Chapter Twelve – Second Course
A light shone down from above, glittering in a million fractal reflections. The soft glow illuminated Twilight’s surroundings. She opened her mouth to take in a breath and was greeted with the strange taste of what seemed to be salt water as she began to choke. The floating sensation she felt quickly changed to fear of drowning. With every bit of air she had left in her burning lungs, she thrashed toward the light at the surface.
With a final thrust of her back legs, she broke through and gulped down a welcome draught of air. In a secondary welcome, a hoof reached out toward her and slowly came into focus. “Take a hold of my hoof, princess.” The dulcet sound of Starswirl was like music to her ears. Twilight reached out and latched onto him and was pulled free of the pool.
Once back on solid ground, Twilight had a few choice words for the wizard. “What… was… that?” She readied herself to shake dry, but stopped short of the struggle noting that not a single hair of her coat was in any way wet. Her flat styled mane and tail were once again exactly where they should be—something she felt incredibly grateful for.
“It seems you’ve received a passing grade.” Starswirl motioned upward to indicate a glowing white orb as it pulsated within the giant crystal starburst hovering above the pool. “The Element of Generosity accepts your offering.”
Aeon’s giant head with the cluster of glowing eyes peered down from above. “The Scion has proven her true generosity by giving of herself in a display of pure charity that goes beyond exchange of physical substance.” The Guardian coughed and a small cloud of smoke escaped his razor teeth. “Rest and watch. Soon you will face your second Trial.”
The bright white glow within the crystal above illuminated the pool below in a spotlight of sorts. Twilight drew near the water’s edge as the reflection produced a vision of the room she just left. The rainbow markings still covered her body and echoed on the vision of Rarity who lay on the filly’s cot in the corner of the small treehouse. Sweetie Belle hovered over the unconscious body of her sister as tears streamed down her face. Her cries for help only then partially answered by the frantic arrival of her friends ostensibly summoned by the recent rainbow explosion.
Scootaloo grabbed the first aid kit which had been flung aside in the previous commotion. Apple Bloom dashed back down the ladder and took off running toward home. Twilight reeled back in shock of what she was watching unfold. “What’s wrong? Is Rarity hurt?” She stumbled back into the waiting embrace of Starswirl.
“She’ll be fine. No need to worry.” Starswirl stroked her mane and tried to calm her fears. “Rarity just needs some rest—her body has been through a lot just now. Her horn should be able to absorb most of it, but I’m afraid it’s one of the side effects of the Trials. For anypony but the Scion, the residual magic energy can be quite—overwhelming.”
“You promise she’ll be all right?” Twilight craned her neck to get a better view of the pool. “She’s going to wake up soon, isn’t she?” Tiptoeing cautiously to the pool’s edge, she watched as Big Mac lumbered up the ladder rungs and hoisted the still unconscious Rarity on his back. As quickly and as carefully as he could, he hauled her back down and took off toward town. Three little fillies followed, hot on his tail. Twilight shot back a glare that could kill, that is, if her target wasn’t already dead.
Starswirl sat back and tossed up his hooves in mock surrender. “I promise. The spell’s effects are only temporary. She’ll wake up and feel like the whole experience was just a dream.”
Twilight sunk to the ground and covered her head with her forehooves. “I wasn’t prepared for that. You never told me I was going to be stuck in the body of one of my friends.” She threw her forelegs up in the air. “What would have happened if I didn’t pass the test? Would I be stuck as Rarity forever? Would Rarity just cease to exist?”
“A little worse than that, I’m afraid.” Starswirl stared down at the fuming Twilight. “If you fail the Trials, Aeon would die without being able to pass on his powers. All magic would cease to exist and life as you know it in Equestia would be changed forever.”
Twilight let out a huge sigh and let her hooves fall to the ground. “So I’m literally going to have to save the world or let it be destroyed—it’s all up to me?”
“You got it. I knew you would catch on fast.” Starswirl gave Twilight a huge grin and pulled her bags up close. “Ready for round two?”
