“Any time you wanna roll now, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash could only watch as Trixie stood at the base of a large beast resembling a lion, only ten times bigger, with magic fluctuating through her horn. “Why isn’t she rolling?!”

“Trixie rolls three,” Twilight’s voice announced. “Trixie’s spell strikes the monster’s paw, crippling it and providing a chance to escape.”

“You heard the mare!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew towards Trixie, who had just fired a beam of magic towards the lion’s paw. “Let’s get outta here!”

“So soon?” Trixie asked as she had no choice but to be swept off of the ground by Rainbow Dash. “But we can beat it!”

“That’s not a risk I wanna take! We can still feel pain, remember?”

Trixie pouted and looked back towards the fading beast in the distance. “You just don’t Trixie to have a higher kill count than you.”

“You caught me, but I also don’t wanna just stop at every monster that appears.”

“Trixie does suppose we don’t have all the time in the world,” Trixie admitted. “Fine then, we’ll try to avoid confrontations from now on. Now, can you put Trixie down?” Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop and nodded, placing Trixie down onto the ground.

“We’ve been going through this forest for ages,” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for…”

“You don’t know, but the Great and Powerful Trixie has already narrowed down the five most probably locations in this place where somepony would hide something they don’t want found.”

“You have?”

Trixie nodded and pulled out her map, unrolling it for Rainbow Dash to see. “There are a total of twenty-five significant areas that have yet to have any details at all mapped out, and of those, there are five locations that are surrounded by natural dangers and barriers, whilst also being far enough away from witches or pony forest-dwellers that they likely wouldn’t stumble across them.”

“Okay, but that’s still a lot of places to check,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Trixie suspects that if Tirek were going to hide something important, he’d want it as close as possible to himself in case he needed to get to it in a hurry. Therefore, we’re going to start with this marshland here.” Trixie pointed to an unmapped area on her map. “It’s the closest of the five suspect areas to Dream Valley, and it makes the most sense when you consider that the explorer was only killed after mapping out the whole area, seeing as how it is near to the edge of the forest.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked, flinching at the heated glare she got in response.

“If, by some long shot, the Great and Powerful Trixie is wrong, then we shall simply have to try each area one-by-one. Now, shall we move out, or do you need some time to rest up?”

It was Rainbow Dash’s turn to glare and Trixie’s turn to flinch. “Nah, I’m good.”

“You sure? Trixie doesn’t want to risk you passing out whilst we’re walking.”

“I’m fine.”

Trixie approached Rainbow Dash with a sultry grin on her face. “Just to be safe, perhaps we should stop for a little bit so that the Great and Powerful Trixie can give you a little ‘energy boost’?” Trixie accented her approach with a swipe of her tail across Rainbow’s muzzle.

“Trixie rolls twelve. Her flirtations are a total failure and Rainbow Dash smacks her on the head to cool her down.”

“Wha-” Trixie bit her tongue as a hoof came hammering down onto her head. “OW! DASH, WHAT THE HAY?!”

“I-It wasn’t me! It did it on its own, I swear!”

Twilight groaned and slammed her hoof into her face, shaking her head at the board beneath her. “Honestly, can’t you two take this a little more seriously?! You’re both in grave danger!”

“Uh, Twilight? I don’t think we’re getting through to them.”

Twilight sighed as she regarded her assistant. “You’re right, Spike. It seems they can only hear me when I’m dictating their dice rolls and actions.” Twilight’s magic lifted a sheet of paper before her eyes. “This note I found in the back of the book… if only I had found it earlier.”

“I don’t get it. Can’t you just reverse the spell and get them out of there?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Spike,” Twilight said. “Even if I took the time to break the spell down and come up with a counter-spell, I’d have to fight against Tirek’s magic for it to be success, and if the history books are to be believed, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“But the Tirek inside that world isn’t real, right? Didn’t you say it’s like a film reel constantly replaying the day of his defeat?”

“Tirek’s magic is beyond compare. Whatever is in that world is real so long as it’s in that world, and that include Tirek. Not just Tirek, but the Rainbow of Light, too. If Tirek were to get his hooves on that item, the result would be-”

Spike noticed the dungeon master’s sheet glowing and shouted, “Twilight, look!”

Twilight turned her full attention towards her sheet. “A surprise ambush by Tirek’s forces?” Twilight levitated the dice into her magic, ready to roll for luck, initiative, reflex, whatever may be tested… “What?!”

“What’s wrong?!”

