Nightmares

by unoservix

Chapter 02: The Dark Side of Magic

Nightmares
———

Chapter 2: The Dark Side of Magic

———

The sight of Canterlot's marbled towers and high walls had a soothing effect on Twilight Sparkle, as she watched from the back of the chariot drawn by no less than four white pegasus Royal Guards, her friends clustered around her. The well-defended capital city of Equestria had always been safe—with a few highly notable exceptions—and right now, with the sounds of battle still ringing in her ears and her stiff muscles still protesting against any movement she made, security was what she craved most.

Spike's letter to the princess had gotten an unusually prompt and curt response, and just before first light the morning after the attack in the Everfree Forest, Twilight was packing her bleary-eyed friends onto a chariot that would take them directly to the castle. But this was no time for grumbling. Something dangerous was loose within Equestria's borders, and Twilight had a feeling only the Elements of Harmony could stop it.

Of course, this had nothing to do with how it was always only the Elements of Harmony that could stop it.

The chariot swept down past a wide balcony near the top of the castle's highest tower. Twilight smiled at the sight of Princess Celestia, horn glittering with magic, as she looked out towards the eastern horizon—where the first rays of the sun were just beginning to crest over the far-off mountains to the east. It was comforting to see the familiar sights of home and the princess's routine—but it was also a little disturbing. After all, after raising the sun, Princess Celestia usually kept her early mornings to herself, before setting off for the throne room and the day's work. If she had cleared her schedule for this matter, that meant it must have been very important.

Well, she mused, with any luck it would just be a matter of picking up the Elements of Harmony, trooping into Everfree, and blowing away the frightening creature out there. And that would be that.

Hopefully.

The chariot landed with a thump that shook the dozing Rainbow Dash awake. "Her Highness will see you immediately," one of the guards said, with an impatient flap of wings. Twilight led her drowsy band of friends forward, up the steps and through the double-doors, and down the vast corridors of the castle. Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy all looked sorely in need of some coffee as they shambled after her, and as usual Pinkie bounced like a spring. But it was functionally impossible to get out of bed earlier than Applejack, so at least Twilight had the stalwart farm pony for a conscious conversation partner.

Applejack glanced awkwardly around the resplendent halls. "So, uh, Twi," she said quietly, "was it just me, or was that pony last night a whole lot like Nightmare Moon...?"

"It wasn't just you," answered Twilight. "It was something called a Nightmare. I read about them when I was studying here," she nodded off in the general direction of Canterlot's prodigious library, "but there wasn't much to read. I'll have to ask the princess about it."

"Well, we turned Nightmare Moon good again just by zappin' her with the Elements," Applejack said with a shrug. "Maybe that's all we gotta do this time."

"I hope so."

Rainbow Dash interrupted them both with a loud yawn. "Great story, guys, but how come we all had to come first thing in the morning?"

"Because," interrupted another voice, "this matter is of the gravest importance."

Every pony instinctively threw themselves to the ground in something between reverence and fear before Princess Luna. The princess of the night blinked in surprise for a moment before Twilight got back to her feet.

"Princess Luna! Did Princess Celestia tell you—"

"Of course, Twilight Sparkle," Luna interrupted, and motioned for the six ponies to follow, down the long corridors towards the throne room. "The Royal Guard has been in a panic since your letter arrived, and I fear my sister has not slept well."

Twilight cringed. "I-I'm sorry—"

"There is no need." Luna nudged open the doors with a glow of magic and ushered the six ponies into that vast and sweeping chamber from which the two sisters ruled all Equestria. The vaulted ceiling, the columns and fountains, the shimmering stained-glass windows—and there underneath it all sat serene Princess Celestia.

The doors swung shut and Celestia smiled gratefully as her student came bounding up to her. "I'm glad to see you unharmed after your little adventure last night, Twilight Sparkle."

"Yes, well, combat magic, never know when you're gonna need it," laughed Twilight.

Celestia looked up at the other somewhat bleary ponies—the ones that Twilight noticed had managed to start waking themselves up in the presence of Equestria's rulers—and her smile faded.

"All the same," the princess said, "you've brought us some troubling news. It does not sound like one of the ordinary creatures of the Everfree Forest that you encountered."

"It wasn't, Your Highness," Applejack said with a sigh. "It had this spooky mane made outta smoke, like," she glanced furtively at Luna, "like Nightmare Moon or somethin'."

