Pillow Thoughts II

Pillow Thoughts II

Chapter 10
Spelling the Truth

A distant thunder echoed throughout Ponyville as raindrops hit hard the lavender unicorn’s face. Wind ruffled her mane silently, scattering dead leaves and dust while small clumps of hay filled the air with a wet, mouldy scent. She could still feel the strange magic that surrounded her, grasping her, not letting her move.

The alicorn stood between Twilight and her friends and kept looking at her as water drops slithered their way across its indigo mask and gathered underneath its chin. Its indigo costume darkened even further as it soaked up the water, twisting and turning various shades of black with glimmering traces of violet and amethyst.

Lightning lit up the alicorn’s features for a brief moment as it stood there, motionless, with its head turned towards the unicorn, its blind gaze piercing her skin like a dead animal’s cold stare, frightening her, making her want to turn away and run.

Other ponies started coming out of their homes, out of shops and buildings, their small hooves clicking on the icy cobblestone. Their mumbles and gasps were covered by yet another loud thunder that fell closer, announcing the upcoming fury of the storm. Petrified gazes from beyond foggy windows shined eerily in the golden light of the few streetlamps that surrounded the place as the sound of rain grew stronger.

Suddenly, the alicorn shifted completely, turning its back to Twilight. Everypony went dead silent as it approached the unicorn’s friends. It then stopped once more, as if a fleeting thought passed unexpectedly through its mind. It started to notice that the rain became heavier on its back and shoulders, but that wasn’t what bothered it. No, it was something else. Something changed in its plan.

Twilight found herself released from the alicorn magic’s grasp, firmly landing on the hard ground underneath her. She hit her front right hoof and knew she’d be feeling the pain of that later. Without a word, or even a hint of compassion, the alicorn made a swift gesture and flapped its wings a few times as its feathers started falling, in spirals, like small whirlwinds of indigo snow. The ponies watched as it shredded its own wings, which were indeed fake. Along with them, the indigo mask dissolved, revealing the silvery-blue mane of a once trickster pony. Her cerulean coat emerged from under the disappearing costume and it became darker under the weight of the rain. Her horn glimmered briefly with a green light as Trixie turned her gaze once more towards the lavender mare. It was expressionless.

The crowd’s mumbles picked up once more as they recognized her and a few angry ponies even stepped forward in a confronting way. With a gesture of her head, quicker than a blink, the cerulean mare cast a narrow but deep cut in the ground which pushed the crowd back, separating them from the mane six, as pieces of cobblestone went flying everywhere. Twilight’s friends looked in horror as the earth trembled for a brief moment, sending vibrations through their hooves, casting the dread of an unspoken warning.

The trickster frowned. Her horn lit up once more, menacingly. The strong, green light heaved morbid shadows around her as she made it clear, without so much as uttering a whisper, that she wanted this to remain between her and Twilight.

The lavender pony’s eyes widened as she saw a ring of strange origin going around Trixie’s horn. It was less of a ring actually and more of a metallic, golden spiral, encrusted with dark green emeralds and other precious stones which Twilight could not identify. The symbols encrusted in it were unlike anything she ever saw.

“Is that—Is that some sort of—of… magic amplifier?” she asked, her voice trembling, a twisted form of anger clearly making its way through her words. “Hm? Is that how you did all this?”

The trickster’s features were shadowed by a disgusted look as the lavender pony continued.
“Why, Trixie?” she asked, her legs trembling either out of being cold or being afraid. Or both. “Why would you do something like this?”

She wanted to know, she wanted to get an answer out of her.

Puddles began forming around them as Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity slowly started exchanging elusive glances, trying to ignore the wind’s merciless bite and the tiredness that crept its way into their bodies. They slowly took a step closer to Trixie. Then another… and another… determined to put an end to this.

Trixie ignored them as if they wouldn’t be able to pose any sort of trouble for her. What was troubling, indeed, was how Twilight managed to guess her identity. Well, maybe not exactly ‘troubling’, more like ‘curious’. She planned everything carefully. She really did. Of course, not every single detail, yet she took extra care in concealing herself in every way possible.

“Trixie,” said the lavender mare in an exhausted voice, “we can still stop this. Just tell me how we can help you, what—what do you need? What do you want?”

