Drip... drip... drip, a slow but constant flow of water dribbled into a small wooden cabin in the Whitetail Woods. Every drop splashed onto a blue unicorn's face, earning a grumble from the sleeping mare. The Great and Powerful Trixie rolled over with an incomprehensible mumble. As if in retaliation, the droplets of water sped up, bombarding her back with a chilling cascade comprised of cold water. Trixie's eyes shot open as the ice cold water made contact with her flank, leaping into the air with a shriek. Rubbing her flank, she tried to look around but everything was dark, too dark to see. Her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed, a second later a bright orb of blue tinged light appeared at the end of her horn. She looked around furtively, which didn't take long due to the small size of her house, eventually spotting the source of her disturbance. A small hole in the wooden roof. With a sigh she turned to the small cramped end of her new home that was littered the remainder of her belongings. Another short burst of magic later and an old cooking pot sat at the bottom of the hole, slowly filling with rainwater. Each droplet made a hollow ringing sound that resonated with Trixie's soul. For a few seconds she stood there in silence, her brain hard at work behind her eyes, until she finally decided to see if Planks could help her repair the hole in the ceiling. Her smile quickly soured when she suddenly remembered the events of the previous week. There was no more Planks, there was no more Zeila, there was no more Melodia. Her old troupe had abandoned her, she had made the wrong decision and now she was paying for it.

She stood there silent again, contemplative. What can I do? she thought to herself, what was there left to do? I've lost everything I worked towards, one step at a time. My fame is gone, my family is gone, my only friend in the world has gone. Where did it all go wrong? I once had it all and now I have nothing. Tears began to force their way out of her eyes again, one of the strongest ponies around reduced to a sobbing simpleton.

"It's all your fault you know?" a voice in her head announced, a voice she hadn't heard in a very long time. "You could have been one of the greatest performers around, but you let your arrogance take control. Your own hubris was your undoing," The voice announced without a shred of pity. Each word rang truthful and cut into Trixie's spirit like a dagger. It was then at her lowest moment, when something abnormal happened. A thick purple fog seemed to descend into the cabin and surrounded her. The fog whispered to her, words of encouragement, words of persuasion, words of redemption. Trixie stood still for a few seconds as this new, different voice seemed to take control of her, empowering her and refilling her ego back to bursting levels.

"No... no! It's not my fault! It's... it's all their fault! All of it! Twilight Sparkle and her friends took my fame! Melodia took my family! The Canterlot Academy took my Silver-Scales! All of them were just jealous! Jealous of the power I control!" Trixie shouted deafeningly loud, "and I'll prove it, yes! This isn't the last they've heard of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The other voice in her head tried to retreat from this sudden burst of unrestrained self-confidence, but the stronger spirit smashed the voice of reason away with a burst of fury. Trixie bucked open the door to the cabin sending it flying off of its hinges. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is back, for one last escapade!" she announced in an unnervingly powerful voice to the world. "I'm going to fix it all! Everything that went wrong! First I'll get back Silver-Scales, then I'll take care of my so-called family and finish up with meddling Twilight!" The blue unicorn threw back her silver mane and laughed with glee as these thoughts powered through her skull. She had found purpose again. Purpose in revenge.

---

A grey unicorn with a white mane trotted through the gates into Canterlot. Her worn brown cape covered up her cutie mark and her dull grey eyes betrayed no emotion. Saddlebags lay balanced across her back, stuffed full of various items. A grey unicorn guard on the gate waved her over and she complied without any show of feeling.

"Is this your first time in Canterlot, Miss?" the gold-armoured guard began with a welcoming smile.

"Miss Chroma, Mona Chroma," the unfamiliar unicorn replied, her voice careful and composed, "Is there a problem officer?"

"No, it's just with all the new threats that seem to be springing up every day we have to monitor everypony who comes in. All I need to know now is your home-town and date of birth and I'll issue you with your I.D scroll," the guard said in a clearly rehearsed voice.

"Hoofingt... Hooflyn, I'm from Hooflyn." She managed to keep her face expressionless but inside she was screaming at herself for almost slipping up badly there.

The guardspony's eyes narrowed a little as he scrawled that down before motioning her to continue.

