• Published 23rd Mar 2013
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Crisis on Two Equestrias - RainbowDoubleDash



Trixie appears once more in Ponyville, babbling about how she is supposed to be the Element of Magic and how Celestia is the evil Tyrant Sun. Has she gone insane? Or is something larger happening?

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9. Every Little Thing she Does is Magic

By train, it took about two hours to reach Ponyville from Canterlot. Most pegasi could generally manage the trip by wing alone in a matter of four hours of hard flying; a pegasus chariot took a little longer, at five hours.

Luna and Celestia arrived in Canterlot within ten minutes.

“I am not certain I am comfortable leaving the remaining Elements behind,” Luna said as the two landed in Canterlot gardens. She was looking around, taking in everything. Celestia wondered just how different her castle, her Canterlot, was from that Princess Luna’s. A thousand years was a very long time for changes to occur, and though their two worlds did seem to run in rough parallel, there were also numerous differences.

Celestia inclined her head to Princess Luna’s concern. “If Discord breaks free,” she said, “I would rather there be some distance between him and my little ponies. We would be able to buy some time, however short, for them to prepare – and give our students a chance to repair the Element of Magic.”

Luna shuddered slightly as the two trotted through the garden. “He has broken free in the past?”

“Just last month. The Elements passing to my student and her friends caused his prison to weaken enough for him to break free.” She looked to Luna. “Has he not yet in your world?”

“No,” Luna said, shaking her head, “although thank-you for letting me know. I can preempt him now…” she stopped trotting, staring straight ahead. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

The two of them had reached Discord’s statue within the Canterlot garden. He was exactly as he had been: turned into nondescript gray stone, a look of shock on his face, coiled and twisted as he tried to fight the Element’s binding him into his current rocky form. Celestia had been sure to replace him exactly where he had been before, down to the very direction that his eyes had been pointing. The only change from the last time Celestia had seen the statue was the light layer of snow covering it.

Celestia looked to Luna, who was staring with her mouth hanging open slightly. “What?” she asked.

“In the garden,” Luna said. “You are keeping the personification of chaos, evil, and disharmony in the garden.

“Where else should I keep him? If he were to break free of the Element’s binding, he would easily break past any defenses I might put in place. Here, at least, he is easy to access and keep an eye on.”

I had him sealed in concrete and buried underground behind eight layers of protective wards regardless,” Luna noted. “My concern is not so much with Discord breaking out under his own power, as much as somepony trying to free him.”

“Who would be so mad?”

“There have been ponies…”

Celestia pressed her lips tightly together at that thought as she set her horn glowing, examining the statue. To her eyes, nothing seemed to change – it remained, to all outward appearances, simply a garden ornament, exactly as it was supposed to appear to any magical examination. Luna finished her own examinations at the same time.

“Nothing?” Celestia asked.

“Nothing,” Luna confirmed.

“Excellent. In that case, there is somepony I must see immediately.” Celestia grimaced. “I imagine that she may be in quite a fit right now over your stunt in Ponyville earlier – ”

Celestia!

The Princess of the Sun started at the exclamation, as Luna’s mouth had not moved, though in a second Luna seemed to break apart into star-stuff, a glowing, sparkling blue mist that retreated behind Discord’s statue. Celestia frowned slightly at that as she turned and saw, galloping across the garden from the castle, Princess Luna – her sister.

Celestia!” her Luna cried again as she neared, eyes wide. “The Moon – the Night – it was not my doing, I – ”

“I know, Luna,” Celestia said comfortingly, stepping close and nuzzling her little sister. “Hush now. I know. The past few hours have been…eventful.”

Luna shuddered slightly in relief at Celestia’s reassurances, returning the nuzzle wholeheartedly. This close, it occurred to Celestia that there were slight differences between her Luna, and the visitor from another world. Her Luna was a little shorter, by several inches. Her stance was also different – more guarded, more on-edge, more pensive, her wings rarely settled at her side, but rather poised and ready to emote or carry the younger alicorn away. She also appeared to be in just slightly better shape – not that the otherworldly Luna was out of shape by any means, but rather, she was clearly a pony who, while concerned for appearance, had also grown relatively comfortable in her position. By contrast, Luna, as Nightmare Moon, had spent the better part of the past thousand years constantly training her mind and body for what she believed to be eventual combat with Celestia, and it showed.

Celestia pulled away from Luna, looking her sister in the eye. “Now, Luna,” she said, “behind me is a pony I want you to meet. I want you to promise me, however, that you will not…overreact.”

