Torn Away
A Story by PinkieSky27
Chapter 1
The smell of a cool summer breeze wafted gently through the upper-most windows of Sugarcube Corner at the crack of dawn, carrying with it the fresh scent of the morning’s delectable baked goods. The smell alone was enough to wake the bright pink party pony, who bounded out of bed excitedly and leapt to her window.
“Good morning, everypony! I hope your day is bright and shiny and fantabulous!” Pinkie bounced away from the window and down the stairs to don her work apron and greet the work day ahead.
“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Cake! What’s on tap for today?” She smiled expectantly and bounded up next to them as they worked diligently in the shop’s kitchens.
Mr. Cake wiped his brow with a hoof and looked at Pinkie, a smile on his face. “Well Pinkie, we have a few big orders today, actually. The first is three shipments of Double Dynamite Carrot Cupcakes to Canterlot for a reception coming up, and the second is…well, another Marzipan Mascarpone Merengue Madness, to King Gildenheart of Gryphonstein. If you hadn’t guessed, Pinkie, it’s been a busy day already, and we could use the help.”
Pinkie took a second to glance around the shop. There were cooking utensils strewn around the entire room; egg-beaters and graters covered in frosting slicked across the formerly-spotless pink floors, pots and pans full to the brim with sugar confections as if ready to spill over, and every oven running at full power, bathing the room in a sort of unnatural glowing heat. However, in one brightly-lit corner laid a tower of cake segments that formed a nearly-complete Marzipan Mascarpone Merengue Madness, the Cake’s crowning achievement in baking. The Cakes certainly had been working hard, and considering the morning was still young…
Pinkie’s face retained a look of concern as she turned her eyes back on the Cakes. “Gee, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, you both must’ve been working through the night to get so much of that MMMM finished, and make such a mess preparing those cupcakes! You sillies, why didn’t you wake me? I could’ve helped sooner!”
Pinkie kept up her smile, grabbing a mop and bouncing over to the frosting-covered carpet mess that had at this point nearly reached the walls, and began to scrub, her eyes dancing over to the walls as she worked.
“Hmm msr Cnke!” Pinkie spat out the mop in her mouth, so she could speak properly, “Have these walls always been pink? I coulda sworn they used to be orange! What’s the world coming to?” Pinkie suddenly became distracted by the remaining frosting stains. “Oh well, I guess I’m just imagining things!”
Mr. Cake took the moment to scratch his head with a hoof. “Pinkie, what do you…nevermind. Alright ladies!’ Mr. Cake took a second to wave at both Pinkie and his wife before continuing; “We have a lot of work to do today, but days from now, I know we’re going to look back and laugh…and maybe smile about just how much money we’ve made. If I know my Canterlot clients, and at this point I’d better know my clients, they’ll pay a handsome sum for those cupcakes.”
“As for the latest MMMM, well…let’s just say this day will go down in the “Sugarcube Corner Diplomatic History Victory Handbook Fantastic for years and years to come!” And Pinkie, this next bit is very important. I…we…” He stopped for a moment as Mrs. Cake shot him a look.
“Sorry dear. As I was saying, we have decided that you should be the one to deliver the MMMM to Gryphonstein. You’ve got a lot of adventure experience we don’t, and just think it’d be best for someone younger and so full of energy to handle this.” At these words, he got back to work on the MMMM as it sat there in all of its nearly-finished glory.
Pinkie cheered. “Yay! I always wanted to help put something fantastically amazing in the magically-wonderful SCUDHUVF! SCUDHUVF, SCUDHUVF! I’m gonna be in the SCUDHUVF!”
Replacing her mop and admiring the clean finished work for a moment, she started to dance around, still singing. “Isn’t this amazing, Mrs. Cake? Just think! Years from now, ponies can look back and see that Sugarcube Corner was personally responsible for maintaining peace between Equestria and Gryphonstein. That’s so amazing! I’m so excited! Are you excited because I’m excited and that makes me want to-…”
“Pinkie! Enough!” Mrs. Cake had finally put the finishing touches on the desserts and was now staring at Pinkie, eyes wide. “Now look, since we’ve been talking we’ve managed to finish up pretty much everything. And we have very little time to actually do the transporting. Mr. Cake has called ahead from Canterlot to get transport for the cupcakes, but we need you to find your things and get ready to head out for Gryphonstein with our delicious-looking MMMM. Just make sure none of your friends decide to take a bite out of it this time…” Mrs. Cake sighed and finished her cleanup, finally slumping into a nearby chair.