“The dice roll didn’t come up! It just says that Rainbow Dash was struck with a poisonous arrow!”

Spike picked up the glowing book and looked down at the page it was currently on. “Twilight, take a look at this! ‘Playtime is over – now I will determine their fate’!”

“Oh no… This is bad. Very, very bad.” Twilight put a hoof to her chest and breathed as quickly as she could. “From the start, Tirek’s magic was in control of everything. The dice rolls were just to make us keep playing in case we hadn’t caught on, but now he’s taking that away, leaving Rainbow Dash and Trixie on their own!”

“That means we can’t help them?” Spike asked, receiving a slow nod from Twilight. “B-But what happens if they…”

Twilight brought a hoof slowly to her forehead and closed her eyes. “… Whatever is in that world is real… so long as it’s in that world.” Spike gulped. “Rainbow Dash has been poisoned, and Trixie’s magic isn’t at a high enough level to heal her. If she doesn’t get medical attention, she’ll…”

“There’re so many!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she limped backwards and pulled her arrow back on her bowstring, releasing it to strike one of the young dragon warrior’s approaching. “Why isn’t Twilight rolling anymore?!”

“Trixie has a bad feeling about all this! Maybe we should fall back!” Trixie heard the sound of wood clanging against the floor behind her and turned around to see Rainbow Dash kneeling down, grasping her stomach as she groaned. “A-Are you okay?”

“It hurts… Like a fire in my stomach…”

“It looks like this might be the end. Trixie doesn’t have the resources to heal you.”

Rainbow Dash tried her best to raise her head. “Y-You should go on your own, then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah… I don’t really c-care much for this game, but I know y-you… were looking forward to- GAAAAAH!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Trixie ran towards the fallen mare, who screaming as she clutched her stomach, and didn’t notice until it was too late that a shadow was rising over her. Turning around, Trixie found the figure of a large, muscular stallion towering over her, a hoof raised in the air as if ready to smack her aside.

“Hey!” Trixie and the stallion before her both turned around just in time to find a bright light racing towards them, exploding as it passed Trixie and becoming a wall of light separating her from her foes.

“What was that?”

“It was a barrier to keep them at bay.” Trixie’s head snapped to her side, where she found a small, cloaked figure kneeling beside the fallen Rainbow Dash. A light was shining over Rainbow Dash, and her screaming slowed to a stop.

“… Huh? Suddenly, I feel fine,” Rainbow said as she slowly rose to her hooves, only to stumble and trip. Trixie quickly caught her with her magic. “Well, almost fine…”

“The poison hadn’t had enough time to spread completely through your system. I removed it before it could take any effect and closed up your wound.” The figure reached two purple, scaly hands to their hood and pulled it down. “Just like Twilight told me to!”

“Spike?!” Rainbow and Trixie shouted in unison.

“You’re playing, too?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I thought you were busy tonight!”

“How is your magic stronger than Trixie’s?” Trixie asked in a dejected tone.

“Well-” Spike began, only to be interrupted by the stallion on the other side of his barrier growling loudly as he kicked a forehoof against the wall of light. “We can talk later! We gotta run!”

“No arguments here. That arrow really hurt,” Rainbow Dash said as she steadied herself onto her hooves. Trixie offered her shoulder as a crutch and the three quickly turned tail to flee.

Twilight sighed. “It looks like they made it out of there…” Looking to her side at the character sheet she had made for Spike, she couldn’t help but have mixed feelings on the matter. “I suppose it’s an emergency, and not really a game, but still, I can’t help but feel that we’re cheating right now… I just hope that protection spell worked…”

“It sure is a good thing you came along when you did,” Trixie said as she soaked a rag in some water and folded it up, “But what tore you away from your comics? Decided it was boring to spend the night all by yourself?”

“I came in here to save Rainbow Dash,” Spike said as he focused his magic on Rainbow’s wounds. “Twilight fixed my stats so my healing and support powers are maxed out.”

“That’s cheating though,” Rainbow Dash said. “… Isn’t it?”

Trixie nodded and applied the wet rag to Rainbow’s wound, causing the pegasus to flinch at the touch. “Trixie never took Twilight to be much of a cheater. She always seems to play by the rules…”

“Well things changed when she found out this isn’t a game you guys got sucked into,” Spike said as he released his spell and put a paw to Rainbow Dash’s forehead. “Okay, I’ve done all I can.”

“Wait, go back to the part about this not being a game.”

