A Twist of Fate

by Slireon

Chapter 9: Leap of Faith

“This is what got everypony excited?” Sweetie Belle looked up to Twilight in confusion. “Shaykespeare in the Park?”

“Dunno,” Twilight said. She doubted Ponyville was sufficiently well versed in theatre for it to attract such a multitude. Then again, Sunday afternoon, the cinema still pending reconstruction... perhaps they were with a heavy withdrawal, or just a complete lack of anything better to do.

The crowd was so large, barely a few seconds had gone by before they had lost all track of Lyra and Bon Bon. It was not a loss Twilight would rue too keenly, given how Lyra had made some problematic implications about her friendship with her fellow co-Bearers… And what’s worse, made her imagine them. Extremely graphically.

It was the stuff of nightmares.

Or that’s what she was trying to convince herself of.

“What is up with this crowd?” Twilight frowned, trying to take her mind out of the gutter. “It’s almost like all of Ponyville is here.”

“Whoa, Missy, what happened to yer leg?” Applejack’s farm drawl rang out. The unicorns turned to see the three Apple siblings making their way towards them. Applejack eyed her splinted leg with concern.

“Fell from a scaffold,” she replied laconically, avoiding his eyes in embarrassment, unholy images that would plague her dreams for ages to come coming back into her mind.

“What were ya doin’ up there in the first place?” Apple Bloom questioned.

What were you doing burning down the Celestia-damned town, Apple Bloom? You have no right to judge me, Twilight snarked internally.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Phil popped out of nowhere, as he was wont to do.

Twilight wheeled on him, fire in her eyes. “I fell because of you!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, turning to glare at Phil.

“Ah, but I tried warning you!” the pink stallion defended himself. “It’s not my fault you were surprised, jumped and brought the scaffolding down!”

Applejack turned to look at Twilight in befuddlement.

“... I’ll explain later,” she promised tiredly, with no intention whatsoever to do as much. “You guys know what is everypony doing here?”

“No idea,” Applejack shrugged. “Folks were comin’, so we came to see. Didn’t expect the crowd to be this big.”

“Yeah!” Phil added. “I had this weird shudder I’ve never had before, so I just knew I had to come over and check out for myself! Whatever it is, it’s sure to be a doozy!” Twilight had the sudden urge to jump on the pink stallion and strangle him, but she just knew this Pinkie Sense crap of his would alert him. Somehow.

“You think Scootaloo is here, too?” Sweetie Belle asked Apple Bloom.

“One way ta find out,” the farmfilly replied. “See y’all later!”

“Don’t burn down the town!” Applejack called out as both Cutie Mark Crusaders disappeared into the crowd, looking for their missing member. The stallion sighed, then face-hoofed. “Ah can’t believe Ah’m not jokin’ when Ah say that.”

“You and me both, Applejack, you and me both,” Twilight agreed, shooting a glance around the crowd.

Ponies just kept arriving, too. This was comparable to the crowd for the Summer Sun Celebration! Twilight narrowed her eyes sourly. Who was this performer who dared to attract a larger crowd than Princess Celestia herself?

“Hey, there they are!” Spike’s voice called, and sure enough, he and Elusive were moving through the crowds to get to them. Much to her surprise, Spike was mounted on the mustachioed unicorn’s back.

Twilight felt a small pang of jealousy. That was their thing.

She could also make out Butterscotch coming towards them, too. And no surprises, a rainbow streak appeared on the sky.

It was starting to get a bit ridiculous how literally everypony was in that crowd.

“What did you guys get up to?” Twilight asked them when they joined them.

“We listened to El Clásico on Elusive’s radio,” Spike replied excitedly.

Twilight turned to look at the white unicorn, tilting her head in curiosity.

“I didn’t know you were into Hoofball.”

“I dabble,” Elusive shrugged simply, moustache quivering. “Especially if Real Mabrida is involved.”

“Paletona all the way!” Rainbow Blitz shouted from the sky. “The referee totally robbed the game!”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac nodded angrily, stomping with his fore hooves for good measure.

“What are you talking about? That was the dirtiest foul I’ve ever heard about in my entire life!” Spike shot back.

“Said the ten-year-old,” the pegasus retorted.

“Eleven!”

The Crusaders rejoined them in their spot in the crowd, now with a very bemused Scootaloo in tow. Elusive bowed his head to his little sister in greeting.

“That penalty was legitimate!” Spike insisted.

Elusive nodded his agreement. “We won fair and square.”

Spike snickered. “Yeah, we did,” and bro-hoofed with the white unicorn, to the pegasus’ frustration and Twilight’s utter puzzlement. What the hay happened between those two?

“It was bullshit, plain and simple!” Blitz reiterated, smacking his front hooves together for emphasis, comfortably held aloft by the flapping of his wings. “Nobita has to appeal to the EHA!”

Applejack rolled his eyes at the argument.

“Hooligans,” he shared a look with Twilight, making her giggle.

“United,” was all his brother said. Angel, on top of Butterscotch’s head, took that name as a mortal offense and started jumping up and down, chirping in a raging frenzy. Butterscotch flinched at his pet bunny’s movement, but said nothing, although Twilight could have sworn a shadow passed over his eyes for an instant.

Applejack wheeled on Big Mac. “That’s different, shut up!” His face was as red as his applesWAIT NO MENTAL IMAGES AAAAAAA

“Is it, though?” Phil challenged him, while Big Mac snorted.

Before Applejack could enlighten them on the specifics that made his support for Manuceastre United entirely different to the other guys’ enthusiasm, however, a magically enhanced voice rang through the crowd, silencing it.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts! Prepare yourselves to watch in awe as you behold the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by mortal eyes! Prepare yourselves for the GRRREAT AND POWERRRFUL TRRRRRRRIXIE!!!”

The curtains rolled back to reveal…

Nothing.

“Uhm…” Sweetie Belle frowned. “Shouldn’t a pony be there?”

“She’s probably about to do a dramatic entrance,” Apple Bloom wagered.

Just as the words left her mouth, wisps of brightly coloured smoke began to twirl on stage, stars shining and twinkling as the wisps twisted and turned. Then, with a brilliant flash, materialised a brilliant azure unicorn mare with a pale cornflower blue mane neatly combed to her left side, wearing a star-studded lavender cape and a stereotypical wizard pointy hat.

Amazed gasps and impressed applauses filled the crowd, and Twilight had to admit, that had been a pretty neat entrance.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” She graciously bowed in front of her impressed audience. “Ponyville, o Ponyville! It is truly an honour for you to witness the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

And just like that, Twilight took an immediate dislike for the unicorn.

“An honour fer us to see her? Now who does this missy thinks she is?” Applejack grumbled, scowling, as Trixie continued with admittedly-spectacular displays of magic interscaled with tall tales.

Something else caught Twilight’s attention. ‘Missy’? she frowned. She thought that nickname was reserved only for her. Apparently not, it seemed. For some reason, that bothered her more than it should.

“Yeah. If anything, she should be honoured to see me!” Rainbow Blitz added, and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

Elusive stared at him flatly.

“I mean, I’m the Bearer of an Element of Harmony!”

“We all are,” Butterscotch pointed out.

“Fine, fine, she should be honoured to see us,” Blitz amended his statement. “Better now?”

“Oh, are those naysayers that I hear on the audience?” Trixie called out, a peeved look on her face. “Who is so ignorant as to challenge the arcane ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Who has the gall to belittle her claims? Do they not know that they’re in the presence of the preeminent mage in all of Equestria?”

Rainbow Blitz was unable to resist the temptation.

“I do!” he challenged her.

Elusive facehoofed. Butterscotch shook his head in disapproval. Applejack and Twilight shared a weary glance.

“Such arrogance!” the showmare declared hypocritically. “And who are you, who would smear the bright reputation of the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“I’m Rainbow Blitz!” the pegasus proclaimed confidently, crossing his arms and smirking down at the unicorn.

There was silence for three full seconds.

“Who?” asked Trixie, tilting her head.

The pegasus deflated. “Rainbow Blitz, man. The fastest, swiftest and most awesomest stallion in all of Equestria. The legendary speedster?”

Trixie shook her head, all her bravado replaced by genuine confusion.

“Come on… You guys?” Blitz turned to the rest of the audience. Some muttered words here and there, but no one came to his aid. Scootaloo, however, was nodding furiously, wings fluttering in excitement.

“I defeated the Night King, for Celestia’s sake!” he exclaimed in frustration.

A few ponies nodded, a small chorus of recognition rippling through the audience. For some reason, they didn’t sound all too happy.

Applejack coughed loudly.

“... Alongside my fellow Bearers of the Elements of Harmony!” Rainbow Blitz hastily added, but wisely didn’t attract attention to said co-Bearers, standing underneath him. “If it wasn’t for us, Equestria would be suffering an endless night!”

“Ahhh,” Trixie nodded in recognition, before resuming her bravado. “And we’re eternally grateful, you’re heroes,” she conceded with a rather acid tone. “But you were six against one, and had the aid of magical artifacts unlike any other Ponykind has ever seen. The Great and Powerful Trixie had no such aid when she used her unparalleled magical power to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!”

A ripple of awed whispers broke through the crowd. An Ursa Major? Those were monsters unlike any other. Even fearsome dragons threaded carefully through the lands inhabited the Ursa Majors, lest they invoked their wrath.

“It is true, my enthusiastic Ponyvillians,” Trixie said. “When the Ursa Major attacked, the ponies in Sattelfurt, Austrot, had no one to turn to.” As she spoke, she used her magic and fireworks to recreate the events in the darkening sky, a big, dark bear closing in on a small town filled with tiny, scared ponies fleeing for their lives, as soldiers wearing the Austrotian surcoats, a blue drop of blood in a white field, held the line, guiding the populace out of town. “Knowing they were defeated, the local garrison tried their best to evacuate the population, but all hope seemed lost!”

The beast roared savagely, the entire crowd flinching slightly in fear.

“But then, the Great and Powerful Trixie arrived!”

With fanfares and fireworks, a diminutive version of the mare in the stage appeared in between the town and the ursa. Some ponies in the crowd applauded and cheered. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Using her awesome magic, the Great and Powerful Trixie fought a long and epic struggle against the dreaded Ursa…” The fight was a spectacular affair, a first class show of lights and fireworks simulating Trixie’s epic fight against the large Ursa. Ponies gasped and cheered as the tiny Trixie valiantly stood her ground, and outwitted the bear into its eventual defeat. “... but in the end, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevailed! The Ursa Major was vanquished, sent back to its dark cave deep into the forest, and Sattelfurt was saved!”

Sattelfurt’s tiny population began cheering Trixie. And as life imitates art, so did Ponyville’s audience. Except...

“Bullshhhhh—” Applejack trailed off the moment he realised his impressionable little sister was by his side. “Ah mean, liar!”

“Oh?” Trixie chuckled, turning towards Applejack. “And who are you to claim that the Great and Powerful Trixie is lying? Why, Trixie doubts you even know what an Ursa Major is!” She chuckled again. “But then again, Trixie doubts your parents ever taught you much about anything, you uneducated hick.”

Twilight felt her blood boil. But if she was furious, Applejack was almost foaming at the mouth in rage.

“That’s it! Ah don’t know who taught ya manners, missy, but Ah ain’t gonna just sit and take this if Ah have anythin’ to do about it! The moment ya brin’ mah parents into this is the moment Ah buck ya sideways!”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac barked, eyes seeing red.

“Being bucked by siblings at the same time? Oh, that’s the dream of any mare! Please, be my guests,” she smirked, earning a laugh from the audience with her double entendre. Apple Bloom only glared daggers at the showmare. “Come up, come up to the stage and challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

She needn’t repeat herself. Both brothers immediately made their way through the crowds and jumped on stage.

There was a moment of silence on which not a single soul did anything. Trixie seized upon her opening.

“Well?” she goaded them, unimpressed at the sheer size of both stallions and their enraged demeanour. “The Great and Powerful Trixie was under the impression you were about to, ehem, ‘buck her sideways’?” she asked acidly, eliciting snickers from the crowd. “Or are you getting second thoughts upon basking in her magnificence from up close?”

Applejack glanced at his elder brother. “Let’s shut up this missy once and fer all.”

His brother merely snorted in agreement, raring to go. Not another word was exchanged as both stallions charged against the lone mare.

Until she wasn’t alone anymore.

