Chapter 4: In which the Great and Powerful Trixie faces a dragon Google docs
“Ahaha... ha... ha.” Trixie's laugh tailed off as the light returned to the room. She coughed, suddenly feeling just slightly self conscious. “Well... good. That's that then.”
“Are we done now?” Asked Gilda. “Revenge served, foals banished, job done?”
“Served! Yes!” Ace yelled suddenly. “Of course! I need to know- is the curse lifted? Do any of you know how to play tennis?”
“If we really are finished here, I suppose I could partake of a quick set or two...” Blueblood sighed. “It does feel like rather an anticlimax though. What was the plan after this, Trixie?”
There hadn't really been a plan. Somehow, she had felt that once Twilight was gone then that would be the end of it, but thinking of it now she found that she still wanted more. She had tasted so much power, and she certainly didn't feel like giving it all up just because the original quest was over. Even if it meant having to keep hanging around with these idiots. Still, she could certainly use a break from their constant wittering. “It may not be over quite yet. The Great and Powerful Trixie needs time to plan our next move. If you wish to... play tennis, or whatever, then now might be a good time to do so. Be back here in an hour.”
The others filed out. From their expressions, it appeared that Trixie wasn't the only pony with a lot on their mind. Inkimena was the last to leave, and then Trixie was alone in the library. Apart from Owlowiscious and, as it turned out, one other. “Forgetting someone, Trixie?”
At the top of the stairs was a small purple dragon. Trixie scolded herself for not remembering that Twilight had an assistant, but maintained her outward composure. A dragon so young was no threat to the Great and Powerful Trixie, even without the others to support her. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not concern herself with such minor matters as yourself. After defeating the Elements of Harmony themselves, you are but a tiny bug to crush under Trixie's hooves.”
Spike scowled. He didn't like being talked down to, especially not by Trixie. “I have in my claw a piece of parchment,” as he spoke, he pulled his hand out from behind his back, to reveal a scroll tightly coiled and sealed. Ready to send. “It says: 'Dear Princess Celestia, a pony named Trixie has done something terrible to Twilight and her friends. Please come immediately to assist. Sincerely, Spike.'” There was a determined expression on Spike's face now. “One quick breath, and it'll be on its way to the Princess. Bring Twilight and the others back now, any maybe I won't have to send it.”
The threat did not seem to have had the effect that Spike had hoped. In fact, Trixie seemed rather amused by the suggestion. “Is that supposed to scare the Great and Powerful Trixie? You foal! The Elements of Harmony were powerful enough to end Nightmare Moon, and the Elements of Anarchy are more than powerful enough to deal with her sister. I admit that revolution was not part of my original plan-” Although now she thought of it... why not? But that was for later, deal with the dragon first. “-but if you force my hoof then I will not hold back. Perhaps I'll banish her to the moon as well. Or perhaps to the sun! Do you really want to be responsible for the death of Equestria's most beloved princess?”
At this, Spike faltered. The idea that Trixie might have the power to defeat even Celestia hadn't even occurred to him. Trixie did not let his hesitation go to waste. She snatched the scroll from his hand with her magic, throwing it safely out of breathing range. Then she levitated him up into the air with her magic. She smirked, taunting the unfortunate dragon as he writhed around helplessly. “Of course, had you sent that letter while we were separated, that might have been problematic. Don't you worry, Trixie will deal with your Princess in her own time! Now... is there any chance that Twilight has any rope lying around here?”
Blueblood watched with little interest while Ace speedily erected a makeshift tennis court. A large piece of cloth 'borrowed' from Rarity's store had been strung between two houses to act as a net, and Ace was sketching out some lines to mark out the court itself. Fortunately the tennis pony had been carrying a spare racket and some balls so at least they didn't have to improvise those.
Despite his aloof response to Ace's request, Blueblood actually did feel like a game. He had played tennis in his younger days, and right now he fancied a bit of sport to settle his mind. There was something... off. He couldn't put his hoof on it, but he just had this feeling that he had missed something important. “Are you quite finished?” He asked.
