After a while, the hedge maze seemed to gradually die away, till all was dead silence, and Sweetie Belle looked around in alarm. There was no one to be seen, and her first thought was that she must have gotten lost.

Suddenly, a woman dressed in midnight violet armor, with wisps of smoke that hung about her eyes (which formed something like the shape of a mask), and dark, feathered wings protruding from her upper back, came flying down upon her, blasting bolts of sparkling magic from her hands.

Just before she reached Sweetie Belle, she stopped suddenly and she and Sweetie Belle turned and saw another flying sorceress.

This one had gold and scarlet hair that shimmered like the sunset. She wore a pink and white gown and the flames around her seemed to form a pair of wings like those of a phoenix.

She stood between Sweetie Belle and the other magic-wielder.

Sweetie Belle couldn't believe what she was seeing. Granted, she had seen a lot of strange things since she had fallen down that rabbit hole, but this was even stranger. Two magic wielders, one dark and one light. One a nightmare, the other a shimmering daydream.

The two enchantresses looked at each other for some time without speaking and Sweetie Belle looked from one to the other in bewilderment.

"She's my prisoner!" the dark one, Midnight Sparkle, shouted at last.

"And I am here to protect her!" the fiery one, Daydream Shimmer, replied.

"Well, we'll have to fight for her, then!" said Midnight Sparkle.

"You will observe the Rules of Battle, of course!" Daydream Shimmer remarked.

"I always do!" Midnight Sparkle said.

And they began firing away at each other with such fury that Sweetie Belle hid behind a tree to be out of the way of the magic bolts.

She timidly peeped out from her hiding place to watch the battle.

Fireballs flew this way and that, blasting trees apart or sinking into the ground around them, until finally, the two sorceresses' magics connected and blasted them both back, and the battle ended with both ladies falling from the sky and landing side by side.

When they sat up, they spoke to one another.

"You're a worthy opponent," Daydream told Midnight.

"Another day, perhaps?" Midnight asked.

"Another day," Daydream replied.

They shook hands and Midnight Sparkle flapped her wings and flew off. Sweetie Belle came out of hiding and approached Daydream Shimmer.

"Thank you very much," she said.

"That was a glorious victory, wasn't it?" Daydream Shimmer asked as she got to her feet.

As Daydream Shimmer turned her gentle face and large eyes to Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle thought she had never seen such a lovely-looking sorceress in all her life. She was as lovely as Princess Cadence, maybe even lovelier.

She was dressed in transparent white cloth, which seemed to highlight every supple, feminine curve, and she had a queer-shaped little bag fastened across her shoulders, upside-down, and with the lid hanging open.

Sweetie Belle looked at it with great curiosity.

"I see you're admiring my little bag," Daydream Shimmer said in a friendly tone. "It's my own invention—to keep clothes and sandwiches in. You see, I carry it upside-down, so that they don't get wet when it rains."

"But they can drop out," Sweetie Belle gently remarked. "The lid is open."

"So, that's what happened to them," Daydream Shimmer said, a shade of vexation passing over her face.

She unfastened it when she spoke, and was about to throw it into the bushes, when a sudden thought crossed her mind. And she hung it carefully on a tree.

"Do you know why I did that?" she asked Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle shook her head.

"It's now a bee's nest. I should be getting some honey very soon,"

"But you already have a beehive," Sweetie Belle said, noticing it fastened to Daydream Shimmer's belt.

"Oh, one of the best," Daydream Shimmer said in a discontented tone. "But the bees won't come near it. Same with this. It's a better mousetrap. Come to think of it, I shouldn't be surprised if the mice don't keep the bees out—or the bees keep the mice out. One or the other."

"But why would you need a mousetrap?" Sweetie Belle asked (she had been wondering what it was for). "One does not usually find very many mice running around on their body."

"Not very likely, perhaps, but if they do come, I would be protected." said Daydream Shimmer. "I hope you've got your hair fastened on tight," she added after a long pause.

"Only in the usual way," she replied.

"That's not good enough," Daydream Shimmer said. "The wind is as strong as soup around here. You must be ready for anything. Then nothing can frighten you."

Sweetie Belle was a little startled by the fact that Daydream Shimmer seemed to float through the air as she walked along.

"How can you go on talking while you're like that? Floating through the air?" she asked.

Daydream Shimmer looked surprised at the question.

"What does it matter where my body happens to be?" she replied. "My mind goes on working just the same. It's a hive of activity. Ideas. In fact, the more I levitate, the more I keep inventing new things. The cleverest thing I ever invented I thought of with my head in the clouds."

"And what was that?"

"A new pudding... Come to think of it, I don't believe that pudding was ever cooked,"

"Why? What was it made of?"

"It began with bread," Daydream Shimmer answered. "It was a bread pudding."

"That wouldn't have been very nice,"

"Not very nice alone," Daydream said eagerly, "but mixing it with other things, like almonds and ice cream... You have no idea what a difference it makes."

Sweetie Belle smiled.

"And now, here I must leave you," Daydream Shimmer said as they came to the end of the wood. "I still have friends to make and enemies to defeat. You look worried. You're too young to worry. Look at me, I don't worry."

"I was just thinking about all the things I have to do when I get home. I don't want to, but I think I should,"

"Just be brave. Keep your balance and always get back on your horse," Daydream Shimmer told her.

She kissed Sweetie Belle's forehead and then flew slowly away, back into the forest.

"Goodbye!" she called back down to her. "Just be brave!"

"Thank you," Sweetie Belle whispered.