//------------------------------// // Foal Trouble // Story: Foal Fever // by Ponibius //------------------------------// The day of Trixie’s momentous return to Ponyville had come, as well as her date with her wonderful fillyfriend Starlight. For weeks she had been touring across Equestria to give the ponies and other intelligent species of the world a show the likes of which they would never forget. But as much as Trixie liked to benefit the world with her presence, she still liked to take some time off tour for some extremely well-deserved rest. After all, what was the point of working so hard for her well earned bits if she couldn’t spend and enjoy them? Other than also gaining fame and the adoration of others, in any event. Trixie had planned everything perfectly. One of the things she regretted about always being on the road was that it took her away from her special somepony. They had tried to go on a tour together once, but it hadn’t worked out so well. Trixie definitely wasn’t still bitter about the time Starlight had sold her cart—her home and place of business—without her permission. She was supremely magnanimous like that. Still, going on trips together was something they hadn’t worked out between them yet. In any event, those lonely nights in her cart gave her plenty of time to plan and prepare for when she did return to Ponyville. On the way to the Friendship Castle she gathered what she needed to have the perfect romantic evening in with her partner. She purchased some flowers, something nice to drink, some popcorn, and a few reels of film. Admittedly, one of the nice things about Starlight living with a princess was that Twilight had more than enough room to have her own personal movie theater, and Trixie had every intention of taking advantage of that. Her preparations complete, she headed to the Friendship Castle—or whatever it was the tree shaped castle made of dark and pointy crystals was called. Really, Trixie thought it was an eyesore compared to the rest of the architecture in Ponyville, and mildly sinister-looking under the right light, but what could you do? Still, Trixie had to admit after committing treason, breaking and entering, assaulting a princess, and nearly destroying Equestria by time traveling in order to commit petty revenge, getting ‘punished’ with living in a castle rent-free wasn’t bad. It made Trixie wonder if she should have waited until after Princess Twilight had gotten her wings to attempt her revenge. Things might have gone much easier for Trixie if Starlight was any indication of Princess Twilight’s standards for punishment. Upon arriving at the castle, Trixie opened the door and loudly declared, “The Great and Powerful Trixie is here! You may applaud.” Her grand entrance was met with equally grand silence as the guards that flanked the gate stood impassively on either side of the entrance. She sighed. “Some day that will actually happen if Trixie keeps trying.” Trixie wasn’t about to let that keep her down, though. She went searching about the castle for her fillyfriend and soon found Starlight in the castle’s living room. Starlight had her back to her, so Trixie cleared her throat to get her attention as she presented the items she had gathered for what she knew would make for a glorious night in. “Starlight, your great and wonderful special somepony is here, and I have everything ready for our night in! Popcorn popped, movie projector secured, and several of our favorite films lined up!” She waggled her eyebrows. “And, of course, a comfy sofa and a blanket to snuggle under.” Starlight turned around. Trixie was not met with the happy smile she had expected, but the wails of the foal Starlight held in her forelegs. “Oh, hey Trixie.” She gave Trixie a tired smile. “Good to see you.” Starlight looked like she had seen better days. There were bags under her eyes, her mane looked liked the edges had been burned away, and a splotch of … something clung to her chest. The living room was a mess. Toys were spread randomly about the floor, couch cushions had been strewn everywhere, and general chaos reigned. Trixie quickly surmised the cause of her fillyfriend’s distress. While she had never personally met the infant princess of the Crystal Empire, she had seen enough pictures of Princess Flurry Heart in the newspapers to recognize her. Even if she had not immediately identified Flurry, the mere fact she was an alicorn would have been a dead giveaway to her identity. She also had a pair of lungs that threatened to burst Trixie’s eardrums. Trixie flattened her ears to her head. While she was accustomed to the adulations of her cheering audiences, she normally had a spell up to protect her hearing from the noise. “Um, Starlight, I don't know if you noticed, but you're holding a baby.” After a moment she added, “A baby alicorn.” Starlight’s smile became brittle along the edges, and she presented the crying foal to Trixie. “Right, Trixie, this is