I Woke Up In My Favorite TV Show, But Before I Could Do Anything, I Was Recruited By The Villainess!

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Bright. Dizzy. Blurred. Spinning. Ringing. Green.

Green?

Ugh… Words. That’s right. Focus. Focus.

Slowly. Slowly, my thoughts started to align. Words made sentences. Sights and sounds stopped filling my head to bursting. I started to think.

What’s happening? I couldn’t remember how I got here. The last thing I remembered was… Cold. Snow. That’s right, there was a blizzard. My power was out, and I went out to get a coat and supplies. I’d put it off for too long. Ugh, story of my life.

But there was no time to chastise myself. I needed to move. Why was I on the ground, anyway? And why… Where was the snow? Everything’s…

Green.

My head finally cleared enough for me to take in my surroundings. I was in some kind of field, like something out of a dream. Acres of bright green grass, just tall enough to flow in the wind and tickle my sides as I layed in it. Patches of flowers filled out the spectrum, red and purple and yellow petals in big, uniform splotches all over. On the horizon, I could see buildings, although I wouldn’t exactly call it a city, hardly even a town. More like a recreation of an old village, from before the industrial age, the kind where actors run shops and put on shows like it’s the old west. To the left of the town was a dense forest, and to the right, a wide dirt road wound between more idyllic fields. Everything was immaculate, from the blue sky to the fluffy clouds to the coarse dirt. It felt like I’d stepped into a painting.

Well, I was still on the ground, so I guess it’s more like I’d fallen into a painting.

With that thought, I tried to get up, but my body felt wrong. I couldn’t get balanced, and I fell right back into the cushiony grass. That’s not good. Did I get injured during… Whatever brought me here? I looked down, intending to check myself for wounds, but what I saw ground my thoughts to a halt.

What I saw wasn’t my body. It was the body I was in, but it wasn’t mine. It wasn’t even a human body. I saw hooves, four legs, a tail. I was… An animal.

But no, that’s not quite right. I wasn’t just any animal.

My fur was a pastel silver-gray. My tail, a light teal. Most apparent, though, was the mark on my side, almost like a tattoo. The image of a shooting star.

I recognized it.

It was the body of a pony.

But that’s insane! That was a tv show! How could I be a pony? For me to be a pony, I’d have to be in the tv show, or at least in Equestria, and I’m definitely not—

Wait.

That town. I thought it seemed strangely… Familiar. I haven’t seen the show in years, so I didn’t recognize it at first, but looking at it again, it’s almost painfully obvious. The bright, colorful buildings, the landmarks, even the nearby forest.

It had to be Ponyville.

But that’s impossible! My mind raced, running wild with the implications. I tried to force myself up onto my feet—hooves?—again, and wobbled for a moment as I instinctually try\ied to stand on my hind legs again, but then I fell forward. When my front hooves hit the ground, I suddenly felt shockingly stable. Maybe I could just naturally do this because of this body?

I took a few slow steps to test it out, but it was easy enough. Nothing to worry about. I tried to speed up a bit, and that worked fine.

Yeah, I can do this.

Before long, I was sprinting full tilt straight towards Ponyville.

Questions flooded my mind. Is it like the Ponyville I know? Do the Mane Six exist? Are they here? How much has happened?

I’d almost made it to town when I got my first hint of an answer. A carriage flew overhead, a rather regal display, headed straight for Ponyville. I strained my eyes, and I think I caught a glimpse of purple.

Is that Twilight? Is this a royal procession? Or… Maybe she isn’t even a princess yet!

I had to find out, so I followed the path the carriage took through the sky. I was a little slower than it, so I didn’t arrive until it’s already taking off again, but sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. There was Twilight Sparkle, no wings, Spike by her side carrying a bundle of heavy books. She looked… Hesitant. Lost, almost.

Why would she be lost in Ponyville? Unless… Was this her first day here?

The possibility made me reel. Could I be at the start of everything? Before Princesses, before the Elements, before Nightmare Moon? That’s… It’s…

So exciting!

If I really was somehow in Equestria, then this was the best thing to ever happen to me! I mean, I didn’t hate my old life. Not really. But I can’t say I loved it, either. I wasn’t exactly popular—not many people wanted to hang out with the weird girl who was still a huge fan of a show that stopped airing years ago—and what few friends I did have drifted away pretty quickly after I dropped out of high school. Now, at eighteen, I was just barely scraping by.

But still, I wasn’t miserable, and honestly… A lot of that is because of the show. Because of Twilight and her friends. It sounds dumb, I’m sure, but at times… It kind of felt like they were the best friends I had.

And now Twilight was right in front of me! I had to talk to her! I could get a front row seat to everything, and maybe even be real friends. Maybe I could even be part of the group! Things were really looking up!

In fact… If this really was the world from the show, I pretty much knew the future. I’d watched the show so many times, I practically knew it better than my own childhood. With how much I knew, things would be so much smoother if I helped out. No villains would ever get the drop on us. I could stop ponies from doing anything really dangerous. I mean, I’d have to be careful not to get in the way of Twilight’s friendship studies, but if I put my mind to it, I bet I could have her become a princess in under a year, easy! It could all be so incredible!

I pulled myself out of my thoughts just in time to see Twilight finish talking to—er, well, interacting with Pinkie Pie. That was my chance. I knew she’d visit Applejack first, which gave me plenty of time to talk to her on her way there. I just had to—

“TWO!?”

I nearly flew out of my skin at the sudden shout that blasted through me. I whipped around, and there was Pinkie Pie, staring at me with what could almost be described as horror.

Well, crap. I mean, I love Pinkie, but I’d miss my chance to talk to Twilight if I wasn’t quick enough.

“Uh, hey,” I said, trying to be nonchalant. “Nice to meet you, but I really gotta be somewhere, so…”

Pinkie wasn’t hearing a word I say, though. She’d taken a seat in the grass, and was mumbling to herself at a ludicrous pace. “—but I can’t have a regular surprise-welcome-party for two ponies, that needs a double-surprise-welcome-party, and I don’t have a kit for that, at least not yet, but I should really get one, I mean I’m the party pony, and if I—”

I coughed awkwardly. “Uh, Pinkie?” I tried, but she was completely engrossed in her own little world. I didn’t want to be rude, but I figured I might just have to leave. Hopefully Twilight hadn’t—

Nope. Of course. I looked back over to where she’d been standing, and she was nowhere to be seen. Great.

Now what? I didn’t know how to get to Sweet Apple Acres. I guess I could wait and ask Pinkie for directions, but—

Wait, no, never mind. When I looked back, she was gone, too, probably off to prepare her party.

It seemed I was on my own for this one. At a loss, I walked over to where Twilight landed and took a look around. It wasn’t really anywhere special, just an intersection of two paths lined with homes, and no one direction looked any different from another. I couldn’t see any main streets from here, and I was too deep into Ponyville to see the edge of town.

With no real leads, all I could think to do is go to the opposite side of town from where I came in. I mean, I didn’t see the farm when I woke up, so odds were the town was blocking it from view. If I just remembered the way I came in—and I think I did—I could at least move in what was probably the right direction.

Thankfully, I only had to walk a couple blocks before I was saved. I heard wheels rattling down the path up around the next corner. Whoever this was, I could ask them for directions, and then high-tail it towards Sweet Apple Acres. Hopefully I hadn’t wasted too much time.

The mystery cart and I reached the intersection at the same time, and I stopped in my tracks.

A rickety little wagon, pulled along by a little blue pony that I recognized all too well, showed up in front of me. She clearly saw me staring, because she stopped walking and gave me a quizzical look.

My brain must have short circuited, because I automatically blurted out, “Trixie?” I realized my mistake immediately, and clamped my hand—er, hoof—over my mouth, but it was too late to take it back.

Trixie, however, looked absolutely delighted. Her eyes practically shone with exuberance, and a grin plastered itself to her face.

“Oh,” she said, “you know Trixie? I can see my fame precedes me!”

She was completely failing to hide her excitement. I couldn’t help but find it cute, honestly.

“Uh, yeah, of course,” I said, trying frantically to form an excuse. “I, uh, saw your show before, and it really impressed me!”

“Well, of course it did! Tell me, which show did you see? Which of Trixie’s marvelous tricks did you like the most? I would love to know which ones to focus on!”

“Oh, I, uh…” Crap. Of course she wanted details. “I saw you in, um, Canterlot, I think? But, you know, this is a pretty small town. I can’t say I’d have expected to see you here.”

As much as I wanted to meet Twilight, I couldn’t just ignore Trixie’s presence. If I was right about this being Twilight’s first day, there’s no way Trixie should have been in Ponyville! She didn’t show up for… Well, time wasn’t the clearest in the show, but probably months at the least! It was an aberration, and that had to be important. After all, I was an aberration, too. Maybe I could figure out why I was here in the first place.

“Oh, please,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would never deny her presence to any town, no matter how small! Everypony deserves a show, after all. That said, I haven’t actually booked anything here yet. This is more of a… Scouting trip. It’s my last day here, in fact.”

“Oh, so… I guess you’d be gone later? I guess that could explain it…” I was a disappointed, despite myself. As exciting as it was to be here, I’d still like to know why.

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Explain what?”

Crap. I was thinking out loud. “Um, uh…” What could I possibly say here? I was pulling a blank.

Trixie’s gaze started to turn ever-so-slightly suspicious. “What did you say your name was, again?”

Oh no. It’s falling apart.

“My what?”

Why did I say that? Ugh, get it together! I can’t let my nerves get the best of me!

“Your name,” Trixie said. “You know, the thing ponies call you? Like how Trixie’s name is Trixie.”

“Oh, right, of course,” I mumbled. “I guess I’m just, uh, flustered to meet such a big star, is all.”

“Uh-huh.” The flattery didn’t seem to have hit home. “So, do you have a name, or not?”

“I…” Name, name, name. I can’t believe I didn’t think to come up with a name! I couldn’t just be like, Oh, my name’s Amanda! I needed a pony name! But, ugh, what could it be?

“I’m waiting.”

“Um…” I couldn’t keep it together. “I… Guess not?”

“Oh, come on, you must have a name! How can you have seen me in Canterlot and not have a name? That show was three years ago! You can’t go three years without a name!”

“I…”

“And what was all that about ‘I guess that could explain it?’ Trixie is not a fool, and she does not appreciate being treated like one! Now who are you, really?”

Ugh, since when was Trixie so observant? Now what do I do? Tell the truth?

I mean, I guess I was planning to tell Twilight the truth anyway. I don’t really see why I’d need to keep it a secret. And maybe it wouldn’t be completely unbelievable in a world with magic.

“You’ll think I’m lying,” I sputtered.

“I already think you’re lying!”

“Gah…” She was right. “Fine, I’m… I’m from another world!”

Trixie just looked confused. “What?”

With that final crack in the dam, I couldn’t keep it in anymore. “I’m from a world where Equestria is just a story. I don’t know why, but I woke up at the start of the story earlier today. And, since it’s a story I’ve heard a lot, I know pretty much everything that’s going to happen for the next few years, up until the end of the story.”

“So you’re saying you know the future?”

“Pretty much.” I nodded weakly. “I was gonna go talk to Twilight, and see if we couldn’t use my knowledge to change things for the better.”

“Who is Twilight?” Trixie asksed. “Why talk to that pony specifically? Surely you could talk to, say, the Princess.”

“Well, Twilight’s the main character.”

Trixie looked taken aback. “What? How can a whole world have a main character?”

“Like I said, it’s a story,” I told her. “The world is just… Incidental, I guess. You need a setting to tell a story.”

“I… Suppose I could see that,” Trixie admitted. Then she suddenly looked furious. “But if there’s a main character, surely it should be Trixie!”

I winced. “No, you’re more of a… Side character. You’re not even supposed to be here today, that’s why I was confused earlier.”

“I see…” Trixie was disappointed for a moment, but soon perked back up. “But! You knew about Trixie! So, surely, that means she’s at least important!”

I struggled not to show any reaction to her excitement. “Well, I guess you could say that. You’re the focus every now and then, at least.”

“Ah-ha!” Trixie straightened up and thumped a hoof against her chest proudly. “And what does Trixie do? Slay beasts? Save the Princess? Stop a war?”

“Not… Really,” I said. “I, uh… I guess you don’t do much?”

She frowned. “Please. You are, without a doubt, the worst liar I have ever met. Tell the truth!”

I groaned. “Fine. You’re… A villain.”

Trixie gasped. “A supervillain?”

I grimaced. “Er, not exactly. More of a… Bumbling antihero?”

Her eyes went wide as saucers. “B-Bumbling?”

I nodded meekly.

“Absolutely not! I don’t—Trixie refuses to believe it!” She prodded me hard in the chest. “You must be mistaken!”

“I’m really not,” I told her. “Sorry. You’re a fun character, really! But you’re kind of a joke most of the time.”

Trixie’s face flushed pink, either out of anger, embarrassment, or some combination of the two. “No! How? Trixie is a good pony! She would never stoop so low!”

“Well, you lose a magic duel to Twilight—” Trixie gasped. “—and just kind of go overboard trying to get revenge for her humiliating you.”

Trixie was breathing hard now, and the red in her cheeks had spread up to her ears. “Lose? Humiliated? Me? No, no, it can’t… I…” Finally, something in her seemed to snap, and she let out a loud growl. “No! I refuse! I don’t care what your stupid little story says, I am the main character here! I’m the hero, starting today! You said today is the start of the story? Well, good! That means I can stop whatever this Twilight character stops first, and get all the glory!”

I took a step back, shocked by the outburst. “Look, uh… I mean, I’d love to see you be a good guy this time around,” I told her, “but that’s kind of a tall order. Maybe it’d be better to just try and, you know… Be nice? Especially now that I’m here, Twilight will be even faster, and—”

Trixie snorted, a short, cruel-sounding laugh. “Oh, no. I don’t think so.”

Her horn lit up, and suddenly I was off the ground, my legs flailing helplessly underneath me. “H-Hey! Let me go” I shouted at her, but it just made her smirk.

“Sorry, but if I let you go, you’ll go running straight to Twilight, and then my life is as good as ruined!” She started walking around to the back of her wagon, trailing me behind her through the air. “But really, why would you even want her help? Trixie is right here, and she’s clearly the superior choice! With your help, no obstacles can stand in our way. Not a story, not destiny, and certainly not Twilight!”

“Trixie, wait, I—”

It was too late. Before I could get anything more out, she opened the door, threw me into the darkness of her wagon, and slammed it shut behind me. I recovered as soon as I could, clattering plates and magic supplies to the floor all around me as I did, and scrambled towards the door, but it was already locked tight. Outside the tiny window, I just barely saw Trixie laughing to herself.

“So, my little Starfall Sage, where to first?”

Chapter 2

“Seriously, Trixie, this is a terrible idea. We need Twilight!”

Trixie was pulling her wagon through the streets of Ponyville, heading towards the edge of town. I was still inside, peeking out the window at the front of the wagon to watch Trixie trot along, and trying desperately to talk her out of this horrible idea.

“Absolutely not!” Trixie said with a huff. “The more you bring her up, the more I’m starting to dislike this Twilight Sparkle! What makes her so special, huh?”

“Well, for one, I’m pretty sure she’s the only one who can wake up the Elements of Harmony,” I told her, “and without those, we have no hope of stopping Nightmare Moon.”

Trixie ground to a halt fast enough to make the whole cart jutter. “D-Did you just say Nightmare Moon?”

“Yeah! Nightmare Moon is gonna show up at the Summer Sun Celebration.” I stuck my hooves out the window towards her in a pleading gesture. “That’s why we need Twilight!”

Trixie had been looking at me wide-eyed, but at the mention of Twilight, she scowled for a moment. Then, she shook her head and put on a shaky grin. “P-Please, The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t fear any pony, not even some old fairy tale! I’ll have you know I once defeated an Ursa Major.”

“No you didn’t!”

“That doesn’t matter. I just haven’t had the opportunity, is all.” Wow, Trixie could recover fast from being called out. “The point is, Nightm—” The word caught in her throat, and she had to swallow hard before she could start again. “Nightmare Moon doesn’t intimidate me. Especially not when we know her weakness! I just have to be able to wake up these Element things, right? How does that work?”

So, I explained the Elements of Harmony to Trixie—what they are, what they represent, who wielded them, what they looked like, whatever I could think of. I thought that maybe, with enough context, Trixie would finally realize the futility of what she wanted to do.

Of course, that was probably never going to happen, but I had to try.

By the time I was done, we were outside of Ponyville, and I could see the Everfree Forest in the distance. I’d already told Trixie where the Elements were, so we were headed straight there. Above us, the sky was a deep orange as sunset quickly approached.

We traveled in silence for a moment after my explanation, until I finally asked, “So? Surely, you can see that just the two of us can’t use the Elements of Harmony.”

Trixie was deep in thought, and it took a minute for her to reply. When she finally did, she was quiet, almost contemplative. “Well, maybe not all six,” Trixie said, “but maybe we could get two! From what you told me, it sounds like we might just need ponies who embody the Elements, not those specific six.”

I groaned. “Even if that could work, you have to be close friends for it! Like I said, the Element of Magic is also the Element of Friendship.”

“We’re friends, though, aren’t we?” Trixie asked.

“What? I’m locked in your wagon! You’ve done nothing but ignore me!”

“Oh, come on, you act like I abducted you or something,” Trixie argued. “Sure, we haven’t started on the best of terms, but we can look past that, right? It’s to save the world, after all!”

“Friendship does not work like that,” I told her.

“Says who?” Trixie scoffed. “Who’s the magic one here, huh? If they’re the same thing, I must be naturally great at friendship! And I think that we could decide to be best friends by the time we get to the castle.”

I slumped down against the window frame and groaned. “You’re gonna kill us both. I’ve been in this world less than a day and you’re gonna kill me.”

“Nopony likes a downer, bestie.”

“Well, this is a problem.”

We were finally at the edge of the forest, and Trixie was pacing back and forth in front of the window I was leaning out of. Ahead of us, a little, overgrown path led into the Everfree, but…

“I don’t know why you expected your cart to fit, Trixie.”

She glared daggers at me. “I didn’t think of it, okay? Now, less teasing and more helping me come up with a solution.”

“We could give up.”

“Very funny.”

“It wasn’t really a joke.” After another pointed glare, I shrugged. “I mean, our only real option is to leave it behind, right?”

“But if I do that, then…” She looked up at me and narrowed her eyes in thought. “If I open the door, are you just going to run away?”

“I probably should, but…” I sighed. “I can’t let you go in there alone. As frustrated as I am that you, well, kidnapped me, I still like you enough to not just send you off to die.”

