Ponyville wasn’t a new experience for her, and new experiences never really bothered her before, but the sight of the bustling town gave Trixie pause. The wagon she pulled behind her slowed to a stop. Memories of her last visit to the town returned to her. She had been rude, mean, boastful. High on her own self entitled fame she had mocked the townsponies. She had mocked Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

Friends that Twilight wanted Trixie to know. That’s what she had implied, anyway. At least, that’s what Trixie had thought she had implied. For all she knew Twilight could have meant to stay away from Ponyville. Or she could have been warning Trixie that the townsponies still hated her.

As always when her emotions started to overwhelm her, Trixie levitated the small, heart shaped picture frame of Twilight Sparkle out of the wagon and looked at it. Twilight had taken the picture with a smile that had little heart behind it. Still, it calmed Trixie. She had felt more than just friendship for the Twilight Sparkle doll she had owned for months. Deep in her heart she felt that maybe, just maybe, the real Twilight could return those feelings.

Her will solidified again, Trixie gently placed the picture frame back into her wagon. Ponyville was only a few miles away and the sun was still high. She could make it there long before nightfall and sleep in a warm bed, something she hadn’t done for the past week and a half.

And she could finally start making real friends.

The throne room of Canterlot Castle always felt just a little bit smaller every time she visited. Twilight Sparkle noted the lack of guards within the room. Their absence helped Twilight understand why she had been summoned little. Princess Celestia often sent her own personal guard out on important tasks, or when she wanted privacy. Or they could all have been taking lunch at the same time.

The princess’s voice broke Twilight out of her thoughts. “Twilight Sparkle, I’m glad you could make it!” The alicorn’s voice carried across the large room so much that she never had to leave her throne to greet guests. Twilight increased her pace so they could speak softer. She imagined many ponies wanted the chance to eavesdrop on the princess, and talking from across the room gave them a perfect opportunity.

“I headed right here as soon as I got your letter,” Twilight explained, bowing when she came to the foot of the throne. “You wrote that it was about the doll of me I destroyed?”

Celestia’s normally cheery expression was somber. “Unfortunately, yes. It seems the colt we arrested for making the doll was not the one who made it.” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock, and Celestia continued. “He claims he stole the doll from another pony, one who made many, many more.”

“And you believe him?” asked Twilight, doubt in her eyes along with the shock. “He’d say anything to have the charges against him dropped!”

The alicorn raised a hoof to calm her student. “We interrogated him for weeks,” Celestia responded. “We have no doubts that he is telling the truth. The one responsible for the doll is still out there.”

Twilight scratched her head in confusion. “Why did it take so long for him to say anything? He never said anything about this when I arrested him.”

“That is… ” Celestia looked down a moment. “He says the one who makes the dolls is a powerful unicorn hiding among us. The colt was… fearful of him. It took some doing to convince him to cooperate.”

“Hiding among us?” repeated Twilight. It was hard for her to believe a unicorn who made lifelike dolls was so powerful he instilled fear in others. She voiced her thoughts, saying, “Does he have some power we haven’t heard of? I don’t think making dolls is very frightening… ”

But Celestia continued looking grave. “From what we could gather, the colt is using magic from long ago. Dark magic that was outlawed when Equestria was young.” She looked away from Twilight to the stained glass windows lining the walls. They depicted the major events of Equestria’s past.

None that Twilight saw had dolls in them. “I still don’t understand… was he making the dolls with dark magic?”

Celestia shook her head. “We’re not sure. We don’t know what dark magic spell he was using or why, or even where he is now. After we got that far with the colt we have now he grew quiet. Since then we haven’t been able to get anything else out of him.”

Twilight took a moment to wrap her head around everything she just heard. “So, there is a powerful unicorn using dark magic hiding among us somewhere in Equestria who makes… dolls? Forgive me, Princess, but it just seems so… I just can’t believe it.”

“I also find it strange, but I take any allegation of dark magic abuse seriously,” the princess said sternly. “I would like you and the other elements of harmony to search Ponyville for this colt. I am already having the Canterlot guards sweep the city, and Luna is also searching for any effects of dark magic within the city. If you find anything, send me a letter immediately.” Celestia bent her front legs and looked hard into Twilight’s eyes. “Do not try and deal with him yourself, no matter what. Dark magic is powerful. I do not want you or your friends to come to any harm.”

Twilight Sparkle gulped down her nervousness and nodded. “You can count on us, Princess.”

There was no wall around Ponyville, the town simply began and ended when the buildings did. The buildings Trixie passed that stood at the very outskirts of town all looked “low income”. She imagined ponies who were looked down upon lived in these homes. Perhaps this was where they would put her, too.