“Oh don’t worry Mrs. Cake! I’ll be extra sure to keep an eye on MMMM this time. Maybe we can find a big ol’ box for it! Either way, I’m sure my friends wouldn’t take another bite out of this MMMM, even if it does look super-amazingly-scrumdiddlyumpcious; that’d be REALLY out of character for them!”
Pinkie nodded to affirm her position and bounced over to examine the completed MMMM, while the Cakes finally had a moment to relax. There was still so much to be done.
Soon after, Pinkie had gathered her things and bounded to the door frame, prepared to leave Sugarcube Corner for her journey.
“Bye Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I’ll be sure to write if we’re gone too long! Well…that is, I hope I remembered to bring a pen and paper. Hmm…oh well! Bye!” The overexcited pink earth pony then zipped out the open door to greet the morning.
Deep within the Everfree Forest, somepony stirred.
Somepony who had spent months within the lonely, derelict, hostile environment, trying to pull her life back from the gutter she had fallen face-first into. Somepony who spent her days eating pinecones and complaining to, Celestia forbid, squirrels, that didn’t seem to care that she used to be the greatest and most powerful pony in all of Equestria.
“Trixie can’t take this anymore! Trixie can’t believe that she’s been living amongst trashy animals for the past eleven months. Eleven months!
Trixie paused, looking down at her side and smiling awkwardly at a grey squirrel sitting next to her, a leaf-made mimicry of Trixie’s prized magician’s hat sitting atop its head, and a miniature straw cape down its back. The squirrel frowned at her and tapped its foot on the leaf-covered forest floor.
“All except you, Presto! Mama Trixie wuvs her Presto! He’s not like all the other filthy, wretched things in this forest! He understands the true nature of Trixie’s power!” Trixie pulled Presto into a hug and cuddled him, before returning to her tirade, forcing Presto to sigh.
“And the only reason Trixie is here is because of that tramp, Twilight Sparkle…” Trixie spat on the forest floor at the mention of the name.
“Yes, it’s all her fault that Trixie is here. Because she and her town of neighsayers and know-nothings had to “show Trixie up.” What a joke! It’s time Trixie reclaimed the lifestyle she was meant for!
Trixie smirked and stood up, her eyes set on the edge of the forest. “Come Presto! You are going to help Trixie reclaim her title as the greatest and most powerful magician in all of Equestria! But first, we’re going to pay a visit to a certain unicorn in Ponyville. Trixie…has something to show her.”
Trixie composed herself, replacing her hat and retying her hat with magic, before pulling Presto up onto her back.
“Ponyville, neigh, Equestria beware! The Great and Powerful Trixie returns, and soon, you will all understand her power! Especially you, Twilight Sparkle…”
“Spike? Spike! SPIKE! What in Tartarus is taking that dragon so long? All I asked him to do was to go down to the basement and grab a few of the books I put down there last year for storage. Now it’s been an hour! There were only three books, how does it take him an hour to find three books in as small an area as that? Well…ok, there might be a lot of books down there. But still! He really needs to hurry up! We’ve got a schedule to keep!”
Twilight Sparkle stood amid a myriad of books and laboratory equipment, all prepped for a magical experiment on the physiology of dragons. Twilight frowned, her eyes darting around at the mess of books and disheveled stacks of miscellaneous things.
“How did some of these things even get here? I don’t remember needing any gems for my experiment. Or even these vials! This is a magical experiment, why are there vials lying on the floor? When I get my hooves on that dragon! Where is he? Spike!”
Twilight huffed. “I have enough to do today without Spike getting caught up and delaying what he knows is a busy schedule! And now there’s this mess! I guess I’ll have to go find him…” Twilight sighed, trotting over to the door to the basement and opening it with magic before descending the stairs.
She took a minute to examine the walls leading down the basement as she climbed down the stairs. “Wow, y’know? I think we should maybe come down here and clean more often. This place is a mess, and I’m not even to the basement yet!” Unfortunately, Twilight was too busy examining the dust to watch where she was moving, and caught a hoof under a stair, causing her to trip and fall to the bottom with a thud.
