“So this is Ponyville?” A female voice said belonging to a pony who watched over the little town.
“She should arrive here very soon...Then the fun part can soon begin,” the pony said as she waited excited for the arrival of somepony.
In front of Fluttershy's cottage...
Fluttershy gathered a bunch critters in order for Twilight to practice a spell that she wants to perform for Princess Celestia and some foreign ponies that were invited as well. Apparently, Twilight was assigned for the entertainment. Being Twilight, of course, she wanted to be prepared.
Star Twinkle and Spike were there as well, mostly to make sure that the critters were alright in case something went wrong.
“Don't be scared, little friends. Twilight is wonderful with magic,” Fluttershy said to her little critter friends even though they did not look scared at all. Fluttershy then turned to Twilight. “Anything happens to them, Twilight, so help me...” she said almost threatening out of fear that her friends could be in danger to Twilight who was a little surprised to see the usually so quiet and friendly Pegasus like this.
“Reminder...never mess with Fluttershy's animals...” Star Twinkle thought after he saw how Fluttershy could be when it came to her animal friends.
Spike quickly went between the two mares and tried to convince Fluttershy about Twilight's magical skills and that there was nothing to worry about. “Aww, don't worry, Fluttershy, Twilight's magic has gotten a lot better since she accidentally crushed me and Applejack with a giant snowball,”
Twilight could only smile embarrassed after that was brought up again.
“Not helping, Spike...” Star Twinkle said towards Spike's uncalled statement.
Whether it was Spike's words or not, Fluttershy was not fully convinced. “Of course she's good with magic. Twilight's great with magic. I guess I just don't want my little friends to be scared. Oh, oh, look how scared they are!” She said pointing at her little critter friends who were not scared at all and even looked a little excited.
Twilight assured that nothing would happen to her friends and finally started her spell. She began to levitate the animals above the ground and attempted to move them in a certain way. All this time, Fluttershy watched in shock out of fear that something bad would happen, causing Star Twinkle to comfort her here and then. Twilight managed to do her trick and made every single one of the critters land safely to the ground again.
Twilight was sweating heavily after that performance. Star Twinkle didn't even realize that this was that hard but judging from Twilight's exhaustion, it probably was a lot harder than it looked. “That's all for now, little ones. Maybe we can practice again later if Fluttershy says it's alright,” she said after she swept away her sweat from her forehead. Fluttershy was covering her eyes in shock and probably didn't even hear her friends laughing and cheering in excitement around her. They were clearly enjoying this and Fluttershy was just too scared to realize.
Spike was the first one to compliment Twilight on her performance. “Your magic has really improved since we came to Ponyville, Twilight. Princess Celestia's going to love it,” he assured.
“Thanks, Spike. I have to be at my best when she arrives with the delegates from Saddle Arabia. I can't believe she's trusting me with the entertainment,” Twilight said with still a little disbelieve in her voice.
“Are we done here now?” Star Twinkle asked as he wanted to confirm that he is no longer needed right now. “I could take something to eat right no-” But Star Twinkle was then suddenly tackled by Rainbow Dash to the ground who seemed to be in a big rush.
“There you are Twilight! You need to come!” Rainbow Dash said stressed as she was looking at Twilight after she was standing right above Star Twinkle after her tackle.
“Why did you tackle me down if you wanted something from Twilight?” Star Twinkle exclaimed annoyed questioning Rainbow Dash's logic.
“I just didn't want to hurt her. That is all,” Rainbow Dash assured a little casually.
“So it's okay to hurt me inst-” Star Twinkle began until Rainbow Dash focused on Twilight again.
“There is no time!” Rainbow Dash quickly interrupted. “Twilight, quick! It's an emergency!”
Nopony questioned what exactly was the problem since Rainbow Dash seemed really serious. Then again, Rainbow Dash had the tendency to overreact to minor things that other ponies would not even worry about.
The group followed Rainbow Dash until they arrived at a big crowd that formed in the middle of the road in Ponyville. The first thing that they saw was Rarity being carried on Applejack's back. Rarity seemed really upset about what she was wearing at the moment.
“How dare she put me into something as brown and disgusting and brown!” Rarity said before she fainted on Applejack's back.
“What's going on here?” Twilight asked after witnessing the commotion around her.
The answer quickly revealed itself in the form of a pony who was wearing a black hood.
“Well, well, well. If it isn't... Twilight Sparkle,” the female voice beneath the black hood joined in after noticing Twilight.
“That voice...” Star Twinkle thought as he instantly remembered who this voice belonged to.
The pony lifted her hood and revealed her horn, a light blue coat, a pale blue mane and her red eyes. She also wore a triangle-shaped necklace with a pony on top of it which strongly resembled an Alicorn since it had a horn and wings at the same time.
Everypony gasped after realizing who it was, remembering the last encounter with her in Ponyville.
Twilight quickly gave the unicorn a glare as she too realized who it was. “Trixie!” She said with an angry look on her face.
“What's she doing here?” Spike added, clearly disliking Trixie's visit as well.
