Pony POV Series Season One: Reharmonization

Chapters

Reharmonization Fluttershy: "Oyster"
Reharmonization Rainbow Dash: "Runaways"
Reharmonization Rarity: "Diamond In The Rough"
Reharmonization Applejack: "The Truth and the Whole Truth"
Reharmonization Pinkie Pie: "Laughing Together"
Reharmonization Twilight Sparkle: "Turn The Other Flank"
Reharmonization Rainbow Dash II: "True Healing"
Reharmonization Trixie: "Tarot Number Thirteen"
Reharmonization Luna: "Canterlot Chaos"
Reharmonization Trixie II: "Second Family"

Reharmonization Fluttershy: "Oyster"

My Little Pony "Pearls"

And it was done. Fluttershy's horrible nightmare was over, as was the nightmare of every pony that lived in Ponyville. Most only confided in their loved ones what they had done after Discord had turned them stark raving mad. With the status quo fully restored and repaired, not a single pony wanted to so much as dwell on that horrific day (technically several). Big Macintosh for example wouldn't say what happened, but he seemed very uncomfortable around the Apple family's pet dog.

There was however one purple pony with a screwball cutie mark who was dragged away in a straightjacket mumbling how "The world finally made sense, it's not fair."

The erratic behaviour of the sun and moon had led some to think that even the Princesses themselves had been driven insane by Discord like the ponies in Ponyville and Canterlot. Though Twilight insisted this was impossible due to Celestia being the one to awaken Twilight from her own darkness, others were not so sure.

Fluttershy didn't care. She and her friends were themselves again, the land was healed, the ponies were healed, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and harmony itself were now the law in Equestria again, and Discord was sealed away again, hopefully this time kept in a better holding place.

After attending what had to be one of the biggest parties Pinkie Pie had ever thrown in her life, and leaving so late it was almost early, Fluttershy walked half asleep to her cottage near the edge of Everfree Forest. Most ponies found it a contradiction such a timid (others said cowardly) pony could endure being right next to the most deadly place in Equestria. For Fluttershy it was simple logic, in that it was where the most life that needed her help lived.

All Fluttershy wanted now was to go to bed and be done with it all, and hopefully forget that horrible waking nightmare. While Twilight insisted it was important they talk about what Discord had used against them, Fluttershy didn't have much to say at all. Discord had forced her to be that way.

"HA!"

Fluttershy squeaked and hid in a bush, looking around the streets of Ponyville but seeing no one. Everypony was inside, either celebrating the averting of eternal chaos, thanking the Royal Pony Sisters for surviving what many were considering a near death experience, or just sleeping away the bad memories.

"Uh? Hello?" No answer. Fluttershy shook her head and for once in her life used her wings to fly to her home instead of hoofing it. Her experience of losing her wings had made her ever so slightly more appreciative of them.

When she got to her cottage and went inside, all her animal friends, Angel included, were fast asleep. Fluttershy smiled as she moved to join them; she was so tired, she could almost fall asleep right on the couch.

"Why not just sleep on the floor then? It would be faster."

Fluttershy meant to scream out loud, but instead she barely got out a shallow gasp. Where had the voice come from-?! It sounded so familiar! Chillingly so! But it felt so alien!

"Do I ... have a visitor? Excuse me, but could you please come out?... It's a little rude to not show yourself to your host ... and ... Actually, if you came in without me it's fine, as long as you didn't wreck anything."

Fluttershy heard the voice again. It was a mare's voice, and it was very close. "Hmm, okay, I remember Pinkie Pie mentioned this, turn your head to the left." Almost as if her muscles were acting on their own, Fluttershy turned her head, and found herself looking at her own reflection.

"Boo!" Her reflection went.

"EEK!" Fluttershy yelped as her reflection did the same. But then it burst out laughing, IN HER VOICE ... it was HER laughing! But she wasn't laughing! But-!!!

"You are such a scaredy-cat! It's hilarious!" Her reflection spoke as she heard herself say.

Fluttershy then spoke, almost hiding in her wings. "Who .... who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Her reflection grinned and leaned in closer as Fluttershy did the same, "I'm you!"

"NO!... No ... no you're not ... you're not ..." Fluttershy began to back up into her own couch, the reflection then assumed a relaxed pose on it.

Her reflection broke in a mocking mantra, "Oh! It's official! Now Fluttershy really IS afraid of everything! Fluttershy's afraid of herself! Fluttershy's afraid of herself! HAHAH!"

"Not so loud! You'll wake up everyone!" Fluttershy said barely managing the jump from meek to 'slightly harsh.'

The harsh expression in the mirror then turned impressed, though with an unpleasant glee to it. "Now that's more like it! Maybe there's hope for you yet!"

"Hope? ... What do you mean?"

"You are so dense." Her reflection took on a crunched expression. "I mean you giving up this 'kindness' nonsense."

"It's not nonsense!" The animals began to stir. Fluttershy quickly sang her trademark lullaby to get them to back to sleep.

Fluttershy turned to the mirror and her hooves went to her ears, "Ick. How do your teeth not fall out when you sing that tripe?"

Fluttershy's face almost became The Stare (Stare herself? What would that do?). "It's not tripe. Now who are you really? There's no way you're me."

The reflection took on that same 'wrong kind of playful' expression and pose again. "Oh I'm you alright. I'm just a version of you that hasn't been around for all that long. Today's my first birthday and I didn't even get any cake! How rude."

" . . . you're the nightmare." Fluttershy whispered in the darkness.

"Nightmares aren't real. I can assure you I'm as real as you. And my name is FlutterCruel, not 'nightmare', stupid."

Fluttershy immediately replied in an apologetic tone, her reflection becoming confused but polite, "Oh! Well! Sorry for calling you by the wrong name. But ... why are you here? How can you be here? Twilight woke me up from my nightmare."

Her reflection got that arrogant look again. "You weren't altered the same way Discord did the others! You wouldn't listen to a thing he said! So I had to be born. Not that I WANTED to be inside a cowardly marshmallow like you. I couldn't stand looking at those stupid memories of yours! They made me gag! But that didn't make me go away! I have nowhere to go but you! Nothing simply 'ceases to exist.' You know that law of nature better than some Earth Ponies. I'm a part of you now and forever more! You'll never be rid of me!"

Fluttershy felt alien anger push at her, almost like a third person butting in the discussion. "Well I don't need you! All I need to do is go to Twilight and she can fix me and you can just disappear! It'll be as if you never existed at all."

FlutterCruel looked like she considered that a challenge to a game she had already won in a bored almost insulted tone. "Oh really? Is that so? You sure have a short memory. You'd have never caught Rainbow Dash without me. Remember? Everything you felt? Wanting to see Discord HURT for what he did? Wanting revenge for that one little instant for what he did to your little pet bunny? Did you really think that was you? Or did you think that was the you that was born at the Gala? Although she doesn't seem to talk much."

Understanding dawned on Fluttershy's face. "You're lonely."

FlutterCruel's face twisted in anger, "As IF! I'm a part of you now! I'll always be a part of you! Whenever someone uses you as a hoofmat, I'll be there to tell you to treat them worse! Whenever you're pushed aside, I'll be there to tell you to push them back harder! I will always be there now!"

Absolute silence ruled the cottage save for Fluttershy's heavy breathing after her, or rather FlutterCruel's declaration.

"... Is that so?" Fluttershy echoed back FlutterCruel's words, "Well. In that case, you better learn to behave yourself young lady, because I know precisely what you are!"

"Oh? What's that? 'Not a part of you?' An invader? Some faded leftover nightmare to vanish with the dawn? Some parasite maybe? Just a bad memory? A reminder to never let yourself get angry because I'll take control or something? Something that'll just 'be there' and never actually affect you?"

FlutterCruel sneered back at her. The expression in the glass then became calm, controlled, and lady-like.

"No," Fluttershy said hard and concisely. Then Fluttershy's voice instantly lost any trace of a harsh tone. If anything, her voice was like a mother's, speaking to a foal who they loved very much. "You're just a pony who was only just born, and was born thinking the only way to be you was to be mean. And who hasn't made any friends yet ... but it's okay ... you can share my friends. If Pinkie Pie and Pinkamina can be with each other, so can we."

"BE with? I promise to wear away your foundations until you crumble, and you become the shadow and I become the ego!" FlutterCruel said dangerously.

Fluttershy smiled, now the one leaning closer to the reflection, and FlutterCruel's expression flickered for a moment, now the one looking uncertain and afraid.

"Do you remember how pearls are formed? They start out as a tiny bit of sand inside the oyster. It's not pleasant for the oyster, but eventually that tiny bit of sand becomes a beautiful pearl. You just had a bad parent. But I promise to help you."

"I don't need your help Flutterface!"

"It's funny how the fillies who need the most help are the ones who say they don't ... but it's late, dear, and we should both be off to bed ...

"Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head"

"No. No you can't just sing me to . . ."

Fluttershy yawned.

"Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed"

Fluttershy walked away from the mirror, and began to walk up the stairs to bed, feeling drowsy.

"Drifting off to sleep
The exciting day behind you"

She lazily pushed the door to her bedroom open as she practically fell onto the bed, barely avoiding sleeping on her wings.

"Drifting off to sleep
Let the joy of dream land find you"

She turned her head towards a little mirror by her bed. "I won't, I'm stronger than ... " she yawned, "You, you can't do..."

"Hush now, Quiet now
Lay your, sleepy head
Hush now, Quiet now
It's time to go to bed."

Fluttershy's eyes fluttered closed.

"You're right, you are going to be with me from now on. So I'm going to have to make sure you don't get yourself into any trouble young lady ... Don't worry, I'll be there for you."

And she slept, and dreamed.

Pony POV Series Fluttershy & FlutterCruel "POV"

By Alex Warlorn

Suggested Music for Fluttershy's first meeting of Fluttercruel: "Hollow Ichigo" from Bleach.

Audio Adaption is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GqJMx6kYyU&list=PLABD0AEFCD46D56DA&feature=plcp

Reharmonization Rainbow Dash: "Runaways"

POV Of A Reharmonized Pony: Rainbow Dash

Yes! Everything went just as planned. I still have my closest friends' trust and faith, Cloudsdale is still there, Discord's beaten...

And all I had to do was use my own friends' trust against them, play on their expectations, and play myself off as the arrogant self serving little nag I was back when I was best friends with Gilda. Oh, and pretend I was completely deluded.

My name is Rainbow Dash, fastest and best flyer in Equestria (save the Wonderbolts of course), and I hold one of the Elements of Harmony: Loyalty.

And just a short bit ago I betrayed my best friends, a quest given by my Princess, and the world, all for the sake of my home and my species.

The Elements were stolen by this big bad guy named Discord and we were lured into this maze the Elements were supposed to be at, got separated and I got thrown an impossible choice: Let my home and everyone in it be destroyed ... or betray my buddies and saving the world.

I knew we'd win, we'd have to win, there was no way we couldn't win. I knew things would HAVE to turn out alright. I figured the others could hold the fort while I saved my home ... so I quit Discord's game at his own offer, and instantly made the others lose. I didn't turn back. Yes, it hurt.

And it didn't stop hurting.

I put everything I had into my returned wings to get to Cloudsdale. Still in one piece. Still together. Unfortunately, I was going too fast to stop. I nearly performed another Sonic Rainboom as I crashed into the highest building in the center of Cloudsdale.

Discord appeared in an instant. "Oh lookie! You made it just in time! I guess I can't go leaving everyone you know with wings homeless after all! Not to mention all those pegasi in the city hospital with broken wings who may or may not have been able to have been saved by others before they went SPLAT!" Discord chuckled at that. Bastard.

"Now..." He said in a disturbingly calm tone. "How about I tell everyone what a wonderful job you did!" My blood turned to water.

"NO!" I charged at Discord, but he just vanished and reappeared a few steps to one side. I crashed into the side of a building, only for part of the building to turn into a cloudy hand and toss me back to his side. Like it was where I belonged.

Discord produced a megaphone from nowhere and began to shout into it. "ATTENTION ALL PEGASI! ATTENTION ALL PEGASI! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?"

The various pegasi stopped in their tracks, whether on a cloud or in the air, and turned towards me and Discord (whose body language was way too chummy for me).

"I AM DISCORD THE GREAT AND REALLY GREAT LORD OF DISHARMONY AND CONFUSION! BESIDE ME IS RAINBOW DASH! ONE OF THE SIX KEEPERS OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY, IN HER CASE LOYALTY! AND SHE HAS PROVEN HER LOYALTY TO YOU, THE PEOPLE OF CLOUDSDALE..."

"No! Please! STOP!" I screamed.

"BY EXCHANGING YOUR SAFETY WITH DOOMING THE REST OF THE WORLD!" They all gasped. There was silence as a giant spot light came from nowhere above me and my face appeared on a giant, floating screen behind me.

Stunned silence ruled the moment, many recognizing me as the winner of 'Best Young Flyer' from that year.

I wanted to fly away, but my wings felt so heavy.

"NOW WHAT DO YOU FEEL FOR THIS PEGASUS WHO IS YOUR HERO? WHO SAVED YOUR HOMES AND LIVELIHOOD BY DOOMING THE LIVES OF ALL OTHER LIVING THINGS?"

I got about one or two cheers ... among an overwhelming wave of boos and pathetically aimed rotten fruit that angry people seem to be able to summon at will.

"PLEASE-! I didn't mean this! I--"

"You knew what was going to happen, my dear. Why act so surprised now?"

I felt sick.

The noise went on for several seconds before Discord said casually, "Oh don't worry, they're all about to become too insane to care or remember what I just told them. That was all for your sake my dear."

It was a knife in the gut. "BUT YOU SAID-"

"I said the foundations of home would crumble without you ... I never said I wouldn't improve the locals with some heavy doses of chaos!"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Discord's tail wrapped around me before I could complete my charge at him. Then he produced a small white glove and slapped me in the face a few times.

"Oh my my my. Aren't you a spoiled little pony. First I give you your wings back, I spare your home, I let everyone know you're the reason they were spared so they'd know what a great and loyal hero to your own people you are, and then when they aren't being appreciative, I decide to give you a gift by making them stop being able to care that you betrayed almost all of Equestria. You need some manners."

I can't remember the last time I cried. I don't want to. But I was struggling to keep the tears from forming. "Please don't do this. Let them hate me, let them be angry at me, let them-"

"Blah, blah, blah, who are you now Pinkie Pie? Or is that now Rainbow Crash? Rainbow Ditch? Or maybe Traitor Dash? Anyway..."

All Discord needed to do was snap his fingers, and the screen showing my face turned into swirling circles of colors I was very familiar with.

"DON'T LOOK!" They didn't listen.

The screen got everypony's attention fast. They stared like zombies for a couple of seconds ... then some fell down to the clouds drooling and soiling themselves as they dragged themselves along on their front hooves babbling random noises. Others broke out laughing, their eyes crossed as they flew in chaotic patterns, crashing into each other and cloud buildings but not showing as if they felt it. Some locked their legs together and began to fly around in rigid square patterns, making sounds like engines. Others fell trying to fly with their hooves and trot with their wings while giggling at everything. One little pink filly I think I knew whose name began with 'C' actually began gnawing at her own wings!

"Oh, just look at them now!" Discord giggled. "This is a classic!"

"MAKE IT STOP!" I begged Discord.

Discord said in a 'what have we learned now?' voice. "Now, now. This is the choice you made dear. No going back on things like that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have Ponyville, Canterlot, and everywhere else to spruce up back to how it was before those two alicorns messed up my beautiful chaos. Tootles!" He vanished.

I could only stare in shock. I tried to stop the other Pegasi from hurting themselves ... for about a minute before I was beat and bucked three ways from Sunday by mad wings and mad hooves and was practically knocked out of the sky.

I couldn't bear to look at it any longer. I fled like a coward. Maybe that's what I've been this whole time. Fluttershy's always scared but faces her fears, but when I get scared, I just run from my fears.

I desperately flew back to the others. When I didn't find them in the Canterlot Gardens I flew back along the route we had taken from Ponyville.

Of course I didn't find out until later that they had all faced similar games by Discord to break them. It didn't even occur to me he'd want to break the others too ... Yeah, I'm a total egocentric for a gal who's supposed to be the embodiment of loyalty aren't I?

As I flew back to Ponyville to get back with the others ... I saw at a distance exactly how they were acting ... and what they looked like. Their colors were muted like mine (except Twilight) and they had their wings and horns back.

I flew up behind them, not sure how to go about explaining myself, or if I could explain myself. But as I was getting close, the landscape began twisting, the day and night went as mad as the weather. They weren't about to notice one pegasus in this jumbled mess.

And that was when I got close enough to hear them.

Fluttershy was acting like ten Gildas! Pinkie Pie looked like Pinkamina The Bad Remake! Twilight didn't look too happy either. AJ looked sour. And Rarity was ranting about a boulder she was carrying around that she insisted was a giant diamond named Tom.

I had done all this. I had done it all. Everything was my fault!

I had to get away again, I had to fly away -again-. So I flew away from my now mostly insane friends as fast I could. I didn't even THINK of approaching Twilight who was still sane and asking for her help. Since when do I ever think?

Soon enough I found a nearby cloud, crammed into it like it could make me vanish, and threw-up over the side. Who says ponies can't puke?

And I just stayed there. Feeling sorry for myself and reminding myself what a self-serving backstabber I was.

The others found me. I noticed them before they noticed me somehow. I saw they were alive and well and themselves again, unlike me. I wanted to fly down there and kiss Twilight's hooves and beg for forgiveness. But they'd never trust me again in a million years. And I couldn't take that.

So I played the role of the brainwashed pawn, I pretended to be a delusional mad pony, I fought them tooth and hoof, I made them pay through the nose, so they'd never even dream that everything I had done could not have been due purely to the curse Discord put on me. And with one moment of anger at Discord from Fluttershy ... they caught me and held me down like the mad pony I was acting like. And Twilight's horn touched my head.

Twilight's spell didn't erase my memories of my betrayal, so much for that small hope. Instead it tortured me worse than Discord ever could by showing me every single moment in my life I proved I was better than I was today over and over and over when I didn't abandon others for my own hide.

In other words, I'm not unworthy of the Element of Loyalty, and it's not that I haven't grown up since I didn't bother to check on Fluttershy after I found out she fell during the pegasus race; I just blew it.

So we faced the devil himself, and we fought our hardest. The sicko's ego proved to be his undoing when he didn't realize the others had their heads back on straight until we blasted him. And everything was sane again.

At least Discord's gone. Stone again. Hopefully for a lot longer than over a thousand years this time. And with him, the only one who could tell the others what he really did to me. The people of Cloudsdale pass off what they remember as just one more delusion ... I guess it's easier for them to take than knowing the truth. That other version of AJ would be proud I guess.

We got our recognition by everyone in Canterlot for saving the world, again. Pinkie Pie threw the party of all parties. I can't say I didn't have fun.

I'm back home now. Trying to sleep and drown out the nightmares. That was when there was a knock at the door. Well, as much as knocking works with clouds.

It was late at night with Luna's moon high in the sky. I had no clue that it would be, "Scootaloo?"

The little filly looked up at me, uncharacteristically silent in my presence. I was going to ask how she got up here or if she had finally learned how to use her wings right when I noticed the crashed skateboard half stuck in my house's cloudbank.

The little orange blank flank pegasus asked in an uncharacteristically small tone, "Hi Rainbow Dash. Can I ... can I stay with you tonight?"

I blinked. "Huh? Why? What about your parents?"

"I d-... they ... Please?"

I knelt down staring in her eyes. "Scootaloo, talk to me, you can always talk to the Dash."

"Can we talk inside? It's kinda cold."

I nodded and led her inside.

A few minutes later we were sitting in the mess I passed off as my living space. I asked, "Now why do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

"I normally sleep in the club house, but ... I don't wanna tonight."

'The club house? What about her family?' I thought just more confused. "Why don't you want to?"

"Cause I don't deserve to be a Cutie Mark Crusader."

"HUH?"

"When that big nasty snake-dragon-goat thing came to Ponyville and everyone started acting weird, we were at the club house trying to be Cutie Mark Crusader Samurai, then Cutie Mark Crusader Hula Dancers, and-"

"Scootaloo."

"So Applebloom tried to run to Sweet Apple Acres to help her family, and Sweetie Belle to her sister and ... as soon as they ran into Ponyville ... Applebloom turned all black and red and began to sink and rise out of the ground with a huge grin on her face ... and Sweetie Belle turned into a big dolly and just kept putting on and taking off clothes ... and I RAN AWAY! And I KEPT RUNNING AWAY UNTIL I SAW THE RAINBOOM! Then I knew you beat that big monster ... and ... I came back ... I didn't even try to help them! I RAN AWAY! I ALWAYS RUN AWAY! I AM A RUN AWAY!"

'You ran away?' I thought.

"Scootaloo ... if you had followed them into Ponyville ... what do you think would have happened?"

"... I think I would have turned into a chicken or something."

"And would that have helped your friends?"

"No?" Scootaloo said in confusion.

"Scootaloo ... you're not a 'run away.' There was no choice you could have made different then that would have changed things. You did the only thing you could do, you kept yourself from getting hurt. If you could have helped them, that would be different but you couldn't."

" But I shouldn't have given up ANYWAY! You're supposed to not give up no matter how impossible! I should have found a way!"

"No. That's how you're 'supposed to be' an idiot! You knew what would happen. Throwing yourself away when it wouldn't help your buddies wouldn't be brave, it would be stupid.... Scootaloo, we all face impossible choices. And if there was a way to help them, you can't blame yourself for not acting on something you didn't know! If I knew about some things after did I something... geeze, this is weird. Look Scootaloo, you're NOT a coward. If there was a better way you didn't know it then. And everyone is safe now. So don't go hurting yourself over something that's over and done with. So how'd Applebloom and Sweetie Belle feel about it?"

Scootaloo sniffled. "They don't know I ran away, that I abandoned them."

"You didn't abandon them! Stop saying that squirt! You 'abandoned' whatever it was Discord turned'em into..." I thought over carefully what to say next. Where was Fluttershy when I really needed her? Or Pinkie Pie? Or Twilight? Or ... anypony but me? "Scootaloo, if you're really that sure that what you did was a bad thing, then REMEMBER it! Remember what happened! You made the choice that got LESS ponies hurt, not more! If Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are really your friends then they'll forgive you! But..." Daylight hit my brain in the dead of night. "You have to forgive yourself first. If you can't do that, what difference will the rest make?"

Scootaloo stayed silent for a bit. I didn't think everything I said would sink in (the Crusaders had proven rather dense) but I hoped a little would find its way in.

"Thank you Dash. Can I ... can I still stay with you tonight?"

"Okay kiddo . . . just tonight."

She was asleep in seconds in my bed. It reminded me of when I used to sleep in bed with my mom when I was scared out of my wits by some nasty nightmares. Whatever monsters wanted to haunt Scootaloo's sleep tonight, I promised they'd have to go through me first.

I don't normally give a lot of thanks to the Alicorn Sisters, but tonight I thanked Princess Luna for her night delivering my own little redeemer to me.

AUDIO ADAPTION OF THIS CHAPTER! With full original fanart, original fan music (including intro and credits music) and high grade voice actors!

Reharmonization Rarity: "Diamond In The Rough"

Hello dears. It feels like it's been forever! Rarity Belle at your service, more commonly known simply as Rarity. Business pony and expert dress maker! Oh, and holder of the Element of Harmony known as Generosity.

It's been over a couple of weeks since the ordeal with that brute of a chaos spirit Discord. Everyone else seems to be holding together alright. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash seem to be hanging out more than usual. Fluttershy strangely asked Miss Cheerilee for advice on how to handle difficult fillies... maybe she wants to give babysitting one more shot?

As for myself, I am doing perfectly well. I can now look at jewelry without vomiting (I'm fairly sure horses aren't supposed to be able to do that!).

I can now look at the rocks outside without falling into fits of self loathing.

I only break into a cold sweat now when touching diamonds rather than all gems.

And the nightmares where a handsome prince arrives to woo me only to tell me his name is Tom and turn into a giant boulder now only happen every other night.

Yes. I'd say I've perfectly recovered from the travailing ordeal without the slightest permanent stain on my inner beauty!

Now if only Pinkie Pie would stop mentioning how none of my dresses have those sparkly gems in them anymore. And Twilight would stop asking why I'm practically throwing away gemstones at Spike whenever he comes over.

And I wish Fluttershy would stop telling me that I need to open up and talk more about what happened! What Discord told me that made me give up being generous and instead become 'The Hoarder' as Twilight called me.

Since we weren't acting like ourselves, Pinkie Pie insisted on coming up with nicknames for ourselves when we were under Discord's corruption. She says she can't decide if she should go with Rarigreed for me since it's more identifiable, or Greedity because it rolls off the tongue better.

I tell Pinkie Pie in NO uncertain terms that I do not care one way or the other and that I have no interest in this particular 'project' of hers and that she should not discuss it with me further in any shape or form!

What am I supposed to say? That Discord barely said a word to me and simply offered me what I thought were some pretty treasures?

Maybe I should take a page out of 'LiarJack's' book and say I resisted all his temptations like pure innocent Fluttershy and he had to -force- me to be selfish. But I think we've all had our share of lies for one lifetime after this.

And for the first time since I was chosen worthy by the Element of Generosity, I'm suddenly asking if I really am.

I've dealt with hecklers and idiots before who try to paint me as some greedy nag who'd trade her own friends in for some baubles and I still refuse to dignify their verbal assaults with an answer.

But now I've found myself wondering. Was I being generous for the sake of others? Or because I couldn't stand to look at anything that didn't fit my view of what was pretty and had to FORCE it to be that way?

Am I like Discord? I know the way the world 'should' and 'should not' be, so anything that conflicts with that HAS TO change no matter what... But isn't that the way it is with everypony? Pinkie thinks people should always be happy and sure seems to go out of her way for it. Fluttershy wants everyone to be kind, but she doesn't go around bossing everyone to be kind because then that wouldn't BE kind.

Blast it all! BLAST it all! May Celestia take it all and banish it to the moon!

Was I THAT desperate for a stallion in my life that I was willing to love what I thought was a giant diamond?! I can swoon any stallion of my choice! So why don't I just find one worth of my time and finally have my prince? Or did Blueblood really ruin a lifetime goal of mine so utterly that I wanted to be with something I knew couldn't cheat on me or treat me wrong? Did I let that arrogant foal get to me that much? Even after I lost my temper and gave him the talking to he so richly deserved, am I really letting that upper class reject ruin what I wanted so badly? Just to be WITH someone?

I know Spike would move mountains for me if I wanted. It's actually a little painful knowing even he wouldn't come to my side with how I was acting as Discord's pawn. Thankfully he didn't hear me call him Twilight's 'little minion.' At least Sweetie Belle didn't have to see me like that, she was as insane as all the other ponies in Ponyville were at that point. I swear I wish Celestia would let me take a sledge hammer to Discord's statue! Sweetie Belle actually threw out her doll collection because they were giving her nightmares! I had to save them from the garbage and hide them somewhere (I know she'll thank me... eventually...).

Cheerilee and the parents of all the fillies and colts in town are trying their hardest to help their children recover, but we're ALL dealing with what Discord did to us even as Cheerilee tries to help her students. Celestia bless her soul, I can tell she's hurting like the rest of us during her time as Discord's mad plaything, but she still wants her students to 'bloom' as she insists is the meaning of her cutie mark. Sometimes I wonder if being a florist was what she was good at, but not what made her happy.

Princess Celestia actually put out a royal mandate for counselors from all over Equestria to visit Ponyville and all other places Discord had damaged. But there are so many of us who were tainted by Discord, and only so few ponies whose special talent is giving ponies the therapy they NEED now. So the doctors are focusing on those of us who really need help. Big Macintosh apparently can now stay in the same room with a dog without breaking down into a nervous wreck. I'll admit I don't know Applejack's brother all that well, but seeing that mountain of strength and silent will so... damaged like that carries a whole new flavor of wrongness. But after the first two weeks we've all been able to at least PRETEND that nothing had happened and we were able to playact through our lives. Well, most of us.

My oh so loving, attentive and caring parents practically -fled- Ponyville with Photo Finish on the first Pegasi flight to the southern islands as part of their 'therapy' for whatever torture Discord put them through. I didn't ask what Discord made them do, but they were covered in hoof marks whose indentations were of the garish tacky brand-names they always wore.

And that, of course, leaves me with Sweetie Belle, again. I swear to Celestia herself, I spend more time raising my little sister than my parents do! 'Back after a week's vacation!' Ugh! I can't believe I still fall for that lie! This isn't the first time Sweetie has plagued my home for more than a month! I'm more of a mother than mother is! Gagh! This added stress I do not need!

Yes yes it took her trying to change her name to Sweet Apple and joining Applejack's family to get me to realize I actually cared for her! Moving on!

Spike keeps visiting, asking if there's anything he can do for me. I give him some meaningless task or another until he's satisfied for the day and leaves. I can't bear the idea of using him for real workloads... Most ponies aren't interested in buying new dresses right now anyway; all my orders are from out of town.

Maybe I should just tell him that he's too young for me, and by the time he hits manhood I'll be in a rocking chair. But he's about the only one in Ponyville who didn't suffer emotionally during the whole ordeal, and I don't want him to be hurt like that right now. It would be the single most unlady-like thing I could possibly do.

I've already thrown away the orders for dozens of the ugly dresses I made for my friends that one time that the population of Ponyville suddenly couldn't get enough of once they were all as mad as hatters. It was an unspoken agreement that I wouldn't force them to honor orders they made while completely out of their gourds.

THANK CELESTIA AND HER DAY AND LUNA AND HER NIGHT that Applejack, along with the others, volunteered to take Tom, er, the boulder away and promised to drop him, ugh the thing in the middle of Froggy Bottom Bog where the frogs and hydra could have it. Applejack said it was her way of making up for how the railway wouldn't accept my commission to take the boulder to Appleloosa, smash it into a million pieces and scatter the rubble across several miles of open desert.

Twilight at first calmly suggested that I should keep it as a reminder of hardships endured and make myself a better pony out of it. I calmly suggested in return that Twilight should go to Pony Hell. Thankfully she forgave me later even if she admitted it was partially her fault.

With IT gone I could finally walk around the shop without thinking every big round shadow I saw was IT following me somehow. At least THOSE nightmares had stopped.

The door to my work room smashes open into splinters. Tom rolls in carrying a bouquet of flowers in its cracks.

"No. NO! GO AWAY!" I trot backwards, it rolls closer.

A voice rumbles. "I love you more than anything, Rarity, my love! And we shall be together forever!" A cockatrice crawls out of the bouquet and glares at me... my insides turn colder than ice before going numb. I see, hear, think, but cannot move. Can't move, can't speak. Can feel everything on the outside but so empty on the inside. I see the gray statue of a unicorn in one of my mirrors.

"Now my rock princess, let us be off! Attendants!"

Dozens of smaller rocks rolled in behind Tom, and push me along, taking one of my wedding dresses and rolling it onto me. I can't move. I can't speak. I'm only their dress up doll.

"Now my rock princess let us be happily ever after, FOREVER!"

I startled awake, standing on my four hooves. I had fallen asleep? In the middle of the day? How vulgar. Thank goodness no one had borne witness to such a travesty. Maybe I was overtired, maybe.

I stood in my stock room, looking at my dresses, all with jewels I had found and dug up myself; even my earliest designs had always included stones of some sort or another. And they all reflected back at me as I stood there looking at them. Seeing a mare aged before her time, tired, weary, invisible weights dragging behind her. And I imagined, for one brief moment, Discord's sneering face on them.

I screamed, using my horn to tear off the gems I had so carefully and painstaking placed myself, destroying hours, days, weeks worth of work in minutes, snarling and cursing and sobbing, stomping on them and screaming at them. How dare they betray me? How dare they lead me astray? Jewels had helped me find my cutie mark, had helped me realize my special talent in creating things of beauty! How dare beauty betray me? How dare they turn me into something I wasn't? I tossed them out windows, breaking glass, I knocked over mannequins, ripping off jewelry and throwing them against walls. I didn't show mercy to any precious jewel or treasure.

I showed no pity to any pretty, shiny rock. The dresses were often torn to shreds. I kept screaming. I kept snarling. I stamped my hooves like a mad pony.

"Rarity?" I heard a small voice like a sleigh bell. I turned and hissed. Sweetie cried out in fear, looking at the ugly thing wearing her sister's face. "Rarity, the dresses, what are you-"

"I'M FIXING THEM!"

"But you said those didn't work without the-"

"I SAID I'M FIXING THEM YOU STUPID FILLY! DON'T YOU DARE TALK BACK TO YOUR ELDERS!" A sharp circlet whizzed by Sweetie Belle's head and imbedded itself in the walls behind her. A few severed threads of her mane floated to the floor.

Sweetie Belle fell to her knees and covered her head to make herself as small as possible, and sniffled.

Reality came down on top of me like Luna's moon, fallen from orbit. What had I done? WHAT HAD I DONE?!

I was at Sweetie Belle's side in an instant, idly wondering if I had spontaneously learned how to teleport. Sweetie Belle shrank a little at my touch. I shuddered. I examined her, thankfully the circlet had missed her. But it had been eye level. And I knew I hadn't been exactly aiming. It could have just as easily been a few more inches to my right...

"I'm sorry Sweetie Belle, I'm, just so sorry. Big sister is, big sister just did a very bad thing just now. And she's sorry. You haven't done a single thing wrong. Big sister's just tired right now. I promise, big sister's not angry at you. Big sister's not going to hurt you. Big sister won't shout at you again. Big sister isn't going to do anything bad to you. Big sister's just upset... big sister's ashamed that she could EVER consider a jewel to be the most beautiful thing in the world, that she could ever consider them to be the most wonderful thing in the world to her. I promise, big sister's not angry at you."

Sweetie Belle finally stopped shaking, and her eyes, red with tears, looked at me timidly as she asked, "What, what is the most wonderful thing?"

I nuzzled her, "You are Sweetie, you're the most wonderful and beautiful thing in the world to me. Because you're not a thing. You're my baby sister. There's only one of you. That makes you more precious than a thousand diamonds. And it makes you more special than a million jewels... Jewels can't tell me how much they love me, and they can't listen when I tell them how much I love them. You're the most important thing in the world to me... "

We just sat there together for over an hour, watching the sunset through the broken window before I put a cloth over it to keep the night air from getting in. No offense to Princess Luna.

"Come on now, let's get this place cleaned up and go to bed. I promise you can help."

"I can?" Sweetie Belle asked, cautious but eager. Helping me has always been a desire of hers no matter the task, be it small or big. You can't buy that kind of devotion.

"Yes dear. You are after all, my most beautiful and most wonderful treasure."

++++

A few days later -and after a very large clean up and a trip the spa, for just me and Sweetie Belle- I was in the shop again, as normal. For a tiny bit it FELT like the precious status quo we all lived for was what it was again.

There was a jingle at the door.

A little violet-pink pony came through the front door with a white and purple mane. The filly moved with the uppity air of an upper class heiress, but her motions reminded me a bit of a doll, forced, almost mechanical, like she was putting conscious effort into her body language. Her name flashed through my mind as I saw what she was wearing and her cutie mark, and my coat became matted with sweat.

"Greetings, Miss Rarity." Like her body language, her voice was prim and proper, with a healthy sprinkling of spoiled arrogance, but it also seemed forced. I was considered part of Ponyville's 'upper crust,' even if some, like the Tiaras, considered me an outsider for being a unicorn. As it was, the filly went through her social expectations with minimal snottiness.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, young miss! What can I help you with today?" I said, putting on my best business face.

The filly moved closer. I took a step back. Di-di-dia-diam-the filly either didn't notice or pretended not to.

The filly spoke with a sense of entitlement. "Your little store has the honor of accepting a VERY IMPORTANT commission from me, Miss Rarity! I expect it to be completed before the week is out. I assume this won't be a problem for a store with so little business as yours."

I kept my face on. It was a struggle. Stupid little filly, I likely do more work in a week then a member of your family does in a year!

"So... what is this dress of yours you would like me to complete?"

I finally realized how peculiar it was that a spoiled brat like Diam-this filly would be without any escort. And where was that other half of hers anyway?

Diamon-ugh! The filly pulled out a crudely drawn figure from a saddle bag I hadn't noticed before (Myself missing a detail? How was that possible? Then again I was trying my hardest not to think about how she was wearing her namesake on her head.) with measurements apparently written in by someone else.

From the measurements, the dress appeared to be designed for an adult mare. The design was excessive and a half, done with little sense of style, and was far more flare than substance.

"This. I trust you'll be able to follow them with no real problems. Ignore what the notes say, include at least five times as many diamonds as that. And make sure they're the largest you have! I know you're a so-called expert at finding diamonds, so no excuses! Remember, five times as many as-"

She practically shoved the design in my face. And I saw them, diamonds, all over the gaudy dress with a drawing of one by the side as if for example. Diamond Tiara continued to ramble for several seconds but I wasn't listening anymore.

All I saw was myself ripping a stone wall to pieces and ruining my appearance all for the sake of something pretty and being vicious to my friends for no good reason, thinking they wanted it for themselves. And finding out it was all a lie, I threw it out at once... and felt the crushing SHAME inside me, for acting absolutely no different from this spoiled brat but several times worse. I was deluded into thinking something worthless was precious, but how much of the rest was me? My head hurt as Greedity's- no, my actions ran through my head. I had been so, so wretched.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING YOU NARWHAL?" DIAMOND Tiara shouted out, her DIAMOND tiara actually looking rather tilted slightly from her agitated expression.

"NO. And get out."

"WHAT?" DIAMOND Tiara said in total disbelief. When was the last time someone other than her parents had told her "no?"

"I SAID NO! YOU CAN TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE! NOW GET OUT! AND DON'T YOU DARE COME NEAR MY STORE AGAIN!!" I snarled.

"YOU-you-you-can't-"

"NO! Here is something YOU can't do!" I used my horn's magic to lift the suddenly confused and angry, then very scared DIAMOND Tiara. I drank it in. "SO who's a narwhal now?" DIAMOND Tiara was shaking. I leaned in close to the helpless filly. "Now listen here you greedy little foal! If I EVER catch you or hear that you called my little sister that I am telling your teacher and I PROMISE she'll listen to me! And if I find you near my home again I'll see you in a dungeon for trespassing! And I promise that little revenge fantasy already in your empty head won't work! My customers will never listen to anything you or your parents say!"

"MY PARENTS-" DIAMOND Tiara actually began to snarl but I then telekinetically tossed her out! Her DIAMOND tiara then fell off her head, and I practically THREW it at her as the spoiled filly left in tears, picking it up in her teeth and running.

The adrenaline spent, I leaned against the wall. What I had done played over and over in my mind until Sweetie Belle came home from her latest CMC group activity. No need for bandages this time, so I guess Scootaloo hadn't picked out activities today.

"Big sister? Are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking at me with concern. I must have looked worse than I normally did these last few weeks.

"It's... it's nothing dear, just, Dia-diamo-, a classmate of yours showed up for a dress to be made, but I had to turn it down."

"Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle asked, then tried becoming smaller as I glared at her for saying that word.

"Yes dearie, if you must know, it was. Don't worry. She didn't cause any trouble."

"Was she acting weird like at school?"

I froze. I asked carefully, "What do you mean 'acting weird?'"

"Well..." Sweetie Belle looked uncomfortable under my gaze. "She doesn't really bully us anymore."

I blinked, suddenly feeling VERY ugly. "Really?"

"Well, she doesn't even look at us anymore, or anyone. Once school started again Miss Cheerilee kept asking her to pay attention in class. I guess she did that before, but before, she acted bored. Now it's like she... I guess like she's somewhere else."

"So would you say she's being nicer?"

"Not really. Yes. No. Maybe? She just ignores us instead of taunting us, but she keeps screaming at Silver Spoon."

My jaw dropped. "What? But, isn't that her best," I corrected myself, "-only- real friend?"

"Yeah, Applebloom thought it was weird too. No, I think what she said was 'whad da heck es dat 'bout' or something. You know that break we got after the panic over the Cutie Pox? Ever since school started again, everytime Silver Spoon tries to talk to her, D-, Tiara just yells at her. Calls her a good-for-nothing four-eyes, says her cutie-mark is stupid, says it means she's only good for being rich and isn't good at anything, and she's worthless... Cheerilee gave Tiara a time out and Silver Spoon - I think she was crying - went to visit the counselor after that... Later, when Miss Cheerilee was talking to Tiara, Tiara shouted that she wished you hadn't beaten Discord and that everyone in Ponyville was still crazy. I think she might have gotten suspended for the week after that."

I just listen. I can only listen. There is clearly a larger picture going on here. That was when I noticed a piece of paper still on the floor, which I floated up to get a better look... it was Dia-, Tiara's sketch, with her name on it. I finally noticed a small note in the corner, Sweetie Belle did as well.

"Momma's?" Sweetie Belle read it out loud, "I didn't know she had a mom."

"Eh?" I thought I already had that talk with Sweetie Belle about where foals came from.

"Well... When Cheerilee wants to talk to her parents, it's only her dad who ever shows up. She always talks about how great her dad is but never talks about her mom. So we figured she didn't have one."

"Everyone has a mother, Sweetie Belle... everyone..." I sighed, "Everyone is some mother's child."

I took the paper with me. Sweetie Belle and I spent the rest of the evening in relative silence. I asked about her day and she asked bits about mine. Cheerilee was apparently falling back on her old tactic of trying to relate to her students by sharing her own ordeal during Discord's games. Apparently Cheerilee had been planting flowers in other ponies' heads after Discord had driven her mad. She also talked about how bottled up feelings could hurt a pony worse than what caused those feelings in the first place.

"It was really weird."

"What dear?"

"After you asked about it. Seeing Silver Spoon cry... I didn't think she knew how to."

'Of course,' I thought. The logic of a child, and most adults. Silver Spoon was bad, a bully... and therefore, she had to be all bad. There couldn't be a single thing that made her a real pony, as opposed to a creature that lived only to make the lives of Sweetie Belle and her friends miserable.

"Well, you did say her only friend just told some very awful things to her. Wouldn't you cry if Scootaloo or Applebloom said awful things to you?"

"But they'd NEVER say awful things to me..."

"Like how you all started fighting in the royal garden?" I said flatly.

"Er, I bet it was that bad dragon-snake that made us do all that! It had to be, right?" The idea to Sweetie Belle that she and her friends could have had a genuine FIGHT instead of just one of their arguments obviously scared her. After all, weren't friends not supposed to fight? Wasn't that the point of being a friend?

I sighed, I have more experience dealing with fillies than Fluttershy could hope to have. But that didn't make some things less difficult.

"If you're sure it was dear. Then I'm sure too. Now eat your alfalfa."

I kept Tiara's sketch with me. She didn't come back for it. I wondered what deadly wrath she was convincing her father to bring down upon me like she was a princess and I was a 'faceless commoner.' She couldn't appreciate that I personally knew Her Majesty's personal envoy to Ponyville and had met Princess Celestia multiple times. I doubt her father would risk trying to cross a national hero even to appease his daughter's demand. All the same I watched my flanks for a few days.

On a hunch I made a few visits to the town records, I milked the gossip sources, filtered out the garbage from facts. Taking advantage of Celestia's decree, I even paid a few visits to some of the psychologists in town, but found they wouldn't answer the questions I had as a matter of course. However all the same, in a few days I had more or less learned what I needed to know.

I closed the shop early, and began to work. I told Sweetie Belle she should consider doing something nice for Silver Spoon. She looked at me like I had told her to give flowers to Nightmare Moon. Knowing how much I sounded like Fluttershy I said, "Sweetie Belle. Being generous to people you like is easy. Being generous to strangers is simple. Being generous to people you don't like is neither easy nor simple. But it's also something that they can't imagine you doing for them, and the best gifts are sometimes the surprise kind."

"But would you WANT someone who's awful to get a gift?"

"..." I thought about how to explain this as best I could. "Sweetie Belle, I won't pretend that I thought there was any good in Discord. But I didn't think there was any good in Nightmare Moon either. I don't think Princess Luna is bad. And if there could be good in someone like Nightmare Moon, what about everyone else?"

Sweetie Belle looked at me with an admirable struggle to understand what I said before saying, "But what does that have to do with giving a gift to a bad guy? Why give a bad guy something when you could give it to a good person instead?"

"Sweetie Belle... Nightmare Moon thought EVERYONE was bad for not thanking her for working on the night as hard as Celestia does the day. But we proved her wrong, we helped her out of the dark place she was inside herself. I've taught you very much that what others think DOES matter. I know that goes against a lot of what your teacher says, but if someone is awful to you, it's because they think they have a right to be awful towards you, because you're just something that LOOKS like a pony but isn't one, or because they think you deserve to be awful towards... I'm sorry Sweetie Belle, I really don't expect you to get any of this. But please, for your big sister. Being generous to someone who doesn't like you, and you don't like, can cause good things to happen."

Sweetie Belle just nodded dumbly and wandered off, what I said churning in her skull in a soup of confusion. Hopefully my place of authority as her big sister would help her make the right decision. Meanwhile I worked from sunrise to sunset then slept until halfway through the following day.

I also swallowed my pride and asked Fluttershy's help on the sewing. How did a mare whose special talent was animal care know more about sewing than me?

I also did a LOT of digging in the next few days. The dia-dia, DIAMOND dogs knew to stay clear of me but I insisted on their help as well, which they reluctantly agreed to.

It was like swallowing bitter tea mixed with cough medicine every time I was given one of the things I ordered them to find for me. But I endured. I let the sweat drip off me, I felt my body shake until it was sore, feeling them have actual contact with my body when I handled them. Somehow I endured.

They were very surprised at the end when I emptied out my saddle bags, giving them an equal amount of gem stones from my own collection for what they had dug up for me. I had to explain to them, slowly, that this was what was known as 'fair trade.' To be fair I had at first intended to simply take what I wanted, counting on my infamous reputation to get what I wanted. But then I realized I wasn't their queen and I had no right to 'tax' them no matter my fantasies.

My talk with Sweetie Belle had caused me to realize I had reduced these dumb mutts to a one-dimensional trait: 'they had kidnapped me.' And as much as I loathed them and their total lack of respect for their own appearance, I begrudgingly had to admit they had their own simple appreciation for beauty. I was an artist and a business pony, not a tyrant.

When I got home I arranged them by size, weight, and everything else. The constant exposure wasn't pleasant, but I began to build up the tolerance I needed to work again. Maybe I was just being selfish again after all, maybe I was just using this as an excuse to give myself what I needed to begin to work again without being scared to death of my own materials. But I also knew this had to be done. I could have just ignored it, just let it go, but I realized I wasn't going to.

Sweetie Belle confessed she had tried to talk to Silver Spoon, only to find the filly yelled at her, asking if Sweetie Belle and the others were going to laugh at her now that D-Diamond Tiara hated her too. Silver Spoon had apparently acted like a cornered animal. Cheerilee had broken things up, leaving the CMCs very confused. I knew they were simply too young to understand that a bully's greatest fear was being bullied. Silver Spoon and D-Diamond Tiara now sat on opposite ends of the classroom apparently.

Silver Spoon had always been a follower not a leader, and now she found herself alone. Of course she'd think that the fillies she had helped taunt wanting to be friends with her were really just trying to set her up, to let them be cruel right back at her now that her 'protection' was gone. I told Sweetie Belle not to give up, that Silver Spoon didn't know how to make real friends. She thought I was crazy. Maybe I am at this point. Maybe everyone in Ponyville is now. Who goes through what we did and comes out undamaged?

Two days later in the early morning, having barely made my very real deadline, I trotted in front of the Tiara household.

I knocked on the door and a gray Earth Pony opened it. I informed her I had a personal delivery for the young lady of the household.

Diamond Tiara trotted downstairs wondering what could be SO important that it would take away -her- precious time. When she saw me her face contorted in rage. "YOU!" She glared at the older servant. "THROW HER OUT!"

The old maid looked ready to try her best. Instead I said quickly, "I've brought you your commission, Little Miss Tiara."

"Huh?" She blinked those big eyes of hers, confused as the entire room practically tripped over itself switching gears.

"Free of charge. And free delivery to you personally. On one condition."

"Condition?" She asked, not sounding very pleasant at all. I knew I was on thin ice already, but what had to be said had to be said.

I telekinetically opened the case I was carrying, showing the newly made dress, with diamonds in compartments on either side of it. "You sew in the diamonds yourself."