Luna’s gaze switched between Celestia’s eyes. “Tia, is now really the time for introductions? There is a being in Equestria who can override my control of the Night! We must find that pony and…”

Luna paused at Celestia’s slightly bemused smile, and she frowned. “The pony you speak of is the one you wish for me to meet, isn’t it?”

“Yes, she is.”

The Princess of the Moon’s face hardened somewhat. “I would have words with her, Tia.”

“I understand, though I assure you that she means no harm.” Celestia nodded, turning around and standing next to her sister, draping one wing over her. “Please, come out now. We don’t want to draw this out.”

I am having second thoughts,” a voice – notably not that of Princess Luna’s, but rather magically changed to sound higher and more airy – said from behind Discord’s statue. “Perhaps it would be better if I left –

No,” Luna insisted, stepping forward and out from her sister’s wing, spreading her own wide. “Thou hast violated my sovereign control over the Night. Thy careless actions have doubtless caused mass panic across Equestria and rocked the faith of its citizenry in my person. Show thyself that thou might defend thy actions, if thou canst!”

Celestia winced slightly at Luna’s lapse into older language habits. She was still getting used to the modern form of the language, and early-modern Equestrian was still more natural for her, especially if she was annoyed or concerned. Celestia almost trotted back over to Luna, wanting to protectively put her wing around her again, but she recognized that Luna, right now, felt almost violated. The Night was very much a part of her being, and so have that part of her dominated…

Slowly, almost guiltily, the blue mist that the otherworldly Luna had become drifted out from behind the statue. Luna’s own eyes widened at the sight, even more when the mist coalesced into a pony-shape, before finally solidifying and taking on definition and form – that of the otherworldly sovereign Princess Luna.

Celestia’s sister balked, backing away a step at the sight. “Imposter!” she cried.

“No, Luna,” Celestia corrected, trotting forward and placing a re-assuring hoof on Luna’s withers.

It didn’t help much, as she retreated from Celestia, wings beating frantically. “N-nay, sister!” she insisted. “I swear to thee, I am the one, true Luna!”

“Yes,” Celestia confirmed. “You are my sister, Luna, and she is not. I do not doubt that for a moment. She is not an imposter, because she has not claimed to be you.”

“Wherefore then does she wear my face?” She turned to glare at her counterpart, then back to her sister. “Sister, I am in a foul mood right now, having been awoken by the raising of the Night without my willing it, sensing a great magical calamity in Ponyville, and unable to leave Canterlot for fear of leaving ponies leaderless, even as I have had no fewer than three ponies ask me if I have ‘gone Nightmare Moon’ again! I demand an explanation for what is happening, now!

Celestia inclined her head, leaning in and nuzzling Luna, an action her sister accepted, if only reluctantly. “Of course, Luna.” She looked to their visitor. “Please, it might be better if you explain.”

The other Luna did not immediately respond, seeming to focus more on Celestia’s nuzzling of her sister than on what was being said. When she noticed her counterpart glaring at her, however, she straightened herself. “Very well,” she said, looking to her doppelgänger. “A thousand years ago…”

---

Argh! My eyes!” Trixie cried out, putting her hooves to her face.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant when I said take it easy!” Lulamoon said, rolling her own eyes. “You’re channeling raw magic into them!”

“Trixie was taking it easy!” Trixie objected, rubbing her eyes. “She has very precise control over her magic from years of practice!”

The two were sitting in the front of Trixie’s wagon, while Twilight and Sparkle had retreated inside, doing something involving magic that Lulamoon, while somewhat interested in, was not interested in enough to want to spend time with them. Unfortunately, that left her outside with Trixie as she guided her wagon to following the location spell that Twilight had cast. The gem that contained it was currently attached to Trixie’s cape.

“Uh-huh,” Lulamoon said, reaching out a hoof and moving one of Trixie’s own away from her face. The only way she had been able to get Trixie to stop acting haughty and full of herself had been to teach her the magic sight spell she knew. “Hang on, let me check and make sure you didn’t make them explode or something…”

Trixie pouted at that, lowering her hooves and glaring at her counterpart. Her eyes were watering slightly as she squinted at Lulamoon, but looked otherwise fine, though they had taken on a slight pink glow from the magic she was channeling through them. She squinted at Lulamoon. “You’re…glowing pink, in your barrel, and up to your horn.”

“That’s what unicorn magic will look like,” Lulamoon explained. “Earth ponies are a kind of dark green, with their magic spread across their whole bodies, and pegasi are sky-blue, with their magic is concentrated along their wings and hooves.”

