Trixie lay on her back on the ground before Twilight, furiously debating whether what had just happened, actually happened. She scrambled back to her hooves and tore the shroud off Twilight to reveal two unfocused eyes squinting up at her from the pristine body of a very much living alicorn.

"Twilight?"

"Trixie," the voice of Twilight groaned.

"You're... You're alive?"

"'es."

"B-but you were dead! I know you were dead! I watched you die! I carried your body here myself! There's no way you were alive!"

Twilight licked her lips, but immediately regretted it as she tasted the dried blood stuck to them. She felt sick, which wasn't a feeling she needed to add to all the others she was enduring right now.

"Twilight?" Trixie got up and looked into the still unfocused eyes of Twilight, who did her best to return Trixie's gaze. "I... I don't understand... You're dead, but now you're alive? What's going on?"

As lethargic and unresponsive as her body felt, Twilight's mind was as sharp as ever, and she pushed herself to gain control of what she was doing. That still didn't stop her from unthinkingly licking her lips again as she tried to break past the barrier of simple speech.

"Bleurgh... Yes Trixie, I was dead, but apparently I don't get to stay that way. It's complicated." Twilight shivered, her body having finally reached a point where it was able to do so. "Trixie, I need four, no, five things. Can you bring them for me?"

Trixie's eyes darted about for a moment, as if she was searching for somebody else to see this and confirm she wasn't going insane. "Uh, sure, I guess... What are they?"

"Something to drink, not booze! Something to wash this blood off me, a towel, and the fluffiest blanket you can find. And don't tell anypony about this just yet, please. Keep it to yourself for now."

"Right. Okay. Sure, I can do that, I think." Trixie hurried off to fulfil Twilight's wishes, leaving Twilight to shiver as she tried to regain full use of her body. She tried to use her magic, but all her horn managed was to sputter a few anemic sparks.

"Okay, so no magic." She pushed herself up so she was lying on her chest rather than her side, allowing her to slowly stretch her wings out. They only made it halfway before stiffness overcame her ability to move them. It also allowed her to see the bodies arranged around her. "...Oh." She closed her eyes and her head dropped until her nose pressed against the hard wood of the table she was on.

So many ponies had been killed, yet she was the one that got to come back through sheer luck of being an alicorn, if you could call it luck. She opened her eyes again and focused on her legs before her, finding their hair to be matted with blood. Her stomach heaved, and before she could stop herself she threw up over her hooves. It was almost an improvement to smell vomit instead of blood.

Trixie returned, a blanket and a towel stacked on her rear, and a bucket and her canteen held in her magic. "I got what you asked for, although I think ponies might think Trixie's crazy for running around looking for th- Ew... Did you throw up on yourself?" Twilight nodded weakly. "Gross. You're lucky I'm a unicorn, because if I wasn't you'd be finding somepony else to do this." She placed the open canteen in front of Twilight, "Here."

Twilight stared at the canteen while Trixie busied herself with heating the bucket of water in preparation to clean Twilight up. She tried to pick it up with her hooves since her magic was out of action, but the coordination needed just to pick it up was beyond her.

"What are you doing? I thought you were thirsty?"

"I... I can't pick it up. I need help."

"Seriously? You can't even do that?" Twilight's ears folded back and she felt like crying. "Alright! Alright! I'm helping! See?" She picked the canteen up in her magic and held it to Twilight's lips, letting her drink until the water spilled down her front. "Please don't cry, because then I'll want to cry, and I have enough crap going on in my head without wanting to do that as well!"

"I'll try."

"Good." Trixie dunked a cloth in the bucket and wiped it down Twilight's face, the excess water running off red. "So, I'm curious, how are you not dead?" she asked with brittle cheerfulness.

"I wish I knew."

"Really? You're not even going to tell me it's because you're an alicorn?"

"It is because I'm an alicorn, but that's as much as I know for definite."

"Well that's fucking stupid."

Twilight sank down a bit, "Are you angry at me?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Twilight had expected that to be the answer, and felt she deserved it. "Okay."

"I'm also ecstatic, and I want to hug you, hit you, yell at you, and run around screaming Twilight's back! Twilight's back!' All while trying to not freak out over the fact that you are no longer dead!" Trixie dropped the cloth into the bucket, "Why'd you do it Twilight? Why'd you have to get close to him?"

"I don't know. He was committing all his ponies to a battle he couldn't win, and I wanted to know why he wasn't retreating."

"Did it really matter? You could've just killed him! You would've been fine and none of this would've happened!"

"I'm sorry Trixie."

"No! You do not just get to be sorry and sweep this all under the rug! I watched you die Twilight! In my own hooves! Do you have any idea what that's like? To see one of the ponies you care about most die right in front of you? Especially for a stupid reason like sating your overblown curiosity! I was devastated Twilight! Devastated! I need you, and you left me!"

Twilight was surprised, "You need me?"

