"So you see, Twilight, now we know there's another you living here, we can't expect you to come back through the portal again," the note from Sunset Shimmer read.
Twilight Sparkle stared at the page, written by human hands in the human world by the pony-turned-human whom she had helped see the error of her ways. Thirty moons had gone by since, and she had visited the human world again to help out with the sirens and their attempts at sabotaging the musical showcase. Thirty more moons and she had come face-to-face with the human version of herself, a timid but studious girl whose role in the Friendship Games helped her secure a spot with Sunset Shimmer and her human friends.
The pony princess shook her head in disbelief. Sure, the rest of the note explained how well this human version of herself mashed with the group, but to be told she was no longer expected to visit them was a bit much, or was she reading too much into this?
"Spike? If my friends think I should no longer visit them, and decide to tell me this through a note rather than in person, am I right in assuming there's something they're not telling me?" she asked of her faithful dragon companion.
Spike looked up from his comic book and shrugged. "Ionno. I guess you could always go and ask them to be sure, next time the portal opens?" he helpfully suggested.
Twilight Sparkle gave a firm nod at that. "Good idea, Spike! I'll write Sunset so she knows to expect me."
"I don't know about that, Twilight. I mean, you're going to ask them whether or not they want you to be there, right? If you're going to ask them this on paper, they could write anything in return," Spike reasoned. "If they really wanted to keep you away, they could even smash the portal if they knew you were coming."
"Hmm, you're right," Twilight Sparkle agreed. "It would be better to come unannounced, then."
"That's what the Masked Matter-Horn did in Power Ponies #64," Spike claimed; "the other Power Ponies were hypnotized by the evil mastermind Mentallect, (a wordplay on his mental powers and massive intellect,) and the Masked Matter-Horn could only undo his hypnosis by going to each of the Power Ponies in turn. If she had gone to them as a group, they would have captured her and Mentallect could have hypnotized her as well!"
"Hypnosis?" Twilight Sparkle repeated, quickly reading the words on the page before her again. "Now you've mentioned it, there's something wrong with Sunset's writing style. I think I'll have to do this one on my own."
"Aww, but human Rarity gives the best scritches behind my ears, and human Fluttershy has these doggy biscuits which I've been craving ever since the last time we went there," Spike voiced his disappointment, looking very sad indeed.
Twilight Sparkle gave him a glance, then rolled her eyes at him. "How about I'll see if a box of those things makes it back with me through the portal then? I can't chance you ending up in someone else's control if they are hypnotized."
"Hmm," Spike hummed as he thought it over. "If I can be in charge of the palace while you're gone, you've got a deal."
"Oh, Spike," Twilight Sparkle laughed. "I'll see if I can take the girls along with me to Canterlot, but you'll have to talk with Starlight Glimmer to see what her plans are; I think Trixie is to come back to town around the time the portal opens again."
"I'll go ask her right now," Spike exclaimed, jumping to his feet and rushing off while Twilight Sparkle shook her head at him.
"Gee, Twilight, I still think one a' us should come along," Applejack pressed. "'specially if they got sum kind of hypnosis spell on 'em. More eyes to see the danger with an' all that."
"I don't want to get hypnotized again," Fluttershy muttered timidly. "The last few times that happened were not fun at all..."
"Don't worry; you got me to keep your little mind safe now," Discord offered with a warm smile down at his friend. "But, really, Twilight; you should listen to your little group of walking warning signs and take somepony along with you who knows a thing or two about tricks of the mind."
"Are you offering to come?" Twilight asked of him directly, only for the draconequus to quickly ward it off again with a shake of his head.
"Me? Oh, no, no no... I've been to that dimension before and ended up stuck as a goat for thirty moons until the portal opened again," Discord huffed. "A goat! Can you imagine that? There's so much more to me than just the parts which are goat. I'm part dragon too, you know? Why, little Spike and I are practically related!"
"Since Spike's not here, can I say eugh in his place?" Rainbow Dash asked, sticking out her tongue as if she tasted something foul with it. "Don't get me wrong; Discord's cleaned up his act a lot, but he remains a trickster."
"You're just sour that I pulled off a better prank on the mayor of Ponyville than you did," Discord decided with a wink.
"Girls, Discord, can we please focus on me leaving? The portal is about to open again," Twilight Sparkle sighed, pointing her left wing in the direction of the large mirror which was Equestria's side of the magic gateway into the human world.
"Remember to take a fashion magazine back if you can, will you Twilight dear?" Rarity pressed, her tongue licking along the inside of her lips a moment after at the thought of all the fashion ideas such could bring her.
"I've got my list of the things you girls want me to look for right here," Twilight mentioned, looking back at the backpack she was wearing.
"Twilight will do fine; I'm there to help her find anything she needs, after all," Pinkie Pie decided with a big grin.
"You're not coming either, Pinkie Pie," Twilight Sparkle sighed. "I've told you girls already about why I need to go alone this time."
"Oh, I don't need to come, silly," Pinkie Pie giggled. "I'm already there."
Six pairs of eyes stared at the pink pony for a moment, then drifted off to the portal as there was a spark of energy from the mirror. The reflection in the mirror appeared to stretch out farther and farther away until the far edge of the room they were standing in was no longer visible, then snapped to back to its regular reflective nature again.
Twilight Sparkle took a step toward it and peered at her own reflection. "Wish me luck, girls," she spoke, then strode forward with the sounds of her friends' voices behind her in a cacophony of different well-wishes.
Canterlot High School stood as proudly as it ever had, unperturbed by Twilight Sparkle's re-appearance through the portal in the base of the statue in front of it.
The pony-turned-human needed a few steps to find her balance, then reached behind her with her hands to make sure her backpack had remained on her back. Finding it still there, she sighed out in relief and sought the straps. Not having her magic to do them for her, she had to wriggle those fingers of her in order to grab the straps and pull them a bit tighter on her lithe human body so the backpack would hang properly from her shoulders rather than sit on her butt.
The princess looked around herself in an effort to find her friends, or anyone at all, but the schoolgrounds were empty. She knew there were clocks in the school building from which she could read the time of day, and would most likely find the students in their respective classrooms following classes if it was a schoolday, so she approached the building.
Coming at the doors, she initially wanted to use her magic to open them, but stopped herself before she would walk into them as they remained closed.
"Oh, right. I always have to get used to not having my horn here," she muttered to herself, reaching forward with a hand to grab hold of the doorhandle and... pull at the closed-and-locked door to no avail.
"It's locked?" she realized, leaning forward to peer into the building through the glass pane in the door. The hallways were dark, but there was a clock visible in the sunlight shining in. "Two in the afternoon... there should be students here if it was a schoolday."
She turned her back to the doors and walked down the steps, turning for a path to the nearby road. Rainbow Dash lived nearby, she knew. Her house was closest of all her friends' to the school and she remembered the path from having rehearsed in her garage during the Battle of the Bands. It was still a bit of a walk, and a grandfather clock in a neighbour's house struck three when she finally arrived.
