Knowledge Brings Change

by hydra30

39 Explanations to an inverted Princess

When Pinkie Pie opened her watery blue eyes, she was greeted by the sight of an equally blue sky with soft tufts of cloud lazily drifting by. At first she didn't have a clue how she suddenly wound up on her back like this, but then the circumstances of a few seconds ago replayed in her memory. Poor Rarity, forced into a tasteless dress, a miserable unicorn bully throwing magic around and insulting the industry of her family, her defending said industry, then getting plopped into a giant, magically conjured trash can after speaking out against the slighting of her family’s rock farm.

"Okay, I've heard of being treated like garbage before, but this is ridiculous!" Pinkie sprang to her hooves like a puppet on a string, looking around in search of that loudmouthed party pooper Trixie.
But her surroundings did not reveal Trixie, in fact, they revealed nothing.

"Pinkie, I have a feeling I’m not in Ponyville anymore." All around Pinkie was nothing but a barren wasteland.

Sun bleached ground stretched out as far as the eye could see, tiny fissures criss-crossing into the distance. The only thing moving was the slight gusts of wind that picked up and occasionally scattered tiny pockets of loose dirt. To anypony else, such a sight would be dreary, maybe even scary, considering there were no landmarks one could use to pinpoint where this place might be, and therefore backtrack to where they belong.

But Pinkie just grinned at her surroundings, almost welcomingly.

"Hey, this place kinda reminds me of home!"

Pinkie had spent most of her foalhood surrounded by nothing but rocky fields, broken up by nothing but her own old homestead, so such a sight only served to remind her of home.

"Hey, maybe Trixie actually sent me home?"

It would be understandable for Trixie to send Pinkie to a rock farm after what she said, and, as far as Pinkie knew, her family owned the only rock farm in Equestria. If that was the case, getting back to Ponyville would be a cinch. Maybe she could even enlist some help from her sisters, after all, whatever Trixie was doing in Ponyville cannot be good.

"Marble is worse than Fluttershy in the shy department, but maybe Limey would be willing to help, I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate Trixie's comment about rock farming." Pinkie slipped a hoof into her mane and began rummaging through it. "If Maud is taking a break from her rock studies maybe she can help too."
Pinkie pulled her hoof from her hair, revealing an accordion. "Nope!"

She threw the stretching instrument over her shoulder (producing an off key note) and stuck her hoof into her mane again, this time pulling out a crystal ball situated in a four legged stand, surrounded by a nimbus of blue light, and emitting a slight screeching sound.

"Huh, been wondering why I'd been having such vivid dreams lately," said Pinkie, tossing the Orb of Vaermina away and reinserting her hoof into her mane.
This time she pulled out a pair of binoculars.

"Aha," she said, putting the article to her eyes and glancing around. "Now to find Mom and Dad's house and get my bearings."

She looked in all directions and eventually spotted something in the distance. It resembled a farmhouse, but at this distance not many features were discernible, except one.

"Huh, don't remember the windmill looking like that, but maybe they put up a new one in my absence." Pinkie shoved the binoculars into her mane again and happily bounced in the direction of the farm, not noticing the rings of ink over her eyes.

---

CREAK

CREAK

CREAK

The four dark gray blades of the windmill twirled in the breeze as Pinkie gazed up at them. It definitely wasn't the windmill she was familiar with, for it only had four blades. That, in itself, could have just meant that her parents had indeed replaced the windmill while she was away, if not for three more variables proving that this wasn't the Pie Family Rock Farm.

First, the great silo where her family stores their precious rock harvests was nowhere to be seen, and Pinkie knew for a fact her father had fortified that thing to stand up to an earthquake, so there was no chance anything short of a dragon attack would cause it to not be present. Next, the farmhouse nearby could not be her family's, especially considering the roof was wood, along with the rest of the structure, not hay like she knew. And lastly, and the most important variable that proved this wasn't her family's farm was the lack of a quarry.

The very lifeblood of her old homestead wasn't here, nothing but flat, barren land as far as the eye could see, just like when Pinkie first found herself here.

And wherever this was, it was obvious that Pinkie was unfamiliar with it. Now, at this point, most ponies would begin to buckle under the pressure and begin to panic.

Anypony would if they suddenly found themselves in the middle of Nowhere.
But Pinkie, optimistic to the point of insanity, just smiled up at the windmill and began to follow the movement of the blades, her head revolving around her neck like a windmill itself. Eventually, she could strain her neck no further and she unwound like a spun top. With that out of the way Pinkie turned to the nearby house and bounced towards it.

Somepony had to live here, if not her family, and maybe they could help?
"And maybe I can throw them all a 'Thanks for Showing Pinkie Pie the Way Home.' party!"

The first thing Pinkie noticed upon approaching the wooden porch was a dog napping on the welcome mat. Pinkie loved animals, she had that in common with Fluttershy, but this dog really captured her interest. His fur was pink, just like hers.

