> Every Half is a Whole
>  by LCranston
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Up Against the Wall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Disclaimer:

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro and associations and are used without permission for the sole purpose of entertainment for no financial gain of any kind.

Rainbow Sprinkles, her mother and father, and Fudge Square (Brownie) are my intellectual property, but Lauren Faust can make me an offer if she wishes.


Background and setup:

I had always expected to write a sequel to “Gemini in All Things”.  I had the problem of addressing the question of should Trixie seek redemption or be forever lost and destroyed.  I decided on both.  Either one could be trite and I hate being too trite.

This story is just as much about Twilight’s redemption as Trixie’s.  Trixie would not have been as bad if Twilight had sent her to Princess Celestia’s magic school instead of teaching Trixie herself.  Still, redemption comes at a price and prices are never cheap.




Every Half is a Whole


(One year after Trixie’s exile)

In the minds of ponies, there is free will as well as instinct.  Anypony can aspire to be anything they wish.  Free will precipitates choice, which is sometimes called the most powerful force in the universe.  Still, that which comes before choice, which comes from the very essence of what you are, can be just as powerful.  Instinct is the very thing that colors your world view before you are even born.  What choices do you have?  Only what you think you have.
The Everfree Forest is one such place which stokes the instinct of every sentient being in Equestria.  Even the stoutest of hearts and most seasoned of warriors feels an automatic shiver whenever that name is spoken aloud.  Such is the power of instinct.
Nopony deludes themselves into thinking that it is the strange trees, or the unpredictable weather, or even the seemingly unnatural creatures inside the boundaries of that overgrown place.  Everypony knows when they are born to avoid the Everfree Forest.
The fact that the strange trees grow, bear fruit, and shed their leaves without assistance is proof that their fear is justified.  The fact that the weather changes itself according to patterns that do not seem to make sense without a single pegasus to act upon it is proof that their confusion is justified.  The fact that large, powerful creatures roam around with innate powers that can be barely duplicated by the wisest unicorns is proof that their shunning is justified.
Before, the citizens of Ponyville only had to watch out for poisonous flowers, freak lightning storms, sudden rockslides, and hulking beasts that would eat the still-living flesh from your bones.  Now, the citizens had to fear one of their own.  A dark, twisted figure that took up residence in a manticore cave too close to Ponyville for their tastes.
Funny thing about fear.  Fear prevents you from acting, but if left untended that fear will chafe at you until you turn it into anger, which spurs you to act in ways you might never consider wise.
Several large stallions had decided that they had enough of the dangerous mare daring to live so close to their foals.  Some of the foals had even dared each other to throw rocks into the cave of the blue unicorn.
The foals had actually run from the strange echoing caws in the forest long before they found the cave, but that fact did not soothe the stallions’ fear.  How dare that mare inspire their foals into such foolishness!
The stallions had taken up weapons and came in a group to get rid of her…one way or another.  The group of a half-dozen stallions gathered up their courage and gripped their deadly weapons.  The pitchforks, clubs, and cutting knives gleamed in the sunlight.  The stallions gathered around the mouth of the cave, ready to attack.  
The leader of the group, a tall green stallion with a curly blue mane and blue eyes hefted his pitchfork high.  His flank symbol showed a square bundle of hay.
He reared up and neighed loudly, “Show yourself, monster!  Come on out so we can teach you a lesson about what you did to our foals!”
A weary, feminine voice responded from the depths of the cave, “I did nothing to your foals.  They weren’t even here.”
The other stallions all relaxed a bit, losing their nerve.
One of them, a thin orange one with purple eyes and a yellow mane, said, “Well, they actually weren’t here.  Their tracks stopped just inside the border.  Maybe we should just…”  His flank symbol of a white cloud shedding three drops of water was nearly sliced as the green stallion swiped his pitchfork at the orange stallion.
He declared, “Shut up!  If it wasn’t for ‘her’, then our foals wouldn’t have got it in their stupid heads to go after her!”
The assembled stallions frowned reflexively.  The orange one argued, “Hey, don’t call our foals stupid!  They just…”
The green stallion’s right forehoof slammed into the side of the orange stallion’s neck, knocking him a few steps aside.
The green one declared, “Shut up!  It’s all this witch’s fault!  If she had never come to Ponyville, then our homes wouldn’t have been damaged by the Ursa Minor!  It’s all her fault!  Now we’re going to defend our families by getting rid of her.  Everyone, get ready!”
Suddenly, a bright blue light emanated from the depths of the cave.
The feminine voice spoke, gaining a hard edge, “How many times do you fools have to get beaten before you get it in your heads?”
Several dozen small vines sprouted up from the soil beneath the stallions’ hooves.  They grew larger and entwined the stallions in place.  The group of stallions all dropped their weapons and began to panic.  They tugged and tugged, but the little vines were somehow too strong.
The blue light approached the group of stallions.  The strong, masculine ponies nearly wet themselves in terror.
Out of the cave stalked a mare with metal in her face and a metal stump for a right foreleg.  Her face announced her displeasure, directly at the intruders.
She growled menacingly, “Maybe I shouldn’t spare you pathetic morons this time.”  
A sick smile blossomed across her face as she taunted, “Maybe I should just eat you all alive and deposit your bones on your families’ doorsteps.”
Suddenly, she blinked, sending an overwhelming wave of blue, concussive energy right at the stallions, point-blank.
The wave slammed into the stallions head-on, breaking ribs and shredding the vines.  Several deep bruises instantly formed on their coats.  The stallions were blown right off their hooves and pushed a dozen feet backwards.  
They instantly got up on their hooves, despite the pain.  They screamed incoherently and galloped back to Ponyville.
The blue unicorn held her head high, savoring her victory.  
Then, her smile faded.  A tear threatened to fall from her right eye.
She shook her head from side to side, as if throwing off the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.  She bared her teeth and snarled at the patch of ground before her.
“Why won’t they just leave alone?!  Isn’t it bad enough that I’m nearly starving out here?  Do they have to keep sending their idiot warriors to bother me?!  Are they TRYING to get themselves killed?!?!”
She scraped the ground with the right foreleg, carving a shallow groove in the ground.
She groused, “I’ve got half a mind to just wipe them out…but that would bring Princess Celestia’s wrath upon me.”
The plans in her mind tumbled over and over, unable to form any pleasing shapes.
Trixie declared, “I’d give anything if I could only get those simpletons to just LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

=====================

Deep in the garden of Princess Celestia, there was a winding path outside of a hedge maze.  A gentle breeze pushed the air eastward, forming a pleasant atmosphere in the garden.  There were many statues carved to depict historical events or significant ponies throughout history.
One statue formed a crack at the base of its tail.  A dark smoke flowed out, moving westward.

=====================

Hours later, the smoke entered Trixie’s cave.  Sticking to the shadows, it easily flowed undetected up to the lonely pony.  The blue unicorn was trying mightily not to sob loudly as she contemplated her life.
The smoke flowed over to fill the shape of her shadow upon the ground.
It then hissed in a sepulchral voice, “Why so sad, my pretty?”
Trixie stood up instantly, charging her horn.  She spun around, trying to find the location of the words.  Seeing nopony, she started to decide that it wasn’t anything important.
Impatiently, the smoke demanded, “I’m over here, you fool.”
The blue unicorn challenged, “Show yourself!  The Great and Powerful Trixie is no pushover, not especially in her own cave!”
Her shadow seemed to detach from her hooves and flowed up the wall of the cave.  It seemed to move as if with a life of its own.
It spoke, “Oh, come now.  Empty bravado is so unbecoming.  We both know that you’re miserable.  Why are you so sad?”
At first, Trixie did not trust a shadow that moved without her moving first.
The shadow crossed its front hooves in a gesture of annoyance.  
It demanded, “I can keep talking long enough to keep you awake at night, now tell me!  What are you so upset about?”
Trixie just found it so wonderful for anything to just talk to her that she blurted out, “What do I have to be upset about?!  Are you blind?  I live in a cave!  I’m exiled, starving, and attacked everywhere I go!”
The shadow seemed to calm down and gestured for more.  It asked, “Why are you attacked?”
The blue unicorn sheepishly said, “Well, I…kinda attacked my teacher.  I beat up a few others…but she made me do it!”
The shadow gasped melodramatically, saying, “She made you do it?  You mean she provoked you?  She was doing something wrong?”
Trixie felt her temper rise.  She remembered Twilight Sparkle.  She remembered how she was about to be cast out.  She remembered the powerful stallion with the dark brown mane.
She cried out, tears streaming down her face, “She was going to kill me!  She wanted to make me disappear!”
She sobbed loudly.  Sniffing, she felt her rage build until she felt hot.
She yelled, “She wanted to dispose of me in a desert.  A desert!!  She expected me to just go out into that desert and disappear!  Then, she could take…HIM!”
The animated shadow then smiled.  It smoothly offered, “That’s so unfair.  It sounds like she’s got the mayor wrapped around her hoof.  That way she could rule with an iron hoof and make everypony believe anything she wants.  Think about it.  Even if you survived and came back, who would they obey without question?”
Trixie’s pupils shrank as she contemplated Twilight sending the entire population of Ponyville after her.  Her brain exploded with rage and suspicion.
The blue unicorn growled, “She cannot get away with that!  I will liberate Ponyville from her grasp!  I will rescue them all from her grip!”
The shadow smiled sinisterly and added, “Then, they will all build you a mansion to live in.  They will shower you with riches and then your stallion will be with you forever.”
Trixie’s face split into a wide smile.  She declared, “YES!  I’ll do it!”
The shadow on the wall resumed its former shape.  It infused a piece of its essence into Trixie’s mind and body.
It said, “I will help you.  Have a small piece of my vast knowledge.  Now go forth and liberate Ponyville from Twilight Sparkle.  Do it any way you like, but do not stop until she is dead and her element is destroyed forever!”
Trixie’s normally purple eyes turned gray.
	
