//------------------------------//
// A quiet day ruined and an unexpected sibling's visit 
// Story: The elements of metal 
// by sykko 
//------------------------------//

PonyVille was quiet today, no weird magical spells that needed to be undone, no strange screatures from the Everfree to have to send running back, no cow or bunny stampedes, even the three CMCs had chosen to play a quiet game of gin rummy. In Golden Oaks library and record shop, Thrasher and Twilight sat on a couch. The two of them wore headphones while going over Twilight's newest vocal tracks and revisions to previous vocals. Thrasher had an intense look of concentration on her face as she listened to the new track, her opened can of beer sitting open on the table had long since reached room temperature, periodically she would pause the playback to write out notes, time signatures and tablatures for her guitar tracks.

Sighing, Thrasher stopped the playback, laid the headphones on the table, looked over the recently written down music and took a sip of the now warm beer. "Gah! Bleh! There isn't much that tastes worse than warm beer!", she exclaimed before downing it in one dreadful gulp, "But never let it be *burp* let it be said that I've ever wasted beer." Taking the empty can in a hoof, she crushed the empty against her forehead and started flipping it though the air, catching it on her hoof.

Twilight giggled as Thrasher doing tricks with the crushed can. Thrasher leaned back on the couch, flipping the can in the air as Twilight laid across the couch and propped her hind hooves on her marefriend's lap. Thrasher locked her eyes on the trashcan, held the crushed can like a hoofball player. The earth pony mare made a loud huffing sound to imitate a cheering crowd before talking like a sports announcer, "It's fourth down with fifteen strides to go! The Ponyville Prancers are five points behind!", she hurled the can through the air at the trashcan, "It's a hail Celestia play!" A sparkling magenta aura surrounded the can before flying around the kitchen and sailing into the trashcan. "Mare Ruth just knocked it out of the park! It's a grand slam! The Canterlot slammers win!", Twilight exclaimed, then gave a loud huff to imitate a cheering crowd.

Thrasher looked down at Twilight. "You're such a dork, ya know that?!" "But I'm your dork.", Twilight teased and booped Thrasher's snoot with a hind hoof. A wicked smile spread on Thrasher's face, she grabbed Twilight's hind hoof and started tickling the lavender unicorn's frog. "AAAAAAHHHHH! NONONONONONO! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *snort*  STOP! HEEHHEEHEEHEEHEE! I'M GOING TO PISS MYSELF! OKAYOKAYOKAY! UNCLE! UNCLE! UUUUNNNNNCCCCCLLLLEEEE!" Thrasher dropped Twilight's hoof and she ran to the bathroom.

A few minutes later Twilight walked back to the couch and flopped down. "Did anypony ever tell you that you're evil?", she asked, trying to sound angry. "There is this one unicorn who tells me that every time she can. But because she's a cute spaz, so I let it pass.", Thrasher replied with a sly grin. The lavender mare gave gave the gray mare a playful shove, who in turn fell over onto the arm of the couch.

Twilight looked down at the prone Thrasher. "I think I'm getting fat.", she said poking her belly, "I'm so jealous. You chug beer, scarf pints of ice cream and devour pizzas and hay burger all day and you somehow maintain a build like a friendship games athlete."

Thrasher nudged Twilight with her back hoof. "Cut that shit out!", she scolded, "I have to work hard to maintain a this build or else I'd bloat up like an overripe watermelon. I should be jealous of your body, you can eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce. You've got the same build as the day I met you. So what if you've got a little squish, you've got it in all the right places." She grunted as she sat up. "Welp! Back to the grind." Reaching for the headphones and the reel-to-reel player, a magenta field surrounded it and slid it to the far side of the side of the table.


Twilight licked her lips and gave a small smile. "Considering that for once we're ahead. I've got all my vocal tracks recorded, not counting edits and re-recordings, you've only got two tracks left to put backup vocals and guitars on. Rarity and Fluttershy should have most of their tracks done by tonight. I think Pinkie's already got her keyboard and turntable tracks mixed. Applejack should have the drum tracks finished by the end of the week and Rainbow should have her tracks recorded a few days after that.", she said, "Which means that we've earned a little break." She placed a hoof onto Thrasher chest, pushed her down on the couch and planted small kisses on her lips, "Spike's in Canterlot having a meeting with Celestia and Luna about the distribution of our new album. Let's order a couple of pizzas, get drunk and..." She began nibbling on the gray earth pony's ear, who in turn  gave a small moan and twitched one of her hind legs.

The frond door burst open and Applejack ran in. "Trixie's back in town! She's pissed an' she's throwin' around a whole heap o' weird magic!"

