IT TOOK THE KEEPER some time to explain to everypony what had happened. When his story finally came to an end, Luna looked down at her fallen sister with a look of great sadness. “I am sorry that things turned out this way. I had truly hoped that my sister had learned her lesson after the incident with the Necromancer and had become a wiser pony. I now realize that Celestia is much worse off than I ever imagined. Her mind has become unbalanced.”
“What are you going to do?” Trixie asked.
“I will take her back to Canterlot. There I can see that she gets the help she needs. My sister went to the very edge of destruction, but she did pull back at the end. Perhaps there is still hope for her. It may be possible to overcome the darkness that has taken over her heart. I know you have never seen it, but there truly was a time when Celestia cared about the lives of her subjects. I long to see her become the loving pony that I once knew.”
Trixie sighed. “So you want me to give her magic back, don't you? I knew this was too good to be true.”
“Absolutely not,” Luna said firmly. “Celestia nearly destroyed the sun itself! The very last thing I want right now is for Celestia to have control of magic – especially alicorn magic. Anypony who seriously considered destroying the entire world should not have control over the sun. No, Trixie, I want you to keep her magic. It is yours now.”
Twilight spoke up. “But what about Celestia? She can't even stand up anymore! She's going to need at least some magic.”
“I'll handle that,” Luna replied. “Do not worry about it. I am not helpless, Twilight. I know how to take care of my sister.”
Trixie looked at Luna nervously. “But I don't know how to raise the sun or control alicorn magic. I have a lot to learn.”
“And Twilight and I will help you learn it. For the time being I will raise the sun and the moon, but once you have been trained I will turn Celestia's job over to you. We will help you, Trixie. You are not on your own. The throne will be there when you feel you are ready for it.”
“The throne?” Trixie asked.
Luna nodded. “Celestia will never be able to rule over Equestria again. Cadence and I will handle affairs for as long as we can, but you and Twilight must prepare yourself for rule. When you are ready, the throne will be waiting for you. Then the great and powerful Trixie will be in charge.”
“Along with me,” Twilight added.
Rainbow Dash interrupted. “All right, all right, enough of that. You can discuss all that princess stuff later. We've got bigger things to worry about here! I know that Celestia is your sister and all, but I think you're letting Celestia off way too easy. You do realize that she nearly killed everypony, right? Then there's the fact that she tried to impale Trixie. Are you really just going to take her back to Canterlot and let her get therapy? What kind of punishment is that?”
Twilight pointed at Celestia, who was still unconscious. “Do you see what kind of shape she's in? Look at her! Celestia's power is gone and she will never rule over anypony ever again. She just lost everything. Her reputation is gone and she can't even walk. What else is there to take from her?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I just think she's getting off really light. She tried to kill Trixie! Twilight, she stabbed you. With an actual weapon. There's got to be some sort of penalty for that beyond 'talk about your feelings with a licensed head shrink'. If this was anypony other than Celestia would we be letting them get off this easy?”
Twilight started to respond, but Luna cut her off. “The rainbow pony has a valid point. Celestia has indeed committed serious crimes. Perhaps we are being too easy on her.”
Luna glanced at the nearest Wonderbolt, then levitated the sword out of his holster and dropped it on the floor in front of Rainbow Dash. “Celestia's life is in your hooves, Rainbow. If you wish to take it then pick up the sword and do so. Nopony here will try to stop you.”
Rainbow looked down at the sword, astonished. She then looked at Celestia, and then back at Luna. “You're kidding. You're not serious.”
“I am very serious. The choice is up to you. Celestia will live or die by your hooves.”
Rainbow hesitated. She stared at the sharp sword in front of her, and then looked at the unconscious body of Celestia. Finally she sighed and kicked the sword away. “Fine, fine. I get it. Take her back to Canterlot. Have it your way.”
Luna then turned to Twilight. “Twilight, you are the one that she stabbed. Do you wish to take up the sword?”
“Absolutely not,” Twilight exclaimed, horrified.
Luna finally turned to Trixie. “That only leaves one other pony. Trixie, you are the one that my sister tried to kill – and she has attempted to take your life more than once. Celestia may have stabbed Twilight, but it was you she was trying to murder. If Celestia is taken to Canterlot and recovers, she will probably still never stop hating you and she may try to kill you again. As long as my sister is alive your life is in danger. Do you wish to end this?”