In the blink of an eye, both Apples were surrounded by numerous identical Trixies, each wearing the same buckable cocky smirk.

Applejack stopped in his tracks, an unsure look in his face. Big Mac, however, continued onwards, smashing himself against the Trixie in front of him, only to pass through her as if she was made of fog, and tumble to the ground.

“Oh? Didn’t expect that?” Trixie taunted. “Come on, this shouldn’t be anything new to you! With such muscles, surely you can handle yourselves with multiple mares throwing themselves at you?” Big Mac stood up, snorted, then charged another Trixie, who dissipated just like the prior one did. Applejack remained rooted in place, eyes shifting through the Trixies. “Unless your barn door swings the other way, of course!”

As if jolted, Applejack snarled, then charged against the nearest Trixie. Refusing to give up, he bucked the one to his right, but neither was the real deal.

“Oh my! Touched a nerve?” she mocked Applejack. That only served to anger Applejack further, who began chasing futilely the multiple Trixies through the stage, much to the laughter of the audience. His raw ire confused Twilight. “My, my, my! Nopony’s judging, darling! There’s no need to be so uncivilised!”

Slowly but surely, both brothers whittled down the Trixies until the lone one remained in the centre. She raised a defiant eyebrow.

“Come at me.”

She might as well have said nothing, because both brothers were already charging against her. Twilight realised what was going to happen.

“Applejack, it’s a trap!” she shouted, but it was too late.

The last Trixie was another illusion, and both brothers crashed head-first into the other, tumbling to the ground in a mess of limbs. The audience exploded in laughter at the brothers’ misfortune.

Out of the corner of the stage, a rope started slithering in. Neither Apple was in shape to offer resistance as the rope began twisting around them, tying them tightly against each other… before lifting them high in the air, as if they weighed nothing.

Twilight could hear Applejack’s long suffering sigh, having anticipated what was about to happen. “Ah, horseapples,” he mumbled in resignation.

The rope proceeded to repeatedly slam both siblings against the stage. Each hit was punctuated by a gasp from the audience. Then, for good measure, the rope slung back, and started spinning the brothers around like a sling. After five seconds, the rope let go, sending Applejack and Big Mac flailing through the air. The amazed audience cheered and clapped, as Trixie reappeared on stage, took off her hat and bowed theatrically.

Twilight swiftly casted her own telekinesis, and got hold of the airborne siblings. She softly lowered them.

“Are you okay, Applejack?” she jumped to the stallion in concern as soon as they touched the ground.

“Ah’m fine, Ah’m fine,” the stallion fumbled hastily, never meeting her eyes. To Twilight’s surprise, despite what seemed to be a painful beatdown, he was completely unharmed. However, his elder brother was out of it: Big Mac’s eyes were unfocused, and his hind leg twitched comically. Apple Bloom shook him to no avail, the massive stallion far too dizzy to even react.

Unfortunately, her magical aura did not go unnoticed by the showmare. Fortunately, she didn’t know whose magical aura it was, so at least she could remain under the radar. The last thing she wanted was to attract attention to herself.

“Oh? Does the Great and Powerful Trixie see a unicorn attempting to upstage her unparalleled magical prowess? And with the most basic of spells, to add insult to injury? Why, every foal can do as much! Come up, whoever you are, and show us your true strength!”

Elusive huffed, irked by how the unicorn’s remarks had made Sweetie Belle look down to the ground in shame.

“Well, who am I to refuse such a kind invitation?” he announced, joining Trixie on the stage.

“Ah, a true gentlecolt!” The unicorn appraised him with approval. “Please do try to be more clever in your challenge; running circles on applebuckers can only be so much fun.”

“I don’t need to dirty my hooves to show you a lesson,” Elusive rebuked her sharply, moustache quivering as he spoke. “While it would certainly give me much pleasure, brute force would accomplish nothing, as you have shown. Yet, it proves nothing of your so-called superiority, as anypony with half a wit and a penchant for smoke and mirrors could come up with such a simple plan. No, I shall prove you’re nothing more than a rude, impolite mare who revels in mocking and taunting ponies who have done you no harm whatsoever in the most impresentable ways. Why, I cannot believe that—”

Sure, Elusive was her friend, but even Twilight had to tune out of the scolding he was giving the showmare. Whatever he had in mind, he had a long windup.

Trixie blinked, her face set in stone. Then, out of the blue, she zapped Elusive with a single beam of magic.

The audience gasped in horror.

Elusive stopped talking in his tracks.

“... What is it? What did she do?!”

“Nothing!” Twilight said hurriedly.

“Oh, fucking gross!” Rainbow Blitz yelped.

Sweetie Belle threw up.

Trixie had turned Elusive’s magnificent gentlecoltly moustache into a revolting heap of filthy maggots, twisting in on themselves.

Elusive gingerly raised his front hoof to his face, touching the disgusting larvae that now filled his upper lip.

Twilight could see him die a little bit on the inside.

Without a single word, the unicorn shot away, running as fast as he could, face growing greener and greener by the second.

Trixie shrugged simply. “Couldn’t resist,” she said almost innocently. After a beat, the audience started clapping and cheering. Only then Twilight realised why the audience was putting up with such a grotesque excuse for a show.

Simply put, their stock wasn’t all that high with Ponyvillians. As much as they had saved the day, so had they wrought destruction to the town and their homes and gotten away with it scot-free, and nothing pleased your average pony as much as what they perceived as karmic justice.

“The fuck you laughing at?!” Rainbow Blitz snapped, silencing the crowd.

“Ah, the Element of Harmony! The Great and Powerful Trixie was starting to wonder when you would step forth!”

“Will you just stop with the third person thing?!” Blitz rolled his eyes. “It’s so annoying! Sweet Celestia, we get it, you have an over-inflated ego, fucking stop already!”

Trixie raised an unamused eyebrow. She clearly didn’t deign to reply, so Blitz continued.

“You put on a pretty light show, but it’s so obvious that’s all you can do! Illusions and basic transfiguration! But can your magic do this?!” And he shot away.

Twilight paid no mind to Blitz’s mind-meltingly awesome tricks and moves, instead noting in pleasant surprise that he had actually paid some degree of attention the one time she had tried to explain to him the different schools of magic.

The audience was clearly enjoying it, too, gasping in amazement with every new pirouette and maneuver the stallion came up with on the fly. Scootaloo’s eyes, in particular, were as wide as they could get, like she was seeing stars.

“At least he knows how to fly, Ah’ll give him that,” Applejack grumbled. Before Twilight could ask why he had been so antagonistic for the past two weeks towards the stallion she presumed was his best friend, a pale magenta bolt shot through the air, clipping the pegasus on the wing.

Literal smoke began flaring from where he had been hit, and Rainbow Blitz started falling to the ground, rolling while making the sound of a damaged engine, smashing himself against Butterscotch and Big Mac.

“Ooh, strike!” Phil unhelpfully cheered the showmare.

“Dammit, Phil, whose side are ya on?!” Applejack snapped at the pink stallion.

As the audience once again cheered on Trixie, Sweetie Belle suddenly said, “You could do it.”

It took Twilight a few seconds to realise that she was talking to her.

“Me?”

“Yeah! Ya’re Princess Celestia’s personal student!” Apple Bloom picked up her friend’s train of thought and nodded emphatically. “Ya could show her who’s boss without even breakin’ no sweat!”

“Uhm… But…”

“Yeah, Twilight!” Scootaloo joined in, eyeing her crashed, discombobulated idol with apprehension, Phil joyfully soaking him with a fire extinguisher. “You can do this!”

“But I don’t want to upstage her!”

“Who cares?” Spike growled. “She’s been nothing but an insufferable ass! She has it coming!”

“But ponies are enjoying her show…”

“At our friends’ expense!” Spike pointed out. “What kind of friends would we be if we just stayed idle?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Is that all that Ponyville can offer?” Trixie asked the audience, raising an eyebrow. “Is no other pony foolish enough to be willing to try their luck against the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Come on!” Spike insisted, repeatedly poking Twilight’s barrel.

“No?”

For a beat, Twilight could swear Trixie was looking at her, almost as if with recognition, but the instant passed immediately as the unicorn continued her sweeping glance at the audience.

“... No,” she finally croaked, making her decision.

“No takers, then?” Trixie declared with self-satisfaction, before smirking. “Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the greatest, the most powerful and the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria!” After shooting a final batch of fireworks into the air, she turned around and walked away, muttering, “Huh, was there ever any doubt?”

The show over, the crowd began scattering, chattering amongst themselves.

Spike turned around towards his big sorta sister, fire in his eyes. “What the hell, Twilight?!” he blew up at her.

“It’s just a show,” Twilight replied, but even she didn’t really buy her own excuses.

“She humiliated our friends! And you did nothing?! You could have wiped the floor with her sorry flank without even trying!”

“I could have not!”

“You literally lifted me, Sweetie Belle and Elusive’s whole garden into the air without even making an effort yesterday! Yes you could have!” Spike crossed his arms and turned his back on her. “If you’re going to be a crappy friend, at least don’t try to make sorry excuses.”

“Spike,” Twilight cried, “wait!”

But the dragon ignored her, angrily walking away.

Apple Bloom looked up at Twilight in angry disappointment. Without saying a word, she turned away and left. The other two Crusaders followed her after shooting a similar glance at Twilight.

The unicorn let out a sigh of sadness. Even if she stood by her actions (or lack thereof), Spike’s words stung.

He was right.

Even if she didn’t think the situation was worth the fuss, she should have stood up for her friends. She owed them as much. They were always sticking their necks out for her, and she couldn’t even shut up a braggart for them? What kind of friend did that make her?

Applejack shot her an unsure smile, most likely trying to reassure her.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said in a low, guilty voice.

“Fer what? Ain’t yer responsibility. Nopony’s askin’ ya to defend our honour, Missy,” Applejack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Woulda been nice, though, fer ya to have our backs.”

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked again. He had been very angry onstage, and he had gotten his flank handed to him.

“The humiliation is the worst part. Still, Ah think it makes me feel better that if us guys couldn’t do nothin’ against her, ya wouldn’t have made much of a difference…”

… ‘it makes me feel better that…’? What?!

“... And just what is that supposed to mean?” Twilight frowned, offended.

To his credit, Applejack at least had the sense to blanch immediately, realising he had screwed up.

“Erhh… Ah mean…”

Twilight wasn’t in the mood for listening to him splutter explanations. She’d had a very long day, and quite frankly, all she wanted to do was go home, fix her damned leg, and go to bed.

“Whatever,” she cut Applejack off sharply, making him flinch. “I’m going home. Goodbye, Applejack.”

“Ah— But Ah— Missy!” He called after her, but she ignored him, even his nickname to her only irritating her further.

She knew the stallion was old-fashioned, as many farmers were, but this was just pushing it beyond the pale. Not only was he assuming she couldn’t have gotten the job done because the guys could not, but he was actually feeling better about himself because of it?

Give me a break!

Sweet Apple Acres was run by his elderly grandmother, for Celestia’s sake! Equestria had been ruled for over a thousand years by a mare! And if he hadn’t noticed, the pony who had wiped the floor with him had been, surprise, a mare, too!

To just offhandedly discard Twilight like that…

It hurt.

Did he even recognise any of her abilities at all?

Or did he just see her as ‘the missy’, which, apparently, to Applejack meant nothing more than ‘mare’?

Not as Twilight Sparkle, but as whatever first impression he had formed of her on sight, and nothing that had happened in the last month had changed anything?

Guess at least I’m not the only crappy friend around, she moped as she made her way to the Boutique.

---

Almost an hour later, three fillies sat by a tree not far away from the stage. After watching the unbearable braggart publicly humiliate their elder brothers (idol, in Scootaloo’s case), the three had gone to the park to try and distract themselves, but to no avail.

“That sucked,” Sweetie Belle eventually broke the silence.

“Eeyup,” Apple Bloom echoed her elder brothers.

“We know,” Scootaloo said with a sigh.

Nopony said anything else for a while, just watching the sun set in the horizon.

“Twilight shoulda’ done somethin’,” Apple Bloom moped.

“Yeah,” the white unicorn agreed, downcast.

Scootaloo frowned. “What’s with you two and Twilight?”

Sweetie Belle turned to look at the pegasus, puzzled. “You wanted her to intervene too!”

