Chapter 20
Twilight Sparkle
"Rarity!"
Twilight ran and gave her a hug. Rarity winced. Twilight stepped back to see that her hind legs were awkwardly bandaged.
"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Twilight asked.
"It's too long of a story," Rarity said.
"Ok, you can tell us later; you said you've seen Trixie's madness before?" Twilight asked.
"Not before; right now. Come," Rarity said.
She slowly (because of her injuries) led Twilight, Zecora, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and the two guards around the back of the hut. Big Mac stayed inside to keep an eye on Trixie. Derpy continued to mix her batter, Apple Bloom helping. They were making muffins.
A few paces behind the hut, was a car. There was a huge pile of leaves on top of it, but Twilight recognized it. So did Applejack.
"What in tarnation—are you telling me that those two, no good for nothing—"
"Applejack, they saved me," Rarity said softly. "I know you have your differences, but we all need to work together now, for the good of Equestria."
Applejack huffed, but didn't say any more.
Flim suddenly appeared from the other side of the car. He had a bunch of leaves stuffed under his hat and his shirt. He jumped onto the car and dove into the pile of leaves.
"Flim has the same symptoms you were describing that Trixie has; except it's leaves instead of pinecones. Flam said that a changeling did this to him, that they were specially attacked because Flim had freed Flam from a pod. A changeling tried to do the same thing to me," Rarity explained.
"They must be targeting unicorns then," Twilight said, "because unicorns can free the ponies from the pods. By making them brain-scrambled, they forget they can do magic and therefore, they can't free any more ponies."
"That's what I thought once I saw it try to do the same thing to Rarity," Flam said, as he stepped from behind the car. He was covered in soot. "Flim just stuffed the tailpipe with leaves."
"There must be a cure," Twilight said. "We're going to have to be extra careful then, as unicorns."
"I will give my things a look, see if a cure is in a book," Zecora said.
"Yes, but first I think we should give Rarity some first aid," Twilight said. "It looks like she's been through the most."
"Yes," Rarity said, as she slowly limped back towards the hut, "But it was worth it."
She stopped and opened one of her saddlebags. Twilight and the others gasped. Twilight couldn't believe it.
"The Elements! You have the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight said.
"Yes; it's where Princess Celestia sent me," Rarity said.
"So, all we need to do is wait for Pinkie," Twilight said, as the group headed back inside.
"I saw Pinkie—she and her sisters saved me. We were traveling together when we were attacked by changelings and got separated; that's when I met up with Flim and Flam," Rarity explained.
"Hopefully they're ok," Fluttershy piped up. The others nodded solemnly in agreement.
Back inside the hut, it got very crowded. Zecora helped heal Rarity, as everypony went around in turn explaining what had happened to them and what they knew. Trixie and Flim had a bit of a turf war, in where the pinecones and leaves could go. Derpy passed around muffins.
"It's probably best if we wait here for Pinkie and her sisters," Twilight said. "It's the safest spot; we can go in turns into town every half hour and see if they are waiting for us there."
"CloudsArmor and I can go now if you wish," Titan Wings said. Twilight nodded.
"Maybe each of us should hold onto our own Element; that way Rarity isn't singularly attacked, and she doesn't have to take on the huge responsibility," Applejack said. The others agreed. Rarity passed around the Elements, and held onto her own and Pinkie's.
"Pinkie's sister Blinkie is good with explosives; her weapons will come in handy," Rarity explained. "I heard explosions as I was running away; I really hope they're all ok."
"The only thing we can do now is sit and wait for them," Twilight said, "and try to strategize. We have a list of things we need to figure out: Where Princess Celestia is; where Princess Luna is; how to unscramble Flim and Trixie—the more functioning unicorns we have, the better. That way, we can free more ponies and build up our army; but it'll be easier if we find the Princesses; their magic is the greatest after all."
"What about Princess Cadance?" Fluttershy asked.
"And your brother Twi?" Applejack said.
"I know; we'll find them. They're probably all in Canterlot. First we need to figure out a good course of action and—"
Suddenly there was a soft bang outside. Bright light shone through the windows of the hut for a second and then disappeared. Everything went quiet.
"What was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'm not sure; let me go check," Twilight said. She stood and put one hoof towards the door. Before she opened it however, it opened from the other side.
"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight shouted. Everyone rejoiced. Twilight pulled Pinkie Pie into the room, giving her a big hug. She did the same to the unknown grey pony with her.
"Where... where's Blinkie?" Rarity asked. The grey pony's eyes filled with tears. She shook her head.
"This is my sister Inkie," Pinkie said. She then sniffed. "Our other sister Blinkie, didn't make it."
"I'm so sorry Pinkie," Twilight said, pulling her into another hug.
They had a moment of silence.
"..Was that strange explosion just now, was that you?" Twilight asked. Pinkie shook her head.
"It was weird; we were walking towards the hut when out of nowhere, this bright light came and then disappeared. And when we got to the doorstep, this was sitting there."
Pinkie held out a roll of parchment she had been holding. It had Twilight's name hastily written on it.
Twilight took the parchment with shaky hooves. She recognized that script. She scanned the letter to the signed name at the bottom.
"Oh my god," she whispered.
"What is it Twilight? Who's it from?" Apple Bloom asked.
Twilight turned to the rest of the room, her jaw dropped open.
"It's from Spike."
.... To be continued.
(Link to Part 2! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/57427/The-Reception%27s-Back-On)