Star Twinkle didn't remember seeing her in this black hood before. The last time, she came to Ponyville, she was wearing her wizard hat and cape and traveled with her wagon but nothing of that was in sight, indicating that she probably didn't visit Ponyville for another performance. Trixie's eyes were focused on Twilight with confidence and arrogance in them
Rainbow Dash figured that Trixie was behind Rarity's state and quickly tried to get her back for it, however, Trixie only smiled and shot a red magic beam at the Pegasus. After that, one of Rainbow Dash's wings became significantly larger than the other, making it hard for her to fly.
Just like the last visit, the two colts Snips and Snails were not too far away and were the only ones who enjoyed the show.
“Good spell, oh Great and Powerful Trixie!” Snails complimented.
However, Trixie was not interested in any compliments and shot at the two colts as well with her magic. Both of the Colts horns were now stuck together, leading into a really weird picture to look at. They both ran around in confusion in hope that this would change them back but it was no use.
Seeing how Trixie was practically picking on everypony, Twilight became angry. “Stop picking on my friends, Trixie!” Twilight demanded angrily.
But the Unicorns confidence remained unchanged. “You and I have some unfinished business. My magic's gotten better since I was here last. And I'm going to prove it! Me and you, a magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville forever!” Trixie demanded herself.
Twilight quickly refused since this was some really unfair demand from Trixie. It was obvious that Trixie's magic has improved a lot since her last visit but the question was if it was even better than Twilight's now. Whether it was or not, agreeing to this “Magic Duel” and losing would mean that Twilight had to leave Ponyville and that was too much of a risk to take in.
Surprisingly, Trixie took this answer really well. “Hm. Your choice,” she said before she focused her magic again. She scanned her eyes through the crowd to find a fitting target for another spell until she stopped after seeing Star Twinkle who widened his eyes in fear.
“No, no! Not me!” Star Twinkle thought in shock before he covered his face with his hooves.
However, Trixie's arrogant and confident expression changed once she recognized the pony that she was looking at and widened her eyes in surprise. She quickly shook her head for a second before she looked around the crowd again and then changed her target. She shot a magic beam towards Spike who started to change shape into a ball. She began playing with him like he was some kind of bouncy ball and threw him into a basket.
Needless to say, Twilight was not all too happy to see Spike treated like this. “Trixie, put him down. Why are you doing this?” She asked which was a legitimate question at this point.
“Why? Because you humiliated me!” Trixie replied angrily before she used her magic to create some kind of screen which displayed the events that Trixie went through after her last visit. “After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughing stock! Everywhere I went I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living! A rock farm!” She explained angrily with fitting pictures of her being laughed at and working on a rock farm.
“Hey!” Pinkie Pie interrupted offended. “You're lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!” She said, most likely referring to her growing up on a rock farm.
Trixie didn't spare any words for Pinkie Pie and instead created a small floating arrow that literally dragged off Pinkie Pie's mouth and put it down in a trash can, making Pinkie Pie lose her mouth.
While that was really strange to look at for Star Twinkle, he was more focusing on Trixie's story. Not everything was entirely how he remembered things. It was not really Twilight's fault how Trixie got treated after she lied about that Ursa Major story but she was probably looking for somepony to blame after all that and so Twilight got stuck being the target of Trixie's revenge.
Star Twinkle played with the idea to informing Trixie about that but after seeing how everypony else ended up so far, he kept his mouth shut.
Trixie continued to play around with her magic. This time, she lifted up Twilight's library and turned it around in midair, causing most of the books inside to fall out. Trixie said that she will continue to cast spells until Twilight would finally agree to the duel.
Twilight looked around what Trixie has done to her friends and grew worried and even responsible for their current state. Trixie was basically pulling the strings right now. If Twilight refuses, then the spells would continue. And Trixie was probably not gonna leave anytime soon or stop on her own. She was taking advantage of Twilight's worry of her friends and was determined to get her revenge.
There was only one thing to do.
“Alright, Trixie. Let's duel!” Twilight finally agreed.
“Excellent,” Trixie happily replied before she returned everything to its normal state. Except for Pinkie Pie who was still missing her mouth. Trixie probably wanted her to shut up which in some way was a little understandable for Star Twinkle, even though he didn't like to admit it.
“If I lose, I won't set hoof in Ponyville again. But if you lose, you're the one banished from this one-horse town!” Trixie said, reminding Twilight about the conditions of this duel once more.
Since this was a duel, Twilight's friends had no choice but to watch and hope for the best.
Star Twinkle didn't like that Twilight's stay in Ponyville was depending on this duel but now it was too late. “Come on, Twilight...you can do it...you have to!” Star Twinkle thought in worry as he watched both Unicorns starring at each other, ready to start any second now.
Trixie seemed full of confidence while Twilight sweated under pressure of losing the duel. This stand off kept going for a while until Trixie finally fired the first shot.
”Draw!” Trixie said as she began to shot a magic beam towards Twilight's direction. But instead of hitting her it did hit a wagon which began flying towards a crowd of ponies. The ponies tried to run away but one pony stumbled and almost got hit by the wagon if it wasn't for Twilight catching the wagon in time and placing it safely on the ground again.