Twilight gave a frustrated growl. "Celestia dammit! Why couldn't she hold off on attacking the town for ten more friggin' minutes?!"

From outside there came a blast of magic and a voice that sounded like it was auto-tuned shouted, "SPARKLE! Get out here! You humiliated me once and now I'm back for revenge!"

Twilight ran out of Golden Oaks with Thrasher and Applejack following close behind. In the street Trixie was levitating Lily Valley off the ground in a strange sparkly magical field that had glitter falling from it, while the light raspberry earth pony mare flailed and shouted, "The horror! The horror!" Trixe pulled the mare close to her face, narrowed her eyes and shook her. "You will tell Trrrrrrrrrixe where Sparkle is now!", she shouted in an auto-tuned voice. Lily held a hoof to her head and dramatically fainted. With a scoff, Trixie tossed her away.

Twilight's face turned red as she ground her teeth. "TRIXIE!", she shouted, "Leave these ponies alone! It's me you have beef with!" Nearby a cow mooed. "Oh...um...sorry! No offence meant!"

"None taken, dearie!", the cow replied and ambled off.

Tixie's magic flared, leaving a cloud of glitter to float down around the unicorn mare. Her outfit transformed from a dark blue cape and pointy wizard's hat covered in stars into a gaudy, neon yellow spandex body suit covered in pink rhinestone, blue sequins, all coated with glitter, around her head was a pink sequin-covered bandanna. "Sparkle!", she growled in an oddly auto-tuned voice, "After you humiliated me, I couldn't get a gig again and I had to work on a rock farm! That was until I found this...", she touched a hoof to the sparkly, triangular-shaped neon green amulet around her neck, "...then I quit that dusty place!"

"That's not what mom and dad told me!", Pinkie chirped up, "More like got fired for being--mmfmmmfmmmf!" Her eyes went wide when her mouth and nose were plucked from her muzzle, leaving a smooth rounded spot here they have been. "Mmmmmfffmmfmmmmmffffmmmfmmmmfmffffff!", she tried shouting while giving the most vulgar hoof gesture known.

"That's enough out of you!", Trixie shouted in an auto-tuned tone and tossed the pink mouth and nose in a nearby trashcan. She then locked her gaze on Twilight and narrowed her eyes. " Now you will know why Trrrrrixie is the greatest and most--OW!" An empty beer can bounced off her head, cutting her words off.

"Will you please just SHUT THE FUCK UP with that weird voice that makes you sound a pitch perfect robot?!", Thrasher shouted, pulling out another can of beer.

Trixie glared at Thrasher. "How dare you!", she growled in a strange auto-tuned voice. She ducked another empty can hurled at her head and unleashed a beam of glitter at the gray earth pony.

Thrasher tumbled on the ground a few body lengths as the wave of glitter hit her. Getting back to her hooves, she coughed up and spat out several mouthfuls of glitter as she tried to shake the offending substance from her fur. "I fucking hate glitter! It's the herpes of craft supplies!", she growled angrily. "You pissed me off now!" She reached under her mane for a bottle of beer and her eyes became pinpricks when she pulled out a blue Haywaiian wine cooler, dropping the offending drink and reaching back under her mane several more times, each time pulling out a different flavor wine cooler, pink lemonade, blue raspberry, rainbow sherbet. "I don't drink like a fifteen-year-old filly!", she shouted running away pulling out more wine coolers and leaving a cloud of glitter behind her, "MAKE IT SSSSSTTTTAAAAHHH-HHAHH-HHAHH-AAAAAHHHHHPPPP!"

Trixie watch momentarily as Thrasher ran off before turning her attention back to Twilight. "Now that the lush skank is gone, Trrrrrrixie can handle you, Sparkle.", she said in an auto-tuned voice.

Twilight growled dangerously and took a few steps forward. "Trixie, Ah dun think y'all should be callin' Thrasher a skank, unless if'n y'all want Twi here tuh break yer legs.", Applejack said in a stern and warning tone.

With a scoff Trixie flicked AJ away with a glittery aura and she would have crashed hard into the ground if Big Mac had not caught her. "What does Trrrrrrixie have to care for what some hayseed has to say, it's not like you play a real instrument anyway!", she shouted in a voice that sounded like a pitch perfect Hal nine thousand.

Twilight stalked forward as Trixie laughed in a robot-sounding on-pitch voice and threw a punch. The lavender hoof was stopped by a bubble shield made of glitter. Twilight shook the unwanted sparkly material from her hoof and scraped it on the ground. "Did you the you could just hit Trrrrrixie?"

"So how do we do this?", Twilight asked in an angry tone.

