//------------------------------// // Chapter 1:6 - The Black Sorceress // Story: Camaraderie is Sorcery // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter 1:6 – The Black Sorceress Year 981 of the 4th Age The sound of crackling branches filled the air as the trees swayed under the force of the wind, and the wheat fields at a distance seemed to be a roiling ocean of grain. Dark clouds flitted swiftly across the sky and thunder rumbled in the west, where the horizon was ominously black. For adults, these signs would be considered an omen that something terrible was coming, but for foals it only meant less time to play before having to head inside to escape the storm. On a hill overlooking a wheat field, two little fillies were taking advantage of the time they still had, frolicking about in a chasing game. It was more difficult than it looked, having to dodge gopher holes, boulders, and patches of thorns while avoiding the pony chasing you, and soon the one being chased—a unicorn with a silvery mane and pale blue coat—tripped over an exposed root and went sprawling. The other filly—an earth pony with a chestnut coat and mane and a white muzzle—tripped as well and landed on her friend, but quickly recovered and pinned her down. “Ha! I’ve caught ye, traitor!” the filly on top said triumphantly, “Now, what have ye t’ say?” “I yield t’ ye, oh Queen Melody of the Mill, an’ ask ye for ye mercy,” the blue filly said, smiling as she rolled her eyes. “And mercy ye shall have,” Melody said as she got off her friend and helped her to her hooves, “For am I not the greatest and most merciful of queen in all the land?” “Yes, your Highness, your kindness is an inspiration t’ us all,” the blue filly said, “Alright, now I’ll be queen an’ you can be th’ disloyal noble.” “Oh my! Is it so late already?” Melody asked as she looked at the sky to check the sun’s position, as well as she could through the clouds. “I was s’posed t’ be home ages ago! I have t’ go!” “Do you really?” the blue filly pleaded, “Can’t we finish th’ game?” “Da is s’posed t’ return today, and that knight that came and got him might be with him,” Melody said as she galloped away down the hill, “I’ll tell you all about it t’morrow!” “An’ we’ll finish the game?” the blue filly called after her. “And we’ll finish the game,” Melody promised, “Bye, Trixana!” Trixana sat down in the grass and looked out over the fields. Melody was headed home, and she knew she should probably do the same; but, if she did, her mother would have chores for her to do, and it couldn’t hurt to sit here and wait just a little bit longer. She thought about the stories Melody might have to tell tomorrow about the knight. Knights never visited Rumsfield. Trixana had always dreamed that one day a knight in shining armor would come and proclaim that she was a long-lost princess and take her away to her kingdom where she would be admired by all and would never know hunger again. Her papa and mama would be rewarded, of course, for finding her and caring for her, and her eight sisters could live at court with her. It would be so nice if it were true. She could picture the knight clearly in her mind. A muscular stallion in silvery armor polished so brightly that she could admire her reflection in it. His helmet would have a feather sticking out of the top that swayed elegantly whenever he turned his head and looked at her through his visor with kind, warm eyes. A greatsword would be slung at his side, its pommel and scabbard inlaid with rubies and diamonds, and he would carry a lance to compete in tourneys at her behest. His shield would shine in the light, the scars from past battles making it more beautiful instead of marring the surface. She could see it all so clearly. Then, she opened her eyes and was shocked to see the shield she had just envisioned protruding from the ground in front of her. Trixana gave a gasp of wonder, and the shield disappeared, disintegrating into silvery sparks that soon also vanished. What had just happened? Had she had some sort of vision, or had she wished and imagined so hard that her fantasy had become real, even just for a moment? Probably the latter, she thought; she had to tell somepony about it. Nearly tripping over herself, Trixana took off down the hill and through the wheat field, galloping as fast as her little legs could carry her toward the tiny farmhouse in the distance. She charged across the yard, heedless of the darkness that was beginning to spread in the sky, and the irregular drops of rain that fell as if the clouds were unsure whether to storm or not. When she reached the farmhouse, she pulled the door open and let it slam, startling a nearby cluster of chickens. “Oh good, there you are,” her mother said upon seeing her enter. “Mama, I imagined something, and then it was real!” Trixana said excitedly, jumping up and down, and getting a disapproving look from a goose that had wandered into the house. “That’s nice, sweetie,” her mother said as she rushed about, looking just as tired as you’d expect a mare with nine daughters and a tenth on the way to look, “I need you t’ run into town an’ pick me up two spools o’ thread.” “But, Mama-” Trixana started to protest as her mother gave her a sack with a few coins in it. “Hurry now, before the storm gets here,” her mother said urgently. “Why can’t Elzana or Priana do it?” the filly complained. “They’re helpin’ your papa, as are Lorana, Frana, an’ Rana. Surana an’ Hana are helpin’ me an’ Kana is too little t’ go, so that just leaves you; now shoo!” her mother said as she pushed Trixana out the door. Trixana didn’t want to go to town, but it was best to do what Mama said to do when she said to do it, so she headed off east. Maybe I’ll see Melody’s knight, she considered as she found the rutted path to Rumsfield, and that raised her spirits. As she travelled through the valley, the wheat eventually gave way to fields of sugar beets, and not long after that she could see the town and its brewery. In a tiny town like Rumsfield, everything always moved slowly, which is why it was such a surprise for Trixana to see ponies rushing about like madmares. Wagons were being stacked full of valuables, and some ponies were boarding up their shops. The shop where she had been sent to buy thread was one such building, and the shop’s owner—a bespectacled stallion—was out front nailing boards over his doors and windows while looking back every few seconds at the wagon in the street laden with his worldly goods. “Excuse me, sir, what’s going on?” Trixana asked as she approached him, and the stallion dropped his hammer in surprise. “What? Who are you?” the shop owner said, clearly flustered about something, “Never mind, just get out of town!” “Why?” Trixana asked, and the shop owner looked at her like she was the crazy one. “Why?” he repeated, “Haven’t you heard the news? Bann the Terrible’s army will be here any minute, led by those barbarian hordes he incorporated into his forces. They’ll burn, rape, and destroy everything!” “Won’t Count Harlow stop them?” Trixana asked, for if the peasants couldn’t rely on their lord to protect them, what was the point of the lord at all? “Harlow, his family, and his servants all left a week ago for Manehattan,” the shop owner said, shaking his head, “The worm knew this was coming, and saved his own skin instead.” “Manehattan’s army will come, won’t it?” Trixana said, becoming worried. “By the time good ol’ King Wexel the Wide shifts his weight in his throne and gives the order, all this land will be ruined and belong to Stalliongrad,” the shop owner groused. “Everypony with any sense is leaving this town, and you ought to do the