Trixie looked at her own hooves, then glanced around. “And…there’s magic all over the place. I can see it! Like threads of silver and gold…” she reached out a hoof, clearly trying to poke at one such thread. Lulamoon knew that her hoof would pass through it, as though it were an optical illusion.

Lulamoon couldn’t help but smile slightly. She made sure to make it seem smug, however, lest Trixie get any ideas as she stood up, horn glowing slightly. “Okay,” she said. “Now look at me. Pay attention.”

Trixie did so, squinting slightly. Her eyes were still watering, and turning a little red – she needed to get used to using the spell still, though Lulamoon had to grudgingly admit to being impressed that despite using the spell, she was still at the same time keeping her wagon moving. She resolved to make her lesson a quick one. “Okay, see my cape?” she asked, taking her cape off and throwing it off of the wagon. Trixie leaned over, watching it hit the forest floor, before looking back to Lulamoon, nodding.

Lulamoon closed her eyes, thinking to one of the simplest spells she knew, and also a perfect one to demonstrate her magic sight with. She set her horn glowing, magically reaching out to her fallen cape – it was easy to find, given the several small but useful enchantments woven into it. She imagined her magic as a string, with one end tied around her horn, and the other end she wrapped around her cape. Finally, she gave a slight tug.

From the forest floor, her cape disappeared, then reappeared in front of her inside of a blue sphere that popped after a second. She caught it before it could fall, and looked to Trixie. “Did you see?” she asked.

Trixie considered, closing her own eyes as she took off her hat and set it down in front of her. Lulamoon raised an eyebrow at that – she was actually starting small?

After several long moments of concentration, tongue clenched in her teeth and visibly straining, her horn glowed. Her hat popped from reality, and then popped back into being in front of her, encased in a pink sphere that swiftly dissipated. Trixie let out a long gasp at that, but smiled brightly as she purposefully picked her hat back up and put it on her head.

Lulamoon felt a slight itch from her cutie mark; she scratched it as she focused on Trixie and sat back down. “You okay?” she asked.

“Trixie is fine,” she said, crossing her hooves and pointedly stopped panting as heavily. Her eyes still had a pink glow to them. “She has just learned two new spells in as many minutes! How would you be?”

“Not so bad, actually. Though I guess you don’t have nearly the same amount of practice as I do. Still, you figured it out without exploding your eyeballs, so I guess that means you’re not beyond hope.”

Trixie harrumphed. “Trixie has not had an alicorn teaching her the nuances of magic for ten years. But she has the same potential as you. And now that she knows how to see magic, she can realize that potential! And she shall do it without letting herself go.”

“What?”

“As Trixie mentioned before,” she said, standing and delicately extending a front and rear hoof, striking a pose, “Trixie has finely toned musculature from years of wandering the roads of Equestria. Indeed for the longest time, Trixie had to pull her wagon, like a common earth pony! But you…you are just a little chubby.”

I am not! In fact I’ll have you know that, one, I exercise every week with Raindrops, and two, I am almost exactly average weight for my height and length!”

Trixie grinned. “Almost?” she echoed.

Lulamoon stood. “I take some of my valuable time and try and teach you some magic, and you call me fat?

Trixie tapped a hoof to her mouth. “More…comfortable, Trixie would say.”

Oooh I’m going –

– to kill you!” A voice shouted from within the wagon. Its top was thrown open, and Sparkle came stomping out, teeth gritted as she passed between the two Trixies. She turned around quickly, however, pointing down at Twilight.

Clover the “Clever” was a hack!” Sparkle shouted, as Trixie and Lulamoon looked at her, then to each other, in confusion. Trixie couldn’t do it for long, however – she still had her magic-sight active, and Twilight and Sparkle were exceptionally bright, forcing her to look away. “All she did was compile what Starswirl the Bearded had written and add in mostly useless notes on how the spells were created! Her only contribution to magic was one spell that can’t even be cast without a pegasus and an earth pony around to serve as a focus!”

“Clover’s insights into the spellmaking process were invaluable!” Twilight countered. “Half of what Starswirl wrote would be indecipherable without Clover cleaning up his notes and journals and re-constructing a lot of his matrices! Starswirl may have been the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era, but he was terrible at showing his work!

Lulamoon rolled her eyes. “Academic problems,” she noted quietly, preemptively covering her ears and closing her eyes, sighing. Well, at least it wasn’t just her and Trixie who couldn’t get along –

That was when something leaped from a nearby tree, landed beside the wagon, and shoved at it with deep blue telekinesis. Lulamoon, Sparkle, Trixie, Twilight, and the wagon all went flying sideways, screaming.

