It's Time to Duel!

Finally, the gang was able to rip Ruby Dream off of Applejack's throat. A tired and breathless Applejack stood back as Ruby Dream stood before the group, hanging her head low and not moving at all. Applejack yelled, "What the hell was that for?!"

Suddenly, Mythic Diamond calmly walked into the room, the Alicorn Scales in her hand. "I see you've fought back my puppet."

Twilight exclaimed, "It's that girl from the museum I saw!" She then asked Mythic, "What did you do to Ruby Dream?"

"I rearranged her soul room to make her my puppet," she replied as she then grabbed her Alicorn Key and moved towards Pinkie Pie. "However, it was not enough to trigger you into calling your other self, so I must do this instead."

Pinkie Pie nervously asked, "What do you mean by that, silly?"

Rainbow Dash asked Twilight, "Want me to take care of this creep?"

"Not yet," Celestia interjected, knowing just how serious the situation was. "I'll explain later why."

Then, Mythic Diamond accessed Pinkie Pie's soul room by placing the key to her forehead. After standing for about a minute, Mythic returned back to the real world, and Pinkie Pie's eyes became dull. "I have made this girl my puppet as well. Do not worry, I can guarantee that she will not be gravely harmed." She then walked away with Pinkie Pie in tow. "Follow me, Twilight."

Twilight then said to the group, "I got this. I'll take the girl head on." She then followed Mythic and Pinkie, confident that she could face any challenge thrown her way.

As the gang contemplated what to do next, Ruby Dream suddenly bolted out of the room and ran the opposite way down the hallway outside the room. Celestia shouted, "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, go chase after Ruby Dream! Spike, Applejack, stay with me for now."

Twilight eventually followed Mythic and Pinkie to the roof of the museum. Up there, Pinkie and Mythic stood towards the north side of the ledge, not far from the entrance to the roof. Twilight turned to them and asked, "What do you want from me?!"

"I must test you to make sure you are worthy of the Alicorn Puzzle," Mythic replied. "Oh, and by the way, that part about me guaranteeing your friend's safety? That was a lie. She could die if you lose."

Twilight angrily yelled, "NO!" She then had a beam of light envelop her as she transformed into her other self, much to Mythic's anticipation. When the transformation was complete, the other Twilight told him, "Alright, what do I need to do to save Pinkie?"

"Give me 15 minutes to prepare my game. In the meantime, you must stay off the roof until those 15 minutes are up. Good luck."

In another section of the museum, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity all laid chase to a still-brainwashed Ruby Dream, who ran like a madman across the halls. As they ran past an exhibit, Rainbow Dash said, "Jesus Christ, this woman's fast!"

Fluttershy then said, "What if I tried to fly up to her to stop her?"

"Try it," Rarity quickly replied. "Dash's other wing is still hurt, so you are the only one that can fly!"

Fluttershy then jumped up and began to fly rapidly towards Ruby, eventually stopping in front of her just in time for the two of them to crash into each other with a loud thud. As the 2 fell to the ground, Rarity and Rainbow Dash quickly caught up to them.

15 minutes later, the other Twilight went back to the roof to see what game Mythic Diamond had in store for her. She was shocked to find Pinkie Pie standing on a board jutting off of the roof. Tieing the board to the roof was a series of 4 ropes that went through the Alicorn Key and were attached to the fence surrounding the edge of the roof by 4 sculptures. The Alicorn Key itself was held back by a larger sculpture.

Mythic Diamond told the other Twilight, "Your friend is held by 4 sculptures called Idhana, the funerary figurines of Ancient Equestria. The game we are to play is called The Trial of the Mind. I must expose your weaknesses in your mind to break the 4 Idhana holding your friend up. However, there is 1 Idhan attached to my Alicorn Key. If you win, that Idhan will break, and the Key will slide down to your friend and break her free of my Marionette Design spell."

The other Twilight replied, "I see. So, what's the whole "Trial of the Mind" composed of?"

"Hmph," Mythic Diamond replied. "It has already begun. Now, I'm gonna tell you this right off the bat: Don't be afraid."

"Afraid?" The other Twilight was puzzled.

Mythic Diamond explained, "I can tell you are afraid of the unknown powers of the Alicorn Puzzle, Twilight. That is one of your mind's weaknesses. Try to look in front of yourself for proof."

Suddenly, the other Twilight blacked out as the normal Twilight flashed into view for a split second before returning, causing her to collapse to her knees in intense physical pain. As she did, an Idhan shattered, causing the board to lower. "No way..."

"Alright, now, let's begin." Mythic then snapped her fingers, causing the tiles around the other Twilight to crack. As she looked around, she saw that hands were popping up out of the tiles and grabbing onto her feet.

The other Twilight said, "What is this?! What's going on?"

"If you want to be free of these hands, you must answer my riddle." Mythic then paused. "What creeps on the ground and clings to the pillars?"

As she said the riddle, one of the Idhana began to crack. The other Twilight pondered to herself as to what the answer to the riddle could be. "Pillars... Ground... Maybe my feet are the pillars... No... That doesn't make sense with the ground part... Hmm... What comes off of a pillar onto the ground? Dust?"

Mythic told her, "If you don't answer soon, an Idhan will break."

"I got it!" The other Twilight then said, "A shadow! It's a shadow!"

Suddenly, the hands disappeared and the roof tiles became unbroken once more. Mythic Diamond told her, "Congratulations, you've completed Stage 1. Now, get ready for Stage 2."