"Yes! Yes I need you! I know what you all think of me, that I'm going insane using this dark magic, that I'm dangerous, but I don't even know if that's true! Is the magic changing me? Or am I just using the magic to do this stuff because I have the power now? Am I using it, or is it using me? Because I don't even know any more!"

"Trixie..."

"Just before you magically sprung back to life, part of me was happy that you were gone because it meant that there was nopony here that could stop me! Do you have any idea what it's like to have that spring up in your head? To be happy that your best friend's dead?"

"Best friend?"

Trixie froze, as if realising she had said too much. "Yeah," she said after a few seconds, "You are, and I want you to promise me something Twilight. Promise me you'll be there to stop me if I go too far, like with Snowbright."

"Uh..." Twilight didn't know what to think as Trixie sat down next to the table and buried her head in her legs as she cried, repeatedly saying "promise me" in a hoarse whisper. She'd just returned from the dead, and this was the topic of conversation? After a moment she reached forward and nuzzled Trixie's leg.

"I promise I'll try to be there to stop you, and that is a promise, but I don't know if you've noticed Trixie, but I'm hardly infallible or unstoppable."

Trixie rubbed her tears away. "So?"

"So, you're a better fighter than I am. I'm better at magic, sure, but you're far better at fighting than I could hope to be. If it comes down to it, I'm not sure which of us would win." Twilight stopped, figuring that this wasn't really what Trixie wanted to hear. "I promise I'll really try to beat you though."

"Heh, okay." Twilight reached forward to nuzzle Trixie again and squawked with surprise as Trixie pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "I'm so glad you're back," she whispered. Twilight, surrounded by the remains of ponies whom she had led to their deaths, wasn't so inclined to agree. Instead she looked down and saw the sword strapped to Trixie.

"What's with the sword?" she asked, hoping to pull the conversation away from its current direction, and thoughts of the deceased surrounding them.

Trixie tensed up and pulled away from Twilight, tapping her hooves together nervously, "Um... It's-uh... it's Filigree's sword."

"Filigree's sword? Hang on, you mean that's the sword that killed me? Why would you keep that?"

"I don't know, I was going to use it to kill the Duke, but since you're back now I can't really call it poetic justice any more."

"Poetic justice? Killing him with the sword that killed me?"

"Yep."

"Uh-huh..."

"It's also just a really nice sword." Trixie grinned sheepishly.

"Can I see it?"

"Sure, if you really want to." Trixie slid it out of its scabbard and placed it in Twilight's hooves.

"So this is the sword that killed me? Wow that's weird to say." She had to admit that it was a nice sword, although it might have been nicer before Trixie got her hooves on it. "What have you done with this thing? Have you been beating up rocks with it or something?"

"It's not like I know how to use a sword is it?" Trixie confessed.

"I suppose not." Twilight looked closer at the hilt, "Is that blood? Wait, that's not my blood is it?"

"Possibly..? Some of it might be anyway."

"Eeww!" Twilight dropped the sword onto the table and looked away from it as Trixie started washing her again. Even so, she could feel herself wanting to look at the sword again, as if something was drawing her to it. "You can say no if you want to Trixie, but do you mind if I keep it?"

Trixie stripped the scabbard off and slid the sword into it before placing it next to Twilight. "It's yours. I'd probably end up breaking it before Trixie ever got to the Duke anyway. I have to ask though, why do you want it? Other than to look nice with your armour." Trixie glanced at the blood covered heap in the corner, "Once we clean it that is."

"Well, I know this isn't what the quote means exactly, but what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger."

"But it did kill you."

"Minor detail."

Twilight sat patiently, feeling rather like a foal as Trixie wiped her down and dried her off with the towel. She shivered as she sat, the feeling that she would never be warm enough ever again sitting in the back of her mind. She gratefully accepted the blanket once she was dry and wrapped it around as much of herself as she could.

"You ready to get out of this morgue now? I'm sure the others 'll be glad to know you're alive."

"Should they be? I belong here..."

"In the morgue?" Trixie raised an eyebrow as Twilight looked at the floor.

"Every one of these ponies gave their lives fighting to save this rebellion, for what they believe in. Every one of them is a hero, and me? I'm just the idiot that got them killed. Why do I get to come back and not them? It's not fa-ack!" Twilight blinked in shock as Trixie flicked her on the nose.

"No. No more of this 'it's not fair' crap. I had enough of that off you before you died, and it's bullshit. Secondly, no survivors guilt either. You earned the right to come back when you became an alicorn."

"But all these ponies in here are dead because of me! If I'd refused the tornado, even more would've died!"

"Oh there's way more dead than just what's in here." Trixie stopped, Twilight's expression of horror being enough to make her. She gently cleared her throat, "Ahem. But that's not the point. The point is that every one of these ponies died fighting for what they believe in, and thanks to their sacrifices, the rebellion still lives. Are you going to use those sacrifices to defeat the Duke? Or are you going to sit here and become a neurotic bag of survivors guilt, and waste their sacrifices completely?"