Twilight was relieved that nopony was hurt but before she could relax, Trixie already prepared her next attack. She threw a bunch of pies towards Twilight but Twilight got an idea to counter that. She used her magic to teleport a Parasprite in front of her which caught all of the pies in one go. But since it was a Parasprite, every time when they ate, they would duplicate to which Twilight quickly got rid of it again before things would get out of hoof.
Again, before Twilight could relax, another spell was literally dropped on her. A mass of snow, levitated by Trixie was dropped on Twilight and buried her under it. Twilight used her magic to quickly melt away the snow and this time decided to attack Trixie in return. She shot a magic beam right into Trixie's face, causing a mustache to grow and leaving Trixie a little puzzled.
“Number twenty-five, huh?” Star Twinkle thought, hoping that Twilight would come back into the game now.
While being annoyed a little, Trixie quickly summoned a scissor to get rid of the mustache before she turned her attention to somepony else. “Snips, Snails, step forward!” She said, probably utilizing the Colts for her next spell.
They both stepped up but got a little intimidated after what Trixie did with them before.
W-W-What is it, oh Great and P-P-Powerful Trixie?” Snips said nervously as he and Snails literally bowed down in front of Trixie.
Trixie didn't waste any time and shot her spell towards the two, levitating them above the ground and engulfing them in a bright light. When they both landed on the ground again, they no longer looked like before. Snips turned into a baby and Snips grew into an elderly stallion. Everypony was shocked to see this. Star Twinkle didn't even know that something like that was possible with magic.
“An age spell? But... how could you do an age spell? That's only for the highest level unicorns!” Twilight said after witnessing this spell. Somehow Star Twinkle had the feeling that Twilight was more surprised than anypony else. She obviously knew how hard this spell was and made it even sound like as if she was not sure to pull it off herself.
Of course, this was much to Trixie's liking. “Well, Twilight? Give up?” She replied confidently as she waited for a comeback from Twilight.
All Twilight could do was to try to turn the two back to their normal age and reverse Trixie's spell. For that, she levitated the two above the ground and focused her magic, though it looked like as if she had much more trouble with it than Trixie.
“Come on, Twilight, you can do it!” Spike said, believing in Twilight's magic.
The aura around Snips and Snails became more and more unstable as time went by and eventually, it disappeared. Twilight was not able to turn the two back and dropped them to the ground out of exhaustion while she herself also collapsed to the ground.
“Oh no!” Star Twinkle thought worriedly after seeing this. Twilight lost and he knew exactly what would happen next which caused him to grew a little anxious as he looked over to Trixie who was laughing at her victory.
“Trixie is the highest level unicorn!” She said before she laughed once again. She calmed her happiness down a little and then proceeded to do what everypony was fearing. “And now it's time for you to leave Ponyville! FOREVER!” She exclaimed with her eyes once again glowing in a bright red light.
This behavior sent down some shivers on Star Twinkle's back but before he could even think straight, he saw his friends standing in front of Twilight to protect her.
“That's enough Trixie!” Applejack exclaimed.
“You proved your point, but you can't possibly expect Twilight to leave Ponyville!” Rarity added.
All of them stood in front of Twilight in order to protect her but Star Twinkle hesitated for unknown reasons. He may know that there was nothing that he could do. After all, what Trixie was capable of now was way too much for everypony to handle if Twilight couldn't even keep up with her.
Despite Twilight's friends standing between her, Trixie was not worried at all. “You fools!” She returned before she surrounded Twilight in her magic aura “She's already gone!” She said before she literally threw Twilight out of Ponyville.
Her friends quickly walked towards Twilight who landed near the entrance of the Everfree Forest. However, before they could catch up to her, something really big was coming down from the sky.
It was a giant glass bowl which was big enough to surround all of Ponyville, separated Twilight from the town and her friends.
Twilight walked up to the bowl and looked at her friends who were at the other side of it.
“It's okay, guys. I'll figure something out,” she said while she put one of her hooves on the bowl. “Just take care of each other. And keep an eye on Trixie. There's something strange about her,” she added before she ran away from the town in order to find a solution.
“Twilight?” Spike said worried as he saw Twilight running away from them.
Rarity quickly comforted the little dragon. “Don't worry Spike, I'm sure Twilight finds a way to solve all this,” she said as she put a hoof on Spike's shoulder.
“And I hope you are right about this...” Star Twinkle thought before he looked over to Trixie and began thinking about what Twilight said before. “Something really seems different about Trixie since the last time,” He began thinking trying to figure out an answer himself. “Twilight keeps practicing her magic so she was definitely not unprepared. Did Trixie really train her magic to this extent? Her magic was not even comparable with Twilight's before...” He continued to think.
However, Trixie noticed the looks that Star Twinkle gave towards her and smiled smugly before she walked up to him with her eyes glowing in a red light again.
“She is coming towards us!” Fluttershy said afraid.
“I think we have to worry about ourselves now, with Trixie still being in here with us!” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
Trixie slowly walked towards the group who prepared themselves for whatever was coming now.
“You!” She said pointing at all of them. “There need to be some changes in this town and you all will help me with that!” She demanded with an arrogant smile on her face.
“Excuse me?” Rainbow Dash said offended. “Why would we ever do something like that?” She added while crossing her forelegs in midair out of protest.