All the while there had been nobody on the roads. No pedestrians, no cyclists, no cars... The world around her was quiet except for the clock and the ambient noise from birds and the like. It was too quiet to Twilight's liking.
She walked up to the front door of Rainbow Dash's house and peered in through the window next to it. It was empty as far as she could see. Twilight Sparkle tried the front door, but it was locked. She knew there was a spare key for the garage door hidden nearby however, and walked on over to retrieve it.
With key in hand, she made for the garage door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Some musical instruments were placed in a corner of the garage, having been used frequently by Twilight's friends as they played a band which they had named the Rainbooms. Twilight recognized Rainbow Dash's guitar, Applejack's bass, Rarity's keytar, Fluttershy's tambourine, Pinkie Pie's drumkit, and even Sunset Shimmer's guitar.
Twilight spent a moment letting her memories of playing together with her friends run through her before she turned her attention to the door connecting the garage with the house interior. If she remembered correctly, that was usually unlocked. She strode over to it, reached for the knob with her left hand, turned it and...
"Locked again? Is everything in this world locked right now?" she wondered out loud, her voice breaking the monotony of silence around her.
"Not everything," a voice spoke behind her, and Twilight Sparkle jumped with a shriek!
Turning around quickly, a blue face peered at her, the girl's white hair casting a shadow over her cheek.
"Trixie?" Twilight Sparkle realized with a start.
"Trixie knows we haven't talked much, but you're well-known to everyone at Canterlot High. Trixie was worried she was the only one left," the other sighed, turning halfway to look out of the garage in the direction of the city. "It was a good joke they played on her, but Trixie would prefer it to end."
"It's good to see another person here," Twilight agreed. "What happened to everyone?"
"There was a broadcast on television, two weeks ago. Trixie watched, of course; we all did," Trixie started enigmatically. "It was a silly mentalist doing magic tricks Trixie knew already. Card tricks, mindreading, that sort of thing."
"Oh?" Twilight responded, walking a few steps closer to the human version of Trixie Lulamoon. "I'm not surprised to hear you know magic, to be honest."
"Oh yes," Trixie answered with a nod, giving a weak smile up. "Before Trixie entered high school, she was known as the Great and Powerful Trixie. But high school quickly taught Trixie that few care about magic tricks. They laughed at Trixie's first performance and considered her tricks childish."
"Hm, that's from before the Fall Formal, was it?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, stopping once she was close enough to Trixie to be able to reach out and touch her, but giving her enough distance to not pop her personal bubble.
"Yes, Trixie has not performed magic for close to three years now," Trixie agreed, sizing Twilight up a moment. "You're the other one, aren't you?"
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, tilting her head lightly.
"You're the one of you who keeps appearing and disappearing, not the Twilight Sparkle who transferred from Crystal Prep Academy," Trixie decided, narrowing her eyes a little.
"Ah, heh, I don't know what you mean," Twilight coughed uneasily, reaching behind her head with her right hand to scratch at the back of it.
"Trixie won't tell anyone," the blue girl offered with a wry smile. "She knows about your tricks, but can't figure them out... yet. A true magician doesn't reveal her secrets, right?"
Twilight Sparkle smiled back, shaking her head. "No, no, a 'magician', doesn't... I'm glad you understand that. Do you know where my friends are, Trixie?"
"As Trixie said; not all doors are locked," Trixie repeated herself. "She will show you; we can take Trixie's car."
"Oh, that would be great; my feet are killing me," Twilight sighed out in relief. "I'm not used to walking so much on these things..."
Trixie raised an eyebrow, but walked away from Twilight instead of asking more. Twilight closed the garage door behind them before she ran after the blue girl, who took them a few houses further to a car waiting on its driveway.
"Is this your house, Trixie?" Twilight Sparkle asked, glancing over at the upstairs windows and catching a glimpse of a white bunny in a cage in front of one of them.
"Yes, it is. Trixie's parents travel the world, so she has mostly been on her own or with babysitters in the past," Trixie revealed, walking to the driver's side and unlocking the car with her key. "This is how she escaped the trick; by not being subdued by the others who were caught by it."
Twilight Sparkle walked over to the passenger door and pulled it open, slipping on the seat of the small towncar with a thump, leaning back against something wholly uncomfortable.
Trixie stared at her while slipping in her own seat, and Twilight Sparkle realized she was still wearing the backpack, quickly reaching to pull it off her back.
"Trixie will make no comment," Trixie claimed, closing the door on her side and pulling her seatbelt in place. It snapped into the lock with a click.
Twilight Sparkle looked back to find a similar strap on her end, and pulled it forward as well, struggling to get it in her lock. Her door was pulled closed a moment after, and Twilight Sparkle awkwardly wrapped her arms around the backpack she had placed on her lap, trying not to look in Trixie's way.
"Trixie has to ask," her company started, staring over the car's steering wheel. "Those tricks of yours; are they real?"
"Can I trust you to keep a secret?" Twilight asked in return, glancing sideways at the other girl.
"Trixie can keep a secret as good as the next person," the blue one muttered, still not looking in Twilight's direction.
"You're the only one here right now who knows anything about me, and the only one here... who's actually here right now. You seem to know more about what's going on here than I do, and I'm going to need your help to find my friends," Twilight Sparkle stated. "I'm going to have to trust you for the moment."
"Trixie's only asking because the things which happened in the past months have been..." she fell silent, closing her eyes, "...unnatural."
"I'm actually from a different world," Twilight Sparkle started. "In this other world, magic is a real thing. Some visitors from my world have taken it here, or found a way to activate your latent magical abilities. So, yes... magic is real, and what happened at Canterlot High School recently was real magic."
Trixie gave a silent nod, then started her car's engine and set her eyes on the road. "Maybe Trixie will pick up her magic act again in the future; when she learns of this real magic."
"Everyone in this world has a counterpart in mine, it seems. I know a Trixie as well, who has a travelling magic show," Twilight Sparkle revealed with a faint smile in the other girl's direction. "She's had a tough time with it, but has been getting better with help from a friend she's made."
Trixie set the car in motion and turned onto the road leading up to the city and away from Canterlot High. "Trixie would like to hear more of that," she spoke, daring a sideways glance and a smile.
"And I would like to hear more of this spell you managed to avoid getting captured by," Twilight Sparkle returned. "How did it manifest? Any details you can tell me about it may help."
"Not a spell, really; a mentalist on television using neuro-linguistic programming to control others to do her bidding," Trixie explained. "Trixie knows of nlp herself, and of other hypnosis tricks which she can use in her shows. It's not too difficult to avoid when you know it's being used."
"Neuro-linguistic programming?" Twilight repeated.
"You've heard of it, haven't you?" Trixie returned, casting a strong glance back to Twilight Sparkle - making sure to catch her attention. "You know of Trixie and how great and powerful she is, of course. You're aware of how much greater and powerfuller Trixie is than yourself, aren't you?"
Twilight blinked her eyes at the sudden ferocity in Trixie's tone, trying to wrap her head around what was being asked of her. "Er... yes, I guess?"