Trixie cackled before responding, "We do a magic battle, who ever can do the greatest feats wins and the loser leaves town!"

"Fine! You're on!", Twilight snaped, "Beat this!" Lighting her horn, she fired a beam of magic and when it exploded, it formed a several different bands playing different styles of music.

Trixie huffed on her hoof and rubbed it on her chest. "Foal's play!" She fired out a wave of glitter and the nine magically constructed bands Twilight had created turned into one big massive colt band, all dancing in perfectly in sync as generic  electronic, premixed music played from a magically constructed boombox.

Twilight dispelled the magical constructs and called for Snips and Snails. When the two unicorn colts stepped forward, she fired a beam of magic at them. immediately they were clothed in black leather biker's gear with big handle bar mustaches.

Trixie scoffed and fired a beam of glitter at the two unicorn colts, Snips was transformed into a colt made of living plastic and Snail was transformed into a colt made of living speech bubbles.

Snips and Snails blinked as they stared at each other. "Whoa!", the short and chunky unicorn colt said in his gruff and squeaky voice that sounded like it was echoing inside a plastic bottle. Snails moved his mouth and a speech bubble manifested above his head reading 'Duh, this is weird!'

Twilight blinked for a second before dispelling Trixie's spell and glared at her opponent. "Where did you learn how to transmogrify living flesh?"

"Oh Trrrrrrixie's just getting started!", Trixie replied in her auto-tuned voice, "Behold as Trrrrrixie shows she's more powerful than you!" Firing another beam of glitter at Snips and Snails again, aging Snails into a pony about eighty years old and de-aging Snips to a newborn foal. "And now the great and powerful Trrrixie shall reverse the spell!" Firing off a glitter wave, she returned the colts back to the former age, who now both sat on the ground dazed with their eyes rolling in their heads.

Twilight gaped at the two unicorn colts, one aged to old age and the other aged down to an infant, then returned back to their normal ages. "Age spells?! That some pretty advanced magic. Where did you learn to do that?"

"If you can't do it Sparkle, the Trrrrrixie wins!"

Twilight set her jaw, flared her nostrils and lit her horn. She tried to cast the aging spells on the two colts, for a split second one hair in Snails' mane flickered white before snapping back to its original color. She tried to cast the spell again several times before collapsing to her flanks out of breath. "I*gasp* I can't*wheeze* cast it! Magic of that level should only*pant* be able to be cast by an ali*pant pant* an alicorn!"

"Trrrrrixie wins!" Trixie shouted in the auto-tuned voice, "And she is the greatest and most powerful-est!"

"That's not a word, Trixie.", Twilight said rising slowly to her hooves.

"It matters not! If Trrrrrixie says it's a word, then it is a word!" Trixie lifted Twilight in a cloud of glitter and carried her to the edge of town. "Now to take out the trash!" Using the glittery magic, she hurled the lavender unicorn towards the Everfree Forest. "And stay out!" She then lowered a glittering dome over the town.

Twilight tumbled on the ground for a few body lengths before stopping near the edge of the Everfree Forest. Rising to her hooves, she glared at the dome covering Ponyville, separating her Closing her eyes, she touched a hoof to the small silver charm hanging around her neck that Thrasher had given her. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to beat Trixie!", she whispered angrily. Turning, she started trotting down the path that lead to Zecora's hut.

Zecora looked up from the cauldron she was stirring when there was a knocking at her door. "I wonder who could be visiting me tonight?" When the knocking continued, she called out, "I'm coming! I'm coming! Alright alright!" Opening the door, she was surprised to see Twilight looking equal parts angry and distraught. "Is everything alright, Twilight? And what brings you to my door on this night?"

Twilight walked in to the zebra's hut and sat on the floor, giving a distraught sigh. "It's Trixie. She's back in town, wearing a strange gaudy medallion and using some weird glittery magic that I haven't seen since Popstar Moon."

Zecora's face screwed up in thought before walking over to to her cauldron and picking up a couple of bowls, she filled them with some dark green liquid with a ladle. "Here have some soup, it will help.", she said with a friendly smile, "It is supposed to clear the mind and warm the soul. I've made it with kelp."

Twilight sipped the soup slowly, with each warm mouthful that trickled down her throat, her mind calmed. "Thanks, Zecora. It helped to calm me down a little.", she said passing the now empty bowl back.

Putting the bowl that the lavender unicorn had passed her in a nearby washtub, Zecora walked over to her bookshelf and rand a hoof across the various titles. "Ah yes, I think this book has what you seek. i shall help you any way I can. This may have the information you seek."

