Spike was relaxing in his cozy seat in front of the Map. He was reading the latest Power Ponies comic while eating beautiful gems from a bowl. As he flipped through the pages and ate a sapphire, he saw two unicorns in the distance talking to each other, with one occasionally sharing surprised looks with the other. He couldn't hear their conversation all too well, but he was sure he heard the words "Magic", "Spell," or even "Dangerous," from the two.
Spike figured that Twilight left Starlight and Trixie alone at the castle again while doing her errands. He remembered the last time that had happened, and he couldn't help but call them from his spot as he saw the two enter a room. "Don't do anything crazy, ok?" He shouted to them.
They either heard him or not since they didn't respond to the dragon. He saw the last bit of their tails before they closed the door behind them.
Spike couldn't help but be worried by that. He knows very well that Starlight was careful when it came to performing dangerous spells, but "careful" didn't mix with the carefree, wild Trixie. He had the urge to go into the room and check on them, but he feared that if he did that, he would somehow get caught in the crossfire of whatever spell they were doing. He prayed to Celestia that they would be safe and cautious.
Trying to put his worries aside, he went back to reading while eating the gems. So far, things were quiet. Occasionally he would hear the two chattering in the other room, but it was muffled and barely audible.
Spike let out a soft groan as he reached the last page of his comic. He loved Power Ponies, but he wished that they would publish longer pages so it didn't take 20 minutes to finish the entire thing.
Spike stretched his arms before putting the comic down on the Map and he was prepared to walk into the kitchen, ready to put away the gems for later. However, as he made his way out of the main room, he walked past the door to the room where Starlight and Trixie were in. He couldn't resist the urge to check on them.
He placed his ear on the door, and there he could hear an audible conversation between the two. He didn't usually eavesdrop, but it would be for a quick peek.
"I found this old spell that would totally blow away the crowd." Trixie's ecstatic voice can be heard above the sound of papers rustling.
"I don't know. That seems pretty advanced." Spike could detect the worry in Starlight's voice.
"Nothing is too advanced for the Great and Powerful Trixie!" She boasted. "Come on, Starlight, it won't hurt to try."
Spike heard a sigh that he presumed was Starlight's.
"Fine, but let's put safety measures just in case this backfires. I don't want Twilight screaming at the both of us for lighting these shelves on fire, let alone a single book."
At least Starlight is being cautious. Spike thought with ease as he left the door behind and made his way to the kitchen. He figured they would be fine once Starlight was there to supervise and make sure things were safe. At least, that was what he hoped.
However, before he could even enter the kitchen, he heard the castle doors open and close. Spike saw Twilight return. She was carrying a bag filled with books, Spike presumed.
"Glad to see the castle still up and running," Twilight noted as Spike greeted her. "How were Starlight and Trixie? Did they do anything?"
"So far, they did nothing except talk a lot," Spike answered her with a wave of his claw.
"That's a relief," Twilight said as she entered another room and levitated the books out of her bag. "I went to a nearby library and found these books I never found before." She told him as she put them away.
"I didn't think any library would have any book that you don't have." Spike joked as he ate a gem from his bowl.
Twilight chuckled. "Oh, Spike. I doubt that we don't hold every book—"
She was cut off abruptly when the two heard magic zapping and the sound of crashes in a room nearby. Twilight and Spike both jumped at the sudden sound.
"What in Celestia's name was that?!" Twilight gasped as she fluffed her wings out of fright.
"I don't know, but we better find out!" Spike responded to her quickly before he dashed out of the room. Twilight was right at his heels.
As the two ran out of the room, they quickly looked around. Which room did the sound come from?
"Do you know where it came from?" Twilight asked Spike, who helplessly shrugged his shoulders. He too was perplexed by the source.
"Oh, sweet Celestia, no!"
Spike's heart jumped when he heard the frightful voice of Trixie. No, no, no, no, no! Spike thought with fear as he and Twilight ran down the hall to find the room. Fear-filled thoughts filled his mind as they got closer to the door. Please let it be alright, please let it be alright...
They arrived and slammed the doors open. The sound of the doors slamming onto the wall startled Trixie. She looked at them with pure terror in her eyes.
"Trixie! What happened—" Twilight was about to ask before her gaze was shifted to a body at the end of the room. Starlight was levitating from the ground. Her eyes were white and blank as her mouth slightly gaped open. She was holding an open book with one hoof.
"Starlight?!" Twilight shouted her name. She whipped her head to face Trixie. "What did you do?" She demanded.
"I didn't do anything!" Trixie shouted, raising both of her hooves. "I swear, we were doing some spells, and then that happened!" She pointed at Starlight.