"That's a small example Trixie can give of nlp," the driver stated, turning her full attention to steering the car again.
"I... see," Twilight responded, still blinking a bit as something was nagging at her brain but she could not quite grasp what it was.
"If used properly, it can make people on stage - or off - do whatever the mentalist wants them to do. Imagine whatever they need to imagine," Trixie continued. "Trixie used it to make people on stage do silly things like clucking as a chicken or acting as if a glass of water was a wholly different drink."
"You can do such things, Trixie?" Twilight Sparkle asked, to which the other girl gave a nod.
"It's not that difficult, really. Trixie learned how to do these tricks early on in her career, alongside the basic card tricks. It's just that high school is not the place for it; too many nay-sayers in the crowd," she sighed dejectedly. "Trixie may pick it up again in college."
"I think you should," Twilight suggested. "So what did this... er, mentalist? make the people do?"
"She told them all to gather at this new place of worship," Trixie pointed out. "Trixie visited it to see what was going on, but had to leave again when she drew attention to herself."
"What can you tell me about it?" Twilight Sparkle wondered of her companion.
"As far as Trixie can tell, they are building a new Ark. It's a giant boat made of wood, and they're all building it," the blue girl stated, turning into a side road and parking the car. "All but Trixie, and you. And this is as far as we can go by a car. It makes too much noise. We'll have to continue on foot."
"A giant boat?" Twilight Sparkle repeated, watching Trixie release both of their seatbelts from their locks.
"Trixie thinks you repeat her words too much," Trixie muttered, getting out of the car.
Twilight Sparkle clambered out of the car as well, struggling against the odd balance of this human bipedal body she had, only to find Trixie standing on the passenger side of the car with her.
"Are the rumours true," Trixie wondered, staring intently at Twilight, "that you're really a pony in that other world?"
"Heh, yes they're true," Twilight agreed, finding her balance and straightening herself up.
Trixie reached past Twilight to close the car door quietly, then locked the car again. "Maybe... Trixie can visit this place of magic sometime?"
Twilight Sparkle looked at the other girl's face, spotting the nervous darting of her eyes, and smiled at her. "I will think about it. Let's first get my friends out from under this spell of theirs."
There was a small spark of hope on Trixie's face, and she rushed past Twilight. "It's this way, follow Trixie."
Twilight shook her head at the girl's sudden burst of eagerness, swinging the backpack over her shoulders and running after Trixie.
It was a winding road Trixie took them on, passing between the high-rise buildings of the city through back alleys and the like, until the view opened up to a large park. The sound of wood being worked on was evident as soon as they came near it, and there were low treestumps everywhere they could see. The trees had all been felled to be used in the construction of a large wooden ship which stood near the center of the park on blocks, the city's residents all swarming it like bees in a hive. On top of the boat, observing all of it, stood a dark-skinned woman with green eyes and blue hair which fell down past her head and shoulders in a messy way.
Twilight's heart stopped beating for a moment, then resumed again as she backed away with realization. "Chrysalis..."
"Oh, yes, that was the mentalist's name," Trixie agreed, looking curiously at Twilight's shocked response. "Do you know her?"
"She has a counterpart in Equestria as well... and I've had to fight her twice now," Twilight Sparkle sighed out, a feeling of dread weighing her down. "I'm not sure I can defeat her without help from my friends..."
Trixie wriggled her nose a bit at the mention of fighting, but then turned back to watch the people around the Ark continue to mow down trees and process the wood to create boards to build the ship with. All of it was manual labour, but young and old were hypnotized by the dark-skinned woman to do as much as they could to further her agenda.
"Why the ship?" Twilight Sparkle wondered, trying to figure out what the changeling Queen she knew from her world might want to do with a ship.
"Trixie assumes her goal is to set herself up as a new religious figurehead," Trixie replied in a soft tone, huddling down behind a nearby bush as someone approached their location. Twilight Sparkle followed her example, hiding away as good she could. "The Ark is something from religious texts where a massive flood washed away all the unclean and saved only a small few who were chosen to repopulate Earth."
"Can she do that? Create a flood, I mean?" Twilight Sparkle asked in a whisper.
"Well, there is a dam nearby," Trixie reasoned. "If she damaged it so the lake behind it were to drain into this valley, the whole city would be submerged. Trixie guesses that could be seen as a biblical flood of sorts."
"We need to stop her from doing that," Twilight Sparkle decided, looking over Trixie's shoulder at the person picking up an axe they had clearly left near a treestump earlier and walking over to one of the few trees which were still standing with it. "Do you see any of my friends, Trixie?"
"That's Sunset Shimmer there, isn't it?" Trixie asked, pointing to a certain red-and-yellow haired girl pulling a rope with sixteen other people in order to drag one of the trees closer to the place where others were cutting them into boards.
"So it is," Twilight Sparkle agreed with a nod. "How do we get her out of the crowd?"
"Leave that to Trixie," the blue girl offered with a wide grin. "Trixie will create a distraction. You should grab her and drag her into the alley here, Twilight."
"Ah?" Twilight started as Trixie started to sneak away in a semi-circle toward the crowds. "Okay, I'll... do that."
Twilight looked on as Trixie snuck her way over to the large tree, then suddenly threw something in the middle of the group pulling on the ropes. A moment later the smokebomb exploded and the group was lost from sight by dark black smoke covering them!
Trixie darted forward, grabbed one of Sunset Shimmer's arms, and pulled her in Twilight's direction. "Twilight, now!"
Twilight rushed forward as well, taking Sunset Shimmer's other arm, and ran the struggling girl toward the alleyway Trixie had pointed out!
Sunset Shimmer was too dazed to fight them at first, but then started to struggle and cried out "No, I must build the Ark for my Queen! Let me go!"
Trixie reached up to put something to Sunset Shimmer's mouth, and the yellow girl let out a muffled protest as her mouth was suddenly taped closed with a strip of ducttape!
"Keeps her from calling out to the others," Trixie explained, leading them through a small maze of alleyways until slowing down. Sunset Shimmer kept up with her struggling, but could not free herself from the two girls at either side of her.
Trixie finally stopped, looped a piece of rope around Sunset Shimmer's wrist, then reached around the girl's back for the wrist Twilight Sparkle was holding on to and looped the rope around it as well. A quick tug and Sunset Shimmer's arms were suddenly tied close together on her back, and a few more expert motions from Trixie made sure she could not free herself from it.
Twilight Sparkle stood staring at the motion, especially when Trixie put her foot against the back of Sunset Shimmer's knees and pushed forward so the girl fell to her knees on the dirty ground, then put a piece of rope around her ankles as well. Sunset Shimmer's ankles and wrists were quickly connected with more rope, and then she was left to struggle in vain with Trixie towering over her with a big grin on her face.
"Trixie knows how to do ropework; a necessity when learning escape tricks," Trixie stated with no small measure of pride to her voice.
"Was this really necessary?" Twilight Sparkle wondered, kneeling down beside Sunset Shimmer to look her in the eyes. They were vacant, as if her friend was not actually there. "How do we break this spell?"
