Act 2 — Atonement
Trixie, Starlight and Opal burst through the doors of the audience chamber, the room darker than usual.
“Shut the door,” commanded a strong alto voice. Princess Celestia stood in front of them, her eyes darting frantically between them and the door. Without a second thought, Trixie nodded, resisting the urge to use her horn and pushing the double doors shut.
Trixie gasped for air, leaning up against the door. Since they heard the news, she the others had been sprinting full tilt toward the audience chamber, and she was winded. Her throat was raw from all the gasping and panting, and she gulped down a metallic taste in her mouth. The edge of her vision was pulsing as she looked around the room.
Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fizzlepop all stood in a quarter circle around the Princess, each talking to the other in anxious voices, their faces matching in concern sans Twilight, who was the most concerned of the bunch. She was in nothing short of a panic, her breathing rapid as she came up with theory after theory about what could’ve possibly happened.
Trixie let out a short-lived sigh before gasping for air again. She leaned back on her own hooves as she slowly joined the circle along with Starlight and Opal, standing next to Fizzlepop.
“Are we missing anypony?” Princess Celestia asked, looking among the group.
“Fluttershy’s restin’ up,” Applejack started. “And Pinkie’s bein’ held in Vanhoover Prison.”
“But minus those two, we’re all here,” Spike concluded.
“Good,” Princess Celestia sighed. She sat on her haunches, her mane and tail flowing in a non-existent wind. “Then we can start.”
The whole room went silent.
“This morning, I received a distress call from Starswirl the Bearded,” Celestia began, her voice breaking out of its normally calm demeanor. “Not only has Discord disappeared, but the Discorded Realm has also disappeared!”
Confused mumbling filled the room. “But how’s that possible?” Twilight blurted, still short of breath. “You can’t just get rid of an entire dimension!”
“I don’t know Twilight,” Celestia responded, furrowing her eyebrows. “This phenomenon is the first of its kind.”
“Wait a second,” Trixie chimed, her head aching in confusion. “The Discorded Realm? Surely you don’t mean…”
Celestia nodded gravely. “Yes, it’s Discord’s home dimension.” She trotted toward a window in the audience chamber, her eyes seeming to pass right through the stained glass. “One that only he and Envy can access.”
“Speaking of,” Starlight started, hoof up to her chin in wonder. “Can we still track her magic signature? Because if Discord and the Discorded Realm are gone…”
“... Then it’s likely that she’s gone too,” Opal finished. “I don’t think that Envy would let Discord out of her sight for long.”
Princess Celestia turned back around, pursing her lips. “It’s good logic, but the last time we checked on Envy, she’d appeared near the Everfree forest, and disappeared shortly after.”
“Wait, the Everfree forest?” Rarity blurted, her eyes wide. “Why on earth would she go there?”
Celestia shrugged. “I haven’t a clue. My first thought was the Tree of Harmony, but it’s still in tact. By the same token, she wasn’t anywhere near the castle ruins.”
That was when Applejack’s face went slack. “Y’all, she nabbed Discord. Could she’ve…” She drew a line across her thick neck with a hoof.
The scene of Envy’s attack took the stage of Trixie’s mind. She had killed the ponies in such horrible and vicious ways. Her stomach soured when she imagined what the draconequus would do to Discord… but then she remembered when she slung Discord over her arm. What have they done to you…? she had said.
“No,” Trixie said, shaking her head and stepping forward. “No, the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t think she’d do that.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked, flinging her hooves forward as she hovered in the air. “She killed a majority of the squadron you were in!”
“Trixie doesn’t need to be reminded,” Trixie said, waving a hoof in dismissal. “But if Envy really wanted him dead, why take him to the Discorded Realm? Why not kill him on the cliffside?”
“Girls, remember that she’s after his mantle,” Twilight reminded sternly. “Unless she’s got it already, she has no reason to kill Discord whatsoever. And if she did, why would she destroy the Discorded Realm? It’s literally the safest place for her, as we don’t have a safe way to travel there.”