Princess Flurry Heart. Flurry, this is Trixie, my special somepony.” Flurry sniffed as she briefly stopped crying to examine this new pony presented to her, her nose wrinkling before she made her royal displeasure known to all. Starlight pulled Flurry closer and started patting her back to try and comfort the foal. “Flurry's parents dropped her off at the castle the other day so that she could spend some time with her aunt, but then Twilight woke up with feather flu and didn't want to risk Flurry getting sick. I volunteered to take over with Flurry until she gets better.” “Oh.” That all seemed reasonable to Trixie except for one particular point. “And you're doing this because...?” Starlight frowned as she tried to console Flurry. “Because I wanted to prove to her I can be responsible, and she can trust me with things like this if need be. And what bigger responsibility can she give me than to take care of her niece while she gets better?” She let out a huff. “Twilight was a bit reluctant at first, but I told her that I’ve ruled a whole village with an iron hoof before, so I’m more than capable of taking care of a single foal.” “That ... makes sense.” Putting aside Starlight’s less than immaculate past, her haggard appearance and the disheveled state of the living room still suggested to Trixie that Starlight was having more trouble than she was letting on. Still, Trixie didn’t like the fact that her time with Starlight was getting interrupted. Though she surmised there might be a way to salvage this. If there was somepony else that could take over for taking care of Flurry... “So why didn't Twilight ask someone else to do it?” Starlight’s frown deepened at the question. “Because no one else is available. Pinkie's busy doing a big delivery, Rainbow and Rarity are both out of town on business, Spike's visiting Thorax, Fluttershy's at some sort of animal caretaker convention, and it's harvesting season at Sweet Apple Acres. Besides, I volunteered.” Flurry’s cries went from being merely loud to threatening to break glass. Starlight glanced around before levitating a stuffed snail toy in front of the foal. “Here you go, Flurry. Do you want Whammy?” “Whammy!” Flurry grasped the snail and started chewing on it, much to the relief of Starlight and Trixie’s hearing. Starlight let out a relieved sigh. “She really likes her Whammy.” “Riiight.” Trixie flicked her hoof in a dismissive wave. “What about the servants? Can’t they take care of Flurry? Isn't that what they're for?” To Trixie’s surprise, instead of complimenting Trixie for her naturally brilliant idea, Starlight scowled at her. “Don't you think I can do this?” “Trixie never said that,” Trixie was very quick to say, sensing she may just have unwittingly stepped into a bear trap. Starlight glowered at Trixie. “Maybe you didn’t say it, but you’re thinking it.” That drew a suspicious glower from Trixie. “Starlight, please tell me you’re not using mind magic again.” “It’s just a saying!” Starlight protested. “I’m not using any kind of mind magic this time!” Trixie raised an eyebrow. “‘This time’?” “Not what I meant!” Starlight let out a long groan. “My point is, I can do this. I am perfectly capable of taking care of a foal for a while and I am going to prove it.” She looked around herself and the chaos of the living room before putting on a shaky smile. “The two of us have been having a lot of fun. Isn’t that right, Flurry?” Flurry hiccuped and then disappeared in a flash of magic. The future ruler of the Crystal Empire reappeared near the ceiling and started plummeting to the ground. Starlight yelped and cast a levitation spell as quickly as she could to keep the heir apparent from crashing to the ground. Starlight held the foal and pulled her to her chest, letting out a relieved sigh as Flurry squealed in delight. Trixie blinked at what had just happened. Teleportation was supposed to be a complicated and difficult spell to cast—at least if you didn’t want to risk teleporting yourself into a wall and all the unpleasant consequences that came with that kind of A-Class screwup. “What did she just... She can do teleport?!” “Among other things,” Starlight mumbled darkly. “You know how unicorn foals can have bursts of wild magic and do really weird things? That goes double for alicorns.” “Like how she destroyed the Crystal Heart and nearly doomed the entire Crystal Empire to becoming a frozen wasteland?” Trixie had heard the story from Starlight herself, as fantastical as it sounded. The whole incident made her all the more incredulous about the idea of her fillyfriend trying to take care of the foal. Starlight groaned as she rubbed her face. “She’s a bit high maintenance. She’s definitely been keeping me on my toes since I took over taking care of her.” Trixie raised an eyebrow at Starlight’s bedraggled appearance. “You're sure you need to do this?” Starlight glowered at Trixie. “Yes, I want to do this. And like I told Twilight, I can