"Aw, a doggy," cooed Pinkie, reaching down and scratching his head. "And oh my, what a lovely color of fur you have."
The dog hummed in appreciation at the hoof patting his head, rolling over so attention would shift to his belly.
"Oh, do you like belly rubs?" asked Pinkie.
"Mmmhhmmm," said the dog.
Suddenly, two eyes with beady black pupils flew open and stared into Pinkie's watery blue optics. Pinkie grinned welcomingly. The dogs eyes grew to the size of fishbowls.

"YAAAAHHHH!"

A bright pink blur impacted the metal chimney pipe situated on top of the farmhouse after letting out a powerful scream.

"Humina humina humina humina!"

"Hey, that was pretty good, let me try."
The pink dog looked to the left of his perch to see none other than that same bizarre creature that just scared the living daylights out of him.

"YAAAAHHHH!"

She mimicked his screaming down to a tee, her mouth opening impossibly wide, her mane and tail going crazy fizzy (there was even a hole in her tooth).

Pinkie herself seemed to notice and felt the offending gap in her molar with her tongue.

"Why do you have a hole in your tooth, doggy?" she asked. "Shouldn't your owner take you to the vet and get it looked at?"
Upon seeing his scream copied so fluently...

"OOOOOOOHHHHH!"

Afterwards his body exploded like a round from Pinkie's party cannon, leaving his disembodied, still gaping mouth to plop to the roof and bounce like an under inflated basketball. Pinkie quirked an eye, that was random, even for her. Maybe she and this dog had a lot more in common than color?

Whether or not that was true, however, would forever remain a mystery, for Pinkie suddenly vanished in a curtain of purple sparks. Now alone on the roof, the dog (fully restored and intact) looked around for any signs of her. Then the sound of a door opening sounded below.

"Courage, dinner. And I made chicken empanadas."

"Mmmmm!" All fear forgotten, (after all, creepy stuff happens in Nowhere) the dog known as Courage was about to go enjoy some nice, homemade food, but stepped in a cake with the words, 'CATCH UP LATER! IN THE MEANTIME ENJOY THIS TREAT CURTSEY OF PINKIE PIE!' written on it in icing and tripped. He tumbled off the roof and towards the ground, the sound of a truck horn going off afterwards.

"OW! STUPID DOG!"

---
Earlier, back in Ponyville

"Aaaand, done."

Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy all circled around the rune Rarity had inked into the dirt Ponyville square. It stretched out at least three feet in all directions, black in color, but as with everything done by Rarity's hoof was elegant in its own right. Not that it was supposed to be decorative.

It was necessary for the strategy Twilight came up with to retrieve Pinkie Pie from wherever Trixie's botched spell had sent her.

"I do believe I have gotten it as perfect as I can, dear," said Rarity, levitating a parchment with a similar rune etched on it back to Twilight. She could have drawn the rune herself, but this type of magic required elegance as well as raw talent and there was no one better qualified than the most esteemed fashionista in all of Equestria. Plus, the more flawless the rune, the more likely this spell would work.

"Thank you, Rarity," said Twilight, taking her note and placing it back in the stack of supplies she had brought from the library.
"Anything to get dear Pinkie back, darling, although, it would have been easier under normal circumstances." Rarity scowled upwards at the sun that hung overhead, still altered by Auriel's Bow to resemble a great void in the sky, casting the land of Equestria into shadows. It had greatly hindered her efforts.

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Twilight, also staring upwards. "It was all I could come up with under the circumstances."
"Well, at least we did manage to get the Alicorn Amulet away from Trixie," said Fluttershy optimistically.

The train of thought lamenting the current state of the sun was derailed by Rainbow Dash.

"How exactly is doodling this in the dirt supposed to get Pinkie back?" She asked, pointing to the etching in the ground.

"It's the arcanic symbol for recall," said Twilight.

"Recall?" all in attendance inquired.

"You all remember back in Morrowind the spell I used to take us automatically back to the location of the portal back to Equestria after we vanquished Dagoth Ur and got the cure for Corpus Disease, right?" Twilight asked, slipping into lecture mode. "That's a recall spell. It works along with a mark spell, which acts as a beacon when the recall spell is cast."

"Does Pinkie have this mark spell on her?" asked Rarity, somehow following the line of Twilight's reasoning. She intended to literally recall Pinkie.

"Maybe," said Twilight, popping open her saddle bag and rummaging through it.
"What do you mean 'maybe'?" asked Applejack, worriedly.

"Well, we all passed through my recall spell when our tasks in Morrowind were completed," explained Twilight, still rummaging through her saddle bag.

"There should still be some residual magic from that spell clinging to us, Pinkie included."

The rest of Twilight's friends exchanged glances.

"And that will work?" asked Fluttershy uneasily.

"No offense sugarcube, but this all is sounding mighty half baked," said Applejack.

"I concur with Applejack," said Rarity, "I won't even pretend to understand half as much as you do about magic, darling, it's just not my forte, but I spent time in that vile book same as the rest of us, so I do have a tighter grasp on it than I did. Residue left on somepony after spell use is extremely weak. How are we going to use it to get dear Pinkie back?"