Spike looked at Trixie, and then back at Rainbow Dash. “Well, Twilight didn’t know how to get you out of the book so she looked into it. There was a note on the back of the book that said this world, this entire book, is one big spell that was cast a long, long time ago, by some guy called ‘Tie-rack’.”

“Tirek?” Trixie asked.

“That’s the one,” Spike confirmed. “Twilight said that this world is a constant loop of the events leading up to his defeat. Apparently the note was a warning that used to be on the front of the book, but I guess it must’ve fallen off and somepony put it in the back without reading it.”

“So you’re saying we’re like, in the past or something?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Spike put a claw to his head and scratched his scales. “Not exactly. Let’s see, how did she explain it again? … She said that the spell on the book makes it like a film reel of the day it was cast, constantly on repeat. It’s not the past, just a vision of it, but as long as we’re inside the book then everything in it is real.”

“But why would Tirek make something like that?” Trixie asked. “If it is just a repeat of the past, then all he accomplishes is repeating the day that he lost. Who would want to relive their greatest failure over and over again?”

“That’s where the second enchantment comes in,” Spike said. “The ponies that enter this book are charmed. At a certain point, they’ll be put under a mind control spell to serve Tirek’s will.”

“Mind control?” Trixie asked, her hooves shaking as the rag fell from them. “Trixie has to go through that again?” she whispered as she leaned down to pick the rag back up.

“Twilight cast a protection spell on me, so I’ll be fine, and she said that Rainbow Dash is naturally immune to mind control.”

“I am?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Twilight and I had a discussion about this when Trixie asked her about the night you all battled Nightmare Moon,” Trixie said. “She said that the Shadowbolts tried to charm you into joining their side, but that their spell had no effect on her.”

“Wait, they used a spell?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I never noticed that.”

“You wouldn’t. Sensing magic isn’t your field of expertise.”

“But wait, Discord used his powers to make me betray my friends, and it worked.”

“Twilight and I came up with three possible explanations for why it worked in that scenario. The first is that Discord’s chaotic-based magic simply follows different rules than our own harmony-based magic.”

“The second is that you were convinced Cloudsdale would fall without you, but that the girls would be just fine,” Spike continued, earning surprised looks from the two mares. “What? I listen when Twilight talks! … Most of the time.”

“What’s the third theory?” Rainbow Dash asked. Silence was her only response. “What is it?”

“You may not like it,” Trixie said. “Our third theory was that your loyalty for Cloudsdale… simply outweighed that of your friends.”

“WHAT?! THAT’S CRAP!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pushing herself up off of the floor. She winced as she felt a pain in her abdomen and fell back down to the floor.

“L-Like we said, it is only a possibility,” Trixie said, placing her hooves on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders to keep her still. “Don’t take it too seriously, and try not to move about too much.” Suddenly, it hit Trixie like a ton of bricks. “Wait, that’s you two secured, but what about me?”

Spike averted his eyes and scratched his arm. “You’re… vulnerable to Tirek’s spell. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Y-You’ve got to be kidding me,” Trixie said, but Spike simply continued to look away. “… So, what, Trixie is just supposed to… accept her fate?”

“Why even bother controlling us?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What does that get him?”

“Remember, in this world, anything in it is real,” Spike reminded. “That includes the Rainbow of Light. Twilight said that the power of the Rainbow of Light is beyond compare. It can even make something out of nothing, or turn fantasy into reality.”

“There’s no way anything could be that powerful,” Rainbow Dash said with a snort.

“Who knows? But Tirek sure seemed to believe it, and to him, it’s his only chance of making a comeback.”

“I see,” Trixie said as she brought a hoof to her chin. “The Tirek in here is just a replica of the one from back then. He knows nothing, and has no intention of taking the Rainbow of Light or breaking free from this world. That’s why the real Tirek needed to make sure that there was somepony who’d do the job for him.”

“The whole RPG thing was just a disguise,” Spike concluded. “It was to draw ponies in by making it look like a friendly, innocent game, but in reality it was a trap. All he needed was one unicorn talented enough to use the spell.”

“But she hasn’t been controlled yet,” Rainbow Dash said, looking wearily at Trixie. “… Right?”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Spike responded. “We have to get the Rainbow of Light before Tirek’s spell takes Trixie.”

“But where is the Rainbow of Light?” Rainbow asked.

“Dream Valley,” Trixie muttered. “The ponies of Dream Valley, they should know.”

“Then that’s where we’re heading,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing herself up, only to fall back down again as a sharp pain passed through her back. “… In a few minutes.”

