I woke up the morning and looked out the window to see patches of puddles across the fields, I guess it had been raining a lot during the night, not that I really care about it. Getting dressed and having my breakfast, I walked on out to find ponies gathered around the Town Hall, I wondered what was going on there.

When I walked closer and joined the crowd, I noticed Rarity getting zapped by magic, one blast and she now had a weird looking dress on her.

"You beast! This shade of brown should only be used for accents!" Rarity exclaimed as she began to faint before Applejack saved her by falling on her back.

"Come on, Applejack. We've got to get her in a nice, soothing pink, stat!" Pinkie said as they trotted off away from the crowd.

"What's going on here?" I asked before noticing the pony responsible....Trixie!

"Well...hello my love." she greeted in an evil way.

I was shocked to see her in Ponyville, she also had a black cloak and some kind of necklace on her.

"Trixie...what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm back to settle an old score with Twilight before I can fully move on..." she replied, "...now where is Twilight?"

"So much for being the marefriend, Bond loves." Dash muttered, thinking nopony heard her, but I did.

Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike then turned up.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't...Twilight Sparkle."

"Trixie!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What's she doing here?" Spike asked.

"You call that great and powerful?" Dash asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Trixie's eyes began to glow red as she zapped her magic at Dash, in a few moments of smoke, we saw Dash's right wing a lot bigger, causing her to be oriented in the air flying about everywhere.

"Oh! She's Rainbow Wobble, now!" Snips commented.

"Yeah! Ha ha ha ha!" Snails added, "Good spell, oh Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"You two! Quiet!" Trixie demanded.

I guess she had an issue with them as well, reminding me that they were the ones who brought that Ursa Minor to the town, wrecking her mobile home a long while back. One zap of magic and a small dust of smoke, we saw Snips and Snails now connected to each other by the horns.

"Uh, hey! W— What happened?" Snips asked.

"Get off of me!" Snails said.

"Let go!"

"Go this way!"

I was taken back by how powerful her magic had grown and I just stood there, thinking I couldn't do anything at the moment.

"Stop picking on my friends, Trixie!" Twilight demanded.

"You and I have some unfinished business. My magic's gotten better since I was here last. And I'm going to prove it! Me and you, a magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville forever!" Trixie declared.

"No Trixie, you can't do that...why are you acting like this?" I asked worryingly.

"Stay out of this, Bond. This is between me and Twilight."

"If it involves my friends, it does involve me."

"He's right...forget it! I'd never make a deal like that!" Twilight agreed.

"Hm. Your choice."

Trixie then zapped at Spike and turned him into a bouncing ball.

"Trixie, put him down. Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Because you humiliated me! After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughing stock! Everywhere I went I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living! A rock farm!"

"Hey! You're lucky my family's rock farm would take the likes of you!" Pinkie commented.

This offended Trixie as she zapper her magic to take Pinkie's mouth away and dumped it in a trash can...now why didn't I or any other unicorn think of that when she's being too crazy.

"Now I want revenge! And I'll just keep casting spells 'til you agree." Trixie said, using her magic to shake Twilight's library home to prove her point, "Well? What do you say?" Trixie asked.

Twilight and I looked around to see the damage done here, the ponies were either scared or surprised at what they had become as well has the library still hanging upside down.

"Trixie! Stop it now...what's gotten into you?" I asked her in a demanding way. "What happened to the Trixie I helped out so much, what happened to the one I fell in love with?"

"I said stay out of this, love. Don't make me hurt you."

I now wondered if that was her really talking or if it's to do with that necklace...I used my magic to create a bubble shield around me.

"No...you want my friends, you have to go through me." I replied as I stood in front of Twilight.

"How dare you take her side instead of mine!" she yelled as she zapped her magic at a huge amount this time.

To my surprise, I was pushed back by her magic...how can it be stronger than mine...it has to be that necklace, it must have some kind of magic in it. Suddenly, my shield broke and I felt a huge jolt of electricity like I had just come in contact with exposed live wires.

"ARGH!" I shouted as I fell to my side with a few burns and a bit of smoke...talk about taking one for the team.

"BOND" Twilight yelled as she walked to my side before looking back at Trixie, "Alright Trixie. Let's duel!" Twilight declared.