“What makes you think that you even have a choice?” Trixie replied before she shot a magic beam right at Rainbow Dash, making her wing grow big just like before.
“Okay, okay!” Rainbow Dash quickly replied, making Trixie turning her back to normal again.
She then gave everypony a task to fulfill, ranging from decorating Ponyville to her liking or making a throne for her. Star Twinkle was the last one left who wasn't given a job yet, making him kinda nervous what she had in store for him.
“Now you!” She said with an evil smile on her face and her eyes glowing in a red light.
Those words send shivers down on Star Twinkle's back out of fear what Trixie wanted him to do and the fact that he couldn't fight back because of her strong magic.
However, to his surprise, Trixie's facial expression completely changed from evil and arrogant to happy and even cheerful. The red light in her eyes also vanished and they turned back to their usual purple color.
“Star Twinkle!” She said almost as if she just now realized who she was talking to.
“Huh?” Star Twinkle replied by Trixie's sudden mood change.
“It's nice to see you again! The great Trixie didn't have the time to talk with you so far so follow Trixie,” she said in a cheerful manner and not at all threatening.
Star Twinkle didn't know what this meant but he was somehow glad that she wasn't forcing him to do anything, though that was exactly what worried him.
“Now if you have any changes in mind then don't mind telling Trixie so that she can arrange everything,” Trixie offered.
“No, no, I'm fine, I guess,” Star Twinkle replied confused.
“Alright then,” she replied happily while walking around in Ponyville with Star Twinkle next to her.
Star Twinkle further analyzed Trixie's behavior. “What is up with her all of the sudden? It's like she is a completely different pony now...” Star Twinkle wondered.
“Hold on there!” All of the sudden, a female voice exclaimed.
It came from the Mayor of Ponyville who was most likely not happy about the state of her town.
“You'll undo all this mess that you caused in my town this instant!” She demanded to which Star Twinkle tried to signal that she should stop.
“Or else what?” Trixie replied before her eyes turned red again. She then shot a red magic beam towards the mayor, creating a cage around her and trapping her inside.
“Thought so,” Trixie added slightly annoyed by this interruption before she returned her sight towards Star Twinkle again with her eyes returning to her purple color again.
“Do you know any place to get something to eat? The Great and Powerful Trixie demands some treats!” She said with a smile on her face.
“Sure...” Star Twinkle said hesitantly before he leads the way to the nearest restaurant he knew.
A little later...
Star Twinkle and Trixie sat on a restaurant table both of them having multiple plates in front of them that a waiter served them on demand of Trixie. Trixie was only taking a bite of all of the things in front of her since she seemed really picky. She once again noticed Star Twinkle looking at her. “What's wrong? Eat up,” she said.
“Yes!” Star Twinkle replied a little nervously before he took a cupcake in his hoof and began eating it. He was not sure if Trixie was ordering him or not but since she could turn him into something else anytime, he did what she said.
This sudden mood shifts of Trixie did confuse Star Twinkle. Whenever she was not talking to him she always would return to her arrogant self but whenever she talked with him she seemed a lot more friendly. At least the best she could do. But putting that aside, Star Twinkle still had to figure out a solution for the current problem and how Trixie managed to get this strong with her magic.
While putting his thoughts together, this time he noticed how Trixie was staring at him a little sheepishly. But a soon as his eyes met hers she looked away embarrassed and pretended as if she was eating.
“What was that just now?” Star Twinkle wondered.
“So...” Trixie started, probably in an attempt to change the subject. “Don't you think that Trixie is just the greatest and most magnificent Unicorn you ever saw?” She said out all of the sudden, though Star Twinkle had to admit that this was more like her.
“Sure...I guess...?” Star Twinkle replied, trying not to say something that might upset her and cause her to let it out on him.
Trixie giggled after that response and raised her head in confidence while smiling. While looking at her raising her chest in confidence, Star Twinkle could get a closer look at the necklace that she was wearing. For some reason, it looked weird for him.
“Alright then, you, clean that up!” She said at the waiter while she threw the plates on the table right at the poor guy. Who did his best to catch them all.
For that one moment, Star Twinkle could swear that the necklace was glowing while she was using her magic to throw the plates.
“Isn't only the horn of a Unicorn supposed to glow when magic is used?” Star Twinkle wondered.
It's not like he was an expert in magic, but judging from all the magic that he witnessed so far, only the horn is supposed to glow when it's used. So the question was, why the necklace was glowing as well.
Trixie wanted to return to the town hall to observe if Star Twinkle's friends were doing all their jobs that Trixie gave them. When they arrived, there were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who were hanging up some flags for Trixie or Applejack stomping some apples for her. Needless to say, they were used like slaves and had to do everything that she wanted.
Once, Trixie was occupied with ordering somepony else around, Star Twinkle's friends approached him out of worry.
“Are you alright? She didn't do anything bad to you, right?” Applejack asked out of worry.
“I'm fine...actually it was quite the opposite...” Star Twinkle replied without going to much into detail. ”What about you guys?”
“Trixie's cruel magic is ruining Ponyville. Somepony has to help us!” Rarity said frustrated.
“But who?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Twilight was thrown out of Ponyville and we can't contact the Princess since she is not in Canterlot!” She pointed out a little angrily because of Trixie's actions.