“Well, yeah, I mean, I wanted somepony to do something, so I just went with her, because the alternatives were Phil Pie and Butterscotch, and oh hell no,” Scootaloo said. “But you two seemed pretty sure that Twilight could beat that show-off. Why?”

“Because she could,” Sweetie Belle replied matter-of-factly. “She’s really good at magic.”

“I know she’s a unicorn, but I didn’t know she was that good at magic.”

“What world d’ya live in?” Apple Bloom tilted her head at her friend. “She’s Princess Celestia’s personal protege.”

“Protégé,” Sweetie Belle corrected her.

“That’s what Ah said,” the farmfilly nodded. “Ah mean, she’s gotta be darned good at magic if the Princess herself picked her.”

“Yeah. She’s pretty neat,” Sweetie Belle agreed. She suddenly lighted up. “Oh, she’s going to teach me magic, too!” After a beat, and before any of her friends could say anything else, she added: “Real magic, that is. Not... whatever the Dumb and Mean Trixie does.”

“Smokes an’ mirrors, nothin’ more,” Apple Bloom said bitterly. She then turned to look at the stage, still up, long abandoned. “At least she coulda’ taken down the stag—” she exclaimed, pausing suddenly while taking a long look at it. She narrowed her eyes. Perplexed, the other two Crusaders turned to look at whatever had distracted Apple Bloom.

Walking by the wooden frame, two small unicorn colts were carrying a box full of smoothies.

“Are those two seriously…?” Scootaloo began, then trailed off as soon as she noticed that her two friends, far ahead of her, had already gone and left her alone. With a small flutter of her wings, the pegasus stood up and ran to join them.

“Now what are ya two doin’?” Apple Bloom barked, making the two unicorn colts jump in surprise.

“Bringin’ the Great and Powerful Trixie smoothies!” Snips proudly replied, after taking a second to recompose himself.

“... Right.” Sweetie Belle raised an unimpressed eyebrow as a flustered Scootaloo arrived to their sides. “So you’re just her errand colts.”

“Wha—?! Errand colts?! I’ll have you know that it’s an honour to be at the beck and call of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Oh, give me a break,” Apple Bloom muttered, facehoofing in exasperation. “She’s just a show-off an’ a liar!”

“She’s no liar! She vanquished an Ursa Major!”

“Yeah!” Snails slowly nodded his agreement, moving his entire neck limply instead of just his head. He looked like a particularly dumb giraffe.

“Just how thick you two are?!” Scootaloo exclaimed in amazement.

Snips looked down at his chubby barrel, then frowned at the pegasus.

“Well, now that was just uncalled for.”

“Ya know what she meant!” Apple Bloom snapped. “Do ya seriously believe that!?”

“Well, why wouldn’t we? She proved she’s the best mage in all of Equestria!” Snips claimed. “She owned your brothers’ flanks!”

“She jus—”

“I want Trixie to own my flank,” Snails said out of nowhere, goofy smile on his face.

Everypony paused to look at him.

“... Okaaaaaaay…” Apple Bloom drawled, watching Snails warily. “What’s his problem?”

“Question of my life,” Snips dryly replied. “You were saying?”

“Oh? Ah, right. Trixie didn’t do anythin’, she jus’ disappeared over an’ over again!

“Is ‘she just disappeared over and over again’ another way to say ‘flankhurt’?” Snips smugly taunted her.

“She’s so lame!” Scootaloo shot back. “With those crappy tricks there’s just no way she defeated an Ursa Major!”

“What, were you girls there?”

“Were you?” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

For all his talk about being the smartest of the pair (which, then again, wasn’t saying much), Snips had failed to prepare for the most basic parry-and-riposte combo in debating history: ‘no u’. The colt blinked, taken aback. “Well… Eh… No…” he admitted. “But—”

“No ‘buts’! She’s just lyin’ to turn a quick bit outta dumb impressionable foals like ya two!”

“Hey!”

“Yeah!” Snails joined in, indignant. “We’re not dumb impressionable foals, we’re dumb impressionable colts!”

“Yea—! Wait, what? No!” Snips turned on his friend, befuddled.

Sweetie Belle snickered. “Look, unless we have empirical, hard evidence that Trixie can vanquish an Ursa Major, there’s no way we’re falling for her dumb lies, and neither should you!” She shot them a disappointed look. “I expected better from you two.”

Apple Bloom shook her head.

“It’s hopeless, girls. Let’s go.”

Without saying anything else, or sparing the colts a second glance, the fillies turned and left.

“Didya’ really expect better from those two?” Apple Bloom asked once the two unicorns were out of earshot, genuinely curious.

“No, but I thought it might offend them. Well, Snips, at least.” Sweetie Belle frowned. “Seriously, what’s up with Snails?”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “He’s always been a weirdo.”

“How come we burned down the town before those two morons did?” Scootaloo wondered aloud as they walked away.

Behind them, by the stage, Snips brooded.

“‘Hard evidence that Trixie can vanquish an Ursa Major’, huh?” Snips gasped, then turned to his buddy with a wicked grin. “Snails! You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“Why do we say ‘handle’ if we don’t have hands?” Snails wondered lethargically.

Snips blinked.

“... Wow. I… I never thought of that… How… How come I never realised… N-No. No!” The chubby unicorn shook his head before he could plunge hornfirst into an existential crisis, getting back on track. “No! We should bring an Ursa Major to town so Trixie can vanquish it and show those pesky fillies who’s the most magical and awesome pony in Equestria!”

“Twilight?”

“Twi— what? No, Trixie, you idiot!” Snips sighed heavily. “Just follow me.”

---

“Aaaaand… done!” Twilight proclaimed with satisfaction, flexing her leg with no problems. “Ah, healing spells, is there anything you can’t fix?” she mused.

“Ask Elusive,” Spike noted dourly, pointing with his claw towards the bathroom’s locked door.

With apprehension, Twilight stood up from her spot on the couch, and gingerly knocked on the door.

“Elusive? Are you…” Alive? The stallion had been there for the last two hours, giving no signs of life. “... Okay?”

Dry heaving answered her.

Oh, good, Twilight deflated in relief. He hasn’t killed himself.

“You know I can turn your moustache back to normal, right?”

Silence.

“I know, my dear, I know…” Elusive’s coarse and tired voice came from the other side. “I already got rid of... them. It’s just that… tha—” He retched again.

Twilight cringed.

After a moment, Elusive spoke again. “Say, is Sweetie Belle back in the house?”

“... Not that I know of,” the purple unicorn realised, making sweeping glances through the Boutique. “She was with her friends last time I saw her, so maybe they’re just staying out late.”

“Bring her home, please,” Elusive croaked. “It’s getting pretty late… I think.” After a pause, he added in a low voice. “I should put a clock up in the bathroom…”

“Sure thing, Elusive,” Twilight nodded, and walked back to the Boutique’s main room, then said to her dragon sorta brother: “Spike, can you go look for Sweetie Belle?”

“Why me?” Spike crossed his arms stubbornly.

“I need to do some research,” she replied honestly. “There’s something about Trixie that just keeps bugging me.”

“Oh, really? Which part?” Spike asked sarcastically. “Is it her winning personality? Her humble manners? Or perhaps the fact that you totally chickened out against her when you should have stood up for your friends?”

“Spike, please, drop it,” Twilight replied with a tired sigh, her mind replaying Applejack’s upsetting words, each one feeling like a dagger in her gut. He didn’t think she could have done any good had she intervened. He didn’t believe in her. “Just go and get Sweetie Belle home. I don’t trust the Crusaders being out there at night.”

“You think something might happen to them?” Spike asked in a more serious tone.

“Oh, Spike, of course not!” Twilight almost laughed. Almost. “I’m worried that they will do something to us.”

“Fair enough,” the dragon said with a shrug, jumping to his feet and heading towards the door. “See ya in a while.”

“Bye,” Twilight replied absent-mindedly, as she pulled out her old Academic Journal, the one Shining’s Professional Scientific one had replaced as her go-to notepad, from the easily-recognisable spot on the shelf where she had placed it.

She had yet to decide whether it was amusing or unnerving to see that Elusive had each and every single novel her mother, Twilight Velvet, had authored. She was an extremely prolific and successful writer, to be sure, but for Twilight Sparkle, she was just mom. And seeing one of her friends own her entire collection was weird.

Twilight turned to lie down on her couch, just to find it occupied by a furry intruder, looking up at her with hostility.

“Shoo!” Twilight waved a hoof at the cat.

Opal hissed, and melted further into the couch.

You ain’t moving me, the cat seemed to tell her in defiance.

The purple unicorn sighed, then just sat down on the floor, opening her Academic Journal.

Old and battered, her Academic Journal had been her most loyal companion during the daze that had been her first years as Princess Celestia’s personal protégé. Indeed, ‘Academic Journal’ was just a fancy name for ‘diary’, because that was absolutely what it was.

Pages upon pages of the scribbles of a younger Twilight writing down what cheerful fact she had learnt that day, gushing about how awesome Princess Celestia was (is), what amusing adventures Shining had had at training in the Royal Guard, or what shenanigans she and Cadence had gotten up to when the pegasus visited her in the Palace on the weekends. Twilight passed the pages lazily, her eyes scanning her writings.

And just as she suspected, not a single mention of her former classmates, beyond her ‘friends’. Lemon Heart’s name was mentioned once. Minuette, twice. Twinkleshine, not at all.

Lyra had made more appearances, driving the younger Twilight nuts with her crackpot theories about the Humans, and Moondancer had popped up here and there. But nothing else.

So not only had Twilight confirmed what a crappy friend she had been back then; she had also confirmed that she had no way to know if there had ever been a mention by her classmates during her days at school about either an Ursa Major loose near the frontier between southern Austrot and northern Equestria, or a mage by the name of Trixie defeating it.

Of course, there had been some information on her journal regarding Ursas, written down as she learnt about them as part of her studies; they usually lived in northern Russaria, in the tall mountains and deep valleys that heralded the Frozen North beyond, and they were creatures that roamed during the night, their eyes wholly unsuitable for the bright light of the day. They were also known to inhabit different forests throughout the Empire, including the Everfree. But there was absolutely not a single mention of a pony besting an Ursa Major.

And besting an Ursa Major was no minor feat. If anything, saving a major town such as Sattelfurt from a rampaging Ursa was reason enough to be granted not even Beatification, but outright Sainthood by Princess Celestia herself. Surely, had it happened, Twilight would have written it down.

Unless it happened at some point during the last two months, but she had been paying close attention to the newspapers since arriving at Ponyville – not a single mention of any ‘Ursa Major vanquishing’.

“So you’re just a fraud, aren’t you…” she muttered disinterestedly. She felt slightly vindicated by her non-intervention, then. Busting boasts was quite frankly the lowest of her priorities. In the end, it all had, indeed, been much ado about nothing.

Trixie was a liar, but a master illusionist. Her apparent brutal beatdowns of both Apple brothers and Rainbow Blitz were nothing more than (literal, in the case of the latter) smoke and mirrors. She didn’t hurt them, not really, but only made it seem like she did. They ended up disoriented and humiliated, but undamaged.

In any case, Twilight couldn’t wait for Trixie to leave during the following days, so they could just leave this unpleasantness behind. She doubted anypony would miss her.

Certainly not her, since thanks to Trixie, she now had a bone to pick with Applejack.

Deep inside herself, she knew that day would eventually come, but still, Twilight wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Ugh,” Twilight couldn’t help but groan out loud. “Why do I even care what Applejack thinks?” What had happened to good old Twilight, who didn’t care what anypony said behind her back, or hay, to her face? The Twilight who lived and breathed magic and academic research, and was as happy as she could ever be when she was horn-deep into a book?

Oh, right.

She had made friends.

And perhaps just because Twilight was so poorly versed in friendship, she was more emotionally invested that she ought to be.

So this is what friendship is, huh? Twilight moped. Suddenly, you cared about what other ponies thought about you. They mattered. Their opinions mattered. Their words had an effect on you. Those dearest to you are also the ones who can hurt you the most without even trying.

She really liked Applejack, a lot; he was her closest friend, in fact (besides Spike, but the baby dragon, being her little sorta-brother, didn’t count). She knew he wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and was as fallible as anypony else. But still, she thought the world of him! He was brave, honest, hard-working, loyal to a fault and ever kind to her.

But apparently, he didn’t think the same of her. When humiliated, he had felt the need to put her down, just because it made him feel better with himself.