> Chapter 2 - Knowledge Does Not Equate Happiness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A couple of hours later, Trixie emerged from the road heading west out of Ponyville.  She confidently strode towards Ponyville.
Several ponies saw her coming and raised an alarm.  In short order, a mass of several dozen mares and stallions headed out along the rode to confront her.
She deliberately turned to stride into a field next to the road.  The mass of ponies also turned, preferring to fight in the field.  They arranged themselves a complicated checkerboard pattern.
Trixie snorted, mumbling, “Amateurs.”
With her new magic, she projected her voice all over Ponyville.  Her voice was not painfully loud, but forceful and coming from every direction.
“Citizens of Ponyville!  For over a year I have not bothered you or your precious little patch of dirt!  During that year, I have not left the Everfree Forest.  But YOU have attacked me without cause!”
The mares and stallions in battle formation passed around razor-sharp pitchforks and kitchen blades.  They tried to shout and taunt the powerful mare, but their voices could not even be heard by themselves.
The blue unicorn continued, “If I had followed your example, then your pathetic little homes would be ashes in a single day!  I have been kind in sparing your foolish thugs this far.  Now my patience has run out!  You will all bow down and respect me, for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!!!”
The attack force screwed up their faces into hateful snarls.  They shouted at the top of their lungs.  The assemblage could just barely hear themselves scream.
“Get out, you horrid mare!”
“Go crumble yourself, freak!”
“Dry up and die…you…BITCH!!!”
Suddenly, everypony looked at the one who said that final word.  The mare looked indignant and repeated, “Yeah, you heard me!  Anypony who brings an Ursa to our town deserves to DIE!”
The blue unicorn stared at the indignant mare with a glare right out of demonic faces in the netherworld.
Trixie reared up and declared, “So be it!!”
The assembled attack force of ponies charged in three groups.  The third of the force on the left curved around to surround their target.  The third on the right surrounded on the right.  The third in the middle lowered their weapons right at Trixie and screamed a blood-curdling cry.
The blue unicorn summoned tremendous amounts of power.  Channeling it through her hooves, she slammed her legs onto the ground.
The shockwave radiated outward, ripping the ground asunder.  Cracks appeared in the earth, wide enough to fall into.  Several ponies fell down where they stood from the massive tremor.  Others tripped over the ones in the front line and stumbled right into the cracks.  Voices shrieked as they fell, swallowed up by the earth.
The assembled attack force lost heart and fled, leaving behind their fellow citizens.  The blue unicorn stomped her hooves again, shaking the ground.  The cracks began to close, as if sealing their victims inside for all eternity.
Ponies screamed in primal fear and scrambled out of their premature graves.  Everypony fled in mortal terror at the sorceress before them.  In town, all of the foals and the mares left behind wailed in panic at the fate which awaited them.
Suddenly, a whooshing sound emanated from the skies above.  
A harsh voice declared, “FORMATION!!!  Wedge attack!”
A full squadron of white-coated pegasi flew down from the clouds.  Their bronze plate armor gleamed in the sunlight.  Their bronze spears glinted with deadly intent as they formed a sweeping wedge right at Trixie.
Trixie smiled sinisterly and blinked.  A sudden burst of light flashed in the eyes of the Royal Guards.  They pulled up, circling around for another attack run.
The Guard Captain shouted out, “Level run!  Eyes shut!”  The squadron flew horizontally, only two feet above the ground.
Trixie was not idle.  She filled her horn with energy, pointing it to the sky.  Clouds from all across the horizon zoomed instantly to her position.  In an instant, they turned dark.
Sheets of lighting leapt out at the squadron of pegasi.  Dozens upon dozens of lightning bolts struck the brave soldiers from Canterlot over and over.  Their metal armor and weapons conducted the electricity right into their bodies.  The bolts passed through their torsos and then into the ground.
Every pegasus crashed into the ground, rolling over and over painfully, screaming their torment.
Every pony in Ponyville gasped and sobbed in despair.  Not only were their loved ones totally humiliated, but their champions were defeated in seconds.
Trixie reared up onto her hind hooves in a victory pose, shouting to all corners of the nearby territory with her magically-enhanced voice.
“See what I have said!  I came here to Ponyville to talk peace!  I came to end your hostile actions!  Did you act civilized to me?  NO!!  You attacked me for my life without reason!  I have brushed aside your simpering excuses for warriors and wasted my energy sparing their undeserved lives.”
The blue unicorn tossed her mane and turned her back to the cracked and scorched ground, with wounded and crying Royal Guards upon it.
She stated coldly, “If you prefer to act barbaric, then so be it.  The next time any of you pathetic fools attack my home, I will conquer Ponyville and ENSLAVE YOU ALL!!!”
She then calmly walked away back to the Everfree Forest.

=====================

Back in the cave, Trixie preened her mussed mane.  Her shadow on the wall came alive and hissed with displeasure.
“Why did you run away?  You had them wrapped around your hoof.  You defeated every one of those ponies, including the Royal Guard, and you fled?”
The blue unicorn smirked and spoke haughtily, “And bring down the wrath of Celestia?  No thank you.  Not even you can match Celestia when she’s riled.  I did much more than just beat them up.”
Intrigued, the shadow asked, “What are you planning?”
Trixie could not resist bragging, “I did not attack first, ergo I am the one everypony will sympathize with.  I came to talk, and the barbarians rushed out with lethal force.  I beat them back with restraint.  I even slowed the reversal of the Earthquake Incantation to allow those simpletons to escape with their lives.  Everypony who knows the slightest bit of magic will recognize that.  I even turned down the voltage on the multi-cast of the Lightning Storm Spell.  I spared Celestia’s prized pets.”
The shadow actually swirled around itself like a vortex, then unfolded itself back into shape.  It asked, “You want them to like you or something?”
The blue unicorn explained, “I want them to realize that they are the aggressors.  I want them to feel ashamed of how they’ve been treating me.  Next time, they won’t have nearly as much heart facing me in battle.  The next time they fight, I will be justified in using my full power to defend my life and Celestia will do nothing in retaliation.  I will mount an offensive against Ponyville and have them willingly bow to me to spare their puny lives.”
The shadow vibrated until it exploded silently.  Reforming like a bubbling fountain, it asked eagerly, “You’re going to rule Ponyville out from under Celestia?  I did not see that coming!  How delightful!  How do you know they’ll attack again?”
Trixie proudly declared, “Just look at me!  Look at my face and hoof!  Those fools were cruel enough to blame the Ursa attack on me just to take the easy way out.  Do you really think they’ll blame themselves for jumping to conclusions about today’s little skirmish?  They’ll just blame me like they always do!  You can always count on those idiotic ponies to come all the way here in a fit of revenge and that will give me all the excuse needed to launch a full war against Celestia!”
Both Trixie and the shadow laughed maniacally at their plan.  

=====================

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Twilight and Spike were in the library, handling a dozen injured pegasi in the Royal Guard when the local hospital became overfull.  The captain and three others were intact enough to fly back to Canterlot to report back to Princess Celestia.  The rest had to rest in the library until at least tomorrow.
Twilight and Spike had a fairly easy time taking care of them.  Twilight conjured up some temporary blankets and pillows while Spike made a huge batch of salad and lemon water to feed the injured soldiers.  The doctor assured them that only rest would recover the soldiers.
Suddenly, Spike belched a jet of enchanted green flame, revealing a scroll.  Quickly reading it, he summarized, “Twilight!  The princess wants to see you and the girls in Canterlot right away!”
The purple unicorn opened the front door to the library and called over her shoulder, “Take care of the troops, Spike!”  She then ran out and began looking up in the sky.
Calling out forcefully, “Rainbow Dash!  Rainbow Dash!!”
Suddenly, an errant cloud sailed over towards the purple unicorn.  Poking her head out from the middle, a rainbow-maned pegasus snarled down at her friend.
“Twilight, what is it?  I’m kinda busy!”
Twilight Sparkle explained, “Go get Fluttershy and Applejack.  Meet us back at the library.  It’s important.”
Rainbow Dash complained, “Can’t this wait?  I’ve drafted every pegasus I can find to fix the weather.  We’ll be at this all day and even through dinner.  That ugly metal-face screwed up the weather from here all the way to Stalliongrad with that stunt of hers.”
The purple unicorn insisted, “Princess Celestia requests our presence right away!  It’s an emergency!”
The blue pegasus blinked once, then twice.  Then she grunted in annoyance.
“Fine, but if it rains when it’s not supposed to, it’s not my fault!”  She then sped off westward to find her friends.
Twilight then galloped off to find Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
A few minutes later, everypony assembled in front of the library.
Applejack asked, out of breath, “Twi…Twilight?  What’s wrong?”
Pinkie Pie answered before the purple unicorn could speak, “Twilight says Princess Celestia needs us like lickety-split ‘cause its important and it’s more important than helping ponies here I mean come on the princess would never turn her back on suffering ponies for nothing…”
Rarity closed Pinkie’s mouth with her hoof gently, saying, “I think we get the message, dear.  Twilight, we’re all ready to go.”
Fluttershy smiled gently and offered, “If you like, we can get the balloon ready.”
Rainbow Dash huffed loudly and said, “Oh, great!  Now I gotta pull you guys through the clouds all the way to Canterlot?  Well, let’s get this over with.”
Twilight smiled and then closed her eyes.  A sudden flash enveloped the group of mares.  Suddenly, everypony rubbed the spots from their vision to see that they were in a long hallway in the the royal palace in Canterlot!
Applejack bucked and declared, “Woah, nelly!  Warn us next time, sugarcube!”
Rarity complimented, “Well, that certainly was efficient!  Not a stray breeze to muss my mane.  Do you know how long it takes to get it styled like this?”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight with concern.  The purple mare hung her head and closed her eyes half-way.  
She asked, “Um…Twilight?  You don’t look so good.  I mean, you look okay, but you look tired.”
Twilight answered, “Right now, I feel as tired as Dash.  Let’s go meet Princess Celestia.”
The group walked down the hallway and arrived quickly at a large set of double-doors guarded by two Royal Guard pegasi.  Their armor was scarred from electrical discharge and there were bandages all over their bodies.  Still, they stood still and proud.  The pair crossed their wings protectively in front of their sovereign’s private chambers.
Twilight presented the scroll and said, “I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are the pones that Princess Celestia has summoned immediately.”
One guard took the letter and read it.  He knocked on the door and opened it gently.  
Sticking his head in, he asked, “Majesty?  Twilight Sparkle is here by summons.”
The regal alicorn replied, “Send them in, Captain.”
The group of mares walked inside the Princess’s chambers.  Everypony except Twilight marveled at the lavish interior.  
A chandelier carved form a single piece of crystal hung from the ceiling, glowing with the light of pure enchantment.  A massive hardwood bed took up half of one wall with plush pillows so soft that you could fall from a ladder and never feel the ground.  The massive brick fireplace had a mantle of solid polished marble with gold veins running through it in twisty patterns.  The carpet was an exotic design that none but Twilight had ever seen before.  Hoof-painted original oil painting portraits of Celestia and Luna decorated the walls.
Rarity opened gawked, “Is that an original Mare Antoinette bedframe?!  I didn’t think any still existed!  And those portrait frames of yourself and your sister must be at least five centuries old but they look almost brand new!  I simply must know where I can get these things!”
Applejack chastised, “Rarity!  Now is not the time for admiring fancy things!  We gotta get down to business.”
Princess Celestia chuckled and stated, “Well said, Applejack.  Besides, you can’t get these antiques anymore outside of a dragon’s hoard.  I don’t think they will part with such things easily.”
She looked at the group and explained, “I asked you here to let you know who you’re up against.”
Pinkie Pie interrupted by exclaiming while jumping up and down, “It’s that meanie Trixie!  She just showed up and smacked around all our ponies like the queen of the meanies!”
Celestia rebuked, “No.”
Pinkie lost her energy and just flopped onto the ground.
Rainbow Dash asked, “What, was that somepony else is disguise?”
The white alicorn explained, “Trixie is merely a pawn.  She has been residing in the Everfree Forest quite peacefully until now.  She has been provoked by constant incursions by ponyfolk from Ponyville.”  She then gave a glance to Twilight, who blushed furiously.
The purple unicorn apologized, “I’m sorry, Princess Celestia.  The mayor and I keep telling everypony to stop attacking Trixie, but they’re just too angry to let it go.”
Celestia stated, “Then perhaps it is time for me to visit Ponyville and give a proclamation.  However, what I have summoned you all here for is to let you know that Discord has escaped.”
The assembled mares gasped loudly.
Fluttershy hid behind Applejack and fearfully asked, “H-h-how did h-he d-do that?  Wasn’t he t-turned into stone?”
Rainbow Dash stood in a battle-ready stance and tensed up greatly.  She growled at the memory of what that creature did to her.
She demanded, “Show me where that jerk is!  I’ll sonic rain-bomb him right into the ground!”
Celestia stated forcefully, catching everyone’s attention, “He is a spirit of chaos.  Nopony can predict what he can do.  Apparently, he did something that resulted in a second skin covering his body.  When you turned him to stone, only that second skin petrified.  A groundskeeper found his statue with a small hole burned in the tail.  The statue is now hollow.”
The white unicorn reassured, “Well, that ruffian will NOT get his claws on anypony while we are here!  Just tell us where he is and we’ll do the job right this time.”
The white alicorn stated, “I have no idea where he is.”
Fluttershy curled into a ball and shivered.
Applejack asked, “Now, I’m not any kind of unicorn but can’t you use a spell or somethin’ to find magical beings?”
Twilight answered, “Yes, normally we can use a simple spell to find magical signatures around us.  If we know the exact magical signature, we can find it very easily.  This is why unicorns tend to study each other’s magic closely.”
The princess added, “I know his magical signature as well as I know my own sister’s.  If I can’t find him, then that must mean that he’s so weak that he cannot work any feats of magic.”
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Twilight.  She queried, “Princess?  If Discord’s so weak that his signature is too weak to be detected, then how did he escape?”
The white alicorn replied, “That’s exactly the conundrum I’ve been trying to solve.  I believe that somepony must have helped him, whether they knew it or not.”
Pinkie Pie snarled, “Who in their cupcake-loving mind would ever help Discord?  I mean anypony who wasn’t tainted already.”  She struggled mightily against the embarrassment of how her friends treated each other while Discord had affected them.
Rarity primped her mane and dismissed, “Of course, someponies might be misled and treat objects better than her…I mean their friends.  Still, who might have been close enough to the statue to chisel a hole into it?”
Celestia pointed out, “The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn’t need to touch the statue to release Discord.”
Twilight’s brain fired on full cylinders.  She announced, “It was somepony not anywhere near the palace.  Somepony who now has wild, fantastic powers.”
The others shouted, “Trixie?”
Applejack frowned, “Why would that pony ever help Discord?  Doesn’t she know what that creature will do to her when he takes over?”
The white alicorn responded, “I don’t think she knows it is Discord.  In fact, I doubt she even knows what is happening to her.”
The farm pony asked skeptically, “How could she not know?  Isn’t she in league with him?”
Twilight’s face paled.  She moaned, “Her despair must have boiled over into rage.  With Trixie’s power, she must have been angry enough that it reached all the way over to Canterlot.  The unfairness of it all must have cracked Discord’s prison.”
Pinkie placed a friendly hoof around Twilight and soothed her, “Don’t blame yourself, Twilight.  She’s just a grump with no friends.”
The purple unicorn mournfully stated, “That’s the point.  Everypony blames her for the Ursa attack when she didn’t do it.  Add in the breakdown that I pushed her into while not knowing how to be a teacher.  Finally, regardless of anything else, Trixie’s been behaving herself by living in the Everfree Forest.  Ponies have been attacking her without provocation.”
Celestia said, “I have good information that during this past year, Trixie’s been hungry, thirsty, injured and constantly threatened.  How would any of you feel if that happened to you?”
None of the mares could give an answer.
The white alicorn stated, “I’m afraid that until Trixie seeks help for her problems, this situation will only compound until it overloads.  Discord must be just barely strong enough to advise her in forbidden magic.  Trixie must be using it to survive.  If we allow this to continue, then entire villages will be destroyed.  We cannot allow that to happen.”
Twilight stood up tall and proud.  She declared, “I will confront her.”
The others gasped.
Rarity objected, “Darling, you cannot be serious!  She hates you more than the rest of us combined!”
Applejack agreed, “If’n she gets the chance, she’ll kill you even if she dies tryin’.”
Fluttershy spoke, “Um, I think…”
Pinkie Pie bravely hugged Twilight and said, “Well, if you go, then I go!  Your Auntie Pinkie Pie won’t let you face down ol’ baking-pan-face all alone!”
The yellow pegasus spoke, “Girls, I think…”
Rainbow Dash laughed and announced, “Ha, ha, ha!  That’s a good one, Pinks!  I say we open up with a cloud of sneezing powder in her cave.”
The yellow pegasus said, “I…kinda think…that maybe…”
Applejack asked, “What do you mean ‘auntie’?  Aren’t most of us a year older than you?  Now, my Aunt Orange’s age is a good…”
Celestia spoke softly, but firmly, “Quiet.”  The rest became silent.  She continued, “Fluttershy, what did you want to say?”
Everypony turned to the shy pegasus.
Fluttershy gently pawed the plush carpet in the private chamber and said, “I mean…I kinda think that Trixie’s a victim here.  I mean…nevermind.”
Twilight encouraged her, “No, no!  Keep talking, Fluttershy.”
The nervous pegasus finished her thought.  “Um, maybe…Trixie didn’t mean to summon Discord.  Maybe she was just miserable from her suffering…and Discord just came over...and maybe kinda promised her something in return for helping him.  I mean…well, kinda like what Twilight was saying.  If we were desperate with no friends, would we take the first offer that came our way?”
Celestia smiled widely at Fluttershy’s observation.  She said, “That’s exactly what I think happened.  I think we need to get Trixie out from under Discord’s influence.”
Rainbow Dash complained, “Well, that’s great!  Now we gotta fight a war without hurting the enemy!  Anything else you wanna throw at us?”
Pinkie Pie appeared right behind the blue pegasus and shouted, “DRAGON!”
Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, screaming, “AAAUUGGHHH!!!”  She flew up to clutch the chandelier.
The pink mare collapsed on the carpet, laughing uproariously.
The blue pegasus called down nervously, “Pinkie Pie!  That was not funny!”  She glided down to sulk on the floor.
Celestia levitated a scroll over to Twilight, saying, “This is a spell which will harness the Elements of Harmony directly.  It will allow you to become immune to secondary effects of Discord.”
Rarity asked in a lady-like manner, “I’m not completely lost when it comes to magic, but what does that even mean?”
Twilight scanned the contents of the scroll quickly, absorbing the mechanics of the spell easily.  She mentioned, “It means that if Discord teaches Trixie any special magic, then she cannot use it against us.  However, we are not immune to anything Discord does directly.”
Celestia lowered her head to point her horn at the group.  She summoned a large amount of energy.
She stated, “I’ll save you the energy of a return trip.  You must confront Trixie as soon as you’re ready.  I fear that some of my subjects will be provoking her into open war soon.  I also think that you shall receive grave news before you are ready to leave.”
She discharged her horn, enveloping the mares in a blinding white light.
When the spots disappeared from their vision, Applejack grumbled, “I will never get used to that.  What do we do first, Twilight?”
The others looked over to see Twilight summoning an overwhelming amount of energy into her horn.  The white light surrounded the group of mares.
Everypony felt the light reach deep within themselves, penetrating into their very being.  They felt as if their souls were sheathed in a brilliant, warm light.
Twilight ended the spell, and collapsed upon the library floor.
Spike raced over with a large bowl of water.  “Twilight, are you okay?”
The purple unicorn drank from the bowl greedily.  At length, she said, “Yes, I’ll be okay.  I just feel like I could sleep all weekend.”
The baby dragon walked back into the kitchen, refilling the bowl with water.  He walked back into the main room towards a resting royal guard.  
He reported, “You might not want to fall asleep until you go visit the hospital.  Nurse Tenderheart said you should come right away!”
Twilight grunted and pulled herself together.  The group then galloped off to the hospital.
	
