A couple of hours later, Trixie emerged from the road heading west out of Ponyville. She confidently strode towards Ponyville.
Several ponies saw her coming and raised an alarm. In short order, a mass of several dozen mares and stallions headed out along the rode to confront her.
She deliberately turned to stride into a field next to the road. The mass of ponies also turned, preferring to fight in the field. They arranged themselves a complicated checkerboard pattern.
Trixie snorted, mumbling, “Amateurs.”
With her new magic, she projected her voice all over Ponyville. Her voice was not painfully loud, but forceful and coming from every direction.
“Citizens of Ponyville! For over a year I have not bothered you or your precious little patch of dirt! During that year, I have not left the Everfree Forest. But YOU have attacked me without cause!”
The mares and stallions in battle formation passed around razor-sharp pitchforks and kitchen blades. They tried to shout and taunt the powerful mare, but their voices could not even be heard by themselves.
The blue unicorn continued, “If I had followed your example, then your pathetic little homes would be ashes in a single day! I have been kind in sparing your foolish thugs this far. Now my patience has run out! You will all bow down and respect me, for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!!!”
The attack force screwed up their faces into hateful snarls. They shouted at the top of their lungs. The assemblage could just barely hear themselves scream.
“Get out, you horrid mare!”
“Go crumble yourself, freak!”
“Dry up and die…you…BITCH!!!”
Suddenly, everypony looked at the one who said that final word. The mare looked indignant and repeated, “Yeah, you heard me! Anypony who brings an Ursa to our town deserves to DIE!”
The blue unicorn stared at the indignant mare with a glare right out of demonic faces in the netherworld.
Trixie reared up and declared, “So be it!!”
The assembled attack force of ponies charged in three groups. The third of the force on the left curved around to surround their target. The third on the right surrounded on the right. The third in the middle lowered their weapons right at Trixie and screamed a blood-curdling cry.
The blue unicorn summoned tremendous amounts of power. Channeling it through her hooves, she slammed her legs onto the ground.
The shockwave radiated outward, ripping the ground asunder. Cracks appeared in the earth, wide enough to fall into. Several ponies fell down where they stood from the massive tremor. Others tripped over the ones in the front line and stumbled right into the cracks. Voices shrieked as they fell, swallowed up by the earth.
The assembled attack force lost heart and fled, leaving behind their fellow citizens. The blue unicorn stomped her hooves again, shaking the ground. The cracks began to close, as if sealing their victims inside for all eternity.
Ponies screamed in primal fear and scrambled out of their premature graves. Everypony fled in mortal terror at the sorceress before them. In town, all of the foals and the mares left behind wailed in panic at the fate which awaited them.
Suddenly, a whooshing sound emanated from the skies above.
A harsh voice declared, “FORMATION!!! Wedge attack!”
A full squadron of white-coated pegasi flew down from the clouds. Their bronze plate armor gleamed in the sunlight. Their bronze spears glinted with deadly intent as they formed a sweeping wedge right at Trixie.
Trixie smiled sinisterly and blinked. A sudden burst of light flashed in the eyes of the Royal Guards. They pulled up, circling around for another attack run.
The Guard Captain shouted out, “Level run! Eyes shut!” The squadron flew horizontally, only two feet above the ground.
Trixie was not idle. She filled her horn with energy, pointing it to the sky. Clouds from all across the horizon zoomed instantly to her position. In an instant, they turned dark.
Sheets of lighting leapt out at the squadron of pegasi. Dozens upon dozens of lightning bolts struck the brave soldiers from Canterlot over and over. Their metal armor and weapons conducted the electricity right into their bodies. The bolts passed through their torsos and then into the ground.
Every pegasus crashed into the ground, rolling over and over painfully, screaming their torment.
Every pony in Ponyville gasped and sobbed in despair. Not only were their loved ones totally humiliated, but their champions were defeated in seconds.
Trixie reared up onto her hind hooves in a victory pose, shouting to all corners of the nearby territory with her magically-enhanced voice.