“All ready now.” Ace tossed Blueblood a ball. “You serve. I am a world champion after all, might as well give you a sporting chance...” He dropped into a ready position, as Blueblood tossed the ball into the air and launched it across the net. Time seemed to slow for Ace as the ball bounced- his instincts kicking in as he plotted the ball's trajectory in his mind, pulling his racket back ready to connect at the perfect point to send the ball sailing into the far corner of Blueblood's side of the net-
Just as he was about to strike, an image of Applejack, wrapped in darkness and struggling to escape, shot into his head. Shocked, he swung the racket violently. The ball went flying off sideways, smashing into a window with an almighty smash. Stay focussed Ace... he thought to himself. “A-an unlucky hit,” he stammered. “I just need to adjust this...” He fiddled with his racket, although he knew that it was strung just fine.
Once he had finished messing around and indicated that he was ready, Blueblood served once again, his trademark insufferable smirk now firmly entrenched on his face as he sensed Ace's weakness. Ace vowed to wipe it off, lining up a fast, curving shot to take the unicorn off guard. However, just as before, in the instant that he was about to swing his racket his thoughts were invaded by another vision of Applejack, this time collapsed in tears on the surface of the moon. The ball thudded uselessly into the base of the net.
That was how it continued. Every time he tried to hit the ball, he would suddenly be distracted by a guilt-inducing image of Applejack's suffering, and loose his concentration. Each time, Blueblood got a little more smug, and Ace got an awful lot more annoyed.
“You know,” quipped Blueblood sarcastically. “I may not be a world champion, but I do believe that the aim of the game is to land the ball on the opposite side of the net, within the guidelines. But then, I bow to your professional knowledge, of course.”
His opponent tossed his racket aside. That was the last straw. “It's no good! This wasn't supposed to happen! Now the curse is worse than ever!” He was panicking now. How could he have been so stupid? A million furlongs or so of empty space was no obstacle to a curse! His actions had only angered Applejack further, and now he couldn't even beat some nopony prince! He'd been going about this all wrong, but maybe there was still some way to salvage it... He broke into a gallop, rushing back towards the library.
“Where the hay do you think you're going?” Asked Blueblood, but Ace didn't seem interested in answering. He sighed. He was going to have to follow, wasn't he?
Meanwhile, Inkimena had been wandering aimlessly through Ponyville. She needed to be alone with her thoughts. Back on the farm, she had imagined that getting her revenge on Pinkimena would solve everything, but now that it had actually happened she was struggling to see how anything had changed at all.
There was still nopony else to help her on the farm. Her sister was still not going to come home, in fact now she couldn't even if she had wanted to. And this time... this time it was Inkimena's fault, not hers.
But far more than this feeling of futility and wasted effort, there were Pinkimena's final words to her. You can't hate me silly! I'm your sister! It wasn't true... was it? She'd certainly thought that she'd hated her... but deep down that feeling had arisen from how much she missed her. Why would she have missed her if she hated her so much?
And what did that mean for how Pinkimena felt about her? Inkimena had thought that her sister had left because she hated the farm, and worse; her family. But if what she had said was true, then that didn't make any sense at all. She'd certainly seemed pretty pleased to see her... Even now, after she'd been betrayed and banished to the moon, deep down Inkimena knew that Pinky would still not hate her. She would... forgive. Yes, that's what sisters should do for each other.
This was all wrong! She hadn't wanted to send her sister away! She'd wanted her to come back! A steely expression of determination formed on Inky's face. “I'm coming for you Pinky!” She declared, loudly. “Cross my heart and hope to fly! Stick a pebble in my eye!”
With Ace, Blueblood and Inky all having left, the unlikely couple of Gilda and Photo Finish found themselves sharing each other's company. For a while, they stood in silence, without much common ground for conversation. Then Photo Finish started staring at the griffon with a studious expression on her face, as if she was thinking something over.
“What do you want, four-eyes?” Snapped Gilda. She wasn't in the mood. Not that she was ever really in the mood for being stared at, but she was especially not into the mood today.
“Have you ever thought of modelling?” Asked Photo Finish. “Zere are definitely some things I could do vith ze griffons...”
