//------------------------------// // 5. Do You Believe in Magic? // Story: Crisis on Two Equestrias // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// It was said that all roads led to Canterlot. While florid and metaphorical, it was true that Canterlot sat near the center of Equestria, and so naturally many of the nation’s highways and byways crossed over it or went through it. Ponyville, however, had to make do with just four roads that led to it – plus a railway line, of course, although really the railway more just passed through. As a small farming town, though, four roads were more than enough. Indeed, sometimes – especially during the summer games – the citizenry of Ponyville emphasized loudly that the road that led in from Hoofington did just that: come from Hoofington and to Ponyville, and not the other way around, because Ponyville was more important by far, and was going to win this year’s summer games, too. If one listened, one could hear similar things, albeit in reverse, being said in Hoofington. Both Ponyvillians and Hoofingtonites agreed, once the hard cider got to flowing, that Bridletonians could go buck a beehive. Especially if the Bridletonians had recently beaten the two of them in the summer games. Trixie steeled herself as she looked into the town from the front of her brand-new wagon. She and Ponyville had…a history. And it was difficult to not feel apprehensive over the fact that, literally just as she had entered Ponyville, a golden field had surrounded the entire town. She had spent half an hour just sitting inside her wagon, debating whether or not to nevertheless go through with her plan. But she had to – because, if she could make it in Ponyville, she could make it anywhere. Trixie nodded, running a hoof across the brim of her hat as she hopped atop her wagon, horn glowing a pastel pink beneath her hat as she turned a lever. The lever made the wagon go forward through a clever arrangement of cogs and gears, rolling forward at the equivalent of a brisk trot. At the same time, she wrapped the entire wagon in a pink glow that looked like a telekinetic aura, but in reality was nothing more than a little light. Still, a typical Ponyvillian – such as those glancing at her with wide eyes as the wagon moved forward – would see the wagon appearing to move under her telekinetic might and power. No need to lie, Trixie, no need to go on about how Great and Powerful you are that you can lift an entire full wagon…she thought to herself at their stunned glances. There is no need for Trixie to prove her majesty…just be majestic! “Citizens of Ponyville!” Trixie exclaimed as her cart moved. She stood on her hind legs, spreading her front hooves wide. “Come one! Come all! Come and see the greatest show in all of Equestria!” Trixie guided her cart through to the nearest open space. “Her comeback tour has stunned in Stalliongrad!” Trixie exclaimed. “Been applauded in Appaloosa! Hoofington and Bridleton have both been privy to her new and improved act!” Her wagon came to a stop, and she hopped inside quickly, pulling a lever. It set about transforming, even as Trixie’s horn glowed brighter pink, wrapping magic around her throat in one of the few true spells she knew, which would both throw and project her voice. “But now she has returned to Ponyville!” Trixie said as her stage finished transforming. Her hoof easily found a capsule that contained smoke powder for her entrance. “She knows she has a history in this town, and so she is here to reclaim her honor – and give you all the show of a lifetime!” Trixie grinned. The first time she had been in Ponyville, whatever else had happened, these country hicks – Careful, Trixie, she warned herself. These fine ponies had eaten up her show, loving every sleight of hoof and act of illusion. If she could just get them to see past the Alicorn Amulet thing… Trixie stepped up to behind her curtain. “Come one! Come all!” she repeated. “See the one – the only – the Great…and…Powerful…Trixie!” With a flick of her hoof, Trixie set off the smoke bomb, then rushed on stage before it could clear, careful to avoid tripping on her cape. Tapping her hoof against a well-placed and well-hidden button on the stage set off the automatic trumpeting fanfare, as well as several fireworks and streamers, as she reared back on her hooves again. She didn’t get applause. She hadn’t really expected it, though, not in this town. She had an uphill struggle in front of her, she knew. She was