"Uh, you rhymed seek with seek.", Twilight said absentmindedly as she started flipping through the book.

"Zigga please, the last thing I need is a pony trying to tell me how to bust rhymes! I'll rhyme seek with seek or zigga with zigga if I so choose to! Ya dig?! Now let's find out what that medallion is, the one luxury we don't have is time."

Twilight cast her eyes down as she felt guilty and swallowed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Zecora waved it off. "I don't mean to be such a bitch. I'm just having a bad day. While shopping for groceries this morning, I got called a zigger by that worthless whorse Spoiled Rich."

"I'm sorry that happened. She can be racist and speciesist. She often says that if she made the laws, she'd throw all the unicorns and pegasi out of town. Of course she calls us horn-heads and wing-backs.", Twilight said in an irritated tone as she flipped through the book, "I don't know what Filthy Rich sees in her."

"I can answer that right quick. She has a reputation of swallowing stallion balls deep and in her throat he sees his dick."

Twilight chuckled at the remark. "Yeah, I've heard her theme song is huakgh gog-gog-gog-gog!" The two mares laughed. Twilight's eyes flew open wide as she flipped the page. "Oh my Celestia! I think I found it!" She laid the book on the table and read out loud, "The Auto-tune Amulet. This cursed artifact harnesses the dark magics of pop music and auto-tuning. Ponies who wear this artifact are able to access great power. When a pony puts this cursed object on, it cannot be removed unless they willing take it off. The ways you can identify a pony who is wearing the Auto-tune Amulet is that their voice sound like a pitch perfect robot singing, a strange magical aura full of glitter and increasing mental instability. If a pony who wears this object doesn't remove it after thirty-six hours after putting it on, they will go permanently insane." She looked up from the book in thought. "Well Trixie was already crazy if she thought that putting on that amulet beforehoof."

"It doesn't matter if she is already crazy.", Zecora said, "If that book is true, we only have until tomorrow to get it off of her. We don't have time to be lazy."
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Thrasher held a garden hose in her hoof as she washed the last of the glitter from her coat. Turning the spigot off, she dropped the hose. After she shook the last of the water from herself, a cloud of glitter manifested and blasted itself onto her again. "Oh come oh! I just got this sparkly shit washed off! RRRRRRRAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!"

Trixie laughed at the exasperated Thrasher then casually walked over to where she was making Rarity sew gaudy outfits for her.

"Come on darling!", she complained out loud to no pony in particular, "Twenty jumpsuits all covered in rhinestones?! How tacky! Who does she think she is, Elvis Prancely?!--EEP!" A glittering whip cracked her on the flank, making her jump.

Out in the Everfree, Twilight stood on one foreleg on the edge of a small row boat in the middle of a small pond with the other foreleg stretched beside her and her two hind legs stretched out in a split. Her horn blazed with magic, several magically constructed instruments floated around her, all tuning up.

Zecora sat in the row boat. "To achieve victory, everything you must unlearn. Heavy metal is more than just a music style, it is a powerful magic. Feel it flow between you and me, between the water and the shore, between instruments and the air. Master this and victory you will earn."

Twilight closed her eyes and she began feeling a heavy beat with tasty guitar licks playing. In Ponyville, Trixie summoned a glittery boombox that started playing a generic electronic pop beat.

Do you believe in life after vengeance...after vengeance...after vengeance?

So Celestia damn easy to concentrate on this!Your actions fill me with rage!

You can't push me aside/I'll always break through/and on the other hoof I'll wear the shoe

[color=a66ebe]So drunk on that amulet, so self-righteous! With the power of metal I'll crush you and your fucking stage!

Taking advantage of Trixie being distracted by her own auto-tuned singing, Rarity quickly gestured Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Thrasher over. "We've got to take advantage of this distraction to get a message out to Twilight."

"H-h-how do w-we get past the dome?", Fluttershy stuttered quietly.

"Don't worry darling, I'll make you a camouflage suit."

Trixie started rapping with really bad flows.

Trrrrixie's drinkin' a latte
Trrrrixie gets a double shotie
It goes right through Trrrrrixie's body
And you know Trrrrrixie's satisfied
And Trrrrrixie's feeling super-duper
Yo they tell Trrrrrrixie she's a trooper
And you know Trrrr...
Her words were cut off when the alarm on the dome started going off. Summoning up gold plated chariot with no wheels, she grabbed Snips and Snails and hooked the up to the front. "Take Trrrrrrixie to where somepony's trying to get out of her dome.

Snips and Snails grunted as they pulled the wheelless chariot. Trixie flipped switches that activated hydraulics that made the front of the chariot bounce off the ground or pop completely up in the air.

