//------------------------------//
// Attack 
// Story: Direction 
// by Darth Link 22 
//------------------------------//

The next day looked slightly better for the group, but only slightly.

Applejack was up at dawn, determined to get as much work done as possible before she and Rainbow Dash went off on their daily work. Over the years she had gotten quite good at working while thinking heavily, which was a skill that was coming in handy now that her thoughts were a jumbled mess. 

Half of her was looking for a way to talk Rainbow Dash down, while the other half was wondering if she was right. The farm made a good living, not big money but enough to afford a luxury item or two.

But Rainbow Dash had been right: she couldn’t afford to send Apple Bloom to any secondary education. The thought had never entered her head. Apple Bloom would get her cutie mark in farming and live in the farmhouse for life, is how she always figured.

But, she remembered her fillyhood, when she wanted to go to Manehattan. While she regretted that trip, it was a reminder of the possibility that Apple Bloom’s path could take her off the farm, and while she would love her sister if it came to that, she hadn’t been saving any money for that possibility.

“Big Mac?”

Her brother perked up, surprised at hearing her talk in the middle of applebucking, which was mostly a silent affair. “Yup?”

“How much extra bits do we have saved?”

Big Mac blinked. “Ah think we have about three thousand in th’ bank… why?”

The cowpony rubbed her temple a bit. “I’s… just wonderin’. You know Apple Bloom ‘ell be gettin’ her cutie mark ‘fore long… what if she needs schoolin’?”

“Then we ask th’ Princess or Filthy Rich fer help. They’re bound to know a pony they can ask fer an apprenticeship.”

“What if whatever it is needs a degree? Can we afford it?”

Big Mac shrugged. “We’ll figure somethin’ out. We always do.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Her thoughts went back to Flim and Flam, and how they didn’t figure anything out. Blind luck had saved them that time. “I guess.”





Fluttershy carefully flapped her way to Twilight’s library. She needed a book on bear dentistry to help Harry with a sore tooth. A rather unusual challenge, but she always loved expanding her knowledge of animal care.

She had been humming as she approached the library, but a pony entering her line of sight stopped her. She hated even humming in front of an audience.

That fear might have saved her life.

She was about to open the door when she heard a loud thud from inside, followed by a muffled voice.

“Be careful!”

She froze.

“Whatever, it was just a dumb book.”

“We’re trying to be quiet here!”

Fluttershy’s mind raced. Twilight and Spike were gone, and none of her other friends had any reason to be quiet. Somepony was in Twilight’s house uninvited.

She strained her ears, hoping to hear them again, but they weren’t speaking.

Carefully and quietly as she could, she crawled under one of the ground floor windows. Then, refusing to even breathe for fear of making too much noise, she lifted her head, just enough to see inside without exposing her head.

It took her three seconds to recognize a figure and pull her head back in.

Trixie. Trixie was in Twilight’s house.

She could hardly move.

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Twilight Sparkle has to come home sooner or later. It’ll be a simple matter of jumping her. Once we subdue her, her friends will be easy.”

The other voice, which gave Fluttershy a nagging feeling of recognition, just sighed in a way deliberately meant to be obnoxious. “Whatever.”

Finally finding her strength, she inched to the front door again. Carefully, she flew away, slowly at first, then breaking into the midair equivalent of a sprint toward Carousel Boutique.





“Well… your temperature’s actually down today,” Rarity said, relief in her voice. “Maybe another doctor isn’t necessary after all.”

“Mmmmmmmmmmm…”

“But maybe a second opinion wouldn’t be such a bad idea,” she sighed. “I’ll get on the phone with…”

“Rarity!” 

Said Unicorn jumped a foot in the air. It instantly registered that she had heard Fluttershy screaming, which she rarely did unless she was truly scared.

“Fluttershy, what…”

“Do you have the changeling wards installed?”

“Yes, why…”

“We need to get the others together. Right now.”





Rainbow Dash was often seen as lazy, but she never dragged her hooves when she had something to do. At least, she tried not to. If she couldn’t do it quickly anyway, at least. But applying that in practice was a lot harder than thinking about it.

But then again, she had already done this under much worse circumstances. Admitting she was wrong to a friend was hard, but the wedding was the peak of that. Still, this was a challenge of a different flavor. She needed to admit she was wrong for snapping while trying to get the most stubborn pony in town that she was right that she needed to change.

She had just arrived at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres when Applejack had been leaving to go to market. The pair stopped in their track and looked at each other.

“…Hey.”

“Hey.”

Silence. 

“Okay, look, I know I was a bit… pushy about things yesterday…”

Applejack held up a hoof to stop her. “I understand. I think we’re all a little on edge, what with Twi gone an’ them changelings everywhere. It makes sense we’d say things we don’t mean. I say forgive an’ forget. Now, I need ta get these to mar…”

Rainbow Dash flew in front of her. “See, that’s just it. I might have gone too far yesterday, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t right. You need to start…”

“No…”

“No, really…”

“N-no,” Applejack held up a hoof again. “Not right now, okay?”