do this.” “Trixie is sure you can.” Trixie huffed and rolled her eyes. “Though in case you forgot, we were supposed to have a date this evening. Something we scheduled before Trixie left.” Starlight groaned as she rubbed the side of her temple. “Okay, I might have forgotten about that, but this emergency just came up and I just can't go on a date with you right now. I have to keep a close eye on Flurry, and make sure she's fed and has clean diapers, takes her regularly scheduled naps, keep her from shattering the walls of reality, and a dozen other things.” Trixie twitched. “Wait, what was that one about shattering reality?” “Nothing!” Starlight put on a shaky smile. “Nothing at all to worry about. It only happened once. Nothing I can’t handle if it comes up again.” “Ooor we could hire a foalsitter, then go out and have fun.” Trixie thought this was the perfect solution to the problem. It was perfectly responsible, and would let them continue with their date as planned. She was confident there wasn’t a better idea out there. Instead of jumping at Trixie’s perfectly reasonable solution to their woes, Starlight tightened her hold on Flurry and scowled at Trixie. “Listen, do you want to help me do this or not?” Trixie flinched. “Of course Trixie wants to help you!” She bit her lip. “What do you need Trixie to do?” Starlight let out a relieved sigh and nuzzled Trixie. “Great! Mind helping me clean this place up?” An awkward smile worked its way onto her face as she glanced around the chaotic living room. “Flurry and I made a bit of a mess playing.” A blast of magic shot from Flurry’s horn and blew apart a tower of blocks, and she laughed in delight. Trixie couldn’t help but think that laugh sounded just a little bit evil. Trixie sighed, resigning herself to an evening she hadn’t wanted. “Trixie can do that.” It took a couple of hours, but working together and countering Flurry’s consistent attempts to foil them, they managed to return the living room to a presentable state. Starlight put the last of Flurry’s toys back into her toy chest and closed it, letting out a relieved sigh as she did so. “Alright, I think that does it.” “Indeed.” Trixie wiped her brow before checking on Flurry. The foal was lying on a blanket on the floor, her eyes closed as her side rhythmically rose and fell. “And it looks like she's asleep for now.” “Thank goodness.” Starlight collapsed onto the couch with a groan. “I was worried I'd never get her to settle down.” “Well, now that she is maybe we can relax a little.” Trixie sat next to Starlight and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Starlight smiled. “That would be nice. I knew taking care of a foal was a lot of work, but sheesh.” “True, but now that the Great and Powerful Trixie is here, you need not worry.” Trixie nuzzled her fillyfriend. “So, want to watch a movie?” “That sounds nice,” Starlight said. “What do you have available?” “Well...” Trixie levitated over the several rolls of the film she had brought with her. “What were you in the mood for? Romance? Action? Magic? Romance?” “Hm, let’s see what we’ve got here.” Starlight looked over the titles and her frown grew as she did so. “I’m not sure we can watch any of these.” Trixie blinked in surprise. “What’s the matter with what I brought?” “None of them are exactly kid-friendly.” Starlight nodded in Flurry’s direction. “We can’t just show her anything, you know.” Trixie wasn’t really sure about that. What would a child as young as Flurry even remember from anything she watched? She couldn’t possibly traumatize a child that badly as long as whatever they watched wasn’t too bad. It’s not like Trixie had brought movies full of blood, gore, swearing, and other things a child shouldn’t see. Still, Flurry’s aunt and parents might not see it that way, and they were royalty and could make things difficult for her in any number of ways. “Oh. Um ... hmm. Well then... Trixie wasn't exactly thinking kid-friendly when picking entertainment.” “Right, let’s see if Cadance and Shining left something for Flurry.” Starlight reluctantly got off the couch and went to the several bags the royal parents had left with Twilight. Packed with all the love and worry of first time parents, it wasn’t too long before she pulled a roll of film out. “Ah, here we go.” She levitated it over for Trixie to see, and she didn’t like what she saw. “The Happy Hearthswarming Home?” Trixie frowned at the film’s cover with its ridiculously cute googly-eyed cartoon of a filly. Starlight shrugged. “Maybe it's better than it looks?” Flurry’s ears perked and she got up with a yawn. She toddled over to her impromptu guardians and burbled happily at the sight of the film. That made one in three who fully approved of the film, but to Trixie’s lament, only the pint-sized princess’s opinion seemed to matter. Such tended to be the way in monarchies. “Well ... Trixie supposes we could watch it,” Trixie said with a sigh. “It's what Flurry