---

The pony grinned brightly as she charged after the wagon she had shoved. It had landed on its side in a thick tangle of pine bushes. She skipped forward a few feet, then leaped and landed atop the fallen side of the wagon, spinning in place on one front hoof as she looked around for her quarry.

She spotted Twilight first, climbing from the wagon’s back door in surprise, looking bewildered and a little bruised, but unhurt. The pony let out a laugh of glee as she leaped through the air, spinning in place and landing in front of Twilight, horn glowing. Before Twilight could react, there were a series of pops around her, and she found herself trapped in a square of four doors of different colors that had sprang into being from nothingness. The pony smiled as, with a flick of her head, she opened all the doors inwards at the same time. She heard Twilight cry out from being struck on all sides.

Ha!” The pony laughed, hitting Twilight again, then a third time. She would have continued for some time, but Trixie appeared then, charging out from behind the wagon, eyes wide and glowing pink.

The pony let out a whoop of glee at the sight of her other target, horn glowing bright as she gathered fire at the tip of her horn, then threw it. Trixie let out a yelp of surprise, ducking the fireball, and scampering away and out of sight when several more fireballs followed. The pony forgot about Twilight as she charged after Trixie.

Rounding the fallen wagon, she caught a glimpse of Trixie’s tail disappearing behind the wagon’s next side. After a second, however, Twilight and Trixie ran out from their hiding spots, Trixie’s eyes no longer glowing blue. Twilight had probably teleported from her door-prison.

Trixie and Twilight looked between one-another, grimacing, before Twilight’s horn glowed a bright lavender. A wall of snow appeared over the pony’s head and fell towards her. She ducked down, covering her head as the snow landed, grunting at the force of the impact. In a moment, however, she was standing again, body glowing with heat and melting the snow off of her.

The pony leaped forward, front hooves spread wide. When she landed, her body shimmered, and two of her seemed to step out from the same pony and complete the charge. One of her slammed into Twilight, sending her tumbling and reeling away and into a bush. Trixie, meanwhile, smirked, apparently deciding to ignore the other, thinking it was fake as she readied a spell. She was taken for surprise, then, when that pony body-checked her as well, slamming her against the fallen wagon’s roof. She gasped in pain and fell to her knees and hocks.

Both copies of the pony were dragged together after a moment, slamming into each other and merging into a single whole again. She gasped at the sensation, shivering slightly. It was painful, yet strangely fun, like blood rushing back into limb that had fallen to sleep. She didn’t have time to focus on it, however, as Twilight appeared again, behind her, finally showing her bruises from the door-attack. Her horn glowed bright as she picked up all the nearby rocks, branches, and even dirt, hurling it forward as hard as she could. The pony simply caught it all in her own telekinesis, then smiled as she packed everything together into a single four-foot-wide ball of pain, and threw it back. Twilight leaped out of the way, but still caught some of it in a glance across her flank, causing her to stumble. She audibly growled from where she’d landed, horn glowing an angry lavender as she shot a beam of pure magic at the pony.

This time, the pony didn’t dodge quick quickly enough. The beam of magic sent her reeling to her knees, nearly paralyzing her – nearly. She laughed aloud at the feeling as he horn glowed brightly, sending a burst of magic at Twilight that sent her tumbling away. The pony laughed again, a laugh that died only when Trixie, eyes glowing pink once again for some reason, leaped and landed on her back.

The pony was almost forced to the ground, but began bucking like a bronco, swinging her head and whinnying as she did so. Trixie was thrown from her back and to the ground. The pony was on her in an instant, wrapping a hoof around her tail and dragging Trixie across the forest floor. The pony cried out in pain as she was dragged against the wagon, lifted Trixie up telekinetically, and head-butted her, careful to not also include her horn in the process. Trixie and the pony both stumbled away, dazed, but the pony only shook her head and enjoyed the feeling – she’d never head-butted anypony before, after all – while Trixie collapsed next to Trixie.

Wait, what?

The pony shook her head again, putting one hoof to her head and deciding that no matter how fun the sensation was, she would avoid head-butts from now on to cut down on the double vision. The double vision was not helped when Twilight appeared twice right in front of her, each one with their horns glowing bright lavender as they readied a spell.

The double vision was just killing the fun, though. Growling, she stopped their incoming spells, whatever they were, and telekinetically grabbed each Twilight, pulling them forward with all her might as she turned around, raised her hind hooves, and bucked at each one as they came forward, figuring that she was bound to hit the real one this way.

