> I Am Twilight Sparkle
>  by Mike the Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Be Careful What You Wish For
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Please allow me to introduce myself -- my name is Michael Walker and I work for a package delivery service, though I'm not at liberty to say which one.  The days can be long and the work hard, but it is a job I enjoy doing.  My favorite way of relaxing is playing games on my computer, a guilty pleasure which generally occupied a few hours of my day each evening after making it home from work.  Sometimes the weeks could be especially long and this one was no exception as Friday night melded into very early Saturday morning, and my fatigue finally made me shut the computer down around 1:00 AM.  I trudged upstairs to my bedroom, taking off my clothes and sliding them under the bed.  My wife was already asleep and had been so for the past few hours, but the TV was still on.  I casually took the remote and turned it off, pulling the covers aside to lay on my right side, my back to my wife.  Twenty years in a dead-end marriage can break even the strongest man's affection for his wife, and mine had been broken years ago.  As I lay, I made a silent wish:

"I wish to experience what it would be like to be Twilight Sparkle."

I fell asleep shortly thereafter, my dreams a hazy blur and unremarkable.  I rarely ever have lucid dreams and most of my dreams are ones I can't or don't remember.  It seemed as though I had only laid down when my wife woke me, demanding a glass of water.  I was going to get up, but I turned over to look at the clock, which read 4:32 AM.

"Brenda, why do you have to wake up so early?" I asked her in exasperation.  For some strange reason, my voice had a much higher pitch to it than I remembered.  My wife woke up with a start and hurried over to the light switch to see what was going on.  When she turned on the light and saw what had happened to me, she kind of freaked out.

"What -- what -- who are you?" she asked fearfully, backing slowly away from the bed.  She looked for something to use as a weapon, either to attack me or defend herself.  She picked up one of her shoes, wielding it like a club.

"It's me, Mike -- what?  What happened to my voice?" I asked rhetorically.  With the light, I tried to lift the cover off me but had a hard time doing that.  I lifted what was supposed to be my right arm out from under the cover and nearly freaked out at the sight of a foreleg with no hand at the end of it, just a hoof of a slightly darker purple than the lavender fur of my foreleg.

"What the hay happened to my hands?!" I shrieked, the high-pitched voice making it sound more amusing than alarming.

"What the fuck is going on here?  You claim to be Mike, but you don't look a fucking thing like him!  What the fuck are you?" she asked, her fear turning to anger.  She approached me and yanked the cover off, exposing my entire body.  Her eyes went very wide when she saw what I had become.  I could have sworn I heard her say, "Homina, homina, homina..."

I examined what I could of my body, but my tail is what caught my attention.  "I think I may have been transformed into Twilight Sparkle, but -- I thought wishes never got granted, at least not as many as I have made in my entire lifetime," I mused.  The Twilight voice was rather unnerving to me, especially when I heard it coming out of MY mouth!

"Twilight Sparkle?  What the FUCK is that?" Brenda asked angrily.  "You wished to be THAT?!"

"You never watched the cartoon on TV -- Twilight Sparkle is the main character.  I think I can use magic ... I hope ..."

"You have a horn on your head!  What, are you a unicorn?  Magic?  Yeah, right," she said disdainfully.

I concentrated, imagining the cover my wife had pulled off me moving back onto the bed.  That didn't seem to work and I got a powerful headache from my effort.

"I thought I was supposed to be able to use magic," I said dejectedly.

"Well, how's it supposed to work?"

"Did my horn glow?  I was thinking my horn is supposed to glow while I'm using magic," I mused.

"What's it supposed to look like?"

"I don't know.  Maybe if I see how it works in the cartoon, maybe I can make it work," I postulated.

"When does it come on?  What if it doesn't work?  What then?  How are you supposed to change back?  Make another wish?" Brenda asked, once again becoming a bit fearful over the prospect of me losing my job.  If I couldn't make magic work, I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do much of anything, other than look like a pretty pony with a useless ornament on my forehead.

"The show comes on at 9:00 AM.  Let me get some more sleep; if you want some water, go get it yourself," I said and laid back down.  For some strange reason, I kind of half-wished for the cover to lay itself over me again.  My horn glowed and a magenta colored aura enveloped itself around the cover, pulling it over me.  Brenda saw this and freaked out again.

"What -- what -- you just made -- the cover -- pull itself onto you!" she squeaked in terror.

"Never mind that," I said tiredly, closing my eyes again.  The warmth of the cover felt nice on my fur as I quickly fell asleep again, even though the light was still on.  Brenda crept over to my side of the bed and touched my horn with her fingers.  The resulting shock woke me immediately.

"Brenda, please don't do that -- my horn is very sensitive and it's the focus for my magic -- I can't risk losing it," I stated apprehensively.  She ran her fingers up and down its length, feeling the ridges in it.  She slid her hand up and down it several times, eliciting some moaning from me, sending shivers through my body.  My moans became a bit more protracted and I saw my wife smiling, almost chuckling at my reaction.  "Please ... Brenda ... huff ... please ... stop ..."

"You look like you're enjoying that," she chuckled.

"You're going to make me make a mess in the bed, and I don't have a way of cleaning the sheets," I said, still gasping for breath.  She relented her pressure on my horn at that point, but unfortunately it was just a bit too late.  "Oh, shit."

Brenda pulled the cover off me again, exposing my shame as a big wet spot appeared on the bed behind my hindquarters.  She gasped as she saw my marehood exposed as well.  "Whoa, you're a real female, aren't you?"

I blushed deeply at this and decided to get up at this point.  I tried to stand on my hooves, though on the bed, that proved to be exceedingly difficult.  The mattress was too spongy and soft and my hooves kept pushing too deeply into it for me to get my balance.  I fell over a few times before I asked Brenda to put me on the floor.  She wasn't strong enough to do so, so I concentrated again, picturing myself standing on the floor beside the bed.  I disappeared for a second, reappearing next to the bed, but about six inches above the floor.  I fell hard, which hurt quite a bit.  My wife pulled the soiled sheet of the bed, wadding it up into a ball.

"That looked like it hurt," she said flatly.

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically as I tried to regain my hoofing.  I actually levitated my body into an upright position using my magic, though I hadn't noticed it at the time.  Brenda threw the balled-up sheet at me and missed, the sheet landing on the floor a little bit behind me.

"Why is your body glowing like that?" she asked, her expression one of surprise.

"I'm trying to stand up on all fours, and with the floor being hardwood and very slick, I keep falling flat on my belly.  I can't seem to get any hoofing on it, so I guess I'm using magic to keep from falling down."  At this point, I decided I was going to try to walk on all fours, which I immediately regretted.  I took one step forward with my right fore-hoof, losing my balance yet again and falling on my belly.  "Ouch!  Damn!  Why does this have to be so damned hard?" I asked in frustration.

"What are you trying to do now?" Brenda asked in exasperation.

"Can you be a spotter for me?  I'm trying to walk here and it's proving to be more difficult than I thought."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I need for you to hold me at my sides and try to keep me from falling when I take a few steps," I explained.

"Okay, Mike, I'll see what I can do," she offered, walking over to where I stood.  I put my weight on all fours in order to maintain my balance.

"Now straddle me and hold me by my sides -- I hope I'm not too heavy for you if I fall again," I stated optimistically.  I was facing the hallway, having opened the bedroom door with my telekinesis.

"I thought you closed that door last night," my wife said.

"I used my magic to open it.  Okay, here goes nothing," I said, lifting my right foreleg and moving it forward a small step.  I lifted my left hind leg and moved it forward a small step.  Then my left foreleg, then my right hind leg.  I slowly repeated the right front - left rear - left front - right rear movement, Brenda walking slowly beside me as I made my way down the hallway to the bathroom.  My hooves made a clip-clop sound on the hardwood floor.  "Okay, Brenda, I think I have this part down," I said, then looked down the stairs.  "Um, I may need some help going downstairs."

"Not right now, Mike," she stated flatly.  I turned around and walked slightly faster, increasing the pace and taking slightly larger steps.  I practiced going back and forth until I had the rhythm down and was able to trot, though it made quite a bit of noise, which woke up Xaviera and her two daughters.

"What's all that noise?" Xaviera asked in an annoyed tone of voice.  "I'm trying to sleep!"

"I wonder what SHE'S going to think," I thought to myself.  "Sorry, Xavi, I'll try to keep it down," I said in an attempt to calm her anxiety.  She immediately opened her bedroom door to see who had called her by her nickname using an unfamiliar voice.  Upon seeing me, she slammed her door shut.  Although I couldn't see what was going on, Xaviera had pulled her cover over herself and her two daughters very tightly.

"Mike, if you can use magic like that, can you fix the bathroom light?" asked Brenda.  I looked up on the bathroom wall where the old light fixture had been.  I had not been able to fix it as a human, but I wondered if my magic would be capable of fixing it.  I opened the door to our spare bedroom, which was being used for storage at the time, finding the box with the new light fixture in it.  I levitated the fixture out of the box and into the bathroom, affixing it to the base and connecting the wires, installing bulbs and the glass bulb covers.  I used magic to turn on the switch and the lights came on.  I then fixed the bathroom sink, stopping the leaks in it and the bathtub.  I used more magic to change the color of the paint ever so slightly to a very pale lavender, which I thought was nicer than the light charcoal grey it had been.  I then caused the wall and floor tiles to match the paint, as well as the floor mat, shower curtain and decorator towels, which I made a nice shade of purple, even going so far as to make an embroidered copy of my six-pointed star cutie mark on them.

I decided to take a shower at this point, opening the shower curtain, hopping into the tub, turning on the water and soaping up my fur.  I used my telekinetic aura to create multiple hands to work the lather into my fur, mane and tail.  The warm water felt rather nice as it rinsed the soap.  My hooves kept sliding on the tub floor, but I used magic to keep my balance, though working so much magic so quickly was somewhat tiring.  I used my multiple magic hands to thoroughly rinse out the rest of the soap, though I had to be careful around my hindquarters as certain parts back there were very sensitive.  I turned off the water and shook myself to shake out the water -- this was a mistake as once again I landed on my belly, this time in the tub.  I used my multiple hands aura to lift myself out of the tub and lower myself onto the floor mat.  I trotted to the hallway closet and grabbed a towel to dry myself off.

"I heard a banging in there -- what happened?" Brenda asked.

"I fell in the tub -- I think my ribs are bruised," I stated flatly.  I trotted back into the bedroom and tried to climb back into the bed to get some more rest -- unable to do so, I once again resorted to using magic to lift myself into the bed and pull the cover back over me.  Brenda had laid back down as well, so I turned off the light as well.  I looked at the clock to see it read 6:03 AM and figured on getting another few hours of sleep.

I had a very vivid dream about wandering around the inside of a tree with organic looking shelves carved into the inside of the trunk itself, with ambient light filtering in through ovular windows.  I figured it was a library, considering the number of books, though the place had a very cozy feel to it.  I thought I heard someone or somepony calling out for Twilight, though I also thought I might have seen a lavender unicorn turn around when I called her name, gasping in shock when she saw me in an exact duplicate of her body.  I could feel myself giggle at her reaction, though she appeared to get angry at my reaction, glaring at me either in disapproval or embarrassment, though I couldn't tell which.  I saw her mouth her own name, which struck me as utterly hilarious and I giggled again, which seemed to make her even angrier.  I apologized to her for laughing and told her I was just visiting, whereupon she pleaded with me to stay.

I appeared to melt away from the very organic looking library and melt into another place, which smelled of freshly baking bread -- or was it cinnamon rolls?  Either way, it smelled wonderful.  I looked around and saw a pink pony humming a happy tune to herself.  When she caught sight of me, she made a happy sound and called my name, bouncing over to me and embracing me in a very warm hug.  I could have sworn she even tried to kiss me, but I managed to push her away before her lips met mine, telling her I wasn't comfortable being quite that friendly, which made her giggle and call me a silly filly.  She showed me the finished product she pulled out of one of the ovens and let me sample some -- the sweetness of the flavor was extremely intense and I thanked her for her generosity.  She pleaded with me not to go, but I once again seemed to melt away.

"Okay, Mike, time to get up," Brenda stated flatly.  She had already woken up, taken a shower and gotten dressed.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked her.

"You fixed stuff in the bathroom -- I want you to fix some other stuff in the house."  She led me around the house, pointing out things that needed fixing.  Using my magic, I made short work of most of the items she wanted me to fix.  As we progressed through the house, each thing that I fixed started her giggling, then chuckling, then outright laughing.  As far as going downstairs, yes, she helped me with that, though it took a little trial and error to keep from falling down.

"If I had known you being like that would have been this useful, I would have asked you to become 'Twilight Sparkle' a lot sooner!" she chuckled.  Truthfully, I hadn't seen her this happy in a long time.

"Is there anything else?" I asked.

"I always wanted stainless steel appliances," she mused.  I used my magic to change the refrigerator and stove into stainless steel models and for further effect, all the cabinet faces became stainless steel as well.  I even went so far as to change the color of the paint in the kitchen to a medium silvery grey to match the rest of the decor.  Brenda laughed aloud at the sight.

"What about your car?  How are you supposed to drive me around?" she asked.

"You never got a license -- but I think I can do something to the car," I offered.  I trotted outside to check out my car, though I couldn't see above the driver door.  I stood next to it, placing my right fore-hoof against the left front fender.  My magenta aura enveloped the entire car as I used magic to fix all of its mechanical issues, improve its fuel economy, improving the durability of many of the parts subject to normal wear and tear, changing the paint color very slightly, adding my cutie marks as a nice extra touch, changing the cloth interior to leather (also stitching my cutie mark into the seat backs of the front seats), and adding a few more details to the car.  I imbued it with a lot of magic and when I was finished, I felt nearly drained.  I decided to go back inside the house at this point, satisfied that I had done about as much as I could for now.

Brenda was cooking breakfast at this point and Xaviera and her kids were in the kitchen, sitting at the table (which I had also changed into a stainless steel model, the chairs also stainless steel with very comfortable seat and back padding) and waiting for the first of the food.  When they saw me, they too kind of freaked out, though the two year old was more curious than afraid.   Her name is Samantha, and she thought I looked more like a dog than anything else.

"Doggie!" she cried happily, giving me a big smile.

"Sorry, Samantha, I'm not a dog," I said softly, giving her a grin.

"Talking doggie!" she shouted and ran to hide behind her mother.

"What are you?" Xaviera asked me.

"I'm a unicorn -- I don't know if you've watched the cartoon -- My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic?" I sort of asked.

"So ... you did all this?" she asked, looking all around the kitchen.  Even the light fixtures in the ceiling had been changed to stainless steel.

"I suppose I did go overboard a little," I chuckled nervously.

"So ... you are ... Mike?" she asked, still huddling in the corner with her daughters behind her.  She still eyed me warily.

"I'm not going to bite, Xavi.  Yeah, I'm Mike, though I'm in the body of Twilight Sparkle," I stated flatly.  Her three year old, Tanisha, slowly came over to me and almost gingerly touched my tail, running her fingers through it.  She then patted me on my back.  She stood, facing me, and the two of us were at the same eye level.

"You're a pony?" Tanisha asked me.

"Yep," I said, smiling at her.  She patted me on my head, running her fingers through my mane.  "Careful now, don't touch my horn, okay?"

"Okay," she said.  "You're soft!"

"I didn't know that," I replied.

Samantha came over to me and climbed onto my back.  "Go, doggie!" she shouted, holding tightly onto my neck.  I trotted around slowly, allowing her to maintain her balance.  She grabbed hold of my mane, pulling it sharply.

"Ouch!  Careful, please!  That hurts!"

Xaviera came over and pulled her two year old daughter off my back.  "That's enough, Sammy," she said.  She tousled my mane playfully.  I giggled at this, which elicited giggles from Xaviera and her kids.  Brenda grinned as well.

"You want some pancakes, Mike?" my wife asked.

"Yes, please," I replied.  It had been awhile since I had last eaten pancakes as Brenda scarcely cooks breakfast.  She was also cooking bacon, which smelled good, though I was rather apprehensive about eating meat in my new body.

"How many do you want?"

"I think two would be good, thanks."  Brenda put two pancakes on a plate for me and set it on the floor.  I found I was able to use a knife and fork with my hooves, which baffled me, though I wasn't going to question being able to use the frogs of my hooves in that fashion.  I used my telekinesis to pour syrup on the pancakes, which once again freaked out Xaviera and her kids.

"You -- you -- can move things -- with -- magic?" Xaviera stammered in shock.

"Wow!  Cool!" exclaimed Tanisha.  Samantha saw my horn glow and came over to touch it.

"Samantha, please don't touch my horn -- it's very sensitive," I stated softly.  "Xavi, can you get her for me, please?  I don't want anypony touching my horn."

"Samantha!  Get over here now!" her mother exclaimed sharply.  The two year old whimpered as she slowly made her way back over to her mother, a fearful expression on her face.

I tucked into the pancakes, noticing how much better they seemed to taste than I last remembered and how much sweeter the syrup was.  I commented on this, declaring the food to be the best I've ever tasted.

"Oh come on, it's not that good, is it?" Brenda asked, chuckling slightly.

"It might be because I'm in a new body, though I don't recall pancakes tasting so good," I mused.

"So when was the last time you ate pancakes?" asked Brenda.

"Well ... it has been a long time ..." I said, letting my words trail off.  I took a few more bites, savoring the food.  Brenda placed a piece of bacon on the plate for me.  "Um, I don't think that's a good idea, Brenda," I said apprehensively.

"Why not?  I know you like bacon, especially burnt bacon."

"Yeah, but I'm in a pony's body now -- I don't think I'm supposed to eat meat, even if it is bacon."  Gingerly, I broke off a very small piece and gave it the taste test.  I spat it out back onto the plate.  "I'm definitely NOT supposed to eat meat."

"What did it taste like?" Brenda asked, almost laughing.

"It tasted like ... grease at its worst, though the carbonized flavor came through strong.  The greasiness is overpowering, though.  Not a good taste, I can guar-on-tee you that," I stated flatly.

"Have you tried eating grass yet?" asked Brenda, trying to stifle giggles.

"I suppose I ought to give it a try, since ponies are herbivores," I replied thoughtfully.  "I think cellulose is needed as a digestive aid."  I trotted from the kitchen to the downstairs room, though taking the stairs down was going to be a problem.  Brenda had helped me earlier on the stairs, but going solo was going to be more difficult.  I resolved to practice going up and down until I mastered it, but until then, I decided to teleport down the five steps, then go through the back door and teleport up the five steps to the back yard itself.  I noticed our central air unit, and decided to repair it as well as the roof of our storage shed, which had lost some shingles due to prolonged exposure to the elements.  I was noticed by a neighbor's dog, which yapped at me.

"Hush now, I don't want anypony noticing me," I said softly to the dog, which turned his head a little to the side and gave me a soft almost whimpering noise.  I could have sworn I heard him say something to me.  "What was that?"

"What are you?  I've never seen anything like you before," the dog said.

"I'm a pony, but that's not important.  Try not to attract attention to me, okay?"

"Okay," the dog replied and laid back down to get some sleep.

I trotted around the yard a little, finding a taller patch of grass and took a bite.  The flavor was not impressive, but not a bad taste either.  I chewed on it a bit and swallowed, then ate some more.  There seemed to be a saltiness to it, but I chalked it up to pony taste buds being different from human ones.  I felt the need to relieve myself, so I looked around to make sure nopony was watching me as I squatted behind the shed and emptied my bladder, lifting my tail to make sure I didn't accidentally wet it in the process.  I dumped a couple of horseapples as well, the experience being an unusual one.  I was tempted to stretch out my legs for a gallop, but saw someone walking down the street behind our back yard, so I went back into the house.

"What were you doing back there?" Brenda asked.  "Did you try tasting the grass?"

"I fixed our central air unit and the roof of the storage shed, and yes, I tried eating some grass.  Not tasty, but not bad, either.  So what now?"

"How long are you going to be like that?  Can you turn back?"

"I don't know, Brenda.  I don't know if I'll be lucky enough to have a second wish granted -- I might be stuck like this for the rest of my life, however long that may be."

"How are we supposed to pay the bills?  How am I supposed to get to work?  You can't drive the car like that!" she exclaimed, exasperation making its return to her voice.

"I suppose I could teleport you to work, though a fifteen mile jaunt with a full sized human might tax my magic a bit," I mused.  "You wanna give it a try?"

"Um, I dunno about that, Mike -- what if it fails?"

"Hmm.  I don't know what would happen if an attempt to teleport fails.  I'm scared to find out," I stated hesitantly.  "As far as getting to work, I suppose Katrina might be able to take you."

"That's true.  But you still owe money on that car!  How are you supposed to do your job like that?  If you can't drive your car to work, you can't drive a company van at your job!  How are you supposed to do anything in your new form?"

"Let me try something, Brenda," I said, using my telekinesis to levitate a folding chair over to me.  These chairs were part of a set for a folding table and one of them was in pretty bad shape.  I don't know why we hadn't thrown it away, but I decided to try something different with my magic.  Still keeping the chair aloft with my aura, I used a different kind of magic to turn it into solid gold.  The chair got considerably smaller as its atomic structure changed, then it fell to the floor.  Brenda gasped in astonishment at the change to it.  She went over to it and picked it up.

"Did -- you -- just -- change --"

"Into solid gold, yes.  We can sell it for scrap gold and get some money that way," I chuckled.  She ran over to me and hugged me tightly, laughing aloud again.

"So you can do that to the tree stump outside?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said.  I was halfway wondering if showing her that was such a good idea.  She ran outside, calling for me to follow her to the tree stump.  Climbing the five steps to the back yard seemed to be easier than going down as I slowly trotted to the large tree stump.  I enveloped it in my magenta aura, channeling magic through my horn and tried to alter the atomic structure of the stump into gold, though considering the size of the stump and the complexity of the organic material, this proved to be considerably more difficult than just a metal folding chair.  Part of the stump was changing but part of it wasn't.  I was baffled by this, but levitated the gold out of the remainder of the stump.

"Why didn't the whole thing change?" Brenda asked quizzically.  She seemed to be disappointed by my effort.

"Don't let your greed color your opinion of my effort -- this took quite a lot of magic to do and I'm going to need to recover for awhile.  I'm surprised it worked at all, given the tree stump is organic and much larger than one of those chairs," I explained.

"Well, thanks for doing your best, Mike."  She tried to lift the gold part of the stump, but it proved to be excessively heavy for her.  "How much does this thing weigh?" she asked in exasperation.

"Probably about a hundred pounds or so, I think," I stated flatly.  I used my telekinesis on it, which further impressed my wife.  I brought it into the house, setting it on the basement floor.

"So how am I supposed to take some of it to sell?"

"Pure gold is very soft -- you should be able to take a hammer and chisel to it, and break some of it off.  I would suggest you take no more than a pound at a time to sell, so you don't arouse suspicion of its origin," I hypothesized.

"We don't have a chisel, do we?"

"We have a saw in the shed.  You can cut some off that way," I grinned.  I chuckled as I witnessed my wife run faster than I've ever seen her run before.  She got the key to the lock on the shed, got a saw from out of the shed, then ran back to the large chunk of gold on the floor, frantically sawing away at it, cutting off relatively small pieces to be sold for scrap.  I think I saw dollar signs flash in her eyes as she did this.  I shook my head in disbelief at the sight.

"Be careful of how much you try to sell -- you don't want the IRS to come knocking at the door, and you don't want to have people asking you questions as to where you got the gold," I cautioned her.  I think she completely ignored my warning as she took her largest purse, putting several good-sized chunks into it, then called Katrina to take her to some of those scrap gold buying places in town.  Since Katrina lives less than half a mile away from our house, she arrived in less than five minutes.

"Thanks, Mike!  I'll be back later on!  Looks like I'm going to the boat!" she laughed as she headed out the door.

"Save some of that money so we can pay off the house, Brenda!" I said loudly, exasperation tinging my words.  Xaviera came downstairs to watch TV with her daughters and saw the large chunk of gold on the floor, gold dust scattered around on the floor around it, and the small saw which Brenda had used to hack away at the gold.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Xaviera as she examined it.  She touched it, feeling the somewhat sharp edges.  She tried to lift it, but even in its deformed state, it was still too heavy for her to lift.  "Was my mama trying to cut some of it off?"

