//------------------------------// // Fine, Hog the Spotlight Like Always, Just Make Room for Some Depth // Story: Fight the Power // by Coconutswallow //------------------------------// Fine, Hog the Spotlight Like Always, Just Make Room for Some Depth (5) --- The silence was of the stunned variety as the assorted “rebels” stood atop their rampart. They all stared at the newly converted Carrot Top as she slowly got to her hooves, completely free from the enthralling power of the Amulet. Fluttershy rubbed her element with a wordless gape. “So should we just… throw her over?” asked Derpy, flying close to Fluttershy, forehooves bent in preparation for a heaving action. A squeak shot through her target, followed by a huddling against the rampart wall. “There will be no heaving of the Element of Kindness!” cried the guardpony, placing himself between Derpy and Fluttershy like a large, nondescript shield. “So if no heaving, what are we supposed to do? I would think we should at least take a vote.” Carrot Top raised her hoof and glanced at her compatriots. There was little time for voting. Trixie stared over the wall down to Empress Twilight and her rallied army and noted that there was no countdown anymore. Their time was up and that meant that the menacing red glow emanating from Twilight’s horn was unlikely to be a wholly pleasant experience. The thought barely occurred to Trixie to warn the others of the incoming danger. She barreled towards Fluttershy, wrapping a hoof around her middle, and jumped off the rampart. A floating spell cushioned the blow of the ground just as the wall they had vacated exploded. As was the way with fiery combustion, it was a spectacle to behold, and Trixie found herself admiring the flaming debris as it flew into the air, the support beams smoldering into collapsed ruin. Twilight and her friends walked slowly through the brand new opening, and she had to admit that it was one of the better stage entrances she had ever seen. “Surrender and she’ll think about sparing your lives!” Lyra belted into the clearing, moving to stand beside her idol, receiving hard stares from Twilight’s friends. “Do you have an element?” Rainbow Dash shot a hard stare at the self-appointed voice of her leader. “Back of line!” She jerked her head and Lyra slunk back behind the Heroes of Equestria. “This rebellion is over, Trixie.” The Amulet Wielder scowled as she watched them slowly rise to their hooves. “Please, Twilight, you don’t have to do this.” Fluttershy peered from behind Trixie. “Oh let her!” Trixie brushed a cinder out of her mane. “Trixie welcomes the challenge!” She planted her hooves into the ground and looked straight into the eyes of the assembled Elements, their glowing redness glinting back at her. She was so going to be toast. “You shall not stand alone!” Shifting out from underneath a pile of burnt wood, the guard pony rose and stuck his chest out. “Very not alone!” Derpy landed by Fluttershy, carrying Carrot Top who, once finding solid ground, proceeded to stamp out the fire raging its way through her mane. Regaining composure, she lowered her head in what could have possibly been an intimidating stare if the imposee squinted their eyes and tilted their head. Looking across at her… “team,” Trixie found herself ever so slightly empowered. They might have been a band of idiotic misfits but they had Trixie to lead them. She stood tall and grinned. “Come and get us, Empress!” Twilight shrugged. “My lieutenants have got this for me.” She nodded and the Elements surged forward, faces in grim array. There was a blur of multi-color that shot towards Trixie. Following her first instinct, she stepped to the side and let it fly into Fluttershy. Before the exposed pony could even cover her face with her hooves, a beam of light fired from her necklace into Rainbow’s eyes. With a cry of pain, the pegasus’s wings curled in and she faceplanted into the ground, skidding a few feet past them. “Bullseye!” Trixie patted Fluttershy’s cringing form on the shoulder. Hopping to her hooves, Rainbow Dash rubbed her now normal eyes and shook her head. She looked back at them. “W-what happened? What did you do to me? I feel less… servant-y.” She blinked while Trixie moved closer. “Welcome to Trixie’s Team!” she exclaimed. “Rainbow Dash, you’re normal again!” Fluttershy ran to hug her friend closely. “You can’t tell me what to do!” yelled Rainbow, a little bit of foam forming on the corners of her mouth. She shook her head. “Sorry, I must have had that built up or something.” As nice as it was to have another member of Trixie’s Resistance Fighters, Trixie wasn’t about to dwell on the moment. She took in the fighting around her and noted the trouble that was about to come their way. Applejack was wrestling the guard to the ground while Rarity and Pinkie went hoof-to-hoof with Derpy and Carrot Top. She was about to lend an assist when she locked eyes with Twilight. “Rainbow mare, you can move fast. Get Fluttershy to your friends as of now!” Trixie’s eyes widened as she watched Twilight walk toward them, her horn glowing. “Hey, I’m done taking orders, Trixie!