“See what I have said! I came here to Ponyville to talk peace! I came to end your hostile actions! Did you act civilized to me? NO!! You attacked me for my life without reason! I have brushed aside your simpering excuses for warriors and wasted my energy sparing their undeserved lives.”
The blue unicorn tossed her mane and turned her back to the cracked and scorched ground, with wounded and crying Royal Guards upon it.
She stated coldly, “If you prefer to act barbaric, then so be it. The next time any of you pathetic fools attack my home, I will conquer Ponyville and ENSLAVE YOU ALL!!!”
She then calmly walked away back to the Everfree Forest.
=====================
Back in the cave, Trixie preened her mussed mane. Her shadow on the wall came alive and hissed with displeasure.
“Why did you run away? You had them wrapped around your hoof. You defeated every one of those ponies, including the Royal Guard, and you fled?”
The blue unicorn smirked and spoke haughtily, “And bring down the wrath of Celestia? No thank you. Not even you can match Celestia when she’s riled. I did much more than just beat them up.”
Intrigued, the shadow asked, “What are you planning?”
Trixie could not resist bragging, “I did not attack first, ergo I am the one everypony will sympathize with. I came to talk, and the barbarians rushed out with lethal force. I beat them back with restraint. I even slowed the reversal of the Earthquake Incantation to allow those simpletons to escape with their lives. Everypony who knows the slightest bit of magic will recognize that. I even turned down the voltage on the multi-cast of the Lightning Storm Spell. I spared Celestia’s prized pets.”
The shadow actually swirled around itself like a vortex, then unfolded itself back into shape. It asked, “You want them to like you or something?”
The blue unicorn explained, “I want them to realize that they are the aggressors. I want them to feel ashamed of how they’ve been treating me. Next time, they won’t have nearly as much heart facing me in battle. The next time they fight, I will be justified in using my full power to defend my life and Celestia will do nothing in retaliation. I will mount an offensive against Ponyville and have them willingly bow to me to spare their puny lives.”
The shadow vibrated until it exploded silently. Reforming like a bubbling fountain, it asked eagerly, “You’re going to rule Ponyville out from under Celestia? I did not see that coming! How delightful! How do you know they’ll attack again?”
Trixie proudly declared, “Just look at me! Look at my face and hoof! Those fools were cruel enough to blame the Ursa attack on me just to take the easy way out. Do you really think they’ll blame themselves for jumping to conclusions about today’s little skirmish? They’ll just blame me like they always do! You can always count on those idiotic ponies to come all the way here in a fit of revenge and that will give me all the excuse needed to launch a full war against Celestia!”
Both Trixie and the shadow laughed maniacally at their plan.
=====================
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Twilight and Spike were in the library, handling a dozen injured pegasi in the Royal Guard when the local hospital became overfull. The captain and three others were intact enough to fly back to Canterlot to report back to Princess Celestia. The rest had to rest in the library until at least tomorrow.
Twilight and Spike had a fairly easy time taking care of them. Twilight conjured up some temporary blankets and pillows while Spike made a huge batch of salad and lemon water to feed the injured soldiers. The doctor assured them that only rest would recover the soldiers.
Suddenly, Spike belched a jet of enchanted green flame, revealing a scroll. Quickly reading it, he summarized, “Twilight! The princess wants to see you and the girls in Canterlot right away!”
The purple unicorn opened the front door to the library and called over her shoulder, “Take care of the troops, Spike!” She then ran out and began looking up in the sky.
Calling out forcefully, “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!!”
Suddenly, an errant cloud sailed over towards the purple unicorn. Poking her head out from the middle, a rainbow-maned pegasus snarled down at her friend.
“Twilight, what is it? I’m kinda busy!”
Twilight Sparkle explained, “Go get Fluttershy and Applejack. Meet us back at the library. It’s important.”
Rainbow Dash complained, “Can’t this wait? I’ve drafted every pegasus I can find to fix the weather. We’ll be at this all day and even through dinner. That ugly metal-face screwed up the weather from here all the way to Stalliongrad with that stunt of hers.”