"You dare-"

"You want to show your mother you still love her? You want to show her that you haven't given up on her? That you still believe in her? That she's still your mother even if your father says otherwise, young lady? That you're still waiting for her to get better? The best gifts, little filly, -AREN'T- the most expensive ones. They're the ones you've put the most time into yourself, the ones you've put your own effort into. They're the ones that show you really care about the person you're giving the gift to."

Diamond Tiara's jaw hung limply from her face. I gave the most formal, polite, and proper farewell fit for high society, and left. Behind me I heard heavy hoof falls and a quick shuffling noise, and a window confirmed what I imagined of a stallion passing through a minute later and Diamond Tiara hiding the case behind the servant.

I managed a smile. Maybe I was being foolish. But I knew this wasn't pointless... or at least, I didn't believe it was. And I think I finally understand. Making things beautiful and making beautiful things is simply what I am good at. A pony is not a slave to their cutie mark no matter what they teach you in school. It's your guide, not your master.

My Element and my Cutie Mark are not the same thing, have never been the same thing, and I was a foal for believing they were. If making beautiful things and making things beautiful are what I'm good at, and my Element is to be generous towards others, of course I'll share my talent with them. But that isn't the only thing I can share. Letting my sister help, spending time with others: those are generosities too, not just giving away THINGS. And I should have remembered that when Twilight's spell made me relive those moments I had been true to that inner spirit. But I was too scared of what I had done.

I'll never know how much of what I did was Discord's taint or my own choices, but I'm not ashamed anymore. Not as long as I remember that no matter what riches cross my path, my greatest treasure is at home, and she is waiting for me. And whether I find someone to live my life with is up to me. For the first time in weeks, I finally feel free.

++++

Diamond Tiara carried the bag in her mouth, tiny red marks surrounded her front hooves and face. Sewing without fingers or a magic horn is even harder than it sounds. A large white burly pegasus pony walked next to her, as did one of her family's servants, because there was simply no way in Pony Hell that this place would EVER let a filly within these walls without protection and an adult. The servant however had promised not to tell Onyx Tiara where his daughter had really been this afternoon.

Diamond Tiara looked in the other rooms only once, and wished she hadn't, seeing a pink pegasus with stumps for wings mindlessly singing to herself.

"Screwball! You got a visitor!" Said the burly pegasus, sliding the small door within a door open. Diamond Tiara felt a wave of disgust at the oversized feather duster calling the mare inside by that name.

"Her name is Golden Tiara." She said lowly.

"Oh oh oh? Is that so so?" Said an adult earth pony on the other side. She had a pink-purple coat, and a purple mane with white stripes. "Who could it be-be on this special of days?" She said in a oddly happy voice.

Diamond Tiara pushed the bag through the opening lower on the door. "Happy birthday, mama."

"Oh baby... is that you? Does dear know you're here?"

"Of course he does," she lied. "He's hoping very much that you'll get better."

The pony in the room opened up the bag and examined the dress from every which way, trying it on in every way except the way it was meant to be worn. "OH? Is this for me-me? OH OH OH! It's so pretty! Did you do this? It's so wonderful!... Come to mommy."

Diamond Tiara didn't even hesitate. She pressed herself against the door, hearing her mother's heartbeat as she heard hers.

"You know dear, the world was finally right again a few weeks ago. Everything stopped being confusing and everything made sense again. The doctors even started making sense and let me and everyone out... then that rainbow came and the world was confusing again... But don't worry, I'm sure the world won't be confusing again really soon. If it could all make sense again once. I'm sure it'll make sense again real soon dear. Then mommy will be back home. I bet it'll be in time for YOUR birthday! You'd like mama to be there, yes dear?"

"...yes mama, that would be very nice." Diamond Tiara realized she had to end this conversation now. "I'm sorry mama, I have to go now, daddy's waiting!"

"Okay sweetie! Tell dearest that his princess still loves her prince when you see him!"

"I, I will mama! Bye!" She ran. She couldn't bear to have her mother see or hear her crying.

~FIN

AUDIO ADAPTION HERE! LIsten to the music. See the art. Listen to the many voices of the ponies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2YqmUkS2b4

Reharmonization Applejack: "The Truth and the Whole Truth"

Reharmonized Ponies POV Applejack, "Truth, and Whole Truth"

Howdy. AJ here, ya know, Applejack? Been a little ain't it? Sure seems a heckuva lot longer than a few weeks. Unlike Nightmare Moon, (which happened in the middle of Everfree Forest in the abandoned castle of the Pony Sisters,) we beat Discord right in the middle of Ponyville. And no matter how much a lot of ponies wish it warn't so, everypony remembers what was happenin' when Discord was screwing us up inside the head.

So now here's a bunch of ponies who wanna know more about the six ponies who saved the world twice, makin' a weekly documentary 'bout us or somethin.' Ah warn't really listenin' but Mayor Mare's made sure that by the time they're all let in we'll have all recovered enough to have gotten back to our lives without needin' to pretend nothing is wrong.

Nothing is wrong on the surface maybe, but everypony in town, they act just a little bit more forced in what they do, they end chats a little bit faster, or won't stop talking at all ... goin' in circles 'bout the same thang over and over. And everypony is lookin' over her shoulder where she wasn't before.

Ponyville used to be the nicest, simplest, all around friendliest town ya could hope ta settle in. But now it's feelin' like a lil' filly who's lost her innocence a little bit too soon.

I guess ah can see these things a bit clearer since I'm supposed ta embody Honesty of the Elements of Harmony.

The creepy thing is how some ponies really DO act like they've forgotten, or 've blocked out the memories all together, and they pretend they ain't knowin' why everypony else is actin' like a lizard that just came home from a Dragon Slayers' convention.

In a way it kinda scares me.

Ah guess Ah got off easier than most folks. Discord might've taken a personal interest in me, but Ah know what Ah did, why Ah did it, and that Ah was wrong, and Twili' helped me all remember the truth. All them lies I was spewin' were only makin' things worse. But ah was too scared what could happen ta admit it. And when it happened anyway, I just lied ta myself that it wasn't mah fault too. Ah didn't want to admit Ah was wrong, ah didn't want to admit Ah tried things mah way and failed, again. Ah didn't even -care- when Ah saw my family had gone crazy, Ah just lied ta myself again and said they were fine. Yeah, Apple Buck Season all over again. Then good girl Twili' snapped me back ta reality with that old trip down memory lane.

All Ah know, is lies only got me down a dead end, cause Ah was a coward who didn't want to face the truth when it turned ugly. Yeah, Ah KNOW it was cowardly of me, and Ah admit it! The brave and reliable and most dependable of ponies Applejack got her tail between her legs and couldn't face what she was supposed to embody.

But Ah know, I ain't turnin' chicken again just because Ah learn something that ain't pleasant, and dat's a promise this here cowpony intends ta keep! Not after what it just cost me, but my whole dang family, Ponyville and all of Equestria and the -world-. And that's the whole honest -truth!-

And Ah don't care if it burns me alive, Ah ain't nevah turnin' yellah on da truth egain!

+++

Of all the things Ah expected ta happen today, ya can bet gettin' a personal summons from The Princess for me personally -with the other gals ain't invited- wasn't one. And bein' told ta take along ma little sistah Applebloom was even less suspected . . . being brought there by royal Pegasus Carriot . . . let's say that wasn't expected eithah.

Twili' was as clueless as me when she delivered the message, and the letter didn't get inta much detail at all! Just to bring mahself and Applebloom to Canterlot via the Chariot already on its way.

Applebloom, where to begin? She was all surprised, and more than a little scared of meetin' The Princess. For about ten whole seconds. Then she was runnin' up the walls sayin' how'd she'd be a Cutie Mark Crusader Royal Somethin' or Other.

Big brother promised he could handle the farm for the day without trouble. Warn't sure how much dat was true. Big Macintosh had been workin' hard sure enough, maybe too hard (yeah yeah I remember the time I worked myself crazy), but he's been avoidin' Winona like the Cutie Pox and treatin' working the fields he's been doing all his life like he's takin' bad tastin' medicine. I swear Ah saw 'im doin' it with his eyes closed! Ah kinda knew better than ta ask 'im to dig a hole for a new sapling.

It ain't hard ta guess why, maybe we outta all bite the apple core and sign up a meetin' with the head doctors after all.

At least all Granny Smith has been sayin' is her rear legs hurt somethin' fierce after all the dancin' she did after Discord drove her crazy. I didn't ask if Discord bothered to fix her hip before he made dancin' the only thing in her head. Maybe Ah should.

+++

Boys are right on time. Applebloom asks them a million questions, none of which are answered. Twili' asks for me to say 'ello to The Princess for her, I promise to do so and I will.

Up into the air we go. What a rush.

What da heck were the gals thinkin' who invented this thing? Hadn't they ever heard of safety straps? Applebloom doesn't know she's supposed to be scared out of her wits being this high up. That ain't good. I make sure she ain't rockin' the chariot and givin' me the chance to see if I can catch her if she falls ... or maybe she conveniently sprout wings.

She ain't likin' me putting the brakes on her party, but better me than the ground.

Ah admit, the view ain't that bad. I prefer all hoofin' it, but it ain't that bad.

And that's when it -really- hits me.

This is the first time Applebloom's ever BEEN to Canterlot. Oh no. Oh no. OH NO! I make a note to be extra-blue-plate-special-careful around her so she doesn't go wanderin' off somewhere and gettin' lost.

Wish I brought Winona's leash.

Sure Applebloom was given ah tour of the Castle Gardens . . . but to full blown Canterlot itself? Oh Celestia no!

+++

It ain't lyin' if Ah simply ain't tellin' ya. That's what them fancy lawyers are always sayin'.

So it ain't lyin' if Ah don't tell ya about what happened right aftah we landed in Canterlot. It involved Applebloom spookin' every Pegasus in armor around, a royal fountain, Applebloom needin' to redefine her meain' of 'public bath' . . . and Ah think the ghost of a Hippocampus and a lost family locket but Ah kinda ain't sure 'bout them details.

After Applebloom had four legs again instead of two legs and a tail, and hearin' her say how they should have made the signs sayin' 'No Public Bathing' 'Fillies Stay Away' 'Do Not Drink The Water' 'This Means You Applebloom' (I swear I ain't lyin') a lot larger and that her friends would never believe this we finally got back on track ta the castle. This time Ah made very sure Applebloom understood that when Ah said 'Don't Wander off, stay close' I didn't really mean 'sneak away when I'm not lookin' and touch everything marked 'do not touch.''

Castle Royal Entryway. Meetin' The Princess. Applebloom goes nuts. Applebloom runs around her, shooting off questions, and asking for early cutie mark privileges. Thank goodness Princess Celestia has a good sense of humor. She lets Applebloom go on for a bit, then she politely telekinetically moved Applebloom back to my side.

Ah'll confess, I'm kinda scared. And really confused. Why would Celestia just want -me- of all ponies? Sure I'm a holder of an Element of Harmony, but why not all of us? It don't make sense. I finally ask what the up and up is all about.

"My dear Applejack, you are here for a privilege (or curse) no pony has had in over a thousand years: to see Truth."

"'To see truth?' Ya gonna give me lie detector vision or somethin'?"

Applebloom jumped up and down. "WOW! Can I have it too-?!"

Celestia laughed, sounding refreshed and spoke to me. "Oh no. Nothing quite like that. What you take with you will not be anything in the physical sense . . . "

I -REALLY- felt awkward talkin' one on one with Princess Celestia, I had to keep my legs from knocking. "So uh, why you ask me to bring Applebloom?" We turned to my little sister, who was now stuffing her face with a couple royal pastries provided when my back was turned.

"She is here completely for your sake Applejack and no one else's. I prefer to explain things a tad more privately. Now . . . may you both please take a few steps back . . ."

Trusting the Princess completely we both did so.

Celestia's horn glowed, doors and windows shut and locked themselves. Applebloom gave out a yelp. The carpet we had been standing on rolled to one side, and the STONES THAT MADE UP THE FLOOR FLOATED APART! Floatin' like stars in the heavens, they revealed a spiral staircase.

"Is there treasure down there? Or a dragon? Or dragon treasure? Or a dragon made of treasure? Or maybe the magic gem that's secretly the source of all cutie marks, that would be-"

"Applebloom . . . don't go turnin' into Pinkie Pie." My voice was as sisterly as I could make it . .. mah eyes were still the size of ripe apples and glued to the opening in the floor however.

Applebloom calmed down a bit. "Oh. Sorry."

"Follow me please, and do watch your step, it's a long way down." Celestia said as if invitin' us for tea.

We obediently followed our princess of the sun, and the stones above it magicked all back into place all neat like. I really hoped Celestia didn't suddenly suffer a stroke or had to teleport somewhere fast and forget about us. I really didn't like the idea of a slow suffocatin' death in the dark. Celestia's horn was the only light source. The stones weren't like the rest of Canterlot, polished to perfection, these here stones were dank, dusty, and rough.

Applebloom kept her mouth shut as we spent the next couple minutes just going down and down and down.

"Applejack." Celestisa said keeping her eyes ahead, "How have you been since Discord's second sealing?"

"Ah . . . Ah've been doin' better than most pony folks Ah think. Ah know what Ah did wrong and Am aimin' not ta do it again."

"But big sister! There's no way you'd ever-"

"Not now Applebloom."

"So tell me again how Discord tainted you please Applejack."

"Well, we all got separated in the maze, Ah followed some apples like my cutie mark, then I ran into a bunch of apple trees, and some big talkin' piles of apples sayin' they were 'keepers of the Grove of Truth' or somethin' like that. They said I could ask any question I wanted. I asked how that here quest would go . . . and they showed me and mah friends breakin' up. Then Discord told me truth could be cruel and lies were kinder... and that was when Twili' found me."

"And now?"

"Ah know now that truth ain't somethin' ta run from! You have to face it head on!"

Celestia spoke in a polite voice. " . . . A realist approach . . . how rare in a place of living ideals like Equestria."

My head went for a loop. "Huh? You sayin' it's wrong?"

"It's not right or wrong. It simply is. Now I will ask you this only once Applejack, do you wish to know the truth of that statement?"

I don't hesitate. "Yes."

"Then we're here." She stopped.

Huh? When did we reach the end of the stairs? But them big doors didn't come out of nowhere. Did they?

"I'm tired of walkin'. Couldn't ya 've all teleported us here?"

"Applebloom!"

"I could have. But then what would have been the point?" Celestia said simply.

The door had the same seal as the one for the Elements of Harmony. Except there was a second door with the symbol of the moon on it too . . . Celestia inserted her horn, the lines on the door glowed and it swung open.

Still dank, still dark, still not all pretty like, but a REALLY BIG ROOM. Circular, with a path along the edge and a short but really wide drop in the in the middle with a railing, the drop ending in a metal seal with the spiral shutter like on a camera. There were gears and cogs stickin' out in places.

We stepped inside, us two earth ponies staring slack jawed, when the door behind us closed on its own (Would they stop doin' that?!). On this side we saw both doors led here.

That was when I saw someone I never expected to see. "PRINCESS LUNA?!"

"A pleasure to see you again . .. Applejack, I'm sorry this isn't a time for me to get to know you better." Said the night princess like we were old friends.

"Wow! So you're the princess who was kidnapped by Nightmare Moon who my sister saved?" Applebloom said spouting off one of the many explanations fillies had come up with on their own for Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon not able to undestand they were the same pony.

"Close enough I guess." Luna said sounding and feel awkward by Applebloom's question. Luna looked rather at home in the darkness. She didn't tell me till later that being there cut off from her night sky wasn't at all pleasant.

"Sister. It's time."

"Alright . . . Celestia are you sure?"

"No. And that is why we have to."

Now I was totally creeped out! Celestia not sure about somethin'-?! That was just wrong!

The Alicorns flew to opposite ends of the room, and inserted their horns into locks like the ones outside. The lines on the spiral shuttered glowed, and uncoiled, revealing a huge perfectly reflective pool of . . .something . . . I wasn't sure it was glass or water, it was so perfectly smooth.

"Applejack." Celestia then said getting mah attention. "Some have called this the Well of Infinitely, others have called it the Pool of Truths, others the Sun And the Moon's Shadow, or simply Truth. But whatever name ponies have given it over the eons it has existed here or somewhere else. To look into this pool when it's active is to behold Truth."

I wasn't distracted by the fancy talk as most other ponies would be. "Wait . . .if this here thing is a 'know stuff thingie' how often do ya use it? And why couldn't ya use it to help beat Discord?"

Princess Celestia said firmly, "Applejack, you could live to be a hundred and you will never know the answer to that first question. Second, Discord is often unpredictable even by Truth's standards. And aside from that, this is not some lexicon where you can just look through the index and then look up the desired information. And -that- aside, it takes two Alicorns' magics for it be awakened (it was intended as a safety measure), and Luna has spent the last year recovering her magic and from her own corruption."

I really felt small.

Applebloom tilted her head. "Lexi-what?"

"A big book on knowing a lot about a certain thing." Princess Luna said, speaking directly to Applebloom.

"Oh. Okay. Wait . . . if this thing knows lots of stuff, HEY!" Applebloom climbed on top of the stone railing and looked over the edge, "Well of Infiniter or whatever! What's my cutie mark and how do I get it?! . . . "

"APPLEBLOOM!" I quick grabbed my little sister with mah teeth and pulled her away.

"It's alright Applejack. Applebloom is perhaps the safest one here." Celestia said motherly.

"Say-Wha?"

"Applebloom is, more or less, still innocent. And to the vision of any innocent soul, Truth is one big glorified mirror."

"Why does everyone treat me like Ah'm still a foal?"

"Besides," Celestia continued. "It's not even active yet . . . Though maybe 'innocent' isn't quite the right word for Applebloom . . . But not having realized her cutie mark is a barrier enough from Truth."

Applebloom not innocent? "Ah see ya met."

"Not what my sister meant." Luna said sounding for just a bit like the Nightmare Moon ah knew. She sounded like she knew one word that would reduce Applebloom to tears. I didn't like that. "There is nothing my moon's light touches that I can't see. -Nothing.- And when I returned, my sister and I promised there would be no more secrets between us."

I shivered under those eyes as cold as midnight. Nothin'? Every hidden lovers' kiss, every Earth Pony ritual under the full moon: Luna saw them all, which meant Celestia knew of them . . . it was more than a little scary.

"Luna, remember what we talked about." Celestia said as only a big sister could.

"Sorry." She said all apologetic like but Ah couldn't tell if it was ta me or Celestia.

I didn't know why Luna went off like that, did she know somethin' 'bout Applebloom Ah didn't? Not takin' chances.

"Applebloom what's she mean?"

"She'll tell you when she's ready." Princess Luna said simply, "There are some pains when -forced- out do more harm than good. And your sister is here to help -you.-"

"Help -me?-" Ah know Celestia said that already, but I was kinda distracted at the time by the floor revealin' a secret passage.

"Help big sister?" Applebloom echoed.

Ah said, "Look ah think we're as private like as you can git in Equestria, so what's this here all about already?!" I knew I was speakin' to The Princess but I was kinda gettin' at mah wits' end.

Celestia spoke in a calm controlled voice, "Pinkie Pie was LIED TO Applejack. Fluttershy was -FORCED-. Discord used you and the others to attack Twilight from all sides. Rainbow Dash was trapped by an impossible choice. And Rarity was attacked from within by her own inner demon. You however, were crushed by the full weight of your Element. The other side of your Element: the truth CAN and DOES hurt. But even then it was a manufactured truth. You broke up in part -because- of what you saw. However there is not always a scapegoat."

I suddenly didn't care if I was talkin' to the Princess or not.

"HEY! You sayin' am -weaker- than the others?"

"No Applejack, you just did."

Ah startled.

"HEY! MAH BIG SISTAH IS THE STRONGEST DERE IS! Ain't nothin' weak 'bout her!" Applebloom leapt right in front of me.

"And it is because that is what you believe in even the deepest parts of your heart Applebloom that you are here."

"Wait . . ." Ah said, "Is this a trial or something and Applebloom's mah defense?"

Celestia startled, for the first time in millennia. "Huh? What? No! It isn't! What gave you that idea? You are not on trial or being punished or being suspected of ANYTHING, Applejack . . . you are here to learn!"

"Learn what?"

"You -say- you understand truth is harsh, but until you see the full 'truth' of that statement, as opposed to a vision jury rigged to bring itself about, you and your Element are keeping each other from reaching your full potential. Everything here is to -help- you, Applejack. Not test or punish you . . . However, to see Truth is ... painful, verily. I will not ask you regardless of your choice to give up the Element of Honesty. There will be no dishonor, no cowardice, or loss of your friendship with the others if you refuse.

"So Abigail Jacqueline The Fifth of the Fifth Line, I ask you once, will you look into Truth?"

"Yes."

"I ask you a second time, of your own freedom of will, will you look into Truth?"

"Ah said 'yes' didn't I?"

"Do you?"

"Yes!"

"I ask you a third time. Looking at Truth will bring you pain. And no dishonor if you refuse. Do you still wish to look into Truth?"

"Yes! Dangit! A million times yes!"

Applebloom looked at me, lookin' a little scared.

"Very well. Applebloom," The filly started, this was the first time The Princess had spoken to her directly. "Stay at your sister's side no matter what and believe in her, that's all you need to do."

Applebloom tilted her head, "Huh?! How's that-"

"More important than you can imagine. You're here to help give her the inner strength she is going to need." Celestia said.

Ah said, "Ah thought this was 'bout me seein' dis 'Truth thang' on mah own."

"Most ponies more often then not do not face life's challenges alone except by their own choices . . . Besides, NO pony faces Truth in a vacuum and it wouldn't be fair for you to be the exception."

"All right . . so uh, how do we do this?"

"Stand on the balcony and look directly down. It doesn't last a moment more than you can endure. There is a lever to your right. Pull or push it, and the shutter will close at once. You will not be judged on how long you look."

"What balcony are ya- huh? Where'd that come from? Applebloom, was that here a minute ago?"

"I ain't sure."

Ah swear Ah could hear Celestia chuckle.

Ah did as Ah was told, and looked down, Applebloom right next to me. The Alicorn Sistahs touch the surface with their horn on opposite ends at the edge of my vision.

~~~~~
~~~~~

Applejack looked down into the pool, and it looked back at her. First all she saw was her own reflection and the room's dark ceiling. Then she saw her sister, then the Alicorns, then the stairs, then Canterlot and Ponyville, then Equestria, all at once, then things changed.

And Applejack didn't just see images, she listened to voices, she heard thoughts, she felt emotions, she was with everyone.

The blue and pink twins Aloe and Lotus hugged themselves in separate blankets, back to back. Feeling ashamed of the revulsion and involuntary shudders at each other's even indirect touch, having spent most of Discord's reign as a two headed pony with no rear end connected at the waist.

The two had stood along side each other their entire lives and were proud of that, and now, just being near each other felt painful. It wasn't fair, their entire lives they had acted like parts of a whole and gave each other strength, now that same idea made them sick. Aloe's eyes misted over, and Lotus wanted so badly to hug her sister, but the images of being the two head-ended pony trying to go in two different directions flashed through her mind making her muscles freeze. It had taken this long just so they could make eye contact again.

A little blue Earth pony named Archer was curled up in her bed hugging the sheets for dear life like a cocoon. Her namesake lay at the far end of her room where she thrown it after Discord was resealed. The memories wouldn't stop repeating. She grew wings like a pegasus, and happily flew about, and with a unlimited supply of arrows happily shot in the flanks, legs, and throat of any pony that caught her eye, laughing playfully the whole time. Archer hadn't been able to even LOOK at the bow and arrow set she had gotten for her cute-ceañera. Her parents (including her mother, who she had shot five times) kept telling her she wasn't a bad pony, that she didn't do those things because she wanted to or could help herself, but the memories kept repeating every time she closed her eyes.

A pony with an hourglass cutie mark had locked himself in a little blue shed and not come out since the incident in spite of protests of his friends. He remembered: Doctor Whoof leapt about wearing royal robes, a skirt, and a crown with a scepter hanging from his saddle. "LO AND BEHOLD! I AM THE QUEEN OF EAGLE-LAND! The Time Lord Victorious! All shall feed me pears! Or-" He grabbed the scepter and brought it down with a cracking noise on a random adult pony in fancy clothes with a feather in her hair who was playing in the mud like she was three, "EXTERMINATE!"

The little filly Twist hadn't eaten a piece of candy in week, she couldn't bare the sight of one, even the ones she made herself. Spiral. Spiral. Spiral. SPIRAL! All she saw was her legs and neck twisting like taffy and twisting around everything like snakes. Spiral! The word echoed in her head like a mantra.

Applebloom looked in the mirror for the tenth time that day, no, her hide was yellow not black, and her eyes weren't glowing, she wasn't one of them . . . maybe one more check.

Sweetie Belle threw out her doll collection, the one she had painstakingly put together over the years and organized. She couldn't bear the looks on their faces, when she looked at them, all she could think of was that empty dance she did as one of them with another poor filly turned into a filly sized doll.

Diamond Tiara smashed the glass dolls in her room, each one worth more than Applejack made in a good month. "It's not fair! It's not fair! Mama was free and I couldn't even hug her! It's not fair!" She actually threw a couple at a few brave servants that dared see what the trouble was, beaning a couple on the head. Diamond Tiara had turned into a pony sized dress up doll . . . and wandered about, and then danced with the living dress up doll pony Sweetie Belle. The two danced for a bit like ballet, then they took off their heads and legs and tails and began exchanging body parts. Golden Tiara, better known to everyone else as Screwball, floated above the chaos laughing at the antics that made perfect sense to her.

The unicorn Lyra and the Earth Pony Bon-Bon kept coming up with excuses not to come within a hundred hoof falls of each other. Normally finding the two apart was impossible. Lyra remembered worse than Bon-Bon. Lyra remembered her own voice sounding like an out of tune harp, and gleefully and eagerly stomping her hoof down on her best friend who was now filled with creamy filling, again, and again, and again the grin never leaving the corrupted Lyra's face. She had barely stopped herself from hanging herself with her own harp strings after the world was sane again.

Silver Spoon had locked herself in her room and had refused to come out. It was there. Her father laughing while trying to behead his daughter with their ancestral weapon. Silver Spoon running like mad her eyes now ON her glasses and her hide now very soft 'silver.'

Photo Finish tripped over the triple layer dress she was wearing again. Thankfully not in front of her entourage this time ... the footage from the security cameras of her own home having gotten into the hands of the tabloids somehow, showing her running around 'naked' EATING her own dresses.

Blueblood screamed in terror at the sight of the sun again, the royal guards restraining him to take him back inside. A few weeks ago he had been turned into a mare, made of living ice, running for her life from a stallion made of solar flames who wanted to coddle and caress and ravish her.

Philomena wouldn't go into her cage even when Celestia outright ordered her to, instead roosting at the tallest parts of the castle. She had burst into flames every time Discord had changed her, only to return to her true form . . . after the second dozenth time Discord got bored and tossed her ashes into a jar, a small one, left it with one tiny air-hole, and tossed it into the deepest of the royal fountains.

A catatonic grayed out blue unicorn with a wand cutie mark wandered about in a broken daze as the ponies around her went mad, not even noticing them or herself.

Octavia wore sound proof ear muffs, having been barely stopped by her fellow band members from ripping her own ears off when the world was repaired. She was insisting on writing out her messages and requests rather than speaking. She remembered. Octavia rolling on the floor, holding her head screaming as even the sound of dust falling was amplified to the noise level of a front seat to a heavy metal rock band, which was nothing compared to the mad cackling and wild screams of agony of others around her. As the horrid noise wouldn't end, first she wished she hadn't been in Canterlot that day, then wished she never left the rock farm, then wished she had gotten a rock for a cutie mark, and finally wishing she had never been born if it would just make the horrid sounds stop. At least now she had finally stopped screaming at the noise of the dinner bell.

Ditzy Doo held her child close, almost like a plush toy in intensity but at the same time treating her like Dinky was as fragile as glass. Sleeping with her each night, not letting her out of her sight for a minute. She kept saying, "Mama loves you. Mama's sorry. mama won't hurt you. Mama didn't mean it. Mama loves you. Mama's sorry." The memory wouldn't go away. She had told her own baby -with straight eyes, perfect grammar, diction, and a sickening grin- that, even if Dinky now had Pegasus wings and no horn, she would never be her child. That Dinky had been 'adopted' and how Ditzy never loved her, and how she wished Dinky would have suddenly died before she ever 'adopted' her. She had said Dinky would never be her real child, with how worthless and invaluable she was. At least both Dinky and Ditzy had stopped sobbing themselves to sleep each night.

Mayor Mare had done more work in a few weeks than she had in a few months. She wasn't a slacker at her job in any way before, but now she was practically acting like a super pony. And the sleepless nights and skipped meals were beginning to show. "I do care about all of you. I promise." She mutter under her breath when she thought nopony was listening. Blocking out the memory of a pony now made of living rock shouting with a megaphone that she had wasted most of her life in this town and she could have been a administrator in Canterlot by now if she hadn't settled for this job and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as ponies three inches from her were bleeding from arrow wounds.

The orange in Carrot Top's mane had begun to show green roots again. She didn't try to dye it again this time. Instead she did her farming for the day with a big smile on her face and a friendly air about and went straight to her bedroom and locked the door and began hugging herself. Reliving memories of a grayed out Carrot Top running about swinging (and hitting with) a battle axe in her mouth taking out the axe only long enough to occasional scream how she hated the color green before attacking another pony who happened to have any green to her eyes, mane, coat or attire.

Snips and Snails were strangely quiet, very quiet, and hadn't caused trouble since Discord's fall ... in fact, they hadn't done much of anything. They acted like they were scared of everything almost or at least intimidated by it. Left with the brains of dogs after being tainted by Discord they had then fled for their lives while being attacked by a strangely fast giant snail and a pair of floating giant scissors trying to cut them in two. Looking at their cutie marks now had to be done in short glances.

And AJ knew, AJ KNEW, that this was only a TINY PORTION of every pony in Ponyville!

If emotions were images, and thoughts could be seen, they would show a giant globe filled with everything Applejack had seen baring down on her shoulders, making her legs buckles and the weight ever so slowly causing her bones to crack. And a little yellow filly with a bow pushing up against her sister's belly, bearing some of the burden.

A distant part of Applejack reached for the lever, and another part of her speared her other hoof hard just below the lever, and the hoof pushing at the lever did so, and did so again, and did so again!

'No. More. Not afraid. Not afraid. Show me more. Show me all of it. I'm not scared! Show me all of it!'

Applejack saw the grayed out Rainbow Dash . . . at Cloudsdale? Discord appearing besides her, telling everyone she had saved Cloudsdale by sacrificing all of Equestria. The majority of Pegasi present wanting to clip her wings in response. Right before Discord turned them all mad as a last 'gift' to Rainbow Dash before teleporting away. And Dash's soul being crushed by pure overwhelming guilt and self loathing. Pretend to be delusional. Pretend you never made it to Cloudsdale, never have to face the guilt.

She saw Applebloom, scared out of her wits, galloping like mad in the Everfree Forest. Undead skeletal remains of ponies rising out of the ground after her. Telling her to stay in Sunnytown. That if she stayed, she wouldn't become like Ruby.

Then the image shuddered. In one, Applebloom was following Twilight out of Everfree. In the other, a new resident of Sunny Town enjoyed a party. Barely two days later Applejack was ripping the Everfree Forest apart, bucking trees out of the ground one after another, snarling and swearing to Everfree itself she'd uproot the entire forest until it coughed up her little sister. Her friends helped at first, before restraining her to keep her from working herself to death. She escaped and got back to work. Zecora finally came and told Applejack what little she knew. And Applejack found her delusional and now cursed little sister . . . and proceeded to tear Sunnytown to its foundations and bucking the head off of any zombie pony that got in her way.

Now Applejack saw Twilight Sparkle and Trixie on a stone platform surrounded by turning black storm clouds supported only by a long straight staircase. Trxie was wearing a silver necklace chest plate with six black gems. Applejack noticed THIS Trixie however had a purple and white star cutie mark, exactly the same save for the colors of Twilight's white and purple cutie mark. On the stairs Twilight screamed, "SIS! STOP THIS!"

On the platform Trixie snarled, "WE'RE NOT SISTERS! Celestia may have raised us together but she only ever considered you worthy of anything!"

"That's a lie! Trixie! Whose been filling your head with this nonsense?!"

Then the image shuffled, and now it was TRIXIE on the stairs begging her foster sister Twilight to stop this insanity and come home to their adopted mother Celestia.

Applejack saw a gray tinted Twilight Sparkle, whose colors suddenly returned with no real explanation, and began to trot out of her bedroom before knocking over a vase . . . and remembered that she replaced that vase once before but not sure how it had been broken.

Another image of the same Twilight, this time writing something down and hiding it just before Master Discord retracted the memory revitalization spell he himself had cast on her to amuse himself with Twilight remembering how things had once been for a few minutes, again.

Now the same Twilight, still grayish, but now with memories of herself from before talking to a filly named Apple Pie who was apparently the descendant of Applebloom and one of Octavia Pie's colts after they had fled what Ponyville had become. Apple Pie smiled at Twilight Tragedy and said, "Hey, even in the darkest of times you hav'ta find something to laugh about!"

The scenes shifted again, this time much closer to the present, but marching forword. Winona as an old dog Applebloom needed to drag upstairs in her mouth. Then the Apples gathered around the small unmarked grave of the ancient loyal dog, AJ noticed this Applebloom now had her cutie mark but the scene shifted before she could focus.

This time the Apples were all in black (and Applebloom no longer a little filly), minus Granny Smith, whose tombstone they all surrounded, and wept.

In the blink an eye Applebloom now with streaks of gray in her mane was surrounded by her fully grown male children, her husband a bit behind her. She visited the graves of her brother and sister on the anniversary of their deaths. Then, her sons as entering their twilight years themselves along with their children and grandchildren mourning Granny Bloom's death.

The images shifted once more. A much larger Spike, now carrying a wrinkled Rarity wearing a face veil like she was royalty and he was her elephant, and showing absolutely not the least of resentment, if anything a sense of honor.

A even larger Spike cradling the elderly and weathered remains of Rarity in his claws almost like she was a broken doll, the mighty beast openly weeping. A graying adult mare version of Sweetie Belle with a music based cutie mark wept along side him.

One of Applejack's front hoofs violently pushed and pulled at the lever, her other front hoof felt pain.

Then there was a vision of herself along with her five friends. With sweeps of the image, one by one they were replaced with grave stones, each time the group a little bit more elderly, Twilight's graying however wasn't happening nearly as fast as the others were. Finally Twilight stood before the graves of her five friends (four actually, AJ had been buried with rest of the Apple family) with a giant purple and green dragon looming behind her with a sad look on its face.

Sweet Apple Acres expanded, Granny Bloom's risk taking days had actually paid off. However sixty years after her death, Pegasi figured out how to grow produce on clouds via a new process that enabled clouds to hold soil. At first this was seen as a oddity at best and a joke at worst and rightfully so. These Pegasi had no clue how to farm besides what they read and the produce was low quality. But with a more direct access to the weather system and sunlight they managed to slowly outpace the Earth Pony farm market once their product quality had improved. This was due to thirty or so years later when the first generation of True Flutter Ponies had come into being, Earth Ponies who had permanently severed their magical link with the land for the gift of being able to fly and were hired on the spot by the struggling Pegasi farm industry as consultants. They were slurred as 'fairies' or 'pixies' by Earth Ponies who mostly considered them deserters or traitors. And with a faster Pegasi delivery system, the smaller farms began to dry up. The pony Applebark saw the way things were blowing and began to invest in the new market in spite of the words from his family. His grandson was the first Earth Pony in their family to convert. The rock farmers' market by contrast exploded as they grabbed up the quality land where before they had been given the left overs.

Dragon flames tore through Ponyville like a hot poker through paper as Luna's Night Troopers and Celestia's Day Soldiers fought against Dragon Queen Tiamat IV's expansionist army. Spike and other dragons loyal to Equestria fell under suspicion and had to fight that much harder to prove themselves. Lady Twilight 'Magica' Sparkle spent a year recovering from burn wounds she suffered from a blast of dragon fire that had reduced other unicorns to ashes. What remained of Ponyville was just under half its buildings, either burned out shells or dragon carcasses having crashed through the walls, and a quarter of its population dead and a fifth maimed. A century and a decade of rebuilding later it assimilated into part of Canterlot, the capital and the small town -now more of a city- were so interconnected now they functioned as one anyway.

For one flickering instant, Applejack saw Princess Celestia, except, WITH WRINKLES, and looking OLD. Behind Celestia in the sky was an equally ancient and elderly red sun. The image went by so fast Applejack wasn't sure she had actually seen it.

Again with a yellow sun in the sky, Twilight Sparkle (with a white mane with grayish streaks) was chatting with a friendly yellow Earth Pony with a black mane and a blank flank. "The world is so beautiful." Said the Earth Pony in am awe inspired, but strangely sad voice. The two nuzzled.

The image shifted again. This was a tall white tower, the sky showed a starry sky devoid of its moon. Six stood before a massive black Alicorn. Its wings were white bones, just like its face. Its cutie mark was a Tarot card with a skull on it. it had a familiar black mane. It boomed, "The moment ponies devoured the Fruit of Magic they sealed their fate! Entrusting their future to the Elements they cling to a dim hope. Yet, it is through harmony that all is revealed: Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are, Death awaits you."

Opposed to it was Twilight Sparkle, her mane now completely white but, strangely, not showing any other signs of aging. Along side here was three other ponies (a white unicorn, a pegasus and an Earth Pony) who AJ didn't recognize except the Earth pony who bore some resemblance to Apple Pie, a young blue and green dragon, and a GRIFFON. Each of them wearing an Element of Harmony while Twilight was wearing the familiar crown.

Twilight shouted at the black Alicorn, "Living means not cowering before death! It's about what you leave behind, not whether or not you'll always be here! That's why if you say Equestria's time to die is now, we'll fight you to the bitter end to prove you wrong!"

The black Alicorn replied as if he had been ordered to fight his best friend, "Then come to me Twilight! Your friends are waiting for you. This battle is the path of your own choosing!"

The images shifted again.

Applejack saw herself as a blank flank, Auntie and Uncle Orange taking her to an early morning show. Then she saw herself as an adult mare . . . but with a shorter mane, no sign of her precious hat . . . wearing a dress, and with three orange gems as her cutie mark.

She saw herself acting and speaking like Rarity, but with more calm about herself, more open. She saw herself protecting her older aunt and uncle from rioting ponies during the Nightmare Moon night.

She was invited to meet six ponies who had apparently saved the world from Nightmare Moon and were now on an Equestria wide tour. Being one of the most successful business mares in Manehatten, of course she attended. Then she found out there had a more direct and real reason for her invite during their stay.

"BIG MAC! BROTHER DEAREST!" The two hugged at once.

Orangejack kept asking why her brother hadn't told her he had helped save the world. He admitted he was embarrassed being the only stallion in a group of mare heroes.

"You should visit more often! I always have a place for you!"

"And ya could visit the farm ya know. Applebloom would sure like to meet the big sister who keeps sending her them expensive dolls."

"Brother dearest we have been over this many a time. I have a lot of businesses to run. I can not just abandon my responsibilities just for feeling nostalgic."

"Ah'm not talkin' about going back! Just a visit! Ah promise Granny Smith won't try to guilt trip ya this time."

" . . . I shall consider it sincerely, brother dearest."

Then the image shuffled again. Showing two scenes at once.

One showed Applejack meeting a polite but down to earth Earth pony in Ponyville, she couldn't see his face (DANGIT!) but they hit it off on the dance floor at Pinkie Pie's town wide party and with each other. He had been a drifter, just passing through town, nothing special, but he found something special in her. Said it was nice to meet a mare who didn't play 'mind games' with him. And two years later, with her husband she looked at a newborn yellow male foal with a matching mane. The proud mother whispered the foal's name but Applejack didn't hear it no matter how hard she tried.

The other showed Orangejack meeting a flying on the edge of your seats unicorn stallion whose sense of adventure caught Orangejack's eyes at that year's Grand Galloping Gala (the repair work since the disaster years before had been a miracle). For the next year she kept making excuses to visit him. A year later she got tired of waiting and asked HIM to marry HER! . . . And then again the image of a proud mother, this time of a red unicorn female foal with a green mane. When the nurse asked what her name was, all Applejack managed to hear was that her name began with 'Fi-.'

"No." Applejack whispered, "It ain't fair, it ain't fair! It ain't fair!"

~~~~~
~~~~~

Applejack stared at the pools, her eyes were like billiard balls, her pupils were huge, tears were streaming down her face. "Not . . . fair . . . ain't . . . fair . . ."

Celestia shouted in alarm for the third time. "APPLEJACK! THAT'S ENOUGH! JUST STOP!" AJ didn't respond.

Luna shouted, "'Tia! Her hooves!"

Luna always did catch details better than her, then again she was the artist of the family.

Celestia's eyes widened. While one of AJ's hooves was indeed on the lever and trying to pull it, another one was -stuck in the gears- to prevent the mechanism from closing. 'There is no way that was an accident.' Celestia thought.

"Applebloom!" Luna shouted, "Pull your sister's hoof out of the gears right now!"

Applebloom didn't need to be told twice, seeing her sister in this state had prevented her little mind from putting the mechanics together, but everything fell into place in nano seconds as she pulled the bleeding hoof free. Instantly the shutter closed.

Applejack fell to her knees at once, her eyes still large and tears staining her face like rivers.

"You stupid pony!" Luna cursed in dismay. "You didn't need to prove anything!"

"Not now Luna!" Celestia shouted back. 'Why do Applejacks have to be such stubborn pig-heads!?'

With their link to the Truth broken (not wanting to risk FORCING the vision to end), the Alicorns were at AJ's side in the blink of an eye, repairing the damage to her foreleg and helping her up.

"WHY!" Celestia said, for the first time in so long upset with one of her ponies. Her voice boomed echoing in the chamber, it made Applebloom cower and want to beg for forgiveness even though she had done nothing wrong. Even Luna shuddered.

AJ spoke in tired breaths like she had done the Running of the Leaves in sixty seconds, "Ah . . . Ah said I wouldn't be scared of da Truth . . . so Ah wasn't, wasn't gonna, wasn't gonna let mahself turnin' chicken get in theway of seein' it all . . . "

Celestia let out Equestria's smallest laugh, blinked tears, and wrapped her neck and wings around the orange Earth pony. "Oh Applejack, you silly pony."

"Big sistah, ya did that, on purpose?"

"Had ta show dem Truth fellah ah warn't scared o' none of 'em." AJ said, finally able to closer her eyes a little and had stopped crying.

Applebloom pressed herself against her sister's side. Luna thought how it reminded her of herself and 'Tia.

"Celestia . . . so all dat weird stuff that . . . that was Truth too?"

"Those were truths that have been explored down different paths. Some of it was your future, some of it was futures of other versions of you."

Applebloom asked totally confused. "Other versions? Huh? Whatcha all talkin' about?"

"One moment." Luna said and tapped her horn on Applebloom's forehead. "I promise you'll remember every detail of today when you wake up. But for now, have sweet dreams, dream of Ruby and playing with her, dream away your monsters, and know you have nothing to fear because your family is there for you."

Applebloom fell asleep still on her hooves.

"Wha . . what was that fer?" AJ asked.

Luna shook her head a bit dizzy, that trick always took power out of her. "You have confessions and questions you don't want your sister to carry right? She's endured already more than any filly her age should have to."

"Ah know . . . now . . . so . . mah . . . mah son . . . mah daughter . . .they're both real? But . . that ain't fair . . ."

"That things are not fair is -why- the truth brings pain Applejack. I didn't know -what- you'd see, but everyone sees paths they never explored and dismissed." Celestia answered.

"But . . . ah felt it . . .ah loved'em both. Ah always told mahself I'd have been miserable there. Or I'd have become one of them selfish arrogant snobs. Ah told mahself if Ah stayed, if Ah somehow got happy dere . . . it would be just makin' others miserable. Ah didn't think . . . Ah didn't think Ah could make somethin' as wonderful as that there too. Neither of them deserve to simply . . . not exist."

"Both will live in their particular path where that you made your choice, and in turn make their own choices. And both down their road WILL make that you proud."

Applejack felt the pain inside her lessen. "Thanks. Ah think Ah finally understand . . . Ah knew everypony was sufferin... but, Ah was just blanketin' 'em all together. Like they were all havin' the SAME problem. Ah guess maybe it wasn't all that real, not really real ta me . . . I'm gonna take a nap now . . ."

"Such a silly pony." Luna sighed.

"I know Lulu, I know. But she's wonderful for it."

The two Apples were taken back upstairs and put in one of the royal guest rooms. They returned home later that night. Applebloom seemed calmer when she woke up, more control of herself, but she was still smiling and looking at everything in wonder and joy.

AJ didn't get any farm work done the next day. She had a lot of work to do.

First she played with Winona, telling her what a great dog she was. Then she was sure to tell Granny Smith that she'd always be a wonderful dancer to AJ. She also told Big Macintosh that she KNEW that given the chance he was as much a hero as she and the others were. She also had Applebloom tell her all about her adventure in Everfree Forest . . . and hugged her and told her that she was safe, and that she was very very very brave pony. She could have let those monsters take her, but she didn't.

She wrote a letter to Aunt and Uncle Orange, telling them in no uncertain terms that she would always love them.

She also visited Rainbow Dash via Twilight Sparkle's balloon and thanked the stars above that "Twili' cloud walkin' spell was long lasting!"

Rainbow Dash of course was VERY surprised to see her. After proper greetings and everything AJ told her. "Dashie . . . I know what happened at Cloudsdale . . . the real Cloudsdale . . ." Dashie's face twisted in fear but before she could anything AJ finished, "And Ah forgive you! Discord would have made whatever choice you made worse. And Ah know the others will forgive ya too!" Rainbow Dash's hug was very unexpected.

Applejack did a LOT of walking around Ponyville that day, and that evening too, also having to look up a few addresses while she was at it.

At least everyone knew that AJ was one of the six ponies who saved the world (twice, but most didn't know that).

"You two being together is STILL your strength. If you let yourselves be broken apart because of this, you're letting Discord have the last laugh." She told Aloe and Lotus.

"DISCORD is the one who hurt those ponies. Not you. Would you ever do a thing like that? No? Then it wasn't you! You have a special talent the same as any pony... use it to PROTECT PONIES, prove Discord wrong about what your talent means." She said to Archer.

"Look. I don't know a lot 'bout you. Or what yer story is. But whatever ya did, know that Discord effected the rest of us too, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It could have easily been someone else who Discord twisted about. I know it's hard to hear, but yer the same as the rest of us that way. And that means we all accept you as one of us." Doctor Whoof finally came out of his blue shed fifteen minutes after AJ left.

"Yer Twist right? Mah little sister is a friend of yers right? Look I know she doesn't hang with you as much now she formed her club and you got yer mark . . . but she's there for ya just like yer parents. And I KNOW that just because yer not blank anymore doesn't mean she isn't there for you. Show 'dem blanks that it's not just about getting yer cutie mark, but what ya do after, and that getting it doesn't make ya more or less someone's friend!"

"Look at yer sistah Sweetie Belle, after Discord, she acted like she was walkin' on nails around her own jewels. But she fought it and BEAT IT. And if she can, then you can too! Those dolls are yours, you're NOT theirs!"

"Ah just wanna speak ta yer daughter! I'm not sellin' nothin'! Oh come on please? Hey I happen to be friends with Celestia just so you know and-HEY! Put me down ya yellah-UGH!" AJ sighed and walked away from the Tiara household.

"YOU KNOW that Lyra wouldn't have ever done that if that was really Lyra. AND YOU know that you'd never do that to Bon-Bon if that was really you! Yes I know what they say about hypnosis but it wasn't no hypnosis! Take it from someone who knows someone who knows what ya went through. That -wasn't- you. You know you'd never do anything to hurt her. Don't prove that scum bag right by lettin' your friendship go because of him."

"Hello. Huh? NO! I'm NOT a kidnapper! I just had a bit of a bad experience tryin' to talk to some ponies in big houses. Just because yer glasses HELP YA see, doesn't mean they ARE your eyes. And yer name is your NAME, it doesn't make you you! Cheerilee is a teacher and it doesn't have to do with her name or from how her cutie mark looks. Ya can still be however ya want ta be. And ask yerself too, would yer daddy really try to hurt ya? . . . If ya don't know yer pa' well enough to know, maybe it's time you GOT to know'em!" She told Silver Spoon on her way home from school.