“Twilight! Are you okay?!” Before Twilight knew it, her faithful assistant had rushed to her side.
“Oooh…my head…” Twilight took a moment to clear her thoughts and vision amidst the newfound pain and aches.
“Well, that certainly hurts a lot, but I’m definitely fine, Spike. Now the better question is, what in Celestia’s name is taking you so long down here? I sent you down here to get three books: The Art of Magical Warfare by Starswirl the Bearded, Foxy Cloud’s Gift of Flight: Father’s Love and one of the copies of Princess Luna’s autobiography: Luna, I Hardly Knew Me. And what’s worse, now I need to think of a punishment for that huge mess you left upstairs, in the middle of my workstation!”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of the third book on the list. “Yeah, I know Twilight. I found those.” Spike ignored the threats about the upstairs mess, and took the moment to hand Twilight a small stack of books, with all of the aforementioned titles within. “Speaking of that third one though, didn’t Luna write that about her time on the moon? Is it really worth the thousand or so pages of reading? Sounds like it’d just be a lot of rocks and boredom and cheese. Doesn’t sound all that good to me…”
Twilight chuckled, but winced as the pain caught back up to her. “N-no, to be honest, it really wasn’t. I hate to say that about a Princesses’ work, but I’m not sure what compelled her to write it, it was really dull and boring. I was going to go ask her myself, and see if I could help her fix them! It was just like you said, a whole lot of rocks and boredom. And the moon’s not made of cheese, Spike.”
“But enough about that! Are you ever going to tell me exactly why you’re still down here? You had the books already in a pile, so what’s the deal, oh number -one assistant?” Twilight gave Spike an expectant look, still lying on the floor in pain.
“I…uh…yeah, sorry about that Twilight, I was just about to head back up when I got distracted by another book. Here it is!” Spike held up another book with a bipedal creature on the cover, titled Humans: The Myth and Mystery. “Aren’t these those things Lyra is always talking about? Are they some kind of mythical creature? I’ve never seen or heard anything about them before…except from Lyra.”
Twilight suddenly burst into laughter, earlier anger dissipating. “Oh Spike! Did you take a second to see who wrote that book? I actually have a couple others here somewhere…” She motioned with her hoof to the back of the basement, towards the mountainous piles of neatly stacked books surrounded by bland, dusty walls and flooring. “Somewhere…”
“Anyway, if you’d taken a second to see who wrote the book, you’d see why it’s so funny. Lyra wrote that! She came by one day with a few copies and asked if I would review them. She also apparently published them herself, which is the only way I could explain her giving me more than one…”
“Wait, so Lyra wrote these herself?” Spike looked down at the cover of the book, and sure enough, in small golden print at the bottom were the words:
Written by: Lyra Heartstrings, author of other such Bon-Bon-acclaimed works such as Beginnings in Anthropology and Finding My Humanity
.
“Wow. I guess she did; I suppose that makes this just as superstitious as the rest of her usual stuff then, huh? Aww….I really liked what I’d read. These “hummens” sound fascinating, and I can sort of relate to them!” Spike held out his arms and flexed his fingers. “Yep. Seems pretty similar to me!"
“First of all Spike, it’s pronounced “he-you-mans”. Second, let’s worry about this later, there’s work to be done, and those books you picked up earlier are far more important!” Twilight took a second to stand up, wincing at the pain before trotting up the stairs. “Third, my leg REALLY hurts. Remind me to put something on in it when we get upstairs, alright?”
“Alright Spike, let’s go. We have to take notes on the first two books for that experiment I mentioned earlier today, the secret one? The other one…I’ll talk to Princess Luna afterwards, it’ll be nighttime, she’ll be awake.” As she finished speaking a loud knock hit the library door upstairs.
“Who could that be? It’s Saturday, it couldn’t be business, since the library is closed on the weekends. It sounds urgent though… I’ll be right with you!” She moved up the stairs as quickly as her injured leg would allow to answer the door, still leaving Spike in her dust on the stairs, holding the books.
Pinkie Pie bounced happily along the trail away from Ponyville as she approached Sweet Apple Acres with her mission in mind.