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “What’s the problem?” Trixie’s hairs stood on end giving her just enough warning to throw up a magic shield before a crackling bolt of electricity fired from Twilight’s horn, dissipating the shield, and rocketing its caster back onto the ground. “Fluttershy to our friends. Got it.” Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy’s ever-sqeaking form and flew off. “What are you doing to my servants?” The Angry Tyrant bared her teeth at Trixie, her horn starting to glow again. Shaking away the fuzz in her brain, Trixie tried to anticipate what could next be coming spellwise. Not able to imagine an output from her nemesis that was remotely pleasant, she settled on negotiation. She would need all the honeyed words at her disposal. “Trixie is merely freeing your servants from the evils of your dumb, little, pony mind.” Stopping in her tracks, the glow left her horn. “Insults? Really? Do you think you’re in a position to throw bon mots? You have to be the most irrational pony I’ve ever met.” “Trixie would like to take this opportunity to point out that it is you who has chosen to concentrate on Trixie and not the thing that is freeing your followers.” She smiled. It was a smug smile, straight from the ego. “I thought you were causing it.” Her brow furrowed as she looked around her. Trixie’s eyes followed hers as she stared at the ponies approaching them. It was an impressive sight, the Heroes of Equestria all walking in file, their eyes lacking any sort of crimson. “But… how?” She stepped back. “Through the power of friendship!” Pinkie beamed. Trixie rolled her eyes. “Through the power of the Elements.” “Same difference.” Rainbow shrugged. “Listen, Twilight.” Applejack walked forward. “We know the real you is somewhere in there.” “This is the real me, you peons! This is the new me! Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to need to re-enslave you!” The Amulet surged with a menacing energy. Crimson tendrils flew out of it and directed themselves at the eyes of the converts. With a low hiss, the tendrils flinched back, leaving still normal eyes in their wake. Tapping the Amulet, Twilight growled. “What gives!” “Twilight, we don’t want to do you any harm, but if you won’t act civilized then we might have to get a little rough.” Rarity tossed her hair back. “Oh hush!” Twilight turned to the now smoking entrance to the clearing. “Everypony attack!” With a ear-puncturing screech, Lyra reared into the air and ran forward, Bon Bon and the entirety of Ponyville following behind her. “Oh great.” Rainbow sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Let’s do this, I guess.” “Well you might be immune to the Amulet for now, but I know you’re not immune to my magi—“ Twilight went silent as a large hoof-full of dirt smacked into her face. “Get her while she’s down!” yelled Trixie. The Do-Gooders walked up to her in her brief moment of confusion. The gems around their necks lit up with brilliance, coalescing into a single beam that fired at Twilight, who disappeared in teleportation just before it hit her. “She’s good,” said Pinkie. “Bigger fish to fry, everypony.” Applejack turned to face the horde that was stampeding toward them. “Trixie are you okay?” Fluttershy walked over to help her back to her hooves. “Trixie has suffered worse in her early career. Do you think they need help?” They watched the others wade into battle with the attacking army, their elements flashing regularly, pony after pony collapsing to the ground converted. “I… think they’re doing fine.” Fluttershy cringed at the spectacle. “Trixie thinks you’re right.” She brushed herself off. “What she wants to know is where Miss Ego went.” “I don’t know. She just disappeared.” “Situation’s under control.” Rainbow Dash walked back up to them, the entirety of Ponyville in tow. “Lickety-split.” “Well that’s fantastic,” said Trixie, looking at the Heroes, all of them smiling, heads held high. She wondered when a wind would pick up and blow back their manes. “Would you all like cookies?” “Pony, do you even know me?” asked Pinkie. “Trixie knows that we need to find the head of the snake! This isn’t a victory until Celestia’s Favored gets a nice long detention for her actions!” “I think you’re mixing your metaphors there a bit, darling, but I agree. We might have freed the people but we must find Twilight before she does who-knows-what damage to somepony else.” Rarity rubbed a hoof on her chin. “She’s off to rebuild, no doubt.” “Which means we need to hit her now before she can get another force together. She might find a way to get critters under control with her spell and I’d rather not face anymore timberwolves in my lifetime.” Applejack eyed her friends. “Do we have a plan?” “Do we need one?” Rainbow shrugged. “Plans are always… nice.” Fluttershy