"Look lady! I know we ain't friends or anythin' alike! But ya KNOW that things like what those rags are sayin' are part of the business yer in! I know dem dresses meant a lot ta ya! Yer a lady known for her confidence! And doin' somethin' because of what dem rags say only encourages 'em! . . . I'll be going now." AJ walked away from the front gate, having had the entire conversation with Photo Finish through the intercom.

AJ wrote three more letters. One was to that sassy dolt Blueblood . . . tellin' em that if he really loved his Auntie that he wouldn't fear her embodiment, and he should take the whole thing as a learning experience. And consider maybe, just maybe he's the one that needs to change and not the girls he dates for one evening apiece.

The second was to Philomena, she didn't know if the bird could read, or if the paper she picked out was fireproof enough, but she wrote Philomena should take pride in thwarting one tiny piece of Discord's game. And for distracting Discord long enough likely for some ponies to be left unharmed by him. AJ knew it was weak, but she also knew she couldn't help every pony, er, everyone equally no matter how much she wanted to.

The last letter was to Octavia Pie. AJ wrote, in the best Manehatten style of speaking she could, that if Octavia really loved music, then she shouldn't let what Discord did to her make her abandon it. Her music made a LOT of ponies happy, and she should remember how it made her happy.

"You two are the picture of a mama and her young 'un. I've never seen a ma and her filly as closely bonded as you two! And I can tell ya right now that ain't an exaggeration on ma part! You two are wonderful for each other! And I KNOW what you two share is stronger than anything Discord could have done to ya." There were her words to Ditzy Doo and Dinky Doo.

"Mayor Mare . . . WE ALL KNOW that you care about us!"

"Carrot Top . . . Ah know you've always been scared of other pony's opinions. But anyone who blames ya for what Discord made ya do is a donkey! Pardon to Miss Matilda. Yer not a thug, yer not bully, yer a farmer same as me. So Ah know you don't have anything to be ashamed of."

"Hey you two! Your cutie marks are ALWAYS something to be proud of! They're a mark of what makes you you! They're not something to be afraid of simply because somethin' that LOOKED LIKE them tried to hurt ya! It WASN'T them! So raise yer heads high!" She told Snips and Snails when she finally found them with Luna's moon rising.

Applejack knew the truth that it wouldn't be as easy as a couple kind words from a total stranger, no matter how much sense they made, to turn things around. Many would ignore her words, or perhaps only take them partially to heart. Others might have closed themselves in deeper because of what she said. But AJ had no regrets. At least it would start them down the right path or if they were already on it, help them along the way to healing the claw marks Discord had left on all of them.

And finally . . .

"Hi AJ . . . I've heard from Pinkie Pie you've really been making hoof tracks around town."

"Sure have Twili. Don't worry, this is just today, it ain't gonna be Apple Buck Season Part Two. In fact, that's kinda why I'm here, well, not directly, but it's a big part of the reason."

"Oh really? What is it?"

" . . . there's a unicorn pony in Hoofington that really needs yer brand of help."

~ FIN

Reharmonization Pinkie Pie: "Laughing Together"

Reharmonized/Healing/Recovery Ponies POVs Pinkamina Diane Pie, "Laughing Together"

WHAO! And hello! Don't go! Don't fear Pinkie Pie is here!

Sorry for taking so long! Cleaning up after our big 'saved the world party (again) party' took a lot longer than I thought it would! I kept you waiting a while? What? A long while?

What? It's been over three weeks now since Mr. Discord was defeated? Why is the second season's third episode taking so long to air?

Well as I'm sure as the others told you in the previous chapters, even with Mr. Discord making Princess Celestia's royal gardens just a bit sillier looking again, a lot of ponies have been really hurt on the inside.

So I've been throwing parties non-stop for three weeks! For everyone and anyone! My parties -never- fail to cheer someone up! Except Gilda but she was a meanie who couldn't laugh at herself so she doesn't count! Right? Right!

Oh? Have the parties been kinda a drain on Sugarcube Corner's reserves? Okay a little! But Mr. and Mrs. Cake are making sure we keep in stock! I've been pitching in extra hours too when not partying!

It's a pity about Mr. Discord! He had so many fun ideas! Chocolate rain! Cotten Candy Clouds! And the roads made outta soap! That was so cool!! And I just loved the patterns he came up with for the ground! And I think Big Mac was happier as a dog. Why'd he have to ruin it by making us all meanie pants?

Well it hasn't effected me at all! Nope! Not in the least! I mean, I was GRAY, can you imagine ME being gray? I guess you don't have to cause you saw it too right? But come on, how silly is it for PINKIE Pie to be gray?

Maybe I can ask the pegasi to make it rain chocolate milk with cotton candy clouds on my next birthday! I asked Twilight if we could have that all the time, but she said the crops wouldn't like that, and that included wheat which means she said there wouldn't be any flour and that would mean no cupcakes and-- WOULD YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THAT STUPID FANFIC ALREADY-?!

Oh! Sorry sorry! Sleep? What's that? Oh right! I really haven't had time to sleep in the last few weeks! You see with parties for everypony and baking with the Cakes, but it's okay! I found this great stuff called coffee! It really tastes awful, but it really works wonders!

I can't really remember the first time I tried it, but for some reason the next thing I remembered was that I had iron weights on my hooves and Mrs. Cake had the key around her neck. Twilight said I was trying to be in so many places at once I was damaging the space-time continuum or something, but I'm sure she's just joking. Me? Damage reality? That's just silly.

Any who a LOT has been going on these last few weeks! With my twenty-four hour parties to help cheer everypony up I've been hearing everything!

Twilight said she's worried that me partying like for everypony is an 'e-va-sion reflex' I'm using to not think about me being grumpy after Discord made me think (again) that my friends weren't really my friends. But that's so silly (a lot of things have been lately) I think about it and I just laugh it off!

Like I was saying, the Cutie Mark Crusaders turned in that extra homework on discord like they were supposed to . . . Miss Cheerilee was so glad to see them so diligent she broke down crying right there in front of the entire class and told the entire class to go home early! Wasn't that nice?

Applebloom for some weird reason said she was worried that she was gonna get into trouble for that(Applebloom not Cheerilee, dude!), like when Applebloom left Applejack all alone in the Everfree Forest on a branch when Applejack was the size of a doll thanks for the Poison Joke (I don't get how was that supposed to be a joke, none of us laughed!). Apparently after we were all cured with a bath Applebloom got spanked HARD by Granny Smith till her butt was as red as her mane. Who woulda thought leaving your micronized big sister in the middle of a dangerous predator filled forest all alone could get you into trouble?

And Twilight been doing these boring talks about how she thinks in retrospect that Discord was trying to prove to Celestia that friendship couldn't stand up to adversity since he was clearly powerful enough to squash us like bugs if he wanted.

And she's been asked by the doctors at that hospital -that some very rude ponies say I belong in- to give this one pegasus gossamer wings, how silly is it to give a pegasus wings when they already have them? So ya see I still have plenty to laugh about!

What? HUH?! You're wondering if I'm scared of parties now because what Discord did in the balloon garden? NAW! That would be like Rarity being scared of diamonds, or Rainbow Dash faking thinking that tiny clouds was Cloudsdale, or Fluttershy now having split personalities (what do you mean I should know?), or Applejack to flawlessly align herself with her Element of Honest looking into the heart of the cosmos! . . . .

Of course I read the previous chapters! There's no way I'm in any kind denial! I've never even BEEN to Egypt! Except that one time with the oatmeal and . . . what was that sound I just made? Oh right it's called a yawn.

Wow I feel kinda, what's the word again? Oh right sleepy! That's okay! Just some more soda, or coffee, or some pixie sticks and . . . outta those . . .no problem, I'll just trot over to the kitchen and I'll just . . . just close my eyelids for just a second, I can make it in and out with my eyes closed no problem . . . I can . . .

Zzzzzzz.

"So the coffee's thrown out? All of it? AJ? Rainbow?" Twilight Sparkle called.

"Every last drop Twili!" AJ said like it was a military operation.

"I doubt checked all her normal and -not normal- hiding places! I also found that copy of '100 Best Pranks For Fillies' I loaned her last month." Rainbow Dash added.

"Which -I- loaned YOU from the library four months ago!" Twilight said sounding ever so slightly agitated.

"I was gonna return it . . . eventually . . . what was a straight arrow like you doing with a book like that anyway?"

"It wasn't mine! It came with the library! Apparently it was a favorite of Princess Celestia's!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me at all?" AJ said under her breath.

"Well at least Pinkie dear can -finally- get some sleep! My word, the Cakes were practically begging us to get her to go to bed!" Rarity said.

"Ah still say we outta have gone with the ropes and tied her to bed."

"We did remember? She slipped out of them in eight point four seconds." Twilight reminded them.

"How in tarnation did you come up with eight -pint four- seconds. Did you have a stopwatch or somethin'?"

"No AJ. I just figured it wasn't going to work and was keeping count in my head." Twilight said factually.

"In POINT seconds?" Rainbow Dash asked still confused.

"You'd be surprised how many spells require that much precision to cast."

"Ugh. Anyway. Mission accomplished right? Pinkie Pie's asleep!"

Rarity shook her head. "If you call standing in the middle of a room on your hooves snoring sleep. We are civilized ponies here."

Pinkie Pie mumbled in her sleep. "Chocolate seasalt, Strawberry Pepper Corn, Basil, Chocolate Bacon Burbun, Vanilla Carmel Corn, Banana Pecan Toffee. Yes we do have those ice cream flavors. Half-quart or gallon? I know a lot of bronies didn't like the live-stage performance. Princess Luna will return in episode-"

"I'll get her to bed . . . and make sure she stays there." Fluttershy said, gently lifting the snoozing hyperactive pony.

"Okay everypony! Party's over!" Twilight called out, "Thank you all for coming! We hoped you enjoyed yourselves and Princess Luna willing we all hope you all have only sweet dreams tonight."

The ponies began to shuffle out to return to their homes. The sun was still a few minutes away from setting, but no one argued, some ponies actually looked rather relieved. Even the incredibly unexpressive and passive Gummy (Pinkie Pie's pet alligator) managed to somehow looked relieved at Pinkie Pie's partying rampage had ended and scurried under something to catch up on his own precious sleep.

The flower pony trio of Lily, Roseluck, an Daisy led their on-again off-again friend Berry Punch away from several empty punch bowls. She hadn't been trying to drown her sorrows. It had been therapy to recover from everything she tried to drink from water to wine tasting like battery acid during Discord's reign. It was progress: she had by now been convinced by her fair weather friends that she wasn't going to turn everyone around into cardboard cutouts if she sneezed like she was sure two weeks ago. The flower ponies had only confided what Discord had done to them to each other and to the psychologist they were seeing as a group. Lily's had something to do with thinking she was invincible and any flower that got within ten feet of Roseluck dying.

Pinkie Pie kept mumbling in her sleep as Fluttershy flew her upstairs, "Twilight you should really take some lessons from the first Twilight Sparkle, she was cuter than you and liked making wishes. Did you know she was best friends with Firefly? Whose that? Firefly's Rainbow Dash's direct ancestor and was even more of a daredevil than her, oh and Spitfire is her descendant too I think, that makes her and Rainbow Dash cousins, maybe I should throw them a party . . . "

"That's all very nice Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy said softly with a smile on her face.

"There goes that chance." Rainbow Dash said under her breath looking down.

Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and said quietly in her ear, "Ya know, you really don't need to tell the others all at once. Ah know it's painful but Ah know they'd have already forgiven ya if ya just told'em what Discord did."

Rainbow Dash whispered, "And I should tell Cloudsdale too 'Element of Honesty?'"

AJ whispered back, "Look. NONE of us were thinkin' straight after that varmint Discord gave us all the evil eye. Ah know ya think ya were--"

"I was."

"But Discord -wasn't- playin' fair! Ya know he had the whole thing rigged. Fluttershy says he just clonked her on the head when she wasn't buyin' none of his hogwash."

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll tell everypony in the morning whether it's all together or not, I promise."

"Thatta girl." AJ smiled.

"It just isn't fair, I had finally psyched myself out to tell everypony. It wasn't fair."

The Earth Pony said in a perfectly calm and peaceful voice. "Sugahcube: 'it just isn't fair' is the Truth of everything. Well g'night. Promised Applebloom I'd help scare away her nightmares tonight."

Rainbow Dash looked at AJ who had hugged the Pegasus and turned to leave. Ever since AJ come back from that one-on-one visit with the Princess, she had been, calmer almost, more accepting of things. She was still AJ, but there was something about AJ that made AJ, 'AJ' had changed.

Rarity said, "I shall be going now too. I have some personal projects of mine that I want to check up on."

"I think I better tell you guys I won't be in Ponyville for a day or two," Twilight Sparkle said. "I finally got all my affairs in order and I've already delayed a lot more then I should have."

Rainbow Dash startled looking disappointed.

"Oh my, my dear Twilight what do you mean?" Rarity tilted her head.

Twilight looked like she was trying to find the right words for a few moment answer answering, "There was a unicorn in Hoofington that AJ found out about that Discord took a personal interest in breaking like he did us for some reason and she figures that with my track record I'm the best mare for the job of helping her."

"That poor dear! How did Applejack find out?"

"She didn't tell me. She said she found out during her visit with the Princess however." Twilight Sparkle said hoping Rarity didn't press for more details like who said unicorn -was-. She worried think her friend might not appreciate her taking time out of helping Ponyville to help -her-.

"Can't you . . can't ya wait until morning? Get a good night's sleep and everything?" Rainbow Dash asked uncharacteristically off balance.

"Sorry Rainbow Dash but I can't. I feel guilty delaying as long as I have already."

A lump formed in Rainbow Dash's throat. 'Maybe it's better this way . . . more time to work up the nerve, more time to work out what to say . . . aw screw it.'

"Twilight before you, there's something really important I want to talk to you about."

Fluttershy meanwhile had carried Pinkie Pie into her bedroom. As per instructions from Twilight she had done a sweep of the room, twice, for any of Pinkie Pie's spare candy stashes. Pinkie Pie needed sleep (likely a few days worth) and her friends were determined she got it weather she liked it or not.

"Ya know I wasn't always an Earth Pony, I was actually a pegasus named Surprise, yeah I was a blond, why do you ask?"

Fluttershy chuckled kindly to herself at Pinkie's nonsense in her sleep. She gently put the pinkette into bed and pulled on the covers with her mouth. The Cakes had promised to take turns watching her, but Fluttershy had volunteered for the first shift. She wondered what Pinkie Pie dreamed about.

"Yes Gummy that is a beautiful rainbow . . . you know what this calls for?" Pinkie Pie's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed like a donkey-in-the-box and shot up her forelegs. "A PARTY!!" An empty pie pan made contact with Pinkie Pie's face less than a moment later leaving an impression. "Or maybe I should catch up on my rest first." And fall back into bed her tongue hanging out.

"Cruel!" Fluttershy whispered to herself harshly. She looked at her vague reflection in the mirror next to Pinkie Pie's bed.

"It's -Flutter-Cruel," Fluttershy then said her expression taking on a matter-of-fact slightly agitated tone, "I didn't ask for a name like yours but it's mine and I'm going to keep it."

"That's not the point." Fluttershy said speaking to herself in the window her expression becoming scolding. "How could you do that to Pinkie Pie?"

"Do what?" Fluttershy then said her stance becoming more lax in an instant, "If I hadn't nipped it in the bud she'd had gone down stairs, declared the party back on, and drag inside every pony she laid her eyes on insisting on partying with her until they fell asleep on their hooves and had to be carted home. And isn't that what you and your friends were trying to stop and actually have her get some rest?"

"-Our- friends, and I know, but . . . but you didn't have to be so nasty about it."

"Oh come off it, you know she didn't feel a thing with that thick skull of hers. I was actually already ready to hit her over the head with the stool next. And I may have been born with all of your memories but that doesn't make them 'my friends.'"

Fluttershy turned from the window and stood for a minute in silence in her vigil. In spite of FlutterCruel's promise to make herself the Alicorn who rode and Fluttershy the Steed that carried her: that just now had been perhaps the single largest act of defiance FlutterCruel had done. Futtershy could -tell- FlutterCruel wanted to trip one of her friends and laugh to their face, tell them how impotent they all were, but Fluttershy had easily been able to hold her back those times. Why had she managed to catch Fluttershy off guard that time?

Fluttershy wanted to say she could have simply sung Pinkie Pie to sleep, or Pinkie Pie would have pushed her enough to bring The Stare to bare, but Fluttershy knew Pinkie Pie wasn't one for listening when she was revved up, and Fluttershy could -never- use The Stare on one of her friends no matter the good intentions. Fluttershy chose to drop the topic.

"I was hoping to introduce you to Pinkie Pie first, since she would understand."

Fluttershy crossed her arms and huffed. "Pst. As if I need any of your friends . . . heh, now Gilda, she's not the brightest bulb in the box but -dang- would she be fun to hang around with!"

Instead of cowering before the idea like FlutterCruel was sure she would, Fluttershy said with an inner calm that would have made Princess Celestia proud. And she went into full spitfire-speak mode. "Yes dear. I can see very much how you two would get along. Both of you need to be meanies because you refuse to relate to anyone around you so it's your only real means of expressing yourself. You only let others inside who remind you of yourself. Both of you don't want to admit how alone you really feel-"

Fluttershy snarled her expression changing in an instant, "Shut up shut up! You don't know anything so stop spewing dragon fewmets like you know me or someone you met twice!"

Fluttershy's face stiffened slightly. "Oh my my my, such language. We're going to have to clean that mouth out."

Fluttershy's eye bulged. "YOU WOULDN'T!"

Fluttershy merely stood up, kissed Pinkie Pie on the head, pushed her tongue back in to keep from drooling on the bed, and went into the adjoining bathroom humming to herself.

+++++

Pinkie Pie looked around, a thick mist covered everything with a few colorful paper lanterns hanging from streamers. Pinkie Pie couldn't tell if she was standing on floor or ground but she didn't really care. After trotting for a few seconds she proudly declared, "Oh! A dream sequence! I always wanted one of these!"

"Keep waiting." Said Pinkie Pie's own voice in a sullen sarcastic tone.

Pinkie Pie turned her head and galloped straight towards the source dead ahead, "Hii Pinkamina!"

Sitting on a stool from Sugarcube Corner, sat another Pinkie Pie, but this one with a straight mane and tail and darker shades, unlike Angry Pie who had faded colors, she had her front hooves crossed in front of her chest and with a somewhat sour look on her face.

Pinkie Pie reached out to hug her alter-ego but ended up squashing flat against a thick two story tall glass wall right between them.

Pinkamina kept a straight even almost bored face. "Wish I could say it was a pleasure."

Pinkie pried herself from the transparent barrier and trotted back and forth keeping her eyes on her other self. "Oh oh oh this is so cool! I can't remember the last time we got to talk like this! Are we gonna have a big fight scene in tribute of the hit anime Narutrot reenacting the famous fight scene between Master Jiraiya And the Six Paths Of Disharmony? Can Madame LaFlour be the Alicorn Path?"

In a perfectly straight voice Pinkamina said, "No. That scene got scrapped."

"Oh darn!" Pinkie somehow managed to snap her hoof in spite of not having fingers.

"Look, as much I love that you're finally willing, or rather -have to- speak to me, we have more pressing matters."

Pinkie blinked and tilted her head innocent, "Oh really? What?"

Pinkamina tapped against the glass wall. "I know you remember what happened in the hedge maze even if you're repressing it. I remember it, and that is how I know you do too. When Discord managed to get you into thinking your friends were laughing -at- you and not -with- you realized a few things besides thinking everypony around you was the enemy."

"What? That? That's over and done with!" Pinkie Pie laughed out loud. "Twilight's spell reminded me of how much fun I've had WITH my friends and Mr. Discord was just playing a very mean prank on me!"

"Tell me Pinkie . . . why do you think YOU were the one who turned into a nasty?"

"Huh?" Pinkie Pie just looked at herself.

Pinkamina growled. "Every time you've not wanted to face reality you've pulled me out of my nice, peaceful, dreamless sleep and forced me into the driver's seat so I have to deal with until it's safe for you to come out and play! I woke up when Discord began playing with you. But it was like I was coming up from the bottom of a lake and hit a foot thick ice surface! So -you- were the one stuck dealing with your own problems for -once-!"

Pinkie looked stunned and a little apologetic then said in rather subdued and polite tone, "Okay. I'm sorry. But . . . then why are you here now then? Shouldn't you have gone back to bed?"

"It's not because I don't want to. I'm still awake, Pinkie, because there are still things you know but still don't want to face!" Pinkamina demeanor broke and put her hooves against the glass wall and gently put her forehead against the barrier. "Why Pinkie? Why do you have to do this to me? I get to -remember- all the happy times, but the moment the bad times get too bad I'm the one who has to -experience- them! And as soon as things become wonderful again, I go back to sleep." Pinkamina fought back tears. "Please. Just let me sleep, or -take me back-."

Pinkie Pie took several steps back from the barrier as if the sad Pinkamina might suddenly break through the glass wall. "I-I-can't! I don't -want- to think about those things! If I'm unhappy then it makes my friends unhappy and I don't want my friends to be unhappy!"

" . . . Aren't they my friends too?" Pinkamina whispered, then shuddered and regained her self control. "Pinkie Pie. When Discord made you angry, you realized the price for our fun and games is that when we have something not RELATED to fun and games to say that we're ignored. Twilight even included that in her face to face report to Princess Celestia when we were dealing the parasprites. A lot of what we thought was just us being paranoid, Mr. and Mrs. Cake love us like their own foal, and our friends wanted that surprise party for -our- sake because they knew us well enough to know we loved surprises. We didn't think to explain to our friends how dangerous the parasprites really were. But it wasn't that simple to say everything we thought was just an angry fantasy. Our fun and games only made the situation with the cowponies and buffalo -worse-. We really -didn't- have any deep friendships until we met Twilight and the others! . . . Pinkie Pie we invented a muscle powered FLYING MACHINE. But because we came up with it nobody sees it as anything other than a toy. We could have been a great inventor. We have creativity comes out of our ears!"

"We do?" Pinkie Pie turned her head left and right. Then she looked back at Pinkamina's express. "Oh. You mean as one of those expressions. We could have been a lot of things. So could have anypony. AJ was almost a Manehatten business pony. Rarity almost became a rock farmer. And Rainbow Dash was almost tricked into becoming Nightmare Moon's minion. And we were almost-"

"The point IS Pinkie, that while we love fun and games: like any pony when we have something serious to say, we want to be taken seriously. But the way we act makes nearly everypony think we can't be serious. You realized this when Discord tortured you, and you dumped all that on me. Except I'm not going back to sleep, because it's all still staring you in the face. Plus Pinkie, seriously, look at us."

"What about us?"

"We aren't well! A pony's mind isn't meant to divided like this! You broke me off from yourself and left me! You're incomplete! Just take me back!" There was a very real hint of desperation in Pinkamina's voice.

Pinkie Pie whispered not able to "I can't . . ."

"Pinkie Pie the more you ignore a problem the bigger it gets. And because you're so used to breaking off pieces of yourself you don't want to face the fact that the damage from Discord wasn't repaired when Twilight reminded us how much our friends love us! You just -pushed it aside- like you have with every emotion you haven't wanted to experience! I've been here for three weeks Pinkie, being aware but unable to interact. I think another part of you was aware I wanted to have a talk with you and didn't want you to have the chance."

"Oh that's silly! Just plain silly! Silly-silly it's so silly!" Pinkie Pie grinned so wide it was a wonder top half of her head didn't fall off. "I've been partying day and night all this time because Mr. Discord hurt a lot of ponies on the inside and my parties, er party has been helping them feel better!"

"Then why did you refuse to take a nap when Mrs. Cake Pinkie Pie Swore she'd keep the festivities going while you took a nap and you refused anyway?"

"Like duh! Like I told her, I'm the best at parties, and Ponyville deserves the best party around right now!"

"And why did you ignore Twilight when she told you that drinking so much coffee wasn't good for you?"

"I figured she was just wrong like she was wrong our Pinkie Sense being made up."

"And you didn't think your friends were -desperate- and worried about you when they tried to -tie you down to the bed- to get you to sleep?"

"I thought they were just playing a game."

"Pinkie!" Pinkamina snapped. "Be serious!"

Pinkie Pie turned up her nose and crossed her hooves and said in an uppity voice. "I AM completely serious: ABOUT PARTIES! Anything else isn't worth being serious about! Those things mean feeling angry, feeling sad, feeling scared, and those are bad feelings! Why would I want to?! And YOU. Why do you want me to take you back so badly anyway-?! You're just a big grumpy pants! You're as bad as me when Mr. Discord made me think laughing is bad! It isn't! It isn't! It isn't! Why don't you go play with Rocky, Mr. Turnip, Madame LaFlour, and Sir Lints-a-lot! What's so important that you'd want us to be together again anyway!"

Pinkamina shuddered, and then whispered something. Pinkie leaned in closer and asked her to repeat pressing her ear against the glass.

Pinkamina whispered. "I want to sing."

Pinkie Pie fell on her rump and scooted back several hoof falls. She looked positively terrified of her other half now. Pinkamina was supposed to only feel angry, sad, scared, hurt, she wasn't supposed to -want- anything!

What right did she have?

"I won't let you." Pinkie swore, feeling VERY strange, almost ill somehow. A strange wrongness flowed through her. Like a churning broth of rock soup. "You were supposed to disappear when I got my cutie mark. My songs are meant to make people happy! I won't let you sing sad or mean or scary songs!"

Pinkamina looked at her alter ego in a new sense of alarm. "Pinkie! Stop! With this divider between us I can't take your anger! I haven't been able to assimilate what you experienced while you were taint by Discord yet! Calm down!"

Pinkie's head was spinning, confusion weaved through her head, but she didn't care, "Calm down, calm down, calm down! Calm down Pinkamina! We'll have another soon enough Pinkamina! Please we need to work on the rocks -too- Pinkamina! You'll understand why we farm rocks when you're older Pinkamina! I cut you loose from the rest of me because I HATE YOU!" Dizziness swarmed through Pinkie's head in an instant she fell to her knees in a heap. A sensation not unlike vomiting convulsed through her.

A light then shined bright enough that behind her, her shadow grew bigger, and bigger, stretching out behind her like a flood of blackness against the suddenly painfully brightened landscape divided between an abandoned rock farm and overused party grounds.

The shadow condensed, pulled itself together, forged from unbidden thoughts and feelings denied their outlet. It took shape from that which was most familiar to it, that which it understood most, that which it was most denied.

Pinkie Pie was covered in sweat, she felt like she had emptied out not only her stomach but all her internal organs while she was at it, but not a single thing had left her mouth. The painful light began to dim to acceptable levels to a defused twilight.

"Pinkie . . ." Pinkamina said in horror. "Behind you."

Pinkie Pie turned.

There before her was another Pinkie Pie, but this one had her colored grossly desaturated, leaving only ghostly traces of color on her. Her sparkling eyes completely contradicted the vicious mouth full of nearly animalistic frowning, grinding teeth. She had Pinkie's poofy hair.

"Oh. Are you like the, uh, residue of Mr. Discord's evil magic inside and I'm gonna beat you, and then be able to use that magic for good and make it rain chocolate milk?" Pinkie asked in her innocent and cheerful voice that contrasted her twitching eye and fearful expression.

"Pinkie that thing, it, she didn't come from Discord, she came from us!"

Pinkie Pie somehow kept her voice jovial even as she was struggling to keep her knees from knocking. "Don't be silly. There's no way she came from me . . . I mean, just look at that frown."

The gray Pinkie's mass of exposed teeth twisted upwards.

"That's . . . much better." Said Pinkie, her voice cracking as her eyes' become pin pricks.

" . . . more . . ." The gray Pinkie said her first words.

"Uh." Pinkie Pie said, not able to understand where all this fear was coming from. The new pony looked friendly if a little monotone. "More parties? Don't worry, I'll wake up soon and we can get back to partying in no time!" Pinkie said feeling like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"I want more." The gray Pinkie said. "I want more . . . I want more of us."

"Well, just give me a bit to imagine other versions of me and I'm sure I can fix that." Pinkie Pie said somehow not feeling relaxed like she should now.

"Always pent up, always sealed away, always buried, always repressed . . . I finally have enough Ego of my own."

"Uh . . . me that always has the answers I don't like, what is she talking about?"

"I told you Pinkie! We're sick! We have been for a long time! And not for the reasons people keep thinking we are! Remember what Pa said? There are types of stone where if you break it once, it's easy to break the rest. When you broke me off from you, you left CRACKS in yourself! She's broken off from you."

"Really? What part."

"I'm standing right here you know." Said the gray Pinkie Pie in a droll voice. "And what I am is angry. I also know what everypony really thinks of me. All that proof we've ignored. All the lies we've told ourselves. AND I HATE IT! I hate a family who wouldn't adjust itself for me! I hate a new family that treats me like I'm still a foal! And I hate how everypony thinks I'm crazy just because I think DIFFERENTLY from everypony else!!!! Hate-hate-hate!" A shock wave centering from Angry Pie knocked Pinkie Pie on her rump.

"It's time for us to be finally whole." Angry Pie said darkly.

Pinkie and Pinkamina both gasped.

Angry Pie ran straight for the glass wall. The Pinks expected it to shatter, or for her to leap over it, but instead she went through it as if it was a hologram. Pinkamina braced herself. But instead Angry Pie ran straight for one of the old buildings on the abandoned rock farm.

With an amount of super-equine strength, she tore the shack -roof and walls and all- off it's foundation, revealing four ponies within. Two Earth Ponies, one with a bucket of turnips Cutie Mark and another with a rock on his rump, a pegasus with a sack of flour on her flanks, and finally a unicorn whose cutie mark was a pile of lint.

The four ponies looked VERY surprised at the gray Pinkie before them. Their reactions were slow, having just been rustled from the peaceful dreamless sleep that had been denied Pinkamina.

She leapt on Mr. Turnip and broke his neck with her bare hooves, his form become transparent, and floated lifelessly inside her.

"TURNIP!" Madame LaFlour gasped.

"NO! Leave them alone~!" Pinkamina screamed at the top of her lungs rushing Angry Pie who bucked her in the face sending Pinkamina head over hooves backwards.

"I'll do you in a second. Don't whine so much, this is what you wanted right?"

Rocky snarled and rammed into Angry Pie's side, knocking her off balance while LaFlour took to the air and Sir Lints-a-lot charged with his horn lowered. Angry Pie stepped out of his line of sight and was suddenly on his back and used him as a spring board and leapt right into LaFlour. She was knocked off balance from the sudden impact, and Angry Pie took the chance to break her wings making her fall.

Rocky stomped his hooves looking at Angry Pie but speaking to Pinkamina. "Run."

"I can't leave you, you're my-"

"We're just figments! Don't let her hurt the others! Just GO!"

Pinkamina blinked away tears and ran like Nightmare Moon herself was after her.

"And what makes you think there's anywhere to run from me in my own mind?" Angry Pie swore as she used LaFlour as a dive bomb right on top of Sir Lints-a-lot breaking his back. A few seconds later his and LaFlour's form became ghostly and floated inside Angry Pie.

"LaFlour, Lints-a-lot. . . I ain't goin' down easy chump!" Rocky swore breathing out through his nostrils blowing dust in the rock fields.

"I am so scared." Angry Pie said flatly then growled, "You think this is some cheap samurai film-?! Where the hero wins cause he's out matched-?! I'm gonna show you wrong!"

Pinkamina ran straight into the main farm house and screamed, "BOTH OF YOU! RUN NOW!"

Two forms inside the house shifted, waking up from sleep that wasn't quite as dreamless as the figments and her own. One resembled Pinkamina but with Pinkie's colors, and had a rock for a cutie mark and wore a bright colored scarf. The other was a little filly blank-flank who looked -very- scared right now. They were all Pinkie Pie, so they all knew what was happening.

"Diane! Take Pinky and go! I can't pass through the barrier but maybe you can! Maybe she won't risk come after you if you're near Pinkie Pie!"

"But what about you?"

"She's made out of the things I was born to absorb. I'll be fine."

"None of you will be fine!"

They turned to see Angry Pie, a beaten and bloody Rocky on her hooves. Funny, he wasn't full of rocks like she thought he'd be. Angry Pie now had horseshoe shape bruises over one eye and half her face. She stomped on his throat and he was assimilated into her.

"Now that the appetizers are done with, it's time for the main course." She looked at Diane and Pinky.

The farm pony picked up the filly in her teeth and ran through the house to the other doorway. Angry Pie took a step foreword and instantly got the mother of all head-butts from Pinkamina.

"Crossing over to this side was a big mistake! It's time for you to come home and stop this insanity! Rocky and the others are my friends!"

"Isn't everypony always saying insanity is what Pinkie Pie does best behind her back-?!" The two earth ponies reared up kicking each other with their fore-hooves trying to knock the other down prone for a killing blow.

"NO! People say we're random! That we're spontaneous! It's that we're split up into absolutes and extremes that's wrong!"

"Why are you trying to stop me? I want us to be complete too!"

"I want to JOIN with all of us not devour them!"

"Come on! You know there is always the Alicorn and the Steed, and I refuse to be the Steed anymore for an Alicorn who won't even face reality!"

"That isn't how it HAS to work!"

"Oh shut up me!" Angry Pie tail whipped Pinkamina in the eye, "And you made a mistake of sending those two off where you can't go and can't protect them!"

Pinkamina blinked, and realized Angry Pie had already trotted off almost all the way back to the barrier. Her hastily and fear inspired plan to protect the most vital parts of Pinkie's pscyhe falling apart around her, she ran back to the barrier.

Pinkie Pie kept ramming her head against the barrier hoping it would break, but all she was getting was headaches, and using the party tables as battering rams hadn't worked out either.

When herself as a filly and a odd version of her she didn't recognize came to the divider, she hit the wall. It wasn't solid for them like Pinkie and Pinkamina, or vapor like Angry Pie, it was like they were pushing through molasses. when the tip of one hoof began to make it's way through, Pinkie Pie pulled with all her strength to get them through quicker.

Pinky instantly was at Pinkie's side, rubbing against, a peaceful smile on her face her tears gone for the moment.

"Okay . . ." Pinkie looked down at Pinky, "I can kinda guess maybe what she is . . . but what are you?"

Diane spoke in a soft voice, not holding the hyperactivity that Pinkie Pie was known for and was so vital a part of her. "I don't blame you for not recognizing me." She said with complete honestly. "It's been so long . . . I couldn't stand how we were leaving home. But you told me to be quiet. So I've been all this time. . . I am the LOVE you have for you mom, dad, and sisters!" Diane lowered her head sadly. " . . . And this is the first time we've talked since we left the rock farm."

Pinkie Pie was stunned. Had she, had she really broken away that part of herself? Had she really buried those emotions? Had she wanted to be free of that dark, gray, grimy, soulless, miserable place that badly? Yes, of course she had. But, she really been willing to throw away -her?- Pinkie Pie felt horrid.

"She stabbed you in the back Diane and now you run to her for protection? I guess you ain't Pinkie's brains!" Snarled hurtfully Angry Pie as leapt into the air on top of the three Pinkies and dove down like a dive bomber. It threw up dust and debris in every direction creating a crater, but the barrier wasn't even marked.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, as the dust settle she saw Pinky. Instead of killing and dissolving her, Angry Pie was PUSHING HER INSIDE HERSELF! Like Angry Pie was cake batter and Pinky was a cherry. Pinky struggled, crying and squirming as she futilely struggled.

"Let her go!" Diane screamed before Pinkie could and grabbed onto Pinky and desperately pulled. She slowed her down, but only slowed. And it was clear to all, all she would end up doing was getting absorbed herself. Diane's rear hooves were already sinking into Angry Pie.

"Pinkie!" Pinkamina called hammering away at the barrier with her hooves like mad like Pinkie had done a minute before.

Pinkie looked at her, then looked at Diane and Pinky being pulled into Angry Pie. She got her hooves and took two steps toward them.

"You can't save them like that!" Pinkamina cried no deceit in her voice. "~PLEASE~ take-me-back!"

"No!" Pinkie cried fearfully her eyes locked in Pinkamina.

"Pinkie . . ." Pinkamina's lower lip quivered. "I know better than anyone how scared you are of being hurt. I know how scared you are of just struggling day by day instead of enjoying it all. But that's ALL a part of life too!"

"I don't want to forget how to laugh!" Pinkie shouted and the heavens themselves thundered.

Pinkamina slowed time as much as she could with what limited control she had. This all had to be said.

"Pinkie Pie. Discord broke you not just by simply lying to you about your friends, but with what you've feared the most: that you don't mean anything to the only REAL friends you've made. But he also rubbed in our muzzle that laughter can be cruel, that laughter can be hurtful, that jokes for some is when another person cries. And those are laughter too. Whether we like it or not. And you didn't want to accept it, but it was so powerful you couldn't just shove it off either. I know all this because it's what you've been trying for three whole weeks without sleep NOT to think about!"

And for first time in her entire existence, Pinkamina laughed. A tiny, small, half-breath, but a laugh none the less. "And when you stop and think about it makes sense. It would be rather silly that the Elements needed a pony that held them in their heart to work unless they needed someone's heart to guide them: to show them the difference between the laughter that brings friends together, and the kind that pulls them apart. And how can you be so sure you know what it's like to laugh, if you don't cry sometimes too?"

She couldn't keep time from marching at it's normal pace anymore. And Pinky's face and her front hooves were showing from Angry Pie's gray belly. Diane's back hooves were now imbedded in Angry Pie as Diane futile tried to pull the poor filly free.

Pinkie Pie gingerly reached out and gingerly touched the glass wall where Pinkamina was. Millions of cracks appeared across it's surface instantly, and the barrier of glass collapsed and dissolved into nothing. The entire world shook.

Angry Pie, Pinky, and Diane all turned at the climatic sight as the wall that had been in place for as long as any of them could remember came crashing down.

And then the two main sides of herself touched hoof to hoof for the first time since they had been born. The explosion was blinding. The sphere of white light that expanded from the contact point roared with a force all it's own before it then contracted and shrank back out. Like a black hole it began pulling everything into it. Angry Pie braced herself and Diane refused to let go of Pinky. But where Diane's strength had failed her this force didn't and pulled Diane AND Pinky from Angry Pie's exposed belly, and the two fell just short of the sphere of light. Diane hugged Pinky for dear life!

The explosion reversed itself completely, and at the flash point now stood a white pegasus with curly blond hair, violet eyes, and faded violet balloons for a cutie mark. She grinned and shouted, "SURPRISE!"

"No." Angry Pie gasped.

"Now now." Said Surprise cheerfully. "Don't be sad. It's time to come home now."

"I don't want to die!" Angry Pie shouted furiously producing a flame thrower from nowhere that she fired at the Pegasus but a invisible sphere protected Surprise, Pinky and Diane.

Surprise giggled and shook her head. "Silly filly. We're not dying. We're joining. You're not going to vanish, you're going to be whole."

Angry Pie pulled a grenade from her mouth with the nuclear symbol on it and threw it at Surprise, resulting in a mushroom cloud.

"That was a great bang but for fireworks it wasn't really that pretty." Said a voice right behind Angry Pie that made her yelp. She turned to see Surprise and the two aspects right behind her now.

"Not possible!"

"Oh dummy!" Surprise said the word holding no malice or condescendence. "Of course it's possible. This is all in our head. Like duh!"

"It's okay, don't worry, we're finally going to be well." Said Diane with Pinky nuzzling her in the chest.

"There's nothing about me that needs to be 'made well!'"

Then Surprise was right on top of her. And the size of an Alicorn. "Then you won't mind a 'be well' kiss right?"

Angry Pie stepped back, only to slip on a mass of marbles leaving her with a sore rear.

"Surprise!" The pegasus laughed, then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Both were enveloped in light and when it was done, Surprise stood, but now with gray lines along her feathers, giving her shading and depth.

She sighed and looked at Diane and Pinky.

"You guys ready?"

"I've been ready since we left home!" Diane nodded quickly.

"Silly! We have a new home now."

"There's no rule that says someone can't have two homes."
Diane's reply was instant.

Surprise tilted her head. "I guess so . . . okay, here we go! The Grand Pinkamina 'Pinkie' Diane Pie Unification!" Trumpets blared and confetti showered form the heavens along with uplifting music.

Still holding Pinky, Diane hugged herself and the entire world became light.

Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, had a strange urge to be on the look out for pie pans, and slowly sat up in bed.

"Oh my you're awake!" Pinkie Pie turned her head to see Fluttershy next to her bed with a blanket covering the yellow pegasus with holes specifically made for Fluttershy's wings.

Fluttershy dropped what she was holding and hugged the pink Earth Pony.

Pinkie Pie nodded and happily hugged back. "Yeah. For a quick nap that really helped me out!"

Fluttershy looked down looking a little embarrassed. "Uh, Pinkie Pie, you've been asleep for practically three days, almost four. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were starting to talk about the best way to feed you in your sleep."

Pinkie Pie broke the hug surprised. "Three days? Feels like a lot less."

"Well you . . . kinda push yourself really hard . . . Twilight before she left said she had been worried you were going to . . . going to . . . fall over if you kept going like you were. Rarity said she wouldn't be surprised if you had been out for a week."

"Maybe I should take another nap then." Pinkie Pie suggested in a pleasant, unironic tone.

Fluttershy stuttered, "Oh no no no no! That's quite alright! I know everyone is going to be happy to see you're up and about again! Uh . . . though I think maybe you should take a -little- easy at first just until you get you strength back . . ."

"Okay . . . I'm hungry. Want waffles?"

"Uh, maybe tiny bit later."

Pinkie Pie finally noticed what Fluttershy had dropped.

"Hmmmm? Photo albums?"

"Eh-?!" Fluttershy acted as if Pinkie Pie had caught her reading dirty PlayMare. "Oh, oh yes. I was going to do just one shift, but I realized that it might work out a bit more if I was the one looking after you. And I thought I should be sharing these with a little filly I've gotten to know. She doesn't have anyone else so I thought it best if I look after her for now. She's being very stubborn about letting other ponies in, but I think some advice from Rarity and Cheerilee has helped."

"She sounds like she could use a party to get her to see what it's like for other ponies to be NICE to her. When can I meet her?"

"Ummm. When you're back up to one hundred percent. She can be very . . . taxing."

Pinkie Pie let out a giggle at the words 'one hundred percent' given what she had just gone through, Fluttershy didn't notice as she was quickly covering her own hoof when a unbidden laugh escaped her mouth her body language shifting for a fraction of a moment.

"Fluttershy."

"Yes Pinkie Pie?"

"I . . . I wanna say I'm sorry for making you all worry about me. That isn't what friends are supposed to do. They're supposed to be there for each other, like you were for me, I'm sorry for not seeing it." Pinkie Pie grunted. "Flutteshy can you help out here?"

"Of course." Fluttershy let Pinke use her as a crutch as Pinkie then made her way to a seat by the window she pushed open, breathing in the fresh and directly sunlight. She looked at the town below. Looking the same as it had years ago. But the ponies themselves telling a different story.

"It's beautiful isn't it Fluttershy? I know that fun and games aren't going to be the -only- thing these ponies, that -we- need to heal, but I'm still sure it can help. I think maybe what most of them need, is just someone whose willing to listen and help laugh away their fears . . . maybe Applejack was on the right track."

Fluttershy listened intensely to Pinkie Pie. Was this really Pinkie Pie? She LOOKED like Pinkie Pie, sounded like Pinkie Pie, smelled like Pinkie Pie, and no other pony had that poofy hairstyle. But she seemed . . . more centered, more focused, but still playful.

It reminded Fluttershy how AJ had begun acting after her visit to the princess, and how Rarity had begun to act after she made that solo expedition to the Diamond Dogs. And thunder struck Fluttershy's skull. 'And. Like how I've been acting since I took FlutterCruel in?'

'Pssh I haven't noticed.' FlutterCruel thought back.

'You wouldn't. But you have taught me dear. Those who deserve kindness the least, can also be the ones who -need it- the most.'

'That's dumb!'

'Oh I don't know. I'd say you've been helping me out in your own way dear even though you don't want to admit it.'

FlutterCruel mentally grumbled.

"How the Equestria began? What the future holds?
Why do foals fall in love? What happens to our souls?
Clues to life's mysteries are what we hope to find.
Always reachin' for a reason, searchin' for a sign…"

Fluttershy started hearing the slow paced, distant but warm feeling song. It took her a few seconds to realize it was Pinkie Pie singing.

"To know the unknown,
(It doesn't mean that much to me)
To know the unknown,
(Some secrets are just meant to be)
I don't want all the answers 'cause one thing is true:
As long as my heart beats I'll always love you."

'Ugh! Make her stop!'

'No. Listen very carefully dear. This is the sound of something sung from the heart instead of to it.'

It took a minute for Pinkie Pie to remember the address of her family's rock farm. But when she did it was as clear as day as if the majority of memories not directly related to her cutie mark had been in cold storage. But still she realized, she had a LOT to tell them.

"Are ponies on other worlds? What's the magic in our friends?
What dreams really mean? Do the stars hears us when we wish?
Everybody's wonderin', tryin' to understand.
But all the revelations are castles in the sand."

Fluttershy couldn't help but think how different the song was from Pinkie Pie's normally high paced song with their fast beats and rising notes. But at the same time, Fluttershy couldn't deny this song -was- Pinkie Pie.

"I don't need all the answers 'cause one thing is true:
As long as the earth turns I'll always love you.

You don't have to tell me just why you went away,
Now that you've come back there is nothing more to say.
All I really need to know is that you're here to stay...

So I don't need to know the unknown . . ."

Pinkie Pie got a group hug from the majority of her friends and (foster) family as soon as she came downstairs to fill her empty belly. She let herself have a good cry, not one that last ten seconds with her flooding the room and then instantly turn off, she let it naturally run it's course, and it was indeed a good nice cry. She was sure to tell her family and friends that she wasn't happy or sad, she just felt she needed a good cry right now. She felt like there had always been a blind spot somewhere in her that was gone now. She was whole, and that meant she could guide the Element of Laughter -as- a whole pony, and another truth crossed her mind, 'I'm free.'

~FIN

++++++++

She didn't know why she kept coming up with excuses for herself to go visit the narwhal again. She had what she had wanted from the narwhal and their business was concluded and the more she visited the more likely that her real reason for visiting the narwhal originally would come to light to her father.

She told herself that the narwhal was willing to teach her how to sew properly for free and if she was foalish enough to do that then she should take advantage of the opportunity like her papa always said a smart pony should do. And while a high class pony like herself would never need to -actually- need to know how to sew, her mother had liked it, and it would be annoying to have her muzzle and hooves covered in needle marks again if she chose to produce a second gift of the same sort for her mother.

Yes. There was no way she could be enjoying the company of the narwhal. There was no way a narwhal could remind her of her mother before the doctors took her away.

At least the narwhal politely arranged their meeting times when the blank-flank-marshmellow the narwhal called a little sister was off with her blank-flank friends so she wouldn't have to face them and learn of this humiliating endeavor and likely create another potential security leak.

Though visiting the narwhal did make her feel funny, a strange swimming sensation in her chest that rushed all the way up into her brain that made her -question- herself, which honestly scared her. But she was a high class pony, so she was sure she'd have this sewing thing down pat soon enough.

Though the brown and gray stallion in her dreams (the one with the cutie mark of arrows going off in every directions) kept telling her that visiting the narwhal was a bad thing, that it would corrupt her, damage her, she continued for now.

Not that she was about to ignore what the pony with the red in yellow eyes in her dreams was offering of course.

'You have laughed at the expense of others. You have lied to your own mother. You have been vicious to fillies your own age. You'd sooner die than share what is yours. You have abandoned and been awful to your only friend. You wish for a world where your mother is normal? Where she is well? Betray the narwhal, undo the final lock. Open the door and accepted my majesty.'

And Diamond Tiara pathetically struggled to understand why she had not yet done done so.

+++++

In Hoofington, Equestria

"Yes I'm Twilight Sparkle, is Trixie here?"

-- Most decidedly NOT the end.