"Simple," said Twilight, unaffected by the grim atmosphere emanating from her friends. "We boost the residual magic clinging to Pinkie Pie from here."

"And how the hay do we do that?" asked Rainbow, frustration and concern making her irritable. "Pinkie is Celestia knows where, how are we even going to send magic to her to amp up the magic stuck to her?"

"Aha!" exclaimed Twilight, obviously finally finding what she had been sifting through her bag for, withdrawing an ornate box encrusted in jewels.

They all looked at it curiously, but Rarity recognized the case immediately.

"Isn't that the box for the Elements of Harmony?"

"You know it," said Twilight, popping open the box and extracting out the six most powerful sources of magic in Equestrian history. The five ornate necklaces and tiara supporting a large amethyst star hovered before them in her magic, orbiting each other gracefully.

While none of them doubted the power of the Elements, having seen their power first hoof multiple times, they all were aware of a certain obstacle that had halted their use till now.

"But how are the Elements going to help?" asked Applejack as her own Element of Honesty drifted past her muzzle. "They won't work without Pinkie Pie being here."
They all voiced their approval to this paradox. How was something that requires Pinkie Pie's presence going to help in getting her back?

"Good question, girls." A deliberate coughing sounded to get her attention. "And Spike. That is actually what I intend to use the recall spell for."

She looked down at the rune in the dirt. As you know, we are connected to the Elements, almost intimately. "My theory is that if we combine the Elements of Harmony with a recall spell the two different types of magic will boost each other and hone in on the lingering mark magic clinging to Pinkie."

"I thought recall spells take you back to the location where you planted the mark spell, not the other way around," stated Spike, his familiarity with O&O allowing him to grasp the functions of Nirn spells easier than the others again.
"True, Spike, but I am hoping the Elements of Harmony will be able to modify that function to suit us." She plopped the Element of Magic onto her head, dishing out the rest to their respective bearers. "After all, the Elements are the most powerful force of magic of our realm, if anything can do this, they can."

They all exchanged looks, realizing that they had nothing to lose by going along, so they nodded to each other in approval and turned to Twilight for instructions.
"Alright, all of you surround the rune spaced out equally." They did so, standing eventually around the rune for recall, Twilight up in the north position. She placed the Element of Laughter in the center, positioned above the rune. As it left Twilight's magic she could almost feel the crystal balloon resonate, like it was aware of the attempt to try and retrieve Pinkie and was eager to help.

It was a sensation all in attendance shared.

So, without further ado, Twilight channeled magic into her horn and began composing a recall spell. It took nothing for somepony of her caliber to form such a spell, but the challenge was not setting it off. Instead, Twilight extracted it from herself and fed it into the rune that was the exemplar of recall magic.

The rune on the ground began to spark with the magic of recall, and seeing her opening, Twilight willed the Element of Magic to awaken. It did as its mistress bade, glowing with a soft light. Two ribbons of rainbow energy began to extrude from the side points of the amethyst, going from each pony before meeting between Rarity and Fluttershy at the end.

They all felt the magic complete itself, silhouettes of the shape of each of their magic gems rippling from their Elements while the five ponies levitated off the ground. Then like colored beams shot from the present Elements of Harmony and collided with the lone Element of Laughter. It also levitated, the glistening sparks of recall magic following suit and feeding into the jewel, along with the beams from the fellow Elements.

They all began to show signs of strain on their faces, and when they began to worry it might be too much, Twilight's eyes shot open to reveal intense pools of pale light. The Element of Laughter exploded in a flash of light, sending them all sprawling to the ground, even Spike, who wasn't even able to assist, due to lack of an Element.

"Ow," he said, only to wheeze as Rainbow unintentionally planted a hoof on his chest to climb to her legs. "Double ow!"
"Sorry little dude," said Rainbow as she helped him stand.

Everyone else was also getting up, their eyes rolling with dizziness.

"Oh, I wish it didn't take so much out of us when we use the Elements," complained Rarity.

"I hear ya," said Applejack, retrieving her stetson from the ground.

"Did it work?" asked Fluttershy frantically.
They all turned to look, their eyes lighting up to beheld a poofy earth pony standing upon the recall rune, sporting the Element of Laughter around her neck.
"Hey guys!" she said cheerfully and obliviously.

"PINKIE!" they all cried, burying the pink pony in a pile that consisted of five mares and one baby dragon.

"Hee hee, this is a nice welcome home party," said Pinkie as she cuddled with her friends.

They stayed like that for a little while, basking in each other's affection and relief at their friend's safe return. Eventually, they all stood to break the embrace, but not before each nuzzled Pinkies cheeks with theirs.

"Oh darling, we were so worried," said Rarity, wiping her relieved tears with a handkerchief before they could ruin her mascara.

The others voiced their agreement and their own worries.

"Oh, it wasn't so bad," said Pinkie reassuringly. "Got to make a new friend."

"You did?" inquired Applejack.

"Who?" asked Rainbow.

"Oh, just the cutest little pink dog."

