“I love it when a plot comes together.”
“It’s not over yet. I spy a possible complication for your little scheme.”
“What are you talking abo… Ah. Well, we almost made it without discovery. That's respectable."”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll handle it.”
“Discord! Don’t you dare-”
Fluttershy pranced down the street toward the Silver Halter, humming happily around the bag held in her mouth in time with the song Pinkie Pie was improvising around the theme of cinnamon. The spicy-sweet scent wafting from the bag combined with Pinkie’s music drove all worries about confronting Discord from the yellow pony’s mind. As the bonded pair arrived at the theater, they met Applejack coming from the other direction. Fluttershy blinked in surprise at the orange mare’s mane, which was layered up on her head in a sort of forward-leaning bun, and the string of pearls hanging around her neck.
“Howdy there Flutterpie,” AJ said, “How’d the two of you fare?”
“We got what we needed,” Fluttershy said, setting her bag down, “What about you and Rarity? Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Yup, right here,” Applejack said, motioning to the pearls, “Ten pearls and then some.” Her stomach gurgled and she chuckled, “Ah-heh-heh… Sorry. Say, you got anything ta eat in that bag? I forgot how tiny the portions can be fer a fancy luncheon.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Sorry Applejack,” she said, “It’s only the cinnamon we had to get.”
“Cinnamon?” AJ cocked her head to the side, “Now what in Equestria would Discord want with ten pearls and a bunch of cinnamon?” Fluttershy just shrugged with an apologetic look on her face. A shadow fell over the ponies and they looked up to see a pony-sized black cloud pass low over their heads and settle to the street. Twilight was on top the cloud, all four legs wrapped around it in a tight grip. “Looks like the gang’s all here,” Applejack said as Twilight stood up on the cloud and looked at her friends, “But Twi, ain’t there some sort of rules ‘bout flying in the city?”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, “But if you’re dragging a thundercloud around and acting like you have every right to do so, nopony asks any questions. It’s called a…” She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head as she consulted with Rainbow Dash. “A Griffon Fire Drill apparently,” she concluded with a shrug of her wings, “Anyway, here’s hoping Rainbow and I guessed right in making this cloud. You girls ready?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” AJ said.
“Um,” Fluttershy said, “Are you going to be able to get that cloud inside the building?”
Twilight jumped down from the cloud and looked at it. “That’s a good question,” she said, “Maybe if I break off a smaller piece?” She regarded to the thunderhead for several seconds as Rainbow gave her opinion on the matter. Finally, Twilight gave a nod and then proceeded to carefully split the cloud in half, and then in half again. She pulled one of the quarters aside and kicked the others out of existence. “Rainbow says this is only good for one or two lightning strikes,” she said, taking flight and starting to push the smaller cloud toward the theater, “but that should be more than enough. Come on.” Applejack ran ahead to open a door, but found them all to be locked.
“Huh, let’s try around the back,” she said.
“I hope Trixie’s here,” Fluttershy said as the group walked into the alley behind the building, “If they’re not expecting us yet…” Applejack tried to backstage door and then stepped back with a frown when it refused to yield. “Oh dear.”
“Try knocking,” Twilight suggested, “Maybe Mr. Arch is here; I’m sure he’ll let us in.” Applejack approached the door and knocked on it twice, and then jumped back as it cracked open slightly and a thick pink mist hissed out and surrounded the ponies.
“Now what?” AJ asked as she and her friends drew as close together as they could. The mist encircled the group and curled up to close over their heads, sealing them inside a dome as Discord’s laugh echoed around them.
“My little ponies,” the chaos spirit’s voice said, “So dependable and trusting.”
“Cut the nonsense Discord,” Twilight snapped, “We’ve brought what you asked for, so it’s your turn to hold up your end of the bargain. Change us back!”
“I admire the confidence Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said, “But are you sure you solved my riddle? After all-” the voice cut out suddenly and the mist ceased swirling, simply hanging where it was as if frozen in time.
After a moment, a new voice was heard from outside the pink curtain. “That’s enough,” it said, “you’ve crossed the line already. Game over, you lose, chimera. Dispell!” The world seemed to vanish in a blinding flash of light. When the light faded, the misty dome was gone along with the thundercloud, the bag of cinnamon, and ten pearls from AJ’s necklace. Also, where once three ponies had stood flank-to-flank now six ponies were laying in a heap.
