Five days passed, in that time everything started to stabilize again after Twilight's "research project." The purple unicorn was more than relieved to know that her friends, especially Sora, didn't hate her for what happened. Still, she became more distant after that day. Twilight clearly needed to sort some things out so her friends gave her some space. Right now, Sora was gliding across the skyline of Ponyville, looking for a familiar multicolor-maned pegasus. He did find her in one of her usual spots when she wasn't practicing her flight or maintaining the weather; Rainbow Dash was lying down on a cloud, her face slumped down.
"Hey, Rainbow," He called out. The cyan mare snapped her head to whatever she heard, only to realize it was the caramel pegasus she called her friend.
"Oh, it's you, Sora. What's up?" Her tone was far from it's usual cocky and brash attitude. She sounded sad.
"I just wanted to check up on you, is all," Sora said. Yesterday, Rainbow Dash met up with an old friend from her days in flight school, a griffin named Gilda. Rainbow was more than ecstatic to reconvene with an old friend, but it turned out that Gilda had changed from childhood. She was a rude and unpleasant individual who insulted and bullied Rainbow Dash's other friends behind her back. Gilda even made Fluttershy cry. Pinkie Pie and Sora saw how the griffin was acting, the latter disgusted with her attitude. Sora was set on giving Gilda a piece of his mind, but Pinkie dissuaded him. She convinced the caramel pegasus that all Gilda needed was a party to get her lighten up. Unfortunately, a very pranks devised by Rainbow Dash made Gilda blow her lid and reveal what a bully she was. After a tense argument, Gilda and Rainbow Dash left on bad terms. Since then, the cyan mare seemed more distant than her usual brash self. Strangely, even Twilight grew more distant after the whole affair for unknown reasons.
"I'm getting over it," Rainbow waved off. Sora could only sigh. He knew that she was hurting over what happened. Realizing what a bully her old friend had been
"I can imagine how tough it was for you," Sora sympathized. Rainbow Dash perked her ears up. Not wanting to be seen as weak, the cyan mare stood up and put on a tough face.
"Yeah, whatever," She spouted, "I don't need her anyway!" Rainbow wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her feelings.
"Rainbow, it's okay," Sora said, "You don't have to deny that you're hurting," Rainbow folded her fore-hooves and turned away, pouting all the while.
"Can we not talk about my feelings, please?" She requested, her face slumping, "Look, I hate what happened with Gilda, but you and the others are my friends too. I wasn't just gonna let her get away with insulting my friends."
"If you say so," After the incident, Sora suggested to Rainbow Dash that she should talk things out with Gilda. His request was met with disgust, Rainbow Dash didn't feel like associating herself with someone who 'betrayed my trust.' Still, the whole ordeal left a sour note, "Just remember, your friends are here for you if you need them," Sora reminded Rainbow. She grumbled in response. She darted her eyes around, hoping to find some sort of distraction, and she found just that.
"Hey, check that out," Sora turned his attention to where Rainbow was pointing with her hoof. There was a crowd gathering not to far away from their position. The crowd in question was gathering in front of a yellow wooden wagon with a red roof. Curiosity at the peak levels, Sora and Rainbow Dash flew to the front where Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were.
"Hey, what's going on?" Sora asked Applejack.
"Ah don't know," The farm mare replied, "Some kinda travelin' performer came to Ponyville ah reckon," After she said that, the wagon's side opened, bringing out a foldable stage where ponies could perform. Appearing on the stage in a puff of smoke was a pale blue unicorn dressed in a purple wizard's hat and cloak adorned with stars. Her curvy silver mane and tail were hidden underneath her attire, as was her cutie mark of blue magic energy swirling around a magician's wand. Her light pink eyes displayed an air of confidence that crossed well into the realm of arrogance.
"Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She certainly was great at garnering attention, for the crowd was mesmerized by Trixie's presentation, "Watch in awe as The Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" She used her horn to create a spectacular display of fireworks, further dazzling the crowd. The only ones who didn't seem impressed were Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
"My word, so flamboyant," Rarity noted in a disapproving tone.
"She acts like some kinda spoiled princess," Applejack added, watching Trixie pull a veil of flowers from nowhere.
Twilight took note of how her friends were reacting to the mare currently on stage. She began to show visible signs of worry. Sora found his eyesight drifting towards Twilight, noticing her eyes darting back and forth.