> Chapter 3 - Coming to Terms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In a few short minutes, the group of mares arrived at the hospital.  At first, they stopped short, gawking at the scene in front of them.
There were mares and stallions trying in vain to comfort their foals, who were filling up the hospital in sickbeds lining the hallways.
Applejack called out, “What the hay is happening here?  It’s an epidemic!”
Pinkie Pie frowned in worry and mused, “I don’t think I have enough balloons to cheer up all these ponies.”
Rarity took an involuntary step back and mumbled, “Let’s not go inside.  We could catch whatever they have.”
Twilight stepped forth bravely and declared, “We have to!  Something here may help us against Trixie.  Let’s go in.”  She then stepped boldly into the entrance.  
Rainbow Dash flew behind the white unicorn and pushed her with wing power.
She grunted with effort, “C’mon, prima-donna!  If Twilight says we gotta help, then we gotta help.”
Feeling scared to her core, Rarity chose to let herself be pushed inside.
Fluttershy flew inside, her heartstrings being tugged in every direction by the wailing of sick foals.
She darted back and forth, trying to reassure everypony, “Oh, don’t be scared.  The doctor’s gonna make you all better.  Be sure to take any medicine they give you.  You’re a good foal.  You’re very brave.”
Suddenly, it dawned upon her.  She patted the purple unicorn on the shoulder and asked, “Um, Twilight?  Why are only foals sick?”
Twilight suddenly looked a round herself to count the sick.  There were foals beyond count all shaking, trembling, and crying.  But no stallions were sick.  No mares were showing any symptoms.
She mused, “This isn’t right.  This doesn’t look like some foalhood disease like the measles.  These foals look like they’re in large amounts of pain and fatigue.  I wonder what could spring up all of a sudden all over Ponyville”
A solidly-built stallion with a brown coat and dark brown mane trotted up, reading a clipboard.  His flank symbol was an hourglass.
He gave orders to a nearby nurse mare with a white coat and white mane.  Her flank symbol was a red plus-shaped symbol.
“Nurse Tenderheart, admit the next patient and take the vitals for me.  I’m going to examine the current patient.”  He bumped into Twilight and looked up impatiently.
“Excuse me, miss.  Watch where you’re…  Oh, Twilight Sparkle!  I’m glad you’re here.  Come in with me.”  He walked into an examination room.
She looked back to the group and said, “Fan out and see if you can learn what happened and where.  Maybe we can get some leads.”  She then entered the examination room.
Inside was a young filly with a white coat and green eyes.  Her mane was two-toned red and orange.  Her cutie mark was an ice cream cone with multi-colored candy toppings.  She was silently crying and looking left and right at her parents for comfort.
Her father was a tall, fat stallion that had a white coat and chocolate-brown mane.  His brown eyes were bloodshot with worry and tears.  His flank symbol was a banana split dessert.
Her mother was a honey-yellow mare with a chocolate-brown mane and yellow eyes.  Her cutie mark was a big slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  She kept sobbing into her hoof.
The doctor was using his instruments to take vital readings of the filly.  Twilight looked at the filly with an awkward smile.  The filly just shook with fear and winced in pain.
Twilight said, “Hi there.  I’m Twilight Sparkle.  What’s your name?”
The filly sniffed and said, “Rainbow Sprinkles.”
The purple unicorn asked, “How are you feeling?”
Rainbow Sprinkles cried, “I hurt!”
Feeling miserable, Twilight asked, “Um, where do you hurt?”
The filly hid her face under her hooves and whined, “All over!  Help me!”
Dr. Hooves reported, “It seems that just about every filly and colt in town is suffering from the same disease.  It makes them all nauseous and sharp pains in random parts of their bodies.”
The stallion became testy and demanded, “Can’t you do something to help or are you going to just stand there?”
Offended, Twilight asked, “Where was she when she showed symptoms?  How long ago?”
The mare clutched her husband tightly and wailed, “It was an hour ago in the ice cream parlor!  She was just sweeping the floor.  What’s wrong with my baby?!?!”
The filly looked up at Twilight with pleading eyes and begged, “Am I gonna die?”
Suddenly, the purple unicorn felt even more offended than by the emotional stallion.  She felt so offended at the sickness.  How dare this sickness suddenly appear and scare little foals with death?
She focused and charged her horn with an overwhelming amount of purple energy.  
All of the ponies in the examination room gasped in surprise.  Twilight filled the room with hundreds of multi-colored lights.
Within the purple unicorn’s vision swam endless shapes and lists of arcane knowledge that few others could comprehend.
Suddenly, an ugly rune appeared only in her vision.  She frowned and trotted into the hallway.  The hallway filled with the hundreds of dancing lights, illuminating the ponies inside.  The ugly kept showing up over and over again.
From the way to the entrance room, she heard her friends asking questions and reassuring ponies.
“When did this sickness start, ma’am?  Has she been throwin’ up?  How many times?”
“Ooooh, I’m sooo sorry.  The doctors will know what to do.  You’ll be better in no time.  Now you be a brave colt take your medicine.”
“Ha, fear?  Me?  You know who I am?  I’m the one who did the Sonic Rainboom at the Young Flier’s Competition last year and saved the Wonderbolts!  There’s no needle that scares me!”
“Oh, darling, you have such a pretty mane!  Here’s a scarf that goes with it.  Aren’t you adorable?  Once you’re done at the hospital, you’ll be all better.  Have your mother bring you to Carousel Boutique once you’re all better.  I have the perfect little dress for you, free of charge.  You make sure to get better.”
“Oh, what’s the matter?  Tummy trouble?  When my tummy gets all wobbly-bubbly I just take some fizzy water and it makes me feel much better.  Here, have some!  What were you doing when you got sick?  Cleaning your room?  Ugh, tell your mom and dad that you’re allergic to cleaning your room.  Works for me every time, ha ha!”
Dr. Hooves joined Twilight in the hallway, closing the door to the examination room.  He mentioned, “I was hoping that you could ask Princess Celestia for some more doctors and medicine. We really need the assistance here.”
Twilight asked, “Do you have ANY idea what you’re up against?”
The doctor stallion flipped some pages in a report and paraphrased, “I got an urgent reply to my priority letter to the medical school in Canterlot.  They say there is no reported case of this sickness in modern times.  However, there is mention of a disease with these exact symptoms from ancient times.  They call it…um, ‘kan-ser’, or something like that.”
The purple unicorn asked, “How long ago were those records?  Was there a cure listed?”
Dr. Hooves folded up the report and stated, “The records came from ten centuries ago.  Let me tell you, records like those are hard to come by.  There was a variety of treatments listed, but some fail for some ponies but others fail for others.  It’s hit or miss.  There’s no spell or medicine which is guaranteed to cure the disease.  But…”
Twilight asked sharply, “What?!  What ‘but’ aren’t you telling me?”
The doctor blurted out with a snarl, “Even in the worst cases, the disease simply doesn’t spread this quickly.  It takes months or even years to spread this widely inside a pony.  By this time, the very tissues inside a living body warp into hostile forms that attack the body itself.  The body winds up killing itself painfully.  If it spreads to vital organs, then…the patient just dies, regardless of medicine.”
The purple unicorn charged into the entrance room, shouting, “Not today!”
The room filled with the barrage of lights.  She stared intently at everypony in the room.  The crying quieted down in deference to the awe of the display.  The same ugly rune showed up again.  This time, she knew what was happening.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, chirping, “It’s a dance party!  This means Twilight knows what to do.  C’mon, everypony!  Shake your groove thang!”
Twilight ceased the spell, which ended the light show.  She ordered, “Girls, out!  I know who’s behind this!”
Applejack addressed the crowd, “Don’t you good folks worry none!  If Twilight Sparkle says she knows what to do, then that’s the truth!”
The Elements of Harmony gathered outside of the hospital, then galloped around a nearby building.
Rainbow Dash punched the air in front of her and boasted, “Just tell us who did this, Twi!  I’ll knock them into next Tuesday all by myself!”
Pinkie Pie snarled, “Not if I get there first!  That ultra-deluxe double-decker meanie with whipped cream and a cherry on top needs a good pranking!”
Fluttershy spoke up louder than usual, “Um, girls?  I think we should let Twilight speak.”
Rarity agreed, “Good idea, dear.  Twilight, don’t keep us in suspense any more.”
The purple unicorn reported, “It’s not as simple as you think.  The time when the foals were sickened was the time when Trixie was fighting in the field.  She did not infect the foals, but Discord did.”
Applejack squinted in disbelief and questioned, “Discord?  How in the hay could he do that?  I thought we decided that he was too weak to do that.”
Twilight explained, “He spent all his energy escaping, but he is the spirit of Discord.  Whenever ponies act in harmful and selfish ways, he gains strength.  But you’re right about the scope of it all.  He could infect one or two in his weakened state, but not all of the foals in Ponyville.  He must be using some magic that we haven’t seen to collect Trixie’s anger and despair for himself.  We need to convince Trixie to stop helping him and lead us to his lair.  Inside will be what we’re looking for.  If we can sever Discord’s link with Trixie, then he’ll be beaten.”
Rainbow Dash challenged, “Are you really gonna trust Trixie?  Look what she did to the citizens of Ponyville!”
Rarity snootily added, “Don’t forget how she wiped the field with Canterlot’s finest.  Your library is littered with the results of her actions.”
Fluttershy said, “Um, I think…”
Applejack encouraged the yellow pegasus, “Yeah?  What’s on your mind, sugarcube?”
The kind-hearted pegasus explained, “Well, I…uh, think that Trixie’s a victim here.”  She flinched, anticipating an argument.
When none came, she finished by saying, “Trixie didn’t attack first.  She was surrounded by lots of angry ponies with weapons.  If the same thing happened to Twilight, then we’d all be on her side.  I don’t think that’s fair.”
Twilight smiled and stated, “I think that’s correct, Fluttershy.  Trixie keeps thinking that everypony wants her dead, so she retaliates with powerful, widespread, damaging magic.  That in turn just keeps upping the ante on both sides.  We need to be the ones to break this perpetual stalemate.  If we can convince Trixie that Discord is just using her, then she’ll stop helping him.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled, “Well, how do we get her here?  Send an invitation?”
The purple unicorn smiled and said, “Rainbow, that’s brilliant!  That’s just what we’ll do.”
Twilight remembered the mechanics of the Gather Information spell.  Inverting them in her mind, she remembered Trixie’s mental signature.  Assigning the signature to the end result of the spell, she pushed the spell outward with a great amount of force.  