Her questions were drowned out by a thunderclap as the wind grew stronger. The trickster, now soaked to the bone like the others, tilted her head, squinting her eyes slightly, looking at Twilight as if she was the oddest being in Equestria. She then noticed movement with the corner of her eye, turned her gaze and saw that the other five were starting to surround her.

The cerulean trickster turned her head back to Twilight and continued to ignore them, along with their quivering hooves and their agitated breathing. She looked at the inferior unicorn, at that uncomprehensive, annoying and absolutely ridiculous pony that she still couldn’t fully understand. Such a silly unicorn—a unicorn who could not see the greatness in magic, a unicorn who would cast aside her own powers in favor of the companionship of lesser ponies… How could she live like that?

Trixie took a step towards the lavender mare, while sensing that the other five ponies tensed up, getting ready to jump at a single wrong move. Cautiously, she took another step, then another until she was close enough. The scent of sweat and fear made her cringe as she recognized those elements as being her own once, a long time ago. When she had been weak. Now, she was strong, stronger than anypony else. Celestia herself feared her.

Trixie opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to find the right words. What could she ask? What did she want to know? What did she need?

“You are the one who is fake, Twilight Sparkle,” she said in a tired, semi-hoarse voice. “You and everyone else.”

She turned to the other five who, instinctively, took a step back. “You called me out for being a trickster, for making things up, for ‘showing off’ as you put it,” she continued, anger growing in her voice. “It is not me who is fake, I was simply putting on a show.”

“We are not fake, we never were,” the unicorn started, making Trixie turn back to her.
The cerulean mare frowned and pointed at her, not without heavy traces of superiority in her voice. “If you think the ponies you know are ‘real’, then let me show you the biggest lie of your life!”

Her horn glowed a bright green and, before anypony could react, she turned around, sending a strong succession of green arrows towards Twilight’s friends, hitting every single one of them. Rainbow was caught mid-air as she was trying to dodge them, which sent her crashing on her back. Rarity and Fluttershy fell on their sides and Pinkie was reduced to silence, a green arrow piercing right through her heart. Applejack tumbled backwards as well, under the weight of the hit.

“NO!” shouted the lavender mare but her words refused to leave her throat as she felt it grasped by an unknown force. Trixie was facing her once more, almost choking Twilight with her magic.

“Be quiet,” she hissed, “and listen.” The cerulean mare proudly straightened herself as Twilight’s friends slowly started getting up from the cold ground, the arrows vanishing.

“Ow, that hurt,” mumbled Rainbow and the she quickly perked up her ears. “AJ? You okay?”

“Ah’m fine, Ah think,” the reply came swiftly. “Was that what Ah think it was?” she asked as she slowly helped Pinkie up. Rarity and Fluttershy nodded at each other, making sure everypony was alright, then turned towards Trixie.

With a triumphant glare, the mare moved away from Twilight, as if exposing the unicorn to her own friends. She released her, allowing her to gasp for air.

“Here you are, Twilight Sparkle. See what your so-called friends truly think of you!” she said, even with a mocking bow towards the crowd of ponies that were still there, looking from afar, not daring to intervene. “Come one, come all, to see how harmonious the Elements of Harmony REALLY are!”

Twilight’s ears dropped, looking at her friends, then back at Trixie, then back at her friends once more. They seemed a bit scared of approaching her as if some awkward secret, a terrible hidden thing, might just unravel in front of them, possibly breaking bonds of years-long friendships.

“Are you all right?” the lavender mare asked, taking two steps towards them.

Looking at each other, her friends nodded.

Twilight’s mind was trying to keep up but her emotional side started interfering. What if they don’t really like me? What if they were just using me all this time because I’m smart and I know things? What if Trixie is right? …what if this means the end of our friendship?

She stopped and looked at each of them. Sighing, she lifted her head and did the only thing she could do. “Listen, you guys… if there is something you want to tell me or if, you know, something is not right anymore, I’ll—I’ll understand. Really,” she said, giving her best smile. “I know you went through a lot because of me and if this means the end of our friendship, well, it’s been great. It really has been. I don’t think I’m saying this enough,” she looked at the ground for a brief moment, as water trickled down from her wet mane. She then looked up at them again and nodded. “Thank you for everything.”