"Big deal," Spike spoke, "Twilight could easily—" The purple unicorn cut him off with a hoof covering his mouth. Sora noticed this action, wondering why Twilight would cut Spike off like that.
"Alright, Trixie," Rainbow Dash flew into the stage mare's personal space, "What makes you so awesome, anyway?" Trixie used her magic to push the cyan mare back.
"Heh, why, only The Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded ursa major!" She then created a a magical image of herself facing off against a giant bear, "When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to, but The Great and Powerful Trixie," The images moved in tantrum with Trixie's words to depict her defeating the beast, "With her awe inspiring magic, she vanquished the ursa major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!"
Two ponies who were absolutely eating this story up were two unicorn colts. The first was short and pudgy with a blue coat, a short orange mane and a cutie mark of a pair of scissors. The second was a taller colt, with an orange coat, a blue mane, large ears and a cutie mark of a snails. These two colts were named Snips and Snails.
"That settles it," Snips declared, fully convinced of Trixie's abilities based on one tall tale.
"Trixie truly is the most talented, the most magical, the most awesome unicorn in Ponyville," Snails continued."
"No, in all of Equestria!" Snips continued to feed Trixie's ego, and she was loving every second of it.
"How could you two possibly know?" Sora pointed out, "You weren't even there."
"It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville," Trixie's egomaniacal boast didn't earn her any points with the audience, as the only thing to be heard was a stray cricket, "Don't believe The Great and Powerful Trixie? Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived?!"
"Man what a showoff," Sora began to grow tired of Trixie's attitude himself, and she just trotted onstage a minute ago.
Spike, meanwhile, was whispering to Twilight, "Ya gotta show her up, Twilight. She's unbearable."
"There's no way I'm going to use my magic now, Spike," Twilight refused, "Especially since—"
"Hmm, how about you?" Trixie addressed Twilight, who stopped her private conversation with spike and gulped nervously, "Well, how about it?" Trixie continued to prod Twilight, "Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't?"
"Well, I—um..." Twilight had difficultly finding her words.
"Well, little hayseed?" Trixie eagerly awaited Twilight's answer, an evil grin plastered on the show mare's muzzle. Thankfully for Twilight, Applejack stepped in.
"That's it! Ah can't stand for no more of this!" She leapt onto Trixie's stage with the full intent to teach Trixie some manners.
"You show her, A.J!" Sora cheered.
"Can yer fancy magic do this?" Applejack used her tail to spin a lasso which she jumped through multiple times. To end her display, Applejack threw her lasso to a nearby apple tree. The rope coiled around one of the tasty fruit off it's branch. Applejack then pulled the apple from the tree and caught it in her mouth. The ponies of the audience cheered for the orange pony as she swallowed her treat, "Top that, missy," She goaded.
"Oh ye of little talent," Trixie taunted, removing her wizard's hat from her head, "Watch and be amazed by the magic of Trixie!" Her horn lit up in a light pink aura. She telekinetically grabbed Applejacks lasso and used it to coil another apple from the same tree. Trixie used the rope to tie up Applejack's legs, making her fall on her back. To add insult to injury, Trixie pulled over the apple she coiled and stuffed it into Applejack's mouth. The crowd laughed at her misfortune as she hobbled off the stage. Sora's first instinct was to aid his friend.
"A.J! You okay?" Sora helped the farm mare escape her bind and pulled the apple from her mouth.
"Ah think so," She answered, recomposing herself.
"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails," She flaunted. Trixie's cocky expression as she said that did nothing to help Sora's opinion of her.
"There's no need to be rude like that," Sora called out. Seeing the pony who gave him such hospitality being toyed with made Sora's blood boil.
"Oh? And why shouldn't Trixie strut her stuff?" She asked rhetorically.
"Because that's myjob!" Rainbow Dash jumped into the conversation, "Watch and learn!" She bolted high into air. She dipped downwards and headed towards a windmill, flying with the wheel so that it spun faster and faster. Rainbow Dash continued her momentum into the sky where she blasted through a cloud, covering herself in raindrops. The cyan mare dashed back down to the stage and skidded to a halt. Above her form was a bright and vibrant rainbow, "They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothin'!" The crowd agreed with her sentiment; however, Trixie did not.