same.” Apparently deciding his shop was adequately boarded up, the stallion threw his hammer into the cart and hitched himself to it before taking off down the street. Trixana stood paralyzed for a moment, watching the townsponies rush around gathering their belongings and loved ones. Loved ones. Trixana took off like a shot out of town, determined to reach her home before Bann the Terrible’s hordes did. Through beet fields and wheat fields she galloped, ignoring the path and cutting across fields and fences and over hills and through copses on the shortest route home. She finally caught sight of the farmhouse as she crested the hill she and Melody had played on earlier. It was too late. The farmhouse was already ablaze, and ponies that were no more than tiny points at this distance were making their way through the fields. Somepony had to have escaped, though, they just had to. Trixana started down the hill. “No, little one!” an unfamiliar voice said as Trixana felt herself grabbed from behind, “They’re gone, don’t throw your life away!” “My family!” the filly cried, and squirmed in the hold to see who had stopped her. Holding onto her tightly to keep her from running into certain death was an elderly mare, her mane tied into numerous braids with beads strung in them. Trixana had seen this pony once or twice before; she was a local woods witch, avoided by most ponies except when they needed something mystical from her. “Let me go!” Trixana screamed, tears running down her face. “There’s nothing for you down there but death,” the woods witch said firmly. “There’s my family!” Trixana shouted. She couldn’t leave them, not when she could see their faces so clearly. Then, just as earlier, they were really before her eyes. Her family was all around her! Mama and Papa and Elzana and Lorana and Frana and Priana and Rana and Hana and Surana and baby Kana! Then, just as swiftly, they were gone and Trixana broke down in tears again. “Sweet Faust!” the woods witch exclaimed as she released Trixana, causing her to collapse to the ground, “You’re a Source!” “Hm?” the little filly sniffled. “You can work magic!” the woods witch said, her eyes wide, “Do you realize what that means?” “No,” Trixana said weakly, too distraught to think of anything else. “Stop!” the woods witch said as Trixana picked herself up and began to head down the hill, “There’s no future for you down there, but if you come with me, I can teach you how to use your magic and make a better future for yourself.” “Better how?” Trixana asked through tears. “You’ll become a great sorceress!” the woods witch exclaimed, “The magic you wield can change the world! Kings and Queens will invite you to their courts and heap riches upon you! Every town you go to, the ponies there will give you anything in exchange for using just a small fraction of the power you can wield! You’ll be so great that nopony will be able to harm you ever again!” “And I’ll be powerful?” Trixana asked as she wiped at her tears with a hoof, smearing her face with mud in the process. “Yes, great and powerful!” the woods witch said, “If you can do what you just did with no training and at such a young age, you’re many times more powerful than I am! You could become the greatest sorceress of this age, but only if you come with me and let me teach you everything I know.” Trixana looked uncertainly back at the burning farmhouse and fields, and the hordes coming closer to them. Could things really be as great as this woods witch claimed? Taking one last look at the ruins of her old home, Trixana followed the elderly mare into the woods. *** Year 1000 of the 4th Age Twilight Sparkle stared intently at the iron water pail before her. When Twilight had first seen Golden Oak’s laboratory, it looked more like a home library than a laboratory, but that was before she had found the way down to a cavern among the tree-house’s roots. Here was where Golden Oak had kept all of his equipment, and (after having Spike dust and clean everything) she was now using it for her own magical experiments. The pail was sitting atop a sand table in the middle of a magical circle of grooves that could be redrawn as many times as the sorceress needed. Ingredients for the spell sat in varying pieces of mystical paraphernalia arranged around the edge of the circle. Everything was in place for her to finish casting her spell. It should work this time, the sorceress thought as she began to focus on weaving the spell. It has to work. The only reason it didn’t work last time is because the bucket was wooden and caught fire. Spike watched nervously as the water in the bucket began to bubble and the pail began to glow a dull red. Magical sparks and lights began to dance around the circle, and the pail began to vibrantly glow. With a final sound of crackling and bright light, the spell reached its apex. Twilight blinked her eyes rapidly to regain her sight and see if she had finally been successful. When her vision returned, she observed that the ingredients had been consumed and that the pail no longer looked like a pail so much as a badly misshapen bowl. After getting a go-ahead nod from Twilight, Spike pulled himself up onto the table and approached the pail-bowl, dipping a claw into the liquid within and quickly pulling it out to test the temperature. It must have been cool enough (at least for a dragon), for the next thing he did was to dip a cup into the pail-bowl and take a sip of the liquid. “It worked!” he exclaimed, giving Twilight a thumbs-up. “I did it?” she asked joyfully (and a bit apprehensively). “Water to liquor,” Spike said, admiring the cup in his claw, “It tastes a bit metallic, but I like it.” “Probably from the metal pail,” Twilight noted, “So it is possible after all to transmute water into liquor. Sorceresses have known for years it was possible to transmute liquor into water-” “Why they would want to transmute in that direction is beyond me,” Spike commented as he took another sip. “Right,” Twilight said, a bit annoyed that she’d been interrupted, but so giddy with her success that she didn’t care all that much, “Anyway, now we know that it is possible to transmute in the opposite direction.” “You’re going to put distilleries out of business,” Spike observed. “Probably not, at least not right away,” Twilight responded, “The materials I used for the transmutation are fairly uncommon, I destroyed the vessel I performed the transmutation in, and I had to expand an enormous amount of magical energy just to transmute a small amount of water. Still, if this transmutation is possible, what about the reverse of other common transmutations?” “Like gold to nickel,” Spike said, catching on, “It could be possible to transmute nickel to gold.” “Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed, “Of course, much like this transmutation, it would probably cost more than the gold is worth to create it, but the principle is the important thing. I have proved that reverse transmutations are not impossible after all!” “Oh,” Spike said, his enthusiasm curbed after learning that a way of easily obtaining wealth wasn’t possible after all, “Well, I suppose that it’s still a momentous achievement. Congratulations, Twilight.” Spike began to clean up the lab while Twilight jotted down her observations, her quill scratching furiously against the parchment as she attempted to channel all her thoughts through it. When she was satisfied, she set the pages out to dry and headed upstairs. Stepping through a bookcase, the sorceress came nearly nose to nose with a bouncing Pinkamena. “Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!” she said rapidly as she continued to bounce, “You’ve got to