A dark, unchanging atmosphere released a multitude of stars, shining in an unnatural brilliance in the deep purple sky. The darkness was relieved only by a glimmer of light from the horn of a prom, white unicorn.
"I have been walking through this utter wasteland for ages!" groaned Rarity peevishly, "Whenever will we ever get there? My hooves are killing me!"
"I agree" muttered Spike, realizing how kind his former caregiver Twilight had been to carry him on her back all the time.
"Not for some while!" sang the energetic pink pony who bounced along, unaffected by the hours of trotting on hard ground.
"Well, I have to admit, it would be pretty annoying to be walking in that tangle of foliage," laughed Raindbow Dash, floating on her back in the air.
Applejack and Fluttershy walked at the head of the group alongside with Pinkie, being used to walking for long periods of time.
"The Bog seems to end a little ways ahead," noticed Fluttershy, pointing her hoof towards a change in scenery ahead.
"Yes, one more minute and. . ." Pinkie sped ahead and stopped, throwing her arms open to emphasize the dry, rough clearing ahead which juxtaposed harshly with the brush they had been through. "This is Rambling Rock Ridge!"
"Well... it certainly has a lot of rocks." said Rarity, a little too sarcastically.
"Well DUH! This is where we'd grow rocks (granite and sedimentary rocks), and sell them to the ponies who used them to build strong walls and houses! It wasn't very fun, and I would get so hot and tired and am so happy that I can back cakes all day instead but it's nice to visit here again and maybe I can get to see my family and oh my gosh I'm totally going to see my family right now so BYE!" Pinkie zipped off in a flash of pink.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Well now we're left without a guide!
"Whatever," she continued, "Trixie can't be so hard to find with her loud mouth and all. Common everypony, let's head this way." Rainbow pointed east with her right hoof, towards the corner where Pinkie had just disappeared. "Pinkie said that Trixie lived near, her so if she's headed towards her family, this has to be the correct way."
A little ways further, and a small village of plain, dirt colored houses appeared behind a hill evolved from grainy dis-posits of gray rock and sand. There wasn't much to sight-see, so austere was the atmosphere, not even brightened by a hint of blue sky, thanks to Nightmare Twilight's dominion.
The ponies hastened towards the town's center where the flashing form of their pink friend and the squeaky chatter of her voice had attracted a whole crowd of ponies, females with no-nonsense attire and style, straight, long manes gathered to their sides, and stallions strengthen by years of rock moving. Pinkie Pie was running from mare to stallion, throwing startling Pinkie hugs and chatting all the while about her time in Ponyville.
The friends arrived to hear the last of her rather cryptic speech. "And now Twilight's a Princess, and the whole place is becoming a City, and it looks incredibly amazing, but then Nightmare returned and look Twilight away and we need to save her, but we can't without all the elements of harmony so we came all the ways here and. . ." she grabbed a blow horn from practically nowhere and spoke loud and bold:
"Trixie, come out here! I know you're somewhere!"
There was a pause as Pinkie jumped on top of her blow horn for a better view and squinted her blue eyes, gazing suspiciously while around the barren town. Her friends stood in a quandary behind the multitude of work ponies who wondered whether they should abdicate their severity and laugh at the scene, or maintain their ever harsh expressions.
"Did someone send for the great and powerful Trixie?" boomed an equally loud voice as a sky blue pony trotted from the rock quarry.
It was Trixie alright, but she looked exhausted, sweat forming on her pale brow and her lavender eyes lackluster from the hard work.
"Pinkie Pie? Oh, and the rest of you. . ." she surveyed the friends with a disagreeable air. "Well, what brings you all in search of the great and powerful Trixie?"
Pinkie Pie jumped off the stool, obviously fighting with herself to break down the walls of eminence built up over the years and give Trixie a big hug.
Rainbow Dash flew to Pinkie's rescue, landing suddenly in front of Trixie."Hey you, " she squeaked, folding her hooves while hovering as if impatiently. "Long time no see! I could make a big speech about why we're here, but I'm going to be awesome and cut to the gist."
Rainbow paused and came eye to eye level with Trixie, who looked more tired than interested. However, Rainbow pretended her reaction otherwise, acting as if the blue pony was staring with the innermost levels of curiosity and anticipation.
"How would you like to stop doing all this hard work and make a great profit in Pony City with your magic shows?"
Trixie's could not help growing interested as Rainbow offered what she had inherently desired ever since she discovered Ponyville.