Luna flinched at the name as Twilight continued. "It kept ranting about how it wanted to kill me," she said, "and it mentioned something about having gained new power. I did a little research after I got back to the library and I think it might be—"

"A Nightmare," finished Luna, and all eyes turned towards her. "Of course it is. The second one."

"Yes," agreed Celestia, "although if it's confined to the Everfree Forest, it may not have had any contact with the other one."

"But a Nightmare does not emerge from a vacuum," said Luna, "and the one we have pursued until now is crafty enough to have created a second."

"Possibly, but out of who...?"

"Uh, beggin' yer pardon, Your Highnesses," Applejack spoke up, "but...what's a Nightmare?"

"Y-You mean there's more things like N-Nightmare Moon?" Fluttershy whispered, hunkered down on the floor.

"Um, I meant to ask about that, actually," Twilight said with a sheepish grin, "because when I was researching, I noticed that there wasn't a whole lot to, you know, research..."

Celestia and Luna shared a somber look and Twilight's heart sank, before the lunar princess stepped forward. "Well then," Luna said, "I suppose I should explain, since I have a...special relationship with this subject." She shivered, but started speaking again before Twilight or anyone else could say a word. "When I was...Nightmare Moon, I was but the strongest and best-known of a certain kind of creature known to roam the lands in Equestria. The Nightmare is a special creation that results from the mixture of a pony's natural magic with powerful emotions, like anger, greed, or," she glanced awkwardly over at Celestia, "jealousy."

Rainbow Dash blinked disbelievingly. "S-So you mean you can make more Nightmare Moons...?"

"Anypony can become a Nightmare," Luna answered. "Everypony has some affinity for magic."

Pinkie gasped in utter horror. "Even Derpy?!"

All eyes turned towards her in astonishment. "Err, I...suppose?" Luna stammered.

"And the power of our emotions is strong enough to affect our very environment," Celestia added, before Pinkie could interrupt again. "The power of disharmony was enough to free Discord. And you six were there to see what one could do with the power of love. Which, to answer your question," she glanced over at Twilight, "is why you couldn't find much to read about the Nightmares. I do not want it to be common knowledge that such creatures could be produced."

Fluttershy shivered. "Are they really that dangerous?"

Luna looked over at her sister again, and this time there was no mistaking the regret in her eyes. "A pony turns into a Nightmare and gains great power by the influence of negative emotions taken to their extremes...such as in my case."

"Luna," Celestia started, "you don't have to—"

"I must," answered Luna, with a curt nod towards Twilight and her friends, "so that they know what we have to deal with." She turned back towards the six ponies. "I transformed into Nightmare Moon because I was angry that the ponies of Equestria slept through my nights. But I could not vent that anger anywhere, so I held onto it in my heart, where it took root and grew. And everything anypony did that displeased me, everything that I could perceive as a slight, all acted to feed that anger and make it stronger."

"A-An' then the Nightmare took over?" Applejack asked.

Luna glanced again at her sister. "The Nightmare did not take over. The Nightmare grew out of me." She looked back at the six shocked ponies. "It was always myself underneath the façade of Nightmare Moon. It was my hatred, of," she closed her eyes shamefully, "of you, sister, that fed the Nightmare and kept it strong." She squeezed her eyes shut, and Celestia stepped up next to her to offer a gentle nuzzle.

"I understand," she whispered.

Luna smiled back and wiped away her tears. "I know." She looked back towards Twilight and her friends. "When I was imprisoned on the moon, with only the Nightmare to keep me company, it sometimes seemed as though it was a separate entity from myself. But other times, at the height of my rages, when I looked back on what had happened and felt the greatest fury, the power the Nightmare wielded came from me." The six ponies with the Elements of Harmony stared back uncomprehendingly. "It...is difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it..."

"The point," Celestia added, "is that a Nightmare does not simply possess its host. It is its host."

"And that is how the Nightmare takes root," Luna went on. "It can only grow in a pony who already has those negative emotions, and locks them away without closure. They grow and come to corrupt the pony who holds onto them. And the one thing such a creature desires the most is satisfaction of its anger."

"Which begs the question," Celestia finished, "who in Equestria could have such powerful feelings against you, Twilight?"

The throne room fell silent and all eyes turned towards the purple unicorn. "Who in the world would wanna hurt Twi?" Applejack sputtered.

"Indeed!" scoffed Rarity. "Our Twilight is the very picture of politeness and courtesy! Surely there must be a mistake."