come with me!” “Why is that?” Twilight asked as she stepped around the bouncing mare, knowing that Pinkamena now knew how to find her when she was in the laboratory. “Because there’s another sorceress in Ponieville!” Pinkamena exclaimed, and Twilight paused in her trot. Did Celestia send somepony? I can’t imagine a Cant’r Laht sorceress coming to a backwater like Ponieville voluntarily; I certainly didn’t. Maybe they’re not from Cant’r Laht, but then what is all the fuss about? The number of notable sorceress not from Cant’r Laht is very few. “Who is she?” Spike asked as he emerged into the library, and Twilight looked expectantly at Pinkamena. “I don’t know,” she said as she finally stopped bouncing, “I came to get you because I thought you might know her.” “Where is she?” Twilight asked, considering whether she needed to change outfits. “She’s setting up in the town square,” Pinkamena said. “Give me a moment to put on my boots,” Twilight said and headed up to her bedchamber. Setting up? Once Twilight was ready to brave the streets of Ponieville, she, Pinkamena, and Spike left for the town square. The square was packed full of ponies by the time they arrived. There weren’t as many as at the summer solstice ceremony, but it still appeared that all of Ponieville had turned out. Do they not have anything better to do with their time? Considering that this was Ponieville, the answer was probably no. Everypony was staring in the same direction, where an ornately decorated carriage was parked. One side of the carriage was flipped down to create a stage so that ponies farther back in the crowd could see. Twilight and Pinkamena fought their way forward, but ended up in the center of the crowd, close enough to see, especially for Spike, who stood atop Twilight’s back and peered over the heads of Ponieville’s denizens. Velvet curtains hanging in a doorway parted to let the sorceress within the carriage step through. The mare that stepped out onto the stage was moderately tall, with a pale blue coat and silvery mane. Of course, her coat color wasn’t the first thing that Twilight Sparkle noticed upon seeing her. The sorceress on the stage was wearing an unorthodox set of sorceress robes, all in black. The innermost layer was nearly form-fitting, with hock-length boots similar to Twilight’s. Over that was draped robes nearer to those of a traditional sorceress, clasped but not closed in the front, and over that was a second robe that was thin and capelike. Her outer robe was embroidered with silver, an emerald sparkled at her neck, and sapphires on her sleeves flashed in the light as she walked; a mare showing off wealth. “It’s the Black Sorceress,” somepony nearby said, but Twilight was unable to identify who it was and find out what they knew that she didn’t. “Calm yourselves, Ponievillians!” the sorceress on the stage said, her voice booming, “Yes, it is truly I, Tryxanna Lucrecia St. Rowan Lulamoon of Rumydshire! But, to save time, you may address me as the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Voice modulation magic. A simple trick commonly used by woods witches to awe others without actually performing consequential spells and by Cant’r Laht sorceresses who wish to frighten servants and peasants. Still, I have the feeling that there is more to this Trixie than merely trifles. “The Great and Powerful?” Rainbow Dash said mockingly from two rows ahead of Twilight. “Yes, perhaps you’ve heard of me,” Trixie said, having somehow heard Dash’s remark and either missing its intent or purposefully ignoring it, “After all, I have travelled far and wide across Equestria and been hosted by many towns and courts, most notably that of Duchess Flying Saddle of Tall Tale. Surely news of my power and greatness has reached you even here in this insignificant little village.” Several ponies in the crowd grumbled at Ponieville being called insignificant. She’s not going to gain anything by insulting their town. Wait, didn’t I have the same outlook as Trixie when I first came here? Not all of Ponieville’s residents seemed to have taken it as a slight, though. Some of them were busy discussing the rumors about this Black Sorceress, which Twilight desperately wished she could overhear. If only she had hearing as sharp as Trixie apparently did. “It is a great honor for you, you know,” Trixie continued talking, though she glanced disdainfully at the grumblers for a moment, “Before you, stands the greatest unicorn sorceress in existence!” How could this be? The greatest sorceresses are from Cant’r Laht, or at least known to them. If this Trixie is as powerful as she claims to be (and she’s certainly not shy about talking about it), then why have I never heard of her before? “What about Celestia?” somepony in the crowd demanded. “Are you deaf as well as dumb?” Trixie asked scornfully, “I am the greatest unicorn sorceress in existence. Celestia is an alicorn, though someday I suspect that I may become one as well and surpass even her.” “Can you believe this?” Rarity asked a pony next to her a few rows ahead of Twilight, Spike, and Pinkamena, “She thinks she’s better than everypony else just because of her magic.” Oh. Twilight had been considering speaking up and challenging Trixie to discover just how powerful she really was. Now, though, she was reconsidering. If I use my magic to prove I’m superior, does that make me any better than Trixie? I’ve been freely using my magic for years, but that was in Cant’r Laht, surrounded by fellow sorceresses. What would a pony who can’t use magic like Rarity think of that? What would she think of me if I tried to show up Trixie? For that matter, I haven’t exactly been making the best impression on Ponieville as it is; what could happen if I did this? “If you think that this is all empty boasting, then you must not have heard of my exploits,” Trixie lectured as she paced across her stage, “Perhaps you’re unaware that it was I who defeated the ursa major when it attacked Hoofington using my awesome power. I am no mere woods witch or hedge wizard; I am the genuine artifact.” “That’s impossible!” Rainbow Dash asserted, interrupting the oohs and ahs of the crowd as she pushed into the open, “No single pony has ever vanquished an ursa major! Even the Wonderbolts all assembled together were barely able to take one down! There’s no way that you did what even the most well-trained team of Hunters in existence struggled to accomplish!” “Well, I did just that,” Trixie said smugly, “You can ask the ponies of Hoofington and they’ll tell you the exact same story. Then maybe you’ll admit my superiority.” “That’s easy enough to say!” Spike yelled from Twilight’s back, causing her to flinch, not wanting Trixie’s attention on her when she was still unsure whether or not she ought to challenge this Black Sorceress, “Where’s the proof that you’re really a powerful sorceress?” “You want proof?” Trixie giggled, looking at the crowd instead of Spike in particular, “Very well; prepare to be amazed by the magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie allowed her eyes to close halfway as she concentrated, and she turned her head to face an open spot of dirt next to her carriage. The ground seemed to bubble for a moment before a shoot popped forth and grew into an apple tree in a matter of seconds while a glow suffused Trixie’s horn, bubbling off at the end. Odd; that effect usually doesn’t occur during growth spells. The tree also seemed slightly “off” to Twilight in a way she couldn’t quite put her hoof on, but maybe it was just the unfamiliar magic. Trixie’s horn and the tree flashed and the apples on it changed to pears. The sorceress teleported one of the pears