In a few short minutes, the group of mares arrived at the hospital. At first, they stopped short, gawking at the scene in front of them.
There were mares and stallions trying in vain to comfort their foals, who were filling up the hospital in sickbeds lining the hallways.
Applejack called out, “What the hay is happening here? It’s an epidemic!”
Pinkie Pie frowned in worry and mused, “I don’t think I have enough balloons to cheer up all these ponies.”
Rarity took an involuntary step back and mumbled, “Let’s not go inside. We could catch whatever they have.”
Twilight stepped forth bravely and declared, “We have to! Something here may help us against Trixie. Let’s go in.” She then stepped boldly into the entrance.
Rainbow Dash flew behind the white unicorn and pushed her with wing power.
She grunted with effort, “C’mon, prima-donna! If Twilight says we gotta help, then we gotta help.”
Feeling scared to her core, Rarity chose to let herself be pushed inside.
Fluttershy flew inside, her heartstrings being tugged in every direction by the wailing of sick foals.
She darted back and forth, trying to reassure everypony, “Oh, don’t be scared. The doctor’s gonna make you all better. Be sure to take any medicine they give you. You’re a good foal. You’re very brave.”
Suddenly, it dawned upon her. She patted the purple unicorn on the shoulder and asked, “Um, Twilight? Why are only foals sick?”
Twilight suddenly looked a round herself to count the sick. There were foals beyond count all shaking, trembling, and crying. But no stallions were sick. No mares were showing any symptoms.
She mused, “This isn’t right. This doesn’t look like some foalhood disease like the measles. These foals look like they’re in large amounts of pain and fatigue. I wonder what could spring up all of a sudden all over Ponyville”
A solidly-built stallion with a brown coat and dark brown mane trotted up, reading a clipboard. His flank symbol was an hourglass.
He gave orders to a nearby nurse mare with a white coat and white mane. Her flank symbol was a red plus-shaped symbol.
“Nurse Tenderheart, admit the next patient and take the vitals for me. I’m going to examine the current patient.” He bumped into Twilight and looked up impatiently.
“Excuse me, miss. Watch where you’re… Oh, Twilight Sparkle! I’m glad you’re here. Come in with me.” He walked into an examination room.
She looked back to the group and said, “Fan out and see if you can learn what happened and where. Maybe we can get some leads.” She then entered the examination room.
Inside was a young filly with a white coat and green eyes. Her mane was two-toned red and orange. Her cutie mark was an ice cream cone with multi-colored candy toppings. She was silently crying and looking left and right at her parents for comfort.
Her father was a tall, fat stallion that had a white coat and chocolate-brown mane. His brown eyes were bloodshot with worry and tears. His flank symbol was a banana split dessert.
Her mother was a honey-yellow mare with a chocolate-brown mane and yellow eyes. Her cutie mark was a big slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. She kept sobbing into her hoof.
The doctor was using his instruments to take vital readings of the filly. Twilight looked at the filly with an awkward smile. The filly just shook with fear and winced in pain.
Twilight said, “Hi there. I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”
The filly sniffed and said, “Rainbow Sprinkles.”
The purple unicorn asked, “How are you feeling?”
Rainbow Sprinkles cried, “I hurt!”
Feeling miserable, Twilight asked, “Um, where do you hurt?”
The filly hid her face under her hooves and whined, “All over! Help me!”
Dr. Hooves reported, “It seems that just about every filly and colt in town is suffering from the same disease. It makes them all nauseous and sharp pains in random parts of their bodies.”
The stallion became testy and demanded, “Can’t you do something to help or are you going to just stand there?”
Offended, Twilight asked, “Where was she when she showed symptoms? How long ago?”
The mare clutched her husband tightly and wailed, “It was an hour ago in the ice cream parlor! She was just sweeping the floor. What’s wrong with my baby?!?!”
The filly looked up at Twilight with pleading eyes and begged, “Am I gonna die?”
Suddenly, the purple unicorn felt even more offended than by the emotional stallion. She felt so offended at the sickness. How dare this sickness suddenly appear and scare little foals with death?