Trixie leaned down as well, but sat on her hunches instead, and peered at Sunset Shimmer. "Hm, Trixie is afraid that that may take some time; she looks to be in trance. Trixie will have to slowly lead her out of it or it may break her."
Twilight Sparkle's left eyebrow rose up. "I would really prefer you not breaking my friends, Trixie," she warned.
"That's why Trixie has to do this carefully. We should carry her to Trixie's car and get her to Trixie's home; it's safer there," the blue girl warned, getting up again. "There's a knot here, if you take a hold of that and Trixie this, we can carry her between us like a sportsbag."
Twilight Sparkle stared at Trixie. "Or we can have her walk on her own?"
Trixie sighed and looked at her ropework. "Trixie had hoped to test this knot combination on someone other than herself, but sure. I just need to undo these two knots here," she mumbled, reaching for the ropes and tugging the ties apart so Sunset Shimmer could stand on her own again.
Twilight Sparkle just stood staring, finding Sunset Shimmer struggling against her bonds again as she realized she had obtained some more freedom. "Where did you get the rope from anyway, Trixie?" she asked idly, noting Trixie was dressed in a simple vest and skirt combination.
Trixie shrugged and tucked the length of rope she had taken from Sunset Shimmer away in her left sleeve until it had fully disappeared into it. "Trixie has some hidden pockets sewn in her clothes; a remnant of her magic show days. She learned to always have some ducttape handy, and rope, and some other items which could help her in various situations."
"Ah," Twilight Sparkle remarked, taking a hold of Sunset Shimmer's left-upper arm to keep her friend from bolting. "Lead the way to the car, please?"
Trixie gave a nod to that, leading the way to the car.
A short trip later, Sunset Shimmer sat bound on a chair in the kitchen, with Trixie standing in front of her spouting all kinds of seemingly-random words and short sentences. Twilight Sparkle had been told Trixie would first try to find the 'trigger word', but if that failed Trixie would 'begin in earnest' to 'unravel the trance'.
Twilight was not sure she understood what was going on exactly, just yet, but was given a book about hypnosis by Trixie and had sat down at the kitchen table to do what she did best; study from a book.
The introduction explained some things on how this world thought the mind worked, and how certain key-phrases and concepts triggered the same kinds of responses in multiple people. The thought of having creepy crawlies run over one's skin, or someone else yawning, there were similar examples given in the book. By using those kinds of key-phrases, it was said, a hypnotist could lead people to believe they were experiencing a situation they were, in fact, not.
Twilight Sparkle continued to read even as Trixie changed from using words to attempting to break through to Sunset Shimmer's addled mind, and she soon realized what the girl was trying to do as she read about the techniques used by hypnotists and mentalists alike; Passing by the conscious mind and reaching the subconscious to establish a form of dominance from the mentalist over the experience of the subject in question. In this case to undo something another person had already done.
Sunset Shimmer blinked oddly at some of the pressing sentences Trixie used, but it still took the blue girl longer than it took Twilight Sparkle to finish the book to make significant progress.
After what felt like an eternity, Sunset Shimmer's eyes finally focused properly again, darted around in fear, and then laid themselves upon Twilight Sparkle. Recognition set in, and Sunset Shimmer mumbled against the tape still keeping her from speaking, her eyes pleading for Twilight Sparkle to know what she was saying.
Trixie let out a long sigh of relief, and reached forward to tear the strip of ducttape off of the yellow girl's face in one quick pull!
"Ow!" Sunset Shimmer let out with a sharp wince as the tape tore at her face - leaving a nasty red spot where it had been earlier - then focused on Twilight again. "Twilight! You came!"
"Yes, even if you told me you did not want me here," Twilight Sparkle explained. "I'm going to assume that was Chrysalis' work?"
Sunset Shimmer's face fell blank for a brief moment, but then she returned to attention only to look around in confusion. "I... I don't know what happened, exactly. One moment I was watching television, the next... I'm here. Where's here?"
"You're in Trixie's house, and Trixie thinks you should thank her; that was a very deep trance you were in," Trixie huffed, walking around to behind Sunset Shimmer to start undoing the girl's bonds. "Trixie hopes Twilight has learned a thing or two from Trixie's book, because Trixie is not going to have the energy to do this to all the others."
"I understand the concepts, yes," Twilight Sparkle agreed with a nod. "With some luck we can get Chrysalis to revert it herself, but we're going to need all of my friends for it."
"What are you two talking about, Twilight?" Sunset Shimmer asked, still utterly confused.
"As far as Trixie has explained it to me," Twilight started, walking on over to take a hold of Sunset Shimmer's hands once they were freed by Trixie; this world's version of the changeling queen Chrysalis has used television to broadcast a hypnosis trance to everyone in the city and is trying to have an Ark built so she can make herself out to be a religious figure; obtaining power over the people here."
Sunset Shimmer squeezed Twilight's hands softly in return to having hers held, glad to have her friend with her, but her face grew dark as she was told about Chrysalis and her plans.
"I've heard of the changelings, even here," Sunset Shimmer sighed. "I could have never imagined there to be someone as evil as that here on this world."
"Well, believe it; and we need to stop her," Twilight Sparkle decided. "You should read into this book Trixie gave me as well; try to understand the concept. Trixie says it should be a good weapon against falling for it again."
Trixie gave a nod from behind Sunset Shimmer. "Yes, if you know the techniques used against you, you can deflect them. Trixie will explain what she knows, but we are going to be quick about it; the Ark looked to be nearing its completion as far as Trixie is able to tell."
"If she's building an Ark, where is she going to get the... water... oh," Sunset Shimmer started to ask, then realized on her own. "She's going to destroy the dam?!?"
"That's Trixie's thoughts, yes," Trixie agreed. "It's the only water for miles."
"Trixie's the best option we have to fight this. She's the only one unaffected by the spell, and has some tricks up her sleeves which allowed her to run into the crowd and grab a hold of you," Twilight Sparkle offered. "The both of us should take turns learning more about this hypnosis deal and going back and forth with Trixie to get our friends."
"I can drive a car," Sunset Shimmer pointed out. "I can drive us back and forth as well."
"Trixie should take a rest between these sessions; they draw a lot of energy from her," Trixie commented.
"If you have more books about hypnosis, I can stay behind to learn from them while you show Sunset Shimmer where the Ark is?" Twilight suggested, to which both others gave an agreeing nod.
"Let Trixie get them from her room and we can go; we could do two more trips before dinner," Trixie suggested with a smile. "Trixie must say she is surprised it worked at all; she may be able to undo this spell with your help."
"Let's hope so," Sunset Shimmer mused. "The dam holds back more water than Equestria's lakes combined; it's a major reservoir for the area and is the city's main source of electricity."
Twilight Sparkle was happy to find Trixie return with a stack of more books about hypnosis, nlp, and similar techniques, and sat down at Trixie's dinner table while the other two went off to the Ark again in the hope of finding another of their friends.