Twilight blinked, surprised to hear such a speech come from Trixie of all ponies, unorthodox as it might have been. "Becoming a neurotic bag of survivors guilt sounds a lot easier, but... you're right."

"Of course I am, I'm Trixie. Now can we get out of here? I keep expecting other ponies to come back to life and it's weirding me out. I swear if I see Mason's body move, I'm going to freak worse than I already am right now."

"Mason? Mason's dead?" Twilight turned until she found the biggest lump in the room. She slid off the table onto to her hooves, promptly falling over, but didn't stop, instead clumsily crawling towards Mason and pulled the cover off his body, revealing his remains. "No..." she whispered, and she fell to her haunches as her heart ached in her chest.

Trixie rubbed her head and sighed, "I'm sorry, that was stupid of me. I didn't think you wouldn't know."

Twilight stroked a hoof over the wound that had ended Mason's life. "Anypony else I should know about?"

"No, if you mean ponies we know. Summer got hurt in Neigh Orleans, but she's alive. She's staying in the city hall with Octavia until she's well enough to return." Trixie gently pulled the cover back over Mason and lifted Twilight back to her hooves. "Come on."

Using Trixie as support they made their way out of the morgue and into the infirmary. Even at this late hour there were plenty of ponies awake, and Twilight could feel the eyes of every one of them as she hobbled through them towards the barracks.

Whispers abounded as they passed, and Twilight wanted to give them a reassuring smile, or something, but she couldn't even manage a grimace as they went, leaning against Trixie like a foal learning to walk by leaning against their mother.

The barracks was a lot quieter, with a lot less ponies than usual, and those that were there were sleeping, including Fleur and the filly. Trixie led them over to where the two ponies were cuddled together and shook them gently.

"G' way," Fleur mumbled, while the filly sleepily blinked an eye open before closing it again. A second later both eyes slammed open to look at the purple alicorn right in front of them.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!" Trixie slammed the filly's mouth shut with her magic, although the damage had been done as a series of angry complaints echoed around the barracks.

"Don't scream," Trixie said to the filly. "Got it? No screaming." The filly nodded and Trixie released her muzzle.

"Are you a zombie?" the filly asked as soon as she was able to.

"I don't think so," said Twilight. It occurred to her that she wasn't entirely sure on that point. "Trixie, do I have a pulse?"

Trixie pressed a hoof to just under Twilight's jaw, and held it there. "You do seem to have a pulse, yes."

"Then no, I am definitely not a zombie."

"Then how are you alive?" Fleur asked suspiciously. "Trixie, this better not be an illusion or something, because I swear to Celestia, if you're fucking with us..."

"She's real! Touch her!" Trixie said quickly. "You can't touch my illusions, so if you touch her you'll know she's real."

Fleur tentatively reached out with her bad leg and pressed her hoof to Twilight's chest. Her hoof made contact, and she brushed it back and forth just to be sure. "You're real..." Her hoof travelled up Twilight's neck and pressed against her cheek for a second before Fleur lunged forward to grab Twilight around the neck and drag her into a three way hug between herself, Twilight, and the filly. "It's really you, you're alive!"

"Not if you break my neck!" Twilight gasped.

Sorry!" Fleur released Twilight before groaning and clutching her leg to her chest. "Ngghhh... I shouldn't have done that. Ow."

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, full of concern.

"Are you?" Fleur asked back. "How are you here Twilight? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but how?"

"Because I'm an alicorn," Twilight said simply. "I wish I could tell you how, and why I'm back, but I don't really know."

"Do you remember anything about it?"

"Sure, loads. I remember dying, and everything went black, then I started reliving old memories before I went to the astral realm."

"What's that?" the filly asked.

"I wish I knew, other than to say it's something to do with alicorns. No, wait, Discord was there too, so it's not just alicorns. It's something to do with immortals."

"Discord was there?" Fleur asked in surprise.

"Yeah, and Celestia and Luna. They told me that as an alicorn, I can't really die. Or at least I don't stay dead. They told me that I have to come back."

"Have to?"

Twilight nodded slowly. "Yeah, I don't get a choice in the matter apparently. It doesn't matter what I want, or think about it, I'm coming back."

Fleur smiled, as much for Twilight's sake as her own. "Whatever the reasons are, I'm still really glad you're back." Twilight smiled back, neither confirming or denying how happy she was about it.

"So, what have I missed? Actually, how long was I gone for?"

"Eighteen hours, give or take," said Fleur.

"Really? Is that all?" Twilight was shocked. To her it had felt quite a bit longer. "What have I missed then?"

"We won the battle," Trixie said smugly, since now Twilight was back it really did feel like a win. "And we've taken back Neigh Orleans."

"We did? That's great!" Twilight ducked down, embarrassed at how loud she was then. "How many did we lose?"

"Almost half our ground forces," Fleur said sadly. "There was simply too much for the adepts to shield everypony. The pegasi and thestrals fared much better though, but still lost a few."

A pit grew in Twilight's stomach, but she ignored it as best she could. "I saw a lot of the thestrals get hit. Is Shadow okay?"