"Excellent." Trixie replied before undoing all of her magic she casted...apart from Pinkie who didn't get her mouth back. "If I lose, I won't set hoof in Ponyville again. But if you lose, you're the one banished from this one-horse town!"

Everypony gasped, except me as I was recovering from my shock of magic that went through my body.

"Draw!" Trixie yelled.

She used her magic to lift up a cart and barrels of apples and flung them over to the crowd, causing the ponies to run away apart from Shoeshine who was about to be crushed when Twilight stopped it with her magic and placed the barrels, apples and the cart back together.

Trixie then brought in loads of apple pies and threw them at her, Twilight countered this by brining in a parasprite and it ate them all with no effort made...well now we know who ate all the pies. She then zapped the parasprite away.

Next up was a huge cloud of snow that fell on top of Twilight, Twilight used her magic to melt the whole snow away. Now it was Twilight's turn and she zapped her magic at Trixie, she then had an old fashioned moustache that suddenly grew.

By then I had help on getting up by Rarity who helped me, I noticed Trixie's facial hair and I shared a giggle along with the other ponies. Trixie solved it by using a pair of scissors and cutting off the moustache and then had it vanished.

"Snips, Snails, step forward!" Trixie demanded.

"Wh-what is it, oh Great and P-P-Powerful Trixie?" they both asked nervously.

Trixie then zapped her magic at them both, they flew up before flying down to the ground, noticing that Snails was now an elderly pony and Snips was a baby....I was surprised that kind of spell was even possible.

"An age spell? But... how could you do an age spell? That's only for the highest level unicorns!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Well, Twilight? Give up?" Trixie asked.

Twilight then began to use all of her magic strength to turn them back.

"Come on, Twilight, you can do it!" Spike yelled.

She tried valiantly, but alas, she couldn't do it with her own magic...we all knew that Twilight had lost at that point.

"Trixie is the highest level unicorn!" she said, laughing, "And now it's time for you to leave Ponyville! FOREVER!"

"That's enough, Trixie!" Applejack yelled.

"You proved your point, but you can't possibly expect Twilight to leave Ponyville!" Rarity added.

"You fools! She's already gone!"

Before any of us could say anything, Twilight was picked up and thrown out of town before a huge circle bubble was created over the whole town, followed by thunderous clouds. All of us ran to the side of the bubble to see Twilight outside while were inside.

"It's okay, guys. I'll figure something out. Just take care of each other." Twilight said, "And keep an eye on Trixie. There's something strange about her." she then galloped away into the Everfree Forest, I hoped that Zecora might be able to help.

"Twilight?" Spike said to himself as he looked on, feeling sad.

"Trixie..." I said to the mares, "...I can't believe it, she was never like this to me before."

"Well, she is now..." Dash stated, "...what are we supposed to do now?"

"I know...let's go to the Library." Spike suggested, "Twilight is bound to have a book about that necklace I saw."

"Alright then partners, let's get going." Applejack said.

"Is there anything I could do?" I asked them.

"Yes there is, darling, you need to keep Trixie distracted so we can go about with what we need to do without her finding out." Rarity replied.

"Are you sure that I can do that?"

"You have to and we need to be quick about it." Fluttershy said.

"Why is that?"

"Oh wait...we haven't told you yet. Princess Celestia and two important ponies from Saddle Arabia are coming here to watch Twilight's magic performance tonight. We have to sort this out and get Trixie out of Ponyville before they get here." Applejack explained.

"Alright...I'll do my best to keep her distracted."

The girls galloped off to the library whilst I went around town, looking for her. After a while, I spotted her on a wooden cart with no wheels and Snips and Snails who had been turned back to normal were pulling it.

"Pull, you fools!" she ordered them before noticing me. "Oh hey there love, how's about a romantic kiss?" she asked before she appeared in front of me and began kissing me.

However...for the very first time, I didn't feel the spark like we did many times before. There was almost nothing between us, as if the candle between us had burnt out.

"What's the matter, why are you not kissing me back?" she asked.

"Because I know that all of this...this is not the real you, I'm beginning to believe that it has something to do with the necklace you're wearing...if that is a necklace." I replied, trying to be smart.

"It's an alicorn amulet my love and with it, it gives me much greater powers than Twilight could ever have."