In all honesty, it wasn’t the first time Applejack had been condescending or patronising to her, either, always calling her ‘missy’ instead of by her name, and often times refusing to listen to her or heed her words, but this was the first time she wasn’t willing to look the other way.

Once is an anomaly. Twice, a coincidence. Thrice, a pattern.

And the fourth time? Ridiculous, that’s what it is.

An urgent tapping noise coming from the window brought her back to reality. There, with alarm in his face, stood Phil, knocking repeatedly.

With a heavy, heavy sigh, Twilight stood up and walked to the window. She opened it with a tug of her magic.

“What is it now, Phil?” she asked, not in the mood for any of his shenanigans.

“It’s my Pinkie Sense!”

Twilight blinked slowly, exhaling deeply, absolutely done.

“My everything is twitching! I’ve been getting this weird shudder for a while now, and it’s only going crazier and crazier! Something really big is going to happen!”

“Okay,” Twilight closed her eyes, nodding coldly. “Okay. So your everything is twitching. Okay. Okay. Okay. I see. Okay. Okay.”

Phil looked at her askance.

“Uhm, Twilight? That’s a whole lotta okays and a whole notta action.”

“Because I’m not moving anywhere.”

“But my Pinkie Sense—!”

Twilight had had it. She snapped. “Oh, you can shove your Pinkie Sen—!”

Suddenly, a mighty roar in the distance caused the Boutique to tremble. With a gulp, she swallowed the rant she was about to let rip at Phil.

“What is that?” she asked instead, her voice shaky.

“Twilight?” Elusive asked from the bathroom, where he was still locked up. “What was that…?” he echoed her question.

The ground started trembling rhythmically every two seconds, each time growing stronger. Something big was coming.

“I think you should come out,” Twilight said apprehensively, as she used her magic to open the bathroom and hand Elusive a paper bag, just in case his nausea hadn’t yet let go.

“What’s… What’s happening…?” the stallion had certainly seen better days, haggard and gaunt, his upper lip shaven all the way into his severely irritated skin, eyes unfocused and face sickly pale, but he managed to grab hold of the bag with his own magical aura.

“Trouble,” Phil said, fear in his eyes. “Really big trouble.”

In cue, panicked screams started filling the night. The shuffle and galloping of frenzied crowds could be heard.

This is why I don’t trust the Crusaders alone at night! Twilight cursed as she ran out of the Boutique, Phil and a blanching Elusive in tow.

Just as they stepped outside, two small unicorn colts zoomed by, conspicuously unterrified.

Right behind them were the demonic trio of fillies plus Spike, conspicuously terrified, running for their dear lives.

“Girls! What—?”

“Okay, Ah know what ya thinkin’,” Apple Bloom hastily shouted, without stopping. “But Ah swear this time it wasn’t us!”

“Ruuuuuuun!” Spike cried.

Before Twilight could call after them for explanations, a terrible roar answered her.

It sounded awfully close.

She gulped as she turned her head towards the direction the foals were running from.

A massive bright blue bear, translucent and star-studded, moved down the streets of Ponyville. The Ursa was taller than most of Ponyville’s buildings, and it was pissed.

And further down the road, stood no other than…

“Great and Powerful Trixie, you’ve got to vanquish the Ursa!” Snips exclaimed excitedly, Snails and him forcibly dragging Trixie in front of them. The mare looked like she’d rather be literally anywhere else but there.

“Yeah! Vanquish so we can watch,” Snails added.

“It took a lot of trouble to get that thing here!”

Her eyes turning into pinpricks, the mare wheeled on the two of them, suddenly able to stand on her own four hooves.

“Wait wait wait, you brought this here?!” she gasped in utter incomprehension. “Are you out of your fu—?!”

The Ursa roared, and Trixie gulped down her words.

“You can do this, eh!”

“Yeah, remember? You defeated an Ursa Major!”

Trixie turned to look at the gigantic astral bear, clearly terrified.

“Uhm, o-okay,” she gulped. “St-stand back!”

She gave a tentative step forward, as if trying to look defiant. To Twilight, though, it was evident that she was closer to soil herself than to anything else. Ponies stopped running, turning to witness whatever epic showdown was about to ensue.

Then, the Great and Powerful Trixie used her magic. A long stretch of rope slithered towards the Ursa at a quick pace, twisting itself around it, and tying it tightly. The creature was immobilised.

Or, rather, it would have been, had Trixie not tied only two of its fingers together. The Ursa snapped the rope with ridiculous ease, an almost bored look on its face.

Snips and Snails looked at each other.

“Come on, Trixie!”

“Just vanquish it, eh?”

Trixie gulped again, sweat running down her face. And so again she went and used her magic, creating multiple copies of herself, quickly surrounding the Ursa. It roared once more, confusedly trying to figure out which of the many copies of the blue unicorn was the real one.

Then, one of the copies behind the creature charged a powerful spell and released it, a brilliant beam of light magenta magic flying through the air and impacting the bear’s side at full force.

The bear started laughing, trying to scratch itself with his back paw.

All the flashy spell had done was tickle it.

Elusive threw up into his bag.

“That sucked,” Snails said, bored.

“Come on, Trixie! You can do better!”

“Yeah! Do the awesome magic you did in…” Snails blanked. “… that other town!”

Trixie gulped.

“I-ah…”

“Come on!”

“I... I can’t.”

“What?!” both colts exclaimed.

“I can’t do it!” Trixie snapped, dropping her bravado entirely, terrified beyond reason. “Not everything you hear is true! What, do you also think the Avengers are real?!”

Snips and Snails looked like two foals who had just heard the Easter Bunny had died of AIDS after frequenting San Franciscolt’s homosexual BDSM scene.

“So… you never actually faced an Ursa Major?” Snips asked meekly.

“Of course not! Nopony ever has! Nopony can!” Trixie flinched as the Ursa, who looked almost amused by the spectacle going in front of it, closed in on them. “I just made the story up to make myself look better, to build myself up, as part of my show! And you stupid colts went and brought one to Ponyville! We’re doomed!” she shrieked.

Seeing their would-be saviour flake out on them, ponies began panicking once more, running away as fast as they could. The Ursa stood on its hind legs and roared again, riled up by the noise made by the crowds.

Nopony dared face it.

Guess it’s time to be a hero, Twilight realised, steeling herself for what was about to come, but she could already feel a plan coming to mind.

It’s just an Ursa Minor cranky from being awaken. So I just need some music to lull it back to sleep, and maybe I could use the water tower and Applejack’s cows to come up with a makeshift baby bottle…

“Alright!” Twilight intervened, sounding far more confident than she actually felt. She noted with irritation that Applejack was trying to cut his way through the panicked crowds towards her, most likely to pull her back into safety in a condescendingly misguided attempt to protect her. “Everypony stand back. I’m going to— Apple Bloom, what are you doing?!”

Apple Bloom had beaten her brother, standing in front of Twilight, alone against the enormous Ursa.

The filly stared directly into the Ursa’s eyes, who had stopped its charge right on its tracks, despite being more than able to swallow her whole with no problems.

Absolute silence.

Nopony moved.

Twilight dared not even breathe.

“Get. Out,” Apple Bloom snarled.

With a whimper unbefitting of its size, the Ursa turned tail and fled as fast as it could, utterly terrified.

Nothing happened for a grand total of seven full seconds.

“What the hay?!” Twilight croaked. Maybe I ought to study Apple Bloom instead of Phil!

But Apple Bloom wasn’t finished, as she then turned to glare at the cowering Trixie.

“So much for the Great and Powerful Trixie,” the filly sneered in acid contempt. The unicorn flinched, but said nothing, completely humiliated.

That seemed to bring the audience back to life. Ponies began muttering between themselves. Most left towards their homes. Some began applauding a very smug-looking Apple Bloom. Others angrily rounded on Trixie. Applejack was among the last group, and one by one, each of the Elements (including a slightly less pale Elusive) began cornering her. Even Butterscotch looked upset.

“Well, missy?” Applejack barked. Twilight officially hated that nickname now, tainted as it was by Trixie. “What d’ya have to say fer yerself?”

“I’m a showmare! It’s part of my routine! I’m a heel!” Trixie cried out. “I antagonise and call ponies from the audience to challenge me so I can wow the rest with cheap magic tricks, tall tales, fireworks and witticisms! It’s all part of a show! Do you think I actually speak in third person every other sentence?” The unicorn sniffed, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. “You can’t blame me for this! This isn’t my fault! Do you think I wanted this to happen? That I actually expected for those two foals to go and bring an Ursa Major here?!”

“Minor,” Twilight couldn’t help herself. As the others turned to her askance, she elaborated. “That wasn’t an Ursa Major. That was just a baby, an Ursa Minor.”

Trixie stood there with her mouth open for three seconds, blinking in incomprehension.

“That was just a baby?!” she finally spluttered.

“Yes, it was. And it wasn’t rampaging, it was just cranky because some ponies” – Twilight turned to stare at Snips and Snails – “decided it was a fantastic idea to wake it up.”

Snips started whistling an innocent tune, while Snails happily waved at Twilight.

“Well, if that was an Ursa Minor, then what’s an Ursa Major like?” Rainbow Blitz wondered.

Phil suddenly dropped to the ground without making a sound, his whole body violently convulsing.

“Whoa, Phil!” Applejack cried, running towards the fallen stallion. “What is it, buddy?”

The pink stallion couldn’t answer, overwhelmed by his own spasms. The remaining Bearers all turned towards him, trying to elicit a response from him. Even Trixie seemed worried.

Then, just as suddenly as they had begun, the convulsions ended.

Phil raised his head to look Twilight in the eye.

There was nothing but pure, unconcealed, unadulterated horror in his eyes.

“Get everypony out of town.”

There was something in his voice that chilled Twilight to the bone.

“What do you mean?” Butterscotch asked.

“We need to get everypony out of town before it’s too late!” Phil repeated, jumping up to his hooves. “Something REALLY bad is going to happen!”

“But— Are you okay? We should get you to the hospital!” Twilight intervened, worried sick about her friend.

“That was the Pinkie Sense! I’ve be—”

“That was a full-blown seizure!” Twilight paced. “Do you have any epileptic background?” That would go a long way explaining things.

“No, it was my Pinkie Sense! I’ve been having these shudders all afternoo—!”

“The missy’s right,” Applejack frowned, and Twilight internally scowled. “We should get ya a doctor. Whatever just happened ain’t normal!”

“I know it isn’t normal, that’s the point! I’ve never had these before! I thou—!”

“Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt and get everypony out of town just in case he’s onto something?” Elusive asked, finally beating his nausea.

“Yes! That’s what we should do! Now!”

“But what if he’s not? We aren’t Ponyville’s favourite ponies, if you haven’t noticed!” Blitz interjected. “If this turns out to be a dud, they’ll never trust us again!”

“What?! No, no no no! Go, now, befo—!”

“But if he’s right…” Butterscotch began, reluctantly.

“But he can’t be right, though!” Twilight intervened. “It’s just not scientifically possible for Phil to have a superpower that allows him to predict the future!”

“It is real!” Phil shouted, desperate. “What must I do to prov—?!”

“Why are we even discussing this? We need to get him to an hospital, now! Every second we waste here is ano—!”

“LISTEN TO ME!!!” Phil roared, shutting them all up. With uncharacteristic seriousness, he continued. “I am NOT having a seizure. It WAS my Pinkie Sense. Is that understood?!” The other five just nodded, too stunned to say anything. “Good. Now, I need you guys to get everypony out of town before it’s too late!!” He turned to Twilight. “Something big is coming. If we don’t do something now, it’ll be too late.”

Twilight wanted to rebuke, to refute the existence of any sort of “Pinkie Sense”, and to get Phil to accept that a convulsion like his could be something dangerous... but there was such a look of terror, of urgency, in the stallion’s eyes, that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

“I…”

“Twilight, I know completely well you don’t trust my Pinkie Sense. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that, at least?”

Did she trust her friend? In the end, that was what it all boiled down to. The Pinkie Sense was superfluous. An oddity. Until yesterday, it had never even appeared into frame. And had this happened without the Pinkie Sense driving Twilight insane, would she still trust him?

Twilight knew the answer in her heart, even though her mind agonised over the ramifications and implications it had for the space-time continuum.

“Yes,” she said honestly. “I trust you, Phil.”

The stallion let out a breathe in relief, a light hint of a smile crossing his face, before his urgency took over once again.