“Oki-doki-loki, I’m gonna go talk to Applejack first and get the furthest trip out of the way, and then I guess I’ll go talk to Fluttershy, and just round up everypony else as I go! Weee! This is gonna be the bestest adventure ever, and all we’re doing is delivering a cake!”
Sweet Apple Acres remained the same as always; fields upon fields of apple trees lined up for miles, being diligently worked around the clock by a loyal family of earth ponies.
“Hoo boy! Got alotta work to do today; I sure am hopin’ AJ gets to feelin’ better soon, if she dun’, then we may be in a heap a’ trouble…” Macintosh Apple was usually the first to rise in the Apple family, and had been working since dawn in the fields to bring in the day’s harvest.
“Y’know, it’s a right nice day though! At least, if I have to work by myself, I didn’t get stuck in the rain or anythin’. I’m just hopin’ I’m not so enamored bah this wonderful day that I don’t let nopony get the jump on-“
“Hiya Big Mac!” Pinkie Pie squealed as the jumped out from behind a tree Big Macintosh had just bucked.
“How ya doin’? I haven’t seen you in like, forever! And you know how long of a time forever is. It’s like…forever! How’s AJ? Is she here? I need to talk to her and like, ask her something super-duper-specially important, because what we do today could influence the very future of Equestria!” She then brought a hoof up to her forehead in a matter-of-fact salute.
“I…uh…hold on one second, Pinkie, I think ya made me drop some apples.” Big Mac took a second to look around him, and pick up all the rogue apples that had fallen out of the basket on his back.
“Uh oh! Lemme help you! There’s gotta be an extra bucket around here somewhere…” Spying an extra bucket by a not-yet-bucked apple tree, Pinkie proceeded to pick up some of the apples her surprise had made Big Mac drop.
“There we go! All done! Sorry about making you drop them, I just thought it’d be fun to surprise you! Everypony likes a laugh! Now hey, where’s AJ? Isn’t she usually out here helping you? I definitely need to ask her about something!” Pinkie smiled at Big Mac, and craned her neck around searching for her missing friend in the vast apple fields.
Big Mac just started to walk back towards the house, an impassive expression on his face. “Nnope! Sorry to say, Pinkie, but AJ’s not been feelin’ so well fer the past coupl’a days. I’m thinkin’ if you got somethin’ important to tell ‘er, I might jus’ have to take a message. Eeyup.”
Pinkie frowned, a look of concern washing over her normally happy face. “Oh no, that’s no good! I’m super-sorry AJ isn’t feeling so good, I’m gonna have to throw her the best “Glad you got better” party Ponyville’s ever seen. But I guess I’ll just tell you to tell her that we’re going to…”
“What in tarnation are y’all blabberin’ about out here? Big Mac, I told ya I needed to get s’more sleep today, and you know how I am when I ain’t feelin’ quite right. I just don’ understand why y’all are standin’ out here yappin’ in the middle of the mornin’! What’s the matter with you? And don’tcha got work to do, Mac?” Applejack glanced at the pair of them, an incredible frown across her face as she stormed out to the pair of them from the farmhouse.
“I’m super-duper sorry we gotcha out of bed, Applejack, but I came by to tell you that I have a super-important mission to go that involves another MMMM. This time though, it’s a lot bigger than just a big, amazing dessert contest. Even though that’s pretty big. We’ve gotta take an MMMM to King Gildenheart of Gryphonstein as a peace offering.”
“If we do, and he likes it; I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t, it’s MMMM! But anyway, if he likes it, our victory will go down in the SCUDHUVF, and then we’ll be remembered in Equestrian history as the ones who forged peace between the nations. Come to think of it, is it just me or have we been recognized for a lot of stuff like that lately? Well, except for the Changelings. Oopsie!”
Applejack sighed and facehoofed. “Hold up there, sugarcube, what in the hay is a “SCUDHUVF”? I t’aint never heard ya mention that before and…” Applejack was suddenly caught in a fit of coughs, and took a second to regain her composure, a hoof clutching her chest.