"But why use it for revenge, Twilight never did anything to you...I thought I changed you for the better."

"Well, it turns out you didn't and your magic wasn't strong enough to stop me and you're an alicorn yourself."

"I didn't want to use my magic against you, I still love you but now that I think about it..."

I was then cut off when the bubble shield flashed for a second.

"Somepony set off the magic force field, and Trixie intends to punish them!"

"But...wouldn't it be faster if we had some...wheels?!" Snips asked.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't trust wheels. Now pull faster!"

"I'm telling ya, Snips, she's getting weirder and weirder!" Snails commented.

The cart began moving with them pulling it and sighing, I followed them to see a couple of beavers whacking the force field with their tails and a log beside them.

"Stop! You there! What are you doing?!" Trixie asked them.

The beavers replied in their own language and they didn't seem pleased.

Trixie rolled her eyes as she lifted up the bubble shield and the beavers left to the other side, carrying the log before Trixie placed the shield back down. Suddenly, Trixie turned her cart into a bedroom-sized cart...now that was a new low I thought.

"Gah, why is she so mean to us?" Snails asked sadly.

"Yeah! I miss the days when she was just a fraud!" Snips replied.

Trixie then cracked the whip at them and they began pulling...I sighed in sadness, thinking that the Trixie I had loved is gone...I then looked back at the beavers to see them pulling out...Fluttershy who was in some kind of outfit, I'm guessing they've formed a plan. I had to go and check up on them and forget about Trixie for a moment.

I noticed that it was now the middle of the afternoon so there wasn't much time. I looked all over for the girls until I spotted them doing hard work inside the Town Hall, the inside was different and they looked exhausted as well...especially Pinkie who still couldn't speak since she had her mouth taken away by Trixie.

"Girls, what happened here?" I asked as I helped all of them up.

"Trixie ordered us to turn Ponyville into her little kingdom." Dash replied.

"I had to design banners and I got pricked by my needle a few times." Rarity added.

"Ah had to make an apple facial for her face, although ah'd much rather sling it in her face." Applejack said. "And Pinkie was asked to dance several times...it's been very quiet without her mouth too."

I sighed, "Well girls...I kept her distracted and I found out that she has an alicorn amulet."

"So did we, we got Fluttershy to go into the Everfree Forest to let Twilight know about it, all we can do now is wait for a plan to come together." Spike said who appeared suddenly.

We then left the Town Hall to see that Fluttershy was back in town...that didn't take long.

"Oh there you are, come to the Library. Twilight has written a plan for us." Fluttershy said.

We nodded as we galloped over to the library.

"So what has Twilight written about?" Applejack asked.

We went over the plan and I noticed my part was to keep Trixie fully distracted whilst the rest of the mares prepared for the upcoming second duel. Reading the details, I began to show a smile as I thought that this could really work. After going through it all, I left the library to find Trixie and this time, I was going to be quiet and not say anything.

It was now the late afternoon, so we all had to pick up the pace before Celestia and the Saddle Arabia ponies get here. I saw her with the two fillies still pulling the carriage around.

"Oh it's you again, come back to accept me as who I am and to love me again?" Trixie asked.

I stayed in silence, until we heard the force field go off.

"This better not be another false alarm, or the Great and Powerful Trixie will...you!" she said, spotting Twilight and Zecora outside the force field. "What's the matter, Twilight Sparkle? Not enjoying your exile?"

"I know about the Alicorn Amulet. I know you cheated." Twilight replied.

"Cheated? Moi?"

"Yeah. And I thought you might wanna see what a real magical amulet looks like. Zecora gave it to me." she then showed a gold necklace with a green gem in the middle and placed it on her neck, "It's from beyond the Everfree Forest and it's way more powerful than your measly little Alicorn Amulet!"

"Ha! Nothing's more powerful than the Alicorn Amulet! And no pony's more powerful than the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Care to put your amulet where your mouth is? How about another duel?"

"Why should I? I already beat you."

"That's up to you! But I guess you'll never see the totally awesome magic from beyond the Everfree Forest. Come on, Zecora."

They were about to leave when Trixie stopped them, after pondering for a moment.

"Wait!"

Trixie then made the force field disappear, not returning again.

