Twilight had to admit, Pinkie had seriously outdone herself this time. When she said that the party would cover the whole of Ponyville, she wasn’t kidding. This was easily the biggest party the pink pony had ever thrown together, somehow, she was still able to race around the town with so much energy, determined to talk to everypony at least once before the party ended.
Across all of the streets, Twilight could see colourful streamers, balloons, tables topped with snacks and drinks, and flower petals scattered all over the ground. The petals were a particularly nice touch, though Twilight couldn’t help but think how Pinkie had managed to throw all of this together on such short notice.
“Trixie must admit, she is impressed,” Trixie announced as she approached Twilight. “It seems your friend is quite the expert at throwing parties.”
Twilight smiled at Trixie’s arrival. She was worried that Trixie would change her mind and not show up, but she was happy to see her fears were for naught. Trixie wasn’t as excited at her being here as Twilight was. She had only shown up because of Rarity’s words that day.
“Glad you made it, Trixie,” Twilight said, levitating a glass of juice from a nearby tray and offering it to Trixie. A flower petal slowly descended into the glass, causing Twilight to switch it for another one. “Hehehe…Sorry ‘bout that…”
Trixie took the glass into her magic and started drinking the juice. Another flower petal landed on her nose, which she knocked off with her hoof. “Honestly, didn’t your friend overdo it? What’s with all of these flower petals?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said, noticing that it was suddenly starting to rain flower petals all over Ponyville. “I’ll go ask her to tone it down a notch.”
Twilight walked towards Pinkie Pie, who was conversing Mayor Mare not too far away. “Pinkie Pie,” she called out.
Pinkie turned around and hopped over to Twilight. “Heya Twilight! You enjoying the party so far? It’s the second biggest party I’ve ever thrown! Have ya tried the punch? I used an old family recipe! By the way, have you seen my manepin? I can’t find it anywhere.”
Twilight let out a nervous squee at the mention of the manepin. Pinkie’s memory was hazy, so she didn’t realise that she was possessed by the Sword card, or that she almost killed her friend with it. Twilight decided it best not to reveal that to the pink pony. She probably wouldn’t really get it, anyway.
“Uh, Pinkie, these flower petals are beautiful and all, but…D’you think you could turn it down a notch?”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow at her friend. “What? Flower petals?” Pinkie looked around to see the many petals falling all around her, and then turned back to her friend. “Wow, they are beautiful. But it’s not me controlling them,” she said.
Twilight’s eyes widened, but before she could ask who it was, Pinkie had hopped over to another pony in the distance to talk to her.
Twilight turned back to Trixie, and frowned when she saw Trixie quickly put away her compass, acting innocent. She walked over to the blue showmare. “Trixie? Is there something you want to tell me?”
“…Nope.”
“Really? So there isn’t a Clow Card nearby then?”
Trixie shook her head, smiling at the purple Unicorn. Twilight quickly ran a circle around Trixie, and grabbed the compass in her magic. “Hey! That’s Trixie’s!”
The glow only lasted a second, but Twilight defiantly saw it. The compass glowed the same way it always did whenever there was a Clow Card nearby. “So there is a Clow Card nearby.”
“Alright, fine! There is! But you should just let Trixie handle it, and enjoy your little party!”
“I don’t think so,” Twilight said, walking over to Trixie to return her compass. It was then that Twilight had noticed just how deep the flower petals were right now. She looked down, and couldn’t even see her hooves at this point. “Whoa! What kind of Clow Card could be responsible for this?”
Trixie shrugged as she took back her compass, returning it to her saddlebag. “In any case,” she started, before noticing that the downpour of petals had started to increase rapidly. “Argh! Trixie can’t even see through all of these petals!”
Twilight took out her key, before looking around to confirm that it was safe. Most ponies had retreated to their homes, and what ponies were left weren’t paying any attention to her and Trixie at all. They were far too absorbed in the heavy shower of flower petals that was going on.
“The key that hides the power of the dark, show your true form before me. I, Twilight, command you under our contract: Release!”
“The key that hides the power of dimensions, show your true form before me. I, Trixie, command under our contract: Release!”
Twilight levitated a card from her bag, and swung her staff against it. “Wood!” A branch of wood shot out from the card, and tied itself along Trixie’s waste. The other end tied itself along Twilight’s waste, making sure that the two wouldn’t become separated.
“Alright, now where is it?” Trixie asked to herself as she looked around. “Blast, there’re too many petals. Trixie can’t see clearly.”