“But that’s beside the point,” Starlight entered, raising her eyebrows. “What was she doing in the Everfree forest?”
The door slammed open, and Spike rushed in holding his claws over his mouth, his scales deadly pale. “Twilight—” he managed when he belched out a huge cloud of flame, his arms going slack to his sides.
“Spike!” Twilight yelped, rushing to his side, but skidding to a halt as the smoke cleared from the huge plume of flame. It was faint, but tendrils of energy flowed from the dragon’s gullet, climbing up closer and closer to the ceiling. The tendrils formed an outline of a shape, sharpening further until an apparition of a being with mismatched body parts appeared in front of them.
“Discord?” Trixie gasped, pushing ahead of Twilight. The ghoulish form he took was frightening, but it couldn’t be mistaken: the draconequus floated before her, a sly smile on his lips.
“My, my,” he started, his transparent eyes flicking between all in attendance. “I didn’t expect this big of an audience.”
“Discord,” Twilight managed through a slack jaw. “What in the world is going on? Where are you?”
“Oh, my dear Twilight.” Discord clacked his tongue. “The question isn’t where I am, but when I am.”
Fizzlepop walked to Twilight’s side, a deadpan expression on her face. “You brought the whole dimension forward in time.”
“Bingo,” Discord said, snapping and pointing his fingers toward her.
“How?” It concerned Trixie that the word came from Princess Celestia, who knit her brow in apparent confusion. “Moving something that huge in spacetime should’ve killed you!”
“It nearly did.” The words came out as if they left a putrid taste on the tongue. “And if it weren’t for that damn blindfold Envy had me in, then I’d be able to bring it farther than thirteen days in the future.”
Trixie’s jaw dropped. Thirteen days? He was able to bring a whole dimension forward thirteen days in time?
“But I will warn you, when that thirteen days are up, I’ll have no strength. I need you guys to be here as soon as the dimension appears.”
“But we can’t!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping a hoof. “The only way that we’d be able to get there is through draconequus magic, and it so happens that if a pony is transported somewhere with draconequus magic—”
“—It will tear your body apart in spacetime,” Discord interrupted as if reciting from a book, bobbing his head side to side. “I know. But fortunately we have another alternative. Remember when I had my own little… musical number with you and I took you and sister dear to all of those places?”
Twilight’s face went slack, an expression would give Trixie much pride if it were in a different context. “You used pony magic then?”
“You’re not dead?” Discord asked in mock surprise.
Her jaw fell to the floor. “Wait… how…?”
Discord raised his ghostly eyebrows in an amused expression that screamed, really? “Hello?” He leaned forward and rapped his knuckles on the crown of Twilight’s head, but instead of contacting, it went right through her. “Ms. Sparkle? Dracon-equus. ‘Horse’ is literally a part of my name. Of course I can use your magic.”
Trixie remembered when Discord’s horns glew when he was turning the Discordian colony back to normal. Didn’t Envy do the same when she blasted both Shining Armor and her off the cliff? She grunted in frustration. “Then why did you refuse to teleport the Great and Powerful Trixie when you actually could have?”
Discord flapped a claw in dismissal. “I was testing you, you silly pony. You also needed the practice.”
Trixie deadpanned. “Typical.”
The apparition chuckled, before turning attention back to Twilight. “But it’s possible to use pony magic to get to the Discorded Realm. You just need to reverse-engineer it. But I’m gone, so…”
“... We need to find more draconequus,” Twilight concluded. She gave Discord a sympathetic look. “You knew?”
The draconequus tilted his head forward, looking her straight in the eye. “Hon, when you realize that there’s two of your kind, and that one is female, it’s not hard to imagine that there was someone who boned to make it happen.”
“We need to get to the Strait of Effervescence,” Trixie said, nodding at Twilight. “It’s our best bet at finding any other draconequus.”