"Are you sure you don't owe her any money?" Pinkie asked. "'cuz I could've sworn—"

Twilight frowned as she wracked her brain for a name or a face that might have some reason to be angry at her—angry enough to turn into this Nightmare. She couldn't think of anyone who had reason to hate her—at least, no one who was still around. Nightmare Moon was destroyed, Discord was trapped in stone again, and the Changeling queen had been thrown out of Equestria entirely. Yet somepony had evidently gotten mad enough at her to turn into this terrifying beast. Somepony who already knew her and knew what she could do.

"Um," Fluttershy spoke up, "what about that one pony with the magic act?"

All eyes turned towards the yellow pegasus, who promptly tried to hide behind Pinkie Pie. "Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash said with a frown, "you mean Trixie?"

Twilight blinked in surprise. Trixie—Trixie, the boastful unicorn magician whose bragging had led Snips and Snails to lead an Ursa Minor to Ponyville! The same unicorn who had run off after that whole fiasco, and Twilight recalled letting her go, thinking that maybe she would "learn her lesson"...and, well, evidently she'd just turned into a Nightmare somewhere out there instead. So much for "learning her lesson."

"Wait, wait," Applejack said with a disbelieving shake of her head, "ya mean that loudmouth magician with the wagon went all crazy and wants to kill Twi?"

"Of course!" cried Pinkie with a victorious grin. "It all makes sense! Her reputation in shambles, she fled to the Everfree Forest, where she was left alone with only her thoughts and her humiliation, and humiliation leads to anger, and anger leads to hate, and hate leads to crazy evil murder-pony! It's perfect!"

"That's ridiculous," scoffed Rarity. "What happened with the Ursa was hardly worth killing for."

"And so what happens next is Twilight journeys far beyond Equestria searching for the secrets of the Nightmares and meets wise and powerful creatures from all over the world and together they form a team, a fellowship even, and—" Pinkie said no more as Applejack dutifully shoved a hoof over her mouth.

"Twilight," Celestia said with a frown, "perhaps you should explain."

"Err, well," Twilight pawed the floor nervously, "do you remember a friendship report I sent where I talked about being afraid that my friends wouldn't like me for my magical talents?" Celestia nodded. "The unicorn they're talking about is, um, related to all that. See, there was this magician named Trixie who put on a show in Ponyville, but she was really boastful and obnoxious about it. And she embarrassed my friends on stage and got them angry, and—"

"And she turned my mane green!" Rarity added with an outraged stamp of hooves.

Twilight glared back. "Well you got the green out, didn't you?"

"It's the principle of the thing, Twilight!"

"Anyways," interrupted Celestia, and Rarity backed away sheepishly and tried to join Fluttershy in hiding behind Pinkie.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Anyways, Trixie told a story of how she'd defeated an Ursa Major, so a couple of foals found an Ursa Minor in the Everfree Forest and, thinking it was an Ursa Major, they brought it to Ponyville for her to defeat. And it turned out she couldn't, so I had to take care of it, and Trixie ran off with her reputation in ruins." She frowned as the other details began to bubble up from the murky depths of memory. "She lost her wagon and all of her possessions, but after I took care of the Ursa, she ran off towards the Everfree Forest. And, um," she shrugged, "that's the end of the story, as far as I know."

Luna glanced over at her sister. "Obviously not, if this magician turned into a Nightmare."

"Is there anyone else the Nightmare might be, Twilight?" asked Celestia.

"No one that I can think of."

"Now I wish I had followed her!" groaned Rainbow Dash, with a glare at Twilight. "Some lesson she learned!"

Celestia and Luna shared a knowing look. "I suppose this is the most plausible explanation we have," Luna said with a sigh. "Even so..."

"Alright!" Applejack exclaimed. "So Trixie went nuts and wants to kill Twi! What do we do about it?"

"That," Celestia said with a frown, "is the difficult part." She cast a somber glance over the six ponies before her. "There is another Nightmare on the loose, in the caverns underneath Canterlot. Luna and I have been working for months to contain it, but since neither of us know who the Nightmare was originally, we do not know who its target is or what exactly it wants to do. All we know is that it is very dangerous," she closed her eyes, "and willing to kill."

The six ponies gasped in horror. "Therefore," Luna added, "neither of us can deal with this second Nightmare. It has taken all our attention just to follow the first."

"Then we can do it!" Twilight spoke up. "We'll deal with it! Applejack and I were able to stop Nightmare Storm once, and with all six of us, there's no way she'll beat us!"