"When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is loser," She fired a beam of magic from her horn at the rainbow above Dash. The colorful spectrum of light started to move with a mind of it's own, encircling Rainbow Dash. The athletic mare spun uncontrollably.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa-a-a-a! I think I'm gonna be sick," Rainbow Dash flew up in the air and crashed right next to where her friends were. The mares and stallion all helped her back onto her hooves.
"Seems like anypony with a 'dash'of good sense would think twice before tussling with the Great Trixie," Just so she could pour salt on the wound, Trixie magically conjured a small storm cloud, using it to strike Rainbow Dash with lightning. Her reaction caused the crowd to laugh.
"Hey, that was uncalled for!" Sora shouted. Trixie simply scoffed in response.
"What we need is another unicorn to challenge her," Spike proposed. He turned his gaze over to Twilight, "Somepony with some magical talent of her own."
"Yeah! A unicorn to show thisunicorn who's boss," Rainbow added.
"A real unicorn to unicorn tussle," Applejack threw in her two cents.
"Uh..." Twilight could feel all eyes on her, even though she was in the front of the crowd.
"Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense," Evidently, Rarity really didn't take the hint. Everypony looked at her like she was crazy, "Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace."
"Ooo, what's the matter?" Trixie took the chance to infuriate Rarity, "Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane?" That did the trick.
"It. Is. On!" The fashionista declared, climbing onstage, "You may think you're tough with all of your so-called powers, but there's more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle. A unicorn needs to have style,"Rarity levitated an assortment of nearby cloths around her, swirling it around until it was a tornado of fabric, "A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty," Rarity's end result was quite eye catching. She created a simple blue dress with a golden collar, saddle and hemline. She also styled her mane into a more elegant style. The ponies of the audience ooh-ed and aww-ed at the graceful beauty that was Rarity.
"Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her!" Spike couldn't help but showcase his admiration for Rarity through compliments, "She's strong, she's beautiful, she's—" And then Trixie casted another spell. Suddenly the look of admiration from the crowd turned into shock.
"Quick! I need a mirror! Get me a mirror!" Rarity shouted hysterically, "What did she do to my mane? I know she did something terrible to my mane!"
"Uh, it's Nothing," Twilight lied.
"It's fine," Rainbow Dash lied also.
"It's gorgeous," Sora kept the train of lies moving.
"It's green," Spike derailed the lie. Then Sora punched Spike's arm, him and the others glaring at the drake, "What?" It was true, Trixie turned Rarity's gorgeous mane into a swirling blob of green.
"Ugh, no. Green hair! Not green hair!" Rarity cried away her mascara, "Such an awful, awful color!" She bolted away from the scene, desperate to fix what Trixie had done.
"Well Twilight, guess it's up to you," Spike looked to the purple one once again, "Come on, show her what you're made of."
"What do you mean?" Twilight began to sweat buckets, "I'm nothing special."
"Yes, you are!" Spike continued, "You're better than her!"
"No I'm not!" She denied. Unfortunately for Twilight, Trixie decided to address the purple unicorn.
"Hah! You think you're better than The Great and Powerful Trixie? You think you have more magical talent?" She goaded Twilight, looking at the purple pony with an icy glare, "Well, come on, show Trixie what you've got. Show us all."
"Who, me? I'm just your run-of-the-mill citizen of Ponyville," She said in a fearful tone, "No powerful magic here. I, uh... I think I hear my laundry calling. Sorry, gotta go," Twilight turned away from Trixie and ran off as fast and her legs would carry her.
"Twilight!" Spike called out, but his cry fell on deaf ears. The purple unicorn still ran off, prompting the dragon to follow after her. Sora watched the two run off, wondering why Twilight would just leave like that. Didn't she have magical power of her own?
"So the purple loser runs away," Trixie declared, "Not surprising in the slightest. Once again, The Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing equine in all of Equestria!" That was the last straw for Sora. Seeing this showoff insult and humiliate his friends was too much for the caramel pegasus. Something had to give.
"Wanna bet?" Sora called out. Trixie turned her attention to the caramel pegasus, keyblade swung over his shoulder, "I'll take you on!"
"And now a spiky maned weakling has chosen to challenge The Great and Powerful Trixie?!" The show mare insulted. Sora wasn't fazed whatsoever. He simply leapt atop the stage, his presence demanding much attention from the audience, this was the pony who fought Nightmare Moon and those monsters in town hall after all.