"She's fine. She has a small hole in her wing now, but she's otherwise fine." Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, slightly selfish as it might have been.

"Right. Any news from anywhere else?"

Fleur shook her head, "None as yet, but I'm sure Seeker will have something for us at some point."

"Okay," Twilight said with a nod as her mind started mulling over the possibilities of what they could do next. "Have you made any plans on what to do next?"

Fleur raised an eyebrow at her. "You've literally just come back from the dead. Something that I feel we are taking altogether too normally for the miracle it is. I think you're entitled to a couple of days rest and recovery. We still have a lot to clean up around here as well, before worrying about other places.

"Sorry, you're right. I just feel like I've missed so much, and I have a lot to catch up on."

"You haven't been gone that long Twilight, and we've taken care of what little there's been in that time. Take a couple of days to recover, and we'll work on things from there."

"Yeah, you're right." Twilight yawned and staggered. "Heh, very right. I guess coming back from the dead really takes it out of you," she joked weakly.

Twilight slept uneasily, dark thoughts invading her mind and dreams. Watching her friends grow old and die. Watching the world die around her as the end of ponies passed her by, leaving her with nothing but regrets and the ghosts of long dead ponies, the Tree of Harmony resolutely refusing to die itself and release her from her purgatory.

There was the sound of a sword being drawn, and the sensation of being stabbed again was enough to jolt her awake, her hooves rapidly searching her chest for a wound that wasn't there as her heart thundered in her chest.

She slumped back and sighed, dragging the back of a hoof across her cheek to while away the trail of drool that had escaped her mouth in her sleep. Then she glanced to her right, spotting the multitude of ponies gathered around, watching her.

"Gah!" Her horn sparked, and without really knowing what she was doing, teleported herself away to the distant reaches of the bunk above her. She scrambled to look over the edge of the bunk at the ponies assembled. "What are you all doing here!"

"I think they're here to see you, since you've come back from the dead and all," Fleur said slightly sarcastically from her bed where Twilight couldn't see her. "Frankly, I'd be there with them if I could stand."

"Why would you do that?"

"Just to make sure last night had actually happened, and that you really were alive."

"Of course I'm ali-" Twilight stopped herself, aware as to how that would sound to declare how alive she was, when not very long ago she hadn't been. "I'm alive Fleur. I can promise you that much."

"It's still hard to take in though."

"It's a miracle!" exclaimed one of the ponies below Twilight, before she could say anything more. "Truly the Lady has blessed you Twilight!" Twilight groaned quietly as she figured out who was speaking. It was Nimble Stitch, Twilight's least favourite Lady loving nut.

Twilight ran a hoof down her mane, realising how stuck up in places it was. Miraculous as her being there might seem to be, she didn't need ponies watching her sleep while drooling on herself and seeing her glorious bed-mane.

She quickly smoothed it down as best she could and addressed the ponies gathered. "Yes, I'm back, but the Lady had nothing to do with it." Because she's locked up beneath High Rock, Twilight added mentally.

"But a miracle such as this could only be performed by the hoof of the Lady," Nimble Stitch argued back. "A gift for the pony enacting her will."

"What? No! I'm not enacting her will! I'm just doing what I think is right! The Lady has nothing to do with it!"

"You might not think so, but that doesn't mean you aren't doing as she wishes any less." Twilight rolled out of sight and quietly screamed into the pillow. How was she meant to argue against logic like that? If logic was a word you could apply to it.

"Oi! What are you lot doing?" Twilight quickly rose to see Sawbones standing at the far side of the crowd with the filly and the three Wonderbolts. "I'm pretty sure you are all far too busy to be here gawking at Twilight."

"Should we not celebrate the miracle of her return? Should we ignore this gift from the lady? To ignore it would be sacrilege!" Nimble Stitch froze as Sawbones pushed through the crowd towards her.

"I'm sure that if this were truly a gift from the Lady, far more than just Twilight would be up and walking around. So I suggest you go and consider that somewhere else, and leave poor Twilight alone."

"B-but how can you deny the evidence of your own eyes?" Nimble stammered back.

"Out. Now." Nimble glanced back at Twilight, and finding no support there she ushered the other ponies out of the room and left them in peace. Sawbones groaned in irritation, "Damned fanatics are enough to drive a pony mad."

"Thanks for getting them out of here," said Twilight, relaxing slightly now they were gone.

Sawbones sighed again and suddenly appeared older, like he was weighed down by something. Considering recent events, Twilight didn't have to guess too hard as to what that weight might be. "My pleasure."

"I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here? Surely the wounded would need you more?"

"None of the ponies there need my immediate attention, and Suture can handle the rest for a little bit. Besides, after seeing you walk out of that morgue last night, I have to confess to an interest in how that happened, once I stopped freaking out. That, and the filly wanted me to make sure you're not a zombie."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the filly who grinned back sheepishly. "What? I just wanna be sure."

