//------------------------------//
// 2 True Colours 
// Story: All That Glitters 
// by Bronyxy 
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True to form, Pinkie’s party was excellent.  It was always a mystery how she could pull together such a class event with little to no notice, but she never disappointed.  The cider was flowing and ripples of laughter spilled out over the top of the music.  There were two large groups of socialising ponies, one having coalesced around each of the two new alicorns, while others were content dancing to the band or seeking refreshments.

Pinkie was changing over the punch bowl when she accidentally dropped the serving ladle and had to get under the table to retrieve it.  While she was there, she heard two sets of hoofsteps approach and giggled to herself; she would jump out at a time in their conversation when neither was expecting it and raise a laugh.  She listened for her cue, but recognised that one of the guests was Sunaj, so jumping out was probably a bad idea – she was stuck until the conversation ended.

The voice was harsher and more sinister than she had heard before and Pinkie suddenly knew that she could not be seen to have been eavesdropping, but while she was stuck, there was nothing else she could do.
“You just make sure you keep up the pretence, OK?” came the menacing voice.
“But what if they work out what’s happened to the Princesses?” responded the other voice in a more whining tone.
“Don’t be silly.  Look - what reason do they have to go back to the pool anyway?”
“Yes, but we can’t go back there either.  Remember what will happen if we both go in together?”
“Right; it would be game over.  Look, keep your head and make sure we don’t go anywhere near the pool and we’ll be quite safe, right?  Just don’t arouse suspicion and we’ll get to the Tree of Harmony sooner or later, OK?”
Pinkie stole a peep from under the tablecloth and saw Sunaj’s hooves; eight of them.  She had been talking to her duplicate …

When he alicorns had gone to rejoin their respective groups, Pinkie emerged carefully, suddenly exceedingly self-conscious of her bright pink colouring; the more stealthily she tried to behave, the more of a comic parody she looked.  She could see Twilight and knew she had to tell her what she had just heard, but just then a couple of lightly inebriated ponies came along to congratulate Pinkie on a magnificent party, and every time she tried to break away, the more they tried to pull her back – the cider and the punch taking their toll on the revellers.

Pinkie’s increasingly desperate attempts to break away were starting to attract interest, especially from two certain alicorns.  The more they looked at Pinkie, the more guilty and frightened she looked until they realised that somehow she had found out something, and that was not allowed.

One of the Sunaj clones got up on the stage and her horn began to glow, an aura spreading out overall the ponies present.  The music stopped and the last animated discussions died quickly away as the air began to crackle.  The other clone stepped up onto the stage and together their auras merged in a brilliant spectacle of magical power.

“I am sorry to do this to you” said Sunaj in an intimidating voice “But somepony here found out something she shouldn’t have, so I have had to bring my plans forward.  Firstly, thank you for the party; it has made it so much easier to cast my obedience spell on all of you at once.  Secondly, don’t bother trying to get help from Celestia and Luna; I have already disposed of them.”
With this there was a surge of energy and then everything appeared to return to normal.  Immediately the unicorns in the crowd aimed a spell of their own at Sunaj, but their horns wouldn’t light, and the braver pegasi made to launch into the air to attack, but found they had no wings; Sunaj had robbed them all of their special capabilities.  Then some of the nearest earth ponies tried to move in on themselves thrown back by well aimed bolts of magic.

Sunaj cackled mercilessly as every attempt by the ponies to fight back was thwarted; it was insult to think that she hadn’t already considered their every option.

Pinkie sidled up to the lilac librarian who had been talking with Fluttershy before the mood of the party had changed:
“I’m sorry Twilight” she whispered in short bursts “It’s me the meanie sisters meant.  I heard them talk about the Mirror Pool.  They said something about not going in together…”
She found herself suddenly cut off and felt rather than saw Sunaj’s evil glare focused towards her.  She tried to continue her warning to Twilight, but was unable to speak and next found herself being levitated.  Pinkie’s eyes grew wide as she frantically flailed all four legs in unison and began to rise above the crowd.
“You” said Sunaj, her voice dripping with venom “Have caused me enough trouble already.”
“Put her down!” demanded Twilight.
“Or what?” enquired Sunaj laconically before rounding on Twilight and shrieking “What did she tell you?”
Twilight stared back defiantly, her brows furrowed and hooves braced on the floor, refusing to answer.
“Think yourself lucky Princess” continued Sunaj, the tone of her voice betraying her utter contempt “I may still need you.”  Then she screamed again “But I don’t need her!”
With that she cast a translucent silver bubble around Pinkie and watched as she floated towards the celling where the bubble bounced around looking for an open window to drift out of.
“Stop this right now!” demanded Twilight, but Sunaj just laughed scornfully in her face before adding menacingly “I suggest you don’t cause too much of a draught in here or you may not see your friend again.”

