"What?! She's back?!"

"Yes."

"You shouldn't have let her!"

"But there was that huge storm last night. I couldn't leave--"

"You could have just left her to fend for herself, then."

"Leaving her out in the rain like that last night wouldn't have done much good, either, Ms. Mare."

The Mayor just shook her head. "What you have done will affect everyone in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle."

"I know that, Ms. Mare," Twilight snapped. "But everypony deserves a second chance for everything."

Mayor Mare could only sigh. "Giving the same pony chances over and over again may only make the situation worse. They can take advantage of their second chances."

"I'll see to it that Trixie doesn't go around harassing everypony in Ponyville."

"How can you be so sure of that? She was a fraud when she first came, and the second time she came around, she attempted to be an empress! Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, are you sure giving this pony another chance will take a turn for the better?"

Twilight scratched the back of her mane with her hoof. "No, not really. . ."

"See here, Twilight! This isn't worth the risk!" the Mayor hissed, jabbing a hoof at Twilight's chest.

Gently pushing away the hoof, Twilight muttered clearly enough, "There is nothing that isn't worth the risk if it involves reforming a friend. We already told you what had happened when Princess Celestia left Discord up to Fluttershy."

True, the Mayor thought, that did go quite well. But she wasn't sure if Twilight could have the same capabilities and the kind pegasus pony Fluttershy had.

Hoof on her chin, Mayor Mare kept thinking. How was she to convince a unicorn like Twilight?

"Twilight, we still can't let Trixie stay forever," the Mayor said. After some hesitation, she continued, "I may sound like I am digressing, but. . . I'll just use zombie ponies as an example, for now."

"OK," Twilight breathed, taking great care not to burst into laughter. Who knew that the Mayor knew to talk about things like zombie ponies?

"Pretend," Mayor Mare said, "that you see a zombie pony from far away. What would you do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Twilight said. "You kill it."

"Exactly. Now, imagine if that zombie pony had once been somepony you knew, or somepony that was important to you. What would you do then?"

"Right then?" Twilight choked out, pupils shrinking. She couldn't imagine anypony like Shining Armor or Rarity or Princess Celestia falling under such an infection. "I'd. . . I'd run."

"And if you can't?"

"Then, I guess. . . I guess I'll have to let myself die."

"Be serious, Twilight Sparkle! You know you wouldn't actually do that if this situation was real!"

Ms. Mare's right, Twilight thought to herself. One would usually rather kill than die.

"I'd, I'd. . ." swallowing the lump in her throat, Twilight mumbled, "I'd kill that pony."

"Exactly!" cried the Mayor. Twilight cocked her head to one side. What was the Mayor's point in talking about zombie ponies?

Then something clicked in her brain. Nopony like being invaded by zombie ponies. And nopony in Ponyville had like being controlled by Trixie, either. Nopony would want to welcome Trixie to Ponyville now. They would want to get rid of her. The same way ponies would want to get rid of a horde of zombies.

It was now Twilight's turn to sigh heavily. "Ms. Mare, this is a completely different case."

One of the Mayor's eyes narrowed, questioning Twilight about what she had to say.

"Trixie is a live pony, a completely alive pony. Meaning she still has an intact mind and personality. You can't convince a typical zombie to fight on your behalf because its body can't listen to you. But Trixie can. Because she's a live pony. And we can always have a chance with her."

Mayor Mare hung her head. "I don't know Twilight. I just don't know."

"Do you trust me, Ms. Mare?" Twilight said. "I wasn't crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Element of Magic for nothing, you know."

The Mayor glanced up at Twilight, but said nothing.

"Do you trust me?" Twilight asked again. "Would I lie to you?"

The Mayor managed to give way to a slight grin. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I trust you."

Trixie gorged down the daffodil-and-daisy sandwich that Spike had made for her. Trixie had not been able to deny one thing during her stay in Ponyville all this time: the food was good. Really good. Now she was beginning to miss that smoothie with extra hay that those two foals had given her. What were the names of the colts again? She couldn't quite recall that.

"Wow, you must have been very hungry," Spike said.

"Hungry? I was starving!" Trixie chuckled. Chewing on the last bite of her sandwich, she thought about what had happened last night. Slowly, she had recovered her memory of the day. The storm, falling ill unknowingly, finding the library, seeing her former nemesis with wings, and then blacking out. And after hearing from Spike that Twilight Sparkle had cured her while she had been knocked out, she figured this was a lot to take in. She wanted to ask a few more questions to Spike, but figured it would be better to hold onto them to ask Twilight.

She was about to thank Spike for the sandwich, but she heard a door slamming open first.

"Spike! I'm back!" she heard a familiar voice call. She turned her head towards the doorway and saw her former rival walking in.

"Oh, hi, Trixie! You're awake!" Twilight said cheerfully, beaming as if nothing had happened.

She took in a deep breath and sighed. Time to get things straight.

Author's Note

You guys might probably think that I was insane to put in the whole zombie pony thing, but nothing else came to mind, so, yeah.

Oh my Celestia, this is taking friggin' forever! Sorry for having you guys wait so long for the exciting parts! But I want to make this story as thorough as possible. So please be patient with me! And, by Luna, do not mistake this story as a slice of life story!