equally unsurprised when she finally looked at her ‘crowd,’ and saw only a few dozen ponies, all of them with stunned looks on their faces, none of them looking impressed – or happy. Trixie closed her eyes, putting a hoof to her chest. “Trixie sees your concern,” she announced. “And she understands it. The Great and Powerful Trixie has done the town of Ponyville wrong and she – she apologizes.” Huh. That hadn’t been as hard to say as she thought it was going to be. “She asks only that you give her a final chance!” Trixie cried out, opening her eyes again and spreading her hooves. “Trixie wishes only to amaze and astound!” Trixie tapped a hoof against another hidden button, and music began, even as from a hidden panel in her stage, a trap-door opened, a puff of smoke was released, and a table adorned with cards, knives, hoops, small puppets, and other tricks of legedemain was revealed. Trixie’s horn glowed pink as she grabbed the cards and spread all fifty-two before Ponyville telekinetically, flipping them around in an intricate pattern “Oh, it really doesn’t matter what I do, what I do, “As long as I do it with a flair! “What effect a little smoke is with a dash of hocus pocus, “And the scent of burning sulfur in the – waagh!” The last word wasn’t part of the song. What it was, was a reaction to a golden-armored, white-coated pegasus suddenly tackling Trixie to the stage floor and making her lose all her cards. A second pegasus landed a moment later, wings spread wide and glaring down at Trixie. Trixie recognized the armor of the Royal Guard, of course. “Is…is there a problem…?” she asked. She hadn't thought she was that hated in Ponyville… “By the authority of Princess Celestia,” the guard informed her, “you are under arrest for the theft of the Elements of Harmony!” Trixie’s eyes grew several sizes wider. “What?!” --- Fifteen minutes earlier, Twilight was considering how Ponyville Elementary did not look like a good place to try and talk down an apparently crazy unicorn – most of all because of the foals just inside, who could potentially be put in harm’s way if things didn’t go well. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called, as the schoolhouse came into view. “Go inside and let Cheerilee know what’s going on, then get the foals out!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Right!” she said, shooting ahead of the rest of the group and barreling through the school door. Twilight could hear her as she entered. “Great news, kids! School’s out early!” Twilight didn’t focus on the ensuing cheer, instead just rolling her eyes as the remaining five of them came to a stop just outside the entrance. After a few minutes, the foals all came tumbling out of the schoolhouse as a group, rushing towards the center of town. Twilight looked questioningly at her friend. “I told them there was a race to Sweet Apple Acres,” she said. “Winner gets a cupcake.” Pinkie gasped, glancing after the foals pensively and looking like she was debating joining in the race. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “It’ll keep them sticking together,” she said, “and Trixie probably won’t be coming from that direction.” Twilight nodded, glancing into the schoolhouse. Cheerilee was coming up to the six of them, worry painted all over the schoolteacher’s face. “Rainbow Dash said that Trixie was back…” she said, “but…but why would she be after me? What did I ever do?” Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Trixie’s…confused, right now. She thinks that she’s the bearer of the Element of Magic, and that you’re supposed to have one yourself – ” “Kindness, maybe?” Pinkie asked, tapping a hoof to her mouth. “Yup! If you’d be any Element of Harmony, you’d be Kindness! Right, Fluttershy?” “Um…maybe. I don’t know you very well, Miss Cheerilee. I’m sorry. B-but I’ll bet that if you wanted to bear the Element of Kindness, you’d do a great job!” “Naw,” Applejack said. “Not t’ toot mah own horn, but Ah think Miss Cheerilee would make a fine Element a’ Honesty.” “Or Generosity,” Rarity suggested. “Giving up so much of your own time, for your students’ wellbeing!” She winked knowingly at Cheerilee. “I think that would be the perfect fit.” “Girls,” Twilight interrupted, holding up a hoof. The other five bearers looked suitably embarrassed at their tangent as Twilight turned back to Cheerilee. “I think it would be best to get you to – ” “Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight froze a moment at the mention