"Ms. great and powerful--whoa whoa whoa!--could you--oof!--please put some--yikes!--wheels on the chariot?--ahhh!", Snips complained.

"Trrrrrixie doesn't trust wheels! Never have, never will!"

"Well could--ouch!--stop making--gah!--bounce?"

"How else is everypony supposed to know how fly Trrrrrrixie is?"

Reaching the dome, Trixie scowled as she saw a pair of beavers with a log between them, smacking their tails against the side of it.

"Stop hitting the great and powerful and totally awesome and sooper-dooper fly Trrrrrixie's  dome you overgrown, buck-toothed rats!"

The beavers faced Trixie and started chittering, chattering and squabbling while gesturing with their paws, occasionally giving a vulgar gesture...at least for a beaver.

"Trrrrrixie can't understand you, you flat-tailed capybaras! Where's the yellow one with the butterflies on her ass?"

The beavers continued chittering, squawking and chattering, all the while gesturing.

Trixie sighed. "Very well, Trrrrixie will let you out, but don't let Trrrrrixie catch you in town again." Using glittery magic, she lifted up the edge of the dome.

The beavers carried the log past the dome and when they were outside it, they turned back and blew raspberries back at the unicorn.

Using glittery magic, Trixie turned the chariot into an Escmarelade and summoned a whip. "Slaves! Take Trrrrrixie back to the center of town so she can bask in her subjects adoration!", she shouted in the unnatural pitch perfect tone.

After Trixie was out of sight, the beavers knocked on the side of the log. Fluttershy popped out of a hollow in the log wearing a black, form-fitting body suit with bright blue bunny ears sewn to the head. Setting her trembling hooves on the ground, she looked around for a second and tried to sprint back to the dome, but the beavers stood in her way, shaking their heads and crossing their forelegs across their chests. "Th-th-this is a b-b-b-bad idea!", she whispered. The beavers shook the heads again, stomped a hind paw on the ground and pointed to the Everfree Forest. "B-b-but..." The beavers shook their head harder, tapped their hind paws furiously and pointed the fore paws insistently. The butter yellow pegasus hung her head and sighed. "Okay, I'll go." She tried to zip past the beavers, only for them to grab her and lift her up over their heads and carry her towards the Everfree. "No no no! I've changed my mind! I think it'll be nice to live under a dome!"

Twilight was broken out of her concentration by the sound of familiar scared squeaking. Opening an eye, she looked over and was surprised to see two beavers plop Fluttershy down on the edge on the pond. Both her eyes snapped open in surprise. "Fluttershy?! Whoa whoa whoa!" The boat began rocking back and forth as she lost all concentration.

"Don't shift your weight! You'll tip us over! Keep your focus! Cooonnncentrrrraaaaaaate!", Zecora shouted as the row boat capsized, dumping both the zebra and unicorn in the water.

Popping up to the surface of the water Twilight sputtered and spat out pond water as she paddled back to shore. Zecora swam to the shore and waded out of the water. "If you let yourself get distracted, you'll never pass. I just had my mane styled! Upon which mare shall I lay a beating upon their ass?"

Fluttershy quickly told Twilight and Zecora about what was going on back in town.

"I'll cave her head in!", Twilight growled.

"You cannot beat her with might. To beat this unicorn you need a new plan. You must find an alternative to this fight."

Twilight's eyes flew open wide with an 'ah-ha!' moment. Lighting her horn, she summoned in a pencil and paper. Writing several things down on the paper, she passed it to Fluttershy. "Get this to the girls, I've got a plan on how to beat Trixie!" After the beavers picked up Fluttershy and carried her away, Twilight turned to Zecora, "Please tell me you've got a cheap necklace, some gold spray paint, some glitter, some hot glue, googly eyes an something you can part with."
********************************************************************************************************

Trixie laughed as she strapped Thrasher to a spinning target and hurled darts at her. Her enjoyment was interrupted by the alarm going off on the dome again. "Trrrrrixie swears that if it is those beavers again, she's going to make a pair of felt top hats out of them!", she grumbled as she summoned a gaudy, gold platted stretched carriage and strapped Snips and Snails to the tongue.

Trixie's eyes went wide she saw Twilight tapping a hoof on the dome. "What do you want, Sparkle?!"

"I want a rematch!", Twilight replied, "As you can see, I've found the amulet of eyes and it's much more powerful that yours." She tapped the glittering, oddly-shaped amulet hanging from a gold necklace around her neck, the eyes seemed to look around in all directions at once.

Trixie sneered at Twilight. "Why should Trrrrixie accept your rematch?"