"I've gone up against foes that were way more intimidating than you!" Sora declared, "I won't just sit by and watch you insult and belittle my friends!"
"Please, what could you do that The Great and Powerful Trixie cannot?" The magician retorted, "Nothing! Trixie is perfect in everything she does!"
"Really?" Sora held a smirk on his face, "Can you hold my keyblade?" He held it up so that the entire crowd could see it clearly. Trixie eyed the blade, clearly unimpressed.
"You insult Trixie with such a simple task," She scoffed, turning her back to Sora, "Trixie is a mare capable of wondrous feats, and you devolve me to carry an oversized key?"
"So you can't do it?" Sora teased. His ploy worked as Trixie immediately turned her frame and locked his keyblade in her unicorn aura, snagging it away from his hoof.
"Ha! You thought you could fool Trixie with your mind games!" She sneered, waving the keyblade around mockingly, "You're clearly dumber than you—" Her ego parade ended when the keyblade immediately vanished from her magical grip, reappearing in the hoof of a cheeky Sora. Trixie and the crowd gaped in bewilderment, aside from the four Element bearers still present; they knew the truth behind this occurrence.
"What was that you were saying?" The caramel pegasus taunted. Trixie was beside herself. Recomposing herself, she magically pulled Sora's keyblade to her again. Second verse, same as the first; the key teleported back to Sora's side. Now getting flustered, Trixie continually attempted to take the keyblade, but it simply refused to comply with her. With each unsuccessful attempt, the show mare grew more and more frustrated.
"How are you doing that?!" Trixie demanded to know. Sora dismissed his keyblade and eyed her with a cocky expression.
"Sorry, can't tell," Sora answered.
"What?!" Trixie hysterically shouted. Her blood began to boil, hearing the crowds uproarious laughter and seeing Sora's goofy grin didn't help her mood either, "Nopony makes a fool of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She took a ragged breath, resuming her disposition of superiority, "Maybe you have some dumb enchanted key, but you're still a foal compared to the awesome talent of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"
"Okay 'Great and Powerful Trixie,'" Sora spoke with sarcasm dripping from his mouth, which further angered Trixie, "How about you show me what you can do, and stop talking about it."
"Very well you scrawny ingrate," Trixie shot, "The Great and Powerful Trixie will show you her amazing power! Name anything and Trixie will prevail!"
"Anything?" Sora repeated. He had a plan to put this egotist in her place, and she was falling right into his... hooves, "Okay, face me in a magic duel!" Trixie eyed him with an expression that said, 'seriously?'
"You're joking, right?" Sora's expression showed most definitely that he was deathly serious, "But... You're a pegasus."
"What's the matter, scared of losing?" That set off something in Trixie's brain, judging by the killer glare and the grinding teeth.
"Very well, you dolt," Trixie had a manic grin on her face, "If you wish to be humiliated, Trixie will be more than happy to oblige," The show mare lit her horn and brought back the storm cloud from earlier. She used this to give Sora a small shock.
"Hey!" Sora jumped in place, the electricity jolting his nerves.
"If you wish to give up now, The Great and Powerful Trixie may yet show you—" Then she felt every nerve in her body cry out in pain. All Trixie felt was a massive surge of electricity entering her frame, forcing her limbs to twitch in all manner of ways. When it was over, Trixie fell down, her senses juggling from active to drowsy. The blast of lightning left her cloak singed in a few areas. The crowd went awestruck, their attention focused solely on Sora, who held his keyblade in his teeth. Trixie's eyesight, once it recovered, fell on the caramel pegasus as well.
"W-w-w-wh... What?" Her mind overclocked itself, trying to conceive what happened. She didn't see him grab a storm cloud of his own, yet he still hit her with lightning. Trixie scrambled onto her hooves and scowled at her opposition, "I demand to know how you did that!"
"Feel like giving up?" Sora continued to antagonize Trixie, and she kept taking the bait, lighting her horn once again. This time, Trixie summoned a great ring of fire above her. In a swirling motion, the ring twisted and turned into an image of Trixie.
"I doubt you could muster a response for this," She gloated. With a smirk on his face, Sora lifted his keyblade in the air.
"Stream!" He declared, casting a water spell. The orb of water impacted with the fire Trixie, extinguishing the flame into steam. The rest of the water dropped on top of the real Trixie, dousing her self and her already damaged attire. The crowd was beginning to murmur amongst themselves, clearly favoring Sora right now.