Twilight rolled over on her back trying to put a little distance between herself and her next choice. Mumbling to herself, she stared up at the golden domed ceiling. “Why does this always happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?” Starswirl continued to poke at the sacks and Twilight rolled back onto her hooves. She approached the pool and watched the continuing struggle to help Rarity. Turning away as the scene changed, she shook her head and scowled at the wizard while pointing down into the pool. “I’m not doing anything until I see that Rarity is okay.”
The current view faded before brightening into the stark reality of Rarity lying in a hospital bed surrounded by the crusaders, Big Mac, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. It looked like Applejack was trying to figure out what had happened by talking to her brother and sister while the rest were directing their attention to the unconscious pony lying in the bed. A doctor checked Rarity’s vital signs and pronounced his verdict to the group assembled. Mass relief passed over the crowd with the doctor’s smile warming their hopes, and they stepped back to give Rarity some space.
Before long, Rarity opened her eyes and blinked in groggy realization of where she was. Much to the chagrin of the adults gathered, Sweetie Belle dove in and threw her forelegs around her sister’s neck. Slowly, a shaky white leg raised up from the bed and settled across the back of the little filly. A smile spread across Rarity’s face and Twilight stepped back from the pool, sufficiently pacified in knowing that everything would be okay.
The vision blurred and returned to the silver reflection of the mirror surface. The glow of the white orb retreated into itself and hung within the starburst crystal as if waiting for a friend to join it. Twilight stepped back and tossed Starswirl another frustrated glare. “Is this going to happen every time?” She questioned why she had to put her friends through this ordeal as she tossed her tail from side to side in frustration.
“I’m afraid that’s how it works, Twilight. The Elements are the ones that must decide if you are worthy, and the only way for that to happen is for you take up the role of their bearers.” Starswirl tossed the packs over toward Twilight. “Of course, we could attempt to rip the Elements away from your friends and try something else, but that might have some unintended side effects.”
Stomping her hoof, Twilight declared, “That’s not happening.” She reached over and stuck her hoof into the sack and drew back a white feather. “Let’s just get this over with.” Turning to Aeon, she presented the object. “Tell me what I’m supposed to do now.”
Aeon puffed and sputtered before opening his maw and spit out his instructions. “The Cockatrice, a foe which nearly took your life, was mastered by your friend when she showed courage in emboldened kindness. You must do the same to overcome the next Trial—just remember that kindness can take many forms.” He sunk back into the shadows but kept his sights firmly locked on Twilight—all two dozen of them.
Twilight stepped to the pool’s edge once more. With a quick glance over at Starswirl who was still flashing a smile and now giving her a wink, she focused on the task ahead. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I hope you can forgive me.” She reached out over the pool and felt the weight of the feather tugging her down. Giving in to the foregone conclusion, she hopped in and let the darkness envelop her.
Twilight blinked as the light of the midday sun shone through a cloud-lined window, brightening the room. She stared down at a flowery teacup perched on a rainbow striped saucer. Her yellow hoof sat beside the cup only partially obscured by a dangling lock of pink hair. Going over a mental list of self-checks, she flexed her wing muscles and scrunched up her forehead. The lack of a horn gave her the weirdest of all the strange sensations she felt in the foreign body of Fluttershy.
The returning sensation of having a pair of wings, while a poor substitute for her lack of a horn, helped to center her thoughts. With her final check, she bent her head to the side and took in the view of the pink butterflies that graced her flank. From across the table, her curiosity and thoroughness was repaid by a jarring screech of a voice.
“Fluttershy, dear, did you drop something?” Fluttershy’s mother glared at her from the other end of the table. She took a sip of her tea and stuck her nose in the air. “Clumsy girl. I’m sure you’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached to the rest of you.”
“Excuse me?” Twilight cocked her head to the other side to get a better view around the enormous cloud-lined centerpiece in the middle of the table. Her new mother sat cross-legged enjoying the last few sips of tea in her cup. Glancing down a bit, Twilight could see that Fluttershy’s cup hadn’t even been touched.