"Yeah, she took several pieces of it with her.  She's going to sell it and gamble away some of the money -- hopefully not all of it," I grumbled.  "I'm going back upstairs to get some more sleep -- using so much magic has taken a lot out of me and I need to recover."  I trotted up to the master bedroom and tried to jump up onto the bed, but came up short.  I fell hard again and this time it hurt quite a bit more than last time.  I rose to my hooves slowly, cursing my luck.  Thankfully, nothing was broken, but it hurt like Tartarus.  I decided to teleport onto the bed at this point and lay down again to get some more rest.
> What Do YOU Want?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Laying down helped me put my mind at ease and I could feel my magic replenishing itself rather quickly.  I fell asleep and started dreaming again, this time finding myself inside a rather cozy little cottage with various animals scurrying about and a yellow pegasus humming a gentle but upbeat tune as she tended to her animal friends with great care.  Upon seeing me, she smiled warmly and offered me some tea, which also seemed to have a calming and restorative effect on me.  She told me she was going to the spa with Rarity and wanted me to come along as well, an offer I graciously accepted.  I heard a knocking at her front door, which she opened to reveal the alabaster mare, who smiled warmly at me when she saw me.  The pegasus beckoned me to follow her outside and the three of us trotted through town chatting amiably with each other as we made our way to the spa.  For some reason, I seemed to melt away from my two companions and found myself in another place.

I now stood in what looked like an extremely large room dominated by a large throne, a very large white pony sitting on the throne, her body decorated with a very long horn, a pair of very large wings, a bejeweled tiara on her head, a golden collar with another jewel inset in it and golden hoof-guards upon her hooves.  She smiled serenely at me and beckoned me to approach, her voice calm and soothing, very gentle in its address.  I slowly approached as she assured me there was nothing to fear.  She seemed to sense my trepidation, so she approached and wrapped a wing around me.  The warmth felt very comforting and instilled a sense of safety and confidence within me.

I felt a nudging against my head and woke up to see said large white pony standing at my bedside.

"Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing here?" she asked me.  I looked up at her with a puzzled expression.

"Princess Celestia?  What are YOU doing here?  This is my house!" I replied in exasperation.

"I was having a polite conversation with you and you simply disappeared on me!" the Alicorn replied, her exasperation matching mine.  "You would not believe the trouble I went through in order to find you!  Now come back home where you belong!" she chided me.

"I kinda hate to break it to you, Princess, but I AM home.  I woke up in this body just a few hours ago, and -- what are you doing?" I asked as she started sniffing the air, then sniffing the bed and saw the wet spot.

"You've been a naughty filly, Twilight.  How did this happen?" she asked, pointing to the wet spot with her left fore-hoof, though she was grinning slyly at me the whole time.

"I have a human wife, who decided to see what my horn felt like -- apparently, she took some delight in running her hand up and down its length for several minutes.  I had no idea my horn is that sensitive to touch," I said, blushing in embarrassment.  "I was hoping I could get this cleaned up -- I had no idea you'd be searching for me, your Majesty."

"If this is your home, then why not give me a tour of it?" she asked.  She used her magic to clean the wet spot out of my bed and laid down upon it.  "This is quite a nice bed you have here!  It's almost as comfortable as mine!"

I was about to thank her for the compliment, but her weight was such that it caused the bed to break under her.  I heard the snapping of wood, then the creaking of the metal frame, then the mattress and box spring dropped to the floor, making a very loud banging noise.  The Princess' expression was priceless in my opinion, her shock registering a full ten point zero on my amusement scale.  I had to stifle giggles, even though she destroyed my bed in the process.  She blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, Twilight -- here, let me fix it for you," she said and used her magic to fully repair the bed and strengthening it as well.  She saw the TV on the bookcase and pointed at it.  "What exactly is that object over there?  I see some glowing letters at the bottom of it."

"That's a Vizio TV, a 37 inch model.  Here, let me turn it on for you," I said, taking the remote in my telekinetic aura and pushing the power button.  I changed a few channels, landing on -- what else -- My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic  "Maybe I should have thought twice about showing her that," I thought, as I saw her expression change to one of near total shock.

"You mean to tell me -- that -- we are nothing more than -- images?  We seem to be figments of somepony's imagination," she mused.  She watched as Trixie used the Alicorn Amulet to kick Twilight out of Ponyville and enclose the town in a huge glass bowl.  "So THAT'S what she did," the Princess mused.  "That's very disappointing -- I hope she learned her lesson."

"I've seen this episode before, and yes, she does learn her lesson.  Would you like to watch the rest of it?" I asked.  The Princess simply nodded and we watched the rest of that particular episode.  When some commercials aired, she asked me quite a few questions about the products advertised and I told her the target audience for the program was pre-teen girls.

"Then why the advertising?" she asked.

"Well, that's how TV broadcasters make their money -- by selling airtime to different companies who wish to sell their products to certain audiences.  If you were to watch other programs, the advertising is designed for different audiences, based on the targeted demographic," I explained.  Quite a few more commercials aired before the program ended, the Alicorn complaining almost bitterly about the quality of the advertising and the simplistic messaging employed.

"I would say it speaks to the poor quality of education in our country," I postulated.  Presently, the show came to its end, the Princess smiling at the outcome, even going so far as to wrap a wing around me again.

"Ah, so Trixie apologized and you forgave her excesses.  Very nice!  I would expect no less of you," Celestia said as she wrapped a wing around me.  I blushed in embarrassment again.

"Your Majesty, if you don't mind, I would like to give you a tour of my house," I stated, turning off the TV.

"Very well then, Twilight.  Enlighten me, please," she said, smiling again.  I showed her some of the books in the bookcase the TV was standing on, though I wasn't sure if she could read works published in English.  She selected one at random and asked me to read the title.

"You picked up "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," by Al Franken," I stated.  "An interesting choice, I must say."

"What's it about?"

"It goes into detail about political pundits who have large audiences and manipulate the political beliefs of their listeners or viewers by telling outright falsehoods.  Mr. Franken goes into detail about certain people he detests, largely because they get away with disseminating lies and passing them off as factual," I explained.

"Why would they do that?  Why would they lie to people?"

"There are certain people who make their living by telling lies to people.  Greed makes people do bad things, and when certain very rich people decide they want those who have a great deal of influence on others to tell nothing but lies to help further their particular agenda, they will resort to paying those influential people very large sums of money to tell lies.  It's something that has proven to have a corrosive effect on our democratic system of government," I stated flatly.

"Hmm.  Your explanations definitely mark you as somepony completely different from Twilight.  So if you're not her, who are you exactly?"

"You have found yourself on a planet filled to overflowing with humans -- Homo sapiens -- and until this morning, I was one of seven billion humans populating this planet.  My human name is Michael Walker, but last night, I made a wish to experience being Twilight Sparkle, though I had no idea said wish would be granted."

"Hmm.  That sounds like a male name.  So that explains your odd behavior -- but even so, I am curious to see the rest of your home," the Sun Goddess stated, smiling gently.

"Okay, so this is the master bedroom," I said, waving my right fore-hoof around it.  I looked up to see the ceiling fan, so I turned on the light then pulled the switch for the ceiling fan a few times, trying to get the fan to work.  I used magic to fix it so that it would work, which amused the Princess.  "That ceiling fan hasn't run for a few years now, but I never got around to replacing it.  Being able to magically fix it is much more satisfying," I stated cheerfully.  I opened the closet for her, showing her my wife's collection of clothes, filling the closet completely.

"Those are your wife's clothes?  Does she wear everything in here?"

"Sometimes, but quite a bit of it is stuff she almost never wears, except for certain occasions.  Her daughters have a tendency to come in here and take stuff without telling her, which makes her very angry when she's looking for something specific to wear and can't find it," I stated.  I closed the closet and opened the bedroom door.  Xaviera was climbing the stairs and saw Celestia and freaked out again, losing her balance on the stairs and falling backwards.  She screamed as she fell, but the Princess' quick reaction saved her as she enveloped my stepdaughter in her golden aura, setting her gently on the floor in front of the stairs.

"Thanks, whoever you are," Xaviera said, though her expression was still full of fear.

"You are a human?" the Solar Princess asked quizzically.  "What is your name?"

"Xaviera," she replied.

"Excellent.  I apologize for startling you, Xaviera," she said graciously.  "Twilight, what else is there?"

I pointed a hoof at the door to the middle bedroom.  "This is the room Xaviera and her two daughters sleep in."  A little further down was the spare bedroom and the bathroom at the end of the corridor.  Celestia commented on the embroidered guest towels with my cutie mark on them, but I told her that was something I had just done a few hours ago.  I looked down the stairs at this point.

"Twilight, you are capable of going down a staircase, I'm sure," the Alicorn chided gently.

"Your Majesty, I need more practice doing that," I said, and teleported to the floor at the base of the stairs.

"You shouldn't waste your magic like that," she said as she descended the stairs gently, the wooden steps creaking in complaint at her hoofsteps.  I pointed to the kitchen and Celestia marveled at the refrigerator, stove and cabinets being made of stainless steel, expressing a desire for similar appliances in the Castle.  We walked into the front room, dominated by a very large TV and a sofa and loveseat.

"Is that big black object also a TV?"

"Yes, Princess.  There's another TV down in the basement as well," I stated flatly.

"Why would you need three of these devices?  Are they some sort of window on the world?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes, you could say that, though having to pay for programming is a pain," I replied.  We trotted toward the front door, the stairs leading down to the basement to the left.  We went downstairs and I showed the TV and computer.  The large chunk of gold was still sitting on the floor and the Alicorn noticed it.

"That's odd.  What is that doing here?" she asked.

"That's part of a tree stump from outside -- I changed it into gold so my wife could get some money.  We still owe quite a bit of money on our house, though I think she's left to go gambling," I said, a slight hint of anger in my voice.

"I had no idea you were that talented," Celestia mused.

"If you think that's something, wait til you get a glimpse of my car," I chuckled.

"I'm curious to see it."

"It's outside, in front," I stated, leading the way upstairs, opening the front door and trotting to the driveway the car was sitting in.  The Solar Princess followed me outside, the day unusually bright and sunny.  She saw the car and smiled.

"How does that ... thing ... work?"

"I need the keys," I said.  I concentrated, wrapping my aura around the keyfob still in my pants and teleported the keyfob in front of me.  Using my telekinesis, I pushed the unlock button, then opened the driver's door.

"What does it do, exactly?"

"Would you like to go for a ride, your Majesty?" I asked, grinning.  She noticed other vehicles traveling along the street in front of our house.

"I believe I'd rather not, thank you, Twilight."

"Well, I guess that concludes the tour, Princess.  Is there anything else you'd like?"

"I'd like for you to accompany me to the Castle," she replied, still smiling.

"But this is my home, here.  Maybe some other time?"

"Very well then, Twilight.  Some other time, then.  But the next time I return, I must insist that you accompany me," she replied, sounding somewhat concerned about my refusal to return to Equestria.

"I'm not ready to go there -- not just yet, anyway," I thought to myself as the Sun Goddess teleported away.  I closed and locked the car, taking the keyfob in my teeth and went back in the house.

"What -- who -- what -- was THAT?" asked Xaviera.

"That was Princess Celestia -- Twilight Sparkle's teacher, mentor, and co-ruler of Equestria.  She's responsible for raising and lowering the Sun in her realm," I stated, some admiration for the Alicorn in my voice.

"Why'd she come HERE?"

"She wanted me to go with her back to Canterlot," I replied flatly.

"Is that where she lives?"

"Yeah, there's a Castle there -- that's her home, and apparently, I lived in it as well for a time," I said.

"So you know what the Castle looks like?"

"Oops -- when I said "I" lived in the Castle, I meant Twilight lived there, not me," I replied, feeling a little shamefaced.

"So where did she go?"

"Celestia teleported back to Canterlot, though I told her I didn't want to go.  Maybe some other time I will, but not right now," I replied.  "I think I'm gonna go back to bed and get some more sleep.  I'm still feeling pretty tired."  I trotted back upstairs and used my telekinesis to lift myself into the bed and pulled the cover on top of me again.  It seemed fairly easy for me to fall asleep and I returned to my vivid dreams of Ponyville.

I was trotting from the Library toward Sugarcube Corner to pick up an order of cupcakes for a slumber party to be held this evening.  I wanted there to be two cupcakes for everypony, plus an extra for Spike, should he want one.  I saw Rainbow Dash flitting about in the sky, playfully kicking the clouds out of existence.  She spotted me and swooped down to greet me.  I asked her if she would try to keep from getting drunk at the slumber party tonight, but she said she wouldn't make any guarantees.  I chuckled at her response and she continued to fly around as I trotted to the Bakery.  Pinkie Pie met me on the way, excitedly bouncing around and asking silly questions, some of which I took the time to answer, but that only elicited even more questions from the overly talkative pink party pony.

She told me she had baked a special batch of cupcakes for tonight's slumber party and gave them to me after entering the bakery.  I placed several small coins on the counter to pay for the order and examined the confections, noticing lime green icing on them.  I was tempted to eat one, but kept mindful of the party later on as I trotted back to the Library.  The pink pony waved her good-bye to me as I melted away from the scene.

I melted into another cozy cottage, this time the interior was dominated by a large cauldron.  A Zebra was humming an odd tune, talking in rhyme as she mixed ingredients into the bubbling cauldron, occasionally stirring it.  She greeted me warmly and offered me a cup of tea to soothe my nerves and focus my energies.  The tea was quite invigorating and I thanked her graciously.  She offered a cot for the night, but I told her I had to get back to the Library.  She warned me of the dangers of the forest, but I was too impatient to make it back home.  As soon as I was outside the Zebra's cottage, I teleported back to the Library and went inside.

Spike had made dinner and as I tucked into my plate of food, my assistant reminded me of the party to be held shortly.  I heard a knocking at the door and allowed the other ponies to enter, though I hadn't recalled inviting Lyra and Bon-Bon to the party, though I welcomed their presence anyway.  We enjoyed ourselves till well in the night when everypony left to go to their respective homes, leaving Spike and me to clean up the mess they made.  I then went upstairs to get some sleep.

A certain dark blue Alicorn wandered her way into my dreams, making sure I was having happy dreams and not nightmares.  Her voice seemed to calm me, soothing my psyche, releasing any pent up tension.  I think I smiled at her as she softly called my name and wished me sweet dreams.  She seemed to melt away at this point.

I found myself back in the library again and encountered another lavender unicorn, who must have been my doppelganger.  She wanted to talk to me, asking me lots of questions, which I tried to answer as best I could.  She told me she wanted to visit my human home and told me about Celestia visiting her and telling her about me.  I found myself asking her if she knew what these dreams meant and she told me that there might be a mission for me in the future, though she didn't know what it would be.  I asked her if I could be harmed while in my dream state, but she said she didn't know and that I should direct such a question to the Sun Goddess herself.  She then asked more questions of me, but for some reason, I melted away from the Library again.

I had slept so long it was dark out again.  Xaviera complained about being hungry and wanted to know if I could cook something, or perhaps order food for delivery.  I fished my wallet out of my pants and took out a twenty and told her to call for a pizza or two.

"Make sure one of those is a plain cheese pizza -- I can't eat any meat and not even picking it off will get rid of the greasiness of the meat," I stated flatly.

"When's mama coming back?" she asked.

"She said something about going to the boat, and you know how she is when she's in one of those moods.  Last time I was with her, we didn't leave until four in the morning," I grumbled.

Xaviera called the pizza place and ordered a couple of medium pizzas, the total coming to almost seventeen dollars.  I told her to give the driver the whole twenty -- admittedly, not a great tip, but not a bad one either.  I decided to get a little more practice on the stairs, starting with the carpeted ones leading to the basement.  After about half an hour, our pizzas arrived and I had gotten pretty good at going up and down the five steps to the basement.  The non-carpeted ones leading upstairs were eight steps, which was going to take a bit more practice, though going up was easier than going down.  I ate a slice of the cheese pizza, thoroughly enjoying the mix of flavors.  It took about another hour of practice on the eight steps up before I was confident enough in my ability to go back to bed once again.  I wasn't sure why, but I seemed to be especially sleepy since my transformation.  I climbed back into bed and fell asleep quite quickly once again.
> Two Trixies?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I was resting comfortably, enjoying a nice dream about myself and Trixie when I heard a POPping noise from somewhere downstairs.  I heard somepony talking, which caught my attention, especially when I heard a certain great and powerful mare use third pony speech to refer to herself.

"Trixie wants to know why you've taken her here, Michael," she said.

"We're just here so I can tell Brenda I'm on another mission," I heard the same voice say.  I gathered from the speech pattern that it couldn't be Trixie talking to herself, so I got out of bed and trotted into the hallway and turned on the light.  I looked downstairs to see two Trixies standing beside each other.

"I've heard of being beside yourself, but this is ridiculous.  Two Trixies?  What's going on here?" I asked.  I was wondering if I was still half-asleep or something.

"What are YOU doing here, Sparkle?" one of them asked me rather harshly.

"This is MY house, Trixie!" I stated, contempt trying to make its way into my voice.

"Watch your tongue, Sparkle, or you'll make Trixie mad!" she shouted at me.

"Oh, is the Great and Powerful Trixie threatening me in my own house?  How about you, other Trixie?  Who might YOU be?" I asked as anger started to creep into my voice now.

"Trixie thought this was Michael's house," she said, pointing her left fore-hoof at her doppelganger.

"Twilight?  Is your human name Michael Walker?" Trixie-me asked.

"Wait -- you're telling me you're supposed to be ME?  Why'd you choose to be Trixie?" I asked in surprise.

"Because Trixie is sexier than Twilight," came his/her reply.  Trixie-me then turned her backside to me and wiggled her hips suggestively.  Trixie stuck her tongue out at me.

"What business do the two of you have in my house?" I asked in exasperation.

"Is Brenda here?" Trixie-me asked.  Trixie had trotted into the living room and was admiring the large TV.

"No, Mike, she isn't.  She went to the boat and hasn't come back yet.  I wonder if she's gonna get a room in Joliet and stay overnight -- I wonder how much money she got for the gold she sold," I mused.

"What gold?" asked Trixie, her ears having perked up at its mention.

"This doesn't concern you, Trixie," I stated flatly.  Trixie-me had wandered into the kitchen and opened the fridge to see if there was something to eat or drink.  He/she telekinetically removed the pitcher of Kool-Aid and poured some into a glass, then took a slice of cheese pizza to nibble on.

"Trixie thinks it does, Sparkle," she responded flatly.  She followed her doppelganger into the kitchen to assist in raiding the fridge.  Their actions were starting to annoy me.  Trixie also took a slice of pizza and started munching on it.

"Hey, you didn't pay for that," I protested.

"You're the one with the gold -- sell some for some money," Trixie-me said matter-of-factly.

"Easier said than done, Mike.  You got the answer to your question -- I think it's time for both of you to leave.  You've popped into an alternate universe if you're me.  Is there anything else you want?"

"I could always use some extra help, Mike.  I'm on a new mission -- I'm going to save Ponyville from Nightmare Moon!" Trixie-me announced proudly.

"What do you need ME for?  You're the one with all the answers and I have other matters to attend to," I said flatly.

"That's okay -- just tell Brenda where I've gone, okay?"

"You traveled to the wrong Earth, Mike.  My Brenda is still on the boat, I think.  Your Brenda is probably sleeping -- I don't know how you got HERE, but this is not your Earth.  I suggest you take 'Miss Great and Powerful' with you, wherever it is you're going.  Trixie, I wasn't quite expecting to see you, even though you were wandering around in a dream I was having."

"Sparkle was dreaming about Trixie?  Do tell!" she grinned.  I blushed in embarrassment.  "Ooh, Sparkle must have been having a naughty dream about Trixie!" she giggled.  I hung my head, my ears drooping.  Trixie-me laughed.

"Would the two of you just please leave?" I asked in exasperation.

"Okay, Twi, seeya later!" Trixie-me chuckled, taking the show-mare with him/her as they POPped out of existence in this universe.  What Trixie-me had said intrigued me somewhat, but I figured it was something to think about later.  I trotted back into my bedroom, noticing the clock read 2:37 AM.  The sun wasn't going to rise for another four hours, so I figured some more sleep would allow me to soothe my nerves after seeing two Trixies.  There was a part of me wondering how my alternate universe self traveled across a dimensional barrier, but I decided to set those thoughts aside as I laid back down to get some more sleep.

I dreamed about Trixie taking her caravan into Ponyville and setting up her magic show.  It was late in the evening and her pyrotechnic display caught my eye.  She boasted about vanquishing an Ursa Major, a feat I considered to be a ridiculous exaggeration of the truth.  I wondered if she'd even seen such a creature, let alone defeated it by herself.  She challenged members of the audience to match skills with her, but found myself trotting inexorably toward the stage.  I heard my friends urging me to put the show-mare in her place, though there was a part of me that was screaming at me not to do so.  Having forced that part of me into silence, I managed to easily embarrass the show-mare, showing her magical talents I had at my disposal that put hers to shame.  I witnessed her become infuriated with me and vowed revenge as she folded up her caravan and left town in a hurry.  My friends congratulated me on a job well done, though I felt some compassion for the show-mare when I caught sight of her crying as she magically propelled her caravan down the road leading away from Ponyville toward the next town on the way to Manehattan.  I seemed to melt away from the scene as Brenda woke me up when she got into the bed to get some sleep herself.

"So how much money did you get?" I asked her.

"More than forty thousand dollars," she said, matter-of-factly.

"And how much do you have left?"

"Um, none of it.  Let me get some more of that gold for tomorrow," she requested tiredly.

"WHAT?  You lost ALL of it?!" I asked in exasperation.
> We've Got Trouble ...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Um ... yeah, I lost all of it," she said almost meekly.  "But as easily as you made that chunk of gold, you can always make more, right?"

"Perhaps you didn't hear me properly when I told you after making that thing that it took a LOT of magic out of me -- I have been feeling drained pretty much the whole day, mostly just sleeping in order to recover some of my magic.  Please don't ask me to make more of it -- I asked you to save some of that money so we could pay off the house, but instead you went and gambled it all away.  I'm really disappointed in you, Brenda," I said as I drifted back off to sleep.  She leaned over and wrapped her left arm around my mid-section and kissed me on my forehead under my horn, though she had to lift my forelock to do so.

"I still love you, Mike," she whispered in my ear as she laid down to sleep, cuddling me from behind.  It was difficult for me to return the sentiment, but I told her I loved her as well as I drifted into another dream.  I was still amazed that my dreams were as vivid as they were now -- I halfway wondered if being transformed into a pony had something to do with the substantially more lucid dreams I was having, or if I was actually participating in those dreams.  I still worried that getting hurt in my dreams would translate to my sleeping form and didn't want to find out the hard way if that was the case.

I found myself standing at the front of a small building that looked like a carousel and rang the doorbell.  A certain white unicorn greeted me enthusiastically upon answering the door, inviting me inside as she smiled very broadly.

"Twilight, darling, I have some new styles you simply must model for me!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Anything for a friend," I replied calmly.  She hurriedly escorted me to her workroom and fitted me several times in various outfits, some of them looking absolutely outrageous, causing her to giggle and laugh, and me to blush in embarrassment.

"Rarity, there is something I was wanting to ask you," I offered, almost apprehensively.

"What is it, dear?" she asked, still smiling at the most recent outfit I was still wearing -- I hadn't paid too much attention to the last one she put on me, though I thought the frilly blue silk saddle was a bit over the top.  I saw the alabaster mare lick her lips in almost eager anticipation as she examined me, her eyes drifting lazily over my flanks.

"Well, I'm not sure how to put this, Rarity, but ... what do you know about humans?" I asked as I saw her smile falter for just a moment.

"Darling, I thought you were the resident expert on such matters!  Why would you ask me such a question?"

"Rarity, I have a bit of a confession -- I'm in a dream state, I think -- and before yesterday, I actually was a human before being transformed into Twilight Sparkle," I said.  I watched her expression change slightly, but she regained her composure just a second later.

"Twilight, darling, don't be ridiculous!  I've known you for how long?  I know you'd never confess to such a silly thing!" she exclaimed in an attempt to dismiss any thought that her friend was not who she thought she was.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Rarity.  Maybe I've just been studying too hard or too long, had my head in a strange book too long or something," I chuckled nervously.