“So… Does that mean you’re in? We’re partners?”

I groaned, and held my head in my hooves for a long moment before finally conceding, “I guess.”

“Yes!” Trixie practically flew through the air with excitement. A huge grin split her face, and she rushed around to the back of the wagon and threw the door open. “I knew you’d come around! I mean, it’s only natural, Trixie is the best choice to save the world, but still—Oh, just come here!”

Suddenly, Trixie’s magic wrapped around me, and I found myself flying out of the wagon straight at Trixie, who caught me in a tight, uncomfortable hug.

After hugging me for far too long, she finally let go, and I dropped down to the ground. “See?” She asked with an expectant grin. “Total besties!”

I rolled my eyes, and turned towards the forest with a wave of my hoof. “Let’s just go, we’re taking too long as it is.”

“Right!” Trixie puffed up her chest, and trotted out ahead of my to lead us into the trees.

The dark swallowed us, and suddenly, our world was filled with strange, foreign sensations. The ferns tickled our legs, swaying like they were alive despite the lack of a breeze. Insects buzzed all around us, almost oppressive enough to block out the squawking of the birds and the groaning of the trees as they settled. Branches swiped at us, tangled themselves in our manes and tails, and showed no hesitation as they tore gashes into Trixie’s cloak. It was a miracle that she somehow managed to keep her hat from facing the same fate.

We made it about five minutes before Trixie’s spirit broke. “Ugh! How far away is this castle?”

I laughed under my breath. “Uhh, probably a couple hours’ walk. We’ve got a ways to go.”

“Hours!? Just how deep is this castle? Who in their right mind would build their castle so far into a forest like this?”

“Well, I don’t think the forest was as bad back then,” I explained. “It’s had a thousand years of unchecked growth, after all. As for how deep the castle is, I have no idea. I just know it’s a ways.”

Trixie stopped in her tracks and looked back at me. “Excuse me. You don’t know? I thought you knew where we were going!”

“Well, there’s only the one path so far,” I said.

“And what if there’s a fork!?”

I shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it I guess. These things usually just kind of work out.”

“Maybe in your books,” Trixie said, clearly frustrated, “but in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not in a story! This is real! Anything could happen!”

I winced. “But, in the story—”

“I don’t care! Ugh!” Trixie threw her head back and stomped away. “Us being here is already different from your story, right? So you don’t know! All this whining about me getting us killed, and you were about to get us hopelessly lost in the Everfree Forest!”

I frowned and shrank in on myself a bit. As much as I hated to admit it, she was making sense. Still, I didn’t think it was entirely my fault. “But—”

“Enough!” She wasn’t letting me get a word in. “You are lucky that Trixie is here to save you, and that she was smart enough to notice your mistake!”

I frowned at her. “Come on, that’s not fair. You don’t know where it is, either.”

Trixie ignored me. She just huffed, blowing some hair out of her face, and lit up her horn, preparing to cast a spell. I stared at her, mystified—as far as I was aware, Trixie didn’t actually know any complex spells. But, just as I thought that, a thin, wavering strand of light blue magic slowly streamed out of Trixie’s horn and snaked through the air. It ignored the pathway, and instead wound in between trees and into the dark unknowns of the woods, where it quickly became obscured by a wall of trees.

I stared at it in wonder. “What, uh… What is that?”

“Hmph!” Trixie stuck her nose in the air proudly. “Why, it’s our salvation, that’s all.”

Before I could ask more, she trotted off into the trees, following the trail of magic, and I was forced to hurry after her. It was a lot tougher, moving off the path, and we slowed down quite a bit, so it wasn’t too hard for me to catch up to her.

“What do you mean, our salvation?”

“I don’t see why you’re so surprised,” Trixie said. “Surely your stories showed my magical prowess?”

“Uhh…”

She ignored my unsure response. “Just think about it! Trixie is a traveling magician. She must have some way to get where she’s going.”

I looked at her doubtfully. “You mean, like, roads and maps?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Maybe for an average pony, but Trixie has no need for such trivialities! Just a simple locator spell, and I can find my way wherever I desire, and the fastest possible route, at that!”

“That’s…” I couldn’t quite believe what she was saying. “Anywhere? How does it lead you to places you don’t know the location of?”

“Uh, magic, duh. It’s not like castles and towns move, after all. Anything bigger than, say, a house will leave an imprint on the flow of magic after long enough, and it’s really quite easy to latch onto those flows and find my way wherever I may want!”

Trixie explained it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, but I was blown away. “But I never saw anything remotely like that in the stories! Where did you learn a spell like that?”

“I just made it up,” Trixie said. At my incredulous look, she scoffed and rolled her eyes again. “Okay, maybe you don’t quite get it because you’re an Earth pony, but… It’s like asking how you learned to find the mouth of a river. It’s just something I figured out!”

I shook my head. “But why would Twilight not have ever used something like that?”

Trixie smirked. “Are you finally coming to realize my superiority in the realm of magic?”

“Not really,” I said, “but… Well, I’m impressed. Good work, Trixie.”

“Oh, please, it was nothing,” Trixie said, but she couldn’t hide the wide grin on her face. “Now hurry up, I want to get there as soon as possible.”

She trotted ahead of me, and for a second I thought I saw a hint of red tinge her cheeks before she turned so I couldn’t see her face.

With that, we fell silent for a while, and slowly trudged through the depths of the Everfree Forest towards the ruined castle, and our inevitable confrontation with Nightmare Moon.

Chapter 3

An hour later, the two of us were absolute messes. Twigs and leaves decorated our manes, Trixie’s clothes were more hole than cloth, and streaks of dirt criss crossed our bodies. Luckily, though, our walk had been otherwise uneventful, at times almost peaceful.

Suspiciously peaceful, in fact.

I kept my anxieties to myself, though, and before too long, my opportunity passed. With no warning, the trees suddenly broke apart and revealed a huge clearing. The ground rolled in wavey hills, and thick grass grew unchecked in the open air, at places taller than our heads.

Up above, the moon shone bright in a brilliantly clear sky. Moonbeams rained down onto the clearing, lighting up patches of blue and violet wildflowers. Every so often, a strong gust of wind would blow up clouds of pollen and petals, and the light would sparkle off of them like an eerie fog.

In the center of the clearing, perched on the highest hill, were the ruins of a once-beautiful castle. The gray stone walls seemed to glow in the moonlight, almost like they were built to be most resplendent at night. Tattered banners billowed through crumbling holes in the walls, their vibrant colors clashing against the encroaching green of the vines that snaked up the walls and the overgrown trees that towered over courtyards. The large gates at the front of the castle sat ajar, mostly intact but rendered immobile by foliage.

The harsh breeze made the whole place seem too alive. The grass danced, tapestries flew in strange patterns, ancient window shutters clacked against stone. The light gave sparse glimpses of strange shapes in the windows, reflecting off cloth or glass or anything else and giving form to the spirits that haunted the dilapidated facade. Life, caught in the ruins as it flowed across the landscape, pooled in darkened corners and latched onto loose debris. The castle breathed.

“Wow,” I whispered, my voice barely distinguishable from the cool breeze. “Seeing it on a screen really doesn’t do it justice.”

“Yes, yes, it’s beautiful,” Trixie said. I’d stopped to stare at the landscape, but she was already wading into the tall grass, so I hurried after her. “Do you think we beat Twilight?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” I told her, “but I think we probably did. Nightmare Moon didn’t really seem the most subtle, so I think we’d be able to tell if she was here, and she wasn’t that far behind Twilight.”

“Good. Maybe we’ll be able to do this quickly and be gone before Twilight even shows up. That’d show her!”

“It doesn’t need to be a competition,” I told her. “Good guys should be happy as long as nobody gets hurt.”

Trixie scoffed. “Oh, come on. Nopony would do this kind of thing without getting anything out of it. Do you think your precious Twilight would still risk her life if it wasn’t getting her a bunch of friends and the admiration of the Princess?”

“I’m pretty sure she would,” I said. “That’s just part of being good.”

“Pure naivety.”

We approached the castle as we bickered, and soon the gates loomed above us. The grandeur and magnitude of it hushed us into silence. The huge doors were scarred and pockmarked from years of enduring harsh weather, and though we could tell that they’d once been beautiful, they now looked like the only things keeping them in one piece were the vines binding them. Past the gates, we entered a vast hall that was in much the same state. Pillars lay toppled on their sides, chunks of wall and ceiling had crashed into the one-smooth stone of the floor, and one doorway leading to a side hall, once an intricate archway, had crumbled entirely. At the far end of the hall, a staircase rose up before splitting off to the left and right. The ancient, moth-eaten carpet that ran up the middle of the staircase barely retained any of its color.

We made our way towards the staircase as if on instinct. The castle was dark, brightened only by the rays of moonlight that shone in through holes in the ceiling and reflected off jagged stone to give the space an eerie glow. Our shadows wavered unpredictably from the multiple rays of light, and it felt like creatures skittered just out of sight, hiding in the dark corners and watching us move along.

A few minutes later, we found ourselves at the door to a large, strange chamber. It was almost entirely empty, save for a statue that stood directly in the center of it, old, cracked and covered in moss. On the statue, held aloft with dignity and grace, were five stone orbs that sat untouched by the ravages of time.

“Well, this is it,” I said. My voice came out as barely a whisper, overcome with the gravity of where we were and what we were doing.

“This?” Trixie asked. “So, those orbs are the Elements, then?”

“I guess,” I said. As I spoke, Trixie grabbed the Elements with her magic and floated them towards us. “I mean, the Elements always seemed kind of… I don’t know, metaphysical?” I continued. “These are sort of representations of them, I think. Conduits, maybe?”

Trixie was examining the orbs closely. “But, they’re just rocks,” she said, sounding unimpressed. She knocked two of them against each other, and a sharp clack rang out through the room.

“They’re dormant,” I explained. “They need to be woken up by the spark of friendship. In the story, Twilight’s friends come to rescue her, and she realizes how much she cares about them, which wakes up the Elements.”

“Friendship, huh?” Trixie mumbled as she thought. “Well, we’re already friends, so why haven’t they woken up?”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? C’mon, you must see how fake our ‘friendship’ is.”

“It is not! We’re besties,” Trixie huffed. “We just… Need to prove it, is all! Stick your hoof out!”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

I hesitated a moment, looking at her suspiciously, before slowly, cautiously extending my hoof.

Trixie wasted no time. She lit her horn up, then jabbed her own hoof out, pressing it against mine, then she started to chant. “I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, do hereby swear that Starfall Sage and I are best friends!”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Shut up!” She told me. “Just agree to it!”

“Fine, sure,” I grumbled. “I mean, you’re the only pony I know, so I guess by default, you’re my best friend.”

“Good!” With that, she channeled her magic into a long, winding band that twisted around our legs before squeezing them tight. The contraction was almost enough to hurt, but I kept my hoof held out, waiting to see what would happen.

Then, as she focused, something incredible happened. The Elements started to glow, lifting into the air of their own accord and spinning around us, faster and faster until they were just a blur. The light from them grew brighter and brighter, and soon I had to shut my eyes against the glare. Blinded, I could only sit and wait while the Elements whirred around us and Trixie’s magic wound tighter.

Just when I thought the pressure was getting to be too much, it all stopped. The room went dark, the squeezing let up, and I felt Trixie’s hoof fall away from mine. It was too dark to see when I opened my eyes back up, and as I waited for them to adjust, I could hear Trixie panting in front of me, sounding exhausted.

The first thing I could see was a strange, faint glimmer coming from my leg. I flexed my leg, and it moved just fine, but the glimmer moved with it. Then I saw another glimmer, just in front of me—probably where Trixie’s leg was.

I focused, and the world slowly came back into view. Looking at Trixie, I saw something strange. Wrapped around her leg, from her hoof all the way up to her shoulder, was a series of intricate golden bands, almost like a lacey sleeve. It looked solid, but it moved smoothly with her, and she hardly even noticed it. At the bottom of the accessory, just by her hoof, was a single thicker band, and set into that band was a gem in the shape of her cutie mark.

I was mesmerized by the sight, and stared at it for a long minute, until I noticed Trixie was staring at me in much the same way. Struck by sudden realization, I looked down to find I was wearing a golden sleeve of my own, identical apart from the cutie mark adorning the bottom. It was bizarre, not at all what I’d expected, and it had left us both speechless.

We were finally knocked out of our daze by the sound of four heavy thunks all around us. Looking for the sources, I saw that there were four heavy stone orbs lying on the ground nearby, seemingly having just fallen out of the air.

“Wow,” I breathed. “I cannot believe that worked.”

Trixie gave a breathy, tired laugh. “Never doubt The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said. I couldn’t stop staring down at my leg, twisting it this way and that, marveling at how perfectly it fit, and how it barely felt like I was wearing anything at all. “Hopefully this is enough to stop Nightmare Moon.”

“I’m sure it will be,” Trixie said, “with me in control.”

A harsh laugh suddenly filled the air around us. A frigid breeze chilled us to our cores, and a fine, dark blue mist flew in, carried by the wind into a swirling column not far away from us. Trixie and I jumped back, taking defensive stances as we watched the cloud of magic congeal into the shape of a tall, regal Alicorn.

“Oh, I wouldn’t get my hopes up, if I were you,” she told us smugly.

“Nightmare Moon!” Trixie gasped. Her ears folded back, and she trembled slightly, but she managed to hold her ground. “W-We’re here to stop you!”

“Oh, are you, now?” Nightmare Moon laughed at us again. “And just how do you intend to do that? I don’t even know who you are, and even the great Celestia needed all six elements to stop me! What hope do you have?”

“She did?” Trixie faltered for a moment, but shook her head and set her sights back on Nightmare Moon a moment later. “Well, who cares what Celestia did? Now, you’re dealing with Trixie, and as great as Celestia may be, Trixie is great and powerful!”

Nightmare Moon let out the loudest cackle yet, a booming noise that vibrated down to my bones. “Well, then, give it your best—”

Trixie had gone red in the face, frustrated by Nightmare Moon’s mocking, and cut her off with a sharp blast of magic from her horn. It smacked harmlessly into the Alicorn’s side, dissipating like a puff of air into nothingness.

“Please, I said your best,” Nightmare Moon teased, “not your weakest.”

“W-What?” Trixie stumbled back a step. “Starfall! I thought the Elements were supposed to make us stronger!”

“No, they have their own magic,” I told her. I held my hoof up and pointed it towards Nightmare Moon, then nodded at Trixie. “Try, like, shooting a beam out of yours or something.”

Trixie copied my movement, and we both concentrated as hard as we could. For a brief, terrifying moment, nothing happened, but then there was a flash of light, and matching bursts of rainbow magic flowed out of both of our Elements. The streams mixed together in the air as they flew at Nightmare Moon, and struck a blow right in the center of her chest, sending her flying backwards.

Nightmare Moon was able to flap her wings and catch herself midair before she hit the ground, but the scowl on her face made it clear that we’d gotten a good hit in. “You insolent whelps,” she growled, “you think you can stand up to me? Let me show you what real power is!”

Nightmare Moon’s horn started to glow with terrifyingly dark magic that swirled and coalesced into a quickly growing point at the tip. I felt fear and dread rattle me, and looked over to Trixie expecting to see the same, but she actually looked smug. Apparently, that hit had reignited her confidence, because instead of worrying about Nightmare Moon’s attack, she just raised her hoof and fired off another blast of her own.

“Trixie, no!” I shouted, and tackled her with all my might, sending us sliding across the harsh stone floor. At the same instant, Nightmare Moon let out her own magic, shooting out a razor-thin stream of power that effortlessly sliced through the current of rainbow energy. We just barely managed to get out of the way before the attack struck the spot Trixie had been standing, exploding the ground and sending a hail of stones all across the room that sliced into us as we hunkered down.

“Huh?” The color drained from Trixie’s face as she saw the crater centered at the spot she’d just been standing. “But how? The Element…”

Nightmare Moon cackled again. “What do you think a measly little strike from a single Element is going to do? It took all the might of the two of you to even knock me back! Face it, you fools have doomed yourselves by standing against me!”

“But, no, I—” Trixie stammered, at a loss for words.

I sighed and shook my head. “I think she might be right, Trixie,” I said. “Two Elements just isn’t strong enough to stop her.”

“So, what, you’re just going to give up?” Trixie replied. “I’m supposed to be the hero!”

“Well, maybe you can’t be the hero,” I told her, unable to keep the frustration out of my voice. “Maybe we’re just not good enough!”

“No, I refuse!” Trixie pushed herself back to her feet and jabbed her hoof towards Nightmare Moon. “I’m going to stop you!”

“Please,” Nightmare Moon said with a wicked smirk as she landed gingerly back on the ground, “what do you intend to do? Really, girl, come to your senses. I like your attitude. Give up now, and maybe I’ll even give you a job!” She cackled again, delighted at being so in control.

“Yeah, right,” Trixie said. “My Element’s not enough, huh? Well then, we just need more!”

Trixie lit up her horn, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the dormant Elements lift up off of the ground and float over to her. Carefully, she lined it up in front of her hoof, then fired another blast straight through the hunk of stone.

The Element shattered in an explosion of power, sending me and Trixie flying back into the wall behind us. The rainbow beam, however, didn’t stop. In fact, it got bigger. Much bigger. It exploded out into a laser bigger than Nightmare Moon herself, and engulfed her in radiant magic before she had a chance to evade it. She yelped as she was hit, and a moment later there was a thud as she hit the far wall and crumpled to the ground.

For a long moment, I was too dazed to do anything. My ears were ringing, I was too dizzy to stand, and bright sparks exploded in my vision. It soon passed though, and I was able to push myself to my hooves. To my side, I saw Trixie doing the same, and together we looked at the aftermath to see—

What?

Nightmare Moon lay in a heap on the far side of the room, slowly recovering, but she was… Different. The magic had affected her somehow, and now she was smaller, younger-looking. In fact, she looked to be about the same size as us.

For a moment, I thought we’d won, that Princess Luna was back, but that passed when the pony finally pushed herself up and shot an icy glare at us. The pure, unrestrained malice in her eyes made it undeniably clear that this was still Nightmare Moon.

We all stared each other down for a minute. Before any of us could make a move, though, we suddenly heard voices echoing through the halls.

“Twilight’s here,” I said.

“No!” Trixie growled. “If she shows up, she’ll steal all the credit! And after we have Nightmare Moon on the ropes, too!”

“You wish,” Nightmare Moon shouted. Her voice was changed, much higher and lighter, but it still had an edge of malice to it. “Go ahead, let your friends come, I’ll take you all out!”