Twilight Sparkle was just finished with the third of the books when the car pulled back up on the driveway again, and a struggling blue shape was dragged into the house; Rainbow Dash.
Trixie quickly guided Twilight Sparkle through the methods needed to break Rainbow Dash out of her trance, and both girls worked together in order to do just that while Sunset Shimmer sat down with the first of the books in an effort to learn what she could.
Rainbow Dash was as surprised as Sunset Shimmer had been to find herself in Trixie's home, her last memory having been her seated in front of the television as well. The blue girl's fury lit up as soon as she was filled in on Chrysalis' plan, and she was eager to help obtain the others. The idea of learning about hypnosis just went past her; she wanted to physically grab Applejack, Rarity, the human Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy, and drag them over to Trixie's house.
Trixie agreed to drive a third time, now with Rainbow Dash in tow, and left Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle alone to study.
Twilight Sparkle devoured the remaining few books in Trixie's collection, then helped Sunset Shimmer out to get at least halfway before the two blue girls returned with their catch; Fluttershy.
The poor girl was subjected to Sunset Shimmer's attempts to retrieve her from her trance, but Twilight Sparkle had to step in to help out where Sunset failed.
Trixie had to take a rest, forcing Sunset Shimmer to do a run in Trixie's car, taking Rainbow Dash with her again.
When Twilight Sparkle got Fluttershy out of her trance, she ended up so distraught by what had happened to her that she swore never to go anywhere near a television set again in her life!
Rarity was brought to Trixie's home next, with Applejack and Pinkie Pie following quickly after, leaving just the native Twilight Sparkle who had evaded them so far.
"You didn't see her near the Ark, then?" Equestria's Twilight Sparkle asked of Rainbow Dash, who shook her head.
"No, and I even climbed up on a building to get a better view of the area; nothing," Rainbow Dash explained.
"I can't believe I've been doing manual labour for days now," Rarity whined, looking down at the rough spots on her hands. "My poor, poor hands were not made for this."
"All I can think about are the poor animals who are now homeless after we cut the trees in the park down," Fluttershy sniffled. "We need to stop Chrysalis before she damages nature more."
"Ah have to agree with stoppin' that woman," Applejack huffed. "Ain't right to get in peoples' heads without their permission."
"You all watched the show on television," Trixie noted. "It gives proper stage magicians a bad name when people use it like this."
Pinkie Pie was unnaturally silent, just sitting on one of the chairs looking down. Her usually so fluffy hair had fallen straight down around her head, causing her face to be invisible through the thick curtain of pink hairs.
"Are you okay, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight Sparkle asked, walking up to her friend and placing her right hand on the pink one's left shoulder.
An ice-cold voice came from the pink girl, so eerily uncharacteristic that everyone turned to stare at her, "Entertainment is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to make people smile. This wasn't fun. I watched myself walk around without being able to do anything. She took the fun away from me."
"Er... Pinkie?" Twilight started, pulling away a bit.
Pinkie Pie lifted her head to stare through the curtain of flat hairs at Twilight. "She needs to pay."
"Are y'all as creeped out by this as ah am?" Applejack wondered, and a collective nod went through the group.
"Well, darling, I can certainly understand your sentiment," Rarity coughed uneasily, addressing Pinkie Pie. "But we would all do a lot better if you could... you know... be less dark about it? Poor Fluttershy has sank so far into the couch that she's about to become a part of it."
Pinkie Pie closed her eyes, and forced a smile on her face. "Okay," she spoke in that eerie tone. As her friends watched, the pink girl's smile slowly widened and became more genuine, while her hair curled up on its own until it took on its former fluffy appearance. When Pinkie's eyes opened again, she was all cupcakes and rainbows again and she jumped up from her chair while pumping her right fist up in the air. "Let's go free our parents from the evil queen's control, guys!"
Twilight Sparkle let her eyes travel over the others, who were still looking shocked at the way Pinkamena Diane Pie had just changed her mood from something borderline psychotic to happy-go-lucky again.
"Pinkie is right; we should move now, if at all. Night is going to fall soon, which should give us the benefit of the cover of darkness. We should gain entry to the Ark and figure out if the other Twilight is in there," she started. "If we can, we should try to get access to where Chrysalis is, and use the power of our friendship to defeat her. Who's with me?"
Twilight Sparkle stuck her right hand out to the others, and Pinkie immediately bounded over to put hers on top of it.
"Oh, me! Me!" Pinkie grinned merrily.
Twilight gave her a hard glance, and Pinkie's grin tempered to a weak smile.
"Some day, Twilight," she spoke enigmatically.
"I'll wait until you're ready to explain that then, Pinkie Pie," Twilight decided.
"It's gotta be somethin' fierce to make ya act that way," Applejack added, putting her hand on top of Pinkie's and giving it a soft squeeze. "Ah'll be here if ya need me."
"Yeah, and me too," Rainbow Dash jumped in, bumping shoulders with Applejack while placing her hand on top of the others.
Rarity walked on over to the couch to help Fluttershy stand up from it, and the both of them approached the group, Rarity placing herself between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy and putting her hand down on the others first.
"You can't expect me to let you girls go off on your own," she started. "Who would make your outfits for this little escapade?"
Fluttershy's hand joined the rest with some hesitation, but she gave a silent nod to the others to indicate she was joining in as always.
Twilight let her eyes roam over the determined faces of the others, then past the group at Trixie standing off to the side. The blue girl had more energy after her nap, but was entirely out of her comfort zone watching the group form before her. Sunset Shimmer had also taken note, and walked up to her.
"Hey, are we going to make our own group or join theirs, Trixie?" Sunset asked with a wink, taking Trixie by the arm and leading her over. "We're only here because you helped Twilight figure out what was going on, so we're going to want you with us."
Rainbow Dash gave a nod in Trixie's way. "Yeah! You pulled me out of that trance, and I've seen you work in the field. I want you with us as we free our parents from that spell."
"Ah'm in agreement; we need ya," Applejack agreed.
"What they are saying, darling," Rarity started; "We can never have too many friends. You're most welcome to join us."
Twilight Sparkle beamed at the way the group around her decided to welcome another friend in their midst, but Trixie looked entirely overwhelmed by it.
"Trixie doesn't know what you expect of her," she started, but looked up at Sunset Shimmer as the yellow girl took Trixie by the hand.
"They don't expect anything," Sunset Shimmer offered with a warm smile. "Once they stopped me from making the worst mistake of my life, they welcomed me in their group without ever expecting anything in return. They're the friendliest people I've ever met outside of Equestria. If you've ever wanted to make friends, this is your best chance."
Trixie looked down at Sunset holding her hand. "Trixie would like friends," she muttered, reaching up with her hand and finding Sunset's moving along with her without any restraint. Both of their hands soon joined the group of hands in the center of the circle and Trixie sighed out as she let her arm relax.
There was a sudden rush of energy as all eight of them stood there, and a glow spread from their hands outward through their arms!