"You have been known to pull all-nighters, darling, and you just need some rest -- and I know just the place for it!  My bedroom!" she grinned wickedly as she licked her lips suggestively again, pulling me up the stairs to her boudoir.  I melted away again at this point, something that left her feeling quite disappointed.

Brenda nudged me awake, wanting me to shower with her for some reason -- I guess she might have wanted to work some shampoo into my coat of fur, but I decided to go along with it.  I trotted to the bathtub, putting my fore-legs on the front, but before I could go any further, Brenda lifted my back end and dumped me into the tub.  I quickly used my telekinesis to keep myself from falling, levitating above the tub floor as my magic aura was shaped into four large translucent magenta hands holding me firmly.

Brenda was rather shocked by this display, but got into the tub anyway and turned on the water to a relative warmth, though for me it was not as warm as I liked.  She took a bottle of shampoo and worked a lather into my coat, her fingers massaging away tension and aches I didn't know I had.  I moaned in pleasure at the sensation as I had no idea my wife was as talented with her hands as she was.  I slumped to the tub floor, the pleasurable feeling of the massage working a magic of its own on me.  Brenda giggled at my reaction, then decided to shampoo my mane and tail as well.  I don't know how long she washed me as I allowed the sensation of being washed to overwhelm all other concerns, including any form of vocal restraint as I succumbed to the overload of pleasure.  I had no idea I was that sensitive to her touch as I melted under it, vocalizing my happiness perhaps a bit too loudly as Xaviera knocked on the door, asking me to keep it down.  I blushed in embarrassment and apologized loudly to the young lady.

Not content to soap me up and rinse me off, another wicked idea came to her as she grabbed hold of my horn again and rapidly ran her hand up and down its length.

"Stop, Brenda!  Don't do this again, please!" I begged her.

"Oh, you're no fun, Mike!" she chuckled and released her grip on my horn.  "Okay, out you go, now dry off while I wash off."  I was shocked as she lifted me out of the tub and set me on the bathroom floor mat.  I had no idea she was that strong, but went ahead and toweled off.  I brushed my teeth at this point, though I had to levitate my body to use the sink.  After brushing my teeth, Brenda finished up in the shower, turning off the water and toweling off herself.  It might have been my imagination, but she appeared to be a bit younger than I remembered.  I narrowed my eyes at her a little and lit my horn, using a spell to dispel illusions and was shocked to see that Brenda was not human, but rather ... Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.

"Oh, shit -- what's SHE doing here?!" I thought as I galloped out of the bathroom and down the stairs as quickly as possible.
> Captured
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Stop running!" Brenda called after me as I went to the basement as quickly as I could.  She was still in her human form, but when I looked directly at her, I saw the Queen.  She followed me to the basement, slowly approaching me as I waited in the far corner by the back door.  "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"I don't believe you!" I shouted at her.  I waited for her to get close enough as she continued to slowly advance on me.  When she was about five feet away, I teleported about ten feet behind her and galloped up the stairs into the master bedroom, closing the door and locking it behind me.

"Stop running!" she shouted at me, tromping up the stairs loudly.  "Mike, I'm not gonna hurt you!" she shouted in exasperation as she made it to the bedroom door.

"I still don't believe you!" I shouted back at her.  I grabbed the keyfob to the car off the dresser and teleported outside to it.  Brenda heard the POPping noise I had made and trudged back down the stairs.  She grabbed a housecoat and put it on, then went out the front door to see me standing by the driver's door of my car.  I had fumbled the key in my panic and I saw her approaching me again.  I teleported into the car, then teleported the keyfob inside with me.

"Mike, we need to talk!" she shouted at me.  "Let me inside the car!"

I glared at her from inside the car, my face showing deep anger.  "You're not getting in this car, Chrysalis!" I shouted at her.

She dropped her human disguise at this point and reared up on her hind legs, bringing her forelegs down with as much force as she could muster on the hood of the car, putting a couple of large dents in it.  The car glowed purple for a moment and repaired the damage caused, then seemed to zap the Queen with some sort of electric shock.  The Queen stumbled backward for a moment and shook the cobwebs loose.  She hovered above the car now, her wings buzzing.

"That was a big mistake, Mike!" she shouted at me.  I put the key in the ignition, turning the car on and starting the engine.

"Analyzing driver data.  Driver data unconfirmed.  Driver, please state your name," came a flat-sounding voice from the speakers.

"Michael Walker.  Please help me, the changeling queen is attacking me and this car," I said, my voice in panic mode.

"Analyzing voice data.  98.3 per cent probability, Twilight Sparkle.  Emergency distress signal sent, Twilight.  Help should be arriving shortly."

The queen allowed the force of gravity to pull her down and she accelerated her descent as she landed on the roof of the car, directly above me.  The force of her hooves hitting the car made a loud banging noise, putting large dents in it.

"Activating self-repair mode.  Activating self-defense mode.  Activating emergency siren.  Twilight, please cover your ears, this is going to be loud," the car stated flatly.  I didn't have much time to cover my ears as a very loud high pitched sound emanated from external speakers on the car.  I watched as Chrysalis seemed to fly in a most disoriented manner, then crashed into the ground, her horn getting stuck in the ground.  I watched as she tried to pull her head off the ground, her horn having dug deeply into it.

"Mike, you remember when I told you I wasn't going to hurt you?" the Queen asked.  "Well, NOW I AM!!" she shouted.  "As soon as I get my head off the ground ..."

The car ceased emitting the emergency siren at this point.  The Queen continued to struggle to release herself from the embrace the ground had entangled her in -- her jagged horn was now her worst enemy.  "Unh!  You're going to get it for this!" she said loudly.

"Where is my wife?" I asked her.  The car muffled my voice, so I doubted she heard me.  I rolled down the driver's window to talk to her.  I repeated my question to her so she could hear me this time.

"Your wife is safe -- for now -- but there is a reason I wanted you to stop running while we were in the house," she stated flatly.  She was still trying to pull her horn out of the ground.

"You want to assimilate me into your hive, is that it?" I asked.

"That's the problem with you ponies -- you always assume the worst about me," she groaned.  "I wasn't going to hurt you, honestly -- I just wanted you to return the affection I showed you.  I'm not as evil as you might think."

I rolled up the window at this point and turned the car off.  I set the keyfob on the floormat and locked the car, closing the driver door, locking the keyfob inside it.  I trotted over to the Queen, still stuck in the ground.  I used my telekinesis to loosen the ground around her horn, thus freeing her.

"Okay, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.  But I need to know where my wife is," I stated.

"You're about to find out, Twilight," she grinned, her gaze meeting mine.  Her eyes had a hypnotic effect on me and I felt myself going numb as a green goopy substance enveloped my body.  I lost consciousness at this point, feeling a sensation of coldness.  Everything took on a sickly greenish appearance before it all went black.  Though I didn't know it at the time, the car's emergency distress signal had alerted Princess Celestia.  She showed up about two minutes too late to help me.

--------------------------

I came to some time later, hanging upside down somewhere, encased in a green sludge.  Oddly enough, I was able to breathe somewhat.  I looked to my right and saw my wife, her daugher and two grandchildren.

"Mike, is there something you can do to help us?" Brenda asked me.

"I don't know -- I never should have fallen for that trap," I stated sullenly.

"Ah, good, you're awake.  I suppose you're probably wondering why I've captured you," the Queen chuckled.

"So you're going to assimilate us?  I thought you and your kind subsisted on love," I growled.

"We do -- and there's an almost endless supply of it here on this planet!" she giggled maniacally.

"So why not let us go and live in peace?" I asked.

"You caused me a bit of trouble, Twilight.  I can't risk letting you go because you'll try to stop me from taking control of this world," she replied flatly.  "I've got an army to look after, but as much life as there is on this planet, we'll be fat and happy for the next five centuries!"
> Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I drifted in and out of consciousness and lost track of time.  I had no idea where we were or why the Queen had taken us captive.  Using my magic proved fruitless as the green goop seemed to have solidified after awhile.  We were still able to breathe, but I wasn't sure how much longer we'd be able to survive.  Hanging upside down kept me in a constant state of fatigue, virtually unable to sleep except for when I got too tired to struggle against the cocoon.

--------------------------------

Somewhere outside where we were, Princess Celestia had traced the distress call to my car.  Unable to determine my fate, she asked the car to search for me or my magic signature, but because the car was turned off, she was unable to receive a response.  Truthfully, I would doubt the car would be able to locate me and direct the Princess there.

The Alicorn used her magic to search for traces of my magic signature and found a spot in the front yard of my house where the Changeling Queen had impaled her horn.  Celestia frowned when she detected the magic signature of Chrysalis, then teleported back to her universe.

-----------------------------------------------

I heard a cracking noise -- I couldn't see what was going on as it was pitch black wherever it was we were.  I called out for Brenda but got no response.  I felt the pull of gravity on my body, a sensation of falling, then hitting something hard.  I yelped in pain as whatever I hit felt like breaking a bone somewhere.  I tried to stand and was rewarded by a sharp shooting pain my my left hind leg.  I yelped a bit louder, whimpering slightly.  I opened my eyes and it took awhile for them to adjust to the very low light level.  I could only make out rough dark shapes.  I felt very tired so I lay down wherever I was and fell asleep.

I was awoken by a deep hunger for sustenance of some sort.  Groggily I rose to my hooves, my left hind leg aching terribly.  I tried to hobble forward on my three good legs toward a greenish glow off in the distance.  The floor was slippery and I fell several times, each time getting the slimy substance on my belly and insides of my legs.  As I drew closer to the glow, I could hear muffled voices -- Chrysalis and a few male-sounding voices.  I could make out traces of military strategy for conquering the planet and subjugating the populace, enslaving them for the purpose of draining their life force and maintaining a sustainable source of that life force for the foreseeable future.

I clung to the nearest wall, trying to avoid being seen.  I crept a bit closer to see if I could make out any further details, but the changelings seemed to be sniffing the air, as though they could smell something I could not.  I saw one of them peer in my direction, causing me to shake in fear and panic.  In my current state, I could not outrun any of them, and teleporting was out of the question, though I could feel some of my magic.  I wondered if I could muster enough for a teleport, but wasn't sure where to teleport to if I got lucky enough for it to work.  I focused on my car's location and concentrated hard, channeling as much magic as I could through my horn.  I was amazed to see that I did indeed have just enough magic to teleport to my car's location.  I rested against the car for a few moments, trying to recover from the jaunt.

"Twilight, what happened to you?  I feared the worst," I heard somepony say as she seemed to materialize in front of me.

"I need to go back and rescue my wife and her kids," I stated flatly.  "We were captured by the Changeling Queen -- I need to go back."  I was amazed to see Princess Celestia standing a few feet away, a look of deep concern on her face.

"Your present condition will not allow you to do that -- but I can retrieve them for you," she said.  She focused a beam of magic into my head, receiving certain information.  Another flash of light and a loud popping noise caught my attention as I saw Brenda, Xaviera, and her two kids teleported to the front yard.  They were still encased in that green substance, which the Alicorn took little time removing and destroying.  The four of them shivered in the cold, but when Brenda saw me, she smiled and ran over to me and hugged me tightly.

"Go back in the house and clean off -- I need to clean off as well, but the Princess here probably needs to talk to me some more.  I promise I'll be back as soon as I can," I said softly.

"Princess?  Is that the big white horse here?" Brenda asked.  Xaviera took her kids into the house, not wanting to stay outside any longer.

"You are Brenda?  Michael's wife?  I am sorry you had to endure what you did.  I will make sure that this situation is remedied as quickly as possible," the Alicorn stated softly.

"Mike, please hurry back," my wife said softly as she went back into the house.

"Michael, I am intrigued by the fact that you have been transformed into a duplicate of my faithful student, though I am somewhat puzzled that you are a unicorn.  In my realm, Twilight has already transcended to Alicorn status.  Perhaps it is your destiny to also become an Alicorn," the Solar Princess mused.

"I am honored by your compliment, your Majesty, but the Queen is a greater concern for me.  She's not supposed to be on this world, and she has designs on subjugating all seven billion humans here," I stated flatly.  "I think my left hind leg is broken -- I fell out of my cocoon and landed on it wrong."

"Please accompany me, Twilight," Celestia said softly, wrapping a wing around me, and teleporting me to Ponyville General Hospital.  We arrived at the admissions desk, staffed by an earth pony mare.  With the arrival of the Sun Goddess herself, everypony tried their best to bow to her.  When they saw me, they were shocked.

"Princess Twilight?  When did you go back to being a unicorn?" somepony asked me.

Celestia calmed everypony, informing them I needed immediate medical attention.  My needs were seen to very swiftly.  I found myself having to explain to everypony my situation.  I must have repeated myself at least a dozen times, as everypony who was either a staff member or patient asked me the same question.  I was taken to another room where my left hind leg was placed in a stint and bandaged up.  I was curious to know why they didn't put it in a cast, but I was assured that the break was not a compound fracture and that it would heal rather quickly.

Word of my arrival in the hospital quickly spread through the town and I was visited in my room by Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.  Each of them were amazed to see me in my non-Alicorn form and asked me lots of questions (especially Pinkie Pie).  I ended up repeating my story for them again, and when I mentioned being captured by Chrysalis, they hugged me and asked if they could help me get rid of her.

"I really appreciate the offer, ladies, but I can't do much until I'm a hundred per cent.  I don't even know how to go about defeating the Queen and her army, and I'm afraid she's going to take over my homeworld.  I can't allow her to do that, but I can't beat her on my own," I stated flatly.

"We'll do what we can to help you, darling," Rarity offered.  "We can't allow one of our friends to be hurt like this."

"Thank you, Rarity.  I just want to tell you that I am really happy to see you all -- it means a lot to me," I said softly.

"We're here fer ya, sugarcube," Applejack smiled.  Seeing her smile brought a smile to my face.

"I was hoping I'd get to see you all.  I will need to talk with Princess Celestia again to find out how to get Chrysalis and her army off my planet.  My wife is probably wondering where I am as well," I mused.

"Wait -- what?  You're ... married?" Rainbow asked in surprise.

"RD, dear, weren't you paying attention to her story?  She's not really Twilight, even though she looks like her.  She's from another world and needs our help," Rarity chided gently.

"Twiley, I wanna come visit your world!  It sounds like it's a lot of fun!" Pinkie giggled.

"I know of some places you'd probably enjoy, Pinkie," I said, chuckling at her enthusiasm.  "You'd probably have to get Princess Celestia's blessing, and the humans would gawk at you as well."  As soon as I had mentioned the Sun Godess' name, she POPped into the room with all of us.

"Your Majesty, I am happy to see you," I stated.  "What's the best strategy for getting rid of the Changeling Queen and her army?"

"My suggestion would be to use the Elements of Harmony on her," the Alicorn mused.  "But I believe you need more time to recover from your injuries.  Try to get some rest, Michael, as you are going to need it.  Ladies, please allow her to rest.  There will be time for visitation later."

The others talked all over each other, but most of their words were "Yes, Princess," and "Seeya later, Twilight."  Everypony left the room, except for the Alicorn who stayed behind to ensure I was resting comfortably and that I wasn't experiencing any pain.  I told her I deeply appreciated everything she was doing for me, and she assured me that I would not be facing the Queen alone again, a statement for which I thanked her generously.  Considering the situation was under control, she bid me farewell and teleported back to her Castle.  I laid down to get some sleep, feeling at ease for the first time in quite a while.
> Meanwhile, Back on Earth ...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Brenda, Xaviera and her two kids went back in the house to clean themselves up.  I didn't know this, but It turned out that we had been gone for nearly three weeks.  Amazingly enough, no one had entered the house, even though the mailbox was stuffed to overflowing and a couple issues of the local weekly newspaper were laying at the door.  The car was still in the driveway as well, though it would be just a matter of a week or so before it was to be repossessed.  There didn't appear to be any traces of the green slimy residue inside the house.

After they got cleaned up and put on fresh clothes, Brenda went into the basement to see the chunk of gold still on the floor.  Once again she took the small saw to cut off several pieces of gold, this time to pay off the car and a large amount against the home mortgage.  For good measure, she made sure to take about twenty pounds of gold with her this time to ensure she'd have enough money to pay off all the bills.  She called her oldest daughter Katrina to drive her around again and took Xaviera and her kids with her, just to be on the safe side.

-------------------------------

Chrysalis and her army commanders finalized their strategy, intending to start with the most populous countries first, but when they found that the richer countries offered a higher quality food source, they had changed their plans.  Being able to assume human form, the changelings made swift progress in attaining their goal, the Queen highly amused by their efficiency and the pathetic resistance mustered by those humans who recognized the peril they were in only when it was too late.  The changeling army was able to infiltrate military installations with ridiculous ease, taking full control of the entire spectrum of American military operations.  This would serve the changelings with the ultimate array of bases from which to conquer the entire planet.  Using the information at their disposal, it was just a small matter of invading the national capital and replacing every governmental official, every senator and representative, as well as the President himself.

Once they had succeeded in this endeavor, Chrysalis assumed the role of President.  Confident they would not receive any further meaningful resistance, the changelings then dropped their disguises, revealing their true terror.  Chrysalis gave a speech on national TV, initially disguised as the President.  About half a minute into the speech, the Queen revealed her true form.  Panic ensued in the media room as this occurred, causing her to cackle in glee.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, Citizens of Earth!  I am your new master now!  My army and I have taken complete control of all your military bases, which now belong to US!  You will all become our slaves and your life force is that which will sustain us FOREVER!!  Do not even think of trying to stop us!  We can take on ANY appearance!" she exclaimed gleefully.  To illustrate her point, she adopted several different disguises before returning to her standard appearance as the Queen.

"Our objective is not to kill you -- that would be counterproductive -- what we intend to do with you is slowly drain you of your love, but not so swiftly as to cause you to die.  You will all come to accept this fate, just as surely as Celestia raises the Sun in the morning and lowers it in the evening.  Considering the way you humans reproduce with such speed and efficiency, you will sustain us easily for at least the next five centuries!"

At this point, the entire media room was empty, save for a few changeling army commanders who served as an attache to the Queen.  The cameras kept running until the power source was cut off.  The Queen trotted to the Oval Office, resuming her disguise as the President.  The First Lady was still unaware that her husband had been removed and replaced, but was about to find that out the hard way, as were her children.  The changelings had no qualms about hurting anyone or assimilating them into their hive, regardless of who they were or how old or young they were or how important they happened to be.

--------------------------

Brenda was thrilled to receive nearly a hundred thousand dollars for all the gold she took and sold, giving Katrina a good ten thousand of it.  She went around to the various places we owed money to and paid off all our outstanding debts.  There was enough money left over for her to go to a car dealership and buy a crew cab truck, something she had been longing for, even though she had no license.  I had been the one to drive her around wherever she had needed to go, but I was still in Ponyville at the moment, recovering from injuries I had sustained while in the changeling hive.  I would have liked to have seen the faces of the bank officials when Brenda paid off the mortgage in full!

Even though Brenda, Xaviera, Samantha and Tanisha had been rescued from the clutches of the changelings, they were in danger, though they didn't know this at the time.  The Queen had been busy with her plans of conquest, but remembered a certain pony and four others associated with the pony who disappeared from her hive.  She had plans to retrieve them and re-assimilate them into the hive, not to mention teach them a lesson not to mess with her.  She found that having her army soldiers disguise themselves as authority figures proved to be wonderfully efficient, which is how she managed to track down my wife and her kids.  Though I didn't know it at the time, they ended up being captured again.  Brenda pleaded with them to let her go, offering them fifty pounds of gold if they released her and her kids.  Their captors simply laughed at her.
> Let's Go to the Boat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I woke up in a cold sweat and nearly let a scream escape my lips.  I saw the clock read 3:52 AM and noticed Brenda laying in the bed next to me.

"What is it, Mike?  What's wrong?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"I dreamt you had been replaced by the Changeling Queen and that we had been assimilated into her hive, and that she and her army had taken control of our country's government and military," I said flatly.

"What?  What kind of nonsense is that?  Have you lost your mind?  I need a glass of water, would you go get it for me?  I'm thirsty and it's hot in here," my wife stated in annoyance.  She didn't seem too concerned about my nightmares.

I pulled the cover off me and walked to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water for her.  I hadn't realized this, but I was back in my human form.  I acted as though this was perfectly natural, that I had not been transformed into Twilight at all.  I returned to our bedroom, carefully holding the nearly full glass so that none of its contents would spill.

"Here ya go, Brenda," I stated, handing her the glass, which she took and drained rather quickly.

"Thanks," she said and laid back down to sleep some more.

I laid down again, pulling the cover back over me and returned to sleep, though this time there were no lucid dreams.

---------------------------------

The sun's rays filtering in through the window woke me up around 7:15.  I think it was a Saturday morning, but I wasn't entirely sure about that.  I checked to see what I looked like, so I got up to use the bathroom -- I needed to pee.  I was astonished to see that I was still in my human form, but noticed that the light in the bathroom worked.  I was going to have to check on the car to see what might have happened to it, but not before taking care of my business in the bathroom.  I decided to take a shower at this point and enjoyed the feeling of the warm water running over my body.  I soaped myself up and shampooed my hair and rinsed off.  I think the last time I had taken a shower was -- when?  I couldn't remember exactly.

I picked up my phone to check on it, but it only showed three missed calls, none from my boss or supervisor.  I decided to call both of them to see if I still had a job -- they asked me if I was joking with them and that I was to be at work at 8:00 AM on Monday and to enjoy the rest of the week-end.  I was a bit puzzled by this, so I went downstairs to turn on the computer.  I saw the big chunk of gold on the floor in the basement, so I guess it all hadn't been a dream.  Even so, it was quite disconcerting that I would experience such a vivid dream.

The date and time on the computer showed me that today was only Sunday, the day after I had been transformed into Twilight -- I was disappointed that I only got to spend just a single day as Twilight.  I muttered to myself about it seeming like it was longer than a day, but then again, who knows how much time passes in dreams anyway.

There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary on the computer, so I turned it off.  I went back upstairs to talk to my wife for a few moments.

"So how did yesterday go?" I asked her.

"I sold some of the gold and got forty some-odd thousand dollars for it," she cheerfully replied.

"You went to the boat and lost it all," I stated flatly.

"What are you talking about, Mike?  I won over fifty thousand dollars while I was on the boat!  I wanna go back today!  And you can drive me there, and we can both play!" she giggled playfully.

"Now THAT sounds like a plan!" I chuckled.  "Let me get some clothes on, I can't wait to get there!"

I went to get a fresh change of clothes and got dressed.  I went downstairs into the kitchen to get some food and noticed a couple of pizza boxes in the fridge.  One had sausage and pepperoni on it, so I took a slice of that one and popped it in the microwave for about a minute or so.  I noticed that pizza seemed to have a different taste for humans than it did for ponies, but didn't mind the flavor.  I drank some orange juice to wash it down, then went back to the computer for a bit to wait on Brenda to shower and get dressed herself.  This took about half an hour, then we left to go to the boat.

I noticed the car and cursed my luck as I had just remembered I locked the key inside the car.  I ended up calling a tow company to perform a lockout service for me, which wasted another hour of my time.

"You're such an idiot, Mike.  Why did you do that?" Brenda asked, quite annoyed by the fact I had locked the key inside the car.

"I was in Twilight's body when I did that, Brenda.  I'm still disappointed I only got to be her for a single day," I mused sullenly.  I paid the tow truck driver and gave him a tip for his kindness.  I started up the car and heard the car analyze driver and passenger data, confirming me and my wife's identities, which caused her to chuckle.

"So you gave the car a voice module, how cute," Brenda mused.

"It's an interactive voice module.  Watch this.  Hey, car, what do you want me to call you?" I asked it.

"You may call me TS, Michael," came a cheery sounding voice from the speakers.

"That's really creepy, Mike," my wife said apprehensively.

"Where do you wish to go, Michael?" TS asked.

"How about President's Casino, Bettendorf, Iowa?" I asked.

"Acquiring target destination.  Target acquired.  Preparing to teleport," came the voice from the speakers.  The car started glowing a bright magenta color, then everything went brilliant white.  We seemed to disappear into nothingness for a split-second, then reappeared just outside the requested casino in the parking lot.  The car had predetermined a landing point so we wouldn't merge with any obstructions.