Trixie shook her head dry; the rest of her body was shaking in anger. How could she be losing a magic duel to such a stupid spiky-maned pony. In a fit of childish rage, Trixie magically grabbed hold of Sora's hood and pulled it over his head. The caramel pegasus was forced to bend over from the force of Trixie's telekinesis.
In response, Sora casted another one of his spells, Aero. A gusty tornado threw both ponies into the air. Trixie was screaming for her life as she flailed her limbs erratically. Sora, having his hood freed from Trixie's grasp, glowed in a blue aura as he performed a double backflip, earning him a round of amazed reactions from the audience. Still with his hood over his head, the caramel pegasus gracefully landed back on the stage. Trixie wasn't so lucky, she crashed down onto her own stage in a daze.
Sora lowered his hood off his head, hoping his hair wasn't damaged. After such a spectacular display of magic and acrobatics, the crowd began to erupt in applause for the keyblade wielder. In the midst of such admiration, Sora was compelled to wave back in appreciation. His time in the spotlight was cut short when Trixie forcefully shoved him off the stage.
"You—you..." Trixie was absolutely seething with anger at having Sora best her, "I will not forget this, you cheater! Rest assured that The Great and Powerful Trixie will have her revenge! Begone, all of you!" She retreated behind the curtain. At that moment, the stage retracted back into the wagon it had appeared from.
"Geez, what a sore loser," Sora commented, standing upright once more. After the stage disappeared, the gathered ponies began to disperse, returning to whatever activities they were doing beforehand.
"Way to put that showoff in her place!" Applejack complimented, patting Sora on the back, pretty hard he noted.
"Yeah, that was pretty awesome," Rainbow Dash furthered.
"I wasn't gonna let Trixie get away with insulting my friends like that," Sora stated proudly, "I had to do something!"
"Well, we sure appreciate ya standin' up to that varmint," Applejack stated proudly, "Ah couldn't stand to hear anymore of her nonsense."
"Still, there's something I don't get," Sora furrowed his brow, "Why did Twilight run away from Trixie?"
"Yeah, isn't she supposed to be super good with magic or something?" Rainbow Dash chipped in.
"She has been actin' pretty strange lately," Applejack noted, "Maybe somethin's bothering her," It made sense, ever since Sora blew his lid at her, Twilight's been pretty distant. Something must be on her mind.
"I'm gonna go talk to her," Sora declared, "Maybe I can figure out what's wrong."
As Sora left to find Twilight, two certain colts were conversing with one another.
"Can you believe that guy?" Snips asked.
"Yeah," Snails concurred, "Why would he make Trixie look dumb? She's awesome! She beat an ursa major!"
"Yeah, if only there was a way to prove how awesome she is..." Snips thought very, very hard. Then an idea came to him. An idea that would prove once and for all that Trixie was the best equine in all of Equestria. There was only one problem, where to find a giant bear cave.
—
Sometimes the most obvious answers are usually the right answers. When it came to figuring out where Twilight ran off to, the library that served as her residence was the obvious answer. Sora found the studious unicorn reading a book, as she usually would, with a disappointed Spike next to her.
"There you are Twilight," Sora greeted. Twilight jumped out of her skin and drove her eyes to the source of the voice.
"Oh, it's you, Sora," She sighed in relief.
"Hey Twilight, I've been looking for you," He started.
"Y-you have?" Twilight averted her eyes from Sora, worried that he would bring up Trixie.
"Yeah, I was hoping to ask you about what happened back there," It was exactly as Twilight feared, "Why did you run off like that when Trixie challenged you?"
"Trixie was just too good," Twilight unconvincingly explained, "You saw how amazing she is. I could never measure up to talent like that."
"Twilight, I know for a fact that isn't true!" Spike insisted, clearly frustrated with the unicorn's lack of action.
"Yeah, aren't you the Princess' student?" Sora brought up. Twilight could feel sweat trickling down her head. Being the center of attention was not a facet she was familiar nor comfortable with.
"Twilight could've easily shown up that loud mouth!" Spike proclaimed to Sora, "Just today, Twilight perfected 25 different magic tricks!"
"Wow, really?!" Sora was amazed Twilight was that good, i"I guess she's Celestia's personal student for a reason,"/i Perfecting that many tricks in such a short amount of time was certainly a feat, "What kind of tricks are we talking about?"