“Yeah, well do it with some other griffon.” Scoffed Gilda. “I ain't modelling for you or anyone else.”
“Zats what Fluttershy said at first! But zen I made her a star!”
“Yeah, quite literally. I don't have much interest in following her particular career path, thank you very much.” Gilda snorted. “Frankly, if that's the way you usually treat your models, I'm surprised that you have anyone to model for you at all.”
Oh, no. Photo Finish was not going to stand there and take that. Not from this griffon. “Really? Vell vat about you? Zis Rainbow Dash, she vas your friend, no? You vill not be making many friends, I think, if you send zem off to the moon over some petty disagreement!”
That stung all right. Gilda couldn't believe that this prissy little pony had the nerve to question her! “Hey! You don't know me! Don't you go talking about things you don't understand! Rainbow turned on me! Abandoned me right in front of her lame new friends! All Fluttershy did was quit her job and somehow you think that gives you the right to send her to the moon? In some ridiculous attempt to clear your head of her or some such nonsense? How's that going by the way, made any difference at all?”
“I-” Photo Finish paused. The griffon had a point. She was still obsessed with Fluttershy. She could banish her from Equestria, but she couldn't seem to banish her from her own head. “Vell... no. But zen how exactly did launchink your friend to the moon help you exactly?”
“Well it... Shut up!” No, it hadn't really changed her situation either. It was just how they'd always done things. Dash would prank her, she would prank Dash back. Harder. Then Dash would prank her back even harder again, and so on until eventually they just gave up and called a truce or something.
Only this time there was no chance to call a truce, was there? Dash was gone forever. Was that really what she had wanted? Hay, she'd paid Dash back well and truly for all those gags at the party now! Perhaps it really was time to call a truce and make up. If it wasn't for the fact that Rainbow was stuck on the moon, of course.
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment then, in unison, vocalised the thought they had been sharing. “We have to get them back!”
At that moment, Inky appeared around the corner, almost bumping into them in her rush to get back to the library. “We have to get Pinky back!”
Ace, too, was running up to join them, yelling out at the top of his voice: “We have to get Applejack back!”
The four of them looked at each other, surprised and relieved that they all appeared to be in agreement. They all charged towards the door, falling over each other in their haste to correct their mistake. It was at this point that Blueblood arrived, dragging himself along lethargically, gasping for breath. A sportspony he was not, and he had been pushing himself to the limit trying to keep up with Ace. He saw the scrum in the doorway, just as the group finally sorted themselves out and burst inside. “Would somepony PLEASE explain what the hay is going on?”
Trixie was just tying the last knot on the ropes that were now restraining Spike as her co-conspirators entered. She was rather taken aback at their sudden appearance, sensing already that something was wrong. “What are you all doing back here so quickly? It can't have been an hour already!”
“Listen Trixie.” Gilda explained. “I think I've got Dash back good and proper, but now it's time to end this prank and bring her back.”
“Yes!” Interjected Photo Finish. “And now zat Fluttershy understands properly vat ze alternatives are to her moddelink, I think zat she vill be vanting to vork vith me again! So ve need to be bringink her back as vell.”
“I should never have turned on my sister like that.” Inky's head hung in shame, tears running down her face. “Please, help me to bring her home...”
Most ponies would have been hesitant to follow Inky's sad plea with a matter of personal interest. Ace was not most ponies. “This whole thing has been a complete waste of time.” He complained. “My curse is worse than ever! I need to bring Applejack back and ask her to lift it!”
Unbelievable! Trixie fumed. After all this work, they expected her to just undo everything that she had worked for? Not likely! She was just about to say as much, but Blueblood got there first. “No, no, no, no, NO!” He shouted, angrily. Well, at least she still had one ally left. “Absolutely not; there is no way I am ever going to agree to bringing that horrible white unicorn back under any circumstances.”
“You don't have to.” Countered Gilda. “We don't care about Rarity, or Twilight Sparkle for that matter. Leave them on the moon if you want, just bring back the others.”