Twilight gave a crooked smile. "Double or nothing. What do you say? If you win, not only do you get to say that you beat Celestia's personal student twice, but you also get this powerful amulet too!"

Trixie tapped a hoof to her chin. "No, Trrrrrrixie doesn't think so. Trrrrrixie has already beaten you once and she has everything she needs!" She turned the obscenely long, gaudy stretched carriage around and prepared to have Snips and Snails pull her off.

Twilight gave a wicked smile. "Well if you don't think you can..."

Trixie huffed and hopped off the stretched carriage. "Very well Sparkle, Trrrrrrixie shall beat you again in a magic duel!" She dispelled the dome. "After Trrrrrrrixie beats you again and takes that amulet from you, she'll snap off your horn, sodomize you with it, then make you muck rake out her personal latrine and Trrrrrixie will make sure all she eats are extra-greasy tacos with super spicy salsa!"

The two unicorn mares walked to the center of town and squared off. "Let Trrrixie star us off with the same way she ended the last duel!" Trixie grabbed Snips and Snails in a glitter-filled aura and cast an age spell on them, turning Snails into an eighty-year-old stallion and Snips into a foal, she then turned their ages back. Twilight cockily huffed on a hoof and buffed it against her coat. "Foal's play!" She grabbed Applejack in a magenta aura and plopped her down. "First I'll make her old!" She fired a beam at the earth pony and when the smoke cleared, she an ancient mare, firing a beam again, Applejack was her normal age. "Now I'll make her a filly!" Firing off another beam at Applejack, when the smoke cleared again, an earth pony filly with the same colored coat was staring at herself flabbergasted. "Now I'll make her a stallion!" Firing off a beam that exploded in a puff of smoke, Applejack was transformed into an earth pony stallion "Now I'll make him a foal!" Firing a beam off at the stallion, he was transformed into a foal with the same colored coat. Firing off another beam, Applejack was returned to normal, the earth pony flopped on her haunches, her eyes spinning in her sockets.

Trixie pursed her lips. "Not bad, Sparkle. But beat this!" She created a stallion colt band, all dancing in a choreographed routine, perfectly in sync.

Twilight patted her hoof over her mouth in a bored yawn. Lighting her horn, six electric guitars floated out, hooked up to six amp stacks and started each playing a different solo. The six solos increased in tempo and the air started heating up. The glitter in the magically constructed colt band dancers began melting, then caught fire, the magical constructs began running around screaming as the flames consumed them.

Trixie's stared as her jaw hung open. "B-but?! What?! How?! Huh?!"

Twilight gave a dramatic flare with her hooves."Now I'll make a normally quiet pegasus roar and knock everypony over!" Fluttershy squeaked and flailed as a magenta aura levitated her over. Twilight levitated a microphone over and plugged it into an amp stack. The lavender unicorn held the mic in front of her mouth and stood next to the butter yellow pegasus, then whispered into it, "Let the ponies hit the floor! Let the ponies hit the floor! Let the ponies hit the floor! Let the ponies hit the...", she them put the mic in front of Fluttershy's mouth, who in turn roared into it, "FFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" The force of the yellow pegasus' voice was like a hurricane, ponies tried to lean against the driving force, only to be sent tumbling away, several houses were ripped off their foundations and sent sailing through the air.

Trixie stared completely flabbergasted, her jaw hit the ground. When she tried to speak, all she could do was sputter and babble incoherently.

"And now for the grand finale!", Twilight shouted, "I will dunk a mare into a diving tank of beer and make her drink it." With a blast of magic, a diving tank of beer appeared, Twilight levitated Thrasher over it and dropped her into it. "Now I command you....DRRRRRRRIIIINNNNK!" Thrasher began taking massive gulps, the beer formed into a small whirlpool that connected to her mouth. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed, the beer drain from the massive swimming pool into the mare's mouth and into her stomach.

Trixie momentarily forgot how to stand and flopped to her haunches "Very well Sparkle, you win this one!" she shouted in an auto-tuned voice. She snatched the googly-eyed necklace off Twilight's neck with a glittery aura and levitated it over. "Hey! That's mine!", Twilight shouted. Reaching behind her neck with her hooves, Trixie undid the latch on the Auto-tune Amulet and tossed it away, immediately her outfit returned to its normal dark blue cape and pointed wizard's cap, covered in stars. "Correction Sparkle!", she shouted in her normal voice as she placed the googly-eyed necklace around her neck, "It was yours, now it's Trrrixie's" Trixie lit her horn. "Now take this!", she shouted as she fired off a beam of magic. Twilight casually smacked aside the beam of magic with a flick of her horn as she levitated the Auto-tune Amulet over and dropped it in a small box Zecora was carrying.