smiled weakly. “Trixie has to agree. She proposes a simple one: we split into two groups and scout for her. If Trixie was her, she would be hiding out in the forest somewhere. We just need to find where fallen leaves are organized.” “Not a bad plan.” Applejack nodded. “We’ll head out ourselves and take the west side of the forest from here and you can take the east side. Just send a signal into the air if you run into trouble and we’ll do the same.” “Do you think we should do something about the crowd?” Rarity turned around and eyed the assorted ponies all in various states of disheveledness watching them with curious eyes. “If I might volunteer, ma’ams.” The guard pony approached them. “I can lead the civilians safely back through the Everfree to Ponyville.” “I like the go-getting attitude!” Pinkie clapped the guard on the shoulder. “You’re getting some cupcakes once this all over.” “It would be an honor, Miss Pie.” The guard nodded. He flew into the air and hovered over the crowd. “Follow me, citizens!” “Well that’s settled. So let’s get hunting!” Rainbow flew towards the hole in the wall with the rest of companions in tow. All but one. “Thank you for saving me.” Fluttershy hugged Trixie tightly. Trixie coughed loudly. “It was nothing. Now go and join your eccentric pals.” “Stay safe.” She smiled and chased after her friends. Trixie quickly wiped the turning corners of her mouth away. “Alright, Trixie, time for payback to that purple lunatic.” “So... we get attention now, right?” Trixie turned to see Carrot Top smiling sheepishly at her. Derpy looked up from a flower she was staring at and side hugged Carrot. “I think so! Now’s our time to shine!” “Trixie guesses you’re the rest of her search party. She would get the scraps. Fine, come along. We’ve got a purple menace to eradicate.” She let out her frustrations on a piece of smoking wood, kicking it across the clearing. Trixie rescues, leads, and protects the Element that saved them all and what does she get? Shooed off. Not that she wouldn’t have lent a hoof to Fluttershy had she known there would be no gratitude coming her way after words. It was only courteous to keep an old… acquaintance from falling into the mind controlling servitude of one of their best friends, but still, a few thank you’s and lavish praise wasn’t too much to ask was it? She audibly huffed. “You okay?” asked Derpy, hovering closely over her head. “Trixie would be far better if she didn’t have a light breeze down her neck.” She turned her head to stare down the pegasus. “Sorry, but I can’t control the weather in the Everfree. It’s wild here.” She stared up into the sky with wide, wonky eyes. “So are the ponies,” Trixie muttered. “How do you think we’ll find a trail that leads us to Empress Twilight? Oops, I mean, just… Twilight.” Carrot Top put a hoof over her mouth. “Goodness, that still rolls off the tongue.” “Are you sure you’re free from her influences?” asked Derpy, flying face-to-face with her friend. “I might have to give you the loyalty test again.” “Derpy, I still have no idea how balancing a muffin on my nose has anything to do with my affiliations.” Trixie’s nostrils flared. No. No this couldn’t go on through the rest of her forest combing. Stands had to be taken. “Trixie has decided that it would be best if you both stayed a good one hundred feet from her at all times… Better spread for searching that way.” “Good idea, Trixie!” Derpy shoved Carrot off the overrun path into a dense thicket, apparently oblivious to her friend’s startled surprise. Finally. Alone with her grumpy thoughts. Trixie plodded along the forest just daring a dangerous creature to make itself known to her sour mood. Before she could even form a half-baked searching plan, a flash of light shot off in the distance, hovering above a space in the forest not far from her. Of course The Mares Glorious would find Twilight first. With a snort, Trixie galloped towards it. The forest started to feel more encroaching and darker the closer to she got to the falling flare, its glowing light having little illuminating effect on its surroundings. She slowed her gallop to a creeping plod. Thick trees opened up to a small clearing which she eyed while hunched behind a bush. Right in the center was a mint colored mare and a white one with a highlighted mane, both still with red eyes. Those two. “Do you think you could have made it a little less… drab?” Bon Bon looked up at the white orb above them. “Nonsense!” Lyra prodded her friend lightly. “This magical flare is for practical purposes! To put pleasing colors on it would be to disrespect its valuable role!” So it wasn’t Celestia’s Favorites that set off the flare? Trixie frowned. This didn’t sit well. What were they playing at? She would have marched right in if she hadn’t learned her lesson the last time. She had had enough of pits and nets to last a lifetime. “All right, what’s goin’ on here?” Applejack waltzed into the clearing blasé as peaches with the rest of the team right behind. “Wow, you’re right, it didn’t take that long.” Bon Bon smiled at Lyra. “Am I ever really wrong?!” Lyra smiled and walked forward to address Applejack. “What’s going on is your surrender! The Great One will spare you a most excruciating fate if you agree to hand over your elements!” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Really? Just give up our elements? Are you kidding?” “This is too serious for jokes!” Lyra stood tall and looked down at them through her nose. “I’m afraid we have no choice but to take them from you!” “I’d like to see you try!” Rainbow Dash flew into the air. The look in Lyra’s eye. The posture. The small clearing. The luring flare. Trixie saw that a trap was coming as if a giant neon-sign had materialized over head with the words TRAPS HERE: FULL OF SURPRISES. With a cry, she was about to jump from her hiding spot but was too late. A large light beamed down on the clearing, blinding. She shielded her eyes with her forehoof. “Stick close, girls! Use your elements!” “Or you could not!” She heard sounds of a scuffle. The light started to feel warm. It continued to heat up and began emanating a low, rumbling thrum. The thrum seemed to drift off into the distance as her head began swimming. She slowly slumped into the ground and drifted off. *** Twilight looked down at the unconscious forms of her previous lieutenants. Their necks were regrettably bare but the Elements had become too dangerous for her to get in close contact with. Somehow the Element of Kindness had purified the others and she felt from a distance that they were too strong to handle. She was going to have to find a way to corrupt their natures fundamentally before she could return to harnessing their power. She directed the cloud she had commandeered as a carriage back to Ponyville. She didn’t mind leaving the necklaces behind. If her plans came to fruition, she would be re-housing their energies. She watched as Ponyville zoomed closer, looking down on the crowds of ponies that had been freed from her liberating thrall. Their time would come later. “Face me, traitor!” A guard pony, the only guard pony, flew up from the crowd towards her. The audacity of her opponents had worn out its welcome a long, long time ago. She rolled her eyes and stomped her hoof lightly on her cloud. A sharp bolt of lightning fired down at him. She watched him fall back to the sea of ponies. Dissipating the cloud, she telekinetically grabbed her friends and floated down into the library from the second story balcony. With a blast from her horn, the entire library was encased in one of her best shields, the Amulet crackling, adding its power to hers. It was time to get to work. She carried her lieutenants to the center room and laid them in a heap. She proceeded to rummage through her shelves for all her magical apparatuses. It was going to take everything at her disposal to get to the root of their power and turn it to her and the Amulet’s will. “You won’t be able to solve it without some help, you know.” With a jump, Twilight wheeled around, finding herself nose-to-nose with a stallion in a tunic, his grey-blue mane distinctly braided. “Who are you?” “I am but the most dedicated of followers, Your Highness.” He bowed low to the ground, looking at her over his thick glasses. She had been preparing an attack spell, but she let it fizzle at his show of deference. For once a proper response of respect to one’s betters. “Well… thank you, but I don’t know you.” She narrowed her eyes. “Rise.” He stood up allowing her to peer into his eyes. “You say you’re a follower yet you haven’t been shown the taste of its glory?” “I don’t require being a host of its energy for it to persuade me of its worthiness. After all, it was I who shipped it to your doorstep.” He frowned slightly. “Which cost me enormously in postage. The Royal Mail Service is one of the biggest rip-offs of our age.” She stepped back. “You sent it to me? Why?” “You are the Element of Magic. The favorite student of Princess Celestia. A most gifted mare, and you ask why I sent it to you? Because I couldn’t think of anypony more worthy of its power and will. It has a destiny to fulfill and I believe you to be the one that can bring its fate to fruition.” He smiled. “And it’s not all I sent you.” He grabbed a book of a shelf with his magic. “Clairvoyance: Myth or Outright Lie. Sent as a ‘promotion’ to a ‘loyal buyer.’” He removed the spine, revealing a silver rod inlaid with deep red gems. “Really a host for a powering rod.” He grabbed another book with his magic, one in an end corner bookshelf. “How to Learn Magic in Ten Seconds Flat. A stale title. Bold, blatantly false claim. Disrespects the deep amount of studying that magic requires. Obviously you never opened it.” He opened it, showing that the center of the pages had been cut-out and a tarnished silver cube with intricate carvings had been laid inside the space. “There are a few more hidden throughout. All of