"Okay, okay, you're on! A second duel."

Soon, we were all in the centre of town where the duel was to take place. Everypony watched as I then noticed Mayor Mare was locked in a cage...I wasn't sure if there was anything else I needed to do in the plan, but I could do was watch and hope this works.

"Let's start with a simple age spell, shall we?" Trixie said.

"Let's." Twilight replied.

"Snips, Snails."

The two fillies came forward and Trixie used her age spell on them, turning them both into babies.

"An oldie, but a goodie, ha. Now, let's see what your little charm can do."

"No problem. Um, Applejack, Rarity? Could you help me, please?"

"Huh?" Applejack and Rarity said together as they came forward.

Twilight then zapped her magic at them and turned them...into Fillies.

Trixie then gasped, "Oh, ho-hum. So you can do an age spell, big deal."

Twilight then showed off more of her magic by zapping at Applejack and Rarity and each form was different...I of course didn't say anything as I knew all of this was happening with a good explanation.

"That's... That's impossible!" Trixie exclaimed.

"That's nothing!" Twilight responded.

She then looked at Rainbow Dash and zapped her...for a moment, it was like nothing happened until I saw a second Rainbow Dash appear.

"Yow!" Dash exclaimed as she saw seeing double.

"How did you-"

"Duplication spell." Twilight said, cutting Trixie off, "Ever see one pony play ten instruments?"

A zap later and Pinkie had several instruments and she playing them at once.

"This... just can't be!" Trixie said in a surprised expression.

"Ooh, one more. I can turn a mare into a stallion." Twilight said as she zapped at Applejack and turned her into a male version of Applejack before zapping her back to normal.

"Well, Trixie, looks like my amulet is more powerful than yours–hey! Give it back!"

Twilight was cut off as her necklace was taken by Trixie.

"With this amulet, I shall now rule all of Equestria!" Trixie said as she laughed.

She then pulled the alicorn amulet off her neck and we saw the redness in her eyes vanish completely, before placing Twilight's gold amulet on her neck.

"Witness, my subjects. Gaze upon an ever greater and 'powerful-er' Trixie!"

This was my chance to get that amulet off her since she no longer has that powerful magic. I swooped towards her and grabbed the amulet with my magic.

"Hey! " she yelled before coughing, "I mean...I don't need that old Alicorn Amulet. I have this!"

She then tried to zap at me, but instead of hurting me as before, she was tickling me.

"Stop that Trixie...it tickles." I said to her in fits of laughter.

"Tickles?! That was supposed to make you writhe in agony! This amulet is defective! Give mine back!!"

"Sorry. This is going back into hiding where it belongs." I then flew over to Zecora who had a box ready to store the alicorn amulet in.

"By the way, Trixie, the amulet around your neck? It's one of Zecora's doorstops." Twilight said as the green gem fell and cracked into pieces.

"But... how did you do those spells? Nopony can do those spells!"

"You're right. Not even me. Zecora taught me so much about magic while I was in exile. She even taught me when not to use it. My magic alone wasn't powerful enough to take on the Alicorn Amulet head to head, so I needed to use a different kind of magic – the magic of friendship. I also knew that the only pony who could get the amulet off your neck was you."

"But...what about the pony with the ten instruments?"

"That's not magic. That was just Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie began playing the instruments again which all the ponies cheered at. Soon, we wiped out all the dark clouds above the town to show a clear sunset, we were able to solve the issue long before the evening event. But I had to talk to Trixie now that she was back to her normal self.

"Trixie, we need to talk." I said to her as I found her away from the other ponies.

"Alright." she replied.

"I'm afraid that what you did today was incredibly irresponsible and downright evil and cruel, you even hurt me, both mentally and physically."

"I know...I'm really sorry, I guess I let revenge and that amulet go to my head."

"You sure did...I've been thinking...maybe we're not meant to be together."

"After the way I behaved...I deserve it. I guess I never learnt about real and magical friendship."

"So, you're agreeing to call it quits and go our separate ways?"

"Yes...we should split up...it's for the best." Trixie began to shed a tear.

"Don't cry Trixie, you'll find somepony better than me."

"I guess you're right....and as for you, I think you deserve a wonderful and generous mare."

