//------------------------------//
// The Show - Part 3 
// Story: Saving Equestria 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"Tell Trixie again."

The Golden Oaks Library was Twilight Sparkle's home, but now it was Queen Trixie Lulamoon's abode. She'd had a throne installed in the middle of the tree-house, which while it made things a little cramped, made for an amazing spot to have ponies grovel.

At that moment, Trixie could feel the power of the amulet, and how it gave her absolute control over all the ponies in the town. She could feel each mind tingling in the grip of her power, but for the most part she let them go about their business. But not this pony.

"Well. Come on. Tell Trixie how Great and Powerful and Queenly she is!" Glaring down at Rainbow Dash, Trixie put a hint of power into her voice.

Had the amulet been fully affecting her, Rainbow Dash would have neither had a problem with replying, nor felt bad about it. As it was, all Trixie made her do was talk. "Grrr. Why are you doing this, Trixie? This is really wrong!"

Rainbow Dash winced at the look of pity on Trixie's face. "I can't believe you'd do this after causing so much trouble already." A stab of mental pain sliced into Rainbow's mind. She grunted and struggled under the mental weight of the amulet bearing down upon her.

Trixie savored the sight of Rainbow Dash, loyal to a fault, straining just to stand in Trixie's presence. "Just say it. Tell your queen what she should hear from all her ponies." 

"Y-You're the G-Greatest and—and Powerfulest pony in E-Equestria." With the words snarled through teeth clenched against the mental pain, Rainbow Dash collapsed to the floor. The moment her belly touched the wood the pain left. A soft whine of relief left Rainbow Dash's mouth.

"See? All you had to do was praise your mighty queen. Now, your new duty—nay. Your only duty now is to tell this to Trixie every day." Lounging back on her throne, Trixie tried to ignore the creaking sound—wooden thrones painted gold might look the part, but it wasn't quite what she wanted. "Starting now, of course. Tell your queen what she is."

The sound of grinding teeth echoed from Rainbow Dash. She had said the words once and made them as hollow as she could. "You're the Greatest and Powerfulest pony in Equestria." Her delivery was so dry and without emotion that Rainbow Dash expected to be punished for it, but to her shock Trixie didn't seem to care.

"Good. Now the Great and Powerful Trixie will have to come up with something to keep everypony under control. We simply can't have them running away until I can put on my big show." Lifting a hoof up, Trixie tapped at her chin with a hoof. Her musings were interrupted by a red shimmer from the Alicorn Amulet. The flicker of light began at the bottom of its gem, and flickered up to reflect in her eyes.

Trixie sat up on the throne. Blinking a few times, she let out a little gasp. "Yes." Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet. "Yes. That will work perfectly." Leaning forward, Trixie aimed her horn directly at Rainbow Dash.

Red magic poured from Trixie's horn and bathed Rainbow Dash in blinding light. She tried to lift a wing up to shade her eyes, but couldn't move. She tried to open her mouth and shout at Trixie, but something wrapped around her snout and squeezed down tight.

The binding sensation rolled up Rainbow Dash's cheeks, and she felt the magic pull behind and on top of her head. The light flickered out, and Rainbow Dash felt the grip around her body relax. Shaking herself, she felt the magic still around her face. "What'd you do to me?!"

"Shhh." Trixie lifted a hoof to her lips, gesturing for silence. She waited and watched Rainbow Dash, and saw the exact moment when the pegasus realized she couldn't talk. "Isn't it wonderful? Trixie's Great and Powerful amulet has all kinds of useful bits of information. A bridle that can impart Trixie's will upon the wearer? You can only talk, Rainbow Crash, when you are praising Trixie."

"Wonderful and Brilliant Trixie, you can't do this! Ponies need to be able to talk!" Rainbow Dash's brain slowly caught up with what she had said, and she shuddered: she hadn't meant to praise Trixie at all. Covering her snout with both forehooves, Rainbow flapped her wings to hover.