She had not expected both hooves to solidly connect, nor to hear two distinct cries of pain. The pony was unnerved enough to trot away several paces before turning around, looking back at her battle.

One Trixie was nearly unconscious, reeling and with a bloody muzzle from the head-butt she’d been on the receiving end of. Another was banged up and shaking her head, but standing. Both Twilights were on the ground, clutching at their stomachs where they’d been bucked, but one of them, somewhat more bruised, was taking it harder, while the other had managed to move into a sitting position, breathing heavily.

“Two…Twilights?” the pony asked aloud. “Two Trixies?”

She considered.

It’s like Hearth’s Warming has come early!

---

Sparkle was in a considerable amount of pain, and was fairly confident that if not for the adrenaline high that was still in the process of kicking in, she would have thrown up, passed out, or both from the buck she’d received.

Sparkle stumbled, getting up onto shaking legs as the pony that had overturned Trixie’s cart and attacked them pranced and spun in place happily, like a foal being told they were going on a trip to Cayo el Bayo. The pony was about her height, with deep blue fur, almost tinged purple, and much more obviously purple mane and tail, the latter two of which were wide wild and unkempt. Her eyes were solid purple, lacking any kind of pupil.

But Sparkle’s eyes were mostly drawn to the pony’s cutie mark: a crescent-shaped, deep blue nebula, with a six-pointed purple star set between the horns of the crescent. The colors were much darker, but casting a glance at her own cutie mark, and that of Trixie’s or Lulamoon’s…

“Who…” Sparkle breathed. “Who are you…?”

The pony stopped prancing in place, looking to Sparkle with a wide smile – a touch too wide. “The Dark…and Omnipotent…TWIXIE!

Sparkle stared, as did the other three ponies, in utter confusion. The pony noticed their confusion, and seemed to backpedal. “IS NOT MY NAME!” she exclaimed, pointing a hoof at Sparkle. “You won’t call me that! It’s not my name! I’m…uh…”

She paused, looking away from them, brow furrowing and mouth hanging open. She was breathing heavily from the fight she’d started, Sparkle noted. After a moment, she looked back to Sparkle. “My name doesn’t matter!” she exclaimed. “Because I am Dark! And Omnipotent! And I am going to kill you!” she paused, putting a hoof to her mouth. “Dark Omnipotence? Omnipotent Darkness? Not bad names…they don’t really sit right, though…”

Sparkle grunted, calling on her magic. The pony saw, and her own horn glowed – black, not the deep blue it had been glowing earlier. Sparkle lashed out with a bolt of lightning. The pony, meanwhile, had conjured a jet-black orb in front of her, attached to her horn by a long strand of black magic. The lightning hit the black orb, and did not emerge from the other side.

The pony smirked, and shoved her head forward. The black orb shot towards Sparkle at the same time, closing in on and enveloping her before she could react.

She screamed. The orb wasn’t hot, or cold. It wasn’t wet, or dry. It wasn’t physical. It wasn’t anything – it was like a ball of pure, absolute nothingness enclosing her, and trying as hard as it could to make Sparkle a part of it. She coudn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t smell, couldn’t breathe! Sparkle tried to teleport out of it, but found she couldn’t – she couldn’t do anything magical while within the orb, in fact. She rifled through six spells in succession, the last being a simple attempt to make her horn glow – but they all failed. Worse than failed, in fact – they never even began to take shape in the first place.

The sphere withdrew, and Sparkle let out a gasp as she fell to her knees, tears in her eyes. The pony who had attacked them smiled brightly. Sparkle could feel her magic returning to her – she could use it again – but the pony was conjuring more orbs of utter blackness, surrounding all of them with them on all sides, building a chaotic space full of bubbles of nothing.

“My special talent,” she said, “is anti-magic. Now isn’t that the scariest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Why are you attacking us?” Lulamoon demanded, picking herself up fully, and helping up Trixie as best she could.

The pony looked to Lulamoon with a look of stunned surprise, before it twisted into a leering smile. “Because you made me, Trixie,” she explained, as though she were talking to a foal. “You, and Twilight, and I supposed Trixie and Twilight as well.” Her eyes widened, and she perked up. “Are there more of you? More Trixies? More Twilights? Oh, please say yes.”

Twilight had picked herself up, and trotted over to Sparkle, placing a hoof upon her withers, trying to calm her down. She glared at the pony. “What do you mean, we made you?” she demanded.