to herself and caught it deftly with a hoof before tossing it into the audience. “It’s real!” the pony who’d caught the fruit proclaimed with a sense of disbelief after taking a bite. “Of course it’s real,” Trixie said as she hit the tree with a blast of flame that incinerated it into ash that drifted away, then smoothed the dirt back out. “What were you thinking, Spike?” Twilight scolded the dragon as she pushed him off her back. “How long were you planning on letting her go on claiming to be the best sorceress when you must be easily more powerful than she is?” Spike asked. “I don't know; possibly until she leaves,” Twilight admitting, getting a stunned look from Spike, “Look at my friends. They despise her for flaunting her magic, and I am not going to risk losing their friendship so soon after gaining it because of something as trivial as this.” “You know, Twilight,” Spike sighed, “I’ve been silent about the changes you’ve made to yourself since we moved to Ponieville, because most of them were good, but this is a bad idea. You’re Celestia’s personal protégé; you can’t afford to let yourself be shown up by other sorceresses. You have to assert yourself.” “I cannot do that, Spike,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “And I cannot use my status as a shield or an excuse. I have to recognize my own shortcomings.” She had learned that lesson very recently in her dealings with the gryphons; why couldn’t Spike remember? “Fine, I’ll keep quiet,” the dragon said begrudgingly, “But I want you to remember that I told you this was a bad plan.” “That is not all the Great and Powerful Trixie can do!” the mare on the stage announced, once the adoring sounds of the crowd had died down, “Lend me your tankard.” A stallion in the front row—who Twilight recognized after a moment as one of her guards—hesitated before setting his tankard of beer onto the stage. Once more taking on her eyes-half-open look, Trixie focused on the tankard, and a flash of light enveloped it. The guard took the tankard back, frowned at the contents, took a sip, and groaned. “Very funny, turning my beer to water; as if none of the sorceresses in Cant’r Laht have played that trick on me before,” the stallion groused. “Oh, but I’m not finished yet,” Trixie said slyly, and the tankard glowed again. “It’s beer again!” the guard exclaimed with wide eyes after taking a tentative sip, “That’s a, uh…” Reverse transmutation! “Yes, a reverse transmutation,” Trixie said a second later, “In case anypony here is clever enough to understand the significance.” How did she do that? It took me forever to figure it out, and she did it like it was nothing! Could she truly be more powerful than I am? Maybe it’s a good thing that I won’t be confronting her. What would it look like if Celestia’s own apprentice was shown up by an obscure sorceress? “Where’s Twilight? I bet she could show Trixie up,” Rainbow Dash said, though Twilight didn’t hear her, so lost was she in her thoughts, and thankfully neither did Trixie, whose attention was focused on the mare in the obscenely tall hat approaching her. “Quite impressive; it’s evident that you’re no mere novice at the arcane arts,” Mayor Mare praised as she had a few of her guards lift her up onto the stage next to Trixie, “I would be delighted if you would join me in the Mayoral Keep during your visit to our town. I can assure you that you will be well provided for and compensated for any services you provide with your magic.” “I accept your offer,” Trixie announced with a sly smile, “I think I shall quite enjoy my stay in Ponieville.” Rainbow Dash paid heed to none of this, taking off into the air to look for Twilight. She was certain she’d seen her in the crowd earlier, but now she was nowhere to be found. Where could she have gone, and why would she leave so suddenly when she had a chance before her to challenge another sorceress? *** As soon as Twilight had seen Mayor Mare approach, she’d seen her opportunity to slip away undetected before anything went wrong. By the time Trixie had accepted the offer of lodging from Ponieville’s leader, Celestia’s protégé was back in Golden Oak’s laboratory. Books were flying from the shelves when Spike arrived, a bit miffed at being left behind. “Oh, good,” Twilight said when she saw her page enter the laboratory, “Spike, I need you to get me my copy of Rossin’s Registry of Mages, and find if Golden Oak owned a copy of the Atlas Equestria.” After a few minutes of digging through Golden Oak’s poorly organized collection of books (which Twilight hadn’t yet gotten around to rearranging), Spike had the two volumes Twilight had asked for. Twilight’s copy of the Registry of Mages was the most up-to-date version available, published three years earlier, but the Atlas Equestria was much older. Golden Oak had died thirteen years earlier, so it was understandable that he wouldn’t have the newest version, but the book he owned had already been out-of-date when he’d died, having been published thirty years earlier in year 970 of the 4th Age. He must not have cared very much about geography; the southern coast of the Agate Sea still belonged to Vanhuv’r in this map, and the Kingdom of the Haelds was an independent nation. “Twilight, what are you doing?” Spike asked with a sigh as the sorceress took the books from him and began rapidly flipping through the Registry of Mages. “It makes no sense, Spike. How could I have never heard of Trixie before if she has the kind of magical ability she demonstrated today?” a flustered Twilight said as she flipped through the tome. She had to be in here somewhere. Rossin was very thorough when compiling his Registry of Mages every three years, including every pony in Equestria with magical talent beyond the ability to do simple tricks. Had Trixie somehow slipped through? With the kind of talent she’d shown and the way she pontificated about herself, it seemed hard to believe. Where is she? No matter where she looked in the Registry, Twilight could find no mention of a Tryxanna Lucrecia St. Rowan Lulamoon of Rumydshire. Perhaps an alternate spelling? Tryxanna, Trixana, Trixanna, Triksana, Trixie, Tryxie, Tryxy; none of them appeared anywhere either. There was not even mention of a pony going by the name of the Black Sorceress in the section on rumors of mages in hiding. “Where is she?” Twilight exclaimed in frustration, then saw her own entry still listed her magical power as 899 Bu when she’d surpassed 1000 years ago, “Spike, is this the newest edition we have?” “It’s the newest edition there is,” Spike said as he put books back on the shelf, mostly guessing where they’d come from, “The next one doesn’t come out until this year. Is Trixie not listed?” “No!” the sorceress exclaimed, shoving the book away angrily, “How could that be?” “Maybe she only made her public appearance in the last three years,” Spike said, though he thought Twilight really ought to have come to the same conclusion on her own. She was thoroughly worked up from this Trixie business. “That is the only explanation that makes sense, but how did she keep that kind of power secret for so long?” Twilight said angrily as she now flipped through the Atlas Equestria, “There is no Rumydshire listed in here either. Why would she attach a town’s name to her title when that town is too insignificant to even be listed in the Atlas? Of course it could have been founded in the last thirty years, but there’s no way it could be even mildly significant now. It is almost as if Trixie doesn’t exist at all, but that is impossible as well.” Twilight slammed the Atlas Equestria shut and laid her head down on it. How could a sorceress she’d never heard about