With that, her horn glowed again and there was a big flash as all the windows shattered at once.  Pinkie’s eyes grew wide in fear as she felt the bubble she was in edge towards a large hole where there had once been a window and tried running inside her bubble to keep herself from floating out.

Ponies screamed and milled around in panic while Pinkie’s bubble bumped along the ceiling heading for the unguarded hole in the wall.  She was galloping frantically now, trying to stop herself disappearing into oblivion in a scene that would have been comical were it not a matter of life and death.

“Come with me Princess Twilight Sparkle” said Sunaj “Take me to the Tree of Harmony.”
Twilight felt a strong force pulling her and dug her hooves in as best she could on the floor, but the magical force was much stronger and she was pulled away from the scene of unfolding disaster with the reluctance of a puppy being dragged on a lead.

Rarity turned to AJ “Pull the cord and bring down the balloons now!” she shouted.
“The what now?” queried the farmer.
“The party balloons are held in a net on the ceiling.  Free the net and catch Pinkie!”
“On it” came her reply as the penny dropped and the orange pony ran for the cord, giving it a hard tug.
Immediately a waterfall of multicoloured balloons cascaded from the ceiling and it took a moment before the friends could see through the eye-catching finale and caught sight of Pinkie’s bubble restrained in the netting.
“Pinkie!” yelled Rarity “Stop running; you’re safe.  We’ll set about rescuing you as soon as we can.”
Pinkie did as she was told and looked down at her friends below as she prepared herself to wait it out while they planned their rescue mission.  Although keen to be released from her bubble, she was also concerned that if it burst suddenly, she would be facing a long fall with a sudden stop at the bottom; a prospect that did not please her in the slightest.

Most of the ponies had run away, but the friends congregated below Pinkie trying to work out what to do first.
“Where did Twilight go?” asked Rarity, looking around.
“I heard Sunaj say that Twilight had to take her to the Tree of Harmony” said Fluttershy, adding “I do hope she’ll be alright.”
“OK” said AJ “Look, I’m gonna have to find a way of stopping Pinkie blowin’ out the window, and I can’t get no help from no pegasi neither, so it’s goin’ to be all ladders an’ ropes an’ stuff.  Best leave this to me and these ponies still here.”
“Did anypony hear anything else that might help?” asked Rarity, taking control.
“I think I heard Pinkie say something about the Mirror Pool, but I’m not sure” chimed Fluttershy.
Rainbow was angry and lamenting the loss of her wings, but without them there was really nothing she could do.
“Well, what are we going do then?” demanded the frustrated cyan pegasus.
“Hush darling” said Rarity politely but firmly “I’m thinking.”
She looked up to the ceiling and when she looked down again she was wearing smile on her ace.
“We can’t get close to Sunaj, but we don’t have to.  Rainbow; get another one of those balloon nets and two long poles.  Fluttershy; get Spikey Wikey, and I’ll meet you all back here as soon as I can.  Time is of the essence!”

Rarity knew that for her plan to work, they had to get to the Tree of Harmony before Twilight and Sunaj, so it was merely ten minutes later when Rarity returned to the castle panting and wearing a saddle bag.  Noting that everything she had asked for was ready, including Spike who was flattered to have been asked for by Rarity in person, she shot a determined smile and gave the order to head for the Tree of Harmony.

The full moon was high in the sky, providing enough light to see their way.  Although the Everfree was a scary place to be, especially at night, the ponies had done it before and all remembered Pinkie’s ‘giggle at the ghostly’ song that got them through.  Spike hadn’t been there, but he had caught a ride on Rarity’s back and closed his eyes so as not to see, but clung on tight and breathed in her beautiful scent; this was as near to heaven as he could wish for.

Although they were encumbered they took the most direct route and Rarity prayed that Twilight had gone a long way round to give them some time.  When they arrived at the top of the ravine, they looked over the edge and saw the electric blue glow from the Tree of Harmony, but could see no movement and no sign that any other pony had been there for some time.  The comfort from this revelation was short lived as Rarity knew they had a lot to get through before the three alicorns arrived.
“Throw the net and the poles down” said Rarity “We can pick them up once we’re down there.”
With their cumbersome load removed, the party was able to get down the long flight of steps easily and retrieved the rest of their equipment before going to see the magical tree.