"I was born on the twelfth Lunar, twenty-two Seed Cycles ago," she replied with considerably more confidence.

The guardspony nodded and scribbled it down with a quill. "One last thing and I can let you in, your cutie mark, if you'd please?" the guard asked sincerely.

It took all of her self control to hold herself together as she gently lifted the cloak. The underside of the cloak was bright purple and dotted with stars and moons in an array of colours.

The guardspony's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden burst of colour from the otherwise grey pony. He got a brief glance at her cutie mark and assumed it was a star and a moon. So he wrote that down onto the report. "Everything seems to be in order, Miss Chroma. Here is your I.D scroll, do not hand to this any other pony and keep it on yourself at all times while in Canterlot. Please enjoy your stay," the guard said with a smile as he waved her in.

The Great and Powerful Trixie trotted in through the gates and into the bustling metropolis that was Canterlot. Ponies were everywhere, the rich mingled with the poor, the famous with the unknown. If it wasn't for the proximity to the Celestial Guard then this would be the best place for someone like herself to hide. But she wasn't here for that, she was here to go on the attack, to reclaim what was hers. She set her sights on the distant high spires of Princess Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. This was the first step on her road to fixing everything. As soon as had Silver-Scales once more at her side, she'd be unstoppable again, she was sure of it. She cantered along the main road ignoring the other ponies as she passed them, too absorbed in her own world to pay any attention to these common folk.

As she drew closer to the university her illusion spell began to wane, flashes of blue began to break through the grey barrier on her fur, forcing her to stop and duck into a nearby alley. "Celestia damn it!" she shouted in rage, removing the cloak and stuffing it into her saddlebags. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply and then exhaled again. When she opened them they had regained their deep purple hue, a spark of inspiration crossed them as a smile appeared on her now blue again face. If the teleportation matrix is still intact... Trixie began to think. She then closed her eyes and her horn flashed a fluorescent blue, before she vanished into thin air.

---

With a pulse of blue energy Trixie reappeared in her old dormitory. She looked around with a genuine smile, she hadn't been here in a long time and old memories flooded her mind. She had always stood out amongst her classmates when it came to magic. Her spell-casting was far superior to many of their attempts, and she had always picked up spells quickly. But she learnt by example not by theory, as a result of this she found many of the more complex spells evading her, no matter how hard she had tried. She had gone from top of the class in the first two years to barely cutting it in the third year. Dragging behind the rest of the class, her lack of concentration had made her infamous among her instructors. When she had eventually given up and left a lot of them had cheered behind her back. A whole spectrum of emotions assaulted her, an unpleasant mix of boredom and fear blended almost seamlessly with excitement and happiness. She had almost forgotten about this part of her history.

"Stop reminiscing and start searching, Remember your brilliant plan and follow it," A voice suddenly snapped her out of her reverie, the same voice from earlier. "We are going to make things how they should have been, remember? We are going to fix reality, undo all the evil that has been done upon us. Pay them back for their jealousy and spite," the cold voice said persuasively, "we'll be more powerful than ever before, more powerful than Celestia herself, isn't that what you want?"

"More powerful than Celestia... yes," Trixie mumbled. "The Greatest and Most Powerful Trixie! I like the sound of that," Trixie shouted in glee. She then began searching for her secret stockpile of transmogrification potions. It was actually quite surprising how many times I had to use these, Trixie thought with a laugh. If you ever need to skip class then these are the things for you. Her horn flashed again, surrounding her old bed in a blue aura and moving it aside. She trotted over to the previously covered area and rapped her hoof against the wall. A hollow knock sounded in reply earning another self-satisfied smirk from the mare. She kneeled down, placing her horn to the false wall. Her horn pulsed brightly again and the compartment shot open. She let out a cheer of triumph as she grabbed a hoofful of the potions and placed them in her saddlebags. A quick glance back in the box confirmed that she had missed one, so she grabbed that one too and popped the cork. Lifting the glowing purple liquid to her mouth, she began to picture a small golden dragon with dazzling emerald eyes, the administrator's dragon. With this image emblazoned on her brain she took a deep draught of the liquid, draining the vial completely.