“You’re very right to excuse yourself. You probably have a lot of practice with that given your penchant for falling short of every expectation.” The moody mare dropped her glasses down her muzzle a notch before unfurling her right hind leg and kicking the chair next to her. “Isn’t that right, darling?”
Twilight swung her head around to the other side of the centerpiece and was greeted by a light grey hoof holding up a newspaper. From behind the page, a deep voice rumbled, “Whatever you say, dear.” Sinking back in her seat, she was beginning to see why Fluttershy never talked about her parents. Fumbling through her memory, she tried to remember their names, but for the moment drew a blank.
Fortunately, the awkward conversation was gratefully interrupted by Rainbow Dash diving in through the gold inlaid window in the cloud structured wall to Twilight’s right. With a somersault dive and a flick of her mane, the unexpected guest gave a hasty half-curtsy, half-bow and nodded her head. “Afternoon, Missus Morning Glory—Mister Cloudy Skies.”
Fluttershy’s mother peered down over the top of her silver rimmed glasses and spoke in a condescending tone. “Miss Rainbow Dash, I presume. Civilized Pegasi tend to use the door when visiting one another.”
Rainbow Dash turned over toward Fluttershy and blushed. “Sorry, Fluttershy. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Then just what did you intend?” Morning Glory got up from her chair and crossed over to the window. She reached up and swung the glass shut and tossed the latch. “Do you frequently ignore what I can only suppose passes for manners in that silly little Earth Pony town you call home?”
“Sorry, ma’am.” Rainbow Dash hung her head. “I just have orders from the princess to bring Fluttershy back to Ponyville right away. It’s kind of urgent.”
“Oh dear, that petulant princess, Twilight Sparkle, making demands once again.” Morning Glory spread out her wings. “Unicorn grows a pair of wings and the whole world has to bow to her every whim.”
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and tried to restrain herself from making an embarrassing outburst. “Actually, it’s Princess Celestia. She wants Fluttershy to head back to Ponyville right away.”
Twilight grinned and watched the expression on her mother’s face change from outright disgust to puzzled wonderment. Her response was truly unexpected. “I had no idea! My little Fluttershy—requested by the princess herself. I wasn’t aware she had any dealings with the princess.” She spun around to her husband who still had his face buried in the newspaper. “Did you hear that, dear? Our little Fluttershy has been summoned by the princess.”
The same grunt as before followed from behind the page, “Yes, dear. Whatever you say.”
Morning Glory walked over to her daughter and roughly patted her on the head. “Just give us an hour or two, precious, so we can arrange and air taxi for our luggage transport and we’ll be on our way.”
“How about not?” Twilight had just about had enough demeaning treatment from her overbearing mother. “If Princess Celestia needs to see me, then I need to leave right away. You two can catch up later—if you still want to.”
“Why… I-I guess that would be all right…” Morning Glory stood frozen in shock at the sudden outburst from her normally docile daughter. A dark grey mane and a set of eyeballs poked over the top of the newspaper page as the hoof that was holding it dropped a couple inches.
“Let’s get out of here, Rainbow.” Twilight hopped out of the chair, gave her mother a quick hug, spun around the table and did the same to her father, and was nearly out the front door before Rainbow Dash picked her jaw up off the floor and followed her out.
Twilight spread out her hopefully functional wings and quickly took to the skies. She laid out a course toward Ponyville and didn’t look back. Rainbow Dash had a bit of a struggle to keep up, but was soon winging through the air alongside her.
“Wow, Fluttershy. I’ve never seen you stand up to your mother like that.” Rainbow Dash rolled over a cloud and laid out beneath a second as she fought to keep pace. “You sure tore out of there in a flash, but I think you can pull it back a bit. Nopony’s chasing us.”