wants, after all.” Flurry squealed and hugged Trixie’s leg, making Trixie very unsure how to react. “And you brought some popcorn as well?” Starlight asked. “Preferably some with plenty of butter on it?” “Yes, Trixie did.” Trixie levitated over the bags of unpopped popcorn, but then glanced down at Flurry, who was smiling up at her. The foal’s gaze was locked on the popcorn and the cholesterol-flavored promises they presented. “Is she old enough for solid food?” Starlight pressed her lips together. “Err, maybe soft foods. I think. Probably.” “Popcorn is soft, right?” “Right, so it should be alright.” Starlight sauntered up next to Trixie and nuzzled her. “So how about we get to the theater, get a drink, settle down, and relax for a while?” Trixie nuzzled back. “Considering that was Trixie’s wonderful idea all along, she thinks that would be a great id—” She was interrupted when Flurry drew in a great breath and sneezed loudly. Her horn crackled with energy which streaked out in wild discordiant sparks. The sparks popped in the air and a black crack formed out of nowhere. Trixie blinked and instinctively backed away. She sensed ... something from the crack, and she didn’t like it. “What is that?!” Starlight groaned and facehooved. “Oh no, not again.” Trixie’s jaw dropped. “‘Again’?! This has happened before?!” Starlight took a long breath of exasperation before picking up Flurry. “I don't know why, but every once in a while Flurry accidentally creates cracks in the walls of reali—whoa!” Several black and leathery tenacles shot out from the crack and wrapped themselves around Trixie. To Trixie’s disgust, they were wet and slimy, though of more immediate concern was the fact they were dragging her towards the crack. As is a natural reaction in such circumstances, Trixie screamed. “Starlight!” “Trixie!” Starlight fired a blast of magic that started cutting off the tentacles. Flurry laughed, sounding more than a little bit maniacal under the circumstances to Trixie. Before Starlight finished cutting off the last of the tentacles, Trixie got a good look at what waited for her on the other side of the crack—something distorted, and absurd that would be in her nightmares for the next forever. When the last of the tentacles was severed by a blast of magic Trixie scrambled away from the rift and behind Starlight. “GYAH! Closeitcloseitcloseit!” “On it!” A beam of magic shot from Starlight’s horn and struck the rift. Starlight grunted with effort as the crack slowly closed. When it was finally done, Starlight gasped for breath. “I really hope she doesn't keep doing that. Closing those cracks in reality is exhausting. I don't know how Twilight keeps up with it.” Trixie yanked off the severed tentacles still stubbornly attached to her. They flopped to the ground and continued twitching, spurting green fluids onto the floor. “Then why doesn't she have a suppression ring on?!” Starlight frowned at the giggling Flurry. Whether she was oblivious to the abuse she was inflicting on her caretakers and reality in general, or sincerely enjoying the chaos she wrought was anyone’s guess. “I. Don't. Know.” After she pulled the last of the tentacles off of her, Trixie backed away from them and caught her breath. “Didn't they do some sort of magical ritual to stop her from doing this kind of thing?” “The crystalling? Yeah, they did.” Starlight cautiously lifted the tentacles with her magic, set them on fire, and then tossed them into the fireplace. “I thought that fixed the problem. Maybe this is something new? Or the old problems came up? I don’t know, I’m not her parents.” “This is clearly a problem, Starlight!” Trixie jabbed a hoof in the direction of where the rift had been. “This is not normal! This is the exact opposite of normal! Trixie almost got sucked into...” She shivered as her coping mechanisms desperately tried to keep her from thinking too hard about what she’d just seen. “Point is, Trixie doesn’t want that to happen again.” “This might be normal for an alicorn foal,” Starlight said, not sounding like she was convincing even herself. “We don’t know. There’s never been a comprehensive study of alicorn foals.” “Then Celestia help us if Cadance decides to have more kids, or Twilight actually manages to hook up with somepony.” Trixie had her doubts reality could take that kind of abuse. “Whatever, it's my job to take care of Flurry until Twilight gets better or her parents return.” Starlight looked at the mess this latest Flurry-incident had caused. “And looks like all our work to clean this place up got messed up too.” “That seems to be the least of our problems,” Trixie commented. “What if Flurry does ... that again? Or something even worse?” “We’ll deal with it.” To Trixie’s surprise, Starlight gently pushed Flurry into her arms. “But for now, this mess can wait. I desperately need a shower, and I want to feel relatively equine before we sit down to watch a movie and relax. Mind taking care of