“She’s not my friend!” Trixie snapped back. “Ugh, Starfall, what do we do now?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think we can stop her from showing up at this point.”

Trixie grumbled. “Well, then… We’ll just have to stop her from winning!”

“Trixie,” I warned, “you’re starting to sound like a villain.”

“I’m not gonna fight her!” Trixie argued. “I just figured we’d take the elements and run! Twilight can’t win without them, right?”

“If we don’t stop Nightmare Moon, she’ll take over Equestria,” I told her.

“Like that?” Trixie said, gesturing towards Nightmare Moon. “I mean, look!” She shot another beam of magic out of her Element, and it easily knocked Nightmare Moon onto her side. “See? We weakened her enough to stop her for now. We can finish the job later, right?”

The voices were almost on top of us now.

“I don’t know, Trixie, I really don’t think a good guy would—”

“Whatever! Too late!” Trixie huffed and, without letting me get another word in, scooped me and the remaining three elements up with her magic and ran into the hallway, leaving a bewildered Nightmare Moon behind. It took a few extra minutes to get out of the castle, with Trixie carrying me and avoiding Twilight, but soon we were outside and walking back towards the Everfree Forest.

“I really don’t like this,” I told Trixie. She’d let me down, so I was walking by her side as we talked. “We can’t just let bad guys go! That’s not what heroes do!”

“Says who?” Trixie replied. “I’m a hero, and I did it, so clearly it is what heroes do. And you saw how much we weakened her! We have plenty of time to track her down before she hurts anypony.”

“Trixie, come on. You have to see how you messed up, right?” I asked. “You helped her get away! We might as well have just teamed up with her right there!”

“Ooh, was that an invitation?”

Trixie and I stopped in our tracks as the voice floated through the air around us. That deathly-cold breeze ran through me again, and suddenly there was a column of mist swirling around in front of us.

When she finally materialized, a wicked smirk sliced across Nightmare Moon’s face. Up close now, I could see that she did indeed look to be about our age, with her starry mane flowing just past her shoulders.

I couldn’t pay attention to any of that, though, because of the other thing I could see now that she was closer.

Thin gold bands were wrapped around Nightmare Moon’s leg, and at her hoof was a gem in the shape of the moon.

She had one of the Elements.

Chapter 4

“Big mistake.” While I stood flabbergasted, Trixie was already in motion. She shot her hoof out and fired a quick shot at Nightmare Moon. Her aim was perfect, and with how close we were, there was no way to dodge it.

It looked like a great shot, but right before it struck home, a pillar of rainbow light erupted from the ground at Nightmare Moon’s hooves. It barely appeared for a second, only long enough to block the attack before blinking out of sight again, leaving only a faint shimmer where Trixie’s attack had dissipated.

“Ohohoho,” Nightmare Moon laughed haughtily, “yes, now this is power! I really must thank you two for bestowing it upon me!”

Trixie was speechless, and I was slowly taking steps backwards. “B-But how?” I asked the obvious.

Nightmare Moon flashed her teeth in an evil grin. “Well, you saw it, did you not? What do you expect to happen when you break an Element down to its raw power and send that streaming into a pony? Surely you didn’t think an Element of Harmony could kill me.”

“Well, we could hope,” Trixie muttered under her breath.

“Hah! Wonderful,” Nightmare Moon replied cheerfully. She suddenly disappeared, only to reappear beside Trixie and wrap a leg around her shoulder. “Oh, I like you. How would you like to be the first general in my fledgling empire?”

Trixie scoffed and shrugged off the awkward embrace. “As if! The Great and Powerful Trixie is nopony’s subordinate. And besides, I am not EVIL!”

Nightmare Moon looked affronted and gasped softly. “Now, who said anything about evil?”

“You want to take over Equestria,” I said dryly.

“And?” Nightmare Moon huffed. “My sister has had control over Equestria for a thousand years, and nopony calls her evil! Is it really evil to want respect? To want to be seen?”

“If you plunge the world into an eternal night to get that? Yes,” I replied, “it is evil.”

“And what would you know about it?” A twinge of anger was seeping into Nightmare Moon’s voice now. “That was the only way! Everypony is so poisoned worshiping my sister’s sun, I’ll never get through to them so long as it’s around!”

“I don’t know what it was like a thousand years ago,” I said, “but today, that’s not true at all. Even with all those years being told you’re evil, if you just tried to be good, ponies would start to come around! You could sit beside your sister in Canterlot again!”

“Don’t talk like you know my life!” A blast of dark blue magic suddenly hit the ground at my hooves, and I jumped back in shock. Nightmare Moon couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice any longer. “You’re nopony! You’re just some schmuck who stumbled on some magic rocks, you don’t know anything about what I’ve been through!”

“I know that—” I bit my tongue. I’d almost let the truth slip out there. I couldn’t—

“She does know! She knows the future!” I winced as Trixie blurted out what I’d just stopped myself from saying. “If Starfall says you can be good, then that’s because she’s seen it!”

Nightmare Moon stood in stunned silence for a moment. Then, she turned her gaze sharply towards me. “Is this true?”

“Well, I, uh…”

“IS THIS TRUE?”

“Gah!” The sudden shout shocked me enough that I lost my balance and fell backwards onto the ground. “Y-Yeah, it’s… It’s true.”

Nightmare Moon went quiet for a long moment, staring me down as if she were trying to peer into the depths of my soul and see the truth.

Slowly, a grin returned to her face. “Excellent,” she said, her excitement adding a hint of a purr to her voice. “Yes, this will do wonderfully.”

“No,” I said, sensing what she was getting at. “Nope, not happening. I’m not helping you take over Equestria!”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Oh, come now, do you really think so little of me? If you truly know me, you know why I did what I did. I’m not just some power hungry tyrant!” She blipped out of sight and then reappeared between me and Trixie, draping a wing over each of us. “Imagine the wonders I could bring about with your powers!”

I grimaced and tried to shrug her wing off, but she wouldn’t let me. “Having an understandable reason doesn’t make the things you’ve done right,” I told her. “If I help you, you’re just gonna terrorize the ponies of Equestria!”

“I want nothing but the best for my subjects!” Nightmare Moon objected. She lifted her wings and walked forward, then turned to face us with a determined look in her eyes. “Really, what do you think I’m going to do? My sister banished me the second I showed an inkling of self respect. What are my supposed crimes that have you so up in arms?”

“You kept Equestria trapped in an eternal night!”

“The night is beautiful!” Nightmare Moon growled, but quickly pushed the frustration away and put on an amicable smile. “But, fine. I’m willing to compromise. Help me, and I’ll make you an official advisor with free reign to object to anything I may do.”

“Why would I even believe you?” I asked.

I felt a hoof on my shoulder then, and turned to see Trixie giving me an empathetic look. “Starfall, maybe we should hear her out.”

“Really, Trixie? You, too? She’s Nightmare Moon.”

“I get that, really,” Trixie said, “but… I feel like we should at least give her a chance. Like you gave me a chance.”

“You’re different,” I said, “you’re…” I searched for some reasoning, but I came up blank. After wracking my brain for a bit, I finally gave in and sighed. “Okay, fine. We can give her a chance.” I turned to Nightmare Moon. “But you’ve got to convince us you’ve actually got good intentions.”

“Excellent!” Nightmare Moon grinned wide. “Come, let’s talk somewhere more comfortable, shall we?” With a wave of a wing, she beckoned us along as she set off back towards her castle.

“Comfortable?” Trixie laughed. “Even my wagon would be more comfortable than some old, overgrown ruins.”

“You two really must have more faith in me if we’re to be partners,” Nightmare Moon said. “Even weakened as I am in this diminished form, I am still the most powerful Alicorn in Equestria. Not only that,” she raised up her hoof, shining with bands of gold, and aimed it towards the ruins, “but I’ve now bonded with an Element of Harmony. There’s nothing I cannot do!”

With that, she lit her horn up, and her dark, misty magic flowed forth and covered the ruins in a shimmery veil. She then fired a burst of rainbow magic from the element, which exploded in a burst of light when it hit her magic. When the light cleared, the magics had combined, resulting in a vast starscape filling the air where the ruins had been. It was pure black, impossible to see past, with pinpoints of blinding white forming constellations all throughout it. The stars swam through the magic void, forming constantly shifting shapes as they worked away at something unseen, until finally, after we watched in awe for several minutes, the magic field popped out of existence with a gust of wind.

Trixie and I gasped.

The ruins were gone, replaced with a grand, immaculate castle. It wasn’t quite like the one I remembered from the show. It was darker, made of black stones that shone like obsidian, reflecting the moonlight perfectly to make it all perfectly visible. Tall, sharp spires surrounded a central tower, dozens of stories tall and stark against the cloudy sky behind it. It was a wicked sight, but also elegant, beautiful in a way that undercut the foreboding atmosphere and made it seem almost inviting. That was helped by the gardens that filled the grounds around it, speckled with magnificent blue and purple and black flowers soaking in the moonlight.

“Wow,” Trixie said quietly. I stood speechless beside her.

“Glad to see my work being appreciated,” Nightmare Moon said. “Now, shall we?” She beckoned us again, and we followed her back into the castle.

The inside was completely remodeled as well, with lush carpets covering the cold stone floors and vivid tapestries giving color to the walls. Dark blue banners hung here and there, denoting the castle as belonging clearly to Nightmare Moon, but there was a warmth to the decorations that kept it feeling comfortable.

“I had no idea the Elements could do something like this,” I said as we walked.

“Well, as you saw, I did have to help it along somewhat,” Nightmare Moon explained, “but with some creativity, I think we could do just about anything. Why, with the power of three Elements, I believe we can even devise a barrier to keep us hidden from prying eyes.”

“That’s smart,” I said. “Twilight will show up eventually for the library, and we’d be in trouble if she saw… Well, all of this.”

“Is Twilight all you think about?” Trixie asked, a sneer in her voice.

“Of course not!” That came out more defensive than I had intended, but it was too late to take it back now. “I just know what she’s gonna do the best, cuz she was the main character.”

“Character?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Ah, right,” I said, and I explained my situation to her as we walked. She listened intently, soaking everything in and weighing it in her mind, and seemed to me to be satisfied with my explanation.

“We’ll have to discuss this more at a later date,” she told me, “but first…”

With a flourish, Nightmare Moon thrust open a tall set of doors in front of us, revealing a throne room gleaming with grandeur. The throne was massive, with golden highlights gleaming against the dark fabric that covered it. Sconces along the wall billowed with bright, blue flames that filled the room with sharp, jittering shadows. The large stained glass windows all depicted either Nightmare Moon herself, or just a landscape centered on the moon. The room was large, empty, and cold, easily the least inviting room in the castle, and made clear the importance of whoever sat in the throne that dominated it all.

Nightmare Moon wasted no time in making herself comfortable, settling into her throne like she’d never been away from it. Although, since she was our size now, the way she lounged made her look more like a spoiled princess than the grown ruler she viewed herself as.

“Really?” I asked. “This is what you meant by going somewhere more comfortable?”

“Well, of course,” Nightmare Moon said. “I am perfectly comfortable here, after all.”

“What about us?” Trixie asked.

“You’re fine where you are.”

I groaned. “You’re not really convincing me you can actually try to be good so far.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Oh, fine.” With a flash of her horn, she summoned two large, cushy armchairs for us. “Better?”

“Much,” Trixie said, and we both settled in. “Thank you, um… Nightmare Moon is a bit long, could we just call you Luna?”

“Absolutely not!” Anger flared in Nightmare Moon’s eyes for a brief second. “Luna was a weakling without the courage to do what was necessary. That identity no longer exists.”

“I don’t know,” I said, “Trixie might have a point. I mean, ‘Nightmare Moon’ doesn’t exactly scream ‘not a tyrant.’”

“And why not?” Nightmare Moon looked affronted. “I’ve watched over my subjects’ dreams for centuries! I am the moon that brightens nightmares, illuminates the night and shows the path forward! What is so tyrannical about that?”

“That’s what it means?” Trixie asked.

“Yeah, I dunno,” I said, “it definitely makes it sound more like you’re saying you are a nightmare.”

“Preposterous,” Nightmare Moon said. “If that view does exist, it is only because of my sister’s slander. You’re simply biased.”

“Eeehhh,” Trixie and I both sounded unconvinced.

Nightmare Moon huffed. “Besides, even if the name does align me with nightmares, that doesn’t make me a tyrant! Nightmares are not evil. They illuminate anxieties, help to focus your mind towards whatever stands in the way of your happiness. It is a perfectly natural part of dreaming! I shan’t be ashamed to be associated with them.”

“If you say so,” I relented. “We should move on, anyway.”

“Yes, let’s,” Nightmare Moon agreed.

“So, uh…” I thought through what I wanted to say. “What exactly do you want?”

“Respect! Acknowledgement! The admiration my sister has relished for the past thousand years!” Nightmare Moon spoke with absolute certainty.

“Okay, yeah, sure,” I said, “but how do you want to get those things? Cuz I’m not gonna help you if you plan to just force ponies to respect you!”

“I don’t need to force anything,” Nightmare Moon said. “Once Celestia is out of the picture—”

“Nope,” I cut in. “I’m not helping you depose your sister.”

Nightmare Moon groaned. “Then what do you suggest, miss ‘I know everything?’ A bake sale?”

I shrugged. “You could always just make up with your sister. In the story I know, you turned back into Luna and ruled beside Celestia, and ponies started to like you again.”

“Not an option,” she said. “Luna is gone, and I will not bow to my sister and beg her forgiveness for crimes I have not done.”

“Well, if you won’t rule beside Celestia, and you’re intent on ruling, your only option is to convince ponies to choose you over her,” I said. “Which is, well… A tall order, to say the least.”

“Well, I was thinking,” Trixie spoke up, “why not just do what we were already planning to do? You know, save the world and all? Ponies will definitely start to like Nightmare Moon more if she saves their lives.”

“I don’t see how that gets her to ruling over Equestria, though,” I said.

“No, no, I like it,” Nightmare Moon said. “I don’t need Celestia’s kingdom. I just need to convince the ponies of her kingdom that they’d be safer under my rule! Celestia would never stop individual towns from seceding, and if she did, she would start to be seen as the tyrant, which would just make me look better!”

“I’m not gonna help you invade Equestria,” I said preemptively. “You really think you could do that without using force at all?”

“Of course I do,” Nightmare Moon said. There wasn’t a hint of doubt in her voice. “I am the better ruler, after all.”

“It won’t be fast,” I warned.

“I don’t need fast,” she said, “I just need to be set on the right course. Luna was sedentary, resigned to her fate. So long as I don’t fall back to that, I can be patient.”

I thought for a long moment, then sighed and shook my head. “Fine. I’ll give you a chance. If you so much as think of getting aggressive, though, I’ll go straight to Celestia and put everything I have into taking you down. Understood?”

Nightmare Moon laughed. “Oh, perfectly understood, ma’am. As I said, I’m happy to give you a position of power to keep me in check. Trixie, dear, how about you? Are you happy with this arrangement?”

Trixie shrugged. “Yeah, sure. It sounds like it could be fun enough, and I’ll still get to be a hero.”

Nightmare Moon grinned. “Oh, yes, I’m sure it’ll be fun. Very, very fun, indeed.”

Chapter 5

“Alright, let’s talk business,” I said. “I think we can pretty safely call the Nightmare Moon problem ‘resolved,’ at least for now, right?”

“I wouldn’t say there was a ‘problem’ in the first place,” Nightmare Moon replied, “but I suppose, from your point of view, I’d agree.”

“Sure,” Trixie said, “but we did it, like, secretly! We’re not any closer to being heroes. Hardly a win, if you ask me.”

I shrugged. “Maybe we’re not famous now, but I think we’re closer. We have the Elements, we have a new friend, and, maybe most importantly, we have time.”

“I never said I was your friend,” Nightmare Moon said.

“What do you mean by time, Starfall?” Trixie asked. Nightmare Moon scowled at being ignored.

“See, I showed up in Equestria confused and with only hours to come up with a plan of action,” I explained. “Now, I don’t know the exact timeline, but I think we’ve got about a year before the next big threat pops up. So, we’ve got plenty of time to work out a foolproof plan.”

“What exactly is this next ‘threat,’” Nightmare Moon asked. “If Twilight and her lackeys would have supposedly been able to defeat me, I cannot imagine all that many beings could present a problem for them.”

“Next up is Discord.”

Trixie didn’t seem to recognize the name, but Nightmare Moon got a complicated, apprehensive look on her face. “Impossible,” she replied, “Celestia and I put a stop to him personally. He’s trapped. There is no threat there.”

“He’s going to escape,” I said, “and when he does, somepony is going to have to be there to stop him.”

“That’s far too dangerous,” Nightmare Moon said. “If Discord truly is set to escape, we must strengthen his prison before that happens.”

“I would agree, but…”

“No way!” Trixie demanded. “We can’t just sneak around and stop stuff before anypony knows it’s a problem. Ponies have to be able to see us being heroes!”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Preposterous. The deed is just as heroic if it’s preventative, and Discord is too powerful to ignore purely so that you can showboat.”

“Nopony even knows who Discord is,” Trixie argued. “You think if Nightmare Moon shows up in front of a bunch of ponies and goes ‘don’t worry, I’ve totally stopped the world from ending, you can love me now!’ they’re all just gonna go with it? They’ll just assume we’re lying, and that’s a one-way ticket to disgrace, and I can’t be disgraced because then I’ll turn evil!”

“Trixie,” I said, trying to sound comforting, “you won’t just ‘turn evil’ like that. And even if you could, we’re your friends now, so we’re here to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“Why do you keep using that word?” Nightmare Moon grumbled. “I’m not your friend.”

Trixie ignored her again. “You’re the one that said losing to Twilight turned me evil,” she said to me. “I can’t risk that!”

“I never said you were evil,” I replied, “just that you were a minor antagonist. The closest you got to ‘evil’ was just being manipulated by a magic amulet, and that’s hardly your fault.”

“I think we’re losing sight of the real issue here,” Nightmare Moon said, “which is Discord. This isn’t a choice of when to stop him. Either we strengthen his jail, or we lose.”

“Oh, come on, that’s just dramatic,” Trixie said dismissively. “He’s just one guy, what could be so bad about him?”

Nightmare Moon frowned seriously. “It took two Alicorns using the full might of the Elements of Harmony to stop him the first time. What hope do two nobodies and half an Alicorn have with only half of the Elements?”

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk about,” I said. “I’m not entirely sure you two did have the ‘full might’ of the Elements the first time around.”

“Explain,” Nightmare Moon demanded.