Luna and Celestia shared another look. "She has a point," Luna said. "If this Nightmare is anchored to a unicorn of middling talents, and she already defeated it once before..."

Celestia pursed her lips. "I suppose."

"Yeah!" shouted Rainbow Dash, and she eagerly took to the air. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go get the Elements and—"

She fell silent at the sober look on the two princesses' faces.

"Um...what?"

"Commendable enthusiasm, Rainbow Dash," said Luna with an awkward shuffle of hooves, "but, well..."

"There are two ways to neutralize a Nightmare," Celestia explained. "The...preferred method does not involve the Elements of Harmony. A Nightmare cannot survive without negative emotions to fuel it, so if the Nightmare's host were to let go of the anger in which the Nightmare rooted itself, the Nightmare alone would wither and die, and the pony would return to normal."

Twilight and her friends shared a confused look. "So...we'd have to make Trixie...stop being mad at Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"Wait, that's not how we defeated Nightmare Moon!" Rainbow Dash protested. "We used the Elements of Harmony, and—"

"If you use the Elements of Harmony on this Trixie," Celestia interrupted, her face grim, "it will kill her."

All six ponies came to a stop in disbelief. "What?!" Applejack cried.

"But we used the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon, and Princess Luna survived perfectly well!" Rarity wailed.

At that, Princess Luna regally unfurled her wings and stared down imposingly at the six ponies. "I am the princess of the night," she said, punctuated with an imperious beat, "and you can no more destroy me than you can pull my moon down from the starry sky."

"And even Luna was severely weakened by them," Celestia added, as Luna came back down to earth with an annoyed huff. "But Trixie is a mortal pony and that means she would not survive. The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful magic we know. Only an immortal being can survive its use."

Twilight sat back, stunned. Of course, it made perfect sense. The Elements of Harmony acted to restore balance and order to things that had become disordered, but it worked on a massive scale. The power that had undone Discord's chaos at a single stroke would have to be overwhelming to a mortal body, especially if it was concentrated on a single pony...

"So we could try to save her," Rarity said, "or we could," she shivered, "destroy her."

"I vote for save," Fluttershy mumbled.

"But she's crazy now!" cried Rainbow Dash.

"But we can't have a party if we blow her up!" Pinkie wailed. "Can we? I mean, she couldn't come to it, so it couldn't be a welcome party or anything, but—"

"All ah know is whatever she is, she's dangerous," Applejack said, "an' ah don't wanna take no chances."

As her friends descended into an argument, Twilight thought back to that obnoxious magician, running away in shame. Trixie had picked on Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, and her boasting had inadvertently led to the Ursa's rampage. But being boastful and mean was no reason to die. Quite a few unicorns got a touch of arrogance when they lived among Earth ponies. It was one of those traits the schools tried to stamp out, and it was a lesson every unicorn eventually had to learn growing up. Just because you had a horn and could do magic didn't make you any better than any other pony. After all, you couldn't fly like the pegasi, and you had no natural strength or affinity with the life-giving earth, like the Earth ponies.

So Trixie hadn't learned that lesson. That was no reason to die. And besides...

"I think we should save her," Twilight said suddenly.

The argument stopped and all eyes turned towards her in surprise. "But Twilight, she tried to kill you," Rainbow started.

Twilight held up a hoof to stop her. "I know. And I know Trixie was, well, kind of a giant jerk to you guys. But we can do this another way." She got back to her feet and looked around earnestly at her friends. "We all know the kind of power friendship has. Not even Discord could get between us for long. And Nightmare Storm isn't nearly as scary as he was. But we can defeat her another way, without having to kill anypony."

Applejack arched an eyebrow. "Even if she wants to kill you?"

"Well, I mean, you guys don't want to kill her, do you?" The other ponies glanced guiltily at each other, and Twilight smiled triumphantly. "She didn't learn her lesson last time, but we can make it different this time. That's what friendship is all about, right?"

Twilight's friends murmured amongst each other for a moment, before the gears in Pinkie's mind clicked into place and she began to beam.

"Wait a minute, that means we'd have another friend, and if we have another friend, that means—"

"Here it comes," sighed Applejack.

"—A PARTY!"

Twilight turned away from her friends, confident that she had been victorious—and her smile fell at the sight of the princesses' still somber demeanors.

"We're...doing the right thing, right?" she asked.

Celestia only smiled back sadly as Luna stepped forward. "A Nightmare is not easily swayed from its lifeblood," she warned. "And the strong emotions that nourish it are not easily diminished—especially by mere words. Are you prepared for a challenge unlike any you have faced before?"