"Ahem," Trixie refused to show her eagerness. Blinking, she opened her eyelids halfway and made a little smirk with her dry lips. "What were you saying about Ponyville being a city? It is simply a potential town that I can do far better than."
"Like this rock quarry?" laughed Rainbow sarcastically, folding her arms and hovering a little higher.
Trixie turned red and gritted her teeth, but said nothing because she knew the proud pegasus was correct. She was living poorly here, nothing like the life a popular show-pony ought to have.
"Well, it's a city now," said Rainbow, "because Twilight Sparkle became a Princess. . ."
Trixie's mouth draped open and her violet eyes widened in shock.
"And," continued Rainbow, gleefully noticing her speech's effect, "any pony who is lucky enough to reside their is practically famous."
Trixie stood overwhelmed for a moment, contemplating the situation, then carefully asked, "So. . . how exactly can Trixie make herself welcome there?"
"That's just what I wanted to hear," approved Rainbow smugly, "You see, Nightmare has somehow returned and, in the guise of Twilight, says that she will cast Equestia in twilight forever! I'm sure you've notice the darkness of the sky lately."
"I had noticed as much" thought Trixie. Aloud, she asked (or rather announced) "Are you asking the great and powerful Trixie to vanquish the Nightmare?"
"In a way, yes! You see, Nightmare can only be expunged without harming Twilight through the activation of the elements of harmony, but with the element of magic gone, the elements are useless."
"So here's to us hoping that you'll put down the silly show attitude and work with us to get Twilight back and yourself an enjoyable profession." finished Applejack.
"Ah, so the fate of Twilight Sparkle rests on my own generosity now," proclaimed Trixie.
She turned her head aside gave a long pause for dramatic effect, posing confidently with and hooves apart. Her thoughts contrasted with her display of confidence, however. "What am I getting myself into?" Trixie thought, her mind racing, "I couldn't even defeat the Ursa Minor, and now they expect me to be as powerful as Twilight, a pony powerful enough to become a Princess, to defeat this Nightmare?"
However, Trixie's desire for attention interrupted any formations of common sense. "Oh, but the rewards are so great, so impossible to resist! I will pretend this is a performance, believe in myself, and vanquish the evil. I. Can. Do. This. Because. I. Am. Great. And Powerful!"
"Eh hem, well Sugercube?" asked Applejack.
Snapped out of her reverie, Trixie turned back to the ponies, who anxiously awaited her response. "Yes, the great and powerful Trixie will. . ."
"Yess!! Thank you Trixieeee!"
Pinkie, no longer holding back, threw her arms around Trixie and squeezed her tight in her best hug.
Trixie waited to Pinkie to release her tight hold and then snubbed her off indignantly. "Let's go, I have some evil to vanquish and my powers to demonstrate!" Trixie galloped off towards the north west.
Pinkie stood, shocked, her hair quavering in a fearfully straighter style. "She's. . .still the same," Pinkie sighed. "I will never be able to make friends with her, and that's breaking Pinkie Pie's number one rule: Make friends!" She bit her lip as tears swam in her wide, light blue eyes."
"Oh, Pinkie," it's gonna be alright," whispered Fluttershy. "You just have to endure her until this whole ordeal is over."
"More than endure her actually, said Rarity. As much as she hates us (and some of us likewise), we need to show her the value of friendship if her magic is to attain the amount of power required. Twilight always said that the spell had nothing to do with her magic abilities; it was us, the combination of our elements! In short, friendship is magic!"
Pinkie Pie gasped, her hair popping back into full curls as she sprang to her hooves and grasped her ever handy blow horn. “Trixie, you have to come back here because this is something we have to do together!"
Trixie stopped running and looked back annoyed.
“You are not even as fast as the great and powerful Trixie!”
“Maybe we’re just smarter," Applejack shouted back. "All that running is only gonna make you too tired to get to Pony City before sundown. Oh wait. . .” Applejack stopped upon realizing that it was always sundown since Nightmare, and her friends burst into an amused laughter.
"What exactly are you all so pleased about?” asked Trixie, who only noticed the ache she felt so keenly in her worn hooves.
"Oh Trixie, sometimes you just have to make fun of yourself, take things easy, and laugh about it” said Pinkie Pie, bounding by Trixie’s side.
“Pifft, that’s not hard for you, always making a complete fool of yourself,” returned Trixie.
"Trixie, why are you such a meanie pants?" Pinkie asked, "We used to be such good friends, but then you just had ignore me for no reason at all, and I had to do everything myself, which turned out Ok, actually, but it would have been better with you, but I'm not sure if I want to be friends with you anymore, but then of course I do because I'm friends with everypony, and. . ."