“You said it was urgent and Princess Celestia needed to see me right away.” Twilight continued on course taking a pretty direct path while leaving Rainbow to fend with the ambient cloud cover here and there. “I’m just following orders.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t a race.” Rainbow swooped to avoid crashing head on into a stray raincloud. “Anyway, I didn’t get to tell you what the problem is—”
Twilight wasn’t in the mood to hear her story retold again. She cut off Rainbow and blurted out the entire answer. “Twilight’s missing and Celestia flew to Ponyville to head up the search herself. She obviously wants all the Element bearers to return to the castle and begin a search.”
Rainbow Dash tipped her head back and rolled to her side. With a few strong flaps she soared below Twilight and stared up at her yellow underbelly trying to lock eyes with her wingmare. “How’d you know that?”
Twilight found herself caught in her self-laid trap. Quickly, she thought of the best excuse she could. “It’s all over the news. Everypony is talking about it.” She looked down and saw Rainbow Dash scratching her head—she seemed to have bought the lie. To help solidify its authenticity, she continued, “There was also some news about a terrible train wreck—I hope Twilight wasn’t involved.”
“Yeah… Okay…” Rainbow Dash swung back around and took up position wingtip to wingtip. “Let’s just get back to Ponyville and see what the others have to say about finding Twilight.”
“Sounds good to me.” Twilight flashed a brilliant smile over at Rainbow Dash and took off like a bullet.
Rainbow Dash stared in awe of her friend. “What’s gotten into you?” She beat her wings and didn’t waste another second in making the rest of the trip one of the shortest Cloudsdale to Ponyville flights on record.
Gliding in for a landing, Twilight touched down on the castle balcony only moments before Rainbow Dash. She hurried to the door and worked to push it open. “Hey, I said this wasn’t a race.” Rainbow Dash called over to her as she slipped inside the throne room.
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight called out into the mostly empty room. She could see the stairs to the hidden library were open. Quickly trotting up the steps, Twilight was greeted by the flowing mane of Celestia who flashed her horn and began to close the staircase silently behind her.
“So glad to see you, Fluttershy. I see you’ve made excellent time.” Celestia walked over to Twilight as the last step moved up into place. Half way there, she stopped suddenly and fired up her horn. Her eyes clouded over momentarily and then returned to normal with the magic dissipating once again. “Well, now. This is quite fortuitous.”
Rainbow Dash burst into the room. “Fluttershy, what’s the big deal? I told you this wasn’t a race, but that’s got to be the fastest I’ve ever seen you go. Were you really that anxious to get away from your folks?”
Twilight rolled her eyes and glanced back at Rainbow. “Yes. That and I wanted to get here quickly so I could start helping Twilight.” She bit her lip and turned back to face Celestia.
Celestia looked around nervously catching on to the need for a diversion. She needed to think of something fast. “Umm, Rainbow Dash? Could you help me—” She didn’t get a chance to finish her question as Pinkie Pie burst in through the throne room doors.
“Rarity… Hospital… Not good…” Pinkie panted like she had just finished running a marathon. It wasn’t far from the truth as the hospital was on the other side of town just north and east of the train station. Celestia took in the sight of the frantic Pinkie Pie and then turned back to Twilight. Twilight stared at Celestia and scrunched up her shoulders. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to topple over as her head spun between all three of them.
As was typical, Celestia took the lead. “Then we should all get to the hospital right away.” She looked down at the pink mane and yellow coat of the current Twilight host and nodded her head looking for some kind of confirmation.
Twilight took the signal and went with it. “Yes. We should all go to the hospital—right away.” Pinkie Pie grabbed for the wall and continued to try and catch her breath. Rainbow Dash fell over backwards, finally succumbing to the rigor of the marathon flight and dizzying conversation. Celestia looked down at Twilight and stifled her reaction to keep from busting out laughing.
Twilight just spread her wings and turned toward the open balcony door. With a heft of the bright yellow feathers, she took off. Celestia followed suit and a slightly winded and somewhat confused Rainbow Dash rolled into position a moment later. Pinkie Pie held up a hoof as the trio darted away. “I’ll be right there. Just give me a minute.” She slumped to the floor and took in large gulps of air. “Did I mention she’s doing better…”
Grateful to have her wings and avoid the run across town, Twilight took the lead. She swung around the castle and banked to a line heading directly for the hospital on the far side of town. Her companions stayed close and the trio soon covered the distance. After a running landing, Twilight glanced back over both shoulders to make sure she hadn’t lost either of them on the way over.