of her name, then let out a slight groan when she recognized the voice and turned around. She found herself looking, unsurprisingly, at Trixie, standing at the base of the hill that the school was on. More surprising, however, was the fact that four other mares were with her – a jasmine-coated, blue maned pegasus; a gray-coated, blond pegasus; a yellow-coated, orange-maned earth pony; and a mint-green, white-and-mint maned unicorn, holding a lyre in a golden telekinetic aura. Her eyes widened when she recognized a few of them – the mail mare Ditzy Doo, and the unicorn lyre-player, Lyra, specifically. Twilight couldn’t see the box that she knew the Elements of Harmony were in. Trixie took a step forward, looking Twilight in the eye. “Twilight,” she said, “I know, I know, that you would never willingly work with Corona. It has to be the spell.” “There is no spell, Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed, as she and her friends formed a protective wall between Trixie and Cheerilee. She looked at the other ponies with Trixie. They were all panting heavily, looking like they had just run across town to get here. “You four…Trixie’s told you that you’re supposed to be Element bearers, right? You don’t really believe her, do you?” The pegasus opened her mouth at that, pointing at Twilight, though she paused. “I…” she intoned. She closed her eyes, steeling herself. “Trixie is my best friend. My closest friend. I can’t just ignore what she showed me!” “What she what now?” Rainbow Dash asked. She flew forward, waving off Twilight’s concern at getting closer to Trixie. “Raindrops, we work together almost every day. You know I’m the one who’s supposed to have the Element of Loyalty. I brag about it often enough!” Raindrops shook her head. “I’m the Element of Honesty. Trixie showed me.” “And I’m supposed to be the Element of Generosity!” the yellow earth pony in Trixie’s group exclaimed, trotting forward and looking at Applejack. “And I’m supposed to have my carrot farm! I’d never sell it to you!” “What?” Applejack asked, taken aback. “Carrot Top, ya didn’t really listen to Trixie over that, did ya? You sold the farm to Sweet Apple Acres ‘cause you trusted us! We’ve known each other for years, remember?” “Carrot Top,” Rarity insisted, stepping into view, “darling, please, listen to reason. We see each other at the spa. We get along, ever since I helped you with that mane-cut fiasco. You know me, you must remember me.” Carrot Top faltered a little. “I…I do remember…but I also know what Trixie showed me. You can’t just make up memories!” “Not just memories,” Lyra said, eying Rainbow Dash. “I’m supposed to have the Element of Loyalty. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I am.” “What?” Rainbow Dash demanded. She made to dart forward, but Applejack grabbed her by the tail before she could. “Lyra, I’m sure you’re a great mare – ” “I don’t know about that,” Lyra said. One hoof was gliding over her lyre absently as she talked. “I…I really don’t know. But I do know that I’m supposed to be with Bon Bon. I love Bon Bon, and she’s supposed to love me! But whatever this spell is, it’s…it’s taken that. Turned me into some kind of lazy good-for-nothing layabout, afraid to even admit to Bon Bon what I feel!” “You’re not lazy!” Pinkie Pie objected, trotting forward with a bright smile on her face. “You come to every one of my parties! Aaand…” Pinkie Pie produced from nowhere a large, spiral-bound notebook, every page full of writing and with reams of additional paper with drawings and blueprints sticking out of it, waggling her eyebrows at Lyra. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you look at Bonnie! I’ve been planning your Lyra finally confessed to Bon Bon party for years! It’s gonna be a blast!” Twilight looked at Trixie, who hadn’t broken eye contact with her. “Trixie,” she said, “look at that notebook. Pinkie didn’t just pull it out of nowhere…I think. She certainly didn’t fill it all up today! If Princess Celestia really was evil, and she really could just re-write the entire world…don’t you think that she’d do something a little, I don’t know, bigger than just breaking up a couple of ponies and giving Carrot Top’s farm to Applejack?” “Corona’s insane, Twilight, I don’t know what she’d do,” Trixie countered. “I don’t know what spell she cast. Maybe…maybe it’s just how the spell works, maybe the spell can’t hurt anypony. I don’t know! All I know is it’s wrong!” Trixie looked to Ditzy, pointing at