The three had ventured deeper into the woods, where the chances of the alicorns finding them would be low. At least for now. Moving her wagon was hard for Trixie since it would always somehow get caught in vines. Not to mention inside, where Starlight and Discord were resting for a bit, was rocky and bumpy to the point where they just walked with Trixie outside. And they saw the opportunity to talk about their encounter with Zecora.
"I've never even heard of 'Goodness Forgetness'." Starlight pondered. "And how is it possible to 'accidentally' cast a spell?"
"Maybe if we find where this spell is, then maybe we would get more answers about that." Discord suggested.
"Seriously? Who cares about finding the source of the spell when Zecora told us how to stop it?" Trixie stated.
Trixie's two friends tensed.
"Hurting Twilight again is the last thing that I need." Starlight said firmly. "And her friends in general."
"Especially Fluttershy." Discord agreed.
"Ok, I'm not fond of hurting our friends either, but Zecora has never been wrong before. And don't you want our old lives back?" Trixie could understand why her friends were hesitant, but should they at least give it a chance? According to Zecora, if they had a head injury or some sort, their memory will jog and they would gain their memories back.
But Starlight raised a hoof. "But it sounds... too simple." she said. "A problem like that that could be fixed so easily? There has to be more than that."
"Simplicity is the best thing!" Discord argued.
But she ignored him. "Maybe if I cast a memory spell..."
Trixie now started feeling concerned. "Starlight, you did everything you could to bring back Twilight, but it didn't work. What made you think that anything else would work?"
Just then, Discord suddenly started laughing.
The two unicorns looked at him with puzzled, but angry faces.
"And what's so funny?" Starlight asked him with a bit of hostility.
"Have you clearly forgotten about the time you punched her?" Discord asked Starlight. "If Zecora says that a punch would be enough, then surely her memory would regain again?"
"So are you saying that Twilight is back to normal?" Starlight sounded surprised by his words.
Discord nodded. "Most likely."
"Oh, wow!" Starlight smiled, which was the first time Trixie saw Starlight really happy ever since this quest began. "I think that might be true. I think I have gained her memories back! She'll remember me!"
Trixie shared Starlight's optimism. Maybe if Twilight was at their side, getting the spells back would be easier now that had another friend. One as an alicorn!
Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes. And followed by the sounds of a few voices of some certain important mares.
"Y'all hear that?" a country pony asked.
Trixie felt cold when she recognized that voice, and others that followed along with it.
"I don't recall hearing anything, darling. Well, except for the wind and the rustling leaves of course." a mare with an elegant voice replied.
"Oh no, its Twilight's friends!" Trixie suppressed a gasp. She looked at Starlight. "What do we do? We can't fight all five of them at once!"
"I want to know for myself what they are doing in this part of the woods." Discord said silently.
Starlight looked up, and her eyes were now filled with shock. "Um, I think we have been spotted."
Trixie and Discord looked up too. Trixie couldn't help but feel bitter when she recognized the pegasus with a rainbow mane.
"Starlight Glimmer!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Before any of them could react, Rainbow quickly flew downward and tackled Starlight to the ground. They both tumbled until they landed on some bushes.
"You'll pay for what you did to Twilight!" Rainbow said hatefully. "No one hurts my friends without leaving some bruises!"
"Let me go you stupid peagsus!" Starlight said to her. Trixie saw the fear in her eyes, but heard anger in her voice at the same time.
"Stupid? Why I oughta-" Rainbow was about to lift a hoof, but Discord grabbed her arm.
"Let. Go." he snarled. "Or do I have to make you?"
Then a lasso appeared and it caught Discord on the neck. He let out a gagging noise and he left Rainbow's hoof go.
"I have him!" Applejack said to her friends. "I never thought catching the Lord of Chaos would be easy."
"Yeah, and I thought he would be super, duper hard!" Pinkie said with her usual bubbly excitement.
"Idiots. I have magic blockers, so you just got lucky that I don't have my chaos magic." Discord said to the mares. But he looked over and saw Fluttershy, who just stared at him in fright.
"I mean... not all of you are idiots." he stammered.