Seeing the concerned smile of the princess and realizing she may have forgotten her place, Twilight fell back in line with Rainbow Dash and let Celestia lead the way inside. After a quick stop at the nurses’ station, they followed in the direction of her hoof pointing down the noisy corridor leading further back into the emergency admittance area.
Fillies and colts stood on the backs of other ponies and everypony else strained their necks to see over the crowd ahead. The small room at the end of the hallway seemed to overflow with curiosity as a pair of hapless security ponies struggled to hold back the crowd. The gathering quickly drew apart as they realized the princess was making her way forward.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed close on Celestia’s heals as the princess confidently strode into the guarded room. Once they were all inside, Celestia closed and sealed the door with her magic. Twilight popped out from behind the princess and took stock of the room’s occupants. Just as in her vision, she found Big Mac, Applejack, and the trio of Crusaders joined by a pair of doctors huddled around Rarity’s hospital bed. Nurse Redheart was also among the group.
The tiny room got even smaller with the addition of three more mares. Celestia stepped carefully to avoid stomping on any tails or accidentally smacking somepony with an errant brush of her flowing mane. She slid up to the side of the bed opposite the doctors as Applejack pulled away giving up her spot next to Rarity. Her horn lit up and her eyes went white. She stared down at the fully awake and functioning mare in the bed.
Once satisfied with her inspection, she turned and gave a furtive nod to Twilight who tried to find a spot to stand in the back corner not far from where she stepped into the room. Celestia turned back to the doctors. “What say you—how is the patient?”
The first doctor pulled down his spectacles and glanced over a clipboard that Nurse Redheart held for his inspection. “Magical exhaustion. This pony needs plenty of bed rest. Perhaps these blotches of color will fade in time, but other than the superficial puncture wound in her side, I’d say she could leave as soon as tomorrow.”
Giving a second opinion, the other doctor nodded his head. “I concur. Quite possibly the sooner the better—she’s drawing quite the attention and it’s a great disturbance for the rest of our patients who also need their rest and recovery time.”
Rarity raised her hoof. “If it’s all right with everypony, I’d just as well like to go home right now. A hospital is quite possibly the worst place for me to recover in. So many germs and a gross lack of colorful decorations.”
The first doctor rebounded. “But miss Rarity, you don’t seem to understand the gravity of your situation. Having just recently arrived in a fully unconscious state, we must run extensive tests before we can fully evaluate your condition.” He reached down and ran his hoof along the rainbow markings that decorated her legs and torso. “In addition, there is the curious nature of the remnants of a spell that seem to be lingering far longer than should be the case. We may have to call in a specialist from Canterlot to determine what to do about that.”
Celestia placed her hoof on top of Rarity’s. “I think we can take it from here, doctors. Why don’t you two fill out whatever paperwork you need and we’ll see to it that Rarity makes a full recovery back at the castle—under my personal care.” She turned to face Nurse Reheart. “Also, would you mind staying and helping to answer a few questions I had about a certain incident the other day?” Redheart dropped the clipboard on the end of the bed and looked like she had just seen a ghost.
The two doctors looked at each other and then back at the princess. “Yes, your majesty.” “We’ll see to it right away.” They packed away their things and scurried toward the door. Celestia’s magic unlocked the protection spell and the door swung open. Before the pair had a chance to exit, a rolling ball of pink pony spewed in from the crowded hallway. Dodging the obstacle, the doctors made their way into the throng of curious onlookers.
As soon as they cleared the threshold, Celestia swung the door shut and locked it again. Rarity glanced around the room at all the concerned faces staring at her. “It’s just a little pinprick. I don’t know what all the fuss is about—I get them all the time when I’m not being careful with my stitching or have to rush a deadline.”