"Impossible!", Trixie shouted, "How could you beat Trrrrixie's magic?! She has the most powerful amulet in the world!"

"Actually Trixie, what you have there is an old doorstop covered in gold spray paint, glitter and googly eyes,", Twilight corrected.

"But...but how were you able to summon up such powerful magic?!"

"I'm proud of that myself and you being a stage magician, you'd probably like it too.", Twilight said with a smirk, "I simply used classic misdirection. When it came to Applejack, you'd be amazed what some body paint, stickers and some mane and tail extensions can do when combined with a simple smoke spell." Applejack stood flanked by Granny Smith, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Pound Cake, all four of them were covered in body paint matching AJ's coat and wearing blonde extensions in their manes and tails. "As for the guitars, nopony can do face melting solos like Rarity can. It was a simple trick to use my magic to cover up color of her aura. As for Fluttershy, if anypony were to come up and whisper 'let the ponies hit the floor' a few times in your ear and then stop short on the last time, you'd shout floor with all your might."

"And the massive diving tank of beer?", Trixie asked, pointing a hoof at a very drunk Thrasher.

"Thrasher always keeps a diving tank full of beer around for parties, drinking challenges or days that end in y.", Twilight said, "Rainbow, could you get her out of there?"

Rainbow flew over to the mostly empty diving tank, lifted Thrasher out and gently placed her on her hooves. Thrasher staggered around for a few minutes singing a song off-key and very slurred before falling to her haunches with a snorting giggle.

"We were going to have a little fun today until you came along and fucked it up!", Twilight snapped angrily, "Now I'll have to take care of her until she sobers up. And we probably won't be able to have any fun tomorrow as she'll have a hangover as big as all of Equis." She stepped forward and growled dangerously. "I was hoping the my marefriend and I would rut each other stupid while we both got drunk, but I'll settle for kicking the shit out of you!"

Trixie tried to back away as Twilight stalked forward, but tripped over her own hooves. "Whoa Nelly!", Applejack shouted as she put herself between Twilight and Trixie, "Jus' hol' yer horses there, Twi! Thrasher needs ya tuh take care of her right now. How's 'bout ya let 'er run off with the promise not to cause trouble for anypony again?"

Twilight's nostrils flared as she snorted. "Fine! But if you cause any trouble again, I'll rip your head off and stuff it up your plot."

Applejack looked over her withers at Trixie and said, "If'n Ah were ya, Ah'd be takin' advantage o' Twi's generosity an' high tail it outa town 'til Twi here cools down."

Trixie nodded her head as she rose to her hooves. "Uh...yeah, thank Spa...uh...I mean Twilight. Until the next time we meet again!" Raising a hoof high over her head, she spiked a smoke bomb on the ground. When the smoke cleared, Trixie was several body lengths away, running as hard as her hooves could carry her.

"Ouch!", Trixie exclaimed as she fell to her flanks after running headlong into a pony. Looking up as she rubbed her nose, she stared into the stoic, dark purple eyes of a gray earth pony mare wearing a dark gray frock. "Uh...wh-who are you?"

The gray earth pony mare looked down at the unicorn mare with a stoic expression. "I'm Maud and I'm very angry that you hurt my sister." With a swipe of her hoof, Trixie sailed through the air a few strides and landed on her back, all four hooves pointing straight up in the air.

Maud walked past the unconscious and groaning Trixie. Walking over to a trashcan, she picked Pinkie's mouth and nose out of it, cleaned them off and reattached them to her sister's muzzle with a loud click.

Pinkie worked her mouth a few times to make sure everything was properly attached. "Thanks Maud!", she chirped.

"Take care of Thrasher. I think she's about to be sick.", Maud said flatly.

Thrasher rose shakily to her hooves. "Oh come off it Maud! I can hold my*urp!*...", her eyes went wide as her cheeks turned green and she covered her mouth with a hoof, "...oh no!" She ran over to a nearby bush as all the beer she had drank started coming back up. Pinkie held her cousin's mane as she got sick.

Maud walked up to Twilight. "Come along. You and I have to talk." She started walking towards Golden Oaks.

Twilight stared at Maud. "Wait, what?!"

Maud looked over her withers at the lavender unicorn. "You live in the library and record store, right?", she asked in a monotone. When Twilight nodded, she continued, "You and I are going to have a talk. You can either come along or I can kick your plot and drag you in."