Flurry for a few minutes while I take care of that?” Trixie’s eyes widened as she found herself carrying a miniature pony. “B-b-but Trixie doesn’t know how to take care of a foal! Trixie’s never done this before. I don’t even know how to properly carry one!” “It’s not that hard.” Starlight moved Trixie’s arms so that she more easily held Flurry. “All I need is fifteen minutes. You can take care of a foal for that long.” “But what if she rips apart reality again?” Trixie demanded. “Or has another wild magic burst like causing Trixie to get stuck in a time loop from which there is no escape and Trixie dies over and over and over again in increasingly stupid but comical ways?” “You’re a strong independent mare, Trixie,” Starlight announced as she turned to leave. “You’ll manage.” Trixie tried to raise more protests, but by then Starlight was gone, leaving her with Flurry. The weight of the responsibility soon pressed down on her. She was now the sole pony in the room with the heir to the Crystal Empire. What if something happened to Flurry while Starlight was gone? What if she dropped Flurry? Would she be thrown in the dungeons, or worse? Would her name get plastered over all the newspapers, each of them denouncing her as the worst foalsitter of all time, and the pony that had ruined the future of the Crystal Empire? Trixie did not feel ready for this responsibility. Trixie took a long breath to push down the bubbling panic that welled up within her. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie, a magician whose feats were told all across Equestria and beyond. She could handle taking care of a foal for a few minutes. Right? “Um ... Well okay then.” Trixie bounced Flurry in place. That was something parents did with their foals, right? “Trixie can do this.” Flurry’s horn glowed and Whammy popped into existence in her hooves. “Whammy!” she proudly declared before she started chewing on her favorite toy. Trixie put on a shaky smile. “Yes, I see your snail toy.” Flurry wrinkled her nose, and then a very distinctive smell wafted its way up to Trixie’s nose. “Oh no.” Trixie held Flurry out, not wanting to think about the state of her diaper. She stared into the foal’s mischievous smile and glowered. “You did that on purpose to vex Trixie, didn’t you?” Flurry giggled. “Inky!” Trixie was terribly tempted to go running to Starlight, but she stopped herself. If she stopped Starlight from getting her shower now then who knew how long it would take for her to actually get her show? As bad as the need for a diaper change was, at least it was a relatively normal problem to deal with. Flurry hadn’t summoned some gibbering insanity from who knows where, but next time that or something equivalent might happen, and that was not something Trixie wanted to deal with. No, best to take care of this problem herself so that Starlight could return and properly take over this chore she had saddled herself with. Of course, that left Trixie with the issue that she was going to have to change Flurry herself. Trixie let out a long-suffering sigh. “The things Trixie does for love.” She looked around for supplies to do the foul deed, and it didn’t take her long to find what she needed in the bags the royal couple had left for their foal. There were diapers, diapers, and more diapers to work with, as well as baby powder and anything else Trixie could want. Trixie was a mare of the world, and had traveled with a great variety of people during her travels, some of whom included parents with their foals. She knew the basics for how to change a diaper, even if there was a big difference between the theory of the act and practical execution. Matters were not helped when Flurry kept trying to crawl away, or on a couple occasions, teleport away. What should have taken a few minutes had turned into what felt like an arduous eternity for Trixie. But she did complete the task. Trixie wiped her brow and sighed with relief. “Well, that was something for Trixie to never do again.” “Inky!” Flurry giggled and returned to chewing on her favorite toy. “Yes, no more stinky, please. Pretty please?” Trixie picked Flurry up and patted her back. “Trixie was not made for diaper changes. Now then, while we’re waiting on Starlight why don't we do something nice and relaaaah!” Trixie cried out in surprise when she found somepony standing right behind her. Princess Twilight stood motionless, staring unblinkingly as she smiled right at Trixie, and there was something decidedly off about her old semi-nemesis. For one, she was glowing and sparkling. That was new. Still, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing Trixie had seen that hour, so she could work with this. Especially if it got Flurry off their hooves and her and Starlight could return to their planned date. Trixie sighed in relief. “Oh thank Celestia, you got over the flu. Now you can take over with the child and...” She moved to give the foal over, but then stopped