Trixie's eyes began to glow green, shooting rays of light outwards. She threw the glass vial onto the bed as her forehooves began to shake. She barely managed to wrench off her saddlebags before convulsions began to wrack her body, her dark blue fur beginning to lighten. Patches of gold began to shine through as she collapsed to her knees. Her snout began to extend and flatten, wrenching bone and reshaping it. She gritted her teeth in pain but only ended up biting her lip with her newly sharpened fangs. Blood poured out of her mouth as she fell onto her back. Her hooves began to split open, tearing into separate digits. Four on the forehooves, three on the rear ones. Trixie suppressed a scream of pain as her organs began to shift, bones rearranging in her body. It took all of her focus to prevent herself from screaming aloud, she hadn't done this in a long time and never for a non-pony. Her fur shined a brilliant gold as it began to harden, causing a burning sensation in her skin. Her pupils suddenly slitted as her irises exploded with green. Her forehooves formed complete clawed hands and her rear hooves formed complete clawed toes. Another shift from her spinal column caused her to clench her teeth again, this time more carefully so as not to pierce her lips. Her skin stopped burning but felt excessively dry and her tail, uncomfortably heavy.

Her slitted green eyes crossed as she gazed at her newly elongated golden snout. She rose to her newly formed feet and stood upright, then promptly fell over. "Curse these stupid toes!" she shouted aloud, once more trying to rise upwards. She placed her hands onto the bed and managed to pull herself upright once more, stumbling awkwardly but keeping on her feet. She put her new tail down to the ground and suddenly found herself more stable. So there was a trick to it, she thought as she smiled with her new-found success. She took a step forwards, then another, managing a slow stumble. Opening her saddlebags she checked how many potions she had left. Four purple vials blinked back, their luminescent glare was mesmerising but she shut the lid on the bag. She closed her eyes and her brow furrowed yet nothing happened. She tried once more, before realising with a cry that she would have to do it manually. With a grunt she roughly seized her saddlebags and tied them around her waist like a belt. "Show time," she announced aloud in a rough masculine voice, pushing open the doors into the academy proper.

She walked along the corridors a little awkwardly, but none of the ponies she passed seem to notice. This place was crawling with students of all ages, chatting excitedly as they walked to lessons. Every so often one of them would nod at her as she passed which she made sure to return with a false smile. Her unusual belt caught a few glances but nopony stopped to ask her about it. She continued down the immaculate marble corridors, this trek was like a nostalgia trip for her. Seeing the place that had been her home for three years was unnerving to her, but the voice inside her head kept her focused. She knew where she was heading. Take a left at the library here, walk up this flight of stairs, and first door on the right. Finally she was here, she could hardly contain her excitement as she pulled on the door handle and entered the room.

The room had workbenches lining every wall along with sets of tools hanging down from above. Cogs and gyros lay furnace scattered across the room in heaps, as if someone had started cleaning and then gotten bored halfway through. The furnace was lit and a half forged construct lay on a table, various components lay strewn around it, as if someone had wrenched its robotic guts out and thrown them around. She took a step forward and closed the door behind her. A silver dragon popped out from behind the half-built mechanism, goggles on his head and a tool belt around his waist."Goldie! What are you doing here? I thought you and the administrator were going to be out all day?" the silver dragon called to her, waving her over.

"I... was but then something happened," Trixie tried to stall for time as she approached the silver dragon. "Silver-Scales, I must apologise for my intrusion," she quickly changed the topic and switched into how she remembered the gold dragon speak from her old days.

"Oh no, you're not intruding. Actually you could be of some assistance. I've hooked the main rotary device to the crystal oscillator but every time I wire it up it causes a full blow-out. I need something to compensate for the induced current matrix without subjugating the main flow valve," Silver-Scales ranted, turning back to his work. This gave Trixie time to reach the workbench and, by the time he had finished speaking, stand right next to him.

"Have you tried switching the crystal out for a refractor diode?" Trixie suggested, straining to remember what little she could from her old dissertations.

"Of course I have, I'm not an amateur! No offence sir," Silver-Scales shouted incredulously then quickly apologised. "All it did was cause a fracture in the main casing. See for yourself, those cracks in the adamantium shell and the breaks in the runic propulsion system..."