“Well, see, they’re the Elements of Harmony, right?” I explained. “With six of them, they’re obviously meant to have six wielders. I think the Elements gain power from the bonds between the ponies wielding them. As close as you and Celestia were, I don’t think that one bond could rival the power they’d get from six friends.”

“There’s only three of us, though,” Trixie said.

“And I’m not your friend,” Nightmare Moon added.

“That’s where the time comes in,” I said. “We have a year to find wielders for the other three Elements. And, Nightmare Moon, you’re just gonna have to be our friend. Or, you know, let somepony else use the Element, but I don’t imagine—”

“Of course not,” Nightmare Moon said. She thought for a bit, then groaned. “Ugh. I suppose your theory holds some merit. I shan’t just give away my companionship, though. Find more ponies, and prove to me that the number of wielders has this drastic increase in power you imagine, and then I will consider your… Friendship.”

I grinned. “Awesome! Trixie? Any th—”

“However!” Nightmare Moon cut me off. “You two must agree that, if the time comes and I still believe us too weak, we will stop Discord before his emergence. Understood?”

“Works for me.”

Trixie sighed. “Yeah, fine, I can’t really argue with that. Who are these mysterious three ponies we’re gonna recruit, though? I assume you have some idea? And, before you ask, Twilight and her friends are off the table!”

“I agree,” Nightmare Moon said. “I’ll not bow my head to my supposed conqueror.”

“I assumed as much,” I said. “They’ll probably be too busy, anyway. Assuming Twilight still wound up in Ponyville, which, knowing Celestia, she probably did. Their lives are pretty packed with excitement.” I chuckled. “As for who, that’s tough. We need Starlight, I know that much. Even without an Element, she’d be a big help.”

“Who?” Trixie asked.

“She’s a unicorn Twilight fights and then befriends,” I explain. “She’s super strong.”

“No friends of Twilight!” Trixie demanded.

I shook my head. “Trixie, I know you’re reluctant, but she’s your friend, too. And, you two are in the same boat! Twilight only meets her because she’s doing evil stuff. You can help each other be good!”

“Is she truly as strong as you say?” Nightmare Moon asked.

I nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah. Stronger than Twilight, I’d say. Heck, I’d probably bet on her over Star Swirl.”

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. “Unlikely, but I’m intrigued.”

Trixie was wide-eyed, too. “Yeah, uhh… I guess, if you say we’re supposed to be friends anyway, she can join us.”

I grinned wide. “You won’t regret it,” I assured her. “Past that, our best bet is probably to figure out which Elements we have, and try to think of ponies who would fit the ones we’re missing.”

“Oh, yeah, you said there’s specific ones. I kinda forgot about that,” Trixie said. “Well, I obviously have the Element of Magic.”

“Not in your wildest dreams,” Nightmare Moon said. “I’m leagues ahead of you in magical ability.”

Trixie huffed and lit up her horn. “Oh, yeah? Wanna test that out?”

“Gladly,” Nightmare Moon, preparing to get up from her throne with a wicked grin.

“Woah, woah, chill out!” I shouted out to stop them. They at least turned their attention to me, which I took as a success. “Look, we have to remember that their identities are kind of nebulous. Like, the main element was Sorcery when Star Swirl had it, but with Twilight it was Friendship. Since we’re different ponies, it probably took on some other form.”

“How do we know, then?” Trixie asked.

I shrugged. “We just have to kind of feel it out, I think. Feel the truth in our souls, or something.”

“Well, it was my magic that woke them up,” Trixie said, “so clearly mine is the main one!”

“I don’t know if the idea of it being the ‘main Element’ is even accurate,” I said, “but it does seem likely to me that you have the same one Twilight would have wielded, seeing as it was that spell you cast that stuck them on us in the first place.”

“Hah! Knew it.” Trixie stuck her tongue out at Nightmare Moon. “The Element of Magic belongs with Trixie!”

“Oh, get over yourself,” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Starfall’s logic is sound. Every Element plays an equal part. For my part, I’ve likely inherited the Element of Strength.”

“Ehhh,” I replied hesitantly, “I don’t know. You’re strong, sure, but I think it’s more like ‘strength of character.’ After all, with Applejack, it was Honesty.”

“And?” Nightmare Moon looked affronted. “What, exactly, are you trying to say?”

“I just don’t think ‘honesty’ fits you all that well,” I said sheepishly.

“How dare you! Now, you listen here, my moral integrity is unassailable! I’ll have you know—”

“I dunno, I think Starfall’s right,” Trixie said. “I don’t think anypony with a heel turn can have the ‘strength of character’ Element, so we’re both out of the running.”

Nightmare Moon was fuming, but she held her tongue, unable to form a strong enough counterargument to refute her.

“Now, Starfall, on the other hand,” Trixie went on, “is totally and completely incapable of lying. She’s definitely Honesty.”

“Being bad at lying doesn’t make me honest,” I argued. “Although, I must admit, that Element does feel right. It’s just not Honesty for me. It’s more like… Confidence.”

“I’m way more confident than you are,” Trixie said.

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “In yourself, perhaps. These are the Elements of Harmony. She is clearly talking about having confidence in others. I believe it makes sense,” she agreed. “After all, it is a veritable superpower to be so confident in your goodness, Trixie.”

“Wow,” Trixie said, taken aback. “Rude.”

Nightmare Moon cackled. “Oh, I jest, I jest. You’ve done admirably, Trixie.” She took a moment to stifle her laughter, then turned back to me. “Well, moving on, if Strength and Sorcery are both spoken for, I believe I hold the Element of Healing.”

Trixie howled with laughter, which earned her a glare from Nightmare Moon. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her quizzically. “You’re gonna have to explain your logic there,” I told her.

Nightmare Moon huffed. “Well, as you said, it would not be Healing with me. I believe I hold the element of… Growth.”

Trixie snorted. “Yeah, well, I guess you do have plenty of growing to do.”

“Oh, be quiet,” Nightmare Moon said. A slight growl underpinned her voice. “This has nothing to do with my stature!”

“Sure, sure,” Trixie said, holding back a giggle. “I’m just saying, maybe the Element was trying to say something by shrinking you. Actually, we never really checked, but I think you might be even smaller than I am! C’mon, get up, let’s find out.”

Nightmare Moon glared at her. “Enough! If you’re just going to devolve to this tomfoolery, make yourself useful and go fetch that unicorn!”

“Are you not planning on joining us?” I asked.

“Don’t pressure her, Starfall,” Trixie said. “This is a job for big girls, after all.”

A bolt of magic flew over Trixie’s head. “You must truly wish for me to melt you where you stand!” Nightmare Moon said. “I have an empire to build! I have no time for trite errands.”

“Uh-huh, whatever you say, Moony,” Trixie replied, still laughing. “Don’t forget to eat your vegetables while we’re away, we want you to grow up big and strong, after all!”

“Enough!” Nightmare Moon shouted, and with a bright flash of magic, Trixie and I were suddenly outside. Not just outside the castle, but outside the forest entirely, back where we’d left the wagon.

It took Trixie a few minutes to finally stifle her laughter. She sighed and wiped her eyes, then nodded to me. “Well, Starfall, looks like we’re on a new quest! Where to?”

Chapter 6

The first thing we did was sleep. Trixie’s wagon was cramped, filled with magic knick-knacks and trinkets, with only two uncomfortable cots to sleep on, but we were both too tired to care. It was already nightfall when we first went into the Everfree, and the hours following had been nothing short of exhausting.

We woke up and stepped groggily outside a few hours later. It was strange how normal everything felt outside the Everfree Forest. It was quiet, the sky was clear. A slight breeze flew over us, ruffling the short grass at our hooves and reminding us of the chill of nighttime. Ponyville was visible some ways away, wreathed in shadows, and beyond it the sky was burning with the last vestiges of a sunrise.

“Well, that’s a good sign,” I said. “I’m not sure what we would’ve done if she’d refused to take the moon down.”

“Eh, we could still take her,” Trixie said. “I’m not too worried. She seemed pretty genuine, anyway.” She paused to yawn and stretch, then turned to me. “So, where we headed?”

“That’s… A good question,” I told her. “Let’s head towards Ponyville, we’ll probably want a map.”

“Yeah, sure,” Trixie said. She strapped herself to her wagon with practiced ease, and we set off at a leisurely pace.

“Starlight’s town doesn’t really have a name, as far as I know,” I explained as we walked. “She just called it ‘our town.’ It might be hard to find.”

“Is she the mayor or something?”

“Ehhhh…” I chuckled awkwardly. “Well, she’s certainly the leader. The problem is, she’s sort of, uh… Brainwashed all the other ponies in the town.”

Trixie looked skeptical. “Are we talking figurative brainwashing here, or literal?”

“Literal.”

“And we want this girl on our team? I mean, I know we have Nightmare Moon, but the moon thing is one thing. Messing with ponies’ minds is…” Trixie shivered. “I don’t know, Starfall, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Look, I know it sounds bad,” I said, “but she’s not just pure evil. She’s had a rough life! When she was young, she—”

“I don’t need to know her baggage!” Trixie cut me off. “This isn’t about ‘evil.’ This is about Trixie not wanting to become somepony’s puppet!”

“I think we should be able to protect ourselves with the elements,” I told her. “Maybe. Probably.”

Trixie huffed. “Did that work for Twilight?”

“They didn’t have the Elements when they went to take on Starlight,” I said. “They kept them locked up for safety, since they hadn’t fused them to their legs like we did.”

“They are not fused to our legs. They’re simply fashionable.”

“Have you tried taking it off?”

Trixie stopped walking and stared at me as she thought for a moment. A brief look of shock passed through her face, and her horn lit up as she started tugging on the golden bands wrapping around her leg, but no matter how hard she tried, they didn’t budge. She looked almost panicked for a moment as she tried harder and harder, until eventually, she stomped her hoof down, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then, she turned back to me.

“...Maybe we are fused to them,” she admitted. She started walking towards town again. “Obviously. The Smart and Insightful Trixie knew she had to prevent them from being stolen! That’s why she made it impossible to remove them!”

“Uh-huh. Sure,” I said. “Anyway, I’m hoping that’ll give us an advantage. I mean, being stuck probably gives us a stronger connection to them, right? Maybe they’ll even automatically protect us from magic that would mess with our minds.”

Trixie was lost in thought, and didn’t have a response. Neither of us spoke for a while, and soon Ponyville was upon us.

It was still early morning, so the streets were mostly empty. What ponies were out and about were too sleepy to pay us any mind, so we peacefully, quietly made our way through the winding rows of houses.

Eventually, the grand foliage of the Golden Oak Library came into view, and I motioned for Trixie to stop.

“Alright,” I said, “so, that library’s probably where we want to go to get a map.”

“Great! Let’s get going, then,” Trixie said eagerly.

“But,” I said before she could start walking again, “the library is also Twilight’s new home.”

“Eugh.” Trixie made herself look grossed out. “She’s really everywhere, isn’t she? Surely we could find a map elsewhere?”

“That’s why I stopped us,” I told her. “It’s our best bet for a map, but we don’t both need to go in. I can get the map while you go to the market and stock up on supplies.” A thought struck me, then. “You, uh… Do you have money?”

Trixie scoffed. “I’m a world-renowned magician! I’ve done shows all over Equestria! Those tickets aren’t free, you know.”

“So…”

Trixie groaned. “Yes, I have money!” With an annoyed flick of her tail, she turned and started to walk away. “Go talk to your precious Twilight, and I’ll make sure we won’t die.”

“Don’t forget, we’ll have a third pony on the way back,” I called out to her. “So maybe get a tent!” She answered me with a dismissive wave of her hoof, which I could only hope meant ‘okay.’ I sighed, shook my head, then made for the library.

I knocked on the door and waited. After a minute, it creaked open just enough for a little purple dragon to peek out at me. It was a little strange, seeing a dragon in person. He looked a lot more… Scaly than I’d expected.

“Oh, uh, hey Spike,” I said to him. “Is Twilight here?”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Maybe,” he replied. “Do we know you?”

Crap. I really needed to think these introductions out more. I couldn’t keep forgetting that I knew more than I was supposed to.

“Uh, um… No,” I stammered, “you just… Your names are all over town, you know? Everypony’s talking about the handsome little dragon that just moved in.”

“Aw, shucks,” Spike said, and waved in faux-dismissal. Pink tinged his cheeks. He swung the door open for me. “Well, come on in! I’m sure the others will be glad to meet you.”

“Others?”

The inside of the library looked more or less how I expected, although the sheer number of books was a lot more impressive when I was actually standing before them. It looked like a real library, not just a home with some bookshelves against the walls. The books were a real focal point. Aside from the tall shelves against the far walls, there were also smaller bookshelves all over, filling the space with a labyrinth of knowledge. It took me a second to locate the round table that I’d expected to dominate the room. Instead of being a centerpiece, it was tucked away into a corner, hidden behind shelves. It looked cozy.

Twilight was at the table, sipping tea and chatting with some guests. With her, I could see Rarity, Fluttershy, and—

“YOU!”

A sudden shout just about knocked the wind out of me, and suddenly my vision was filled with pink. I was tackled off my hooves, skidding across the slick wood floor. When I finally came to a stop, I looked up to see Pinkie Pie standing over me with an uncharacteristically menacing look on her face.

“Um… H-Hi?” I said.

“Don’t you ‘hi’ me!” Pinkie frowned down at me, a look that seemed entirely foreign amidst her bubbly features. “You stood me up!”

“I what now?”

“You heard me!” Pinkie huffed. “I planned a whole, super special double-welcome-to-Ponyville party, and you were supposed to be there! What am I supposed to do with a super special double-welcome-to-Ponyville party when one of the ponies doesn’t even show up?”

“I dunno, I thought it was a great party,” Spike said from nearby.

“But it was wrong!” Pinkie told him. “And now how am I supposed to welcome you to Ponyville? It’s all ruined! Ruined!!!”

I frowned. “I’m sorry, Pinkie,” I told her. “If I’d known it would mess up your plans, I would have made sure to tell you I couldn’t make it.”

“Aw, well, if you’re sorry, then it’s all fine.” Pinkie’s frown turned into a much more fitting grin, and she stepped to the side. With shocking strength, she picked me up and plopped me back down onto my hooves, then patted my back softly. “I forgive you! We’ll just have to welcome you to Ponyville right now!” She turned and waved back to the table. “Hey, everypony! This is—”

“Pinkie, dear,” Rarity interrupted, “don’t make her just stand there. Bring your friend over here!”

“Oh, right!” In a dizzying blur of movement, Pinkie grabbed me, dragged me over to the table, and dropped me in an empty seat. “Here she is!”

Rarity quietly poured me a cup of tea while I shook off the dizziness. “Uh, hi,” I said, not quite put back together yet. I took a sip of tea and centered myself. “I’m Starfall. It’s nice to meet you all.”

As they responded with a chorus of friendly greetings, a strange uneasiness gripped me. I wasn’t sure how, but I was suddenly sure that this wasn’t going to go nearly as smoothly as I’d expected…

Chapter 7

“So, Starfall, darling, what brings you all the way out to Ponyville?” Rarity asked amicably. “We aren’t much of a tourist trap out here, I must say.”

“Oh, you know,” I responded vaguely. “I was just sort of looking for a place to… Settle down, I guess, and Ponyville seemed, uh, relaxing?” My response came out sounding more like a question than an answer.

“Oh, yes, it’s very relaxing,” Fluttershy told me quietly.

“Super relaxing!” Pinkie added. “I mean, we’ve got Rainbow Dash, and she’s the best relaxer in the world!”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I bet.”

“I’ve got to say,” Twilight spoke up, “it’s nice to know I’m not the only new pony in town. Do you have a place to stay yet? If not, I’m sure one of us could find room for you until you do.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” I assured her, “I’m pretty sure I’m all set on that.”

“Pretty sure?” Rarity asked. “Where are you staying, if you don’t mind me prying a little?”

“Uhh, well, I guess I’m staying in the Ever—” I cut myself off. I can’t tell them I’m staying in the old castle! “Near! I’m staying near the Everfree Forest.”

“Ohh, um, but aren’t you afraid?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m, uhh… Staying with somepony who knows the area,” I said, “so I’m not too worried.”

“Who lives way out there?” Twilight asked.

“Ooh, ooh, I think I know!” Pinkie bounced excitedly. “I bet you’re staying with Zecora, aren’t you? Ohh, I always thought she needed a roommate. She must get so lonely, way out in the woods like that!”

“Actually, um—”

“Who’s Zecora?” Twilight started talking at the same time as me, and my correction got completely drowned out.

“She’s a zebra who lives on the outskirts of town,” Rarity explained. “She acts as a… Caretaker, of sorts, for the Everfree. A bit of an odd duck, that one. Actually, I agree with Pinkie. A roommate will probably do her some good. Maybe she’ll start being less stubbornly independent.”

“But I—”

“Ooh, I’m just so excited to have another new pony in town,” Pinkie said before I could get a word in. “Just don’t stay cooped up in that hut all day! We’ll see you around, right? Right?”

“Uhh, maybe down the line,” I muttered awkwardly. “I was actually just getting ready for kind of a long trip, though.”

“Oh? Do tell,” Rarity said, her interest piqued. “What has you running off so soon?”

“I have to go find… Somepony I know,” I said. “That’s actually why I came over today, I was hoping I could find some maps in the library to help narrow down my search.”

Twilight gasped. “You wanted to use the library? You should’ve said so sooner!” She flew out of her seat, and suddenly she was zipping around the room, plucking books from shelves seemingly at random. “We’ve got everything you need. How much information do you have? Do you know a town? A region? A climate, maybe? Or maybe some history, if anypony famous ever went there, they probably—”

Off to my side, Rarity chuckled and stood up. “Well, I think it was about time we were off, anyway,” she said. “It was lovely meeting you, dear. Do stop by the boutique some time, I’ve got some scarves I think would look absolutely fabulous on you.”

“Uh, th-thanks,” I said awkwardly, not expecting the compliment.

“Now come along, you two,” she said, beckoning Pinkie and Fluttershy towards the door. “Let’s let these two get their work finished.”

“Aww, do we have to?” Pinkie complained, but she followed Rarity regardless. Spike insisted on walking Rarity home, so before long it was just me and Twilight left in the library.

A minute later, Twilight dropped a massive stack of tomes on the desk with a loud thud, then finally realized what had happened. “Where’d everypony go?” she asked.

“They said it was getting late,” I told her, “so they wanted to let you work.”

“Oh, geez, I totally scared them off, didn’t I?” Twilight huffed. “I really need to work on that.”

“I don’t think you scared them off,” I reassured her. “I think they just didn’t want to make you choose between them and your research, you know?”