With a sigh, Trixie used her magic to lift Rainbow Dash onto her back. “This time, Trixie shall do the carrying,” she said as she turned her attention to Spike. “Let’s move quickly. We’re already at the edge of the forest so caution isn’t really necessary.”

Spike nodded. “I just hope ‘Dream Valley’ isn’t just a name.”

It was as beautiful day as any in Dream Valley, and after a long day of playing, Ember was beat and needed to rest up. She lay on the grass beside Twilight, the fresh summer breeze blowing against her coat. She looked up to see a butterfly gracefully flapping by.

“Twilight,” Ember asked the older pony, “Will I ever be able to fly like Firefly and Medley?”

“No Ember,” Twilight answered with a warm smile, “Not all little ponies can fly.”

“Excuse me.” The two ponies looked up from their resting spot to find a young baby dragon and a unicorn mare carrying a pegasus mare approaching them. “Hey, I was wondering if-”

“A dragon!” Ember shouted as she jumped up and hid behind Twilight.

“Ember, please,” Twilight said softly as she looked over her shoulder. “Not all dragons are-”

Twilight was interrupted by the sound of lightning. She looked up to see the sky being filled by dark storm clouds and raging thunderstorms, and gasped at the sight of Tirek’s minions approaching.

“Everybody, quick!” a pony shouted in the distance. “Come on!”

The ponies descended into chaos as they all ran as fast as they could away from the encroaching storm clouds. All except for Rainbow Dash, Trixie and Spike.

“It’s them!” Trixie shouted as she glared up towards the sky. “Tirek’s min-” Trixie gasped and froze in place.

“We have to get out of here!” Spike said.

“But the Rainbow of Light!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“We can get it later!” Spike assured her. “For now, we have to- GAH!”

Rainbow Dash gasped as she witnessed Spike falling to the ground, at the hooves of the Great and Powerful Trixie. “W-What’d you-” Rainbow Dash was thrown to the ground off of Trixie’s back, and could only look up in horror as the grinning showmare towered above her. “Lord Tirek’s plans must not be disturbed,” Trixie said as her horn lit up.

“Seize them!”

Trixie looked up to see Tirek’s minions closing in on their location. “I’ll leave you two as bait. I hope you enjoy your new home, for you shall be stuck here for all eternity. Once Lord Tirek is freed, this book shall become a prison for the two of you, and for this mare, as well.”

“Damn it! Let her go right now, or I swear I’ll-” Rainbow Dash was grabbed by something above her and pulled violently into the air. Below her, she could see Trixie vanishing in a flash of light. “TRIXIIIIIIIE!”

“This is bad,” Twilight said as she observed the stats on Trixie’s character sheet. “Tirek’s control has hit Trixie, and to top it all off, her stats have been boosted beyond the max! Oooh, maybe I should have gone in there, too… No. If they fail, and Tirek is freed, I have to be ready to get to Canterlot and warn the princess as fast as I can. Please, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Trixie… Please make it out of there alive and well.”

“Oof!” Rainbow Dash growled at her captive standing above her, holding her down to the ground with a hairy paw. “You bastard… You’d better let me go!”

“Quiet, pony,” the beast sitting on the throne before Rainbow Dash said, his figure hidden in dark shadows. “Guards, remove the small one.”

“You won’t hurt Ember?” one of the other captive ponies asked as the filly was taken away.

“She’s too small to pull my Chariot of Midnight, as you should have known, Scorpan.”

“Hey! Where’s Spike?!” Rainbow Dash demanded as she tried to rise to her hooves, only to find herself restrained by Scorpan’s hand and her own weakened state.

“I assume you mean the dragon that was capture alongside you? That beast dared to insult and lay his filthy paws upon me, and so he must pay the ultimate price.”

“Where is he?!” Rainbow Dash repeated.

“He has been sent to the guillotine. His scales should do wonders for my magic capabilities, if nothing else.”

“Y-You’re gonna kill him?! But he’s just a child!”

“Master, if I may, might the dragon not be more useful as a guard or a-”

“Scorpan, you should be more concerned for your own situation.” Footsteps sounded behind Scorpan, prompting him to turn and find a young, purple baby dragon being held at the neck by one of the guards laughing maniacally. “If by midnight I do not have a fourth pony, another head will roll. His!”

Scorpan gulped and slowly nodded his head. “U-Understood, Master.”

“Now, to demonstrate the powers that now hold you.” The figure rose and stepped forward, revealing a large, horned equine-like creature with two arms protruding from what should have been just a neck, but was instead much more broad. “Behold, the power of darkness!”