She focused and charged her horn with an overwhelming amount of purple energy.
All of the ponies in the examination room gasped in surprise. Twilight filled the room with hundreds of multi-colored lights.
Within the purple unicorn’s vision swam endless shapes and lists of arcane knowledge that few others could comprehend.
Suddenly, an ugly rune appeared only in her vision. She frowned and trotted into the hallway. The hallway filled with the hundreds of dancing lights, illuminating the ponies inside. The ugly kept showing up over and over again.
From the way to the entrance room, she heard her friends asking questions and reassuring ponies.
“When did this sickness start, ma’am? Has she been throwin’ up? How many times?”
“Ooooh, I’m sooo sorry. The doctors will know what to do. You’ll be better in no time. Now you be a brave colt take your medicine.”
“Ha, fear? Me? You know who I am? I’m the one who did the Sonic Rainboom at the Young Flier’s Competition last year and saved the Wonderbolts! There’s no needle that scares me!”
“Oh, darling, you have such a pretty mane! Here’s a scarf that goes with it. Aren’t you adorable? Once you’re done at the hospital, you’ll be all better. Have your mother bring you to Carousel Boutique once you’re all better. I have the perfect little dress for you, free of charge. You make sure to get better.”
“Oh, what’s the matter? Tummy trouble? When my tummy gets all wobbly-bubbly I just take some fizzy water and it makes me feel much better. Here, have some! What were you doing when you got sick? Cleaning your room? Ugh, tell your mom and dad that you’re allergic to cleaning your room. Works for me every time, ha ha!”
Dr. Hooves joined Twilight in the hallway, closing the door to the examination room. He mentioned, “I was hoping that you could ask Princess Celestia for some more doctors and medicine. We really need the assistance here.”
Twilight asked, “Do you have ANY idea what you’re up against?”
The doctor stallion flipped some pages in a report and paraphrased, “I got an urgent reply to my priority letter to the medical school in Canterlot. They say there is no reported case of this sickness in modern times. However, there is mention of a disease with these exact symptoms from ancient times. They call it…um, ‘kan-ser’, or something like that.”
The purple unicorn asked, “How long ago were those records? Was there a cure listed?”
Dr. Hooves folded up the report and stated, “The records came from ten centuries ago. Let me tell you, records like those are hard to come by. There was a variety of treatments listed, but some fail for some ponies but others fail for others. It’s hit or miss. There’s no spell or medicine which is guaranteed to cure the disease. But…”
Twilight asked sharply, “What?! What ‘but’ aren’t you telling me?”
The doctor blurted out with a snarl, “Even in the worst cases, the disease simply doesn’t spread this quickly. It takes months or even years to spread this widely inside a pony. By this time, the very tissues inside a living body warp into hostile forms that attack the body itself. The body winds up killing itself painfully. If it spreads to vital organs, then…the patient just dies, regardless of medicine.”
The purple unicorn charged into the entrance room, shouting, “Not today!”
The room filled with the barrage of lights. She stared intently at everypony in the room. The crying quieted down in deference to the awe of the display. The same ugly rune showed up again. This time, she knew what was happening.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, chirping, “It’s a dance party! This means Twilight knows what to do. C’mon, everypony! Shake your groove thang!”
Twilight ceased the spell, which ended the light show. She ordered, “Girls, out! I know who’s behind this!”
Applejack addressed the crowd, “Don’t you good folks worry none! If Twilight Sparkle says she knows what to do, then that’s the truth!”
The Elements of Harmony gathered outside of the hospital, then galloped around a nearby building.
Rainbow Dash punched the air in front of her and boasted, “Just tell us who did this, Twi! I’ll knock them into next Tuesday all by myself!”
Pinkie Pie snarled, “Not if I get there first! That ultra-deluxe double-decker meanie with whipped cream and a cherry on top needs a good pranking!”
Fluttershy spoke up louder than usual, “Um, girls? I think we should let Twilight speak.”