"Wh-What do you mean—?" started Twilight.

"What she means," Celestia said, "is that you must take somepony who hates you—hates you enough to kill—and turn them into a friend. Are you up to that?"

Twilight looked around at her own friends, and for a moment, she faltered at their unsure faces. And there were times when she'd wondered whether they were really behind her—but in the end, from Discord and the Changelings to late friendship reports, they had always pulled through for her. Surely they would again.

Celestia and Luna shared a look. "No matter your answer," the former said, before Twilight could speak, "we'll have much to discuss later tonight. But for now, I'm afraid we have other matters to which we must attend." She smiled warmly at the six ponies and nudged open the door with a bit of magic. "I leave it to the six of you to decide how this Nightmare should be neutralized. Take some time to yourselves in the city, and think about it. I will await your answer tonight."

———

As much as she respected and loved her mentor, sometimes it drove Twilight Sparkle up the wall to think how vague she could be.

That meeting had ended an hour ago and Twilight had met Spike—the same Spike who had stayed up far too late past his bedtime last night writing a letter and coughing up the response, and who had spent the morning making up for lost sleep—and still the purple pony was wracking her mind. Did the princess still have confidence in her? They were the Elements of Harmony, their power cemented and multiplied by their friendship, and the princess was leaving this up to them—but then more questions came. Was it really Trixie? She couldn't think of anyone else it might be—but then she'd never really gone and compiled a list of enemies that might be lurking in the Everfree Forest waiting to kill her. What if it wasn't Trixie? Then how would they ever talk the Nightmare down? What if it was Trixie—and she didn't want to listen? What if she was wrong and that thing wasn't a Nightmare at all? That was entirely conceivable, her research had been so scanty—but even still. And what if that other Nightmare the princesses mentioned was involved? That was a whole new set of variables to consider and—

"So," said Spike, and his voice went crashing through Twilight's frantic vortex of thoughts like a wrecking ball, "what are we doing out here anyways?"

Twilight blinked, looked around, and realized sheepishly that she had somehow wandered into the center of Canterlot's busy market square, with Spike on her back.

"O-Oh," she started, "wow, did I really zone out that bad?"

"It was an eight at the least," Spike answered.

Twilight cringed. The Zone-Out Scale was out of ten. "Well, um, the princess just said for us to take some time to think about it, so we all kinda went our separate ways. Although if I recall..."

As though on cue, an explosion of confetti blasted out the windows of a nearby bakery, followed by the high-pitched giggling of one pink earth pony.

"Couldn't stop her, huh," deadpanned Spike.

"Applejack tried," sighed Twilight, and started walking again. "It didn't work."

"Well, hey, I know," Spike said with a grin, "let's go see some of our old friends, when we lived here! Like Moondancer! Remember her?"

"Um...no?"

"Starsong?"

"No."

"Firefly? Starflower? Melody?"

"Nope, not ringing a bell."

Spike almost appeared to deflate. "Oh yeah, you didn't have friends in Canterlot. I did."

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "We can go see them any—"

She fell silent as she ran straight into something and fell flat on her rump, depositing Spike straight onto the pavement with a thump, and when she looked up, she found herself staring into the bright green eyes of a chestnut-colored pegasus pony with a seesaw on his flank. The stallion immediately smiled apologetically and held out a hoof to help Twilight back up.

"Terribly sorry, miss," he said, "I didn't even see you there!"

"No no, it's me," Twilight replied, and levitated an annoyed Spike back onto her back. "I just, y'know, get my head stuck in the clouds and—"

"Hey, wait a minute," the stallion spoke up, with a grin of recognition slowly spreading on his lips, "I think I've seen you before. Twilight Sparkle? The princess's student?"

"Um, yes—"

"Well now! Not every day you bump into such famous ponies, is it?" The stallion gave an elegant bow with unfurled wings. "Seesaw, humble pegasus, at your service, Miss Sparkle."

"Oh, well, um—" started Twilight, before Spike smacked her upside the head. "Right! Right, well, sorry to bump into you like that, I'll just be on my way—"

"Come to think of it," Seesaw said with a curious look, "I haven't seen you around here too often, being the princess's student and all. Full-time job?"

"Oh no," Twilight said with a dismissive wave of a hoof, "I've been living in Ponyville these days. Special assignment. Very important."