“But…” Twilight began reluctantly. “I have no idea what we can do to help if we don’t even know what is comi—”

Suddenly, she froze, her words dying on her lips.

It was so terribly obvious.

How come she had ever doubted Phil, when even without a Pinkie Sense she ought to have known what was about to happen?

The Ursa that Apple Bloom had scared off had been an Ursa Minor.

A baby.

A baby never strayed too far from its mother.

And Celestia forbid if the baby had been scared, for there’s no hell like the wrath of a mother bear.

Twilight felt her heart skip a beat as she realised just what Phil was sensing.

“It’s an Ursa Major,” Twilight squeaked a soft voice, feeling oddly detached from her surroundings.

“Missy?” Applejack asked.

“It’s an Ursa Major,” she repeated, shaking her head in disbelief.

Rainbow Blitz closed his eyes, picking up her train of thought.

“Aw, man…”

“Are ya sure?” Applejack croaked. “Completely sure?”

“Somepony hurt her baby,” Butterscotch realised, eyes growing wide.

Elusive sighed heavily. “This is going to suck.”

“By any chance, your other grandfather didn’t get mauled by an Ursa Major, did he?” Rainbow Blitz asked Butterscotch, who only stared at him flatly, thoroughly unamused.

Twilight’s brain started moving a thousand thoughts per second. The Ursa Minor had come from and gone to the Everfree Forest, which meant their cave was over there. Once the mother started moving towards Ponyville, the density of the forest would buy them about a minute or two.

“We need to move, quick!” She turned to Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch. “You guys are the fastest!”

“Pfff, was there ever any doubt?” Blitz interjected with a confident salute.

Twilight ignored his quip. “I need you two to round everypony up and get them out of town! Take them as far away from the Everfree Forest as you can!” She turned to Butterscotch. “Butterscotch, I need you to get Spike to write to the Princess for backup, ASAP!”

Butterscotch nodded, but he shot an unsure glance to Rainbow Blitz. “What do we do if they don’t believe us?” Butterscotch asked.

A deafening roar cut through the night. Flocks of birds flew away from the treetops of the Everfree Forest, terrified.

Twilight felt her stomach sink to the center of the earth.

“Well, they will now,” Elusive muttered soberly, eyes wide.

“Move!” Applejack shouted at the pegasi, who shot up to the air and started flying. Fortunately, most ponies had yet to return to their homes after the Ursa Minor appeared, so rounding them up was rather simple. Terrified as they were by the Ursa Major’s roar, they put up no resistance when Blitz and Butterscotch began to swiftly guide them out of town.

Twilight couldn’t say she was surprised when she saw Trixie bolt out to join the crowds in their exodus.

“Can’t say Ah expected any different…” Applejack voiced her thoughts out loud.

“We need to hold the Ursa until reinforcements arrive,” Twilight said. She trusted her mentor would come to her aid the instant Spike’s letter got to her. Twilight turned to Elusive. The unicorn, while no longer about to throw up what at this point was pure bile, was still pale and wobbly. He was in no condition to face off against anything. “Elusive, you go with the rest of the ponies.”

“Nonsense, Twilight, I can still pull my weight!” the stallion huffed stubbornly.

Arguing with him would be useless, so Twilight tried another tactic.

“I know, but they need protection, too! Think of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, how terrified they must be now. They need their elder brothers with them.”

Elusive paused for a second, mulling it, then nodded. “Alright. Good luck, Twilight.”

Knowing he hadn’t a moment to spare, Elusive turned and started galloping unsteadily towards the exodus of ponies. Applejack, however, didn’t follow the other stallion

Twilight did a double take when she noticed he was still there. “Didn’t you listen to me? Apple Bloom needs you!”

“She has Big Mac,” Applejack replied simply. “Ah’ll fight.”

“Applejack, we don’t have time for this. You need to leave!” You’re an earth pony! The Ursa could end you without even trying! And even if she was still angry with him, she didn’t want him to die.

“Ah’m not runnin’ away. This is mah home.” Applejack sighed, then looked straight into her eyes. Twilight could tell just how much Applejack wanted to go and be with his siblings, but a higher power demanded he remained here: his pride. The folly of stallions… “Ya get movin’. Ponies need ya out there.”

Is he seriously trying to…?

“I’ll hold the Ursa off until the Princess arrives,” Twilight stated, matter-of-factly. “That’s the plan.”

“Uhm, guys?” Phil said, his everything vibrating once again, although to a controllable degree. The stallion and mare didn’t pay him any attention, staring each other down.

“Ya ain’t facin’ the Ursa,” Applejack frowned. “Ya can’t die!”

“Oh, and you can?”

“Better me than you,” Applejack said simply, as if that settled anything.

Twilight knew what he was trying to do, and while she appreciated his willingness to take her place in the frontlines to the bitter end, she also was going to buck him in the face to the Moon and back if he didn’t shut up and do as he was told.

“Applejack,” Twilight hated to use the same tactic Phil had used against her. Both because it felt like she was cheapening the moment of trust she had shared with the pink stallion… And because, she realised, she dreaded Applejack’s answer. “Do you trust me?”

“With all mah bein’,” Applejack nodded immediately. She didn’t feel any relief.

“Then please, I’m begging you, do what I’m telling you to do!” Twilight exclaimed, never breaking eye contact. “I need you to trust me to know what I’m doing!”

Applejack made a grimace. Clearly, the last thing he wanted to do was back down… But he also knew they didn’t have much, if any, time to spare discussing the matter any further.

Applejack let out an agonised sigh. “Just… don’t die, okay? Ah… Ah don’t know what… How… Ah...” He shook his head. “Bah, y’know what Ah mean.”

“Promise,” Twilight smiled weakly. Now you know how it felt letting you face that dragon on your own, eh? a voice in her head mused. How tiresome it was to be both irritated and touched by Applejack’s stubbornly protective streak at the same time.

The stallion lingered for another second, as if he wanted to say something else, but in the end, he just nodded gingerly, and galloped away.

That left…

“I’m not going anywhere,” Phil said simply.

Twilight was too tired to argue. Stupid Applejack.

“Good, because I wasn’t going to ask you to,” she said. Perhaps his over-glorified intuition might come in handy when it came down to it. Twilight glanced around them. Ponyville was still covered in scaffolding. “We have to protect what’s left of town. We’ll face the Ursa on the outskirts of Ponyville. We can use the first line of buildings as high ground…”

“Uhm, high ground against that?” Phil pointed out towards the distance.

Twilight’s insides froze.

Even from miles away, they could see the Ursa Major’s bright translucent purple upper body, as it cut through the crowns of the Everfree Forest’s tallest trees.

“Oh...” she squeaked, suddenly realising the monumental task she was about to face. And this time, she didn’t have a plan, nor all of her friends, as they did against the dragon. It was only Phil, her, and maximum effort, against a beast perhaps even more vicious.

There was no way they stood a chance against it facing it head-on. They needed to play smart.

“Think you can set up a force field to stun it?” Phil suggested.

Twilight wracked her brain for whatever information she had ever read on Ursas… Ursas, Ursas… They didn’t have a resistance to thunder or electricity, but unlike dragons, they weren’t particularly weak to it, either. Still, giving it a shock could buy them some time…. but at the cost of enraging her further.

Twilight told Phil as much.

Phil looked into the distance, as the Ursa closed in. Slowly, a small tremor started to be felt on the ground.

“Ah, dammit, what other option do we have?” the pink stallion said at last.

“None, I’m afraid,” Twilight sighed. The Ursa would just shake off smaller bolts of magic, so blasting it with a barrage of offensive spells wasn’t an option. “Phil, grab my tail.”

The stallion did as much, and, focusing, Twilight teleported both of them towards the guard tower that marked the eastern entrance to Ponyville, beyond the river and overlooking the Everfree Forest.

The Ursa only moved closer and closer, cleaving a route through the treetops of the forest. The ground shook and shook violently with every step the beast took.

Twilight gulped.

“Here goes nothing…” she muttered, then focused all her energies into her horn. A purple bolt of light shoot high into the night sky, then exploded like a firework. Traces of purple lights fell, fading slowly like flickering stars. She could already see glimpses of the Ursa’s face through the dense foliage of the Everfree. They had five seconds, at most. “I hope this works…”

Right as she finished speaking, the Ursa came out of the Everfree Forest. Twilight felt her insides go way below freezing temperature.

The Ursa was colossal; its head alone almost as large as its baby. Twilight’s brain was unable to comprehend just how enormous the beast was. It just didn’t belong to this world. Many of the hills near Ponyville were smaller. And that was when the Ursa was standing on all fours.

Its fur was long, purple, translucent and filled with uncountable stars of all sizes. Its legs were muscular, with claws bigger than five ponies on a row, and sharp enough to cleave through a boulder; with the strength it had, even being merely swatted away effortlessly by it could easily kill you. Its sunken eyes were burning with hatred, and its lips were drawn back, showing a mouthful of terrible, massive fangs, each half as large as the guard tower they were standing on top of.

And it was running straight towards them.

Twilight clenched her teeth, bracing herself and readying a teleport spell if her electric wall failed to have an effect on it.

As soon as the Ursa crossed Twilight’s invisible barrier, electricity ran through its whole body. Taken by surprise, it tumbled and fell to the ground, discombobulated and with small spasms running down its back. The ground shook on impact as if struck by a mighty earthquake, and both ponies had to do a great effort to not lose their footing. Even while flat on the ground, the Ursa’s face reached higher heights than Ponyville’s skyline.

“Oh! Oh! Big red button! Big red button!” Phil exclaimed, pointing towards the Ursa’s face as it started reincorporating herself, growling in anger. Needless to say, it wasn’t really a big red button, but Twilight understood Phil’s idea: directly in the centre of the Ursa’s forehead was a large, light blue star-like pattern, radiating a soft light.

Twilight was willing to bet it was its weak point.

And if it wasn’t…

Phil’s left ear alone flopped before she could conclude her thoughts. “Out!” He jumped through the window of the guard tower. Twilight, despite every instinct telling her to absolutely not, followed suit without hesitation, both ponies landing in a large cart of hay before bolting into the twisting streets of Ponyville.

The Ursa, enraged, rose high, standing on its hind legs, then came down with fury, thrashing in a wild, blind rage against everything on its path. Buildings were torn apart without any effort, among them the very tower they had been in just seconds ago.

Twilight gulped as they reached a distance far away on the other side of the river from the Ursa’s berserk thrashing to buy a few seconds of respite. She didn’t even know how, but she couldn’t help but notice this ‘Pinkie Sense’ of Phil’s had actually saved their lives.

“Think you can do that again?” Phil asked Twilight.

The electric field had been far more effective than Twilight had expected. Perhaps, if she could pull off a solid version, they could corral the Ursa and trap it in a force field where it wouldn’t be capable of hurting anypony… as long as the spell held.

“Maybe,” she replied honestly, then told Phil her would-be plan, barebones as it was. He considered it for an instant.

“It’s more than what we have right now, so let’s do it!” he said, then grabbed Twilight’s tail.

Twilight shook her head. “I’m going to need my magic to cast and sustain the force fields! I can’t spare any in teleporting. We’re going to have to run!”

“No time to lose, then!” Phil proclaimed.

Twilight nodded, then shot another electric field. Before they could corral it, they needed to lure it deeper into town, where they could maneuver around it with ease while not affording the Ursa the same luxury of free, unimpeded movement.

Her spell flared high into the sky, attracting the Ursa’s attention as it looked upwards, its frenzied attack just about finished. The Ursa growled, then began charging towards them.

“Run!” Twilight barked, but instead of following her, Phil started galloping towards the Ursa. For a moment, the mare thought of calling him back urgently, but she had to trust he knew what he was doing. Closing her eyes and entrusting herself to the heavens, Twilight ran after Phil, straight into the Ursa’s path.

The Ursa, however, didn’t seem to notice the diminute ponies running towards it, its eyes closed as it charged violently against the source of the flare. Twilight couldn’t help but tremble as she ran underneath the Ursa’s belly, feeling smaller than she ever had before.

“It doesn't like shiny!” Phil quipped, without slowing down. Twilight nodded, even though she internally wanted to slap herself for not realizing earlier.

An Ursa’s eyes are wholly unsuitable to light. She had read that just an hour ago.

All they needed to do to keep the Ursa distracted was to goad it and blind it with bright flares of light. Twilight almost smiled in relief. They had a fighting chance.