Rarity agreed, “Good idea, dear. Twilight, don’t keep us in suspense any more.”
The purple unicorn reported, “It’s not as simple as you think. The time when the foals were sickened was the time when Trixie was fighting in the field. She did not infect the foals, but Discord did.”
Applejack squinted in disbelief and questioned, “Discord? How in the hay could he do that? I thought we decided that he was too weak to do that.”
Twilight explained, “He spent all his energy escaping, but he is the spirit of Discord. Whenever ponies act in harmful and selfish ways, he gains strength. But you’re right about the scope of it all. He could infect one or two in his weakened state, but not all of the foals in Ponyville. He must be using some magic that we haven’t seen to collect Trixie’s anger and despair for himself. We need to convince Trixie to stop helping him and lead us to his lair. Inside will be what we’re looking for. If we can sever Discord’s link with Trixie, then he’ll be beaten.”
Rainbow Dash challenged, “Are you really gonna trust Trixie? Look what she did to the citizens of Ponyville!”
Rarity snootily added, “Don’t forget how she wiped the field with Canterlot’s finest. Your library is littered with the results of her actions.”
Fluttershy said, “Um, I think…”
Applejack encouraged the yellow pegasus, “Yeah? What’s on your mind, sugarcube?”
The kind-hearted pegasus explained, “Well, I…uh, think that Trixie’s a victim here.” She flinched, anticipating an argument.
When none came, she finished by saying, “Trixie didn’t attack first. She was surrounded by lots of angry ponies with weapons. If the same thing happened to Twilight, then we’d all be on her side. I don’t think that’s fair.”
Twilight smiled and stated, “I think that’s correct, Fluttershy. Trixie keeps thinking that everypony wants her dead, so she retaliates with powerful, widespread, damaging magic. That in turn just keeps upping the ante on both sides. We need to be the ones to break this perpetual stalemate. If we can convince Trixie that Discord is just using her, then she’ll stop helping him.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled, “Well, how do we get her here? Send an invitation?”
The purple unicorn smiled and said, “Rainbow, that’s brilliant! That’s just what we’ll do.”
Twilight remembered the mechanics of the Gather Information spell. Inverting them in her mind, she remembered Trixie’s mental signature. Assigning the signature to the end result of the spell, she pushed the spell outward with a great amount of force.
=====================
Deep inside Trixie’s cave, the blue unicorn sat up sharply. In her mind, she heard the voice of her teacher. Her spirit soared at the message.
Trixie felt that this was the confrontation that she had so long hoped for. A chance to prove that she had finally surpassed Twilight.
The shadow on the wall sensed this shift of attitude. It didn’t approve at all.
It hissed, “What is it? What was that?”
The blue unicorn triumphantly declared, “It’s finally happening! Twilight’s going to face me mare-to-mare. It’s about time. Now we can settle this silly contest once and for all. Once Twilight is defeated, all of Ponyville will finally recognize me, The Great and Powerful Trixie, as the wronged party and she will beg for my forgiveness!”
The shadow retorted sinisterly, “It’s a trick. She would never face you in a fair fight. She just wants to rip your body apart and humiliate you. Do you really think you can survive without your mechanical components?”
The blue unicorn looked down to consider her right foreleg. She remembered the mistake she made that got her the artificial appendage.
She screwed up her courage and declared, “Better that than living forever as some monstrosity.” She left the cave swiftly, charging up her horn.
As she released the energy, she pushed a wave of energy directly towards her former teacher.
The shadow tried to claw at Trixie, as if to hold her back.
It hissed angrily, “Stop! She’ll just confuse you! DESTROY HER! DO NOT SPARE ANY OF THEM!”
The blue unicorn galloped at full speed right where the message said to meet, the blasted fields west of Ponyville.
=====================
Twilight received the return message. She opened her eyes and declared, “Trixie accepts. Let’s get there before her.”
The mares galloped the short distance to the fields. They openly gawked at the devastation upon the ground.
Applejack gasped, “Landsakes! Look at this! It looks like a tornado, an earthquake, and a war all happened at the same time!”