“Er-erm. Anywho, sugarcube, like I was sayin, I got no idea what this “SCUDHUVF” is, and even if I did, traveling all the way to Gryphonstein is just somethin’ I can’t do right now in the state I’m in. I wish I could help ya, but I’m sorry, I’m in no position to. Besides, you’d need somepony like Big Mac to help…wait a second…”
Pinkie bounced over to Big Mac and put her face right up in his, smiling wide and eyes huge. “Yeah! Big Macinpants can go with us! He’s big and strong and would be a big help; plus he’s never been on an adventure with us before, so that’d be a super-fantastic new experience for him! That way, AJ can stay here and rest, and feel better by the time we get back! Weee!” Pinkie pulled Big Mac into an enormous hug.
Big Mac sighed. “Now y’all know Ah got lots o’ work to do today, since AJ can’t help out. How am Ah supposed to get anything done if Ah’m not even here? It’s also worth notin’ that Ah’m not much of an adventure pony. There was this one time with a magical staff, or somethin’. That’s all a blur now, but Ah’m thinkin’ once is enough. Ah’m not the one you’re lookin’ for Pinkie, you might just have to do it without the Apple family this time around.”
“Now hold on jus’ a second here, big bro. As your sister, Ah’m actually thinkin’ you could use the time off to do somethin’ else. You do spend all yer dang time here! Ah can talk to Granny Smith about the best way to deal with today’s applebuckin’, or maybe just get Caramel to come help. Ah don’t think he can resist anything I say to ‘em anyway.”
“Besides, Ah was the only one besides Twilight who didn’t take a bite out of that cake last time. Ah want to make sure an Apple is there to try and take better care of the cake this time, now that we know Pinkie’s paranoia’s aren’t totally unfounded. Jus’ trust me, it’s a good idea.” Upon finishing, Applejack turned her stern gaze back on to Big Mac, who did nothing but sigh.
“Alright, alright. If yer wantin’ me to help so badly, Ah guess Ah can’t just leave a friend in the dust like this. How about Ah give ya a little help with yer cake problem again, Pinkie? Although this time Ah’ll do one better than jus’ carryin’ it for ya, okay? However, this is only on the condition that AJ gets some rest and gets somepony else to handle the applebuckin’ 'til Ah get back..”
Pinkie Pie jumped at Big Mac for another hug, and smiled at him. “Yay! Big Maccy-Mac’s gonna help! We’re sure to complete our mission now, and everypony in Equestria will remember that you helped carry out this super-important task!”
“Oh! Oh! And AJ, just because I remembered and I think everpony is finished talking about the specifics of the importance of our important mission now, “SCUDHUVF” is just what I call the Sucarcube Corner Diplomatic History Victory Fantastic! The “f” is silent, which is kind of silly, but silly is good! It’s a very honorific honor, and it would be amazing to finally be recognized in it!”
Pinkie’s ranting forced Applejack to facehoof again, and turn to look at Big Mac. “Alright Mac. Now that that’s all settled, you might wanna go pack your things. Knowin’ these girls, especially this one…”
She gestured towards Pinkie, who was now dancing hoof-in-paw with a gopher, chanting: “Big Mac-attack’s gonna cut us the slack and get Equestria back on track! Big Mac-attack’s gonna cut us the slack and get Equestria back on track!”
Applejack groaned. “Anyway! As Ah was sayin’, y’all should go up and get all packed and ready, Big Mac. This could be easy, or it could be a lot o’ trouble.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac grabbed Pinkie’s bucket of apples with his mouth and marched off to the house to collect his things.
“This is gonna be so much fun! Eep! I should go get all my stuff together, but I guess I can wait for Big Mac to come back down before we go collect everypony else. Knowing them, they’ll probably be all for this whole thing.” Pinkie gave a small cheer and returned to dancing and chanting with her new gopher friend.
The knocks on the door were getting louder and louder as Twilight Sparkle approached the library’s main door.
“Who the hay could that be this early in the morning on a Saturday? And I told them I was coming, why do they keep knocking? Hello! I’m almost there, I’ll open the door, please stop knocking!”
Twilight gave an audibly-irritated sigh as she finally reached the door and stuck out a hoof to pull the knob.
BOOM!