The purple unicorn insisted, “Princess Celestia requests our presence right away! It’s an emergency!”
The blue pegasus blinked once, then twice. Then she grunted in annoyance.
“Fine, but if it rains when it’s not supposed to, it’s not my fault!” She then sped off westward to find her friends.
Twilight then galloped off to find Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
A few minutes later, everypony assembled in front of the library.
Applejack asked, out of breath, “Twi…Twilight? What’s wrong?”
Pinkie Pie answered before the purple unicorn could speak, “Twilight says Princess Celestia needs us like lickety-split ‘cause its important and it’s more important than helping ponies here I mean come on the princess would never turn her back on suffering ponies for nothing…”
Rarity closed Pinkie’s mouth with her hoof gently, saying, “I think we get the message, dear. Twilight, we’re all ready to go.”
Fluttershy smiled gently and offered, “If you like, we can get the balloon ready.”
Rainbow Dash huffed loudly and said, “Oh, great! Now I gotta pull you guys through the clouds all the way to Canterlot? Well, let’s get this over with.”
Twilight smiled and then closed her eyes. A sudden flash enveloped the group of mares. Suddenly, everypony rubbed the spots from their vision to see that they were in a long hallway in the the royal palace in Canterlot!
Applejack bucked and declared, “Woah, nelly! Warn us next time, sugarcube!”
Rarity complimented, “Well, that certainly was efficient! Not a stray breeze to muss my mane. Do you know how long it takes to get it styled like this?”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight with concern. The purple mare hung her head and closed her eyes half-way.
She asked, “Um…Twilight? You don’t look so good. I mean, you look okay, but you look tired.”
Twilight answered, “Right now, I feel as tired as Dash. Let’s go meet Princess Celestia.”
The group walked down the hallway and arrived quickly at a large set of double-doors guarded by two Royal Guard pegasi. Their armor was scarred from electrical discharge and there were bandages all over their bodies. Still, they stood still and proud. The pair crossed their wings protectively in front of their sovereign’s private chambers.
Twilight presented the scroll and said, “I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are the pones that Princess Celestia has summoned immediately.”
One guard took the letter and read it. He knocked on the door and opened it gently.
Sticking his head in, he asked, “Majesty? Twilight Sparkle is here by summons.”
The regal alicorn replied, “Send them in, Captain.”
The group of mares walked inside the Princess’s chambers. Everypony except Twilight marveled at the lavish interior.
A chandelier carved form a single piece of crystal hung from the ceiling, glowing with the light of pure enchantment. A massive hardwood bed took up half of one wall with plush pillows so soft that you could fall from a ladder and never feel the ground. The massive brick fireplace had a mantle of solid polished marble with gold veins running through it in twisty patterns. The carpet was an exotic design that none but Twilight had ever seen before. Hoof-painted original oil painting portraits of Celestia and Luna decorated the walls.
Rarity opened gawked, “Is that an original Mare Antoinette bedframe?! I didn’t think any still existed! And those portrait frames of yourself and your sister must be at least five centuries old but they look almost brand new! I simply must know where I can get these things!”
Applejack chastised, “Rarity! Now is not the time for admiring fancy things! We gotta get down to business.”
Princess Celestia chuckled and stated, “Well said, Applejack. Besides, you can’t get these antiques anymore outside of a dragon’s hoard. I don’t think they will part with such things easily.”
She looked at the group and explained, “I asked you here to let you know who you’re up against.”
Pinkie Pie interrupted by exclaiming while jumping up and down, “It’s that meanie Trixie! She just showed up and smacked around all our ponies like the queen of the meanies!”
Celestia rebuked, “No.”
Pinkie lost her energy and just flopped onto the ground.
Rainbow Dash asked, “What, was that somepony else is disguise?”
The white alicorn explained, “Trixie is merely a pawn. She has been residing in the Everfree Forest quite peacefully until now. She has been provoked by constant incursions by ponyfolk from Ponyville.” She then gave a glance to Twilight, who blushed furiously.