"That was fast," Brenda said in astonishment.

"Magic battery level, 96 per cent," the car stated flatly.  I turned the car off and put the key in my pocket.  Brenda and I walked into the casino, each of us going our separate ways inside as I sidled up to a random slot machine.  My wife had gone to another section of slot machines and we spent the better part of the day gambling.  My luck was only average -- I lost about two hundred dollars over the course of several hours, but Brenda seemed to be blessed with good luck.  She had won another thirty thousand or so, grinning from ear to ear.

"Can I have some more to play around with, please?" I asked her.  She handed me ten C-notes and told me not to spend it all in one place, which made me chuckle and shake my head at the irony of her request.
> Return to Normal ... Sort Of
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We stayed a bit longer than we should have and I had to drag Brenda off the boat around midnight to go back home.

"We can go back next weekend," I suggested as we walked toward the car.  The parking lot was very well lit.

"Okay, but you know we have enough now that you can call your boss and quit your job," she stated.  "You can call in tomorrow, can't you?"

"I actually like my job, Brenda.  At the very least, I owe it to them to come in on a Monday -- that's always the busiest day on my job and they don't have enough people to cover my route," I protested.

Brenda sighed in resignation.  "I'm quitting my job tomorrow, so you can sleep in a little bit longer," she stated flatly.  "That big chunk of gold is still down there and we can sell the rest of it and that chair, too.  That should be enough money for us to retire on!  You shouldn't have to keep working, Mike!"

"What did I tell you?  I like my job and I want to keep working there," I replied firmly.

"Okay, fine.  Just don't turn back into a pony, okay?"

"All right, fine.  I kinda liked being Twilight, though," I mused.

"That was just too damned weird for me, Mike," she said flatly as we made it to the car.

We got in and I had the car teleport us back home, saving us a three hour drive.  We went into the house and straight to bed.  I set the alarm clock for 6:15 AM and climbed into bed, once again noticing the much improved softness.  "Remind me to thank Princess Celestia again for giving me a new bed," I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep.

-------------------------------

I was woken at 6:15 AM by Bob and Tom chuckling at something stupid once again.  I tried to get up, but noticed I had a hard time pulling the cover off my body.  Instinctively, I lit my horn and used telekinesis to magically lift the cover off my body.  I almost screamed, half in shock and surprise, half in jubilation at my freshly transformed self.

I was back in Twilight's body!  How in Tartarus did THAT happen?

Then it hit me -- I had to be at work at 8:00 AM!  What are they going to think of me?  Can I pull this off?  I used telekinesis to turn off the alarm clock, then I trotted to the bathroom to take care of my personal hygiene, took a shower and brushed my teeth.  I brushed out my coat, mane and tail and trotted back into the bedroom.

"Um, Brenda, you're not going to believe this ..." I stated, my higher-pitched voice startling her.

"Dammit, Mike, why'd you have to go and do THAT again?!" she shouted at me.

"I don't know how it happened, Brenda!  Don't blame me for this!" I retorted sharply.  I lit my horn in defiant anger and scowled at her.

"What are you doing that for?  You gonna use magic against me?  How fair is that?" she asked, almost fearfully.

I calmed down and silenced my horn momentarily.  "Sorry, Brenda, but it's just that ..."

"Don't ever do that again, Mike!  I don't care if you can use magic, you know better than to threaten people!" she said angrily.

'Look, I'm sorry, okay?  I lost my temper.  I'll try to control it better, but remember that you threatened me, too, and you've done that a great many times in the past.  Maybe I might not return home tonight, who knows?" I mused.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?  That you're going to leave me?  See if I care," she replied flatly.

"And what if I'm gone forever and never come back?  What then?" I asked, anger creeping back into my voice.

"You think you're the only man in my life?  I have other friends I've been seeing during the weekends you've taken me to my friend's house on Saturdays.  I'll bet you probably knew that, but I'm telling it to you now.  So what?  You wanna leave?  Go ahead, it's fine by me.  And thanks for the gold, I can pay off the house and get a new place to stay."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.  I'm off to work, seeya later," I said, completely disgusted by my wife's confession of infidelity, and trudged down the stairs.  It struck me that I needed my wallet and car keys, so I trudged back up the stairs and fetched the needed items.  I needed a pouch of some type to carry the items so I wouldn't waste my magic using telekinesis to constantly carry things.  "This is going to be harder than I thought," I silently mused.  I figured I could probably create what I needed by taking an existing object and rearranging its molecules to form what I needed, so I took a shirt I no longer wore on a regular basis and changed its color and shape to make a pouch and strap to hang around my neck so I could carry some stuff.  I then got into the car, which had trouble recognizing me until I spoke to it.

"Where are we going today, Twilight?" the car asked me.

"To my job," I stated flatly.

"Please state the address of your workplace."  I did so, and the car teleported me there.  "Magic battery level, 91 per cent," came the flat voice from the speakers.  I got out and locked up the car, trotting up to the front door of the station and knocked on the door with my right fore-hoof.  One of my co-workers opened the door for me, then promptly slammed it in my face.  "Looks like they're not gonna let me in through the employee entrance," I thought.  I trotted to the front door, which was unlocked, opened it with my telekinesis and trotted inside.  I pushed the customer service button on the wall with my right fore-hoof which sounded a loud buzzer in the warehouse.  The station operations manager came to the front desk and gave me a very quizzical look.
> Finding a New Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Um ... Can I help you?" the station manager asked me.  I stood in the small lobby area for the customers.  A tall black desk blocked access to the rest of the station, a door with a combination lock the only entrance.  Norm is rather short and I could only see his head above the counter as I was only about three and a half feet tall.  Behind the front counter is another door allowing access to employees to provide service to the customers.

"Hey, Norm, it's me, Mike.  I got transformed this morning, but I'm here to work," I offered.

He registered shock at the fact I was able to talk to him and he closed the employee door.  A moment later, my boss, Dave, showed up at the front counter.

"Norm tells me ... you ... talked to him?  Said you ... were ... Mike?" asked Dave, quite hesitantly.

"Hey, Dave.  Yeah, I woke up like this early this morning, but I'm here to work.  Um, I know it looks pretty strange ..." I said as my words trailed off.  Dave's mouth flopped open and closed as he tried to find something to say.  He left and fetched Kevin, but he told all my coworkers as well.

"Um, Norm?  Are you gonna let me in?" I asked.  I received no answer from him.  I guessed he was probably in his office or somewhere in the back.

"So what's this I hear about a talking pony?" asked Kevin as he came to the front counter.  He gawked at me, then chuckled a little.  "Dave tells me you're Mike, is that right?"

"Yeah, Kevin.  I came to work, even though I woke up like this," I stated flatly.

"You're not big enough to drive a van -- you don't have an ID, no STA -- you probably don't even have a Social Security number for your new appearance, do you?  How are you supposed to work looking like that?  No one's gonna take you seriously when you try to get signatures," he said.  "Let me put it this way, Mike -- you can't work for us unless you're a human.  Doesn't matter what you can do as a pony.  If or when you change back, let us know -- we'll keep a place for you."

"So what am I supposed to do now?" I asked, a look of concern on my face.

"I suggest you try to find a new job suited to your talents," he stated flatly.  "But please call us back when you've changed back," he chuckled.  I turned and trotted back out the front door to go back to my car.  All of my co-workers were outside the employee entrance, trying to catch a glimpse of my new form.  As I trotted across the parking lot, some of them gave me wolf whistles and shouted crude epithets at me.  I tried my best to ignore them as I unlocked my car, hopping in and turning it on.

"Good morning, Twilight.  Where are we going today?" came a cheerful voice from the speakers.

"Take me home, TS," I said flatly.  "I'm gonna have to find a new job.  Do you have any answers?"

"Your concern has been relayed, Twilight.  Target destination acquired, preparing to teleport," came the flat sounding voice.  The car glowed magenta then disappeared, shocking my co-workers who hadn't been expecting something like that to happen.

"Wow!  How did he do THAT?" asked Dave.

"I guess Mike can use magic in that form," mused Kevin.

My other co-workers expressed interest in seeing me again, but I didn't know this until later.  The car teleported into the driveway of our house, informing me that the magic battery level was down to 87 per cent.  I turned off the car and went back in the house.

"You're back early, Mike," Brenda said quizzically.  She was frying up some bacon, having already fixed some pancakes.  "Did they fire you?"

"I suppose you could say that," I replied sullenly.  "They told me I can't come back until I'm a human again." I wrinkled my nose at the smell of the bacon, something I wasn't accustomed to doing as a human.  As a pony, the smell of cooking meat turned my stomach.

"So what are you gonna do now?" she asked, nonchalantly.

"Maybe I could be a paid spokespony for Hasbro," I mused.

"What?  What do you mean by that?" she asked, almost in exasperation.

"Well, I AM the only living, breathing, talking example of one of their cartoon creations," I chuckled.

"So how much do you think they'll pay you?" she grinned.

"Depends, I guess.  If I show them I can legitimately cast magic, that will probably freak them out," I laughed.

"Won't they expect you to act exactly like their cartoon character?"

"Then I suppose a total immersion into the character of Twilight Sparkle is in order," I stated solemnly.

"What?  You mean you have to watch every single episode of that cartoon to get a good idea of how you're supposed to act?" Brenda asked incredulously.

"I guess that's about the size of it," I replied sullenly.  "But before I do that, perhaps I should contact them to let them know that I actually exist."

"What if they don't take you seriously?"

"Then I'll teleport to their front office!" I laughed.  "But first, can I have a couple of pancakes?"

"Sure, here you go," she said, putting two pancakes on a small plate for me and fetching a knife, fork, and syrup.

I must have been feeling particularly hungry, as I asked for two more pancakes after the first two.  Brenda made some more and set them on the plate for me.  I had some orange juice to wash it down.

"So how are you going to contact Hasbro?" Brenda asked, almost grinning at the seemingly ludicrous idea.

"I'll see if I can find them on the computer," I stated flatly.  I trotted downstairs and turned on the computer.  I used my magic to speed up the internet connection, CPU speed and graphics display parameters.  I did a quick search for Hasbro and found the necessary contact information.  I gave them a call, getting the computer generated menu system.  I ended up having to wait about fifteen minutes before I was finally able to get through to an actual human on the other end.  I nearly chuckled at the irony, but maintained my composure as I talked to the CSR, explaining my situation.

"Ma'am, we find your claim to be ridiculous.  Such a thing is not physically possible," she stated flatly.

"Then tell me where the office is so I can teleport over there and show you I am very real," I responded almost stridently.

She gave me a physical address, which I looked up on a street view map.  Satisfied with what I saw, I lit my horn and teleported to the Hasbro corporate office to meet with an executive, or at least somepony who could help me.  I was hoping they might hire me and pay me fairly well to be their official spokespony.
> Read That Contract More Carefully, Twilight ...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It took quite a bit of convincing certain people that I was indeed Twilight Sparkle, though the magic performance is what blew them away.  I showed them some of what I was capable of doing, but it was when they started asking questions directly related to Twilight's character that I started having trouble.

"Just because you look like her, talk like her, use magic like her, doesn't necessarily MAKE you her!" one of the executives stated flatly.

"I might have already told you I was a human until recently.  I don't have an intimate knowledge of the cartoon series, just bits and pieces of it.  Am I to understand that what you need of me is an ability to integrate what I know with Twilight's characteristics and mannerisms?  That I would need to completely immerse myself in her psyche, to actually BECOME Twilight?"

"That would be a desirable course of action," the executive stated, smiling at me.  I was escorted inside the building and taken to a rather comfortable viewing room, set up with a large TV and DVD player.  I ended up spending the next few days watching and rewatching every single episode of the show.  After awhile, this got quite tedious, even though my food and beverage needs were addressed immediately.  My bodily hygiene needs were addressed as well.  My days consisted of twelve hours of viewing the episodes and twelve hours of rest.  I ended up calling Brenda to let her know of my whereabouts, to which she simply chuckled and wished me luck.  I thought I heard a male voice in the background while she was talking to me on the phone.  "Whatever," I thought as I heard his voice, although her infidelity was an issue I was going to have to deal with.

Eventually they determined I was ready to be an official spokespony for the company to promote the show and related products.  The biggest obstacle I faced was that I was still a unicorn and not the Alicorn version of Twilight.  This was the one thing that might ruin the deal for me, though I was assured that since I was the real deal, they would respect me.  An executive showed me a contract to sign and offered me a pen to sign my name.  I insisted on reading the contract, since I wanted to ensure I wouldn't end up getting the short end of the stick, so to speak.  As I carefully read the thing, I noticed a few details which I deemed unfair and voiced my concerns.

"Oh, don't worry about that, just standard legalese to protect our interests," the executive chuckled.

"It says here that I am considered your company's property?  Really?  What about MY needs?" I asked incredulously.

"Keep reading the contract," he replied flatly.

"It says your company is willing to provide me with meals and lodging and an expense account, which will be offset by the company's profit from my appearances.  So that means I will get pretty much what I want, then.  Okay, you've got yourself a deal," I said confidently and signed the contract, using my telekinesis to manipulate the pen.  The executive was slightly taken aback by my simple magic use, but smiled anyway.

Immediately after signing the contract, I was escorted to another room by a security officer.  I was presented with a menu and asked to choose which foodstuffs I preferred and asked what sort of entertainment I wanted.  I was also given a travel itinerary listing certain locations and times where I would be "performing" before live audiences.  I was taken to a studio where I was requested to do commercials for the company and encouraged to use magic on camera so I could really wow any who saw me on TV.  I was given assistance on establishing my new identity as Twilight Sparkle, a date of birth, social security number, birth certificate (HAH!) and various and sundry other paperwork to finalize my identity.  A bank account was set up for me so that I could accrue savings, though once again it was suggested I create gold to sell for large amounts of money, though the suggestion was one I considered ludicrous.   For good measure, a lifetime subscription to an identity protection service was included, free of charge.

For the next few months, life was going pretty good for me, even though some of the kids wanted to pet me or grab my horn, which prompted me to call for security.  I can't even begin to count the number of times I had my picture taken, how many children had asked me about the Princess, what "x pony" was really like off camera, how close I was to Spike and other questions.  Then there were the weisenheimers who deliberately trolled me, asking specific questions about the plot elements of some shows and those who simply wanted me to show my plot to them, again requiring me to call security on them.  I ate pretty well, slept in comfort, and generally enjoyed myself.

The question I was asked most frequently was why I was an Alicorn on the show, but not one in real life.  I explained that what happens on the show does not necessarily reflect on what happens in the real world, and that my transformation would require the Elements of Harmony, artifacts I did not have access to.

"I thought those were on display in your library!" one kid shouted.

"I don't live in a tree anymore," I responded.

"So where are those Elements?"

"I don't know -- I haven't seen them in this world, they just exist in Equestria, not here," I replied.

"What about Nightmare Moon?"

"I hope she doesn't show up here; without the Elements, she would take over the world and nopony would be able to stop her, not even me."
> A Wild Pinkie Pie Appeared!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I occasionally called Brenda to check up on her and see how things were doing back home.  She had already taken a new man and was in the process of filing divorce papers against me -- and since I was no longer in my human body, my human identity was starting to disappear, which would make finalizing the divorce that much easier.  I asked about my car and she told me that it was already paid off and that her new man was driving her around in it, though the voice module seemed to make him angry at times and that he would shout at it to shut the fuck up, the car responding by administering a slight jolt of electricity into him whenever he cursed aloud inside the car.  I was also told that a certain large white horse had been asking about me as well and Brenda told her she had no idea where I was, which left the Alicorn rather disappointed.

It was during one of my appearances that I discovered another human had been transformed into a pony and had decided to follow my example to become a spokespony for Hasbro.  It was another male human who had wanted to become Pinkie Pie.  He introduced himself as Jacob Sullivan and that his transformation into Pinkie Pie had occurred about two weeks ago.  He didn't act like the pink party pony, even though he had been given pretty much the same treatment I had received.  It was unnerving to hear him talk using Pinkie's voice and sharing things caused quite a bit of tension between us.

"I thought they were going to have you doing separate appearances from me," I mused.

"They told me I was going to be doing joint appearances with you, Twiley," he said.

"First things first, Jake.  When it's just you and me together, you call me Mike, and I call you by your human name.  I just hope we don't get stuck with other former humans who get turned into ponies," I stated with some disgust.

"But I thought you liked being called Twilight," he said quizzically.

"And I suppose you enjoy being called Pinkie?" I asked.

"I've come to accept it," he replied.

"Well, Jake, let me put it like this -- I would prefer to be called Mike when it's just you and me, and Twilight when we're doing appearances.  Please try to keep that in mind."

"Okay, Mike, but I just think it would be easier for me to call you Twilight since you happen to be in her body."

"One other thing, Jake -- I have certain things which belong to me -- please don't touch them."

"Why do you have to be such a Meanie McGrouchypants?  We're supposed to be best friends, not overly possessive of things!  Mike, you should loosen up and stop being so uptight!"

"I never thought I'd encounter another pony -- I thought I was the only one," I grumbled.

"The executive I talked to says there's another pony, one down in Austin that they're talking to.  Says it's Rarity and they're trying to work out a compensation deal," Jacob stated matter-of-factly.

"Next thing you know, something stupid will happen to the calender, making a week last as long as a year," I muttered.  "And I suppose Princess Celestia has been looking for us?"

"I haven't heard anything from her," Jacob replied.

"My wife told me she was looking for me."

"Twilight?  You're married?"

"I told you, Jake -- my name's Mike!  I used to be a MALE human!"

"So do you know who she used to be when she was a human?"

"No, she's the Princess for real-real, not for play-play," I replied.  "She teleported into my bedroom a few months ago and tried to get me to accompany her to Equestria."

"Oh, MAN!  I would have given ANYTHING to do THAT!!" he shouted.  "Hey, Mike, why didn't you go with her?"

"Because Earth is my home -- I'm not ready to be trotting around Equestria, at least not yet anyway."

"I can't believe you turned her down!  Imagine all the parties I could go to, or hold, or throw, or ... something!" he said excitedly, bouncing up and down in the room.  "Did you mention something about a calendar?  Have you looked at one lately?"

"Can't say that I have, no, Jake -- please don't tell me it's changed up on me," I stated with some apprehension.  "Wait, let me pull it up on the computer," I said and turned it on, going into the applications and pulling up the calendar.  "Hmm.  Marsday, Thorsday, Isisday, Zeusday, Bastday, Lokiday, Erosday, Herculesday, Fish Fryday, French Fryday ... there are days named after the 44 presidents of the United States, days named after the 50 states, state capitals, letters of the alphabet?  A Day?  B Day?  C Day?  What madness is this?!" I shouted in disbelief.  "I can't believe this!  I've got to tell the Princess about this right now!"

"I was wondering why I woke up as Pinkie Pie," Jake mused.  "So does this mean Discord is running loose?"

"That's about the only logical explanation," I said as worry started to take hold.  "We don't even have all the Elements, and if Discord's running free, we're not gonna be able to stop him!"

"Maybe Fluttershy can work her magic on him again," Jake mused.

"That only happened in the show!  Who knows how he'll act in real life?"  I asked in exasperation.
> And Trixie Makes Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     It was over the course of the next week that a guy named Nick Johnson, who had been transformed into Rarity,  was brought to join Jacob and me, so now we had three of the Elements.  There were searches going on to find the other three, but the three of us, until then were to do joint performances.  The odd thing about Nick was that Rarity herself was sharing her body with Nick, which made for a very odd arrangement.  Rarity and Nick would often argue with each other, which to the uninitiated would appear highly amusing.  When I told her that Twilight was not available, she was rather crestfallen, though she still enjoyed talking to me.  Nick, on the other hoof, was not so happy to be listening to the conversation Rarity and I would have.

It was also during the course of that week that Discord showed up to greet us, taunting us to try to stop him, then disappearing.  My first reaction to seeing the dragonequus was fear, but he told us his motive was not to harm us physically, but to try to emotionally drain us.  He also stated that he was not going to remain in one place waiting for us to gather the rest of the Elements just so we could stop him from doing what he wanted -- after all, that would make him look rather foolish.  When I told him we would defeat him one way or another, he simply laughed at us again and dared us to just try and stop him before he teleported away.  We had a lengthy discussion on how to do just that.

A couple of days after Discord had appeared, we had done a few more appearances at various locations around the country.  We had discussed with certain people within the company about Discord's appearance and taunts, but were told to keep that quiet, to prevent widespread panic among the population.  Jacob and Nick/Rarity looked to me for advice, since I happened to be Twilight, and she's supposed to have all the answers.  I tried to assuage their fears, letting them know that we should be joining up with the other Element Bearers soon.  Nick seemed to be the most hesitant about a further confrontation with Discord, but Rarity and I were able to calm him down about it.  I called up Brenda and asked her if the "large white horse" had come by again, and to send her to us if she did.

The following day, according to the "revised" calendar, was named after John Quincy Adams.  We were introduced to yet another pony -- this time, it was Trixie.  I asked the person who brought her in about the living arrangements, as things were already fairly cramped with Jacob and Nick/Rarity.  I didn't feel all that comfortable sharing a bed, even if it was a king size with another pony, since the current two additions were formerly male humans, though Nick was a special case.  I was told the human who had been transformed into Trixie was a female, named Gwendolyn Beckman.  I welcomed her to the group, but informed her that we were to maintain at least some breathing space between us.  Gwen seemed to have even more of Trixie in her than Nick had Rarity, so it stood to reason that since I was Twilight, Trixie didn't exactly warm up to me, especially since I seemed to be the one everypony else turned to for answers.  Trixie wanted to be the leader and I asked about Gwen, who seemed to be very meekly allowing Trixie to take charge.

We were sent to do another appearance and the audience wanted Trixie and me to do a magic duel.  Trixie was more than happy to do this, but I was quite a bit more reticent.  After quite a bit of goading from the show-mare, I relented and engaged her in performing magic tricks, the rivalry on display in full effect, which made the audience cheer and shout, demanding that I win, though there were some who wanted Trixie to win.  Once I started getting into it, I watched as Trixie resorted to using pyrotechnics, illusions, telekinesis, and several other spells.  I matched her spells, finding her abilities to be quite competent.  I wasn't sure how long the audience wanted us to perform, but as Trixie started using more powerful magic, it was starting to get a little dangerous.  The audience noticed the increased power of Trixie's spells and were backing away slowly.  I was trying to calm her down, letting her know we were still indoors and the use of such powerful magics was endagering the safety of the audience.  It was at that moment that Princess Celestia arrived.

"Your Majesty?   Was it our magic use that finally alerted you to our presence?" I asked.  Trixie stopped her spellcasting immediately and bowed before the Alicorn.

"Twilight, my faithful student.  I have heard word that Discord walks free in this realm," she stated calmly.  The audience was stunned to see the arrival of the Sun Goddess and simply watched the spectacle unfold.

"Princess Celestia, this is true.  There are some who seek the other Element Bearers, though their locations are unknown to me," I responded.  "We have Pinkie Pie and Rarity, but they're doing an appearance elsewhere."

"Trixie?  What brings you here?"

"Your Majesty, Trixie has a human mind inside her body -- but Trixie was told she would be richly rewarded for making public appearances, something she truly lives for.  Trixie did not realize she would have to be performing with Sparkle," she said, contempt dripping from her voice as she spat my name out.

"Trixie, please respect my student," Celestia stated flatly.

The Alicorn and I watched as Gwen had a rather heated argument with Trixie.  This was the first time I had seen a human battle with a pony in the same body with such fervor.  Celestia had to step in and calm the two of them down.

"Twilight, why didn't you do anything to stop them?"

"Because when there are two minds in the same body, one has to take the dominant role, the other becoming subservient.  I was waiting to see which of the two would take the role of alpha," I reponded.  "This is going to keep happening until one is willing to allow the other to take control, with the possibility of role reversal occuring from time to time."

"Very well then, Twilight.  I suppose your assessment is correct, though I cannot bear to witness such a deep conflict tear a pony apart," the Alicorn mused.

"Trixie does not need your compassion," the show-mare stated flatly.  "Trixie has things under control."

"Gwen?  Are you still in there?" I asked.