Trixie made a surprised sound and pulled away, tripping over her own two legs and falling to the floor, but the magical glow continued to spread up her arm and through the rest of her body.
Having experienced magic in this fashion before, the other seven just stood watching each other, expectant looks on their faces.
Pop! Pop! Eight pairs of pony ears popped up on top of each of the girls' heads.
"Aww, yeah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed at the sight of them, pulling her hand back from the group to twist her neck in an effort to look behind her.
"What..." Trixie started, reaching up to feel at her own head. As she felt the ears, her face blanked in complete incomprehension of the facts.
A burst of energy exploded from the backs of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle, and as the light faded the three of them sported feathered wings which had sprouted from their backs.
Sunset Shimmer pulled her hand away as well, and the rest let go of the others at that. Sunset turned to Trixie and sank down beside her, offering her a smile and her left hand with its palm turned up.
"You may want to stand for this next change," Sunset offered to the bewildered blue girl.
"Trixie doesn't know what's going on," Trixie muttered, placing her right hand in Sunset's left more just because it was offered to her than because she had really wanted to.
Sunset Shimmer stood up herself and pulled Trixie up with her, just in time before the eight tails sprouted out from each girl's lower back.
"Equestrian magic," Twilight Sparkle suggested, walking over to Trixie while her wings stood out firmly behind her. "My friends and I have accepted you into our group, so our changes now affect you as well; The magic of friendship flows through you now as well."
Trixie needed a moment to let the idea settle, then took note of the changes to the other girls and quickly turned her head to look behind her. A flick of her tail made her realize the thing was actually connected to her, and her eyes rolled in their sockets... Sunset Shimmer only caught her by still holding onto her right hand, turning Trixie's fall into her and closing her other arm around the blue girl's waist so as to keep her from falling.
"I think she took that well," Pinkie Pie commented dryly.
"She knows more about magic than she lets on," Twilight Sparkle told her friends. "She deducted I'm from another world and that my magic is real even before I confirmed it to her."
"She has been spying on us ever since the Battle of the Bands," Sunset Shimmer realized. "She's just always been around for one reason or another. Not always in the best of ways."
"I can't think of a better group for her to have fallen into," Twilight Sparkle sighed happily, looking around her. "With you girls to take care of her, she'll straighten out fine. We should seek to wake her and head for the Ark; we're losing time."
"I can drive her, but we won't all fit in her little car," Sunset Shimmer noted.
"We can use the school bus?" Fluttershy piped up uneasily. "I have the keys since I help clean birdsnests out from it during vacations."
"School is almost an hour's walk away from here," Twilight decried, "My poor feet won't make that walk."
"Now, I know you're not from here, Twilight," Rarity started, "but school is not that far away at all; it's hardly a ten-minute walk."
"Yeah! What kind of route did you take that it took you half an hour? I can run there in under a minute!" Rainbow Dash claimed.
"Sure you can," Applejack muttered. "Did you follow the main road, perhaps, sugar?"
"I went the same way you girls drove me back and forth to school the last times I was here," Twilight offered up, worried she may have missed something obvious now.
"Ah, see," Sunset Shimmer started, realizing Twilight's mistake. "The road we take by car curves around the city so traffic doesn't have to go in-between the houses... but if you're walking or cycling, you'll want to take the smaller roads between houses; it's far, far shorter and you'll end up at the sporting grounds at the back rather than the front entrance."
"Which is usually open even when the front door is not, because of the sports clubs using the place," Rainbow Dash knew.
"It's not something you'd know unless you've lived here for a while, I guess," Fluttershy mumbled. "It's easily missed."
Twilight Sparkle sighed at her own lack of knowledge. "Next time you girls may want to inform me of these kinds of things..."
"Honestly, darling, why walk if you can take the car?" Rarity wondered. "I mean, sure, right now we need to take the short route, but it looks far better to arrive at school by car, you know? It's all about image."
"Or about being lazy," Rainbow Dash nudged.
"Well, you've proven that I don't know everything there is to know about this place," Twilight Sparkle decided. "Let's wake Trixie up and make our way to the school so we can take one of the buses there."
"And find someone to drive it on the way?" Pinkie Pie suddenly piped up, clearly fighting to keep some semblance of her happy demeanor.
"I can drive them," Fluttershy revealed. "I've had to move the buses to get to some of the nests, and so I've been taught to..."
"Fluttershy driving, that's something I have to see," Rainbow Dash decided.
"Ah, it's actually not too different from a car, once you..." Fluttershy tried to explain, but was cut into by Sunset Shimmer.
"Whatever we're doing, let's do it quickly. These transformations usually don't last too long," she warned.
"Yes, let's," Twilight Sparkle agreed.
Between the seven awake girls, the eighth fainted Trixie was easy enough to transport, and Rarity led the way between houses for them to arrive at the school within minutes, rather than Twilight Sparkle's hour of walking. Rainbow Dash knew just how to gain entrance to the sporting grounds, and then through around the building to where Fluttershy knew how to get into the parking for the buses.
Everything went as smoothly as it could, which only made Pinkie Pie's mood go further South for reasons unknown.
They put Trixie on the bus, propped up beside Sunset Shimmer, took a seat themselves, and the bus set itself in motion to the city with Fluttershy at the wheel. By the time they neared the park again, Trixie had woken up and was trying to come to terms with having a pony tail and pony ears now.
They parked the bus as close to the park as they had dared and approached in single file, then gathered behind a hot dog stand which had been put aside by the hypnotized city residents.
"Okay, so, new plan," Twilight Sparkle coughed uneasily, motioning past the hot dog stand at the floodlights placed around the Ark. Even as the night darkened the sky above, the floodlights were illuminating the area around the Ark to such an extent that an unobserved approach was made impossible. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you fly up and create a distraction. The rest of us rush to the ramp there, which everyone is using to bring wood into the ship."
"And we're dead," Sunset Shimmer commented dryly. "That's not going to work with just a single diversion, and the girls don't know how to fly. These wings are mostly for show, the only flying that they have done was magical, Twilight. We don't have that kind of energy right now; it was done in the heat of the moment."
"Oh?" Twilight realized, to nods from both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Okay, so... we... do... something else, obviously."
"Trixie has enough smokebombs on her to blind half the park," Trixie spoke up, reaching into her vest and pulling out the devices, one after another. They just kept on coming, and were laid out by her on the ground in the middle of the little circle the eight of them made.
"That could work," Twilight Sparkle agreed, picking one of the items up and looking at it intently. It was just a small orb with a piece of string pointing out of it, like a cherrybomb, painted a dull grey. "How do we use these?"
"You light the wick and toss it where you want the center of the cloud to be," Trixie explained, fishing a set of throwaway plastic gas lighters out of her vest as well. "Trixie hopes everyone here at least knows how to make fire?"
"Twilight might not," Sunset Shimmer realized, picking up one of the lighters and holding it out for Twilight to see. "So you put your thumb here, then quickly turn this little wheel and pressure the valve down to let the gas escape. The wheel turning creates a spark which ignites the gas. You'll have seconds to light the wick before your thumb will get too warm."