"I have a pulse, and I don't have an overwhelming urge to consume the flesh of the living, so I'm reasonably sure that I'm not a zombie." She tentatively lit up her horn and teleported to the ground. "See? I'm fine."

"Then how are you here!?" The filly screamed at her, taking Twilight aback.

"Because I'm an alicorn," said Twilight. "I wish I could tell you why that means I don't stay dead, but I don't know myself. I die, my body heals itself despite being dead somehow, I come back. I don't get a choice in the matter."

"You don't know any more than that?" Fleur asked. Twilight shook her head.

"Look, I know you're all curious. I am too, but there's nothing more I can really tell you. Even Celestia and Luna don't know why."

Spitfire cocked her head, "You spoke to them? When?"

"While I was dead."

Spitfire snorted, "Of course! Naturally that's a thing that would happen when you're dead."

"I know how this sounds, but please, believe me when I say that I wish I knew why any of this, well, is."

"Well I for one am glad you're back," Fleur said in a consolatory tone, to the agreement of the others.

Twilight looked at the floor for a moment, "Yeah, me too, I guess."

"You guess?"

"As I said, it's complicated. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be back. I just wish the reason why wasn't what it was." Twilight stretched her legs, flexing each one individually. "I need to go talk with Celestia, so if you'll excuse me."

The command room was empty. Not something that bothered Twilight, as it was what she needed right then, but the quietness of Puddingarde was unusual, and that bothered her immensely.

Thankfully none of her projects had been disturbed in the short time she had gone, and she pulled her journal over to her. She flipped it open to her work on healing magic and carefully wrote the words 'second soul', before circling it twice. A entity separate to Twilight's mind, but intrinsically bound to her body. Knowing it was there was strange, and she almost wanted to talk to it like it was another pony.

Putting it out of her mind she floated the speaker stone over to herself, activated it, and waited.

"Good morning Twilight," Celestia said with a cheerfulness that almost sounded fake. "I trust you are well?"

"I don't really get a choice in that apparently. I'm always well." Twilight cursed inwardly, hating herself for saying it like that. "Sorry, I'm just... I don't know how to feel about this, and nopony else here is helping either."

"How so?"

"It's like nopony knows how to deal with this. I've come back, and it's... weird. I don't know how to describe it, and that's just my friends. I woke up just now with a bunch of ponies watching me, calling my return a miracle, or a gift from the Lady, or whatever."

"Twilight, it isn't exactly every day that a pony comes back to life, so you can hardly blame them for not knowing how to react to the situation. Also bear in mind that they were in the middle of grieving for you, just for you to come back. You can't blame them for not coping with the sudden turnabout very well."

Twilight scratched at the stone of her seat and sighed, "I guess not."

"Really though Twilight, how are you?"

Twilight pulled the blanket tighter about herself. "I'm still cold. Luna wasn't lying when she said it wasn't a pleasant process. My magic's back though, and I feel a lot stronger today. I'll probably have a go at flying later."

"That's good Twilight, but how are you mentally?"

"Exhausted. I want to be happy that this has happened Celestia, that I get to see my friends again, that I won't hurt them by dying. But then there's the other stuff you told me, that I have no choice but to live forever. I'm not sure coming back is worth that. I'm also sorry to say this Celestia, but I can't help but want to blame you for this."

"Understandable," Celestia said evenly. "Believe me Twilight, there are plenty of times I've wished for something or someone to blame. The fact of the matter is though, that even if we did have something to blame, nothing would change."

"I know..." Twilight huffed and ran her hoof back through her mane. "I'll be fine. It just seems that ever since my ascension that everything's really been piled on me. Especially the last few months."

"I realise that Twilight, and I am sorry."

"Yeah..." Twilight fell quiet, taking a moment to focus on the weight in her chest. "Celestia, when I died I relived a bunch of old memories. Is that normal?"

"You mean like your life flashing before your eyes? Because nothing like that has ever happened to me. Normally you awaken in the astral realm after a short while."

"So you haven't vividly relived old memories that seem to revolve around very specific events in a way that might suggest that they're trying to tell you something?"

"I can't say I have. What memories were they?" Twilight told her, cringing at Celestia's reaction to the tornado. "A tornado? Was that really the best option? Could you not have waited a few extra nights and have the thestrals thin their forces out even further?"

"Perhaps. I already feel like I rely on the thestrals too much as it is. This isn't the point though Celestia!"

"Right, the memories. It does seem as though they are trying to tell you something."

"I know that! But why? Or how?"

"Hmm..." There was a brief pause as Celestia collected her thoughts. "I'm going to start by saying you are unique as alicorns go, in that your ascension was achieved through the Elements of Harmony. You are also intrinsically connected to the Tree of Harmony in a way that neither Luna or I ever were while we bore the Elements."

"And? What does that have to do with it?"

"How many of your actions in recent months have you considered to be harmonious? Something the Tree of Harmony would approve of?"

Twilight hated to admit it, but the list wasn't as long as she would have liked. In fact, it seemed rather short. "I'm fighting a war Celestia. There's nothing much harmonious about that."