Then, an opening appeared behind the other Twilight as the same monster that had appeared to Shadow Flower grabbed and restrained the other Twilight by her arms, startling her and causing an Idhan to shatter, further lowering the board. Then, a 3 by 3 grid of slabs appeared before her, with the middle slab being an orange question mark and the other slabs being 4 pairs of different body parts: Eyes, Ears, Hands, and Nostrils.

"If you do not solve this puzzle in 5 minutes," said Mythic Diamond. "You will be devoured by that monster. You need to name what body part is on that middle slab to win. Remember, the slabs mirror the monster."

"So this is an almost complete game of Concentration," the other Twilight said to herself to calm her nerves. "Okay..." "The monster has a pair of everything on this slab. But... What is the other thing? Wait... Is it...?" In a moment of desperation, the other Twilight blurted out, "Mouth? Is it the monster's mouth?"

"That was fast," Mythic Diamond said as she snapped her fingers and caused the monster and the slabs to disappear. "Now comes the hardest challenge."

Suddenly, tiles began falling apart around the other Twilight until she was stuck on an island composed of a 10 by 10 section of tiles. Then, a blast of smoke in front of her revealed Rainbow Dash, or at least what the other Twilight thought was her. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh hey there," said "Rainbow Dash." "How's that stupid puzzle treatin' ya?"

Mythic Diamond told a stunned other Twilight, "I created a copy of Rainbow Dash before she became your friend. She will take your puzzle and toss it. You will take two tile steps in that direction and then repeat by you tossing the puzzle."

"Rainbow Dash" then walked up to the other Twilight and ripped the puzzle off of her before tossing it to the pair's right. The other Twilight replied by stepping over two tiles. She then said, "I'll pass on my turn. I don't want to play this game with you, Rainbow Dash." She then turned to Mythic. "How do I know this isn't the actual Rainbow Dash that you just possessed?"

"You don't."

Then, "Rainbow Dash" tossed the puzzle to the right again, causing Twilight to move two tiles closer to the edge. "I'll pass again."

"Why are you not doing anything? Are you admitting defeat?"

"No," the other Twilight defiantly replied. "I trust Rainbow Dash to not throw me off the edge." Once again, she moved two tile steps closer to the edge.

"That will get you nowhere," Mythic told her. "You put too much faith into people." She then turned to "Rainbow Dash." "Toss the puzzle again to send her off the edge."

Shockingly, "Rainbow Dash" did nothing and just stood there. Then, the illusion vanished as it smiled at the other Twilight. The other Twilight told Mythic, "When it comes to friendship, there is no such thing as past or present. If I trust them, they will trust me back."

"Alright," said Rainbow Dash as she looked out an open window. "Let's get some fresh air." Her, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all tired out after chasing and stopping Ruby Dream, who was still possessed.

Fluttershy, restraining the professor, said, "I'm getting a bit tired here."

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash yelled, "Holy shit, is that Pinkie?! She's standing on a board off of the roof!"

Rarity looked out to see what was going on and saw Pinkie Pie on the board, which was tilting dangerously close to the ground. "We need to get to the floor below her and hold up the board!"

Mythic told the other Twilight, "You... You won?!"

"Of course I did," she replied. "My friends backed me up the whole time."

Then, they both heard commotion near Pinkie and ran over to the board. There, they saw Rainbow Dash, standing on the ledge of the building below the roof, holding up the board with every ounce of strength she had as Rarity and Fluttershy looked on below. Rainbow Dash said, "I got her, I got her!"

Mythic, dumbfounded, said to herself, "I..." Then, her Idhan shattered, causing the Alicorn Key to slide down to Pinkie's right hand.

Instantly, she blinked her eyes, looked around, and screamed before saying, "How did I get up here?! Where am I?!"

Then, Fluttershy yelled, "The professor broke loose!"

Pinkie immediately climbed the fence behind her and jumped onto the roof of the building as Ruby climbed up to Rainbow Dash, still possessed by Mythic. She yelled, "Go, shoo!"

The other Twilight yelled, "Rainbow Dash, grab the Alicorn Key and smack Ruby with it! It'll snap her out of her mind control!"

Rainbow Dash quickly complied, grabbing the Alicorn Key from the rope attached to the now fallen board and slapping Ruby in the face with it. As the professor moves her head back, she blinked and said, "Huh? What happened?"

Rainbow Dash quickly helped her up onto the ledge before saying, "I'll explain later."

Eventually, the entire gang made it up to the roof several minutes later. Mythic, now confronted by 9 people, was forced to explain herself. "Now, you may be angry at me, and to be honest, I can see why. But... This was important."

Celestia questioningly asked, "How so?"

"Twilight passed all of the tests I gave to her. You see, you all may think it was just a coincidence she solved the Alicorn Puzzle and that the Elements of Harmony fell into your possession, but it was not. Not at all. The puzzle chose Twilight, and the Elements all chose you. My family has been the guardian of the tombs of the Ancient Equestrian rulers, and we have long searched for the person that could solve the Alicorn Puzzle. I am glad that Twilight is that person." She then walked past the group. "I must go now. I hope to meet you all again, hopefully in much better circumstances."

Spike asked the group, "The puzzle chose Twilight?"

Celestia told the group, "Don't try to pursue or punish her. She's right about everything she just said. I knew I recognized her facial features from somewhere."

The other Twilight asked, "You've met her family?"

"She comes from a long line of Tomb Keepers that are in charge of keeping the tomb of the Nameless Princess safe from harm," Celestia explained. "The Nameless Princess, as her placeholder name implies, lost her name to history. It is believed she succeeded Queen Platinum."

Then, the other Twilight transformed back into the normal Twilight. She said to the group, "Mythic taught me something. She taught me that I can't be afraid of the puzzle any longer."