=====================

Deep inside Trixie’s cave, the blue unicorn sat up sharply.  In her mind, she heard the voice of her teacher.  Her spirit soared at the message.
Trixie felt that this was the confrontation that she had so long hoped for.  A chance to prove that she had finally surpassed Twilight.
The shadow on the wall sensed this shift of attitude.  It didn’t approve at all.
It hissed, “What is it?  What was that?”
The blue unicorn triumphantly declared, “It’s finally happening!  Twilight’s going to face me mare-to-mare.  It’s about time.  Now we can settle this silly contest once and for all.  Once Twilight is defeated, all of Ponyville will finally recognize me, The Great and Powerful Trixie, as the wronged party and she will beg for my forgiveness!”
The shadow retorted sinisterly, “It’s a trick.  She would never face you in a fair fight.  She just wants to rip your body apart and humiliate you.  Do you really think you can survive without your mechanical components?”
The blue unicorn looked down to consider her right foreleg.  She remembered the mistake she made that got her the artificial appendage.  
She screwed up her courage and declared, “Better that than living forever as some monstrosity.”  She left the cave swiftly, charging up her horn.
As she released the energy, she pushed a wave of energy directly towards her former teacher.
The shadow tried to claw at Trixie, as if to hold her back.  
It hissed angrily, “Stop!  She’ll just confuse you!  DESTROY HER!  DO NOT SPARE ANY OF THEM!”
The blue unicorn galloped at full speed right where the message said to meet, the blasted fields west of Ponyville.

