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// A Birthday Is Ruined 
// Story: Villains Of Equestria Unite! 
// by Mr. Grimm 
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	For the past hour, Discord and Chrysalis had been trying to capture the Elements of Harmony, as well as Spike. So far they had been successful in catching all but one, who continued to evade them with infuriating ease. Currently, they were chasing a pink pony around and around the library, stumbling as she disappeared behind one thing only to reappear behind another.

“Get in the bag!” snarled Chrysalis as she magicked a burlap sack in the direction of her target. 

“No!” cried Pinkie Pie as she ran up the stairs. Discord suddenly appeared before her, and thrust down his bag upon the pony. 

“I got her!” he shouted victoriously as he shook the bag in his paw, “Huh?” He looked inside to see that he had not, in fact, captured her. 

“No!” cried the pink mare as she galloped about on the ceiling. For a moment Discord and Chrysalis just stared at her, marveling at the sheer impossibility of the situation. 

“Stop defying the laws of physics and get down on the ground where you belong!” screeched the changeling queen.

“No!” came the reply. Chrysalis gave a glowering look at her comrade, who actually had a smile on his face despite his frustration.

“You know, she kind of reminds me of myself when I was her age,” the Draconequus said fondly. Chrysalis bared her teeth as she remembered exactly how Discord acted when he was a child, and even then the two had been bitter enemies. It started out with minor things. He would steal her milk money and lie about it, then she would draw derogatory pictures of him during art class. Soon it moved on to things like her conquering small countries and him cheating at board games.  

“Can’t you do anything about this?” she grumbled. Discord shrugged his mismatched shoulders and gave the queen a look of mock uncertainty. 

“Perhaps,” he said, “Though I still don’t understand why you didn’t bring your changelings with you.” Chrysalis scowled and turned away. 

“I have my reasons,” she muttered. The actual reason for the changelings not being present was not hers, but their own. During the invasion of Canterlot, they had learned about things called ‘Worker’s Unions’ and learned about things that their queen had kept hidden from them, such as basic pony rights and a concept known as ‘payment’. This had caused a disaster for Chrysalis upon their return to the hive, where the ideas spread and caused a massive strike. Unable to deal with the problem herself due to her own laziness, Chrysalis was forced to create several entirely new castes of changelings to solve it, such as the new Lawyer, Accountant, and Social Engineer classes, along with adding a whole new wing to the hive to accommodate office space. Thus, everyone at the hive was too busy undergoing a social revolution to come help her.

In the time it took for the author to write the paragraph above, Pinkie pie had finally tired herself out and conveniently decided to take a nap in the empty bag. 

“See,” said Discord, “The problem solved itself.” 

“Let’s get out of here,” said Chrysalis, “I hate libraries.” There was a muffled cry of response from Twilight’s bag as Discord tossed it over his shoulder. 


“This is just terrible!” cried Scootaloo, “How could this happen? And on my Birthday, too!” The orange Pegasus threw up her forelegs in frustration as she paced back and forth in the kitchen of Sugar-Cube Corner. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gave their friend an apologetic look, though it wasn’t their fault.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” said Sweetie Belle, “I mean, there’s probably just been some mix-up at the weather factory or something.” 

“Yeah,” added Applebloom, “Ya remember how Rainbow Dash flooded the park, right?” Scootaloo, though appreciative of her friend’s attempt to console her, sighed. She looked over at the large basket of cupcakes she and the rest of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders had come by to pick up for school. They were supposed to give them out at the party they’d have during lunch, but as there had been a sudden snowstorm they were snowed in at the bakery. They were the only three ponies in the store, as it had turned out. There was a note with the cupcake basket that explained that the Cakes had to run out to obtain some more flour from Filthy Rich’s Barnyard Bargains. 

“Well, it could be worse,” said Sweetie Belle, “I mean, at least Rarity knows we’re here. She’ll get the others and they’ll come for us as soon as they can.” The moment after she spoke, there was a bright flash.

“I’m afraid they won’t,” came an obnoxious voice. The three fillies looked to see a blue unicorn in a hat and cape standing in the middle of the room, a smug smile on her face. Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed as she realized who it was. 

“I know you!” she cried, “You’re that loudmouth who attacked Rainbow Dash with a rainbow!” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both gave furious glares at the newcomer. 

“Ya done tied up Applejack in front o’ the whole town!” shouted Applebloom.

“You turned Rarity’s hair green!” added Sweetie Belle. The blue unicorn’s face screwed up incredulously. 

“How dare you three brats even attempt to tarnish the Great and Powerful Trixie’s reputation!” she sputtered, “I was going to be nice about this, but you can forget it now!” Her horn suddenly glowed as she made a rope appear in the air before her. Before the three fillies knew what was happening, they were all tied up back-to-back on the kitchen counter. Trixie gave the three of them another infuriatingly smug smile as she let out a snicker. 