The dirt road didn’t change to cobble until the homes seemed to get nicer, and the sun was already casting long shadows through the gaps of the buildings. Only a hooffull of ponies could be seen meandering around this area of the city. No pony seemed to recognize her, most likely because she had opted to keep her hat and cape in her wagon and instead wear a brown cloak. Though she thought she looked suspicious, still no pony acknowledged her. Trixie started to wonder if Ponyville was known for taking in wonderers or as a pit stop for travelers.

She searched around the area and found an inn quickly. Most of her bits had been spent on the wagon she pulled up to the building, but she still had a few hidden away. Trixie used her magic to place her wagon up against the inn before heading inside.

Inside was almost a mirror of outside: run down and empty. Tables and chairs made of warping wood stood in no particular pattern. The fireplace, the only source of light not streaming through half cleaned windows, had a large pot suspended over it with an inviting aroma leaking out the lidded top. After days of dried fruit and stale bread, Trixie found her mouth watering at the smell.

A plum colored earth pony with mulberry hair was sitting on a stool watching the pot when Trixie entered. As the doors closed behind the unicorn, the earth pony turned her head and waved the newcomer over. Trixie complied, as much acknowledging the pony as compelled by the prospect of good food.

The earth pony whistled out a note as she got a better look at Trixie. “You look like the road walked on you,” she said with a laugh. Trixie blushed and tried to rub what she could imagine was days of dirt off her face. The earth pony just waved it off. “I’ll have Pinchy run you a bath while the food finishes cookin’.” Turning in her seat, she yelled deeper into the building, “Pinchy!”

“Um…” Trixie stammered as she took out her tiny purse of bits from her cloak pocket. “How much is the room? I don’t have a lot… ”

Eyeing the tiny purse, the earth pony reached out and poked it twice. The jingle from the coins betrayed their amount. The earth pony frowned. “Keep it; I’m sure you can work it off another way.” She shook her mane and stood up. “We get a lot of ponies through here without any bits. Help around the inn and we’ll call it even.” Her friendly smile returned as she extended a hoof. “I’m Berry Punch, owner of the Iron Stomach. I run this place with my daughter-”

“Ruby Pinch!” said a squeaky voice from below. Trixie staggered back at the sudden appearance of the unicorn filly. Green eyes stared up below a thulium pink mane and above a wide smile. “I remember you!”

“Pinchy, I told you to stop sneaking up on our guests!” Berry scolded her daughter. The pony wrapped a front leg around Ruby and pulled her away from Trixie. “Sorry about that. She’s curious around new guests.”

Ruby struggled in her mother’s embrace to point at Trixie. “She’s not new! She’s the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

A chill ran down Trixie’s spine at the mention of her stage name. Even if the adults didn’t remember her, the fillies would. “I, um…”

Recognition dawned in Berry’s eyes. She started to say something as her expression turned colder, but Ruby interrupted again. “Do a trick like you did before, Great and Powerful Trixie! Please?”

“Well…” Trixie was torn between running out the door, away from Berry Punch’s glare, and performing for Ruby, whose eyes were filled with wonder. The filly remembered her, but only the day performance it seemed. It made sense when Trixie thought about it. No filly would have been let out of their home during the Ursa Minor attack.

Ruby Pinch’s expression of wonder won over Trixie’s nervousness. She was a performer and no pony would stop her from performing. Her horn glowed brightly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not perform tricks!” she said with her stage voice, rearing up. With a flap of wind her cloak was replaced by her cape, which continued to flap in the windless room. A flick of her mane and her hat appeared atop her head. “The Great and Powerful Trixie performs feats of wonder!”

Ruby let out an amazed, “ooooo”, at the sight of Trixie in all her glory. The filly was the only thing Trixie saw then. Ever since she had gotten her cutie mark, Trixie had dedicated herself to performing, to knowing her audience and giving them what they wanted. Somewhere along the way she had forgotten that, becoming consumed by the fame, and she had lost everything. At this moment, staring into green eyes that knew limitless imagination, Trixie remembered why she had finally gotten her cutie mark: to bring those eyes to her audience wherever she performed.

Though her stomach growled, though dirt stained her coat, though she had nothing prepared, Trixie dove into a tale. Sweeping her front legs with every line, she regaled the filly with a short story of meteor stopped by a powerful alicorn, saving a kingdom. Magic poured out of her to create a lightshow that soared to the rafters overhead. A glowing alicorn with wings extended charged a falling ball of fire.