A faint, ringing bell sounded in the room, and Discord checked his wrist. “Oh, look at the time! I’d best be going. Remember that you have thirteen days. Ta-ta!” Wiggling his fingers in a wave good-bye, the apparition sucked back down into Spike’s lungs. His eyes snapped open and he jolted upright, as if he had woken up from a nightmare.
“Wait, Discord!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She zoomed at Spike, who gasped in surprise as the pegasus yanked open his jaw, gazing down his gullet.
Once again, the dragon’s arms went slack, and a haze of the ghouly tendrils floated at Spike’s teeth, saying in Discord’s voice, “You have reached the voicemail box of Discord Draconequus! To record a message, please don’t, because I may die. Goodbye.”
Spike jolted awake once more, rubbing his jaw with a claw as Rainbow Dash grunted in anger and flew away. “Wha… just happened?” he said groggily.
Next to rush up to him was Twilight, who checked his eyes, his snout, his mouth, and seizing him by his arms. “Are you okay, Spike?” she asked, looking him dead in the eye. When he mumbled an affirmative response, Twilight sighed in relief, resting her head on his chest. “You’re right, Trixie,” she said. “We need to get to the Strait of Effervescence as soon as we can.”
“You need as much help as possible, Twilight,” Celestia said, stepping to her side. “You’re missing two out of the six elements. We should try to find at least one more.”
“Princess Celestia is right, darling,” Rarity chimed in. She rested a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Fluttershy is still recovering, so Pinkie Pie is our best option.”
“I know, but we still haven’t sent out the request,” Twilight sighed, breathing deeply. She cast a pleading look between all those that surrounded her. “Can we really do all of this in thirteen days, though?”
“We’ll have to do the best we can,” Tempest said, lifting a hoof. “After all, Discord trusts that we will.”
Twilight took another deep breath, leaning off of Spike. She sat on her haunches, looking up toward Celestia. “How fast can we get to Vanhoover?”
“I’d have to send an advance,” Celestia said grimly, “unless we want the fact that Twilight’s alive to spread early.”
“How soon?” Twilight pressed.
“Three days at the latest.” Celestia cocked her head at Twilight’s insistence. “After three days, we will head there ourselves.”
“At most, a fourth of our time,” Trixie processed, her heart jumping into her throat. All of a sudden, thirteen days seemed a lot shorter. She turned to the dark-coated unicorn. “Tempest. I know that we agreed to start training in a few days, but—”
“We’ll meet in the courtyard as soon as possible,” she completed, nodding. She cast an expectant glance at Princess Celestia.
Their eyes met for only a second, but Celestia gave an affirmative grunt. “I’ll get to work immediately. Twilight, I’ll keep you posted. Be prepared to set out within three days. And Trixie?”
Trixie’s heart skipped a beat. She straightened her posture. “Yes, your highness?”
Celestia’s regal facade melted into a more motherly one. “Don’t work yourself too hard. You’re a very important asset to getting Discord back.”
A sudden weight collapsed on Trixie’s shoulders. She gulped. “I won’t,” she said finally.
The Princess of the Sun gave a small smile. “Good. We have nothing more to discuss, then.”
Nodding stiffly, Trixie turned from the princess and walked toward the double doors, her mind stirring in thought. What was that gaze that Princess Celestia gave her for? She barely knew her beside what she learned in Mirenum and school and yet... it felt like there was a connection there.
“Trixie!”
She stopped in the middle of the hallway leading from the throne room, turning around. Twilight galloped toward her, bowing her head as she gasped for breath. One eye winced as she looked up.
“Are you all right?” Trixie asked, concern biting at her. She was still recovering, and she’d just sprinted out the door to meet her.
The Princess of Friendship shook her head, rubbing a hoof against her temple. “No. Turns out that was a very bad idea.” She shook her head again, this time more rapidly. “But that’s beside the point. From now on, we’re going to be working closely together.”
A groan grew in her chest that she dared not release. “I don’t think that’s entirely necessary.”
Twilight sighed, her expression turning somber. “Look, I understand that we haven’t had the best relationship in the past…”
“A couple years in isolation does that to you.”
