handed him her ticket. "First class to Canterlot if you please." Mr. Whistle looked nervously from Twilight to the ticket. "Well… alright then, if you're sure… but we might be a little late today. Trouble in the tracks you know. Maybe you should come back tomorrow?" "Oh no, I'm sure it'll be an acceptable delay. I've already had to wipe my schedule clean. And I may even be able to help with any problems." The conductor took off his hat and wiped the sweat off of his head. "Well… Alright then, all aboard." He escorted a happy Twilight to first class, where a pink pony was already sitting. "Hello Twilight…" She said, staring out the window. "Oh, hello Berry Punch." Twilight took a seat across from her. There wasn't anypony else in the train yet. She grinned. "I didn't know you were heading to Canterlot too Twilight? I thought you were…" She looked at something written in her hoof. "Going to the next Pinkie Party?" "I was, but something came up." Twilight said. "So you've left Spike on your own?" Berry looked into the distance. "I'd had to leave my little bubbles on her own." "Oh no." Twilight smiled. "My friends will visit him regularly to make sure he'll be okay. And he'll have my full itinerary, so there shouldn't be any problem finding me if there's an emergency." "Full itinerary. Got it." "What?" "Nothing." Suddenly, the train lurched forward. Twilight Sparkle cast a curious glance out of the window. The clock on the train station said it wasn't nearly noon yet, and there were still ponies on the station, looking at the train confused. "Hey… we're leaving early." Twilight stood in her seat. "Yes, we're leaving a full half-hour early! Thank goodness I arrived early. I'm going to have to talk to the conductor about this. What if the other ponies need to go to Canterlot?" "Twilight…" Twilight froze. The voice was quite near her. She could feel Berry's breath on the back of her neck, and smell the sweet alcohol in the air. Twilight once had a friend in Canterlot who'd tried to pull this with her. "Now Berry, I don't…" She turned around and Berry kissed her full on the lips. Twilight froze. Her last conscious thought was that there was an extraordinary amount of saliva for a kiss, almost as if she was forcing the saliva into her mouth… She collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Berry wiped some of her special wine from her lips. "Poor little Twi-lightweight." She hiccupped. The doors to the train opened up, and The Great and Powerful Trixie walked through, escorted by Cherry Jubilee. The rest of their group of 'friends' followed behind them. "Did she say?" Jubilee asked. Berry hiccupped and giggled. "Yup. She's gotta full Martini to tell Spike where she is." "Martini?" The Great and Powerful Trixie asked. "Martiniary." Berry hiccupped, and giggled. "Itini. Imartini." "Itinerary." Question Mark said, figuring out what she meant. "Did she tell you where the Itinerary is?" Berry thought about it. "Eeeyunope." She beamed. "Forgot to ask." "No matter, Coconut should be able to find it and erase it." The doors opened again, and Flim and Flam entered. "The driver's still antsy." Flim said. "But once we showed him the picture we took of Berry and Twilight through the glass, he let it slide." "Too right!" Flam laughed. "Well, with what Jubilee's paying him he's willing to ignore 'a couple of lovestruck young fillies'. You should have seen him blush." "That's mean." Berry said. Raindrop nodded in agreement. "But necessary." The Great and Powerful Trixie grinned. "I can't believe you planned this Jubilee!" "I didn't plan this." Jubilee said, though she did grin demurely at the praise. "This is just a happy side effect of my original goal in shaking up Rarity. I did plan for it though, fortunately." "And now…" The Great and Powerful Trixie took out the gem. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will cast the spell, and send us reeling into HER mind!" "For the last time, are we sure this is the best idea?" Raindrop asked everypony. "Is this really the way you all want to kick off our friendship?" "Oh, you worry too much." Prince Blueblood scoffed. "What better way to start a friendship then by going on an adventure? It's what happens in all of the best novels." "This isn't a novel." Question Mark muttered. Raindrop was more preoccupied with; "You can read?" "Enough!" The Great and Powerful Trixie ordered. "Into positions!" While the others formed a circle, Jubilee passed the Flim Flam brothers a note. "Now I'm sure you'll do fine guarding us while we're asleep. But if the plan goes… off the rails, so to speak… then please try to pass this note along to whoever interrupts us before your wide, wide yellow streak undoes the whole thing." "What note?" The Great and Powerful Trixie asked. "Just a little surprise for whoever comes across us dear." Jubilee returned to her friends. They were forming a circle now, around Twilight Sparkle. Blueblood set down silk cushions to lie down on, and Berry Punch put on a special hat that had a