Seesaw's eyes lit up. "Ponyville?" he echoed. "Really! This little encounter gets more fortuitous by the moment!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, see," he shuffled his hooves for a moment, "I guess it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I must confess to a certain soft spot for those traveling unicorn magic shows. I'm sure one of them has visited Ponyville while you've been there."

Twilight frowned. Someone asking after traveling unicorn magic shows...well, maybe Trixie had a fan. The crowd had seemed amused by her shenanigans in Ponyville, at least—before the whole Ursa thing.

"Anyways," Seesaw continued, "I know, unicorns doing magic, nothing special, but the showmareship and stagecraft has always appealed to me. And there's one in particular I've been following for a while, bombastic little thing, a blue unicorn by the name of Trixie." Seesaw regarded Twilight with a frown. "I heard she passed through Ponyville a few months ago, but since then she's dropped off the map, as it were. So—and I know this is a long shot—you wouldn't happen to know what's become of her, would you?"

Twilight bit her lip as she weighed her options. Telling one of Trixie's fans that she'd run out of Ponyville in humiliation and subsequently transformed into an evil shade fueled by hatred and bent on revenge was probably not going to help matters. Indeed, if the plan was to try to talk Trixie down and starve the Nightmare of its life-giving hatred, well, that would be rather counterproductive.

She looked back up at Seesaw and saw a little glimmer of concern in his eyes. Then again, perhaps the knowledge that she still had fans would help dredge up the obnoxious showmare underneath the snarling Nightmare.

"I haven't heard," she said, "but I'll keep my eyes open."

Seesaw grinned in delight. "As generous as you are famous! I am in your debt. Please, don't hesitate to let me know what you find."

"Err, okay," Twilight said, "but how will I get in touch with you?"

"Oh, I'm around," Seesaw said with an enigmatic smile. "Bit of a traveler, you see. But I'll be around Ponyville all the same." He bowed. "Thanks again, Miss Sparkle, and best of luck."

Seesaw disappeared around a corner, leaving Twilight to glance back inquisitively at Spike.

"That was weird," he muttered.

Twilight frowned. A little weird indeed, perhaps, but then again, it wasn't exactly mind-boggling to think that even arrogant and insensitive Trixie could have fans. Maybe they just didn't know that her personality was evidently not an act—or they didn't know that the Ursa Major thing was just an act.

But either way, Trixie had bigger problems—and Twilight ruefully remembered that she still had a decision to make. And perhaps a walk would clear her head.

———

One walk later, Twilight Sparkle's head was as clear as the fog in the Everfree Forest. Her walk had wound up swinging by a café for lunch for herself, and a jeweler for lunch for Spike, and now it was taking her along the winding streets of Canterlot, somewhere near the train station. And her head remained as foggy and unclear as ever.

"So," Spike said as he casually munched on a hunk of jasper, "basically, Trixie went crazy and turned into this evil monster thing, and she tried to kill you, but you wanna try and make her your friend."

Twilight's ears went flat. "Well, when you put it that way it sounds completely insane."

"That's 'cuz it is."

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay," he said, and paused to swallow another lump of jasper. "But seriously, you remember her, right? She was the jerk who turned Rarity's mane green—"

"It was only temporary," groused Twilight. "Besides, you guys were kind of egging her on."

"That's not the point!" wailed Spike. "The point is she was a jerk, and if she turned into an evil crazy demon thing, she's probably still a jerk underneath all that. Are you sure you wanna be friends with a pony like her?"

Twilight frowned. "I'm sure she's not that bad."

"Twi, seriously, everyone found out she was a big phony and her response to that was to run into the Everfree Forest, turn into some crazy evil thing, and try to kill you. If that's not 'that bad,' I dunno what is."

"Fine, point." Twilight huffed in annoyance. "But what else are we supposed to do? The princess said that if we use the Elements of Harmony, it'll kill her. I don't want to go that far. We should never go that far! So that doesn't really leave us with that many options." She sighed and momentarily contemplated bashing her head against a nearby pillar. "Oh, how would we even do it, anyways? We'd have to de-Nightmare-ify her or something first."

"Well, hey, what if we got Shining Armor and Princess Cadence to do that love-powered super repulsion spell or whatever it was, like they did at the wedding? And just, like, throw her out of Equestria or something!"

Twilight groaned. "I guess." She thought back grimly to the awesome power of the Elements—a power even Nightmare Moon and Discord had feared. "But still," she went on, "what if we could turn her into a friend?"