“Erase!” Twilight shouted as she activated the Erase card, using it to remove some of the flower petals in their way. “That way!” She pointed a hoof towards the park, where a faint golden glow could be seen in the distance.
The two Unicorns slowly made their way to the park, with Twilight using Erase to clear the way a little bit every so often.
They finally reached the park, where they found a woman in a long dress dancing around, spreading flowers all over the place.
“Which way, Kero?” Rarity asked, slowly making her way through the huge pile of flower petals burying the town.
“Just keep goin’ straight,” Kero answered. Rarity eventually reached a fork in the street. “Now go left.” Rarity obeyed, but stopped when Kero called out to her. “Wait, I mean right. Right!”
Rarity turned to glare at Kero. All of these petals were clearly annoying her, and Kero’s lack of directional ability wasn’t helping. “Make up your mind!”
“Sorry,” Kero said. “I can’t think very well when I haven’t had my morning snack yet.”
The two eventually made it to the park, where the downpour of petals was much less intense. “Twilight! Are you ok?” Rarity called out as she made her way to her friend.
Twilight turned to face Rarity, and also saw Kero. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered. “But, Trixie…”
The group turned to face strange woman in a long dress, and she was…
“Is she…Dancing with Trixie?”
“Indeed,” Twilight responded, watching as the woman forced Trixie into a Waltz. Trixie wasn’t sure what to do. The woman wasn’t being aggressive, but for some reason, Trixie couldn’t free herself from the woman’s grasp.
“Ah, as expected of the Flower card,” Kero said. “She likes festive events, like the party today. She’s probably just trying to make things more fun for everypony.”
“So…She’s not going to attack us?” Rarity asked.
“Nah, it’s cool. In fact, if it weren’t for this party, she probably would’ve remained ion card form, like Windy and Wood.”
“Trixie didn’t know she could dance like this,” Trixie said, starting to get into the dancing with Flower. “She will have to add this to her résumé.”
“Twilight, ya better seal her, before she covers the whole town in flowers,” Kero said.
Twilight nodded, and then approached Flower, who stopped dancing in order to turn and smile at Twilight. “Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card.” Twilight gently swung her staff forward, sealing Flower into her card form.
Trixie fell to her haunches after Flower’s grasp over her had gone, and then rose back up to her hooves. She looked around, and noticed that the flower petals had stopped falling. However, the petals that had already fallen still remained.
“What?” Twilight asked, a frown on her face. “You mean we have to clean this up ourselves?”
Rarity sighed, but then lifted her head up and smiled at her friend. “Well, at least no big disasters happened.”
Suddenly, a cold chill passed through Kero’s spine. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that…” he said, turning around slowly.
The three mares followed his gaze, and saw a young boy approaching the group, holding a katana in his right hand, which had blood dripping off of it. “Is that…A Clow Card?” Rarity asked, her body shaking as the boy approached.
“No,” Kero said, moving backwards slightly. “But whoever he is, every single part of my body is telling me to run…”
“The feather,” the boy said, raising his katana into the air. “Hand it over.” Without any warning, the boy started running forward at high speed towards Trixie.
Trixie noticed this, and quickly fumbled through her bag with her magic. She quickly pulled out a card, and slammed her staff against it. “S-shield!” The barrier formed just in time, as the boy’s katana struck against it.
The boy backed away, and pointed his left hand forward. Two purple streams of energy coiled around his arm, forming a ball in the palm of his hand, and he fired it forward. To Trixie’s shock, and horror, the attack completely overwhelmed Shield, shattering the magical barrier that it had set up.
“The feather,” the boy repeated, lunging forward and striking at the blue Unicorn. His attacked was intercepted by a purple Unicorn, levitating a sword with her magic. “I will collect the feathers, at any cost.”
Twilight felt her body weakening as the boy forced his blade against hers, but she managed to summon up enough magic to propel herself forward, pushing the boy back a bit. He responded by falling back somewhat, distancing himself from the mare.
“T-Twilight…” Trixie stared at the librarian with wide eyes, before suddenly becoming annoyed at her. “What are you doing!? You could have gotten hurt, or worse!”
“But if I had done nothing-”
Twilight couldn’t finish before the boy raised his katana. Flames engulfed the blade, before he swung it forward, firing the trail of fire at the two mares. Twilight was about to raise a barrier with her magic, when Trixie suddenly stepped in front of her.