"Really?" asked Fluttershy, her interest peaked. "What was his name?"

"He didn't have time to tell me, but he sure was courageous..."

"Where in Equestria were you...?" Spike's inquiry was cut off by Rarity's shout of horror.

"PINKIE! WHAT IN BLAZES HAPPENED TO YOUR EYES?"

Pinkie looked puzzled, "What about my eyes?"

Rarity levitated a compact in front of Pinkie, revealing the black rings encompassing her eyes.

"Oh!" She pulled out the binoculars she used to get her bearings. "I must have grabbed my joke binoculars instead of my adventure binoculars."

"Pfft," Rainbow snickered into her hoof. "Leave it to Pinkie to prank herself."
"Please Rainbow, what's happened is hardly a laughing matter." Rarity began wiping Pinkie's eyes with a cloth.

"Oh, it wasn't so bad," said Pinkie, giggling slightly as the fibers of the cloth tickled. "So...where is that meanie pants Trixie? I have a seltzer bottle with her name on it."
They all exchanged a look. In light of the relief they all felt at Pinkie's return unharmed, they hadn't had a chance to fill her in on what she missed.

"Huh, Pinkie..." Twilight was cut off when Pinkie looked around town and voiced a certain observation.

"Hey, why is it so dark? I wasn't misplaced for that long. Maybe a time difference between worlds or..." Pinkie looked up at the sky, and her jaw dropped and her pupils dilated to pinheads.

The swirling vortex of darkness the sun had become still hung in the sky, ominous, foreboding, an ill omen if there ever."Sweet Hearth's Warming Eve gingerbread houses!"

"Now remain calm, dear," reassured Rarity, placing a hoof on her pink friend's withers. "There's nothing to be afraid of, that is just an aftermath of our confrontation with Trixie."

"Oh, is that all..." She appeared to be taking it well, but suddenly grabbed Applejack and began shaking her hysterically. "WHAT HAPPENED? IT WAS SUCH A CHEERFUL DAY! PERFECT FOR SMILES! WHY IN EQUESTRIA WOULD YOU PUT OUT THE BEAUTIFUL SUN TO STOP TRIXIE?

"THIS IS LIKE, THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A HAPPY DAY. IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN EVEN MY SMILE TO BRIGHTEN IT UP... WHY WHY WHY...!"
"PINKIE, CALM DOWN!" Twilight pulled Pinkie off poor Applejack, whose eyes were swirling again. "We didn't have a choice. Just let us explain."

But she never got a chance, for at that moment Spike belched a plume of green flame which then materialized into a scroll that plopped to the ground. The reunited Mane Six just looked on as the baby dragon picked up the scroll, unfurled it, and began reading.

"Dear Twilight, please meet me at the library. Luna and I are currently there, and would like an explanation to what has happened. Forgive me if I am jumping to conclusions, but my gut tells me what has happened to the sun is connected to you, or, at the very least, Ponyville. PS, you will have to excuse my appearance when you see me.

They all exchanged a nervous gulp and galloped in the direction of the library, Spike climbing onto Twilight's back as she passed.

"Oh, how are we going to get out of this?" asked Rarity nervously. "Princess Celestia is going to be so peeved when she learns what we did to her sun."

They all could agree on that. The Princess would most likely not be appreciative of what they had done to her sun, regardless of the circumstances. All they could do was pray that once all had been explained that Celestia would understand the necessity.

The trek to the Golden Oak Library seemed to take no time at all, made all the more ominous by the presence of two members each of the Day and Night Guards stationed by the door. The four armored unicorns opened the door to admit them, all seven scrambling inside.
But what awaited them inside wasn't the usual majestic visualization that was usually portrayed by the alicorn rulers of Equestria.

No, something greeted them that wasn't the radiant, tall, regal Princess Celestia, accompanied by her younger sister, Princess Luna, regal in her own right, if lacking her sister's height. While Princess Luna herself was normal, her face was one of someone who was trying to project a stoic expression while at the same time trying to contain an overwhelming fit of laughter, and was steadily losing the battle. And it was no mystery as to the cause of her chortling.

Princess Celestia indeed stood next to her in the study room of the library, just not the Princess Celestia they all knew.
Gone was her prestigious pearl coat...
Gone were her gentle, magenta eyes...
Gone were her multi hued mane and tail.
No, the only thing that gave any hint that this was Princess Celestia before them was her height... for now she sported a coat that was even blacker than that of Nightmare Moon. And that wasn't all. Her mane and tail now were the color of blood and resembled wispy, luminous gas, rather than hair caught in a breeze like usual, with little splotches of black drifting to and fro. Her eyes were now crimson and slitted like a cat's. Her cutie mark was now a swirling hole of crimson.
All in all, she looked like an inverted version of herself.

Twilight could only stare at her mentor in bewilderment. She had always viewed the Princess as the vision of beauty and peace, but the tall mare before her looked like a spawn from the deepest pits of tartarus. And it didn't help that those slitted pupils looked so annoyed.
And they were aimed right at her.

"PFT... HAHAHA!"