“Right” said Rarity “Set the net up on the roof of the cavern by the entrance and hurry!”
The unicorn and the flightless pegasi supported Spike as he reached up and secured the net at four corners all cursing how easy it would have been if they had their wings or their magic, but the little dragon did them proud and fairly soon the net was secured with a draw cord concealed off to one side, running down to an outcrop of rock behind which they could all hide.

With the trap primed as best as they could manage Rarity showed them what she had brought in her saddle bags:
“These” she exclaimed withdrawing two black coloured hollow cones “Are magic inhibitors.  We unicorns can use them to develop mind training independent of our magic, but we can also use them to prevent unicorns using their magic.  It fits over the horn and all the while it’s on, it completely inhibits the wearer from performing any kind of magic.  For our purposes, I shall put some strong glue inside, so once they’re on, they’re on.”

There were murmurs of approval all round and Rarity continued:
“Hopefully Sunaj will be distracted  enough to allow us to get in, but even then I think Spike as the smallest and most agile of us stands the best chance of carrying it through.  Do you feel brave enough to do this for us Spikey Wikey?”
It was almost possible to see little love hearts appear in Spike’s eyes.  Of course he was brave enough to do this for her.

By the time Rarity had finished explaining the rest of the contents of her saddle bags and briefed them all on their roles, it was time to hide and then there was nothing more to do but wait.  From where they were, the electric blue from the tree flooded over the night sky, its brightness blotting out their ability to see who may be approaching.  In spite of this strong disadvantage, the glow was strangely comforting, like the presence of a wise grandparent, and that kind of reassurance was just what they needed while they were waiting to see if their plan would work.

Eventually they heard hoofsteps approaching from beyond the entrance and poised themselves to act.  Sunaj entered first, her eyes adjusting to the light and her clone drew alongside to get a good view of their goal.  They had to act now before Twilight came in too and right on cue AJ gave the release cord a sharp tug, pulling the net free and allowing it to drop over the startled alicorns.  They both reared and pulled in opposite directions, pulling the net tight over them.  At the same time Rainbow and Rarity each pushed one of the poles between the alicorn’s legs and ran round them in opposite directions causing the alicorns to trip and stumble, further enmeshing themselves in the net as they fell to the floor.  This was Spike’s cue and he rushed forward bearing his two cones, forcing one easily onto its target, but the other was flailing around opposite him.  Fortunately the alicorns had not yet regained their composure and Spike manged to work his way to the remaining horn and push the cone on with a satisfying splat.

Fluttershy and Twilight now got involved and helped ensure that the two alicorns were completely ensnared before removing the poles and running them through the net, one each side to act as improvised stretcher handles.  The Sunaj clones were writhing around shouting threats, but the more agitated they grew, the more tangled they became.  Rarity trotted back elegantly to her saddle bags and withdrew a pair of gags and some lengths of rope, returning to silence and hogtie the alicorns while she hummed a happy tune to herself.

“Well done girls!” exclaimed Twilight happily “I’m so pleased you were able to make such a good trap!”
“Oh, it was nothing darling” said Rarity nonchalantly, but wearing a smug grin on her face.
“These two were going to try and steal the magic from the Tree of Harmony.  Even if they hadn’t succeeded they would have damaged the tree and this would have led to all sorts of problems in the natural balance of Equestria.  It would have been even worse if they had succeeded. So thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Yeah, that’s great Twi” said Rainbow “But what about all the pegasi who don’t have their wings and the unicorns who’ve lost their power?”
“Oh, I think that a solution will present itself once we can get these two to the Mirror Pool.”
“Um, Rarity” queried Rainbow “About those gags …”

Rarity double checked her binding to make sure that the ropes tying the alicorns up were secure and cut through the net so they were left with two separate hogtied packages.
“OK girls” said Rarity “One pole through each pair of tied legs and one pony each end to carry them”
“Um, Rarity” said Fluttershy “I’m not very strong and the end I’m carrying may slip …”
“Won’t that be a shame” said Rainbow “Make sure you do it nice and often.”
“Oh … Oh I couldn’t do that …” replied Fluttershy, horrified.