Spike held up a lump of tiger's eye and let the sun glint off it for a moment before tossing it into his mouth. "Well," he said around shards of precious metal, "what would that be like anyways? It's not like she won't be a jerk."

"I don't know," groaned Twilight. "Someone to talk about magic with, y'know? No one else in Ponyville really appreciates magic the way I do."

"Hey, I do!" Spike shot back. "I'm your number one assistant, remember?"

"You fell asleep in the middle of my experiment on isomorphic kinetic spells."

"Oh yeah, huh." Spike paused for a moment. "Wait, you think Trixie's gonna find that stuff anymore interesting than I do?"

"No, but, well," Twilight shrugged, "at least there'd be someone around who I know is interested in magic. Someone who shares my interests. I know not everyone does, but..."

Spike heaved a sigh. "I know. I get it. Look, if you really want to do this, I won't stop you, but I still think it would be better if we just zap her."

"That's what everyone thinks."

"Are you feeling guilty for running her out of town or something?" Spike asked. "Is that what this is all about? You weren't too worried about trying to become Discord's friend."

Twilight frowned at those bitter memories. "Trixie was just a jerk. Discord was downright malicious. There's no comparison."

Spike paused to pop another gem into his mouth. "If you say so."

"Of course I say so. You remember him. Half the reason he tore us apart with his powers was so he could enjoy watching us suffer! Not just embarrassing us or whatever but actually tearing apart our friendship! Trixie never did anything like that."

"I guess." Spike reached into his bag and scowled as he discovered it was empty. Gems always went by so fast. "Then again, Trixie is sort of a raving evil monster that wants to kill you now. So how are you going to get past that?"

Twilight groaned. "That's the hard part."

———

Applejack had never seen so much frosting in one place. Never in her life. It was everywhere. Every color of the rainbow and, judging by all the colors, every flavor under the sun enjoyed some representation in the streets and squares outside Canterlot's largest bakery. Tracked onto the pavement, splattered across buildings and walls, falling in globs from street lights, and even the birds that had been closest to ground zero were still pulling blobs of frosting out of their feathers. The sheer volume of sugary mass was boggling to the mind. And then there were the ponies, staggering about in a sickeningly sweet daze, while the Royal Guards simply stared in disbelief at the end of the street. If the world were to end with a flood of frosting, Applejack idly mused, this is probably what it would look like.

At her side, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed softly, and Rarity came to a stop, slack-jawed in wonder. From the bakery's broken door, a shell-shocked pony in a frosting-smeared apron stumbled out and wiped her eyes.

"Where did she even get this much frosting?" asked Rarity.

One of the larger blobs began to quiver, and with a spray of sugary cream, Pinkie Pie erupted from the mess looking something like a foal's hoof-painting project. "Hey girls! Glad you could make it! Unfortunately you were a little too late 'cuz it turns out the Runaway Chocolate Reactor Cake hit critical mass before you showed up and kind of exploded everywhere a little but that's okay because I got the recipe all safe up here," she tapped the side of her head, "so I can make an even bigger one when we get back to Ponyville!"

Silence reigned over the five ponies for a moment before Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. "Uh, Pinkie Pie, what exactly did you do?"

"Oh! Well! You know those little candies that get all fizzy and poppy and stuff when you put 'em in your mouth?"

The other four ponies shared an uneasy look. "Um, yes," Fluttershy started.

"And you know how the place right next door sells soda pop in bulk?"

Horror dawned over Applejack's face. "You didn't."

"And you know how they foam up when you put them together?"

Rarity's face fell. "She did."

"So," Pinkie went on, "I thought, what if you put them in a cake, and so I did, and I asked Mrs. Sweets here," she gestured to the trembling pony in the doorway, "and we spent all morning trying to make a cake with a big opening in the middle, and we finally got it right and I poured in all the soda and then threw in all the candy and, well, it turns out the center could not hold and before I knew it—"

"Wait," Rainbow said, "let me get this straight, you made a bomb out of a cake?"

Silence once more reigned. "Yes indeedy!" chirped Pinkie. "I called it the Reactor Cake 'cuz that sounds sciencey and I'm pretty sure fizzy candy and soda explode when you put them together because of science but maybe we could ask Twilight when she gets back because she knows all about science."

Applejack blinked for a moment before something else occurred to her—something much more dire. "Now you wait just a doggone minute here, Pinks," she said, "you are not makin' one of these in Ponyville. Ah don't wanna spend all week cleanin' frostin' outta everythin'."