"If Rainbow Dash wishes to leave the Great and Powerful Trixie's presence, she must ask." Smirking from cheek to cheek, Trixie looked down at Rainbow Dash. "That is, if you don't wish to remain with Trixie and keep praising her."

"C-Can I go—" Rainbow Dash tried to bite down and hold her mouth closed, but against her will her lips parted and she continued. "That is, if it pleases the Most Majestic Trixie?"

A purr started in the back of Trixie's throat; she was enjoying this greatly. "You may go, but when you do, send another pony here, and don't warn them they will be getting a bridle too." Power stroked at Trixie's ego nearly as much as her demeaning of Rainbow Dash had. The name now put a smile on Trixie's lips, rather than a frown. Rainbow Dash, the reason Trixie had lost her wagon, her bits, and most of her props.

Idly, Trixie watched Rainbow Dash leave the library, and moments later Rarity strode in, looking slightly sheepish. "Rarity! Is Trixie's new royal gown ready?"

With just one day's notice, Rarity hadn't had much to work with. No imported fabrics. No hours spent searching for inspiration. She had been commanded to make a dress, and she was doing her best. "Not quite—"

Rarity's voice cut off as red magic flared from Trixie. It blinded Rarity, but she just couldn't look away. Staring, she felt familiar straps pull around her face. She knew what the feeling was, had felt it more than once. The moment the magic stopped, Rarity looked up at Trixie. "A bridle? Please tell me it is a nice fit…?"

Reaching behind her head, Rarity used her hoof to gently probe for the bridle's clasp. Every bridle had a clasp—except this one. "Tr—" She gulped back what she was about to say. "Queen Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful, why did you put this on me?"

"You like your bridle." Trixie started to climb down off the throne. "You love your bridle." She stood just before Rarity, and stared into the other mare's eyes. "You don't ever want to take your bridle off."

Each phrase confused Rarity more. She knew the thing likely clashed with every color on her, but no matter what, she found herself loving the bridle. She blinked at Trixie, and the red glow came again. This time, when bright red magic poured from Trixie's horn, it seemed to burrow into Rarity's own. She gasped in shock, but found her forelegs folding underneath her.

Trixie had just come up with the wonderful idea, and was putting it into motion. She forced a chunk of magic into Rarity. She pushed it, shoved it, and then bound it into Rarity's horn. "And above all, you want to give a bridle to everypony you know."

The final command settled into Rarity's mind, and she blinked. "W-What? I…" She trailed off, her brain forced into patterns it normally wouldn't take. She shivered, and looked at Trixie. Power bubbled up within Rarity, and a red glow spilled from her horn, while her mouth curved into a smile.

"What are— NO!" It was too late for Trixie. Red magic bathed her in its light, and the power poured from Rarity and around Trixie's snout. She gave a soft whimper as the bridle formed around her head.

Rarity took the wonderful magic back once it was done with Trixie. "There. Isn't that much better? Come, Trixie. Let's give everypony a bridle. You'll love doing this." She noticed a panicked look in Trixie's eyes for just a second before the growing smile on her lips washed all the panic from Trixie's face. 

From the edge of town, hiding in edge of The Everfree Forest, a pair of changelings watched as the two unicorns left the Golden Oaks Library.

"What're you seeing?" Applejack didn't want to poke her head past the two shapes, but she desperately wanted to know what was going on.

Eye Spy shook her head. "Bridles, or something. I can't tell, but I think things might be getting worse."

"They aren't like the masks Sombra was using, but they are giving me the same vibe." Extra Sharp nodded to her hive-sister, and refrained from her instinctual chirping her wings together. "We need to report to our Captain."





Derpy liked to flap her wings. She spread each one out, slowly. The brick fence circled her little house and kept the fire back. Once each wing stretched out to her sides, she lifted them and gave her first flap. 