Twilight Sparkle took the lighter from Sunset as she was offered it, and emulated the motion she was shown. A small spark came from the lighter, and then her thumb lazily hit the gas release. The gas poured out long after the spark had gone.
"Now do it a bit faster," Sunset Shimmer prodded.
As Twilight did the actions faster now, the flame did spark out of the lighter properly. She was startled by it, letting go of the gas valve, and the flame doused immediately.
"Ah, I think I see how this works now," she noted, doing the trick again. Again there was a flame, and again she let go of the gas valve to douse it. "Yes, this is fairly easy to do."
"Then, if we're all ready, we should make sure we have some smoke bombs on us and a lighter each," Sunset Shimmer decided, taking lead on it.
Trixie did a quick count of persons and smoke bombs, then smiled at herself. "Trixie has more than enough of these on her. Make sure to throw them ahead of you so the path stays hidden, and don't lose sight of each other."
"We're aiming for the ramp, in case that was still a question," Twilight repeated herself. "As soon as we're inside, the smoke bombs are useless; we need to find a path to Chrysalis herself and make her release everyone from their trance."
"She alone knows the safeword," Trixie explained. "This safeword will quickly release everyone from their trance without us needing to release them individually."
"Gotcha," Rainbow Dash noted, grabbing a handful of smokebombs.
Everyone but Fluttershy followed suit, and Rarity smirked at her friend.
"Fluttershy and I will be taking the rear," she decided. "It's not for proper ladies to foul up the place with smoke. We'll just make sure to follow along, won't we Fluttershy dear?"
"Hmm, yes," Fluttershy agreed with some relief while Rarity divided her smokebombs among her friends.
"Ready?" Sunset Shimmer asked, and to a nod of her friends lit the first of the smokebombs. It flew in an arch over the hot dog stand a moment after as she threw it, and the group stood up as one.
As soon as the smokebomb exploded and started to spread its thick smoke around, they started to run, lighting more smokebombs as they went.
They landed ahead of them in a chaotic pattern, exploding with more smoke moments after.
The citizens up ahead continued their work unabated; the smoke did not prevent them from doing the tasks they were assigned, but a sound of alarm was raised from high above on the Ark's deck.
As they neared the Ark, a group of armed guards jumped out of the ship and ran down the ramp, but they were soon enveloped in smoke as the much smaller group of youngsters continued on.
Trixie guided them through the smoke as if she had a sixth sense for direction, and they quickly reached the ramp and ran up it into the belly of the beast, unhindered by any of the citizens or armed guards by some sheer force of luck or Trixie's smart guiding.
The inside of the Ark was drawn up fully in wood, and it was impossibly large. The room they had arrived in was a gathering area for goods, but there were rooms set up within it, and staircases leading up to the floor above.
Trixie again took the lead, guiding them up onto the nearest staircase and on into a hallway along the inner wall of the hull.
More rooms were set up on this level, and they had to pass by maybe twenty of them before they found a hallway between them which had another staircase leading up.
Up they went, four stories, five... and then finally they reached the deck, and all the while they were unhindered by guards or the like.
"This is too easy," Twilight muttered to Sunshine Shimmer, who gave a thoughtful nod.
"It is, yes. That one group of guards can't be all she has in here?" Sunset returned.
The deck had just a single tall building in it, and the staircase they had used to get up on deck was expressly set opposite its main entrance, but a distance from it as well so as strike a sense of awe in whomever dared approach.
As Twilight and her group of friends looked around, they realized there were rows and rows of armed guards lining the deck, surrounding them and the building, leaving just one way forward, and one way back. A shriek from Fluttershy made them aware the back was now blocked by a set of guards as well - possibly the dozen they had evaded on the approach.
"Forward it is," Twilight sighed, starting off ahead of the main group.
Sunset Shimmer followed after Twilight, hooking her left arm around Trixie's right to make sure the girl followed along.
With the threat of attack from the rear now apparent, Applejack had fallen behind, and Rainbow Dash quickly joined her, leaving Fluttershy and Rarity to follow behind a lone Pinkie Pie - who was seemingly lost in thought as she walked after Sunset Shimmer and Trixie.
The large double doors leading into the wooden captain's hut on deck opened up as they drew near, revealing the tall ebony-skinned woman with her messy blue hair, her green eyes staring down at the group. To her left stood Twilight Sparkle, in the act of pushing her glasses back up on her nose by pushing her right indexfinger up against the bridge of it.
"Twilight Sparkle, I presume," Chrysalis spoke in a voice that sounded unnaturally sweetened. "I have been waiting for you to join us."
"And who is this 'us' you speak of, Chrysalis?" the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle asked, raising an eyebrow at the human Twilight Sparkle who looked away after a moment.
"Why, the Church of Change, of course," Chrysalis chuckled. "Your twin here has already proven to be a valuable convert. Or should I say your alternate self?"
"How much have you told her?" Twilight Sparkle asked her human counterpart, who shrugged but remained quiet otherwise.
"Oh, about everything I need to know; there is a different world out there, and you are an interloper in ours," Chrysalis answered for Twilight Sparkle. "I will need to cleanse this world of you and your kind, so that we may safeguard humanity from outside influences. Only then can we begin the change that will lead us to eternal love in paradise."
"There's no such thing," Sunset Shimmer warned. "These schemes only lead to pain."
"She won't listen," Pinkie Pie stated in an icy voice, walking past Sunset Shimmer. Her hair had fallen around her face again without her usual curls.
"Oh, my, isn't this a surprise?" Chrysalis started, a grin forming on her face as she peered at Pinkie Pie crossing the distance between them. "A lost sheep returned to the fold?"
"You never gave me a choice," Pinkie Pie returned, walking straight for the human Twilight Sparkle on Chrysalis' side and pulling her in an immediate and full-body hug.
Chrysalis turned quickly to face the two, and reached in to pull them apart. "What do you think you are doing?!?"
"Saving her soul," Pinkie Pie returned, clinging to the human Twilight Sparkle with all her might. "Any time now, girls!"
"I think," Sunset Shimmer started, "that she wants us to do something."
Twilight Sparkle took a few hesitant steps forward, but then started to run and quickly joined Pinkie Pie and wrapped her arms around her counterpart, intent on sticking to her like glue. "You can't steal our friend away, Chrysalis! We will find her and protect her eventually!"
The others were close behind her, and soon Chrysalis was standing alone against eight girls who formed a hug-ball around the human Twilight Sparkle.
"Guards!" she shouted, taking a few steps back. "Remove these... children... from the Ark!"
A squad of twelve walked over at the command, but the captain stopped them three paces away from the group. He looked up at Chrysalis. "Why? They had lost their friend and now they found her again. Shouldn't we let them have their moment?"
"No," Chrysalis decried! "Love is to be shared only in the afterlife; Paradise is where we will find love eternal! Earthly love cannot hope to match that!"
"It's Equestrian love," Sunset Shimmer threw at the woman, flicking her tail.