“And it's not like as if we know how to stop Trixie anyway,” Spike added a little more frustrated.
“Actually...” Star Twinkle began. “I might have a clue why Trixie's magic is so powerful now...” He pointed out, grabbing the attention of everypony. “See this necklace? I have the feeling that this is the reason,” he explained while he pointed towards Trixie, making everypony noticing the necklace as well.
“And what kind of necklace is that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Besides an obvious crime against fashion,” Rarity needlessly added.
“Maybe we find a clue in one of Twilight's books?” Fluttershy pointed out which was actually a really good idea.
“Great idea!” Star Twinkle said. “Then let's go to-” But he was suddenly surrounded by a red aura which dragged him towards Trixie.
“Stop wasting your time with those lowly ponies,” Trixie said as she let Star Twinkle slowly land in front of her. “There are still more preparations that need to be done and I want you by my side the whole time,” she added with a playful grin on her face.
Star Twinkle followed Trixie outside and looked back at his friends who grew a little confused by all this. However, he made sure to signal that they should go without him to the library and figure out something about this necklace.
A little later outside...
Trixie made sure that the town was decorated and changed to her liking and all the time, Star Twinkle had to be next to her. It was kind of frustrating. She wasn't really harming him or doing anything to him but he didn't feel too good staying by her side while she was doing all those bad things to everypony. Especially, Snips and Snails, who were forced to pull a cart with Trixie and Star Twinkle on it. He had to admit, even though they were constantly admiring her before, now he felt a little bad for them.
“You know, it's not really necessary to let those two pull us, right?” Star Twinkle said, trying to put the two Colts out of their misery.
“Nonsense! Trixie deserves to travel with style,” she replied with her head raised into the air.
This gesture once again grabbed his attention towards the necklace she was wearing. It was still unclear if it really was the reason for her powerful magic but just in case if the others wouldn't find an answer, Star Twinkle had to poke around to get some answers himself. “Now how do I ask her about this thing without letting her know what I am after?” Star Twinkle thought to try to figure out a subtle way to ask about it.
“This necklace looks...um...really good on you,” he said in hope that this wouldn't give his attention away.
To this, Trixie widely opened her eyes in shock before she looked at Star Twinkle in surprise, making him instantly nervous.
“Oh no! Did I mess up!?” He thought in a panic while he disguised it under a fake smile.
“Thank you...” she replied quietly before she looked away in embarrassment.
Star Twinkle looked away as well and swept away some sweat on his forehead. “Well, that didn't go anywhere. I have to poke around a little more...”
“Must have cost a fortune,” he said in an attempt to stay on this subject.
“It did...” She replied, still looking away in embarrassment.
There was a silence after that. Star Twinkle figured that this was not going anywhere. In this silence, a crazy idea crossed his mind which could easily backfire but right now, there was not much else he could do.
“I just have to take this necklace off of her,” he thought as he looked at it.
The timing was perfect. She was looking away now. And as an Earth-Pony, his physical strength was definitely higher than hers. If he were quick enough, he could pull it off without her using a single spell. However, if that thing wasn't the cause for her magical strength, then he would be in deep trouble if he failed to get it off. There was only one chance.
He kept his eyes on Trixie to make sure that she wasn't looking right now and slowly got closer to her with his hoof reaching out to the necklace. Sweat began to drop down on his head and he became more and more nervous the closer he got. Surprisingly, Trixie did not notice anything and kept looking the other way.
“Almost...” Star Twinkle thought as he prepared himself to quickly pull off the necklace in one quick swoop.
Suddenly, the necklace and Trixie's horn began to glow, making her look in front of her in surprise and Star Twinkle jump back in fear. “Did she notice!?” He thought in a panic, not being able to hide it under a fake smile this time.
“Somepony set off the magic force field!” She said angrily.
“Magic Force Field?” Star Twinkle wondered.
“Yes! If somepony tries to leave, my force field will instantly inform me about it,” she explained determined to find out who it was.
She used her magic to summon a whip and whipped Snips and Snails to get her to the location where the cause was coming from. Star Twinkle kept his mouth shut since he didn't want to cause any more suspicion and waited how events would play out.
Star Twinkle and Trixie were pulled towards where Trixie felt the interruption in her force field. When they arrived, there was only a small group of beavers who wanted to get outside with a log right next to them.
“Stop! You there! What are you doing?!” Trixie asked as she demanded an answer from the beavers but due to the language barrier, she was unable to understand.
“I think they want to get outside?” Star Twinkle guessed.
The beavers seemed a little annoyed by the barrier and were not really “asking” nicely but Trixie only rolled her eyes and lifted the barrier up a few meters for them to leave.
“At least she is not terrorizing the animals here...” Star Twinkle thought as he looked back to the beavers while he and Trixie left the scene again.
That is when he realized how the Beavers pulled somepony out of the log.
“Fluttershy?” Star Twinkle thought in shock. “I see...they must have found a solution...” Star Twinkle figured.
Fluttershy was most likely going to find Twilight to inform her about something that could save everypony. Whatever their plan was, Star Twinkle only had to wait.
A little later again...