“Watery!” Trixie shouted as she slammed her staff against the Watery card. A stream of water shot out of the card, and collided with the fire, resulting in an explosion and an excess of steam obscuring her vision. Because of this, she didn’t see the incoming attack from the boy, and was unable to retreat before feeling a sharp pain pass through her left foreleg.
“TRIXIE!” Twilight shouted. She looked up at the scene in horror. The boy had run his katana through Trixie’s leg. Blood was dripping from the wound. And, even worse, he wasn’t done yet; he moved his left hand towards her neck. “Oh no you don’t!”
Twilight jumped up swung her sword down on the boy, causing him to back off once again. Trixie fell to floor, the pain in her leg too much to continue standing. “T-Twilight…Run…” Trixie said, but her warning fell on deaf ears. Twilight glared at the young boy, her anger boiling. She slowly started to approach him, and Trixie repeated her warning. “RUN, TWILIGHT! HE’LL KILL YOU!”
Her warning was ineffective though; Twilight charged towards the boy, intending to stun him with her attack. She was no fool. She could see that, even if she did try to run, with Trixie in her current state, they wouldn’t get away. But if she could wound him…If she could just get one good hit on him, then they had a chance.
Twilight swung her sword down on the boy, who blocked easily with his katana. He tried to kick her while blocking her attack, but Twilight used a teleportation spell to get behind the boy. She lunged her sword forward, taking advantage of the opening…But stopped just short of his arm.
She felt an intense chill run through her body, and simply stood still, her sword still in mid-lunge. Trixie, Rarity, and Kero all looked at the scene in horror. The boy had used the same magic that he used earlier, but this time, he used it to pierce Twilight’s stomach with a stream of purple magic. The same magic also attacked her horn, and she watched disbelievingly as she saw half of her horn falling off of her head, right in front of her eyes.
She finally let out a loud scream as the reality of the situation caught up to her, and fell down to her side, the pain too intense to continue standing.
The boy turned around and loomed over her body. “I will obtain all of the feathers. And I will destroy any who get in my way.” The boy raised his katana into the air, ready to bring it down and finish Twilight for good.
“STOP!” Trixie shouted out, limping over to the young boy. The boy turned to face the showmare, who was levitating a feather in front of her. “This is what you want, right? Take it. Take it and leave us, alright!?”
The boy stared at Trixie for a few seconds, his expression not changing. He lowered his katana, and held out his left hand. The feather floated over towards him, and was absorbed into his body. “I have collected the feather. I am ready to move on to the next world.” A few moments later, the space in front of the boy ripped open, revealing a black void. The boy stepped inside, taking one last look at the blue Unicorn, before the rip closed itself up.
Twilight opened her eyes slowly. She felt a powerful headache wash over her, and tried to remember what had happened. “Where am I?”
“Your library.” Twilight turned to the voice that had answered her, somewhat startled, since she wasn’t expecting it. She saw Trixie, sitting on a stool next to her bed, her head turned away from Twilight. “How are you feeling?”
Twilight placed a hoof to her temple, and resisted the urge to throw up. “Not so good…What happened?”
Trixie remained silent for a moment, giving Twilight a chance to recall things. After some time, she managed to remember the mysterious boy that had attacked them, but couldn’t recall much after that.
“After you were defeated, Trixie sent you to someone who could help.”
Trixie sat down in the park, holding Twilight in her forelegs. “Twilight! Come on, Twilight, wake up!” Despite Trixie’s best efforts, the purple Unicorn refused to awaken from her slumber. “DAMNIT! Don’t do this, Twilight! You can’t die…You can’t…”
Tears ran down Trixie’s face, and she wasn’t alone. Kero and Rarity, who had been watching the whole thing, soon started to join her.
“Twilight darling…We have to help her…”
“COME ON! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TA CAPTURE THE CLOW CARDS! STOP BEING LAZY AND GET UP! Please…C’mon, kid. Just get up…”
The group remained silent, as all hope for the librarian seemed lost.
“Oh no…I think I’m too late.” The group turned their heads quickly to see a young boy in black clothing. Kero and Rarity immediately raised their guards, causing the boy to step back nervously. “Whoa! Hold on! I’m only here because-”
“Watanuki, right?” Trixie asked. Watanuki nodded his head at her, and she quickly ran up to him. “Please…Take me to Yuko! She’ll know how to save Twilight, right? You’ve got to take me there! PLEASE!”
Watanuki pushed Trixie back a bit, and tried to calm her down. “That’s actually why I’m here. Yuko wanted me to give you this.”