"What kind of spell?" Twilight asked. Spike could tell that she was trying to hold in her anger.
Before Trixie could reply, Starlight suddenly dropped to the ground. What unsettled Spike the most was that she made no sound.
"S-Starlight?" Spike was terrified by what happened to his friend.
And then, Starlight's body changed colors. Her lilac-colored coat was changed to gray as her mane magically changed to her old bangs. She started to blink open her eyes, which were the color as her body.
"Phew! It feels good to stretch my legs!" The gray-colored Starlight exclaimed as she got up and stretched her hind legs. She looked at the stunned faces of Trixie, Twilight, and Spike. "What are you staring at?"
"Starlight?" Twilight muttered her name before speaking up again. "Why and how are you gray?"
"Oh, I'm not Starlight anymore." She said, before backtracking. "Actually, I kinda am, but way different. I'm Control." She introduced herself.
"Control?" Spike tilted his head. What kind of name is that?
As Control stepped away, five other forms of Starlight leaped out behind Control. As they did that, Starlight's original body was laid lifelessly on the ground.
Trixie, Twilight, and Spike braced themselves as these new colored forms faced them, and Spike saw that Control was watching the scene with half-closed eyes, and a tiny sneer curled her lips.
Trixie felt beads of sweat run down her forehead as she stared at the six colored forms that just came out of Starlight's body. What were these things? And what kind of name was Control?
What was worse was that Twilight was glaring at Trixie. As if she wanted to give Twilight more reasons to hate her.
"Hi! My name is Happy!" The yellow-formed Starlight said suddenly as she jumped up and down in excitement. The Starlight that I rarely see. Trixie mused wryly.
The red-formed Starlight gave one look at the three, then looked away with a disdainful grunt. Trixie's ears folded back as she glared at the form. "And who might you be?" She asked, sounding offended.
"Anger." Control swiftly answered for her. The gray-colored Starlight dipped her head. "She doesn't talk much."
Next to Trixie, Twilight stepped forward and gazed at the blue-formed Starlight. The form was staring down at the ground with a frown on her face. Her ears were lowered the entire time she was there.
"And if I'm getting the pattern here, you must be Sadness, right?" Twilight asked the form, to which it nodded slowly.
"Pattern?" The orange-formed Starlight gave Twilight a nervous look. "What are you talking about? There is no pattern! None! Hahaha..." The form chuckled as she gave a sheepish smile as if trying poorly to cover up a lie.
"You look nervous, and since the forms we met so far act like themselves, you must be Nervous!" Spike guessed as he snapped his fingers.
The orange Starlight darted her eyes in embarrassment. "I guess so."
"And what might you be?" Trixie asked the last colored form. The purple Starlight gave all of them a suspicious look. She lowered her ears and gave Trixie a cold stare. "I don't have to explain myself to you." The form told her coldly.
"You have to." Control stepped in. Her gaze was firm as she stared at the purple Starlight. "Relax for once, will ya?"
The purple Starlight stared at Control as if she was seriously saying this to her face. She sighed and looked away. "Suspicion. My name is Suspicion. Now, don't you dare try to use that against me." She snapped as she got close to Trixie's face. She was so close that their snouts were practically touching.
"Right..." Trixie said as she pushed Suspicion away uncomfortably.
"So your names are Control, Happy, Anger, Sadness, Nervousness, and Suspicion," Spike said, pointing out each form as he called the names. "Mind if I ask, what even are you?"
"We're the personalities." Control answered him formerly. She even bowed her head for some reason. "The main personalities of our master."
"I'm surprised you're telling him this." Suspicion put in suddenly as she narrowed her eyes at the three. Her eyes filled with distrust as she faced Control. "What if they use it against us?"
"They can?" Nervous looked very scared now.
"Of course, they can't, silly!" Happiness popped in between the two forms and wrapped her hoof around their necks. "What's going to happen, anyway?" She grinned.
The purple and orange forms said nothing.
"Well, whatever is going to happen, they better stay out of my way." Anger responded. She gave Trixie and Twilight hateful glares.
Trixie rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't going to let this red copy of Starlight intimidate her. "You might as well be called Bully."
Anger's eyes narrowed toward the blue unicorn. "What did you say?" She asked in a dangerously calm way as her horn began to glow bright red.
Trixie took a step back. Was a fight about to break loose already?
"Enough!" Control shouted as she got between the two, and stared Anger right in the eye. She too was not intimidated by this angry version of Starlight. "Let's not insult our new friends, ok?" She asked Anger firmly.