The mares looked at each other curiously for a moment, and then Applejack took a few steps towards the lavender mare. “As Rarity would probably put it,” she started and Twilight flinched a little, expecting the worst, “are y’all dim or somethin’?”

There it was. The beginning of the end. Applejack really thought Twilight was… “dim”.

“Wait, what?” the unicorn asked.

“Sugahcube, we’ve all been friends for so long. Do y’all really think we haven’t said everything we ever wanted to say to each other? Isn’t honesty part of being friends?” she asked, giving her a warm smile, as best as she could while freezing.

“Of course, darling,” Rarity said with a smile, “what did you expect?”

“Oh, so, is everypony okay with… me?” she asked, sheepishly.

“Yeah! Why wouldn’t we be, genius?” Rainbow asked, waving her hooves. “This isn’t even something we should worry about! I mean, the real worry for me is ponies finding out that Applejack and I are together,” she said in a loud voice, only to shove her own hoof in her mouth as reality kicked in. Eyes wide, she turned towards the crowd of ponies that looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“Ah swear,” Applejack whispered to Twilight with a straight face, “there are moments in which I don’t really know how this relationship still works.”

Pinkie giggled and Fluttershy covered her muzzle with her hooves, blushing a bit and mumbling an “Oh my…” underneath.

“Oh Celestia, what have I done?” the blue pegasus squeaked, planting her face in her hooves. “Oh well, so long my-chance-to-join-the-Wonderbolts!”

“That was it? THAT was what was bothering you? Oh, gee, will y’all relax?” Applejack intervened, placing a tender hoof on her marefriend’s head. “Big deal. Ah don’t think ponies care that much about such things anyway. Not even the Wonderbolts!”

“But what if they do?” she continued squeaking.

“Well, if they do, honey,” the orange earth pony concluded, lowering Rainbow’s hooves with her own as she looked her in the eyes, “y’all just show ‘em that it doesn’t matter.”

The pegasus lowered her ears and looked away, not very convinced of Applejack’s words.

“Something tells me that we should’ve had this conversation a long time ago, Rainbow…”

She looked back at her and nodded. “I’m sorry for being silly about it, AJ. We really should talk more about how we feel and stop trying to hide—“

“ENOUGH!” thundered Trixie, her fury building up inside her. “This is not how it’s supposed to be!” She stomped her hooves in anger, her horn letting out tiny gushes of green sparks. “Nopony is that honest! Nopony does the things you do! You are… abnormal!” she snarled at them in disbelief. They were supposed to be angry at each other, to show how dishonest they had been all this time, to finally reveal their true thoughts.

“That’s how the world goes,” Rainbow replied, with a little more courage in her voice. “Some ponies have secrets, it’s normal! It’s their choice. So what if we’re a bit abnormal?” she asked, pointing at herself and the other five, then turned back to Trixie. “You’re abnormal too, you know—I mean, just because we don’t have anything significant to hide from each other… you start fussing about like whiny bitch.”

“Rainbow!” Applejack gasped and the frowned towards her marefriend.

“Oops? Heh, um… I guess this spell is really effective, huh?” the Pegasus excused herself with an apologetic grin on her face.

Trixie was awestruck, her jaw hanging loose, as were the others. Snapping out of it, and taking advantage of the moment, Twilight quickly tried using her magic to grab the ring and pull it off Trixie’s horn. A green force-field shielded the ring from her as the cerulean unicorn turned to her, with a glimpse of panic in her eyes.

“How dare you!?”

“I can’t grab it with my magic!” Twilight shouted to her friends. “Take the ring from her!”

She knew it was stupid to just blurt their only plan out loud, but it made no difference. Their intentions have been clear all along. They had to stop Trixie before she could harm anypony else.

“Get away from me!” the trickster yelled as she backed away, terrified. She had lowered her guard for a few precious seconds and that was all it took to almost lose the ring. The mane six started cornering her into the side of a building. Her heart was pounding. She had to bring herself together, she must not give up so easily.