“Now Pinkie, darling, tell me again exactly what we’ll be doing?” Rarity trotted alongside her bouncing pink friend. In tow were Big Macintosh, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie stopped bouncing for a moment and pulled an important-looking slip of paper out of her frizzy pink mane, clearing her throat as she did so.
“Er-erm! Whoopsie, had a froggy in my throat, lemme just read this to everypony! Oh! And I can use a Trottingham accent! It’ll be fun!”
“Attention friends of Pinkamena D. Pie:
We of Sugarcube Corner humbly request that you accompany Miss Pie (That’s me!) on her journey to Gryphonstein. If you so choose to accept this mission, those of you who do are tasked to deliver one of our finest confectionary creations, the Marzipan Mascarpone Merengue Madness, or MMMM, with which you are already well-acquainted, to King Gaius Gildenheart himself.
As you may be aware, Gryphonstein and Equestria have a colored history—and that color is red. If you are able to successfully cross their borders, and gain an audience with the King, we at Sugarcube have the utmost confidence that Gildenheart will be unable to resist the peace-bringing deliciousness that is MMMM.
Upon completion of this mission, you will receive permanent recognition within Sugarcube’s esteemed book of fame, the Sugarcube Corner Diplomatic History Victory Handbook Fantastic, and will be remembered as Equestrian peace-bringers for centuries to come. So long, good luck, and thanks for all the fish.”
As Pinkie finished, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but stare in disbelief. “Thanks for all the fish? Pinkie Pie, you are so random. Jeez, I feel like I say that every single day now…”
“See, I remember somepony somewhere saying that, but even I’m not really sure what I was referencing…But the point is, basically our mission is to go deliver this cake, make peace with Gryphonstein, and then come back and be heroes!...again. Seems simple and fun to me! And I get another chance to protect MMMM! I just hope I don’t have to protect him from three certain someponies again. Do I have to make you Pinkie-promise?” Pinkie then glared in the direction of her three once-guilty friends, all of whom returned innocent glances.
“No need to worry about me, darling! I’ve sworn off sweets…but…question…why does Sugarcube Corner, a dessert shop of all places, have an esteemed…oh nevermind…” Rarity facehoofed. “Getting a regular answer is not something I expect… but yes, darling, I shan’t be compromising your cake this time, I promise!”
“Oh yes!...I mean, oh no, I would never dream of going behind your back like that again, I’m so sorry about the last time, Pinkie…” Fluttershy’s eyes started to tear up as she looked at her frowning friend.
“Bah! I don’t need that cake; my body is a temple of self-control!” Rainbow Dash lifted her head, fluttered in the air in front of her friends, and started to flex her muscles.
“See? Check this out; I’m the most loyal pegasus there is! If I slip up like that again, I don’t deserve the name Rainbow Dash. Y’see, the thing about being Rainbow Dash, is you never let-WHAM!”
“Oops! Sorry! Are you OK, Rainbow Dash?”
“Urgh…what the…I know that voice!” Rainbow Dash took a moment to pick herself up off the ground, generally flustered, and turned her head to look back at the source of the voice only to come face to face with a familiar wall-eyed mailmare, wearing an extremely concerned look.
“Derpy! Can’t you watch where you’re going? I feel like you crash into me at least twice a week! What’s the deal?” Rainbow glared at Derpy, eyes alight with frustration.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash; it just sort of happens…I lose track of where I’m going all the time, and I just can’t watch where I end up sometimes if I start flying too fast…” Derpy looked down at the ground, face full of dejection.
“Derpy, darling, it’s alright! I’m sure Rainbow Dash understands that not everypony can be as coordinated in flight as somepony else. And we all have places to go; don’t feel so bad, dear!” Rarity moved over to Derpy and gave her a quick hug, and smiled at her.
“Come to think of it, dear, why are you in Ponyville, dear? I thought you were working as a carrier in Canterlot these days! Well, come to think of it, I can sort of imagine why you’d want to get away from all that. I have personal experience there, but otherwise…”
Derpy snapped out of her stupor and nodded at the group. “Yeah! See, I am working in Canterlot these days, but today I was assigned to come back to Ponyville and pick up some fancy-sounding cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner; apparently the Princess is holding some kind of fancy party, and she special-ordered these delicious-sounding cupcakes. I can’t remember the name, but I’m supposed to grab them and take them back to Canterlot before the party!”