"Shut up or I'll take away your stupid mouth, like I did last time I came to Ponyville!" exclaimed Trixie, feeling more annoyed by the second.
Suddenly, all the ponies stopped walking, and Trixie noticed that they were also looking at her indignantly. “Sorry,” Trixie muttered, and fought tears as she conveyed an expression of nonchalance. “This is how it always is,” she thought, “I try to get people to like by showing I’m the best; then they’ll want to watched my shows and see how awesome I am."
“Would you all mind resting here for tonight? My hooves are simply killing me, and I’m being absolutely honest this time.” complained Rarity.
“I agree, I’m exhausted; please Rainbow, say we can stop!” asked Spike.
“You two are so alike! Don’t you get any exercise?” retorted Rainbow.
"If time was correct, it would be almost midday. We've been traveling all night to come here and it would be nice if we could stop for some rest. If. . .that's ok with you Rainbow," Fluttershy said in her usual, meek tone.
"You all seem to forget that Trixie is the one who has been working hard all day, and deserves some sleep before being rushed into this silly event," said Trixie, who could no longer hide her exhaustion at the mention of sleep.
"So. . . where do we sleep?" the ponies rang in unison. Silence issued.
"It's so annoying that this is one of the only places in Equestia that you can't take a train to!" sighed Rarity, breaking the silence.
Suddenly, Pinkie left arm began jerking up and down violently, jerking her in a circle as she looked at it with a mixed expression of amusement and curiosity.
"Is there a rock falling?" Trixie asked alarmed, recalling that Pinkie's antics usually meant a disaster overhead.
"No," sang Pinkie Pie, "This little shake means there is somewhere dark and enclosed, probably with a horrible monster inside! But it doesn't have to be a monster. I got this sensation last time we were visiting Zecora's and she's not scary at all, even though we thought she was once. Remember that? Oh Trixie, you haven't met Zecora! You have to soon; she's really nice, even though she hardly ever comes to my parties. . ."
Pinkie continued to chat about the Evergreen Forest while the other ponies continued walking, forgetting the gesture's significance that another large creature must be occupying the forest ahead continued their trek forward.
Trixie rolled her eyes, "Do you ponies put up with her conversations all the time? It's quite annoying!"
"I suppose so," laughed Applejack pleasantly, "But she's our friend, so we accept her just the way she is, and being the element of laughter and all, you'd have to expect her to be a bit funny."
"Oh look ya'll!" Applejack hesitated and glanced besides the tangled path of foliage, which revealed a half hidden, stone cave, only dimly exposed by the heavy shrubbery. "Looks like Pinkie's arm signal had some connotation!" Applejack said, tearing at the shrubs with her front legs to create a clean entrance for the other ponies and Spike.
"Oh look a cave! I'll go check it out first!" said Rainbow Dash, flying right into the cave's mouth without pausing to reflect possible danger. "It's perfect!" rang her voice shrilly, which echoed four times back to the waiting friends.
"I've never been here," said Pinkie, "So you can all explore at your own risk!" She bounced in the cave pathway after Rainbow, ignoring her ever tingling leg.
"It looks dark and scary," said Fluttershy, following her friends cautiously into the cave, I don't like dark and scary places and. . .oh my. . .it is very dark." She whimpered and fearfully trod the forsaken ground.
"Pift, the great and powerful Trixie is not scard of anything," said Trixie, lighting the cave somewhat with her horn and nodding to Rarity to do the same. Together, the unicorns made a decent path of light, leading the group to a corner of the cave which appeared warm and inviting.
"Nice teamwork there ya'll" said Applejack, "But what the hay is that light coming from the corner yonder?"
"Oh my, what is that?" whispered Fluttershy nervously.
"Pinkie Pie's leg. . .someone in the cave! It all makes sense; there's probably a huge monster and we should get out of here!" Spike concluded nervously. "Oh, well. . . nothing a big dragon like me can't handle, but I'd be worried for you guys!"
Whatever Spike had contrived to say next was drowned out by a powerful, breathtaking blast of air followed by words which caused each pony to shiver and quake, bowing their heads to block out the terrible cold air from their eyes.
"It looks like you have discovered my habitation!" boomed a voice that could shake the centuries.
Spike let out a shocked gasp of green smoke. They had unknowingly walked clean into the hideout of Nightmare Twilight herself!