Fluttershy. “You know Fluttershy,” she said. “She is sweet and demure and a good pony. But think about it, Ditzy! Think about how much of a shut-in Fluttershy is! I don’t know what you Corona made you think happened on the Longest Night, when she returned. Princess Luna being evil and returning from being trapped in the moon? Whatever! Just think about Fluttershy. After Princess Luna did her evil thing, would Fluttershy really go into the Everfree? No! She’d run home and make sure that her animal friends were okay! Or hide under her bed! Or both! I don’t know whether she deserves an Element, or which one she thinks she is…but there is no way she’d ever be in a position to have earned one in the first place!” “Excuse me!” Trixie’s head whipped around, and she saw Fluttershy glaring at her – for a moment. The butter-colored pegasus wilted slightly, though only slightly. “Um, sorry,” she said. “But…but that’s not what happened. I mean, I wanted to, when Nightmare Moon first showed up, go home and make sure that all my friends were okay, and…and maybe hide. But I saw Twilight,” she looked to her friend, smiling, “instead of panicking, like everypony else was, she had run straight to the library. I just knew that she knew how to stop Nightmare Moon. And the surest way to help my animal friends would be to help Twilight do that! Even if it did mean going into the Everfree.” Trixie stared a moment more at Fluttershy, then looked back to Ditzy. “See?” she asked. “That’s not Fluttershy.” Ditzy looked between Fluttershy and Trixie. “I…” she said. “I…I don’t know. I remember…I remember you, Fluttershy…but I also remember…” she shook her head a moment, debated, then stepped closer to Trixie. “I have to trust my friend,” she declared. “But Trixie isn’t your friend!” Twilight objected. What kind of spell had Trixie used on these ponies? “Yes I am!” Trixie countered. “Think, Twilight! How could I even know these mares if I wasn’t friends with them? If I wasn’t supposed to live in Ponyville?” Twilight shook her head. She didn’t have an answer for that, but that didn’t make Trixie’s claims any less absurd. “Please, Trixie,” she said. “We want to help you, but this isn’t right. Don’t…” she paused a moment, then set herself steadily on the ground, horn glowing. “Don’t make us do something we’ll regret later.” Trixie stared at Twilight, mouth hanging open slightly. After a moment, her face hardened, her horn glowing blue. There were puffs of smoke around the throats of each of her so-called friends, atop Trixie’s own head, and beside her revealing each of them to be wearing Elements of Harmony. Atop Trixie’s head, meanwhile, set over her wizard’s cap, was the Element of Magic – and floating in her telekinetic grip was the blue box that would contain the Element of Laughter. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” Trixie said. She sounded like she meant it, too, as she charged up the hill, horn glowing bright blue. After a second, her comrades followed. “Pinkie, stay with Cheerilee,” Twilight said. The pink pony gave a salute. “Everypony else…don’t hurt them.” Twilight’s friends nodded. Then, they charged. --- Things did not go the way Trixie had thought they would, and she had already entered the ensuing, short battle with little enthusiasm. She had simply expected her hopes to be dashed by Twilight’s raw magical power, and that her friends would otherwise hold their own against Twilight’s own ensnared compatriots. This was not the case. Raindrops and Rainbow Dash met each other first; Raindrops was a slow flier, but even a slow pegasus could still fly faster than a pony could charge uphill. Raindrops was supposed to be strong, though – stronger than many earth ponies, even. Instead, to her own surprise and even to Rainbow Dash’s, she was knocked back almost instantly. Raindrops tried to recover, but Rainbow Dash was behind her in a bare instant, grabbing her about her barrel with her forelegs and pinning Raindrops’ wings to their sides with her hind ones. Rainbow Dash’s own wings beat rapidly, taking Raindrops to the ground as gently as possible and pinning her there. Doesn’t Raindrops know martial arts? Trixie wondered. She should be putting up more of a fight! Ditzy and Fluttershy met at nearly the same time. Neither pony looked eager to fight, and even paused, unsure of how to proceed without hurting each other. Ditzy tried to fly past Fluttershy, but Fluttershy simply spread her hooves wide and blocked Ditzy’s path each