"Well, my favorite is the mustache spell—"
"Spike!" Twilight angrily shouted, turning away from her book to glare at the little drake, who flinched in shock, "I told you to drop the subject already!" Spike looked downcast after Twilight yelled at him.
"Twilight, what's really going on here?" Sora inquired. Twilight softened her expression.
"You saw how our friends reacted when they saw Trixie," Twilight elaborated, "I don't want them to think I'm a showoff. What if they stopped being my friend because of that?"
"You really think they'll stop being your friend because you're talented?" Sora questioned. It seemed like such a silly thing to be worried over. Then again, Twilight seemed serious about it, "Twilight, you're nothing like Trixie."
"It's just," The purple unicorn turned her gaze away from Sora as she compiled her feelings, "Ever since I upset you the other day, I've been scared of my friends abandoning me, and seeing what happened between Rainbow Dash and Gilda only increased that worry. I know that I'm talented with magic, but if my friends reacted to me as they did with Trixie, I would be so devastated," Sora could swear he saw Twilight go misty eyed, "Having friends is so wonderful, I don't ever want that to go away."
"I think I understand," Sora consoled, "You'd feel hopeless without your friends by your side," Twilight just couldn't believe Sora sometimes. There was an unprecedented amount of wisdom coming from somepony so young, "But you're thinking way too deep into this."
"Am I really?" Twilight inquired.
"You wouldn't be using your talents to show off," Sora presented his case, "You'd be using your talents to stand up for your friends. There's a big difference."
"Is there?" Twilight was unconvinced, "How can you be so sure?"
"Listen, after you left, I took on Trixie in a duel," Sora put his fore-hooves behind his head as a smug smirk crossed his face, "I slammed that ego of hers."
"And... You weren't shunned?" Twilight asked.
Sora shook his head in response, "No, I wasn't. The difference between me and Trixie was that I used my talents to stand up for my friends. Trixie was only out for herself," Twilight still seemed a little unconvinced, "Listen to me, you're being way too hard on yourself lately. Your friends aren't going to abandon you. You're nothing like Gilda or Trixie."
Twilight could still clearly remember Sora shouting at her the over day. It was a moment she would never forget for a long while, perhaps even the rest of her life.
Twilight considered what Sora said. If what he was saying was true, then her worries were unfounded. Then again, she hadn't seen Sora face off against Trixie. He could be just trying to make her feel better.
"I need some time to think about this," She gave her answer, and Sora accepted it.
"Alright, just remember that I'm here if you need someone to talk to," Sora left with those parting words. Twilight trusted Sora, but there was still no reason for her to challenge Trixie. Twilight, in her deep contemplation, took notice of Spike with an expectant grin.
"Spike," She rolled in a warning voice.
"C'mon, Twilight," Spike pleaded, "Any one of those tricks we practiced would be enough to show up Trixie!"
"Spike, I'm not going to take the chance," Twilight brought her focus back to her book, "I don't want to seen as a bragger," To illustrate her point that the conversation was over, Twilight conjured an open door in front of Spike and slammed it closed.
"But you're the best!" He opened the door, making one last ditch effort to convince her.
"Spike, I said no!" Mission failed.
With Twilight's decline, Spike let out a sigh of defeat, "If that's the way you want to be, then fine," He slammed the door shut and walked out the front door.
—
Later in the evening, Spike had spent his time at Rarity's to help her fix her mane. It was a long and time consuming process, but Rarity's mane was back to it's elegant self. With that done, Spike made his way back to the library. Despite spending time with his precious Rarity, Spike was still in a dour mood. Why won't Twilight show how amazing she is? It's frustrating when she overthinks something.
Then Snips and Snails collided into Spike, sending the three of them sprawling on the ground.
"What are you two doing?" The drake wanted to know what the rush was.
"Can't talk now!"
"Got a major problem!"
"Major?" Spike got his answer when he turned around to see the 'major problem.' His heart almost stopped beating entirely. With his little legs, Spike hurried back to the library as fast as he could, "Twilight!"
The two dolts went in the opposite direction, "Trixie!"
Trixie was fuming inside her wagon. She had been like this ever since her humiliation at Sora's hooves that afternoon.