Tirek opened a bag, releasing a black gust of wind that surrounded the ponies, transforming two of them into dragon-like creatures, but leaving Rainbow Dash as she was. Closing the bag, Tirek gave the pony a curious look. “Well, you seem well protected,” he said. “I do not know what kind of magic you used to shield yourself, but I shall have my four minions of darkness, with or without you.”

Rainbow Dash gulped as a large finger was pointed right in her face. “M-Maybe the dark thingy just needs a recharge?”

“… Perhaps. We shall see tonight, but be warned that if you are of no use to me, pony, then your life will be forfeit. I have no use for a pony that cannot pull my Chariot of Midnight.”

Rainbow Dash sighed with Relief as Tirek returned to her throne and Scorpan left the room. She turned her eyes to the dragons that were once ponies and shivered before averting her gaze. Her eyes rested on the shimmer of red light coming from her neck, in the vague shape of a lightning bolt. ‘Spike, Trixie, please be alright…’

“Oh, it’s the rainbow! The Rainbow of Light!”

Megan took the small locket from the strange wizard, a look of wonder on her face.

“But it’s so small,” Bow-Tie pointed out as she looked over the supposed Rainbow of Light.

“Perhaps, but there’s no mistaking it.” The group jumped and turned around to find a blue unicorn mare standing behind them. “Without a doubt, that is the Rainbow of Light.”

“You’re that pony we saw earlier,” Twilight said as she approached Trixie. “Your friends were taken away, too. Did you come to help them?”

“Help?” Trixie chuckled, her horn lighting up as she extended a forehoof. “No. I came to seize the Rainbow of Light, for Lord Tirek.”

The ponies gasped and watched as Trixie swung her hoof into the side of Twilight’s face, knocking her to the ground, before unleashing a beam of energy to separate the group.

She teleported behind Megan swept her feet, dropping the girl to the ground and grabbing the locket in her magic.

“I won’t let you!” Firefly shouted as she grabbed the Rainbow of Light and pulled at it, only to find that it would not budge in Trixie’s magical aura.

“Bad move,” Trixie said, unleashing a spell that shocked Firefly. The pegasus screamed and released the Rainbow of Light as she dropped to the ground, her body twitching as she whimpered from the pain.

“Firefly!” Bow-Tie cried. “Why you-”

“It’s been fun, but I should be going now,” Trixie said, charging her magic.

“Not so fast!” Bow-Tie charged towards the unicorn, who simply grinned and unleashed her magic in the form of a scalding beam that hit the charging mare directly. “GAAAAAH! MY EYES!”

“If anypony else would like to experience such pain, just try to follow me,” Trixie warned, scanning the group to find nothing but terrified and angry faces pointed her way. “Well then, I suppose that’s that.” In a flash of light, Trixie was gone, along with the Rainbow of Light.

Spike struggled against his shackles with all of his might, but it was no use. The metal clasps binding his wrists were too strong to break through sheer force, and the magic of Tirek’s castle seemed to be weakening his own.

“Hey guys, c’mon now. You don’t really want to kill me, right?” Spike asked, smiling at the guards standing beside him as they exchanged nods. One of the guards, wearing a black sack over his head, approached the device that Spike was shackled to and gripped the lever. “No, please! I-I don’t wanna die yet, there’s still so much I haven’t done yet! I haven’t gone on my first date, or grown my wings, o-or even tasted a rare teardrop sapphire!”

“Lord Tirek ordered your death. His wishes are our command.”

Spike closed his eyes as he waited, praying for somebody to save him. “Please… TWILIGHT, PLEASE HELP MEEEEEEEE-”

“Hey.”

“EEEEEEEE-”

“Hey!”

“EEEEEEEEE-”

“HEY!”

Spike stopped his screaming and looked up at the beast standing before him. “Y-You! You’re the one who brought me here!” Scorpan raised a claw and brought it down, shattering Spike’s shackles with two swift strikes. Spike freed himself from the stock he was in and flexed his claws. “… But why?”

“Get out of here,” Scorpan said. “You’re just a kid. You should get out of here and live a long life.”

Spike narrowed his brow and shook his head. “No.”

“Are you insane?! If Lord Tirek finds out you’re not dead, he’ll surely finish the job himself! It’s too late for your friends now, but you can still-”

“No! I won’t leave my friends behind and escape myself! That’s not what they would do, and besides, it goes against my dragon’s honour code!”