time, sadness mixed with determination on her face to make sure that Ditzy progressed no further up the hill, and Ditzy, for all that was at stake, couldn’t bring herself to physically push Fluttershy out of the way. Fluttershy shouldn’t be acting like that! Stupid spell! Carrot Top and Applejack met at nearly the same time as Rarity and Lyra. Lyra’s horn glowed gold as she swung her lyre telekinetically, trying to use it as a bludgeoning weapon for some reason. Rarity stopped it with one hoof surprisingly easily however, before she continued her charge, leapt over Lyra, and actually landed on Lyra’s back. Her hooves grasped Lyra about her head and pulled, and the two fell backwards. Rarity let out a slight grunt at landing on her back with another pony atop her, but she rapidly had Lyra in an effective head-lock. Lyra! You’re supposed to know spellsongs! Why didn’t you use any? Carrot Top had fared no better against Applejack. Trixie didn’t even see what had happened clearly – Applejack had gotten her lasso out, whipped it around a few times, and within just a few moments, Carrot Top had been hog-tied, Applejack using her teeth to pull her knot tight. Carrot Top! You should be strong enough to break that! You plough fields all day long! Trixie didn’t have any time to worry about the state of her companions, though – because, very suddenly, it was down to just her, and Twilight. And it was a simple fact that, spell for spell, she would never beat Twilight Sparkle. That was why she just threw the box containing the Element of Laughter at Twilight’s face as hard and as fast as she could. Twilight gasped, barely catching the box in her own telekinesis – and lurching backwards when Trixie leaped, shoving her shoulder against the box and pushing it forward into Twilight’s muzzle. Twilight stumbled, but her horn glowed bright lavender, and a field of energy erected itself around Pinkie Pie and Cheerilee, stopping Trixie’s progress. Trixie turned on Twilight just as Twilight’s horn shot off a beam of energy, probably meant to stun her. Trixie ducked it, though she thought she noticed something as she did. Trixie stepped to the side, away from Twilight’s shield, keeping one eye on it even as she ducked under another stunning blast – And she saw it. For just a moment, the shield flickered. It seemed that, despite her power, Twilight was just like many other unicorns – unable to maintain more than one complex spell at a time. The speed with which she replaced the shield was fantastic, but there was a chance… Trixie slung off her cape and held it in front of her with her telekinesis, keeping most of her body shielded. “You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn!” she taunted. Twilight fired off several more magical bursts at Trixie. She dodged them with a flourish of her cape each time, using her cape to disguise where her body actually was even as she cantered around randomly. “You’re not going to make me angry, Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed. “Your father is a vindictive, cruel pony! Your brother is a kiss-flank! Um…you’re an insane nag who dropped a space bear onto a town just to show off how powerful you are with magic!” “Not going to work!” Twilight repeated, firing off another burst. She really didn’t seem angry, to her credit, but Trixie didn’t need her to be angry, just distracted enough to not slow down her stunning blasts – distracted enough to not pay close enough attention to Trixie’s cape flourishes and movements – distracted enough to fire off one blast in particular and not notice the angles involved… Trixie moved her cape out of the way just as the shield dropped. The blast passed through where the shield had been – and nearly hit Pinkie Pie square in her barrel. The earth pony dodged only by leaping into the air in surprise. Twilight froze, eyes wide at having nearly struck one of her own friends. Trixie seized the moment to leap at Cheerilee, casting aside her cape as she pulled the Element of Laughter from the box it was in and slipped it around Cheerilee’s neck. Cheerilee’s mouth opened to let out a shout of surprise, which was just the opening that Trixie needed. Their lips touched, and Trixie’s horn glowed bright blue, and – She thought of every moment she’d ever spent with Cheerilee – being introduced by Lyra, confronting the Everfree Forest together, Cheerilee standing up to Corona and earning the Element of Laughter. She thought of the rainy day in Ponyville when Cheerilee