This made me wonder, was she talking about Rarity...the mare who had a crush on me sometime ago?

"Thanks, I think you should come and watch the evening display which is starting soon, what do you say?"

"Okay, I'll come along."

We shared a smile and a hug before walking to the centre to find a display stage set up and soon, the event began by the beginning of the evening. Twilight was in the centre stage and she used her magic to lift and carry the small animals around and forming many shapes. All the ponies were impressed. Especially Celestia and the ponies from Saddle Arabia, then we saw fireworks going off. I looked at my side and saw Trixie using her magic, I then remember her telling me she did that for the first time when she was a baby.

"Trixie?" Twilight asked, noticing the fireworks.

"It's the least I could do." Trixie replied, "I treated you and your friends so horribly when I was wearing that Alicorn Amulet. I just couldn't control myself. You can forgive me, can't you?"

"Hmm, sure....as long as you go around Equestria and learn what it means to be a good friend."

"Oh, good. Don't you think the Great and Apologetic Trixie is the most magnificent humble pony you've ever seen?!"

"Maybe, but I'm sure you'll learn when you give it a chance." I replied

"I will...thank you all for forgiving me, I must now say a farewell to you all and wish you all the best. Bond, what we had was special and I won't forget the times you were there for me. You'll always have a special place as a very close friend."

"Thank you Trixie, you're right. It was great fun, just don't forget to come to us if you need advice."

Trixie then nodded and then with a puff of smoke, she galloped away before tripping up and then getting up and galloping away from Ponyville...I let out a giggle, watching her leave. After the event was over, Twilight gave Pinkie her mouth back and looked like she wanted to speak, but it was a bit late in the evening so we exchanged our farewells whilst I headed back home.

So there I was, I was now a single stallion once again. I guess me and Trixie splitting up was for the best, however what she said earlier left me pondering, did she mean that Rarity could be the one for me now? I was about to call it a night when I heard a knock on my door.

"Who could that be at this time of the night?" I asked myself, before opening the door to see Rarity.

"Hi there darling, are you alright?" Rarity asked.

"Hi Rarity...not really, I'm still a little hurt that I had to end my relationship with Trixie." I replied.

"Awww cheer up dear, I wanted to come on by and let you know that I'm here for you."

"Thank you Rarity...you really are a wonderful and generous mare...if only I could show you how much I appreciate it."

"Well dear...now that you're single, could you let me try to kiss you again?"

"It may be a little too soon for me since it all happened today, but I am quite down so I guess I can let you kiss me."

"Alright...here it goes."

She then walked inside my home and we sat on the sofa. She put her hooves around my neck and I put mine around her back, she moved her head forward until she had her lips on mine...but this time...it felt different. We looked at each other while kissing, before we closed our eyes....now there was the spark that I thought I would never feel again.

Suddenly she began to move forward, making me lie down on the sofa while she was on top of me...Rarity was now blushing in bright red and so was I.

"Whoops, guess I went a little too far, darling." Rarity giggled.

"It's alright...all you did was cheer me right up..." I replied as she got off me and sat back down whilst I got up. "But seriously, I felt something really good and what about you?" I asked.

"I felt a lot of love since you were single and my heart was crying out to love you."

"In that case, I think we should have a day together to see where it goes."

"Good idea...actually, that's also what I came here to tell you about. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and I will be having a day of camping and finding the rainbow waterfall that exists beyond the Everfree Forest somewhere, We'll be having the CMC's with us and it'll be a few days, would you like to come along?"

"Sounds really great, I'll join you all."

"Fabulous darling, I'll call it a night now...Sweetie Belle and I will come over to you in the morning to let you know we're going, have a good night."

"Alright, goodnight Rarity."

Rarity then give me a quick peck on the lips before she left my home and closing the door behind her. I then called it a night for real this time as I went straight to my bed. I was really surprised about that moment, I thought I was going to be single from now on, but now it seems that we have feelings for each other.

But I guess if the love does get stronger between Rarity and I, we'll have to keep it away from Spike at all times. I began to sleep away, wondering that I had indeed learnt a lesson from today's event, that if some things aren't meant to be, they won't last and if some things are, then they will be... Next Chapter: Sleepless In Ponyville Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 58 Minutes