them have been leaking their dark magics for months now, slowly and subtly influencing your mind, preparing it for the Amulet’s arrival.” It was a lot to take in. Her mind spun in thought trying to come to a concluding reaction. On one hoof she felt betrayed by deceit yet on the other hoof she never would have been shown the glory of true power had this mysterious stallion not prepared her. She needed to know more. “Though I agree that there is no unicorn better suited than yours truly, why have you done this? What do you stand to gain?” “I have done much research of the Alicorn Amulet, even unearthed it from its ancient resting place. I have learned its nature inside and out and it has an agenda that I have come to respect, a desire buried deep that I’m sure you have felt tingle in the back of your skull. I want a better world.” He smiled broadly. “Plus a place by your side as you takeover Equestria seems like a pretty sweet deal.” They were points that she could hardly argue against. She knew exactly of what he spoke. There was a drive behind the Amulet’s exhilarating energies that teased at glorious, dark portent. “I accept your help. Now you said that you could assist in corrupting the Elements?” *** It was a dream. Trixie knew it was a dream. But that didn’t stop her from pushing it along. She was riding atop an Ursa Major watching as buildings, wildlife, ponies, all like ants to her gaze, got squashed with abandon. She no longer desired the peaceful, happy-go-lucky vacation that she wanted when she first arrived in Ponyville. No, there was only one satisfaction to be had in her heart now— total destruction… with maybe one exception. It wouldn’t be entirely unsatisfactory if a yellow and pink maned mare was spared and riding atop the Ursa with her. She quickly moved past this dream thought and pictured squashed purple and violet. “Yes, stomp her again! Now her library! Now that barn just for good measure!” With a start, she woke up. She let out a curse and wiped the bleariness from her eyes. She was still at the edge of the clearing but she was the only one around. She scanned the surroundings but there was no sign of the Do Good Five or the Dynamically Trapping Duo. There was, however, something glinting underneath the light that fell on the clearing. Several somethings. Getting to her hooves, she carefully walked towards them, eyes glued to the ground for any residual surprise pits. They were the Elements. Sitting in a neat little pile with a certain magical sparkle, they seemed at once both mischievous and petulant lying on the forest floor. Why would Twilight want her “friends” but not the objects of their power? Well it was certainly her loss. She scooped up the necklaces with her magic and felt the heft of power within them. If these didn’t come in useful then she didn’t know what would. Now where could Evil Hooves have taken her prisoners? Most likely Ponyville. Which was on the other side of the Everfree. Wonderful. With a sigh and the Elements in telekinetic grasp, she trotted out of the clearing. She kept a steady pace realizing that the sun was due to be down in a few hours. The fortress was right on her way to Ponyville, so she decided to stop by it, if only to entertain herself with any forest fires that might have resulted from Twilight’s explosive magic. To her disappointment, there was neither fire nor smoke coming from the place. There was a small gathering, however. “Trixie, there you are!” Derpy flew to her and hugged her. “We thought you might have been swallowed by the forest!” Quickly escaping the hug, Trixie found herself flanked by Carrot Top on her other side. “We ended up a lot more than a hundred feet from you.” She frowned. Trixie barely registered the two. She had her eyes on an entirely different pair. “Trixie! Greetings! I think we have apologies we need to make!” Lyra hopped forward to her. Bon Bon slunk behind her, her head hung low. “Yeah, heh, we’re terribly sorry about all that business.” She offered a sheepish smile. “The regret cuts us to the bone!” Lyra touched a hoof to her chest and closed her eyes in what would have been quiet repose if vibrant energy didn’t come off of her in waves. Trixie clutched the ex-right hoof of Twilight by the shoulders and met her eye to eye. They stared at each other until it was apparent there was no red to be found anywhere. She did the same with Bon Bon, convinced that there was going to be some tiny dot of menacing crimson just waiting to be used as an excuse to magically obliterate the two. Backing away, Trixie’s mouth formed a hard line. “Trixie partially forgives but she never forgets. You shall have to redeem yourselves to her.” “We shall endeavor to serve in every way possible! Name your task!” Lyra grabbed Bon Bon close. “This will be our way back to the light, Bon Bon!” “How did you two even get fixed?” asked Trixie. “Well,” started Bon Bon, “when we were used as bait for Twilight’s friends we had to distract them from