Twilight sighed and slumped down into her chair. “I guess,” she said, though she didn’t sound entirely convinced. “Anyway, what are we looking for?”

I told Twilight what I knew about Starlight’s town, things like how big it was and the general region, and she immediately cut the stack of books in half. We spent the next few hours narrowing it down further, as she asked me more and more questions on things I hadn’t even thought to tell her. What style the homes were built in, for instance, or whether the ponies spoke with an accent, along with plenty of things I had no clue about, like if they had any local holidays.

“Got it!” Twilight suddenly shouted. I jolted upright, shaken out of a half-asleep stupor, and looked over at her. “This has to be it,” she said, and she slid a thin journal across the table towards me.

It seemed to be the travel log of a pony who’d lived centuries ago. They’d traveled all over the world, in Equestria and beyond, and on the page Twilight was showing me, they talked of a little hamlet they visited for some time. They spoke of how kind and welcoming the ponies there were, and how they felt like they’d truly stumbled across a hidden gem.

Partway through the entry, the pony had sketched a rough drawing of the place. There were even fewer houses than the town I knew, but they did look similar, and the mountains in the background felt remarkably close to what I knew.

It was a good shot, but it was the final few paragraphs that really cinched it for me.

Apparently, this pony was remarkably gifted at appraising and handling magical items. That was the main purpose of their journey—to find dangerous artifacts, and hide them away where nopony would ever find them. With the kindness the local ponies had shown, plus the difficulty of finding the town at all, they decided that it would be a perfect place to keep one of the items they’d found safe from the world.

There was a sketch of the item they’d hidden, too, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw it. I guess that stick Starlight found wasn’t so useless after all.

“Wow,” I said after I’d finished reading it, and looked up to see an excited grin on Twilight’s face. “Great work, this is definitely it.”

She clapped giddily. “I knew it. And there’s even a map at the back of the book.” I started to flip the pages, but Twilight suddenly snatched the journal away and pressed it against her chest. “However,” she said tauntingly, “I’m not so sure I should give you this information anymore.”

“What?” My mouth fell open in shock. “But why not?”

“Well, for one, you’ve obviously been lying to me all day,” she said, and I thought I could detect a hint of smugness in her voice at revealing that. “More importantly, though, I don’t just hand magical artifacts over to treasure hunters. This information is going straight to Princess Celestia! Who knows, maybe this could even help her track down Nightmare Moon after that disaster last night.”

“Wh- Treasure hunter?” It took me a moment to understand what she was getting at, and then my head fell into my hooves. “This isn’t about the staff, alright? There’s really a pony there that I need to find!”

“Oh, please. You expect me to believe you’re not hunting down magical artifacts when you’re wearing one?” She pointed accusingly at my gold-wrapped leg.

I blushed despite myself, and hid my leg below the table. “That’s different,” I told her, “and-and it’s not even magical! It’s just jewelry.”

Twilight scoffed. “That thing’s giving off so much magical energy it’s making my mane frizzy. Seriously, if you don’t start telling me the truth, I’ve got half a mind to go get this thing myself just to keep it out of your hooves!”

I winced and ground my teeth together. This was getting worse by the second. Why did I think this was a good idea? Any of it? At this rate, Twilight was gonna go get into a fight with Starlight years too early, and what were the odds she could win as she was now? There was no chance!

But… The truth? No, I couldn’t. Trixie and Nightmare Moon trusted me, as strange as it was to admit. I couldn’t just betray them like that. I had to think of something else.

Twilight was starting to look impatient. I was out of time to think.

“I… I… I can’t,” I finally said. “I can’t tell you the truth. I just… Can’t.”

“Well, then, I’m sorry, Starfall,” Twilight told me, “but I can’t let you go after the staff.”

“C’mon, Twilight, please,” I said. “It’s seriously not like that! Look, I can give you the staff, or leave it there, or whatever you want. I just need to get to that town!”

For a second, Twilight looked torn, but then she hardened up her face again and stared me down. “So, you’re really that adamant that you’re not a treasure hunter?”

“Yes!”

“Fine,” she said, “then prove it. Give me some collateral.”

“I… What?”

She pointed towards my hoof again. “That. I hold onto your ‘jewelry’ until you come back and hand over the staff to me.”

“But… It doesn’t come off,” I told her.

“Oh, come on.”

“No, seriously! Look, try yourself.” I held my hoof out towards her beseechingly.

She hesitates, but then curiosity gets the better of her, and she tries to pull my Element away from me. First she just grabs it with her hooves, but then she tries prying it off with magic, to no avail. It didn’t even budge.

“How strange…” Seemingly subconsciously, she floated a quill and parchment over to the table and started taking some notes. “I’ve never heard of a magical item binding to its user to this degree… Where did you say you got this?” It seemed her researcher mode was starting to fully override her skepticism.

“I… Can’t tell you that, either,” I said.

“You don’t seem to be able to tell me much.”

“Sorry…”

She poked and prodded at my leg like she was dissecting a frog, making me feel uncomfortably like a test subject. I put up with it, though, as I expected that not doing so would seal me out of getting that map forever.

Suddenly, something she did made rainbow sparks fly out of the Element, making us both jump back.

Twilight recovered quickly. “Rainbow…?” She muttered to herself and scribbled notes. “Peculiar. And it seems to… Yes, I see. So it just…”

“Uhh, Twilight?” I hazarded as she continued experimenting on my leg. “Is this going to take much longer?”

“Huh?” Twilight glanced up at me, and suddenly she became flustered. Red tinged her cheeks as she pushed herself upright and away from me. “Ah, yes, um, sorry about that. I got a little… Carried away. It’s just, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before. It’s fascinating. It’s a real shame it’s bonded to you so firmly, I’d love to run some experiments on it. Plus, with the power radiating from it… If I were able to harness that, I’d never have to fear Nightmare Moon again!”

I chuckled awkwardly. “Ah, yeah… Well, uh, I guess if it interests you that much, I could come over now and then and let you run some tests?”

Twilight brightened instantly. “Really!? You’d do that?”

“Well, as long as it’s safe,” I said. “But, uh… The book?”

“Huh? Oh! Oh…” Twilight’s face went through a whole range of emotions. She looked down at the journal, clearly conflicted. “You’ll bring me the staff?”

“If I can,” I said.

“And you’ll let me run tests?”

“I suppose.”

She bit her lip, thinking hard, before she finally huffed and thrust the journal quickly out towards me. “Fine. Take it. But don’t make me regret trusting you!”

I grabbed the book and nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! Thank you so much, Twilight.” With that, I stood up and walked to the door, muttering small ‘thank you’s the entire way. Twilight watched me leave with a bizarre mix of worry and curiosity on her face, and I couldn’t help but notice that her gaze flicked more than once towards the Element on my leg.

After saying goodbye and stepping outside, I took a deep breath and took a second to collect my thoughts. I had a map. I had a plan. Everything was working out.

So why did I feel like I’d somehow lost that encounter?

Chapter 8

It was easy enough to find Trixie thanks to the huge wagon she was trailing around. I met back up with her at the outskirts of Ponyville’s market square just in time for her to make me help load up the supplies, which she certainly hadn’t skimped on. Apparently, since she didn’t know how far we’d be going, she just rounded up and got enough to take us all the way to the edge of Equestria. It took another hour of organizing Trixie’s magic supplies and playing luggage-Tetris before we were finally able to get it all inside, and even then, there was barely enough room left inside for us to get to the cots at night to sleep. She had gotten a tent, though, so I took that as a win.

It was another thirty minutes before we finally reached the edge of Ponyville. The houses parted, and we were greeted with an immaculate view of the lands beyond. Equestria, at least the part we were going to be traveling through, was pretty flat, and there were plains as far as the eye could see. Some trees dotted the landscape in sparse groves, but not nearly enough to mar the view. What did block the view was the tall spike of a mountain jutting out straight ahead of us. The peak that housed Canterlot took up a good third of what we could see, splitting the world in half. Much, much further away, we could just see the ghosts of the mountain range that spanned across the north side of Equestria.

As we walked, I pointed just to the right of the nearby mountain, towards the horizon beyond. “That’s where we’re headed,” I told Trixie. “Starlight’s village is at the base of the mountains in the northwest.”

Trixie groaned. “I hate mountains. Are you sure we need this girl?”

“Positive.” I patted Trixie’s back reassuringly. “It shouldn’t be too bad, though. The village is on this side of the mountain range, and once we’re past Canterlot, it’s pretty much just plains from there on out.”

“So we only have to climb one mountain,” Trixie said. “Twice.” She still sounded pretty disgruntled.

“Who knows, maybe we won’t even have to make the trip back,” I said. “If she can use one of the Elements, Starlight might be able to just teleport us all back.”

“Nopony is that strong,” Trixie said. “Even Nightmare Moon only sent us to the edge of the forest.”

I shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“I guess.” Trixie huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “So, how’d your date with Twilight go?”

I flushed. “I-It wasn’t a date.”

Trixie laughed. “Well, well. I was just teasing you, but you almost look like you wish it was a date.”

“Oh, shut up,” I said. “It was a perfectly normal visit.”

Trixie just laughed more. “Ohh, look at Starfall over here, getting a crush on her best friend’s mortal enemy. I guess we’ve ruled out Loyalty as your Element, huh?”

“You say ‘best friend’ like you’re swinging a weapon.”

“And you’re deflecting like you’ve got a shield.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have a crush, okay? She’s not even my type.”

“Ooh, you shouldn't have said that,” Trixie teased. “Now I know you have a type! What is it, huh? Are you into bad girls? You’ve been playing a dangerous game, if that’s it.”

“I thought you wanted to know how things went with Twilight!”

“Fine, fine,” Trixie relented. “We can shelve the issue for now.”

“Or forever, ideally.”

“We’ll see,” Trixie told me, a faux sweetness filling her voice.

“Anyway, the visit went pretty well. I mean, I was pretty nervous, but—”

And so on. We continued like that for a while, talking away the hours as the sun slowly dipped towards the horizon. We took turns pulling the wagon, and Trixie convinced me we should take a longer route around the mountain to avoid the worst slopes. Even then, it was slow going, but we were getting there.

Before we knew it, the sun had set, and we were forced to set down for the night. We were about halfway around the mountain, which felt like good time to me, although that was more or less a blind guess on my part. We were both so tired by the time we stopped that we fell into a dead sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

I dreamed of Nightmare Moon’s castle that night. It was dark, seemingly empty, but oddly soothing. The air was cool without being chilly, and the carpeted floors were soft under my hooves. The dream was uneventful, spent exploring all the hidden nooks and crannies, learning the layout of the castle in my dreamy daze.

My dreams were the same the next night, after we’d left the mountain behind and were skirting around the edges of a forest. The castle felt more and more welcoming with every minute I spent there.

On the third day, we made it to the northern mountain range, and found we were close enough for Trixie’s locator spell to take us the rest of the way. We spent the day traveling west, slower than we’d been going before, keeping a sharp eye out for the little village hidden away in the cliffs and valleys. When the sun set then, we fought against it, continuing to search as we grew eager for the long journey to end. Eventually, though, the night grew too dense, and we were forced to camp one last time.

I wasn’t alone in my dreams that night. I found myself in the grand throne room, Trixie by my side, and I idly realized I’d been avoiding the room in my wandering for some reason. Before us, Nightmare Moon lounged in her massive throne. She had a wine glass clutched in one wing, and swirled it around as she grinned down at us.

“It seems you’ve made it, my little ponies,” Nightmare Moon said cheerily.

“Just about,” I told her. “We were—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Trixie interrupted. “What’s going on here? This is Trixie’s dream, why is she not the one in the throne?”

Nightmare Moon laughed, then stood up and sauntered down towards us. “My apologies, my dearest court wizard. I did not mean to bruise your ego. Come, let’s walk and talk.”

She beckoned us along, and we followed into the vast labyrinth of corridors that made up the castle. Before long, she turned down a hall that seemed like a dead end. At the far end, she pressed in one of the bricks on the wall and opened up a passageway I hadn’t seen before, leading us inside.

“What’s all this about?” I asked her. “I assume you’ve been bringing us here the past few nights?”

“Wait, what?” Trixie asked. “Are you saying you two are real? That Nightmare Moon can control dreams? Well, now that I say it out loud, actually…”

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Well, I just thought you’d appreciate the chance to get used to your new home. Of course, it is fairly barren at the moment, but that could easily change! Of course, you two will have your pick of rooms, and can do whatever you wish with the other empty chambers, should you need them.”

“Really?” I asked. “That’s… Generous.”

“I’ve been thinking, since you two left,” Nightmare Moon said. “I am, of course, thousands of years old. In my imprisonment, I grew to view myself as… Independent. Above the trifles of other ponies.”

As she spoke, we exited the passage and found ourselves in the castle’s vast library. From there, she led us deep into the shelves, and pulled aside a rug to reveal a bare spot on the ground. She made a complicated gesture with her horn, and shot a bolt of magic at the floor, and suddenly there was a passageway gaping open. Inside, slick stone stairs led down into the depths, lit by flickering blue flames in sconces lining the walls. The stairway curved subtly, just enough to keep the other end of it out of sight, and obscure how deep they went. She led us down.

“Even now, that feels right to me,” she continued on. “And yet, if Starfall is to be believed, I would have made it scarce hours before my defeat under that approach. Laid low by the very power that I now see hugging my visage every day. The power I’m reminded of every time I look at my reflection, and see this nigh infantile form.”

After what felt like thousands of steps, we made it to the bottom of the staircase. Before us was a colossal room, with high ceilings and longer than the light could travel. Shelves ran up the walls, holding untold numbers of hefty tomes. We clearly weren’t in a library, though. The rest of the room, the entire floor, was packed densely with… Things. Mossy statues, dusty artifacts, golden pedestals holding strange amulets and dark objects of all sorts behind thick glass. There was room to walk, but just barely. It felt like swaying even an inch could cause an avalanche of toppling valuables.

Nightmare Moon turned and faced us, then.

“I have decided to take these recent events, and my current form, as a sign. A message, perhaps from the moon itself, telling me that I am not yet as vast and powerful as I wish to see myself.” She stretched her wings out wide, painting an impressive silhouette. “I am as thou art. Queen, but hardly ruler. Empress, but no god. I must grow, and I cannot do so alone.”

She took a step back, and angled her wings to frame the vast riches behind her.

“So welcome, my friends. My allies. My equals. Welcome to our home. None have set their eyes upon this room before. Not Celestia. Not even Luna. This is my true power, subconsciously hidden away in secret over the millenia, even from myself. Celestia imprisoned me before I could reach it before, but not now. No, now we can use it to its fullest extent.”

“So may Equestria be ours.”

I woke up with a gasp, drenched in a cold sweat. My heart was racing, and I felt dizzy. Light streamed in from the window, blinding me. Images of Nightmare Moon flashed before my eyes.

When I finally recovered, I saw that Trixie was gone, so I pushed myself out of bed and went outside to greet her. I found her staring off into the distance, at a nearby mountain, so I walked up beside her and followed her gaze.

There, nestled comfortably into the little valley, was a group of homes, hardly large enough to even call a village. We were close enough to see ponies going about their days, and a dirt road, slightly overgrown from disuse, led straight from us down to the entrance of town.

I took a deep breath. It was time to go meet Starlight.

Chapter 10

“Well,” Starlight said, “let’s get going then.”

“Wh- Just like that?” I asked. “Don’t you need to, like, get ready?”

“Nah, I don’t really need any of this stuff. I’ve got it all memorized by now anyway.” She stood up and made her way to the door, then turned around and gave us an impatient look. “Well? There’s no reason to stick around here, is there?”

“I guess not…” I looked at Trixie, but she just shrugged. “Well, at least bring the staff,” I said, pointing to where she’d dropped it on the ground.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Starlight said. “It’s just a branch I found.”

“No, it’s definitely some kind of magical artifact,” I told her. “I promised Twilight I’d bring it back to her. It was in one of her books.”

“Really?” Starlight grabbed the staff with her magic and floated it over to herself, eyeing it carefully. “Well, if that’s true, I’m not about to just hand it over to some random pony I’ve never met. I found it, after all.”

“But… Twilight’s not going to be happy if I’m not able to get it to her,” I said.

“Tough,” Starlight replied. “It wasn’t yours to promise away in the first place.” Testing the staff, she spun it around in the air a couple times before slamming it dramatically on the floor. “Besides, I kinda like it. If it’s actually magic, I could get used to using a staff.”

“She kind of has a point,” Trixie said. “She did find it. Twilight’s just being greedy if she thinks she’s owed it.”

“But…” I sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Twilight will understand. Hopefully.”

“Good. Now, shall we?” Starlight gestured for us to follow, and led us out of her house and into town. “You’ve got a wagon up on top of the hill, yes? I hope it has room for three.”

“Aww,” Trixie groaned, “does that mean you won’t be able to just teleport us back?”

Starlight scoffed. “Seriously? Teleport three ponies and a wagon? I could get us a few paces, maybe, but nopony is that strong. You’re a unicorn, you should know that!”

“I do!” Trixie huffed, offended at the implication that she was lacking in knowledge. “Of course I do, it’s just that Starfall hyped you up so much, I doubted my common sense!”

“I mean, I still feel like she could if she had an Element,” I argued. “Or maybe that staff can power her up enough to do it. Who knows?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “That’s just naive.”

“Wait, hang on,” I said, interrupting the conversation. We’d made it to the edge of town, and I stopped the group. “Starlight, don’t you wanna go say goodbye to your friends?”

Starlight gave me a questioning look. “What friends? I don’t have any friends.”

“Uhh… Yeah, you do,” I told her. “Everypony in town here is your friend.”

“They barely know me,” Starlight argued. “Most of them probably don’t even know my name.”

“Starlight,” Trixie cut in, “they locked us in a house to protect you. They totally care about you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Starlight told us. “I don’t have friends.”

I sighed. “Look, friends or not, they’re gonna worry if you run off without saying goodbye, right? You can’t just disappear from a town this small without being noticed. So, go put their minds at ease, at least. Please?”

Starlight groaned. “I’m just gonna annoy them if I barge into their spaces and start acting like somepony they care about.”

“Please?” I repeated. “For me?”

“Ughhh, fine!” Starlight huffed and turned around. “I’ll meet you up at the wagon, then.” With that, she stomped away towards the nearest house.

Trixie and I watched her for a second, then turned and continued on to the cart. We waited quietly, neither of us having anything to talk about, and a few minutes later Starlight appeared before us with a pop and a burst of purple magic.

“Gah!” Trixie jumped in surprise. “Geez, do you have to scare us like that?”