"Yeah, Mike, but Trixie's making it hard for me," she responded.
> Twilight Inside
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     The sleeping arrangements for four ponies were such that smaller beds were brought in for each of us -- special arrangements had to be made to allow for four kid-sized beds in a hotel suite.  Food was another matter -- a veterinarian had been called upon to perform physical check-ups on us, and though we were all in good health, a different diet had been prescribed for us -- one which required us to consume a certain amount of fiber to maintain proper digestive health.  The fiber would come in many different forms, but recommended for ponies was hay, and lots of it.  I wasn't too keen on eating hay, but after first tasting it, I was amazed that my changed taste buds reacted positively to it.  The others were quite hesitant, except for Rarity and Trixie, who welcomed the substance.  Our other requests for food were generally honored, though once everypony got used to eating hay, it became a regular staple of our diet.  Jacob had the worst time trying to be cajoled into eating hay, but once he started eating it, he found the taste somewhat agreeable.

To pass the time, we had access to various devices to keep our minds occupied, though Jacob had a hard time trying to manipulate a keyboard.  A special version had to be made for him, though Trixie, Rarity, and I could use our telekinesis to type on a regular keyboard.  I had to show Trixie and Rarity how to form hands using their telekinetic auras, but once they got it down, they were able to type fairly quickly.  They continued to be in awe of my typing skill, since I had quite a lot of practice using the qwerty keyboard, and was able to touch type.  Using my telekinesis made my typing even faster as my aura was an extension of my mind and the response was virtually instantaneous.  I took to updating my facebook status and searching for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

One of the other problems with trying to sleep was that each of us seemed to have a different circadian rhythm, so if any of us tried to sleep, usually there was somepony else awake.  It was truly a rare occurrence for all of us to retire for the night at the same time, but after a few nights of trying to persuade everypony else to go to sleep at the same time, I was finally able to convince the others that it would be in our best interests to synchronize our internal clocks so we could work together -- we were going to have to be able to do so in order to defeat Discord.

On the day named after John Tyler, yet another pony was brought to our fold -- this time, it was Brooke Taylor, who had been transformed into Rainbow Dash.  We welcomed her to our little group and yet another bed was procured.  We all introduced ourselves, those of us who were sharing their bodies with their respective ponies stated both their names.  Trixie asked me if I was sharing Twilight's body with her and I answered in the affirmative.

"Michael, darling, you have Twilight in there with you?  May I speak with her?" Rarity asked.

I relinquished control of Twilight's body to her so she could speak to her friend.  It felt very strange to find myself standing in what appeared to be a library, filled with bookshelves crammed to overflowing, the shelves reaching very high in the room.  I wandered the aisles, trying to make sense of the books.  I could not read the writing on the spines or the covers and when I took one off the shelf and opened it, I could not read what had been printed in it.  I returned it to its location and asked aloud, "How am I supposed to read these books if I don't know the language they're printed in?"

"Give me a moment, Michael.  I am having a conversation with Rarity and I shall return shortly," Twilight told me.

"Twilight, I am so happy to meet up with you again!  Michael told me you weren't in there, but I guess he wasn't being completely honest," the white mare stated.

"Well, his mind is quite fascinating, Rarity.  If you were to see everything that's in there -- the music!  His literature!  There's so much!  I can't wait to return to it," she said and smiled.

"I wish I could say the same about MY human, darling -- he is fascinated with movies and tv shows with excessive amounts of violence.  I can barely stand him, he seems like such a ruffian!"

"Well, Michael has some of that, and I try to stay away from it and -- what are you doing?" Twilight asked me, interrupting her conversation.

"I've hooked up my video game system -- I got bored, so I needed something to do," I stated.

"The least you could do is respect my mind -- there are so many books, why not read?"

"I tried to, Twi, but your library is printed in a language I can't understand," I replied.

"Rarity, excuse me a moment, please.  Michael, I am going to cast a language spell on you so you can peruse my library.  The video game you've shown me is interesting, but it's a waste of time."

"How much longer am I going to have to wait until you allow me to regain control of your body?" I asked impatiently.

"I'll let you know, Michael.  Just be patient, please."

"What did you think of the performance Trixie and I put on for the audience yesterday?" I asked, grinning.

"You're quite competent with my magic, Michael -- I should teach you some of the more advanced spells I know.  Even so, the two of you really impressed the audience -- that seems to please the company executives.  Did they say they found Applejack as well?"

"That's what I heard, though my facebook searches have come up empty on that count.  I don't know about Fluttershy, the execs have been pretty tight-lipped lately," I mused.  I saw Rarity purse her lips in thought at this.

"Michael, darling, what are we supposed to do once we have all the Elements assembled?"

"Hmm.  Then it will be a matter of tracking down Discord, but there's the other matter of getting our actual Elements, and I don't know where those are -- unless they are being crafted.  I may have to ask one of the execs about that, or perhaps Princess Celestia might return again with those artifacts," I explained.

"That's what I like about you, Michael -- you have a good grasp of the situation," said Twilight.

"Oh look, Twilight's talking to herself!" Jacob grinned -- or was it Pinkie Pie?

"Jacob, how much of Pinkie is in there with you?" I asked.

"Enough to make things interesting," he responded.

"Trixie thinks Sparkle talks too much," she stated.

"Trixie, Michael's in there as well," said Gwen.

"Trixie does not know this ... Michael."

"He was the one controlling my body when you two were having your magic duel the past few days," said Twilight.

"Trixie thought she was competing against Sparkle -- you mean you let your human compete against MOI?" she asked, almost in outrage.  "Is that why you took it easy on Trixie?"

"Trixie, my concern is for the public's safety.  You may see fit to use your strongest magics, but when it endangers our audience, it scares them away.  You will need to set aside your desire for revenge -- we have to work together.  Can we at least try to get along with each other?  Is that too much to ask?" I asked the show-mare.

"Trixie did not mean to scare away her audience," she replied flatly.

"They pay us to perform for them, you know," I stated.  "So we have to tone it down some -- it's okay to impress them, but scaring them because you want revenge against Twilight is a bad idea."

"Michael's explanation makes sense, Trixie," Twilight added.

"Trixie is not happy about this, but will accept it."

"Trixie, have you taught Gwen how to use magic yet?" I asked.

"Trixie thinks Gwen is too weak to be Trixie," she stated flatly.

"You're keeping me locked up in here, Trixie!" Gwen shouted.  "Let me take control of you again!  I'll show you --"

"You'll show Trixie nothing she doesn't already know, Gwen," she grumbled.  "Trixie will let you know when you may take control of her again."
> More Ponies Arrive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     We performed several more times in different cities before Applejack was brought to us, and then a few days later it was Lyra Heartstrings.  At this point, the company had to get two rooms for our group to share, though every morning we would have a short conference over breakfast.  I had called Brenda again, but this time got no answer as her phone went to voicemail after ringing several times.  I wasn't sure what to think, so I asked a company exec to check on her for me and get back to me as soon as possible.  Twilight expressed some degree of concern for her safety as well, though she remembered her poor attitude toward me and told me not to worry too much.

The room arrangement we had was such that Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and I would share a room.  Lyra, Trixie and Rainbow would share a room and wait for another pony to join.  Applejack's human was a male and Lyra's was female.  My guess is that the execs wanted to keep the human genders separated, though Gwen and Brooke didn't get along too well.  Lyra's human was able to make a truce between the two, though, so everything went pretty well, though the adjustment time for some ponies took longer than in other cases.

Our performances were separated as well, so we could impress more people.  The only problem with this was that Trixie and I and our magic duel performance was the real headliner and got the most attention, to the point the execs were toying with the idea of having us perform in a stadium which seated 10,000 people.  My guess is that they wanted us to go all out, no holds barred, full-tilt boogie against each other.  Twilight was aghast at the idea and I expressed an opinion that it was a very bad idea to do that -- unless they wanted us to perform outdoors, with necessary safety precautions.  One exec gleefully rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation and I glowered at him.  There was a part of me that was starting to wonder how smart my initial decision to become a spokespony was, though having every need addressed and not having to worry about money seemed to alleviate my concerns somewhat.

It was on the day named in honor of Andrew Johnson that Fluttershy was finally integrated into our group.  With all six of the Elements gathered, I called a small conference just for the Element Bearers.  We formulated a strategy, but needed Princess Celestia's help.  I called Brenda once again to see if I could reach her.  This time I received a message that the number was not in service, which had me quite worried.

"Hey, Twi, how're we s'posed ta get ahold of the Princess if ya can't reach her?" asked Applejack.

"I think maybe I need to concentrate my magic to see if I can communicate with her telepathically," I replied.   I wasn't really sure how well that would work, but I tried anyway.  "Clear some room, ladies, I'm gonna try something."  They cleared back a bit and I stood in the center of the room.  I closed my eyes and concentrated on Princess Celestia's location, focusing on where I though she might be.  I lit my horn to try to send her a message, but instead of a message being sent, I disappeared from the room in a bright flash of light and a magenta POP.  I appeared in the throne room of a castle, the Alicorn sitting on her throne.

"Hello, Twilight, my faithful student!  I wasn't expecting you to appear in my throne room -- it's truly a rare occurrence.  Is something the matter?  I see a worried look on your face," the Solar Princess stated.

"Discord roams my homeworld, as you suspected -- there are more ponies there now than a few weeks before -- and all of the Element Bearers are there as well.  We need the artifacts, or duplicates of them if possible, so that we may track down Discord and banish him, your Majesty," I stated solemnly.

"So, you came from Earth to visit me?  I am most impressed, um -- do I call you Twilight?  Or do I call you by your human name?"

"My human name is Michael Walker, though you may call me whatever you wish, your Majesty."

"Very well then, Michael.  How well do you know the others?  If you haven't established strong enough bonds of friendship with the others, the Elements may not work as well as you might think.  There's a reason why the magic of friendship is as strong as it is -- it requires strong bonds to create strong magic," the Alicorn explained.

"So there is only one set of Elements then?" I asked.

"Essentially, yes, Michael.  I can create duplicates, though they may not have the strength of the originals.  I am quite loath to lend you the originals, as I cannot ascertain with any degree of confidence that your compatriots have created sufficiently strong friendships with each other."

"So we have to let Discord continue to roam my world freely?" I asked.

"Has he done any serious damage?"

"He has changed our calendar in a most peculiar way," I replied.

"He can be rather mischievous," Celestia grinned.  "Did he inform you as to his plans?"

"I guess he said he wanted to drain us emotionally, perhaps to discourage us from trying to stop him," I replied flatly.

"There exists the possibility that he is aware of your collective existence, but he probably also knows that your bonds of friendship are not strong enough to effectively wield the Elements of Harmony.  All of you will need to work together to strengthen those bonds before you can use the Elements.  I cannot lend you ours."

"Yes, your Majesty.  I apologize for imposing on you like this.  I shall return to my homeworld then.  Perhaps we can meet again sometime -- it was a pleasure to meet you, Princess Celestia," I smiled.

"Farewell, Michael, and good luck.  You're going to need it."

I lit my horn and concentrated on the location I had left and disappeared in a flash of light and magenta POP.  I materialized in the same spot I had left, the others chatting among themselves.

"So how'd it go?" asked Nick.

"I teleported to Celestia's throne room and had a brief discussion with her.  She says that we need to strengthen our bonds of friendship before the Elements of Harmony can be successfully used against Discord," I said, somewhat sullenly.
> Bonding
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "You said we have to strengthen our bonds of friendship?" Jacob asked.  "How are we supposed to do that when the company keeps splitting us up every day?"

"I will have to have a little chat with them to get them to understand the severity of the situation.  I don't know if the company is aware of Discord's existence, but I'm sure they've noticed the changes to the calendar as well.  Some of you are very recent additions to our group, so we're just going to have to find a way to not only get along with each other, but do things together as well so we can become better acquainted with each other and work together so we can defeat that dragonequus," I explained.

"Darling, you lecture just as much as Twilight herself does!" Rarity chided me gently.  "Is that why she lets you control her as much as you do?"

"I identify very strongly with her, so yeah, I guess she is willing to let me run the show, so to speak.  I don't know how much time we have or what Discord's up to, but we have to move quickly on this.  As far as getting the Elements of Harmony, that's another problem.  Princess Celestia told me she's not willing to lend hers to us, so I'm going to have to figure something out, although she did tell me she could make duplicates, but doubted their efficiency."

"So, um ... how do we go about strengthening our bonds of friendship?" asked Fluttershy.

"That's easy! We have a party!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"That's a good first step, Pinkie, but there's more to it than that.  We're going to have to have more than one party and do other things together to increase our trust among each other as well as our friendships," I responded.

"Stop being such a party pooper and let us throw this party!" Pinkie exclaimed, producing her party cannon from somewhere and decorating the room haphazardly with streamers, confetti and other paraphernalia associated with parties.  I won't go into the details, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, though some of the activities had to be changed to accommodate both pony and human personae.  Eventually we retired to our rooms to get some sleep.

The following day was named in honor of Ulysses Grant and we were to be split up yet again.  I talked to the exec who was in charge of arranging our publicity events and told him about the situation.  He simply chuckled and stated that he didn't think Discord existed for real.  I told him that we had been visited by the dragonequus and that we needed to strengthen our bonds of friendship, that we should remain together for as long as possible in order to allow the Elements of Harmony to work properly.  He simply responded by handing me a travel itinerary and gave us our assignments, regardless of any of our desires.  He also stated that failure to comply with the company's assignments might be grounds for immediate termination of employment, something that worried me a bit, as well as driving the concerns of the others in our group.

"You realize what changes have been made to the calendar -- that's something Discord did and he told me himself that he was responsible for it.  If we can't strengthen our friendships, we might not be able to stop him," I told the executive.

"We have already arranged your assignments for the next month or so," he replied calmly.  "So we can't exactly keep you together.   Suppose he were to return and abduct one or more of you?  What then?"

"You have a point there.  That doesn't mean he can't teleport into our rooms and take any of us whenever he wants to," I replied.

"So you understand what pressures we're under.  You are all a blessing to us, and we wish to capitalize on the opportunity you present.  Especially you and Trixie.  We have some rather big plans for you two," he stated.  I glowered at him.  "That is, of course, unless you wish to breach your contract.  Did you read it carefully?  You are our property, remember?  The terms of your continued employment with us require you to accept any assignments we give and you have no legal recourse to refuse our assignments," he said, giving me a smug smirk.

I pulled out my trump card, which might have been a mistake.  I heard Twilight tell me to cool down.  "Of course, Princess Celestia might have something to say about this," I mused, giving him a saccharine smile.

"Well, unless she can come here and meet me face-to-face, I think you're bluffing," he stated.  "Now, you and Trixie need to come with me.  We've arranged transportation for you to a local outdoor arena."  He left the room and returned with Gwen, who was protesting about this plan.  I hung my head and followed the exec from the room, down the elevator from our hotel, out the front door and into a limousine.  Trixie hopped into the back of the car with me, the exec sitting next to her and eyeing her in a manner which upset me.  I glared at him again.

"You don't have the right to stare at Trixie like that," I stated sternly.

"Trixie can handle her own affairs -- she does not need your assistance, Sparkle," she stated dismissively.

"Look, Trixie, can't you see they're using us?"  The exec laughed heartily a second after I asked this question.

"Trixie does not care as long as she's being treated well, Sparkle," she said, offering a smug smirk.

I gave up trying to reason with her and silence reigned during the rest of the drive to the arena.  I was not looking forward to this magic duel, which Trixie seemed to anticipate with gusto.  I saw her grinning as the limo came to a stop and the doors were opened for us.  We were escorted to a locker room, where we met with a trainer.

"Is this strictly necessary?" I asked.

"Just for formalities, that's all," he responded.

"Trixie is ready!  She does not need a trainer!" she stated in a condescending tone of voice.
> Three Trixies?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Trixie and I were escorted out of the locker room through a tunnel and onto an artificial turf covered floor of an outdoor stadium.  The stands appeared to be full, perhaps 15,000 people having gathered to witness this spectacle.  I wasn't sure how much advance notice had been given, but there seemed to be an equal mix of fans for both sides.  Trixie glared angrily at me.

"Gwen, fight her!  Snap her out of this madness!" I shouted, trying to make my voice heard above the din of the crowd, who upon seeing us had started cheering for their favorite pony.  "Is this what you wanted, Discord?" I thought as I tried to approach the show-mare.  I was prevented from getting any closer as another escort took me to a circular area that had been cleared of the artificial turf -- about 50 yards away was a similar circle, prepared for Trixie.  She stood defiantly in the center of that circle, giving me a fierce scowl.  I took my position in my circle and faced off against her.

"Trixie, we don't have to do this!" I shouted, using magic to amplify my voice.

"Trixie will show Sparkle she is the most powerful unicorn in the universe!" she responded, using magic to amplify her voice.  I shook my head sadly at this and lit my horn.

"I don't wanna have to hurt you, Trixie!"

"This is going to hurt Sparkle a lot more than it hurts Trixie!" she shouted as she lit her horn.  As she readied her spells, the crowd started cheering her.  I prepared a shield to defend myself against any magic attack she might level at me.  I strengthened my barrier, my horn glowing magenta as I placed the barrier in front of me.  "Trixie sees your barrier, Sparkle and she has anticipated it!" she shouted at me.  I had left an opening which she exploited, her spell hitting with rather strong force, knocking me to the ground.  I was dazed and struggled to regain my stance on all fours.

Trixie's fans cheered her on, while mine gasped in concern.  I steeled my gaze against her, acknowledging that this duel was for all the marbles.  My concern for her safety left me at this point, and I readied my strongest attack spell.  Trixie saw my horn glow with a second aura, my visage darkening considerably.  She retained a confident expression, but I saw her erect a barrier spell.  I gave a slight grin and cast my attack spell at her barrier, shattering it with the sheer force of my attack, which knocked her to the ground and pushed her out of her circle.  My fans started cheering now and hers started booing her.

"Stop cheating, Sparkle!" she shouted at me, readying another attack spell.  This time I decided to cast a counter-attack spell to negate her attack.  Knowing her magic strength gave me a bit of an advantage, one I intended to exploit to its maximum.  Our spells met somewhere between us, though mine was closer to Trixie than hers to me.  The resulting combination of magics interacting with each other caused an explosion, or at least what I thought was an explosion.  I was a bit surprised to see two more Trixies show up between us.

"What's going on here?  Where am I?" one of them asked.  I noticed the one who asked this appeared to have my cutie mark.  The other Trixie appeared to be an exact duplicate of my opponent.  Gwen was able to wrest control of Trixie's body when the surprise appearance of the two caught the show-mare off guard.  The crowd suddenly went silent upon seeing three Trixies, though a few of Trixie's fans cheered wildly.

"You, the Trixie with my cutie mark," I stated, pointing a hoof at her.  "Tell me who you are!"

"Well, my human name is Michael Walker, and I was in the middle of having a private conversation with Trixie here before we were suddenly yanked through a dimensional portal.  Where exactly is this?" Trixie-me asked.

"I don't know -- it's a stadium outside of Chicago.  Trixie and I were having a magic duel, and I guess our spells caused a rift in the fabric of the space/time continuum and pulled the two of you through it.  Discord is running loose in our realm and I need a little help getting the Elements of Harmony relics," I stated flatly.

"Heh.  I can help you with that!" Trixie-me chuckled.  I stared at my alternate universe self in disbelief.

"Um, how do you propose to do that?" I asked.  I watched Trixie shake her head in disbelief at seeing an alternate universe version of herself as Gwen wore a shocked expression.  Trixie-me grinned mischievously.

"If you come with Trixie and me, I will show you what I'm talking about," he stated with quite a bit of self-confidence.  I trotted over to the two visitors.  Gwen trotted over to meet with them as well.  The crowd seemed to start booing at this point.  Trixie-me stared up at them in disapproval.

"What did you all come here to see?  A magic duel?  Really?  How many of you want to see what an Ursa Major looks like for real-real and not for play-play?" Trixie-me shouted at the crowd.  "I can summon one of those!"

"Oh, come on, you can't do that, can you?" I asked my counterpart.

"You'd be surprised at what I can do," he chuckled.  Trixie nodded her head in agreement.

"Trixie has seen what Michael can do -- she has been most impressed!" she grinned.

"Hmm.  I suppose I should accompany you, then.  But won't that create a paradox?" I asked.

"That's why Trixie is here.  You can hold one of her fore-hooves while I teleport us back to our universe," he replied confidently.

"So you have access to the relics?" I asked.

"No, but I'm on friendly terms with somepony who does," he replied, giggling softly.
> An Unexpected Trip
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     The crowd stood in stunned silence as Trixie-me, other Trixie and I held fore-hooves and blinked out of the stadium, the teleport landing us in Canterlot Castle's Royal Throne Room.  A regal white Alicorn sat atop a very ornate throne, smiling serenely.  Upon seeing me, her smile widened a little.

"Twilight, my faithful student!  It is a pleasure to see you once again!" she said warmly.

"Princess Celestia, I am Michael Walker -- though Twilight is in here with me.  I am curious to know if you are the same Princess Celestia who visited me on my human home world, or if this is yet another alternate universe," I stated flatly.

"This is an interesting conundrum.  You claim to have two psyches in the same body?  Most intriguing.  I have not visited your human home world, but I am quite certain it would hold utter fascination for me."

"Indeed it would, your Majesty, but there is a rather pressing matter I have to deal with.  Discord runs free in my home world and has messed with our calendar.  The other Element Bearers are there as well, but I don't have the relics, nor do I have access to them.  Adding to that is the fact that we have only been together as a whole for just a few days.  I believe I was the first human transformed into a pony --"

"Michael Walker -- there are two of you!  There is a version of Trixie here who also claims to be Michael Walker!" the Princess stated in exasperation.

"Indeed, your Majesty -- I accompanied him -- or is it her?  Anyway, I was hoping you might be able to assist me in some way, Princess," I stated.

"You already understand the need to build strong bonds of friendship, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, your Majesty -- another version of you instructed me that I would need for our group to strengthen our bonds of friendship.  This is complicated by the fact that the other ponies share their bodies with the minds of humans as well.  There is a version of Trixie we left behind on my home world who seeks to repress the human mind trapped in her body."

"Then time is rather short, Michael.  Even though I cannot give you our Elements, I can provide you with an amulet that augments your natural magic talents.  Since you have told me you and Twilight share her body, I sense from your intellect that you have a fairly firm grasp on what sort of magic Twilight is capable of -- additionally, she can assist you as well.  You are quite fortunate, Michael."  The Alicorn turned her attention to Trixie-me.  "Michael?  Thank you for bringing your counterpart here to meet me.  I will provide you with a similar amulet to assist you in your endeavors as well."

"Thank you, your Majesty," Trixie-me stated reverently, bowing deeply before the Sun Goddess.  I mimicked my counterpart's act.

"You have my deepest gratitude, your Majesty," I stated, bowing deeply before her.

"Trixie is confused, but appreciates your kindness, Princess Celestia," she said and bowed as well.

The Alicorn used her magic to summon a pair of amulets, strongly resembling the Alicorn Amulet which Trixie wore awhile back, though the one for Trixie-me had a blue diamond inset and mine had a purple diamond inset.  Upon placing the amulet around my neck, I could feel a surge of power.

You should be careful, Michael -- the amulet might have a corrupting influence on you.  I heard Twilight's voice in my head and seemed to be able to see her as well.  "Twilight, you should be able to control this power as well," I stated aloud.

"You talk to Twilight, Michael?  Did she say something to you?" asked the Princess.

"She told me to exercise caution in the use of this talisman," I replied.  "Said it might have a corrupting influence."

"I can assure you, Michael and Twilight, that the amulet I have provided has no such dangers associated with it.  I will be watching how you use it, though, as each of those amulets have specific magic signatures to which I am attuned.  So even though those amulets will allow you to wield a considerably larger amount of power than what you are normally capable of, they also allow me to monitor their use.  Consider this a warning -- irresponsible use will lead to unpleasant consequences."

"Yes, your Majesty," Trixie-me and I stated simultaneously.  The Alicorn giggled softly.  My counterpart and I turned to each other and grinned.

"Your Majesty, begging your pardon, but I won't be able to face Discord alone with this, will I?  And if so, I won't exactly be able to defeat him either, will I?" I asked.

"No, but that amulet will allow you to discover the location of the necessary artifacts you and the other Element Bearers will need in order to defeat him.  I suggest you get going as there is no telling how much time you have for further delay."