Her features suddenly contorted in a gaze of fury as she waved her horn towards them, screaming. A flash of green light met with a lavender one, as Twilight protected herself and her friends from Trixie’s spell. The impact threw everypony away from the explosion, scattering them. The cerulean mare was thrown into the side of the building as the others hit the ground hard.

Twilight rapidly got up, still dizzy from the shield-spell she used. “Trixie, listen to me! We don’t want to fight you!”

“I proved my point to Celestia! I don’t need you and your freaks to defy me!” the cerulean unicorn shouted, almost desperately.

“Why are you doing this? What do you want from us?!” Twilight replied as she used another protective spell against a flying stone hurled at her by Trixie. The cerulean unicorn started running towards a more open space.

Rainbow seized the chance and dashed towards the trickster, hooves ready to grab the source of her power. Trixie was quicker though and, with a swish of her magic, she sent the pegasus crashing to the ground. Suddenly, she got tackled from the side by an unexpected orange assailant as both of them hit the dirt. Applejack gave Trixie a mere second to regain her posture. Before the cerulean unicorn could do anything, the earth pony turned around and, without showing the slightest remorse, bucked her right in the face.

The mare groaned and hit the ground, tumbling once more, as lightning struck one of the nearby houses, setting it on fire. The orange pony panted heavily, angry, as the wind ruffled her mane, surrounding her with bits of ash and glowing embers.

“Keep yer filthy magic away from her,” Applejack snarled at the cerulean mare.

Despite the rain pouring down, the fire seemed to have started spreading with an unnatural force. Passing the earth pony and galloping as fast as they could, Pinkie and Rarity headed right for the ring. All of a sudden, before they reached her, Trixie got up. She focused her magic, ignoring the fact that her muzzle was bleeding. With a gesture that also provoked a sharp pain in her abdomen, she surrounded herself with green aura and started lifting herself off the ground. Her horn brightened once more as several rocks went flying towards the two ponies.

Quickly, Rarity used her own magic to parry a projectile. Then another one, and another as Pinkie rushed towards the mare. Behind the pink earth pony, Rainbow, Twilight and Applejack came galloping.

Rarity’s blue magic shined in front of them, skillfully clearing the way, clashing with the unicorn’s green tricks. “Twilight!” the white mare shouted as she focused her energy towards their main target.

While still running, Twilight got the message and focused as well. Two bright streams of magic—one purple, one blue—intertwined and shot towards the levitating mare who, taken by surprise, still managed to dodge in the last second.

Wiping the blood from her lower lip with her hoof, Trixie levitated herself even higher, only to be tackled from behind by somepony who, apparently, managed to sneak behind her, even at that height. Fluttershy tried grabbing the ring with her hooves as both ponies started falling. She barely managed to touch it when an electric shock went through her entire body.

The cerulean mare gained control once more and pushed off the yellow pegasus who would’ve fallen to her death had Rainbow not quickly caught her. Fluttershy was in pain, with her eyes shut. Rainbow flew away with her and gently put her down, away from the fight, into the hooves of the ponies that were still on the other side of the crack. They nodded to Dash, letting her know that they’ll take care of her fallen friend.

“Nice try, Shy,” she whispered to her, then, reluctantly, returned to the others who needed her help.

After receiving a reassuring nod from Rainbow, Twilight turned once more towards the cerulean mare. They couldn’t use magic nor could they touch the ring, that was clear to them so far.

“Trixie!” she shouted, not without a glint of anger in her voice. “You are not giving us any choice! We do not want to hurt you!”

“Speak fer yerself,” Applejack added as she came close to her marefriend. The bitterness in her voice sent shivers down Twilight’s spine as she never heard, or saw, her friend act like this before. “Twilight,” Applejack continued, “Ah don’t think any friendship lesson or good magic can save this one. That ain’t no rotten apple… that’s a rotten apple tree. No good can come out of it.”

“Listen to your friends, Twilight Sparkle!” the trickster shouted to her. “Come face me alone, unless you want anypony else getting hurt because of your cowardliness.”

The lavender mare looked at her, then back at her friends. She sighed. “Whatever happens, do not intervene. Not even you, Rarity,” she said, in a way that nopony could contradict her.

“But,” the white mare started, only to be cut off by her friend.