"I know that Twilight, but I'm not the one judging you for your actions. If it's the Tree of Harmony that's trying to tell you this, then I can only suggest you either ignore its warning, or find a way to fight this war harmoniously."

"Are you saying I could jeopardise my connection to the Tree of Harmony? But that could stop the Rainbow power from working! Equestria could be left defenseless!"

"I don't think the Tree of Harmony is so unforgiving Twilight, but I would advise you to consider your options first, and make killing your last."

"If only it was that simple..."

"I realise it might not be, but I'm only telling you what I can surmise from the situation."

"Right, of course."

"Now I'm afraid I must go. We're expecting a delegation from the new Dragonlord soon, to discuss dragon pony relations. An occurrence for which we have Spike to thank."

"Spike?"

"Indeed." Celestia explained about Spike's adventure to the dragon lands with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, resulting in him befriending the new Dragonlord Ember. Twilight couldn't help but be proud of him. "Thanks to his efforts he may have created a new age of peace and understanding between our two peoples."

"Yep, that's Spike alright. You'll tell him I'm proud of him, won't you?"

"Of course I will. Take care Twilight."

"You too," Twilight said while internally she was thinking that it really didn't matter how well she took care of herself. Twilight pushed the stone aside, a wry smile on her face as she thought of Spike. The smile slipped away though, and she buried her head in her legs. "Great! Now I'm being harassed by a magical freaking tree! Could this day get any weirder?" The sound of a particular throat being cleared made Twilight's head shoot up again. "No Trixie. Just... no."

"What? I was only bringing your armour back," Trixie said with mock defensiveness.

"You are?"

"Mmhmm. I couldn't sleep last night, so I spent some time cleaning your armour for you."

"For all the good that armour did me," Twilight huffed.

"The holes for your wings are a bit of a weakness, but I doubt this armour was designed to be used the way you were using it."

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing! I'm just saying this armour was made to be used by a pegasus using pegasus fighting methods, like speed and stuff. It wasn't meant for a pony that fights like a spell casting earth pony."

"You have a point," Twilight admitted. She took the armour off Trixie and reassembled it on its mannequin in the corner, inspecting each piece for cleanliness. "Thanks Trixie."

"You're welcome. I also cleaned the sword."

"Sword? Oh! I almost forgot about that."

"Not sure how you could. Not sure why you want it either."

"I just want to keep it as an option. I may be an alicorn Trixie, but even I have limited reserves of magic."

"Unless you-"

"Unless I use dark magic. Yes I know." Twilight swept a patch of the large stone table clear before finding a piece of chalk and drawing some concentric circles in the clear space, inscribing smaller runes along the length of the circles. Then she drew seven different runes in their own smaller circles around the outside edge before joining all the circles together.

Trixie watched with interest as Twilight did all this, but couldn't work out what she was doing. "What is this Twilight? I've never seen this sort of thing before."

"That's because this isn't exactly common practice any more. I've only done it once before, as a test, but it was only a couple of things on a rusty nail I found. It's now the most indestructible rusty nail in the world," Twilight said absent-mindedly as she finished off the circles.

"Wait... you mean this is enchanting? I didn't think it was done like this."

"Usually it's not, but most enchanted items are created for a purpose, to cast a spell or something, so the enchantment can be imbued right into the item. If you want passive enchantments that endlessly perform a function, you want to do stuff like this. You can place multiple enchantments on an item using the other method, but you can only do one at a time, and have to be careful they don't conflict. Then there's active and passive enchantments, and how they work which are totally different things... Most of these are passive."

"What are active ones?"

"Active ones are like... Well, as an example, lets say you have a magic staff that... summons squirrels. If you used a passive enchantment for that you'd have a never ending amount of squirrels being summoned-"

"But an active enchantment only works when you want it to?"

"Exactly. They're the normal type of enchantment."

Trixie nodded thoughtfully. "So this method is easier?"

"It's easier for passive effects, but only if you get it right. If you mess the runes up, you've wasted whatever it was you were trying to enchant. Hence why the other method is much more widely used as the botched enchantment can be removed with some effort."

"Okay... so, what do these runes do?"

Twilight pointed to the first. "Sharpness, which will make the sword really sharp and prevent it from blunting. Strength, to strengthen the blade, obviously. Resistance, which will prevent rusting and tarnishing, and will keep the blade clean. Control, so I can control the sword with barely a thought, and little magic. Flow, so I can cast magic through the blade. Might be useful, might not, who knows? Binding, so that only I can use it, and dimension."

"Dimension?"

"Yep. It'll be easier to show you that one."

"Oh, okay. So can you add more enchantments on later?"

"Yes, but you're limited by how much room you have on the item to inscribe runes. You're also limited by materials. Wood and metal is best, but anything you can engrave runes into will work. Cloth and leather, and stuff like that is an absolute no-no."

"Engrave?"