Trixie's expression became more and more bored until she just shouted, "It's me Trixie!"

"Trixie? Impossible. Unless... unless... by Celestia! Tell me you didn't?!" Silver Scales eyes widened in horror as Trixie pulled a vial of viscous purple liquid from her saddlebag-belt thing. "Do you know how dangerous that is! Transmogrification is a level eighteen spell for a reason! Even the potions are a prohibited substance, how did you get hold of them?! Then again, only Trixie would have the lack of forethought to come up with a plan like this." Silver-Scales sighed deeply. "What do you want, Trixie?"

"To team up again! Just like old times, the two of us against the world. We worked so well together!" Trixie's draconic eyes lit up as she spoke of her glory days.

"No. You worked so well because I was behind you, fixing all your mistakes. What did I ever get out of it? There's a reason the Academy took me back, remember? You almost got us both killed with that growth spell!” the Silver dragon shouted angrily in reply.

"But, but, Silver-Scales! Remember all the fun we had, the Trottingham affair? That mismatch with the Griffon Empire?"

"Remember all the fun you had! I almost got killed by those griffons! And you practically abandoned me in Trottigham! No. Trixie, I won't report this transgression out of respect for the time we spent together. But if you do not leave this room in the next ten seconds." Silver-Scales paused to let out a sigh, "I'll call the guard on you."

To say Trixie was stunned would be an understatement, this was supposed to be the easy part of the plan. I mean who wouldn't want to be part of my team? Maybe... maybe I am wrong, maybe I did mistreat him, maybe it always was me. Self-doubt once again reared its ugly head.

"My turn," The voice inside her head announced as Trixie began to feel faint. Her dragon body started moving without her input and she couldn't stop it. She watched unable to do anything as her claws began to flex.

"Three, two..." Silver-Scales continued, his back turned. "One," he finished, turning around to see a claw flying at his throat. He was unable to stop the razor-sharp claws in time as they tore into his jugular. Blood poured from the huge gash in his neck, he tried to keep it in by clasping his claw around it, but the scarlet liquid forced its way between his fingers. He stared at Trixie, his eyes full of questions, his mouth trying to form words. He stumbled, falling onto his half-built contraption. The bright red liquid stained the copper machine red before falling to the floor, forming thick puddles. His body convulsed once more, then sat still, its muscles relaxed. The clawed hand around his throat released and fell limply to his side.

Trixie recoiled in horror and tried to scream but her body instead lifted its bloodied claw to its mouth and licked it, her only friend's blood entered her throat. She tried to gag and throw it up but her body refused to obey her. She screamed as loud as she could internally.

"Sleep!" the voice commanded. She suddenly felt weak, her eyelids began to droop and she collapsed into a deep sleep.

---

When she came to she was a unicorn again, but she still wasn't quite in control. She tried to stop herself from moving but her legs continued to trot along, heading to some unknown destination.

"Awake I see," the voice sounded even stronger than before. "Don't worry Trixie. I'm still sticking to the plan, next up was your old Romani friends, wasn't it?"

"No... you'll just kill them too," Trixie argued weakly.

"Oh come now, I'll give you a fair chance to convince them to apologise and all that. Murder is always a last resort. Besides, couldn't you tell that they had gotten to Silver-Scales? Did he ever act like that back in the day, hmm?

"No... no he didn't," Trixie mumbled confusedly.

"See. They got to him too, turned him against you. A stronger friend would've fought back, would've argued. But he succumbed to their wills, their wishes. He forsook your name to carve himself a nicer prison. He deserved all that he got."

"But... he was... he was still my friend,"

"No he wasn't. If he was your friend, he wouldn't have hesitated to leap at the opportunity to join you again. I did you a favour, trust me," The voice wheedled and wheezed.

"You're right," Trixie mumbled weakly. "You're right!" she repeated again, this time with gusto. "He was corrupted, why else would he not join me. It's the only thing that makes sense," Trixie shouted, her voice charged with confidence.

"Exactly. Now the Romani camp lies just over that hill. I'm going to give you control once more and we'll see how they respond. If you need my help, don't hesitate to call. Our combined power can solve any problem."