“Starfall didn’t seem scared,” Starlight said.

“She just doesn’t show it!” Trixie argued.

I shook my head. “No, I was just expecting her to show up like that. Really, I don’t get why you—”

“Shut up!” Trixie cut me off. “You were scared! Trixie could see it in your eyes!”

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, whatever you say.” Then, I turned to Starlight, and gestured towards her staff. “So, did you wanna try and see if you can teleport us further with that thing?”

“I have been studying this staff for weeks,” Starlight said, “and seen no indication of magical power within it. If it’s truly some manner of artifact, it’s going to take much more research to determine what it does, how powerful it is, how to activate it, or really anything at all about it!”

“Can I try it?” Trixie asked.

Starlight chuckled under her breath. “You’re welcome to try,” she said as she passed it over.

Trixie grabbed it with her magic and turned it around slowly in front of herself. “Hmm… Mmhmm… Yeah, so…” She mumbled to herself as she examined it.

“Really, I don’t know what she hoped to find,” Starlight said to me. “It’s not as if there’s some button on the base to press that turns it on. I’ve tried everything, that staff is dormant at best, and really, I would assume it’s lost all power it ever had! If it ever even had any to—”

BOOM

Starlight was cut off by a massive noise and a flash of blinding light as a blast of power shot out of the staff and into the sky. The shining blue beam rocketed upwards and pierced through the cloud cover above, leaving a massive, swirling hole where it passed through that showed the clear sky beyond.

“W-W-W-W—” Starlight stammered, struggling for words. “WHAT? That’s impossible! There’s no way somepony else could find power in that staff when I couldn’t! Th-that must have been the Element! Yes, that’s right, your Element empowered your magic, and you’re just trying to trick me! Well, I don’t appreciate it, not one bit!”

Trixie was stunned by the blast, momentarily too shaken to respond, until finally she shook her head and turned to Starlight. “Uh… No, that was definitely the staff…”

“HOW?” Starlight snatched the staff back from Trixie and started frantically looking all over it. “How could you figure it out when I couldn’t? It’s impossible!”

Trixie shrugged. “I’m a magician,” she explained. “Magic tricks and gadgets are my job.”

“Gadgets?” Starlight stared at her. “A magical artifact is not a gadget!”

Trixie huffed. “Well, if you’re so sure of yourself, then clearly Trixie doesn’t need to explain how she got it to work! You can figure it out all on your own, right?”

“Wh-” Starlight glared at her. “Oh, come on! You must see why I’m so surprised. I mean, it’s… It’s inconceivable! Seriously, what did you do? It makes no sense!”

“Nope.” Trixie stuck her tongue out at Starlight. “Not telling.”

“Grrr….” Starlight growled at Trixie. “You cocky little…”

“Hey, hey, hey!” I cut in and moved to stand between the two. “Come on, we’re supposed to be friends! We can’t be fighting like this. Trixie, don’t gloat, and Starlight, don’t insult your friends! I mean, come on!”

“I insulted nopony!” Starlight scowled. “I merely pointed out the fact that I’m smarter than her!”

“Hah!” Trixie forced out a laugh, but she was clearly livid. “Smarter? A ditzy unicorn who can’t even figure out how to use a magic staff? Trixie has never heard anything so absurd!”

“D-Ditzy?? How dare you! Why, I’m—”

“Okay, time out!” I shouted over their bickering. “Look, I don’t want to sit here arguing all day, okay? So, both of you just apologize, and Trixie, tell her how to use the staff. Otherwise, we’re walking all the way back home, remember?”

“So? That’s hardly Trixie’s problem,” Trixie said. She stuck her nose in the air, walked over to her wagon, and strapped herself into the reigns. “Trixie can walk home just fine,” she said as she began to turn the cart around and head back down the path we showed up from. “She certainly doesn’t need the help of some uppity unicorn who can’t even see The Great and Powerful Trixie’s genius.”

“Oh, please,” Starlight replied. She hurried down the path so she was beside Trixie and could properly glare at her. “Great and Powerful? Don’t make me laugh. More like gimmicky and insecure!”

“Oh, Trixie is immature, is she? Well, she isn’t the pony who resorts to base insults the moment somepony outshines her! Unlike some unicorns she knows.”

“Again, I did not insult anypony! It isn’t my fault you can’t handle hearing the truth! Anypony who looks at us could see—”

Trying my best to tune out the shouting match, I groaned loudly, hung my head, and slowly trodded along after the two of them.

It was going to be a long trek home.

Chapter 11

“We made it!”

I gasped and nearly jumped for joy as we crested the hill we’d been climbing and saw where we were. The others came up beside me—carefully avoiding each others’ gazes, as they’d been giving each other the silent treatment—and we all took a moment of silent relief that our trek was nearly done.

We’d just gotten our first glimpse of Ponyville in weeks, and it was a truly welcome sight.

Well, it was for me, at least. The others seemed somewhat less enthused.

“That’s it?” Starlight asked. “You’re seriously telling me a Princess lives in this backwater little hovel?”

As we traveled, I’d told Starlight some of what I knew of the world, and though she still seemed suspicious of my tale, she listened to it all intently. She was probably running her thoughts at full-speed trying to find holes in the things I said, but she hadn’t found any so far if she was.

“Well, she’s not a Princess yet,” I said.

“And she never will be,” Trixie said, “not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Trixie, come on,” I said. “You realize how that sounds, right?”

Trixie shot me an exaggeratedly insulted look. “Really, do you have no faith in me?”

“It did kind of sound like you wanted to take her out,” Starlight said.

“I would never!” Trixie huffed. “I simply meant that the position would be going to the rightful pony—me.”

“We’ll see,” I said. I waved them along, and we resumed our trek, aiming to skirt around the edge of Ponyville and to our true goal, the Everfree Forest. “Twilight had to do some wild stuff to become a Princess.”

“And even if you did manage it, they would never let you rule,” Starlight added. “They’d have to change the whole terminology.”

Trixie’s face went red, but I cut in quickly before she could escalate things further. “Seriously, you two,” I said, “can’t you at least try to get along?We’re the Elements of Harmony, remember? We’re supposed to be friends! There’s no way Starlight will be able to use one if you two hate each other.”

“Tell that to her, not to me,” Trixie said. “I’ve done nothing but defend myself.”

“Oh, please. I’m not going to blind myself to the facts in front of my face just to appease some prissy little magician who—”

I groaned. I really needed to learn to stop trying to mediate between them. I just needed to tune them out and get to the castle.

…

“—some wannabe cult leader who—”

…

“—great and powerful pain in everypony’s—”

…

“—least I have friends, unlike—”

“ENOUGH!” I shouted and stomped my hoof. The Element wrapped around my leg made a loud clang, and it brought the other two to a halt as they turned to stare at me. “I’m done! I can’t listen to any more of this. You can tell Nightmare Moon that she can come and get me once she’s gotten you two far away from each other.”

With that, and one final glare to the both of them, I turned and stomped into Ponyville. The last thing I heard before I got out of earshot was a very faint, “You see what you did now?”

I didn’t have anywhere specific to go. I just walked aimlessly, cooling my head, glancing absentmindedly at the shops and markets I passed by without really seeing anything. I was too frustrated, too sick of hearing other ponies speak, and all I could really think to do was just walk and walk until my head was clear of thoughts.

I was doing a decent job at it, too, until I was interrupted.

“Oh, hello, Starfall!”

I jumped at the sound of somepony suddenly addressing me. I turned to see Rarity, a pleasant smile on her face. Beside her was Spike, carrying a heavy basket of fabrics that looked like they’d just been purchased, and based on the quantity, it looked like she may well have purchased some pony’s entire stock. Spike, seeing that Rarity had stopped, set the basket down with a sigh of relief and waved at me.

“Oh, hi, Rarity,” I said. “And hi to you, too, Spike. What are you two up to?”

“Oh, just some light afternoon shopping,” Rarity said, “you know how it is. You really never know what you may find, and today I saw these lovely textiles that I simply had to have. I do generally order my materials from elsewhere, but some company in a big metropolis can never quite capture the rugged earnestness of hoof-crafted, small town products. Hmm, speaking of which…” She leaned to the side and looked me over briefly. “Starfall, dearie, would you like to come model for me? I’ve had a wonderful idea for a whole new line of suits for the less… Femininely inclined mares out there, and—oh, not that I’m making any assumptions about you, of course, but I do think you would look positively handsome in a good suit. I was going to petition Rainbow Dash to model, and I’m sure I still will, but it would be quite nice to have somepony a tidbit more average. Rainbow Dash is just such an outlier, so lean and lanky, and oh, don’t even get me started on Applejack.”

“Psst… Rarity,” Spike whispered, tapping her gently on the side.

“Hm? What is it, Spikey?”

“You need to actually let her talk if you want her to answer your question, you know,” Spike told her.

“Oh!” A light blush tinged Rarity’s cheeks, and she chuckled softly. “Do pardon me, I can get awfully carried away sometimes.”

“No, it’s no problem,” I said. Listening to her had actually helped to clear my head quite a bit, so I was able to give her a genuine smile, which seemed to put her at ease. “As far as modeling, umm, I suppose I could give it a try sometime? I’ve never done it before, though, so I can’t really promise anything.”

“Oh, nonsense, you’ll be perfect. Come, come, let me show you to the boutique!”

“Wh—Right now?” Rarity was suddenly beside me, pushing me gently down the road that apparently led to her home.

“Well, I see no reason why not, unless you had other plans? I certainly couldn’t take you from anypony else,” Rarity said, “but dawdling gets us nowhere in life!”

“I mean, I guess I don’t have other plans, but…” I searched and searched for excuses, but couldn’t find anything plausible.

Before I knew it, Rarity had ushered me into her home, made me tea, and pulled out box after box of supplies and materials. She had me up on her stage in a flash, and started swirling measuring tapes and needles and strips of fabric all through the air around us as she prepared.

As I stood there, getting progressively dizzier, Spike suddenly spoke up from nearby. “Oh, I just thought of something! Rarity, would you mind if I went and got Twilight?”

Rarity gave him an appraising look. “Whatever for? Not that I’m ever not thrilled to see her, it just seems an odd thought to have.”

“Well, she’s been wanting to talk to Starfall for a while now,” Spike explained. “Something about a zebra? I didn’t really get it, but she made it sound important.”

I tensed up. There were very few things I could think of that Twilight would want to talk to me about, and even less that involved a zebra. Could it be that she—OW!

I yelped, and Rarity tsked at me as she pulled back the needle she’s accidentally pricked me with. “Now, Starfall, you really must be more still. I wouldn’t want to hurt you!” She put the needle away, along with her other supplies, and briefly hopped off the stage. “As for your suggestion, Spike, it sounds like a wonderful idea. You go and fetch her, and I’ll prepare some more tea. Perhaps even some snacks. Starfall, do you like—”

I heard Rarity talking to me, but I could only nod numbly in reply. I was too busy freaking out about what Twilight could possibly want to talk about.

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

Chapter 12

“Ouch!”

Rarity sighed and pulled her needle away as I yelped yet again. “Really, dear, you need to relax. All this fidgeting is just untenable!”

“I’m sorry, Rarity,” I said. “My nerves are just getting to me.”

“Yes, well I can see that!” Rarity walked up beside me and rubbed my back gingerly. She frowned and lowered her voice empathetically. “What has you so tense, Starfall?”

“It’s… It’s nothing, really,” I said. “I think I might just be tired. Maybe I should go home and lie down…”

“Oh, hush,” Rarity said. “I hate to break it to you, Starfall, but you’re far from the most adept of my friends at hiding your troubles. You may as well give up the charade. Now, come.” With a flourish of magic, Rarity whipped the half-constructed suit away, hung it up neatly, and waved for me to follow her. She didn’t seem to be giving me a choice, so I gave in and trotted along after her.

She led me into a cozy little lounge that was hidden away in a side room. In stark contrast to the bright whites of the storefront, this room was warm and comfy. The walls were painted a soft brown, and dim light flooded the room from a corner lamp. A low glass table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded on three sides by deep, soft sofas. There was a bookcase at the far wall, but rather than being stuffed with books, it was filled with decorations and tchotchkies. There were souvenirs from cities all over Equestria, alongside family photos and hoof-made arts and crafts that looked like they were probably made by Sweetie Belle, or perhaps a younger Rarity. The rest of the walls were decorated with simple landscape paintings, and a grandfather clock ticked away quietly behind one of the sofas. Finally, a large cabinet sat against the wall right beside the door, locked shut by a simple combination lock that was built into the doors.

She directed me towards one of the sofas, so I went and got comfortable as she made for the cabinet. By the time I had sat down and looked back over to her, she was already closing it and locking it back up—it was clear she had a lot of practice getting in and out of it quickly. From inside, she’d produced a fancy tray lined with tea and light snacks. She served me with practiced poise before sitting down across the table from me and taking her own.

I must’ve been looking at the cabinet strangely, because after following my gaze, she chuckled and smiled wryly. “Oh, don’t you worry yourself about all that,” Rarity said. “It’s nothing untoward, I assure you. I live with my little sister, you see, so there are certain amenities a proper hostess stocks which need to be kept safe from prying hooves.”

I nodded silently and sipped my tea.

After settling in, Rarity gave a contented sigh and smiled. “So, Starfall, why don’t you tell me what it is that has you so worked up?”

“It’s… It’s nothing important, really,” I told her.

“I beg to differ,” Rarity said. “My friends being upset is very important, no matter the source.”

“But—”

“No buts. Bottling up our feelings is unacceptable. Everypony needs a confidant, lest we tear ourselves apart.”

“I can always talk to Trixie,” I told her. “Really, I’m okay.”

Rarity sighed. “Well, if you truly do have somepony else to turn to, I suppose I needn’t hound you. I am always here for you, though, darling, if you need to talk.”

“Thank you,” I said genuinely. “That’s very kind of you. Especially since we barely know each other, really. You really are a generous pony, huh?”

Rarity laughed and waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, you flatterer. It’s nothing, really, I’m simply being a proper—”

Knock Knock Knock

“Oh! That must be Twilight,” Rarity said, rising from her seat at the sound of somepony at the door. “You just wait here, and I’ll be right back with her, alright?”

“O-Okay.”

Rarity trotted away, and a moment later I heard her open the door. “Good evening, Twilight, dar—Oh! My, I apologize, I was expecting somepony and just assumed it would be her at the door.”

My ears perked up at this, and I listened closer. I could just barely make out the other voice, which was low and had a commanding air about it.

“Oh, it’s quite alright, I understand the tendency to get caught up in one’s plans all too well. I hope I am not interrupting you too terribly, my dear…”

“Rarity, and no, not at all! Please, come in, come in. Are you here on business, madam?”

I heard the door shut, and the two ponies walked inside as they continued to talk.

“Please, call me Bloom. Moonlight Bloom, and no, I’m afraid not. Although, seeing your work for myself now, I can certainly say I’ll be back. Today, however, I’m merely looking for an acquaintance of mine. She was meant to be home today, and seems to have vanished on me.”

Rarity gasped. “Don’t tell me you mean Starfall?”

“Ah, yes, that would be her. Have you two met? I must say, I am impressed at how quickly she seems to have grown on the lovely ponies of Ponyville.”

This shocked me. I didn’t know anypony named Moonlight Bloom, but I did have some idea who this could be… Unable to sit idly by, I jumped to my hooves and rushed out into the lobby, only to be greeted by a very strange sight.

Rarity was there, talking to another unicorn who I hadn’t seen before. She was rather short, but carried herself with a practiced elegance. Her light blue mane and tail seemed to almost flow in a nonexistent wind, and stood out brilliantly against the dark blue of her coat. Her cutie mark was of a simple rose against a bright white moon.

As I walked in, she met me with a piercing gaze that I knew all too well. Of course, even having never seen this unicorn before, I recognized her easily. Even if I couldn’t tell by her eyes, or her voice, or the commanding pressure she filled the air with, it would’ve been impossible not to recognize the golden bands that adorned one of her legs.

Nightmare Moon was here.

“N-Night—”

She stuck a hoof out to stop me. “No, it’s not night yet, don’t worry,” she said quickly. “You haven’t been here that long. I’m merely being proactive.”

“Right…”

“Now, before it gets too late,” she said, and gestured towards the door.

“Oh, wait a moment, please, Miss Bloom!” Rarity cut in. “I’m terribly sorry to be a bother, but my friend Twilight was actually on her way here to speak with Starfall.”

“Is that so?” Nightmare Moon glanced at me. I grimaced, and she thought for a moment. “Well,” she finally said, “I suppose we have a bit of time to spare. We cannot stay too long, though. We’ve a trek through the Everfree ahjead of us, and I would hate for Starfall to need to make such a journey after dark.”

“The Everfree!?” Rarity gasped and looked to me. “Starfall, why didn’t you say something? Why, if I’d sent you off on your own, who knows what could have happened?”

I shook my head. “Please, don’t worry about it. Ni—Er, Bloom wouldn’t let anything happen to me in the forest.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Rarity said. “She does appear quite capable… Ah, well, no matter. Let’s go have a seat, shall we? There’s no need for us to stand around like this.

She led us back to the lounge, and served us more tea. Nightmare Moon sat right next to me, which was… Strange, to say the least, so I couldn’t quite relax, but if Rarity noticed, she didn’t say anything.

After about ten minutes of idle chatter, there was another knock at the door, and Rarity finally led Twilight and Spike into the room to meet us. They were clearly shocked to see another pony here, but Twilight smiled politely and took a seat on the third couch with Spike while Rarity served them.

“So, you’re the famous Twilight Sparkle.” Nightmare Moon wasted no time getting down to business. “I’m Moonlight Bloom, an associate of Starfall. We came to Ponyville together, in fact.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, shocked. “Strange that we’re only now hearing this… Well, it’s good to meet you, Moonlight Bloom. As you apparently already know, I am Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike. We live in the local library. Actually, we were sent here by Princess Celestia herself!” She smiled at this, and though I could’ve been imagining it, I could swear I saw a glint of malice in that smile.

“The Princess? My, how impressive,” Nightmare Moon said. “Why, I remember the first time Celestia tasked me with something… Such a formative opportunity in the life of a young unicorn. Although,” she chuckled, “I must say, it’s quite embarrassing to think of how highly I thought of myself then. Why, if you’d asked me at the time, I likely would have assumed I was her favorite, but today I doubt she even remembers me!”

This clearly struck a blow, as Twilight’s jaw dropped, and she was unable to respond.

Rarity, unaware of her friend’s plight, was merely impressed. “You know Princess Celestia, Bloom? Talk about friends in high places.” She chuckled softly.