The tense atmosphere was broken by an unexpected sound, that of two ponies breaking out in fits of laughter. They all turned to see that Rainbow and Pinkie had collapsed into each other and were rolling on the floor, clutching their belly's.
"And what is so funny, you two?" asked Rarity, appalled at her friends sudden inappropriate outburst.

The two tried to talk through the laughter.
"S... sorry Rarity..." wheezed out Rainbow Dash, "But... the Princess...she looks so ridiculous."

"Yeah..." Pinkie had to let out more laughs before she could properly speak. "She... she looks like a school filly's drawing... for Nightmare Night!"

Princess Celestia didn't look amused. "Miss Pie, Miss Dash, I've had enough guffawing from my sister, thank you very much."

It was true, Princess Luna's dam had broken at Pinkie's comparison to a child's drawing and was now chortling loudly.
Rolling her eyes at the inappropriate outbursts from her sister and two of her student's friends, Princess Celestia turned to said student with another unamused expression. "Was my earlier assumption correct? Are you and your friends connected to the state of the sun in some way?"

Twilight gulped nervously, her mentor's new foreboding appearance not helping her unease. "Ye...yes, your majesty. I... is that the reason you... look like this?"
"As you know, my faithful student, my sister and I are intimately connected to the heavenly bodies we are charged with moving in the sky," explained Celestia, her voice still carrying an edge of aggravation. "What happens to the sun and moon affects us too. Now, would you kindly explain why you felt it necessary to somehow transform the sun into a void in the sky, causing my physical appearance to be so altered? And Miss Dash, Miss Pie, I will kindly ask you to reign in your merriment. You are starting to aggravate me."

Upon hearing that they were actually pushing their benevolent matriarch's patience, Pinkie and Rainbow managed to swallow their laughter and climb to their hooves, both giving an apology as they steadied themselves.

"Thank you," said Celestia, turning her attention back to Twilight. "Now, Twilight, would you please explain."

Twilight gulped under the crimson pupils of Celestia's eyes. "Well, you see, Princess, we had a situation here in Ponyville."

Twilight then explained to the two alicorns about how the unicorn Trixie had come to town and was bent on revenge against the humiliation she had felt when she was last here, pinning it all on Twilight, but Luna interrupted as she was explaining the havoc Trixie was causing when nopony was forthcoming with Twilight's whereabouts.

"I remember the friendship report you sent my sister regarding the incident with this mare, Trixie," she said, finally suppressing the humor she felt at her sister's unwilling change in appearance. "From what you described, Young Twilight, she's nothing more than a sideshow performer. How could her reemergence here in Ponyville have warranted using whatever foul magic you used to block out the sun?"

Twilight exchanged a look with her friends.

They all knew that it wasn't going to be pretty when it was revealed to the princesses what Trixie had brought to Ponyville with her. They all had only gleaned the magnitude of the suffering those objects caused from a history book, Celestia and Luna had lived it. How would they react?

Still, it was because of that bloody past that Twilight felt it necessary to use the method she came up with, even if it was a little excessive. Hopefully Celestia and Luna would be of similar mind. And all in all, the danger had passed, so when they saw what Twilight was about to show them they could keep a cool head.

"Well, you see Princess," said Rainbow, her nerves of steel allowing her to take the first plunge, for which the others were grateful. "Trixie... was armed with a certain magical artifact that made even a loudmouth like her a threat to everypony."

Celestia and Luna exchanged a puzzled look.

"What magical artifact?" Asked Luna uneasily.

Twilight took a deep breath, ignited her horn, and pulled out an object from her saddlebag.

Both Celestia and Luna let out terrified gasps.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Luna shouted, her tone almost reaching Royal Canterlot Voice levels as she backpedaled involuntarily.
Celestia just stared at the Alicorn Amulet as it hovered before them, her face reflecting in the facets of the gem, her expression grim.

"I... I thought it was lost... lost for good." Celestia unconsciously rubbed her shoulder, feeling the ancient scar that the rogue princess Blood Diamond had dealt her so long ago.

"How...?" she mumbled, Twilight and the others almost wincing at her almost terrified tone.

"So... it is true..." said Luna, taking her place by her sister's side once more. "After all this time...it has resurfaced?"
Celestia herself couldn't deny what was right there before her. "It would seem so, beloved sister." She looked back at Twilight. "Please, Twilight, tell us everything, and leave nothing out."
So she did.