“And I apologize,” Twilight said frankly. “I really do. But you’re the one that knows the most about this situation out of all of us.”
Trixie cocked her head to the side, her mind stirring in irritation and confusion. “I don’t know about that. Out of the both of us, who figured out not only Envy’s name but what she was actually after from Discord?”
“You would’ve figured the last out if you read more of the book,” Twilight grumbled. “But Trixie, we need your help. I need your help.”
The defunct unicorn froze for a second. Then a fit of laughter erupted from her chest.
“Trixie?”
She wrapped a hoof around her chest. It was just too good! The Princess of Friendship was asking for her help. Lovely! Brilliant! “And what’s in it for you, Twilight Sparkle?” she managed, wiping a tear from her eye. “Your name and your likeness on yet another stained glass window in Canterlot Castle?”
“If you’d been in the throne room, you’d realize that you were in one of those stained glass windows,” Twilight groaned.
Trixie opened her mouth to say something but the words screeched to a halt in her throat. “I am?”
The purple alicorn nodded slowly, eyes wide open in an are-you-stupid expression.
A slight fire glew in her cheeks, and the magician crossed her hooves in front of her. “Well, isn’t that something…” she mumbled. But she found her dignity again and stood up straight. “But I’m not in it for the fame and glory.”
“You sure?” Twilight asked, one eyebrow soaring upward. “You do a lot of things for spectacle.”
Something snapped within her. “Not this!” Trixie blurted, stomping her hoof in a sudden outburst of anger. She jutted the other to her broken horn. “Do you think I would risk my life saving your brother if I were just doing this for an appearance on some stupid glass? Do you think I would go across the continent, nearly freeze to death in the Frozen North and suffer Discord’s antics just for recognition?” It was at this point that she realized she was crying. She remembered Starlight’s motionless body as she sat beside her bedside. She remembered the words that Rainbow Dash screamed at her the night she left, W-what’re you trying to prove? Answer me, Lulamoon! What’re you trying to prove!
But Twilight remained silent. She only stared at her stalwartly, waiting for the next sentence. Waiting for the next insult.
But it didn’t come. Trixie wiped the moisture from her eyes, her jaw twitching as she did so. “I wanted to make sure that something like this wouldn’t happen again. I wanted to be sure that my friends would be safe from Envy.” She let her hoof down, her very being shaking out of her control. “But it turns out that becoming the hero, becoming the powerful unicorn that always saves the day is harder than it seemed. I envied you, Twilight Sparkle. I wanted what you had, and I was punished for it.”
A silence came over the both of them, and Trixie sucked in broken breaths to try to gather herself together. The frustration and the anxiety of the situation exploded out of her, and her chest and cheeks were numb because of it. Red boiled in her vision as her eyes trained on the Princess of Friendship, who stood motionless.
Finally, she moved, placing a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “... I’m so sorry,” she uttered, a somber look in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have lashed out like that. It was uncalled for.” It surprised Trixie when tears appeared in her eyes. “And you’re right, it’s hard being the hero. As soon as you do, life starts taking away from you more than it gives.” That was when Twilight reached forward with a hoof, wiping the tears away from Trixie’s face. “But when the clouds clear, and the dust settles, you are given back more than you lost.”
Trixie breathed deeply, a warmth flooding into her chest. The look that Twilight gave her was so similar to Celestia’s. Like teacher, like student. But she let out a small laugh. “The clouds are pretty thick right now,” she admitted, sniffing.
The Princess of Friendship gave her an affectionate smile. “I know. But if we work together on this, and leave our ire at the doorstep, we’ll be able to make it through.”
That was when Trixie was pulled forward into an embrace. Her heart skipped a beat, heat flushing to her cheeks. There she was, being hugged by her very rival. Looking back at this, she might’ve scoffed at it, but at that moment, she hugged her back. For once, Twilight Sparkle had descended from her throne, and Trixie was lifted from her streetcar, and they were on equal ground.