"Yeah." Twilight plucked the sword out of its scabbard and started engraving the runes from around the circles onto the blade near the hilt, three on one side, four on the other. Trixie watched with interest.

"Why are you putting circles around each rune?"

"To keep them independent. If I was only enchanting one thing it wouldn't matter, but for multiple enchantments, you have to keep them separate, or they'll affect one another."

"Um..."

"Okay, using the staff of squirrel summoning again, you would want to enchant the staff with a spell for summoning squirrels. But if you want to make the staff be unbreakable using this method, you would have to engrave the strength rune and place a circle around it to prevent it affecting the other spell. If you don't you could end up with a staff that only summons freakishly strong squirrels or something."

"I get it, although I don't get how putting a circle around it works." Trixie stayed quiet while Twilight finished engraving the runes, placing a circle around each one. She then watched as Twilight placed the sword in the centre of the circle and start casting.

"Right, the moment of truth." The runes she'd drawn of the table jumped to life with a purple glow, almost appearing to float just above the stone surface before bleeding purple light into the circles. The energy travelled along the chalk circles, making them blaze with purple fire before reaching the sword and sinking into the blade.

Trixie watched with amazement as the runes on the outside of the circle faded away, and the runes engraved on the blade suddenly came to life, burning with that same purple fire. It quickly died down though, leaving the runes to glow with dim purple light.

Twilight stopped casting and steadied herself. "Ugh, I should've waited before doing that..."

"It worked though, right?"

"Only one way to find out." Twilight took the sword in her magic and studied the blade for a moment before slamming it into the edge of the table. Rather than the clang of metal that Trixie expected, the blade bit into the stone with a soft shink! Twilight pulled the blade back out and inspected it, finding not a mark on the blade.

"It worked then?"

"It appears so." Twilight held the blade out, only for it to catch fire a moment later. Then the fire went out and a fine layer of ice formed over the blade, with cold white mist falling away from it. "Flow runes seem to work. And..." In a blaze of purple fire, the blade vanished, starting at the end of the blade, and finishing with the hilt.

"What was that?"

"Dimension. It exists in its own little pocket dimension, from where I can summon it wherever, and whenever, I need it." She brought the blade back and placed it on the table. "Pick it up."

"Okay." Trixie's horn glowed pink as she tried to pick up the sword, but the sword refused to budge, even when she switched to her dark magic. "What gives?"

"Binding works too. Excellent." Twilight returned the blade to its pocket dimension. "Well that was fun."

"Y'know, a sword like that deserves its own name."

"A name?"

Trixie was aghast, "Of course! You just casually created a enchanted sword and you're not even going to name it!?"

"It never even occurred to me." There was a clonk as Trixie facehoofed, but Twilight paid no heed to that as she thought. "Any suggestions?" she asked as her brain supplied a bunch of clichés to her instead of decent names.

"I don't know! But even something like Swordy McSwordface would be better than nothing!"

Twilight nodded, seeing the wisdom of Trixie's words, right before a mischievous grin graced her lips. "Very well. In honour of one of my very good friends, I hereby name this sword The Great and Powerful, Swordy McSwordface, the Magnificent. Swordy for short. You like?"

"You cannot be serious..." Trixie deadpanned.

Twilight gave Trixie a grin that showed off all her pearly whites. "Deadly so Trixie."

"I hate you so much sometimes." Trixie looked around the room, quietly grumbling to herself. "So, can I enchant something like that? And give it a better name, of course."

"Sure, if you want. You don't have a sword though."

"Not at the moment, no. How about armour? Could I enchant that?"

"I don't see why not."

"Cool! Then I could make it super strong, and never be dirty. Ooh! And with that dimension thing I could summon it whenever I need it, rather than have to carry it around."

Twilight pursed her lips and nodded approvingly. "Not a bad idea."

"You thinking of doing the same?"

Twilight looked at her armour in the corner of the room. "It's a nice idea, but I don't think I could cut the runes into thunder-iron well enough to work. It'd work with your armour though. But..."

"But what?"

"But you'd probably have to enchant each segment of the armour separately, so it'd be an awful lot of work."

"I got time. Can you teach me how?"

Twilight smiled gently, a feeling of warmth in her chest. A feeling that had been absent for some time. "Sure."

Trixie drew the last line of the enchanting circle. "Is that right?"

"Seems to be," Twilight said as she inspected Trixie's circles, and the three runes of strength, resistance, and dimension. "Runes look good too. Well done."

"So now I have to engrave the runes on the armour?"

"You do, but judging by the way you customised your armour, that shouldn't be a problem for you. Remember to do a circle around each rune."

"Yeah yeah."

While Trixie worked, Twilight picked up some of the reports that had been left on the table. Apparently somepony had forgot to mention the increasingly anti-Duke environment growing in Bitmark, or that Hayfield was a place that even existed, and had pledged their tacit support to the rebellion, providing them with a supply of resources and a few ponies. Clearly she was going to have to have words with Ivory about the importance of certain reports.

"Done!"