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash shouted, leaping into the air and hugging her legs across her chest, “I’m back baby!” Twilight chuckled at the pegasus as she extracted herself from the pile and checked to see if her horn was back in its proper place. The others stood up as well and looked each other over.
“Welp,” Applejack said, “Looks you got to keep the hairdo there Rarity.”
“Indeed,” the white unicorn said, using her magic to remove bobby pins until her hair fell free into something vaguely resembling her normal style, “and I notice that your hat has returned.”
Applejack looked up and then pulled the Stetson off her head. “That’s great,” she said, “But that means Discord an’ whoever else was involved in this just got saved from a serious flank-kicking.” Twilight glanced at the farm-pony, and then at Rarity, who simply shrugged.
“Speaking of which,” Rainbow said, coming back down to earth, “Who the hay was that other guy? And what did they want with all that random stuff?”
“Hey girls!” Pinkie shouted, waving a hoof from her place next to the theater door, “Come check this out!” The others gathered around to see a letter taped to the door, written in a rather sloppy manner. “Hmm,” Pinkie said, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she leaned in close to read, “I think it says, ‘Girls, congratulations on winning, but I’m afraid Discord left you one last surprise that’s beyond my ability to reverse. Go to the showmare’s dressing room and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.’ Hm, this last bit’s either a signature or a scribble…”
“Argh,” Rainbow said with a face-hoof, “First a ninja-squirrel, then multi-mental whatever… NOW what? A ticking candy time bomb?” Pinkie’s ears shot up and she ran into the theater with a cry of “Oo!” A few glances were exchanged between the remaining ponies before they followed Pinkie. They caught up to her outside Trixie’s dressing room, where she was peering through the door with a slight droop to her mane and tail.
“It’s not a candy bomb,” she said as she opened the door wider and moved to let the others look inside. The mares gasped as they saw a pony huddled in the middle of the floor, face buried under front legs as she shook with muffled sobs. She was a solid, dull grey with pure white mane and tail and a cutie mark depicting a star-tipped magic wand and a swirl of pixie dust.
“Trixie?!” Fluttershy gasped.
“She’s grey!” Rarity exclaimed in horror.
“Discord’s twisted her,” Twilight said, pushing past her friends to kneel next to Trixie.
“He can do that?” Applejack asked as she and the others gathered around, “I mean, when he did it to us it was by turning us against our Elements, right? Trixie’s just a regular pony.”
“That’s right,” Trixie sobbed, “Just a… regular old… weak and useless Trixie.”
“Aw, no you’re not,” Pinkie said, grabbing the grey pony up in a hug, “You’re the Great and Powerful Trixie, remember? You’re the best stage magician I’ve ever seen! Don’t let mean ol’ Discord get you down!”
“I’m a fraud!” Trixie cried, hanging limp in Pinkie’s grip, “A charlatan! A pathetic pretender who’s only good at making things up!”
“Well, she’s still as big a ham as usual,” Rainbow Dash said flatly. Twilight shot her a look. “She is,” Dash said defensively.
“Trying to talk her out of this isn’t going to work,” Twilight said, starting to focus her magic, “I’ll have to use the memory spell to knock this out of her.”
“You sure that’ll work sugar cube?” Applejack asked, “I mean, our history with her ain’t been the greatest…”
“I may have to find a memory that doesn’t include us,” Twilight said as she placed her horn on Trixie’s head, “wish me luck.”
With a few days of “real” Multiple Mental Occupancy, the previous few hours, and the memory spells she’d cast on her friends during Discord’s brief return to full power, Twilight was becoming rather experienced with traversing the mental plane. This particular experience, delving into Trixie’s memory to find something to break the showmare free of Discord’s influence, was fairly unique. When using the spell to restore her friends, Twilight had simply inserted key thoughts that triggered happy memories of their growing friendship. For this, Twilight had to go deeper than the surface, deeper than she’d ever gone into another’s mind. This would be so exciting if it wasn’t so risky, she thought.
