Twilight appeared in the middle of Discord’s house; eyes filled with anger born out of frustration. “What’s taking you so long?!”

The draconequus put down the leather shoe he was reading and took off his glasses before responding. “Am I late for something?” He spit out a pocket watch and opened it, revealing a mass of worms wiggling inside.

“Why haven’t you enacted your plan yet?” the alicorn asked accusatorily.

Discord was still confused. “I was just reading some good leather,” he said pointing at the shoe. “It’s size 42.”

Twilight let out a laugh as her hair became a little frazzled. “Oh, right. Surely you want to truly surprise me this time, so just give me a date and I will wipe my memories before you can enact your plan and I will be totally surprised by your betrayal! Win-win right?”

Discord stood up from the couch with a more serious expression. “Okay, I know I’ve failed to learn my friendship lessons various times before, but I’m not planning on betraying you again. It would get predictable by this point, which is a no-no for me.”

Twilight looked distraught. “B-b-b-but then who is it?”

“Who’s who?” Discord asked, wondering if he should get some tea for her nerves.

“The villain!” the alicorn shouted. “The one who will threaten Equestria and me and my friends will have to defeat. It happens every year! It has to be coming soon!”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I turn all the villains into stone statues?”

“Well… maybe they can find a way to escape. Just like you did!” Twilight exclaimed with hint of hope.

Discord shook his head. “I’m afraid not. My ways are permanent.”

“Well, somecreature has to be the villain!” The alicorn shouted; her mane now fully frazzled.

Discord crossed his arms. “Well, as I said, I’m not betraying you.”

Twilight started to prance around, trying to think a solution while muttering incomprehensible gibberish.
Discord pulled out a banana out of his ear and was about to call Fluttershy when the alicorn suddenly shouted.
“I know! If you are not going to betray me, then I bet somepony else will turn evil! It would be such an unexpected twist!” She laughed maniacally as she rubbed her hooves together.

Before Discord could say anything, Twilight teleported out of his dimension. “Well… this should be interesting,” he said before summoning a TV and sitting down to watch his favorite show.

---

Starlight was looking over her design for the next round of exams for the students when Twilight appeared in front of her desk in a flash of purple light, making her fall from her chair and throw the papers into the air.

“Hi Starlight!” Twilight exclaimed as the unicorn slowly stood up.

Starlight looked at her friend and mentor, noticing that she was a bit unhinged by Twilight standards. “Hey… Twilight… Are you feeling okay?” she asked with a bit of nervousness.

“Oh, enough about me,” the alicorn said, dismissing her with a hoof before leaning over the desk. “Now tell me, do you have some plans for the following days?”

“Uhm…” Starlight pointed at her exams. “Make the students take a test?”

“HA! No no no, I need something more evil than that.”

“My tests aren’t evil,” the unicorn complained, clearly offended.

“Exactly! Now really, do you have some nefarious plan brewing?” Twilight asked, leaning over until she almost touched snouts with Starlight.

The unicorn pushed her away. “No.”

Twilight teleported behind her. “Come on, aren’t you feeling a bit more–” she placed her mouth uncomfortably close to Starlight’s ear, and whispered. “–equal?”

Starlight teleported to the other side of the room in a panic. “For your own good, that better have just been the worst flirting ever done by a living creature!”

“Just tell me if you’re going to betray me or not!” Twilight shouted as she smashed the desk into splinters with her hooves.

Starlight was more confused than terrified at this point. “What? I’ve no reason to betray you!”

Twilight snorted. “Come on! Aren’t you even a little bit resentful about me constantly leaving you to run the school and trying to control your friendships?”

Starlight rubbed the bridge of her nose. “We are not having this conversation. Did you eat one of Trixie’s pills again?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Trixie! That’s a great idea! Starlight you’re a genius!”

The alicorn teleported in front of her student to give her a big hug and then vanished in a flash of magic.

Starlight just stood frozen in shock for a few seconds before shaking her head. “What in Tartarus is going on?!”

---

The Great and Powerful Trixie was taking her usual Great and Powerful nap when something landed on her lap.
She opened her eyes groggily as she woke up from her slumber, and her vision slowly focused on the object on top of her body.

It was a familiar alicorn-shaped collar that was looking at her with its hateful, piercing eyes.

Trixie let out a high pitch scream as the memories of wearing the cursed amulet flooded into her mind, and immediately threw the collar against the wall.

“No silly, you have to wear it around your neck,” Twilight explained as she picked up the Alicorn Amulet with her magic. “Don’t tell me you forgot how to use it.”

“Trixie wishes she could!” The magician looked at the alicorn, noticing that she was moderately unhinged by Twilight standards. “Did you eat one of my pills again? Do you know how difficult it is for me to produce them?”

“Uh! Are you going to use them to mind-control the town and form a rebellion against me?” Twilight asked with a big smile on her face.

“How exactly would Trixie mind control a town with homemade medicine?” the magician asked with genuine curiosity.

Twilight put her hooves up. “I don’t know! You’re the evil mastermind in this scenario!”

Trixie fished out a bottle of blue pills from her hat. “Here, take two of these a day with some water for a couple of weeks.”

Twilight gasped with a smile. “Are you planning on putting me on a coma so Starlight can take my place as ruler, and when I wake up a decade later we’re in a post-apocalyptic dystopia were you and Starlight rule in a total dictatorship?”

“Aren’t we in a sort of dictatorship already?” Trixie shook her head. “Stop that! Trixie is trying to help you here!”

“Me too!” Twilight exclaimed frustrated as she shoved the Alicorn Amulet against Trixie’s chest. “Don’t you want to be great and powerful again? Beat me in another magic duel? Take out your frustrations and resentment with an overly elaborate plan of vengeance?”

Trixie stared at the unicorn with eyes scarier than the ones in the amulet, and lifted the cursed collar with her magic. “Trixie is great and powerful,” she growled before turning the amulet into a teacup. “She doesn’t need to show it to you. Now, go away.” The magician pulled down her hat over her eyes and went back to her nap, ignoring the alicorn completely.

Twilight gritted her teeth and took the teacup before banishing in a flash of magic.

---

Twilight was walking back and forth in a far corner of Celestia's gardens, scribbling some words in a piece of parchment.

"Come on, almost ready..." She added the last touches almost violently, and finished writing the spell. "Yes! Now to test it."

She turned to her right, looking at the three villains Discord had turned into stone statues.
"They may have failed before, but with a bit of help I'm sure they will bring ruin to the land one more time, and then we can valiantly stop them and be revered as heroes once more!" Twilight lit her horn and activated the scroll, casting the de-petrification spell on the statue.

She had a huge, terrifying grin as she saw the stone break apart and uncover the bodies of the three most dangerous villains Equestria had managed to defeat.
As the trio were freed from their stone prison, Twilight couldn't help but start to cackle and scream. "They're alive! I always wanted to say this. Fly my minions! Show them how much you love me!"

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

Her mad laugh came to a stop, and she slowly looked down.
Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy were laying on the ground unconscious... With their eyes open. “Are you guys okay?” She got no response.
Twilight picked up a nearby stick and poked each of them with it, getting no reaction. She then smashed the stick against Chrysalis head, snapping it in half, but the bug-queen still didn't move or react.
Twilight looked at the spell she had made and immediately burned it to erase the evidence of her actions. "Maybe I can petrify them again and nopony will notice."

She then heard sobbing behind her, and when she turned around, she saw the horrified faces of Cheerilee and a group of fillies she had been escorting during their tour of the castle's gardens.
“Are they dead?” the younger of the group asked.

"Oh... Buck."

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