The purple unicorn apologized, “I’m sorry, Princess Celestia. The mayor and I keep telling everypony to stop attacking Trixie, but they’re just too angry to let it go.”
Celestia stated, “Then perhaps it is time for me to visit Ponyville and give a proclamation. However, what I have summoned you all here for is to let you know that Discord has escaped.”
The assembled mares gasped loudly.
Fluttershy hid behind Applejack and fearfully asked, “H-h-how did h-he d-do that? Wasn’t he t-turned into stone?”
Rainbow Dash stood in a battle-ready stance and tensed up greatly. She growled at the memory of what that creature did to her.
She demanded, “Show me where that jerk is! I’ll sonic rain-bomb him right into the ground!”
Celestia stated forcefully, catching everyone’s attention, “He is a spirit of chaos. Nopony can predict what he can do. Apparently, he did something that resulted in a second skin covering his body. When you turned him to stone, only that second skin petrified. A groundskeeper found his statue with a small hole burned in the tail. The statue is now hollow.”
The white unicorn reassured, “Well, that ruffian will NOT get his claws on anypony while we are here! Just tell us where he is and we’ll do the job right this time.”
The white alicorn stated, “I have no idea where he is.”
Fluttershy curled into a ball and shivered.
Applejack asked, “Now, I’m not any kind of unicorn but can’t you use a spell or somethin’ to find magical beings?”
Twilight answered, “Yes, normally we can use a simple spell to find magical signatures around us. If we know the exact magical signature, we can find it very easily. This is why unicorns tend to study each other’s magic closely.”
The princess added, “I know his magical signature as well as I know my own sister’s. If I can’t find him, then that must mean that he’s so weak that he cannot work any feats of magic.”
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Twilight. She queried, “Princess? If Discord’s so weak that his signature is too weak to be detected, then how did he escape?”
The white alicorn replied, “That’s exactly the conundrum I’ve been trying to solve. I believe that somepony must have helped him, whether they knew it or not.”
Pinkie Pie snarled, “Who in their cupcake-loving mind would ever help Discord? I mean anypony who wasn’t tainted already.” She struggled mightily against the embarrassment of how her friends treated each other while Discord had affected them.
Rarity primped her mane and dismissed, “Of course, someponies might be misled and treat objects better than her…I mean their friends. Still, who might have been close enough to the statue to chisel a hole into it?”
Celestia pointed out, “The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn’t need to touch the statue to release Discord.”
Twilight’s brain fired on full cylinders. She announced, “It was somepony not anywhere near the palace. Somepony who now has wild, fantastic powers.”
The others shouted, “Trixie?”
Applejack frowned, “Why would that pony ever help Discord? Doesn’t she know what that creature will do to her when he takes over?”
The white alicorn responded, “I don’t think she knows it is Discord. In fact, I doubt she even knows what is happening to her.”
The farm pony asked skeptically, “How could she not know? Isn’t she in league with him?”
Twilight’s face paled. She moaned, “Her despair must have boiled over into rage. With Trixie’s power, she must have been angry enough that it reached all the way over to Canterlot. The unfairness of it all must have cracked Discord’s prison.”
Pinkie placed a friendly hoof around Twilight and soothed her, “Don’t blame yourself, Twilight. She’s just a grump with no friends.”
The purple unicorn mournfully stated, “That’s the point. Everypony blames her for the Ursa attack when she didn’t do it. Add in the breakdown that I pushed her into while not knowing how to be a teacher. Finally, regardless of anything else, Trixie’s been behaving herself by living in the Everfree Forest. Ponies have been attacking her without provocation.”
Celestia said, “I have good information that during this past year, Trixie’s been hungry, thirsty, injured and constantly threatened. How would any of you feel if that happened to you?”
None of the mares could give an answer.
The white alicorn stated, “I’m afraid that until Trixie seeks help for her problems, this situation will only compound until it overloads. Discord must be just barely strong enough to advise her in forbidden magic. Trixie must be using it to survive. If we allow this to continue, then entire villages will be destroyed. We cannot allow that to happen.”