pair of cider cans on it, with tubes running down to her mouth, presumably so she could intoxicate herself while she slept. Question Mark gave Rassilon an affectionate noogie. "Give 'em Tartarus boy." He said. "Alright… here we go everypony!" A bright blue light filled the train car, and everypony sat back and got ready to fall asleep. Then The Great and Powerful Trixie gasped, and the spell failed. "… what was that?" Raindrop asked. "Sorry." The Great and Powerful Trixie took some calming breaths. "That was… I've never done something this big before, and… well, The Great and Powerful Trixie is not the most powerful of unicorns." "You've done it with the six of us before." Jubilee commented. "Yes, and it took a lot out of The Great and Powerful Trixie." The unicorn snarled. "And the seventh one now is like six unicorns in HER own right. SHE must have… some sort of mental training or… or something." "And you plan on going down three levels like this?" "The Great and Powerful Trixie will have more power than you could possibly imagine once she starts dreaming! She… just needs a little help with reality." Jubilee sighed. "Boys, would you lend 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' a hoof?" She asked, barely keeping the annoyance out of her voice. Flim and Flam lit their horns up and gave The Great and Powerful Trixie a boost. The car filled with light again, both green and blue. A beam of light shone from The Great and Powerful Trixie's horn, and into the gem between them. The light shone through the facets and connected with the minds of the ponies, putting them into a deep sleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep in the heart of Twilight's library, in a hollowed out book under 'E', the element of friendship glowed. Soon, the other five elements followed suit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Let me see if Ah got this straight." Applejack said, as she and Rarity trotted along through her orchard. "Ah got the message that Cherry Jubalee's in town. Ah double-checked everythin' on mah farm, put Rainbow Dash on high alert, and bought an arsenal of cakes from Sugarcube Corner. All fine and dandy so far?" "Yes, and I've informed Angel so he'll be able to protect Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie has been… unknowingly drafted. She's bribed Spike to deliver a message to Twilight under the pretense that it was from Celestia, so she would go to Canterlot for the week." "And stop right there." Applejack shot an icy glare at her unicorn friend. "Ya didn't tell Fluttershy. Ya didn't tell Pinkie Pie. And ya didn't even tell Twilight!" "Well… it's not like Pinkie doesn't already know somewhat…" Rarity mumbled. Applejack sighed. "Ah know ya mean well. But Ah ain't comfortable keeping a part of mah life this big from mah friends. Especially Twilight." "Oh, but darling, you promised you wouldn't tell!" Rarity made her eyes wide. "That was when it was over. Ah wasn't planning on doing anything more with mah head then running the farm. No more mind games with you, no more fightin' fer control over Ponyville, just settling down with mah friends and running mah farm. But now ah got tah take up the fight again, and fer real this time. Ah want to do it with mah friends." Rarity huffed. "Well Applejack… that's a very noble sentiment I'm sure, but how do you think they'd take it?" "Ah think Pinkie Pie would be glad to know the extent of the 'game' she thinks we're playin'. If Rainbow Dash ain't already told Fluttershy, Ah'll bet she'll be a little intimidated at first, and then realize we're still the same old Applejack and Rarity. As fer Twilight, Ah reckon she'd be the most understandin' of all, so long as Ah make it clear Ah've never hid anything from her." Rarity blushed. "Yes… yes, I suppose you're right. But It's just so emberassing…" "More fer me then fer you I reckon." Applejack grinned. "You won in the end after all. Now tell me what else we're doing about Jubilee." Rarity preened. "Well, I've discovered she's been staying with Berry Punch and Question Mark." "Those two? Ah thought you said she was stayin' with Blueblood?" "Well yes, aside from the blueberry stains, I also deduced where she was through a unicorn named Dejour who was preparing the barbarian's food." Rarity huffed. "Oh, I can't wait to figure out what their plan is, so I can…" She didn't get to finishe her sentence. She and Applejack both collapsed, suddenly deep in sleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie was baking, when all of a sudden her left hoof shook. She stopped, and looked down, as the shake began to turn into a tremor. The remor turned into an earthquake, and then a super-shake-quake! Then it travelled all the way up her leg, then a cross her shoulders, then down her right leg to the hoof. She waited patiently as the super-shake-quake slowly disappeared. "Well, that was a new one." She said. And then she fell asleep. And then, because she's Pinkie Pie, and just falling asleep wouldn't be enough, she landed on her accordion (do not ask why it was in the kitchen) and it squeezed out, knocking over a bag of flour, which knocked over a mop. As flour settled down everywhere, the mop knocked over a row of silver ladles hanging on the wall, which in turn knocked over the sugar tray. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake happened to walk by, and when he saw that Pinkie Pie was covered in flower, his five-month-old brain deduced that it was playtime. As he started pounding stuff, Pumpkin Cake made a beeline for the spilt sugar. And then hilarity ensued. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derpy Hooves and Zecora were having a picnic in the zebra's backyard. "And then the tree snuck up on me and hit me in the face." The lazy eyed Pegasus bemoaned her fate. "Well whatever you did to get on the tree's case, at least no harm's been done to your pretty face." Derpy blushed bashfully. "Aaaaw, Zecora, you're making me blush. And… you know I'm not one to gush?" As un-poetic as it may have been, Zecora loved it when Derpy rhymed. She leaned in closer to her Pegasus friend, when one of Derpy's eyes saw something and she quickly pushed Zecora away. With a small thump, Rainbow Dash landed directly in between them. Pie splattered onto the two ponies, and she started snoring in the pie. Derpy blinked, twice, before smiling and licking the pie off of herself. Zecora sighed. "A Doctor's work is never done. A pity; this day was becoming fun." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Angel marched in front of the many creatures who lived with Fluttershy like a general mustering an army. "Oh Angel… won't you please let me out?" Fluttershy's voice barely managed to get through her cottage doors. Angel's ears were the only ones sensitive enough to hear them. He quickly checked again to make sure her entire cottage was boarded up, before returning to his troops. They were a sorry, sordid lot. Some of them were inexperienced in the ways of war, having lived their whole lives under the protection of Ponville, or Fluttershy. Others had been found by Fluttershy, near death, and she'd dragged them back from the brink. Angel was one of the latter. He'd been fighting a losing battle against a dragon when she found him. He was the last of his warden, all eaten, when Fluttershy came along and admonished the dragon to let him go. He wanted to keep fighting, to kill the dragon or die trying, but she'd taken him back home, and given him a chance to live a new life, one not filled with vengeance. He looked around at the sky, darkened by the flying creatures overhead. He looked at the forest, sandbags piled higher than any normal pony could leap, and animals of all sorts ready to engage an enemy. None of them had what it took to willingly charge into a dragon's cave and try to kill it... But they'd all been touched by Fluttershy's kindness. Angel took off his army hat and looked up into the sun. He would be her guardian angel. Somepony wanted to hurt Fluttershy, and take her from her friends. But Celestia as his witness, there was no force in Equestria he would not move to keep Fluttershy safe and sound. Not a single pink hair on her head would be hurt! His keen ears picked up the smallest of thumps inside the cottage. In a wild panic, Angel leaped forward and tore through the barricade he'd made. Inside, he found Fluttershy, her face angelically soft and her lower lip fluttering as she slept. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Luna looked up from the book she was reading. That was… a very powerful incursion into the world of dreams just then. She hesitated. In the old days, that would have meant Cobb or one of her disciples was up to no good. But this was much more powerful then one of Cobb's incursions, and it involved a great deal more ponies. Maybe her sister had made an annual dreaming festival of some sort in her absence? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canterlot hospital was a busy place, and for that Princess Celestia was usually grateful. It meant that ponies were too busy to bow and scrape to her wherever she went. But this seemed to be a slow day. Everypony stopped and bowed as she approached. Even doctors wheeling a patient around! Even the patient, whose bones cracked quite loudly when she got up to bow! "Now now, none of that!" Princess Celestia said. "I'm sure you're all extremely busy ponies. You… whatever you're suffering from, it certainly exempts you from bowing." Thankfully, the mare seemed to be in too much pain to argue, and settled back down on her stretcher to be wheeled away. Chief Doctor Scruffy Mane jogged up to her. "What can I help you with your majesty?" She asked in the unrepentantly uncouth tone that Celestia loved to hear from her subjects every now and then. Celestia smiled. "I heard that an old friend of mine is interned here. Do you know where Doctor High Hope is?" Scruffy nodded, and gestured her to follow, not giving any other courtesy. She led Celestia to