“I'm not going to kill her,” Trixie said flatly. “I'm not that kind of pony. I learned my lesson with the griffons. I'm not going to kill anypony else if I can help it. I have enough blood on my hooves already.”
The Keeper spoke up. “Think about this carefully, Trixie. Celestia is dangerous and she means you harm. If you were unconscious and Celestia had that sword she would undoubtedly kill you. You saw her try to do that very thing less than an hour ago! She is your enemy and she always will be. Are you sure you want to simply let her go?”
“Trixie does not trust Celestia – not at all. But she is not going to kill her either.”
Luna spoke up. “Very well. Then so be it. When Celestia awakes I will let her know what you did.”
“She won't care,” Trixie replied. “You're talking about a pony who gave me a tearful eulogy just a few weeks ago, and today tried to stab me to death.”
“Perhaps you are right – but perhaps not. Time will tell.”
* * * * *
After Luna and the Wonderbolts carried Celestia away, Twilight and Trixie returned to the grounds of the Castle of the Two Sisters. “Are you sure you don't need me to hang around?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, you two have had a pretty terrible day.”
“We'll be fine,” Twilight replied. “Besides, we're not going to stay here long. We'll be back home in a few minutes.”
“All right, then. See you tomorrow!” Rainbow Dash soared off into the sky and disappeared, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
As soon as she was gone Twilight turned to Trixie. “Can you believe that Luna actually gave that sword to Rainbow Dash? When she did that I nearly fell over! What was she thinking?”
“Luna can see into the future,” Trixie pointed out. “She knew that nopony was going to take that sword and use it. The only reason she offered it was to shut Rainbow up – and it worked. It was a clever move. It forced Rainbow to think.”
“It was still a creepy thing to do. Anyway. So, um, today didn't exactly turn out the way I had planned. I was hoping to relax you and make you happy.”
“Then you shouldn't have invited Celestia! I know, I know, you didn't invite her. But still. She sort of ruined the day.”
“But she did give you wings. And you're basically in charge of the sun now. And you have superpowers, and you can take over the whole country whenever you want. So it hasn't been a total loss.”
“That's true,” Trixie said thoughtfully. She smiled. “It's a glorious thought, isn't it? Trixie likes the idea of ruling over the country.”
Twilight grinned. “I'm sure Trixie does. But a few hours ago you were stressing over the responsibility of being the Element of Magic. Do you know how much more responsibility comes from being in charge of the whole country?”
“Really, Twilight? That is what you are thinking about right now? You're a bright cloud of joy on every occasion, aren't you? Twilight is always there to rain on my parade. It's a wonder you don't get invited to more parties.”
“Sorry. I just get stressed about these things.”
Trixie spread her hooves wide. “Look on the bright side! When we take over the country we'll get to live in a big castle, and everypony will have to do whatever we tell them, and we will be royalty. It will be–”
“–exactly like our life now. We already live in a big castle, and we're already royalty, and since you're the Element of Magic ponies already have to do whatever you tell them. If they don't listen to you then you can use your friends to turn them into stone. The only difference is that as the ruler of Equestria you'll have to attend a lot of boring meetings and do tedious diplomatic stuff. Instead of hanging out with the Keeper you'll be trying to persuade the yak nation not to go bomb somebody.”
“It will be easy,” Trixie replied airily. “As long as you and I stick together and work as a team, I think we can handle pretty much anything. Even assassination attempts, apparently. We've got this, Twilight. You just wait and see.”
“You think so? Do you really think we'll be good rulers?”
“I haven't the slightest doubt! After all, I have friends, and I know they will be there to help me.”
“I thought you didn't trust them. What changed?”
“They were there for me today when I needed them,” Trixie explained. “Rainbow Dash may have a big mouth, but she was willing to fight Celestia herself to save me. In fact, the whole country lined up to defend me. They have proven that they are ready for Trixie to be their queen.”
“Hey – I'm going to be ruling too! It's going to take both of us. Equestria is a big country, you know. There's no telling what sort of trouble we're going to face.”
“Trixie is not worried. After all, we will face it together. Right?”
“Right,” Twilight agreed.