Pinkie sprang to attention at the mention of cupcakes. “Oh! Oh! I know! You must be the one coming from Canterlot to pick up the Double Dynamite Carrot Cake cupcakes. They’re super-amazing, and definitely require a high-class escort! Not as much as MMMM, but still, they’re amazing!”
“But wait a sec, Derpy!” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin as she worked out her thoughts. Sugarcube Corner is way, way, way over there!” She pointed to the other end of town. “We’re gonna pass Twilight’s place before we make it back there, and we have to talk to her anyway about our super-special MMMMmission! You should just come with us!” Pinkie bounced over to Derpy and beamed at her hopefully.
Derpy ran the idea through her head, her weak eye flying in and out of focus as she reworked her plan. “Hmm…OK, sure! I’d love to go find Twilight with you guys, I haven’t had company in forever, anyway.”
“Yay!” Pinkie started to dance around Derpy, chanting: “Derpy’s gonna help us as we hurry and…wait a minute, what rhymes with Derpy…hmm…”
“Ah reckon we should just get a move on, we got a long day ahead of us…” Big Mac began trudging back down the road, the rest of the group in tow as they moved towards Twilight’s house.
“...As we hurry up and find Twilight…Slurpy? Burpy? Derpy? No wait, I can’t rhyme Derpy with Derpy! Pinkie, you’re such a silly pony! Wait, “Derpy’s gonna help us as we hurry and find Twilight Slurple?” I dunno…”
“Pinkie! Enough!” Rainbow Dash, already ahead of Big Mac, looked back at Pinkie in frustration, and the group kept moving in relative silence.
Twilight flew backwards, colliding painfully with a bookshelf as the library door was thrown back and splintered against the wall, blasted off of its hinges by an unknown force. From the gap in the door emerged a cloud of blue smoke, and a shadowy figure came into view amidst the chaos.
“It’s been a long time, Twilight Sparkle...”
Twilight looked up, frustration overriding the pain in her left foreleg and back after hitting the bookshelf. “I know that voice…Trixie? What are you doing here, and why did you attack me? Where have you been? Do you have any idea how long I searched for you in the forest? I thought maybe you’d gotten hurt or something…”
Trixie emerged from the smoke, cackling, a familiar smirk on her face, eyes filled with an absolutely triumphant glint. “Hah! Are you really all that surprised? After you and your friends made a mockery of the Great and Powerful Trixie, she was forced to abandon her lavish lifestyle and live amongst vermin.”
“Do you know what it’s like to live on a diet of pinecones, Twilight Sparkle? If not, it pains Trixie to have to tell you that you’re never going to be able to experience that pleasure. Trixie is going to make absolutely certain of that today. And after she has her revenge, she’ll finally be able to become the greatest magician Equestria has ever known! Make a note, Presto. Today, Trixie walks amongst the Alicorns!”
The grey squirrel upon Trixie’s back took out a piece of charcoal and a leaf and began scribbling notes upon it.
Twilight’s frustration turned to anger as Trixie’s tirade continued. “Why? Why are you doing this, Trixie? Are you so self-centered that even something as simple as being taken down a peg, would lead you to something drastic like…whatever it is you have planned? It just doesn’t make any sense!”
As Trixie continued to cackle triumphantly, an overburdened baby dragon finally made his way to the top of the stairs.
“What in the hay was that noi-Twilight!” Spike dropped the stack of books and made a beeline for his injured guardian. “How did this happen? Who’s done all of this?”
Twilight simply lifted her good hoof and pointed, while Spike followed it, his eyes finally coming to a stop on Trixie’s maniacal form.
“You! You’re that one showmare who thought she could tackle an Ursa Major! Twilight beat you and you ran off. Why are you ba-…”
“Whoa! Hang on there! Put me down!” Spike had suddenly found himself trapped by Trixie’s magic, and was hovering helplessly next to the showmare herself.
“Oh Trixie doesn’t think so, little dragon. You’d just get in her way. And now you get to watch as Trixie finally disposes of Twilight Sparkle and become the greatness she was meant to be!
Without pause, Trixie began channeling a spell that placed a dark lavender circle within the center of the room. Slowly, the circle began expanding, attempting to fill-out the already cramped space of the library’s first floor. Trixie’s channeling continued, as the size of the circle grew.