before have shown up in Ponieville and shown off magic that put Celestia’s own apprentice to shame? She claimed to have killed an ursa major, but surely word on something like that would have spread, wouldn’t it? Then there was the odd feeling Twilight had gotten observing Trixie’s magic. The apple/pear tree had seemed real enough except for that nagging feeling, and somepony had exclaimed rather adamantly that the fruit from it was exactly what it seemed. Her transmutation of beer to water to beer had also seemed off now that Twilight was thinking about it. At the time she had been too shocked, but now she was noticing things. Even forward transmutations required a semi-elaborate setup, but Trixie had performed it in the blink of an eye with nothing but a wooden tankard for a vessel. Her horn had glowed then as well, and transmutation spells didn’t require a medium for the energy transfer any more than growth spells did. Perhaps she was going about this all wrong by trying to learn about Trixie by looking for her name and home. “Spike, get me Principles of Transmutation, Flamare’s Treatise, and Botania. Oh, and a Hunters’ bestiary,” Twilight ordered, adding the last book as another thought popped into her mind. “Twilight, why can’t you just talk to Trixie and ask her your questions yourself?” Spike asked as he finished putting away the last of the books the sorceress had thrown on the floor, “Better yet, why don’t you challenge her and put an end to her bragging? I’m sure you can take her, Twilight; she wasn’t trained by Celestia, but you were.” “I cannot take that chance,” Twilight said with a shake of her head as she stacked the two books on the reading stand before her, “If I lose, then it reflects poorly on Celestia for training somepony who can be defeated by an unknown upstart. If I win, then my friends will hate me for flaunting my magic to prove my superiority.” “First off, you’re your own pony and it won’t shame Celestia at all if you’re defeated,” Spike said, ticking off his points on his claws, “Second off, you’re not going to lose and it’s preposterous to think that your friends will turn against you just because you demonstrate your magic. They know who you are, and they’ve already accepted you.” “I still haven’t shown off my full power in front of them, and I don’t want to risk things so soon in. I will not be challenging Trixie, and that’s final,” Twilight said firmly, “Now, Spike, get me those books I asked for.” *** Within the Everfree Forest, three ponies hooded and cloaked in robes of midnight blue stepped through the mouth of a massive cave. These Children of the Night would have preferred to stay out beneath the majestic sky of their goddess, but clouds were beginning to obscure the stars, and rain seemed likely to follow. It was a trying time for the cult that had been driven back by civilized ponies all across Equestria. The Mother of the Lost had returned to the mortal realms, but instead of wreaking vengeance against the Fiery Usurper as prophesied, she had been defeated. Now frightening rumors were reaching them that their Mother had joined with the Fiery Usurper who had banished her so long ago. A more worldly concern for the cultists was the loss of the Western Watchtower, which had been used as their temple for years. Initially, they had laughed at the threat issued by the Devil’s Daughter, but after the sun returned, the Children of the Night had rushed to leave lest the full wrath of Cant’r Laht fall upon them. Still, they were looking for a new place out of the elements and away from the monsters of the Everfree to live and sleep and perform their rituals. Perhaps the cave these three scouts had found would do. It was pitch black in the cave, and none of them were able to see in the dark like their priest, so they lit torches to get a better view of their surroundings. The cave was exceptionally (perhaps even unnaturally) wide, and showed no sign of narrowing as they continued in. Deep gouges on the walls appeared to speak of a once-narrower cave that had been expanded by some beast. Scattered bones on the floor glowed faintly and supported the idea that some creature had once lived here. Each of the cultists hoped that it was here no more. A moist wind washed over the Children of the Night, and their torches one by one sputtered out and died. They stood still for a moment, but when no death came to them, two of the ponies turned to face the entrance, wondering if it would be better to leave immediately and face the storm than what waited for them farther in. The third of their group was stuck silent as he spotted the beast that had made this cave its dwelling. A scream finally broke loose from his throat just as the massive jaws clamped down on him, teeth the size of carts crushing him to pulp in an instant. Shards of broken bone and bits of flesh flew from the monster’s mouth when it roared as the other two cultists turned to face it and stood with eyes wide. As one, they bolted for the cave entrance. The monster behind them paused for a moment before following, it’s great footfalls shaking the ground beneath the ponies’ hooves. One was overtaken, crushed to pulp as a massive paw landed upon her, grinding her into the floor and mingling her flesh with the refuse already piled there. The leader managed to make it out of the cave, charging blindly toward the trees with no idea where she was going, only knowing that she couldn’t turn back if she wanted to live. In a bounding stride the monster reached her, a massive paw swinging through the air that threw her off her hooves. She sailed through the air in terror before her body struck a tree, knocking it partway over and breaking her spine with the force of the impact. With her last few moments of life, she watched the beast’s open jaws come down upon her, snatching up pony, tree, dirt and all before noisily chewing and swallowing. The monster sat up on its hindquarters as it sniffed around for more of these tasty morsels. In appearance, the beast was much like a bear with an elongated body and snout. Its pelt was luminescent and appeared to hold a twisted starscape, constellations rippling over its muscles as it craned its neck. Breathing heavily, the monster turned to face the west. From that direction, it sensed a powerful source of magic. These treats always tasted better when magic flowed in their veins. Giving a roar that scared away all the sleeping birds in the nearby trees, the beast lumbered off to the west, cutting a path through the Everfree Forest. *** The palisade surrounding Ponieville didn’t stand a chance against the ursa. With one step of its paw, it made a hole in the wall wide enough for three ponies to fit through side-by-side. Its other paw smashed a similar hole in the palisade as it took a step, and its body connected the gaps a moment later. The first victims were a group of night workers with rather questionable reputations eaten in a single snap of the ursa’s jaws. Nopony would miss them, nopony would mourn them, yet their screams managed to reach Mayor Mare’s guards closing in on the breach in the wall and alert them that something deadly awaited them. They halted in their advance, the unarmed ones drawing their weapons, and waited for the threat to show itself. Many of them shook and dropped their weapons as the ursa stood at its full height, towering over a cottage, before bringing its forelegs down and crushing the abode, ripping it and the ponies within apart with its claws. “Ruthus’s breath,” the corporal in charge of the night watch swore with wide eyes before passing a hoof over his forehead as if stroking a horn that wasn’t there, “Faust protect me.” The