Scorpan watched as Spike stormed past him, moving quickly towards the staircase leading down from the top of the tower they were both on. “And just what can you do to help them?”

Spike stopped for a brief moment. “I… I don’t know. But if I don’t do something, then nothing will change.”

“You… have made up your mind, I see. Fine, but a word of caution: sometimes subtlty is stronger than charging head-first into danger.”

Spike nodded. “Thanks. For your help, and for the advice.” Spike turned back towards the stairs and ran as fast as he could down the tower. “Okay, I still remember the way. I have to turn left at the bottom of the stairs, and then-” Spike stopped as he reached the base of the staircase, backing up quickly and clamping a claw over his mouth to stop any sounds from coming out. ‘N-Now what do I do?’

Tirek tapped his fingers against the armrest of his throne impatiently, his forehoof joining in by tapping against the floor as time continued to tick by.

Rainbow Dash kept her eyes on the dark figure, thinking of all of the ways she would hand his behind to him had the two guards to either side of her not been present.

“Well, I’d say that enough time has passed,” Tirek said finally as he rose from his throne. “Let’s see if my Rainbow of Darkness is ready yet.”

Rainbow Dash flinched. “Y-You call this night? It’s more like late-evening.”

Tirek reached for his bag and approached Rainbow Dash, who quickly backed as far back as she could before she hit the wall behind her.

“GAH!”

“OOF!”

Tirek turned his attention towards his throne room’s door. “What the devil?” Silence reigned for a few moments. “Guards, what are you waiting for? Find out what those noises were!”

“Yes, my lord!” of the guards answered as the two of them ran towards the door. They stopped as a blue mare entered the room, her horn glowing with purple magic.

“Out of my way,” Trixie said as she grabbed one of the guards by the throat with her magic. The second guard charged towards her, but she nimbly dodged under his incoming spear and delivered a kick to his gut. She then threw the first guard out of one of the windows and casually approached Tirek.

“Who are you?! Answer me, pony!” Tirek demanded as he aimed his bag at Trixie.

“Careful,” Trixie said. “You’ll destroy your only hope of breaking free from this prison.”

“What do you mean?”

“Trixie!” Rainbow Dash cried. “Trixie, don’t do it! This guy’s bad news, seriously! If he gets out, Equestria will be-”

“Silence,” Trixie hissed, casting a glare that silenced the pegasus instantly. “I serve Lord Tirek. Now behold, as the Rainbow of Light frees my master from this world!” Trixie closed her eyes and focussed her magic. The locket around her neck began to glow and floated up above her head.

Trixie gasped as she felt something on her back and turned around quickly, but saw nothing.

Rainbow Dash, however, saw a small purple dragon bouncing off of Trixie’s back and grabbing the locket from the air, clutching it tightly as he landed in-between Trixie and Tirek. “Got it!”

“You!” Trixie spat as she faced Spike.

“You’re alive. How odd.” Tirek’s eyes fell on the locket in the dragon’s grasp. “‘Rainbow of Light’? What is that? I have never heard of another rainbow outside of my own Rainbow of Darkness.”

“Trixie, snap out of it!” Spike shouted, ignoring Tirek’s questions. “Tirek’s just controlling you! Don’t let him trick you like this!”

Trixie’s magic grabbed Spike by the neck and lifted him up into the air. Despite suddenly being unable to breath, Spike refused to let go of the Rainbow of Light. “This book will soon reach its end, and then everything will reset. I do not have time to waste on you. Release the Rainbow of Light.”

“I… won’t…”

“Release it, or else face a slow, painful death.”

“Let him go!” Trixie turned to face Rainbow Dash, who was now standing on her hooves mere feet away from Trixie, her eyes narrowed. “Trixie, let him go. Now.”

Trixie’s grip loosened slightly, but she simply regarded Rainbow Dash with a neutral stare. “That’s right. You ponies are such sympathetic creatures. I wonder if dragons work the same way. If I kill you, will he release the Rainbow of Light?”

“D-Don’t!” Spike gasped.

“Come on, Trixie. I know you’re not a killer,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You don’t seem to understand. Your friend is no more.”

“Yeah? I don’t buy it! Trixie might exaggerate, but she is a strong pony! She wouldn’t let some creep like you take over her mind so easily! C’mon Trixie, fight it already!”

“You are beginning to bore me,” Trixie said, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s neck with her magic and pulling the pegasus over. “… Stop looking at me like that.”