“No. If she wants me, then I’ll go. I do not want to risk anypony else—“

“That’s bullhay!” Rainbow shouted to her. “We are stronger together!”

“Yes, but maybe not this time… Everything has a meaning and a purpose. That’s what Ophil taught us, didn’t he? We trusted him so far…” she concluded, and with a hesitant look on her face she surrounded herself in a strong, purple aura, as she lifted herself off the ground.

She reached the same level of height, hoping that her choice was the right one. All those lessons she learned, everything she did—there had to be a way to solve this, to make it better. She tried to not look down and focused on the task at hoof. Celestia trusted her. She had to do her best, it was a test, it was all another test that she had to pass.

Lightning broke the dark sky in half as the two mares looked at each other.

“Trixie, listen to me,” she started, calmly, shouting to the other pony who was farther away. “I know that you suffered. I know how it is to be considered awkward or not being able to fit in properly.”

“You know nothing of such things,” the cold response came. “Don’t pretend you understand me. In fact, let’s be honest here. No, I mean it. Let’s be honest!”

Her horn lit up and a green light was cast towards Twilight, who expected that. She didn’t make the slightest gesture of blocking it as it hit, almost making her lose her concentration and fall. The Truth Spell made her feel scared. It made her feel angry. She knew that she had these emotions but she never expected them to be so strong. So overwhelming.

“You were saying?” the trickster mocked her. “You say you understand me?”

The lavender mare shifted, trying to get some sort of control over her emotions. There was no use fighting it, but she could at least try to channel it.

“I… don’t,” she replied, half-surprised by that fact. “I really don’t understand you… and I probably never will. But I think I understand why you are doing this.”

“I doubt it.”

“We all want to be accepted in one form or another, Trixie. You want to belong.”

“Horsehay. Meaningless words thrown together.”

“Trixie, listen…”

“No!” she shouted. “I’m done listening!”

Lighting up her horn, she cast a destructive spell towards the other unicorn.

Twilight dodged it. “This is your last warning!” she shouted back, furiously.

“Do your worst, Twilight Sparkle!” the reply came, along with three big rocks hurled towards her opponent.

Wish a gesture of her horn, Twilight obliterated the projectiles in a blinding light. Her horn then lit up in a strong purple glow as she materialized a glowing fishnet out of thin air and threw it over Trixie.

The cerulean mare did not back down and, using her magic, cut away through the trap, grinning. “Is that all you can do, student of Celestia?” She swiftly created three green-glowing swords that came flying towards Twilight. With a shield, the pony dispersed their attack.

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted from below. “Stop holdin’ back! Just take care of her, once and fer all!”

“We are given magic to do good,” Rarity added. “We tried everything, just end this!”
Pinkie Pie came rushing back from the crowd of ponies, where she had previously ran to. “Fluttershy is feeling worse, she needs help!”

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Rainbow.

“Nopony knows, she’s just breathing heavily and seems to be choking,” she explained and then looked up. “Twilight, whatever you decide to do, do it faster!”

The purple unicorn heard all that, as she dodged yet another attack from Trixie. Everything that her friends, along with Celestia, taught her was going against what she had to do now. Deciding in the last second, she charged her horn with as much energy as she had left and, closing her eyes, she sent that blast of purple energy towards her opponent. Trixie instantly responded with a thick, green bolt of magic that clashed with Twilight’s.

The impact created a shockwave that almost knocked the other ponies off their hooves as it spread the fire even further. The crowd started running away, terrified. Two ponies managed to carry Fluutershy to safety, away from the flames, while others desperately tried finding ways to put it out.

Trixie’s face was contorted in maddening fury as her bolt started gaining advantage over Twilight’s spell. Lightning lit up their faces once more, the storm giving out its last strikes, as Twilight did her best to control the powerful magic. She felt it was too much for her. Celestia herself could not control it. How could she?

With ever second, Trixie’s spell came closer and closer. Purple sparks surrounded the lavender unicorn’s horn as she used all the energy she had to protect herself from the inevitable impact.

It didn’t hurt. There was no loud bang. She just stopped, mid-air. Empty of everything. She failed. Not only herself, or her friends, or even Celestia. She failed Equestria.