ursa crashed through the remains of the house it had destroyed and grabbed the nearest guard in a paw before bringing it up to its mouth. The rest of the guards broke and ran at this sight, some of them throwing their weapons at the ursa, which either bounced off or did very minor damage. Watching his troops get torn apart, the corporal turned and ran as well. “Retreat! Fall back t’ the Mayoral Keep!” He yelled to any guards foolish enough to still be facing the ursa. In his retreat, he headed after the largest group of fleeing guards and began issuing more orders. “Somepony get t’ the chapel an’ start ringing the bell t’ alert th’rest of the town. Round up some pegasi an’ send them after any Hunters in the area. Everypony else, follow me back t’ the keep.” A few more guards were gobbled up in their retreat, but the ursa didn’t follow them for long. It had other matters on its mind, namely the source of magic here so potent that it could nearly taste the sorcery. The guards that managed to get away couldn’t know that, or course; all they could do was thank Faust that the ursa had gone a different way. Somepony had made it to the chapel, evident by the sound of the church’s bells that rang out across the town as the guards who’d followed their corporal made it to the Mayoral Keep. The corporal made his way immediately across the courtyard to the tower in the southeast corner that served as the guards’ barracks. The ponies within were still mostly asleep, rising from their beds with barely comprehensible curses at having their rest disturbed. “What’s going on? What’s this all about?” the bleary-eyed captain of Mayor Mare’s guard asked as she stumbled down the stairs from her bedchamber at the tower’s peak and nearly bumped into the corporal as he ascended the stairs to meet her, “Corporal, report.” “Ponieville is under attack!” the stallion explained, out of breath from his run to the keep. “A great bear monster big as a castle broke through th’ palisade!” “What?” the captain demanded, trying to shake the sleep from her head. “It was huge! An’ it’s coat was all covered in stars!” the corporal said, trying somehow to bring the idea of the monster to his captain, “It must be one o’ those ursa majors my gran used t’ frighten me wif stories of, livin’ in th’ Everfree an’ feastin’ on other monsters!” “An ursa major?” the captain said, most of the parts of comprehension in her brain finally waking up, “Didn’t that new witch say she killed one o’ those things?” “I don’t know; I wasn’t there,” the corporal offered. “Yeah, she was definitely braggin’ about it at her dinner with th’ mayor,” the captain said, recalling earlier that night when she’d stood silently and watched other ponies enjoy fine food and drink, “She’s in th’ northwest tower, top room; go an’ wake her up.” The corporal wasted no time discussing the matter further and followed his captain’s command, heading up the stairs until her reached the floor of the tower from which he could trot out onto the wall surrounding the Mayoral Keep’s courtyard. He couldn’t see the ursa as he galloped westward, but after passing over the gate and turning north, he spotted it off to the west. It was terrifying watching from a distance as the monster swung a huge claw through a house, tearing the entire roof off and scattering the bodies of the ponies within. He lost sight of the beast as he opened the door to the northwest tower and came face to face with a pale blue unicorn wearing a robe wrapped over a nightgown. “Just what is the meaning of all this racket!” the Great and Powerful Trixie demanded to know, “Bells in the middle of the night and ponies running about beneath my bedchamber, it’s simply not done!” "There’s an ursa major out there attacking the town,” the corporal said, and Trixie’s eyes widened as large as his were, “Please, madam sorceress, save us from th’ beast.” “An … ursa major,” Trixie whispered, the blood draining from her face. “Yes, they said you killed one before,” the corporal said anxiously, imagining the damage that thing was doing while they were standing here talking. “Right, of course,” Trixie said, giving a fragile smile, “Just give me a moment to compose myself, and have somepony ready my carriage.” The corporal took off as Trixie ascended back to the bedchamber Mayor Mare had provided for her. She changed into her robes before packing everything she could into her trunk. I’ve got to get out of this town. At least the town is about to be destroyed, so no word of my defeat will ever spread. This could even be a good thing. I still have my reputation as an ursa-slayer and other towns will be terrified of the things after this, so much so that they’ll shower me with even more gifts and favors just to stay and “protect” them. So long as they don’t try to get me to track this ursa down. I’ll need a good excuse to avoid that. Once everything was packed, Trixie hauled her trunk after her down the stairs, not even looking for a servant to do the work for her, as anxious as she was to leave. Once she reached the bottom of the tower and stepped out into the courtyard, she realized that something was wrong. Her carriage—and her means of escape—was gone. Recognizing the guard who’d approached her earlier standing nearby with two other frightened guards, she dropped her trunk and took off toward the group. “You there, what happened to my carriage?” the Black Sorceress demanded to know as soon as she was in shouting distance. “It was taken t’ th’ ursa ahead o’ you, as you requested,” the corporal said, not knowing why Trixie seemed so mad at him. When she’d said to ready it, hadn’t she meant for them to take it to where the fight would be so she could use her potions and magic weapons? “I didn’t request anything of the sort!” Trixie yelled. Now how am I supposed to get out of here? I can’t leave it behind. “Oh,” was all the corporal had to say to that, “Well, we’re here t’ escort you t’ th’ ursa anyway.” “An escort; that’s not necessary,” Trixie said nervously. Maybe I could cut my losses and run anyway. “Mayor Mare insisted,” one of the other guards lied. She really wanted to see a sorceress vanquish a monster. “Well, then,” Trixie said, trying to put on a brave face as she swallowed the lump in her throat, “On to the ursa, I suppose.” *** “What is going on out there, Spike?” Twilight Sparkle demanded as she emerged from her bedchamber, pulling a shawl on over her nightgown. “I don’t really have that much experience with Ponieville,” the sleepy dragon said grumpily as he rubbed sleep from his eyes, “But I’m going to guess something important.” “It had better be for them to ring those bells,” Twilight said irately, “It is not a Church holiday, is it?” It could be worse. Cant’r Laht Cathedral’s bells are louder, but they were also farther from my bedchamber. They were more melodious than this racket, too. “I don’t think so,” Spike said as he waddled over to the laboratory door and opened it. “Um, Twilight, you might want to come see this.” The sorceress stuck her head out the door and instantly balked. Next to the door, Mayor Mare’s guards had parked Trixie’s carriage, but that wasn’t what caught Twilight’s attention. Down the street, tearing the front off a cobbler’s shop, was the ursa. “Spike, keep an eye on things. I need to change,” Twilight said as she stared with wide eyes at the beast before returning to her bedchamber. While she was donning her sorceress robes, Trixie and the guards from the Mayoral Keep arrived. The sorceress glanced anxiously at her carriage, trying to think of some excuse to leave with it and get out of this town, but nothing came to mind. It appeared that her only way out of this