As long as it didn’t flank them before they could surround it.

Or splattered them effortlessly.

The Ursa was truly rampaging, destroying everything on its path. Oblivious to its diminutive opponents, yet to identify them, it grabbed and thrashed buildings left and right, as it moved towards the flare of magic it had seen earlier.

If anything of Ponyville remained after this, Twilight would consider it a complete success. But at the rate of havoc the Ursa wreaked, the chances of it were close to none. Debris flew through the sky, the homes and livelihoods of ponies being torn apart without a single thought. She flinched as she saw Sugarcube Corner nearly razed to the ground, only a mountain of rubble where the wonderful pastry shop once stood.

Twilight’s ears ringed as the Ursa bellowed a deafening roar in pain, electricity coursing through its muscles as it passed through her second barrier. This time, however, the Ursa did not drop to the ground. If anything, it was even angrier than before, and only intensified its rampage, tearing entire buildings from their foundations with barely a swipe of its enormous claws.

Twilight glanced at Phil with apprehension. “If we don’t hurry, there won’t be a Ponyville to protect!”

Phil shot a look around. They were by the southern outskirts of Ponyville. “This place works! Do your thing!”

Twilight complied, shooting a flare of magic high into the sky. This time, the spell dissipated like electric waves on an invisible wall, running down towards the ground. The first solid magic field had been set, their anvil placed. Now they just needed to hammer the Ursa against it… and not allow it to escape.

“East or west?” Twilight asked Phil hurriedly, knowing they were short on time.

“We—” Tail twitch. “East, and now!” the stallion ordered, dodging towards their left. Without losing any time, Twilight did the same. Barely a second later, a chunk of Ponyville’s Town Hall smashed itself against the spot both ponies had been standing on, sending debris flying and splattering anything to the west, the current path of the Ursa taking the destruction there.

Twilight nodded gratefully to Phil, and both ponies started bolting towards the ruined eastern part of town, razed to the ground by the Ursa’s opening barrage. Now that the Ursa was by the centre-west of town, they could close the way it had come from.

Tail twitch. “Stop!” Phil shouted, and both ponies stopped right on their tracks.

A large chunk of debris fell straight into their path.

It was far too much of a direct hit to be a coincidence.

Twilight gulped as she looked to her left. There, the Ursa was looking down on both ponies with bloodlust on its eyes.

I found you, it seemed to glower.

“Floor it!” Phil shrieked, but Twilight couldn’t follow him.

She found herself rooted to the spot. Her legs felt like jelly, close to giving way from beneath her in any second.

Twilight felt like she was staring her death in the face, and it stared back to her, a taunting smirk on its face. She had already fooled it once, against the dragon. But now, Death would have its due.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t breathe.

She couldn’t think.

Twilight was utterly terrified.

Suddenly, a flare of pale magenta magic sailed through the air, catching the Ursa’s attention. The monstrous bear turned to its left, distracted. Taking advantage of the Ursa’s distraction, Phil zoomed in and grabbed the frozen Twilight, pulling her to cover.

Standing there, in the middle of Ponyville’s ruined avenues, was Trixie, sporting her trademark smug smirk.

“My, aren’t you a big one?” she asked the Ursa with an acid tone. The Ursa stared down at the single, little pony. “It is no matter,” the mare disdainfully spat. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall not be cowed by the likes of you!”

The Ursa growled, and without even making an effort, it ran and stomped Trixie underneath its enormous paw.

It had been so fast that Twilight couldn’t even process it. Before she could even begin to lament Trixie’s demise, another flare of magic appeared on the sky, dazzling the Ursa. Then another. And another.

Several bright azure mares appeared throughout town, each with the same purple outfit and cocky smile.

“Well, now, that was just rude!” the Trixies echoed, threatening to give Twilight a headache with her multiplied presence. However, as much as she disliked the mare, Twilight realised what Trixie was doing. Using her admittedly-spectacular illusion magic, she was buying them time. Keeping the Ursa distracted.

A dozen more flares filled the night’s sky, exploding like fireworks, and dazzling the Ursa, stunning it. Blinded, the Ursa roared in pain and wrath, then went absolutely berserk, charging against the illusions, wildly and desperately attempting to put a stop to the brilliant lights that burnt its eyes. It stomped and pawed, leapt and smashed relentlessly, but the flares just kept coming.

Realising their window of opportunity, Twilight nodded towards Phil, and both ponies raced towards Ponyville’s eastern entrance. The watchtower upon which they had welcomed the Ursa was nothing more than destroyed cobblestone and gravel. It was hard to believe they had stood upon it barely a couple minutes ago. At least Butterscotch’s cottage was intact, far away from the Ursa’s path of destruction.

Without any time to lose, she shot her flare out of her horn, exploding high in the sky like a purple firework.

Twilight winced, the strain of her spells starting to cause her a migraine. And to think they still had two more to go.

For a moment, she wished she had Elusive with her. True, he was leagues behind Twilight when it came to magical ability, but at least he could restore her own stamina to help her through.

“Now to the north!” Phil exclaimed, already flooring it in that direction. With a grunt of pain, Twilight forced herself to follow suit.

Twilight allowed herself a little grin of satisfaction as she saw how every time the Ursa managed to land a hit, the Trixie vanished as if blew by a gust of wind, then another appeared behind it, horn already lit up.

Oh, she had grown to despise Trixie in just a couple hours like she had never despised anypony else, and Twilight was willing to bet the showmare was helping for no other reason than an attempt to steal the credit.

But Trixie was doing the heavy lifting of keeping the rampaging Ursa off their backs, and that was good enough for Twilight.

Wonder if she can cast a stamina spell on me? The unicorn mused, before snorting. Yeah, right. As if I would stoop so low as to ask the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ to help me with my magic. She had been hoofpicked by Princess Celestia herself as her personal student! The showmare had nothing to offer her, except a light show.

A light show that’s being really useful right now, her brain pointed out, and Twilight had to begrudgingly concede that point.

Twilight was thankful Ponyville was small enough to allow them to cross such distances in so little time, if carefully avoiding the wreckage the Ursa had left behind, and kept throwing haphazardly in their general direction. Fortunately for them, Phil’s Pinkie Sense allowed both ponies to evade the falling debris ahead of time.

Phil and her closed in on the northern entrance to Ponyville. They had already passed a caved-in Boutique. Twilight hoped Opal had gotten away safely.

All the more reason, then, to do this as fast as possible. Quickly focusing, Twilight casted their northern barrier. She couldn’t stifle a gasp, as her migraine intensified under the exertion she was putting herself through. Oh, how she wanted to just let go and rest a little.

But she couldn’t stop now. The Ursa was now boxed in; now they just needed to close the lid on the west, and they could begin closing the field on it.

“Great job, Twilight!” Phil cheered her on, already glancing westwards to map out the best path. “Three down, only one more to…” the stallion trailed off as his left knee twitched.

Just before Twilight’s spell could be completed and her solid barrier reach down to the ground, an orange blur managed to slip through.

Twilight couldn’t believe it.

She was going to kill him.

If the Ursa didn’t get to him first, of course.

“Was that…?” Phil asked, disbelief and fear in his voice.

Twilight nodded, her head pulsing violently with exertion and profound irritation.

“Oh no,” the pink stallion muttered.

There was literally nothing Applejack could do against the Ursa. He was completely and hopelessly outmatched. It was like an ant trying to take on a dragon, with all that entailed.

What is his damn problem?! Twilight was completely at a loss.

“Should we…?” Phil vacillated.

Despite her instincts telling her to go after the stallion, pull him to safety and give him a piece of her mind, Twilight knew they hadn’t any time to spare. She just had to trust he’d be able to keep himself alive.

Just as he trusts you to get the job done without his intervention, huh? her brain remarked acidly.

She shook her thoughts away. She needed her head on the game, not on Applejack.

“No. There’s only one more field to place, we cannot let the Ursa slip through!” Twilight sentenced, and sparing a small, lingering glance towards the orange stallion, galloped as fast as she could towards the last, western side of Ponyville.

She might be livid at Applejack, but there was just no way she was going to lose any single second when his very life might be on the line… Even if it was his fault he was in this situation to begin with.

So she ran. Even as her legs burnt with exhaustion, her head light, and the nauseous taste of bile on the back of her throat, Twilight ran. Any second she wasted was another second her stupid friend was risking his life unnecessarily.

The instant she arrived to the western outskirt, Sweet Apple Acres still intact in the distance, Twilight clenched her teeth and shot her last magic field.

The mare groaned in agony, her head aching as if splitting in two, begging her to stop, to just let go. Flashbacks of a small filly straining beyond her limits passed through her mind, and steeled her resolve. She could do this.

“Oh no,” Phil muttered, the telltale full-body spasms of a ‘doozy’ audible. But he didn’t run in any direction. Instead, he just stared towards the Ursa.

With a sinking feeling, Twilight forced herself to open her eyes and follow his gaze.

Just in time to see the Ursa land a direct hit on Applejack with a back-swipe.

Time slowed down.

The stallion went sailing through the air. Twilight could hear his yell of agony as the force of the impact broke, at the very least, a couple of his ribs.

Twilight tried to catch Applejack in her magic, just as she had done a few hours before when Trixie had sent him flying.

But the moment she tried to cast her telekinesis, a head-shattering migraine struck her, bringing her down to her knees and threatening to short-circuit all of her magic. Exerting herself like never before, making a titanic effort to keep going, she barely just managed to maintain the force fields she had fought so hard to set up.

But nothing else.

Twilight could only helplessly watch as Applejack crashed against a ruined wall with a sickening crunch. The stallion fell to the floor like a ragdoll, as the weakened, battered structure collapsed on top of him, half-burying him in rubble.

He didn’t get up.

The explosions of the flares, the snarls of the Ursa, Phil’s own scream of desperation.

It all faded into white noise.

Her migraine, her dizziness, the burning pain in her legs. Twilight could no longer feel them.

Without prompting, she began to move. It was like she had turned into a passenger of her own body.

One second, she was standing by Phil, by the western entrance of town.

The next, she was by Applejack’s side, digging with her bare hooves through the rubble desperately. She didn’t even feel the weight of the debris as she pulled it away frantically until she found the stallion lying underneath.

The lively, sturdy stallion who always had a kind smile on his face and the willingness to go out of his way to help others now looked small, weak and broken.

His face was pale, blood oozing down his forehead and out of his mouth. His breathing was shallow and erratic, his right shoulder completely dislocated and at least one of his hind legs twisted in an unnatural way. His hat was nowhere to be seen.

A mare was screaming something, but her words blurred together, and Twilight could make no sense of them. She didn’t care to try to, either.

Twilight shook him to no avail. His head flailed around limply. Applejack didn’t react. He didn’t even groan.

The mare continued her screaming. Twilight wished she could just shut up.

Applejack was alive. He was still breathing, and she could feel his heartbeat, weak though it was.

But he was in a critical state. Severely injured. Without immediate medical attention, he would not pull through.

And it was no one’s fault but his own.

Why couldn’t he have stayed behind with his family?

Why did he have to insist on being the hero?

Why couldn’t he have just believed in her?

White-hot rage coursed through her veins, a tingling feeling reaching every part of her body, before focusing on her horn.

With a growl, Twilight turned away from Applejack to look at the Ursa. The enormous beast was still on Trixie’s vanishing trail, futilely trying to smash and stomp the unicorn before she could blind it further.

And it was completely boxed in.

With a sneer of pure, undiluted hatred, Twilight brought the force field down on the Ursa without any mercy.

The magic field crashed upon the beast, felling it as its knees buckled down underneath it. Taken by surprise, unable to move, the Ursa roared and went berserk like the cornered animal it was. It was to no avail. Despite its best efforts, it was just barely capable of pushing futilely against the shrinking, oppressive barrier.

Now its head was within range.

With a scream of rage, Twilight shot a concentrated beam of magic directly into the Ursa’s forehead. A blinding white flash filled the night sky as her attack made contact, sparkles dancing and flashing around the area of impact.

That was all it took.

The Ursa’s head collapsed to the ground as the beast went limp, barely a whimper on its wake. Only a small tremor followed it.

Aside from Twilight’s spell, there was absolute silence.

After a couple seconds passed without the Ursa giving any sign of consciousness, Twilight stopped shooting her magic beam.

Yet, Twilight wasn’t tired. She would not allow herself to be exhausted.