With these last thoughts, Twilight Sparkle started slowly plummeting to the ground, defeated.

Ponyville was burning, casting deep shadows on Rainbow’s face as she stood there, on the wet ground, with the lavender unicorn in her arms. Floating embers found their demise as they touched the cobblestones around them. The smell of burning hay surrounded the place as the only sounds that echoed in the once happy town were now ones of loss and despair.

Rainbow didn’t usually listen to anypony, and Twilight was no exception. She couldn’t just sit there and watch her friend die. She barely managed to catch her before she hit the cobblestone below.

Now she was sitting there, with the others near her, watching over her friend as Trixie slowly descended. Despite everything that Twilight said to Rainbow, how could she not hate that cerulean mare?

Ophil’s words rang through her head.

A pony that fears itself.

Had their journey been in vain? Why did they travel so long and so far only to find something they could’ve found in other ways. There had to be other ways to find out that Trixie was the alicorn, so why this journey? Why did Celestia so carelessly sent them off with so little to gain.

A pony that fears itself.

An old pony’s mumblings on a distant island won’t help her now. She feared for herself, she feared for her friends and Ponyville, but mostly she feared for her marefriend. She feared that she won’t be able to protect her.

A pony that fears. Itself.

Then Rainbow realized something. It was almost too sudden, too clear, and made her mentally slap herself for not realizing it sooner. It might probably be too late for it now, but it was all she had. She actually saw it. She actually, really, truly understood.

“I get it!” she shouted, making the cerulean mare stop in her tracks, just a few feet away from them. Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack perked up their ears as Rainbow continued, looking at Trixie. “I get it now, I really do… and it’s okay to be scared.”

“I don’t know what you are saying,” Trixie replied, dismissively, and started approaching again.

“Twilight was wrong… but so were you! You are not doing this to show us our own, true faces. You are not doing this to prove we are fake towards each other.”

“Yes, I am,” she replied.

“No, you’re not. I mean, look at what you are doing. You are using a Truth Spell on all of us.”

“Yes, so you can see that you are all full of lies and deceitful acts!”

“No, Trixie… that’s what you think you are doing,” she replied, as the rain toned down. The sound of fire crackling filled the air, along with the smell of burnt wood. “Look again. You came to us, a long time ago, expecting to be accepted as somepony you were not.”

“No.”

“You wanted to be seen as great and powerful because you felt small and powerless in your own eyes.”

“Stop it!” the mare firmly said, her voice trembling.

“Isn’t it true?” she asked.

“Stop it!!”

“Tell me if I’m wrong or not.”

“You ARE wrong!”

“Yes, but only because the picture is not full. It’s not complete. I know because… I understand,” she said, slowly placing Twilight on the ground, letting the mare rest. She got up and continued. “You are making us unable to lie and you cover yourself in a disguise. Don’t you see, Trixie?”

“See what?” she asked, her heart skipping a jump, almost as if somehow, deeply, she always knew the answer.

Rainbow approached her, gently. “You want us to look at you. To see you for who you really are… You are not a trickster, you are not a bad pony… you just don’t know who you are yet and who you can become.”

Trixie kept looking at her, unsure of what those words made her feel.

“Trixie,” she continued, “you want to belong, but you don’t know where you could belong.”

The mares looked at each other then back at Rainbow. The cerulean unicorn felt a lump in her throat and backed off a few steps, unable to say anything more. How dare she say such things to her? How dare she…

“You and your stupid elements cannot summarize life like that!” the mare shouted, tears forming in her eyes. “It doesn’t work like that! There is so much more you are not talking about! There is HATRED and POVERTY! There is PAIN and s—suffering! There is… fear!”

“Yes, Trixie. You are right. You are absolutely right. The elements focus on the good things because those things are more powerful than the bad ones.”

“How can you say that when you so cowardly used them only to defend your own?! What about me? What about other ponies? You are a coward and you always will be!”

“Perhaps… I know that I am afraid. I am afraid of you. Of what you might do to me, or the ponies I love and care for. I am angry at you. I am furious at Celestia herself! It seems like she does absolutely nothing each time trouble appears… yet she does, doesn’t she? She does so much more than you and I could ever imagine. This, this too… this is meant to go the way it does.”