The reason for her actions were entirely simple: War Horse had instructed her to detain three possible threats to his plan, which were, as you have guessed, the Cutie-Mark Crusaders. He had come to the conclusion that they must be captured and watched at all times after he learned that, on average, they came close to destroying Ponyville 3.67 times in a consecutive work week. When Trixie had first been assigned the task, she had been offended as she thought it was a waste of her talent. But upon hearing everyone else’s assignments, she had shut her mouth. The blue unicorn sauntered over to the three fillies and admired her work. 

“Let us go, you big bully!” cried Scootatloo as she fought against the ropes. Trixie merely let out another laugh. 

“You poor little simpleton,” she guffawed, “You can’t get out of those ropes. Do you not realize the knot-tying power that is possessed by the Great and Powerful Trixie?” 

“Why are you doing this?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need to explain her motives to you,” quipped the unicorn, “You probably wouldn't understand them.”  At that moment, she spotted the basket of cupcakes. Trixie’s eyes glittered with greed as a small smile appeared on her face. Scootaloo immediately noticed this. Words could not describe the sheer rage that appeared on her face. 

“Get away from those cupcakes!” she roared. Trixie gave the angry Pegasus a villainous sneer. 

“And why should Trixie do that?” she asked with a contemptible toss of her head.

“Because they don’t belong to you!” Applebloom shouted. An evil smile appeared on Trixie’s face as she took a step toward the basket. Subsequently all three Cutie Mark Crusaders gave her incredibly hateful glares. Their anger turned to shock as Trixie slowly reached into the basket and retrieved a cupcake. 

“Put that back!” cried Scootaloo, trying to fight back the tears that were forming in her eyes. But these tears were noticeable to Trixie, even as she flawlessly peeled the wrapper off. The three filly’s mouths dropped open as Trixie moved it toward her mouth. 

“Don’t you do it!” shrieked Scootaloo. The blue unicorn purposely looked at her as she took a huge bite of the chocolate cupcake. She slowly chewed it, savoring the sweetness of the pink frosting. All three of the fillies began to silently weep for the loss of their baked goods. They shed tears not only for themselves, but for the rest of their classmates who would never get to taste the deliciously succulent cupcakes.  

“Oh, come on!” Trixie with a roll of her eyes as bits of cupcake sprayed out of her mouth, “Don’t get so worked up over something as stupid as a cupcake. They don’t even have any sprinkles.” Scootaloo hung her head in misery, not even looking at the unicorn. 

“They were for my birthday…” she sniffled. For just a moment, Trixie had an almost remorseful look on her face as she encountered an emotion that she at first thought was regret. However, she soon realized that she was only hungry for more of the cupcakes. 

“Well in that case,” she said with a wicked smile as she reached into the basket, “Happy Birthday.” Scootaloo looked at her in disbelief as the unicorn began gorging herself on what was supposed to be her birthday present from the Cakes. 

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” 


It just so happened that when this whole event had started, Discord and Chrysalis were passing outside of the bakery, and had stopped to watch. 

“Good Gravy, that unicorn’s the biggest jerk I’ve ever seen,” said Discord, who, as you might have guessed, did not own a mirror.

“You’re telling me,” said Chrysalis, “I’d never mess with somepony’s birthday. I send a birthday card to every one of my subjects.” Chrysalis actually had to do this because of her job, which was to supervise the incubation room. Therefore, she knew the exact birth dates of all of her subjects, and had no excuse for not sending them a card. 

“Hey, do you know what would be funny?” asked the Draconequus. He leaned over and whispered something in the changeling’s ear. For once, something he had said made her smile. 

“Do it,” she said eagerly. 



“Ugh…” groaned Trixie as her stomach gurgled uncomfortably, “Trixie doesn’t feel so well…” 

“That’s because you ate too many cupcakes, ya pig!” snapped Scootaloo.

“Ah seen hogs that don’t each half as much as you do!” added Applebloom. Both fillies spoke the truth, as Trixie had finished the entire basket and downed it with a liter of soda. She then proceeded to indulge in a box of chocolates and half a cake before she finally realized how sick she felt. The unicorn now sat in a chair, trying to find a way how to explain to herself that what she had done wasn’t her fault. The best idea she’d had so far was that the Cutie-Mark Crusaders had somehow tricked her, but she just couldn’t buy it. 

Trixie was so preoccupied with feeling miserable that she didn’t notice the invisible Draconequus that had silently slipped in through the chimney. The Cutie-Mark Crusaders, however, each felt a claw tap them on the forehead, and each one suddenly turned gray. The unhappy looks on their faces suddenly changed to ones of wicked delight as their frowns turned into devious smiles. The smiles grew wider as the invisible Draconequus untied the rope, setting them free. Scootaloo immediately went over and picked up a sizable rolling pin, and snuck up behind Trixie.