Her awareness of the world around her faded and she felt her sense of time begin to disappear as well. In no time, all there was was her, the magic, and Trixie. Soon, though, a new world formed around Twilight, a world made up of shadows and light. She was standing on a street made of soft golden light surrounded by the barely-visible shadows of buildings in styles reminiscent of Ponyville and other smaller towns in the Everfree region. One house stood out from the rest, being constructed of wood and stone with a roof of thatch. Or rather, Twilight thought as she approached it, the memory of wood, stone, and thatch…
Home. The word echoed through the air, coming from all directions at once. Twilight paused for a second and looked around. When nothing new appeared, she continued toward the house. She came to a stop at the foot of a cobblestone walk that curved ever so slightly as it crossed through a small yard on its way to the front door. On the lawn lay a sapphire-blue unicorn mare watching a pale blue filly trying to lift a trio of pebbles with her magic. The little pony’s face was scrunched up in concentration as the aura around her horn sputtered and sparked. After several seconds, the aura stabilized and the pebbles rose gently into the air, suspended in a matching glow. The filly opened her eyes slowly, and then she beamed at the mare. “Look mama! I did it!”
“Yes you did,” the mare said proudly, standing up to walk over and nuzzle the filly, “My little Trixie, you’re becoming so powerful.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the tender scene, but it suddenly froze and lost all its color before fading into the shadows.
She spoiled me. The voice was filled with anger, and to Twilight it sounded almost like Trixie, but with a strange artificial twist to it. The buildings shifted around the unicorn, moving her to a point just outside the ethereal town. Before her was the familiar form of Trixie’s original stage-wagon, and the showmare herself was sitting in the open door looking out at the town, her coat devoid of color. Around Twilight appeared the shadows of several ponies, who looked at Trixie and then turned away and walked toward the buildings, fading away with each step. Trixie watched them go with an unreadable expression, and then stepped into her wagon and closed the door. Did anypony come to see me off when I set out on my own? The Trixie-voice asked sardonically.
“Trixie!” Twilight called out, running toward the wagon, “Wait!” The wagon turned grey and vanished along with the town, leaving Twilight temporarily alone on a disk of light. “This… this feels wrong,” Twilight said, “I mean, sure I don’t actually know what your fillyhood was like, but I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re thinking right now. I bet your mother was there when you left. She loves you. She has to.”
Oh go away Twilight, the voice said, starting to sound more like Discord than Trixie, You have the most annoying habit of sticking your nose into our business.
“I’m helping a friend,” Twilight replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked around for something to glare at.
“Did she ask for your help?” An image of the Spirit of Chaos appeared in front of the unicorn, arms crossed as he looked askance at her. “Has she ever asked you to help her, or did you just keep pushing until she relented?”
“Of course…” Twilight began, but then stopped as her mind failed to conjure up a moment when Trixie had actually requested help from her. “I…” she stammered. Discord smirked and started to turn away. “That shouldn’t matter,” Twilight said firmly, rallying her thoughts, “A good friend can tell when she’s needed even without being asked.”
Discord leaned forward and looked Twilight in the eye. “You just assume she thinks of you as a friend,” he said, and then adopted a mocking, sing-song voice, “Oh look at me! I’m the Element of Magic! And since Friendship is Magic, every pony in the world will want to be my friend!” He spat to the side. “Why don’t we just see how good a friend Trixie thinks you are?” He vanished from view and a scene began to emerge. Unlike the ethereal town, this scene was full of color, although it was muted and translucent. A quick look around told Twilight that she was standing in the main square of Ponyville. A starry expanse overhead set the time at some point after sunset, and the location of Trixie’s wagon gave the unicorn her final clue as to what was about to unfold.
“Nice choice Discord,” Twilight muttered as she saw two small pony-shaped light blobs run up to the wagon and begin to pound on the door in a panic, calling out Trixie’s name. The showmare stuck her head out the open top of the door and began to berate the pair for waking her up. As the Ursa Minor appeared and Trixie ran for her life, Twilight sat back with a thoughtful frown on her face. She knew this memory was accurate, she’d heard enough from Snips, Snails, and other ponies about what had happened before she’d entered the scene. The question was whether she’d be able to interact with the memory before she was supposed to be there. She still had that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that the earlier memories had been altered. On the other hoof, it wouldn’t do Trixie any good to rebuild her confidence based on a false idea. With a defeated sigh, Twilight watched Trixie try in vain to drive off the Ursa, and then as an image of her ran up, talked to Snips, heard Trixie’s confession of making things up, and then began to calm and lull the oversize infant bear to sleep. The real Twilight shook her head and turned away from the scene. “Trixie doesn’t hold any of this against me,” she said, “She told me that herself. It took her a while to come to terms with it though.” The scene abruptly changed and Twilight found herself at the foot of a stage made of rocks and dirt, while an angry Trixie yelled at another Twilight Sparkle who was backed up against a half-formed cage of dirt. A golden-yellow blur of light followed by smaller points of red and blue flew onto the stage and interposed themselves between Trixie and the Twilight image. The real Twilight turned away again and said, “She scared me when she was like that, but I understand why she did it now. The next time…” Her ears perked up as she recalled the last time she had been in Trixie’s head. Smiling, she looked up at the shadows above her and said, “When Ashen Blaze was restoring us to our bodies, Trixie asked me to help her find Ash’s mind so she could anchor to it like he told her to.” Immediately she was inside the Ponyville medical tent, with gray-scale Trixie standing in front of her with a sad look in her eyes.