Twilight roared in anger and frustration. “Y’know Trixie, I think you need to be taught another lesson in-ouch!” The pain in Twilight’s left foreleg forced her back down to the floor as she attempted to stand up, and she now noticed a bone jutting out at an awkward angle. Her leg was broken. “I…I can’t stand up…and can’t focus my magic with all the pain. This…this might be it."
Twilight’s face grew somber, and she looked at Spike “If this is the end, goodbye Spike, you were the best assistant an aspiring scientist could ask for! I’m just…just sorry I couldn’t give you your surprise today…”
“Trixie hopes you’re prepared, Twilight Sparkle. Once Trixie completes this spell, you’ll be no more, and Equestria will be all the better for it!” Trixie’s cackles reached an unparalleled level of madness, as the spell came closer to completion.
“Say goodbye, Twilight Spa-OOF!”
Just as the spell was nearing completion, something slammed into Trixie’s side and forced her hard into a bookcase. A familiar rainbow streak hovered in the air coming through the door, and its owner spat onto the ground as she glared at the showmare.
“You! How dare you come back here and attack my friend! I thought we sent you packin’ when you tried to beat that Ursa Minor! Do I need to teach you another lesson, hotshot?” Rainbow Dash pounced upon Trixie and pinned her to the ground in an effort to keep her from continuing her spell.
“Oh my goodness! Twilight!” Fluttershy dashed through the door and immediately began tending to Twilight’s injured limb, oblivious to the rest of the happenings in the room. Derpy followed her, and did all she could to keep Twilight still while Fluttershy worked with her leg.
“So now that Trixie’s over there, shouldn’t I be-aah!” Spike’s magical levitation ended and he quickly fell from his perch.
“Hold on, Spikey-Wikey!”
“Whoa! I’m really lucky this marshmallow show up when it did…it’s a shame I didn’t get saved by...uh…sorry, Rarity…” Spike, now resting on Rarity’s back, was suddenly greeted by a death glare. “Jeez. Now I sorta wish you’d just let me fall…sorry about that, I know ya hate it when people…”
“That’s enough Spike! We’ve got bigger things to deal with right now, darling. Pinkie? Macintosh? A little help?”
“Oki doki loki!” Pinkie and Big Macintosh bounded into the library, and Big Mac assisted Rainbow Dash in subduing Trixie while Pinkie tried to force a “Get Well Soon” cupcake into Twilight’s mouth.
“Fools! What have you done? You’ve ruined Trixie’s spell, and you have no idea what you’ve wrought!” Trixie wrestled frantically underneath Big Mac and Rainbow Dash, firing off random jolts of magic in a panic.
“Yeah right, Miss Sore Loser Psycho. There’s no way I’d fall for that one. You know how many villains we’ve tackled in the past few months that always try to tell me I’ve messed up in some way? Do you know how often that works? I’ll give you a guess, and it’d better be twenty-percent cooler than what I think you’re going to say.”
“How dare you! Trixie is being serious! What you’ve just done may spell doom for all of us; there’s no telling what that spell will do now that Trixie is not in control! Presto, tell them!”
The grey squirrel proceeded to mime danger and dismemberment, somehow turning both purple and orange, and then returning to normal colors and falling down feigning death.
“Oh my.” Fluttershy gave a look of concern at the state of Trixie’s squirrel companion.
“Like Trixie told you! While Trixie was in the Everfree Forest, she stumbled upon an ancient castle full of great and powerful magical secrets. This spell was one of those, but the instructions also gave a warning that if it were in any way interrupted, terrible things would happ-BOOM!”
The fount of energy growing along the floor suddenly exploded into an enormous burst of pure energy, a deep hole forming at the center.
Rainbow Dash suddenly grabbed Trixie and Twilight and made a move for the exit. “Hurry! We have to get out of he-!…”
Before Rainbow could finish speaking, all of the living things within the library had been sucked into the void created by the spell.
Soon after, the library returned to its peaceful state as if nothing unusual had just happened, save for drops of blood on the floor and wall where Twilight had been, and a stack of books at the entrance to the basement.
A whistle of wind could be heard past the battered library doorframe…