Starlight sighed. "I guess I have to teleport us out of here again." she was about to cast the spell but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rainbow interrogated.
"Where... no one can find us." Trixie stood in front of Starlight. "And if I have to ask, what are the five of you doing here in the middle of the forest?"
Rainbow scoffed. "I don't to answer that to you. And the same could be said to you and your friends."
Applejack got to Discord and started tightening the lasso around his neck.
"Gack!" Discord almost suffocated. He turned to the orange pony. "What are you trying to do? Kill me?"
"We'll be back."
Trixie heard to cold voice come from Starlight. When she turned to her, they teleported away, and instead teleported near Zecora's hut.
"Are you kidding me?" Trixie said to the mare. "We're back here? Again? And..." her heard whirled around. "Where's my wagon?"
"Relax, Trixie." Starlight reassured her friend. "I've cast an invisibility spell on it so its fine."
"But what are we doing back here again?" Discord scratched his neck.
"Its better to stay with a friend than to wonder deep into the woods, and encounter more ponies that hate us." Starlight told them as she knocked on Zecora's door.
They heard her hoofsteps, and a few moments later, Zecora. opened her oak door. She put on a shocked face. "Ah! Welcome back my friends. Did the terror end?"
"Barely." Trixie muttered. "We found Twilight's friends in the deep woods for some reason, and now they are looking for us."
Zecora smirked. "Then you probably caught them when they were headed for The Tree. Wasn't there a glow that was easier to see?"
"A glow?" Trixie asked her. "What glow?"
"The Tree lets out a white glow from the cave it resides. Maybe her friends came to it for... advice?" Zecora said with a puzzled expression of the last part.
Who goes to a tree for advice? Trixie opened her mouth to say more, but then they heard the others in the distance.
"They're coming!" Trixie said frighteningly.
Zecora quickly rushed them inside and slammed the door. "I suggest casting a spell to make you hidden. Before they get suspicious so sudden!"
As fast as lightning, the three jumped behind a plentiful of baskets, and Starlight cast an invisibility spell over them.
"Can you see us?" Trixie whispered to Zecora.
"Wow thanks for doubting me!" Starlight lightly shoved a hoof to Trixie. Parts of it out of playful annoyance.
Zecora loomed over them. "I cannot see your form, but I must inform: your voices are the only things I can hear. So maybe keep your lips shut, and you'll be clear." She warned them, but then they heard a knock on the door.
"Zecora? Are you ok?" Applejack asked her outside. "We heard a noise in the distance and we wanna see if you're ok or not."
She opened her door. "I'm fine as always. Not hurt, or drowsy. Maybe the wind is what slammed the door so loudly."
"Glad to hear that, darling," Rarity said to the zebra.
"But... we came here for something else." Applejack said to her, gravely. "We don't mean to rush, but its important."
"Its about those three." Fluttershy finally spoke up in fear.
Zecora looked confused. "Who?"
"Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulumoon, and Discord." Rainbow Dash informed her.
"Yeah! They are super badies! Well, Starlight and Discord are. But they are still super evil!" Pinkie quickly rushed in, which made Trixie and her friends surprised.
"I can recall what Trixie and Discord had done, and its not very bright. But what about this mare called Starlight?" Zecora asked them. Trixie was pretty amazed at how good Zecora is at playing dumb.
"Enslaved a village." Applejack said flatly. "And stole our cutie marks."
"And she did something worse: punched Twilight in the face!" Rainbow said. "Too bad she's a unicorn... or else-"
"Rainbow, for Celestia's sake, calm down." Rarity facehoofed. "This is the fifth time you bashed on Starlight and her actions. We get the point, darling."
Rainbow sighed. "Sorry. Its just, I can't believe she hurt her and got away with it!"
Despite the situation they were in, Trixie, for some reason, couldn't help but understand Rainbow's anger. If someone were to hurt her friends and got away with it, she would be equally enraged too. But it doesn't make it any better.
"So why are you telling me about them?" Zecora asked.
"Here's the thing: we've been looking for them to try and stop them again." Applejack explained. "But that Starlight and her magical abilities keep stopping us from doing that. And who knows what kind of crazy things she might do if she was loose."