"Just who was that pegasus anyway?" What frustrated her even further was that she never learned the identity of that pony, thereby she couldn't curse his name, "How dare he humiliate me. I'll show him. Nopony messes with The Great and Powerful Trixie!" A hash knocking at her door brought forth a high pitched screech of surprise from the show pony. Grumbling to herself, Trixie opened her door to find a scared Snips and Snails, "Oh great... What do you two want?"
"We— We have a— a tiny problem," Snips trepidatiously replied.
"Actually, it's a big one," Snails dopily corrected.
"What is so important that you cannot wait until morning to disturb Trixie?" She received her answer when a loud and guttural roar demanded her attention. She shifted her attention and felt her heart stop.
Meanwhile, Sora was lying atop a cloud, thinking back to his recent experiences with Twilight. He wanted to find some way to cheer her up. Maybe he could convince Pinkie to throw Twilight a surprise party to make her feel better. The guttural roar brought Sora out off his thoughts. He stood up straight to find a terrifying sight. It was an enormous bear, easily larger than any structure in Ponyville. It was blue and translucent in appearance, stars covering it's body. It was an ursa major, and it was staring down Trixie. She only managed to just escape the beast's paw as it slammed down on the show mare's wagon.
"Great and Powerful Trixie, you've got to vanquish the ursa," Snips pleaded.
"Yeah, vanquish so we can watch," Snails agreed.
"It took a lot of trouble to get that thing here."
"Wait, youbrought this here?!" Trixie screamed. could feel her sanity snap at that very moment, "Are you out of your little pony minds?!"
"But, you're The Great and Powerful Trixie," Snips argued.
"Yeah, remember? You defeated an ursa major," Snails repeated.
"No I can't!" Trixie hysterically stated, effectively blowing Snips and Sails' minds, "Nopony can defeat an ursa major! I just made that story up to make me look good!"
The ursa raised it's front paw. The looming size of the beast petrified Trixie in fear. She curled up into a ball as the paw flew downwards. Instead of felling the weight of a giant monster crush her, Trixie instead heard the grunts of a stallion exerting himself. She trepidatiously opened her eyes to find an astonishing sight. The thing holding back the ursa's paw was Sora. Flying in the air, he held both his hooves in front of him, his keyblade between him and the beast's paw. The ursa looked utterly baffled, wondering what could be resisting it's paw. With a great thrust of force, Sora pushed the paw back, thereby making the ursa major stumble a few paces.
Sora stared down the creature as it regained it's footing and eyed the caramel pegasus with distain. In a rapid motion, Sora flew around the creature, firing salvo of magic spells at the ursa. With each spell, the creature flinched back, yet it seemed to mostly withstand the assault. Every so often, Sora would zoom forward and slash away at the creature's face.
Trixie, Snips and Snails watched this display with slacked jaws. As Sora continued his attack, more ponies exited their doors to bear witness to this spectacle.
"Wow," Snails drolled, "That guy's way cooler than Trixie," She heard that, and she suddenly grew more resentful towards the caramel pegasus. Speaking of, Sora flew high above the ursa and slammed his keyblade down on it's head, the force of the strike bringing the beast down on it's stomach. This action in turn created a small tremor that was felt throughout the town.
Twilight then rushed onto the scene with Spike close by, "Oh my goodness!" She stated, "What's going on here?"
"We brought an ursa major to town," Snips admitted.
"What?!" Twilight screeched. How can anypony be that stupid?!
"Yeah, but check it out," Snails pointed towards Sora, who was launching a salvo of fireballs at the creature, "That key guy is kicking it's butt," Like a jinx, as soon as Snails said that, the ursa managed to swipe Sora away from it. Sora skidded along the dirt roads of Ponyville, harmed but still in fighting shape. Keyblade in his maw, he rushed forward to engage the ursa again; however, somepony blocked his way.
"Sora!" Twilight stood in front of the caramel pegasus, "Don't fight it!"
"What?!" Sora could not understand Twilight's reasoning, "Why shouldn't I fight the giant monster?!"
"Just trust me!" Twilight pleaded. Twilight faced the creature as it barred it's fangs. Twilight lit up her horn in it's pink aura, channeling an immense amount of magical energy for what she had planned. From her horn conjured a row of musical notes that sung a soothing melody. As soon as the notes reached the monster's ears, the beast began growing sleepy. With great strain on her body, Twilight further increased her magical power, resulting in her horn glowing to exponential levels.