=====================

Twilight received the return message.  She opened her eyes and declared, “Trixie accepts.  Let’s get there before her.”
The mares galloped the short distance to the fields.  They openly gawked at the devastation upon the ground.
Applejack gasped, “Landsakes!  Look at this!  It looks like a tornado, an earthquake, and a war all happened at the same time!”
Twilight sensed the residual energies and said, “That’s almost a correct assessment, Applejack.  It did all happen in one battle, though.”
Fluttershy hid behind the blue pegasus and whimpered, “Um, Twilight?  Why would you want to fight her here?  It’s scary.”
Rarity conjectured, “Obviously, the residual energies are so chaotic that Twilight plans to not be interfered with by Discord.”
Twilight argued, “I’m not here to fight Trixie.”
Rainbow’s eyes opened wide.  She flapped her wings and hovered in the air before Twilight.
She demanded, “You mean we invited the queen of evil to a battlefield for a tea party?  If you’re not gonna fight, then count me out.”
Pinkie Pie’s tail wagged rapidly as she said, “Oh, oh, oooohhh!  I know!  You’re gonna lure her here off-guard so you can tie her up in a sack, dunk her in fudge and cover her in marshmallow topping!”
The purple unicorn explained, “I plan to sway Trixie to our side.  I believe she did not cast any form of Contagion Spell.  I want her to see the results and get her to avoid getting blamed for it.  She’ll tell us where Discord is so we can fight him.”
The rainbow-maned one landed, temporarily satisfied, “All right, letting the little one go to catch the big one?  I’m back in!”
A familiar voice screeched, “Good!  I want you all in one place when I blast you into pieces!”
Trixie’s voice erupted a high-pitched squeal.  Streams of bats flew out from under her cape.  The bats were larger than normal, with razor-sharp fangs and claws.
Rarity called out, “Fluttershy, do something!”
The yellow pegasus cringed, saying, “Those aren’t normal bats!  They won’t respond to me!”
Pinkie Pie ran around in circles in a total panic, “NNNNOOOOOO!!!  They’ll get in my face!  Help!!!”
Twilight bellowed, “Calm down!”
Suddenly, the streams of bats seemed to strike an invisible wall around the mares.  They flung off in random directions, disappearing into red mist.
The streams of bats stopped.  Trixie took an involuntary step back and stammered.
“Wh-what?  H-h-how could y-you do that?  My new powers…”
Twilight asked sharply, “New powers?  I noticed you didn’t call them spells or even magic.  Powers come from somewhere.  Where did you get these new powers, Trixie?”
The blue unicorn primped her mane and hotly replied, “I don’t have to answer to you anymore, Twilight Sparkle!”
Rainbow Dash yelled, “All right, enough talking!”  She leaped forward, flapping her wings powerfully.  Her rainbow streak trailed behind her brilliantly.  She flew in a tight spiral around Trixie.
Gripping the edge of the cape in her teeth, she tried to tie up Trixie in her own cape.
Trixie emitted a brief pulse of light from her horn.  The clasp came undone and the cape flipped over to engulf the speedy pegasus.
Rainbow Dash crashed into the ground, rolling over and over until she stopped, cocooned by the cape.
Applejack charged forward with a battle cry, trying to ram Trixie down.
The blue unicorn took a deep breath.  Then she stamped the ground with her left foreleg.  Suddenly, her entire body seemed to turn to stone.
The orange earth pony slammed into the stone statue head on.  The surface of the stone cracked and crumbled.  The pieces of stone followed Applejack down to the ground, revealing Trixie none the worse for the attack.  Her skin of stone had completely protected her.
Rarity charged her horn with energy, focusing on Trixie’s pointed hat.  She yanked her horn down, the hat followed sympathetically.  It slid down over Trixie’s face, engulfing her head.
The fashion-conscious mare trumpeted, “Looks like you need a time-out, dear!”
A quick flash of blue light around Trixie’s head preceded the hat teleporting back on top of her head in perfect position.  The only difference was that Trixie was now upset that someone had touched her hat.
Twilight shouted, “Enough!”  She had taken all of this time to charge up her horn to capacity.
Aiming it at Trixie, she ordered, “Stand down, Trixie!  We’re not here to fight you.”
Trixie leapt to the left and forced her horn to charge up with an overwhelming amount of energy.  It was so saturated, that a steady stream of sparks leaked from the tip.  
She aimed it at Twilight and retorted, “Funny way of showing it.”
Rainbow Dash yelled, “Trixie, look out!”
The blue unicorn imperiously stated proclaimed, “I am not going to fall for such a foolish trick such as…”
A triple-decker chocolate fudge cake with marshmallow icing and cream filling impacted upon her entire face.
Everyone just stopped and stared in confusion at the pink one.  Pinkie Pie was sitting next to Trixie will a look of supreme satisfaction upon her face.
She declared, “See, I told you chocolate fudge and marshmallow icing would stop her!”
Applejack argued, “Pinkie, I don’t think that this is the time for…”  She stopped when she saw Trixie.
The blue unicorn had discharged her horn and licked the gooey cake off her face.  Then she sat down and began scooping the cake off her face with her hooves and then ate it all.
Trixie moaned with delight, “Mmmmm…I love marshmallow.”
Twilight’s jaw hung open.  Her logical mind warred with itself, trying to discover the reason for this illogical course of action.  Finally, she just gave up and giggled.
Rarity asked in annoyance, “What’s so funny?  We’re still fighting for our lives, right?”
The purple unicorn pointed at the pink earth pony and said, “Heh, heh!  That’s our Pinkie Pie!  Always making friends.”
Flutter shy observed, “Look at Trixie eat!  She must be starving.”
Applejack grunted and said, “It’s probably just a trick.  She’ll just eat that cake and get back to…”  She then noticed Trixie’s bony ribs sticking out.  She amended herself by saying, “Woah, nelly!  I thought I was cranky if’n I missed lunch.  She must not have eaten in a long time.”
Trixie licked her lips and mentioned miserably, “That was the first meal I’ve had in three days.”
Rarity covered her facial expression daintily with her right foreleg and mentioned, “Three days?  Goodness, don’t you have any food?”
The blue unicorn testily replied, “I don’t have a grocery store any more.  I eat what I can find and in the Everfree Forest, you fight for every little scrap of anything.”
Twilight then smiled and said, “Then in gratitude, maybe you could reverse the Contagion Spell in town?”
Trixie’s expression became supremely confused.  She asked, “Contagion Spell?  What Contagion Spell?”
Applejack poked her in the shoulder and stated, “That there disease in town what’s making all the foals deathly sick!  Now cure it or else we’ll get ta whoopin’ on ya again!”  The purple unicorn cleared her throat audibly.  Applejack rolled her eyes and added, “…and maybe we’ll give ya another cake.”
Trixie’s horn glowed, surrounding her cape.  It unraveled Rainbow Dash and sailed over to replace itself upon her neck and shoulders again.
She declared, “I have no idea what you are saying.  I did not cast any form of the Contagion Spell.  What have those backwards ponies in town been lying about now?”
Rarity huffed and defended her town, “They are not backward!  You beat up their warriors and then made the foals sick in retaliation.”
Trixie stood up indignantly, drawing herself up to her maximum natural height.  The clouds boomed and shook in the sky.  The mares looked up at the sky in fear.  The blue unicorn glared down at the white unicorn.
She declared, “Why are you ponies too stupid to understand facts?!?!  The entire town witnessed the battle!  I come to Ponyville to negotiate!  You sent out your thugs to kill me for daring to attack you ‘superior’ ponies!  I used an earthquake and a lightning storm to defend myself.  I allowed those brainless brutes to escape the closing of the ground and used only half power on the lightning.  I am more than capable of killing every last pony in Equestria any time I want.  I spared every last one of your loved ones and all you can do in return in make up wild lies about me?!?!  Why should I spare you now?!”
Twilight stated simply, “Because you’re better than that!  You’re not a monster!”
Trixie slowly let out the deep breath she was holding.  The clouds changed back to normal.
Fluttershy asked, peeking out from behind Twilight, “Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?”  She then ducked back down and whimpered, “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”
The blue unicorn said, “It’s true I know the Contagion Spell…”
Rainbow Dash flew up to place herself nose-to-nose with Trixie and accused hotly, “I knew it!  She’s guilty!  She admits it!”
The blue unicorn finished her phrase, “…because Twilight taught it to me.  You have to know it if you’re going to cure disease by casting the spell in reverse.  That means she also knows it.”
The blue pegasus looked at Twilight in astonishment and gasped, “It’s that true?  You can make ponies sick?  Did you do it?  Why didn’t you cure it if you knew it?”
Twilight mentioned, “What makes you think I didn’t try?  Yes, I know the spell.  I taught Trixie the Poison Spell as well.  Casting it in reverse is called the Neutralize Poison Spell.  It’s the exact same spell, you just reverse the effects.  The one is town is more of a curse than a spell.  Only one creature I know of uses magic like that.”
Rainbow tugged at her multi-colored mane and yelled, “Discord again?  Where is that louse?!  I wanna smash him!”
Trixie asked innocently, “Who’s Discord?”
Pinkie Pie hopped around Trixie, rapidly explaining, “If you’re the Queen Meanie then Discord is like the Most Awfullest Emperor Meanie-That-Teaches-All-the-Meanie-Schools-How-to-Get-a-Ph.D.-in-Meanie-osity!!!”
Twilight expanded, “He’s an ancient spirit of evil and chaos.  He’s powerful enough to give even Princess Celestia a hard time.  All he cares about is ruling over Equestria with a completely cruel and wacky hoof.”
The blue unicorn scoffed, “I don’t believe it.  No being could be that powerful.”
Rarity counter-scoffed by pointing out, “You mean you don’t remember that time when Equestria was covered in checkerboard landscapes with soapy roads and a cycle of day and night which lasted for minutes?”
Trixie’s eyes shrank as she screwed up her face in confusion.  She said, “I thought that was all just a really lousy dream.  I went back to bed and slacked off that day.”
Fluttershy peeked her head out and said, “It was no dream.  In fact, we were all corrupted by Discord to be against our elements until Princess Celestia reminded Twilight about friendship.”  She then smiled, “Hey, maybe we can do the same thing here.”
Applejack called out cheerfully, eyeing Trixie closely, “Hoo, doggies!  I’ll get the lasso!”
Twilight interrupted, “I think I know what Fluttershy’s saying.  Trixie, has Discord made a deal with you?”
Trixie honestly replied, “I don’t know.  What does he look like?”
Pinkie Pie blurted out, “He looks like a horse, a goat, a deer, a snake, a lion, an eagle, and a bat got into a really big wrestling match at a glue factory!”
The blue unicorn just arched an eyebrow.  Her imagination was intimidated by the herculean task of putting together that image.
She replied slowly, “I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Applejack asked, “Well, are you workin’ with someone?”
Trixie narrowed her eyes, trying to calculate how much to tell the others.
At length, she said, “I have a new partner. It’s been giving me pointers on higher magics.”
Rainbow declared, “That must be Discord.  He’s playing you for a fool!”
The blue unicorn refuted, “Don’t be ridiculous!  It’s just a shadow.  It lives in my shadow and it can’t even touch me.  It even tried to stop me from coming here for this meeting, but it failed.”
Twilight explained, “Trixie, all of the foals in town got sick at the exact same time.  That was when you were unleashing your huge spells.  You were holding back on the energy released, right?  Well, you had to summon all of the energy to cast the spell.  Where did the excess energy go?”
Trixie replied smartly, “I released it all back into the environment.  I know holding that energy back inside my horn might stress it and damage me.”
The purple unicorn nodded and concluded, “When you released the excess, Discord was hiding in your shadow, sucking up that very energy and using it to cast the spell on the foals while you were occupied elsewhere, providing the distraction.  You didn’t make them sick, but you were the opportunity.  Discord used you and is letting you get blamed.  He doesn’t want you going into town and learning the truth.  He just wants you to be forced into killing everypony around for his amusement.”
The blue unicorn’s face erupted into a furious glare.  The group of mares backed off from the unstable unicorn.  Her face turned reddish from fury.
She controlled herself and stated hotly, “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?  This might be all a ruse to get me to expose myself and be captured.”
Twilight ordered, “Girls, head back into town and clear the way.  I have a certain filly that Trixie needs to meet in person.  Applejack, get Spike to bring the Elements of Harmony to the hospital.”
	
> Chapter 4 - Blindfolded No More
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two unicorns walked back into the entrance room of the hospital.  The room hushed at the approach of the blue unicorn.  The eyes of every foal stared in fear and panic.  The eyes of every parent glared in open hostility.
Twilight led Trixie into the hallway and back into the examination room.  The filly was asleep, but the parents were alert.  Dr. Hooves was present, ever watchful of the blue unicorn.
The stallion commented under his breath, “I don’t know why I’m allowing this.”
Twilight replied out loud, “Because if this works, then we can put a stop to this.  Even you want your daughter cured.”
The parents moved aside.  Surely the Element of Magic would not allow some freak to harm their little filly.
The doctor mentioned, “She’s been getting worse.  There are two new areas of infection since you’ve been gone, Twilight.”
Trixie looked at the filly and asked calmly, “What is wrong, exactly?”
The doctor started by saying, “It’s all too complicated for…”
Twilight interrupted him coldly, “She’s just as skilled in healing as I am, doctor.”
The stallion physician cleared his throat and started over, “Um, yes, well…  There seems to be some kind of system-wide infection we cannot detect.  Wherever the infection deposits, it causes a chain reaction of warped tissue to appear.  This tissue is similar to the surrounding tissue but useless for the patient.  It grows steadily, drawing more and more blood and nutrients from the patient.  This appears to be some ancient disease from over ten centuries ago.  No documented cases of the symptoms have ever been reported since.  The mentioned medicines do not seem to have much effect other than slowing the infection.”
The blue unicorn charged her horn with energy and then bathed the filly with blue light.
The mare wailed, “Help!  She’s killing my baby!”
The stallion tensed up, ready for an attack.
Twilight screamed, adding magic to make her voice carry to the entire hospital, “For the last time, will you ponies STAY OUT OF THE WAY?!?!  Trixie is here on my authority, which is Princess Celestia’s authority, and she’s here to help!  So help me, if you get in the way one more time, I’ll teleport you to the Everfree Forest!”
The parents shuddered at the outburst.  
The doctor panicked, “No, no fighting in the hospital!”
Trixie smirked and said, “If you do find yourself out there, stay out of the quicksand pits in the south. The vines you would use to climb out are poisonous.  You’d be better off sinking.”
Twilight asked testily, “Have you learned anything yet?”
The filly woke up from all the commotion.  She stared up at Trixie with hope and trepidation.
Trixie reported, “I see why you think it’s a curse.  The pattern doesn’t match any standard caster.  This spell has been sealed.”
Twilight asked, intrigued, “Sealed?  How could it be sealed?  I tried unsealing it.”
The blue unicorn explained, “The sigil has been reversed.  The caster used a simple trick to fake you out.”
The purple unicorn demanded, “How do you know this?”
The blue unicorn responded haughtily, “Because this is the exact incantation that links my…partner…and I.  It sends me information via a link like this one.  It’s very clever.”
Twilight proclaimed, “Then this proves that your partner is Discord!  There is no being in Equestria that uses warped magic like this.  It’s like using anti-magic or perversion-magic.  The only function of this effect is to prevent the spell from being reversed.”
The doctor asked, “Are you saying that this…mare cast this spell?”
Quickly, Twilight stomped her hoof and declared, “NO!  She did not.  In fact, the entire fighting force of Ponyville can testify that she did not cast this spell.  She was in the fields casting earthquakes and lightning.  Trixie wasn’t anywhere near the foals when this happened.”
The blue unicorn seethed, getting angry.  The parents backed up against the wall in fear.
She hissed, “It used me!  It used me to start a needless fight and supply it with the free energy it needed to kill foals!  That…that…that JERK!  I’ll destroy it!”
A tiny voice asked, “Miss Trixie?”
The unicorn looked down, seeing the hopeful face of the filly.  Uncomfortable just standing there in the gaze of the unafraid filly, Trixie calmed down as to not upset her.
Feeling dumb, she asked, “Uh, yes?”
Rainbow Sprinkles asked, “Are you the one who rescued my cousin from the back of the wagon to Stalliongrad?
The others looked to her inquisitively.
Sheepishly, Trixie pawed the floor and said, “Yes, that was I, the…”
Rainbow Sprinkles clapped her hooves over her head and finished, “The Great and Powerful Trixie!  Yay!”
Trixie blushed furiously, unused to praise.
The filly gushed, “Thank you soooooo much!  I thought I’d never see my cousin again!  I love to watch her dance and I like to make ice cream!  I kinda like to do both.  Maybe I’ll make ice cream for Princess Celestia someday!”
The blue unicorn, feeling emotion well up from within.  She fought it off as best as she could.  Instead of crying, she just nodded.
The filly grew concerned, as if noticing something for the first time.
She asked, “What happened to your face?  And your hoof?”
Trixie looked at her right foreleg with embarrassment.  She tapped it against the right side of her face, hearing the metal-on-metal clink.
She lowered her head and said, “I got hurt.”
Rainbow Sprinkles said sympathetically, “I’m sorry.  I think you’re the prettiest mare in Equestria!”
Trixie could not longer hold it in.  She gushed with tears and sobbing.  On impulse, she hugged the filly as tightly as she dared.
She sobbed, “You’re gonna grow up!  I promise!  I’m gonna…I’m gonna find the jerk that cast this spell and wring it out of him if it’s the last thing I ever do!”
Even the parents and the doctor were not immune to this display of emotion and remorse.  They drained of all hatred.
Trixie kissed the filly on the forehead and then tipped her pointed hat.  She charged up her horn and discharged a simple spell.
Suddenly, from the tip of the hat came a shower of colored roses, covering the filly in red, yellow, and pink.  Rainbow Sprinkles giggled with glee at the display.  Strangely, none of the roses had thorns.
The blue unicorn charged back into the hallway and into the entrance room.  She called out, “Follow me!”
Twilight raced into the entrance room and called out, “Spike!”
Sitting on Applejack’s back, Spike opened the box holding the Elements of Harmony.  He presented the valuable magic artifacts to Twilight.
The purple unicorn cast several quick incantations, moving each piece of enchanted jewelry to attach itself to its respective owner.
She declared, “Spike, send a letter to the Princess!  We’re confronting Discord in the Everfree Forest!  Elements of Harmony, mount up!”
The group of mares sped off westward, following the blue unicorn the whole way.
Spike ran back to the library to draft up a letter to Princess Celestia and send it.