“What do you mean?”

“We are both cowards, Trixie. You and I… I am utterly afraid of being who I am in the eyes of others. It would be too much to handle, too much to lose if things go wrong… while you—you are also afraid of being who you truly are.”

“Lies.”

“I cannot lie, remember? That is the point of all this, isn’t it? To make us unable to lie to you. Even if you did not realize it at first.”

“You are wrong!”

“Then answer me this. Just this. One question,” Rainbow continued as she looked her in the eyes. “Why did you give up your disguise?”

The other ponies looked at each other once more, daring a small hope. Applejack smiled as she finally understood that Rainbow was right. “Fer a silly pony,” she mumbled to herself, “y’all sure are smart, Rainbow Dash.”

The pegasus continued. “You could’ve simply said that Twilight was wrong in guessing who you are. But you didn’t. You wanted to be found. You wanted to be seen.”

“She guessed out of luck!”

“No, Trixie…”

“Shut up!”

“I really, truly think you are Great and Powerful…”

“I said shut up!!”

“…just not in the way you imagine.”

Tears started running down the cerulean mare’s face. She felt angry and alone. She never lost those feelings, she merely buried them somewhere deep within her. Now, there she was, facing them again.

Rainbow nodded. “You spoke of our Elements. There are plenty more to be discovered, and not only here. We are scattered throughout Equestria,” she said, extending her hoof towards the sky and then placing it back on the ground. “We have to be. We met one, Ophil Gryasa. I only understood now that he represented the Element of Wisdom… and, Trixie, if you want to belong so much, why don’t you become one? Why don’t you become an Element? To use your strong magic to bring good to the world?”

“I am no element, you foolish pony,” the bitter voice of the unicorn uttered the first true words that night, that came from her quivering heart.

“Neither were we. We were not born as Elements of Harmony. We discovered them within, we learned to become what we needed the most.”

“That’s complete and utter nonsense. You said so yourself, I am no more than a coward! What Element of Harmony could I possibly be?” she asked, trying to back away, grinding her teeth, trying to fight back the tears that kept flowing.

“The Element of Courage,” the pegasus concluded.

The mare’s back legs gave and she found herself sitting, her tears mixing with the last drops of rain as she succumbed to the pain that followed her for so many years. Still, there was something more, something new—a glitter of hope. A solution. A salvation.

This was not another escape, it was an end. A possible end to her loneliness. She kept crying, overwhelmed by her emotions, the true victory that she had searched for so long being there, within her reach, for the first time in her life.

Somewhere, in the distance, a few brave ponies gathered to try and put out the flames. Their focused but worried looks reflected in Trixie’s eyes as she looked at them. She looked back at Rainbow and then at the lavender mare that was lying on the ground.

It was clear that the pegasus’ words resonated with something insider of her. Rainbow gently approached the mare. “It takes a lot of courage to exist,” she whispered. “Stop running away from yourself. You are who you are, and you are given limits so you can overcome them. What you cannot overcome, is not given to you to do.” She placed a hoof on the mare’s shoulders.

Trixie felt that touch, that honest and gentle touch. It made her feel… better. Still, she shook her head, her crying reduced to silent sighs. “How could I start to mend something that will never be perfect?”

“I don’t know,” the reply came. “But we all do our best. That is what matters.”

“But where would I begin?” the cerulean unicorn asked, lowering her gaze.

“Well, for starters, I think there are two ponies who would really need your help. You have proven that the magic you wield is pretty strong. Could you, maybe, try to do something good with it as well?”

Trixie knew that she was referring to Twilight and Fluttershy. Hesitating for a few seconds, she slowly got up and started walking slowly towards the lavender mare, her sighs and quiet sobs still with her.

Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie tensed up instantly and looked like they were about to form a wall between the unicorn and their friend. Rainbow nodded towards them and, reluctantly, they let her through.

The cerulean mare looked upon her “defeated opponent”… then looked at her, at “Twilight”—as if she started truly seeing her for the first time. That simple pony, wielding so much power, enough to pose a threat to Trixie’s plan, was just… there. Breathing lightly. Defenseless.