“Are you really so naïve?” Trixie couldn't believe this. Only hours ago they had all seemed so keen! What had happened to change their minds so quickly? “It's all or nothing. Do you really think that if we bring four of them back they'll be happy to just leave their friends up there? Twilight Sparkle is NOT coming back, and that means that none of the others are either. That is FINAL.”
“All or nothing you say?” Spike laughed, as all the eyes in the room turned on him. “Interesting turn of phrase, I was just wondering how best to put it myself. Has Trixie told you all about her plans for Celestia yet?”
Blueblood eyed Trixie suspiciously. “No. What plans would those be exactly?”
Something was bothering him, although Trixie couldn't quite work out what. “If you're worried about her, you shouldn't be. With your help, the Great and Powerful Trixie could easily vanquish he-”
“NOW WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE!” Blueblood was suddenly inches from Trixie's face, angrier than she had ever seen him before. “Nopony said anything about some sort of... regicide!” He spat. “The royal family is not about to be overthrown by some COMMONER like you, Trixie. Certainly not with any assistance from me!”
“It was just an idea!” Trixie backtracked swiftly. “Nothing solid! If you all aren't interested then that is not a problem!”
“Oh but it is!” Spike was clearly enjoying himself. “All or nothing, remember? You can probably get rid of me easily enough, and I'm sure that you can all keep your mouths shut, but do you really think that Celestia isn't going to notice her personal student going missing? In a couple of days Ponyville is going to be swarming with Royal Guards, and I bet it won't take long for them to find you. You haven't exactly been keeping a low profile, barging into Twi's library and probably all over the rest of town as well.”
Blueblood sighed, dejectedly. So THAT was what had been worrying him earlier. Now that he thought of it, it did seem rather foalish to think that this would have all gone unnoticed by Celestia. She did have an annoying knack of always knowing exactly what was going on. “The dragon is right. We have no choice but to bring them all back. Even-” He paused, it was a struggle to admit it. “Even Rarity.”
“No. The Great and Powerful Trixie is the Element of Power! You need me to bring them back, and that is NOT going to happen. And if Celestia does track us down, you WILL all help me to defeat her. If you don't, then you can bet that she will not go easy on you. Either you stand with Trixie and live free, neigh, perhaps even become rulers of Equestria, or you stand against me and get imprisoned, or banished, or who knows what. Make your choice. Either way, we will NOT be bringing Twilight Sparkle or ANY of her pathetic friends back from the moon!”
“No, you will not.” Everyone span around, surprised to hear a new voice in the room. Standing in the doorway were six ponies which Trixie had not been expecting to see again.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled happily. Twilight's horn glowed, and the bonds around him broke. He rushed over to her, embracing her warmly. “I was so worried...” He released her. “Rarity! I'm so glad you're OK!” He grabbed her too, and for once she let him. “Oh.. um.. I guess it's nice to see the rest of you as well.”
“Impossible!” Trixie yelled, refusing to believe the evidence of her own eyes. “How did you get back here?”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinky Pie was jumping up and down gleefully. “I know! I know! We rode back on a beautiful rainbow!”
The Elements of Anarchy stared at Rainbow Dash incredulously. She might be a strong flier, but it was hard to believe that she'd carried five other ponies all the way back from the moon in a matter of a few minutes. Gilda was the first to speak. “Wow Dashie, you must have been working out.”
This caused Applejack to laugh. “Not THAT Rainbow! It was a sorta magical rainbowy thing.”
“But... how?” Blueblood was surprised. Magic that powerful was beyond anyone, even the Princesses. It had certainly been beyond Nightmare Moon at least.
“Banishing us was a smart move.” Explained Rarity. “But you made one mistake- you banished us all together!”
“We're the Elements of Harmony!” Said Rainbow, proudly, poking at the necklace around her neck. Trixie now noticed that they all appeared to be wearing them, aside from Twilight who had a rather over the top tiara instead. “Once we were all together again Twi could use that power to bring us all the way back here no problem at all!”
“So, um... what happens now?” Asked Ace, hesitantly.
“Now?” Twilight grinned. “Now we're going to tolerate and love the hay out of you!”