Chapter Twelve: The Magician

As the two of us left the house, I found myself wondering aloud.

"Is it really a good idea to go about exposed through town with a conspicuous purple unicorn?" Twilight chuckled. "I mean, people will know that there were only three ponies here, and that you were not one of them. Not many people wouldn't know what those three ponies look like by now. You could get a lot of attention, which could cause problems."

"I'm not sure how I could possibly conceal myself in a place like this." Twilight waved one of her hooves about.

"Can't you do some sort of magic that will make you look like something else?" I queried.

"I haven't learned any illusion magic. I never thought I'd need it."

"Then it looks like we're going to have to stay conspicuous." I began walking. Twilight matched my pace and walked alongside me. A car drove by, slowing down slightly as it passed us.

"Wow, that's what humans use to move around?" Twilight had never seen an automobile in action before. It must have been intensely intriguing to her.

"Yes. Unfortunately, due to how they work, they make the air dirty."

"How do they work?" She asked this question for a second time, and I decided I should tell Twilight as much about everything as I could. She seemed to be pretty easily coping with the fact that she was on Earth, but that may have been because she knew how we got here and may have assumed that Discord could bring us back. I truly didn't know what to think at this point.

"They have engines inside them that burn fuel made from the remains of ancient animals to create heat and pressure inside the engine to move a series of pistons inside that propel the vehicle forward by turning its front wheels." I explained this in as much detail as I could. Cars were not one of my interests, per se.

"Ancient animal fuel?" Twilight was confused and fascinated by my explanation.

"When plants animals died for whatever reason tens of thousands of years ago, they decayed. Over a long period of time, pressure from layers of dirt settling made them into a flammable substance that we use as fuel."

"That's strange." Twilight was not a paleontologist, and neither was I. I had explained it to the best of my ability. A few more vehicles passed by us, all of them slowing down as they went. We both noticed.

"Why are they slowing down as they come by us?" Twilight almost immediately reasoned it out. "Oh, yeah, I'm conspicuous."

"It looks like they don't care enough about you to stop and say hello," I said, half-jokingly. We went along the sidewalk, and quickly came across our destination. The park had a stage in it, and was merely a few hundred meters away from the school I went to. The site also featured a monumental Centurion tank, which contrasted quite drastically in the background with the blue unicorn performing on the stage for a few dozen people. We approached the site through the road. Trixie had her back to us, and was delivering a demonstration of a- probably simple- teleportation technique using a large box.

"Now, I, the Great And Powerful Trixie, will perform an amazing display of real magic!" With that, she disappeared, and popped out from under the box. "Ta-daaah!" She announced as the audience applauded. We came closer to the stage, and someone must have noticed my nearly iconic purple companion.

"Hey! It's Twilight Sparkle!" said a voice. I saw a finger pointed in our direction. A good portion of the croud came rushing at us. I was unsure of what to do.

"Uhhh..." Twilight looked very uncomfortable. She should have been, she was about to be set upon by more than twenty fervent bronies. I decided to intervene.

"Hey! Calm down!" I yelled. "Twilight and I are busy right now, we need to speak to Trixie." The croud paused for a moment.

"Who is it, who wishes to speak to the Great And Powerful Trixie?" Trixie asked in her signature boastly voice. She turned around to see, and didn't like what she saw. "Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing here?!"

"Sure you are!" The mob started again. "We just want to talk to her!" "Brushie brushie!" I leaned in toward Twilight.

"Run." We bolted down the road, and Twilight quickly outpaced me, and the mob did as well. My cardio wasn't my strength. As they passed, they spat insults at me. "Way to go, kid, you made Twilight run away." I ran after them, but they had a growing lead on me. How would Twilight evade so many bronies? I followed the group until they suddenly stopped at an intersection. Twilight was standing on the side of the road, her horn was glowing. She wasn't planning on hurting them, I was sure.

"Please, let me go. Zach was right, we are rather busy, and this is not the time for this!" Twilight was panting, and the bronies whispered amongst themselves, and began to walk back to the stage. They wouldn't defy the Ponyville librarian that they thought they knew. I walked over to Twilight.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I guess so. Why did they chase after me?"

"They were just excited, I'm sure. It's not every day that you meet one of the Elements of Harmony. You're very popular among us, Twilight." She blushed a bit, flattered. We walked together back to the stage. When we arrived, the bronies had taken their spots again, and watched us in respectful silence as we beckoned to the blue mare that had been standing there, confused, this whole time. She came off the stage, and trotted toward us pridefully. She wouldn't embarrass herself in front of her fans.

"What is it that you want, Twilight Sparkle?" She said the name in a slightly distasteful manner.

"Trixie, it is really important that you listen to us. As you may or may not know, you have been transported to a different universe. We need to get you and all the other ponies here out of this universe and back home," Twilight explained urgently. The bronies were listening intently.

"What if I don't want to leave? What if these humans want me here?" Trixie reasoned. The mob let out a cheer.

"Well, if you want, you can, but that would mean that one or both of the universes could be destroyed," I said, matter-of-factly. Trixie and the audience laughed.

"You've got to be joking. You can't convince me to leave just because you said something bad is going to happen!" Trixie was her usual stubborn, prideful self.

"This is serious! What if you're wrong and the universe will actually be destroyed if we don't leave?" Twilight argued.

"Even if I wanted to, how could I leave? There's no door back to Equestria that I know of." Trixie still wasn't buying it.

"Will you come with us? We may have a way back." My offer wasn't enticing to her.

"When I was run out of Ponyville, I lost everything. I don't want to go back. The humans love me and they love my magic," she replied stubbornly.

"But we have to get back! The whole universe is at stake!" Twilight was desperate.

"Give it up, Twilight. You can't ruin my dreams a second time."

"Twilight didn't ruin your dreams, Trixie. You did," I interjected. "Come on Twilight, let's go find a pony that'll listen to us." I started walking away. We left without further interruptions. Twilight followed, looking back at the stubborn blue mare, who was continuing her show.

"Where are we going now? What about Trixie?" Twilight didn't know. I didn't know either.

"Let's go find Derpy," I suggested.

"Where would we find her?" Twilight asked.

"I saw somewhere in that article that she would be flying about town, meeting people. I think our best bet for finding her would be to watch the sky and wander around."

"That's better than nothing." My purple companion agreed, and we set off once more. This time towards the center of town.