"I don't know why you bother," the human Twilight Sparkle started, looking up to see all the ears around her. "I almost ruined the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer. I'm..."
"Scared," Pinkie Pie finished, looking the human Twilight in the eyes. "You found out there's magic, that there's someone who looks just like you out there, and that all your science can't work itself out of solving the puzzle. So you dove nose-first into religion instead?"
"You will cease this!" Chrysalis demanded. "Guards, you want to do as I say, don't you? You want to get rid of these pesky kids, don't you?"
"Look, lady, I have a girl of their age back home," the captain protested, then seemed to realize something in the next moment after. "No... not home... she's working on this thing."
"He's snapped himself out of trance," Trixie realized.
"It seemed the logical course of action," the human Twilight Sparkle mumbled. "I had thrown myself at science as if it was a religion unto itself, why not go for the real thing?"
"You want to cease this rebellion and do my bidding!" Chrysalis shouted, her voice breaking from her anger.
"Look at the other guards," Trixie pointed, and Rarity glanced around to see a bunch of them shake their heads as if trying to shake a bad thought away. "It's spreading because of her anger; we made them realize they have children under her spell and she's too angry to talk her way out of it."
"It's okay to pursue other venues from science," the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle told her counterpart. "I, myself, had to give up studying to find myself some friends, and it led me to insights my books could have never given me. But if I didn't have my friends to fall back on, I would have been far worse off. You can't replace friends with anything."
"And as I told you before, Twilight, you're our friend if you want to be," Sunset Shimmer added. "Trixie is one of our friends too, and she came here to help find you with us."
Chrysalis was quickly losing control of her guards, and a few of them started to run down the staircase to destinations unknown. The more who did it, the more who realized something was off about what they were doing or feeling, and the more who snapped out of their trance as a result.
The captain finally realized the full picture and pointed at Chrysalis. "Take her, men. We will have to bring her in front of the authorities once we figure out where they are."
A roll of ducttape flew through the air, and the captain's reflexes allowed him to catch it.
"You may want to tape her mouth shut," Trixie shouted from inside the friendship ball.
"The kid's got a bright idea," the captain realized, advancing with his men upon Chrysalis.
The woman finally saw she was outnumbered and had backtracked into one of the open doors, but as the guards advanced upon them she found a new wind inside and a green glow surrounded her as she threw them away from her.
"No! I shall not be defeated!" she screamed, her voice a painful shriek!
Pinkie Pie stared the human Twilight Sparkle in the eyes, then leaned in to press a kiss on her lips. Twilight Sparkle startled, then melted into the kiss and returned it in kind, a tear freeing itself from her left eye to trail down her cheek.
A new wave of magic passed through the nine friends gathered on deck, even as Chrysalis approached with the green fury of a jealousy of unrequited love - aimed fully at the display of love before her.
A pair of pony ears sprang forth from the human Twilight Sparkle's head as she was held by the others, and her tail popped out of her lower back a moment after.
Chrysalis reached out to the friends gathered in this way, intent to pull them all from one another, only to hit a barrier of their magic instead and getting bounced back the way she came.
The ball of friendship opened up on its own, the girls letting Pinkie Pie and the human Twilight Sparkle have their moment, but the two of them soon broke apart as well, and turned upon Chrysalis while holding hands.
"True love is not found only in paradise," Pinkie Pie stated, volume and curls returning to her hair. "Entertainment is for fun, not control."
The human Twilight Sparkle gave a nod in agreement. "Just because you were hurt in the past, doesn't mean you should stop trying to make friends. Sunset Shimmer taught me that."
"And I was taught that lesson by Twilight Sparkle," Sunset Shimmer added, motioning to the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle.
"I had good teachers," she coughed uneasily. "In the end friendship is all that matters to me. It's why I cross the boundaries between worlds; to help my friends in whatever way I need to."
"Aw, sugar," Applejack cooed. "We'd love for ya to visit even if we don't need yer help too."
Chrysalis lay bewildered on the deck of her Ark, that green glow around her dissipating slowly but surely. The guards around her reached out to lift her from the floor, a pair of handcuffs being pulled up and quickly slapped on her wrists.
"Don't give up on friendship," Trixie spoke this time, looking around her at her friends standing with her. "Trixie did, but she found this group who embraced her even when she was sure they would deny her."
"True friends will love you for who you are, not for what you did in the past," Pinkie Pie added. "For what it's worth, I hope you find your true friends as well."
"She'll have to pay for what she's done first," the captain of the guard decided.
"We all do," Sunset Shimmer spoke matter-of-factly. "I paid for my mistakes, and these girls all forgave me for them. You will find someone like that as well, as long as you don't stop looking for them."
The girls watched as a sputtering Chrysalis was dragged off, the woman not comprehending what just happened, or the lessons she was just taught by the much younger girls before her.
With the guards having freed themselves from their trances, the deck was now emptied of all but the nine girls with their pony attributes, and they turned to one another again.
"So," the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle started, looking curiously at her counterpart. "You and Pinkie Pie?"
The human Twilight Sparkle's ears twitched and she looked away shyly. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was all smiles. "Oh, come on; like you didn't see this coming?"
"I sure didn't," Rarity protested.
"Yeah, no... not me," Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Ah'm not sure how any of us could have guessed at this," Applejack decided.
"I knew," Fluttershy mumbled barely loud enough to be heard.
The pony attributes on the gathered girls faded and disappeared with a trail of sparkles, leaving the girls in their normal forms again.
"As I said; the transformation lasts for such a short period of time," Sunset Shimmer sighed. "That's the one thing I do miss about Equestria."
"This wrapped up pretty quickly, considering," Twilight Sparkle noted, looking up at the starry sky above their heads. "We still have two days to go before the gateway closes."
Sunset Shimmer cast a long, hard stare on the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle. "You're not going to suggest we put in a visit to Equestria while the adults here sort things out... are you?"
"Actually, Spike has been wanting to get some of the dog biscuits from this world, Pinkie Pie wanted me to get streamers, Rarity needs a fashion magazine... I've brought a list?" the princess listed.
"Seems like we'll have to do a shopping trip tomorrow," Rarity cooed excitedly.
"Trixie wonders about this gateway, how long does it stay open and will it open again?" Trixie asked.
"It stays open for three full days when it opens, and it's closed for thirty days after," Sunset Shimmer answered. "So, that's roughly on a monthly cycle, not counting the drift."
The two Twilight Sparkle's locked eyes, and the human one gave her Equestrian counterpart a thoughtful nod. "I would be interested in seeing the other world."
"The adults are going to be picking the pieces of this ordeal back up without needing us to get in their way," Rainbow Dash agreed. "I'm game."
"Is Trixie invited?" Trixie wondered, only to be pulled into a hug by Applejack.
"Y'all are our friend, ain'tcha? Of course you'd be invited if we'd go," she decided. "Right, Twilight?"
"Right," both Twilights said at the same time.
"Well, then," Applejack chuckled. "Sounds like we better giddy-on-up to Equestria."