Reharmonization Twilight Sparkle: "Turn The Other Flank"

Reharmonized Ponies POV Twilight Sparkle, "Turn The Other Flank"

Greetings and salutations! I am Twilight Sparkle! I know this seems gratuitous since you wouldn't be here if you didn't already know who I am but I feel it sets the tone for things to come. Or maybe I just want something normal and polite to anchor things down. Either way. A lot has happened since we last spoke.

I know you've all heard about how we defeated Discord and once again saved the world. But what those stories -won't- mention for the sake of the little fillies who read those stories is the weeks it's taken for the ponies of Ponyville and Canterlot to recover psychologically from the trauma inflicted by Discord (at least to where they can live their lives again). Yes yes I know, you've heard all this before but laying down the ground work like this helps me think.

And I did some hasty thinking on my part before.

"Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements, back where you began."

In spite of the horrible -horrible- cost of my assumption regarding the Elements being within the hedge maze, I didn't really dwell on it long after. Discord is a -cheater-. What he did to Fluttershy is proof enough. If we had gone to say the Everfree Forest first, or to my old bedroom in Canterlot Castle, Discord would simply have had his 'game' there and if we had tried Ponyville first I -know- he would have simply moved the Elements somewhere else.

So I can not feel guilty for making the wrong choice when no matter what choice I made it would have been jury rigged to be the wrong one!

There is no such thing as fair play with Discord, the only reason we won is because he couldn't comprehend the idea of us forging our friendships back together. He was right. If Celestia hadn't sent me back my own letters to her, I'd have left Ponyville and my friends would have stayed their discorded selves. I shiver when I think of the possibilities of what -would- have happened after.

No, Applejack hasn't told me about -that- part of her visions she apparently had when she met the Princess (don't ask me how she had them) and I'm very glad she has not.

After Applejack told me about somepony who needed my help in Hoofington (after she had just spent the entire day apparently helping half of Ponyville) I had to say I was very surprised. When she told me who it was I had to help, I was even more stunned. Of course I asked how she knew. She said she learned about it during her meeting with Princess Celestia.

I still find it disjointing that Celestia would command an audience with AJ and APPLEBLOOM but not the rest of us. But I had no reason -not- to trust AJ and every reason -to- trust her.

And I was honestly more confounded on the pony who Discord had seemingly taken a -personal- interest in and thus had apparently not been cured by Discord's sealing.

But why her? Okay this IS Discord we're talking about. But while he was as insane as he acted, he was fully capable of being tactical when he wanted to be, and from all accounts, he had corrupted her the same time or soon before that Discord was picking us off one by one.

It made no sense: I know, I know, 'Discord' but seriously, when it came to breaking us there was a method to his madness. So why her of all ponies?

Maybe Discord knew about my encounter with her (like he seemed to know everything about us) and was planning on using her somehow as a plan B in case his first plan of breaking me through my friends didn't work? I doubt I'll ever know for sure, this is Discord I'm talking about and trying to figure him out is usually a waste.

You have no idea how much I wanted to leave as soon as Applejack told me. However I had responsibilities to Ponyville then and there including requested gossamer wing spells for traumatized Pegasi, making sure one of my friends didn't party herself to death, and being one of the least traumatized ponies in Ponyville acting as town organizer while other ran themselves ragged into their work trying to escape the scars Discord had left on them.

So after three weeks, and -finally- getting Pinkie Pie to sleep via cutting off her supplylines of caffeine, I knew I had delayed far too long.

Rainbow Dash -really- wanted to tell me something before I left. I had to tell her it would have to wait until I got back sadly. She looked very crestfallen at that. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but I saw how awful my friends were when they were tainted by Discord for (effectively) a day! A pony who had been that way for the better part of a month? I don't know if I was being oblivious, compassionate, or egocentric, but all I knew was that I had delayed going to help her more than I ever should have. I know what the others thought of her and they had every right to, but there was something too painfully familiar in that stuck-up full of herself loud-mouth drama-queen for me to just turn a blind eye to her and just brush her off as beyond saving. And it wasn't like I was going to leave -any- pony to suffer as Discord's legacy if I had a say in it.

Rainbow Dash left looking none too happy and more than a little flustered. I really wish I had two of me.

"Rarity, I don't know how long I'm going to be gone. Mayor Mare seems to have recovered from the worst of it, but just in case I'm leaving all my notes and plans with you." I floated over the best looking saddle bag I owned (knowing Rarity would have been even more likely to complain if it was anything less) full of scrolls and books.

"What?" Rarity's jaw dropped.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be gone! Could be hours, could be days. If anything disruptive happens I need the most organized pony I know besides me. Spike is staying here and you know he'll be more than willing to help you with anything you need. Now there's a couple spell scrolls in there wired so any -adult- unicorn can use them so don't worry about Sweetie Belle getting her hooves on them too much, on second thought, do worry because those took a long time to make and I'd rather not to have spend the time to make replacements. They're mostly just for some spells I've been requested for on a weekly basis, hopefully I'll be back before-"

"Twilight!" Rarity interrupted at last her manners pushed to the limit. "How can you just drop me this on me? And I'd appreciate some details on this 'mission' or whatever it is you're up to."

"I told you before coming here I'm just going to help someone Discord hurt as badly as us... . you're my only hope."

"And you expect me to hold onto your things while you're gone and I act out any duty of yours related to magic out of the goodness of my heart?"

"Yes, Element of Generosity."

Rarity said in a completely even voice. "Blast you Twilight Sparkle."

"Look it's all just in case. If anything major turns up just have Spike dragon-mail me. I hope I'm not going to be gone all that long and I'm giving these to you just in case I can't be back in time for something unexpected."

Rarity sighed, "Alright. But I'll have you know that you're not the only one whose taken on extra responsibilities for the sake of others right now."

"I'm very sorry Rarity, but I'm pulled in a lot of directions as it is. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can!"

We nuzzled each other and I raced home to pack a few essentials. I wished I had been to Hoofington before, then with some intense effort on my part I could have just teleported there. But with nothing to directly visualize except a few maps I didn't want to risk teleporting inside the wall of a newly built gift-shop. Normally there were safely measures built in to prevent that sort of disaster, but the greater the distance the more likely mistakes could happen if you weren't being prepared for on the other end. Realistically I should have spent time trying to get Hoofington to prepare for my arrival, but there had been so much in Ponyville that needed doing, so very much. After Applejack told me and I accepted, Princess Celestia sent news ahead of time that I would be coming -eventually- to see my -patient- but I had neglected to organize my arrival. Yes, I have been feeling overworked, what precisely was your first clue?

As it was, Celestia WAS willing to provide me some extra fast Royal Pegasi transport so at least the trip there would be less time consuming then the trip back via teleportation (yes I figured I could pull it off).

"Are you secure Lady Sparkle?" One asked in a ten-hut voice once we were in the air.

I checked myself over, and wondered about the addition of 'seat belts' in the chariot but made sure I was indeed 'securely' fastened.

"Yes I am." I answered politely.

"Are you sure?" Asked the second one.

If I was a paranoid pony I'd think they were kidnapping me. "Absolutely."

"Then hold on please."

Hold onto what?

And then I screamed like a little filly.

These weren't the normal Pegasi troopers who normally carted very important ponies to and from Canterlot, these boys were born and bred to move like lightning!

The wind pressed my lips and eyelids open and I shed tears from the gale force and wondered whose bright idea it was not to install a wind screen in this thing!

These boys could have made the Wonderbolts if they wanted! Instead they had opted to try and give nice lavender unicorns heart-attacks! I couldn't really enjoy the landscape below or the mountain ranges in the distance due to spending the first few minutes screaming my lungs out that my caring and considerate transport were perfectly happy to ignore. Then I finally calmed down enough to simply hang on for dear life, even though I was indeed properly secured in the modified chariot. I swear on Princess Celestia's Cutie Mark, I did not cry out for mommy!

I will not bore you with details of being dragged along through the air at near Sonic Rainboom speeds. I shall instead inform you that my transport was kind and considerate enough to slow down gradually when we approached our destination so I wouldn't go splat against the front of the golden chariot.

Realistically I suppose I should have been -very- grateful that my ride was as swift as it was, I wanted to get there fast after all. But I was too busy being grateful I had chosen on a whim not to bring any unsecured, non-gravity-immune books with me as I normally would for the 'long trip' through the air.

For a second I thought we had gone in a big loop: a relatively small town with a much more impressive building almost overlooking it in the dead of night. Then I realized what I was seeing wasn't Canterlot, nor were the streets and buildings below me Ponyville.

I shuddered almost when I realized just how much alike Hoofington was to Ponyville. Instead of Canterlot overshadowing it in the distance was a fairly impressive magic school.

I'd learn later that while, like Ponyville, it had been founded by Earth Ponies, unicorn settlers and immigrants had long since supplanted the original population into a minority.

It was rather strange seeing so many unicorns among architecture done mostly in Earth Pony style.

Princess Celestia had provided an address and who it was I should expect. And I wondered, was this really where she had come from? The Pegasi asked if I was alright right after landing and after disengaging myself from that accursed chariot and after concluding I'd live (but not live well) they were quick to depart leaving Princess Celestia's personal envoy and apprentice in the middle of a little nowhere town this time without her best (and at the time only) friend to help her along.

Thankfully Hoofington was like Ponyville in another way, the locals were overwhelmingly welcoming and friendly (apparently having more of a night life than Ponyville), though I wasn't assaulted by a congo line of ponies who seemed eager to use the word 'friend' at least once in their introduction and lined up perfectly with the personality profiles needed to use the Elements of Harmony.

I've begun to wonder greatly if Princess Celestia arranged for my friends to be assigned their positions in Ponyville before ordering me to 'make some friends' where I'd have inevitable met each of them. It was hardly beyond her to go over the psychological profile of every pony in Equestria then pull strings for them to be assigned or moved to Ponyville. Though Applejack's family had been in Ponyville apparently for generations: both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had moved from Cloudsdale, Pinkie Pie came from whatever it was she did, and finally Rarity acted sometimes out of place among the rest of Ponyville's locals.

I didn't know if I should feel awed or played like a chess piece if this was true, but the Princess had never had anything but Equestria and more importantly its ponies' best interests at heart, and decided that if it were true I should just be impressed what a thousand years of planning and preparation could ... A thousand years? What about decades? Had Celestia chosen me as her student -in particular- for curing Princess Luna of Nightmare Moon?

I almost stopped dead in my tracks as I had a momentary existential crisis regarding fate and free will and really wished Spike was there to give me one of his layman's terms remarks.

In a flash of paranoia I wondered she had -bred- bloodlines for the express purpose of creating ponies who'd perfectly align with the elements before I stopped myself and remembered that the Princess Celestia I knew could never be so detached even for the sake of all of Equestria.

I breathed in deep taking in Princess Luna's cold night air. This was absurd, I had to focus before I accidently drove myself crazy. No matter what games the Princess played, I knew her love for me and those under her care wasn't a performance and that was enough.

Following some very kind directions from a random unicorn I arrived at a rather mundane house. It was not run down by any stretch of the imagination, nor was it in any kind of disrepair or destitution. But it just seemed so, normal, the kind of house you'd give a glance to and never think about the first time. It was not dressed up fancy nor did it have any quirky traits that would draw attention to itself. It was a single story home with a front and backyard and a atypical front door.

I -really- didn't like the idea of showing up this late at night (or was that early in the morning?) but I figured I had delayed them long enough, and I really didn't want to go to the trouble of finding a room to rent out yet. And maybe I felt a little guilty at making them wait as long as I had, and wondered if these delays had in fact somehow made her condition incurable.

I bit the crossbow bolt and telekinetically knocked on the door.

I waited a minute, wondering if I should just come back in the morning when the residents weren't likely to be angry with me when I saw a soft blue glow behind a window come to the front door.

"Who is it?" Said a strangely familiar female voice behind the door. She sounded groggy but not really hostile for having been woken up in the middle of the night.

I stumbled over what I had been planning to say. "I was told, I'm from Ponyville, I was sent to look at who was tainted by Discord. I'm very very VERY sorry for taking so long! I deeply apologize! And I can understand if you hate me but please, at least let me try! I really want to help her I really do! But there were just so many in Ponyville who needed help too and-"

"Are you Twilight Sparkle?" The mare voice on the other side interrupted.

I was shaken out of my mea cupla, "Yes I'm Twilight Sparkle, is Trixie here?"

The door opened and I was greeted on the other side with a light blue unicorn with a silver mane and kind violet eyes. "Yes she is."

"Trixie?" I gasped out.

The unicorn shook her head gentle and apologetically and showed me her flank which showed a pair of fairy wings connected to a book. "Oh no, I'm Nyxie. I'm her sister."

I recovered slightly. "Trixie, I mean, I didn't know she had a twin."

"Oh none of us are twins. We all just happened to look more alike then most siblings do. Puck and Robin don't look nearly as much alike as we do."

I tried to stay afloat the sea of confusion and incomplete information. "Puck and who?"

"Oh I'm sorry." Nyxie bowed her head a few times. "Puck and Robin Goodfellow are my brothers. They don't live in Hoofington anymore and aren't here right now though they did visit a couple weeks back and asked us to keep them informed."

"Who is 'us?' "

"Welllll~." Nyxie turns up her eyes in thoughts for a moment, "You're here and we're all here anyway so I guess now's as good a time for introductions as any."

I opened my mouth to question that logic as Nyxie floated a copper pot and ladle towards herself and banged them together in quick succession. "EVERYONE! WAKE UP! THE DOCTOR FROM CANTERLOT IS FINALLY HERE! FRONT AND CENTER! LET'S DO THIS!"

Throughout the not-humble-yet-not-grand dwelling the ruckus of ponies falling or jumping out of bed assaulted my ears along with noises I wasn't sure I wanted to identify and before the noise of the ladle had a chance to finish ringing in my ears I was staring in astonishment.

Three other ponies galloped into the room a couple trying to shake off sleep while simultaneously trying to perform some simple cartwheels or somersaults before lining up along side Nyxie.

I couldn't take my eyes off them! I was in a room with four Trixies! Okay, I had only had this nightmare once or twice before. The first being when my friends and I had that 'blind taste cook off' and I was very sure what I got was Rainbow Dash's cooking. Maybe the pegasus would wake me up soon.

"Sound off!" Declared Nyxie holding her hooves up like Pinkie at the climax of her 'Evil Enchantress' song. The others assumed equally Super-Pony-Rangers-esque poses. I could tell they were a few years apart in age, but I still found myself befuddled.

"Presenting Mixie The Eldest!" Her cutie mark was a a pale moon with the outline of a witch flying against it.

"Pixie! The Second Eldest!" A black and white pan flute.

"Nyxie! The Second Youngest!"

"And Lexy! The Youngest!" Half a tragedy and half a comedy mask. (But unlike another pony I had once read about these masks were black and white.)

"In attendance!" Shouted Nyxie as if calling out to an audience. "The MidSummer-Night Sisters!"

When no fireworks occurred I began to suspect I wasn't dreaming after all as the three other ponies huffed and slowly broke out of their poses.

"I still think the name is corny." Said Pixie breaking pose first.

"The name is fine it's the poses that are corny." Said apparently Lexy looking at her apparent sister.

Looking at four Trixies chatting among themselves was threatening to shut my brain down but I managed to keep going.

"So you're Dr. Sparkle?" Asked Mixie trotting up to me. I finally realized I was still in the front door and slowly trotted in.

"Erm, it's just Twilight Sparkle actually, I'm not a doctor."

Pixie was in my face a little too much in an instant. "Then why are you here to help Trixie? Nyxie just said you were the doctor from Canterlot!"

For some reason, I was sweating. "I -am- from Canterlot, and I -am- here to help Trixie. A doctor can't cure what she has. So that's why I'm here." She continued to stare at me. "I know what I'm doing. I've done this multiple times before without trouble. I'm, I'm sure I'll have your, er, sister back to normal in no time."

"Hmm." Pixie continued to stare at me as Mixie then pulled her away.

"I dunno, I'm starting to like her the way she is," Said Lexy sitting on her haunches. "She doesn't try to get out of anything we want to do together with her. She's a great listener now. And--"

"LEXY! That's not funny!" Said the three other together like was a conditioned reflex.

" ... Only joking." Lexy defended meekly.

"Seriously, you can cure her right?" Nyxie asked almost pleading with rather un-Trixie-like big eyes.

"I'm absolute sure I can." I said with as much confidence as I could muster. "But I'm sad I say I wasn't given many details. What is she like now?"

"She's like a doll." Mixie said flatly.

My addled brain responded on its own. "She likes dressing up and tea parties?"

"No." Mixie responded a tiny bit harshly. "I mean like a -doll-. She barely responds to anything! Pixie has to keep an eye on her to make sure she feeds herself. And when we can get her to respond to anything, she goes through the motions like a -robot!- We're just lucky she can still go to the little filly's room by herself! Talking to her is like talking to a rock that happened to look like my little sister."

Trying to process all this information at once, I grasped at the last thing. "Little sister?"

"Trixie is in the middle." Pixie offered helpfully.

I managed to file away that piece of information. I think I was beginning to understand something, but I wasn't sure what. The overnight trip without sleep from Ponyville to here was beginning to take its toll as I spouted out the obvious.

"You all sure look alike."

"Thanks." Said Pixie politely. "When we go outside we actually like to hide our cutie marks. It's Lexy's idea of a joke. And the locals have turned it into a game to try and guess whose who when they see us ... Trixie never really took part."

"Unless I blackmailed her." Said Lexy.

"Or I guilt tripped her." Said Mixie.

"Or I bribed her." Jumped in Pixie.

"Or I just asked really really nicely." Nyxie said last looking at her sisters with an unreadable expression.

"Point is: she really wasn't a team player," Said Mixie simply, "but I'd still rather have -her- than ... what she is now." Mixie's face contorted in discomfort as she stumbled over the second half of her sentence.

"I'll get on it as soon as I-" I let out a very large yawn. My tiredness was catching up with me faster and faster.

Nyxie trotted up to me and nuzzled me in the face, "Maybe you should get some sleep first. I don't think ... Trixie is going to be any worse tomorrow morning."

"Naw I'm fine." I said before another yawn came out and my eyelids had mysterious begun to turn to lead.

"Uh. Seriously," said Mixie in a polite but slightly forceful voice. "We'd rather have you perform the spell or whatever you need to do when you're awake and won't accidentally turn my little sister into a potted plant."

"Oh don't be silly," I said my legs slowly taking on the consistency of pudding. "The only ponies I've ever turned into potted plants were my parents, and they so totally went back to normal afterwards. I think having me chosen as the goddess' Chosen One offset any chance of a pathological fear of their own child from forming. Which is really cool cause though I think of her momjesty like a mother to me, I still love my parents and my real mom too. I know I don't talk to'em much but hey, as a filly becomes a mare she's expected to strike out on her own right?"

"Right," said Trixie-With-Witch-Cutie-Mark. "So you're asleep on your hooves now. Got it. Lexy go get a blanket from the cupboard."

"Alright," said Trixie-With-Mask-Cutie-Mark.

Trixie-With-Flying-Book-Cutie-Mark led me to a nice comfy couch.

"I mean can you believe some Earth Ponies? I know their magic isn't as visible as ours or flying-ponies, but just because we don't use our hooves all the time doesn't mean magic isn't straining hard work just like plowing a field is dangit! You know what I mean?" I asked the four much nicer Trixies, not really sure which one I was talking to. And wondering where that thought had popped up. Likely the same place all these Trixies came from.

"Right right." Said Trixie-With-Flying-Book-Cutie-Mark in a voice that strangely reminded me of how Fluttershy spoke some times as I fell onto the surprisingly comfy couch and closed my eyes for a bit. Maybe I should rest for just a tiny bit after the party marathon with Pinkie, organizing the psychologist appointments for nearly all of Ponyville, casting that wing spell again, and travel far ... across the sky.

I don't know why, but, my dreams felt, 'incomplete' that night. Like they were just words floating in a black misty sea of confusion, stunted, uninspired. Not wanting to grow into complete sentences or images. And I was swimming in the mess of it. Was I really so tired I couldn't even DREAM properly? Maybe Pinkie Pie wasn't the only one who needed some rest whether she liked it or not. Maybe it was all the Trixie look-alikes I saw, but I did dream a groggy image of my filly days, listening to one of Celestia's one on one lessons. Except I wasn't alone in this broken half-dream. There was another Trixie sitting next to me, but with a cutie mark that was a color inverted version of mine. I know dreams are supposedly often a reflection of subconscious, but if this dream held any meaning, it was lost on me.
When I woke up the next morning (maybe, I felt like I had slept a week), the sun was already high in the sky. And I saw the youngest of Trixie's apparent sisters, the one with the mask cutie mark, what was her name again? Flexy? Bexley? Ugh. Who invented specialized words for personal names anyway? The vast majority of ponies were perfectly happy with compound nouns for names... . Right. Celestia wasn't exactly a common noun. Right: 'I am be dumb unicorn.' I'll change the subject now.

I just hoped I dreamed the part where I shot my mouth off last night (and digging myself in a very deep hole) were just part of my convoluted dreams last night.

Why couldn't it have been that dream with that colt I dated exactly two times when I entered the flux between filly to marehood?

"Good morning. You're, Laxy?"

"Good morning. My name is Lexy."

"Oh I'm so so sorry, normally I absorb details like a dry sponge, I didn't think I was -that- tired last night."

Lexy looked at me slyly. "Did you know you apparently sometimes spout magical formulas in your sleep?"

"I'm pretty sure it's impossible for me to be that tired."

Lexy shrugged. "Believe whatcha wanna believe."

"So ... " I finally remembered my manners. "Thank you for letting me sleep in your house last night. It was very generous of you considering how long I've let your sister suffer."

"I actually wanted to wake you up with an exploding paper bag, and Pixie wanted to some nice loudmusic to wake you up by, but Nyxie convinced Mixie to have us let you sleep in."

"I'll be sure to tell her thank you." I said getting up and stretching muscles.

"She's in the kitchen if you want, it's about time to feed Trixie anyway."

I wondered for a moment if Lexy had spoken like someone going about the routine of feeding a pet. Then I saw the pony's body language wasn't callousness, it was numbness.

"It's my turn to fetch her, hold on." Lexy walked out of the apparent living room as I got my baring. Now that it wasn't dark as night, I saw the house had clearly once been a dwelling meant for Earth Ponies, but had been modified since to service the basic yet different long-term needs of a unicorn family. Many things were placed where telekinesis was the only way of reaching them. I wasn't that shocked or really alarmed, families moved in and out of houses and different ponies had different needs.

"Trixie! Time to come out!" Came Lexy's shout. I turned my head and curiously looked down the short hallway Lexy had vanished down and saw her in front of a doorway which Lexy waited a moment before then pushing it open and going inside.

I couldn't help myself and went down the hall and looked inside the doorway. It was a room with three bunk beds and one single. The single looked like it could be, or had been, connected to one of the others if need be. But I didn't have time to take in any other real details as my attention got drawn totally to the unicorn Lexy was pulling out of the single bed.

Of all the unicorns I had seen in this house so far, this one looked and acted the least like Trixie. The fact she wasn't wearing Trixie's hat and cape had nothing to do with it. As Lexy pulled her out of bed, I saw indeed Trixie's cutie mark on this mare's flanks, but that just made it more jarring. The pony seemed to be constantly looking down, not making eye contact with anypony, her expression was a broken melancholy that never wavered. Then I saw how the pony moved.

I remembered a mechanical pony I had seen shown off by one of my classmates in Canterlot, with its halting movements and its stiff limbs, its lifeless expression, the way it moved on its own but with no life. But that pony had been tin plated, and I could easily see the key and the gears between the joints.

Here all I saw was coat and hide, breath being taken in and out, and those exact same lifeless movements.

I swallowed my gasp of shock and alarm and galloped straight back to the living room.

Lexy must have heard me, but she made no reference to it as she led Trixie into the living room. Trixie didn't even look at me though there was no way she could have missed me.

"Come on Trixie, Nyxie's waiting for us." Lexy said gently as she prodded along the pony with muted versions of her own colors.

I tried my best not to be rude, not to crowd Trixie and not to make it look like I was trying to keep my distance.

I followed them into a kitchen that Nyxie had some places already set, and had was just finishing drying a couple other plates.

"Good morning Trixie!" She said happily and moved up to her big sister. "How are you this morning?"

Trixie didn't respond.

"Well I'm sure you'll feel better after you have something in your stomach." Nyxie said with a smile.

The breakfast was generic scrambled eggs all around. I didn't mind it.

Trixie didn't use her telekinesis, I wasn't that shocked. Trixie used her face like an Earth pony. The other two didn't make any complaint about Trixie's apparent lack of unicorn table manners. I'd be told later they had tried exactly once to try and feed her manually, and her jaw had closed like an steel trap until they stopped. Lexy had apparently tried to simply close off her breathing passages to force her to open her mouth, but that hadn't ended well.

"Trixie this is Twilight Sparkle. She's the expert we told you about whose here to help you. Twilight Sparkle, this is my big sister Trixie."

Trixie's eyeballs barely shifted in my direction and I noticed it was like she was trying to soundlessly mouth my name but her jaw didn't want to comply.

"Er, nice to ... meet you Trixie." I said doing my best to be politely.

As I ate in silence and Nyxie kept trying to coax some reaction from her sister. I didn't want to look at Trixie but I could pull my eyes away either. It was like looking at some grotesque puppet show as a pony's body was moved along with invisible strings.

"So you came from Canterlot?" Lexy asked looking at me up and down as if trying to figure out some tell tale sign.

"Technically I came from Ponyville, but I was effectively raised in Canterlot, I've spent the last year in Ponyville for, er, personal studies." Admitting I was studying friendship was sure to make me blush.

"Oh I see. No need to say more." Nyxie said with a wink and smile and I had no clue what that was about.

"Where are your sisters?" I had to ask.

Lexy said. "Pixie has a rehearsal today, if you can call it that. And Mixie is out earning her keep."

I struggled not to blink at the esoteric answers from the pony who had only just recently crossed the border between filly and mare. Trixie acted as though she hadn't heard one word of what was being spoke around her. Let alone that the pony who had saved her life and at the same time shattered her carefully crafted illusion of being the greatest mage in all of Equestria was sitting right next to her.

With a full belly and not bothering with normal morning grooming I couldn't take it anymore.

"Trixie. Stand here please." I said out of the blue in a slightly forceful tone.

Trixie complied with all the obedience of an automaton.

"Stay still." I said as if she was going anywhere. Trixie's muscles locked in place instantly.

Nyxie and Lexy started and just looked on, daring to hope.

The memory spell conforms itself to each pony, making them relive the memories that truly mattered most to them and the memories that had helped shape them into who they are. Of course that's just the crude mechanical definition and isn't even fully accurate. As much I wouldn't be the first to admit it, it had always felt like to me that the memory spell was more an intense light and a strong wind, piercing the darkness and dispelling the black clouds inside my friends' hearts.

It had woken Applejack up from her self induced haze of not wanting to face reality. It had pulled Pinkie Pie up from the emotional pit Discord had tricked her into digging herself into. It had helped remind Rarity of what was actually important to her. And had it made Fluttershy remember why she cared for others (though I admitted something had felt very strange when I had cured her but I couldn't put my hoof on what). And had it had helped Rainbow Dash remember her friends -mattered- to her (again, something felt weird when I touched her, but it was different from Fluttershy).

I gentle touched my horn to Trixie's to get better magical conduction (like I had with Rarity) and let the spell flow from me into Trixie.

'GET OUT~!!!'

A thunderous roar erupted from the blackness, breaking the connection and physically knocking me onto the floor! I reactively felt my horn to make sure it was still in one piece from the backlash. It was.

Whatever that had been, it wasn't Trixie. Or I hoped it wasn't.

Of course Trixie's sisters checked on her first before me. Trixie shuddered a few times, but otherwise she was unchanged, her colors hadn't returned.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Nyxie asked.

I answered, shaken myself. "I tried to use the memory spell to cure her but ... something came between us. No, not between, it was like something pushed me out!" Nyxie helped me to my hooves.

"Trixie ..." Lexy's voice broke. "Come on. This ... this isn't funny ... don't, don't you -want- to be better? You do right? Yeah, yeah I know you do! So, so just let the nice mare help you please?"

She might as well have been trying to talk to a wall.

"FINE! See if I care!" Lexy snarled at the unresponsive Trixie her tone the complete opposite of her words. The younger unicorn left the room in a gallop.

Nyxie looked like she WANTED SO BADLY to say something, anything, but couldn't find the words as Lexy left. Finally she turned to me and Trixie.

"Are you hurt? Is Trixie hurt?" Nyxie asked politely.

"I'm fine. Trixie is no worse than she was a minute ago."

"I see." Nyxie whispered.

I looked at Trixie. This had not been the plan at all. I had hoped to be back in Ponyville in no time. Rarity was just in case. I figured if something here went wrong, it would have to do with me not being ABLE to cast the spell, or perhaps just spend some days helping her recover from being discorded so long as a way of saying I was sorry for taking so long (not that Trixie would have done more than complain but still). I hadn't picked out or CHOSEN the memories that had healed my friends, they had, in their own way, done that on their own.

And whatever had kicked me out before I had even gotten a hoof in the front door, was more than likely still waiting if I tried to make another attempt. In other words, I needed a new spell. There was the academy nearby, but I needed my own research materials more than anything and the best supplies could be ordered from Canterlot.

Things had gotten much more complicated.

I knew the smart thing to do would be to simply hand Trixie over to the experts, those with magic experience that outweighed my ability and power. To those who knew how a pony's head worked better than one who spent more time with books than with other ponies. That was the smart thing to do. The rational thing to do. It was also logical and practical, and therefore the Twilight Sparkle thing to do.

"How soon until all your sisters are home again?" I asked.

"This afternoon I think."

"I'll wait until then. I think my best chance for helping Trixie is to take her back to my facilities in Ponyville."

" ... You'll be able to help her?" Nyxie asked her eyes on the listless unicorn.

"I'm absolutely sure."

"Alright then." Nyxie said as if that settled everything.

And with that, I had told my biggest fattest lie since the parasprite infestation and made the most selfish, self-serving, self-centered, self-absorbed, self-important decision of my entire life!

And I was honestly not sure why I had.

+++++

I spent the rest of the day asking Nyxie questions about Trixie. Sadly, since my experience with ponies wasn't exactly the best, I barely knew what questions to ask! And not knowing what questions to ask is just about the worst thing when you're trying to understand something or someone. I did manage to squeeze out a few drops of revelation that weren't just dates and statistics.

Nyxie had Trixie 'make herself comfortable' in the living room, where she sat in one of the chairs and stared out at nothing like a filly's doll.

"Oh mom and dad loved us all. And we did our best to support each other as well."

"What was she like back then?"

"Well she always seemed frustrated over something or other."

"I'll admit sometimes it was hard to tell what she was thinking."

"I swear to Celestia, I've never seen Trixie look so happy as when dad said they now had the bits for her to attend the magic academy."

"The only time she seemed upset was when Mixie said Trixie would fit right in."

"Trixie wasn't doing badly in any of her classes. Mom said Trixie was upset she wasn't doing fantastic in any of them."

"I think we all realized Trixie had problems when she tried to run away to join the circus. Mixie told her we were five parts of a whole and we should support each other. Trixie snarled that was the problem."

"Her teachers were all disappointed when she began to abandon her studies. They were all sad to see her go. Our parents were just shocked. She ended up giving her scholarship to Mixie. She became White-Beard The Gray's apprentice."

"Of course we were all overjoyed when Trixie got her cutie mark! I couldn't remember when I last saw her so -happy-! For the first time in so long she wasn't sullen! She was producing illusions and pyrotechnics out the woozoo at her Cute-ceañera, she even got Pixie to think Pixie was a baby dragon. Yes she provided the entertainment at her own party, we didn't want to stop her."

"She just left town one day. She said her goodbyes and left. It was very sudden. It was strange too. It wasn't like her act was growing stale or anything."

"She visits, usually for the Summer Sun or Winter Night festivals, except when she thinks she can make it big in one of the larger cities that year, and she shows up for the occasional birthday. The last time she visited out of season was when she made it for Master White-Beard's funeral. She spent most of it hiding from the rest of us. She looked at White-Beard just once and ran out of the room."

"All four of us actually visited Ponyville a while back, we heard our sister was going to do one of her shows there but we missed it entirely ... Mixie was not happy. Hey. YOU said you spent all of last year in Ponyville! Did you see her show?"

I did my best not to put on some forced fake grin. "I ... only really caught the end of it. My friends didn't talk about it much but they were really too emotionally charged up about it afterwards. She left in the middle of the night that same evening so I didn't have a chance to catch a full performance." Please please please PLEASE forgive me for twisting truth like this Applejack! For some reason, this tasted worse than the bald face lie I had said.

"Too bad. Trixie really knows how to put on a show and she's a great story teller when she tries to be and puts more substance than glitter into her act."

I smiled and nodded. I decided I would not tell Nyxie how Trixie had created a complete and total lie of a tall tale of Trixie defending her hometown from an Ursa Major and had been spreading it from town to town to increase her popularity and had been passing it off as reality.

Nyxie continued to answer my questions and I didn't stop her when she began to go off in different directions that proved more natural and helpful then most of my questions.

"I keep saying we should join up into one big theater troop, but Trixie keeps saying she works best alone, Mixie doesn't want to be tied down, and Pixie's scared it'll seal off other chances for her. We've never performed all together and Trixie actually got upset when Mixie suggested Pixie and Lexy could learn a few of Trixie's tricks to spice up their performances. She left town that time before we even knew she was leaving."

"We didn't even KNOW she was in town! I was stunned when I found her! I was actually rather happy until I noticed how lifeless she was. I was worried she was hurt or something or was sick ... then Discord came to town and ... I'd rather not talk about that outside of family, sorry."

"I understand." I nodded simply, slightly exhausted from the extensive questions and answers session.

When the two other unicorns came home, Nyxie had taken the time to call two others. One was a middle aged black unicorn mare with wrinkles and a silver mane who introduced herself as Morgan. The other was an dark blue Earth Pony with a lighter blue mane named Gorlois. Nyxie introduced them as her and her sisters' parents.

I was surprised. But I thought nothing of it. That theory of mixed couples creating 'magical-inferior' unicorns had been disproved for over fifty years along with that 'pure-species' drivel.

All of her family took the chance to kiss Trixie goodbye. Gorlois and Morgan kept looking me in the eyes asking I was sure I'd be able to help their child but I never broke under their gaze (somehow).

Lexy was last, who had to be pushed to give Trixie a hug, she went though the motions but she figured if Trixie couldn't even tell then what was the point?

Of all the things going wrong, this teleportation back to Ponyville was on the last thing on my list I was spending time worrying about. And miracles of miracles, nothing did go wrong! No sudden lunar eclipse throwing us into another universe, no mind swap, no splitting us into our good and evil sides. In a simple flash of light as I visualized (along with some tricky mathematical calculations done in advance) where I was and where I wanted myself and Trixie to be. We were everywhere, then nowhere, then everywhere again, and finally in my library in Ponyville. I really didn't want anyone to see Trixie who didn't have to. The unicorn whose tall tale had inspired two idiots to lure an Ursa Minor into town might not be well received.

"Twilight! You're back! I'm so happy and-what is SHE doing here-?!"

"I missed you too Spike." I said to him as softly as I could.

The joy of seeing his de facto foster parent was rather disrupted by seeing the lying smart alec who had taunted and emotionally hurt said de facto foster parent, making Spike's head swim. "Twilight, I missed you too, but why is -TRIXIE- here?"

"She's the patient I told you I was going to visit in Hoofington."

"What?! Why would Discord waste his time on -her?-"

I didn't know if it was good or bad thing that I could swear I saw Trixie's head lower a fraction of an inch.

"Seriously Twilight! You said it was someone who showed all the signs of being someone who Discord did one of his one-on-one games with! I figured you were gonna go see Princess Luna in secret or somethin'! Not her! She's gotta be faking it! No way and no how that Discord would throw away his time on someone like her! Even he wasn't that crazy!"

Okay, that time I know I saw her head lower just a tiny bit.

"Spike, that's enough, you're not helping."

"I'm trying to help -you- Twilight! This is like you telling Pinkie that she was just jealous of Gilda! She's just bad news!"

Her head didn't lower this time, but it was like her expression become ever so slightly more blank.

I put my hoof down. "I said that was enough Spike!"

Spike looked at me in shock. I remembered how Trixie had humiliated Rarity during her show, and wondered if that was adding fuel to the fire for Spike. "Twilight? Don't tell me you're defending her!"

" ..." I breathed in and out trying to figure out what to say. "I spoke with her parents and her sisters and I've been observing her since this morning. There's no way this is one of Trixie's performances."

"Why? Too good? And they're all likely in on-"

"Spike." I said gritting my teeth in a low, calm voice that held back a volcano that threatened to erupt.

"Never mind." He responded meekly.

I sighed. "I need you and Owlowiscious to both look after her with me."

"What? You mean I play to servant-boy to ... uh, why hasn't she said anything yet?" Spike asked it finally dawning on him that Trixie staying quiet this long was as illogical as Pinkie Pie standing still for the same amount of time.

I did my best not to sound sarcastic. "I am fairly certain that just as Discord reversed the traits of our Elements, he reversed Trixie's most obvious trait, in other words, her confidence."

"Fine fine. Just cast the memory spell so she remembers that she's supposed to be acting like she's Queen of the World and throw her out the door!"

"I tried that. It didn't work."

"That's just proof it's all-"

"Spike if you don't stop it I'll throw -you- out of the front door!"

"Twilight! It's Trixie! Remember? One of the bad guys?"

"DISCORD is one of the bad guys! Nightmare Moon was one of the bad guys! She's a pony who needs help and I'll do my best to give it with or without you!"

Spike looked at me in total shock before finally speaking. "Twilight, you know I'm behind you one hundred percent on anything, but, I'm worried you're just helping someone whose just gonna hurt you for helping them."

"That's a very real possibly if I can get Trixie back to herself." I sighed.

"Then why?"

"Short answer? No one I've met who breaths oxygen deserves what Discord did to my friends and everyone in Ponyville. And I'm not making an exception just because it's someone who cared less about making friends then me. Long answer? ... There's a family who want their sister back, they can't do it on their own. I'm the only mortal pony whose managed to break Discord's taint on another pony."

"Then just ask Princess Celestia to do it and we can get this over with. I'm sure she can do it while having tea!"

"No."

"What do you mean no? You really think she'd turn you down?"

"It's not that Spike."

"Then what is it dangit-?! Haven't we had enough complications around here already?"

"I know we have Spike ... "

"Then why add more to the bundle? Doesn't Ponyville have enough problems without you bringing in someone else's?"

"Because I already promised myself I was going to. And I promised Trixie's family. And Celestia's been busy healing everyone's scars in Canterlot. She -trusted- me to help those in Ponyville. And last I checked. That's where Trixie is right now."

"Fine. Teleport her to Canterlot and THEN she'll be Celestia's problem and not ours."

"Stop talking about her like she's not in the room Spike. And I'm not going to cheat. And ... personally? I think there's a part of me that's wondering if it understands Trixie better than others do. You're right Spike. She's a liar, a blowhard, a drama queen, arrogant, and just maybe an egotist who enjoys humiliating others but can't stand it when it's done to her." I looked Spike in the eyes. "And that is PRECISELY why I am going to help her!"

Spike didn't really have much to say after that.

++++

So for the next couple of days Spike and Owlowiscious took care of Trixie who I had stay in my bedroom and myself on the couch (Spike I said I was -really- taking things too far with that one). Trixie was as quiet as a mouse, and it got progressively more disturbing. There was no way in creation that Trixie should be even more quiet than Fluttershy.

I researched everything I could about the memory spell I used to cure my friends, what information Celestia was willing to share about Discord, and I borrowed a LOT of psychology books after I had exhausted the ones in my library from various sources.

I knew there was no way in Pony Hades that I could keep Trixie a secret and I had no intention of trying to hide her if someone asked, but I didn't volunteer the information either. My friends were all happy to see me back and there was no disaster in Ponyville during my short absence. I explained the pony I was helping was staying at my place.

Pinkie Pie was still sleeping it off, and was that day after that, and the day after that! We were beginning to get a little worried. On the plus side, with the super intrusive Pinkie Pie out of the way for the time being I figured there was no way Trixie would be forcibly revealed to the others. I am the world's stupidest brainiac pony.

I explained the pony I was helping was staying at my place. I repeat. I explained the pony I was helping was staying at my place. And do I really need to remind you who my friends are? Fluttershy wouldn't hesitate to help just about anyone except Discord (and I am fifty-fifty on that one). Rarity would consider it just good manners. Applejack would be a good neighbor. And Rainbow Dash would want to see what the big deal was with all her friends in one place.

At first I reminded myself that Fluttershy was not leaving Pinkie Pie's side going as far as to ask one of the Cakes to stand in for her JUST long enough for her to fly home, feed and clean her animals and fly back at speeds that Rainbow Dash found impressive. And Rainbow Dash was counting the time Pinkie was asleep like her waking up would signal the beginning of something both wonderful and terrible (No jokes please).

And Applejack and Rarity's own projects and tending to their own loved ones kept them away ... for exactly two days ... Of course they'd coordinate their efforts to show up at the same time. Of course they'd be unannounced, and why not? We had an unspoken open doors policy with each other as true as a Pinkie Pie Swear.

Believe it or not. I did not panic. Nor did I make any pathetic childish attempts to hide Trixie from them. Experience had taught me the utter futility of such things anyway.

I simply led them up to my room and opened the door and let the cards fall where they may.

Rarity gasped in surprise. Applejack just looked on sadly.

Then I realized I had been a complete donkey this entire time. Applejack had been the one who TOLD ME about Trixie in the first place! OF COURSE SHE'D KNOW! I felt like crawling to Princess Celestia and humbly asking if I could restart my tutelage with her from day one.

The Princess was right, I really did need to stop pressing my nose so close to the books I lost track of everything around me.

"My word!" Rarity finally gasped out. I steeled myself for Rarity's tirade on what the tacky unicorn who had turned her beautiful mane she loved so dearly into a green worm infested mess was doing back in Ponyville. Rarity was at her side in a couple seconds and looked at me in concern. "What happened to her?"

My jaw dropped. So fast and so hard did it drop that the entire library shook. The fantasy flickered through my mind that Celestia had brainwashed my friends to be extra nice when I wasn't in town.

"She's the one who Discord hurt." Applejack said plainly.

"And she's been like this since Discord did the same to us?" Rarity asked in near disbelief.

"Yep." AJ said with no sense of humor.

"Twilight why haven't you cast that memory spell yet-?!"

I startled with the attention suddenly back on me and said, "I've tried, something keeps pushing me out before it can take effect. I can't figure out what. Maybe it's something Discord left behind as a going away present."

"Poor dear." Rarity said to the grayed out unicorn whom Rarity had felt garish just being in the same time-zone before.

Then I felt like an even bigger donkey. Spike had never experienced Discord's taint. Of course he'd have no idea what it was like. Myself and my friends KNEW what it was like for Discord to get down and personal on your inner strengths being made your weaknesses rather than simply snapping his fingers and twisting you into something wrong on a whim.

And Rarity was far too generous to wish that fate on anyone.

And it hit me twice as hard as I realized, Applejack had less than half of Rarity's manners, and her injured pride was harder to bruise but longer to heal. Applejack had been just as humiliated by Trixie taking up her 'anything you can do, I can do better' challenge. True, Applejack would -never- be the kind for petty selfish revenge over a wounded ego against an egotist who had already lost everything they owned. And AJ was the one who told me in the first place. But AJ looked at Trixie like she was simply a pony in need, rather than this being the upright thing to do in spite of her personal feelings.

But ...it ... wasn't like, they were being mindlessly pleasant either or treating Trixie like she was royalty. My head felt like it was going to start swimming and was going to forget its water wings.

"I can't say you don't look better without that gaudy outfit dear, but really this whole grayed out pale look just isn't you, or any pony for that matter." Rarity snapped me back to reality as she fussed over Trixie as if trying to get the unicorn to respond to the world around her.

"Ya told the others she's the one whose here sugah-cube? Nevah mind, dumb question." AJ said pulling up on Trixie's chin and looking at her in those distant eyes. "YO! Great And Powerful Trixie! How about a rematch! Just you and me! My Earth pony muscles and hooves against your magic horn! Come on! Show me whatcha got! Come on! Come on!"

I was impressed. Trixie actually shuddered on her own from that one. A gruesome thought occurred to me. That the weeks Trixie had spent this way, had simply killed her, she was dead inside, and this was an empty husk running on reactions they were talking to. I had taken too long. I killed her. I tore away that horrible image. -Something- in there didn't want me in there, which meant there was something in there to be got to begin with.

Applejack looked disappointed at the reaction. Applejack waved her hooves in front of her but Trixie again didn't react.

Rarity, ever polite, gently pulled me out of Trixie's vision and immediate hearing range. "Maybe we should hold a magic contest between you two? Find something Trixie excels at and you fall short of?" 'Besides shooting her mouth off.' I swear I could almost hear Rarity say.

Nyxie words about Trixie's rounded scores came flashing back. "I think, that wouldn't really work. Trixie seems almost completely cut off from the world around her. I think she doesn't even recognize I'm Twilight!"

"Well, that's no good." Rarity said with as much style as she could squeeze into a few words.

We looked back inside the room to find AJ on her haunches looking Trixie in the eyes. As AJ kept looking into her eyes, I was left in amazement. Trixie began to actually shrink back from her, and ... were her eyes misting up? Almost any reaction was a good reaction! Trixie then began to TURN HER HEAD FROM HER!

AJ didn't let her and had one hoof against Trixie's face. Trixie crunched her eyes closed and actually fell backwards onto the bed.

AJ ceased her assault and stood up and looked at me. "Twili', Ah ain't know nothin' about unicorn magic. And Ah know even less about fancy-smancy psychology. But ..."

"But?" I asked amazed. AJ's element was about the only thing I could think of at the moment that might have been a new factor that could have triggered a reaction in Trixie and I was going mad from for anything AJ could tell me.

"But Ah think what's been throwing you is Trixie, now hold yer horses! Ah mean a part of Trixie! Ah Trixie in Trixie that doesn't want to come out. A Trixie who doesn't want Trixie to come out of the nice darkness where she doesn't have to look at truth."

Rarity balked. "And HOW pray tell did you extrapolate all that from simply looking at her?"

Applejack looked at us intensely. "Because she was scared to death to look at -me!-"

"Applejack there could be a million other explanations for that." I heard myself say. Why was I having Pinkie Sense flash backs?

"Except this here is the one that happens to be true. Ah saw inside her Twili! No Ah ain't gonna tell you how. Ah barely get it myself! It wasn't x-ray vision or somethin' but Ah swear on great-grandpappy's grave that I could see, feel, or soemthin' that the Trixie that is Trixie is hidin' scared in there somewhere. Discord's disease has screwed her up BAD."

Rarity's eyeslids leveled to say 'No kidding.' I wonder if it was a good or bad thing I had sent Spike out on an errand. Maybe seeing Rarity showing compassion towards Trixie would change his tune. Can't solve every problem in the world. But as sure as Celestia I hadn't given up on solving THIS one!

So even if I got past the guardian, barrier, or whatever was blocking the memory spell I might not be able to find Trixie memories to make her see truth of the lie Discord had planted in her head? Once again I seriously considered simply handing Trixie over to experts who had more experience about how a pony's mind worked than I did. But I secretly chose to simply be a donkey again and continue on the path I was already down.

I knew that if Celestia found out there was a chance she would deeply disapprove and ask me if I had forgotten part of friendship was admitting when you needed help. I wonder if I was channeling Trixie somehow. But I couldn't shake the feeling this was -my- responsibility. Like there was something about Trixie I was missing, and if I turned her over, I would never find out what that thing was, and something VERY important would be lost in the process.

And maybe what Applejack had told me was the key I needed to finally unlock the first door.

"HEY TWILIGHT!" Spike ran into the room, "You won't believe--Rarity! Look! I'm sorry! It wasn't my idea to have Trixie here but Twilight insisted-"

"It's perfectly fine Spike!" Rarity said quickly, "So what has happened?"

Spike startled at the idea that Rarity didn't mind sharing a room with Trixie and managed to collect himself. "Er okay! But you gotta hear this! Pinkie Pie's finally awake!"