Twilight launched into the explanation about how while she was at Sweet Apple Acres checking up on the wedding feast preparations, Rainbow Dash came barreling in with Fluttershy and Rarity in tow, plowing into poor Terrance in the process. When the princesses inquired on who Terrance was Applejack had to step in and explain how, during her absence, a swarm of vampire fruit bats invaded her family's farm, and when all hope seemed lost for the Apple family, who should step in but the newest resident of their realm, Hermaeus Mora, who provided creatures called Netch whom had the capabilities to combat the pests, but in exchange for the Apple family's secret farming techniques.
Princess Celestia and Luna exchanged worried glances at this. They, of course, had heard of these creatures; how could they not, they were a rising craze in the farming community as the best pest control, not to mention also being the most popular new pet for those who could accommodate creatures of their bulk, but up till now they only thought them to be some sort of newly discovered animal native to Equestria. Now it seemed they were from Nirn.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could agree with Twilight's concerns, parts of Nirn were inevitably bleeding over to their side of existence and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

It was heart wrenching to realize something so big for Equestria was the result of crossing paths with a world where violence reigns supreme on more than one occasion, but that wasn't to be dwelt on now. Now they needed to discuss the Alicorn Amulet. Twilight continued from where that part left off, when Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy crash landed on Applejack's farm.

She explained that when she was told that Trixie had the Alicorn Amulet her first thought was to dish out the Elements of Harmony, though regretfully, because Trixie would not survive if that was the case. Celestia and Luna understood. That had been the fate of the other wielders of the Alicorn Amulets, back when there was more than one; not a single one survived when the Elements had been used on them. But for Twilight it wasn't an option.
She explained how Pinkie had apparently said something that got on Trixie's nerves and had she wound up on the receiving end of her latest spell. Whatever it intended was a mystery, for Rarity had tried to intervene with a Destruction spell that apparently destabilized the magic and caused Pinkie to be dispersed, and, while Twilight had a hunch she wasn't harmed, she was out of their reach, unable to unite with them to use the Elements. So Twilight had to come up with an alternate strategy.

It had been confirmed by Rarity's actions that the Alicorn Amulets duplication ability could work on Magicka from Nirn, for they could see Destruction spells being cast from Sweet Apple Acres, so confronting Trixie with their new powers was a definite no no. Only one Destruction spell had given Trixie access to the whole class, and they had informed the princesses before that what they could do with the Thu'um wasn't even a fraction of its true capabilities. If the same effect applied to the Thu'um if exposed to the Alicorn Amulet, Trixie would most likely become unstoppable.

But the main reason the Elements were so effective against the Alicorn Amulets in the deep past was because they're incapable of duplicating abilities of other enchanted objects, so Twilight deduced that other magical artifacts would be just as immune to duplication as the Elements. But she feared that Trixie would wreak havoc while they searched for magic artifacts from Equestria, so, reluctantly, Twilight and her remaining friends turned to the only likely source that was on hoof.

The Daedric Prince, Hermaeus Mora.
It terrified the princesses to learn that, in exchange for aid, the Apple family had erected a shrine to Hermaeus Mora in their barn, but couldn't fault that having it on hoof was indeed fortunate. After all, Hermaeus Mora hadn't done anything overly malevolent in his time here, and the Alicorn Amulets almost caused Equestria's destruction while it was still a fledgling nation. If there was one incident they could condone going to that creature for aid, it was the reemergence of the last of those evil trinkets.

But back to the explanation, Twilight had deduced that if her predecessor, the Dragonborn, had left an Elder Scroll in Hermaeus Mora's care, there were others as well. And she was right, and Hermaeus Mora agreed to lend them, but at a cost.
"What cost is that?" asked Luna, both she and Celestia looking nervous. Hermaeus Mora, while cooperative at times, can enact a heavy toll.

"Don't worry, it actually doesn't affect us that much," said Twilight, "It has more to do with what happens to Trixie, but he hasn't said what yet."

The princesses exchanged a sad look. There was something that would happen to the mare in question, and nopony was going to like it.

"We need to hear the rest of this tale before anything is decided on that," said Celestia.

So Twilight continued this long explanation.

She had come up with a plan as soon as she realized that artifacts from Nirn might be the most effective (if not because they were the least likely to cost them time tracking down) method of dealing with the Alicorn Amulet. Three in total were needed for her plans.

And while none of them could actually complete with the Alicorn Amulet in terms of functionality and raw power, Twilight intended to bluff Trixie into thinking that the Thu'um couldn't be duplicated by the Alicorn Amulet, then convince her to take off the Amulet if possible, because, as they knew, only the wearer can undo the latch.

"It was actually fortunate that Trixie wanted to challenge me to a magic duel," said Twilight, the princesses becoming disgusted that Trixie would invoke such a noble contest while wearing such an unfair advantage like the sinister Alicorn Amulet. "Of course, I accepted, when all attempts to get her to leave peacefully while leaving the Amulet behind failed, but I refrained from using anything detrimental that might make Trixie more dangerous than she already was. But when she began to use spells I couldn't complete against, that was when my friends and I put the plan into action."
She pulled out the first item she had retrieved from Hermaeus Mora's collection.

"This is the Wabbajack," explained Twilight, "Its power is one of the more flashy of the unique artifacts from Nirn, so it was perfect for the strategy."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna examined the unique staff, their horns lighting up to examine it with their magic. Both backpedaled a step, looks of horror on their faces.

"By the Elements, what unruly power," mumbled Celestia.

"It doesn't even feel like metal," said Luna, eyes wide. "If I could describe it in words, I would say, if insanity was a tangible substance, this staff is crafted from it."
"Makes sense," piped in Pinkie cheerfully. "Considering that it's the personal toy of the master of madness himself, Sheogorath."