herself as she re-assessed the situation in front of her. “Why are you glowing and sparkling? Please tell Trixie that's just a sign that you're really healthy.” The glowing Twilight continued perpetually smiling in a way that unsettled Trixie, and instead of answering her question spoke in a monotone voice. “The child needs to be purified.” Flurry recoiled from the thing that looked like her aunt and grasped onto Trixie. It was all Trixie could do not to immediately bolt, and her eyes darted to the door. Whatever she was dealing with, she sensed it was way over her head. “You're not Twilight, are you?” Not-Twilight’s head shook slightly. “The child needs to be purified,” she repeated. Now positive something was definitely off, Trixie took a step back and away. “Trixie ... probably can't let you do that.” Not-Twilight continued to slowly approach Trixie, and soon the pair of them were in a slow motion race around the couch. “If the child is not purified, darkness shall reign and an everlasting cold shall descend to create disharmony in the hearts of all. Hers are the cries of an oncoming eternal despair.” Trixie didn’t know what was going on, but she was pretty sure this was bad news. Part of her was tempted to just give the foal over to whatever this thing was to stop it from following her, but in the end she decided against it. Starlight would no doubt be ticked if she did that, not to even mention Flurry’s parents and aunt. “Trixie doesn't know who you are, but she won't let you do that.” Not-Twilight continued chasing them, but to Trixie’s relief Starlight entered the living room, her eyes widening at the sight before her. “Starlight! Help!” Trixie nearly tripped over the arm of the couch but regained her bearings to maintain the slow-paced chase. Flurry continued to hold onto her and whine at the presence of the Not-Twilight. “Trixie is relatively sure that isn't Twilight and it keeps following me!” Starlight sighed and applied her hoof to her face. “Oh no, not this again.” “‘Again’? Again with the ‘agains’! What do you mean ‘again’?!” Starlight inserted herself between Trixie and Not-Twilight. “It's some sort of manifestation of the Tree of Harmony, or of Harmony itself—something like that. If you want an exact answer you would have to ask Twilight, she's better at theoretics than I am.” She glowered at the Manifestation of Harmony. “And it's usually nothing but trouble when it shows up.” “So what does it want?” Trixie asked, relieved to see the spirit stop chasing her, at least for the moment. Starlight gave the Manifestation a wary stare. “Usually to spread harmony. Though sometimes its methods are a bit .... questionable.” “What do you mean by questionable?” Trixie asked as she tried not to stare too deeply into the Manifestation’s blank gaze. “As in putting people through dangerous tests of character.” Trixie glowered at Starlight. “That sounds bad. Trixie is as perfect as anypony can get, but she doesn’t want to have her character tested. She got quite tired of tests back in school.” Starlight groaned. “It's a pure embodiment of a concept, so It doesn't really understand ponies or our concepts of right and wrong.” “So not someone you would invite over for dinner, then?” “I wouldn’t recommend it.” Starlight turned her attention back to the Manifestation. “Okay, what do you want this time? This better not be like the time you trapped half the guards in that weird teamwork and friendship building exercise.” If the Manifestation of Harmony was perturbed, or affected in any way by Starlight’s presence, it didn’t show it. “The child must be purified.” “It keeps saying that, but Trixie has no idea what it’s talking about,” Trixie said. “But it’s probably nothing good.” “Right, that could mean anything,” Starlight said. “It could just mean Flurry needs a playmate, and this is just some sort of friendship problem we need to sort out... or it could go to some sort of extreme like erase Flurry from existence.” Flurry cried in alarm and grasped Trixie tighter. Starlight’s eyes widened and she moved to soothe the child. “Nonono! It's okay, Flurry! We won't let anything bad happen to you!” Trixie began bouncing Flurry in place to try and calm her, but that was a tall order with the Manifestation around. “Trixie is not explaining to Princess Twilight how she let her niece get erased from existence.” She wasn’t exactly wild about taking care of Flurry, but she was even less wild about the alternative. The more she heard about this manifestation of harmony thing the less she liked it. “Agreed.” Starlight glowered at the Manifestation. “Sorry Harmony, but we’re going to have to shelve that idea for later.” “The child must be purified.” Trixie instinctively hugged Flurry closer. “Explain what you mean by purifying. What does that even mean?” The Manifestation stood there silently for several seconds, whether because it was trying to understand the question, thinking of an answer, or just