“Oh, it’s nothing special,” Nightmare Moon said, “especially when you’ve been around as long as I have. I’m sure you’ll meet her yourself some day. She does so love for her subjects to feel seen, after all.”

I winced, seeing that this was going nowhere good, and cleared my throat. “Well, um, anyway,” I said, “Twilight, you had something you wanted to talk about?”

“What? I, uh… Oh, yeah! Right!” Twilight found her train of thought again and refocused on me. “Yes, well, Starfall, after you left on your trip, I just so happened to meet Zecora. You know, the zebra who lives near the Everfree?” She laughed in an obviously forced way. “Strangely enough, when I mentioned you, she’d never even heard of you! Isn’t that weird? I was sure you’d said you were staying with her. Isn’t that right, Rarity?”

“Hmm…” Rarity thought for a moment. “Yes, I do recall Starfall mentioning that. How odd.”

“Ah, yeah, about that, uh…” I thought frantically for an excuse. “Well, you see, I was, um… Wrong.”

“You were wrong?” Twilight echoed.

I nodded. “Yup.”

“Care to elaborate?” Twilight asked.

“Um…”

Beside me, Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Oh, Starfall, there’s no need to be so nervous.” She turned to Twilight. “See, I had told Starfall that I planned to petition this ‘Zecora’ for living space, as she was nearest to the forest. Before I could do that, though, I found out about someplace we could stay that was actually inside the forest, and, well, I couldn’t possibly pass that up.”

Twilight seemed to be deep in thought as she listened to the explanation.

Rarity was shocked, though. “Wait, why would you ever want to live in the forest? That place is a nightmare!”

Nightmare Moon frowned. “Well, perhaps, but what nightmare doesn’t have something within it to learn? We are researchers, after all, and no self respecting researcher would write off an entire locale as unworthy of study.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, “you’re researchers?”

“Well, naturally,” Nightmare Moon said. “Did you not recognize our insignia?” She gestured to the Elements that we both wore. “Well, I suppose this town is rather secluded. It isn’t too surprising to have not heard of our academy, as illustrious as it is.”

Twilight looked affronted. “I-I’m sorry, but what academy are you from? I should know every academy in Equestria, and none that I’m aware of have an insignia like that.”

“It’s known as Penumbra Academy,” Nightmare Moon said.

“Wh—Penumbra Academy closed its doors a thousand years ago!” Twilight was barely holding herself back from shouting. “You can’t be from there!”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “I’m afraid your information is inaccurate, dear. The academy may have closed to students, but we’ve kept up a prestigious staff, and continued research to this very day. Also…” She hesitated, as though considering something. “We shouldn’t really disclose this, but part of our reason for being here is to consider Ponyville’s viability as the site of a new school.”

“Really?” Twilight asked.

Rarity’s eyes shone. “Ooh, how exciting! Our Ponyville, a university town. Just imagine all the different ponies we’d have coming and going!”

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Well, Ponyville is only one consideration of many. Nothing is set in stone, yet.”

“Yes, of course, of course,” Rarity said. “Although, I must ask… Have you sourced uniforms yet? I’ve got some designs I could show you, and of course they could be reworked to conform to the school’s colors. We’d just need to…”

From there, the conversation devolved to idle chatter, and it wasn’t long until Nightmare Moon was declaring our need to leave. Twilight watched us carefully the entire time, hardly uttering a word, suspicion glinting in her eyes, but she couldn’t find any holes to poke in our story—at least, not yet—so she had no choice but to watch in silence as we left.

We walked along in silence until we reached the edge of town, at which point I spoke up.

“Uh… Thanks for bailing me out back there,” I said.

“Oh, but of course!” Nightmare Moon said. “I must be there for my friends, mustn’t I? And besides, it was such fun playing with Sparkle, and exercising my social skills after a millennium was just phenomenal. I must say, that Rarity shows a level of class I had not expected to see again in my lifetime. The other ponies I’ve met have not been promising along those lines.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay, glad you had fun with my suffering. Really, though, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up.”

“I’m thrilled to have helped.”

“There is one issue, though.”

“And what would that be?”

“Well, you might have to open up a school to keep Twilight from seeing through your lie.”

“Ah.”

Chapter 13

“What the…”

I’d been following Nightmare Moon through the woods for almost an hour, and the walk had been surprisingly peaceful. The Everfree Forest still had its pervasive gloom, but the sense of hostility that once filled the air seemed to have vanished altogether. This was helped by the fact that she was leading us down a series of perfectly serviceable trails, so we didn’t have to hack our way through any tall grass or push through dense walls of trees. The woods were noisy, but in the one that one might expect a rainforest to be noisy; I could tell that it was brimming with life, but it was life that was indifferent to me, distant and without much danger, at least as long as I was careful.

We were walking in silence when suddenly the woods opened up, and what I saw before me stopped me in my tracks.

The ruins of a small town filled a wide clearing, upon which the moon shone brilliantly. (I couldn’t tell if this was because the sun had set while we were walking, or if this was just always the state of things so close to Nightmare Moon’s castle. Telling time in the forest was next to impossible, and we’d never lost the ability to see, so it didn’t cross my mind.) Smooth, carefully cut stones paved overgrown streets that led between maybe a dozen houses. The homes had largely been reclaimed by the forest, with vines snaking along their walls and even trees stretching out through caved-in roofs, but the sturdy stone walls seemed to have otherwise weathered the passage of time well. Greenery was everywhere, but few walls had crumbled, and every building was still standing to at least some degree. It was clear the things here were built to last.

Aside from the homes, there were a few other landmarks here and there. In the center of the clearing, where all the streets met up, was a humble little plaza, at the center of which was an ancient well. It was simple, but in a town this small, it may well have provided water for everypony living here. There were also some larger buildings that were clearly not living spaces: One was perhaps a school, another a town hall, or a marketplace. One home near the plaza seemed to double as a blacksmith, with a forge sitting in a sort of alcove attached to the house. At one far side of the clearing, I could even make out what appeared to have once been a small farm.

“This was once the village of Nightfall,” Nightmare Moon said, reading the surprise on my face. She led me in, towards the plaza at the center. “I was saddened to discover it in such a state. At the time of my banishment, it was thriving, a vital part of life in the Everfree.”

“Do you think the ponies all just drifted away after Celestia left the castle behind? Or maybe they followed her to Canterlot?”

“Unlikely,” Nightmare Moon said. She had a deep frown etched across her face. “Not all creatures exist to bathe in Celestia’s sunlight, Starfall. Still others simply felt unwelcome in the average Equestrian village. At least, that was the state of things a thousand years ago.”

We reached the plaza, but Nightmare Moon didn’t seem interested in stopping. She led us on, towards the opposite end of the town, where a stone bridge crossed a small stream that seemed to serve as one border. Past the bridge, all I could make out was more forest.

“So, like, batponies?” I asked. “They’re real?”

“Among others,” Nightmare Moon said. “I would think you would know, given your… Repository of knowledge.”

“It was never super clear,” I said. “It’s cool to know they’re out there, though. So, what do you think happened to them?”

“I couldn’t know,” Nightmare Moon said. “Perhaps they moved belowground, to the web of caves under Equestria. Or, they could have braved the journey to other lands, in search of similar towns elsewhere. Otherwise…” She sighed. “I’ve already located some ponies here in the forest. It would seem that, at some point in the last thousand years, they simply adapted to live among the trees. Most of those I’ve found are now residing in the castle; Which, I regret to say, has diminished your choice of rooms somewhat, so I do apologize for that.”

“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “It’s good to hear you’re looking out for them. You’re really a lot… Nicer than I expected.”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Please. Any ruler worthy of her crown looks after her own subjects.”

“Yeah, but still, what I knew really painted you as kind of a tyrant. At one point I saw what would have happened if you won, and… It wasn’t pretty.”

“Perhaps the Elements have influenced me somewhat,” Nightmare Moon speculated. “Or, I may have been forced into more extreme acts in my efforts to oust Celestia. It’s impossible to say. I wouldn’t be overly worried about it; After all, you are here precisely to prevent such an outcome.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Still, are you sure we’re on the right path? Do you really wanna ‘oust’ your own sister?”

She sneered at the mention of their relation. “Look around you, Starfall. Look at the consequences of her rule. Perhaps I never properly impressed upon her the importance of this settlement. Perhaps she simply ignored my advice. Regardless, this is what her rule hath wrought. My experiences so far have only proven that I was right all those years ago.”

“But she’s still kept a lot of Equestria going strong. If you two just worked together—”

“Enough,” Nightmare Moon snapped. “I tire of this. Follow this trail to the castle. Nothing will harm you, and you need to learn your way around the forest if you are to live here.”

Before I could say anything else, there was a burst of dark blue magic, and then she was gone, leaving only a wisp of smoke in her place.

Chapter 14

To my relief, Nightmare Moon had been right about the path from the village to the castle being straightforward. I’d been walking on my own for about twenty minutes when the tree line broke and I was faced with the castle again.

It was an impressive sight. The interior had been lit up, and soft blue light streamed out from the windows, making it feel much more inviting. The front gates were wide open, and the courtyard within was brightly lit. Banners fluttered in the wind, planters hung from windowsills, and for a moment I could have sworn I even saw a pony flying over the far ramparts.

It really felt like a place where ponies could live.

That impression was only improved once I was actually past the gates and in the courtyard. Unlike most of the lighting Nightmare Moon used, the lights out here were warm and yellow. They were still significantly more dim than the sun would get, but that just left it feeling like the courtyard was in a state of perpetual sunset. The grass under my hooves was bright and soft, and there was a low tree in one corner that looked like the perfect place for an afternoon rest. Beautiful blue flowers sprouted all over the yard, and along the walls were thick bushes that sported their own rainbow of flowers.

The only thing that did give me pause was a series of intricately carved shrubs placed around the courtyard. There were six in total, although three of them had yet to be carved. The other three were unmistakable, though. Nightmare Moon, with her wings splayed out in an intense display. Trixie, her cloak fluttering in an invisible wind. And…

Me.

I couldn’t help but walk up and stare at my thorny green mirror, risen up on her hind hooves as though poised to strike. The statue was easily twice my height. The details were immaculate. It felt almost like I could see the muscles rippling along the branches, like at any moment it might come to life and turn its gaze to me.

It was then that I noticed a banner hung up behind my statue. There were banners all over, so I’d mostly been ignoring them, as they were all the standard dark blue with an intricate design reminiscent of Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark on them. This one was different, though. Instead of dark blue, it was gray, almost silver. It was just as intricate, but the design was its own. Not a moon, but a shooting star. In other words: My cutie mark.

I quickly glanced around, and saw that Trixie had her own insignia, as well, on a star-laden banner that reflected her cloak. The other statues, the ones which had yet to be carved, had space behind them for their own banners, but for now they were empty.

I looked back to my statue, and my banner. This was a lot. It was almost too much. My statue? My banner? That wasn’t right. Statues, banners, those things are for important ponies. It made sense that Nightmare Moon had them, but… Me? What had I done? I was just some girl, I’d barely even been here a month, there was no way I could—

“Oh! Miss Starfall!”

My train of thought was obliterated by a light, almost squeaky voice behind me. I spun around fast enough to make myself dizzy and stared at the pony standing there.

She was absolutely miniscule. Not quite so small that I couldn’t tell from her features and how she carried herself that she was an adult, but she was by far the smallest pony I’d see besides children. The top of her head barely reached my shoulders. I felt like I was towering over her.

She was smiling up at me adorably, and I couldn’t help but let my guard down. She looked perfectly harmless. Her fur was a brilliant green, just a shade darker than the grass around us. Her mane, cut in a short bob, was a light brown, as was her tail. Her cutie mark was somewhat abstract, but to me looked like a cloud of pollen caught in a gust of wind.

On top of this, both her mane and tail were lined with small red flowers. The flowers had thick petals covered with yellow spots, and felt vaguely familiar, but I had never been good with plants.

Strangely, she smelled thickly of perfume, far more than I’d expect any pony to. It was powerful enough that I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d had some kind of accident with a perfume bottle.

“Um… H-Hello?” I offered.

She giggled. “Hello! Welcome home, Miss Starfall! I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you right away, but as it stands, I’m the only one in the castle with the knowledge to care for the plants, so I’ve been absolutely swamped.” She chuckled and sighed in a way that made her seem utterly exhausted.

“That’s… Fine,” I said. “You didn’t need to greet me. Don’t worry about prioritizing your work.”

“But Miss Starfall, greeting you is part of my work!”

I cocked my head in confusion. “Does Nightmare Moon have you taking care of the plants and watching the gate for anypony showing up? That’s a bit extreme.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that, Miss Starfall. The Princess hasn’t overworked me at all,” she assured me. “Actually, taking care of the plants isn’t even my job! It’s more of a passion project I took up while I didn’t have anything else to do.”

“Oh, okay. Well, that’s fine, then.”

She nodded, then looked up at me with a glimmer in her eyes. “May I just say, Miss Starfall, it’s an honor to finally meet you! I actually asked for this position specifically, and I was so happy when the Princess agreed! I promise I won’t let you down!”

“Uh-huh… That’s great, but…” I thought for a moment, trying to word my question politely, but couldn’t think of a way, so I just went for it. “Um, who are you, exactly?”

The tiny mare’s face flushed red, and a hoof shot up to cover her mouth. “O-Oh my, did the Princess not inform you? Oh, and I’ve just been blabbering, you must be so confused! I’m so terribly sorry, Miss Starfall.”

“It’s fine, really,” I assured her, “I just wanna know what’s going on. Who are you? And why do you keep calling me ‘Miss?’”

“R-Right.” She took a deep breath, nodded, and straightened out into a professional stance. “Well, hello, Miss Starfall. My name is Rafflesia, although most ponies call me Rae, and you’re free to do so as well, of course. I’ve been assigned as your personal assistant, here to take care of anything you need me to. I’ll also be in charge of your scheduling, setting up your meetings, assigning additional staff as I see fit, and so on. So, please, Miss Starfall, if you need anything at all, just ask me! I swear, I’ll live up to your expectations!”

“...Assistant.” I groaned. “What makes Nightmare Moon think I need an assistant? I’m not that important! What am I even gonna schedule? Naps?”

“U-Um, actually,” Rae said timidly, “the Princess didn’t propose the position. Like I said, I brought the idea up to her. She just approved it, and assigned me to it.”

“Oh. Really? Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I think you’re incapable of doing these things on your own!” Rae spoke quickly, nervous about offending me. “I just didn’t feel you should have to. Plus, if I’m being honest…” She lowered her voice to little more than a whisper. “I just really liked the idea of being able to work with the hero who saved Princess Nightmare Moon.”

“Hero!?” That floored me. “What kind of nonsense has she been spreading about me?”

“Oh, please, don’t feel like you need to be modest, Miss Starfall,” Rae said. “The Princess told us all about what happened: How Celestia had plotted to ambush her the moment her banishment ended, and how you swiped in, took the Elements of Harmony right from under Celestia’s nose, and then saved the Princess not only from the ponies sent out to ambush her, but also from the corrupting spirits sent out by Celestia to give her an excuse to wage war! You’re a true hero!”

I processed all of this for a moment, before finally speaking up again. “Um, sorry, corrupting spirits? This is the first I’m hearing about that.”

Rae looked shocked. “W-Well, I suppose I may have embellished her tales somewhat, but… Well, the Princess said that she was in danger of being overtaken by the Spirit of Vengeance, and that Loneliness had clouded her mind, but you were able to dispel all of that! Really, that’s amazing! You’re great!”

I groaned. “She really needs to choose her words better… Look, Rae, that was just some flowery language. All I did was stop Nightmare Moon from going down a dark path in her life. There were no spirits. Just bad decisions.”

Her face went red again. “O-Ohhh… I guess that does make a lot of sense.” She thought for a moment, then looked back up at me. “But, that doesn’t mean you’re not a hero! You still saved the Princess! Miss Starfall, you really are incredible!”

I winced and put my head in my hoof. “Ugh. Well, I don’t see it, but… I guess I can’t stop other ponies from thinking whatever they want. But can you at least stop calling me ‘miss?’”

Rae gasped. “Absolutely not! It’s bad enough the Princess has yet to give you a proper title for us to refer to you. I couldn’t possibly speak even less respectfully! The thought is just… Just…”

“Okay, okay,” I sighed, “call me whatever.”

“Thank you, Miss Starfall!” She beamed up at me. “Now, since introductions are all finished, on to the day’s itinerary!”

“I just got here,” I said, “do I really have things scheduled? Plus it’s what, like, midnight?”

She giggled. “Oh, no, there’s no meetings or anything. But, we have to find you a bedroom! The sooner that’s finished, the sooner I can fetch you some sheets and blankets and we can get you to bed.” She turned to lead my towards a hallway that branched off from the courtyard. “Now, as I had so much excess time, I went ahead and explored all of the empty rooms in the castle, and I believe I’ve managed to sort them from most to least luxurious. Of course, the rooms’ position within the castle is also important, so we can’t just put you up in the fanciest room and call it a day. We’ll go take a look at the top ten or twenty, and see if any of those look suitable for you, and then—”

I sighed and followed along after her, deciding it was best to just go along with it. If I was lucky, I might even be able to get to bed before dawn.

Chapter 15

I was woken up by a quiet but incessant tapping on my door. In the distance, I could just barely hear what sounded like a heated argument, and I had a good guess as to the ponies involved. Already, I was regretting my decision to pick a room near the throne room.

I say ‘room,’ but it was really more of a suite. There was a bedroom, with the basic needs—a bed, a wardrobe, and a night table—but nothing more. It was up to me to decorate it how I chose, but that would take time. There was a bathroom attached to the bedroom, with a massive shower and a luxurious tub. Between the bedroom and the hallway, there was a little room furnished with sofas, a low table, and a small, mostly empty bookshelf. This was the public-facing portion of my living space, where ponies would wait if they needed to see me. I didn’t expect it to get much use.

Finally, from the lobby area, there were three extra doors that led to rooms that, for now, were completely empty. Rafflesia told me they were mine to do with as I wanted, but I had no idea what I would use three extra rooms for, so for now they sat empty.

With a groan and a yawn, I pushed myself out of the absurdly large bed I’d been given and trudged over to the door. Unsurprisingly, I found Rafflesia on the other side, looking a good deal more anxious than I was sure the situation called for.

“Ah!” She jumped slightly at my appearance, then straightened out her back and stood at attention. “Good morning, Miss Starfall! I’m terribly sorry for waking you, but the Princess has asked for your presence in the throne room.”