“Oh Twilight,” the pony said, shaking her head, as her horn continued to pulse with black magic and create more and more orbs of anti-magic. “Do you really suppose that cracking the Element of Magic wouldn’t have consequences?

The four recoiled at that. “We…freed you?” Twilight asked.

“No, you created me!” the pony said. “I’m not some eldritch abomination from the dawn of time. I’m six hours old! Oh, but it gets even better.” She pointed to Trixie, smiling. The four ponies looked to her, at last remembering the location-finding spell encased in a gemstone that Twilight had created and attached to Trixie’s cape. Its light had gone out, but the pony stomped a hoof, and it started up again – and the gemstone pointed right at the pony, or more specifically her cutie mark.

“I’m also the Element of Magic,” she said, brushing one hoof against her coat. “I am all the bile and hatred and doubt that you four felt, put in a pony-shaped suit conjured up by the dying embers of the shattered Element, and given life and sentience! Without you, I wouldn’t exist!”

Sparkle’s heart skipped a beat at that, as the pony threw her head back and laughed. The globes of anti-magic began to spin around slowly. Whenever they passed through a tree, or rock, or other feature, that thing seemed to grow somehow…lesser. Less alive. Less colorful. Less real.

“You’re going to die,” the pony said, skipping around in place a few times. “The good news is I’m pretty sure I have to kill all four of you simultaneously, so it’ll be quick. I’m thinking…crushed under a falling wagon!

The pony’s horn stopped glowing black, reverting to its deep blue coloration, as the wagon behind the four of them lifted itself off of the ground. The four also found themselves seized by telekinesis, and forced together in one spot, while they were surrounded by orbs of anti-magic. The orbs seemed to sap at every spell they tried to cast – they weren’t utterly prevented from conjuring magic, as Sparkle had been when inside of one, but none of their spells had any effect.

“Wait!” Sparkle called out, struggling to escape from the telekinesis that held her. She couldn’t however, and her eyes were locked on the wagon hovering over them, rising ever higher into the air. “Wait! You don’t have to do this!”

“Of course not, idiot, but I want to.”

“You have to know this is wrong! I can’t believe that the Element of Magic would create something so evil!” Twilight tried.

The pony glared at her. “Evil?” she demanded. “Evil? Am I evil just because I want to kill you? Am I evil just because I would rather tear you limb from limb and watch you bleed out one at a time, and I’m genuinely sad I won’t be able to? Am I evil just because after I’m done here I’m going to go to Ponyville and slaughter everypony you four have ever loved out of pure spite?!

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed.

The pony’s smile brightened. “Excellent!” she declared happily. “I like knowing my place in the world! So few ponies do. Any last words from any of you? Trixie, you’ve been quiet.”

Sparkle looked to Trixie, eyes wide. The poor mare had been utterly outclassed by the other three of them from the beginning, had been all but dragged into this situation. Her muzzle seemed to have stopped bleeding, at least, as she stood up and away from Lulamoon. “Trixie has three things to say!” she exclaimed.

“Goody! I’ll allow them.”

“Firstly – you owe me a new wagon, you psychopath! Second,” she looked between Twilight and Sparkle. “Library, understand? Library! And finally, Trixie must compliment you on your anti-magic spheres. They are cancelling our spells magnificently. But there is one problem!”

The pony smiled, trotting closer to the four. “Oh?” she asked.

The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t need spells to do magic!

Trixie reached into her cape with one hoof, and then threw her hoof forward. A series of small capsules fell to the ground at the pony’s feet, and then exploded into smoke. The pony’s eyes widened and she whinnied in surprise, rearing back onto her hind hooves and letting her concentration slip. She lost her grip on the wagon overhead. It remained in place for just a moment before beginning to fall – but the anti-magic spheres she had conjured also dissipated into nothingness.

Sparkle stared in shock, frozen for an instant. She then felt hooves closing about her neck, saw Trixie grabbing her, and realized what she had meant by library, even as Twilight had grabbed Lulamoon, horn already glowing lavender. Sparkle snapped her eyes shut, thought of Twilight’s library back in Ponyville, and teleported.

Even as she did, she heard the pony who’d tried to kill them scream.

No you don’t!

Something pulled on Sparkle even as she tried to teleport. For the briefest moment, she thought she saw Twilight’s library. Then, in the next moment, everything went black. When the darkness cleared, Sparkle found herself looking not at the comforting surrounding of books and wood and perhaps a warm fireplace.

Instead, she found herself a thousand feet in the air over the Everfree Forest, and falling fast.