A wave of relief rushed through us all. It felt so good. That was one less thing to worry about. One less friend who we had to wonder about. And one more friend we could count on and one more friend who was there.

"Spike. You look after Trixie. Guys? Wanna join me in a visit to Sugercube Corner?"

"You have'ta ask Sugahcube?" Applejack said as the other two ponies galloped out of the room.

Spike of course would protest. "Now hold on, Pinkie's my teammate too and-"

"I promise I'll be back as soon as I can." I said and didn't waste anymore time. Though I found myself wondering if I was talking to Spike or Trixie.

To Be Continued immediately in the next part. 'True Healing' get ready for plenty of surprises and maybe some heart warming. You decide.

Reharmonization Rainbow Dash II: "True Healing"

Reharmonized/Healing/Recovery Ponies POVs Rainbow Dash II "True Healing"
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

Oh it's -you- guys again! Oh whatever. For three and a half weeks I've flown with lead weights chained all around me that only I can see. Geeze. Since when do I wax philosophy? This is me! Rainbow Dash! I'm brazen, fast and relentless, and proud of it! Since when do I waste time thinking about this deep inner meaning junk?

Maybe that'll stop too once I stop feeling like Rarity chained me to 'Tom!' No you idiot, not the literal stupid rock I mean I've been feeling freakin' heavy since before we beat Discord!!

Look! I put on a SHOW for my friends! After I stabbed them in the back to save a home that I could finally accept as my home again, Discord decided it was a great idea to post a giant version of my mug on a giant floating screen for all of Cloudsdale to see! Followed by telling every Pegasus in that loud obnoxious voice of his that that I had saved Cloudsdale by dooming the rest of Equestria! I used to have dreams of having my face up for everypony to see and being the center of attention, now they're all nightmares.

The donkey let the hisses and boos from the ponies I had just saved go on just long enough for it hurt worse than betraying my friends before turning them as bonkers as everyone in Ponyville!

So I flew back to my friends, saw they were now as insane as everyone in Cloudsdale and ran again! Then my friends show up near my front door except they're all themselves again. And I give the stage show of my life, giving my friends the merry chase of their lives! Playing the mad pony right up until Twilight removed Discord's taint from me! Except her spell didn't do what I wanted it to from the start. It didn't remove the memories of me betraying my friends and Discord turning Cloudsdale into a mad house.

So we saved the world. And I didn't tell any of my friends what I did. And every pegasus in Cloudsdale either doesn't remember, or passes it off as an illusion by Discord or an delusion they had when they were crazy. After all, I saved the Wonderbolts, I won Year's Best Young Flyer! I helped -save the world!- There's no way what they remembered about me betraying Equestria to protect Cloudsdale could be real!

Nobody notices me acting or feeling guilty, not with all the ponies who are a little LESS messed up helping the ponies who are a lot MORE messed up trying to figure themselves out after Discord did whatever he happened to feel like doing to them!

I'd die for my friends if I had to, I'm more than willing to live for them too, I guess that's why the Element of Loyalty still accepted me.

But then Scootaloo had to come and cramp my whole new 'feeling-horrible-but-don't-tell-anyone' style and tell me how she was beating herself up for something she couldn't have helped anyway! So I told her she needed to start by forgiving herself, then I realized what I just said and felt like I'd just given myself a good kick in the flanks.

I let her sleep alongside me like a foal does with her mama. It was the least I could do when we were both the same kind of dumbbell. She's still there when I wake up (I was happy I couldn't remember my dreams). I open my mouth to tell her she's going to be late for school, but remembered that school was canceled. And that made me remember: when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were together at one of our places, after the close call with Fluttershy babysitting them, we decided to experiment with Rarity, Fluttershy, and me being there together to keep them out of trouble (though I did grumble on why I had to keep an eye on a filly who wasn't even related to me). And I remember Fluttershy and Rarity chatting away as girlie girls always will (I gotta agree with Spike on that one, I can't stand the stuff!). And then they mention how Scootaloo didn't even start attending Applebloom's school until after they formed the CMC.

I really don't like doing the whole 'thinking' thing, action is WAY more my style and my strong point. But I wonder where Scootaloo WENT to school before Applebloom. Cheerilee's school is the only one for fillies their age in Ponyville, otherwise spoiled brats like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would have never attended. This was making my brain hurt and I pushed it aside.

Figuring she'd raid the fridge anyway when she woke up I decided to make breakfast for her, not that I dared much more than milk and Wonder-Flakes. My teacher from my old mandatory cooking class had said it was supposed to be impossible to set cloud appliances on fire, but I had somehow managed. And when the last time I tried to cook ended with Twilight delusional from fever, I kinda figured out that me making anything more complex than a daisy sandwich was the forbidden zone.

When Scootaloo woke up, she didn't tell me what her dreams were, but she didn't look like she had any nightmares.

"Good morning Rainbow Dash!"

"Good morning squirt."

"Thanks for letting me sleep here last night."

"No prob. But seriously kiddo, remember what I said last night." I felt myself twist a bit inside as I remembered.

Scootaloo just nodded, a slightly down look on her face suddenly. Okay, so maybe it takes more than one late at night pep talk for a filly to work her way through this gunk, got it. Maybe 'Shy or Twilight could do a better job, but they're not here and if the half-pint wants'em to know, she can tell'em on her own.

We ate in silence. When the topic wasn't about me or the Wonderbolts, I really began to trip up on what to say. Finally, I knelt down so I was eye level with Scootaloo. "Kid, Scoots, listen. Applebloom, Sweetie, they're hurting right now. Same with everypony in Ponyville. They might have their families, but that doesn't mean they don't need their friends too! I think you might be the only pony in Ponyville Discord didn't drive crazy or twist about...I guess that makes it a little-ugh." I cut myself off before I accidentally defeated my own argument and said something about being the only sane one made Scoots' situation worse! It definitely didn't do Twilight any favors when Discord drove everypony else crazy except her. "That makes you one of the best ponies to help! Their families are hurting too! Be there for'em! Those fillies are gonna need a shoulder to cry on and somepony to listen."

Coming from me of course Scoots held onto every word, even if I didn't know how much she got. Scoots nodded like a puppy and pressed herself against me. That made me stiffen, I had no clue what I was supposed to be feeling.

"You got it Rainbow Dash! I will! I will! I promise!" She made a beeline for the door to begin her divine mission! Then she meekly trotted back in and looked at me blushing bright red under her coat.

"Uh, can you give me a ride down?"

I actually sighed instead of groaned. A pegasus filly who can't fly yet. I could understand how frustrating that had to be for her. But I wanted to focus on my own dreams, and she'd still follow me over a cliff if I needed her to. I wonder if, when I'm old and gray and living in my giant mansion surrounded by my memorabilia as the greatest Wonderbolt in history; if Scoots will be the next Element of Loyalty.

Scoots didn't even try to hide how happy she was that I was giving her a Rainbow Dash exclusive ride.

I could tell she was wanted the ride to last longer than just the trip down to the ground. At least I stopped her from 'forgetting' her skateboard so we didn't have to do a round trip.

I managed to squeeze out one last drop before she scooted along.

"And squirt."

"Yes Rainbow Dash?"

"Tell them. Tell them what happened. Tell them how you feel. I promise, if they're really your friends, they'll forgive you." Whether the squirt had done anything wrong wasn't the point. The point was that she thought she did something wrong. And she needed to hear her friends say she was forgiven. Yeah yeah, first hand experience, should practice what I preach, blah blah!

Scoots looked at me with fear and uncertainty flickering across her eyes before her hero worship of me sealed the deal.

"I promise, Rainbow Dash! I promise!" She saluted and was off like a shot.

That was roughly three weeks ago, and the CMC are still together and as thick as thieves so I guess things went good for her. I told myself I'd do the same. Then I told myself I'd only confess with all of us together. Then I told myself I needed to figure exactly what I was going to say. Then I told myself I had a bunch of things I needed to do first. Then I told myself I was too tired to do it. Then I told myself everyone had bigger problems then mine and I could wait on telling them while I helped with theirs. Then I figured I'd simply wait until everyone wasn't busy.

And before I could come up with another excuse, Applejack, using that thrice cursed long-lived cloud walking spell of Twilight's and some borrowed transport paid me a visit like she was apparently doing with most Ponyville that day. She told me she knew. That she had known since her visit to Princess Celestia. I was terrified knowing that the Princess knew and figured my just desserts were just around the corner. AJ assured me that Celestia hadn't even batted an eyelash and not one word about 'punishment.' AJ said the important thing was that AJ forgave me. And that AJ -knew- everypony else was going to as well.

Okay...so I needed only four ponies together at the same time to spill my guts out. I honestly wonder if I tried to tell anyone at Cloudsdale if they'd believe me or even -let me- confess. Equestria needed heroes right now to look up after Discord tore the place apart. And Cloudsdale couldn't afford to have one of its two natives who had help save the world be cut down to life size. Maybe that was still my ego talking, I don't care.

The Squirt must have realized -something- was up with me, don't ask me how (maybe she's got Scoots Sense or somethin' maybe I just said somethin' in my sleep that night she stayed with me, I dunno!). Cause she went and founded a fan-club in my honor! Me! I always wanted one! I figured I'd have five by the time I was as old as I was now (and I'd already be a Wonderbolt). She even got Snips and Snails, the fan-colts of that ugly nag Trixie to realize who the -real- pony they should be worshipping was. Of course I did some sublime nudging in how Scoots managed things once I caught wind her brilliant idea.

Yeah, my ghouls were still with me, but it felt good to have one of my fantasies, er, check-marks, finally fulfilled. Yes! And it gave me something else on my mind at last. I felt like I was me again! I could just bury that ugly chapter in the ground and build a house on top of it and move into the house! Oy! Sometimes I think I hang out too much with Pinkie.

Then things got even better. Ponies were repeatedly suddenly in need of their lives being saved, and who happened to be nearby to help other than Rainbow Dash! The damage from Discord may have been magically undone, but the ruin from the parasprites and Ursa Minor last year had cost Ponyville last year's, this year's, and all of next year's maintenance budget. And shoddy repair jobs were finally coming back to bite ponies in the rear. It was great!

I was there to help everyone! They called me a hero! On my own! Ponyville loved me as much as Cloudsdale! More so! Oh, sure, right, the accidents themselves were bad, but what did it matter? I was there to save the day! End of story! I was everyone's favorite hero and made sure everyone knew it!

And I didn't have to think about the black gray feeling in the pit of my stomach at all.

Then, when another chance for hero time came around, I took a itty-bitty-little amount of time signing autographs, and getting my picture taken, before going off to rescue the poor pony in the falling balloon. I had everything timed perfectly I swear! I'm the pony who can clear the sky in 10 seconds flat, remember? No way anything could go wrong!

Then this newcomer shows up and steals my rescue, and doesn't even stop to get any praise or nothin'!

Huh? You heard all this already? Oh. Sorry. The point was I was finally the hero I wanted to be, and then this pony came along like a thief and STOLE it! Okay, so maybe I'd have been able to get most of those rescues if I hadn't been 'talk first, rescue second' but a hero's gotta hold up her motif right?

Then the incident with the dam, and she saved -me-! Ugh!

Then I went bonkers like you read and tried to make ANYTHING into a hero jig, and ponies were beginning to think I was just being an attention hog. Er, not that they could be right or anything.

And like the poets say, I was right back where I began. Miserable. Then Scoots showed, Scoots, my one true fan!...To invite me to Mare-Do-Well's parade in honor of Ponyville's newest hero. Yes, I was bummed out. Then it hit me.

And besides thinking this was my chance to ruin her 'dark and mysterious' motif it was: 'HA! I knew she was in it for the praise!' So what if I organized all my events and this one was done FOR her and not by her?

And yeah, you know what happened next. Ambush, chase scene, surprise of surprises, ALL my friends were Mare-Do-Well.

I still don't know if Pinkie Pie let me catch her or not, I mean with that 'ESP' that's as crazy and unpredictable as her.

"Real heroes don't brag ." AJ winked at me.

Lesson learned. Don't act like Trixie and think you're queen of the world. Letter to Celestia.

I still don't know if Mayor Mare was in on this whole thing or not (kinda weird she was able to arrange a parade for a pony who never stayed in one place for long nopony knew anything about, and that Mare-Do-Well already had that 'M' on her cape even before the Mayor came up with her name on the spot).

Then we all headed back to the parade. The plan was for Mare-Do-Well to gracefully bow out of Ponyville, having served her purpose. What? Do you think Pinkie Pie was going to WASTE a party?

But we had all forgotten one thing. The lady with the potted plant that nearly fell on Pinkie Pie. That had seen me with three unmasked Mare-Do-Wells. And heard the majority of our conversation.

Twilight figured she'd think we were just cosplaying as her or couldn't hear a word we said from her upstairs window. Twilight isn't always right. And gossip is the one thing that can travel faster than me (maybe).

Ponies were confused and shocked that their hero was in fact three ponies. Thankfully, ponies were more interested in thanking their hero face to face than moaning about her being more than one person. Including one filly who said SHE wanted to be a super hero when she grew up.

This is Ponyville people, they freak out easy-peasy, and will get caught up in just about anything, but they're all whimsical and understanding at heart. Considering they didn't lynch Twilight for making the parasprite problem worse I think is proof of that.

We all had smiles, we all had laughs, and I got to share a place on the parade float with the Mare-Do-Wells.

I muttered about maybe my time in the spotlight being over. So much for getting into the history books.

Pinkie Pie laughed, "Silly filly, you're already in the history books see?" Pinkie Pie took a book from buckin' nowhere on world records and sport stunts...and there I was under the 'so-called' 'impossible' Sonic Rainboom. The first pony to do it in public not once, but twice. Okay. Maybe I was being a tiny bit egocentric on the whole 'not being remembered' thing.

Once all the confetti had been thrown, however, I cornered AJ. The one pony who knew my secret. I made sure this happened in private: meaning my place, behind locked doors and closed windows.

"Why AJ? Why couldn't you just let me take in the praise? The ponies wanted to cheer me on! Couldn't you just let them -have- their hero? I was finally able to bury all the crud I was carrying!"

"Things you bury tend to take root sugarcube. We didn't do this to show ya up. And givin' ya an example of how a hero was supposed to be wasn't why we stuck to this here plan."

"Oh? Then what pray-tell?"

AJ took in a deep breath, and said sadly "Sorry RD." Then her face got stern and hard so fast it made me jump. "We didn't mind ya being a hero, we didn't mind ya acting like, well, -you- when ponies thanked ya for savin' the day. What we DID mind was you beginning to treat it LIKE A SHOW rather than savin' lives! Half the reason we invented Mare-Do-Well was to save yer butt! If Pinkie hadn't stepped in, how many of those construction workers do you think would have gotten out in one piece? Or not at all? If Twilight hadn't repaired the damn when she had, what do you think ponies would have thought of you when Ponyville was flooded-?! Ponies would have HATED YER GUTS! And that's if you survived gettin' caught in that flood at all! But they were too busy praisin' Mare-Do-Well to notice you were screwing up due to yer stupid ego, and badly!

The other half was to get it through your thick head that being a hero...look, ya were beginnin' to treat the praise like it was more important than what you were being praised for!"

"I wouldn't have started grand standing more if Mare-Do-Well hadn't shown up!"

"Rainbow, yer a tried and true friend who makes each day of mah life just a little bit brighter, and it would be a dark day for all of us if you weren't here. But that's horse apples. You were timing things down to the last possible moment -to get more autographs in- fer SAVIN' LIVES! That is NOT a hero, Rainbow! Not at all!

"You crossed a line there, RD. Truth is, most of us thought this here plan was over the top even after we put it together. But when you did -that-, when the balloon fell we knew we had to step in before the law of averages and your ego got somepony killed! We did this to SAVE YOU, not take you down a peg!"

"You could have talked to me!"

AJ's face didn't soften. "We did. Ya didn't listen."

"Oh. Right."

"RD, Ah'd sooner buck mah own teeth out then hurt yer feelin's. But ya don't -get- excuses for leavin' ponies in mortal danger longer just so you can blab whose there to save'em!" AJ was suddenly nose to nose with me, and I felt so small AJ could have stepped on me with one hoof.

Then AJ looked at me, almost pleading, "So please, understand, we...we did this help you. And stop hiding It. Please. "

At the parade, all of them together. Isn't that what I wanted? Well, didn't want to spoil the celebration right? Right.

I silently took AJ back to ground level. I was surprised to find my fanclub president waiting below my house when I got back.

"Squirt?"

"Hi Rainbow Dash!"

"I didn't expect things to go crazy when I asked you to join Mare-Do-Well at the parade."

Huh? "What? Join?"

"That's the whole reason I wanted you there! I thought you and Mare Do Well could be Equestria's Finest. Like SuperStallion and BatMare. Heheh Guess you already were . .." The pipsqueak said sounding embarrassed.

The runt of a pegasus. She never left me. She was always thinking of me. She never left me. That whole time, she was still on my side. She never left me.

I managed to smile. "Yeah, maybe we are." Should've remembered that lesson about 'not thinking the worst of your friends…'

Being a 'hero' wasn't what mattered. Helping ponies who had their faith in me is what mattered. What matters is my friends. And if they needed rescuing, you knew I was gonna be there!

So when Pinkie Pie threw away sleeping like it was a hobby, and put herself on a perpetual caffeine high just to keep partying with anyone who happened to walk in through the door (and a few who didn't), I joined in the conspiracy to get her to get some sleep, whether she wanted it or not.

After we cut off the immediate problem at its source and Pinkie Pie finally burned herself out, Fluttershy chooses to take care of her for the bit.

I tell Twilight I REALLY need to speak to her, but Twilight tells me she's needed in Hoofington two weeks ago and doesn't give me time to tell her short of just shouting out my confession, and you have no idea how close I was to doing just that!

So I fall back on waiting to tell all my friends at once. Twilight said she had no idea how long she'd be gone. Could be days, could be weeks.

She was back the next day.

But Pinkie Pie was still catching up on going three weeks with effectively no sleep. I visited her at least twice a day to keep tabs on her. Fluttershy was there, going over a bunch of photo albums whenever I visited Pinkie Pie.

She also asked me a really weird question. "Rainbow Dash, do you believe you can be tough, self-assured, and independent without being mean to others?"

I tried to keep my time looking at her confused to a minimum before I said, "Like duh. Of course you can Fluttershy! Being mean means you're NOT sure of yourself, means you don't think you're as tough as you want others to think you are, and you need others to feel big. I'd say being mean means you're -less- those things!" I said proudly, thinking of that first-cut loser Trixie and those punks back at flight school.

Fluttershy's body language changed, her stance was defensive, rigid, reminded me a bit of the Gala incident almost. She looked angry and hurt at me for about one moment, just long enough for the image to get burned into my brain. Then her body was the picture of a delicate flower on a warm spring day swaying in a gentle breeze: in other words, Fluttershy.

"Thank you Rainbow Dash. That's something very important I think some people needed to hear."

I was so weirded out by that, I made an excuse to leave and tried my best not to think about it.

Finally, on almost the forth day after we had gotten Pinkie Pie to sleep, Fluttershy was rapping like mad on my door as best you can with clouds and shouted the moment I opened it, "PINKIE PIE'S AWAKE!"

Of course I was at Sugarcube Corner before Fluttershy could give me the details. Mr. Cake however proved to be a surprisingly effective barrier against me seeing his foster child for a pony named after a pastry while his wife helped Pinkie get her bearings after nearly four days of Pinkie not using her muscles. He promised Pinkie would come down to see us all when the others arrived.

So now I'm standing here waiting in Sugarcube Corner. I had finally had enough. I was going to steal Pinkie Pie's moment and draw all the attention to me and get my stupid confession over with before it finished eating me from the inside.

Fluttershy caught up first, and looked for a moment with that odd body language that she was going to say that it was rude to ditch her. But her mood and expression brightened in an instant and she said, "Hello Rainbow. Did you see Pinkie yet?"

"Mr. Cake says he doesn't want Pinkie to meet us one by one. He think it would be better for her to meet us all together at once."

"But how does that make sense?" Fluttershy asked in her innocent voice. "Having a lot of us together might trigger another party. And I'm the first person she saw when she woke up, and it likely takes a lot less energy for her to interact with us one at a time then all at once."

"I'm standing seven feet from you you know." Mr. Cake said in a surprising polite voice. "And of course you're allowed to go up Fluttershy. And if you must know I believe honey just wants to spend as much time as possible with Pinkie first and doesn't want to keep getting interrupted by you coming in to see her one by one. No offense, but what honey wants I'm not about to stand in the way of."

"Fluttershy it's okay. I kinda prefer it this way too. I've got a few things I've been meaning to say to Pinkie and everyone too."

"Alright, I understand Rainbow." Fluttershy smiled and nodded. "Isn't it much better to have friends who care and think about you then standing isolated by your lonesome. Isn't that right Rainbow?"

"Uh. Right." I was kinda thrown off by Fluttershy's strange course change in the conversation.

"So Rainbow, what changed your mind about being a lone pony?" Fluttershy asked looking at me with those big innocent eyes of hers.

I never knew Fluttershy to ask these sorts of questions out of the blue, but I couldn't bring myself not to answer under those eyes. "Well I did have friends before. Remember Gilda? And I DID have you Fluttershy! I guess I just couldn't stand seeing those jocks pick on someone who didn't even want to fight back."

"And you showed how much you cared about me by noticing how I fell off, or deciding the person you were racing for was more important than the race itself and came looking for me when you noticed I fell, then asking me what happened when you saw me when you found out I fell."

I startled taken completely off guard. Mr. Cake just stood as a silent witness to all this. Fluttershy's tone held a faux sultriness to it as she looked at me trotting a little bit closer to me almost playfully. I felt like she had hoofed me in the gut and sweat began to mat my mane.

"F-fluttershy that was a long time ago! I know I was a bone-headed filly! How do you think I ended up best friends with Gilda-?! I -know- I didn't deserve your friendship back then! But you have no idea how happy I was that you accepted me as one! I was glad when we both ended up in Ponyville even if I didn't show it!"

Fluttershy then took a couple steps back and sat on her haunches and looked at me bright eyed and happily. "It's okay Rainbow. I never blamed you anyway. If anything I never THANKED YOU! Even before I knew that bang that scared the animals was your Sonic Rainboom. That entire accident was the whole reason I realized my cutie mark! And I was just happy that you got yours too! And even if I did blame you, something awful DID almost happen, but it didn't, and we both realized our cutie marks for it, and you learned from it and are sorry for that. That's all I can really ask from you this long after the fact."

I felt like I had been holding my breath as Fluttershy broke off her proximity.

"But Dashie," She said. "You didn't answer the question. It's okay if you don't want to. I understand. There are things I don't want to talk about either. But what was it that made you want to be friends with others?"

Feeling just glad that Fluttershy wasn't -I don't know what - anymore, I spilled the beans faster than Pinkie Pie can eat a cake. "I think it was Ponyville. All the ponies are just so -open-. And it was just nice seeing you here too, you just fit so well here! I think part of me wanted to fit that well too! Just like I want to fit in with the Wonderbolts!"

"Oh? Rainbow Dash wants to fit in? I thought you wanted to -always- be unique, always stand out from the crowd, I thought you'd -hate- fitting in." Fluttershy asked her voice taking on a sly tone and her body took on that slightly liquid stance again.

I began to sweat again. "Okay, bad choice of words maybe! I blocked out how I could have killed you...I just remembered standing up for you. And it felt GOOD standing up for someone else even though I didn't want to admit it. And I DO want to fit in with the Wonderbolts, because they're everything I want from myself! And I meant it, Ponyville is just -accepting-. Even for a Pegasus who doesn't fly and another whose lazy but claims to be the best."

Fluttershy smiled warmly as her pose became dainty but dignified. "So it felt good to stand up for others? It felt good to think about someone other than yourself? Even if you're a little afraid of saying so?"

Tension was pulled taught in the air even if I wasn't sure where it was coming from. Fluttershy just kept looking at me with the trait of her Element.

I breathed out. "Yes."

Fluttershy nuzzled me. "Thank you Rainbow. I think I'll go help Pinkie Pie now. That was a very good lesson." She trotted a few steps past me then said turning her head and looking me in the eyes. "And I'm very sorry if anything I said scared or hurt you. Sometimes to pull out a thorn it's going to hurt a little, but it's better than letting it fester, and you're better for it after. The -actual- cruel thing for somebody to do would be to let the infection worsen rather than force it to the surface." For less than an moment I'd swear she was grinding her teeth before there was a triumphant smile on her kind-hearted face. "I hope you don't think I'm bad for that."

"Oh no no no, it's okay." I said quickly.

Fluttershy just smiled fluttered up the stairs past Mr. Cake.

"What was that about? I don't think I've ever seen that girl act that way before!"

"I wish I knew." I said honestly. I whispered, "Thanks Fluttershy."

I waited a couple minutes, turning down an offer for refreshments. I was surprised when Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity all showed up at exactly the same time.

"Hey guys." I said simply. Echoing more or less what I said when I was pretending to be Discord's deluded pawn.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?" AJ asked first.

"I'll go fetch her ladies." Mr. Cake said trotting upstairs.

"Fluttershy's already with her," I said. "So Fluttershy told you too?"

AJ answered. "Actually Spike did. We were checking on Twilight's patient when he came running in."

"So how does he or she look?"

"She hasn't gotten any worse." Twilight said with the most even emotionless face I had ever seen her speak with.

"HOWDY HOO! THE PIE WITH THE PINK HAS RETURNED! And now with all her cherries!"

All of us turned at once to see Pinkie Pie with Fluttershy helping her down the stairs, the Cakes of course behind them.

"Hey guys!" Pinkie Pie grinned. "Great to see you all here! You know what this calls for? A PARTY!"

We all took in a breath.

"KIDDING!" She laughed a split second before we and the Cakes could all dog pile her. "I think I've kinda worn out on the parties right now. Ponyville's ponies need hugs more than confetti right now." She said in a perfectly pleasant voice.

Cue seven pony jaws dropping all at the same time making us look like a bunch of 'hit the donkey win a prize' targets at the carnival.

Pinkie Pie: the pony who needed a reason -not- to party more than a reason -to- party, calmly and meekly admitting she might have overdone the parties-?!

Rarity did one of her stupid fake faints. Fluttershy just smiled at Pinkie. I was at Pinkie Pie's side in an instant with a foreleg to her forehead. "Pinkie! Are you feeling okay? Are you sick? Do you have a fever? Did a parasprite infest your brain-?!"

Pinkie firmly but gently removed my foreleg from her forehead. "Yes I am silly. I never felt better. And no, and no." She said just smiling at me looking at me with those big blue eyes.

"Uh, Pinkie." Twilight butted in. "Are you -sure- you're fine? I mean, you don't -want- to throw a party?"

Pinkie Pie trotted up to her and said keeping her eyes on the purple book-worm. "Twilight, how boring would it be if you had a book that went on forever and you could never finish? Forever?"

I could almost see the gears in Twilight's brain begin to jam. "I, uh, that is-"

"It's the same thing with parties. If a party went on forever, we could never get to the group hug at the end. And having a party for every last little thing no matter how little is like a party that goes on forever right? No wait, I'm still getting used to my brain working this way. Oh right. Okay. Ahem. Twilight. Parties are supposed to be something special, right?"

I had expected Pinkie to speak in slow motion with that last part like you do when trying to talk to someone who doesn't know you language.

"Yes, I am fairly certain though my experience was extremely limited until I met you." Twilight said in typical brain-pony mood.

"Okay. So if I keep having parties for -everything- then how are they special? They become part of a routine, they stop being something surprising and become expected! When I was first taken in by my second family." Pinkie Pie looked at the Cakes lovingly. "I made a total piggy-pie out of myself from all the sweets and treats they had since I barely ever got anything like that ever on the rock farm. I ended up a little porky-pie until they finally put their hooves down. You think I eat a lot of sweets now, you should have seen me then! I finally understand it's the same thing! Having a party ALL the time for EVERYTHING makes the party stop being SPECIAL, and a party that isn't special loses what makes parties so much fun: a break from routine!" Pinkie hugged Rarity, AJ and Twilight all at once. "It's wonderful! There are so many things I couldn't see before that I'm still trying to figure some of them out! It's like there's a whole world around me I couldn't see before!"

"Pinkie Pie." Twilight wondered in astonishment. "Your autism."

Pinkie looked at Twilight confused. "What do my taxes how to do with any of this?"

Twilight backtracked, "Er, never mind."

"Okay. Sure. Whatever." Pinkie Pie smiled and nodded. "But guys it's SO GREAT! It's like I've let out of a cage I didn't know I was in!" She then turned to me and Fluttershy. I saw her eyes actually mist up, she wasn't sad. "It's like I'm a me that's all of me."

Fluttershy looked rather surprised at her more than any of us. Don't ask me why. Personally, I'm completely and totally lost!

"Dearie." Said Mrs. Cake reminding everyone she and her husband weren't part of the furniture. She put a hoof on Pinkie Pie's shoulder. "I know that you've been resting a long time, but I think you need to get your strength back before doing anything exciting. Maybe you should come back up stairs and lay down for a bit."

"I think maybe going outside after being cooped up in her room for three days plus outta do her good." Said Mr. Cake to his wife.

"And I think they'll be plenty of time for that later."

"And I think there's no time like the present."

"Pinkie shouldn't risk herself outside yet."

"It's not like she's going to go mountain climbing right dearie?"

Pinkie Pie startled as those who were deciding her fate were actually asking her opinion on the matter. "I, uh. Really want to go out and see everything. It'll be like I'm seeing it all for the first time again! And I really want to spend more time with my friends. I promise I won't throw another party until I've gotten the kinks worked out."

Mrs. Cake said, "Dear it's not just that. You're acting a little strange and we're worried about you."

"A little strange? Normally I act really strange so I guess me acting a little more 'normal' would be strange since those are all matters of perspective."

Now Mr. Cake looked worried too. To be honest I crossed worried a while back and now I'm a little scared. "Pinkie are you sure you're fine?"

Pinkie Pie nuzzled him. And then said in the most calm, polite, and kind voice she could while smiling. "I feel like I've been sick for a long time, and I'm finally well. I promise, I'm still Pinkie. I'm just all of me now. I promise," She looked at each of us in turn. "Pinkie Pie still loves to prank, still loves to have fun, still loves to see others happy, still loves to party, and still loves her candy! And I still know how Equestria was made: you see it all started with this little girl named Lauren Faust in the eighties-"

"Pinkie Pie, do you have any idea how this happened?" Twilight asked. Though I felt some relief in the Pinkie Pie I know still being there.

"Oh that's easy. While I was sleeping: Pinkie and Pinkamena had a long overdue talk. But Pinkie didn't want to talk to Pinkamena because it was Pinkamena's job to be always sad so Pinkie could always be happy. Their arguing caused another Pinkie to be born whose job it was to be always angry because Pinkie didn't want to feel angry at Discord or Pinkamena. This new angry Pinkie however wanted to eat up the rest of me, so Pinkie and Pinkamena HAD to finally kiss and make up to take her back. So I'm finally all of me."

We all just stared. We had to be breaking the world record at this point.

I didn't believe what I just heard. "Pinkie Pie have you gone crazy,-ier?"

"Actually," Said AJ of all ponies. "Ah think she just might now be saner than most of us here." AJ looked right into Pinkie Pie's eyes, Pinkie Pie didn't flinch, shrink, or shudder, okay, that's rather normal for my best friend. But Pinkie wasn't treating it like a random staring contest, she just kept looking back. AJ then looked at all of us. "Gals what she's sayin' is the truth. All of it."

"And how would you know." I asked right at her.

"Ah know." AJ said with finality.

"Since when are -you- a walking lie detector?"

"Ah ain't detecting no lies! Ah said what she's sayin' is truth! And Ah know truth well enough to recognize it up close and personal."

After saving the world, a tiny bit of a mystique had built up around us in Ponyville and what our Elements were had become easier for anypony to find out. The way the Cakes didn't protest suggested either they knew AJ's Element, or the bit had overwhelmed their strangeness tolerance. Being the Element of Honesty; none of us were really sure how to counter what AJ said.

Twilight just looked at the floor for a bit, I could almost hear the gears turning in that big brain of hers.

Twilight took in a deep breath and said, "Pinkie Pie, as soon as you're feeling up to it, I want you tell me every detail of what you remember about your experience. It might be able to help someone."

Pinkie Pie hopped up and down. "Okie dokie loki!"

Okay, after that we were all convinced this was still Pinkie Pie.

"I think we've all forgotten something very important." Fluttershy said suddenly. She hugged Pinkie Pie. "Meaning this. Pinkie I'm so happy that you're well."

The Harmony Squad and the Cakes didn't have to even look at each other as they quickly followed Fluttershy's example. She was right. That was something important we had all forgotten.

We all held that hug for over a minute, none of us wanting to say anything to ruin the moment. I didn't really get what was going on, but apparently Pinkie was back and better than ever.

"Don't ya'all have something you need to say too Sugercube?" AJ said breaking me out of my hug-zen state.

"Eh?"

"Isn't there something you've been meaning to say for a good long while now but ya haven't had the chance to?"

I began to sweat. My own mission had been completely forgotten. "Er, this is Pinkie Pie's moment so really-"

"Oh you got something important to say Dashie? I don't mind! Tell me! We're all friends here."

"Really Pinkie I don't think-"

"Ah think that's been the problem for a while." AJ said.

"Actually I've been thinking a lot more than normal, trust me it hasn't been pleasant."

Pinkie Pie chirped. "Well let's go for that good old fashioned Rainbow Dash action! Tell us!"

"You have something on your mind dear? There's no shame in sharing." Rarity added her two bits.

"Now that's it's been brought up it would be rather awkward to go along like it never happened." The purple nerd injected.

"It's alright Rainbow Dash just let it out." Fluttershy said in a low, comforting tone.

"Okay but, it's a little private." I looked at the Cakes who look uncomfortable.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake I really hate to say this but...can you please, just for a little bit?" Twilight Sparkle, bless her soul, practically -pleaded- with Pinkie Pie's foster parents to give us a little alone time.

With no small amount of reluctance or hesitations, the Cakes left for the next room. I'll admit it was kinda stupid for me to do my big time confession right there in the Sugercube corner common room, but I knew I was going to loose my nerve again if I accepted anymore delays.

My friends gather around me: Pinkie Pie on my right, Applejack on my left, Fluttershy right across from me.

"Let it out Sugercube, Ah promise, they aren't gonna hate you." AJ said reassuringly, putting a hoof next to mine.

I let my head down, then I force it up to look at them, it feels so heavy. "Guys...in the hedge maze, Discord showed me Cloudsdale crumbling. He said I could either go save it and abandon you, or let Cloudsdale fall apart and stay with you."

Rarity spoke up. "We know dear. And it's clear you were under Discord's geass the same as all of us, otherwise you'd have remembered the Pegasi can -fly- and had little to fear."

My eyes narrowed. "And the Pegasi who had a wing broken in the hospital, or foals who were too young to use their wings yet?"

Rarity was silenced instantly.

"Well," Twilight said offer a hoof. "It was all a lie anyway. And Discord warped your thinking the same with all of us. So it's nothing to be ashamed of Dash."

"That's not the whole truth though." I confessed.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"I GOT TO CLOUDSDALE!" I shouted not caring who heard me outside or not anymore. "Discord congratulated me on getting there! Then he told everyone right there that I stabbed Equestria in the back to save them! They nearly all hated me! Then Discord made them all as insane as everyone in Ponyville while I stood there -begging- him to stop! Me! Rainbow Dash! Begging! And I -saw- and -heard- you guys when I left the maze! I -knew- what would happen! I figured we'd win anyway! Like we always do! After Discord left Cloudsdale saying it was all for -me- I tried to find you guys...and I saw you were all already as nuts as everyone else, so I just flew away again! I. Ran. AWAY!~ When I spotted you guys were yourselves again I PLAYED A PART! Guys I FAKED being delusional! I got the idea from Rarity's big rock!...I...didn't...I didn't want you all to hate me! You guys are the best friends I've ever had! I didn't want to lose that! I...I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I'm just so sorry!" My entire body was shaking. It was like pulling out a jagged dagger.

"You're saying," Rarity spoke frighteningly calm. "That you delayed the world being saved, Discord being sealed, DRAGGED ME AND PINKIE PIE ACROSS THE SKY, forced us to hold you down like a mad pony, because you were faking it?! I NEVER!"

I nearly cowered, instead I just waited for Rarity's hateful blow.

None came. Instead she just looked me in the face nose to nose. "How...how COULD YOU? Didn't you -trust us-? Didn't you -believe in us-? Didn't you know that we ALL WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING? Discord hurt us ALL RAINBOW! Have you looked around Ponyville lately? Do you think you're the only who was hurting?"

"Rarity." AJ said coming to my defense. Not sure how I feel about that. "I'm the Element of Honesty and Ah FORGAVE HER already for effectively lyin' through her teeth!"

"You knew?" Rarity asked stunned.

"Ah knew about it since Ah visited Celestia! And Ah've already forgiven her! So how about doing the generous thing Element of Generosity and forgivin' her too?"

"That's not a dog's whistle to get me to do what you want," Rarity said sharply. She then looked at me. She back hooved me, it hurt, but not nearly as much as it should have, she was holding back. "That wasn't for what you did while brainwashed by Discord. That was for delaying so long in telling us. Though I want you to remember: You could have gotten myself and Pinkie KILLED with your deception! Now will you stop this nonsense about feeling guilty over something that wasn't your fault?"

"That's just it! I lost my connection to my Element until Twilight's spell made me relive all the times I HAVE been true to you guys! Betrayal isn't betrayal unless it's your own choice right? That means no matter WHAT Discord did to me it must have been my choice!"

Twilight just stood back trying to process everything she was seeing. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had stepped back. AJ stood by my side. Rarity was not letting up.

"Will you stop being so ARROGANT that you think you're only one Discord's taint didn't effect?"

"That's just it! I think about it: yeah yeah I know not easy for me go ahead and joke! I go over it again and again, and I'd have to either betray you guys, Equestria, and the Princess, or betray my family, my home, and my people!" I'd give up my dreams of being a Wonderbolt of somepony anypony could give me an answer!

Twilight spoke using reason at me like it was sword. "If there's nothing you could have done differently then why are you beating yourself up over it?"

"Because we're the good guys! We're supposed to always win! No matter what! WIthout having to make -any- sacrifices! That's what we DO! To the moon!" I cursed.

AJ whispered. "No Rainbow...that's what them heroes in the storybooks do. Ponies like us? We make the choices so nopony else has to."

"But I'm LOYALTY guys! Or I'm supposed to be!" Give me a way out.

"YER ALSO A FRICKEN FLESH AND BLOOD MARE!" AJ snapped.

I took a few steps away from her stunned. AJ wasn't done. "I told you before Discord would have made you regret it no matter what choice you made!"

"But what about NEXT time? Or the time after that? Or the time after that?! I couldn't have done differently then any pony? Then why did the Element chose -me- or was I just available after the rest of you?!" My heart was pounding, my head hurt, my mouth was dry, my wings were rigid, the world was blurry. "I wish I had never won Year's Best Young Flyer! At least then Cloudsdale would have stayed just somewhere I happened to be from! With you and Gilda it was -easy- after I saw she was a worse jackass with feathers then I used to be! What's the point of being loyal to others if yer gonna have ta end up betraying one for the other?! You're the brains Twilight! Tell me!"

"There ARE no easy answers Rainbow! That's called life! I've had my nose rubbed in it a hundred times that no matter how hard I plan, something I didn't think of can go wrong! Every choice is different!"

"But was I supposed to do-?! What am I supposed to do? What am I going to do! If no matter what happens I betray someone how can I say I'm loyal to ANYONE!" My throat tightened till I couldn't breath! Everything was contradictions. I was trapped. I WANT OUT!

"Rainbow you're thinking in circles!" Twilight shouted.

"Rainbow...your colors," Fluttershy whispered in horror. I didn't care what she meant. I didn't care what any of them meant. I wanted an answer! Any answer! Just tell me something I can hold onto dammit!

And the confusion clear. I understand.

"What good are you, and WHAT GOOD AM I-?! If anypony couldn't have done better in Discord's trap then why should I be loyalty at all-!?" I snarled. I felt like my insides were on fire, followed by a feeling of dry-ice! The world's colors began to darken. The images I saw twisted about. A brainiac who was loyal to her studies until she betrayed them for her friends. An earth pony who betrayed her pride when her body betrayed her. A pink party animal who now betrayed who she had been for who she was. A white marshmallow who'd betray her business sense for her Element. And a yellow flower willing to betray who she was if it meant helping me along. THERE WAS NO LOYALTY WITHOUT BETRAYAL!

"Forget it. I don't need advice on loyalty from a pegasus who doesn't give a damn about Cloudsdale! A unicorn who'd see Canterlot burn before admit it was her roots, and another who pretends her parents don't exist! A pink idiot who abandoned her real family and a orange idiot who embodies honesty except when it's not convenient for her! None of you know a bucking thing about loyalty!!"

The world turned to shades of gray, then tinted red. I let out a sound that wasn't quite like that of a pony. It felt good!

I saw out of the corner of my eye my wings turn black and twist about becoming larger, like black smoke. I barely noticed in a reflective surface that my eyes had lost their centers becoming blank white as my teeth twisted into something sharp.

"Is she like you?" Fluttershy said to herself. Then her eyes narrowed. "No. This isn't from the old man. I can smell it! It's coming from her!"

I had no clue what she was blabbing about and no one tried asking her what she meant, everyone's attention was on me! Well. That's what I always wanted right?! I snarled again and dive bombed at Twilight, I'd make her shut up along with her useless answers! What did she know about me? What did anyone know about me?! Since when did ANYONE understand me?!

Stupid unicorn cheated and teleported out of my way. AJ rammed from the side and sent me spinning in the air knocking candy junk and a table over. "Sugarcube stop! You're BURYING YOURSELF!"

"Since when are YOU a know-it-all?!" I howled and flew tightly around her and rammed into her from behind knocking her to her knees.

"Is this what I felt different when I used the memory spell on her?" Twilight asked herself. Like I cared. Like I cared what ANYONE THOUGHT OF ME! I was me! Myself! A solitary ego! And I was more badass then any of these lamers put together! I'd make them see what loyalty was!

"Rainbow JUST STOP!" Rarity shouted as cloth drapes from around the room tried to tie me down. Not this time. I spin around pulling them from Rarity's control.

"JUST LET IT GO DASHIE!" Fluttershy shouted. Weren't any of them going to take this fight seriously?! "Fine we'll do it your way." She didn't sound like she was talking to me. She leapt at me head-first, but folded her wings at the last moment turning her head butt into a tackled me around my rear legs with her front hooves. "But on my terms!"

I tried to kick her away, but her grip was like a vice! Pst, if I could drag an Earth Pony and Unicorn along for a ride then what was another pegasus. Wait. Where was-

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie in the blink an eye was right behind me. And she hugged me. Huh?

Fluttershy snarled at me, "If you choose not to keep wandering the maze OR go save your little homestead and just sat there: the old man would have said you quit the game anyway and ended the game right then and there and told you you had betrayed -both-, genius!" Huh? Was that really Fluttershy who said that? Confusion shook me.

And I noticed there was no force behind Pinkie Pie's hug...it was, gentle, warm, comforting. A cool spring rain that dosed the flames and a warm summer wind that blew away the cold.

I fluttered down. The colors of the world began to right themselves, thought a mist of gray remained. I looked at myself in Sugarcube Corner's polished floor. I saw a gray tinted rainbow colored filly of a pegasus mare who just wanted to know what she was supposed to do, who just wanted to understand what she was meant to do. No monster. No creature of darkness. No twisted thing that knew only how to betray. Had it even been real?

"Now you just listen to Auntie Pinkie Pie." Pinkie said in a strangely motherly tone I thought only Fluttershy could manage. "I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. And I want you to listen really good understand?"

I nodded numbly.

"Once upon a time, there was a donkey in a barn with two piles of hay. The donkey was the same distance from the two piles, and the two piles were exactly the same size, the tasted just as good, and they were just as nice. The donkey was hungry and wanted to eat them. Except he couldn't decide on which one to start with because they were exactly the same. So the donkey tried to figure out which one to eat first, but couldn't figure out which one it was supposed to eat first, unable to choose between them, so it starved."

I swore I saw AJ blush out of the corner of my eye.

"Then donkey never realized that by not making the decision of which piles of hay to eat first, it was failing to make the choice to eat at all. So it was making the choice to starve. So it ended up not having either. By not making a choice...you're still making a choice NOT to make it. And it cost the donkey by not making a choice. The donkey was too stubborn and proud to realize that. And what a silly donkey it was wasn't it?"

"Yeah." For the first time in my life, I no longer felt ashamed to cry. "WHAT A STUPID STUBBORN JACKASS!" I turned and hugged Pinkie Pie with tears in my eyes, and I LAUGHED! Pinkie Pie began laughing too. Followed by Fluttershy. Rarity and Twilight just politely chuckled while AJ sniggered.

I felt the spring rain again, then time washing away the grim, and the warm summer wind, this time tickling me on the inside. And the world was in its bright colors once again! Brighter somehow. So I have a really low selection of metaphors so sue me! Does that look like a poetry book on my butt to you?

Twilight being the brain queen had to have her say of course. "Rainbow. As long as you're loyal to more than one thing they WILL conflict, and they WILL be times when it'll be for ponies you love equally. But that doesn't make them less important!"

"And Dashie," Said Fluttershy kindly as always. "Ponies who weren't loyal would NEVER feel bad about having to betray one pony to save another. The fact you do and don't want the same thing to happen again proves you are loyalty."

"Is that really Pinkie Pie?" Rarity whispered to AJ thinking no one could hear her.

"Are you really Rarity?" AJ said simply not a hint of bad emotions in her voice.

"What is that supposed to be?"

"Just sayin', you think Pinkie's the only one whose changed? Miss 'givin' free sewing lessons to spoiled fillies who don't have a mom.'"

"How did you-"

"Does it actually matter? The point is Sugarcube, we've all been changing. We just saw it happen to Pinkie all at once."

Twilight would later tell me that she had noticed the same thing. And now that I think about it I did too. All of us did. But none of us talked about it much other than Rarity. I guess it all felt -natural-. I guess Twilight was a little scared about it reminded her of us acting different when Discord screwed with us. But I think she felt this wasn't a bad change.

We spent a hour or two just talking about this and that, just talking! We told jokes. We chatted about little nothings. We gossiped about ponies who were recovering along with us. We felt happy about those who were proving stronger than Discord's scars, and lousy for those who were still struggling. Rarity even chatted about how she and Sweetie were distant descendants of the legendary mythical Hippocampsi. I personally didn't believe her.

The Cakes didn't say a word about my episode, no way they didn't overhear it. I don't know if they blocked it out or were trying to just be polite. I actually asked for some paper and pencil. I don't write all that often. But I realized this was a letter that needed to be written. My friends were shocked when they learned who I was writing to, but I told them this was something I had to do. I remembered the tale of the loyal Samurai pony. Who stayed true to his master even though his master was bad because his master had no one else who could be there for him.

'Gilda. If you're ever willing to accept my other friends instead of ditching them, I know that we can still be friends too. We had plenty of good times and I want to think they meant something to you too like they do me. Waiting for you too. Rainbow Dash.' So I'm not a master of the written word, again, not my cutie mark. I figured it was best to keep it short anyway.

Rarity said, "You should have included 'and accept every other pony in Ponyville.'"

"Baby steps Rarity. baby steps," Fluttershy cooed, showing a weird hint of vanity when she glanced in a mirror.

So yeah. I finally forgave myself. Big whoop. I should have done this way back when I helped Scootaloo. I'm not the world's most clever pegasus. Yeah yeah I finally get the irony don't rub it in! Scootaloo saying how she was a run away and always did. I wonder what her parents are...hold on.

"Hey. Rarity. Applejack. You ever met Scootaloo's parents?"

"Not really. She just comes over to our place. She never talks 'bout'em." AJ said causally.

"Now you mention it. I've never met them either." Rarity said. "She gave me a note once about them agreeing to let Scootaloo sleeping over on occasion. But I can't say I've met them face to face."

I hugged each of my friends in turn, lost count, and hug Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie twice on accident and zoomed out. Classes were still on again off again with the teachers needing as much professional help as the kids, but I managed to track down Miss Cheerilee.