I nodded groggily. “Yeah, I figured. Alright, let’s go, then—”

“Ah, w-wait!” I moved to leave, but Rae frantically waved a hoof to stop me. “You can’t go see the Princess like that, Miss Starfall!”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” I laughed sheepishly and scratched at my sleep-tousled mane. “I guess I should brush my hair, huh?”

“Y-You need to do more than that, Miss Starfall!” Rae looked almost horrified. “You’re meeting with the Princess! You haven’t even showered!”

“Oh, c’mon,” I said, “I can do all that after. Wouldn’t it be better to go see what she wants as soon as possible?”

“Absolutely not! I’m sorry, Miss Starfall, but I cannot allow you to meet with the Princess without taking care of yourself first. As your attendant, it’s my duty to make sure you’re presentable!”

“She’s my friend, she doesn’t care how ‘presentable’ I am,” I said. “It’s really not that big of a deal. I can just—”

“Miss Starfall, I really must insist! This is not up for debate, you must make yourself presentable for the Princess, no matter who you are.” She huffed and gave me a stern look. “Now, go and get yourself ready. I’ll drag you into the shower and do it myself if I have to!”

“Okay, okay, fine, I’m going,” I groaned.

It took almost an hour for me to get ready, largely thanks to Rae fussing over every little thing. Apparently, I wasn’t doing a good enough job, so it wound up devolving to her forcing me to sit still as she blow-dried my fur and carefully brushed my mane and tail. She wanted to put makeup on me, too, but thankfully, I was able to get her to back down from that.

By the time I finally made it out the door, the arguing out in the distance seemed to have died down. Rae trotted along behind me dutifully, a satisfied grin on her face, and I slowly made my way to the throne room.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was Nightmare Moon. She was slumped down in her throne, eyes closed and a hoof on her head like she had a migraine. Flanking the throne were two unicorns, legs crossed over their chests and looking pointedly away from each other with deep frowns.

I sighed. “I take it you two are still fighting, then?”

“Ah!” At seeing how informal I was being, Rae rushed in front of me and bowed deeply. “Um, g-good morning, Princess! I’ve brought you Starfall, like you asked.”

“Thank you, Rafflesia,” Nightmare Moon said. She sounded exhausted. “As always, you exceed my expectations. You may leave us, now.”

Rae grinned wider than I’d ever seen her, and bowed again. “My pleasure, Princess! I’m here to serve!” With that, she trotted away with an obvious skip in her step.

Once she was gone, Nightmare Moon sighed. “Good morning, Starfall. As you have likely surmised, the situation here is…”

“It’s awful!” Trixie cut in. “I can’t work with her! I don’t know why you decided to bring her in, but she is the most egocentric, self-absorbed, annoying, obstinate—”

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Starlight yelled over her. “Starfall, she isn’t fit to wield an Element of Harmony! You must know a lot if you knew to bring me in, so I really cannot fathom why you would choose her of all ponies to—”

“Don’t act like she’s on your side! Starfall is my friend, you’re just some random mare who—”

“Hah, as if you could have friends! Starfall is smart enough to—”

“ENOUGH!” Nightmare Moon roared over their bickering, and they both flinched back and stopped talking. “You two will cease this yammering this second, or I will have you both flung into the Everfree, do you understand!?”

They both nodded, their mouths shut tight.

“Good. Now, Starfall,” she said, turning her attention to me, “I summoned you here so that the four of us could discuss our next move. We have some difficult decisions to make.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Well, as I see it, attempting to bestow an Element upon Starlight at the moment would likely only weaken our overall bonds. Do you agree?”

I nodded, and Starlight grimaced. “Hey, don’t act like this is my fault,” she said. “If it wasn’t for her—”

A bolt of magic flew from Nightmare Moon’s horn and scorched the floor next to Starlight, which was enough to stop her rant in its tracks.

“We are not here to lay blame,” Nightmare Moon said, “but to plan our next step. Our time grows short, and without Starlight, we still require three more ponies to put our initial plan into action. I feel it is time to reassess its viability.”

“We’re not that tight on time,” Trixie said. “Starfall said it’d be like, a year before Discord got out, right? We’ve only used a couple months.”

“We cannot rely too heavily on Starfall’s timeline,” Nightmare Moon said. “It was an estimate to begin with, and it’s impossible to know how much our actions so far may have accelerated things.”

“Sorry,” Starlight cut in, “but I feel out of the loop here. What plans are we talking about? And what, exactly, are we planning for? You all have yet to give me a satisfactory explanation for what’s going on.”

“Right. So, in about a year, a being named Discord is going to escape his prison, and—”

I spent some time explaining everything to Starlight, including who I was, what we all wanted, and everything in between. She spent the time asking question after question, wondering about everything from what Discord actually is to how she factored into things in the first place. By the end, she seemed to be deep in thought, and she had a determined look in her eyes.

After some thought, Starlight nodded and stared at each of us. “Alright. We need to go reinforce his prison now, before he can break out.”

“That’s not for you to decide!” Trixie shouted at her. “For all we know, you could just be trying to stop me from getting any glory!”

“I’m not that petty,” Starlight said. “Do you really think you all can find three more ponies who can get along with all three of you before Discord wakes up? You’re betting the whole world on this!”

“I trust in Starfall,” Trixie said. “I’m sure she has a whole list of candidates!”

“Ehh…” I grimaced. “Starlight was the only one I was really all that confident in. I know of a lot of ponies, but it’s really hard to say how well they’d get along with us all, you know?”

“It is certainly a gamble,” Nightmare Moon said. “While I agree with Trixie’s reluctance to give up on the publicity we could gain, I fear we may have no choice.”

“I think we at least have some time,” I said, “and we haven’t really given Starlight a chance to shine. We’ve got a ton of old books and artifacts here. Who knows what she might be able to find that could help against Discord. We might not even need the Elements.”

“You’d have to have a lot of books for me to be at all confident in that,” Starlight said.

“Hmm…” Nightmare Moon looked thoughtful. “It could be worth trying.”

“We do have a lot of books,” I added. “It couldn’t hurt.”

“So, what, we’re just abandoning the Elements plan?” Trixie asked. “That sounds dumb.”

“We’re not abandoning anything,” Nightmare Moon said. “You and Starfall can continue searching for bearers while Starlight researches.”

“That works for me,” I said. “What are you gonna do, though?”

“I will continue building our fledgling nation,” Nightmare Moon said.

“Is that really the most pressing thing?” Trixie asked. “Having ponies serving you isn’t gonna help if we lose to Discord!”

“Of course it is pressing,” Nightmare Moon told her. “Having a national presence is our key to gaining access to Discord in the first place. We cannot simply sneak into Canterlot. Our best option is to utilize official channels.”

“Ohhh. Yeah, that’s smart,” Trixie said. “I knew we kept you around for a reason.”

Nightmare Moon laughed, then turned to me. “Starfall. Do you have a target you can set out towards?”

“Hmm…” I thought through all the ponies I knew of, wondering how each might fit in. “Actually,” I said, “I think I do. In fact, I think I know ponies who Trixie and I could each befriend on our own, so we can split up!”

“You’re gonna trust her to make a friend on her own?” Starlight asked.

“Trixie is perfectly likeable!” Trixie replied.

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “Probably.”

“Definitely!” Trixie said.

“If you two are confident, I see no reason to deny you,” Nightmare Moon said. “With that, I believe our courses are set. You two are dismissed. Starlight, allow me to show you to the vault.” Nightmare Moon nodded to Starlight, and the two of them left the throne room together.

“So,” Trixie said, turning to me, “who’s my new friend gonna be?”

“I think you’ll like her,” I said. “At least, as long as you don’t get too caught up on her family.”

“What does that mean?” Trixie looked mildly offended.

I laughed and shrugged. “Her sister is one of Twilight’s friends, is all. Just don’t hold that against her, okay?”

Trixie made a face at me, then huffed. “...Trixie will try.”

Chapter 9

I was not comfortable.

We weren’t even halfway down the path to the village before we were spotted. Word spread fast, and before long there were a dozen ponies standing at the entrance to town, watching our approach. They wore a mix of expressions. Plenty of inviting smiles, but a couple of them seemed fairly apprehensive. Not that I could blame them, really—they couldn’t be accustomed to other ponies showing up, and I had no idea what state the village was in at the moment.

Well, I had some idea, because there was one fairly major clue: Everypony still had their cutie marks.

Trixie must’ve noticed the same, because she gave me a slightly confused look. I could only shrug. “We must be earlier than I thought we’d be,” I told her.

“What if she’s not even here?” Trixie whispered back.

“She’ll be here,” I told her. “I’m pretty sure she founded the town or something.”

“Just pretty sure?”

“I’m sure! And even if I’m wrong, we can just wait it out. It shouldn’t be long before—”

“Hello!”

I jumped at the sudden voice. I’d been so focused on Trixie, I wasn’t even paying attention to how close we were, and now there was a pony I vaguely recognized standing just feet in front of me, wearing a slightly puzzled smile.

“Uh, hey!” I greeted the pony as naturally as I could manage. “I’m Starfall, and this here is Trixie. We’re travelers.”

“Ah, well, hello!” The pony, a purple unicorn mare, grinned cheerfully. “I’m Sugar Belle. Welcome to our town!”

Behind Sugar Belle, the other residents of the town watched the conversation with rapt attention. They still seemed largely wary of us, but seeing us talking with somepony they knew put them at least a little on ease.

“So,” Sugar Belle continued, “what brings you all the way up here? I can’t say we’re much of a tourist destination, and I don’t think there’s many travels that would bring somepony up through this mountain range.”

“Actually, we’re looking for someone,” I told her. “Is Starlight Glimmer living here? We have some business with her.”

Sugar Belle’s eyes went wide. “Starlight? Well, yes, she’s here, but… Well, this is strange. Starlight gave us the impression that she didn’t know anypony else in Equestria. May I ask what business you have with her?”

“It’s, uh, complicated,” I said.

“Uh-huh.” Sugar Belle’s smile flickered for a moment. She glanced back at the other ponies, but none of them were able to provide anything other than a few shrugs. When she turned her attention back to us, she started choosing her words carefully. “Well, how do you know Starlight, then?”

“We, uh…”

I hesitated, but Trixie took this as an opportunity to butt into the conversation herself. “We don’t know her,” she told Sugar belle.

“I see…” Sugar Belle started scrutinizing Trixie, which made her visibly uncomfortable.

“C’mon, what’s the big deal?” Trixie asked. “We just wanna be her friends!”

“Well, it’s just… Our town is very secluded, you see, and that’s no accident,” Sugar Belle tried to explain. “We wouldn’t want anypony to feel that they need to leave.” Behind her, some ponies nodded their heads in agreement.

“We’re not gonna make her leave,” Trixie said, “we just wanna talk! She doesn’t even know us.”

“Trixie,” I said quietly, “they’re worried we’re lying.”

“What reason would we have to lie?”

I sighed. “Think about it from their perspective,” I told her. “On the off chance we do know her, why would both we and her lie about it? It would probably mean she was trying to get away from us.”

Recognition crossed Trixie’s face. “Ohhh,” she said quietly.

I nodded, then turned to Sugar Belle. “Okay, I know how this might look, but it’s true that Starlight doesn’t know us. If you’re too worried, why not go ask Starlight first? If she turns us away, you’ll never have to let us see her.”

Sugar Belle thought about that for a second, then trotted back and started whispering with the other ponies. After a bit of deliberation, she returned to us and nodded her head. “Okay,” she said, “that works, but on one condition. We don’t want you to be able to follow us and figure out where she lives, so we’ll need you to wait in that empty house over there, okay?” She pointed to one of the homes nearby. It looked like all the others, but the door was swinging open, and I could see that there was nothing inside.

“That works,” I said, and waved for Trixie to follow me. “Come on, Trixie, let’s go wait. It shouldn’t be too long.”

Trixie followed along, and behind her came another pony, a stallion with a white coat. After we stepped into the house, he shut the door behind us, and presumably took up a position outside to guard us and make sure we didn’t do anything sneaky.

Trixie tried looking out the window to follow the movement of the other ponies, but I just sat down in the middle of the room and sighed. “Leave it alone, Trixie,” I told her. “Let’s not give them any more reason to suspect us.”

“But—” Trixie glanced between me and the window, then groaned and trotted over to take a seat beside me. She lowered her voice and whispered to me. “Are we really going along with this? I mean, what if she turns us away? Trixie did not come all the way across Equestria to leave without even speaking to this mare!”

“And what would you suggest, huh?” I whispered back.

“Well, if I could see where they went, we could wait until after dark and sneak over to her house!”

“You realize that’s exactly why they stuck us in here, right? To prevent that?”

“Well, yes, but that’s just because they don’t know why we’re here! It’s not like we’re bad ponies!” Trixie huffed. “This is to save Equestria! Surely, being a little sneaky is justifiable for that, right? You’re the one who kept saying how important this pony is!”

I sighed. “Maybe. Still, don’t go around acting suspicious. If they saw you at the window, we’d be kicked out for sure, and then they’d be on guard all night.”

“But we have to know where she is!”

“I already know where she lives.”

“Oh. Well, why didn’t you say that sooner?” Trixie pouted. “You didn’t have to lecture me like some filly.”

“I just worry about you compromising on your morals,” I told her.

“I am not a bad pony! Bending the rules here and there isn’t going to suddenly turn me evil!”

“I—Okay, you’re right. I should have more faith in you. I’m sorry,” I told her. “Anyway, this is probably all moot anyway, because I can’t think of any reason Starlight would turn us away. We’ll just go talk to her, explain the situation, and I’m sure it’ll all turn out just—”

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding purple light, and the world vanished. It came back a split second later, but it was different. The empty room was gone, replaced instead with a dim, cozy study. The walls were all lined with stuffed bookshelves, and there was a desk at the far end with the room’s only light flickering out from a weak lamp.

“Gah!” Trixie yelped at the sudden change, and scrambled up onto her hooves. I followed her lead, standing up next to her, and steeled myself to face the third pony in the room.

Starlight Glimmer sat at her desk, leaning over an old, tattered book that she seemed wholly engrossed in. Just beyond the book, laying unassumingly on the desk, was a branch that I recognized easily as the ‘staff’ that Starlight would soon use to take over the town.

“Wh-wh-wh—” Trixie stammered, struggling to regain her cool. “What the heck! Where are we? Who are you? What’s going on?”

Starlight snorted out a short laugh. She didn’t bother turning to look at us, still reading her book. “Pretty sure I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking who you are.”

“What? I don’t even know where we are!” Trixie replied.

“We’re in Starlight’s house,” I said. I put a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder to try and calm her, and it seemed to work a bit. Then I turned to Starlight and cleared my throat. “Uh, hello Starlight,” I said. “I’m Starfall, and this is—”

“Yes, yes, Trixie, I know,” Starlight interrupted. “But who are you? Nopony should know I’m here.”

“That’s… Complicated,” I said. “We came to ask for your help.”

“I can handle complicated,” Starlight said, “and you have a lot of explaining to do. So explain.”

“Well, uh…”

As I struggled, Trixie cut in. “We’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony!” She declared proudly. “And we think you might be able to use one of them to help save Equestria!”

“Pfft…” That got Starlight to look away from her book. She broke out into a fit of laughter, and as she laughed, she stood up and turned to look at us. “Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“But it’s true!” Trixie said. “I mean, look, they’re right here,” she told her, pointing at the Elements strapped to our legs.

“Yeah, sure,” Starlight said, “and I’m the reincarnation of Princess Luna.” Suddenly, her smile vanished. Her features hardened into a glare, and her horn lit up as she whipped her staff around and pointed it at us. “Do you think I’m an idiot? You track me down in the middle of nowhere, in a town I designed to be unfindable, knowing things that you have no business knowing, and you expect me to believe some fairy tale story about mythological rocks? Please. You two aren’t half as clever as you think you are.”

Trixie and I both took a step back, away from the staff aimed straight at us. “Look, Starlight, just hear us out,” I said. “I know it sounds unbelievable, but these are really the Elements! We came here because you’re the strongest unicorn I know of, and Equestria is in danger!”

“How do you know who I am?” Starlight reared on me. “How did you know where my town was? My house? Who are you?”

“What do you mean, your house?” Trixie asked.

“Hah!” Starlight scoffed. “You know, I wasn’t sure if I was getting ahead of myself hiding listening devices all over town, but it turns out it was a pretty smart idea! Yeah, I heard everything.”

“Well, then you should know that we’re telling the truth,” Trixie said. “You heard us talking about saving Equestria!”

“I know you believe that,” Starlight replied, “but that doesn’t make it true. This one,” she said, pointing at me, “knows way too much for me to just blindly go along with all this! She’s clearly hiding something!”

“The truth isn’t exactly believable,” I told her.

“Try me.”

“Well, I… Uh…”

“Just tell her,” Trixie told me. “This is getting us nowhere.”

I groaned. “Fine. The truth is, I’m from another world, and I know about the future of this world because it’s a story from my world.”

Starlight stared at me for a long minute, then turned to Trixie. “You believe this pony?”

Trixie shrugged. “It explains how she knew Nightmare Moon was gonna come back.”

“Nightmare Moon?” Starlight faltered, and the staff clattered to the floor. “Are you sure she’s coming back?”

“Oh, she already came back,” Trixie said. “We stopped her, and now she’s helping us stop the next guy.”

Starlight glanced back and forth between us, occasionally looking down to sneak looks at the Elements on our legs. “But… But that’s…” She started mumbling to herself as she thought deeply. After a minute, she turned back to her desk, pulled out a pen and paper, and started frantically scribbling some kind of notes.Trixie and I just looked at each other, unsure of what to do as she spent several slow, silent minutes working through her thoughts.

Finally, she dropped her pen and turned back to us. “You’re… You’re telling the truth?”

We both nodded.

She leaned on her desk with her head in her hooves. “But… Why me?”

“Like I said, you’re the strongest unicorn I know of,” I told her.

“Oh, stop lying,” she said.

“No, seriously.” I walked up beside her and hesitantly put a hoof on her shoulder. “We need your help.”

She looked up at me, then down at the Element on my leg. She seemed to be at a loss for words.

Trixie walked up to her other side and leaned against the desk. “C’mon, it’s worth a shot, right?”

Starlight thought, then said, “What do I have to do?”

“Well, they’re the Elements of Harmony,” Trixie said, “so we need to be on the same wavelength. So, step one is to be friends.”

“I don’t have friends,” Starlight said.

“Well, you do now,” Trixie told her. “Right, Starfall?”

I nodded. “Yup.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” I told her. “So, are you in?”

Starlight stared down at her desk for a bit. Finally, she pushed herself to her hooves and nodded confidently. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m in.”