"Mike?  Can you take me back to where you picked me up from?" I asked my counterpart.

"Yeah, I can do that.  Trixie, let's go once again, then we'll be off again!" he chortled.  I took Trixie's left fore-hoof as my counterpart took her right fore-hoof.

"Trixie feels so strange when this happens," she mused.  "Trixie would like to spend some time with Sparkle, though."

I chuckled at her request.  "Perhaps another time, another place, Trixie.  Not here, not now, not today.  Sorry."

We blinked out of existence once again and landed back in the stadium.  As soon as we returned, Trixie let me go and then hugged my counterpart as they left again.  It took me a few moments to get my bearings and saw that most of the crowd had left the stadium at this point, the remaining people filing through the exits.  A Hasbro company exec spotted me upon my return and walked over to me, frowning in disapproval.  Gwen/Trixie seemed to be bored, but wearing a smirk.

"Where did you go, Twilight?  You understand you are considered our property.  Any more stunts like that and we will sue you for breach of contract!" he stated angrily.

"I went to Equestria to talk to Princess Celestia, who has provided me with a special amulet.  I can already sense certain magic signatures which resonate in harmony with this amulet -- this is kinda cool," I chuckled.  "Look, we have to stop Discord -- once we take care of that matter, I can help your company out further."

"I don't care who's running loose around here, even if it IS Discord!  Your contract also states you are to perform to a certain set of standards and if you don't meet them, that is also grounds for a lawsuit for breach of contract!"

"Very well then, sir.  I apologize for leaving the field of battle."

"That's better.  Don't do it again!" he nearly shouted at me.  I glared at him and my eyes flashed purple for a moment, which surprised him.  "Don't threaten me, either!"

"I didn't say anything," I stated flatly.

"Your eyes flashed at me, as though you intended to do physical harm with the aid of that amulet you're wearing!"

"Sorry, but I don't take to well to being shouted at.  I believe at the very least I deserve some respect, as I still have a human mind inside this body.  Please remember that if nothing else."

"Okay, I'll try to keep from shouting, but the vice president of operations chewed me out for letting you get away like that, and I don't want to have to deal with him like that again.  Stuff rolls downhill, you know that," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Since everybody's left the stadium, I suppose we have to do another appearance and duel, don't we?"

"Yes you do, and getting another arena appearance like this might be a bit more difficult, given what just happened here."

"Trixie demands a rematch!" she shouted.  "Gwen kept Trixie from defeating you, Sparkle!"

"Trixie, calm down, you'll get another chance at that later," I stated.  The show-mare noticed my amulet at that point.

"Trixie wants an amulet as well, Sparkle!  Where did you get yours?"

"Princess Celestia gave it to me.  I need to find the Elements of Harmony relics and this talisman will help me locate them."

"Does it enhance your magic power?"

"Yes it does, Trixie," I said, offering a smug smirk.  Her expression turned to one of anger.

"Not fair!  Trixie needs an amulet if she is going to defeat you!"

"It was not given to me for that purpose, Trixie.  Princess Celestia can monitor how this amulet is used, so I must exercise restraint with regard to how I use it," I explained.  Her anger subsided.

"Trixie still wants one, though," she complained.

"Depending on how well you behave, when we deal with Discord, perhaps I might be able to persuade Celestia to give you one -- but she also warned me not to misuse it, as she stated there would be unpleasant consequences otherwise."

"Does that mean Celestia does not trust Sparkle?"

"I wouldn't put it like that, Trixie.  I think she might not trust me -- even though Twilight is in here with me, she offers me advice from time to time -- and I let her take control of her body as well sometimes.  We have worked out a symbiotic relationship for controlling her body.  You should do the same with Gwen, Trixie."

"Gwen is weak!  Trixie is strong!  Trixie will not let Gwen regain control of Trixie's body again!"
> Finding the Artifacts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     We were driven back to our hotel, but I was escorted to an office before being allowed to return to the room.  I was being reprimanded for my behavior as the exec who berated me took me before his boss.  I was informed that another incident like that would result in forfeiture of my payments and immediate termination, along with attorney's fees.  I glared at the veep, wearing a deep frown on my face.

"You would do well to correct that attitude, Twilight," he said in a rather menacing tone.  "And don't even think of threatening me with the use of your magic.  You don't want criminal charges filed against you, do you?"

My frown deepened into a scowl as I nearly bared my teeth.  "No, sir," I hissed through clenched teeth.

"Get out of my sight before you make me even angrier than I already am," he growled at me.

I left his office at that point and found the exec, who smirked at my reaction.  "Okay, now you get to go back to your room.  Your next event with Trixie is three days from now, but you have appearances in Milwaukee and Madison tomorrow and the day after that."

"So this next duel is in Minneapolis?" I asked.

"Saint Paul, but same difference," he replied.

"One of the missing artifacts is in Minneapolis," I mused aloud.  "If we have enough time, perhaps I can teleport there and get it."

"Are you still on about that?  You know Discord isn't real, don't you?" he chided.

"No, he IS real, just as much as I am real.  Tomorrow is Garfield day -- I don't even know what it's supposed to be!  The calendar was never like that before Discord showed up!" I protested.  "We've got to stop him and return the calendar back to normal!"

"Personally, I like the idea of days named after U.S. Presidents," he mused.

"My opinion is that when we get to the day after the one named after Barack Obama, we're gonna be screwed," I postulated.

"The calendar shows days named after the fifty States," he responded.

"There's a part of me that tells me we don't have that much time to stop Discord and return the calendar back to normal, not to mention all these ponies that people have turned into.  I wonder how many more there are -- I also wonder what will happen to me once we find and defeat him," I mused.  My expression had turned from doubt into worry as I pondered the future.  "I need to talk to the others to continue our strategy.  Please let me meet with them."

The exec escorted me to the room I was sharing with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack and informed us we were to get another good night's sleep.  I glowered at him in disapproval as I was seriously starting to get extremely annoyed by my current predicament.

"Guys, I think our time is running out -- Gwen is losing her battle to maintain some control of her situation -- Trixie is suppressing her and if she succeeds in doing that, Gwen might be lost forever.  I believe if we defeat Discord, we should all be returned to our former human bodies," I postulated.

"Mike, I sure hope you're right about that!" Nick/Rarity said worriedly.  "How much time do you think we have left?  Have you heard from the Princess about this?"

"The last conversation I had with Celestia was that we need to strengthen our bonds of friendship so the Elements will work when we finally DO face Discord.  Until then, my guess is that we have until Barack Obama Day to do so.  After that, all bets are off," I replied glumly.

"That only gives us 25 days," Applejack stated in dismay.  "Do ya think we can get it done by then?"

"I don't know, AJ.  At the very least, I have this amulet to help me locate the artifacts, and we're headed in the direction of one of them in a couple of days.  I am going to need some stationery and pens so I can take some notes.  I'm going to find those artifacts and obtain them as expeditiously as possible."

"Ya know, ya really ought ta stop usin' those fancy words like that," she muttered.  "Yer just like Twi when ya do that."

"She's inside me as well, you know.  I like being able to converse with her, she's very helpful.  She has sensed the location of a few of the other artifacts, but they're scattered around the country.  She says there's one in the country called Kyrgyzstan and getting that one's going to be rather tricky," I explained.

"Where's that?" asked Jacob/Pinkie.  "I've never even heard of that place!"

"It's in central Asia -- it borders Kazakhstan," I offered.

"Where's that?" he asked again.

"It borders the Ukraine," I replied flatly.

"Is that, like, Russia?" he asked.

"You're close.  It's part of the former Soviet Union -- almost all of those countries were at one time satellites of the Soviet Union," I explained.

"So how're you supposed to get it?" asked Nick.

"Depending on where it is in that country, I may have to do a long-distance teleport -- a very risky proposition at best," I said sullenly.  "I have a sinking feeling that that particular artifact might very well be my tiara."

"Well, you know we'll do what we can to help you, Twiley," Pinkie Pie grinned.

"Thanks, Pinkie or Jake, I appreciate all the help I can get," I smiled in return.

---------------------------------------

I had another conference with the other Element Bearers over dinner and related events from earlier in the day.  I also informed them of the locations of the various artifacts we'd need in order to defeat Discord, which elicited some cheers from the others.  Rainbow asked me how I was able to determine those locations and I pointed to the purple amulet I was wearing and that Twilight helped me with that matter as well.  When asked about how much time I thought it might take to acquire all the necessary artifacts, I was at a loss, stating that it might take a couple of weeks -- not the year-long weeks Discord had done to the calendar, but rather a fortnight.  I tried to alleviate the concerns of the others as best I could before we finished dinner and concluded the meeting.

"Fluttershy, I need to talk to Gwen/Trixie if possible," I said to the pegasus, lightly tapping her on her left shoulder.

"Oh, um ... I'll take you to her," she said almost meekly.  I followed her to the other room she was sharing with Lyra, Rainbow, and Trixie to see the azure unicorn mare lazily playing with her smart phone, the tell-tale music of Angry Birds emanating softly from it.

"Excuse me, but I need to talk to Gwen, if I may?" I asked, somewhat hesitantly.  The show-mare glanced up at me and quickly returned to her game, saying nothing in reply.  "Trixie?  Can I talk to Gwen?" I asked a little more impatiently.

"Trixie does not want to let you talk to that weakling," she muttered, never taking her attention away from the game.

"Who taught you how to play Angry Birds?" I asked, my patience starting to wear thin.  I was glaring at the show-mare, her attitude not helping matters any.

"Gwen taught Trixie how to play this silly game," she said, just above a mumble, still rapt in the game.

"Trixie, I really need to talk to her!  If you suppress her much longer, she will die!  I can't let that happen!" I stated in exasperation.

"Ask Trixie if she cares," she said nonchalantly.  "Trixie doesn't need any weaklings controlling her body."

My anger rose in response to her cavalier attitude, wisps of smoke starting to waft from my mane and tail.  "Trixie, how can you be so thoughtless and uncaring?  That's a real person you're trying to kill!"

The show-mare finally acknowledged my presence at this point and rose to her hooves, almost angrily addressing me.  "How dare you accuse Trixie of trying to kill somepony!  Trixie has told you about how weak Gwen is and that she does not deserve to control Trixie's body!  Trixie does not care about Gwen!  If she dies, so what?  It is no concern of Trixie's!"

My anger flared completely at this point as my body burst into flames, the lavender fur giving way to a chalky-white coat, my eyes glowing red and my mane and tail taking on the appearance of living flame.  "Trixie!  I can't believe you would say such things!  If you kill her, I swear!  I will not be held responsible for my actions!" I shouted at her.  She recoiled in fear from my advance, the distraction allowing Gwen to regain control of the show-mare's body.

"Mike, please help me!  I don't know how much longer I can hold out!  Trixie is so evil!  How am I supposed to stop her?"

"I don't know, Gwen -- even Twilight doesn't seem to have an answer for this.  I think it's Discord's work, and I'm doing everything I can to try to defeat him.  I know time is short, but please, try to combat her.  Be strong for me, Gwen, you've got to do this!  Fight her, do what you can!"

"I'll try, Mike, but it's so hard!  I need your help!"

"Ugh!  Sparkle!  I'm going to --"

"You'll do nothing, Trixie!" I shouted at her, still in my flaming form.  "I'm warning you!  Don't kill her!"

"Fine.  Trixie will let her live.  For now," the azure mare stated flatly, returning to her game.  I cooled off at this point.  "Trixie has been told her next duel with Sparkle is in three days.  Trixie has some new tricks to show Sparkle!" she exclaimed almost gleefully.

"I'm outta here," I stated flatly and returned to the other hotel room.  It was getting late, and using that much magic to maintain my elemental form left me feeling rather drained.  I fell asleep fairly quickly.
> Celestial Intervention
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I was nudged awake by Jacob/Pinkie.  I had no idea of how long I slept and I could not recall any dreams I had last night.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!  We got 30 minutes before we leave!  If you need to take a shower, hurry it up!" Jake said cheerfully.

"Um, Jake, how much of you is Pinkie and how much of Pinkie is you?" I asked somewhat groggily, lifting the sheets with my magic and getting to my hooves.  The sun was beaming in through the window, but it was the time on the clock that got my attention, reading 8:45 AM.

"Well, Mikey, Jake is still here, but letting me control my body.  Don't worry about him, he's in good hooves!" Pinkie chirped.

"Hmm.  We're running out of time then.  Gotta hurry it up, I don't know how much longer Gwen can hold on," I stated flatly as I trotted slowly to the bathroom to turn on the shower.  I found out that changing into my elemental form did more than drain my magic quickly -- it also left a sulfurous scent to the air and my body as well, so I definitely needed a shower.  After that, I brushed out my mane and tail, then started on my coat.  Lastly, I brushed my teeth.  It was shortly after that that we were escorted to our van and driven to our respective places of appearance.  For me, that meant another mall appearance.  I was besieged with requests for pictures, autographs, magic displays, and answers to stupid questions.  I was becoming rather disillusioned by the monotony of these appearances and seriously questioned my decision to become a spokespony for Hasbro.  The money was good, but I was having my doubts about its necessity.

My fan club and other admirers had protected me from the overly zealous people -- the appearances were starting to become increasingly more dangerous with each passing day.  When I informed our company representative about this, he stated that he would mention it to the exec in charge.  I told him I wanted assurances about our safety, as I had heard rumors about an anti-pony organization that seemed bent on causing trouble for us.  All I got in response was, "I'll see what I can do about that."

"Don't you care about the ponies who represent your company?  If one of them suffers injury at the hands of someone, can you imagine what sort of headache the bad publicity would create?  If your company truly cares about their image, I would strongly recommend they take our safety and security much more seriously," I advised.  He begrudgingly acquiesced to this demand.

Once again, I found myself arguing with Trixie during our dinner this time -- she was starting to become very troublesome and in my exasperation I had said something terrible to her, causing her to run off crying.  Fluttershy admonished me, telling me that Trixie's not always in charge, and that I might have actually said those words to Gwen instead of Trixie.  I had to get up from the table and engage in some damage control to get things back under control.  It took an awful lot of cajoling on my part to get Gwen to accept my apology, though Trixie made that an extremely difficult task.  This process took a few hours and had left me feeling just as drained as the previous day when I had assumed my elemental form in anger.  My doubts continued to increase and my dreams that night consisted of possibilities ensuing from a decision to quit -- to breach my contract.

------------------------------------------

"Twilight," I heard a female voice say as something solid nudged me awake.  I turned over, trying to ignore this annoying intrusion into my sleep.  "Twilight!" the mysterious female called, louder and more forceful this time, nudging me considerably harder this time.  I turned back over to see who it was and was shocked to see the Solar Princess having visited me again.

"Princess Celestia?  What brings you back here?"

"Twilight, I need your assistance," she said flatly.

"Princess, please let me sleep a bit longer.  I have a busy day ahead of me, group photos, autographs, magic displays -- I've got money to make," I muttered in my half-sleep state.  I found myself being unceremoniously dumped onto the floor out of my blankets.  "Ow!  Was that strictly necessary, Princess?"

"Twilight, I have no time for your foolishness.  What you are doing here on Earth is immaterial -- I have urgent need of your presence back in Equestria."

"And if I refuse?" I asked, almost daring the Alicorn to do something.

"I will take Twilight with me, and leave you here in your human state," she said coldly.

"Oh, you can do that?  That would work for me, Princess," I said almost too eagerly.  She frowned.

"Twilight, please don't force my hoof in this matter.  Truthfully, I need both of you to come with me."

"Princess, I have a contractual obligation to the company I work for -- I do not wish to lose my job.  Furthermore, I have new friends who are counting on me to defeat Discord in this universe," I offered.

"You still wear that amulet -- if you do not assist me, I shall request its return."

"Okay, all right, you win.  Let's go, Princess," I grumbled.  "Frankly, I have no idea why you need me when you're as powerful as you are."

"Please don't question my motives, Twilight -- trust me when I tell you that this is quite important."  She wrapped her left wing around me and teleported the both of us to the throne room in her castle.

-------------------------------------------

The day named after Chester A. Arthur broke with me not in my bed, just a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor next to it.  Nick/Rarity woke and found my bed empty and alerted Jake/Pinkie to my absence.

"Um, we kinda need Twiley to be here -- the exec is not gonna be happy about this," Nick stated flatly.

"Gwen needs her help, too -- where did Mike go?  He wouldn't just leave us like that -- Rarity, can you pick up a magic trace on those blankets on the floor next to his bed?" asked Jake.

"I shall try, Pinkie."  The alabaster mare trotted to my bedside and levitated my blankets to examine a faint trace of magic.  "Princess Celestia has been here!" she gasped.
> Uncertainty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Um, if you don't mind my asking, Princess, what is going on?" I asked as I trotted behind the Solar Princess.  We were in Canterlot Castle, making our way to her bedchambers.

"I will answer your questions when we reach our destination, Twilight," she replied, not bothering to look behind her.  Our hoofsteps echoed through the hallway as I remained silent for the rest of the short trek.  She opened the door with her magic and ushered me in.  "Please, Twilight, relax.  I'm not going to hurt you," she said, chuckling softly.

I trotted to her bedside, noticing its enormous size.  "Princess, do you really need a bed that can hold five of you?" I asked in disbelief.

My question elicited laughter from her.  "Oh, Twilight!  You should know why I need a bed this size!" she grinned.  I shuddered ever so slightly as I felt her eyes on me.  "Why are you so tense?"

"Something seems a little off, Princess.  I have a sinking feeling something's not right," I replied flatly.  "I don't think you normally act like this."

"Twilight, I have some disappointing news for you.  What you are familiar with is not real.  You have been living in a dream state for the past few weeks.  Please, allow me to use my magic on you to dispel those illusions," the Alicorn said warmly, enveloping me in her golden aura.  My vision went hazy then blurry as the her magic seemed to lift a veil from around me.  As the spell finished and the aura dissipated, everything seemed to change focus, losing some definition.  It was when I turned again to look at the Solar Princess that I noticed she had changed -- and that what I had thought was daytime was actually night-time ... or was it?

"Princess?  What has happened?" I asked fearfully.  My mind was racing as conflicting thoughts battled for dominance.

"As I told you before, Twilight, things are not as they seem.  You have been living in a state of delusion and I simply removed those illusions from your vision.  What you see is true reality," the Alicorn replied flatly.  My jaw dropped when I finally saw her for what she was -- not the benevolent white Alicorn I thought she was, but her sister's evil counterpart.  I let a curse escape my lips and regretted this immediately.

"Twilight, I would request you curb that potty-mouth of yours before it gets you into more trouble," she grinned.

"Nightmare Moon?  But how?  Why?" I asked fearfully.  I readied myself for a teleport, hoping I might be able to escape to my home world.

"I have been watching you, Twilight -- and I must admit, I'm a little disappointed in you.  Squandering your talent like that, just to earn a few dollars -- didn't you convert part of a tree stump into solid gold?  What was to prevent you from doing more of that to make more money?  Or is it that you wanted to earn it honestly?  Even so, I consider it a waste of your time and talent and I need you here, with me," the dark Alicorn explained calmly.

"But I thought --" I began before she cut me off.

"You thought wrong, Twilight.  You've been living under an illusion."

"But what about Discord?  I need to save my home world from him!" I protested meekly.

"That too was illusory, Twilight.  Your home world is safely under control of the Changelings, and will be so for the next five centuries -- until they drain all the life-force from it," she stated matter-of-factly.  "Discord was never there to begin with -- you had been enchanted with illusions which clouded your mind."

"WHAT?!  Please tell me you're kidding!  I've got to go back there and save my home world!  How can you be so nonchalant about this?!  Let me go back NOW!" I practically shouted at her.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, I'm afraid I can't do that.  Besides, how are you supposed to defeat the Queen and her army, let alone the billions of your species who have already been converted and assimilated into her hive?  How are you going to do that alone?" the dark Alicorn asked, grinning menacingly.  "You have another purpose here, Twilight -- you must serve ME now!"

"That's my home world we're talking about here!  I have to do something!  And can't you help me?  What am I supposed to do for you?" I asked fearfully, tears beginning to well up in my eyes.  The prospect of never being able to return home had me terrified.

"No, Twilight, it's not my responsibility to help you -- and as far as serving me, you will do everything I ask you to, without question or protest.  Understood?"  To illustrate her point, she lit her horn with a dark blue aura, glaring at me almost angrily.  "If you do not do as I please, I shall take measures to ensure your compliance."

"But what if THIS is illusory?  How do I know you're not an illusion yourself?  Serving you would be like me betraying everything I hold dear, all my personal morals, everything that defines me and my identity!  How are you simply going to enforce your will upon me?"  My questions were tinged with great anger and resentment, contempt for the dark Alicorn being made quite evident.  She scowled at me and bared her canines.

"Do not test my patience, Twilight, as I have very little of that for those who attempt to defy me.  You will do as I command, or I shall inflict such pain on you that you will wish I had killed you instead.  I have ways of enforcing compliance with my desires -- you of all ponies should know this -- so let this be your final warning, unless you desire to experience the exquisite pain and suffering I am tempted to visit upon you!" she growled, though her face showed an evil grin.
> We Decide Which is Right and Which is an Illusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     My concerns about my home world nagged at me, though Nightmare Moon continued to reassure me quite stridently about the delusional state I had been under.  There was a part of me that wondered what was going on back home as I could not bring myself to trust the words of the dark Alicorn.  There was a part of me that wanted Princess Celestia to come to the rescue and dispatch the Nightmare, if possible, though I was also contemplating a strategy on defeating her myself.  The next several days, if you could call them that, had me performing various tasks for her.  Most of these revolved around providing "personal services" which I found quite degrading and humiliating.  I was provided a particular outfit to wear, one which increased my feelings of humiliation and shame.  I was ordered to remain very close to her whenever she desired companionship and also required me to sleep with her every night.  I resented this, but I put up with it as best I could.  Truthfully, it could have been worse, though it was difficult for me to fathom just how -- and my mind turned to dark thoughts of the possibilities.

While I was staying in Canterlot with Nightmare, I lost track of time as she seemed to keep things in a constant state of darkness.  I asked her how anything could survive without actual sunlight, but she reassured me that there was an invisible sun providing warmth and photosynthesis to sustain plant life.  I seriously doubted her sincerity, even going so far as to voice my concern, though she proved to me that there was indeed truth to her words.  I was left speechless by the sight of dark-colored flowers and other plant life which had adjusted to the new form of photosynthesis which used a part of the electro-magnetic spectrum which was not visible to pony eyes.  Twilight marveled at this while I was mortified  Yes, Twilight was still in my mind and giving me some advice, though my more intimate encounters with Nightmare made her wince when things got a bit too intense.  Truthfully, I had a tendency to enjoy the physical sensations more than I should have.

--------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, back on Earth, things had deteriorated rather badly.  The other Element Bearers weren't able to face down Discord without me, and Trixie didn't help matters either by continuing to act so poorly.  With me gone, Discord had succeeded in his conquest, creating even more chaos than normally plagued the planet.  More people turned into ponies, but none became another Twilight.  With Discord in full control, he took to amusing himself at the expense of everyone and everypony around him.  He would travel around, converting more people to ponies, mostly for the sake of increasing the level of chaos, but also to bring further enjoyment to himself and further torment to the hapless humans who ended up being converted.  He considered the ponies to be more easily manipulated as he used their herding instincts to his advantage.

Those who knew of his plan resigned themselves to living under his thrall with no hope of defeating him.  They succumbed to despair and hopelessness as they tried to go on with their lives as best they could.  My former companions wondered aloud whether or not I would ever return, perhaps to assist them and bring about the defeat of the dragonequus.

--------------------------------------------------------

A few more days had passed in Equestria with no sunlight to be seen.  This made the days seem to blend into each other with no way of being able to determine how much time had passed, save for the dark Alicorn telling me which day it was.  I wasn't sure how to deal with the nearly constant darkness, the only illumination from some light fixtures in the castle.  As time continued to drag on for me, I was losing hope.  I decided to confront Nightmare about the constant darkness.

"Princess, why can't we have some real sunlight?  The best I ever see is this dark glowing from the sky sometimes.  Please, Princess, please let it shine some time," I begged her.

