It was a cold and stormy afternoon as The Great And Powerful Trixie stepped into a pub in the outskirts of Canterlot. She was disgusted at the place’s hygiene, but reckoned it was too late to head back now. At least it was warm, thanks to the fireplace. The pub was small and relatively empty: Two male unicorns sat in one table and a griffon was at another. Trixie sat down and asked the bartender for a cup of cider.
The bartender, clearly bored and annoyed, gave her the cup and Trixie, slightly disgusted at the state of the glass, took a sip. “What the...?” she said after tasting the drink. It tasted quite a bit like chocolate for something made out of apples.
“You must be wondering why I gathered you here,” echoed a voice in the pub. Trixie, as well as the other customers, looked around, wondering where it came from. After a few seconds, they found it. “We have something in common. Hate towards a certain group of ponies who brought us all to shame.
“Gilda, humiliated in public. Flim and Flam, driven away from Ponyville. And Trixie, whose tricks were revealed to all. Together, my friends, we can bring revenge towards them, and I, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, can’t think of a better place to start than the leader of the group: Twilight Sparkle.”
***
It was a fine morning in Ponyville, but it didn’t seem so fine to Twilight Sparkle, who had just woken up from a nightmare. She had spent most of the previous night in her tree-library-home studying, and got frustrated at the interruption her sleep got.
“This is going to be one of those days,” she said to herself, thinking about how it seems like every week she and her friends have an insane day. She went downstairs, where Spike was nearly done preparing breakfast.
“Did you sleep well, Twilight?” the baby dragon asked.
“I’ve had better... Much better,” Twilight replied.
“You should really start going to bed earlier, Twilight. So little sleep can’t be good for your health.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if not for this... Nightmare,” Twilight said, trying to remember what it had been about. Something about... Trixie? Whatever. It had been just a nightmare, afterall.
Halfway through breakfast, there was a knock on the library’s door. Sleeping so little had put Twilight in a not-too-cheerful mood. “Now who could this be?” She asked annoyed as she headed to open the door.
“Twi’! Ya won’t believe this,” said the orange earth pony on the other side. Before Twilight could reply, Applejack continued: “After all she did, she has the guts to show up again!”
“Wait... What...? Who...?”
“Trixie! That old phony pony is back in Ponyville!”
“What do you mean, Trixie? She couldn’t possibly...!”
“Come on, I’ll show ya!”
“Hang on,” said the unicorn as she headed back to the table and quickly swallowed whatever was left of food. Spike mounted on her back and she galloped out of the tree. Outside, she was met by a white unicorn and a rainbow-maned pegasus. Once they saw Twilight, they all headed towards the source of all this talk: a stage set up in Ponyville Square. A crowd was gathered around it, though thankfully not as large as last time.
“It is I, The Great And Powerful Trixie, and I have returned to this town to grace you once again with my might!” Said the familiar blue unicorn up in the stage.
The crowd didn’t react as well as Trixie expected. “What is she thinking?”, “What a joke” and “You’ve got to be kidding” were just a few of the reactions that could be heard. She didn’t mind much, though. She didn’t come to Ponyville to gather fans this time.
Twilight’s other friends, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, were waiting for them in the crowd.
“Let me deal with this,” said Rainbow Dash before flying onto the stage. “Who do you think you are, coming back here after all that?”
“You’re a disgrace to all unicorns, and your mane looks terrible!” Said Rarity as she joined Rainbow up in the stage.
“Ya’ve got plenty of guts comin’ here,” added Applejack.
“You’re nothing but a big old meanie!” quietly shouted Fluttershy.
Spike was cheering for them. “Go girls!”
“You fools! Do you think you stand a match against The Great and Powerful Trixie? Now, get out of my stage before I have to force you out.”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Yeah? You and what army?”
“Me,” said a voice very familiar to the pegasus. She turned to see a griffon emerging from behind the stage. “Now get out.”