There was still something she had to do before she could entertain the notion of resting.

“Applejack!” she cried as she ran towards the fallen stallion behind her.

He was unnaturally pale, barely breathing.

So, focusing her magic one last time, Twilight casted a healing spell on his still form. She could feel as broken bones snapped together again, internal hemorrhages undone, his shoulder putting itself back into place.

Applejack stirred with a gasp of agony, but he remained unconscious.

Phil sat down next to her, staring at their downed friend.

He would still require immediate medical attention and treatment for at least a month.

But he was alive.

And that was all Twilight cared about right now.

---

“Seems like we missed the party,” Captain Shining Armor whistled in admiration.

“Lucky you,” Phil Pie only nodded tiredly, far too exhausted to even be chipper about it. “Worst party ever.”

The Royal Guard had arrived barely a minute after Twilight had knocked the Ursa down. Appearing all at once in brilliant flashes of white light, spears and spells at the ready, the soldiers had found their would-be foe unconscious and held down by a brilliant, pulsating field of magic.

They’d found its caster further down the road, sitting by a pink stallion and a fallen orange one, staring blankly into nothing and holding the latter’s hoof with steely determination. She didn’t even budge as the medics swarmed him.

Shining frowned at the state of his sister. He had never seen her like that.

“What’s the story there…?” he asked the pink stallion with a suspicious voice.

Phil sighed. “That’s Applejack, he’s the Bearer of the Element of Honesty. He’s one of us guys. And he’s also an idiot who almost got himself killed because he didn’t follow Twilight’s orders.”

The captain looked at him askance. “Element of what now?”

Phil closed his eyes. “I’m not even going to bother telling you, you’ll find out eventually.”

“Does it have to do with the Night King incident?”

After all, Twily had mentioned friends for the first time after that. Not something that’s easy to forget when literally everypony your sister had talked to for years were your little dragon sorta-brother, Princess Celestia, yourself and your fillyfriend.

“See? Now you’re piecing it together all by yourself. I’m so proud of you,” Phil quipped, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Shining Armor was no stranger to backhoofed compliments or insults by faint praise. He was, after all, in the Royal Guard. Pure vitriol, that was how they rolled. So he just rolled his eyes, then thought for a second.

“So… They’re just friends, right?” he asked, an edge to his voice. He subconsciously started to feel an itch in his back legs.

“Is this really the time for this?” Phil raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you, uh, have anything better to do?” He pointed at the destroyed wasteland that had once called itself Ponyville, and the unconscious monster in the midst of it.

To be fair, most of the job was already done. Pegasi scouts were patrolling the Everfree in search of the Ursa's hideout and cub, as their mages went over the plans to take the beast out of town and resettle it deep into the north, with the rest of its kind, far away from civilisation.

Shining appraised the pink stallion from light pink hooves to puffy darker pink mane. “You’re Phil Pie, right?” ‘Pink enough to make your eyes bleed’, indeed. “Twily told me you’re usually quite the cheerful fellow.”

“Yeah, well, usually one of my best friends is not seriously injured, so there’s that,” Phil scratched the back of his head. Suddenly, and much to Shining’s surprise, the stallion’s ears flopped, followed by a small twitch of his knee, and he cringed. “Oh, here they come.” And plastering a fake smile to his face, the stallion turned around. “Hey guys!” he awkwardly exclaimed.

Coming down the road were the Ponyvillians that evacuated town before the Ursa arrived. Their eyes were wide, and mutters close to none, as they took the sight of their homes destroyed, razed to the ground. A few fillies and colts sniffed, and even older ponies stared blankly at their surroundings, many a lip quivering.

Shining winced. PR with the civilians was never his forte. Put him in charge of a castle’s garrison, or coordinating a campaign, and he was in his element. But empathising with civilians who had lost all they held dear? He had no idea how to deal with it.

He suppressed the urge to massage his temple. Cadence would know what to do. She always knows the right things to say.

Before he could open his mouth and, most likely, stuff his hoof in it, a cyan pegasus stallion with a garishly rainbow-coloured mane dropped his jaw to the ground.

“Holy crap, Twilight brought that down?!” He pointed to the fallen Ursa. “All by herself?!”

“I helped!” Phil huffed, mock-offended. After a second, he conceded. “But yeah, she did most of the job.” Ponies began talking among themselves at that, amazed.

Out of nowhere, the pink stallion’s left knee twitched again, then his right ear flopped, then his eyes fluttered. Phil turned around to look at the distance. Now very confused, and slightly on edge by his weird body spasms, Shining Armor turned to follow his line of sight.

Far away, almost out of sight, a light blue mare with a cape and a pointy hat was pulling a cart, heading away from Ponyville.

“Almost every single thing, actually,” Phil added, though there was a new edge to his voice. To Shining, it sounded like he was surprised, maybe even touched, but why, he could not fathom.

Nopony else seemed to notice, though, still enraptured, admirating Twilight’s heroic deed. A couple of unicorn colts gushed in excitement, and more than a pony called Shining’s little sister a hero. However, others had other concerns.

“But… our homes!” a pale yellow mare with raspberry mane cried. “Where are we supposed to go?”

The Captain of the Royal Guard sprung to action.

“There is nothing to worry, the Royal Guard is taking care of the situation. As we speak, we’re setting up a camp that will house you until your homes are restored to their proper state.”

“A camp?” another mare asked incredulously. “Are you telling us to move to a camp?”

“Yes, ma’am. A camp. Or the forest, because ‘under the bridge’ isn’t even an option right now,” Shining replied curtly. “Your call. Ma’am.”

Shining Armor! Cadence’s scolding voice resounded through his brain, making him wince internally. Rather than curt, as he had intended, he had come across as unnecessarily standoffish. And while he had shut the mare up, she had raised a valid concern.

Softening his voice, Shining Armor added: “Relax. It’s only a temporary arrangement. The Crown will personally take care of the reconstruction efforts, and has already begun the mobilisation of our engineer corps to do the job as swiftly and effectively as possible. Worst case scenario, we estimate you shall be returning home within the following two to three weeks.”

“Two to three weeks?” several ponies asked at once, looking and muttering between themselves.

“Is that even possible?” a white stallion with a curly purple mane and a severely injured upper lip asked. Shining frowned. Dude, what happened to your face?

“Correct, sir. Given the extents of the destruction, however, most buildings will have to be rebuilt from scratch. The earliest estimate I can give you is a week, if your house still has its foundations standing.” He wasn’t lying. The Engineer Corps of the Royal Guard had more ponies in a single division that Ponyville had buildings. And they were the best at their jobs.

“Excuse me, Captain?” a bespectacled tan mare with a grey mane approached him politely. “Did you say that the Crown will take personal care of the situation?”

“Correct, ma’am.”

“Good, good,” the mare nodded, closing her eyes. “Good. Good. Good! Because I’m out.”

For some reason, that elicited a major gasp from the crowd. By his side, Phil Pie’s eyes had grown impossibly large.

“Bu-but Mayor Mare!” a pony cried out. “You can’t leave! We need you!”

“And what I need,” she opened her eyes, and Shining instinctively flinched in terror, “is for brain-dead ponies to stop bringing doom to our CELESTIA-FORSAKEN TOWN!” she suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. “TWO WEEKS! TWO WEEKS WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR SOMEPONY TO GO AND FUCK EVERYTHING UP AGAIN! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT YOU DON’T DESTROY OUR TOWN?! CHEERILEE!” she called out to a pony in the crowd. Said mare flinched. “DO YOU TEACH OUR FOALS TO JUST BE AS STUPID AS POSSIBLE? DO YOU GIVE THEM A GOLDEN STAR EVERY TIME THEY BREAK SOMETHING? BECAUSE THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOUR STUDENTS FUCK EVERYTHING STRAIGHT IN THE FUCK-FORSAKEN TOWN’S FACE IN LESS THAN A SINGLE MONTH!”

The mare took a deep breath, then continued railing. “FIRST WE GET LITERAL FLYING BALLS OF FIRE BURNING TOWN. NOW AN URSA MAJOR DESTROYS WHAT LITTLE WE HAD LEFT. HOLY FUCK, WHAT’S NEXT? A LITERAL GOD OF CHAOS TURNING EQUESTRIA UPSIDE DOWN?! THIS IS TOO MUCH! I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS SHIT!”

“Mayor Mare!” a grey stallion, clearly a bureaucrat by how utterly boring and plain he was, cried out. “Wh- What are you saying?!”

“I FUCKING QUIT! THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING! I’M OUT! FUCK THIS SHIT! FUCK THIS TOWN! AND FUCK YOU ALL!”

Then Mayor Mare leaped towards Phil Pie, shoving her hooves deep into his puffy mane, and pulled out a literal piece of artillery out of it. Without missing a beat, the now-former mayor took out a match, lit the cannon’s fuse, and jumped straight into the barrel.

*BOOM!*

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…!”

Absolute, oppressive silence hung in the air.

“Well… That just happened,” the rainbow-maned pegasus said, completely shocked.

Even Shining Armor, with all his years at the service, had never seen anything quite like it.

A local mayor, just… flipping everypony off and abandoning their post.

But there was something else in his mind at that moment.

The law stated that, at the absence of any local authorities, all administrative and executive power devolved to the Crown.

Which meant that, as the Captain of the Royal Guard, now he was in charge of Ponyville.

He sighed deeply.

This is going to suck.

Author's Note:

These are some big boy Author's Notes. Most of them are minor production notes and writing insights you can skip, but there are two big things that I believe are important to read:

First:
We played up Trixie's illusionist abilities compared to what she has in canon. This is because we wished both to level her up in this instance to make her more formidable and less of a joke, and because in canon she was in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns (in this AU, the commonplace, non-pedantic way to refer to the Imperial Academy of Arcane Arts).
One would suppose she was gifted in magic if she did, I mean.

Second:
The destruction we have wroke on Ponyville through this fic has not been minor. In fact, at times William Grey has wondered if I intend to just do away with what it is in canon and rebuild it in a different way, and given his vehement opposition to it, I thought it would be good to adress that concern head-on.
Thing is, Ponyville can't just get away scot-free when it gets attacked by monsters so ridiculously often that by season 5 they don't even bat an eye when a bugbear attacks town. As I've stated rather often, in this fic, Reality Ensues. But if there's a lesson history can gives us, is that buildings can be rebuilt, and amazingly quick if they receive the appropiate funding and resources fast enough and are spent in an effective manner.
If anything, the building that cannot be rebuilt would be the Golden Oak Library, because it's a hollowed tree. I mean, come on, that's as flammable as it gets, and it was a tree. It's part of the reason why it's destruction by Tirek was final (plus, shiny new castle). Indeed, the only reason it was handled so lightly here is because Twilight hadn't yet had the wonderful memories that made it so hard to adapt to her new castle.
But the caved in Boutique? Razed Sugarcube Corner? They'll get better, and now that the Royal Guard and Celestia herself are taking care of the reconstruction, rather than just Ponyville's residents, perhaps they'll be back up in business by next chapter.
I mean, how many times on the series has Applejack's barn been destroyed and rebuilt exactly the same? They even got a song about it and everything, for God's sake!
So don't sweat it, chaps.
Worry about the human (equine?) cost of the damage, though. That one is not so easily shaken, and the consequences can last for years, if not entire lifetimes.

Other production notes:
- "Nobita" is a fan nickname to Barcelona FC's president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, because with his round face, short hair and glasses, he looks just like Nobita Nobi from Doraemon. So we just threw that in.
- Hala Madrid.
- Yes, Manuceastre instead of Manechester, because Trottingham is Anglo-Saxon/Old English. The pun (Manu/Mane) is exactly the same, though, just in that language.
- Speaking of puns, Sattelfurt's real life equivalent is the Austrian city of Klagenfurt. The pun (Sattel/Saddle) is in German.

“Why do we say ‘handle’ if we don’t have hands?” Snails wondered lethargically.