a room on the second floor. "Dr. Hope, you have a visitor." She said brusquely. And then she left without a word, presumably to tend to her other patients. Dr. High Hope was sitting in a hospital bed, looking no weaker then when last Celestia had seen him. He was heavily bandaged around the neck though. "Oh, Dr. Hope." Celestia's horn opened the curtains to let the sun in, and summoned flowers to rest on his bedside. "How are you?" Dr. Hope took out a pencil and paper. "As good as can be expected." He wrote. "You?" "The same I should think." Celestia smiled. "I was excited when you made an appointment with me. I'm glad you did have a reason not to show up. What happened?" "One of my patients." He wrote. "She's a sociopath, and I brought her to Canterlot so you could cure her with the Elements of Harmony. But before I did, I took her to see Dr. Pie…" "What on earth did you do that for!" Celestia asked. "I thought it would help her be more convinced of the choice she should make, if she saw where making the wrong choices lead." Celestia sighed and shook her mane. "That's… very noble of you Dr. Hope. Continue?" "Well, the night before we were supposed to see you – three day ago – she attacked me while I was asleep. She suffocated me with a pillow, and when I struggled she stomped on my throat with her hoof." "How horrible!" Celestia frowned. "So there is a killer loose in Canterlot?" "I wouldn't call her a killer. Technically, she never killed anypony." "Dr. Hope, she tried to kill you." "And now she's probably running scared, worried about ending up like Dr. Pie. We need to find the poor dear soon so we can cure her." Celestia sighed. "Your optimism does you credit Dr. Hope." Celestia said. "Can you tell me anything about your patient, or where to find her?" "Her name is Trixie. I've already told everything to the guardponies. They can't find any record of her, besides when she appeared in Manehatten eleven years ago. And she's disappeared again. They can't find any trace of her, except for somepony matching her description buying a train ticket to Ponyville." The last word made Celestia's blood run cold. Suddenly, she remembered one of Twilight's letters. It was just one in a hundred, but she remembered this one because of a new name attached to it. Trixie. "Ponyville? Are you sure?" Dr. Hope nodded. She felt something turn in her gut. She'd experienced the feeling before, a mother's intrinsic knowledge when their child was in danger,. Twilight wasn't her daughter, but the feeling was very, very close. "Did Trixie ever mention having past history in Ponyville?" "She talked a lot about a unicorn there that upstaged her." That was all Celestia needed to hear to confirm her suspicions. "Thank you for letting me know Dr. Hope. I wish you a speedy recovery. I have to get going soon. Now. This instant." She didn't bother with the hospital's front door. She leapt straight through the walls, passing through like a ghost, and soaring into the sky. She felt the sun's rays glowing around her, and puller herself into its warmth. And then she let go. It was a favorite trick of hers. She dropped straight out of the sky down to Ponyville, using the Earth Pony Magic to cushion the inevitable blow. She had just enough time to check and make sure nopony was beneath her, before landing hard in front of Ponyville's library. "Twilight!" She pushed through the door, in her haste not checking to see whether it was locked. The door came crashing off of its hinges. She winced, but proceeded forward. "Twilight? Are you home?" "Princess?" Spike came down from his room at the top of the library. "What are you doing – oh, did you have to break down the door?" "Where is Twilight?" "She – uh – she went to Canterlot to see you." Princess Celestia hurriedly put the door back together. "Why?" "Um… because… there's this question she wanted to ask you? All right! I confess!" Celestia merely glanced at the baby dragon and he gave in. "I gave her a note telling her to come see you! Pinkie Pie gave me ice cream to do it! She said it was just one of her pranks! I'm SOOOORRRYYYYYY!" "It's quite alright Spike." Celestia tried to undo the knot that was curling around in her stomach. "Do you know how she was travelling to Canterlot? Train? Carriage? Did she walk?" "Um…" Spike looked around. "I'm sure she wrote it down in one of her schedules." "Please, go and find out Spike." Celestia pleaded. "I have reason to believe she's in danger." "You don't have to tell me twice!" The dragon bolted to where he kept Twilight's schedules. He pulled out a scroll, and undid it. It dropped to the ground, and rolled across the floor, all the way out of the library's door. "Um… it may take a while though." "Please hurry." Celestia began to pace. She hadn't had a murderer in Equestria for years, and now one popped up and had some sort of connection to Twilight. Sister. I need you. She pleaded in her mind. What is it sister? Luna responded. There's a murderer on the loose in Equestria. I need you to