“But…”

“Rainbow, look,” Applejack said with a deep breath. “Not right now. We’re all on edge right now. We can talk later, really. When this whole mess is over, I’ll listen to whatever, but I don’t really think now is the best time.”

There was silence.

“You’ve always said you’ll think about it, but that never…”

“Well, I mean it,” Applejack started, then caught herself. She took a deep breath, then went on, more calm. “See? We’re all on edge. Let’s just put it aside for right now, okay?”

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend for a few moments. Inside her brain, the two ideas waged war for dominance. “Well…”

And then Fluttershy entered the scene.

Taking a few deep breaths, she began speaking in a quick voice that was so unlike her. “You’re both here! Thank Celestia! You need to get to Carousel Boutique right now!”

Both ponies looked at her with momentary awe.

“Fluttershy? You’re sounding like Pinkie talking that fast…”

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy cut her friend off. “Is Pinkie here too?”

“Nah, she’s at the bakery…”

“Good, then Rarity will get her. We need to meet up, now!”





Lightning Dust took another book from the shelf and flipped through it. “Pfth. Lame.” She set it aside, the only reason she hadn’t tossed it was Trixie’s insistence at staying silent, and grabbed another. “Lame,” she set it aside. Had Twilight been there, she’d have likely had a fit at how she was treating her books like trivial items.

Red Hoof sat at a table, almost completely motionless, flipping through a dictionary. He had gotten all the way to “aero” at this point, and he seemed willing to read all the way to the end, invested in it as he would any novel.

Trixie sat with her eyes closed. She had been closing them for nearly half a minute and then keeping them open the other half for the past thirty minutes. Lightning Dust thought about asking, then decided she really didn’t want to get Trixie started on another rant.

She pulled another book down. “Art of the Checklist? What a dweeb.” She tossed it into the ever growing pile. “Seriously, how much longer?”

And then Trixie’s eyes opened. And she grinned.

“Good news, it’s not any longer now.”





“Now, here’s a fresh washcloth,” Rarity said as she applied the rag to Sweetie’s forehead. “Your fever’s gone down, but no need for unnecessary risks. Now you just wait while we go downstairs to discuss what to do.”

Sweetie moaned. Rarity kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

By the time she had gotten down to her workroom, Fluttershy was finishing up her story about what she had seen.

“So, let’s go over there and whup her. She’s not as powerful without the Amulet on.”

“Don’t you remember the other pony there? Might be more than one,” Applejack said.

Fluttershy spoke next. “Um, shouldn’t we call the guards? This isn’t like when Trixie had her shield up…”

“I sent Celestia word through my fireplace as soon as you told me. But there’s no telling how long they’ll take to get here, and they could get up to anything in that time.”

“They can’t even leave the library. Won’t somepony recognize them?”

Rarity shook her head at Rainbow Dash’s suggestion. “We can’t rely on that. Trixie could change the forms of things with the Amulet. I think we best assume she can now too.”

“Then what do we do?” the cyan pegasus threw up her hooves.

“Ooh! Ooh! I know, I know!” Pinkie hopped up and down. “Didn’t Twilight say once that the Princess sent her something to help with Trixie?”

“That’s right,” Rarity said, her face brightening. “Twilight even showed me how to use it. It takes Unicorn magic, but… it should drain the rest of the Amulet’s magic from Trixie.”

“Great, so where is it?”

At Applejack’s question, she grimaced. “In Twilight’s house.”

“So, no problem,” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you know where in her house it is?”

“In her lab. That might stop Trixie from finding it, but we can’t get to it.”

“Yes we can, easily. We all make a distraction while you sneak in and get it.”

“Rainbow, we don’t know how powerful Trixie is, or who she’s got workin’ fer her.”

“We don’t need to. Even with that Amulet, she wasn’t everywhere at once. And who could she have possibly gotten? A few thugs? We took an army of changelings and an angry mob, Trixie should be the only real threat. We only need to keep her busy for a few minutes.”

Applejack rubbed her chin. “I guess so,” she muttered. “I think it’s as good a plan as we’ll think of ‘fore they get here.”

“Grrrrreat! Now let’s go!” She jumped in the air. “We can get going, and stop Trixie, and Twilight will have a nice present when she gets home and…”

Pinkie’s words were cut off, and the reason took a few seconds to register why.

One moment, she was there.

And the next moment, she was stone.

The change was so sudden, that it took a few seconds for it to register in the confounded ponies’ brains.

Rarity screamed in horror. Both at Pinkie, and at what else she saw.

Sweetie was standing at the foot of her steps. Her eyes were wide and vacant, with dark energy dancing around them and the tip of her horn. Her mouth was open and her tongue was hanging out. 

And Trixie Lulamoon was standing right behind her.