Trixie could suddenly feel again, nerve signals pulsing their electric charges back into her brain. She moved a hoof slowly and took a step forward. It felt good to be a pony again. The brisk air of an autumn evening filled her with feeling. She inhaled deeply, taking the scents of the forest in and holding them, before releasing them back into the air. A sudden nudge from inside her head made her jump. She lookied at the hill that the thing inside her had pointed out and gulped. Putting her best hoof forward, she began to scale the hill.

Less than a minute later she sat at the top gazing into the valley below. The exciting sound of tambourines and hoof stomping emanated from the forest below. A camp fire sat in a small glade surrounded by four wooden carriages. Eight ponies were stood around the fire, some stomping and some dancing. A quick melodic voice suddenly rang out, accompanying the fast paced beat. The voice of the head of this particular band of Romani, Melodia's voice. The very sound of her voice was a bitter-sweet thing to Trixie.

Once again she was assaulted by memories, once again they conflicted. The fun times back before the academy, when she had grown up. This had been her family after the tragic loss of her parents to a Manticore attack. Melodia had been like a mother, but as they were all earth ponies, except Zeila the zebra, they could teach her little of magic. They had refused her request to go to the academy but she had gone anyway. When she passed the examination with aplomb, it had been the proudest moment of her life but they hadn't shared that sentiment. Still they had allowed her back in when she left the academy, even accommodating for her dragon friend. They had allowed her to perform her magic shows, encouraged them even... until the accident. One of her fireworks had improperly detonated and sprayed fire onto the wooden caravans. Of the six strong convoy,only two had survived the deadly blaze. Fortunately nopony was injured, but the mistake had set them back considerably, and they had cast her out as a result.

"Focus! the voice suddenly shouted inside her head, its shout reverberating around her skull, "for the love of Discord, will you stop reminiscing every time we get close to the goal at hoof!"

Trixie shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She turned to pull out her cape and wizard hat from her saddlebags, only to find the bags were missing. She sighed loudly and trotted dejectedly down the other side of the hill. The folk music grew louder as she got closer. At the bottom of the hill a small wall of trees separated her from the camp. She put on her most confident, smug smile and upturned her nose before striding proudly through the undergrowth.

The music suddenly stopped as she strode conspicuously into the centre of the camp. All of the ponies stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. Melodia trotted forwards to meet her.

"Trixie Lulamoon, do our rules and customs mean nothing to you?" Her thick accent clearly marked her out as a Romani. "You break our trust, destroy our homes and don't even have the decency to stay out of our lives," Melodia shouted, her voice charged with anger.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to accept your apology!" Trixie announced unabashedly.

"Our apology... our apology! You... you... you..." Melodia's voice trailed off as she began to visibly shake, her forehead bulging with anger.

Noticing this Zeila stepped forwards and motioned for Melodia to back off. Melodia grumbled something vulgar under her breath and trotted back. Zeila began to advance towards Trixie, until she made eye contact. With a scream, she suddenly leapt backwards onto the floor. "A demon! A demon!" she screamed out loud.

"I am no demon!" Trixie shouted, her eyes wide.

"She's been possessed! Listen to my request! Grab her my friends! She must be cleansed!" the zebra shouted hysterically.

"My turn?" the voice asked inside her head.

"Wait! They still raised me, they're still family!"

"Corrupt! Look, at the way they surround us! Look at the hatred in their eyes. Listen to the venom in their shouts. Would they revile you so if they still cared for you," the voice was mesmerising, its slow drawl boring into her mind.

"No... no! They raised me, they...

"They cast you out. They disgraced you. They tried to stop you from achieving greatness and then they kicked you out after you achieved it. They are the enemy."

"They... they did didn't they?" Trixie muttered, conflicted. As if on cue their body suddenly came under attack, a vicious kick in the gut from a hoof. She fell sidewards, screaming in pain. Another kick punctuated her other side as she rolled over.

"Let me deal with them. Our powers combined could easily neutralise the threat they pose," the voice whispered inside her ear.

"No... they still... Argh!" she cried as one of them stomped on her head.Suddenly they all stepped back and Melodia trotted forwards, holding a large rock in her hooves.