would be to drive the ursa off (or antagonize it to the point that it killed everypony and she could slip away while it was feasting). Swallowing the lump in her throat, she stepped forward to face the beast, noticing as she did so that the guards stayed safely back. Twilight Sparkle reappeared at the laboratory door—dressed in her full set of robes including the sash covered in arcane symbols draped over her neck—in time to see Trixie come to a stop a hundred paces from the ursa. Lights playing over her horn, she lowered her head and spread her legs in a ready stance. A magic circle appeared beneath her, and a larger once glowed between her and the ursa. From that circle of light and symbols rose up an even larger ursa, though it was nearly identical apart from the size. “Ye’r krahn’r bei nof sten’i,” Trixie incanted slowly as the second ursa rose up. Something’s not right. That spell isn’t really a spell at all; in the Language of the Horns it means “my horn’s fire and stones” which makes no sense, especially considering what the spell is supposed to accomplish. Nevertheless, the conjuring concluded and the ursa came down on all fours and advanced toward the one attacking the town. As the two monsters came nearly nose to nose, Trixie’s ursa rose up to its full height again and roared at it its opponent. The smaller ursa examined the other for a moment and took a few deep sniffs before snarling and swiping a claw into its side. The claw passed clean through, and the larger ursa disintegrated, the illusion collapsing as it was violated by reality. Trixie screamed and fell to the ground as her mirage vanished. Without realizing it, Twilight rushed out of Golden Oak’s laboratory and over to Trixie. She didn’t seem physically hurt, but some spells could mentally scar sorceresses upon their destruction. Illusions weren’t one of those, though, were they? “What are you doing? Get off of me!” Trixie demanded, pushing Twilight away as she tried to help her up. It was just too much. “What am I doing? What are you doing?” she demanded of the Black Sorceress as she stepped back, “Ursas can sense the weave of magic. Illusions are not going to be of any use against something that can see through them.” “Well, they’re all I have,” Trixie yelled angrily. “What?” Twilight replied softly, not believing what the other sorceress had just told her. “You heard me,” Trixie said with a glare, “The only spells I can cast are illusion spells, which are usually more than enough to impress the commoners.” “Then the ursa you defeated-” Twilight started to say, but wasn’t allowed to finish her thought. “I thought it would boost my prestige to save Hoofington from a monster. What poor fortune that the monster I supposedly defeated there would show up in reality here,” Trixie scowled, then seemed to realize for the first time that she was talking to another sorceress, “Well, well, another sorceress in a tiny town. You berate me, but you and I are the same, aren’t we? So, do you think you can do better than the Great and Powerful Trixie?” “Well,” Twilight started to say, wanting to admit that she did, but also knowing that Trixie wanted her to stoop to her level. Then she realized that the ursa was staring directly at her, and in fact had been since she’d left the laboratory. “Stand back.” “Please,” Trixie scoffed, “You’re probably just these peasants’ local witch. What are you going to do; get the ursa to leave by blessing its crops or its firstborn child?” “I said to stand back,” Twilight repeated as she faced Trixie, her eyes as hard and cold as chips of ice. Mercifully, the Black Sorceress complied. The ursa began to lumber slowly forward, its eyes fixed on the morsel it had come all this way for. Twilight Sparkle rapidly scrawled a semicircle in the dust with a single long point protruding from it in the center. Once she finished adding the runes along the semicircle, she took her ready stance. “Ye seni cavan’r affle!” Twilight yelled, and magic began to build in the air above her horn in the shape of a lance. The ursa quickened its pace as the spell charged, closing rapidly with Twilight. Once the lance was fully formed, the sorceress released it, sending a weapon of pure energy directly into the ursa’s face. The lance impaled its eye, sinking in deep, and the monster came to a halt. Before Twilight could cast another lance to push the first one through into the beast’s brain, the ursa tore the lance out, its claws raking across its face and gouging out its eye in the process. Turning her attention back to the symbol at her hooves, Twilight changed one of the words and replaced the single long point with many smaller points. “Ye seni cavan’r seyat!” the sorceress yelled, and magical arrows flew in a wave toward the ursa. Regular arrows could have bounced off the monster’s thick hide or become entangled in its fur, but these arrows were composed of pure magic, and covered the ursa in hundreds of pinpricks when they struck. Covering its good eye with a paw, the beast charged forward, stomping on the morsel that had managed to hurt it. When it brought its paw up, there was no crushed pony, only a massive paw print covering magical runes. Twilight had moved on while the beast was distracted, galloping in a wide arc off to the ursa’s side, carving a groove into the ground as she did so. Spotting her, the ursa snarled and rotated its massive bulk toward the sorceress. “Cant’r majia tanya Ye’r fecorar!” Twilight Sparkle yelled as she galloped, after looking up at the overcast sky. Instantaneously, lighting arced down from the clouds to strike the ursa on its side and hindquarters, causing its muscles to spasm and keeping it from moving too fast while Twilight continued to run in a circle around the beast. When she returned to her starting position, she willed the spell to stop, and gauged her distances before taking off at an angle that would take her past the ursa’s paw, gouging a groove across the circle. Content to let the sorceress come to it, the ursa waited until Twilight was close before raising a paw up to crush her. “Falan otha Ye!” she incanted and a magical shield rose up around her as the paw came down. The shield quickly shattered, but by then Twilight was no longer beneath the ursa’s paw, and it came crashing down behind her. Reaching the edge of the circle, she paused only for a moment before taking off at another angle. As the ursa’s jaws swung toward her, she conjured a globe of light at the end of her horn and squeezed her eyes shut as it flared suddenly as bright as the sun. While the ursa was temporarily blinded, the sorceress dodged its teeth and reached the edge of the circle again. The ursa was more cautious now, and paid no attention to Twilight other than keeping its good eye fixed on her as she drew the third line across the circle surrounding the beast. While it watched her, it reached out a claw and tore a sizable portion away from a nearby house, hurling it at Twilight. The tangled mess of wood and thatching struck the ground and tumbled toward Golden Oak’s laboratory, coming to a stop when it impacted Trixie’s carriage and broke it to pieces. Twilight had teleported away the moment before the structure would have hit her, and had drawn a fifth line across the circle while the ursa was looking for her in the wreckage. Twilight hurriedly redrew the section of the circle that had been marred by the ursa’s attack while the beast charged back toward her with a roar. The edge repaired, she rushed back to complete the fourth line she’d been gouging before her teleportation. She connected it just as the ursa pounced at her and she teleported away. As the beast spun around angrily, searching for the sorceress, Twilight caught her breath. Once she was moderately calmed down from running around and before the ursa tried to sniff her out, she teleported down from the branches of Golden Oak’s laboratory to before the door. Concentrating on the complex spell she was weaving, Twilight stood on her hindlegs and extended her forelegs out to either side of her. Bits and pieces of ruined homes and debris began to levitate all around the ursa and up and down the streets. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes twitched as more and more pieces of splintered wood from ruined homes and splintered bone from slaughtered ponies filled the air and began to drift toward the ursa. The ursa champed at the air, breathing heavily, before turning to face Twilight through the cloud of floating debris. It gave an unearthly roar as the refuse began to slowly spin counterclockwise around it, for the moment all of it staying outside of the circle the enormous bear was standing in. Soon the cloud was difficult to see through. “Tempis!” Twilight yelled as she slammed her forehooves together. The moment her hooves clicked, the entire swarm converged on the ursa and began spinning at tremendous speed. Most of the pieces of debris were sharp and jagged, and the tempest sliced gouges all over the ursa’s body. Fur and flesh were both sheared away, and wounds opened up all over the beast, some so deep as to expose bone. As the tempest continued, pieces of flesh were cut off and fell to the ground, disintegrating into ash the moment they touched something that was not the monster’s body. Howling in pain, the ursa fought through the storm and emerged from the circle bleeding from a million wounds. Nothing was worth this kind of pain, and the beast took off toward the Everfree Forest, trampling more buildings and further wounding itself as it ran. Twilight Sparkle slowed the spinning debris before letting it all drop to the ground with a cacophonous clatter. She shakily returned to standing on all four hooves, breathing heavily as she recovered from the exertion of her spell. Her coat and robes soaked with sweat, she turned to look after Trixie, but the Black Sorceress was nowhere to be seen, apparently having fled as soon as she’d had the chance. It was too bad. She may have been a fraud, but her illusions were more realistic and elaborate than any Twilight had ever seen, and she was still unsure how Trixie had managed to stay out of her notice for so long. “Whoa, Twilight, that was amazing!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed as she landed next to the sorceress and clapped her on the shoulder with a hoof, nearly knocking her over, “I can’t believe you just drove off an ursa major all on your own!” “That was not an ursa major,” Twilight panted to her Hunter friend between breaths, “You of all ponies should know. Ursa majors are much bigger than that. That was an ursa minor. It has yet to undergo the transformation. You should get all the Hunters you can together to finish that thing off. Kill it before it becomes a bigger problem.” “Sure thing,” the Hunter said, clapping Twilight on the shoulder again before following her advice and taking off, “Still, an ursa minor is no trivial monster. You’re packing some serious power.” Now that Twilight was beginning to regain her composure, she had the time to look around. Moving in from the area around Golden Oak’s laboratory was a small crowd of ponies. Did they see me drive off the ursa? Do I want them to have seen me? One thing was sure in Twilight’s mind; she did not want to deal with this right now. “Spike, take care of this. I’m going back to bed,” the sorceress said before taking off toward Golden Oak’s laboratory. “Wait! What? I …” Spike protested before sighing and accepting his fate. *** The next morning dawned far too early for Twilight’s liking, but the sorceress was too bound by her own habits to let herself sleep in. As she broke her fast and planned out her day, she realized that it would be advisable to make time to speak to her friends about the events of the previous night. She would have to do it eventually, and it would be best to get it done soon so that she knew where things stood. Rainbow Dash at least had seemed more than fine with Twilight’s display of power, so maybe that was a good sign. After donning her traveling outfit, Twilight left Golden Oak’s laboratory, and immediately found herself facing a large crowd of ponies outside her door. Didn’t Spike send them home? At the front of the crowd she recognized all her friends, except for Rainbow Dash, who was probably still out finishing off the ursa. As one, the four ponies approached her. “So, I assume you have all heard what happened. Where do we stand now?” Twilight asked before they reached her, keeping her voice level and free of her nervousness. “What do you mean?” Applejack asked with visible confusion. “Yesterday, I was worried about demonstrating my magical ability in front of you because I was afraid that you would think I thought myself superior, like Trixie. I did not want to risk losing any of you as friends.” Twilight admitted. “Oh, darling, that’s ridiculous,” Rarity laughed, “You’re Celestia’s protégé; of course you’re a powerful sorceress. You weren’t shy about pointing that out when we first met, after all.” “Oh … right,” Twilight said, thinking back to her first day in Ponieville. “But we still became friends, and we know who you are,” Rarity went on, “You don’t need to be afraid about hiding it from us.” “Especially something as amazing as this!” Pinkamena exclaimed, the restraint she’d been exercising during the first part of the conversation gone as her words came out faster and faster, “I saw the whole thing! Magic blasts! Lightning! That cyclone! You definitely showed that ursa!” Spike coughed to get Twilight’s attention, and when she looked over at him, she saw that his face bore the look of “I told you so.” When was she going to learn to start trusting her companion? While Pinkamena was acting out the events of the night before, Mayor Mare made her way through the crowd, her guards clearing a path. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, I hear that we have you to thank for saving the town. As mayor of this fine locale, it is my honor to personally give you our gratitude,” Mayor Mare said, her words dripping with political oil, “You know, Twilight, I had no idea you were such a talent with magic. You really ought to have told me sooner.” “You know who I am,” Twilight said bluntly, “Do you think that Celestia would choose a mediocre sorceress to be her apprentice? That would be a poor decision, would it not?” “Of course not,” Mayor Mare forced laughter, “I am nothing if not a loyal subject of Celestia and extremely grateful to her for appointing me to my position as mayor.” “Undoubtably,” Twilight said with narrowed eyes. “Hey, you know what this occasion needs!” Pinkamena interrupted after finishing her pantomime of the fight with the ursa. Please don’t say a party. Please don’t say a party. Please don’t say a party. Please don’t say a party. “A celebration!” Close enough. “Splendid idea,” Twilight said through a smile, choosing to make the best of the situation, “I imagine the whole town will want to attend, so the laboratory is not going to work. Might I suggest the Mayoral Keep?” “Well, th-the thing i-is …” Mayor Mare stammered as Twilight fixed her with a pointed glare, before cowing to the sorceress, “Very well; excellent idea. I will have the courtyard cleared out immediately.” I will take Rarity’s advice. I won’t forget who I am, and if Mayor Mare is smart, then she won’t forget either.