=====================

Several minutes later, the group raced past the edge of the Everfree Forest and straight towards Trixie’s cave.  Even though they had been at full gallop nonstop, none of them were tired.
As the entrance to the cave came closer, Twilight slowed a bit and said, “Let’s stop outside and make a plan.”
Trixie surged forward and yelled, “I’ve got a plan!  I’m gonna kick his shadowy butt right back to the netherworld!”
Rainbow Dash formed up right behind her and agreed, “Yeah!  Now you’re talkin’!!”
Pinkie Pie filed in behind her and said, “Save some for me!”
Applejack looked over to Twilight and said with a wicked grin, “Sounds like a plan to me!”  She and Fluttershy formed in together behind the pink pony.
The purple unicorn just grunted in annoyance and brought up the rear.
As they twisted left and right through the cave, they suddenly emerged into a wide open chamber.  Suddenly, a huge, sparkling bear with constellations for a body erupted from the floor.  It reared up and roared at the group.
The Elements of Harmony skidded to a stop in a pile, nervously looking for the way out.
Trixie snarled, “Don’t insult me with your tricks.  SHOW YOURSELF!”  She charged right at the Ursa and charged her horn.
The blue unicorn leapt right up, stabbing the Ursa with her horn, discharging her Dispelling Incantation with force.
A loud shattering sound echoed from all over the cave.  The image of the Ursa shattered into a thousand pieces, as did the walls and floor of the cave.
In its place was another cave identical to the one the mares had just seen, except there was a glowing crystal formation against the back wall.  It was jagged and colored sickly green.  It looked like a small bush of crystal grass, with a single spike protruding upwards.  The single spike had a light coming deep from within the crystal.
Twilight focused on the crystal with her senses and became confused.  The structure of the crystal was not like any she had seen.
She stated, “Be careful, everypony.  The magic in here is not natural.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoes throughout the cave, “Oh, you think?  I’m surprised your little brains could figure out what magic is much less what is ‘natural’.”
A shadow appeared on the wall next to the crystal growth.  It was a shape of nearly a dozen animal parts all put together.
Applejack announced, “Discord!  Ya done an’ went too far!  Fix all them little fillies and colts or we’ll kick yer scrawny butt into the sun!”
Twilight threatened, “We know your plan and it won’t work!  Everypony knows that Trixie isn’t to blame.  We’re all ticked off at you now.  Your deception is over!”
The shadow on the wall snarled and said, “Well, then I’ll have to console myself with just killing all of you.”  It turned (as much as a shadow can turn) towards Trixie and pointed a claw at her.
He declared, “I expected more from you, partner.  Did you decide to go back to licking Celestia’s hooves for a bowl of porridge?  Or is that honor reserved just for her junior student?”
Trixie growled, “Spreading sickness was not part of the plan!  We agreed to just make them cower.  After what you did, they’d never bow to me or anyone!”
Rainbow Dash asked dangerously, “You wanted to do what to Ponyville?”
The blue unicorn decided to go for broke.  She faced the others and confessed, “I admit it.  I worked with this shadow.  It was the ONLY creature to show me kindness after I was exiled.  My life was threatened time after time by ponies who left Ponyville looking for the glory of ‘killing Trixie’.  I was tired, starving, injured, and desperate.  What did any of you do to help keep me alive?”
Fluttershy said confidently, “We should have been nicer to you, Trixie.  We apologize, but you starting a fight to humiliate others did not help matters.  You should have come to us for help.  You know we would have helped you.”
The blue unicorn said shamefully, “I know that now.  I didn’t think I had a friend in the world.  I thought the only way to save my life way to conquer Ponyville and then spare everyone.  Then they’d see I was no monster.  Then…THIS…piece of…filth betrayed me and used my energy to spread an ancient disease!  Let’s get him!”
Twilight stood up boldly and instructed confidently, “We’ll take him together, Trixie.  You go in slow on the left and I’ll…”
Trixie started to charge while summoning energy into her horn.
She growled, “I’m killing him NOW!”
Twilight screamed, “No, Trixie, NO!”
The shadow raised its claws and pointed them at Trixie.  Suddenly, Trixie’s eyes rolled into the back of her skull and she collapsed onto the cave floor.
Black smoke emanated from her body forcefully, causing convulsions.  Her frame shriveled a little as the smoke left her and entered the shadow on the wall.
The shadow then peeled itself off the cave and stood upright on the floor.  It frame filled out, giving itself a full three-dimensional shape.  
There stood the shadow of Discord.
He taunted in a simpering voice, “Oh, poor little Trixie.  Did you forget just where your powers came from?  Your uneducated brain could never understand that if I could grant powers, I could also take them away.  Maybe I’ll just take what’s left and leave your ghost in this cave for all eternity to ponder it over.”
A pair of rocks flew in from across the cave, striking Discord in the chest forcefully.  Each rock’s impact caused a puff of black smoke to leave the body.
Applejack called out, “Pick on somepony your own size, Discord!”  The orange earth pony bucked another pair of rocks off the floor right at the shadow.
The shadow dodged the rocks, backing up.
A shower of pebbles levitated under his feet.  Discord’s feet slipped on the loose pebbles and he fell to the floor.  A puff of black smoke left his body, causing his frame to shrink.
Rarity chuckled, “Do watch where you step, dear.”
Discord snarled and the green crystal glowed.  A stream of sickly green energy traveled to merge with the shadow, filling in all of the damaged areas and making him grow back to normal size.
Twilight began to magically scan the crystal deeply, looking for weak points.  She called out, “Keep it up!”
Discord announced, “Do you think you can really harm me when I’m composed of living shadow?”
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared from behind Discord holding a pair of cupcakes, one with pink icing and the other with green icing.  
She laughed and said, “Oh, is that what you are?  I thought you were just stuck in here so long that you lost all your colors!”
She then used the cupcakes like markers, coloring Discord’s shadow with pink eyes and a green mouth.
She laughed, “Ha, ha!  There you go, mister grumpy shadow!  Now you’re smiling, hee, hee!”
Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy laughed at Discord appearance.  Suddenly, the places where the icing touched burned the shadow away.
Fluttershy concentrated on her element and then spoke kindly, “Discord, I know you don’t really like hurting ponies.  You’re just trying to do your job as the universe dictates.  We understand and we won’t hold it against you.”
Butterfly-shaped energy bolts emanated from her necklace, pelting Discord and melting his shadowy flesh.
He raised his arms and the crystal glowed again.  Another stream of sickly green energy filled him back up.
Twilight called out, “This crystal stole Trixie’s emotional energy!  He’s using it like a power source, we’ve got to smash it or else we’ll never beat him!”
She charged up her horn and then discharged it into a simple, brutish lightning bolt.  The bolt arced across the room and struck the green crystal.  It scorched at the base of the center spike.
Discord immediately snapped his attention to the purple unicorn and growled, “That’s enough out of you!”  He extended his left forepaw, expanding its size.  He gripped twilight by the neck and lifted her off the floor, shaking her harshly.
Trixie blinked and stood up.  She saw the full-sized shadow of Discord harming Twilight.
She yelled, “Let her go, you freak of nature!  Fight me!”
Discord ceased shaking the purple unicorn and turned his head to face Trixie.
He taunted, “Don’t be silly.  Why would I spend a single iota of energy on a home-schooled apprenticeship drop-out like you?  Twilight is the true power of Ponyville.  As soon as I kill her, there will be nopony to stop me!”
Trixie’s ego felt stung to the core.  She growled as she considered how unfair it was for Twilight to be given all of the advantages while she had none.
The crystal glowed brightly and then increased in size.  The center spike sharpened like a dagger.
Applejack said, “Whoa, look at that!  The crystal got bigger!”
Fluttershy cringed and raced behind Applejack, saying, “Um, girls?  I think we’re in trouble.”
Pinkie Pie began racing around, looking under rocks.  She said, “Don’t worry!  I can find ingredients and make more cupcakes!”
Rarity yelled, “Twilight!  What do we do?”
Twilight tried to contemplate the problem, but the effects of being shook were very distracting.  Suddenly, the answer came to her.
She called out, “Trixie!  That crystal is your jealousy!  Discord wants you to be jealous so he can get more power from you!”
Discord retracted his arm to stare the purple unicorn directly in the eye.  With an evil grimace, he declared, “You, Twilight Sparkle, are just as big a nuisance as that teacher of yours!”
Reaching up with his other hand, he grabbed Twilight’s neck with both hands.  A sudden twist caused a loud, sharp cracking sound to fill the cavern.
The shadow of Discord flung the limp mare across the room, head-first.
Rainbow Dash screamed and she flew to catch her friend, “TWILIGHT!”  The blue pegasus awkwardly used her own body to cushion the injured mare’s impact.  Unfortunately, she bounced her own head off the floor to prevent the purple unicorn’s injury from getting any worse.
The other Elements of Harmony all cried out in shock, “TWILIGHT!!!”
Trixie’s heart began to beat rapidly.  The whole situation was overwhelming her.  The walls seemed to get closer.  The screams got louder.  The shadow seemed taller.  Her eyes leaked burning hot tears.  What was she supposed to do?  She never learned about this!  Why didn’t somepony teach her what to do?
Suddenly, her vision focused on the sickly green crystal.  This was the cause of everything wrong.
No, she was the cause.  She knew what she had to do.
Trixie mumbled, but the acoustics of the cavern amplified her speech until every being inside could hear her.
“I didn’t do this, but I am responsible.  It’s not my fault, but it is my fault.”
She charged her horn to overflowing with concentrated energy.  She discharged it into a lance of lightning emanating from her own horn.  She lowered her head to aim at the crystal and charged.
She cried out, “I’m so sorry, Twilight!  I’ll fix this!”
Discord screamed in panic, “NOOOO!”  He raised his hands and released a blast of shadowy energy in front of the mare.  A sheet of thick ice formed in front of the crystal.
Trixie saw the hazard and tried to slow down, to no avail.  Her hooves slipped and slid in every direction as she tried to maintain her balance.
She saw the direction the ice took her and she screamed in fear, “AAAAHHHH!!”
Her front hooves tripped on the base of the green crystal and stopped moving.  
Her torso kept moving forward.
Her body fell down, no longer supported by her legs.
The sharp, sickly green crystal pierced her flesh and impaled her completely through the torso and her heart.
A tiny, yet audible cracking sound echoed through the cave.  Suddenly, the crystal cracked and broke, flipping Trixie head over hoof onto the floor.  There, she lay motionless.
Discord’s body grew hundreds of cracks into it.  He screamed silently, flailing his arms uselessly.
Rainbow Dash gently slid out from under Twilight and stood up.  She asked in confusion, “What happened?”
Fluttershy called out worriedly, “Trixie was impaled by the crystal and broke it!”
Twilight’s eyes opened wide and she said weakly, “No!”
Everypony looked at her with a big smile, happy that she was alive.
The purple unicorn declared, “Trixie must live.”  With that, she summoned up every last ounce of energy she had and released it in a purple stream.  The stream of energy absorbed into Trixie’s body.  The entire green crystal dissolved into mist and disappeared.
Suddenly, the blue unicorn gasped weakly with new breath.
With a smile, Twilight closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
Discord screamed, “You ponies are the worst thing to happen to me since those two lousy sisters!!”
Applejack called out with authority, “Everypony!  Concentrate your elements on Rainbow Dash, NOW!”
Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all used every ounce of their friendship to give their energy to Rainbow Dash.
The blue pegasus seemed to grow several inches in height and began to glow a golden color.  The pegasus smiled widely and confidently.  
Her voice gave off a natural echo as she embraced the power of Harmony, “OH, YEAH!!!”
The hard-working farm pony pointed her hoof at the shadow and ordered, “Rainbow!  Use your karate and smash that shadow!”
With a single flap of her wings, the pegasus soared into flight around Discord.
She screamed at the abomination, “YOU BASTARD!!!”  Hooves flew at Discord from every possible direction over and over.  Screams of battle cries punctuated every thrust, jab, sweep, and kick.  Every strike shattered the shadow more and dissolved its shadow flesh.
Silently, the shadow crumbled into microscopic fragments and flowed like mist out of the cave.  Racing along the terrain, it headed back for Canterlot.
It reached the garden of the Royal Palace.  Heading straight for its statue, it flowed back into the whole from whence it escaped.  A new plug appeared in the hole.
The gardener could have sworn that he heard an ethereal voice from somewhere in the statue area whimper, “That hurt.”
	