"Last chance," the voice whispered again. Melodia's wicked grin and the glint in her eye betrayed her intentions. For Trixie, it was now a case of life or death.

"I grant you permission," she whispered breathlessly.

"Good," the voice replied tersely. All of a sudden she felt strength like she'd never believed possible. Her horn pulsed with red energy and grew longer and pointier before her eyes. The rest of her body also grew, though not to the same proportion. Her fur darkened into an even deeper blue, the colour of the sky at dusk. With a loud roar she leapt to her feet stabbing upwards with her now sharpened horn. Melodia held the stone between them but the horn burst through, exploding the rock into dust. The horn continued on its path and embedded itself in Melodia's forehead. The peach earth pony babbled something incoherently before falling backwards, sliding off of the horn, and landing in a bloody mess on the floor. The remaining ponies looked at her speechlessly before charging all at once.

"Let me show you what true power is," the voice said with a laugh, igniting her horn a fiery red. A huge ball of red energy appeared at the tip of the horn. The air was charged with the electrical tang of magical energy, it was almost palpable in its thickness. When suddenly it exploded outwards, the simmering heat incinerating the eight ponies that she had once called family along with their wooden caravans. The entire clearing was now just scorched land, even the plants hadn't survived the fiery outburst.

Trixie smirked at the senseless destruction she had just caused. "Such power," she said before bursting into a malevolent laugh.

---

Using her enhanced magical abilities it was a simple matter to teleport all the way to Ponyville. The mare appeared in the town square without a sound. It was dark now, night time. A few ponies still rushed about the town, trying to finish whatever errands were keeping them awake. Just down the street in front of her sat Twilight's Library, the home of the pony who had broken the camel's back. Her streak of bad luck had brought her here, she had put on quite a show, earning the respect of some of the ponies in town. She had planned to start over here, try to rebuild anew but Twilight Sparkle had put an end to that. After those two idiotic foals had brought an Ursa Minor to town, Twilight had been the pony that upstaged her and ruined her credibility. Not to mention the damnable beast had crushed her home and most of her property. The purple unicorn had cost her what little she had had left. And now that she no longer had those saddlebags, she literally had nothing. A sudden burst of lightning came from the darkened sky above, followed by torrential rain. The rain soaked her fur but she couldn't even feel it any more. Only two things remained in her mind, this need for vengeance and this want for power.

She knocked on the door with her hoof, three quick raps. After no reply for ten seconds her horn glowed red once more and the door burst from its hinges, flying into the house. A cry of pain came from behind the wrecked door as Trixie strode in.

"Spike! Who was that?! A voice came from behind an archway as Twilight entered the entrance hall. She saw the destroyed door pinning her assistant to the floor with a gasp, before panning her eyes across the room to Trixie.

"My dear Twilight," a horrible low voice came from Trixie's mouth, "remember us?"

Twilight's eyes narrowed and her body began to tremble with terror. "That voice... that body... Nightmare Moon! You've infected Trixie!"

"I no longer go by those monikers, I am now The Greatest and Most Powerful Trixie!" the unicorn shouted conjuring up magical fireworks to accompany her grand display. "And this is the final act of our grandest show. A unicorn on a quest for revenge, joined by the remnants of a supposedly destroyed enemy. You ruined both of our lives, you wrecked my plans and spoiled Trixie's last chance at redemption. Prepare to die, Miss Sparkle!" the daemonic voice announced before letting out an even more horrid laugh.

"No...no! I gave you both a chance, it's your fault you didn't accept it! Trixie! Believe me when I say I didn't mean it," Twilight shouted, her voice full of emotion.

Trixie's horn glowed a deep red once more, a huge bolt of energy began to form in front of her. Twilight threw up her best shield spell just before Trixie released the bolt. The bolt hit the shield and for a brief second, the shield managed to hold before fracturing and sending Twilight flying into a wall. She slid down the wall, blood spilling from an open wound on her chest, yet she still breathed. Trixie stalked over, stopping right above the injured unicorn.

"I'm... I'm sorry Trixie," Twilight mumbled through gritted in pain.