Rainbow Dash’s determined stare never left her face, not even when Trixie tightened her grip. “Trixie, I believe in you.”

Trixie gasped and loosened her grip. “What? How did- What did you do?!”

“Heh. See that? I told ya she was still in there.”

Trixie gritted her teeth together and used her magic to throw Rainbow Dash towards the window… before casting a different spell to catch and bring the pegasus back towards her. “Damnit! She shouldn’t be able to do that!”

“Maybe you didn’t know this when you possessed her, but that pony there is the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’!” Rainbow Dash approached Trixie and placed her hooves on the showmare’s shoulders. “And she’s also my marefriend, which means I know she’ll pull through!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward and whispered, “I love you.”

“Rainbow… Dash…” Trixie roared and stomped her forehooves against the ground. “Silence, pony! Lord Tirek’s magic cannot be broken by faith alone!”

“Then how ‘bout some action?” Rainbow Dash asked before leaning in and kissing Trixie on the lips.

Trixie’s eyes widened as far as they could and her body froze up. The magic holding Spike disappeared, dropping the baby dragon to the floor. She felt Rainbow Dash pull away and it took a few moments before she finally reacted. “… D-Dashie…”

“You’re back?”

“Trixie doesn’t-” Trixie winced and grabbed her head. “Don’t… come back…”

Spike, after catching his breath, turned around upon seeing a dark shadow casting over him. “Uh, guys?” Spike slowly backed away from the slowly approaching Tirek, who did not seem amused by the romantic display before him. “G-Guys, think we can wrap this up?”

“Use your magic to keep him at bay!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“I can’t! There’s some kinda field stopping me!”

“It’s okay,” Trixie said. “Tirek, as me… defeated the wizards keeping the field up.” Trixie yelped as she lowered to her knees. “My head!”

“Fight it, Trixie! You can do it!” Rainbow Dash encouraged.

Spike raised his claws and channelled his energy, creating a large wall of bright light that halted Tirek’s advances.

“Fool!” Tirek raised his right fist and slammed it against the barrier, creating many sparks and eliciting grunts from Spike as he fought to keep his wall up.

“Trixie, I know you can beat him,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I couldn’t even beat Melody,” Trixie argued. “And I lost once before to the Alicorn Amulet, too.”

“But you’re strong, and you never give up! I know that from the time we’ve spent together so far.”

“Trixie couldn’t even defeat the ursa minor…”

“But you tried,” Rainbow Dash said. “You tried both then and against Melody, and after you took the amulet off you faced Twilight and apologised. You’re strong, brave, and you never give an inch!”

Trixie growled and slammed a forehoof into the hard floor beneath her several times, before slowly calming down. “What could courage possibly do for me now?! What good is determination if I don’t have the strength to fight it?!”

“You’re not alone this time, though!” Rainbow Dash shouted, drawing a startled gasp from Trixie. As Trixie seemed to settle down, Rainbow Dash put a hoof beneath the showmare’s chin and titled her head up so that she could stare into her eyes. “This time, you’re not fighting alone. If something’s too hard, just ask and I’ll help. There’s no reason to feel bad about asking for help when it really counts.”

“… Dash…”

“Guys, I can’t keep this up!” Spike shouted, dropping to his knee and lowering one arm. His other arm shook and his barrier wobbled against Tirek’s continuous pummels. “Hurry!”

“Trixie, you wanna go home?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Snips and Snails are waitin’ to learn new magic. Twilight likes having somepony to talk to about egghead stuff. The town square is ready for another great show from you. And… we still have a hot date in Cloudsdale to go to, right?”

Trixie’s breathing steadied. Her hooves lowered from her head and her eyes stopped trembling. “… That sounds good,” she said as she took Rainbow Dash’s hoof and raised to her hooves, a smile on her face mirroring her partner’s.

“And now, you die!” Tirek shouted as he punched his way through Spike’s barrier with one final strike.

“Trixie, the rainbow!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Trixie nodded and used her magic to grab the locket from Spike’s claw. Spike happily let her take the Rainbow of Light and watched as she opened it up, releasing a tiny rainbow from inside.

“… That’s it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I-Is it… working?”

“Forget giving you the privilege of pulling my chariot,” Tirek said as he closed in on the group. “I will use my Rainbow of Darkness to turn you into creature so horrible, so grotesque, that not even the Nightmares will want to associate with you!”

“T-This is bad,” Trixie said as the three backed away slowly.