Twilight sensed the residual energies and said, “That’s almost a correct assessment, Applejack. It did all happen in one battle, though.”
Fluttershy hid behind the blue pegasus and whimpered, “Um, Twilight? Why would you want to fight her here? It’s scary.”
Rarity conjectured, “Obviously, the residual energies are so chaotic that Twilight plans to not be interfered with by Discord.”
Twilight argued, “I’m not here to fight Trixie.”
Rainbow’s eyes opened wide. She flapped her wings and hovered in the air before Twilight.
She demanded, “You mean we invited the queen of evil to a battlefield for a tea party? If you’re not gonna fight, then count me out.”
Pinkie Pie’s tail wagged rapidly as she said, “Oh, oh, oooohhh! I know! You’re gonna lure her here off-guard so you can tie her up in a sack, dunk her in fudge and cover her in marshmallow topping!”
The purple unicorn explained, “I plan to sway Trixie to our side. I believe she did not cast any form of Contagion Spell. I want her to see the results and get her to avoid getting blamed for it. She’ll tell us where Discord is so we can fight him.”
The rainbow-maned one landed, temporarily satisfied, “All right, letting the little one go to catch the big one? I’m back in!”
A familiar voice screeched, “Good! I want you all in one place when I blast you into pieces!”
Trixie’s voice erupted a high-pitched squeal. Streams of bats flew out from under her cape. The bats were larger than normal, with razor-sharp fangs and claws.
Rarity called out, “Fluttershy, do something!”
The yellow pegasus cringed, saying, “Those aren’t normal bats! They won’t respond to me!”
Pinkie Pie ran around in circles in a total panic, “NNNNOOOOOO!!! They’ll get in my face! Help!!!”
Twilight bellowed, “Calm down!”
Suddenly, the streams of bats seemed to strike an invisible wall around the mares. They flung off in random directions, disappearing into red mist.
The streams of bats stopped. Trixie took an involuntary step back and stammered.
“Wh-what? H-h-how could y-you do that? My new powers…”
Twilight asked sharply, “New powers? I noticed you didn’t call them spells or even magic. Powers come from somewhere. Where did you get these new powers, Trixie?”
The blue unicorn primped her mane and hotly replied, “I don’t have to answer to you anymore, Twilight Sparkle!”
Rainbow Dash yelled, “All right, enough talking!” She leaped forward, flapping her wings powerfully. Her rainbow streak trailed behind her brilliantly. She flew in a tight spiral around Trixie.
Gripping the edge of the cape in her teeth, she tried to tie up Trixie in her own cape.
Trixie emitted a brief pulse of light from her horn. The clasp came undone and the cape flipped over to engulf the speedy pegasus.
Rainbow Dash crashed into the ground, rolling over and over until she stopped, cocooned by the cape.
Applejack charged forward with a battle cry, trying to ram Trixie down.
The blue unicorn took a deep breath. Then she stamped the ground with her left foreleg. Suddenly, her entire body seemed to turn to stone.
The orange earth pony slammed into the stone statue head on. The surface of the stone cracked and crumbled. The pieces of stone followed Applejack down to the ground, revealing Trixie none the worse for the attack. Her skin of stone had completely protected her.
Rarity charged her horn with energy, focusing on Trixie’s pointed hat. She yanked her horn down, the hat followed sympathetically. It slid down over Trixie’s face, engulfing her head.
The fashion-conscious mare trumpeted, “Looks like you need a time-out, dear!”
A quick flash of blue light around Trixie’s head preceded the hat teleporting back on top of her head in perfect position. The only difference was that Trixie was now upset that someone had touched her hat.
Twilight shouted, “Enough!” She had taken all of this time to charge up her horn to capacity.
Aiming it at Trixie, she ordered, “Stand down, Trixie! We’re not here to fight you.”
Trixie leapt to the left and forced her horn to charge up with an overwhelming amount of energy. It was so saturated, that a steady stream of sparks leaked from the tip.
She aimed it at Twilight and retorted, “Funny way of showing it.”