"I don't care," Trixie said with another laugh, preparing to finish her off.

"Stop right there!" a voice came from behind Trixie and she turned to find herself face-to-face with a white alicorn.

"Princess!" Twilight shouted before coughing blood onto the floor.

"Don't worry Twilight, I've got this. Besides, we have an old score to settle." Celestia gazed scornfully at the monstrosity that stood before her.

"Oh, so I take over your sister yet you send your lackeys to take care of me, but the second I threaten your precious student you yourself come to fight me. If I'd known that sooner I would have done it last time," Trixie announced boastfully.

"The Element of Treachery, we meet again. I should have known you weren't destroyed. All of your brethren already lie imprisoned in stone. Jealousy, Cruelty, Disloyalty, Misery and of course Discord. Are you ready to join them?" Celestia said confidently.

"Once I've disposed of you, the whole world will bow before me as the most powerful spell caster that ever existed!" Trixie shouted with glee as her horn once again bathed itself in a red glow.

"You'll look great in my statue garden with the other element bearers!" Celestia laughed back, earning a cry of anger from Trixie. Her horn began to glow a rich, light blue. Both horns shot a stream of energy of their respective colour at each other, meeting in the middle in a purple ball. Celestia and Trixie both furrowed their brows and closed their eyes, putting all their energy into the crazy vortex of power. The ball would move towards Trixie then shoot backwards the same amount into Celestia's court who would push it back again. This continued for some time, both of them completely absorbed in their duel. It looked like it might end up a stalemate when a crack of energy signalled the arrival of Luna.

"Big sister!" she cried seeing the white alicorn engaged in a deadly duel with another familiar figure. "Treachery?!" she shouted after a seconds pause, both combatants risked opening their eyes and set a fraction of their concentration towards the new arrival.

"Perfect timing Luna! Help me destroy your big sister here and you'll be richly rewarded! Don't you still want to be recognised for your accomplishments?" Trixie shouted confidently to the new arrival.

"Little sister! Help me vanquish this abomination so that we can return to Canterlot!" Celestia shouted simultaneously to Luna.

Luna didn't even hesitate, joining her power to Celestia's. Within second the purple bolt was sent flying towards Trixie.

"NOOO! Trixie shouted in horror as she found herself rooted in place, looking down she watched as her fur turned to stone, entrapping her in its cold embrace. She looked up fearfully at the two alicorns who stood there and watched. Trixie screamed again as the stone reached her neck, then her face. her vision went black as the stone encased her completely. Then the magical field kicked in and she was completely locked in stasis, her brain frozen for all intents and purposes.

Celestia turned to her wounded student and galloped to her side, she was unconscious but still breathing shallowly. Celestia lowered her horn to Twilight's chest and pulsed another burst of blue energy that washed over Twilight. Her flesh began to repair itself, skin reforming and bones reshaping.

Twilight awoke with a gasp, looking up to see her mentor stood over her with a smile. Twilight stood up and turned to see Luna was healing Spike, before noticing the stone statue of the hybridised Trixie. She frowned at the sight, visibly disturbed.

"What is wrong, my student?" Celestia asked worriedly.

"Was there no way to save Trixie? She may have been a prideful mare but she wasn't inherently evil," Twilight sighed as she spoke.

"Unfortunately not, once they had bonded in such a manner they become nigh inseparable. The only reason Luna broke free was because she was an Alicorn. The second she gave in to the Element of Treachery, she signed herself a one-way ticket to damnation.

"Element of Treachery?"

"The Elements of Disharmony. Once a big threat to the world, now they are all trapped in stone. You fought one already, Discord was the antithesis to Magic, and you overcame him. The others shall remain in my care until the world ends," Celestia said with a sad smile. "Come my faithful student I'm sure you want to know more about these elements, and I happen to have the morning off."

Twilight's face lit up like a fireworks factory as she jumped to her feet and followed Princess Celestia out into Ponyville. Celestia's horn glowed once more and the Sun began to rise from the opposite end of the world, as if rising to meet them.

Luna helped Spike up and carried him to his basket, placing him gently into the covers. She returned downstairs and refitted the door gently using her magic. She then took one sad glance at the statue and teleported the two of them away.