Snips and Snails proceeded to pull Star Twinkle and Trixie around Ponyville and unlike before, there was no more other chance for Star Twinkle to get the necklace away from Trixie. But maybe there was no more reason for that if his friends were up to something themselves. Star Twinkle did his best to not do anything that could interrupt their plan in any way, leading to little to no conversation between him and Trixie until she finally started to talk again.
“Oh! That reminds me!” She said suddenly, grabbing Star Twinkle's attention.
“I met a friend of you while I was traveling,” she then rubbed her chin to think for a second.
“I think it was in Appleloosa,”
“A friend?” Star Twinkle wondered. “I barely know anypony outside of Ponyville,”
“You mean Braeburn?” Star Twinkle guessed, even though he barely spoke with him, he was the only pony that popped into his head right away. ”That's probably the only pony I know from this place,” he informed.
“No, not one of those rude ponies who lived there!” She said in disgust, hinting that she probably wasn't too successful there after what happened in Ponyville. “He was a traveler, like me. A unicorn,” she further explained.
“A traveling Unicorn?” Star Twinkle wondered yet again, having no idea who it could be.
“Oh, don't joke around now, I'm sure you know who I mean,” Trixie teased. “Does it ring once I told you that it was your best friend?”
“My best friend? Who could that be? Do I even have somepony to call that?” Star Twinkle wondered as he got more and more confused about what Trixie told him.
“That's right it was-” Trixie suddenly stopped while she looked behind Star Twinkle in shock
“You!” she said angrily, causing Star Twinkle to turn around confused.
Once he turned his head, he saw Twilight accompanied by Zecora outside of the force field. Trixie took it upon herself to confront Twilight again. ”What's the matter, Twilight Sparkle? Not enjoying your exile?” She asked while Star Twinkle followed her slowly.
“I know about the Alicorn Amulet. I know you cheated,” Twilight replied.
“Cheated? Moi?” Trixie innocently replied.
“Alicorn Amulet...so it really was the reason why she became so strong,” Star Twinkle thought as he watched what Twilight was about to do with that information.
“Yeah. And I thought you might wanna see what a real magical amulet looks like. Zecora gave it to me. It's from beyond the Everfree Forest, and it's way more powerful than your measly little Alicorn Amulet!” Twilight said confidently as she presented a green amulet around her neck.
However, Trixie didn't seem impressed at all. “Nothing's more powerful than the Alicorn Amulet! And nopony's more powerful than the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She boasted out in confidence.
“Care to put your amulet where your mouth is? How about another duel?” Twilight offered.
But Trixie refused since she already won against her. Twilight didn't seem to care much and attempted to leave again.
“That's up to you! But I guess you'll never see the totally awesome magic from beyond the Everfree Forest. Come on, Zecora,” Twilight said as she confidently walked away again.
“She seems really confident. Is that amulet really stronger than the Alicorn Amulet?” Star Twinkle wondered judging from Twilight's confidence. “She probably got it from Zecora so it must be...”
“Wait!” Trixie then suddenly exclaimed. She then removed the force field around Ponyville and teleported next to Twilight. “Okay, okay, you're on! A second duel,” she said, agreeing to the duel at last.
In front of the town hall...
The second duel was about to begin and Twilight and Trixie looking at each other confidently to win this duel. Like before, Trixie began. She ordered Snips and Snails to step up again and shot her magic at them, turning them both into babies. She was using the age spell with who she won the previous duel.
“An oldie, but a goodie, ha. Now, let's see what your little charm can do,” she provoked while still being confident that her amulet was stronger.
“No problem,” Twilight replied with confidence. “Applejack, Rarity? Could you help me, please?”
She seems to want Applejack and Rarity to assist her with one of her spells so they both stepped up with a strange feeling in mind. Both of them stepped in front of a statue of Trixie and waited for whatever, she was planning with them.
Twilight then fired her magic at the two and after the magic dust cleared itself, a filly Applejack and Rarity stood there, looking at each other confused.
After seeing that, Trixie's jaw dropped in shock but shortly after tried to hide her surprise.
“So you can do an age spell, big deal,” she added arrogantly.
Twilight didn't answer and instead fired another shot at the two fillies, turning them back to normal again. She fired once more and only Rarity turned into a filly standing on top of Applejack. Once she fired again, Rarity turned back to normal and Applejack turned into an older mare. When she fired one more time, both of them returned to normal.
Not even Trixie could hide her surprise now. “That's... That's impossible!” She said in disbelieve.
But Twilight was not finished yet. “That's nothing!” She said before she turned towards Rainbow Dash who got a weird feeling about what was coming. Without sparing a word, Twilight shot her magic at Rainbow Dash who was covering her face with her wing. After the magic dust cleared, another Rainbow Dash popped out behind her, leaving the Pegasus stunned.
But Rainbow Dash was not the only one who was confused. Trixie was speechless as well, not to mention Star Twinkle. “Seems like this Everefree Forest Amulet really is more powerful,” Star Twinkle realized.
“Ever see one pony play ten instruments?” Twilight then announced before she turned to Pinkie Pie, firing a magic beam at her and making indeed ten instruments appear.
“Wait...that's no magic...that's just Pinkie Pie,” Star Twinkle figured. "Why would she claim that this was a spell if it is obviously Pinkie Pie's doing?” He wondered.