Rainbow Dash yelled, “Trixie, look out!”
The blue unicorn imperiously stated proclaimed, “I am not going to fall for such a foolish trick such as…”
A triple-decker chocolate fudge cake with marshmallow icing and cream filling impacted upon her entire face.
Everyone just stopped and stared in confusion at the pink one. Pinkie Pie was sitting next to Trixie will a look of supreme satisfaction upon her face.
She declared, “See, I told you chocolate fudge and marshmallow icing would stop her!”
Applejack argued, “Pinkie, I don’t think that this is the time for…” She stopped when she saw Trixie.
The blue unicorn had discharged her horn and licked the gooey cake off her face. Then she sat down and began scooping the cake off her face with her hooves and then ate it all.
Trixie moaned with delight, “Mmmmm…I love marshmallow.”
Twilight’s jaw hung open. Her logical mind warred with itself, trying to discover the reason for this illogical course of action. Finally, she just gave up and giggled.
Rarity asked in annoyance, “What’s so funny? We’re still fighting for our lives, right?”
The purple unicorn pointed at the pink earth pony and said, “Heh, heh! That’s our Pinkie Pie! Always making friends.”
Flutter shy observed, “Look at Trixie eat! She must be starving.”
Applejack grunted and said, “It’s probably just a trick. She’ll just eat that cake and get back to…” She then noticed Trixie’s bony ribs sticking out. She amended herself by saying, “Woah, nelly! I thought I was cranky if’n I missed lunch. She must not have eaten in a long time.”
Trixie licked her lips and mentioned miserably, “That was the first meal I’ve had in three days.”
Rarity covered her facial expression daintily with her right foreleg and mentioned, “Three days? Goodness, don’t you have any food?”
The blue unicorn testily replied, “I don’t have a grocery store any more. I eat what I can find and in the Everfree Forest, you fight for every little scrap of anything.”
Twilight then smiled and said, “Then in gratitude, maybe you could reverse the Contagion Spell in town?”
Trixie’s expression became supremely confused. She asked, “Contagion Spell? What Contagion Spell?”
Applejack poked her in the shoulder and stated, “That there disease in town what’s making all the foals deathly sick! Now cure it or else we’ll get ta whoopin’ on ya again!” The purple unicorn cleared her throat audibly. Applejack rolled her eyes and added, “…and maybe we’ll give ya another cake.”
Trixie’s horn glowed, surrounding her cape. It unraveled Rainbow Dash and sailed over to replace itself upon her neck and shoulders again.
She declared, “I have no idea what you are saying. I did not cast any form of the Contagion Spell. What have those backwards ponies in town been lying about now?”
Rarity huffed and defended her town, “They are not backward! You beat up their warriors and then made the foals sick in retaliation.”
Trixie stood up indignantly, drawing herself up to her maximum natural height. The clouds boomed and shook in the sky. The mares looked up at the sky in fear. The blue unicorn glared down at the white unicorn.
She declared, “Why are you ponies too stupid to understand facts?!?! The entire town witnessed the battle! I come to Ponyville to negotiate! You sent out your thugs to kill me for daring to attack you ‘superior’ ponies! I used an earthquake and a lightning storm to defend myself. I allowed those brainless brutes to escape the closing of the ground and used only half power on the lightning. I am more than capable of killing every last pony in Equestria any time I want. I spared every last one of your loved ones and all you can do in return in make up wild lies about me?!?! Why should I spare you now?!”
Twilight stated simply, “Because you’re better than that! You’re not a monster!”
Trixie slowly let out the deep breath she was holding. The clouds changed back to normal.
Fluttershy asked, peeking out from behind Twilight, “Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?” She then ducked back down and whimpered, “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”
The blue unicorn said, “It’s true I know the Contagion Spell…”
Rainbow Dash flew up to place herself nose-to-nose with Trixie and accused hotly, “I knew it! She’s guilty! She admits it!”
The blue unicorn finished her phrase, “…because Twilight taught it to me. You have to know it if you’re going to cure disease by casting the spell in reverse. That means she also knows it.”