> Chapter 5 - Lullaby
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hours later, back in Ponyville, most of the parents had taken their foals home to sleep.  Dr. Hooves had confirmed that the disease was in remission, so there was nothing else the hospital could do at the moment.  Extra doses of the medicine from Canterlot were dispensed and check-up appointments were scheduled.
It was after midnight that perhaps the most unusual of sights in Ponyville had ever happened.
The doors to the entrance room of the hospital burst open.  The doors swung open and slammed hard enough into the walls to leave dents in the wall.  But that action paled in comparison to what happened next.
Princess Celestia strode forth into the entrance room powerfully, shouting forcefully in the old-fashioned royal voice.
“EMERGENCY!  TWO MARES ARE DYING AND NEED SURGERY RIGHT NOW!  DOCTOR HOOVES, WAKE UP!”
Suddenly, everypony not only in the hospital but throughout Ponyville woke up and began wondering what was happening.
Nurse Tenderheart woke up from her station halfway down the hall.  She galloped into the entrance room of the hospital and demanded, “What happened?!”
The royal alicorn softened her voice and listed facts.  
“Twilight Sparkle has a broken neck.  She’s delicate and unresponsive, as well as out of strength.  Trixie has been impaled completely through the chest and heart.  She’s bleeding fast and should be seen first.  I have surgeons who are on their way and will assist.  Where is Doctor Hooves?”
The stallion in question trotted sleepily from his office and stumbled into an operating room.  He called over his shoulder, “I’m here!  I’m here!  Nurse, where’s the soap?”
Nurse Tenderheart rolled her eyes and said, “Send Twilight Sparkle to Operating Room Two with one of your surgeons.  I’ll rouse Nurse Strongheart to assist.  Send Trixie to Operating Room One with the other surgeon.  I’ll be there.”
Celestia nodded her understanding and stood near the doors to direct the flow of expected traffic.  She heard an unreassuring sound from down the hall.
“Doctor, that’s the soap, not the coffee!  WAKE UP!”
The sound of slapping was heard.
“Huh?  What?  Nurse!”
“Doctor, wake up!  You’ve got lifesaving surgery to perform right now!”
“Of course!  I’m awake, nurse.  Thank you…Where am I?”
Suddenly, a low-flying squadron of Royal Guard Pegasi came in for a smooth landing while carrying two gurneys.  Their training afforded them the ability to land as softly as a feather when demanded.
Celestia pointed with her wing to the hallway and barked in military fashion, “Trixie first!  Take her to Operating Room One with Dr. Hooves!  Doctor Sharpeye, you will assist!”
Four white pegasi, clad only in cloth uniforms as they deferred to their previous injuries, carried the gurney to the operating room.  
A white unicorn stallion followed, saying, “Yes, Your Majesty!”
The white alicorn then ordered, “Twilight shall go to Operating Room Two.  Doctor Healtouch, you will perform the procedure!”
Another four white pegasi carried the second gurney to the designated operating room.  
A brown unicorn mare following, saying, “I’m on it!”
After seeing the ponies disappear into the operating rooms, the silence filled the hospital.  Princess Celestia then realized that she could no longer do anything to help tip the scales in anyone’s favor.
She sat down heavily upon the floor, not caring that there were chairs to sit in.  Celestia always prided herself on her self control.  Never in a thousand years had she lost her perfect control over her body.  Even if her mane would flap in anger, she allowed it to.  But now, she released a clear sign of her anxiety for anypony to see.
She began to cry.
Suddenly, she felt her mane being gently tugged.  Opening her eyes, she saw a little earth pony filly in a hospital smock looking up at her with a miserable expression.
The ruler of Equestria wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke, “Yes?”
The filly grabbed a hold of Celestia’s leg in a powerful hug and she whimpered, “I don’t want her to die.”
Celestia wrapped her wings around the filly and gave a gentle squeeze.  She replied, “Neither do I.”
The filly asked, “She’s my friend.  Is she your friend, too?”
The white alicorn nodded her head and replied, “Mmm-hmm.”
The filly sobbed, then pleaded, “You won’t let Trixie die, will you?”
Taken off-guard, Celestia asked, “Trixie?  Is she your friend?  What’s your name?”
The filly nodded vigorously and said, “Rainbow Sprinkles, ma’am.  Trixie’s the nicest pony that ever lived.  She rescued my cousin from being lost forever.  She’s gotta live!”
Princess Celestia decided that if this little filly could open her heart to Trixie, then a royal alicorn could also.
She declared, “I will do everything in my power to make it so.  However, now we have to let the doctors do their work.  That’s their best chance for their survival.”
Another powerful, serene voice spoke, “I think that is wise advice.  Perhaps my sister should heed these words.”
The filly looked up to see a tall, dark alicorn standing behind Celestia.  She gasped in surprise.
Celestia turned to her sister and stated for the filly’s benefit, “I am so glad to see you here, my beloved sister Luna.”
Princess Luna smiled and said, “I could not stay away when you are so hurt.”  She then glanced at the fearful filly.  She hoped she would not have to explain the end of Nightmare Moon all over again.
Rainbow Sprinkles waved her hoof at the Princess of the Night.
Luna waved her wing back comically, causing Rainbow Sprinkles to giggle with delight.
The sound of galloping announced the arrival of Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie into the hospital.
One look at the hospital doors and the farm pony exclaimed, “Tarnation, what happened here?  Another attack?”
Mirthfully, Princess Luna said simply, “My sister is quite frazzled over the fate of her favorite student.  It seems she is stronger than we give her credit for whenever her heart beats.”
Princess Celestia turned her face away to save any shred of dignity she could.  She said, “That’s quite enough.  I shall have the doors repaired.  Currently, Twilight Sparkle and Trixie are in surgery.  There is no more we can do except to wait.”
Rainbow Dash nervously trotted in a circle over and saying, “Twilight will pull through.  Yeah, that’s it.  No way she’d ever die from a simple broken neck.  No sir, Twilight won’t die.  No chance.”
Rarity primped her mane into a frazzled mess while saying, “I have full confidence in her ability to heal.  I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.”
Fluttershy just tried to curl up into ball and whimper incoherently.
Pinkie Pie put her hoof around the miserable pegasus and tried to soothe her.  “Twilight’s not gonna die.  We’re the Elements of Harmony.  If one of us died then we’d the Elements of Messed-Up.  Since messed-up elements don’t save the world, she can’t die.”
The shy, yellow pegasus replied sadly, “I wish we were the Elements of Healing.”
Applejack thought long and hard about the situation.  She summed up her strengths and weaknesses.  She thought about the desired end result and the obstacles in her way.  She mapped out every possibility of how to get from the start to the finish and listed all of the required items to have to get there.  She compared that list against what they all had to share.  The resulting answered was repeated out loud for the benefit for all.
“Oh horsefeathers, I don’t know what else to do.”
Nurse Tenderheart came out breathless, asking, “Is there anypony here with type-A-negative blood?!”
Applejack piped up, “Yes, ma’am!  What’s wrong?”
The nurse pony took a breath and explained, “Just like we feared, both mares have lost too much blood.  We need instant transfusions or they may die.  I need type-A-negative and type-O-negative.”
The farm pony trotted down the hall, saying, “Rarity, get yer tail moving!  Twilight needs us!”
The fashion pony stood up and followed, “Eeewww!  Somepony please blindfold me when you take it!  But, yes, take as much as you need for Twilight!”
Nurse Tenderheart looked a little relieved and asked, “How about you others?”
Fluttershy replied, “Um, I’m B-positive.”
Rainbow Dash sulked and said, “B-negative.”
Pinkie Pie stated, “Same.”
The nurse pony looked up with hope at Princess Luna, who replied, “I am sorry, but my blood is not suitable.”
Rainbow Sprinkles shouted, “You hafta!  Trixie might die if you don’t!”
Princess Luna explained, “My blood type is AB-positive.  Trixie cannot receive my blood.”
Rainbow Sprinkles buried her face in Celestia’s chest and cried hard.  Nurse Tenderheart looked crestfallen and began to meet up with Applejack and Rarity.
The dark-coated alicorn princess pointed out, “However, my sister is opposite to me in more ways than just our duties.”
Celestia smiled gratefully and stood up regally.  She declared, “I have type O-negative.  I can give blood to both mares.  Also, my special nature allows you to take more blood from me than you normally are capable.  First, give to Trixie and then share with Twilight after you run out of any other blood.”