research everything you can about a mare named Trixie. Immediately. "Twilight! Twilight, you in there!" Celestia snapped out of her internal conversation with Luna, and opened the door. It broke off. She decided it must have been the weak hinges, because she couldn't be so nervous it was effecting her magic. Outside, three little fillies came to a stop in front of the library. Judging by the bright blue scooter they were riding, she decided they must be the Cutie Mark Crusaders Twilight wrote about. And in the wagon following the scooter… Oh no. "Princess Celestia!" The fillies stopped, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle bowed. Applebloom however, didn't have time for formalities. "Yer majesty, Pinkie Pie just fainted dead away and we can't wake her up!" "Stand aside." Celestia didn't want the foals to see the sight of a corpse, if that was indeed what this was. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be. Pinkie Pie seemed to be fine. She was even hugging a stuffed panda in her sleep. "She's just asleep." Celestia said, somewhat relieved. Hopefully, whoever Trixie was, she wouldn't know a poison complex enough to put somepony to sleep before killing them. Even she didn't know of such a poison and she had quite the memory, so Pinkie Pie must be safe for now. "We came to find Twilight." Applebloom said. "She's always hooking Pinkie up to them fancy machines of hers. Maybe she'll know what's wrong." "Unfortunately, Twilight is away at the moment." Princess Celestia said. "But I'll be sure to mention Pinkie Pie to her when I see her…" She paused, as something came up behind the crusaders. The large red stallion she knew as Big Mac was galloping up the road. Applejack and Rarity's sleeping forms were on his back. The knot in her stomach was back with a vengeance. Big Mac stopped before her and bowed. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gasped when they saw their sisters. "Big Mac! What happened?" "I dunno." He mumbled. "Let me guess." Princess Celestia said between short breaths. "They just collapsed, for no apparent reason?" "Eeyup." "What's wrong with them?" Applebloom asked, shaking her sister. "Is this some sort of magical sleep disease?" "Magical sleep disease!?" In her panic, Celestia forgot that she tended to draw a crowd when she was in public. It seemed that one pony in the crowd watching her, a mare with a flower in her hair, was staring at the sleeping ponies like they were about to rise up and bite their heads off. "Everypony for themselves!" The populace of Ponyville descended into panic. While only a few screamed, most were quick to get inside and lock their doors. "Is this usual?" Celestia asked. "Nnnope." "Then why do those ponies have hazmat suits?" "Question Mark." Big Mac said it like it explained everything. "Hey, there's somepony!" Scootaloo called. Celestia's fears doubled. Zecora the zebra and a strange grey Pegasus were coming up the path… Rainbow Dash on Zecora's back. "No way!" Scootaloo yelled, upon seeing her idol. "What could've taken out Rainbow Dash!" Derpy bowed so low she face-planted into the street. Zecora gave a bow too. "A long time it has been, since this sight I have seen." Zecora said to Applebloom, with sorrow in her voice. "Doors are barred and curtains drawn, don't tell me I've been away too long?" "Awe, you know we'd never hide from you again Zecora." Applebloom spoke up. "But we're having a problem with our sisters. We think they maht've caught some sort of weird sleeping disease." Celestia's heart reached a crescendo as she heard Zecora's words. "This sleep is most unnatural, at best guess I'd say it's magical. I have no cure for this malady, I was hoping to find one in this library." Sister! Please tell me you've found something! Anything! Patience, the guardponies have shared everything with me, and I'm going to follow some leads now! "Oh no, they got fluttershy too!" Derpy quickly put on a Haz-mat suit. Celestia felt like she was going to through up. The sweet, demure Fluttershy, was being carried through the streets by a swarm of animals. I have something! Tell me! Trixie's description matches a unicorn who disappeared around the same time she appeared! Her name's Lulamoon, a unicorn who specialized in dreaming, like Cobb. The rogue wizard from yestercentury, remember? Sister, not fifteen minutes ago, I felt a disturbance in the plane of dreams that felt like Cobb's magic. Is this relevant? Celestia almost screamed. "Spike! Spike, where is Twilight Sparkle?" Spike looked up from the parchment. "I don't know! I mean… Twilight's usually so thorough… it's like parts of this itinerary have been erased!" Sister, what's happening? What's going on? Twilight Sparkle has been Ponynapped! Trixie is invading her dreams, and as a defense mechanism, the Element of Harmony has brought the other elements into the dream as well! But none of them have any idea what's going on, or that they're trapped in a dream with a unicorn who is capable and willing to kill them all!