had somehow gotten it into her head that Trixie had never had ‘the Talk,’ and how embarrassed the both of them had been by the end of it. She thought of Oaton, and Count Copper Coin, and poor Tarnished. She thought of Cheerilee rescuing her when she’d been kidnapped by the salamanders. She thought of the Grand Galloping Gala. Trixie thought of everything that Cheerilee was. She was strong and confident. She was a little introverted, but there whenever anypony needed her. She laughed easily and encouraged others to do the same. She never took anything too seriously. She was, in many ways, the leader of her group of friends, always organized, always best at coming up with plans and understanding what was really going on… And Trixie thought of what Cheerilee had said six months ago – the words that had earned her the Element of Laughter. “I’m dead anyway,” she had told Corona after making a joke at the mad alicorn's expense. “So why not? I’m going to die laughing and I’m going to die making everypony else laugh at how ridiculous you are!” Trixie thought of all this, and then mentally shoved it forward, though her mouth, though the magical conduit that the spell forged, and into Cheerilee, and – Trixie was pulled off of the earth pony mare by a telekinetic aura. Cheerilee fell away from her anyway, eyes wide and unseeing for several moments, or rather not unseeing – instead, seeing everything that Trixie had shown her, every single one of their memories together, feeling every emotion that Trixie had for one of her best and closest – and only – friends. “You have to remember, Cheerilee!” Trixie exclaimed as she was pulled backwards by Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t fight. At this point, it wouldn’t matter. Either she had succeeded, and she could fix everything, save everypony…or they were all doomed. “I’m your friend! You have to remember!” “No,” a stern, though not cruel, voice said, “she does not. Because there is nothing to remember, Trixie.” Trixie recognized that voice. Trixie turned around, and saw Corona. She may have disguised her mane and tail, made herself seem to be as she once was, before her fall into madness and hatred and fire, but Trixie wasn’t fooled. Corona was in the air, though she landed easily, looking around and frowning. Everypony’s eyes were on her, of course. Twilight, and her ‘friends,’ looked relieved. Trixie knew that they didn’t understand what they were doing, though. They weren’t collaborating. It wasn’t their fault. Her own friends were all unharmed, had all been brought together, and Cheerilee was even now being walked over to the same group by Pinkie Pie, even as the schoolteacher’s mind was still visibly at war with itself, as she still fought Corona’s spell. Trixie, meanwhile, was held in place by Twilight as Corona approached Trixie, the frown not leaving her features. “Trixie,” Corona said, “you are not well. I only wish to help you. But I cannot do that if you will not let me…and I cannot ignore what you have just done to five perfectly innocent citizens of Ponyville. Can’t you see how you are only hurting them?” “What’s hurting them is not letting them live their real lives, Corona!” Trixie exclaimed, looking at Cheerilee, at all her friends. “I don’t know how you did it…I don’t know what kind of magic you used.” She glanced at Twilight. “Maybe something Twilight helped you uncover…though I know that she didn’t do it willingly.” Celestia closed her eyes, her frown at last dropping and a look of sadness overcoming her features. She shook her head. “I will see to it that you go to the best hospital that Equestria can provide – ” “Just make sure to get a non-crazy pony to pick it out,” a voice interrupted. Celestia paused, opening her eyes and glancing at the source of the voice. It was Cheerilee, standing amongst the other real Element bearers. She looked almost as surprised as Corona did to hear the interruption, as she glanced at Lyra, Carrot Top, Ditzy, and Raindrops, before finally looking first to Corona, and then to Trixie. She recognized Trixie. The blue unicorn cried out in joy, horn glowing blue as she looked to Twilight, sending out not a powerful burst of magic, but a telekinetic shove – not much, but enough to strike Twilight’s horn. She cried out in surprise at the sensation, concentration disrupted, and Trixie bounded away from where she had been dragged, over to her friends before Corona could react, throwing her hooves around Cheerilee. “You remember!” she