Trixie was amazed by how fierce and firm Control was. Is that where Starlight got it from? Trixie wondered to herself.
Anger glared at Control for one moment before stomping out of the room.
"Hey, hey! Where are you going?" Suspicion called out as she charged out of the room and watched her closely. As a response, Anger kicked Suspicion away with her hind leg. Suspicion gasped as she landed roughly on the ground.
"Are we finally going to explore?" Happy joyfully asked as she saw the two leave.
Nervous gave her a weird look. "I don't know why you're excited about this. Someone may see us..."
"Relax, Nervous. We have a whole castle to explore!" Control said to Nervous as she pushed the orange Starlight out of the room.
"Hey, wait, where are you going?" Spike asked Control as Sadness was about to follow the others out. "What about Starlight? Your 'master'?"
Control shrugged. "We don't need her anymore now that we're free." She said simply, although Trixie could detect something else in her gray-colored eyes...
Once Control was out of sight, Spike rushed over to Starlight's body. He put his ear on her chest, and let out a horrified gasp.
"I-I- I can't feel her heartbeat!" Spike stammered out of terror. His lips were quivering.
Trixie felt her blood turn to ice.
"Let me see." Twilight gently pushed Spike aside and put her ear onto her chest. Her gasp was similar to Spike's. "You're right..."
"She's... dead?" Trixie felt her voice shake, along with her hooves.
"She can't be dead." Twilight spoke firmly. Trixie could tell she was trying to choke back tears as the thought of Starlight dying seemed to be unbearable to her. "It's impossible for her to be killed if her main personalities are still alive."
Trixie felt a tiny flicker of hope burn in her heart as she heard the Princess's words, but she couldn't be a hundred percent sure.
"You're right," Spike told her as he was reading the book Starlight was holding earlier. He flipped through the pages until he stopped. "It says right here: The user who performs this spell will be lifeless until all the emotions are forced back into this said user." Spike read to them.
"Oh, thank Celestia." Twilight and Trixie sighed with relief.
"However, if the emotions are not put back into the user after 10 days, the emotions will fade away, and the user will be permanently dead." Spike finished the paragraph and gave a grim look to the two ponies.
I should've known it wouldn't be that uplifting. Trixie thought with a sigh. "Ok, how do we get the personalties back inside Starlight?"
Spike was reading the book again. "It says that all the personalities have to touch Starlight at the same time."
"Oh, really? It's that simple?" Trixie was surprised by how easy it sounded.
"I don't know about this," Twilight muttered to herself as she looked down at the lifeless body of her friend. "This spell sounds risky to do. I don't think Starlight would do this if her life was on the line in the process."
Trixie looked down at her hooves nervously. "That... was probably my fault." She told them. When the two faced her, she started to explain her story.
"Fine, but let's put safety measures just in case this backfires. I don't want Twilight screaming at the both of us for lighting these shelves on fire, let alone a single book." Starlight had warned her once she started to teleport water buckets near the room.
Trixie chuckled. She couldn't help but flip through the pages once more. As she did so, she found a spell that caught her eye. This spell called "Emotica" can split a pony's six main personalities and make them come to life. It sounded more fun and more interesting than magical sparklers that magically write your name without even waving the words.
"Forget the sparklers. Let's try this." Trixie told her friend, showing the page explaining the spell.
But Starlight was shaking her head. "I don't know. I'm not so sure how I feel about my six main personalities coming to life." She told her with a shudder.
"I'm only going to do this on myself." Trixie insisted. "I wonder what my main six personalities would be like..."
"Even worse." Starlight put in, but the way she said it sounded like she was joking. Trixie didn't take it well.
"Oh, come on, Starlight. You're always the one who takes risks when it comes to this stuff. Unless you're... squeamish?"
"How is being cautious squeamish?" Starlight retorted as she set the last bucket down on the ground. "Plus, I don't think Twilight will be happy once she sees six Starlights or Trixies out of nowhere."
"Pretty please?" Trixie had used her puppy eyes on Starlight. It seemed to be working.
Starlight rolled her eyes. "You're not going to stop bugging me unless we do this?" She asked with an irritated look on her face.
"Nope." Trixie had given Starlight a sly smirk.
With a groan, Starlight grabbed the book with her magic and she teleported the buckets away. "Fine. But I'm going to be the one doing this. Twilight would thank me later." She muttered as she started to enchant the spell.
Then a sudden flash of light blinded Trixie for a split second. After that, Trixie couldn't help but let out a startled scream when she saw Starlight descending in the air. Her eyes were white and sightless.
"Sweet Celestia..." Trixie whispered to herself in horror.
