“PANTS!” Trixie shouted as she burst through the door of Twilight’s laboratory. Startled, Twilight added a centiliter too much of Geltbaum’s reagent to a beaker, causing a cloud of orange smoke to floof up into her face. Twilight inhaled in surprise, and the magical smoke caused twin lilies to grow from her nostrils. Twilight blinked behind her safety goggles, then sneezed the flowers away. She whirled to face Trixie. “Pants?” she demanded. “PANTS!” shouted Trixie again. And indeed, she was wearing a pair of pairs of pants. Her forepants were sequined in red and silver sparkling stripes, and her rearpants were decorated with chevrons of alternating black and violet. “And… very nice pants they are, Trixie,” said Twilight. “I’m sure that Rarity was glad to finally get them off her clearance rack. But I’m doing a tricky analysis here, so–” Trixie shook her head. She dragged Twilight to a nearby window and opened the curtains. Twilight gazed down from her palace at a scene of chaos. Confused ponies all over town, as far as she could see, were dressed in gaudy and varied… “PANTS!” exclaimed Trixie again, shaking Twilight’s shoulder urgently. “Oh, my! So many pants! What happened…? Oh, dear.” Twilight had noticed a pattern. “Trixie, are you able at present to say [i]any[/i] other word than ‘pants?’” Trixie shook her head, sadly but intently. “Pants,” she explained. “Okay, then,” said Twilight. “One ‘pants’ for yes, two for no. I’ll query you on the way. Let’s go!” [hr] By the time the two unicorns reached the middle of town, Twilight had learned from many yes-no questions that Sassy Saddles, on visit from Canterlot, had been displaying newly-arrived designs from overseas to a fascinated crowd outside Carousel Boutique. The trouble had started when, in a spirit of fun, she’d tried to model a particularly [i]outré[/i] pair of Saddle Arabian pantaloons, of purple and orange silk. But then, a nickering noise like an evil laugh had risen from the pants, and beams of magic had shot into the crowd, enpanting anyone they touched. Trixie had been hit, but fled before the spell had entirely entranced and enslaved her. “…and then you came to get me,” said Twilight, as she and Trixie threaded their way through the streets, amid ponies decked out in bright, flashy and stunning trousers. “But if it’s just an illusory effect, you should only have to ignore it to go make it go away…” “Pants-pants,” panted Trixie. “Oh, you’re right! These pants are [i]too loud to be ignored![/i] We’ll have to try another way.” They found an opening in the confused crowd, and dived through a breech in the breeches. At the center stood Sassy, entirely under the sway of her nickering knee-length bloomers as they caught more citizens up in their sinister web, forming a protective circle around her. A bebritched pony came at Trixie, who heard his corduroys chuffing in time and pantsed him, deflecting him into a bush. She congratulated herself quietly; it was best not to get too khaki. Twilight spotted a nearby hydrant. “Let’s hose them down!” she cried.The gush of water cleared most of the encircled ponies away, but Sassy proved resistant to leader-hosing. “PANTS!” she cried, launching an enpanting beam straight at Twilight! “PAAAANTS-PAAAAANTS!” yelled Trixie, shoving Twilight out of the way of the blast and taking it herself. Smaller pants appeared on each of her legs as her pants grew [i]extra pairs of pants.[/i] “PAAAAANNNTTTS!” Trixie wailed in horror, tripping over the obnoxious fashion disaster. She rallied and tried to pull the evil pants off of Sassy’s flanks, but the waist of the pants only grew tighter the harder she pulled! Meanwhile, Twilight teleported swiftly behind Sassy. But instead of pulling at the pants, her magic shot out, tearing and widening the tail hole in the rear seam of the pants, which stopped nickering and started to scream. At that moment, Trixie pulled again with all her strength, and the troublesome trousers were pulled free, saving the day! [hr] After all the ponies involved had been debriefed, Sassy had been calmed and sent to the spa, and the knackered knickers had been secured in an anti-magical garment bag for later study, Twilight and Trixie relaxed together over a cup of tea. “A good job, Twilight!” said Trixie. “But what made you think that would work on Sassy’s pants?” “Well, it’s possible to be overnice, sometimes,” said Twilight. “When it came down to it, we just had to give her shorts rift.”