- Fun fact, I asked William the exact same thing IRL when I wrote down that sentence for Trixie's taunting of the Super Apple Bros.
- The mention of Twilight Velvet being an accomplished writer is a nod to Aragon's spectacular characterisations of Twilight's parents in the 'X DONE!' saga, which he capped off in what I think is legitimately one of the best stories I've ever read in my entire life, both funny and touching.
That being said, Daring Do remains a real pony, she does novelise her own adventures under her penname of A.K. Yearling, and for some reason she doesn't even bother changing the names of the people she meets and fights.
I mean, what's up with that?
Caballerón could just get stinkin' rich suing her for defamation.
- Apple Bloom scaring the Ursa was foreshadowed in previous chapters (best exemplified when she scares off the manticore in Dawn of the Final Day). Then, it was played off for laughs. Now, it comes back to bite Ponyville in the ass. Now, why is she capable of doing something like that? We'll get there eventually.
- To use videogames metaphors, while the fight against the dragon was an epic showdown, the Ursa is more of a puzzle boss, as it's far too large to fight head on, so Twilight needed to bring it down through other means. I hope that it still made for a good read, because holy hell, writing an exciting 3v1 puzzle boss is way harder than just a no-holds-barred 6v1 brawl.

What is [Applejack's] damn problem?!

- Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, didn't you know? Love makes idiots out of all of us. He just wants to be her hero, but unfortunately, when it comes down to taking on a titanic monster empty-handed, that's not how real life works.
- [NSFW] The Easter Bunny dying of AIDS after frequenting San Franciscolt's homosexual BDSM bath-houses is a reference to Michel Foucault, who died of exactly just that. As William Grey pointed out, how curious is it that the preeminent philosopher about structures of power and domination ended up with a fixation in BDSM?

Comments

[DavisSentoV5]

I don’t know what’s more unbelievable? The fact that we had one of the most epic boss fight I’ve ever read or the fact that you uploaded another chapter in the same month for the first time in over a year... I can’t pick between the 2 ...

[Moonlight_Mist]

Facing a titanic foe that'll kill you with as much ease as it takes a step? Using literal walls of electricity to temporarily halt said titanic foe so you can strike a conspicuous point on the forehead that happens to be the sole weak point on said foe's otherwise completely invincible body?

O hi Red Eye King! Wen did u git ot ov ur pen?

[Comickook]

Whoa mama! Excellent job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. Yeah. I see your point about leveling up Trixie a little (after all, as YOU pointed out, she IS a former student at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, so her magic, even if not at anywhere near Twilight's level, would STILL be well above average), at least as far as making her a true Master of Illusion. And I REALLY loved Elusive's bits of Hidden Depths (i.e. him turning out to be a soccer fan), Twilight's reflections on her mental images of her male friends (as well as the hint of jealousy of Applejack addressing Trixie as "missy", albeit considerably LESS affectionately than he does with Twilight) , Apple Bloom scaring off the Ursa MINOR, Twilight (with some help from Phil and, less directly, Trixie) managing to defeat the actual Ursa MAJOR (and using a healing spell to save Applejack's life after AJ VERY stubbornly refused to stay back despite Twilight specifically ORDERING him to do so), Twilight's male friends in this universe getting to meet Shining Armor MONTHS sooner than their canon female counterparts, Shining's "chat" with Phil, Mayor Mare's VERY understandable frustration concerning recent events and additional reaction to Shining's news about the crown handling things until most of the town is fixed.

Shining: So, one of your friends told me that you got yourself pretty badly hurt trying to help out against an Ursa Major despite my sister very specifically warning you against it.

Applejack: Sister? Oh, you're Twi's big brother aren't ya?

Shining: Yes. I am. But back to what I was saying -

Applejack: I was TRYIN' to protect her. Turns out, SHE did a better job protectin' ME.

Shining: Yeah, I can understand trying to protect her. I'm pretty protective of her too. Of course, considering she beat an Ursa Major with only minimal help, I have to wonder if I am up to that task.

Applejack: Let me guess; ya were goin' ta try ta feed me the "overprotective big brother" spiel and realized she could do a lot worse ta me than ya could if I got her TOO mad.

Shining: Yeah. You got me there.

Sorry about that. Couldn't resist.

Anyway, DEFINITELY looking forward to more of this.

[Xalok]

that was the best Fuck you i am out i have ever read, calling it now tho twilight for mayor great job

[Slireon]

10192707
I hope you've liked what else the story has to offer!
After all, the gender-swap is just the tip of the iceberg of this story.
I'll leave you this single thought: was it, really?

10192744
Well, I mean. We're month and a half into quarantine. At this point, it's either write, play FIFA, or go insane. We've done all three, but writing is the only one that keeps things fresh.
Seriously, though, I really appreciate you liked the fight! It was a fucking torture to write! :D

10192967
Why would it be bad? As you can appreciate in Leap of Faith, while not exactly a man crush, Spike and Elusive are developing their own rapport and unique relationship, not unlike what Twilight and Sweetie Belle are developing between themselves. During the next chapters it should come more into focus, too.

10192923
My mind has been blown. God, what a reference!
In all honesty, we had completely forgotten about that boss (and game, as a matter of fact). We just designed a boss fight that would follow what we thought would be the most logical way to fight a ginormous beast such as an Ursa Major:
First and foremost, you gotta trap it so it cannot maneuver freely. Electricity stuns every living thing, so electric traps can buy you some time (and given the size, it has to be a barrier, so you can actually damage it) as you flank it to set up the trap. Then, you tighten the trap on it, so it's movement is completely restricted, and finally, you go for the kill.

10193024
Mayor Mare is a professional, after all. She would never leave her post unless there would be an orderly transition of power. That's why she waited until she had confirmation that the Crown (i.e. Celestia herself!) would take care of Ponyville before she snapped.
Part of what bothered Twilight about Applejack's use of 'missy' for Trixie is the fact that she thought that was a nickname just for her, when it turns out that it's just a term he uses rather liberally to refer to women in general, instead of saying "her", because he's polite and old-fashioned like that.
It's like, when your friend calls you "dear" or "darling", and you feel a bit special, then you realise they just call everyone "dear" or "darling"; all of a sudden you just don't feel all that special, and wonder if maybe you were looking a bit too deeply into it, and that kinda sucks.
I'm totally using that, by the way. If the story permits, of course.

10193049
Thanks!
For obvious reasons, no comments regarding your prediction.

10193495
Really, that's what I meant when I said the Romance is taking a backseat. We want our characters and their relationships to develop naturally. We think Status Quo is a bad word, because it means nothing is happening; characters aren't growing, relationships aren't developing, ideals aren't being challenged, etc.
By taking care of our characters first, we can get to the Romance when it develops naturally through their chemistry (like, say, real life), rather than just trying to force the Romance upon them.
I'd like to point out, however, that Twilight didn't intend to flirt with Applejack. She wanted to tease him light-heartedly, and it was only thanks to her social incompetence (she's still a far cry from becoming a Princess of Friendship!) that she ended up flirting with him by accident.
It happens.
If I had a dollar for every cute waitress or cashier I've tried to just be friendly with and ended up flirting by accident. . .

And last but not least, whoever makes the next (69th) comment, it must be "nice." and nothing more.
Anything else, save it for the 70th comment!

[DavisSentoV5]

10194302
Why fifa?

[Moonlight_Mist]

10194320
...Was to break it, Jack. You were supposed to say 'Nice'.

One word. Four letters. N. I. C. E. How hard is that? You couldn't have waited until the comment count was at least 69?

You've received my first ever thumbs down on this site. I don't use the thumbs down. You made me use it. How dare you, you monster.

[DavisSentoV5]

10194328
D'oh

[Slireon]

10194331
I mean, you can go and edit it so it says "nice"? I'll answer your question to this one, though: because we like FIFA. William and me are big football (get your shit together, Americans!) fans. Plus, the career mode allows for extended length of play as you go through the different seasons. It can get a bit repetitive, though, but I was on a git gud run so I just kept raising the difficulty whenever it started to feel routine.
We've also already played almost every single other game we own by now. I did a full Dark Souls trilogy AND Halo series playthrough in just my first week of quarantine, back in the first days of March. We have a Minecraft server with the bois. I'm in my third Marathon-length save of Civilization VI.
We're bored as dicks, man.

[DavisSentoV5]

10194349
Nah, too lazy

[Moonlight_Mist]

10194302

Electricity stuns every living thing

Normally I'd agree with you, but we're talking about a magical world. Not to mention that there's a canonical existence of a living thing that discharges a bio-electricity as a defense mechanism. The Twittermites. What would an electrical field do to them? Considering the adaptation here was as a trap/net, certainly not what was intended.

Beyond that, I have to imagine the Ursas having a fur coat not unlike Luna's mane and tail is a pretty solid implication that they are magical creatures of a relatively high tier. If we were talking D&D/O&O terms I'm pretty sure something like an Ursa Major would have not only a hefty AC as just a natural stat, but magical resistances out the wazoo. Not immunities, mind you, but I feel like there would be a lessened effect.

And of course since we're talking a boss fight, I have to go full RPG for a bit and say it runs the gambit of status immunities. Because boss. Of course that's getting both really super technical into game talk and away from relevance.

Oh dear, isn't that a thought. Fluttershy would have a lower than average resistance to the Fear status, but her Stare would inflict Fear with a high chance of piercing resistance/immunity.

Anyway, I got myself going, so I'm gonna cut myself off here.

[Slireon]

10194351

You raise a very good point. In this sense, RPG terms work well, because our gold standard for bosses are the ones from Soulsborne (hence the music), so we could compare our three bosses so far: Nightterror King, the Dragon, and the Ursa.

The only way to damage Nightterror King, besides the Elements of Harmony, would be with Physical damage, as his magical prowess makes him near untouchable by any other means beyond blunt trauma, and even then, he has enormous AC due to his armour. To add insult to injury, he's an extremely aggressive and smart foe, with an unpredictable moveset and sky-high stats of damage, capable of inflicting Physical, Magic and Dark all at once, so he would still punch you straight into an alternate universe if he lands a hit.
The only reason the guys managed to put up a fight at all was because he allowed them to as it amused him, and they were ganking him. He's the one boss you get your ass wrecked by over and over again until your STR stats are high enough to be able to damage him, and you got gud at dodging, because there's no way you can tank his damage output and aggro.

The Dragon is weak to Lightning, as it tears its scales off its vulnerable skin, leaving it exposed. However, as it's a bloody dragon, it is completely immune to Fire, and has high Magic and Physical resistances due to the AC its scales give it. The only way to damage it, then, would be to pierce his resistance with Lightning, then go for Physical, but even then, you run the risk of it going berserk, or burning you to death from the sky. By the exact same reasons, you CAN'T play it defensively, so you have to be always on the offensive, because the second you stop attacking or lose momentum, the dragon is going to burn you alive, so in the end it's a high risk/high reward tactic. That's why in the Nordic Herd dragonhunters are held in so high esteem, because they don't just kill dragons, they bash their heads in.

The Ursa, I agree with your assesment. If you think bears have thick hides, an Ursa is that, but with meth steroids and a little crack to season it. It would have high Magic resistances, as well as a good resistance to Physical damage. Their HP would be out of this goddamn world, and the same goes for it's damage stats which is why you can't face it head on.
In the end, to bring it down, you have to outsmart it (as it's not a sentient being, like ponies or dragons, they're not particularly smart) and hit it's weak point, the star on its forehead. Which is exactly what happened here: as Twilight mentioned, the damage electricity does to Ursas is only moderate at best, and indeed, they only used the electric field twice, and just to buy time, rather than damage it: the first time, caught off guard, the Ursa was stunned. The second, it went berserk, without losing much time recovering.

That's more or less it, yeah. Interesting way of analising it, to be honest.

[spoonlol]

Finally caught up.
I’m loving the fact that the damage to the town sticks around, not just for the realism but because it’s also fun seeing Twilight living with a different friend every other episode.

Spike and Elusive are total bros now, I approve.
Also now that Shining is in charge of the town for now, it’s gunna be fun to see the over protective brother having to deal with Twilights guy friends.
Hope the next chapter doesn’t take too long be I’m happy to wait either way. I love the dynamic Twilight has with her boys, it’s by far still the most enjoyable part to read about.

[enigmaMystere]

I'll be honest, I was expecting Applejack to have gone back for a practical reason, such as his family still being there. Apple Bloom took on the Ursa Minor, what's to stop her from trying to subjugate the Major?

[Earth95_Queenie]

I've decided to stop reading at this point. There's no way I'm gonna let a crack fic ruin my image of the mane 6. Regardless if it's their genderbent versions. Trixie was written okay tho, but Applejack, Rainbow and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were not.
Thanks for writing this, but I'm gonna have to step out, exit the rollercoaster if you will. shrugs