Twilight swallowed and followed Maud to Golden Oaks.
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Maud sat at the small table in the kitchen in Golden Oaks as Twilight laid out some teacups and a whistling kettle of boiling water. "Cream? Sugar? Traditional Canterlot twelve course dinner?", Twilight asked as the gray earth pony dunked a teabag in her cup. Maud lifted the teacup to her lips and gave a soft sip. "I want to know what your intentions with my cousin are." "What?!", Twilight exclaimed, nearly spitting out her tea. Maud took another sip of her tea. "If you want, I can repeat it again slower." Twilight swallowed the building lump in her throat as she looked at Maud, trying to get a read on the gray mare, but her stoic expression gave nothing away. "I care deeply about Thrasher. We have fun together and she gave me this back when the Crystal Empire returned." She tapped the little silver medallion around her neck. "Is there a reason why you ask?", Twilight asked before taking a sip of her tea.

Lifting the teacup up, Maud blew some of the steam away as she stared across the table at Twilight. "As you know probably already know, Thrasher hasn't had the best life. Her parents ran on her when she was a yearling, leaving her to be raised by Great-uncle Ten Bit and his twin brother Whinny Paul. After her seventh birthday, a severely ill unicorn busted into the club where Ten Bit was playing, slinging spells and fried him. Not long after that, the state took her from Great-uncle Whinny and gave her to mother and father."

Twilight cast her eyes down at the table. "I heard about that and her ex-husband."

"So I don't have to tell you how badly he used to beat her or that he put her in a wheelchair for six months or that it was Applejack and I that drug Axl out into the desert, buried him and planted an apple tree over the top of him on the edge of an orchard owned by a cousin of Applejack.", Maud said, blowing again on the teacup then taking another sip.

"I heard.", Twilight replied, "Yes, it was true that I initially pursued her. I love her and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her."

Maud locked eyes with Twilight before allowing a small smirk to spread across her lips. "I had heard that the day before you two got together, you had been stressed out because some of the mares in town were trying to get under your tail when they found out that you hadn't had sex before and that Thrasher let you get drunk with her."

Twilights expression turned slightly sour. "And what else did you hear?"

Maud placed her teacup back down on its saucer. "Nothing I will repeat right now, other than that you're a squeaker."

Twilight's cheeks flushed furiously red. "I think I have something to talk to Thrasher about."

Maud placed her forehooves on the table. "There's nothing that my sisters, and yes, I consider Thrasher one of my sisters, can keep secret from me." Rising to her hooves she began walking to the door. Thanks for the tea. Thank you for having me and being polite, seeing as I'm a bit angry and out of sorts. I'll be in town for a few weeks if you ever need to talk." Reaching for the door handle, she paused and turned to look at Twilight again. "I can tell that you've been good to and for Thrasher. Other than today, considering the extenuating circumstances, it's been a while since she's been blackout drunk." With that Maud walked out the door.

Twilight closed the door behind Maud and leaned against it. "If that was her when she's angry, what in the Tartarus does she look like when she's happy or sad?!"

A folded up letter slid under the door and Twilight picked it up. opening it, confetti and streamers shot out of it, covering her. The letter read 'You don't want to see Maud when she's sad! Love, Pinkie'. She started to ask how Pinkie knew what she had said to herself, but decided better of it.

Opening the door, Twilight walked outside and found Pinkie still tending to Thrasher, who had reached the weepy stage of somepony who had drank way, way, wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too much. "I'll get her home, Pinkie. You help with the cleanup." Levitating Thrasher onto her back, she began carrying her marefriend home. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

Thrasher was already snoring loudly when Twilight got her home and laid her in bed. She placed a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin on the end table. Sitting on the couch in Thrasher's front room, she blew out air, making her lips buzz that ended in a raspberry. "I need to get home. I'll check on Thrasher in the morning.", was the last thought that went through her mind.

As the morning light poured through the windows, Twilight snapped awake with a snort, she had fallen asleep on Thrasher's couch and didn't realize it. A loud snore caught er attention, looking over, she saw that at some point in the night her marefriend had gotten out of bed and snuggled up next to her and had drooled heavily on her right wither, shoulder and foreleg.

With a loud snort, Thrasher jerked awake and placed a hoof over her eyes. "Ugh! Sompony turn the sun off." Peeking from behind her hoof, she looked up at Twilight. "What time is it?"

"I'm not sure.", Twilight replied, "Early I think. Do you want me to put some coffee on?"

"Yaaasss!", Thrasher hissed, "Oh my Celestia, that sounds better than sex right now!"

Twilight chuckled as she shimmied off the couch and walked into the kitchen, putting coffee ground and water in the coffee brewer. "You want some eggs or some toast."

Thrasher gave a sour burp. "No. I just want the number of that wagon that ran me over."