Of course, she didn't need to flap her wings in here, but she liked to. The wall that stretched around her was solid, more solid than any she could think of. The walls of Canterlot itself were not as carefully placed or strong as the wall around the core of Derpy's mind. She had, after all, spent a full year practicing.

"You are getting really good at this." Sweet Dreams stayed sitting on the grass beside where Derpy hovered. "Next we are going to move on to more advanced things. Would you like to learn how to fight the fire?" One moment Sweet was looking at the wall before him, the next a gray pegasus hovered a hoof-width from his nose, her splayed eyes gazing to each side of his own.

"I'll take this as a yes." Lifting one hole-filled hoof, Sweet booped Derpy on the nose. "But first you need to learn the full extent of what is happening to you. This fire is being produced by the grip of the amulet within you. Princess Luna explained that it leaves a taint on those it touches, and it cannot fully be cleared away until the owner of the amulet is divested of their power."

"So if it is tainting my mind, how do I stop it? Trixie has the amulet-thingy..." Derpy dropped to a low hover, her wings barely moving.

"There is another you out there." Sweet pointed out, past the brick wall. He gave a sigh. "It looks like you, it thinks like you, but all it wants is to destroy you so it can live here." He buzzed his wings in distaste for the nature of the magic working within Derpy's mind.

Landing, Derpy folded her wings at her side. "How do I help them?" When she watched Sweet Dreams clop his forehead with a hoof, she blinked in surprise. "What? They need my help."

"Derpy, they aren't even a pony. What you need to do is defeat them and bring them up instead." Waving a hoof at the wall, Sweet shook his head. "They aren't, I know it!"

Derpy blinked at the vehemence Sweet Dreams unleashed. "But you just said they are another me. Were they made as a copy of me and then corrupted?" Walking over to the wall, Derpy ran a forehoof along the solid surface. "Maybe they are hurting, too?"

Sighing, Sweet Dreams recognized somepony who wasn't going to listen to him. If there was one thing he was used to, it was dealing with mares who rethought everything you told them. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?" When Derpy Hooves shook her head, he sighed. "Okay. If you aren't going to listen to what I say, will you at least let me teach you how to defend yourself against her?"

" 'Her'?" Derpy grinned at having won her little argument. "If she is being forced to attack me, then I need to defend against that while we help her." A big smile lit up her face. "So teach me how to defend, first, then we can work on helping her."

"Well, she is going to be just like you, but corrupted, and she—" Sweet froze as his brain reminded him of a little detail. "Wait! She isn't going to be just like you." With a wave of his hoof, an image of what Derpy Hooves now looked like in the waking world appeared. Big leathery wings spread out from each shoulder tipped with a claw at the hand.

Derpy walked up to the copy of her, and tilted her head a little to the side. "Why like this?" She reached her hoof and gently teased back the lips of the clone, revealing sharp fangs.

"That is what the amulet did to you." Stepping up to the Derpy-clone's side, Sweet reached a hoof up to fold the huge wing up. "Maybe the destruction of the amulet will return you to normal, but we don't know."

Rubbing the side of the snout of her strange clone, Derpy kissed their nose. "Then I'll be the best whatever this is that I can be. But first, I have a friend to save!" She booped her clone. "You look almost like one of Princess Luna's guards!"

Sudden excitement grew in Sweet Dreams at the mention of Luna. He was distracted by his own thoughts for a few moments, and when he shook his head to clear ideas of joining Luna's Guard, he was looking at a giggling Derpy. "What?"

"You." Derpy pointed at Sweet. "Whenever I mention Princess Luna, you always stop and stare into space for a moment. It's really cute!" 

"What?" Sweet realized he sounded like a broken record, and shook his head. "Is it that obvious?" Derpy Hooves nodded to him, and Sweet slumped a little. "I can't tell her! She's an immortal alicorn, and I'm just a—"

Derpy interrupted Sweet. "The only dreamling. Or so Swift Stride said."