"Really, Twilight, you should not trouble me like this.  I cannot raise the sun, nor will I ever do so -- don't ask me this favor again, for your sake.  You're not in any position to make such a demand," she scolded, glaring at me almost angrily.  I turned tail and started trotting away from her in an attempt to return to my room.

"I have need of your services, Twilight -- and I have not dismissed you.  Return to my side, please," she commanded.  I turned around to face her and slowly trotted to her, my head hanging low and my ears laying flat against my head.  The ornamentation of my clothing clinked lightly as I trotted, the wispy strands of cloth brushing my coat.  I tried to lower my tail, but the ring holding it up refused any attempt I made to lower it.  "There's a good girl, now come here.  I need something else from you," she almost cooed to me breathily.

"Princess, I need to use the bathroom," I said meekly, holding my hind legs tightly against each other.  I didn't really need to go, but I needed to get away from her for a few moments.  She glared at me again, but her expression softened a little as I gave her another tearful look.

"Very well then, Twilight, but make it quick," she sighed in annoyance.  I trotted quickly away, down a hallway.  "That's the wrong way!" she shouted at me, then started trotting after me.  I quickened my pace down the hallway, even going so far as to teleport to the end of the hallway, make another turn, teleport to the end of that hallway, make another turn, teleport to a room half-way down the next hallway and enter the room, locking the door behind me.  She pounded very hard on the door.

"Twilight!  Don't make me any angrier!" she shouted as she pounded the door again.  She used her magic to create a battering ram to shatter the door.  I used my magic to open the door just as her ram crashed through the room and knocked a hole through the wall on the opposite side of the room.  She gave me a grim scowl.  I teleported again, concentrating on my home world, but my horn fizzled and popped as I remained in the same position, my eyes clenched shut with my concentration.

"Heh.  I thought you might try that," she chuckled.  "I placed a magic barrier around the castle in order to prevent you from teleporting outside it.  You realize, of course, that you must be punished for your insubordination," she stated coldly.  She lit her horn again, this time creating an inhibitor ring, placing it on my horn.  I felt my magic drain away as the pain of the ring made my head throb with a constant pounding ache.  It felt like the worst migraine I'd ever suffered.

"Please, your Majesty, I'm sorry!  Please give me another chance!" I begged, kneeling before the dark Alicorn.

"That's just the beginning, Twilight.  There will be more punishment for you.  I knew I should have taken more precautions, but I was trying to be nice to you -- and since you have shown me your true colors, I shall show you mine," she growled.  "You think that ring is painful?  You haven't even begun to suffer yet."

A brilliant flash of white light accompanied by a light blue POP signaled the arrival of my counterpart from another universe.  Trixie was still traveling with him, though he still occupied a copy of Trixie's body.  He saw me writhing in pain, my forehooves clutching my horn in an attempt to remove the ring.  He turned to see the dark Alicorn glaring angrily at him, though she also showed surprise at seeing two Trixies.

"Nightmare Moon," Trixie-me stated flatly.  "Release Twilight -- I have need of her services."

"Who do you think you are?  Not that it matters much.  You made a mistake teleporting here -- you will not be able to leave!  So why are there two of you?"

"Trixie travels with Michael and has seen much!  You are Nightmare Moon?  Michael is stronger than you!" the show-mare stated proudly, puffing out her chest.  She trotted over to me and casually removed my inhibitor ring, causing my pain to subside.  I rose to my hooves, glaring angrily at the dark Alicorn.

"I am Michael Walker -- and so is Twilight, here!  Twilight, here, take this and use it!" Trixie-me shouted, tossing me an amulet, which I quickly affixed to my chest.  I felt its power coursing through my body, infusing me with what felt like great reserves of magic power.

"Your little trinkets are useless against me!" the dark Alicorn shouted, lighting her horn again.  She tried to place another inhibitor ring on me, but I was quick enough to use my telekinesis on it and place it on her horn.  She caused it to shatter and growled at me, baring all her teeth.  "You will pay for that, you insolent pup!"

Trixie-me surprised me with his level of magic power as he wrapped the Alicorn in his aura, his eyes and horn flashing a brilliant blue as he trapped her in a bubble.  "Help me, Twilight -- strengthen the bubble with your magic!  Trixie, help us contain her!" he commanded.  I lit my horn, my eyes and horn flashing a deep purple as I placed another containment bubble around the Alicorn.  Trixie used her magic to place a pink bubble outside ours, enveloping the dark Princess in three bubbles.  She lit her horn and shrieked in rage as she spent a huge amount of her power in an attempt to break free of our containment.  We strengthened our magic against her as she did this, managing to keep her contained despite her outburst.

"I will kill all three of you when I get out of this!!" she screeched in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Ain't gonna happen, baby girl," Trixie-me chortled at her in response.  "Twilight, Trixie, help me banish her to the moon!"

"That's impossible!  You can't do that!" she shouted, though her expression betrayed her bravado.  I could sense fear causing her voice to quaver ever so slightly, causing the corners of my mouth to turn slightly upward.

"Okay, Trixie, let's do this!" I shouted, altering my magic to strengthen Trixie-me's magic.  Trixie pitched in as well, the three of us succeeding in teleporting the dark Alicorn to the surface of the moon.

"Nooooo!" the Alicorn screamed as she disappeared.

The effort left me feeling somewhat drained, but I could feel my magic slowly returning.  The sun's light started streaming through the hole in the wall of the room we were in and another Alicorn made her presence known.

"Twilight, my faithful student!  How long has it been?  Trixie?  Why are there two of you?" asked the Solar Princess.  I chuckled in response to her query as did Trixie-me.

"You might ask why there are two Michaels," my counterpart chuckled before laughing a few times.  Trixie grinned as I chuckled softly.

"Your Majesty, I may look like your student, but I am actually Michael Walker, as is this copy of Trixie over here."  I turned to my counterpart.  "Mike, I owe you a debt of gratitude for your help.  I have to return to my home world so we can defeat Discord," I stated flatly.

"Michael?  You are both Trixie and Twilight?  How is it that there are two of you?" the Princess asked.

"Nightmare Moon brought me here against my will -- she was impersonating you, your Majesty," I replied flatly.  The Alicorn growled at this mention.  "My counterpart saved me, and I guess, rescued you, or something."

"When the Nightmare was banished, I was released from my imprisonment.  Thank you both very much for freeing me," she said warmly, almost bowing to us.

"Trixie helped us out as well, your Majesty," my counterpart offered.

"Trixie likes that outfit you wear, Sparkle," she grinned.

"As do I," added Celestia.

"Me three," said my counterpart.  I blushed deeply in embarrassment.

"Nightmare Moon forced me to wear this ... crime against fashion," I grumbled.  I attempted to remove it.

"No, please leave it on -- it may serve as a distraction for Discord -- we might be able to get the drop on him if he's distracted," my counterpart mused.

"I think you just want to stare at me and my ... beauty ... while I'm wearing this thing," I muttered.  "The only good thing about this ensemble is the latex boots, which protect my hooves and cannons."

"Those boots make you look very sexy," my counterpart giggled, causing my blush to deepen further.

"You know I'm you, right, Mike?  Why do you stare at me like that?" I asked in exasperation.

"Because I caught you staring at my sexy plot, you dirty old bastard!" he laughed.  Celestia and Trixie started laughing heartily at this assessment.  Trixie then turned to me.

"You weren't staring at Trixie's plot, were you, Sparkle?" she asked, shooting me an accusatory glare.

"You two look identical -- I have no way of knowing for sure one way or another," I replied, offering a sheepish grin.

"You can stare at it all you want," she giggled, her feigned outrage vanishing as she took the opportunity to drink in the sight of me in the lace, silk, latex, and silver chains and rings which made up the outfit.  I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and noticed that in the light, I actually did look kind of sexy in it.  I blushed again, but also grinned.

"I think I might wanna keep this outfit after all," I mused.  "Princess Celestia?  It's been several days since I got here, and I haven't really had much to eat during that time.  I just hope there's some food around here."

The white Alicorn seemed to be two steps ahead of all of us, teleporting to the kitchen and fetching some food for us, returning in a flash of light with a tray loaded up with all kinds of various foodstuffs.

"Can't have you facing down Discord on an empty stomach!  Partake, and restore yourselves.  I would like to accompany you, but it would appear that my duties prevent me from assisting you," she stated.
> Where Have You Been?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     How do you like your dream so far, Twilight?

"What?  What's going on?" I asked.  The others looked at me quizzically, unsure of how to react.

You know this is just a dream, don't you, Twilight?

"What?  Discord?  Is this your doing?" I asked aloud.  The expressions changed from puzzlement to worry.

Ding, ding, ding!  Give the little lady a cigar!  Let me show you what's going on!

I heard faint chuckling in the background as everything seemed to melt away once again.  I was seemingly back in my hotel room, with Jake/Pinkie looking over me in deep concern.

"Twilight!  Wake up!  Get up!  We need you!" I heard her voice calling me.  Twilight's voice in my head urged me to get to my hooves, albeit a bit shakily.

"What happened?  It feels like I've been hit by a truck or something," I muttered.  I was still struggling to rise to my hooves, feeling a slight dizziness in my head.  My mouth felt dry so I decided to get some water.

"We were so worried about you, Twiley!  You've been sleeping for five days!" Pinkie stated, seemingly excited to see me back.  She hugged me tightly.

"I had a very vivid dream -- that I had been taken from here by Princess Celestia, only to see her transform into Nightmare Moon, then there was a stretch of time where I was ... doing things for her, then another version of me popped in to help me defeat her -- I don't know if this is real or not, Pinkie.  Every time I think I'm finally coming to grips with what I think reality is, something happens to persuade me I'm not where I think I am," I said apprehensively.  "I'm afraid that this too is just a dream state -- I thought I heard the voice of Discord, but I don't even know what to think any more."

"You're just being a silly filly, Twiley!  Discord is running things just fine!" the pink pony chirped happily.  It was this happy tone to her voice which was quite jarring, given the fact that her mane and tail were straight flat against her body.  I thought I caught her left eye twitch just a little.  I frowned deeply and narrowed my eyes.

"Discord!  Enough with your tricks!" I shouted at the ceiling of the room.

Oh, you're no fun anymore.  I suppose that can't be helped.  Why so serious?  Why not enjoy your last few days of life?

"I intend to live a lot longer than that, Discord!" I replied.  Pinkie looked at me very quizzically.

"Why are you talking to him?  He's not here, you know."

"I can hear his voice in my head, Pinkie," I replied.

The pink pony put her right hoof to her mouth and blew a very loud whistle.  How does she do that? I wondered.  Very suddenly, the door burst open and four men wearing white coats grabbed me and put me in a straightjacket and carried me off to a small white truck.  I was so shocked by the suddenness of their actions that it wasn't until I was shoved into the back of the truck and it started moving that I realized I was being taken to an institution.

"Discord!  This isn't funny!" I shouted as I heard chuckling again.

"Who is Discord?" one of the men guarding me asked.  Almost as if on cue, he materialized in the truck with us.

"Hello, Twilight!  Did you miss me?" the dragonequus asked, grinning broadly.

"WAAAH!  What -- what -- what's going on here?" the guard asked fearfully.  Discord turned him into a medium brown earth pony with a yellow mane and tail.

"I am Discord, and I have need of this lavender unicorn.  She will be accompanying me on my travels," he stated flatly, removing my straightjacket with a wave of his lion's paw.  The cloth split lengthwise and fell away limply from my body.

"What do you want, Discord?" I asked him in a very annoyed tone of voice.  "Is it not enough for you to run this world?"

The dragonequus chuckled again.  "Why, Twilight, I need a jester for my personal amusement!  You shall serve me in that function -- oh, don't look at me like that!  And don't start crying, either!  This is the world you know as it is now -- I am a benevolent ruler, trust me!"

"I don't know what to believe any more.  If this is your doing, I shall endeavor to end your rule, even if it means sacrificing my life in order to accomplish that task!" I stated quite defiantly.

"Oh, you're no fun anymore.  Do not try my patience, Twilight -- I will only tolerate so much disrespect before I lose my temper.  You don't want to make me angry -- you wouldn't like me when I'm angry," he threatened in a low tone as he narrowed his jaundiced eyes at me.

"But isn't this world chaotic enough?  Haven't you done enough damage?  What about Trixie?" I asked.

"Why do you mention her?  I suppose if you wish to see her, I can summon her for you -- my guess is that the two of you shall provide much entertainment for me!  Brilliant idea!" he chuckled loudly and summoned the azure show-mare to our location.

"What?  Where am I?" asked the show-mare, completely confused by her sudden shift of location.  She turned and saw us looking at her, a smile on Discord's face, a look of grim determination on mine.  She started giggling.  "Oh, this is rich!  Sparkle?  It's been five days, and we were supposed to have another duel three days ago!  Oh, you've been fired from your position, I hope you know.  They haven't found a replacement for you, but I've been doing my act to substitute for the magic duel.  Since you're back, maybe we can duel again!"

"If you two have another duel, it will be at my pleasure," Discord stated flatly.  "I have other plans for you two, so no duels any time soon."

We gave him puzzled looks aside from glancing at each other.  "Is Gwen still there inside you, Trixie?" I asked.

"Are you Sparkle only or is that human still there?" she asked.

"We are still together, Trixie -- what about Gwen?"

The show-mare started giggling in response.  "That weakling is no more!"

"Oh, Trixie, how little you know," Discord chided.  "I'll take care of that matter."

Amazingly enough, Discord waved his eagle talon at Trixie and pulled a female human out of her body, then transformed her into a lime-green pegasus with teal-green mane and tail.  "Take care, Gwen!  Fly, be free!" he chuckled at her.  "See?  I can do good things every once in awhile," he said to us, grinning again.

"So what do you want us to do for you?" I asked.

"Entertain me, of course," he replied nonchalantly.  We were whisked away to his lair, the teleportation proving to be extremely disorienting.  Next thing I knew, I was looking at a cityscape from a very high vantage point.

"Do you like it?  I have the top two floors of the World Trade Center building number one!" he chuckled.

"Wait -- I thought the towers got blown up on nine eleven," I mused.

"That is a different universe, Twilight -- that one was merely illusory.  The towers still stand, untouched.  Look around, check out Manehattan!"

"You mean Manhattan?" I asked.  Trixie was baffled, trotting around the perimeter and gawping at the marvelous view.

"You underestimate me, Twilight!  This is Manehattan!  I have crafted it to suit my desires!" he announced proudly.

"So we're in Equestria?" I asked.  I didn't know what to believe any more, the constant travel between dimensions causing great confusion within me.  I also gawped at the view somewhat.

"Don't be so foolish, Twilight!  This is still Earth, but I am transforming it, little by little, until it is completely under my thrall!  I hope you don't mind too much."

"I suppose it beats having the world under control of those damned changelings," I muttered.  Discord laughed out loud and fell on the floor.

"Ah, hah, hah, hah!  That's a good one!  Who told you that?" he asked, trying to catch his breath between laughs.

"Nightmare Moon," I replied sullenly.  "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm bored -- I needed something to ease that boredom.  You and your species are most entertaining -- I think I'll be making this my home now.  There's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me from doing what I want, so you may as well get used to being my jester.  You too, Trixie!" he chuckled.
> Discord's Puppets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Out of the frying pan and into the fire... I thought as I mulled the dragonequus' words.  Trixie and I wandered about the very large but sparsely decorated room -- there didn't appear to be any beds for us to sleep on.

"How long are we supposed to be here, Discord?" I asked.

"Trixie wants to know as well," she added.

"As long as I want you to," he chuckled.

How am I supposed to get out of this? I wondered.  I trotted around the room looking for a cozy spot to lay down and found none.  "Discord, where are we supposed to sleep?" I asked, my sense of unease starting to creep into my voice.

"I shall provide suitable sleeping arrangements for you two," he said rather flippantly.  He waved his lion's paw again, creating a single bed, just large enough for two ponies.  "You two shall share that bed," he chuckled.

Trixie and I gave each other very shocked looks before turning towards the chaos entity.  "We are NOT sleeping together!" we shouted at him simultaneously.

"Oh, but you are," he chuckled, "unless you'd rather sleep on the cold hard floor?"

We both snorted at him before turning our gazes back to each other.  "...Fine.  But we're not going to enjoy it," I stated flatly.

"Who said anything about that?" he chuckled again.  "You serve me at my pleasure -- if you disappoint me, I shall find replacements for you -- but don't think that means you'll have it easy out there," he said, pointing a talon towards the city.  "Life can be pretty tough for somepony who disappoints me," he noted.  We shuddered at the possibilities as dark images played out in our minds.  Discord was running a projector, showing those possibilities on a screen.  "This is what lies in store for you should you disappoint me."

"Okay, so what are we supposed to do?" I asked.

"Whatever I want you to do," he replied dismissively.

"And when does that start?" I asked.

"Right NOW!" he laughed, snapping his talons.  Suddenly, Trixie and I were jerked about as though we were little more than a marionette's puppets, dancing on strings being pulled by the dragonequus.  We were moved around the room with no sense of self-control  Any attempt we made to regain control of our bodies proved futile as we were jostled and swung about to and fro with no specific direction or motive.

"Discord!  Stop this!" I called out to him.  Apparently his control over us was not complete, but he soon remedied that.

"Heh, I'll stop when I'm ready to, Twilight!  Did you forget?  You are my puppets, you do my bidding!  I'm doing this to show you that you have no control over your bodies any more, to show you that you are my property, my belongings, my personal possessions!  I won't allow you to speak unless I desire it!" he cackled gleefully as he continued to manipulate us randomly.  I tried to speak again, but found I could not.  Trixie shed tears as she expressed a sense of helplessness over her situation.  I could have sworn she pleaded with me to help her -- perhaps we could communicate telepathically, if nothing else.  He continued to move us around the room until his amusement faded.  He released us from his control at that point.

"Why must you torment us like that?" I asked, trying to mask my anger.

"You're not a very good listener, you know that?" he replied.  "I already told you, Twilight, you belong to me now -- unless you think you want to try living out there, without the use of your magic..."

I hung my head in response.  "Okay, Discord, you win.  You know I'd be totally helpless without my magic."

"Sparkle, can't you do anything?" the show-mare asked me, desperation coloring her words.  "Trixie does not want to be stuck like this!  Why did you drag her into this mess?"

"It wasn't my idea, Trixie," I stated sadly.  "I merely expressed a curiosity about you and Discord decided he wanted you as additional entertainment."  She glowered at me.

"So it was your idea!  Don't lie to Trixie, Sparkle!"

Discord started chuckling.  "I knew putting the two of you together would provide me endless entertainment!  I'm so glad I listened to you, Twilight!"

"Why do you have to ruin things, Discord?" I growled through clenched teeth.

"That depends on your definition of ruin," he said flatly.  "In my eyes, I'm just having fun -- if that bothers you, do something about it!"

"I wish there were some way I could, though I have no idea of how I could defeat you alone, or even with Trixie's help," I grumbled.

"That's what I like about you, Twilight!  Ever the fighting spirit, ever the one looking at things in simple black and white terms, never considering all the possible shades of grey in between those two polar opposites!  Such two-dimensional thinking empowers me!"

I sighed in disgust and made my way over to the bed to lie down.  "My brain hurts, Discord," I muttered as I climbed onto the bed.  Trixie joined me, not bothering to speak to the dragonequus.  She lay next to me and quickly fell asleep.  I soon joined her in slumber.

"Aw, isn't that cute?  They make such a pretty pair!"  he chuckled softly, smiling to himself.  He took a moment to turn Trixie toward me, her left foreleg draped around my midsection.  I was unaware of this, but a smile made its way onto her face as she hugged me close.  I sensed her body warmth, which felt nice, but didn't consider it anything more than her cuddling me for warmth or comfort.  We slept for several hours like that before Discord woke us up again and fed us breakfast.
> Flashes of Anger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "You two will need to eat well -- we have a hectic day ahead of us," the dragonequus noted.  We sat at a table which was just large enough for the two of us to eat, facing each other no less.  We had hay pancakes and orange juice and ate in silence, only occasionally glancing at each other.  Trixie was the first to break the silence.

"Thanks for letting Trixie hold you, Sparkle," she offered, smiling demurely.

"You're welcome," I replied tersely.  I stole a glance of the show-mare, her face showing a light blush.  I smiled in return.  "You know, it felt kinda nice having you hold me like that."  Her blush deepened before she turned away from my gaze.

"I thought you two made a pretty pair," Discord offered, chuckling softly.  "I think you two will get along pretty well together -- you both just needed a push in the right direction.  That having been said, you'd better finish eating soon, there's lots to do today!"

"Ugh.  What are we doing today?" I asked, disgust evident as dread filled me with whatever nightmarish possibilities the dragonequus could dream up.

"There's a certain library you two are going to be organizing for me -- or maybe disorganizing, I forget which.  It's a pretty big library, so it's best we get an early start."  He gestured grandly with his lion paw as he said this.

"Trixie does not care for libraries," she muttered.  She glanced at me before looking away, suddenly finding her left forehoof extremely interesting.

"You still think I'm Twilight, don't you, Discord?  Well, tell me this then -- which library are you talking about?"

"The Library of Congress, of course," he chuckled, his tone quite nonchalant.  His eyes seemed to twinkle a little.

"Pretty big is an understatement, Discord -- that's the largest library in the world!" I exclaimed in exasperation.

"That's why I told you we needed to get an early start, Twilight," he responded, chuckling even louder.  He appeared to blow a soft breath across his eagle talon.

"That's pretty mundane -- can't you do something like that yourself?" I asked.  I had a hard time looking at him, a feeling of revulsion hitting me every time I chanced a glance in his direction.

"Well, I could -- but it's much more fun to have you two do it, since I know you can't stand the idea of a library whose books are not in order."  His smile took on a mischievous glint before turning a little menacing.

I felt a twinge of pain inside my head as Twilight face-hoofed.  "Michael, please do something about him!  Try to see if you can surreptitiously distract him from this!  I don't want to see that library disorganized!" she exclaimed, but unfortunately, the words came out of my mouth alerting the chaos entity to her presence within me.  His initial surprise gave way to amusement.

"Ah, there are two of you in that body?  Interesting," the chaos entity mused.  "I have ways of fixing that!" he exclaimed as he waved his lion's paw at me.  I could sense Twilight's mind merging with mine and wailed in despair -- or was it Twilight who cried?  Either way, the sense of deep loss overwhelmed me as I fell to my haunches and started sobbing.  The pain of losing my individuality was too much for me to take.

"Discord, what did you do to Sparkle?" Trixie asked angrily.  She trotted over to me and wrapped a foreleg around my withers and started cooing to me softly.  "What has he done to you, Sparkle?" she asked softly into my ear.

"There's only one of us now, Trixie -- what he did caused our minds to merge, so now we have to --"

Trixie expressed outrage at the dragonequus, catching him off-guard.  She powered up her horn to unleash her strongest magic attack at him, her rage so extreme as to cause him to display surprise and even a little fear as she assumed her elemental form.  "How dare you do that to Sparkle?" she screeched as she hurled her magic attack at him.

"You dare attack me?" he retorted, sweeping her attack aside harmlessly.  "After all I've done for you?  Begone with you, little show-mare!" he roared, enveloping her in a dark aura and making her disappear.

"TRIXIE!" I screamed as she vanished.  "What did you do to her?  Where did you send her?"

"I told you, any who disappoint me get punished.  She's out there somewhere, minus her horn.  She'll have to find a way to survive without her magic," he replied nonchalantly.  "Do you desire the same fate?  I can find others to amuse me, if that is your wish."

Something within me snapped -- I can't explain it exactly, it just seemed as though an essential part of my psyche went into overdrive.  I seethed with rage, assuming my elemental form, a sight which initially made Discord chuckle.

"Aw, little Twilight got mad!" he said in a very mocking tone of voice.  "So you do have feelings for Trixie?  Perhaps I was a little harsh," he mused as he snapped his talons and she reappeared, her horn restored.  She was visibly shaking as I powered down.

"I suppose I should thank you for returning her, Discord," I grumbled.  The show-mare trotted over to me, wrapping her forelegs around me in a tight hug.

"Trixie wants to know what you did to get him to bring her back," she said softly.