"Already? Let me see." Twilight lifted the peytral Trixie was engraving and studied the runes. They were nicely done, as neat her own. There was just one thing that confused her. "Why are they on the inside of the armour?"

"Because I'd look silly with all these runes glowing all over me, and I didn't want to ruin my design I spent ages working on. It doesn't matter does it?"

"Well, no, I suppose not. It's never occurred to me to do something like that before."

"Don't be too surprised; Trixie is a trend setter after all."

Twilight rolled her eyes with good humour, and placed the peytral in the centre of Trixie's circles. "Right, put as much power into this as you can. The more power you use, the stronger the enchantment."

"So I should use my dark magic then?"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Trixie snorted derisively and rolled her eyes. "I knew you'd say that."

"I not just saying that because I don't like dark magic," Twilight said with a sigh. "I don't know whether the corrupting effect of dark magic might corrupt the runes' purpose, and make them into something else. It's just something I'd rather not find out."

"Or it could be absolutely fine..."

"It could be, yes, but I'd be happier never finding out."

Trixie folded her forelegs and pouted, "Fine. Can't you do it for me instead, since your magic is stronger than mine?"

"If it were just strength and resistance, yes, but the dimension rune would only work for me if I did it. Not exactly helpful. You're the only one that can do this."

Trixie bit her lip and nodded reluctantly. "Oookay... What do I do?"

"Just pump as much magic into the chalk runes as you can. The circles will do the rest."

"Why can't I do it straight onto the armour?"

"It's... complex. The circles are more than just a channel. They also change the magic going in, making it cyclical so it recasts itself, hence the circles. If you cast on the armour directly, the magic will eventually fade away, unless you keep casting your magic on the armour."

"Right, so I need the circle thingy. Got it." Trixie stepped up to the table and started casting her magic into the runes. Twilight's eyes grew wide as the power Trixie was putting into the runes was more than what she was previously capable of. Twilight secretly suspected that her use of dark magic was slowly increasing her capacity for normal magic.

Trixie started sweating, and grunted with effort as she pumped every last drop of magic she could into the runes. Twilight watched as the circle channeled the soft pink magic into the armour, lighting the runes on it. Perhaps it was a good job that she put them in the inside, Twilight thought to herself, imagining how silly Trixie would look with pink runes glowing all over her.

"Gruugh!" Trixie's horn flickered and died, and she collapsed to her haunches and sat down. "Did it work? Please tell me it worked."

Twilight picked the peytral up and tried to bend it in her magic, without applying herself too much. "That's pretty strong, nice work."

"And the dimension thingy?"

"You'll have to do that yourself."

"But I don't know how!"

"It's not that hard. The rune will take care of the details, all you need to supply is a bit of extra magic. Think of it as pushing the peytral away with your magic, then pulling it to get it to come back."

Trixie's faced scrunched up as she tried what Twilight said. "Hah!" she exclaimed gleefully as the peytral popped out of existence.

"Can you still feel it?"

"Yeah, kind of. It's like it's still there. Am I going to be stuck feeling it all the time?"

"No, that's just because you're thinking about it. The feeling will fade when you're distracted with something else."

"Oh good." Trixie pulled at the peytral with her magic, and it popped back into existence, clattering to the floor as Trixie didn't think to take it in her magic. "Whoops. Still though, that was easier than I thought it would be."

"As I said, the rune does most of the work. Anyway, congratulations Trixie, you've performed your first enchantment!"

"Woohoo!"

"Only, what, thirty more to go?"

"Ugh, something like that." Trixie turned her head away, and Twilight was surprised to see a hint of moisture in Trixie's eyes.

"Trixie? Are you crying?"

"No." Trixie wiped her eyes and sighed. "Yes. I- I want to apologise for last night."

"Last night? What about it?"

"You came back, and all I could think of was how angry is was at you, and how much I needed you, and then I made you promise to stop me if I went too far. You'd just come back from the dead, and that's what I said to you? I couldn't have been more selfish if I tried!"

Twilight sat down and hugged Trixie to her side. "It's alright Trixie, I forgive you. I'm glad you were there actually. I hate to think what might have happened if ponies had seen me shuffling out of the morgue, covered in blood."

"Yeah, that might have freaked a few ponies out."

"Just a bit."

"And I'm also thankful for this. This has been nice, to just do some magic and not have to worry or think about things too much." Twilight smiled at Trixie.

Trixie smiled back. "Thanks for teaching me this, and for treating Trixie like I'm... normal."

"You are normal Trixie."

"Scary dark magic isn't really considered normal Twilight."

"Uhh... okay, no, not usually. But you're still Trixie underneath all that, and today proves it."

"You'll keep your promise though won't you?"

Twilight was about to refuse, but stopped as she saw the genuine fear in Trixie's eyes. "Of course I will. A promise is a promise after all."

Trixie leaned against Twilight, "Thanks."

Author's Notes:

I've learnt something. Bringing a character back from a confirmed death is hard. Just how are people supposed to react to that? Especially after so short a time. Bleh.