Both princesses looked panicked.
"That's the Daedric Prince of Madness, is it not?" asked Luna, remembering Twilight informing them about the other Daedric Princes.

"That's right, your majesty," answered Rarity.

Celestia actually gulped nervously as she looked at the staff again, the grinning face at the head making her suppress a tremble. "Will this thing's presence in Equestria be... problematic?"

Twilight knew what she was getting at. Would Sheogorath be able to send his influence to Equestria through his artifact?

"I don't think that will be a problem, your majesty," she said reassuringly to her mentor. "While it is true that a Daedric Prince has influence over their respective artifacts, we will be returning them to Apocrypha post haste. Besides, Sheogorath is one of the more... unpredictable of the Daedric Princes. While others like Hermaeus Mora might be interested in our realm, he has obviously chosen not to be."

"But why?" asked Luna, knowing full well that Hermaeus Mora was thoroughly enjoying his time in Equestria, and while she knew that the Daedra we're anything but alike, she failed to see how a new world wouldn't be interesting to someone.
"The answer is simple, princess," said Spike, taking the floor. "The guy's nuttier than a pecan pie."

"There is a reason he's the Daedric Prince of Madness," said Twilight, hoping she wouldn't have to explain that technically Sheogorath was already here briefly, and all he had done was reclaim his chalice from Pinkie.

Her hope was granted when Celestia seemed to accept that Sheogorath being crazy was a reasonable enough explanation to his lack of interest in them. She had faced Discord, so was fully aware that warped minds need not make sense.

"So, did the Wabbajack serve efficiently in retrieving the Alicorn Amulet?" she asked, getting the explanation back on track.

"Well, not fully," said Rarity.

Luna looked puzzled. "Explain."

"I had a feeling that the corruptive nature of the Amulet may make Trixie less inclined to being intimidated by the effects of the Wabbajack," began Twilight.
"And it was true," said Rainbow. "Even after Twilight was turned into a Dremora and almost sliced Trixie in half, she still wouldn't take the blasted Amulet off."
Celestia gasped at the mention of Twilight 'turning' into something. "What is a Dremora?"

Twilight reminded the Princess that, while the Daedric Princes were the elite of their kind, lesser classes existed, like alicorns and the rest of ponykind, though Celestia admonished her for the comparison. She also explained that one of the random effects of the Wabbajack was transformation into a random Dremora.

Celestia wasn't pleased on hearing Twilight had deliberately planned to have herself the target of this vile magic, despite the risk. A sweet roll?

"That was reckless, my student," reprimanded Celestia. "You should have come up with a safer strategy."

"There wasn't time, Princess," said Twilight in her defense, though she bowed respectively. "Trixie was causing havoc, several ponies might have been hurt. And plus, I wasn't going to risk anypony else being turned into a pile of septims."

Celestia didn't know what that was, but considering her student was still here, and unhurt, she decided to drop the subject and move on to what happened next. "So, Trixie refused to yield, even after you became that... thing?"

"Yes, your majesty," said Twilight, relieved to get back to the explanation. "I tried to convince her that the Thu'um was what transformed me, and since she couldn't do the same, she seemed to buy that the Alicorn Amulet couldn't duplicate the Thu'um."

Twilight shook her head in pity. "She was scared at first, but the corruption took hold of her again and she pressed on with the duel. And it left us with no choice but to use our last resort."

Celestia watched as Twilight looked out the window and stared at the sun in regret. "Please, Twilight, explain why it was necessary."

Twilight swallowed and looked up at the altered Celestia. "Failing our bluff with the Wabbajack, my backup plan was to try and scare her with magic she couldn't comprehend, coupled with an empty threat that would hopefully get through to her."

"And what threat was this?" asked Luna.
Twilight was regretful about what inspired this plan. "You see how the sun resembles a hole in the sky?" They nodded. "Well, once it looked like that, I told Trixie that I had cast a spell that would draw her into the sun." She looked at Luna apologetically. "Same as how the Elements of Harmony imprisoned Nightmare Moon in the moon."

Twilight was grateful that if Luna was disturbed by this she didn't show it.

"It seemed to work at first," continued Twilight. "By that point it was obvious to Trixie that the Alicorn Amulet couldn't duplicate what I was doing, and to her, it seemed like she was going to be sealed in the sun. While she did not actually take off the Amulet at that point, she did the next best thing. She abandoned the duel and fled."

"That's a good thing?" Asked Luna, quirking and eye.

"Darn tootin it was," said Applejack. "Because it got her away from the citizens of Ponyville, who, up to that point, were caught in the crossfire, which didn't allow us to get the Amulet through more... confrontational means."

"You had a plan for if she tried to flee, Twilight?" asked Celestia.

"Hay yeah she did," said Rainbow Dash, grabbing the Wabbajack and striking a pose with it. "Me and this baby."