Pinkie Pie, who until then had been laughing in the audience, suddenly decided enough was enough and hopped onto the stage and told Trixie amusingly: “Hey, you girls want to see my new friend? He’s an Ursa Major.” She whistled. “Come on, Tom! I’ve got to introduce you to somepony!”
Trixie stopped listening at the second sentence. “U-u-u-ursa... M-m-m-major!?” With a puff of smoke, the stage was gone and so were Trixie and Gilda (though ponies who paid attention could see them running from the scene). The five ponies on stage had a short free-fall trip to the ground as the floor beneath them disappeared.
“Did I just see somepony falling for that?” Commented Rarity, as she stabilized herself on her hooves. Pinkie giggled.
“Now that was sumthin’,” said Applejack. “Though ah don’t think we’ll see ‘em again soon now that Trixie thinks we’re friends with an Ursa Major.”
While the crowd around them dispersed, the five ponies went back to where Spike was, laughing at what had happened. But then Fluttershy remembered something. Or rather, somepony.
“Uh... Girls? Where’s Twilight?”
***
… No... Twilight, no... don’t... snow... think... ponies...
“Mhmph?”
“Oh, look at what we’ve got here, brother of mine.”
“Mhmph!”
“The pony’s waking up, that’s all very fine.”
She couldn’t see anything, but Twilight remembered those voices. Regardless of their intentions, it had been a catchy song. She hadn’t a doubt that the two stallions speaking were none other than the “world-famous” Flim-Flam Brothers. She also noticed not much other than her ears were of much use at the moment. Her mouth was shut and her hooves had been tied.
“Mhhmmmm!”
She tried using magic, but, for whatever reason, she couldn’t. She tried doing what she always did, but simply couldn’t get her energy to flow to her horn. Then, she saw a green light through her eyelids and felt something untying the blindfold around her head.
Twilight opened her eyes and wasn’t surprised when she saw, in the somewhat small and dark room where she was trapped, two similar-looking male unicorns. They had manes that looked like bacon and funny hats that weren’t so funny in this situation.
“Mhim hm Mham,” she tried saying.
“The world-famous Flim-Flam Brothers, yes,” said the one without a mustache. Twilight was pretty sure that one was Flim.
***
“She isn’t here!” Spike said as he came out of the library.
Applejack sighed. “Where in tarnation did that pony go?”
The dragon and the five ponies came looking for Twilight in the library as soon as they noticed her absence in the Trixie incident.
“OK, everypony, let’s split up and look for Twilight. We’ll meet here in an hour,” said Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Okey doky loki.”
***
Twilight heard a voice coming from behind her. “Good job, boys. Now, let me handle it.” She shivered as she heard those words. No, she thought, it couldn’t be, could it?
Flim and Flam backed away to stand in the two corners in front of her. The voice started speaking to her.
“Twilight Sparkle, dear, how’s it been? Enjoying your dull, boring Equestria without me? Well, don’t worry. Things are going to be much more interesting from now on. I’m sure you’ll have a mighty good time.”
Finally, Twilight was able to see who was speaking. Not that she didn’t know beforehand. As the shape of the draconequus formed before her, she muttered: “Mphcomph.”
“Actually, I prefer the term ‘master’.” Discord touched Twilight’s horn. She could finally feel energy flowing through it. But it wasn’t flowing from her, it was flowing to her.
Then Discord moved back, to appreciate the work he had done. Twilight Sparkle barely looked the same: Her horn was sharper, her eyes were keener, her coat was darker and she was taller.
“What are you looking at?” She said after she used her magic to rip off the tape around her mouth and then pushed Discord flying towards the wall behind him. He ignored the pain caused by the impact and smiled.
***
“No,” said Fluttershy as she met her friends in front of Ponyville’s library. “I couldn’t find her near the Everfree Forest.”
Rainbow Dash had swept over Ponyville, Pinkie Pie had looked in restaurants, Applejack had searched the parks and Rarity had considered places like the spa. None of them had any luck finding Twilight.
Rarity thought out loud. “Where could that pony have run off to?”
Then, from the top of the library, came a voice: “Oh, did you miss me?”