“I think they’re more concerned with why your rainbow magic hasn’t let go and you’re still lit up like a Hearthwarmin’ Tree.” Applejack smiled over from the near corner.
“That’s probably my fault.” The little voice of Sweetie Belle squeaked out from near the bottom of the bed as her head popped over the footboard. “I may have overdone it when I tried my sister promise spell on her.”
“Now, now, Rarity is going to be just fine.” Celestia squeezed Rarity’s hoof and smiled around at the room. “We should probably get back to the castle and out of this cramped space. Big Mac—would you see if you can find a stretcher so that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can carry Rarity back with us?”
Big Mac saluted. “Eeyup.” He picked up his giant hooves and attempted to tippy-toe his way to the door. Celestia once again broke her restraining spell on the door and it opened to the gawking stares of several onlookers. “Comin’ through.” Big Mac lowered his head and plodded out into the hallway. The crowd quickly cleared a path as he dove past the guards.
“So, Nurse Redheart,” Celestia changed gears as soon as the door shut. “I hear you had an encounter with Princess Twilight on a certain train the other day. Would you care to share what you saw?”
Nurse Redheart took a gulp and looked around at all the ponies staring back at her. Focusing on the princess, she replied, “I was just minding my own business when the train up and fell over sideways. Princess Twilight dove right in and rescued the conductor—also saved an entire section of passengers from falling right over the edge of the Filly Gorge. Everypony was a total mess after the accident, but then, some strange Unicorn stallion cast a spell, and poof—just like that, everypony was healed.”
“And what about Twilight? Was she injured?” Celestia tipped her head around and spotted Twilight skulking in the back corner behind the nurse.
“Yeah, she was really banged up. Had a gash bigger than my hoof straight across her cutie mark.” The others gasped as Redheart continued her tale. “That magic wave hit and the entire thing just zipped right back up like it wasn’t even there. Not a drop of blood—nothing. I’ve never seen magic that could do that kind of fast healing in my entire life. Sure would save us a lot of trouble if somepony could just wave their horn and fix up a mess of problems as simple that.”
“I see.” Celestia stroked her chin in mock thought. “Did you happen to see where Twilight went afterwards?”
“I think she headed off down the river with that stallion she was with.” The nurse turned back to Rarity. “I’m just happy everypony got out okay. We sure don’t need any more excitement around this place than we already got.”
“All right then. Thank you for your help, Nurse Redheart.” Celestia nodded her head. “I’m sure I’ll keep in touch and let you know if I have any further questions. I really appreciate everything you did to help those ponies.”
Nurse Redheart bowed her head, nearly smacking it against the clipboard that hung out off the side of the bed. “You’re very welcome, your majesty. Will that be all?”
“Yes, and thank you once again. You’ve been a tremendous help.” Celestia smiled and her horn began to glow. Without even looking away, the door opened and the nurse took that as her cue to leave. The crowd parted as Big Mac entered with a stretcher held in his mouth. Crawling around the Apple stallion, the smaller nurse shuffled off into the still crowded hallway. Celestia giggled at the sight. “All right my little ponies, let’s get Rarity back to the castle.”
“I’m pretty sure I can walk.” Rarity looked over at the stretcher and slumped back in her bed.
“Ain’t happening, Rairty.” Applejack grabbed one end of the board. “You’ve got a first class ticket to being taken care of, and that’s that.”
“I’m familiar with first class, Applejack, and I can assure you it doesn’t involve a litter of this kind.” Rarity rolled her eyes and pulled the sheets up over her head.
Twilight looked out the door at the growing crowd. “Either way, let’s get out of here before the entire town shows up.”
“Fluttershy is right.” Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway and yelled out into the hall. “Clear a path!”
Rarity dropped the sheet. “If I must face the crowd, at least let me have my dignity. I’ll be fine, just let me walk.”
Applejack relented. “Fine. Let’s get you outta here.”
Rarity shuffled off the bed. Following Celestia’s lead, they all filed out of the room and past the gawking crowd. The hospital had seen its share of excitement for the day.
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Just two words: Me like!