"It's true, said Twilight. "On the off hoof Trixie decided to flee, I informed Rainbow to confront her with the Wabbajack as soon as she was away from other ponies."
"And I smacked her with this thing's bizarre magic," said Rainbow proudly. "And she turned into something quite fitting, a chicken."

Pinkie, who was learning the tale of the downfall of Trixie along with the princesses, burst out laughing. Several others couldn't help but snicker.

"And that freed me up to play my part." Rarity drew forth the Skeleton Key with her magic. "Now that the troublemaker was rendered harmless for a while, I used this to unlock that troublesome magic lock from around her feathery neck before she changed back."

"Hey, what is wrong with feathers," said Rainbow, annoyed, but nopony was paying her any attention because of Celestia and Luna's baffled expression.
"How is this possible?" asked Luna breathlessly.

"Nothing we tried could release those locks!" said Celestia. "Even Starswirl was powerless to assist in that regard."
"Well, your highness, that would be because this elegant little trinket is the personal artifact of Nocturnal."

The two alicorns froze at the mention of yet another Daedric Prince.

"The... Daedric Prince of Shadows and Thieves?" asked Luna.

"The same," said Twilight respectfully. "And her artifact, the Skeleton Key, has the power to unlock literally anything, physically, mentally, or spiritually. And, it would seem not even the most powerful of alicorn magic can stand up to it."
Once again, Celestia and Luna were floored by the immense power these beings were capable of. And it brought a thought to Celestia's mind.
"Was it one of these artifacts that darkened the sun?"

It was then that Auriel's Bow was presented to the princesses, and both felt a connection to it that resonated with them. Luna could feel the magic within that somehow darkened the sky and Celestia could feel the resonation of sun magic that the weapon possessed. It was this artifact that worried them more than the other two.

Twilight then gave a brief history of the bow, and Luna, who had accompanied them to Morrowind, was especially interested to learn that the bow was said to be carried by Auri-El himself into battle against the forces of Lorkhan in ancient and mythic times. How when Trinimac defeated Lorkhan and tore out his Heart, Auri-El fastened it to an arrow and shot it far into the sea with the bow, where Red Mountain eventually formed. She also explained that the bow was originally meant to work in conjunction with the sun of Nirn to combat against the forces of undead, but was co-opted by Molag Bal so whenever it was used with an arrow anointed with the blood of a pure blood vampire it would corrupt the sun until the next day.

Celestia, regardless of the morbid nature of vampires Twilight just explained, looked very relieved, "So, my sun and I will be back to normal tomorrow?"
"If the bow follows the same rules here," said Twilight reassuringly.

Celestia would have just lowered and risen the sun then and there, but composed herself. "Your methods in this situation were indeed excessive, my student." Twilight looked downhearted, but perked up when Celestia pulled her into a hug. "But all in all, you did well." She scowled at the Alicorn Amulet where it lay on a table. "I had hoped that thing would remain lost, but even to this day I feared what would happen if it did resurface. Truth be told, I would have done anything, even blotting out the sun, to prevent the carnage that transpired when they were being used by their crafters so long ago from repeating. You did well."
Twilight shed a happy tear. "Thanks, Princess."

They held each other for a minute before separating. "We had best wrap this situation up, you and your friends need to resume the preparations."

Suddenly reminded of the wedding, Twilight could not agree more. She sent Rainbow Dash to Sweet Apple Acres with the Wabbajack, Skeleton Key, and Auriel's Bow with the purpose of dropping them off in Apocrypha via the Black Book housed in the shrine. Everyone else resumed the tasks they were working on before the interruption.
"What about Trixie, Princess?" asked Twilight.

Celestia turned from passing the Alicorn Amulet to Luna, who teleported back to Canterlot with the intent of locking the infernal troublemaking necklace into the deepest, most secure vault they had on hoof, with the hopes of it never seeing the light of day again.

"I will take full charge of her myself," she said sadly. "She actually has no idea of the true depths of her crime."

Comments

[Greenhorn]

Initially, I thought Pinkie was going to meet the 'inverted princess' - not Courage. 'Cause I totally forgot the current state of the Sun.

[Moon Glow]

So Celestia's become the equivalent of a vampire? Would it attract Molag Bal, I wonder?

[Herald of Opera]

Really milking that Crossover tag, aren't you? Also didn't realize that TMBG were involved.

11169111
Probably less so than Spike, who continues to suffer from early-stage vampirism.

[EnderHooves]

Great chapter, I'm glad celestia understands the necessity of what Twi did, even if she thinks it's excessive.
I just saw this video, and I thought it fitting for this story considering what spike is dealing with.

[GigaDragonXV2]

I had to stop myself from smiling when I realized where Pinkie was. That windmill and farmhouse are burned into my brain apparently.

[Sttark]

Great chapter,cant wait for more and vampire stuff

[Second Chance]

11181687
we interrupt this program to dhow you Courage the Cowardly Dog

they live in Nowhere

introduction of Courage the Cowardly Dog

https://youtu.be/zxz5_OlpbUI?si=4oiNpXXCP32U3NoP