Zecora lifted her hoof. "And what did Twilight say? Did she say anything before you went away?"
The three of them now got closer. Now waiting for the truth.
"Twilight told us to find her and round her and her friends up, somehow." Applejack said. "For some reason she put all her trust onto us."
"Yeah, after the punch, she got extremely mad." Rainbow agreed. "While I can totally agree with that, she was... a different level."
So Zecora lied? The punch didn't help Twilight at all? Trixie was super confused at how this stupid spell worked.
"Just as I feared..." Trixie heard Zecora say under her breath.
"What was that?" Pinkie Pie got closer to Zecora.
The zebra looked startled. "Uh, I don't see how I can be any help from here." she said sheepishly.
"So you have nothing?" Fluttershy said with her usual scared tone.
"Well, I can think of one thing that it is right." Zecora looked away. "You must fight."
"Fight?" The five all said at the same time.
The zebra nodded. "It's the only way. Unless you guys would rather be astray."
They all looked at each other thoughtfully.
"I'm not exactly fond with fighting three villains." Rarity responded.
"I am!" Rainbow flew around excitedly. The three had to duck so they would not be hit by Rainbow's fast-paced body. "I would love to see that mare again and give them all my might!"
"Starlight will be a hard one for sure." Applejack said. "But the rest should be pretty easy."
"Are you sure this is the right advice?" A timid pegasus asked her. "It could go very wrong..."
"Have I never been wrong?" Zecora said smugly.
"Never ever!" Pinkie jumped. "If you say its right, then its 100% right!"
The orange earth pony sighed. "Fine. I guess its official: we'll find the three of them again, if they are even around her, and defeat Starlight first."
The rest nodded.
"Thank you for the help, Zecora. You most likely helped Equestria be safe once again." Rainbow Dash said her goodbyes, and she shut her door.
Zecora looked out her window. And looked at the invisible group. "They are gone now."
Once the spell was off, Trixie sighed in relief. But the rest looked at Zecora angrily and Starlight immediately tackled her.
"Lying snake!" she said to her as she pinned her to the ground. Trixie was stunned but amazed at how strong Starlight can be at times. "You said that punching our loved ones would be the key to gaining their memories back! But it seemed that it was all but false information!"
"Lying is never a good thing." Discord said to the zebra with his pupils in slits.
Alarmed by what her friends were becoming, Trixie immediately stood by Zecora's side. "Calm down! Starlight, you're getting crazy again, and Discord, you may be starting to going back to your old self!"
Discord looks at his claws and shook his long head. "Oh. I guess I am..." he said as he rubbed his neck.
But Starlight was harder to get her to calm down, as she still held her down with a fierce glare.
"As I said, its a thing that I have feared!" Zecora pleaded. "That the punch may not be enough for the ones you love so dear!"
"What?" Starlight said through gritted teeth.
Zecora sighed. "When I looked it over again, somehow I missed one important fact. That the memories from the ponies you loved most will be harder to get back!"
Starlight gasped. She suddenly started losing her grip. As soon as she saw this, Trixie pushed her friend back.
"Its getting worse." Trixie stated. She turned to Discord. "We need to get this done. Now."
He quickly nodded. "Agreed."
"Zecora," Trixie turned her gaze to the zebra. "Thank you so much for helping us not get spotted, and for the new information." That I wish you told us sooner. Trixie wanted to say the last part, but she restrained herself. "Anything else we should worry about?"
Zecora looked at her book where she got to spell information. "It seems not."
"That's good." Trixie sighed. "Once if we need your help again, or if the disaster is over, we'll let you know."
As Trixie stepped out, Starlight and Discord both looked at Zecora, and waved at her awkwardly.
"Zecora... I'm sorry from earlier." Starlight apologized to her, to which Discord nodded at her side.
Zecora smiled slightly. "It is to be expected. After all, the spell is making you more dreaded."
Starlight and Discord shared similar smiles, and with Starlight grabbing Trixie's wagon that she forgot about, they quickly dashed to the bushes and following Trixie's trail back to the outskirts of Ponyville.