“Watanuki gave Trixie the means to save your life. It was a device to teleport us to Yuko’s shop. The shop where wishes can be granted. At a price.”
“Yuko! Please, you can’t let her die! Isn’t there anything you can do!?”
Yuko raised her hand to silence Trixie, and then knelt down to examine Twilight. “She is in pretty bad shape…Her horn will need to be reattached, but the problem Is that she’s lost too much of her magic…Even if we reattach it, it may not be enough to save her life.”
“No way…So it’s hopeless?” Trixie looked down at the purple Unicorn, tears falling down her face rapidly, no longer able to hold them back.
“No, there is a way,” Yuko said, perking Trixie’s head up. “But there will be a price.”
“I’ll pay whatever price I need to!”
“Are you sure? Think carefully now.”
“I SAID I’LL PAY! NOW HURRY, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”
Yuko nodded, and then called over Watanuki. Trixie noticed that Watanuki was covered in bandages, something which Yuko picked up on. “You should thank him,” she said. “When he heard that you were in trouble, he insisted on going out to help you. He even paid the price for bringing you to my shop.”
Trixie stared at the boy in shock, but then pulled herself together. “…Thank you.”
“It’s no problem,” Watanuki said. “So, what do we need to do, Yuko?”
“The only way to save Twilight at this point…”
Twilight waited patiently, but Trixie stopped talking, and didn’t seem to have any intention continuing any time soon. “So…What was it? How did you save me?”
Trixie hesitated, and then said: “The price and the solution were the same.”
Twilight didn’t understand, but then noticed how much Trixie was avoiding looking at Twilight. A thought crossed through Twilight’s mind, and she leaned over to Trixie. “Trixie…Show me your eyes.”
Trixie sat still, and didn’t say a word. Twilight grabbed Trixie’s shoulders and forced her to face Twilight. She gasped in shock at what she saw. Trixie’s right eye was exactly as it should be, but her left eye…It was grey. Trixie eye had lost its colour. And there was only one thing that could mean.
“Give me a mirror,” Twilight demanded. Trixie again froze up, so Twilight used her own magic to levitate one over to her. Her suspicions were confirmed; Twilight’s left eye was exactly the same as Trixie’s. It had lost all of its colour, and was now grey. Her other eye…
“A Unicorn who loses all of their magic…Dies,” Trixie said, looking down at the floor beneath her. “In order to save you, you needed a…What did she call it? A “magic transplant”.”
Twilight’s right eye was exactly the same as Trixie’s left. It was the same shade of purple, the iris was the same size, and the reflection was the same. “Trixie…You…”
“In order to save you, Trixie needed to give you half of her magic. It was the only way.”
“You idiot!” Twilight shouted, grabbing a hold of Trixie’s shoulders. “Don’t you realise what that means!? Magic is a Unicorn’s life force! If you give up half of it, then-”
“I know!” Trixie shouted back, turning up to look at Twilight, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “But I had no choice! If I didn’t, you would have died!”
“But…You gave up half of your remaining life…Why would you-”
“I could ask you the same,” Trixie interrupted. “Why did you risk your life to save Trixie? You could have just fled, but you didn’t. You could have died, and the reason…Was to protect Trixie…Protect me…”
“Trixie…”
The two remained silent for a good few minutes, although to them, it seemed like a good few hours. Finally, Twilight let out a quiet “thank you”.
Trixie turned her head away. “You don’t need to thank me, Sparkle.”
“Twilight…”
“What?”
“You can…Call me Twilight. Ok?”
The silence between the two returned once again.
Kero and Rarity waited downstairs in the library, whilst Trixie took care of Twilight upstairs. Naturally, bringing home an unconscious Twilight with bandages around her stomach didn’t go unnoticed by the baby dragon working there, and Rarity and Kero felt it only right to explain everything to him.
Surprisingly, he had taken everything quite well, up to the point where Trixie saved Twilight’s life. But, despite how much the thought of that bugged him, he was still thankful to her, though he would never admit it to her face.
“Still, I’m surprised,” Kero said. “To think she’d go so far for her…I thought she didn’t get along with Twilight.”
Rarity lowered her teacup and turned to Kero. “Even if you don’t get along with somepony, that’s no reason to leave them to die when you can do something to help.” A grin formed on Rarity’s face, as she turned to face the stairs leading up to the upper level of the library. “Besides, you’re wrong Kero. Those two…Get along quite well together. Despite how they may act to try and prove otherwise.”