Trixie finished with a flourish, panting from exertion. The falling, fading sprinkles of light hid the beads of sweat running down her brow. Ruby Pinch didn’t notice Trixie’s obvious exhausted state, clopping her hooves together and laughing. “That was amazing!” the filly yelled so loudly her voice cracked. “Tell another!”

Berry leaned down and pinched her daughter’s cheek with her teeth. “We’ll have other guests soon, Pinchy! Go run a bath for Trixie so we can get the inn ready!” Ruby pouted up at her mother in defiance. “Now!” said Berry firmly. Though she continued pouting, the filly ran to complete her task.

Exhausted, Trixie fell back onto her rump. Once she was sure Ruby was doing as she said, Berry approached her magician. “You came to Ponyville before, yeah? Almost wrecked the town with your boasting about this and that. Left a few ponies rubbed the wrong way, as I recall.”

Trixie grimaced and looked down. “I… yes, I did. I’ll understand if you don’t want me here-”

“Hey, hey, now,” Berry stopped the unicorn with a raised hoof. “Let’s not get away from ourselves. I can see by the way you performed for my Pinchy that you’ve changed. And I’m sure many other ponies will see it too.” She licked her lips and took a step towards Trixie, lowering her voice. “If you can perform like that every night here, ponies from all over Ponyville would show up to see. You could build back up your reputation! And…” she added with a wink, “The inn would get a nice bit of bits. What do you say?”

A bead of sweat rolled down Trixie’s shocked face. She started to speak but her stomach growled loudly. Red blossomed on her cheeks.

Berry barked out a laugh. “How about we talk about it over stew?”

Candles set high along the walls illuminated the vast, windowless room. Every inch of all four walls and the ceiling was covered by pictures. Clean shots, taken at a distance and placed alongside others of similar genre. All of ponies. Earth ponies, unicorn ponies, pegasus ponies. A rainbow of every color, size, and shape imaginable.

Only one section was the focus of the colt sitting alone in the room, however: the section of the light purple unicorn with the indigo hair. Similarly colored fabric sought to overrun the floor in its excess. Stuffing and thread dotted the area around the colt as well.

Magic sparkled to life along his horn. The sea of sewing material gently shifted. Light purple cloth lifted into the air, followed by scissors and measuring tape. The tape snapped out and the scissors went to work. All the while the colt’s eyes stayed glued to the images of the pony he sought to replicate.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he said softly. Stuffing rose and pressed against the cloth as a needle stitched it closed. The process was meticulous. Every detail of the unicorn from every angle was slowly recreated. It would have taken a novice hours to complete such a doll.

But Pattern was no longer a novice at such things. Multiple pieces of the doll were completed at once, brought together to form one creation. He slowly rotated it in front of him. It was truly beautiful, a masterpiece. He could have easily gotten hundreds of bits for such a piece.

“But it’s wrong, still wrong!” Scissors dove at the doll and sliced it back into its base materials. Pattern continued to destroy them until only miniscule amounts were left.

He couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t create another Twilight Sparkle doll like the first one. The first one had been perfect, yet it had been stolen and lost to him. And now, no matter how hard he tried…

Pattern stormed out of the sewing room. Small dust clouds formed as he walked the hallway. The mansion he occupied was too large for him to clean by himself, not that he cared to anyways. Only a few room mattered to him. The rest had been left to rot.

He unlatched the third floor balcony doors and walked into the fading day’s light. The mansion stood atop a hill a few short miles out from Ponyville, overlooking the town. One dirt road that time had allowed nature to overrun led from the mansion to the town. Pattern took that road often but never allowed it to be cleared entirely. Other ponies couldn’t be trusted, not anymore.

Tomorrow he would descend onto Ponyville again and seek out Twilight Sparkle. He was missing something, some angle or flaw in her being, something that would allow him to reach that perfect doll he had made before. But the more he thought about it, staring at Ponyville lighting up as darkness sought to consumed it, the more he realized he would not succeed. No longer was he attempting to create a doll from an imperfect pony, but from the perfection he had created. It was no longer possible for him to create a Twilight Sparkle that met his standards.

Use the spell…

His ears flattened in a vain attempt to block out the voice. It originated from deeper inside the mansion but echoed in his head clear as day.

Use the spell…

A red glow lit up his eyes a moment. He could sate the urges as long as he could create the lifelike dolls. But that wasn’t an option anymore. His choice had been made for him the day the Twilight Sparkle doll was stolen.

Use the spell…

“I will, mother, father,” he replied to no one.