exclaimed. “I think I do – ” Cheerilee began, when a golden aura suddenly wrapped around Trixie. Trixie looked behind her in horror, and saw Corona’s horn glowing, her own telekinesis trying to pull Trixie away. “This isn’t real,” she said. “It’s a delusion created by a pony who needs help. I am sorry that I must be harsh here, but – ” “No!” Trixie exclaimed, as she felt her friends grab hold of her and try to pull her back. Even as they did, Twilight and her false friends came in, trying to separate the pile. “No! We’re together. We can do this! We can stop Corona!” “No you can’t!” Twilight objected. “Because you’re not the bearer of the Element of Magic!” Trixie glared at Twilight. “YES I AM!” She shouted, her magic reaching out, to the tourmaline diadem that still sat atop her head. “AND THESE ARE MY FRIENDS, AND I’M GOING TO SAVE THEM!” There was a flash of light – not from Corona, not from Twilight, and not from Trixie’s horn. It was from the Element of Magic, glowing bright. --- Twilight didn’t want to fall away, but she did in utter shock at what she saw, as did her friends. The Element of Magic was glowing – responding to Trixie’s magic. As Twilight stared in horror, the other Elements, still around the necks of Trixie’s brainwashed ‘friends,’ began to glow as well, pulsing in bright colors. The golden aura around Trixie cut out as the Element of Magic flashed brighter. While its gem didn’t change, over Trixie’s head appeared a magical outline of her cutie mark, the crescent-shaped nebula with a wand overlaying it, although it was the pink of the Element’s gem, instead of blue. A similar set of arcane marks began to appear over each of the ponies currently wearing the Elements as they were all lifted into the air, their eyes glowing white with power. “Wh…what’s goin’ on?” Applejack demanded. “How can the Elements actually be doing this?” Rarity added. “I don’t know!” Twilight exclaimed. “This…this isn’t possible!” She looked to Celestia for explanation. Her teacher was staring in disbelief at least as large as Twilight’s own, her telekinetic grasp on Trixie forgotten about. “Princess!” “She’s not the Princess!” Trixie’s voice called down from where she was floating in the air. “She’s Corona…” There was a burst of magic, the power of which Twilight had felt only twice in her life before today, and pure arcane energy in a rainbow of hues shot straight up into the sky. “And she’s going back into the Sun where she belongs!” Twilight could only watch as the power the Elements of Harmony were unleashing began to fall from the sky, arcing on itself, curving around…and then falling right back down, not towards Celestia – but towards Trixie, and the five other ponies with her. “What?” Trixie asked, just as the rainbow hit her. There was another flash of light, and a gust of wind strong enough to toss everypony but Celestia off of their hooves. When the light faded and the wind cleared, and Twilight was able to pick herself back up, Trixie and her ‘friends’ were on the ground, each of them looking stunned. Almost as one, the five Element necklaces fell from their necks, landing on the ground at their hooves, the glow within them subsiding. Only the Element of Magic remained on Trixie’s head as she stared in shock and horror at Celestia, still standing, not merely wholly unhurt by the Elements, but in fact not even touched in the first place. “Wh…what…?” she asked. “What? What? No!” She stood on shaking legs, looking behind her. “C…c’mon, get back up, put those back on! We have to try again!” Raindrops was the first to recover from her stunning, shaking her head and putting one hoof to it. “T…try what…?” She asked. “What…what just happened?” “Ow…” Lyra intoned as she picked herself up. “Ow…headache…ow…” “Kind of not the most important thing right now, Lyra,” Trixie insisted, looking to Cheerilee. “Snap out of it!” Cheerilee looked back to Trixie, frowning. “This…this is strange…” she intoned. “I was so sure that you were right, but now…it’s like everything you showed me. Everything in that memory spell…it was just like watching a movie. That’s it…” Trixie stared with eyes wide. “Y…you mean…” Ditzy picked herself up next, eyes rattling in her head for a few moments. “Trixie,” she said. “I think…you showed us all your memories. It made us act funny. But now…now I think I can see what happened. Getting a rush of memory and emotion like that, of course we thought you were our friend, would trust you…” She turned one eye on