"Oh, well, next time I'll bake a lid for the cake," Pinkie said with a dismissive wave that sent a blob of butter cream frosting flying, forcing Rarity to duck. "I got everything under control!"

"Wouldn't a lid make it even worse?" Fluttershy asked, as Rarity fussed over her mane.

"Everything under control!" Pinkie cried.

They all turned at the sound of hooves on pavement and found Twilight Sparkle, with Spike on her back, gingerly stepping through the mess.

"So, um, anypony mind telling me what the heck happened here?" she asked.

All hooves pointed towards Pinkie.

"Oh." Twilight turned towards the others. "So what'd she do this time?"

"Fizzy candy and soda pop!" Pinkie exclaimed, and jumped in the air to spray frosting over as great an area as possible. Rarity yelped as another glob nearly landed in her mane.

"Wait, you put fizzy candy and soda together?" Twilight asked. "And—"

"In a cake!" Pinkie added, and landed with a plop.

"And set off a frostingpocalypse," Rainbow finished, as she wiped a blob of vanilla off her face.

Twilight looked back at Pinkie, dripping with sugary madness and grinning from ear to ear, and decided not to ask anymore questions. "Well," she said, "I say we help clean this up and then get Pinkie defrosted and go back to the castle. We did come here to work, after all."

"Hey! Making that cake was lots of work!" Pinkie shouted, as Twilight lifted her up with a tendril of magic.

"An' cleanin' it up will be even more," Applejack grunted.

It took four hours to clean up all that frosting—partly because Spike could only eat so much before getting sick, and once he did it became rather counterproductive to have him eat more—but, Twilight mused later, at least it took her mind off things.

———

"An exploding cake," Princess Celestia said with a skeptically arched eyebrow, as the chastened bearers of Elements of Harmony slinked into the throne room, one of them with a mildly bloated baby dragon on her back. "One and a half tons of frosting flooded out into the streets. Even some mild property damage. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I told you to go out on the town and think things over."

Twilight shot a glare over at Pinkie. "It shouldn't even have been chemically possible."

"I was as surprised as you!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No you weren't. You called it the Reactor Cake," Rainbow Dash said. Pinkie responded with a raspberry.

Spike promptly burped. "All I know is I'm never eating that much frosting ever again."

"Anyways," Celestia interrupted with a pointed look, "I trust you accomplished something today other than coating an entire street with frosting."

"Well," Twilight began, and glanced around awkwardly at her friends. All of them looked to her—like she was in charge or something. Was the leader supposed to be so unsure? Maybe spending four hours cleaning up frosting instead of thinking about this stuff hadn't been such a good idea after all. "I still want to try to stop the Nightmare without using the Elements of Harmony. But," she turned towards her friends, "I'm going to need your help. We all remember what Trixie was like when she left, and if we're going to stop her by making her, um, not hate me, I'll have to know that my friends are behind me every step of the way."

"Then I'll throw a PARTY—" Pinkie cried, leaping into the air, before Applejack yanked her back down by the tail.

"Darling, what a silly question," Rarity laughed. "Of course we'll help you! We are your friends, are we not?"

"Just as long as you won't get hurt," Rainbow Dash put in with a frown.

"M-Me too," Fluttershy added.

"An' maybe she's not so bad once ya get to know her," Applejack said with a shrug. "We like Rainbow just fine, after all," she added, earning a glare from the blue pegasus.

"Yeah!" Pinkie said, leaping into the air and radiating excitement. "And we can make another new friend! You can never have enough friends!"

"And I suppose the green mane thing wasn't that unsightly," Rarity said with a sniff.

"Alright!" Twilight whirled around to face the princess with a determined smile. "It's decided! Princess Celestia, we'll deal with the other Nightmare, and we'll do it without the Elements of Harmony!"

The throne room echoed with Twilight's exuberant voice. Princess Celestia regarded her student with a small, mysterious smile. Twilight blinked—this was a good thing, right?

"But, uh," Applejack started, "one thing, Twi...how are we gonna catch her?"

Twilight's smile fell. "Oh."

———

Comments

[ForSpite]

They're rather leaping to conclusions about it being Trixie, though it probably is. "Middling talents" is probably inaccurate as well, since she can beat Rainbow Dash at weather manipulation (which, now that I think about it is better evidence she's Nightmare Storm, since that seems rare for unicorns). "Above average but not a freak like Twilight or her less flexible but powerful brother" would probably be more accurate. But then, Celestia wasn't there for that episode, so she wouldn't know.