“Ooh, one more. I can turn a mare into a stallion,” Twilight claimed as she turned towards Applejack before she fired her magic at her to indeed turn her into a stallion and shortly after turning her back again and leaving her a little dizzy.
“Well, Trixie, looks like my amulet is more powerful than yours,” she said before she proudly presented her amulet before her.
Trixie clearly was angry and growled at Twilight after being humiliated again and Star Twinkle was wondering what would happen next.
While waiting for something to happen, Pinkie Pie continued to play her ten instruments. While playing them, however, she stumbled about one of her instruments that accidentally dropped to the ground. This caused the drum on her back to roll over behind the statue of Trixie, where Applejack and Rarity stood in front of. To everyponies surprise, a pony seemed to got hit from the drum and stumbled in front of the statue. It was a filly that looked exactly like the one that Rarity looked like when she was turned into a filly. The filly only smiled embarrassed and vanished behind the statue again.
“What?” Star Twinkle and Trixie said in unison.
Trixie then walked up to the statue and tried to look for something but Applejack and Rarity blocked her path. Needless to say, Trixie used her magic to easily pull them away to the site before she looked behind the statue. There she found four ponies, it was, in fact, all the ponies that showed up after Twilight fired her magic shots at Applejack and Rarity.“What is going on here?” She asked after seeing those ponies.
After taking a look at the statue, she quickly turned her head towards the Rainbow Dash clone and teleported herself in front of it with an angry look on her face. For some reason, the Rainbow Dash clone whimpered a little after Trixie got closer to her which was a very unlikely Rainbow Dash move.
Then it struck Star Twinkle. “Wait...is that?” He thought but Trixie seemed to be ahead of him. She summoned some more dark clouds above the town and let rain pour down on it. This revealed Twilight's plan. Color was starting to come off from the four ponies behind the statue, revealing Big MacIntosh, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Color was also coming off from the Rainbow Dash clone and started to reveal Fluttershy.
“That's how they did it!” Star Twinkle figured but at the same time, he grew worried after realizing that the plan that the others had in mind failed and that Trixie got really angry.
“You tricked me!” Trixie shouted with her eyes glowing in a very bright red color again.
“We had to!” Twilight returned. “The Alicorn Amulet is dangerous! Whoever wears it will get corrupted by its power! And it can only be taken off by the one who wears it!” She explained.
“Well, that's too bad because I will never take this amulet off!” Trixie replied.
“You almost made a fool out of me again! But I will make sure that you will never stand in my way again!” She threatened as she focused her magic in her horn.
To that, Star Twinkle's friends prepared to defend themselves for Trixie's incoming attack. Star Twinkle was still standing near Trixie and feared that things could go really bad real quick and had to do something to prevent this. Trixie walked up to the group without even blinking, despite the rain pouring down on her and an angry expression on her face.
However, her glare was interrupted by Star Twinkle who jumped between Trixie and his friends, causing her to glare at him too. “You are standing in my way too?” She said angrily with her eyes glowing red again.
“Star Twinkle get out of the way or you'll get hit by her!” Twilight said out of worry.
Star Twinkle didn't reply for a moment and didn't look at anypony. Trixie prepared herself to shoot at him now as well.
Star Twinkle turned his head around to face his friends and looked at them with a serious expression on his face. “Don't hurt her!” Star Twinkle said almost angrily.
This caused Trixie to widen her eyes in shock and canceling her spell. But not only she was shocked to hear something like this.
“What!? Didn't you hear what she just said!?” Rainbow Dash said angrily.
“Didn't you just hear what Twilight said?” Star Twinkle replied in the same tone like Rainbow Dash. “She said that the Alicorn Amulet corrupts its wearer!”
While this fact was true, right now it didn't look like as if there was anything else to do but Star Twinkle tried to be persistence. He turned his head around to Trixie who looked at him a little worried.
“You don't want to do all this, right Trixie?” He said calmly with a worried expression on his face as well.
She looked at the ground to her side and avoided eye contact.
Star Twinkle continued. “I know you hold a grudge against Twilight and you want to prove that but at the same time, you make the life of everypony here miserable. You don't want to do that, right?”
“You...want me to stop all this?” She asked regretfully as she looked into his eyes.
“Yes, but the real question is...do you want to continue all this?” He asked back, leading Trixie to put some thoughts into her actions.
Trixie looked at Star Twinkle with a worried look on her face and realized how he was a little sad inside and dropped her head to the ground. She then grabbed the Alicorn Amulet and took it off, placing it on the ground before she grabbed her head in a little headache. Rainbow Dash wasted no time and quickly grabbed the Amulet, giving it to Zecora who put it away in a little box. “This going back into hiding!”
Star Twinkle's friends walked up to Star Twinkle after his success and Twilight was the first one to congratulate him. “You did it Star Twinkle,” she said happily.
“No...not me,” Star Twinkle corrected. “You did the right thing, Trixie,” he said before turned towards Trixie but to his surprise, Trixie was nowhere to be found. She must have left while Star Twinkle turned to his friends.
“She is gone...”
Later that night...