She looked at her, not fully being able to understand her. Not yet. Perhaps, one day… but, until then, she decided to try. After all, what did a pony who lost before the battle begun had to lose now?

She lit up her horn and sent a light green flow of magic, covering the lavender mare.

“Will she be okay?” Applejack asked, doing her best not to let any anger seep out through her teeth.

“Yes,” the unicorn replied, without turning around. “She just lost a lot of energy. I gave her enough to bring her back but she still needs rest.”

The ponies exchanged curious looks as the healer turned to them. “Where is the other one of your friends?”

Somewhere, in the background, a rainbow-maned pegasus let out a hidden sigh, relieved.

***

One of the nicest things about Ponyville was the fact that anypony could get a beautiful view over the entire town by just hiking up one of the surrounding tall hills. As wonderful as the smell of freshly baked pies is, sometimes you just need to get away from it and fill your lungs with the smell of grass, of nature; to listen to the sound of leaves and enjoy the passing clouds.

Applejack took all that in, as she sat down in the tall grass. It had been a week since they returned from their trip and, thankfully, in that particular morning she didn’t have to take care of anything regarding the farm. Her family was safe. It’s true, there were talks and rumors about her, which made things uncomfortable for everypony, especially at home. Even so, they were all safe, that was the most important thing.

Twilight and Fluttershy recovered pretty well and they were now helping the town’s ponies rebuild the houses that had been destroyed during the storm. Nothing surprising there, apart from one distinct element. Trixie.

The earth pony frowned as she closed her eyes, not fully agreeing with the situation at hoof. While Rainbow did an incredible thing, one she thought to be impossible to achieve, she still couldn’t fully trust the cerulean mare. Other ponies seemed to think the same as far as Applejack could notice—frowns and whispers seemed to surround the unicorn constantly yet, for some reason, she didn’t seem to care anymore. But not in a bad way.

“Changed” was too strong of a word at this time but something, somewhere inside that unicorn, started moving after Rainbow talked with her.

The earth pony smiled and opened her eyes. Sometimes, Ah wonder how Ah even survived so long without her beside me. She really is… how did Rarity put it? …ah, yeah… brilliant!

As if summoned by mere thought, the pegasus gently landed near her marefriend right then.

“Hey, AJ! Sorry I’m a bit late. Got caught up in helping Twilight find something,” she said and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“That’s okay, sugahcube,” the pony replied, nuzzling her mane. “Ah was just thinking of you.”

“Really? Heh, I didn’t mess up anything lately, right?”

“No, silly filly… Ah’m just thinking that Ah’m very proud of ya, that’s all,” she said, smiling.
The pegasus returned the smile and scooted closer to her. “Thanks,” she squeaked, unraveling one of her wings to shield her marefriend from the wind.

“Whaccha helped Twilight with?”

“Trixie left her the ring she used to cast magic. She said that she got it from some merchant from the North of Equestria. If there are more dark magic items there, we need to be prepared, so Twilight is studying it and reports everything to Princess Celestia.”

The earth pony nodded in approval. They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s presence. Considering the circumstances, they were probably the only ones from their group that had a double-adventure. Not only did they have to fulfill their mission, they almost lost each-other while doing so.

For some reason, they both felt that they also took more out of the experience than the others did. The lessons they learned about communicating with each other and solving their problems together were of a “rare breed”, as one would say. There are no definitive rules in a couple’s development, just rules that they built and agreed upon together.

“Something troublin’ you, sugahcube?” she suddenly asked, noticing the worried look in Rainbow’s eyes.

“I just… don’t know what will happen to us. Things probably will never be the same.”

“Probably,” she agreed, “but who knows, really? What matters is that we have each other and, as long as we don’t start making it too obvious or make a show from it, we should be fine.”

“Yeah… I hope so.”

The orange pony took her marefriend’s cheeks in her hooves and tenderly drew her closer. “I know so,” she said and lovingly kissed Rainbow, taking away all her fears, even if for a brief moment, for there are some fears that only by ourselves we can conquer…

…and we don’t need to be alicorns to do that.

The End

Author’s notes:

My friends, thank you for finishing the story.
I am aware of the huge amount of time that went between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10.
Just glad we finished it together :)
~ W