"Well, no, I've never met Scootaloo's parents. They were dreadfully sick on parent-teacher night so we had to do correspondence and they're usually out of town."

"What about when Scootaloo enrolled?"

"She just provided a letter from her father about her beginning attendance. Why, is something wrong?"

"No nothing! I just curious about my number one fan! Thanks a million! Gotta fly!"

I had a good idea of where I'd find her, and she was in the CMC clubhouse alright even though there was no meeting in attendance.

"Hey squirt!" I grinned and waved a hoof as I got inside the front door.

"DASH!" She fluttered her tiny wings and hugged me.

"Hey kiddo! You want to help me with a prank at my place? I need someone to do the grunt work and you seem eager to please!"

"ABSOLUTELY RAINBOW DASH!" She said practically jumping out of her skin in excitement.

She had just enough self control not to fall off as I took her to my place.

"So what do you need me to do?!" She asked eager to prove herself in any way she could.

"Oh, just help me write some fake letters to some of my friends. Think you can handle something like that?"

I saw her twitch for a moment before saying, "Sure! I bet I can give it a try!"

I led her to a table and took out some letters from friends, having their own way of not falling through clouds. I gave her some blank paper and a pencil.

"Okay, let's see how good you are first. Think you can copy Fluttershy's mouth writing?"

"You bet!" Scootaloo didn't even hesitate as she carefully examined Fluttershy's mouth writing and then copied it down to the little quiver she wrote on her 'Ys'.

Next I offered her one of AJ's written receipts. "Okay now show me Applejack."

She was able to copy it even easier than Fluttershy's.

"Okay. Now try this. It's Twilight Sparkles horn magic writing. Let's see you handle that!"

Scootaloo looked daunted, but she didn't give up, and with all the precision and care of a safe cracker began to slowly copy Twilight's elegant penmanship.

Okay, now even I was impressed. I almost forgot the most important one.

I said quickly, "Okay think fast! Show me your dad's mouth writing!"

Scootaloo responded automatically as she wrote down in a completely different style then she normally used.

"That's great! You must have lots of practice at this!"

"Yeah lots! When Applebloom began asking why I wasn't in school and-" She caught herself. Too late. Got her.

"How long have you been without a family pipsqueak?" I ask in a rather serious tone.

Scootaloo looked cornered. She tried to leave, not escape, but still make tracks, I blocked off her exit.

The filly lowered her head. "Since before I meet Sweetie. They said they were going for something. For me to wait right where I was. They said for me not to feel bad about accepting anything nice people gave me but to be careful about going with them. I kept waiting. Then I ran away from that spot."

"Who else knows?"

"Nobody."

"Let me guess. Sleep at the clubhouse right?"

"Beats sleeping under Luna's stars."

"You know there are adults who wouldn't be very happy about a little filly living on her own."

"I know! But I don't want to be put in the care of some ponies I don't even know or be taken back to Cloudsdale! I want to be with you! With Applebloom and Sweetie!"

I just looked at her. Then I went to a room I use to store my junk and began to toss it out onto the hallway.

"Dash?" The half-pint asked.

I didn't answer her. I just kept throwing my collection of junk out until there was enough space to trot and began to remold the floor clouds into something that resembled a mattress.

The squirt looked even more unsure. Maybe a little scared.

Finally slightly satisfied with my work I said, "A secret shared is a secret kept Scoots. If anyone asks, your parents are letting you live with me as my apprentice. Got it?"

"A-ap-app-appren-"

"That's just what you're going to tell them. Got it?"

"G-Got it!" She shifted her legs together.

"Now come on, let's get your junk moved from the clubhouse to here, I'm sure your friends will enjoy the extra room."

"R-right."

Then I changed tactics. "So how did things go when you told your friends?"

"They..." Scoots breathed out.

"You DID tell them right?" I glared at her.

"I TOLD THEM RIGHT AFTER I LEFT YOU! First Applebloom then Sweetie! Miss Rarity Belle wasn't happy about the interruption."

Rarity's surname was Belle? Okay. Made sense. Moving on.

"You're a lot braver than me kiddo. A whole lot braver."

"Braver than you? That's impossible!"

"You'd be surprised Kiddo. So tell me what happened."

"They said there was nothing to be angry about! They figured that at least the way I did it I might have run into some help! They said they weren't mad or anything!"

I laughed and messed up her mane. "See kiddo? Nothing to worry about. The longer you keep things bottled up, the worse they get." Ugh. Gag me. At least none of the others were here to hear me say that!

"Right Rainbow Dash! You're the smartest pony ever!"

I didn't try to contradict her this time. She needed something to believe in too.

I hug her. She hugs back.

Ya know. Right about now it hits me what I've done. I've taken on responsibility for a filly I only considered a convenience or an annoyance before. I'm pretty sure I just trapped myself.

But you know what? If this is being trapped, then by being trapped is how I'm finally free.

~FIN

Reharmonization Trixie: "Tarot Number Thirteen"

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

Reharmonized / Healing Ponies POV Series
Subject Trixie

"True Meaning" Of "Tarot Number Thirteen"

"Welcome one, welcome all! Now begins the tale you my loyal audience have waited so long for! What follows is the tale that is like no other! Yes yes I see those looks! But I implore you to stay with me until the very end until you pass judgement! Now sit back and behold this fantastic and astounding account of how . . . The Great and Powerful Trixie, one of the greatest show mages in the history of Equestria. . . died."

~~~~~
+++++
~~~~~

When I wasn't eating or sleeping, I was asking Pinkie Pie details about what she remembered about her, ahem, reunification. I read every book I could on dream symbolism hoping it might help me once I began. I also was sure to check on Trixie repeatedly. She wasn't any trouble. She did anything she was told without a word.

You have no idea how close I was to spanking a certain someone's butt raw when they tested it by asking Trixie to stand on one hoof and giggled at her obedience. I won't say who because that person is someone who is not normally mean or sadistic and therefore I won't ruin their reputation because of one incident.

But it did hammer home how deeply entrenched Discord's taint was. The proud and loudmouth Trixie who didn't listen to anyone, reduced to a puppet-like servile mute wallflower.

I even risked a trip through the Everfree Forest to see Zecora. I figured an outsider's point of view plus her vast knowledge of 'alternative medicine' and natural cures might just give me a few hints on how to go about the completely insane plan that had formed in my head after the episode of Pinkie's awakening and Rainbow's confession.

Ever since the encounter with the cockatrice I've been MUCH more careful going through Everfree, and made sure to have someone with me (in this case Applejack) and even asked Pinkie Pie if her Pinkie Sense foretold anything. I know Pinkie's tics couldn't be trusted to predict everything, but it was best to know if they predicted anything.

We found Zecora's house with the drapes pulled and the zebra witch doctor/shaman/what-have-you herself in the spot in the middle of her room that was normally reserved for her cooking pot. Maybe it was better her eyes were closed, I never got over how Zecora's eyes glowed yellow in the dark.

Zecora's hide was covered in dry sweat, she sat in a circle of candles in one of her meditative poses. She had her front hooves together and her eyes shut intensely.

"Zecora?" I asked as tactfully as I could.

"Hello Twilight Sparkle. Welcome here. Don't worry there is nothing to fear."

For once I didn't wonder why Zecora rhymed nearly everything she said. "Zecora are you okay?"

"I am no worse for wear. This is my burden to bear." She didn't open her eyes even if her ears did flick in our direction.

"What happened?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

"Madness and havoc incarnate found me. Sought to make me as wild as the rest of Everfree. He . . . . made the Poison Joke grow like crazy, then things begin to get hazy. I can not deny, I tell a lie. From rumor to reality he made the switch, I was a wild witch. After my sanity's resuscitation, I began to meditate without hesitation. Long and hard has it been, but I have managed to crawl back from where I was that made the devil grin."

Applejack said at once, "Zecora. I know we didn't get off to a good start when we first met. But I'm speaking the honest truth when I saw there are doctors in Ponyville that Princess Celestia commanded to treat for damage Discord did to them on the inside. I know you live in Everfree, but I promise they -will- help you if we ask them."

"I know in Ponyville I am no longer loathed, but I would not wish to look back and find I had imposed." She hadn't moved an inch in her pose and her eyes remained shut.

"It's not imposing, it's just accepting help that's being offered." AJ said. "But ya insist on it being some kind of kooky square deal, Twilight has some stuff to ask ya."

"Zecora . . . I need your help. There's a pony who Discord hurt a lot worse than most. And I have an idea to help her, but I want your advice."

"Then say what you came to say, that is of course why you came all this way."

So I told her everything, about Trixie, about Discord, the memory spell, Hoofington, and where my idea had come from. AJ told me my scheme was reckless, but at least I was putting thought into it. I just told her my options were limited. AJ said I didn't need to lie and could just say I wanted to help Trixie myself.

Zecora told me about some of the finer points about meditation, about how your own mind worked and not to trust others to work the same and other important details. I thanked her profusely. Before we left (and Zecora promising to make an appointment with the visiting psychologists) she said.

"Twilight Sparkle. Heed these words. If you wish to be the one to help this pony: then you must also accept it'll be part of your responsibility, not just her family's, to help her see in the light once you've led her out of the darkness."

I startle. Zecora hadn't rhymed those words. A deadly seriousness radiated from her as her eyes opened just a crack, her blue eyes gleaming yellow in the low light. I steeled myself for come what may. "I will."

The last thing I expected when I got home was Owlowiscious asking Trixie questions during his shift. "Who?" 'Who are you truly?' "Who?" 'Who is dearest to you?' "Who?" 'Who is it that has made you who you are?' "Who?" 'Who are you to deny the help of others?' "Who?" 'Who is always there for you even when you try to push them away?'

I didn't know if Owlowiscious was trying to goad Trixie out of her shell with that three letter word, or whether I still had a long way to go to figuring out what Owlowiscious even meant when hooting! Wouldn't be the first time I jumped to conclusions in the face of everything Celestia taught me (yes yes, Pinkie Sense, can we not talk about that time please?).

I looked her in the eyes as I speak to her before I began the spell. "Trixie. I can't cast the memory spell to get you to remember your real self with whatever part of you is blocking me so I'm simply going to have to try to get past it. I promise I'll never tell anyone what I see. And I'll try to never to speak of any of it. But this is the only way I can help you. I hope you can forgive me for that someday." It felt really weird worrying about the forgiveness of a pony who had publicly humiliated three of my friends and inspired the Ursa Minor Incident in Ponyville. But I knew what I was about to do could be considered as big a violation of her inner most self as what Discord did to her. I felt sick and my mouth ran dry and I began to cast the spell.

I wasn't joking with Applejack when I said some components in a spell needed to be timed within a tenth of a second of each other or it would fall apart. Magic is not static, it is active and alive. Magic follows a very real and scrutable set of rules the same as the rest of the natural world, but that also means that it could very unforgivingly go off in its own direction if you didn't guide it.

I had both Spike and Owlowiscious on stand-by in case something went wrong. Like what? I don't know. Something, anything. In a way I was treading into unknown territory. I had never been that interested in mind magic, I didn't want to turn ponies into puppets, okay there was that incident with Fluttershy but that was for her own good, she wanted out of modeling! The memory spell was something I learned as part of my studies and was able to adapt to a completely new use on the fly with some clever adjustments. Then the parasprite spell, and my Want It Need Spell . . . okay so I'm a big fat liar. But it was just round out my magic like Celestia wanted.

Yes, I knew something could go wrong. Something can always go wrong. Did I think about how this could cost Trixie? Yes I did. But I just reminded myself, I was the only pony alive to remove Discord's taint from another pony. I was therefore the best for the job. And if I handed her over to others, they would spend more time studying her than trying to help her. I wasn't sure how much of that was true and how much I was just telling myself.

Yes, I know it was reckless! Yes, I know I should have known better! Yes, I know it could have been called foolish! But there had always been something about Trixie. Maybe when I first met her I saw her as a way I could have gone if I had made different choice and didn't have Celestia's guiding hoof. I know I wasn't responsible for what happened to her home. I knew I technically owed her nothing. But, for once in my life I was going with my feelings, it felt RIGHT to help her. And it would have felt selfish to have gone to the lengths I had gone to save my friends from Discord, and to pan her off to someone else. Was it my ego? I don't think so. Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with my pride.

So why did I kill her? Wait. WHAT-?! Kill her?! What the bucking hay are you even talking about?! What is this?! I didn't kill Trixie! There's no way I could have! Celestia's mane what are you talking about?! What a minute! What's going on here! Who are you? You are NOT who my friends and I have been speaking with!

~~~

"Of course I am Miss Sparkle. Of course I am." Said an dark blue Earth Pony wearing a white coat. "You've been with us for some time. After you had your mental break down trying to help all your friends at once, you weren't satisfied that Applejack was doing a better job helping others than you, you madly fled to Hoofington, tracked down Miss Trixie, assaulted her in the middle of the night, and you overpowered her and your spell forced her to relive every moment of her life at once causing a brain hemorrhage that killed her at once. Then you took her corpse back to Ponyville and played nurse to it for a few days until your friends found you and deposited you here."

I was in a white room with a bolted door wearing a straight jacket. There was a larger light blue Earth Pony by the door acting like a statue.

"You don't need to worry about murder charges, since you were clearly insane during the incident. You have created some rather absurd fantasies. An extended family for Trixie for starters. Rainbow Dash slipping into momentary madness in front you Rarity and Applejack? Clearly a shadow projection on your part. But still, I find it interesting. Why, of all people, help someone like Trixie? Why bother? What was there to gain? What was there to be had? Clearly there were others that you could have easily super imposed your fantasy to be some sort of savior on. So why have your fantasy center around such a pony you had met once in your life and was just another unicorn you had happened to know of?"

I stared. My mouth agape. The apparent doctor on the other side of the table just kept smiling at me patronizingly. I felt pressure at the back of my brain pressing against my eyes like a dam. Everything I had just been told, everything I was seeing. I felt it. I heard it. I smelled it. I felt my spine turn to ice. If my stomach wasn't empty I was sure I'd be vomiting (did equine do that?). Finally I managed to whisper out. "Everyone is special. Everyone has worth."

"Oh please dear," said the Doctor still in a completely friendly tone. "That's just a nice way to say no one is special and no one has worth."

I looked at him feeling somewhat scandalized. "That's not a very doctorly thing to say."

"This is my job. It's what I'm paid to do. It's not like I'm doing it because I care. It's simply my job for you to realize your insanity, accept it, and let go of these delusions of saving Trixie."

I lowered my head and began to tap my horn against the table. I stopped and looked at my horn, almost crossing my eyes as I did so. I glanced at his flanks seeing a black and white cross. "That's funny. Because I don't see a paycheck tattooed on your butt."

The doctor's eyes widened. "My my my such language, that is not like you at all Twilight Sparkle. Or maybe this is the real you. A crude thug who wants to flaunt herself to others but wants to maintain the illusion of being modest."

I didn't make a reply to that at first. The room was silent for several minutes. No one was moving. Finally I said rearing up. "You know? You're right! I am a big arrogant nag who thinks she can solve everything with a spell and a big big plan! If I can't get Celestia's approval, I lose my reason for being. So I go completely crazy trying to impress her! And I'm pretty sure I have emotional issues with super imposing the feelings for my absent mom onto the Princess! That just about cover it?"

The doctor startled. He froze for several seconds before replying. "I, er, yes, yes yes! That does! Well this is a break through! Now how about you just admit you were trying to save Trixie just to fuel your own pride. It didn't matter it was Trixie you were trying to save. It could have been any pony, as long as it made you look good, but it made you look better by helping a pony who detested you."

I sat back down. I let the fire cool down and said as apologetically as I could, "I never meant to hurt Trixie. I saved her life from the Ursa Minor. I had nothing to do with her home being destroyed. I know that her feelings were hurt, and hurt BADLY when her tall tale got exposed and she thought everyone in Ponyville would just laugh at her.

"I just wish she had stayed to find out that, well, -most- ponies in Ponyville are forgiving. We didn't even form a 'parasprite extermination squad' after they devoured half the town! And Snips and Snails started the mess, she just lit the fire. It's pretty clear she never intended what happened to happen. I know she was likely just trying to delay losing face, but she still had the courage to face what she thought was an Ursa Major! And for that brief moment when she dropped her 'great and powerful' act . . . there was just a mare who just wanted some attention. The joke is, if the situation had been reversed, and Trixie 'the bad pony' was the one who got out-shined during her own magic act and ran away crying rather than Rarity, I can't say for sure if we'd have felt sorry for her if WE were the ones who had overdone it teaching her to be humble. Which is NOT how ponies are supposed to feel or act. And I apologize for that! I know I can't rightfully apologize for others, but accept mine at least."

"I am not the ones you should be apologizing to or can apologize to. Trixie is dead. Why are you blabbering all that nonsense now? It's not like you actually mean any of it. Then again, when none of your three friends ever coming to visit you, I guess you need someone to talk to."

"My friends?"

"Yes yes. It's so sad. They bring you here and then they abandon you. But that's the truth about friends I suppose. They only stay friends as long as you're useful to them."

"That's not true! Snips and Snails put on a MAGIC ACT for the school talent show! They based their costumes on her! Even after they found out Trixie's story was a lie they still loved her show! She inspired them! Likely the first thing in those two dumbbells' lives that made them want to apply themselves!"

The doctor took a step back. He looked like he was the one scared and confused. "You're lying. You have to be."

"So you said none of my friends visited? At all?"

"Yes. None did. They left you all alone."

"Are any of my friends dead or hospitalized or away on business?"

"No. They simply see no reason to see you when you're now just a mad mare."

"And I had no visitors at all? Not even Princess Celestia?"

"Why would she visit you?"

"Because I'm her apprentice and envoy duh."

"W-well obviously not anymore! Clearly! A mad mare is no fit student for a goddess. She has moved onto someone else now clearly."

" . . . you just blew it." I said standing up, my mind clearing.

"Blew what my dear?" The Doctor went back into that generic smiling face.

"You said three friends. I just remembered. Trixie's never met Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie personally. She also doesn't know I was Celestia's student. She only knows things about us we've spoken in front of her like AJ's good deeds marathon. Also I think the only inside of a mental ward she's ever seen was one from a play or movie. I've been visiting one repeatedly for some spell casting on some traumatized pegasi. And if I was a delusional accidental killer . . . WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT A SEAL ON MY HORN?! That part often gets left out in shows for drama's sake! But it's NOT how it actually works! And you aren't even taking notes or have a recorder with you!"

I telekinetically undid the straps on the straightjacket and threw it off.

"Leave me alone." Said the doctor sadly and a little scared. It was in Trixie's voice.

"I'm sorry Trixie! I can't! I saved my friends from Discord's taint! And I'll save you."

The doctor fell over like an abandoned puppet. The big blue Earth Pony at the door leapt at me. "GET OUT!!!!" I recognized that voice. It was the same one that thrown me out of Trixie's mind every time. I did some telekinetic judo and threw him over my shoulder. His coat darkened to black, his form lithe, and his mane became silver. Where there had been a spike-collar cutie mark before, was now a white queen chess piece.

"Morgan." I said looking at the shade of Trixie's mother.

"You should have followed the script and descended into insanity. Trixie doesn't need to go outside! Ever! All people do is ignore her or humiliate her or pretend to placate her! You won't take her back to that awful outside! I'll always protect her!"

"I'm happy to know that Trixie knows that her mother loves her enough for her defenses to manifest as you."

"BE GONE!" I felt a wind against me, no, the gale force of a tornado! But I managed to hold on even as the room was torn apart, but I wasn't going anywhere, not this time.

I rammed at the image of Morgan who avoided touching me like I was a plague, and FORCED my way through the wall in front of me, and -everything- shattered!

And I fell, and kept falling, and I knew I'd keep falling forever if I didn't think and think fast! And so I thought: 'Trixie, I'm coming!'

I instantly landed with a grunt in the middle of Hoofington with a cloudy black sky with the buildings all having several more floors then they should have had.

I knew that the part of Trixie blocking me would try to keep me from getting deeper the moment I tried to enter her mind directly. But I never thought it would try a trick like that! I just hoped that Spike didn't panic and try to FORCE the connection between our two horns apart. That could cause some real damage to the both of us. Not to mention I doubt I'd even get THIS far ever again now that Trixie's mind knew this trick.

Okay Twilight. Focus. No more fun and games. You had to find Trixie in here, not just her memories, fears, thought and figments, you have to find HER.

And instantly the town was full of Trixies! Screw my nightmares this was just plain worse! I looked this way and that! Trixies of various ages, from childish to elderly, with Trixies in inescapable male roles bearing a bowler's mustache! They chatted about mindless things, the weather, the geopolitical situation with the dragons and griffons. And of course they'd all be calling each other Trixie. All of them brightly colored.

Was this a trick? A defense? No. It wasn't. This was something else. I looked at myself and gasped. I WAS TRIXIE! But who else would I be? It wasn't like I could be anyone else. So why I had I startled? Everyone was Trixie so of course I was Trixie too. Everyone was the same. Trixie was generic. Trixie was the same. Trixie was replaceable. Trixie, TRIXIE WAS WHO I WAS HERE TO SAVE!

I screamed at the top of my lungs! My correct coloring and mane style returned. I shook my head. That was too close. The town was suddenly several shade of gray and covered in a fog.

"You should have just let me absorb you." Morgan's voice rang out.

"I'm not giving up on her." I said simply.

A spotlight shined down from the heavens. I turned my head. There was a filly on the street, too young even for her cutie mark. She had faded grayed out colors that might have been silver and blue. She was whimpering to herself, crying. No one was even paying one iota of concern for her.

I took a few trots towards the crying filly.

"Stay away from her." Morgan's voice threatened.

"No."

I trotted towards the little filly. The moment I was in speaking range a piece of the dark clouds twisted down like a long snake landing right next to her and twisted into a black unicorn mare. She knelt besides the filly putting her front hooves around her and cooed in her ear.

"There there Trixie. Just sit there and feel sorry for yourself. It's okay that you're not worth anything. It's okay that you have no value. It's okay that in your entire life you've left no mark on anything. Just sit right there and cry. Let others feel sorry for you that way. It's okay to be worthless when others feel sorry for you right? When you're worthless, when you're below average, when you're not worth a thing, as least then you're not generic. No one pays attention to anything average, only to the really good or the really bad dearie. You failed to be great, so just be awful and everyone will pay attention to you, if only for a little while."

"Trixie!" I shouted! The filly stopped crying for one moment. Morgan growled at me as no pony is supposed to. "Self-pity never helps anyone! Least of all yourself! People only look at you until they realize you're a lost cause and leave you right back where you started! Alone! TRIXIE PLEASE YOU HAVE TO TRY!"

"There there baby, don't listen to the nasty old mare, just listen to mommy."

"TRIXIE THAT THING IS NOT YOUR MOTHER!"

Trixie looked at me and Morgan confused.

"Your mother never tried to keep you her prisoner and she certainly never encouraged you to give up!"

"Why do you care? Trixie's just the bad guy in your story anyway."

"You're right. She's not as decent or as noble as my friends. She's selfish and under-handed."

"So you want her to go back to an 'arrogant show off'?"

"I want her to go back to her REAL SELF! Not this emptied out shell you're helping her hide in! Trixie, let me help you."

The filly finally locked eyes with me, anger screaming from them. "And what makes you think I -want- help? Least of all from you?"

She had finally spoken to me. Was that a good or bad thing? "Is it so bad, that someone wants to take their time to help you?"

"NO! NOT ME! You'd do the same for anypony! It wouldn't matter if it was me or not! Nothing special!"

"Every pony is special Trixie." Could I get close enough to do the memory spell with Morgan right there?

"That's a nice way to say no one is!" She screamed.

A giant black tower with a star motif tore its way up through the earth, taking Trixie and 'Morgan' with them. The cracks in the earth grew to canyon size swallowing up the other Trixies who screamed in terror as they fell into the darkness, taking me and the town with them.

Images and memories and words flash before my eyes. A filly angry at not being exceptional at anything, a councilor ignored words, the failed run away to the circus scheme, meeting her master, learning to be a magician, humiliating Blue Flames and the other students cheering Trixie for it, HER CUTIE MARK!!!, dropping out, setting out on the road. Disaster at Ponyville. No one willing to give her a show chance after. A floating magic wand that promised to give her magic everyone would love. The magic being impossibly fantastic . . . and everyone telling her that her magic was no big deal. And from then on, seeing the world through a gray haze.

I fell and I tumbled, telling my self to stay calm, to stay in control, Trixie may have been ruler of this world but she was divided and I still ruled over myself. One thing I knew for sure. I wasn't going to play any games Morgan threw my way. After Discord I had realized the danger in trying to play a game by the rules set by someone who had the full intention of you losing. Not that it mattered if I'm falling . . and falling . . . and falling . . . geeze how about I hit the bottom alrea - SPLAT. Except not splat. I hit with a grunt, knocking the wind out of me, but every bone in my body didn't shatter into splinters on impact like it should have.

I looked around. I was surrounded by giant stone blocks haphazardly stacked about. All of them with big bold letters of the Equestrian's alphabet on them.

The place should have been pitch black with a black sky and sheer stone cliffs. But here I was. Still okay and able to see. I was miles down.

I looked about for any way to climb up when I spotted something. It was a giant vault door. The classic kind you saw in entertainment with the big round pudgy door. Engraved across the top was 'BY ORDER OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE. THIS VAULT IS TO NEVER BE OPENED!'

My curiosity got the better of my common sense and got closer. And I could hear . . . a little filly singing on the other side? Okay. Fair chance there was a monster on the other side of the vault door imitating the voice of a little girl who wanted out and would eat me the moment I opened it and then eat Trixie leaving her psychotic or brain dead. Fit with Trixie's sense of drama. On the other hoof . . .

"Hello." I called right in front of the giant vault door in the cliff side.

"HELLO! Who are you?" The voice asked cheerfully.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Never heard of you. Are a new friend of Trixie's?"

" . . . I want to be."

"Oh! That's cool! That means she still popular and has lots and lots of friends right? I know she does! Okay! Thanks for letting me know! Tell her I said hi!"

Okay. That didn't fit the 'monster trying to get out' script.

"Who are you?"

"No one important. No one needed."

I had heard just enough of those words. "HORSE APPLES!"

"ICK! That's a bad word! You need to wash your mouth out! By royal command!"

I tilted my head. "Royal command? Who ARE you?!"

"I . . . can't really remember because Trixie can't really remember . . . "

"Because you're inside there?"

"Yes."

"You're not going to switch places with me in there or something are you?"

"Why would I?"

"Because that's typical of these situations."

"Since when is Trixie typical-?! She's the most special pony in all the world!"

That's all I needed to hear. "That's it. I'm letting you out of there."

"Huh? Wait!"

I wasn't listening I magically turned the cartoonish vault handle and pulled, surprise to find it had been forgotten to be locked.

A bright pink unicorn filly with long blond mane and tail with curls and bright blue eyes, and a cone princess hat with unused veil, and a white and blue dress with hearts and stars all over it and wearing glass slippers and, and, and and and! The details flowed over like a waterfall with no proper pacing or placement spilling over all at once!

Did I mention she hug tackled me? No? She did.

"Hiiii! Thanks for freeing me! Now that I'm out of there I remember who I am! And now I know what Trixie knows! And she needs help! Can you help me save her?"

I looked up at the filly, there was a little purple reflective star on her cheek. I glanced at her cutie mark. A heart within a star within a heart within a star surrounding by bright red ribbons and tiny five pointed stars.

"Uh, who are you?"

She leapt off me and assumed a regal pose. Or what a five year old would think is one. "I am Trixie's best friend in the whole wide world! I am Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower The Eighty-Eigth! I am the ruler of the Kingdom of Hoofingtononia! The happiest kingdom in Equestria! Trixie and I do everything together! I even take her dragon riding!"

It dawned on me at last. "You're an imaginary friend."

"Yep! Me and Trixie also once saved Hoofington from an Ursa Major! I promoted Trixie to Co-Princess on the spot for her bravery!"

Okay. Gotcha. I struggle not to look too surprised at that one.

"So . . . how long have you been in there?"

"Oh I don't mind! I still have all my treasures from my adventures with Trixie! And I think . . . since soon after her Cute-ceañera I think."

I remember Trixie's memories I saw as I flew past down here. "I see."

"She said with all the crowds now loving her, she didn't need me anymore to play with someone other than her sisters."

"Why didn't Trixie ever try to make other friends?" I asked.

" . . . she didn't know how. And her sisters and brothers always wanted her to play with her or needed her. And she'd get angry every time one of those stupid foals asked her if she and her sisters were clones, or if they were golems all made with blue clay. That was only a few really now that I think about it now. Others wanted to play. But by then I had met Trixie."

"I see." I sighed.

"She even gave me this great gift to show how much she loved being my friend!" Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower produced a small blue star shaped gem from nowhere. What struck me however . . . was the crown in which it was set. It wasn't exactly the same. More like a circlet. But there was no denying it!

"Impossible." I whispered. Trixie had NEVER seen this! Let alone when she was filly! "The Element of Magic?"

"Huh?"

"That's . . . that's the Element of Magic!"

"That's what it's called? Trixie could never come up with a name for it."

I looked at the jewel set in the tiara. It was tarnished, rough, unpolished, nearly uncut. But what I sensed from it was FLAWLESSLY familiar even if it was little more than a flicker of a cinder in a burned out fireplace. This was the same power as mine.

A lot of things suddenly made sense.

"Princess Star Flower! You're right! Trixie IS special! More special than she could possibly imagine! . . . As a servant of royalty and as someone who wishes to be a friend of Trixie's! I request that you allow me to return her gift to her!"

"It's mine!"

I knelt down to look at her. "Princess. Do you love Trixie?"

"She's my bestest best friend in whole wide world and in the whole universe!"

"Well I need the help of that little treasure to help save her. I promise it'll help save her from the evil queen whose holding her captive and has her under an evil spell. It'll break the spell and set her free."

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"Then Trixie can have real friends?"

I didn't know how to escape this question. So I bore with it and answered. "Yes."

"YIPPIE!" Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower shouted and clapped her back hooves together jumping in the air.

"Huh?"

Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower just smiled and nodded. "We imaginary friends have a sacred code. We exist to help those along when they don't have real friends to turn to. I was wondering why I could never fall asleep. That meant Trixie still needed me, but she never came back for me."

I looked at the words above the vault door, 'The Great And Powerful Trixie.' I think I know why.

"I'll give this to you, if you promise that you'll help Trixie make lots of real friends!"

I bowed my head. "You have my word your highness."

She placed the crown atop my head. It smelled like Trixie.

"I hereby royally degree you royal messenger and agent of the kingdom of Hoofingtononia! You are to bring my gift to Co-Princess Trixie at once! Hey, if you want to be Trixie's friend, that means we can be friends too right?"

I smiled at the figment of Trixie's imagination. "I guess so yes."

Instantly she said in surprise. "Huh? How's that happen?"

I blinked and saw the crown in her hooves, wait . . . I touched my head. The crown was now there too. Two crowns? The same one in two places at once?

"What happened?" Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower asked looking very confused.

I understood. "Didn't anyone tell you? . . . Friendship is magic."

"I . . . I think I understand." She said looking at the two crowns. "Come on, let's-"

A savage growl echoed through the canyon causing a few giant stone building blocks to fall over. Huge iron bars appeared around Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower, twisting together above her into a sealed cage. "I know! So Trixie should know! So that means the other her knows too!"

I banged and magically ram stones into the bars, but nothing worked. Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower magically summoned a sword twice as long as she is and strikes against the bars . . . only for the sword to shatter. "The other her, won't let me see Trixie." Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower looked at me sadly. "Please. I'm just a figment. Save my best friend." She looks at me pleadingly. I mutely nod.

I called upon all my inner strength, and cast the gossamer wing spell, not tiring as it was before, maybe because this was all happening in Trixie's head, or due to my practice with it. Either way, I felt courage.

"Do what I can't my servant. And save Co-Princess Trixie!"

"I promise." I flew up out of the gorge of childhood memories, and up the black tower right to the top. Parts of it broke off and fell right in my path that I had to dodge, then parts of the grew into griffon claws and tried to grab me, but I was more nimble then they were.

I was at the flat top of the tower in no time. I found that thing and Trixie there.

"What does it take to have you forgotten!" That thing snarled.

"More power than you have here Loneliness!" I declared my heart pounding in my ears.

"Loneliness-?!"

"You are not Morgan! I may have spent just one afternoon with her but that's still more than enough to know you are NOTHING like Trixie's real mother! The opposite result of friendship is loneliness. Which is what you've been trying to keep Trixie in this whole time! Trapped in this gray fogged out world! And you aren't going to stop me from having a heart to heart talk with her anymore!"

"Trixie loves it here! With no expectations to fill! Nothing to lose! Just the comfort of being the tragic character in this play! Isn't that right my little baby?" Loneliness said in a cooing tone turning her head back at the filly at the center of the flat tower's top.

Suddenly it was a theater. And there standing on her back hooves was the filly Trixie. She was meekly peeking around her own shoulder. She was chained with thick shackles on her four hooves that nearly pulled her down with their weight. She was also dressed with as a court jester complete with a fool's scepter in her mouth. She sniffled. A rotten tomato hit her. Instantly she was surrounded by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and a copy of me, and several other members of Ponyville who had been at her show. There was also her sisters and two colts I bet were her brothers, along with an elderly white and gray pony, a red pony with a blue flame for a cutie mark, and another copy of Morgan, and her father. And they laughed and jeered at her and threw more rotten fruit at her.

"COME ON! MAKE THIS TWENTY PERCENT MORE FUNNY!" The fake Rainbow Dash laughed.

"SUCH SNIFFLING! SUCH CRYING! HOW DISGRACEFUL! HOW REVOLTING! DON'T YOU DARE CRY! YOU'RE MAKING YOURSELF MORE UGLY! STAND PERFECTLY STILL!" Said the fake Rarity Belle throwing more rotted veggies.

"COME ON YA VARMIT! SAY SOMETHIN'! YA THINK ANYONE'S GONNA LIKE YA MORE JUST CAUSE YER AH SAD LOSER? BIG CRY BABY! BIG CRY BABY!" Heckled the fake Applejack throwing of course rotten apples.

"Play with us Trixie! FOREVER!" Shouted the fake Lexy.

"DO WHAT I SAY ALREADY!" Snarled the fake Mixie.

"Did you say something I'm busy!" Shouted the fake Nyxie.

The fake Pixie shouted throwing one bad fruit after the other, "You should be like Mixie! You should be like Mixie! You should be a perfect copy of Mixie!"

"Anything you can do I can better!" Jingled the fake me. "Great and powerful Trixie! Great and powerful Trixie! Great and powerful Trixie! Great and powerful Trixie!"

Soon enough the rest were joining in. "The Great and powerful Trixie! Great and powerful Trixie! Great and powerful Trixie!"

Trixie curled into a ball crying as they just kept hitting her.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU'RE PROTECTING HER!"

"The deeper she goes into darkness . . . the deeper she goes away from the light. The light does nothing but illuminate a world where she is the same as everyone else. Here, self-pity is its OWN comfort. And much better than the lies of friendship or the love of the crowd that vanishes the moment the show is gone and they move onto the next thing. Why would anyone wish to be free of the fog that exists between the self and reality?"

"So just have her broken down more and more until she regresses to nothing?!"

"I shall be there for her. Always. Right besides her."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Don't worry, you won't."

"Except." I said my eyes narrowed and my muscles taunt. "That." I jumped right at the cowering filly, the fake Applejack tried to lasso me but I kicked her in the face and the lasso dissolved. "ISN'T." I landed near her, the tomatoes hitting me now as well. "TRUE!"

I startle as my misfired spell that caused the Parasprite problem to get worse flashed in my mind as a rotten apple hit me. Followed by my wild magic turning my parents into potted plants when a rotten cabbage hit me in the back of the head.

"TRIXIE!" I shouted at the filly. "I don't think those things of you! My friends don't think those things of you! It's not who they are!!!"

The filly dared to look at me, she started at the crown I was wearing. "That's . . .that's . . . where I . . . where have I . . ."

"This is a gift from a friend of yours. And this is a gift from me!" I touched her forehead and cast the memory spell. Images flashed. A filly performing for her three younger siblings. A blue stallion giving the same blue filly a ride. A black mare viciously defending her from a 'pure-blood' bigot. Her big brother letting her be one of the adventurers rather than the princess who needed to be saved. Her master saying how beautiful her illusions were. A song Pixie had written just for Trixie's Cute-ceañera.

The tower exploded. The shock wave going for miles in all direction, knocking the clouds out of the way of the sphere of destructive force. The fakes and Loneliness either vaporized or sent into orbit in the process. Then everything turned white.

As the white light slowly faded, my vision returned. For being at the center of the equivalent of an atomic blast I didn't feel that bad. The sky was an odd mix of black and blue, blue sky with clouds that looked more like stretched out ink stains lazily marched across the sky. Clouds moving on their own chillingly reminded me of Everfree.

The landscape was faded hard dirt going off in every direction on almost completely flat land. Almost because I was in the middle of a surprisingly smooth bowl shaped blast crater. I noticed giant stone statues of ponies just barely sticking out of the dirt. They looked a bit familiar. Dead black trees shaped like griffon claws caught in an inferno reached up towards a sunless and moonless sky.

Just in front of me was Trixie's Element of Magic. I didn't fail to notice the tiny pink and yellow flowers that bloomed in an inch radius around the tarnished uncut blue gem. It added a strange contrast to this place.

A groan behind me told me all I needed to know and I turned around. There was Trixie, still without her costume, now her age in the real world. Her colors were her own. Violet eyes blinked open as she stood up, getting her bearings and trying to get back her dignity and poise. I got up, her Element of Magic still behind me.

"Twilight Sparkle," She said in a slow disdainful tone her eye narrow.

"Trixie." I breathed out in relief.

Trixie held a hoof to her head as she looked confused and uncertain. Her eyes widened in alarm and shock. "Oh sweet Princess Luna." She swore.

"Trixie. What do you remember?" I had to ask first.

She looked at me again, anger and agitation reading all over her. "I remember . . . I remember . . ." She grunted as if not sure herself.
"I remember a giant version of my cutie mark promising to give me back my life. Instead it took the broken pieces and ground them into powder."

"And after that?"

"Distant feelings. Distant voices. Distance images. A fog everywhere. A cold but comforting feeling. The world being so much more simpler if I . . . I if-" Her eye widened in alarm. "TRIXIE HAS BEEN REDUCED TO A DOG! A PET! My life is worse than ruined! They just wanted to laugh me off stage before! Now they'll laugh at me when I go to buy groceries!"

"No you aren't . . . you still have your family."

"WHAT ABOUT THEM-?!" Trixie snarled. "And how would you know anything about them!"

"They still love you. They've been sick with worry over you. Don't you remember? They were looking after you that whole time."

Trixie gritted her teeth. It looked like she wanted to drive a horse shoe through her brain to stop the pain. Then her eyes bulged open. "Impossible. They, you . . . it's not possible." Trixie looked for any escape route from this train of thought and looked about and asked. "What is this barren and empty place? It's so . . ." She looked for the right word. "Wretch, lifeless."

There was no kind way to put this. "It's your heart Trixie."

"WHAT?!" Trixie shouted. "You're lying! That's not possible! This can't . .. this can't be . . . this CAN'T BE ME!" Trixie looked at the horrific ruined landscape in proper horror.

"Those statues mostly buried? Those are your feelings for your family you've been trying so hard to bury but you've not been quite able to."

"Why shouldn't I?! All they've ever done is try to make Trixie into some identical interchangeable THING! Trixie is herself and no one else! Everything that connects me to them makes me less me!"

"Why didn't you ever dye your coat or mane then? Or even change your name to something more unique from theirs?" I stepped closer, pleading. "Listen to me Trixie! Please! Can't you see? You still love them! And they love you! They always have! You're part of a whole not a . . . not a SPARE! Each of them offers something unique to each other. Just like you. The shroud and the blackness are gone. Just think about your own memories."

I saw confusion cross Trixie's face as the pieces of the shattered puzzle continued to repair themselves and slip back into their proper places. And I saw Trixie shed a single tear.

She held both hooves to her head in shock her voice slipping quickly into outright shouting. "No. I just wanted to be special! I just wanted to be noticed! I just wanted to be unique! I just wanted to be ME instead of 'one of us!' I want to be famous. I wanted to be remembered! Not just a name, birth and death date in a record book! I WANT TO BE SEEN! I just want to be seen!!!. . . I wanted to stand on my own."

"NO ONE stands on their own Trixie." I said in a tone I hoped was as far from self-righteous as possible. "And if that was true Trixie, why are you so fixated on what the audience thinks of you?"

"Trixie doesn't . . . Trixie doesn't . . . because . . . because when I hear them cheer for me, for -me-, not for a group I'm a part of, not for a show I aided in the production of, but for -me-, I know they notice I exist, they know I'm alive. -I know- that I'm alive!"

"Yes dear." Her mother's head snaked out of the ground followed by the rest. Her head was connected to a very long body with scales like a dragon and the tail of a fish. She had one wing that was that of a parasprite, and another that was dragon. One hind leg was that of a deer, the other a coyote. her front legs had one that was a the arm of a monkey and the other like the paw of a tiger. She had a pair of stubby horns that went off in opposing odd directions. Her colors remained mostly blacks and silvers. She twisted around Trixie almost like a boa constrictor but not touching her directly. "Can you hear them now? The crowd is waiting for you. Can't you hear your audience? They want the Great And Powerful Trixie. The pony who knows no doubt or fear or hesitation or regret. She only thrills them with her fantastic tales and silences the neigh-sayers as swiftly as they appear. She doesn't need anyone. She only needs herself. She is unto herself and only herself. You can hear them can't you Trixie?"

I stood in horror. I cast the memory spell already! What was it going to take to make this monster die-?! Could it die? Or had it metastasized? Had I really been too late after all? Almost from the start?

Lifeless, soulless, cardboard cut outs of ponies for an audience began to rise out of the dirt followed by a cheap tape recording of enthusiastic cheers.

Trixie looked at them like a sailor entranced by a siren's song. Maybe I had been an idiot after all. Maybe Spike had been simply right. Maybe Trixie really was beyond saving and any goodness in her was really just scar tissue. Maybe she was selfish to her core after all. Maybe she really COULDN'T love anyone but herself. Maybe she really was just a bad pony who was bad news to everyone around, end of story.

"Trixie is THIS the kind of love you really want? The kind that winks out the moment the stage lights do?"

Trixie startled as she looked at me after what I said said. Loneliness snarled at me and hissed.

A hopeless cause? Whatever. I had a promise to keep.

"Trixie, I have a gift for you. It's from a friend who asked me to give it to you, and to make sure you made lots of friends." I floated her Element of Magic from behind my legs. And presented it to her.

Trixie looked at it, she had never seen it before in her memory but it felt so familiar it made her heart squeeze in agony.

"What is that?" She asked in an almost pleading tone. Loneliness looked at the item like it was deadly toxic waste.

"It's your Element of Harmony Trixie. Magic. The same as mine. You gave it to Princess Star Flower as a gift remember? She might have been imaginary but the time you spent with her still made you happy. She was still your friend. And she's proved herself a friend by wanting you to be happy by making REAL friends! Not imaginary, and NOT AUDIENCE GOERS WHO ONLY KNOW THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE! And not The One And Only Trixie!"

"I . . . I . . ." Trixie gritted her teeth as she stood on her back hooves. "I don't WANT some power that's the same as yours! I DON'T WANT TO BE A BACK-UP! I DON'T WANT TO BE AN EXTRA! I DON'T WANT TO BE TRIXIE WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO HAVE SOMETHING!"

"AND IT ISN'T! Trixie every Element, even the SAME Element is different between Ponies! The Elements of Harmony looked completely different when Celestia used them! And yours does NOT look the same as mine! NO ONE IS EXACTLY THE SAME TRIXIE! There is no such thing as 'extra special' because there is no such thing as 'exactly the same' between ponies and it's cruel and WRONG to ever think that!"

"Stop saying my name like we're friends!"

"I WANT TO BE!" I shouted so loud it echoed across the wasteland of Trixie's heart.

Trixie was struck dumb.

"They're called the Elements of HARMONY, they're supposed to function TOGETHER, not stand alone! They exist to balance each other! Friendship is Magic Trixie! Do you understand what that MEANS?! Trixe you've been making yourself and your magic -weaker- by not connecting with others! The power to be better than you are Trixie? The power to be more than you are? That's only found when you join WITH others!"

Trixie gasped. But she wasn't angry or scared.

"STOP TRYING TO CONFUSE HER!" Loneliness snarled digging her claws into Trixie, Trixie unable or too befuddled to move. Her body tensed at the pain. "I'm the only one she actually needs! I'm the only one she's EVER needed! Not family! Not friends! Only me! She can only be a star with me!"

Trixie began to reach out for her Element of Magic. The light inside the uncut rough blue gem seemed to glow a smidgen brighter. Then Loneliness broke Trixie's back leg. Trixie fell. "I won't let you ruin everything you've worked for!" It hissed.

Its tail dug into the ground, and an instant later came up in my blind spot and stabbed me the back, its fish tail now a spear. I lost my magic grip on Trixie's Element but caught it before it hit the ground. Never knowing such pain I magically managed to make myself fall forward off the spike.

We reached for each other.

That was when Loneliness' form twisted about once more. The form it took, was Trixie, but this Trixie was wearing an oversized wizard's hat and purple cape with a diamond clasp. The one she had lost during the events of the Ursa Minor. Of everything I've seen inside Trixie, this is the only thing I find I can not believe.

"YOU CAN'T JUST THROW AWAY EVERYTHING!" Loneliness/The Great and Powerful Trixie snarled coming between us. "YOU NEED ME!"

Trixie breathlessly whispered. " . . . I want to know."

"What is there to know! The only way for us to never be invisible is for us to be me! Do you want us to die-?! All we've put together! All we've made!" Trixie looked into Loneliness' eyes like a foal being told what to do by her all knowing parent.

"TRIXIE! This is YOUR MIND and YOUR HEART! This is the one place you're always the star! And if you let others inside here, YOU'LL NEVER BE INVISIBLE!" I still had good pipes for being just impaled. "All you have to do is . . . let them in." Okay. I take a little nap now. Element fall down. I push Trixie's big crown thingie as close as I could, touching the very tip of it with my nose.

Like one of them was a hologram, Trixie reached through Loneliness, passing through her, and the tip of Trixie's hoof touched the her Element of Magic that belonged only to her the same as mine belonged only to me.

Then Loneliness exploded, twice, first blasting the Great and Powerful Trixie to atoms, and then inside the long black twisted self inflicted taint that had infected Trixie's soul for who knows how long went like Pinkie and too much sugar on a saturday night.

The second white-out world shattering blast that wasn't nearly as bad as the first, this one was down right pleasant. When I got my wits together. I saw the giant statues of four male earth ponies, and five unicorns. I also saw a statue of me . . . about the size of one of Sweetie's dolls. Okay, it was a start.

"Twilight . . ." Trixie whispered.

I looked at her.

"There's flowers in the wasteland."

She was right. Small tiny yellow and pink flowers bloomed. They were joined now by silver and black flowers. Blue and dark blue flowers. And several different patterned silver and light blue flowers. And one small easy to miss purple and violet flower with a magenta streak through it.

"So Trixie . . . that thing, so all the times you acted like queen of everything it was something that wasn't you?" I asked, suddenly feeling like Trixie was the one with all the answers inside her now. Something about her face just looked, insightful.

"No . . . that was me. It was all me. It was always me. When I humiliated your friends and lied about defeating an Ursa Major? Those fantasies I had of hurting you? That was all me. It wasn't some possession or spell. It was me. Period. It's weird. Really weird." There was strange calmness about her.

"What is?"

"I feel like I've died and become a different pony."

"Well. The thirteenth tarot card? Death? Its original name was 'Change.' It symbolizes new beginnings. Not just endings."

A bright light came into being above us, like a star that come close to the Earth. It was followed by a set of transparent crystalline steps that just floated in the air.

"What is that?" Trixie asked in awe again asking me.

"That's your freedom Trixie. It's waiting for you. Everyone's waiting for the Great and Powerful Trixie to come home."

Trixie looked up at the light. Holding the new tone of voice. "They're going to have to wait forever then. There is no Great and Powerful Trixie here. There's just The One and Only Trixie."

Trixie got up, then fell down, her back leg still broken in this place. "I don't think I can make it up on my own."

Feeling a lot better than I should have after having been run through with a spear, I trotted over to her. "It's okay, you don't have to." I let her put her weight on me.

"Twilight."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

We climbed into the light together.