“Twilight,” Trixie said, “I wish I had your strength. You… you never seem to falter.”
Twilight chuckled and shook her head. “Trust me Trixie,” she said, “I falter all the time. What Discord’s done to you happened to me as well. I would have given up if it weren’t for Princess Celestia reminding me what I was fighting for: my friends.”
“It always comes back to your friends,” Trixie said, scowling, “You drive off the Ursa Minor and your friends are there to congratulate you and praise your gift. I come close to losing control and doing you harm with my new earth powers and your friends come to save you. The very spirit of disharmony himself breaks free, and friendship gives you the power to stop him. I don’t have your strength Twilight Sparkle. I don’t have real friends.” She dropped her gaze and Twilight stood in silence, trying to form an answer.
“Do… don’t you think of me as a real friend?” she asked as last, “I… I hoped, after the MMO.”
“Your friends are always around you,” Trixie said, “Not even a day’s trot from your door. I’m out here in Manehatten; the only pony I could consider a friend here is Proscenium, and I work for him…” She sniffled and then continued, “Besides, some of your friends still don’t like me that much.”
“We all have times when we don’t want to be around each other,” Twilight said, reaching out a comforting hoof, but then paused and thought. “Have you even tried to make friends of you own?” she asked.
“No,” Trixie said, looking up at Twilight, “I’ve traveled most of my life, and been an over-inflated braggart for most of that. I’ve never had the time or inclination to try. I was going to head back out on the road in a few months too. How can I have friends if I’m always on the move?”
“Take them with you?” Twilight said with a shrug, “I think I got off lucky; everypony I met on my first day in Ponyville wanted to be my friend right away. I can’t promise it will be that easy for you, but why not start by forming a performance group? Find ponies willing to share the stage with the Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“But I’ve always been a solo act,” Trixie muttered, but then blinked as some color appeared in her coat, making her a dusty grey-blue. “Except that one week…” she mused, “When the Princess…” She trailed off and smiled as Twilight gave her a confused look. The showmare’s full color flowed back into her coat and mane and the medical tent vanished to make way for the stage of the Silver Halter. “You should leave now Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said as her trademark hat and cape materialized on her, “The Great and Powerful Trixie requires privacy in her own mind.”
“Ah, right,” Twilight said, turning away. She’d nearly forgotten that she was simply a projection of her own psyche into the showmare’s head. That must be one of the biggest dangers of this sort of spell, she thought as she began to pull herself out and returned to the real world. She put a hoof to her head as sensation returned and she found herself standing among her friend in Trixie’s dressing room again. “How long was I in there?” she asked.
“Uh,” Rainbow Dash said, “You were touching her for about two seconds if that’s what you mean.” Twilight raised a surprised eyebrow at the relative time dilation.
“It sure did the trick though,” Pinkie said, still holding onto the limp Trixie. The showmare’s color was flowing back into her coat and mane from the tip of her horn outward. Once the change was complete, her eyes focused and she extracted herself from Pinkie’s grasp, tossing her mane and brushing at her chest with a hoof before regarding Twilight with a small smile.
“Don’t mention it,” Twilight said, returning the smile.
“Very well,” Trixie said smugly, “I won’t. The Great and Powerful Trixie shouldn’t need to waste her breath stating the obvious anyway.”
“Yay, everypony’s back to normal!” Pinkie declared, grabbing everypony in a big hug, “you know what this-”
“Party time,” Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash said at the same time.
“Aw, you girls know me too well,” Pinkie chuckled, releasing her captives.
“I know a good café,” Trixie said, “They have a gelato that’s second to none.”
“I’ll be the judge of that!” Pinkie declared, raising a hoof dramatically, “lead the way!”