using their Elements on Twilight’s trap but that put us in contact with them, so we got freed.” “Do you know where she took Fluttershy?” asked Trixie. She cleared her throat. “Trixie means: do you know where she took the Equestrian Six Minus One?” “Pretty sure it was back to Ponyville.” “Trixie suspected as much.” She nodded to nopony in particular. “Then that’s where we go. You all are part of Trixie’s team now.” She sighed. “Regrettably.” She turned and started her trek back to Ponyville, the rest following her. Derpy nudged Carrot Top. “See, Carrot, I told you we weren’t just secondaries.” “I mean, we kind of are still.” Carrot Top frowned. “For instance, why did we just come back and wait in this clearing?” “Because it was a good rendezvous point!” exclaimed Lyra. “For what, though?” asked Bon Bon. “For getting us back in things!” Lyra moved to wrap two forehooves around Derpy and Carrot. “And to be joined by these talented mares!” Derpy pumped her hoof into the air. “Now we have a chance to glow in the spotlight!” “You’ll have a chance to glow in flames if you won’t stop the chatter!” Trixie glared back at the ragtags. “Just because Trixie has to make do with you doesn’t mean she’s willing to tolerate your conversation.” Derpy nodded stiffly and motioned locking her mouth and disposing a key. Things continued quietly with only the occasional whisper about what sort of monstrous beast might lurch out at them from the forest at any moment, but as was becoming on par, they were unaccosted by the wildlife. Trixie rather hoped it was because she cut a far too intimidating figure for them to want to bother her but in the back of her mind she knew it was more likely that they felt far too much evil magic being slung around and decided it best to stay home. They emerged from the forest just as the sun plunged underneath the horizon. Ponyville stood lighted in the distance, one particular part of it standing out above the other sources of illumination. The entire library was encased with a glimmering purple glow. “Isn’t it enough that she’s trapped the surrounding countryside under a shield?” Trixie shook her head. “Of course she would have to protect her books twice as much.” “We’ll just have to break it through sheer willpower!” Lyra stamped her hoof into the ground. “Trixie has a much better idea.” She presented the Elements. “She thinks that these have enough power to take down such an obstacle.” “Where did those come from?” asked Carrot Top, blinking at what was once thin air but was now occupied by the most famous artifacts in Equestria. “Simple little invisibility spell.” Trixie shrugged with a smirk on her face. “Only works on small objects but that’s often all you need.” “Glad you found them,” said Bon Bon. “We looked for them after we woke up but couldn’t find them anywhere.” “They know who’s important.” Trixie’s smirk turned into a broad grin and she marched forward. A crowd of ponies around the library started becoming readily apparent. They all turned in unison to watch them approach. A somewhat familiar figure walked out of the crowd. “Ah, greetings, citizens! Glad you survived.” It was the guard, though it took Trixie a second to recognize him. He was missing his helmet, half of his coat was blackened and burnt, and his mane stood on end. “Us survive? How about yourself?” asked Trixie. “Mind explaining what’s happened here?” The guard locked his hooves together. “Report: the Traitor Empress flew in here on a cloud that she appeared to be controlling with magic. On this cloud there also appeared to be the other Heroes of Equestria but they were unconscious. I attempted to stop her with a underside targeted aerial assault but was shot down by a bolt from the cloud she directed at me. Though I was not seriously injured, the shock prevented me from reaching her before she entered the library with her prisoners. Upon entering she immediately established a magical shield that has thwarted all my attempts to break it. She has been in there for several hours now and I have made no visual contact with her.” Trixie stared at him. He stared back. There was a pause. She blinked. “Trixie’s sorry, she was waiting to you to see if you’d give her a count of exactly how many hairs you think were burnt.” The guard continued staring back at her, his mouth forming a hard line. “I’m thinking I can bring them down with these.” Trixie held up the Elements in the light. “But without the heroes to wield them, how will we get them to activate?” “Honestly, I don’t see how we can,” said Carrot Top. “Well whatever comes, you have my loyalty!” cried Lyra. “I’ll generously help however I can,” said Bon Bon. “This whole thing is laughable,” said the guard. “Kindness!” Derpy pumped her hoof into the air. Rubbing her chin, Trixie slowly eyed all them. She was on the verge of a great idea and she knew it. She closed her eyes and absorbed her thoughts. A firecracker went off in her brain and her eyes shot open. “Trixie has an idea!”