Twilight stood up tall and proud. She declared, “I will confront her.”
The others gasped.
Rarity objected, “Darling, you cannot be serious! She hates you more than the rest of us combined!”
Applejack agreed, “If’n she gets the chance, she’ll kill you even if she dies tryin’.”
Fluttershy spoke, “Um, I think…”
Pinkie Pie bravely hugged Twilight and said, “Well, if you go, then I go! Your Auntie Pinkie Pie won’t let you face down ol’ baking-pan-face all alone!”
The yellow pegasus spoke, “Girls, I think…”
Rainbow Dash laughed and announced, “Ha, ha, ha! That’s a good one, Pinks! I say we open up with a cloud of sneezing powder in her cave.”
The yellow pegasus said, “I…kinda think…that maybe…”
Applejack asked, “What do you mean ‘auntie’? Aren’t most of us a year older than you? Now, my Aunt Orange’s age is a good…”
Celestia spoke softly, but firmly, “Quiet.” The rest became silent. She continued, “Fluttershy, what did you want to say?”
Everypony turned to the shy pegasus.
Fluttershy gently pawed the plush carpet in the private chamber and said, “I mean…I kinda think that Trixie’s a victim here. I mean…nevermind.”
Twilight encouraged her, “No, no! Keep talking, Fluttershy.”
The nervous pegasus finished her thought. “Um, maybe…Trixie didn’t mean to summon Discord. Maybe she was just miserable from her suffering…and Discord just came over...and maybe kinda promised her something in return for helping him. I mean…well, kinda like what Twilight was saying. If we were desperate with no friends, would we take the first offer that came our way?”
Celestia smiled widely at Fluttershy’s observation. She said, “That’s exactly what I think happened. I think we need to get Trixie out from under Discord’s influence.”
Rainbow Dash complained, “Well, that’s great! Now we gotta fight a war without hurting the enemy! Anything else you wanna throw at us?”
Pinkie Pie appeared right behind the blue pegasus and shouted, “DRAGON!”
Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, screaming, “AAAUUGGHHH!!!” She flew up to clutch the chandelier.
The pink mare collapsed on the carpet, laughing uproariously.
The blue pegasus called down nervously, “Pinkie Pie! That was not funny!” She glided down to sulk on the floor.
Celestia levitated a scroll over to Twilight, saying, “This is a spell which will harness the Elements of Harmony directly. It will allow you to become immune to secondary effects of Discord.”
Rarity asked in a lady-like manner, “I’m not completely lost when it comes to magic, but what does that even mean?”
Twilight scanned the contents of the scroll quickly, absorbing the mechanics of the spell easily. She mentioned, “It means that if Discord teaches Trixie any special magic, then she cannot use it against us. However, we are not immune to anything Discord does directly.”
Celestia lowered her head to point her horn at the group. She summoned a large amount of energy.
She stated, “I’ll save you the energy of a return trip. You must confront Trixie as soon as you’re ready. I fear that some of my subjects will be provoking her into open war soon. I also think that you shall receive grave news before you are ready to leave.”
She discharged her horn, enveloping the mares in a blinding white light.
When the spots disappeared from their vision, Applejack grumbled, “I will never get used to that. What do we do first, Twilight?”
The others looked over to see Twilight summoning an overwhelming amount of energy into her horn. The white light surrounded the group of mares.
Everypony felt the light reach deep within themselves, penetrating into their very being. They felt as if their souls were sheathed in a brilliant, warm light.
Twilight ended the spell, and collapsed upon the library floor.
Spike raced over with a large bowl of water. “Twilight, are you okay?”
The purple unicorn drank from the bowl greedily. At length, she said, “Yes, I’ll be okay. I just feel like I could sleep all weekend.”
The baby dragon walked back into the kitchen, refilling the bowl with water. He walked back into the main room towards a resting royal guard.
He reported, “You might not want to fall asleep until you go visit the hospital. Nurse Tenderheart said you should come right away!”
Twilight grunted and pulled herself together. The group then galloped off to the hospital.