"Not even the only one anymore. Chrysalis told me there will be more soon: the eggs are already maturing." Blowing out a sharp breath, Sweet's size deflated a little within the flexible realm of dream. "Okay, first thing, you need to build the same kind of wall as you already did, but you need to make the bricks a little different.

"You need to make them this shape, and thinner." Sweet demonstrated what he wanted, using his willpower to make a single, clear hexagon appear.

"That doesn't look anything like a brick." Despite her protest, Derpy fashioned a similar shape, putting as much solidity as she could without it not being clear anymore. "But how do I put these together?"

Bringing his power to bear, Sweet Dreams made another hexagon, and another, and another. More and more snapped into being and butted up against their twins, and as he floated slowly upwards they formed a sphere around him. "Like that."

Sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth, Derpy Hooves made a start. A second hexagon was thrust into being by her will, then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. She pressed the six new hexagons around the first, forming a clear wall. 

Sweet watched Derpy assembled the full bubble, rotating it around herself so she could see what she was doing. A proud teacher, he was surprised at how easily she turned it, but didn't say so. "Okay, now let it go."

Derpy, proud of her perfect barrier, looked up at Sweet. She watched his mouth move, as if he was talking, but no sound came out. "Uh… Sweet?" It took her a moment before she realized it was the barrier stopping her from hearing him.

Blinking at the wall, Derpy finally realized what she needed to do. Plucking out just one plate, she giggled. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you through the wall."

"Just let go of that one. We need to work on one you can talk through." Sweet waited for Derpy to let all the plates dissolve into nothing before starting over. "There is no reason you can't hear through them, they aren't thick enough to stop sound."

Eyeing the plate she had removed, Derpy examined it a little closer. "But they just were!"

"You made them too noisy. Think of each plate as being still, not moving. When your voice hits one, it will vibrate with your words, and they will vibrate all the way through!" Completely lying, Sweet Dreams knew how important it was to believe something, and giving Derpy a reason to believe she could talk through a barrier was enough to make her actually able to.

"You lie badly. This is another, 'As long as I believe it,' thing, isn't it? Like the fire not harming the bricks." Derpy watched as Sweet's face fell. "Thought so. For a changeling, you don't lie very well."

Derpy shook herself and let the last hexagon fade. "Besides, I have a better design." She began building her sphere again, but this time she used triangle-shaped "bricks" that snapped together much faster than the hexagons did. "You made this overcomplicated. You should make things simple for me; I'm not smart like Twilight Sparkle."

Staring in shock, Sweet Dreams' jaw nearly dropped open. "N-N-Not smart?" His senses, sharp as a razor in the dream of a pony under the effects of his poison, revealed just how much stronger the shape Derpy built was. Shaking his head, he smiled at the mare in a bubble of force he wouldn't have been able to shatter if he tried. "Okay. Drop that one, and build it faster."

Doing as instructed, Derpy spent months training just on that shield. She made it stronger still, faster, and thinner. Again and again, she built up and tore down her shield until it was instinct. Sweet started throwing attacks at her, randomly, and Derpy would have to get her shield up in time to block them. 

In a dream, you don't actually need to sleep—since you already are. Days. Weeks. Months. Practicing over and over, it wasn't any wonder that when a flash of cobalt magic alerted pegasus and dreamling to an intruder, that each snapped a powerful shield up.

"It's been two hours." Luna gently floated down to land on the soft, cloud-like ground. "What do you have to report?" Her full attention was on Sweet Dreams, but she couldn't help but admire the powerful shield that Derpy had in place.

"A year and a half of practice at building dream-constructs. Derpy wanted to make a defense, I showed her, and she improved it." Sweet Winked at Derpy. He couldn't help but puff up a little in pride.

"Defense? Why only defense? Derpy, you need to fight off this monster inside you." Turning to Derpy, Luna saw a mare resolute. There was something harder about Derpy Hooves.

Derpy lifted her chin and looked right into Princess Luna's eyes. "I want to help her."