=====================

She opened her eyes slowly.  She heard the strangest sound over and over.  It reminded her of wind moaning through a tunnel in a mountain that she had visited.
As her eyes adjusted, she wondered why she was not in her cave.
The cave!  The crystal!  Discord!
She tried to sit up, but there was a heavy weight on her chest.  Her ears focused on the sound and sounded like weird breathing.
Turning her head left and right, she felt a strange mask upon her face.  Suddenly, it made sense.  She was breathing into a machine!
She began to panic, she tried to wrestle around and free herself.
Suddenly, a tiny voice called out, “NO!  Auntie Trixie, you’ve got to rest!”
Her brain locked up.  Why would anyone call her ‘auntie’?
The voice persisted, “You’re safe now!  Auntie Celestia made you all better again!  You’ve got to get better.”
She looked over to her left slowly to see a familiar face.
She greeted, “Hello, Rainbow Sprinkles.  Where am I?”
The filly smiled widely at the sound of her name.  She reached up and hugged Trixie gently, sobbing softly into the bedsheets.
Trixie absently ran her hoof through Rainbow Sprinkles’ mane and asked, “What’s this about ‘Auntie Celestia’?”
Rainbow Sprinkles said excitedly, “She was here last night and gave you some of her blood.  I told her to save you and she did.  Yay!”
Trixie’s face fell in surprise.  She tried to speak but nothing understandable came out.
The filly kept talking, “Princess Luna was here and all of Twilight’s friends.  They gave her their blood and Auntie Celestia gave you her blood and everybody was saved!  Then Pinkie Pie came back with cupcakes for everybody and we threw cupcakes at each other and Princess Luna cheated.  She conjured up shadow cupcakes and splattered everybody.  Mom said I’ve never been so messy in all my life!  I just had a bath.  How are you feeling?”
The blue unicorn asked fearfully, “How’s Twilight?  She saved my life.”
The filly’s smile persisted, even though she had some sadness creep through.  “Dr. Hooves said it’s going to be a while before she can walk again.  She lost a lot of spine-stuff on the way over here.  Still, she’ll be all better eventually.”
Trixie miserably said, “I saw it.  I saw Discord break Twilight’s neck.  She was telling me how to beat Discord and he broke her neck for it.”  Tears began dripping down her face on both sides.  “I was so scared.  I’ve never been closer to anypony than Twilight, except my mother.  Somehow, when I was dying, she gave her last bit of life to me to make sure I survived.  I don’t deserve it!”
Rainbow Sprinkles argued, “Yes, you do!  If Twilight wants you to live, then you need to live!  I want you to live, too!”
The blue unicorn looked shocked and asked, “You?  Why do you want me to live?”
The filly insisted, “I wanna see you do more magic!  You’re awesome!  You’re the best magic-mare in all Equestria!  Get better so you can do magic, okay?!”  
Rainbow Sprinkles began hopping up and down enthusiastically.
Trixie’s heart melted at the display.  She reached out to pat the little filly on the head and acquiesced, “Okay, kid.  If you say so.”
A masculine voice sounded from the doorway, “Words to live by, Miss Trixie.”
The mare and the filly looked over to see Dr. Hooves looking in on them.  He was writing on a clipboard.
He stated, “Well, the good news is that you’re going to survive.”
Trixie fearfully asked, “What’s the bad news?”
Dr. Hooves stated authoritatively, “Your heart was permanently damaged.  We had to put in a mechanical plug fixed to a chestplate fused to your ribs to keep you alive.  I’m afraid that you have more mechanical parts to show the world.  You can get rid of the breathing mask in a day or two.”
Trixie looked under her bedsheet to see the chestplate in the center of her chest, right where she was impaled.  Her face fell to an expression described as ‘nonplussed’.
She said, “Oh.  Well, at least it matches my face.”
Dr. Hooves added carefully, “Seeing that the royal family has deemed that your injuries were in the act of saving all of Ponyville from annihilation, your bill is paid in full.  However, I’m under the impression that you need a place to stay.”
Trixie’s face screwed up in anger.  How dare this stranger talk about her situation?  In front of her number one fan?
Dr. Hooves had seen that facial expression before.  He slid one hoof out of the door, ready to run away.
Suddenly, an image of the green crystal flashed in Trixie’s mind.  She let go of the familiar, bad feeling.
She answered, “Yes, Doc.  I’m homeless.  What of it?”
Dr. Hooves stepped into the room, relived at the change of heart.  He offered, “Well, Twilight Sparkle has vouched for your, ahem, excuse the expression…’change of heart’.  She told me about that trick you did for little Rainbow Sprinkles here.  I was thinking of offering you a part-time job here at the hospital.”
Trixie arched an eyebrow inquisitively.  She inquired, “What kind of job?”
Dr. Hooves described, “Part-time entertainer.  I’d like you to go around and do your magic tricks for patients who need cheering up.  You’d have to memorize the hospital schedule to know when a good time to perform your act is.  Your pay will be room and board.  You’ll have three meals a day in the cafeteria and a private room to sleep in.  If you want, it will leave half the day open if you want another part-time job elsewhere for money.  What do you think?”
Rainbow Sprinkles begged, “Do it!  Do it!  Do it!”
Trixie smiled and tousled the filly’s mane.  She playfully asked, “What will I do once you’re gone and back home?”
The filly shouted, “I’ll visit you every day and you’ll make everybody so happy and you gotta do it!”
The blue unicorn said, “Okay, I’ll do it.  Somebody’s gotta keep the frogs in check.”  She discreetly charged her horn with a small amount of energy and projected it outwards.
A frog hopped out from under the bed, croaked, and hopped into the hallway.
Rainbow Sprinkles’s eye lit up in delight.  She chased the creature, calling out, “Froggie!”
Dr. Hooves’s jaw swung open freely at the sight.  How could a frog get inside the hospital?
He looked at Trixie, who had a big smile of her face.  He said rhetorically, “What have I done?”
Trixie smiled wickedly at the doctor and said, “You hired the best.  Now I gotta work up my routine for the next couple of weeks.”
The doctor left, saying, “Just don’t stress yourself too hard.  You need rest to avoid stressing your heart.”
As the doctor left, a tall stallion peeked inside the room.
He asked, “Rainbow Sprinkles?  Are you in here?”  He saw Trixie in the bed, hooked up to a breathing machine.
Trixie’s eyes lit up in recognition.  The brown coat, the dark brown mane, the eyes!  She smiled widely in rememberance.
He asked her, “Have you seen a little filly?  White with a red and orange mane?”
Trixie sighed, “Yeah.”  After a moment, she realized that was a question.  She added, “Oh!  Uh, c’mon in.  She’ll be right back after the illusionary frog disappears.”
The stallion came into the room.  His flank symbol was a large chunk of chocolate fudge.
Trixie decided that heaven could indeed be sometimes on the earth.
He said, “I remember you.  You’re the mare that fought the manticore.  I heard you cured the disease in town.”
The blue unicorn drowned in his rich, brown eyes and said, “Uh-huh.”
He introduced himself, “My name is Fudge Square, but my friends call me Brownie.”
Trixie mused, “I suddenly want marshmallows.”
Brownie asked, “Huh?”
Flushing with embarrassment, she tried to salve her dignity, “I mean, when I get out of the hospital, you want to get some dessert some time?”
The dark brown stallion asked suspiciously, “Aren’t you the mare that attacked Twilight Sparkle outside of the library?”
Her face fell in shame, but she confidently said, “Yes, that was me.  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to scare you.  Twilight and I were having an argument and I thought she was attacking me.  That was my fault.  I shouldn’t have done that.”  She pleaded with glassy, wet eyes, “Please don’t be afraid of me.  I really like you.”
The stallion smiled a little and said, “Well, maybe.  We’ll see when you recover.  If Rainbow Sprinkles likes you, then you must not be all bad.  She’s my little sister, you see.”
Trixie’s mind went into overdrive.  It started with the idea that she should name a magic trick after his sister.  All’s fair.

=====================

A few minutes later, in another wing of the hospital, Dr. Hooves entered a room that held all of the Elements of Harmony, as well as one baby dragon.
Twilight Sparkle was still wrapped in a thick neck brace in her bed.  The rest were standing around, waiting for the doctor.
He reported, “She accepted.  It’ll be a week before she has the strength to do it regularly, but I think with bed rest, she’ll recover.”
Twilight smiled gently and said, “That’s good.  She really needs this, doctor.  I messed her up more than she needed, so this will make up for it.  Please don’t tell her it was my idea.”
The doctor said mysteriously, “I think she’s changed her opinion of you a little bit.  Once you’re able to get up, you should ask her.”
Pinkie Pie said, “Yes!  Now we just gotta plan Twilight’s welcome back bash and get all the stallions to line up and smooth her one right after another!”
Twilight panicked in her bed, “WHAT?!”
The other chuckled at the reaction.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash high-hoofed each other.
The purple unicorn groused, “What are you all laughing about?  She’ll do it!”
Rarity suggested, “Pinkie, dear, don’t you have more pressing matters to plan?  Like Trixie’s recovery party?”
The pink pony waved a hoof and said, “Oh, I planned that last night when we had the cupcake fight.  I just need to stock up on marshmallow icing.”
Fluttershy mentioned, “I think it’s nice that Trixie has a job helping ponies.  That’ll really do wonders for her self-esteem.”
Rainbow Dash harrumphed, “Pfft.  I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Twilight said, “That reminds me.  Spike, take a letter.”
The baby dragon produced a quill and scroll.  He said, “Okay, shoot.”
Twilight dictated:
“Dearest Princess Celestia,

It’s only been a few hours since I woke up from the operation.  However, I couldn’t sleep without knowing if Trixie was okay.  Dr. Hooves has said that he had to reinforce my neck bones with metal plates to keep them strong enough to not break under their own weight.  Seems like Trixie and I will share something else after all.”

I think I finally learned what it is like to be a real teacher.  You sacrifice so much for your student because you want them to succeed, even if it means you might not.

I was awake for pretty much the whole fight, regardless of what the others might have thought.  When I saw Trixie try to smash the crystal to weaken Discord, I was so proud of her.  She could have sided with him and kept all of her power, but instead she gave it all up to save the foals of Ponyville.

But when I saw Trixie get impaled through the chest, I…I…”
Twilight began sobbing.  The others each placed a hoof on her back to give her support.  She continued:
“I felt torn apart inside.  I blamed myself for not preparing her to anticipate magical ice sheets.  I know it sounds crazy, but I blamed myself for any of her failures.  I just knew that I had to make sure she survived.  I transferred as much of my life energy to her as I could, even if it killed me.  

I also understand how you didn’t want me to take an apprentice just yet.  I think I would like some lessons on how to teach.  I should finish her training eventually.  I think she’s putting down roots here and maybe magic school is not right for her right now.

By the way, I learned that you gave blood to both of us to save our lives on the operating table.  Words cannot express how grateful I am you gave for both of us.  The gift of life is surely one of the most precious gifts there is.

I’ve never said this to you, but even since you took me under your wing, you’ve been like a second mother to me.  You’ve always been there to support me when I struggled and catch me when I fell.  Don’t be surprised if I start calling you ‘Auntie Celestia’ like Rainbow Sprinkles does.  After all, now we share blood like family, hee hee.

As for Discord, I think we really wounded him.  You should have seen Rainbow Dash combine the Elements of Harmony into her body and completely kick his ass!”
The group gasped.
Applejack stated, “Twi, I’ve never heard you use any kind of strong language!”
The purple unicorn proudly stated, “I’ve also learned that life is too short to be too polite.”  She smiled widely.
Pinkie Pie smiled devilishly and declared, “Great!  Now me and Rainbow Dash can teach you how to really swear!”
Rarity swatted the pink pony with her tail and said, “Oh, no you don’t!  Twilight is a lady!  The shock of the attack just confused her.”
Rainbow Dash and Twilight shared a wink.
Twilight finished the letter:
“I think Discord went back to his statue.  I think maybe that hunk of rock in more of a base of operations rather than a prison.  Maybe you should investigate sending him to an alternate dimension, assuming that he couldn’t just teleport back.

Finally, I think maybe I need to ask a favor, once I’m well again.  Write to me later about it.

Your faithful student, 
Twilight Sparkle.”

=====================

Two weeks later, in front of the hospital, a royal procession had halted.  The fully-healed Royal Guard escorted Princess Celestia to a speaking platform constructed for such an occasion.  Their bronze plate armor gleamed in the sun.  They had been repaired and polished to perfection.
All of Ponyville had turned out to hear the proclamation.  In places of honor surrounding the white alicorn were Princess Luna, the Elements of Harmony, Trixie, and Dr. Hooves.
The Princess of Daylight addressed the crowd, “Citizens of Ponyville!  We are here to commemorate the heroism of these noble souls before you.  The foul menace of Discord had escaped from his stone prison again and then tricked a destitute mare that all of us had misjudged.”  
The crowd looked away sheepishly, not wanting to admit its mistakes.
“Our own callousness had driven her to desperate measures just to survive.  Discord had taken advantage of this to trick her into helping him unleash a foul plague from over a thousand years ago.  This was his plan for a long time.  He did not succeed!”
The crowd cheered wildly.  Previously sick colts and fillies jumped and shouted, tumbling on the ground with health and vigor.
“Today we thank the Elements of Harmony for their continued efforts to save Equestria from enslavement and annihilation.  But today we especially thank a mare who has endured more hardship than we might care to think about.  Starvation, thirst, homelessness, unfair judgment, and even betrayal.  Through it all, she kept her sense of self-respect and mercy towards those who would call themselves her enemies.  I speak of The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Stallions and mares all stomped their hooves loudly in honor of Trixie, who was finally exonerated.  Fillies and colts flooded the stage to take turns hugging her with reckless abandon.
When Celestia looked over to Trixie, the blue unicorn knew she was expected to make a speech.
She stood up in front and opened her mouth.  However, her brain locked up.  She was so flooded with emotion that she couldn’t speak.
At length, she said, “I don’t know what to say.”
Pinkie Pie teased, “There’s a first!”
Everypony laughed heartily at that.
Brownie came up next to his marefriend and leaned up against her.  He placed his foreleg around her foreleg and kissed her neck. 
Trixie blushed furiously at the attention, but she liked it.
Rainbow Sprinkles raced up to hug Trixie’s foreleg, laughing with delight.


THE END