~~~~

"And that is the tale of the death of the Great and Powerful Trixie."

"Who-Who."

Trixie let out a stressful sigh."You could be a little more enthusiastic as you transcribe this you know. Not exactly many are going to read this thing. You should feel privileged."

"He is Trixie." I said at my desk where I was writing my latest letter to Princess Celestia rather than dictating it to Spike (who was spreading the word that things had gone well). "Owlowiscious just has his own way of showing it. What he said translates as 'An amazing tale fit for the ages.' "

"Are you pulling my hind leg?"

"That's Pinkie Pie's department, not mine. Speaking of which I really need to introduce you to the others." I'd have written Trixie's family she was well again, but she said she wanted to be the one to write it.

"Uh . . . are you so sure about that?"

"No. But that's what makes it interesting. Besides. You're technically meeting Rarity, AJ, and Rainbow Dash for the first time too. You're not the only whose changed New Trixie."

"Don't ever call me that again."

"Okay, pal." I smiled at the last part.

'Dear Princess Celestia,
I am happy to report my patient has made a 120% recovery. I am fully aware that is scientifically impossible but I am currently unable to express it in any other terms. Doctor-Patient Confidentiality prevents me from explaining much and for that I am truly sorry. I've seen that just because someone has the same talent as yours, doesn't make those talents are expressed the same. And above everything, I've begun to suspect that the truest expression of friendship is to make a friend of your enemy and maybe ponies CAN change for the better.
-Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.'

~~~~~

Many Weeks And Many Days Since The Resealing Of Discord

"And that is why, to keep hard working determined Earth Ponies as a lower labor class, and feather-dusters as their enforcer class, narwhals in key positions through out Equestria ensure that over sixty percent of all household and common and commercial items require telekinesis to function properly and unable to use with hooves. Like tooth brushes. They are also designed to be compatible with Griffon claws as to help facilitate their underground alliance with the savage blood-thirsty meat-eaters.

"This helps keep Earth Ponies ignorant and distracted from the unicorn secret program of breeding and rearing dragons who are only loyal to Princess Celestia and her generals. Their ultimate goal is to strip all successful Earth ponies like ourselves of our hard earned wealth under the pretense of dragon raids and shuffles them back to the Princess' own coffers.

"At the same time, Earth Pony, narwhals, and feather-duster mares under the eye of Princess Celestia have for over a thousand years ensured that stallions remain secondary citizens with unfair treatment in favor of fillies and mares for better education and more leniency in the law. Feather-duster and Earth Pony mares foolishly believe that will ultimately be granted narwhal like privileges in aiding in this conspiracy . . . Miss Diamond Tiara are you even paying attention? Your father is paying me a good sum of money to make sure you learn the real truth of Equestria that they will not teach in government funded schools."

"Yeah, I mean, Yes Sir I am." Diamond Tiara said in a bore distracted tone. She had heard this lesson a hundred times before, often with other contradictory theories added in as well. Whenever Silver Spoon came over during these lessons she endured them with her. She hadn't even looked at her former best friend in weeks now. And Diamond Tiara was finding herself experiencing an feeling she found quite alien, even confusing. After going through the painful task of -ugh- READING up on the subject, she concluded she was feeling lonely.

She looked at the clock and saw she needed to be somewhere else. She quickly pointed. "HEY! Isn't that a narwhal spy-dragon out the window?"

"Where? Where?" Said her tutor (a dirty brown Earth Pony with Gallop Fawkes mask as a cutie mark) rushing to the window.

Diamond calmly left the room and went to her own room and took out the sewing supplies she had hidden under her bed and left the estate with one of the unicorn maids running interference.

She made it about half way when the voice of the brown pony with the pointing everywhere arrows from her dreams started up again. She managed to ignore them all the way to Miss Rarity's shop.

The front door looked like it had been the world's most hasty repair job.

Miss Rarity worked her sewing machine with a greater sense of relief today. While Silver Spoon was still not talking to the CMCs, she was no longer verbally lashing out at them for trying to be nice to her.

Rarity had been tempted to say they could earn friendship cutie marks this way, but knew the CMCs would then try to jump to the end result and ruin any chance of getting Silver Spoon to accept friendship from her former victims. She also seemed less terrified of going home.

"Good afternoon Miss Rarity." Diamond came in, feeling more relaxed here. The narwhal's cat only attacked her once a visit now.

"Good afternoon Diamond Tiara." Rarity said in a polite lady-like and welcoming voice. "I'll be with you in just a second. Make yourself feel at home." Rarity had to say the the spoiled Earth Pony had come a long way since their secret lessons had started. She only stumbled rather than froze at trying to use the word 'unicorn' opposed to 'narwhal.' And she only stabbed herself with the showing needle about half as often she used to. And her thread lines were a lot more steady.

"You know Diamond Tiara, I think you really should make up with Silver Spoon now." While there was a chance the two fillies could end up reinforcing each other's bad behavior again, Rarity couldn't stand seeing two best friends not even so much as LOOKING at each other.

Diamond startled. "Why should I?"

"She's your friend isn't she?"

"Not anymore."

"So nothing you did with her had -any- meaning? Just the facts your parents knew each other and she was the only filly in your tax bracket? The two of you never had any fun that didn't involve picking on blank flanks? Which I always found odd since you were beside Applebloom and her friends among the last to get yours in Miss Cheerilee's class."

Diamond thought of it, she had had fun with Silver Spoon. Right? She had had fun. They had a special hug and everything right? They made them friends right? They visited each other and were happy to see each other even when they showed up unannounced. That had something to do with being friends right? She wondered if maybe, just maybe, she should try to make up or something. Mom always said silver and diamonds looked pretty together.

That was when the voice said. 'Do it now. It is all you have to do. Do it now.' A pair of scissors gleamed next to Rarity on the table.

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I don't want to.'

'She's just a narwhal. Why not?'

'She's . . . nice to me. I feel, happy, around her.'

'I see. I should tell your mother then.'

'What?'

'That you don't need her anymore. That you don't love her anymore. You found a nice replacement for her. Just like your dad is looking for a replacement for her. That you don't WANT HER to find all her marbles in that mangled contraption she calls a mind. That you don't want her at your birthday. You want a new mommy. Just keep that embarrassing secret locked away in that tiny little room, forever.'

"NOOO!!!" Diamond screamed as only a little filly could and grabbed the scissors and stabbed them in Rarity's hind quarters.

Rarity nearly impaled her hoof on the sewing machine as as she turned around to see the bloody scissors in Diamond's mouth. Tears came down her pink face ruining her make-up. The blood came down Rarity leg in contrast to her white fur. "Diamond . . . why?" Rarity asked. Not in rage, but in shock. In worry!

~~~
"Diamond . . . why?" Asked her mother as Diamond helped hold her down as the white Pegasi took her away to where father promised she'd get better soon.
~~~

Diamond wanted to die. She dropped the blades and opened her mouth. 'Tell her why and you won't get your wish. Say you're sorry and you don't get your wish.' Taunted the voice in a pleasant voice. She closed her mouth. Why did she feel so ugly? 'And now with this last act of disharmony: Betrayal, our contract is complete. Come to me and accept my majesty.'

Diamond ran like a mad pony with bloody hoof prints out of the shop still crying. Rarity tried to follow, but had to stop to bandage herself.

Half way across town, Pinkie Pie's body began to shake like mad, a doozy of a doozy was coming.

~Fin

Reharmonization Luna: "Canterlot Chaos"

My Little Ponies Friendship is Magic

Ponies POV Series Side Story
Subject: "Princess Luna"

"Canterlot Chaos"

Many Weeks And Many Days Earlier . . . Night Before The Day Of Discord

As Princess in charge of night rather than day, my sleep cycle revolved around the night shift. I didn't precisely need sleep as an Alicorn and moon goddess, but I appreciated just how relaxing it was to curl up in bed. And Celly insisted I needed the sleep cycles to recover properly. Six work nights out of seven were not too exhausting given I simply held night court of the palace, dealing with late night emergencies, or more often just reading.

I no longer fear my own sleep, after a year, the nightmares had finally stopped. And with Celly I had found my freedom from not only Nightmare Moon but also my old insecurities.

I stayed up late (early) last night though, for on one day out of seven I liked to explore how changed the night had become in a thousand years. Nightclubs were a nice invention, so were twenty-four hour licensing laws, Overnight trains, and late-night eateries. I would sometimes go clubbing in Manehatten under any number of various false forms.

If I didn't know better I could almost suspect Celly had encouraged ponies to enjoy my night more just to prepare for my return (Okay, so that wasn't so much of a stretch for my sister). On the other hoof, ponies did seem a little different after a thousand years. Artificial light was much better these days. I could almost compare my sky to the cities below. The twinkling distant stars of Manehatten, the small but bright light of Ponyville... constellations on the ground.

If I said so myself, I felt that the night was more beautiful than ever before now that I was home. Light pollution had become a thing of the past - Celestia's power over night having never quite been able to make the stars and moon penetrate the neon glows of streetlights in big cities.

At Celly's kind gentle coaxing (or rather insistence, okay, that's a lie, 'Tia's been firm with me but she's been gentle in helping me recover from the beginning) I had begun to attend the music theater, not as an patron, but as one of the performers. She figured it was a good way for the people to get comfortable with me. They had accepted the night. And now they just needed to accept the night's princess.

Tonight my costume consisted a midnight blue, almost black cloak with a high curled collar. It was just a short musical piece to be told as part of the intermission while the other actors rested. However it was a very popular piece. Maybe I was being type casted, but the poem that the song was based off of did have a rich one thousand year history behind it. I should know, I wrote it.

The three main stallions who were also in the performance had about one line each, but were mimed, but they were still proud and threw themselves into their body acting all the more. And it wasn't every night you performed with a goddess.

The stage darkened to twilight as the back lights gave us the appearance almost of outlines to the audience who briefly stomped their hooves as I stepped onto stage from below and I waited for them to quiet down as I began to sing.

The play briefly showed the stallions pulling down a large tree with a complex set of weights and vines to safely cross a deadly river. Which was where I stepped in front of their path.

Once I happened 'cross earth ponies three
Who thought they could use all their horse-sense to thwart me

But I, being night, being sly blocked their path
And said "brave, cunning ponies oh what do you ask
I will give each a prize and then let brothers pass"

The purple pony begged "please Luna, give me a tool.
A horn that will win every fight, every duel."

So I broke a branch off of the eldest tree
And I fashioned a horn for he thought he was worthy
And made a unicorn of the eldest of three"

Go, brother, I bid thee goodnight
I promise you'll win all your battles and fights
But your horn will be stolen and you will be maimed
Then you and I will meet again"

I levitated the costume horn onto the stallion's head, who proudly trotted forth and 'struck down' another unicorn who mocked him. But was then tackled by several other ponies with greedy looks in their eyes one of them carrying a sword. His spot light cut out the moment the plastic sword fell down on top of the costume horn. A projected red splatter effect flashed across the background screen behind us for moment before turning back.

"The blue brother cried "give me wings instead,
The power to fly others back from the land of the dead!"

So I plucked a feather from our own side
And I placed it onto his hide
The new pegasus could fly and flew to bring back his departed bride

Go, brother I bid thee goodnight
You'll fly to the stars and see your love soon but things will not be right
You'll drive yourself crazy cuz she won't be whole
And then I will claim your soul

The costume wings were placed on the stallion's back. He looked at them excited and with some unicorn magic off stage he 'flew' up into the air among the starry background. There was the projection of a beautiful white unicorn on the background screen who he attempted to take hold off only to find she was intangible. He mimed crying out in despair and willingly 'falling' down back to Earth, the light cutting out just before impact.

The youngest pony said "Luna, I don't trust your ways,
Please leave me alone 'til the end of my days"

And though I was reluctant, he was the wisest of the three
So I gave him my horseshoes of invisibility
And I let the last pony go free

Go, brother I bid thee goodnight
Go take your horseshoes and go live out your life
Be happy and healthy and when you are ready
You can take off your horseshoes and join me

I took off the unnailed slip-on costume horse-shoe I was wearing and telekinetically slipped it onto the 'third brother.' The projectors did a good job of making his body vanish into the background pattern. The day night cycle circled repeatedly on the screen behind us as I 'searched' this way and that, the 'third brother' peaking out always from the opposite way I was looking. Then with a small colt beside him and miming the movements of old age, he slipped the shoes off and hoofed it to the small colt. I 'appeared' behind him, took him up in my fore legs and flew up past the stage with the small colt looking up sadly.

And that is the story of the earth pony brothers
They each made their choice, one wiser than others
They stripped me of horn and of shoe and of wing
And I bade young Redjack be selfless and roam
And many years passed 'til I was called to his home
But I took the other two for my own

The lights blacked out for a moment as I was again in my starting position, images of a unicorn's horn, a pegasus' wings, and a replica of one of Mimic's horse shoes appeared on the background canvas behind me. The first two 'brothers' stood on either side of me with dead, distant looks in their eyes and lowered their heads as I stared darkly at the audience. The lights went out and the crowd roared in approval of the performance.

Unlike a thousand years ago, Celestia didn't admonish me for shirking a day out of holding my court of night for artistic and personal pursuits and had been -encouraging it-. I wasn't clear on her motives, but I thanked her for it. I couldn't remember when I last felt so alive, so happy.

But the night was the night. And the day was the day. And today it was time I had a nice sleep, taking just enough time to lower the moon I fell into bed. Sunset wasn't for another twelve hours... Celly would wake me in plenty of time...

+++

"Lulu! Wakey wakey!"

I groaned.

"...Celestia? Is it sunset already? I feel like I just..."

I blinked, still lying in bed.

"...Is that you 'Tia?"

"Of course it is, you silly filly!"

My sleep addled brain tried to figure out what I was seeing. "You seem kind of, well, small."

My daymare sister seemed normal at first flapping a few feet in front of me. Until I noticed she was one-eighth her normal size, had stubby legs, was a bit on the pudgy size, her wings were little compared to the rest of her, her horn was round ended, and her mane was now solid faded pink. It had been three thousand years since I had seen her like this.

"Of course! My best friend in the whole wide world Discord made me fun size!"

The bucking hay?!

My half-awake brain received a jolt of adrenaline at hearing that word. Alarm bells went off in every corner of my mind!

"...Discord?"

She smiled at me, I looked into her big round eyes, a wildness to them. "Yeah! That guy who used to run this place before us! Looks like that statue of him in the royal garden wasn't a statue after all! I knew we misplaced him somewhere! He's back and everything's all fun now! Well, at least here and Ponyville! And Hoofington, and the Everfree Forest, and-"

"Tia'... You've been corrupted..." I gasped.

"Tsk, tsk. What a nasty, inconsiderate and prejudice word: I prefer to say discorded, or 'converted', my little pony."

I felt a chill down my spine. I knew that voice!

"...Where are you?" I asked thin air. Celestia was now spinning her head three hundred and sixty degrees while giggling like a filly at the fair.

I felt a hot breath alongside my bed-hair mane. "Very. Close. By."

I screamed only slightly like a little colt and leapt onto all fours on my perfectly accurate star chart bedspread staring at the abomination laying between my bedsheets! It had been over two thousand years, lifetimes even for me, but I'd know that monstrous mishmash of animal parts anywhere!

Celestia leapt up and sat down on the ceiling smiling down at us.

I screamed not caring for a moment who I was dealing with. "Get out of my bed!"

Discord, turned lazily to look at me still laying down. He grinned.

He spoke in the most fake posh tone imaginable. "You get out of mine. This is my kingdom once more..."

"It's a principality!" I snapped, moving out of my bed and facing the lounging spirit of disharmony. I spread and stretched my wing reflexively.

"Temper temper, my dearest Luna. But I understand your displeasure. I have been most unkind to you this day. While Ponyville and Canterlot were the first to be blessed with the delightful chaos of... well, me... you alone of all those countless ponies are the only one I haven't fixed up yet.

"I really should thank you! Not for the turning to stone thing of course, but really, there are just SO MANY of you now, and by that I mean ponies not Alicorns of course, blech. You've managed to more than make up for me, ahem, accidentally wiping out the Hippocampi, Flutter Ponies, and most of your kind." Discord scratched his head. "I was so -sure- I turned that desert back into an ocean! I guess my game of pony-card-solitaire ran long. Too bad, I really did enjoy their singing. Oh well, you win some, you reduce the six pony races to three point two. Oh well... Where was I?"

"Leaving and turning everything back to normal!" I shouted, focusing magic in my horn... And shooting out nothing but a small spark.

Discord blew on a tiny horn making a muted trumpet sound, and clapped.

Great if you want to send a letter, but not much else, I'm afraid. Oh, and don't even bother trying to sic your new Bearers of those Elements on me..."

I felt my panic rising.

"...What did you do?"

Discord waved his arms joyously. "I made them fun! Loyalty turned Traitor, Laughter turned so serious, Generosity so greedy. That one was good actually, it always used to be a weakness, as I once told a very bald being. What else. Oh, Kindness, I made her unkind. Quite tricky... Honesty, well, she's a liar now. And as for Magic... She'll break."

"Monster."

"Is that anyway to talk to the one who helped you realize what a total attention hog your sister really is?"

I gritted my teeth. No. No way. He was NOT baiting me with that!

I looked at my big, er, little, regressed and cursed sister.

"And... What about Celestia? Why am I really not being affected?" I realized too late I had just looked a gift horse in the mouth.

Discord chuckled.

"Well, Celestia has been making changes in the castle after I converted her to being over nine thousand percent cooler. And... Well, it has nothing to do with you being contaminated with the blasted Elements of Harmony until I defeated them. Okay, it was at first, but... Having a straight mare to all my fun is a vital element!"

Discord then took a little something next to my focusing glasses (wasn't right to call them reading glasses since I had perfect vision) and looked at it like it was some strange alien technology. "Hey put that down!" Okay, that was about the LAST thing I should have said I wanted him to actually do that.

"This thing? Haven't you ponies invented the hand held calculator yet? Or are you still struggling to invent the vacuum tube and the transistor? Meh. I could never make sense of this technology junk anyway. Oh well. Here's a gift my beautiful Luna to remind you of when you were cool!"

And then he zapped my abacus! He zapped my thousand year old antique twenty-thousand-bits abacus! I tried to zap him again only to remember my magic was completely disrupted with the damage Discord had done to the local mana flow.

Where my abacus had been before was now a floating little transparent version of my moon. Then it started speaking. For the sake of your good night sleep, I shall NOT describe how it was able to speak.

"The night shall be ever lasting! No longer will you be slaves to the day! An age of endless dreams await you! If you but follow me! Her Nightjesty! Queen Nightmare Moon!"

I wanted to rip my mane out from how frustrating helpless Discord was determined to make me feel.

"Creatures of the night having nothing to fear from the night. Embrace the night. The day burns you and gives you skin cancer! The moon shall never curse you with such things! Can you not see it is madness to bow to the light!"

I sent a letter opener through the thing. Of course it would pass right through it. It just continued to play back every speech and message I had had my minions deliver to every town and hovel in Equestria during my campaign and when I had played the double life of the loyal loving sister to Celestia and the dark queen of the self proclaimed Empire of Nightmares (I was insane at the time, I didn't think how that name wasn't good PR).

Discord yawned, bored. That was either cautiously good or horribly awful. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my new capital of chaos before Twilight Sparkle arrives back home. And I need to have the time to finally turn that desert back into an ocean. Isn't there a town there now called Appleloosa? Maybe I'll turn all the ponies into singing sea ponies with a hive mind if I have the time. And there's this nice town in the Everfree Forest, I think I'll resurrect all the ponies there, give them cutie marks, make them think their curse is over, and have the spell last about twenty four hours until they all turn back into zombies! It'll make a good laugh when I see their faces when they turn back into walking corpses! And Celestia? It's time to lower the sun..."

"It's three in the afternoon!" I protested, but as Discord vanished, the now smaller white Alicorn lowered the sun.

I quickly raised the moon, fearing that no celestial bodies in the sky would incite panic in the cities and towns Discord hadn't found amusing to affect directly yet. I still had magic for that, the moon and myself were part of a whole, but... I could feel I was so much weaker. Even weaker than after I was purified of my Nightmare Moon persona. What had Discord done to my magic while I was sleeping-?! I stopped that thought before I got sick.

"Whee! Now it's sunrise time! Move the moon, Luna!"

I did so on reflex.

"Now it's sunset time again!"

I felt a headache coming on.

"Ugh... Take over the moon for now, 'Tia. I'll get it back later..."

"You're the best, Lulu! Can I paint it?! Can I can I can I?!"

I groaned in a very unprincess-like manner.

"...Maybe later."

I had to get to Twilight. I flew out the castle window, and crashed into my bedroom from the opposite window. I smoldered as Celly laughed and clapped with her hooves. "That was funny! Do it again! Do it again!"

Okay. New strategy.

+++++

I flew through the castle, headed straight for the throne room. I had only paused to slip on my normal aesthetics out of habit.

What used to be my abacus followed me and continue to blab endlessly. It made me realize one very important thing. I really needed to have somepony proof read my rhetorics! Maybe Celly was right and everything I wrote wasn't automatically gold. Either way, I was able to tune out the worthless annoyance. It was like being in the rain, not pleasant but hardly torture.

There was a seeing stone we had created back in our early days that enabled myself or my sister to use a ersatz emulation of the vision we were granted via our celestial bodies to see anything it's light touched. Celestia had made use of it greatly during my thousand year imprisonment. It was hardwired to be only active with when touched by Alicorn magic as a safety measure. It's range was limited, and could only focus on things that you already knew about (making it MORE limited), and the stupid little thing was deceptively heavy! But it would have to do. I needed to know what was going on out there WITHOUT relying on a cheating cheater who cheats!

The stone was normally kept in the throne room, and I hoped it remained unharmed. I had every expectation of finding a stone eyeball in its place...

But as I flew, the castle became... discomforting. For example, outside the throne room, two statues stood, made of solid stone.

"...These two statues... There were guards here."

"And there still are!" Discord grinned, popping out from behind them.

"They also used to be male! And I thought you didn't turn ponies to stone!"

"Oh, you think this was me? No, this was -Celestia.- She felt that guards stood still so long they might as well be statues. Then she realised that boys were icky... "

Celestia herself made an appearance.

"Oh, Hi Luna! I don't want to paint the moon yet, I just want somepony to play with!"

Her horn glowed, and the two statues seemingly vanished. In their places were two small, startled, fillies.

"W-Whats... Princesses? What is..." One former stallion tried, before the now-filly was grabbed by Celestia.

Both former guards squealed as they and Celestia vanished. The spirit of disharmony chuckled.

"Don't worry, they have plenty of toys. Celestia figured the maids should be made of something. So she figured felt and wool. Quite a lot of dolls..."

"This is insane..." I groaned as my head spun.

"You're starting to understand! I'm so proud..." Discord cheered as he vanished.

Inside the throne room was no better. The Daylight Regal Chair was now a toilet... gold plated, but still a toilet. My own Night Throne had become a foal's potty, and I blushed furiously at the implication.

There was a still flesh and blood maid sitting in the corner, crossed eyed and licking the windows.

The four guards here had apparently been turned into two ballet dancers, a jackass in the box, and a seapony swimming in a giant glass of water.

The seapony was the only one who noticed me. She looked at me happily and stuck her head out of the giant glass.

"...Shoo be..."

"Don't even think about it ." I gritted my teeth darkly.

The Seapony began crying. I just turned my eyes from her. I couldn't even bear to look at her if I had to hear one of the Hippocampi's famous songs after over a thousand years, I'd break down crying. And I couldn't afford that.

As I took a few trots I found out the red carpet leading to the throne was now made of strawberry jam. I had to abandon one of my glass slippers stuck in the gunk. The seeing stone remained unharmed though. It sat on its pedestal, a perfect shimmering mirror sphere. One little burst of Alicorn magic and the mirror became a window to anywhere within it's range I could visualize.

And then I grew suspicious. Since when did Discord give any of his playthings an actual chance of winning?

"...This is a trick. You left me sane because it seemed funny and before you couldn't, but if I watch the Elements of Harmony corrupted you get a shot at me, don't you?"

No one answered me. I sighed. If this was one of Discord's game, then I had no choice but to move forward anyway.

"Fine. Let's do this..."

+++

I felt sane, comparatively speaking. Apart from the murderous rage and wishing I'd just decapitated the damn statue all those centuries ago. I didn't care about the consequences at least it would have made me feel better!

First I had observed the Elements as Twilight Sparkle tried to rally her friends. Her own friends doing much more harm than good as they fell even deeper into corruption! They were acting like a bunch of foals! I counted one short, and I found Rainbow Dash flying like mad.

Now carrying the heavy seeing stone on my back I moved to see the rest of the castle with my own eyes, which was naturally in total chaos. Trees walked around, watering the gardeners. What appeared to be a Wonderbolt had crashed into the castle clock tower. An Earth Pony out wearing a Wonderbolt flight-suit was running from a flock of flying pony-eating pies. The moment I climbed out to help him I fell back inside the castle from an opposing window. Again.

I glanced inside the grand dance hall having been painstakingly repaired from the disaster of that year's Grand Galloping Gala. Maybe it was a good thing I hadn't attended. Celestia had tried to have the regular event disbanded and ceased one time I had known her and that was the closest our ponies had ever come to rebelling on us when she suggested it.

I really wished I hadn't looked. Inside were countless members of Equestria's rich, famous and aristocratic. Hoity Toity was dressed in a garish patch work suit of eye-burning colors and vomit inducing patterns and giggling as he banged his head against a wall. Many were acting like toddlers (okay not much of a stretch for the aristocrats but still).

Octavia was writhing on the dance floor in agony holding her hooves over her ears screaming, "Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Over and over.

Sapphire Shores was going around naked (I know not saying much for a pony), the full grown mare kicking her hooves at others screaming at others to look at her and how mean adults were.

Not all the guards were statues. A few on patrol must have been thought to be clockwork soldiers by Celestia. I nodded politely as a clanking pair whirred past, pausing only to salute me with jerking motions.

"Okay... Think, Luna. You can do something to help them out even with all this..."

"Help me!" Someone screamed. I was on alert, but the two clanking guards ignored the scream. Moments later, a mare made entirely of ice ran around the corner, hooves causing patches of ice to form on the floor as she ran.

"Auntie Luna! Please! Save me!"

"....Blueblood?! What the...?" I almost asked why he was made of ice, then realized how stupid a question that was.

Even a terrified mare of ice as she was, Blueblood rolled her eyes.

"Of all the foalish questions at a time like... Oh no, he's coming!" Blueblood looked ready to wet herself.

There was a glow from the corridor Blueblood had fled from, and then a stallion made of flames approached. It bore a strange resemblance to Blueblood himself.

"Uh... Well, for once I can deny I set anyone on fire..." I blinked, as Blueblood cowered behind me.

I shivered from the cold mare's proximity.

"Please! Stop him! Extinguish him! Before he melts me!" My great to the fifty-second power nephew cried tears of ice, scared for her life.

"Blueblood, if it's another transformed pony putting him out would kill him... her... was it a her before?" My head spun at the particulars.

But the ice pony had screamed and ran away. The stallion of fire followed, burning lovehearts for eyes. The intense heat of the stallion singed some of my fur even as I backed into the wall. I telekinetically slammed the door my nephew had fled through in the face of the flaming stallion scorching it and making the flaming stallion look around in confusion. It then began to sing in my nephew's off key voice singing how it wanted to make love to 'Princess Blueblood.'

I felt my brain threatening to break in two without any direct help from Discord.

I needed somewhere to think! Something that had things that wouldn't interest Discord in the least so I could try to figure something out!

"Aha! The library! Either I can read something or find a heavy book to hit Discord with!"

I then tried to canter off, but slid in a puddle Blueblood and her firey stallion had helped leave behind.

"...Ow."

A pony who now had a mop for a tail and a powerdrill for a unicorn horn wandered up and began mopping the water away.

"...I'm guessing you're a Janitor?" I asked from the floor.

The pony nodded.

+++

I had made my way to the Royal Library ignoring the chaos around me. Instead I was focusing on the seeing stone showing me the distant six, five, okay -one- pony trying to save the world... and failing. Her own friends mocking and bullying her. Fluttershy was being a thug. Rarity was a paranoid mad woman. Pinkie Pie was taking offense to everything that moved. And Applejack, had come to the realization that lying was easier than facing reality.

Finding the library wasn't easy. Celly seemed to be rearranging the layout of the castle every time she rose or lowered the sun, which was about every few minutes.

I had thought I could find something here, but I was wrong.

The library was now full of picture books lying around, that when opened, revealed themselves to be the pages of the lives of ponies. Most of the real books had run off, except for one which sat reading a pile of picture books.

Each book I had examined currently ended on the same three pictures. The library staff and visitors all looking startled as the other books came to life, a number of books falling to the ground where the ponies had been... and then a picture of myself reading the book. I guessed the book reading the ponies probably ended with a picture of itself reading.

Sighing, I gently closed what had apparently been a young dark blue-maned unicorn called Sunny Place, placing her beside the colt she had dragged to the library, a blond-maned Earth pony named Maelstrom. This wasn't helping ...

...It probably wasn't helping Discord yet either. Not unless he planned to spend his entire rule with a murderous Alicorn chasing after him. Though he probably did.

I felt scared and sick. Nothing I could do was going to change anything. I was a rat in Discord's maze running about for a cheese that didn't exist. I could have stayed in my room and nothing would have changed in the least.

A a sickly icy feeling in the pit of my empty stomach, I focused on Twilight again. I had 'tuned in' just in time for the 'climax' of Discord's game.

"FINE! See if I care!" Twilight shouted angry and hurt. Her friends had already scattered. Her voice fell to a whisper. "With friends like you, who needs . . . enemies."

A heart broken shaped tear fell from the purple unicorn. And her colors turned to grays starting with her tail and back hooves and slowly made their way forword. It reminded me of petrification. That same slow, helpless death.

"Twilight Sparkle! Please! Don't!" I urged, but the seeing stone could only see, it couldn't transport my word.

I could only watch as all the colors drained from my sister's student. From my last saviour. From one of Equestria's last hopes...

...It was over. I was alone.

That was it. The Elements of Harmony were deader than dead. Twilight Sparkle was now just another of Discord's broken toys.

There were no more ancient legends, no hidden tricks. No back up magical items saved for a rainy day to solve all of this. Celestia was an insane filly making the castle her playground. Everyone in the castle except me was as broken on the inside as the outside. And I might as well have been still trapped in the moon for all the power I had. Discord was truth again. And my efforts were even more meaningless than when I had been secretly plotting my sister's downfall in a deluded quest for recognition.

What was the point of a night that offered beauty but no warmth? Night was just the absence of day. I ruled nothing.

Even as my focusing magic faded, I was startled to see a grey face staring back from the stone for a moment, until I realized I had stopped using it. That was my face!

I realized something was off instantly by the sheer fact I CARED that my colors were grayed out. Then it hit me much harder. My fur hadn't turned gray. It was TURNING black! Oh no!

The blackness didn't spread like a wash of paint, it was spreading like blotches of cancer.

"I can lend you power." I heard a voice inside my head sounding exactly like my own but far off. I swear I saw slit pale blue eyes blink back at me for moment as I felt true fear build up inside me.

Thoughts and images came unbidden as I panted. I want to rip Discord to shreds. To make him scream a hundred times for everypony's screams during his reign. I wanted that smug face to turn into a pathetic pleading for mercy! I wanted to lead him along the fantasy I just might spare him if he groveled enough until I tore his non-existent heart out! I wanted to feast on his innards and bath in his blood!!! To cry out in savage victory as I stood over his broke corpse! For every living thing to finally pronounce me their savior and queen! Celestia on her knees kissing my hooves! Twilight declaring herself -my- faithful student. For people to sleep though the warmth of the day and work in the cold of the night! I WANTED IT ALL!

"NOOOOOO!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Shhhhhh!" Said the animated book. It was cut in two by a bolt of black 'lightning' a moment later.

I was covered in sweat. It felt like my guts were turning to ice cold sewage.

A horrible horrible horrible thought occurred to me. Was this the only way left to stopped Discord? A world of eternal night and a slow death had to be kinder than a never ending death in a world of eternal chaos right? Was it being selfish and cowardly by not accepting the power that came with these dark emotions and thoughts? I shuddered. The cancerous spots of blackness connected with each other. There was nothing left right? Everyone else who would have opposed Discord or had a chance against him now had their very souls lobotomized by him. Better the Queen of Darkness than the Lord of Chaos right?

I rolled an eye to look out the window. It was (for the moment), night. And I saw my moon currently in it's crescent phase. And I saw the four stars that floated near it, near myself. The moon that was as much me as the body that struggled against the dark feelings that had conquered me once before. As I looked at those stars. Memories returned. And I remembered for the first time in five hundred and one years at the halfway point from my isolation. Memories I had buried.

+++

In her Nightmare Moon form, Luna looked about what had been a Griffon clan banquet table. Now the tables were splinters, the ill gotten flesh scattered across the floor and the griffons all lay dead. Many with her faces frozen in fear and not a mark on them, others with their limbs going complete the wrong way. And couple impaled repeatedly for good measure. A female adult griffon cried in the corner, using herself as a shield for her hatchlings and egg, both in a desperate attempt to protect them from this demon of darkness and to not let them see their brothers and fathers' dead bodies. Luna let them be. They weren't what interested in her. She had come here just to deliver some swift justice. But what she found was precious beyond description. A small white unicorn colt blank flank lay on one of the tables, his hooves tied down to the corners a slave collar with a chain around his neck. His flesh was intended to be some deviant rite of passage for a griffon who had come of age.

She undid the ropes. The foal just looked at her. Looking like he was calmly waiting for her to kill him. She knelt down to look at her.

"Do you have a name?"

The foal nodded.

"What is it?"

He told her.

"Where is your family?"

He looked about at the mess. Luna understood.

"Do you wish to stay here dear?"

He shook his head.

"Do you wish to leave this place and never have to come back here?"

He nodded.

"Would you like to come with me? I promise you'll be safe."

He nodded.

"Then promise to hate the day, and to love the night."

"I promise to hate the day, and love the night." The unicorn felt confused and turned to look at his flanks as he felt a tingle.

~~~

The yellow earth pony panted, walking away from the glider she had build with a limp. The glider now a crashed mess. She'd had to rebuild it from scratch. That meant more late nights. Her family was going notice her change in behavior even if she didn't. And that would mean they could realize she hadn't given up on this 'nonsense' yet. She looked at a small community of Pegasi cloud houses miles above her, and her lips quivered. Why? She didn't care her connection to the Earth let her knew what the land felt, she wanted to know what the sky felt! She felt it call to her. So why did the ground keep pulling her back?

She looked up at the beautiful moon. If only she could just touch it just once. She looked at her blank flank. Her family had begun to wonder if she had some sort of disease. She was years behind when she should have found her cutie mark. Was she just denying herself? Was the ground where she belonged chained to after all?

And to top it all off she had to come up with another convincing lie for why her back leg was on the mend.

"You wish to fly?" Echoed a voice.

"Whose there-?!" The mare gasped in worry.

"Someone who is willing to help you. You do not shun the night like most ponies. It holds no fear for you. But your family rejects your dream to fly as a sickness. They believe your wish to soar is an illness. I've been watching you. You keep trying. And keep failing. But it doesn't have to be that way." A mass of shadows and sparkling stars formed in front of her taking shape.

"P-Princess Luna?! I swear my inventions are for the good of-"

"Calm yourself. I have come to offer you a choice. Dismiss it and I shall never bother you again. Swear yourself to me, and to tear down this old unfair world and help me forge a new one and I will provide you with all the resources to bring about your dream."

The mare looked back at her crashed glider, thinking of the many before it, all the times she had slept during the day and worked during the night. And always alone. She prostrated herself in front of the night princess. "I swear myself to you and to make a new world in this world's place."

"Swear your life to me and my cause."

"I swear my life to you and your cause."

"You do this of your own free will?"

"I do this of my own free will."

The mare gasped in pure absolute shock as she felt the tingle on her flanks.

~~~

"How could she do that! How could she! It's not far!" Shouted the pegasus, of course, pegasus was not all he was. Scales adorned his lower legs, and he had foreclaws opposed to hooves. And his feathers were thin scales rather than down. And of course the horns, which of course meant he was evil just by having them. "How could she tell me to just run away!" He breathed fire at a cloud nearby the one he was standing on.

A voice echoed around him, he looked about but couldn't find it. "Your mother told you to run away because she realized she couldn't protect you, not because she did not love you. You, a product of genuine honest love that crossed between species itself."

He didn't care suddenly who this voice was. "Screw that! If that dragon really loved my mother he'd have been there to protect her!"

"Yes. His very nature compelled him. He could not escape it. But he allowed -her- to escape, when he realized that she would wither and die if he continued to keep her as a treasure in his collection, no matter that he would trade all his horde to keep her. But since when have dragons ever been trusted? Let alone one born from a love that has been declared by your fellow ponies as an abomination. Declared YOU an abomination. Treating you like you were cursed at best or WERE a curse on your mother at worst. It's not fair at all. Swear yourself to me, my cause, my will, my vision, my design. And I promise this world will be remade into something much more fair. Something where this cruelty does not exist."

"HA! And who are you to pull this off, lady?"

"Me." She took her full form in front of him, outlined by her moon.

"N-n-nightmare . . . NIGHTMARE MOON! But I thought you were just a rumor! A myth! A fantasy!"

"I am no figment of imagination. Swear yourself to me, and help me remake a world where you and all like you to come will be accepted."

He didn't need to be asked twice. And he didn't acted all surprised when the symbol appeared on his butt.

~~~

With a sense of grim satisfaction, Luna in her guise of Nightmare Moon watched as the town burned and every pony in it. They would fall, screaming, they would die, but their suffering would not end. The flames of Sunnytown and it's inhabitants illuminated her night sky.

She turned to a transparent shape. A gray pony with a magnifying glass cutie mark. "It's done. They now suffer the way you've suffered, but your suffering is over, theirs shall never end."

The transparent teenage pony didn't respond.

"You may now pass on to the spirit world. Or you can stay with us, and help us bring about a world where what has happened to you shall never happen to any other Ruby."

"No . . ." Whispered the dead pony.

"Eh?"

"I didn't want this . . . Grayhoof was the one who killed me."

"And the others just let it happen. And even your best friend who abandoned you has accepted this Hell as her just reward."

"Roneo thought they were going to HELP ME! Mitta would be dead now anyway if she had tried to save me! Threeleaf thought it was some kind of plague! Let them go!"

"We can't. This curse can only end when they accept their own sins or in Mitta's case stops punishing herself. You think those things you say excuse them for your murder? They were all cowards who'd rather murder you than try to understand something new. Something these talentless lazy slackers had no hope of doing. Or rather something they lost by having everything handed to them. We told sister creating a settlement where no pony would have to struggle for happiness was a mistake. 'Some ponies are sick of Cutie Marks after the Cutie Pox, this town is my gift to the survivors.' Your ancestors. Sister never thought that all their descendants, you, would remember about Cutie Marks was that they were a 'disease.' Maybe this'll teach Celly we're as much a natural part of this world as the other ponies. Now what do you chose?"

"I chose to stay in Sunnytown."

"WHAT?"

"I chose to stay. Until I can get Mitta to let go of her guilt and I can save Threeleaf and Roneo and everyone!"

"Your quest is futile."

"I don't care if it takes an eternity to save Mitta, until she lets go of her guilt I'll stay with her."

"Very well."

~~~

The dark purple unicorn stallion with a white mane floated his helpless enemy a bit closer to him. "Alright Red Night. Time to talk."

The Pegasus just grinned showing off his two fangs that didn't fit on any pony anywhere. The sickening pale pony showed no fear. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm THIS close to driving another stake, this one through your heart you blood sucker!" Right now there were five stakes driven into the pale pony all in key positions one through his bowtie cutie mark.

"If information is all that's keeping me alive, why should I sign my death warrant by giving it away?"

"You're dead already remember?"

"Shadow Sparkle!" Roxxie Pie said, the Earth pony getting his face. "He's just a victim too remember? Red Night, if you help us, I'm sure Princess Celestia can cure you of your curse." She looked at the undead pony pleadingly.

"I'm not so sure this guy WANTS to be cured." Said Thunder Dash.

Roxxie Pie looked at her Pegasi teammate. "That's because the curse is talking, not him. We should be trying to HELP him." She took the carrot approach to Shadow Sparkle's stick. "Red Night. We know that Nightmare Moon has a spy in the royal court. Do you have any idea who it is?"

Red Night stared with them with those solid red eyes, then pulled his head back and laughed tossing his black mane. "HAS a spy? What if I told you that Nightmare Moon WAS the spy?"

Shadow Sparkle almost dropped him in shock. "That's impossible. That lady's hard to miss."

"Oh come on! It's so obvious! Do I really need to spell it-" A silver rod was suddenly sticking out of Red Night's chest. Red Night's head fell forword, already dead.

Shadow dropped him.

All three ponies looked at three other equine standing on the nearby tree tops of Red Night's small estate the full moon against them.

One was a white unicorn stallion with a purple mane. Around his neck was silver collar with glowing runes, two chains were in the back with links to an uneven number of five silver rods connected to the chains links a circle of identical runes around the stub of each rod on each end. They were identical to the one that had just killed Red Night.

One was a yellow Earth pony mare with a blond mane. Connected to her back via a pair of black rods was six elongated metal diamond shapes, three on each side, engraved on the top were the shape of different ponies, they looked like coffins almost.

The last one was . . . looked like bizarre mix of red dragon and pegasi. The sheer wrongness of him actually made Thunder Dash shudder.

Before any of the three could demand answers, the three new ponies vanished into the wood line going off in different directions the night's darkness itself actively covering their escape.

~~~~

"This is not good." Nightmare Moon muttered.

"But your true identity as Princess Luna is safe your Nightjesty!" Comforted the white unicorn.

"Not for long after Red Night's blabbing. We need to move everything ahead of schedule, now."

~~~~

Luna felt her sister coming. Along with her were three other ponies. Luna could guess. No pony could use their ultimate weapon by their lonesome. It had required both her and Celestia to use the Elements together to seal Discord. But Luna wasn't about to let that happen. "APPLEDANCER! FATE BELL! FAR SIGH!"

"Yes, Your Nightjesty!" Her three devoted knelt her heads down at their queen, Earth Pony, unicorn, and pegasus.

"Princess Celestia is coming. She has helpers. Leave Celestia to me. But you are not to let ONE of her loyalists enter the fray with her. You are to fight to the death if need be. Do you understand?"

"YES, YOUR NIGHTJESTY!" All three responded without hesitation. Luna had granted them each either their life, dream, or their purpose in life. Each one had lived their life to serve her. Each owed their life to her. If this was where this road led, then so be it. They had a responsibility.

~~~~

Appledancer only looked in stunned silence as one of her wings shattered under Thunder Dash's high speed assault. Their fight had taken them high into the air, Appledancer using her wings both as a shield and as a means of offense. She was so sure she was going to win when she saw one of her wings break one of his back legs and dislocate the other. But the pegasus stallion hadn't given up. And how could he move that fast? She didn't say anything as gravity took hold and her surviving wing without anything to balance it became almost dead weight. 'Why. All I ever wanted to do was fly. I wanted to be free. Why does the ground keep pulling me? Why can't it just let me go?' She thought as she hit the ground leaving an impact crater.

~~~~~

"APPLEDANCER!" Fate Bell screamed drawing his attention away from Shadow Sparkle. Shadow tried to get a hit in but Fate Bell dodged the surprise attack, and an instantly later had impaled Shadow's legs with four of his rods and galloped to the Earth Pony's side. She wasn't breathing.

"MURDERERS!" Fate Bell snarled everything else in his mind gone as rage and loss tore through his mind.

~~~~~~

"You're just a puny little Earth pony! Just let me waste you already! Come on you know you can't win this! Just turn around and go home!" Far Sigh hissed flames as Roxxie hid among the rocks in a stupid game of hide and seek.

"PUNY?! Okay! That's it!"

~~~~~~~

Luna had thought Celestia without her three companion wouldn't be able to use the Element of Harmony at all since they were little more than rocks without the complete whole. Celestia had delayed using her trump card as long as possible, trying to give her three companions a chance to reach her. And it was costing her dearly. One eye closed, a wing broken and a gash in her side. But Nightmare Moon's spell was reaching the point of no return. And Celestia took the only option she had left besides killing her own sister.

~~~~~~~

In the light of the long overdue dawn, Roxxie was patching up both Shadow Sparkle and Thunder Dash. Celestia trotted over to each of Luna's still companions with a pronounced limp. The Elements of Harmony back inside and now just a collection of spherical rocks. She looked at the setting moon with the image of a unicorn head now patterned on it's surface. She had done all her crying and grieving inside. She knew she'd be doing a lot more once she had time again.

++++

"Wait a second. How am I remembering this?" I wondered. "This doesn't make sense. I was already sealed in the moon."

++++

Celestia touched her horn to the head of each of the three ponies, a small light escaped each one. " . . . As the Princess of the Day, I pardon all of you and absolve you of any actions under Nightmare Moon you have taken. All I ask in return. No, all I request, for you to do so or not. Is look after Lulu until she's ready to come home." The three new stars flew into the last recesses of night as dawn wiped away the last of the darkness. A forth star already waiting for the three. Celestia managed a small smile. "Help them look after her Auntie Galaxia." Celestia whispered.

+~+~

Galaxia? That had been the name of one of our family that Discord taken away from us in a very permanent and final way.

All that time. Celestia hadn't simply locked her away. She had insured the only friends I had and one of our family would be looking after me. Even from the start.

I could imagine Aunt Galaxia asking. "How is that Fifty-second grandson of mine?"

I could imagine responding. "He's a spoiled self-centered idiot."

I could imagine her replying and nuzzling me. "And he's going to remain one unless somepony teaches him to be a stallion."

++++

I blinked and my darkness shattered like cheap glass, fading into nothing.

"Everything I did as Nightmare Moon was my own choice." I said to myself. "Her power is mine. No one else's. No matter what taint or lie or half-truth or all out full stage deception Discord may or may not have played on me before he was sealed, or whatever other factors I can't remember due to my thousand years alone. I accept every choice as my own. And I won't fear myself anymore."

I was princess of the night after all. Who said I needed to become a tyrant or a mad mare or a usurper or a devil to use my own power? I wouldn't deny my own mistakes anymore. Sorry 'Tia, I guess you were wrong about that. But thank you, thank you so much for healing me, for saving me, for not simply letting me go or abandoning me as you could have done. I don't know how much of those memories were real or invented by my own mind. But they've given me the strength to not give up. And I'll cherish them. Thank you.

Speaking of which, I had better bucking hay make sure that Discord thinks his game worked! I created a thin aura of darkness around me, and added a grayed out coloring to my mane, eyes and coat. It was an artist after all, illusion magic was an old hat to me. They say never try to trick a trickster, but I just hoped that over a thousand years in stone hadn't managed to significantly quell Discord's bloated ego that took a flight of dragons to drag across the landscape at a turtle's pace!

"Problem, my little pony?" Discord.

I sighed. Then grinned madly and danced like I was four again. "The moon is pretty! The moon should always be up! The sun stinks! I wanna wear pink socks! My Little Ponies Live Was the Greatest Show Ever! Uh! . . . I think I might have lost the script . . ."

Discord laughed and ruffled up my mane. I resisted a shiver of revulsion. "You certainly have!" Discord took a picture of me with a camera from nowhere. "Smile!" I stuck out my tongue. Discord laughed harder.

"No saving the world plans in there?"

I grinned. "Nope! None at all!"

He grinned back. "Good! I think it's about time I check up on Little Miss Twilight Tragedy!"

He teleported away again.

"Horse-apples. I wasn't lying. I don't have a plan... And who am I talking to?" I said to the books right in front of me.

Somehow I could imagine them glaring at me... a glare all the creepier by the strange genetic defect that left Sunny Place with white colored pupils, even if she could see perfectly fine...

"...Oh, right, yeah. Sorry about that. I... er, well... I do kind of have a plan but... You won't be books much longer!"

I darted from the library.

Then darted right back in to whisper to the book that once was Maelstrom.