With her magic, Twilight took hold of a water tower, removed the lid to dump the tower's contents, took the tower into a barn, milked the cows inside to fill the tower with milk, put the lid back on, lift the ursa up and rock it to soothe it's mood, give it the tower filled with milk so it could drink from it like a baby bottle, and transport the creature back to it's cave in the Everfree Forest.
Once that was accomplished, Twilight allowed herself to recuperate. The citizens of Ponyville were amazed Twilight could achieve such a magical feat. Trixie in particular couldn't believe what she witnessed, a pony defeating an ursa major. With the crisis averted, the townsponies all cheered in joy. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Sora approached Twilight to personally congratulate her.
"Heavens to Betsy!" Applejack complimented, "We knew you had ability, but not that much!" Twilight turned towards her friends with a look of tremendous guilt plastered all over her face.
"I'm sorry. Please, please don't hate me," She begged. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all looked at Twilight with bamboozled expressions.
"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity inquired.
Twilight turned away and presented her reasoning, "Well, I know how much you all hated Trixie showing off magic, and I just thought—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rainbow interrupted, "Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loudmouth."
"Mostunpleasant," Rarity threw in.
"All hat and no cattle," Applejack added.
"So, you don't mind my magic tricks?" Twilight looked over to Sora, who had a goofy smile on his face.
"Twilight your magic is a part of who you are," The caramel pegasus elaborated, "And we like you just the way the way you are. Like I said, there's a difference between using talents to show off and using them to stand up for your friends," Sora nudged Twilight's side, "You beat the ursa major to help your friends, not because you wanted to show off," Twilight looked over the proud faces of the citizens of Ponyville. Sora had a point, these ponies recognized that she defeated the ursa out of concern for the town and her friends.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't have anything to worry about," Twilight conceded.
"Hey Twilight," Sora addressed the purple unicorn, "How did you know what to do with the ursa major anyway?"
"After I heard Trixie brag about her supposed victory, I decided to do some research," It made sense for Twilight to do that. She was a very studious pony.
"So it really was possible to beat an ursa major by yourself," Sora concluded, to which Twilight chuckled to herself.
"That wasn't an ursa major, it was a baby, an ursa minor," Twilight's revelation hit Sora like a ton of bricks.
"WHAT?!" Sora practically screeched, "I was beating up a defenseless baby?!" A tremendous overflow of guilt washed over the caramel pegasus.
"I don't know if defenseless is the right word," Twilight commented, "Listen, if you hadn't jumped in like you did, somepony might have gotten hurt, or worse," That made Sora feel a little bit better.
"Hold on," Spike interjected, "If that was an ursa minor, what's an ursa major like?"
"You don't want to know," Twilight answered simply and plainly.
"Wait?!" Trixie pushed herself through the crowd to meet the two heroes of the day, "That was just a baby?"
"Yes," Twilight answered once again, "And it wasn't exactly rampaging. It was just cranky because somepony woke it from it's nap," She leered towards Snips and Snails, who lowered their heads in shame.
"Well, you may have been able to defeat an ursa minor," Trixie stated, trying to seem as though she were still the superior pony, "But neither of you fools will have the show stopping prowess of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" The humiliated show mare dropped a smoke bomb at her hooves. The smoke dissipated to reveal that Trixie was—running away.
"Hey! Get back here!" Sora called out, moving forward to give chase, but Twilight telekinetically took hold of his tail to keep him in place.
"Just leave her be," She said with a shake of her head, "Hopefully she'll learn her lesson someday," Twilight then directed her attention to the two colts who caused this fiasco, "As for you two."
Snips and Snails lowered themselves so that they appeared to be bowing before Twilight, "Sorry we lured that ursa minor here!" Snips accepted his fate, along with Snails.
"We deserve whatever punishment you give us!" The orange colt said.
"Well, I think it's more than fitting that you clean up this mess you caused," Twilight pointed towards the wreckage that the ursa minor created, mainly Trixie's destroyed wagon. Rainbow Dash guided the two solemn colts to the debris. As the two dolts went to work, Twilight and Spike made their way back towards the library
"Hey, where are you going?" Sora asked.
"Back to the library," Twilight answered, "Using that much magic tired me out. Besides, I have a friendship lesson to report."
Sora smiled at the purple unicorn, she looked like she was in high spirits after this whole experience. Twilight was strong, Sora could tell. She still was grasping the basics of friendship, but she was adapting very well to her new life.