I have only one question after reading the last 3 chapters in quick succession. Isn't this going to get far more diffcult the more of the mane 6 Twi possesses? Heck RD almost caught onto Twilight in Flutter's body. And I dont think for a second that Twi could even atempt to pull of a decent Pinkie impression. A pony with mild OCD cannot act that disorganised!
5093095 That's part of the fun.
Twilight finds herself......underwater, for some reason, and is helped out of the Pool of Harmony by Starswirl. And somehow, she's completely dry.
(Magic, remember? Don't question it.)
Oh, yeah.
So we see via the pool that Rarity is being taken out of the clubhouse via Big Mac, likely to the hospital, and from Starswirl we learn the spell - whatever it was - will wear off in time.
Yeah, that little detail would have been nice to know, Aeon!!! And here I thought you were the more direct between you and Starswirl!
So, Twilight passed the Trial of Generosity. One down, five more to go.
But what would have happened, exactly, if she had failed? Particularly, what would happen to Rarity?
Two things.
1. That doesn't exactly answer the question regarding Rarity, Starswirl.
2. So basically, it's Tuesday.
Seriously, how many times has she saved the world? (Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, Lord Tirek) By my count, that's four separate occasions prior to this in the show alone. Then there's the Smooze and the Elements of Disharmony from the two previous books, so that's six. (Chrysalis doesn't exactly count as a "world" thing; she didn't exactly have a world-ending power.)
So the next trial is Kindness. Oh boy; filling in Fluttershy's horseshoes. I'm not sure if Twilight can act THAT socially insecure. Well, here we go.
So Twilight wakes up in Fluttershy's body, and we get our first glimpse at her parents, who are VERY uptight.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash bursts in through the window - I can only assume it was open - and politely asks for Fluttershy to come with her. But Miss Morning Glory isn't exactly having any of it, going so far as to insult both Ponyville and Twilight.
Uh, I'll have you know, lady, that Twilight is a very kind and caring princess and has only exercised her new power a FEW times - like, once or twice - and each time has ended up saving the world!
She's friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was the personal student of Princess Celestia. How could you NOT know!?
So Morning Glory starts scrambling to get herself going along with Fluttershy, but Twilight...
Twilight, darling? Ummm......I don't think that's exactly in character for Fluttershy.
So the two of them take off from Cloudsdale faster than Rainbow can process what happened. And upon being questioned, Twilight doesn't exactly do a good job of covering up her sudden moment of bad Fluttershy acting. Heck, she's flying fast enough to almost put RD to shame.
Uuuhhh...If I was there, I could poke a huge hole in that argument by this one statement: other than the train wreck, everything else has been kept between the Mane Six. And Fluttershy was not present at the time it was discussed. So how in Equestria would Fluttershy know that? Twilight, you fail.
So they show up and we find Celestia exiting the secret library. Quickly scanning Fluttershy, Celestia has confirmed Twilight's location.
Then Pinkie comes in looking like she just got back from running to and back from Yakyakistan.
Upon Celestia's suggestion, they all head out to the hospital - with Twilight absolutely FAILING to fit Fluttershy's personality or normal flight pattern.
When they arrive, they learn from the doctors that Rarity is simply suffering from Magic exhaustion. Great, so that's going to happen every time Twilight fulfills one of the Elements? That's going to cause a ruckus.
Rarity asks to be taken home to rest, but the residual magic is taking a worryingly long time to dissipate, according to the doctors. Celestia offers to take her to Canterlot and sort it all out, and asks for Nurse Redheart to answer some questions about the train wreck.
Pinkie rolls in like a bouncy ball as Pinkie does. She's just that random.
After Nurse Redheart answers Celestia's question about the wreck, Big Mac shows up with a stretcher to take Rarity to the castle. But the marshmallow pony (don't judge me; I like that joke) won't have any of it, insisting upon walking on her own. Forgot she's got a level of pride as well.
Now that I think of it, how in the world is Twilight going to remain in character when it comes to Pinkie Pie? The two have almost complete opposite personalities and mannerisms.