"By the way, you should see some of the things she dreams about you! No wonder she used to keep fainting around you..."

I then darted back out, wondering idly if a book could blush.

++++

"Okay, Luna, Discord's back in Ponyville... Well, he'll spend a good five minutes there. Hopefully. Think, something to snap Twilight Sparkle back to reality like you . . . Aha!"

I had it, an idea of something to save her! It as an incredible long shot. But I had run out of options a while ago.

"Wait, no, all the books ran away. And she probably read them all when she was studying here. But wait!"

Yes, this was it! For sure!

"...I can't paint though, so doing her an inspiring picture won't work. Oh, but maybe..."

Finally, the plan to help!

"...What the hay is an email and how would I get foals all over the world to send them as encouragement? Argh, stupid brain! Maybe I'm going insane for real after all! Why can't I think of something? Ugh, if only I could send a scroll to someone out there to see if they can still..."

An incandescent light bulb appeared over my head.

"That's it!"

I noticed the bulb.

"...And I might as well take you, my mundane servants need a new light for my room." I didn't actually need a single light in my room. I was the princess of night after all, I could see in pitch blackness, it was daytime that my sight wasn't as good. It was mostly to keep my servant ponies from tripping over themselves.

I raced to my sister's private study. Ninety percent of it was a total mess. The books had all been drawn in, some had pages torn out, there were crayon drawings on the wall, maid dolls and mundane non-pony toys covered the floor like a carpet!

But I found what I was looking for completely untouched: many scrolls neatly organized on a shelf. All letters. I gently placed the bulb on a table and looked at the many letters.

All from Twilight Sparkle.

"Sorry, Pike!" I said, my horn glowing as I found that if I went one at a time, the letters could indeed be sent.

"...Wait, no. What is that baby dragon called? Spines? Spark? Spock? Puff?"

I heard the telltale noise of Discord appearing behind me.

"Now, what was that you just did?"

I thought for a second.

" . . . Giving a dragon indigestion." I looked at him with doe eyes.

Discord blinked.

"That makes no sense whatsoever. I like it!"

"Good to know!" I saluted like a good pawn of chaos.

"Good! When I get back I think I'll infest, I mean bless you with some of my own power! Now, what's the best way to put chaos in Manehatten... I know! An airquake!"

And he vanished.

I resisted the urge to facehoof. This act wasn't perfect. He'd figure it out sooner then later. I had to focus.

I began to send the letters one at a time, not stopping, not daring to stop. I couldn't stop. I kept them coming until I had exhausted every letter Twilight had ever sent Celestia on Friendship: the true name of Twilight's Element, her soul, her spirit. And finally there were no letters to send.

And I waited for the time to pass. There wasn't much else to do but that.

Well, that and worry, since I'd left the seeing stone behind in the Library. I hoped Blueblood had evaded the fire-stallion, or that the Sea Pony in the throne room had stopped crying. I hoped none of the clockwork guards had unwound...

And above all I hoped I was right. That this could save Twilight. And that she could somehow save the others. If she wasn't sitting in a corner of Ponyville writing nonsense on the walls.

Hours passed. Outside I saw existence twisting into something completely unrecognizable. I kept thinking any moment Discord would return and drive me mad for real. As if he'd ever be that merciful.

AND THEN . . .

The endlessly drooling ghost moon turned back into my beloved abacas. It wasn't that Discord's magic was cut off and things reverted back to the way they were without it. Only the weakest and most amateur magic works like that. I felt the Elements of Harmony that had saved my soul wash over me and everything else again, RESTORING IT, REPAIRING IT, HEALING IT!

I grinned as I felt power flowing naturally through me again. I didn't need the seeing stone to know what Twilight and her friends had done. It was all back to normal now.

And the bulb had vanished.

"Drat. Oh well, I'll just need to wait on the order from Stalliongrad. Stupid Celestia and her stupid green-washing initiatives... I've told her a hundred times you can't say environmental policy without saying mental policy, but noooo, she's worried about public relations..." I muttered as I left the study. It felt SO GOOD to mumble about such little nothings!

I walked out into the castle, past the library that was... emptying of distressed ponies with sudden aversions to books. Past a number of guards who... tried to stand still but seemed a little too uncomfortable doing so, and others who seemed to be moving around very tentatively. Looking out at a garden where...

"PUT THOSE FLAMETHOWERS DOWN NOW!" I shouted out of the window in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The garden staff cringed and bolted as I sighed. I winced as one of the devices, carelessly dropped, promptly exploded. I used my magic to extinguish the flames.

I noticed a dazed Soarin' of the Wonderbolts inching around every pie laying lifelessly in the court yard like they'd come back to life at any moment and try to eat him, then realized he had his wings back and flew like flying was going to be outlawed soon! Spitfire joined him, looking strangely happy for being able to fly in a straight line.

I saw the upper class ponies in the ballroom. For once they weren't trying to hide their emotions and were all hugging each other shaking like leaves. Sapphire Shore sat in a corner looking almost catatonic, crying like a filly. Octavia was still holding her hooves to her ears pathetically begging everyone to be quiet. Her fellow band members found some ear muffs for her and helped carry her out of the room.

I'd find out later Hoity Toity had locked himself in one of the bathrooms and refused to come out and the door had be broken down to get him out.

Okay, maybe not entirely normal yet, but I could wait for the time to pass. There wasn't much else to do but that...

...Except that was when I realized Celestia had taken a lot of ponies-turned-plushies into her bedroom to play.

"Oh my stars, that room is going to be very crowded and awkward. Who am I kidding. Celestia is likely loving it."

Celestia was a little uneasy, but back to her old self. I fact, I wonder if she enjoyed the 'vacation' as an innocent child almost, if not for the near end of the world, okay, she likely didn't.

Dinner that night in the castle was somewhat tricky as something had happened in the kitchens that meant the cooking staff refused to set foot in there, and judging by the fact that one cook had screamed in terror that the spaghetti would eat me if I made my own food, it had been something nasty. One of the chefs had tried to borrow a flamethrower from the gardeners, but she was stopped in time to save the Palace supply of instant noodles, a vital means of feeding the various students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Sadly no one saved the noodles from me.

I'd last cooked food a thousand years ago. I was fairly sure I burnt it then as well. Of course, back then there wasn't the option of flying to the nearest city Discord hadn't reached and getting fly-thru for the entire castle. It seemed that bean burgers were not inducing terror in anyone but Prince Blueblood, and that was just his snobbish disdain for anything 'common'.

Even if he was still hiding in the old ice house, apparently used by some of the castle chefs for some form of traditional something or other. I personally dragged him out. I told my nephew something I don't think I ever have. I told him he was part of my family and I loved him.

I pondered how he'd react to something deep-fried and battered from Clydesdale. It was far enough from Canterlot to be 'exotic', yet so greasy and fatty he'd perceive it as the lower-class food it was.

Yes, it could have been worse. Lukewarm burgers brought from fifty miles away were preferable to a diet of insanity. The world was back to normal on the outside and Discord was sealed away as a statue once again.

Fast food didn't stop (helped?) the Element of Laughter from throwing a joint Victory Party in Canterlot and Ponyville at the same time! (Don't ask me how she managed that.)

I didn't find out until Celly was recounting things to me that Twilight thought that Celly had sent the letters! Celly braced for what she was sure was going to be another of my tantrums. Then I did something even I didn't see coming: I let it go. It was the second thing in my lifetime I ever had, both within the same, whatever amount of time passed in Discord's havoc.

All the praise I ever wanted was finally in my hooves, and I just didn't want it. Maybe I didn't want to ruin the image of the mentor of the pony who had saved my soul. Maybe I didn't want to disrupt the pony's precious grasp on 'everything will work out' that these ponies hold onto so dearly. Maybe I didn't think anyone would believe me through my sister's hero worship even with her approval. Maybe I was just tired and forget this dangerous adventure. Or maybe Discord being beaten was what was important. And I had my own victory over Nightmare Moon, myself, anyway.

The trouble was the mental damage. I knew every single pony in Canterlot and Ponyville ponies would see some major problems over the coming weeks. And I knew what part I could play. I owned the night, I couldn't control my own nightmares, but I could guide the dreams of my subjects.

The moon had been up for some time. Soon, ponies in Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Ponyville, Hoofington, Appleloosa, and Manehatten (lightly affected in comparison) would try to sleep.

I gazed up at my moon and my stars, then down at my other stars. The lights of civilisation. Lights of order. Lights of harmony. Lights I would protect from bad dreams to the best of my abilities this night.

I appreciated the irony that I would be saving harmony from nightmares... It made me feel so free.

~FIN

Written by Alex Warlorn AND lz0291

Reharmonization Trixie II: "Second Family"

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Healing Ponies POV Series Second Family

By every right, Trixie should have had headed straight back to Hoofington after Twilight had cured her. But Trixie was hesitant.

Trixie had to spend some time exercising inside Twilight's library to rebuild her muscles after being little more than a lump for the better part of a month. Then Twilight insisted she did so outside. Trixie then asked (not demanded, asked ) that Twilight please (she said -please-) that she be allowed to continue her self-therapy inside until she was introduced to the other bearers of Harmony.

And on TOP of that, with Trixie's memories repaired, Trixie was still trying to figure out the nuances of who the New Trixie was and wanted to be sure before going back to her family. Though she had sent a letter to them that she was now finally well, Trixie just hoped she recovered and was back home before her family arrived in Ponyville like a horde.

Trixie hadn't seen what had happened to her brothers or parents, but when Discord came to Hoofington he had turned her sisters into Merry-Go-Round ponies and dropped the unresponsive Trixie on Pixie. Half her sisters mentally reduced to delusional happy toys, and the other two fully sane and aware of their predicament. Discord had enjoyed half a ride on Mixie before wandering off bored again. Her sisters had hotly contested on who had it worse afterwards.

And Trixie felt the alien emotion of -guilt- for not being able to help them through their own recovery.

Trixie however found Twilight was there every step of the way to help her, and Twilight WOULDN'T take 'no' for an answer.

'I promised Zecora I'd help you see in the light once I led you out of the darkness Trixie and I keep my promises.' Twilight thought.

Twilight wasn't sure how to explain it, but by freeing Trixie, Twilight somehow felt she had been freed herself.

Twilight knew the best social teacher was experience, and was warming up Trixie to meet the others for the first time since she was cured of Discord's taint.

Twilight never thought the time would come where she was having light conversation with Trixie over tea!

Twilight wisely decided not to tell Trixie that while Trixie was catatonic the Cutie Mark Crusaders had taken photos of her and written (among many other hurtful stories) several fictional 'secrets' about the showmare, 'The Great And Power Trixie's Secrets Revealed' which climaxed in Twilight putting up a Cutie Mark Crusader sensitive force field to keep them out until they redeemed themselves (with a heartfelt apology letter). Given that pain was water under the bridge, Twilight decided there was no reason to tell Trixie, yet.

The conversation wandered from topic to topic, until Twilight ended up talking about the events that had happened soon after Discord's defeat last month.

Trixie nearly dropped her tea. "And you used a GEASS to make the entire town fall in love with your doll?!"

"I just meant it to happen to three little innocent fillies who I was then going to remove the spell right after..."

Trixie smiled slyly. "Maybe the One and Only Trixie should consider this sweet blackmail material."

Twilight said plainly. "Trixie. I was inside your head. I saw every last trauma and embarrassing secret in there."

"Prove it."

"Princess Star Flower."

Trixie sighed and shrugged. "Fine. Fine. I thought you didn't care for mental magic."

"I don't CARE for it, but Celestia wanted me to have a well rounded education."

"Well the one and only Trixie can appreciate that. I... kinda sorta did the same thing once."

"... Oh sweet Celestia, please tell me you DIDN'T use the spell on yourself during one of your shows."

"Of course not... I tried to use it when I was a filly at the Mage Unicorn Academy except I didn't bother to read the counter spell... so after I was nearly buried in new admirers I had to hide in my locker until school let out and sneak back to the library for the counter spell."

"How did you manage to cast a spell like that as a filly?"

"Er, Trixie did no so much learn that spell yet so much as 'borrow' it. That... 'incident' made me want to be popular on my own... and nearly got me expelled. But my councilor argued I had been punished enough by the incident itself. The incident also left me with a rather unique impression of friendship."

"You mean the wrong impression."

"The one and only Trixie will say nothing. So, after that, the others decided you really DID need therapy like the rest of them?"

"Hehehh, maybe seeing all of Ponyville reduced to utter madness and chaos DID cause my fixation on having everything planned out and orderly to grow out of proportion a -tiny- bit."

"Tiny?" Spike said deadpan. "Twilight, you were making schedules on when to scratch your nose."

Twilight blushed. "Erm, well, come on Trixie, we don't want to be late. Spike you know the drill, watch the library."

"Yeah yeah I know. Spike gets stuck at home again with the owl."

"Who?"

"Oh you go back to sleep!"

"Never once has the One and Only Trixie been -hesitant- to be before an audience." 'Well, other than that incident when I was five.'

"Don't worry, this audience is going to be -very- forgiving. Trixie, you're one of us."

"Please don't say that Twilight."

"I -mean- you're part of something greater than yourself. Support from others makes you stronger Trixie, not weaker. Trust me, it took me forever to realize that lesson."

"Fine, let's go." Trixie said, still feeling like she was going before the Inquisition.

++++

"SCOOTALOO! Get your junk out of the living room right now!"

"It's not junk! And I thought it was our living room!"

"It's my house, that makes it my living room, and it's not where it belongs and that makes it junk!"

"I thought you said this was my home now too."

"I said home, not garbage dump!"

"Like this place was clean when I came here anyway!"

"Don't talk back to me, you little filly!"

"You're not my mom!"

"No I'm not! But I'm the one looking after you so that's the closest thing you've got!"

"Maybe I don't want that!"

"There's the door! Oh right! I'd need to carry you down cause YOU-CAN'T-FLY."

Scootaloo's lips quivered her eyes glistening. Her underdeveloped wings folding tight against her.

Rainbow Dash looked at her charge in dismay. "Scoots, I didn't mean, I didn't-" Rainbow Dash tried pathetically to think of what to say.

Sniffing and turning red eyed, Scoots began to robotically pick the items she had scattered about the cloud home's living space.

"Scoots I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

The smaller pegasus looked at her sadly and forlornly. "Are you going to send me to the Rainbow Factory and put me in the Pegasus Machine?"

Rainbow Dash stared for one second before going, "WHAT-?!"

"That's what grown-ups do with bad fillies who can't fly right? They're put in the pegasus machine and turned into stuff for rainbows right?"

Rainbow Dash slapped her own forehead. "For the love of Celestia. Scoots, I'm going to tell you a secret that most fillies don't find out till they're older." She lowered herself to be on level with her and put a hoof on her shoulder gently. Then she shouted intensely. "THERE IS NO PEGASUS MACHINE! That's a myth! It's a story adults tell little fillies who won't behave! It's a ponytale like-" Rainbow was about to say Nightmare Moon before remembering that was particular ponytale had turned out to be real.

"-like there are Earth ponies who think we Pegasi can carry ponies back from the land of the dead! It's not real. THINK! Scoots! I know it's not something either of us are that good at but come on! There are how many rainbows made every day all over Equestria? And how many fillies are there? And now many final examine failures are there at flight school-? We'd have wiped out our own population by now! Besides ... if that was all true ... -I'D- be rainbow goop right now!"

Scootaloo stared unbelieving her tears dried up. "What? YOU failed flight school?"

"Failed? I was thrown out on my butt! For breaking pretty much every rule they had! I met a dear friend of mine that way actually. But the point is Scoots... no one's going to kill you or turn you into rainbow colored gunk because you can't fly. And besides ... "

"Besides?"

"They'd have to get through me!" Rainbow Dash hugged her. She wiped some remaining tears away and said, "Now let's get you down to your friends, I'm sure they're waiting for you and I've got friends waiting for me too."

Scoots just smiled and hugged her back.

++++

After a short unexplained relapse, the doctors had finally declared Cheerilee healthy enough to begin teaching again (though they insisted she continue to visit them once a week). Which meant school was finally back on for real.

The CMC had amazingly not gotten much hunting for their cutie mark done that month. Applebloom had been working through her nightmares, Sweetie Belle had been slowly learning how to look at dolls without screaming bloody murder, and Scoots had been working through her own grief. But Applebloom and Sweetie had proven very accepting of her 'running away' during the time of Discord.

There was however one project they had been united in their goal.

Silver Spoon had been spending a lot of time away from home. A lot. It was like she was scared of her own, no, she WAS scared of her own family!

"Come here dearie! Let papa make you a nice pretty trophy! You'll look great on the wall! And you'll never need to worry about loosing your looks like honey has! And think of all the weight you'll lose! Now just stand still for papa!" Silver Spoon screamed as her father brought down their ancestral weapon on top of her splitting the couch she had been cowering on two!

"Hey Spoony you okay?" Silver Spoon realized she had been screaming in real life again.

"I-I'm fine!" Her face burned. "You... you, blanks."

"You know there's school today?" Sweetie Belle asked, being the closest thing to a fellow high class pony for Silver.

"And?"

"And you're going to be late if you just keep sitting on this park bench for the rest of the day."

"And what do a bunch of blanks like you care?"

"Because you're hurt." Applebloom said.

"DO I LOOK HURT TO YOU?" Silver snarled.

Applebloom looked at Silver Spoon. The way Silver's hooves always shook, the way she never stopped looking over her shoulder, the way she couldn't look at her name sake without breaking into a cold sweat.

"... yup." Applebloom said, having the eye for detail that Scoots and Sweetie lacked.

"Well I'm not!" Silver snapped back. It wasn't fair! Diamond Tiara was always there for her, to tell her what to do, what to feel, where to go, who to be with. She was the only guiding light for Silver Spoon, compared to a father who treated her like a business investment and a mother who told her how she was going to be an ugly nag one day so she had better become as educated as possible and score a husband before that happened.

"Yer lyin'." Applebloom said without a trace of loathing or condescending. The sweetness of seeing one of the two schoolyard bullies who had taunted her reduced to this mess before them had long since turned sour. The sense of 'what goes around comes around' had long ago worn off replaced with a horrid sense of 'wrongness' at seeing this spoiled anti-social filly scared of her own shadow and biting at everything and everyone.

"What does a blank know? Nothing!"

"Miss Cheerilee isn't going to be happy about you ditching school."

"MY FAMILY HAS MONEY! SO WHAT DO I CARE? I CAN -BUY- MY WAY THROUGH GRADUATING! That's all I am right-!? Having privileges is all that makes me special!" Silver said through clenched teeth.

The CMC turned their backs to her. And said lowly to each other. "One, two, THREE-!" And tackled her at once.

Silver struggled like a mad pony, but they brought her to the class room on time.

"Guess we're not Cutie Mark Crusader Truant Officers." Scootaloo said off handedly looking at their flanks.

"Scoots? Be quiet." Applebloom said in a tone that was more sad than agitated.

A few minutes later Sweetie Belle looked at Silver Spoon who smoldered in her seat. She stayed in there for only about five minutes until Cheerilee told her to spend the day with one of the school councilors instead.

But Sweetie Belle couldn't help but think. 'That's the longest conversation we've ever had with her.' Before she had ignored them or just snarled at them.

With all the drama, it only later occurred to the CMC that Diamond Tiara wasn't in class.

++++++

Mr. And Mrs. Cake were still not sure whether their foster child had been replaced by an imperfect alien clone or not.

She wasn't making a pig out of herself on custom orders that then had to be redone. She was working the register without breaking into long discussions with customers making everything else wait in line three times as long. Her cooking experiments while still outlandish weren't a mortal danger to their oven or the store in general (like the popcorn pie incident that had required a new oven and Pinkie banned from the kitchen for six months). Writing letters to her biological family when before she'd change the subject the moment they were -mentioned-. And she was even HELPING WITH THE BOOKS and making it easier to work with rather than making it more a jumbled mess!

And on a weird note, her musical numbers had a more reserve beat to them.

But what scared them and made them feel ashamed was the thought that maybe they hoped the aliens didn't return the real Pinkie Pie!

But Pinkie Diane Pie (as she was putting down on her signatures now) would just smile and say. "Don't worry. I'm still me. Like I said, this is just all of me. Besides this a fantasy setting, not science fiction! And people who try to turn every fantasy setting into a science fiction setting are big meanie heads!"

And with those words, they were fully reassured that this was indeed their Pinkie Pie.

The culinary abominations they had produced under Discord's influence had long since been thrown in the garbage, and the loving couple had excused each other for what they had done and tried to do to each another while under Discord's taint. In short, they were ready to resume their normal, relatively sane lives (as much as one could with Pinkie Pie). Let their daughter and her friends save the world like they were so good at.

Cup Cake and Carrot Cake were perfectly happy to live their lives in relative peace again.

+++

"You see Trixie? Nopony's staring at you, nopony's laughing at you." Twilight said reassuringly. The pair trotting from the library to Sugarcube Corner.

Truth was, Twilight had been scared of a very different reaction when she first brought Trixie here. This was a relief to Twilight.

"It's... very weird. I -like- being noticed but... this is the one town in Equestria that I prefer not to be." Trixie said looking down.

"Well maybe it's about time you stop -saying- that you don't care what total strangers think and actually start doing it."

"Maybe you're right." Trixie said in a calm thoughtful voice.

Then she bumped right into two unicorn colts.

They stared at her. She stared at them. Trixie's eyes turn into little lightning bolts.

"YOU!" She hissed.

The two colts nearly soiled themselves.

"YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" She snarled. She was attracting attention now.

"We're sorry!" Snips and Snails echoed falling on their knees at once covering their heads.

"DO YOU HAVE -ANY- IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH BECAUSE OF YOU?! DO YOU?!" Trixie's aura was practically crackling with electricity now.

"TRIXIE!" Twilight said getting in her face.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY TWILIGHT!"

"Their parents already punished them Trixie! Who told a lie about defeating an Ursa Major? Who made it like it was fact rather than just a story?"

Like a switch had been pulled, Trixie's aura died down and the lightning vanished from her eyes. "To the moon." Trixie cursed in a low sullen voice.

Snips and Snails had taken the opportunity to flee.

"Come on Trixie, let's go or we're going to be late." Twilight said in a stern tone and trotted ahead.

"Twilight I..." Trixie began apologetically but couldn't find the right words to finish. She galloped to catch up. "I'm sorry."

+++

AJ's family could agree on one thing that had changed about her since that visit with Celestia: it was post Applebuck season all over again. AJ was acting humble but enlightened to her family and a lot less stubborn to accept help.

But the stranger thing was when some ponies looked her in the her eyes they got downright uncomfortable and there was solemnness about her almost at those times.

And AJ was honest with herself enough to realize she had changed. Curiosity eventually got the better of her, and with her new privilege of being able to send letters to the Princess since the 'Smarty Pants' fiasco she sent a letter asking what would have happened if she had continued to look into the Truth after Applebloom had stopped her.

The letter she got didn't have the sun engraving seal but the moon. What? All the same, AJ read it in the privacy of her room.

'Dear Abigail Jacqueline The Fifth of the Fifth Line,
I have chosen to answer this letter in my sister's stead. Having had my own experiences with the Well of Forever, I can give you a fair extrapolation of what would have happened if you had continued to look into The Truth past where your little sister saved you.

You would have gained the power of precognition able to foretell the outcome of events even before they happened and even behold the outcome of alternate choices if you wished it.

But instead of just resting for one evening at the castle, returning that night, and spending the next day helping others, you would have spent ten years in a healing coma as your psyche and brain adjusted to this new power. Completely missing your little sister's foalhood and your brother would have had to take up the Element of Honesty in your stead in the meantime. Leaving your sister overworked and your grandmother would have died early from the extra workload.

As for what you would have beheld. Allow me to take some educated guesses.

You would have beheld the time when Equestria was joined to another world via the edge of the arches of rainbows. Not that it was called Equestria yet of course. This other world was thoroughly infested by great evils. But in spite of this, or perhaps because of this, this other world was also the greatest source of hope and belief in existence from the light that shined all the brighter in the darkness. Connected to this other world, the land that would become Equestria enjoyed a golden age.

Then you would have beheld the advent of Discord upon this utterly innocent world that had quashed all of it's own evils decades before.

You would have beheld Discord crush what was known at the time as the Rainbow of Light into six familiar pieces in his bare claw.

You'd have witness the unicorn Mimic, the most powerful mortal pony to ever live in her day and for many after, try to fight Discord single hoofedly. You ever seen a unicorn use high power magic with a broken horn? You would have. And you'd have witnessed the only mortal pony to ever injure Discord and learned the real reason he's missing one tooth. Trust me, that image IS real sweet, nothing beats seeing a golden horseshoe to Discord's face. A hundred times, at the speed of sound. And her VERY brutal death afterwards when Discord realized his 'beautiful' face had been 'ruined' involving her being slammed into the ground at near Sonic Rainboom speeds repeatedly after Discord had turned her bones to glass. Then vaporizing her body so she couldn't be given last rites.'

AJ noticed the part of the letter she just read had tear stains.

'Maybe you would have beheld one of the many, many timelines where madness claimed one or more of your friends or those you love forever. Oh yes Applejack, you would have beheld all of this! Just think! You could have seen all this! Aren't you disappointed your little sister saved your stubborn flanks when she did?

XOXO

Her Nightjesty of Dreams And Nightmares Princess Luna Nyx Selena Equestria

P.S. I apologize for my sister's lack of tact Applejack. But she felt that, with your having been touched by Truth that you would be able to handle it. It is her way of showing that she has faith in you and the other Elements of Harmony. Though my link to the Elements is gone, they were able to send me the simple message that most of your have now found true freedom, and I have faith that the rest of you shall as well. Stay true to yourself and see that your friends do not fear the truth either Applejack, Element of Honesty.

Her Majesty of Life and Flames Princess Celestia Amaterasu Solaris Equestria.'

AJ silently put the letter in a drawer and locked it. "I promise princess... I promise." She then realized what time it was. "Oh horse apples gonna be late!"

+++

Pinkie Pie was there first of course, since she -lived- there, followed by the super fast yet lazy Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy fluttered in next and politely greeted her friends. AJ galloped in huffing and was very surprised to find she wasn't the last one there.

Rainbow Dash was shocked at who walked in with Twilight Sparkle.

"What are YOU doing here-?!"

In a surprising calm and even voice the blue unicorn replied. "Twilight Sparkle said that for my recovery therapy it was best if I met all of you for real this time."

Pinkie Pie just hopped over to her as Fluttershy hovered next to the blue unicorn (she sure had been using her wings more since the ordeal with Discord).

"Hello hello! Twilight said she was bringing over her patient! So are you her patient? My name is Pinkie Diane Pie! Nice to meet you! Who are you? Are you friends with Rainbow Dash? She sure seems to know who you are!"

Thinking over the deceptively deep question in her head, she at last replied. "I'm Trixie. And... we met once."

"I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you-"

"Yes I know her! She's that sham magician who nearly destroyed Ponyville with her stupid boasting and made me, AJ and Rarity look like fools! Twilight why'd you bring HER back to Ponyville?"

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other surprised. This was the terrible and hateful Trixie? She looked so... so normal.

AJ said it first. "Because Discord HURT HER Sugar cube. Twilight brought her back to Ponyville to HELP HER. She's been grayed out since Discord was let loose like we were! Twilight only got her back to herself the end of last week!"

"You KNEW she was here?"

"Me and Rarity and Spike," AJ said firmly.

Rainbow Dash said flatly. "What?" Then crossed her arms. "Discord made her humble, helpful, polite, nice to other ponies and completely honest?"

"Try mindlessly robotic!" Twilight spoke first in a harsh tone. "And Rainbow, Trixie did do some bullying when she last came to Ponyville. But those are over and done with! I brought her here to MAKE FRIENDS. You know? Like you were all so eager to do with me!"

"You didn't treat us like... do-bad-things-to-to-make-the-audience-laugh-ponies!"

"Your mental thesaurus is awe inspiring." Trixie said the words jumping out of her mouth before she could catch them. RD was ready to charge.

"Trixie!"

"Sorry."

Rainbow Dash started, "Did... did Trixie just say sorry?"

"Yes. 'Trixie' just said sorry. Happy?" Trixie said, for once her third person narrative sounded strangely ironic.

Twilight skidded between the two. "Rainbow Dash! Trixie! Harmony! Friendship! Remember those things? Or do I need to start casting memory spells again? Rainbow! As her healer, I can tell you that Trixie was hurting -badly- even before Discord hurt her. But the infection is out now and she's begun to heal! And I told her that since she has to spend a few days to get her strength back before going back to Hoofington to her family that she should make some friends! It's doctor's orders!"

"... you have a family?"

"Yes I have a family! Does the fact I was born and not made really feel that alien?"

Fluttershy shifted, her body language became tense, she gritted her teeth but everyone was focused on the two blue ponies.

"Then go back to them where you're WANTED!"

"I WANT HER HERE!" Twilight's voice echoed off the walls.

Rainbow Dash floated back down onto her haunches, just now realizing she had been flapping her wings so she could be looking down on Trixie.

"Rainbow, I can appreciate you being loyal to your friends! But Rarity and AJ have already forgiven her! How about your prove your loyalty and do the same?"

AJ nodded.

"Fine." RD turned her head away her nose up for a moment before looking back at Trixie and put out a hoof. "If the rest of the crew wants to give you a second chance I won't stand in the way. But I have my eye on you."

Trixie took the hoof and shook it.

"You have no idea how much that pleases the one and only Trixie."

"Welcome her to the club girls!" Twilight declared.

Pinkie Pie shook Trixie's hoof at once. "Welcome to the Friends Club! Please enjoy your stay! Once a part, you're a member -forever!-"

Twilight stared, that had sounded... welcoming rather than traumatizing!

"Welcome Trixie." Fluttershy said smiling happy. Then her eyes turn sly and a smirk flashed across her face for about two seconds. "I like your style." Fluttershy said lowly before the innocent happy face returned.

Trixie did her best not to blink at that, knowing some people had a near pathological adverse reaction to that sort of thing.

AJ just trotted up to Trixie and shook her hoof. "Glad to see you out of that fog, girl. A lot ponies never find their way out."

Trixie just politely accepted the odd metaphor which surprised Twilight greatly, and Trixie a little.

Pinkie Pie looked around and declared the obvious. "Hey guys! We're one Element of Harmony short! Where's Rarity?"

"It's not like Rarity to be this late." Fluttershy said concerned.

"Speaking of Elements guys-" Twilight began but then Trixie quickly shook her head. Twilight stopped but then spoke to Trixie.

"Trixie, I think that if something were to happen to me I think it would be best if your resources were to be known before hand to the others since if I -was- out of commission I don't think you'd have time to explain things or for everypony to get over the surprise."

"The... One and Only Trixie doesn't want to be known as simply an understudy of even the greatest of individuals. No offense Twilight."

"Trixie this isn't about you. It's about all of us... if you -really- want to make friends, then one of the things you need above everything is-"

"Loyalty?"

"Honesty?"

"Laughter?"

"Kindness?"

"-Trust." Twilight finished.

"HEY!" Pinkie Pie snapped, "That isn't one of the Element of Harmony! That's cheating!"

"I wasn't playing a game Pinkie. Trixie. Listen. I've SEEN how badly being a 'you' means to you, it HURTS when you feel that you've been categorized or put into a mold."

Trixie sat down and looked defiantly. "If your friends think I'm worth something because of something I was apparently born with, then how's that different from a unicorn with a earth pony father being considered inferior?"

"Because this wasn't something you were -born- with Trixie. No more than your cutie mark, and it wasn't determined when you were born anymore than your cutie mark! It came into being because for a precious moment early on you embraced it. Like I did with Spike early on."

"Can someone PLEASE let us in on the conversation already?" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash said irritated. Everyone looked at her, Fluttershy blushed and covered her mouth like she was worried what else might come out. Rainbow Dash shook her head realizing she and Fluttershy had echoed each other on something. That was just weird.

"Look Twilight. You said as my healer you wouldn't reveal anything you learned about me right? Well that was something you learned!"

Pinkie spoke up raising a hoof. "She has a point Twilight. Unless Ponyville is going to explode twice or something because you don't tell us or anything then you should keep your promise not to say anything and just let Trixie tell us whatever it is when she feels ready, if ever."

Twilight's head hurt still hearing reasonable logic coming out of Pinkie Pie's mouth but sighed. "Okay. I promise I won't tell anyone. But Trixie. If something bad happens and you're around and can do something, I want you to pitch in. In -any- way you can. It's nice to see you want be modest, er, that is, in your own unique special way of course, but if you have a gift to help others. Use it when it's needed."

Trixie let out some unnatural hybrid of a grunt and sigh and replied lowly. "Fine. You have my word."

Rainbow Dash had to have her say. "Uh Twilight, no offense, but I don't see how Trixie-"

"Greetings and salutations! Sorry I am late! I had a slight mishap at the shop yesterday but I hope I didn't keep you all waiting. I didn't want to miss Trixie's debutant."

Everyone looked and saw Rarity in the door to Sugarcube corner, she trotted in, but with a limp.

"Rarity! What happened?" AJ asked her friend.

Rarity looked at AJ, and spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "There was a very sad happening at the shop yesterday where I got stabbed by one of my own shears... terrible business really. I have no idea why it happened. Mades no sense really. But misunderstandings and accidents both happen."

AJ leaned in closer, staring deeper. That was when Rarity put on a pair of dark reflective sunglasses, instantly cutting off AJ's vision. "HEY!"

"My word." Rarity said theatrically and looked around in a over the top manner. "Is it a little bright in here?"

"I don't think so." Pinkie Pie said rather perplexed. "Oh I get it!" She laughed like she had already gotten it before her first response. She zoomed off camera and zoomed back on, now wearing her joker glasses. "Hey Applejack! Rainbow Dash is Princess Celestia's illegitimate daughter! Ditzy Doo is an amnesiac secret agent! Rarity's a vampire! All of Princess Celestia's beauty is in her armor! Our entire universe is the forth iteration of a half-hour toy commercial!"

"TAKE THOSE DANG THINGS OFF!" AJ said swiping Pinkie Pie's sunglass. "Ah swear if these things become the new fashion trend in Ponyville Ah'm bucking some flanks!"

"First law of showmareship, dear." Trixie said surprisingly relaxed around the pony whom she had utterly ruined the mane of before. "Never draw attention to the part of the trick you don't want the audience to notice. If it catches their attention, just move on before they see what you don't want them to."

"I'll... keep that in mind." Rarity blushed.

"Now take off the sunglasses Rarity." AJ said simply.

"No." Rarity said as firmly and uncompromisingly as if she had been asked to wear a saddle in public with clashing colors. She then looked at Trixie. "My dear. I deeply apologize for that display. After all, this is supposed to be YOUR party! Allow myself to introduce myself proper since we didn't when you were ill. Madam Rarity Belle, owner, proprietor, and manager of Carousel Boutique."

"The... I'm The One And Only Trixie. It's nice to meet you." Trixie said feeling rather awkward all things considered. Since when did SHE mind being the center of attention? Maybe it was cause nothing here was rehearsed like one of her shows. "Wait. Did you say party?"

Pinkie Pie pulled a cord, confetti blew everywhere and a 'congratulations' banner came down and music began to blare.

"Pinkie." Fluttershy warned.

"I PROMISE this party only lasts until our guest of honor leaves! Not three weeks this time!"

Trixie felt even more unsure... since when did she have a party for anything other than her birthday with her family: which she always managed and organized totally herself anyways.

"Oh cute, she's blushing!" Pinkie Diane Pie declared nuzzling her.

Trixie finally took in her surroundings. Pastries and treats. Music. A place rented out. Decorations carefully hidden to be sprung with a snap. And the pink pony -nuzzled- her... when... when was the last time anyone outside her family had ever done that for her? When... when was the last anyone outside Hoofington noticed her when she wasn't putting on her show, going full blast getting everypony's attention with the most eye catching garb and most over the top tales of impossible accomplishments? When was the last time?

Pinkie Pie took a step back asked in a pure apologetic tone. "Oh I'm sorry. Did you accidentally eat one of my hot sauce cupcakes?"

Trixie wondered what she was talking about, then noticed her vision was a little blurry. What? She held a hoof to her face. She was ... crying?

"No Pinkie Pie," Twilight said smiling. "This time you got it right."

Trixie couldn't remember when she had ever danced before, or what the big deal was. But somehow, at one moment or another, she finally let herself loose, and for a few precious moment she just didn't care what others thought of her for real rather than simply saying so.

Trixie still didn't know how to explain it, but she was sure she had some heavy weights she didn't even know she was carrying removed when Twilight had helped her escape the lifeless badlands that were her heart.

All Trixie knew, was that she had never felt so free.

"Karaoke!" Pinkie Pie's voice ran out and she grabbed Trixie and brought her over to some infernal contraption that looked like it had no business existing in the same time space continuum as Equestria.

"Pinkie Pie! What in tarnation is that!"

"Just something I got off of E-bray! Here ya go everybody! Don't worry the lyrics are color coded!"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash spoke what they all thought. Pinkie Pie handed, shoved, or placed a small mike in each of their hooves.

"I think I saw one of these in one of Canterlot's research and development rooms," Twilight Sparkle said unsure.

"Just go with it! I had no idea what our guest of honors colors were gonna be so I just went with silver! Guess that works out huh?" Pinkie Pie lightly patted Trixie's silver mane. Trixie struggled against reacting negatively to the touch, her euphoria still running high.

Pinkie Pie flipped a switch on the bizarre machine and music began to play from it as words began to slowly scroll across a screen.

"Oh I know this one!" Fluttershy declared out-going for once.

"Not this one! It's the unofficially extended remix fan-made version using the song from the plushie! Took forever to get it in pitch with the rest of the song."

No one had a clue what she meant but the beautifully uplift introductory bars ran their course. 'In for a bit, in for a crown.' Twilight thought and sang.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahhh...

Then the lyrics took a turn Fluttershy didn't recognize and Trixie found herself up to bat!

When I was young I was too busy to make any friends.

Such silliness did not seem worth the effort it expends.
But my little ponies, you opened up my eyes
And now the truth is crystal clear, like splendid summer skies.
And it's such a wonderful surprise.
(My Little Pony)
I used to wonder what friendship could be.

Then the lyrics flash both silver and purple and Trixie and Twilight sang together!

(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me.

Rainbow colors. Big adventure

Bright pink. Tons of fun

White with sparkles. A beautiful heart

Bright Orange. Faithful and strong

Faded yellow with butterflies. Sharing kindness,

Purple again. It's an easy feat

And once again purple and silver.

It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete
You have My Little Ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?

Trixie felt a warmth wash over her with a slight tingle and a fullness in her chest. Was this some sort of enchantment?

Trixie looked down and saw a tiny flicker of blue light where her heart was and quickly covered it.

Pinkie Pie however broke out the streamers and cheered. "WHOO-HOO! THAT WAS FUN!"

She was joined by five, and eventually six nods.

"That was great Pinkie Pie, and me and AJ don't even LIKE singing!" Rainbow Dash praised.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Pinkie Pie grinned.

Someone was the center of attention other than Trixie. And... Trixie didn't feel the urge to trip her up with her own incomprehensible junk heap? Wha?

'I guess the Great and Powerful Trixie really is dead.' Trixie thought. 'But then who is the One and Only Trixie? I don't think I know yet.'

Trixie reached for a can of peanut brittle. Twilight's eye widened and forgetting her telekinesis flying tackled it out of Trixie's hooves.

"Wha? Huh?" Trixie said her brain not figuring out what was going on.

"Uh. Pinkie Pie." Twilight said as politely as she could not looking right at Trixie yet.

"Yes Twilight?"

"Can you please add Trixie to your 'do not prank' list next to Fluttershy? She's... kinda sensitive right now."

"PRANK-?!" Trixie snapped every last one of her emotional defenses began to rise from their graves.

Twilight knew it was time to play peacekeeper before this turned into Gilda's Party Part Two. She looked right at the blue unicorn. "Trixie. When Pinkie pranks someone, she's not doing it to laugh AT them, she doing it so that person can laugh WITH her."

"That makes no sense." Trixie said completely lost.

Twilight's own brain struggled on how to translate this into terms Trixie would understand. "Trixie, what a stranger does to you, and what a friend does to you, are not the same thing even when they're the same action. A hug from your mother isn't the same as a hug from... er, one of your sisters right?"

Trixie dauntlessly search her heart before digging up an answer in an archeological site of the ancient past. "No. It isn't."

"It's the same with Pinkie and her pranks! As her friends we know she means well and doesn't mean any harm. So we know not to be offended."

"And what if someone pranked you?" Trixie said darkly to Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie playfully waved a hoof and replied as if her answer was the most obvious in the world. "If it was a friend? I'd laugh with them duh!"

Trixie's egocentric's brain jarred a spoke and a gear went flying inside her head resulting in nearly a chain reaction that brought the entire apparatus down before Trixie steadied herself.

"I ... see ..." Trixie replied as her brain underwent an emergency defragmentation.

"I like you! I'd call you silly but that's what we call Applejack!"

Thankfully Trixie was still trying to come to terms that not everyone was as emotionally sensitive in the same places as her to hear what Pinkie Pie said and AJ strangely made no objection to being called such as she would have a few weeks ago.

"Trixie you okay?" Twilight asked in simple genuine concern.

Trixie put her hooves against her own skull and shook her head knocking cogs back into position. "I... I don't know. Maybe I just don't belong here. Maybe Rainbow Hair -"

"Rainbow Dash."

"-Rainbow Dash is right, maybe I should just go back to Hoofington. My family's waiting for me."

"That's your choice and no one else's Trixie. But you're going to be welcomed with open hooves here as much as there, I promise."

"I'll take the optimistic interpretation of that statement."

"Good girl."

Meanwhile the girls' had broken up into their own conversations. "So Rainbow Dash, I was wondering-"

"Pinkie I Pinkie Pie Swear, Cross My Heart, Hope To Fly, Stick a Cupcake In My Eye, my mane and tail are NOT dyed!"

"Okay okay, just asking! Geeze."

"Rainbow Dash." Rarity asked politely and conservatively. "If I may ask. Have you seen recently a pink filly with a purple and white mane? Likely wearing a small jewel encrusted mane piece?"

Rainbow Dash laughed. "So he got you too huh?"

"Eh?"

"Onyx Tiara since last night's been throwing bits at every member of the weather team to comb every inch of Ponyville looking for that spoiled brat of his. Rich idiot would have gotten the entire weather team looking for her if he had just -asked- instead of adding bits to the equation! Now it's a extra job rather than what we should do anyway. Remember when Ditzy Doo's girl Dinky played hooky? The entire weather team ended up looking for her. The stallion doesn't get we'd have helped him look if he had just asked nicely!"

"Diamond's been missing since last night?" Rarity said obvious concern in her voice.

"Don't worry about it. Spoiled brat likely just got lost on the way home after seeing a dress sale or is staying over at a friend's house and forgot to tell her pops."

Rarity whispered. "Diamond Tiara doesn't have any friends right now. She's all alone."

"Huh? Well, serves her right. From what Scoots tells me she treats her, the rest of the CMC, and any filly without a cutie mark like dirt. She deserves to be all alone surrounded by whatever mountain of toys her father buys her on a daily basis."

"Rainbow Dash that's awful thing to say!" Fluttershy admonished.

Rainbow looked at her fellow Pegasus before shrugging. "Look Fluttershy, I know you'd coddle Discord if you thought it would do any good. But fillies like those are just bad news. They don't learn to care about others, they just learn to hide their loathing for everypony around them that doesn't worship the clouds they walk on."

"So I'm just bad news then?" Trixie asked, not wanting to get involved in what she suspected was a family feud, but what RD had said had struck a nerve.

"The jury's still out on you." Rainbow said.

"As it should be for Diamond." Rarity said. "She's still a filly. She's selfish, spoiled rotten to the core, a bully, has a completely unrealistic self image of herself, and her father's done his hardest to impart every drop of prejudice his father infected him with onto her. Which is precisely why she can't understand, let alone cope with how badly she's hurting inside."

RD now looked outright concerned for her teammate. "Rarity come on. Now you're just giving her excuses like some character in a soap opera!"

"No excuses. If she chooses to grow up from an awful filly into an awful mare it's her own choice. But if you just thrown her off with the idea that she -can't- change then she won't ... And the reason she likes making others feel worthless, is because she's scared she's worthless."

"Rarity I know you have that eye for detail. But seriously, you don't figure out these things just from seeing a filly walking down the street and what your little sister tells you about her. This is a fantasy."

"No. It isn't," Rarity hissed. "Diamond Tiara's cutie mark is her namesake. However, what a lot of parents forget to tell their foals is that their cutie marks aren't meant to be taken literally! I'm a fashion designer, not a jeweler! And Fluttershy is a veterinarian, not a entomologist! Twilight is a mage, not a astrologer! Diamond Tiara thinks her cutie mark means all she's good at is wearing jewelry!"

"Entomolo-what?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Studying bugs," Twilight said flatly, at this point everyone had been pulled into the drama.

"Sounds fun," Pinkie Pie said simply.

"Okay, I gotcha," Rainbow Dash said. "But seriously Rarity, you can't know this stuff. You're super imposing your ideas of what going on in that filly's head. Isn't that wrong?"

AJ looked at Rarity, glaring right through the protective sunglasses. Rarity shook.

Rarity ... Rarity stammered. "If I tell you how I know. It would be breaking the trust of someone who...w-who... of someone who is dear to me."

AJ sighed at Rarity's acting as if her defenses had failed. "Rarity, I can't see your eyes remember? Please. If you think it's better. Just tell us. It's MORE betraying trust if you think it'll help that person and you don't."

Twilight saw this episode already. "No offense guys but can we please please PLEASE not have a repeat of the Fluttershy The Model Secret disaster again? Rarity if you know something about a missing filly it's -wrong- not to say something."

"I don't know where she is, I swear. The last I saw her was at my shop yesterday afternoon. Last I saw her she looked terrified, confused, and ashamed. If I knew where she was I'd tell her father right now."

AJ whispered close to her. "Maybe ya should check the nut house. There ain't a filly whose hurt and scared who ain't gonna run ta mama."

Rarity remembered AJ was already in on her own secret and figured AJ knowing more wasn't that strange and merely nodded solemnly.

Rainbow Dash managed to glean pieces of what AJ had said and declared. "The mental ward? Why'd she be there? ... And Twilight. I gotta know. I don't suppose there's some 'don't be crazy anymore' spell you can cast on all the mad ponies there is there?" Rainbow Dash said remembering one of the victims from Cloudsdale who had been chewing off her own wings when Rainbow had fled.

All three unicorns in the room shook theirs heads.

"Don't you think if there was such a spell, me, or CELESTIA would have used it by now?" Twilight didn't have a soapbox to stand on, but she made due going into lecture mode:

"The vast majority of mental magic adds onto what's there already or replaces or rearranges what's already there. It doesn't change how the mechanics of how the mind actually work! A charm spell for instance makes you see the caster as your best friend, but it doesn't work if you don't know what a best friend is or you're the type to treat your best friend like garbage anyway!

"And remember Smarty Pants? Mental magic can have unpredictable results because every pony is different! I just helped all of you recall clearly what Discord warped. The mental change that SEEM to change how the mind works in reality just lead the mind along to the conclusion and frame of mind the caster wanted, effectively making the pony brainwash themselves.

The brain is an incredibly delicate organ. Trying to rewrite how it's hard-wired to function has more often than not result in some very horrible results! Ever heard of Walter Freemare? Most selfless if proud pony you could meet. He thought he could cure mad ponies by disconnecting the dysfunctional parts of the brain from the rest... it didn't end well." And that ended that discussion rather quickly.

Trixie, in her heart of hearts still being Trixie, did some basic cantrips for the other ponies, the kind most ponies learned in magic second grade but Trixie was able to put her own spin on them. Rainbow Dash begrudgingly admitted that Trixie magic act wasn't that bad when she wasn't blabbing how great she was every other sentence or humiliating other ponies that weren't Rainbow Dash.

When the party ended, the ponies went to their homesteads or place of business, except Rarity who visited the ward hoping to find Diamond Tiara. When that failed she used her gem finding spell to search for diamonds like the kind in a tiara. When she came home later that evening Sweetie asked where she had been.

"I was looking for someone's very precious jewel. And I think it might mean something to me too."

To Be Continued In Pony POV Series Season Two (Coming Very Soon)