Tirek pointed his bag towards the group and opened it, unleashing a black gust of wind. The rainbow from Trixie’s locket shined as the black wind hit it, and the group watched in awe as the wind seemed to be absorbed into the rainbow, making it bigger and bigger.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked herself over. “I feel… better. I feel great!”

“Suddenly, Trixie’s body is feeling very warm,” Trixie observed as she too looked herself over.

“This must be the Rainbow of Light’s power,” Spike said as the rainbow coiled itself around the three, wrapping around them as a multicoloured tornado that continued to grow in size. “I feel really light!”

“We’re being lifted off of the ground,” Trixie said, looking down to find herself floating in the air.

“What’s gonna happen?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Trixie wasn’t sure at first, but she then heard a voice in her mind that answered her question. ‘You guys, please hurry! Hurry and come back home!’

“That was Twilight’s voice,” she whispered. With a grin, she turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “We’re going home.”

A bright light shining from the book blinded Twilight’s field of vision and forced her to shield her eyes with a foreleg. When the light seemed to be dying down, Twilight slowly lowered her leg and took a peek at the book. She gasped as the sight of her friends graced her vision.

“You made it!” she cheered as she approached her friends quickly.

“It worked,” Trixie said as she examined her hooves and looked up at Twilight. She felt the familiar feeling of a wing wrapping itself around her and suddenly found herself being pulled towards Rainbow Dash to her side.

“Yeah it did!” Rainbow Dash shouted in an excited tone as she pumped a forehoof in the air.

Spike turned around to face the book and found it lying closed on the floor with the cover facing up. “What do we do with that?”

Twilight shuddered. “That’s one book best left unread, and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.” Twilight used her magic to lift the book and levitated it gently towards the desk beside her donations box. “I’ll take this to Princess Celestia tomorrow morning, first thing. Spike, could you write her a letter please?”

“I sure can!” Spike pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing away quickly.

“She’ll be able to store it somewhere where nopony can get their hooves on it ever again. We really owe it to that Megan pony. If it wasn’t for her note at the end, Tirek’s plan might have succeeded!”

“How did she write that note anyway?” Trixie asked.

“I guess she noticed the spell that Tirek had cast and realised what his plan was, so she wrote a note to warn others not to cast the spells in the book. Unfortunately, over the years, the note must have found its way to the back of the book and so we missed it…”

“I’m finished!” Spike declared. “The letter’s been sent! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some com… ic…” Spike trailed off as he yawned loudly into his hoof.

“It’s pretty late,” Twilight said.

Trixie looked up towards the clock on the wall and her jaw dropped at the time that she read. “We were in there for five hours?!”

“It’s almost midnight!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Man, I guess time flies when you’re kicking monster butt.”

Twilight levitated Spike onto her back before he could fall face-first onto the floor with his eyes closed. He snored away, curled up into a ball with his thumb in his mouth as Twilight turned towards her two guests. “Sorry girls, but I think Spike and I are going to turn in for the night. We’ll have to get up early to meet with the princess without destroying our schedule too much.”

“Yeah, I think we’re gonna hit the hay too,” Rainbow Dash yawned as she stretched her hooves. She leaned towards Trixie and whispered, “Don’t forget, you owe me one heck of a show.”

Trixie sighed and nodded her head. “Yes, yes, but at least wait until tomorrow morning. Even the Great and Powerful Trixie feels fatigue, you know?”

“Well, guess we’ll see ya later, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said as she made her way towards the library door.

“Good night girls. And sorry for everything that happened.”

“Think nothing of it,” Trixie said as she watched Twilight walk up the stairs, and then turned her head to find Rainbow Dash already out of sight. She quickly turned to the bookcase behind herself a levitated a book out of her cape.

“I didn’t realise you were a fan of the Minty series.” Trixie flinched at the unmistakable voice of Twilight Sparkle. She turned around to find a smile on the librarian’s face, surely a mocking one. “I was a big fan of them back in magic kindergarten.”

Trixie’s face exploded into a sea of red as she felt veins popping. With a huff, she threw the book towards Twilight with her magic, startling the other mare who could only duck to dodge the sudden attack. Twilight couldn’t say anything before Trixie disappeared in a shroud of smoke and the echoing of retreating hoofsteps.

“… What was that for?” Twilight thought aloud. “I thought she liked this series, too.”

Author's Notes:

Rescue From Midnight Castle is actually pretty fun. You should all go and watch it :3

Next chapter: Rainbow Dash visits her G3 counterpart!

... Nah, I'm just kiddin'. I wouldn't do that to ya