because it liked to take its time; Trixie could only guess. “Her soul must be cleansed with the shining rainbow of friendship to remove all traces of evil within her being so that harmony may reign in the Crystal Empire.” Trixie let out a huff. “Well, that explains nothing.” “I'm not sure this is a procedure we should do without her parents being here,” Starlight commented. Trixie nodded. “Yes, come back then. Let this be her parents’ problem.” “The child must be purified.” The Manifestation began its slow approach once again. Starlight held up her hoof in a blocking motion. “No, no! Bad Spirit of Harmony! Bad! No purifying the children with your creepy harmony magic!” Despite Starlight’s firm convictions, the Manifestation kept approaching at its sedate pace. “Back. Back... Please stay back.” “No, go away.” Seizing upon an idea, Trixie said. “What you're doing is disharmonious!” The Spirit of Harmony came to a halt, sounding ever so slightly annoyed now. “I can do nothing that is disharmonious.” Trixie was taking a shot in the dark, but maybe she could use logic to stop the Manifestation. Trixie supposed that the Spirit of Harmony couldn’t do anything contrary to its nature. Thus she could use that to her advantage if she could prove logically to the spirit that it was actually acting contrary to its nature. “Hurting a child isn't harmonious.” The Spirit of Harmony’s smile slipped. “I am not going to harm her, merely make her harmonious.” Trixie smiled as she saw a chance to test her hypothesis. “But altering a child that doesn’t want to change will cause distress to the child, a state of mental harm.” Trixie stomped triumphantly. “You will harm the child, thus acting disharmonious!” The Spirit paused. “I can do nothing that is disharmonious, thus what I do must be harmonious. I will demonstrate.” The Manifestation continued forward, forcing them to back away. “Better to experience harmony than have it explained.” Trixie glared sparks at the zealous Manifestation. “I don't think negotiating with it is working,” Starlight said. Trixie found they had been backed into a corner. “Well, what are we supposed to do then? Actually, Trixie has a great idea: let’s run away. Running from your problems is always an option.” The suggestion to run away had the opposite intended effect on Starlight, for instead of going along with Trixie’s plan, Starlight lowered herself into a combat stance. Her horn lit and she leveled it against the approaching spirit. “I’m warning you. Stop this or you’re going to regret it.” The Manifestation was undeterred by the threat. “The child must be purified.” Trixie swallowed. “Starlight, attacking the Spirit of Harmony probably isn’t a good idea, maybe we should just—” Starlight’s horned glowed all the brighter as she charged a spell. “Okay! Now you’ve asked for it!” Starlight fired a fully charged magical blast at the Spirit of Harmony. The light was so bright it temporarily blinded Trixie. It took a few seconds for Trixie to blink the spots out of her vision and see the devastation that had been wrought. A large hole had been blown through the wall, and through the next wall after that, leaving a gap that led outside. But despite the power of the attack the Spirit of Harmony stood motionless, smiling as though nothing had happened as the floor smoked under it. Starlight's eyes widened. “Oh no, Twilight is going to be ticked when she sees that I blew another hole through the castle.” Trixie cleared her throat. “First, how many times have you blown holes in the walls here? Second, Trixie thinks that’s far less of a concern than the fact the Spirit is still standing there!” “I thought the Spirit of Harmony would take the brunt of that attack!” Starlight protested, her head snapping back to the damage she had inflicted. “Ohnoohnoohno, I also hit Spike’s room over there. If I destroyed part of his comic book collection he’s going to be furious!” “Starlight! Focus!” Trixie grabbed Starlight and shook her as the Manifestation started its inexorable approach once again. “The Spirit is walking again!” Starlight started charging another spell. “What’re we going to do? I’m not sure I can even hurt this thing.” “How about we run away?” Trixie suggested. “That sounds like a great plan Trixie came up with.” Starlight swallowed and then nodded, placing herself between the Spirit of Harmony and Flurry. “You run with Flurry and I’ll try and hold it off as long as I can.” “Or you could just teleport us all away instead of fighting a pointless heroic last stand.” In a world where monsters, natural hazards, bandits, and angry audiences were all dangers of the road, Trixie had lived as long as she had with the successful application of strategic cowardice, and it wasn’t a skill she was going to put aside now. Starlight blinked as the mouse in the maze of her mind finally reached the cheese. “Oh, right, I can do that too.” Starlight teleported them to Nope! right out of the castle.