Trixie didn't show herself for the rest of the day. Star Twinkle and his friends were a little busy removing all the stuff that she was “decorating” Ponyville with so that Princess Celestia when she would arrive, wouldn't notice what happened there.
As planned, Twilight performed the spell that she practiced earlier this day in front of the visitors of Saddle Arabia and Princess Celestia. They looked a bit different than the ponies in Equestria but still a little similar. But Star Twinkle had some thought's in his mind that kept him from fully enjoying the show. He wondered if Trixie would show up again but that didn't seem to happen.
After the show and Twilight's magic performance, the group meets up again to celebrate a little. It was some sort of party after all.
“Say Star Twinkle,” Twilight began. “Why did you defend Trixie all of the sudden? It came off a little sudden if you ask me,” she added.
“It was not her fault...I have the feeling that she is a good pony. That is all...” he replied briefly.
“That was the reason why I acted like that, right?”
The conversation between the two, however, was interrupted by Zecora, who had a worried expression on her face.
“I have bad news for you two,
and hope that you might have a clue,”
“About what?” Twilight asked confused.
Zecora showed them the box where the Alicorn Amulet was inside and opened it in front of the two.
“I looked everywhere,
But to my surprise, it was no longer there,”
“The Alicorn Amulet is gone?” Star Twinkle said in shock.
“How could this be?” Twilight asked in shock. “Do you think Trixie has it?” She said, quickly suspecting her of course.
“I don't know...” Star Twinkle replied.
The three agreed that this should be a secret between them since it would only worry everypony else at this point. Still, it bothered them that the Amulet suddenly vanished without them noticing. But with Trixie and the Amulet gone, there was no hint where it could have been now.
All that they could hope, that it wouldn't cause them any more trouble...
A little while earlier...
Trixie walked away from Ponyville with her head lowered towards the ground and with sadness in her eyes. She was already far away from the town and played with the thought of going back to apologize but the fear of not being forgiving was just too great.
“Looks like the great and powerful Trixie messed things up again...” she said before she let out a huge sigh out of frustration. “I just wanted to prove that I am still great and powerful but as it turns out, I'm more like mad and evil...” she said as her eyes started to get a little teary.
Her sadness, however, was interrupted by something. Clapping noises to be exact. They came from a pony sitting on a nearby rock who seemed to clap her hooves as a reaction to Trixie's misery accompanied by a smug smile.
“What a wonderful performance, oh great and powerful one,” a mare said while she continued to clap at Trixie. ”Though I wished that it would have lasted a little longer,” she added in disappointment.
The mare was a Unicorn with a white coat, a long white almost silver colored mane, light green eyes and a Cutie Mark that looked like a white heart with an aura behind it.
Trixie became angry by those words that were thrown at her and narrowed her eyebrows. ”The Great and Powerful Trixie does not deserve to be laughed at by the likes of you so leave her alone!” She returned in her usual boastful manner as if she was never sad, to begin with.
“That's a little rude, considering that I helped you with your little revenge,” the mare replied unimpressed as she walked up to Trixie slowly. “Don't let your frustration out on me just because you became weak after that one pony sweet talked you,” she said casually and without any fear how Trixie would reply.
“You had the Alicorn Amulet but you just had to throw it away, I mean how stupid can you be?” She added, further provoking Trixie who grew angrier.
“Silence! What do you know about the Alicorn Amulet!?” Trixie exclaimed angrily.
The mare turned her head slowly towards Trixie with a creepy smile on her face.
“A lot more than anypony else,” she said before she concentrated her magic a little.
All of the sudden, a necklace appeared in the hoof of the mare which looked all too familiar to Trixie.
“What!?” Trixie exclaimed in shock. “The Alicorn Amulet? Where did you get that? It was taken away from me!”
“A girl never keeps her jewelry away for too long...I just let you borrow it for a while...” the mare explained.
“Borrow? What do you mean? I bought this amulet from a merchant!” Trixie replied.
“Of course, you did, silly! I was the one who gave it to him. I sold it to see if somepony was foolish enough to buy it and cause some trouble in Equestria. You just happened to be the one who stumbled across it,” she explained with a smile on her face.
“But why would you go through the trouble to do all this?” Trixie asked confused.
“Because...” The mare walked a little away from Trixie and turned away. She then put on the Alicorn Amulet around her neck. “ I was bored,” she said with a playful smile and the Amulet now being around her neck. There was a red light right in her eyes for only a second, before it turned into a bright green light.
The mare then surrounded herself in an aura of magic. It was a very slim aura but it was enough to make her levitate above the ground which left Trixie with an open mouth out of shock.
“Maybe we will meet again sometime. Although, you better wish that this won't happen,” she said with a smug smile on her face before she started to fly away with the help of the magic aura around her. “See you!” She said as she waved Trixie good bye while flying away from her.
Trixie didn't know who that was or why she was in possession of the Alicorn Amulet but for some reason, she had the feeling that this pony would be a much greater threat than she was.
The mare was flying in the sky with her sight straight in front of her.
“It was fun while it lasted...” she said quietly.
“But I have to admit...this Twilight Sparkle sure emits some powerful magic...
Maybe I will have some time playing with her in the future...” the mare said excitedly as she continued her flight through the night sky.