Trixie. “But…but you’re not. You’re not our friend.” “I don’t think you’re a bad pony,” Carrot Top added, trotting over to Trixie. “I think…I think you need help.” Trixie stumbled backwards at that, teetering for a moment before falling on her haunches. “No…” she breathed. “No…” Celestia took a step forward. Trixie whirled around, apparently not having let her out of her peripheral vision. The Princess waited several seconds before advancing a second step. “The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful magic in all of Ponydom,” she said. “You wished to help your friends, Trixie…or the ponies you believed were your friends. The Elements responded. But they recognized that something was wrong…that you were the source of their conflict, not me. The memories you implanted in them were causing disharmony.” Celestia was closer to Trixie then she had yet been able to get since this whole ordeal had begun. “Please, Trixie,” she said. “I do not know how it is that the Elements responded to you or your friends in the first place…but the results would seem to be clear. I was not the problem. You were. “I understand that you do not trust me, Trixie. It is clear to me that you feel you cannot. But please, for your sake, and for the sake of those whom you would consider to be your friends…please, let me help you.” Trixie was breathing in short, quick gasps as she looked at Celestia, then to her friends. She looked at Twilight Sparkle last of all, staring at her with wide, tearing-up eyes. “This isn’t…this isn’t…” “Trixie,” Twilight said, stepping forward herself. “Please.” Trixie gazed at Twilight another long moment, before looking back to Celestia. She was still tensed, still defensive, still looked ready to bolt at a moment’s notice – but very slowly, she nodded. “O…okay,” she breathed. “Okay…I’ll trust you, Corona…for now. But I want to know what in Tartaros is going on before I start – ” Her tirade was interrupted when she saw something past Celestia. Glancing in the same direction, Twilight saw one of Celestia’s pegasus guards flying towards them. He landed a few feet behind his Princess, bowing deeply. “Your Majesty!” He reported without looking up. “We have captured Trixie, your Majesty.” “We?” Celestia echoed, turning around. The pegasus guard looked up. “Yes, your Majesty, on the other side…of…Ponyville…” He noticed, for the first time, the blue unicorn in the wizard’s cap, still wearing the Element of Magic. Everypony remaining looked between him, Celestia, and Trixie. “I’m confused,” Pinkie Pie said. --- Meanwhile, in the center of Ponyville, Spike had been in the middle of fixing himself lunch – he was worried about the theft of the Elements, of course, but he saw no reason why he should worry on an empty stomach – when he heard the library’s front door open. “Lunch break!” he called. “Spike?” Spike came out from the kitchen, and brightened. “Hey Twilight!” he said, walking out with his BLT – beryl, lettuce, and tashmarine diopside – sandwich in one hand and a cup of milk in the other. “Did you find the Elements already?” Twilight stared down at him for several long moments, looking confused. For some reason, she was wearing a plain brown cloak, tied around her neck with a simple rope. “U-um,” she said. “Yes! Yes, I did. It was easy!” She smiled widely. Spike joined in as he crunched down on his sandwich. “Awesome!” he said. “I knew that Trixie wouldn’t – ” “T-Trixie?!” Twilight interrupted. “Trixie was here?” “Uh, yeah?” Spike asked, drinking some milk. “She was all, ahh, Corona! when she saw the Princess and – ” Twilight nearly leaped from her coat at that, backing away from Spike several long paces. “Wh-what?!” She demanded. “That Trixie?!” Spike stared. “Um…what Trixie?” he asked, taking another bite from his sandwich. Twilight had started pacing around, shaking her head. “Why? How? How’d she find me? Oh no oh no oh no…I…I knew coming here was a bad idea, but I just thought…oh, stupid, stupid, stupid!” Spike watched Twilight for several long moments, head turning to the side as he took in the sight of her. She looked…a little travel-worn. And there was something about her eyes… He gasped, dropping his milk and sandwich and pointing an accusing hand. “You’re not Twilight!” He exclaimed. The unicorn – if she was even that – stopped her pacing, and looked to Spike with fresh surprise on her face. After a moment, her eyes narrowed just slightly, and she frowned. “I’m…I’m sorry, Spike,” she said, horn glowing.