The blue pegasus looked at Twilight in astonishment and gasped, “It’s that true? You can make ponies sick? Did you do it? Why didn’t you cure it if you knew it?”
Twilight mentioned, “What makes you think I didn’t try? Yes, I know the spell. I taught Trixie the Poison Spell as well. Casting it in reverse is called the Neutralize Poison Spell. It’s the exact same spell, you just reverse the effects. The one is town is more of a curse than a spell. Only one creature I know of uses magic like that.”
Rainbow tugged at her multi-colored mane and yelled, “Discord again? Where is that louse?! I wanna smash him!”
Trixie asked innocently, “Who’s Discord?”
Pinkie Pie hopped around Trixie, rapidly explaining, “If you’re the Queen Meanie then Discord is like the Most Awfullest Emperor Meanie-That-Teaches-All-the-Meanie-Schools-How-to-Get-a-Ph.D.-in-Meanie-osity!!!”
Twilight expanded, “He’s an ancient spirit of evil and chaos. He’s powerful enough to give even Princess Celestia a hard time. All he cares about is ruling over Equestria with a completely cruel and wacky hoof.”
The blue unicorn scoffed, “I don’t believe it. No being could be that powerful.”
Rarity counter-scoffed by pointing out, “You mean you don’t remember that time when Equestria was covered in checkerboard landscapes with soapy roads and a cycle of day and night which lasted for minutes?”
Trixie’s eyes shrank as she screwed up her face in confusion. She said, “I thought that was all just a really lousy dream. I went back to bed and slacked off that day.”
Fluttershy peeked her head out and said, “It was no dream. In fact, we were all corrupted by Discord to be against our elements until Princess Celestia reminded Twilight about friendship.” She then smiled, “Hey, maybe we can do the same thing here.”
Applejack called out cheerfully, eyeing Trixie closely, “Hoo, doggies! I’ll get the lasso!”
Twilight interrupted, “I think I know what Fluttershy’s saying. Trixie, has Discord made a deal with you?”
Trixie honestly replied, “I don’t know. What does he look like?”
Pinkie Pie blurted out, “He looks like a horse, a goat, a deer, a snake, a lion, an eagle, and a bat got into a really big wrestling match at a glue factory!”
The blue unicorn just arched an eyebrow. Her imagination was intimidated by the herculean task of putting together that image.
She replied slowly, “I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Applejack asked, “Well, are you workin’ with someone?”
Trixie narrowed her eyes, trying to calculate how much to tell the others.
At length, she said, “I have a new partner. It’s been giving me pointers on higher magics.”
Rainbow declared, “That must be Discord. He’s playing you for a fool!”
The blue unicorn refuted, “Don’t be ridiculous! It’s just a shadow. It lives in my shadow and it can’t even touch me. It even tried to stop me from coming here for this meeting, but it failed.”
Twilight explained, “Trixie, all of the foals in town got sick at the exact same time. That was when you were unleashing your huge spells. You were holding back on the energy released, right? Well, you had to summon all of the energy to cast the spell. Where did the excess energy go?”
Trixie replied smartly, “I released it all back into the environment. I know holding that energy back inside my horn might stress it and damage me.”
The purple unicorn nodded and concluded, “When you released the excess, Discord was hiding in your shadow, sucking up that very energy and using it to cast the spell on the foals while you were occupied elsewhere, providing the distraction. You didn’t make them sick, but you were the opportunity. Discord used you and is letting you get blamed. He doesn’t want you going into town and learning the truth. He just wants you to be forced into killing everypony around for his amusement.”
The blue unicorn’s face erupted into a furious glare. The group of mares backed off from the unstable unicorn. Her face turned reddish from fury.
She controlled herself and stated hotly, “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? This might be all a ruse to get me to expose myself and be captured.”
Twilight ordered, “Girls, head back into town and clear the way. I have a certain filly that Trixie needs to meet in person. Applejack, get Spike to bring the Elements of Harmony to the hospital.”