"Consider it an act of contrition on my part," the chaos entity stated flatly.  "Let that serve as a warning, Trixie."  She stuck her tongue out in protest.  "Don't anger me further, Trixie."  His visage darkened, causing her to cower behind me.

"Sparkle, can you protect me from him?  His magic is too strong for me," she whimpered softly to me.

"I wish I could, Trixie -- his magic is too strong for me, too," I replied softly.

"Isn't there something we can do?" she asked fearfully, desperation tinging her words.

"I don't have any answers, Trixie -- he's got us on a very short leash, so I suggest we play along with him until he tires of us -- I just hope he doesn't do to us what he just did to you when he's finished playing around with us," I told her, though great trepidation made my voice waver a bit as I said these words to her.  The prospect of being without the use of my magic was truly terrifying and I didn't want to do anything that might jeopardize my abilities.

"If you two are done with the heart-to-heart, we have a job to do.  It's time for us to go," Discord stated flatly, though annoyance at our delay was evident in his voice.
> The Great Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     After our little dust-up with Discord, we got what we could situated, so to speak -- this was basically Trixie and I discussing strategy while Discord looked on with mild amusement until he considered we had spent long enough chatting with each other.  We had made a plan to escape while we were in the library, though I wondered (silently) whether or not such a plan would actually work.  Trixie had reluctantly agreed to accompany me once we had gotten enough distance between ourselves and the dragonequus.

"Okay, you two, time to get going," he grumbled as we turned to face him.  Both of us gave him sullen looks of resignation, hoping this might keep him off guard or disguise our intentions.  He gathered us close to him and teleported us to the aforementioned library, which was gigantic.  I had never visited this library, but to say it was big was the height of understatement.  I gawped at the shelves, as did Trixie.  Discord cleared his throat loudly to signal his displeasure at our hesitation.

"Enough time looking at the shelves, get to work!" he snapped.  We both glared at him and proceeded to trot in opposite directions, haphazardly pulling books off the shelves, letting them fall to the floor randomly.  I heard the sound of chuckling off in the distance and continued trotting along the aisles between the shelves, then rounded the corner to find Trixie-me and his/her traveling companion, though it was difficult for me to determine whether or not it was this universe's Trixie or the other one.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them, the surprise evident on my face.

"Sparkle?  Trixie should ask you the same question!" she retorted.

"Ah, we meet again, Mike!  What happened to that sexy outfit you were wearing the last time I saw you?" my counterpart inquired, a mischievous grin on his/her face.

"Sometimes I wonder about you, Mike," I muttered.  "I have no idea how you manage to track me down, but it looks like you're arrived in time to pull me out of another tight spot.  Discord abducted Trixie and me and took us here to disorganize the shelves in this library."

"Trixie was not brought here to do that, Sparkle," she grumbled.  My partner showed up to witness this spectacle and an expression of surprise made its way onto her face.

"Trixie is surprised to meet two of herself again," the show-mare said in her befuddlement.

"Hey, Mike, you've got good taste in mares!" Trixie-me chuckled.  "Let's get out of here, I know a safe place."

We all joined fore-hooves and my counterpart teleported the four of us out of the library, the sensation of teleporting being quite disorienting for me.  We materialized in Canterlot Castle's Royal Throne Room to see a very bewildered Princess Celestia nearly gawping at the sight of three Trixies and a unicorn Twilight Sparkle.  I bowed before the Solar Princess.

"Would one of you care to explain to me what is going on here?" asked the Alicorn.  I rose to face her, then raised my right fore-hoof to answer her, though my Trixie counterpart did so as well.  Both of the other Trixies simply stared at each other, neither one happy to see the other.  "Interesting," she mused.  "Twilight, you go first."

"Your Majesty, my tale is long and convoluted, though I have a sneaking suspicion that you might be the original Princess who came to my home world some time back and beckoned me to return," I offered.  The Alicorn shook her head slightly in response.

"No, Twilight, that might be another of my counterparts.  I am familiar with Trixie here, who has informed me of meeting you on a few occasions.  The last time she met you and returned to inform me of your whereabouts, she had let me know you were wearing a certain outfit, one which --"

I blushed in embarrassment.  "Your Majesty, that was given to me by Nightmare Moon, though how we managed to escape her clutches seems to defy logic to me.  I was taken from my home world -- I don't know if I'm in a dream state or if any of this is real --"  I turned to Trixie-me, "Mike, is this your universe or yet another one?  How do I get back home?"

My show-mare counterpart chuckled.  "Mike, this is my home world now -- I gave up on Earth quite a while back.  Trixie and I are quite happy to stay here, and I believe Princess Celestia would welcome you two as well," he mused pensively.

"Twilight?  You are --"

"Yes, your Majesty.  I am Michael Walker as well, though Discord did a bad thing to me -- my mind and Twilight's have been merged together -- that damned dragonequus has a terrible sense of humor," I muttered.

"So now there are two Michael Walkers and two Trixies in my realm?  I am sorry to disappoint you, Twilight, but you will have to return to your home world.  Fortunately, I can send you there if you wish," the Alicorn offered, smiling warmly.

"Princess, I was just there.  Discord had taken them to the Library of Congress and was having them mess it up," Trixie-me stated flatly.  "If you send them back, they don't have a way of combating him, nor will they be safe for any serious length of time."

"Twilight, other Trixie, please come forward.  I shall provide both of you with a special amulet to protect you from Discord.  These amulets will augment your magic abilities, though they will not provide you with enough power to defeat him.  You will have to find the Element Bearers if you can and use the Elements of Harmony to return him to his prison of stone."

Trixie and I trotted up to the Solar Princess, who levitated a golden triangular amulet with a blue diamond inset to both of us, then placed them around our necks.  We both felt the sensation of magical power surging through us, causing me to smile and Trixie to grin.

"Thank you very much, your Majesty," I stated reverently.

"Trixie wishes to thank you as well, Princess Celestia," she said, matching my tone.

"My request is that you two use those amulets responsibly.  I would also request you return them to me once you have succeeded in your mission," the Alicorn advised somewhat sternly.

"Yes, your Majesty," we both replied simultaneously, bowing before her.

"Best of luck, Mike, Trixie," Trixie-me stated optimistically, flashing a smile.

"I hope to see you again some time," I responded warmly, returning his/her smile.  Trixie simply nodded her head to concur with my sentiment, also smiling at my counterpart.  Using the power of the amulets, we teleported back to our home world.

"Looks like we've got some work to do, Trixie," I observed, striking a hopeful tone.

"Trixie hopes you know what you're doing, Sparkle," she replied, sounding somewhat apprehensive.
> Return to Reality ... Maybe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Using the power of the amulet I had been given, I managed to trace Nick/Rarity's magic signature.

"Trixie, take my left fore-hoof -- I'm going to teleport us to one of the Element Bearers," I offered, smiling warmly.

"Trixie hopes this isn't a trap," she offered almost meekly.

"You have that amulet and I have one as well.  They should provide us with enough power to face any challenge we might encounter," I replied confidently as we teleported into what appeared to be a hotel room.  An alabaster unicorn mare, a pink earth pony mare, as well as an orange earth pony mare were huddled around a television set which had been turned to FOX News.  I frowned in disapproval at the channel choice.

"Hello, girls, how are things going?" I asked the group.  All of them turned around to gawk at me, though Pinkie was the first to answer -- not vocally, but rather by rushing to embrace me in a very tight hug.

"Oh, Twiley, we've missed you so much!  We feared the worst!  We've gotta throw you both a great big welcome back party!" she exclaimed very excitedly, bouncing me along with her.  I had no idea she was this strong!

"What's been going on?  How long have we been gone?" I asked.

"You've been gone for about fourteen days, darling -- the company has been continuing to take us around the country and perform for audiences, but things have been getting a bit more chaotic since you've been gone," Rarity replied flatly.

"So what day is tomorrow?" I asked, a hint of trepidation in my voice.

"Tomorrow is LBJ Day," Applejack replied glumly.  "Ta be honest, sugarcube, we'd almost given up on ya."

"Trixie, what happened to Gwen?" asked Pinkie.

"Discord took that weakling out of Trixie's body, turning her into a green pegasus," the show-mare replied flatly.  This elicited shock from the others who started asking a bunch of questions, talking over each other in the process.

"Please, calm down, everypony.  Time is running short for us, though we just got done escaping from Discord.  He made the mistake of showing us his lair, so we know where he's staying.  We need to find the Elements, and we have to do it soon," I averred, a look of renewed confidence on my face.  "My counterpart has been helping me, as has Princess Celestia -- at least two or three of them, I think -- so we have that going for us.  It looks like it's pretty late now, so perhaps Trixie and I can get some sleep."

"I will let the others know you've returned.  Trixie, are you going to sleep with the others?" asked Rarity.

"Trixie thinks she'll sleep with Sparkle," she replied, flashing just a hint of a grin.  "She doesn't want to sleep alone."

"The execs might not like that very much," Pinkie offered in a sing-song voice, grinning broadly.

"Fuck the execs, we've got work to do," I stated rather bluntly.  "And to be honest, I don't like sleeping alone, either."  My bluntness caused the others to flinch a little as they weren't expecting me to drop an F-bomb on them.  I grinned sheepishly.  "Sorry about that, it's just that I've been through a rather trying time these past several days or so."

"Twilight, darling, would you care to enlighten us with all the details?" asked Rarity.  She seemed almost eager to listen to my story.  I shook my head in response.

"Rarity, I'm tired, I've been through a lot, I need to get some sleep -- tell you what -- I'll fill all of you in on what's been going on tomorrow morning.  Right now, I need to rest and formulate a plan of action.  Trixie, are you coming with me?"

The show-mare chuckled and said, "Yes, Sparkle!" as she followed me to one of the beds in the room.  I hopped onto it before Pinkie shoved me off.

"That's MY bed, silly filly!  Find another one!" the pink pony giggled.  I glared at her and looked around the room to see there were only enough beds for her, Rarity, and Applejack.

"I thought there were four beds here," I mused.

"There were, sugarcube, but since ya've been gone, they took the other one away," Applejack commented.  She gave me a sympathetic glance before turning her attention to her own bed, choosing to hop onto it.  She fell asleep almost immediately.

"Okay, it looks like I'm going to have to have a little talk with one of the execs after all," I grumbled.  "Trixie?  Are you coming with me?"

Trixie started laughing before squeezing a "Yes, Sparkle!" between her laughs as she trotted after me again.

I opened the room door and trotted down the hallway to try to find one of the execs, though I wasn't exactly sure where to find them.  I decided to visit the hotel lobby and find the concierge to see if he or she might know of their whereabouts.  I pushed the elevator button and waited on it to get to our floor.  When the doors opened, an exec stepped out and greeted us.

"Well, well, well!  I see our rogue magicians have returned!  We've been worried sick about you!  Where have you two been?" he asked.  He seemed to flash a menacing smile, causing me to frown just a little.

"I was hoping to get a bed for myself -- I'm willing to let Trixie share it with me -- I've been through a lot and don't have time to give you all the details.  Let's just say that Discord has a twisted sense of humor and leave it at that, shall we?  Now, about that room?"

"We will need a full debriefing tomorrow morning.  I'll get you two a room -- please follow me," he stated flatly.  We accompanied him to the hotel lobby where another room was procured for us, then back to the floor the others were on, then to a room adjacent to the one we were just in.  This room had a single king-sized bed, which I could have sworn was singing a siren song of relief to me.  Trixie's reaction seemed to mimic mine, or at least she seemed to be thinking along similar lines.

"Thank you very much, sir.  I shall see you tomorrow morning then," I stated cheerfully.

"We look forward to having you two perform for us again," he responded, almost as cheerfully.  He closed the door behind us as we made our way to the bed and hopped onto it, sinking into the luxurious memory foam pillow top mattress.

"Trixie wants you to cuddle her from behind, Sparkle," she cooed to me as she turned off the lights.  I giggled and snuggled up close to her, wrapping my left fore-leg around her barrel.

"Thanks again, Trixie," I whispered softly into her ear as I drifted off to sleep.  I felt Trixie's hoof on mine, but didn't pay attention to anything that happened after that as I fell into a deep slumber.  I think a smile came to my face as the sensation of her warmth comforted me, allowing me to sleep quite soundly.
> Out of the Frying Pan...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Trixie and I woke to find ourselves wrapped in each other's legs, our muzzles barely touching.  I smiled at her, though a light blush gave my cheeks a slight sheen of rouge.  Trixie returned my smile and blush.

"Good morning, Sparkle!  Trixie hopes you enjoyed yourself last night!" she giggled.

"I don't remember anything aside from falling asleep, cuddling you from behind," I responded softly.

"You did quite a bit more than that, Sparkle!" she grinned mischievously before giving me a quick kiss on my lips.

"Trixie, when did you become so affectionate?" I asked, her attitude change completely surprising me.

"You helped Trixie in a time of need -- you showed Trixie compassion -- and Trixie wanted to thank you for your kindness," she cooed in response, kissing me again.  My blush deepened, but for some reason or other, I could feel a yearning need for her developing in the pit of my stomach.

"Um, Trixie, please be careful about showing me so much affection -- we've got some business to attend to," I stated, trying to distract my mind from the multiple sensations my body was receiving.  Her warmth felt very nice and her kisses were soft.

"Trixie has been feeling lonely for a long time, Sparkle -- she wants some company -- Trixie thinks she's starting to like you," she offered softly, practically whispering the words into my left ear.

"I'm willing to let you accompany me on my travels, Trixie -- and to be honest, I rather enjoyed having you sleep with me -- I just hope the execs don't want us to fight each other any more," I chuckled softly.

Trixie frowned a little at that statement.  "Trixie does what she must to earn money.  If she is requested to fight you, Sparkle, she does so not out of hostility to you, but out of obligation to her employer.  Trixie will go easy on you if you so desire," she grinned impishly.

"Unless you've learned some very powerful magics or greatly improved your skill, I will not ask for quarter if we are forced to fight each other again," I replied tersely.  My expression seemed to harden a little, causing Trixie to frown and release me from her embrace.

"None will be given, Sparkle," she replied flatly.  "Trixie does not wish to fight you, Sparkle.  She wanted some more fun with you, though, but you just ruined her mood.  Trixie is going to take a shower now and freshen up for our meeting with the executives."  With that, she rose to her hooves and jumped off the bed, trotting to the bathroom and turning on the shower.

I groaned and likewise rose to my hooves and followed the show-mare into the bathroom.  She caught me intruding and glared at me.  "Trixie, I would like to shower with you if I may," I offered, a soft smile on my lips.  My request elicited a broad grin from the azure unicorn, who seemed to chortle in response.

"Trixie thought so, Sparkle.  You are free to join her if you so desire."  She opened the curtain and hopped into the bathtub and I followed her in, her temperature choice for the shower seeming to be a little too hot for my liking.  We took turns lathering each other up with soap and shampoo before rinsing off under the water.  I think we might have taken a little too long in the shower as one of the execs pounded on the room door to try to get our attention.  We quickly toweled off and I opened the door.  The exec didn't seem very happy.

"You two were to be having breakfast about half an hour ago," he grumbled.

"Trixie is on her own schedule, Frank!  Your company needs Trixie more than she needs your company!" she retorted, glaring almost angrily at him.

"Jeez, Trixie, what's gotten into you about the company execs?" I asked her.

"Trixie does not like the way they treat her, Sparkle," she replied flatly.  "Trixie thinks there are ulterior motives at work here."  The exec flinched for a second before returning the show-mare's glare.

"Come on, you two, you've got an appearance to do.  Follow me," said Frank, motioning for us to do so.  We followed him down a hallway, then into another office.  I was hesitant about entering an office, as I had imagined we would be getting into a vehicle to be transported to our next appearance.  Behind a desk sat another executive, one who seemed to have more authority to him.  He reminded me of the earlier one who had berated me for my disappearance.  His charcoal-grey suit seemed to match his hair, though what seemed quite odd about him was his jaundiced eyes.  It appeared as though he had a Fu Manchu style beard, which I thought was an odd choice for a company executive.

"Ah, so our rogue unicorns have returned," he stated, his voice having a deep baritone quality to it.  "I was wondering where you two had gotten off to.  I had a terrible time tracking you down after you left the library," he chortled, a sly grin creeping across his face.  Trixie and I exchanged nervous glances before I turned to him.

"Discord?  Really?  Damn, I thought we managed to escape your clutches," I stated rather dejectedly, hanging my head, my ears drooping.

"You thought you could get away from me, didn't you?  You had no idea I was the one behind these appearances," he chuckled.  "I've been paying you quite well, and this is how you repay me?  I've half a mind to turn you both back into humans, just for causing me so much trouble."

"Trixie is a unicorn, not a human!" the show-mare exclaimed indignantly.

"You're the one who merged my mind with Twilight's," I added, contempt dripping from my words as I scowled at him.

"Yes, well, sometimes there needs to be an incentive for me -- things get so boring -- who needs normal?  Chaos is so much more fun!" he grinned.  "What?  You're disappointed?  Aww, that's too bad.  You're working for me, remember?  There's the small matter of that contract you signed -- in my case, breach of contract results in a stiffer penalty."

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to gauge his motives.

"Oh, come on now, Twilight, you should be smart enough to have figured it out by now!  I already told you you serve me, but that's not good enough for you.  You're getting help from someone somewhere, and I intend to find out who it is who's helping you.  So I'm going to keep the two of you right here in my office and wait for whomever it is to show up," he stated flatly.  I glowered at him.

"Sometimes you have to help yourself," I muttered.  Trixie snickered a little at this, her expression seemed to be one of smug confidence.

"Trixie knows something, Discord," she said somewhat cryptically.

"Stop playing games with me, you talentless hack," he growled.  "If there's a secret you're hiding, I will find it out."

I decided to remain silent, as did Trixie.  The executive dropped his disguise in an attempt to intimidate us, thinking that if he revealed his true form he would scare us into giving ourselves away.  A tense silence ensued for quite some time as we continued to stare at each other.  The minutes continued to drag on with a seemingly interminable quality.

"Ladies, I grow bored of this monotony.  I think it's time for a little fun, don't you?" the dragonequus asked.  Neither of us spoke as we waited for something to happen.  Discord shook his head in annoyance.  "You're not getting paid for this," he added flatly.

"Trixie does not care about that, Discord," she hissed, narrowing her eyes at him.
> I Am Beatrix Lulamoon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               -------------------------- Trixie Walker's point of view ------------------------

I must admit, I was rather surprised to find an alternate universe version of myself running around in Twilight's body, but pleased to see that he had Trixie accompanying him -- er, her, I guess.  I thought it was quite unusual that he/she was having so much trouble with Discord -- hadn't he been reformed?  Or maybe that hadn't happened in that other universe.  I decided I was going to have a little chat with Princess Celestia to determine how to help him, though I had to keep in mind just how dangerous tangling with an unreformed Discord could be.  Even with an Alicorn Amulet, I was no match for the dragonequus.  Perhaps I should have a talk with him in this universe...

At Princess Celestia's request, I had taken residence in Canterlot, the Alicorn having provided Trixie and me with a deluxe accommodation not far from her bedchamber.  I had proven myself to be quite useful to her, and with Trixie's help, we had been able to accomplish a great deal.  I was now sensing my Twilight counterpart in the other universe had gotten into trouble again and figured I was going to have to put a stop to the chaos in his/her world.

"Trixie, I need you to accompany me to Celestia's chamber," I announced, causing the show-mare to grumble.

"What is it this time, Michael?  Let Trixie guess -- it's about Sparkle, isn't it?" she asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, but he -- I mean, she -- ugh, I need to make up my mind on what to call him -- he's having more trouble with Discord over there," I replied.  No sooner had I mentioned the dragonequus' name, he materialized nearby.

"What's this I hear about myself?  Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked, a sly grin on his face.

"Have you been reformed?  Or are you just trying to make mischief again?  There's another universe where you are causing my counterpart a great deal of trouble," I intoned.

"Me?  Why would I do such a thing?" he asked, feigning innocence.  He pulled a fainting couch from thin air and made a big show of mock exasperation, falling back upon the couch.

"Because we had a hard enough time convincing you to keep your chaos under control here -- and unless you can convince your counterpart in the other universe that he's being unnecessarily cruel, I may have to ask Princess Celestia for her assistance, along with the Element Bearers to bring this matter to a final conclusion," I stated somewhat darkly.

He narrowed his eyes at me, a look of seriousness on his face.  "You'd better be careful, Michael -- I don't react well to being threatened.  If you want my help, just ask -- I'm curious to meet another version of myself!" he chuckled as he pondered the possibility.  "Hmmm.  Two of me.  Hmmmmmmmmm!" he grinned.

"Don't get any ideas, Discord -- unless you can prove to me you can reform him."  I glared at him as he continued to chuckle.  Trixie remained close by my side, her expression nearly matching mine.  I absentmindedly wrapped my right foreleg around her withers, eliciting a smile from the show-mare.

"Don't you two make a lovely couple?" he chuckled.  "I wonder if your counterpart in that other universe looks like you or someone else..." he said softly, letting his words trail off as he struck a pensive mood.

"He's in Twilight's body in that other universe," I replied nonchalantly.  The dragonequus burst into full laughter.

"That's rich!  Does he even know just how much power he has at his disposal?  And you're the one helping him?" he asked through his laughter.  I tried to answer him, but he was rolling on the ground clutching his sides, laughter wracking his body.  I glowered at him, growling softly, my left eye twitching a little.

"Come on, Trixie, it's time to meet up with Celestia," I muttered as I removed my right foreleg from around her.  She nodded her head and trotted beside me as we made our way to the Alicorn's chamber.

"Wait, Michael!  I'll help you!  It's the least I can do!" Discord shouted before teleporting in front of us, blocking our path.  "There's no need to get her involved in this little dispute -- besides, I'm curious to see my counterpart as well!"

Trixie and I exchanged worried looks.  "I don't know if that's such a good idea -- I would hate to be unleashing the chaos of yet another dragonequus on one world," I opined.

"Trust me, Michael!  What could go wrong?" he asked, flashing a saccharine smile.  I saw his eyes betray his mood, causing me to frown.  "Look, I'll help you, I'm a dragonequus of my word!"

"I still think I need to discuss this with the Princess, if you don't mind," I stated as I glanced at Trixie and nodded my head in the direction of Celestia's chamber and started trotting again, going around the chaos entity.

"All right, all right!  I promise you I will not cause any trouble there!  Please, let me assist you!" he offered almost stridently.

I turned to Trixie again to gauge her reaction.  She slowly shook her head from side to side.  "Discord, I need an insurance policy here, so I'm afraid I must consult with Princess Celestia on this matter.  I have heard what your counterpart is doing over there and quite frankly, I'm worried about the safety of my counterpart," I responded firmly.

"Oh, you're no fun anymore," he harrumphed and disappeared.  Trixie stuck her tongue out at his retreating form as I merely shook my head in annoyance.  We trotted to the Solar Princess' chambers and I talked to one of the guards standing before her door to allow us entry.  She smiled warmly at us and beckoned us to her side.

"It pleases me to see you both once again, Michael and Trixie.  May I inquire as to the nature of your visit?"

"My counterpart in that other universe is having some difficulty with Discord," I replied, matter-of-factly.

"Discord here wants to go there to meet himself," Trixie added.  Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"I expressly forbid that!  One of him is enough trouble already!  Your counterpart is in Twilight's body -- she has already met with me, but -- she needs the Elements, but I cannot give them to her."

"Have you thought about taking them and their bearers to her universe to help her there?" I asked.

"I have, but the risk is too high," she replied, a hint of disappointment on her face.

"Do you think that four of us with Alicorn Amulets might be able to defeat him?" I asked.

Celestia chuckled for a moment.  "It's a tempting thought, but I doubt it would work.  Discord is quite powerful, and even twenty unicorns with Alicon Amulets would only serve to make him angry."

Discord popped into the chamber at this point.  "If I may be so bold, Celly, why not let me help them out?  I promise I'll be on my best behavior!" he offered, though a chuckle escaped his mouth as he said this.  Trixie and I exchanged nervous glances at each other before we turned our attention back to the Alicorn, who shook her head.

"I forbid it -- you have caused enough trouble here, and the risk of you and your counterpart causing even more havoc on an unsuspecting world is just too dangerous a prospect to contemplate," she replied.

"I wouldn't trust this dragonequus as far as I could throw him, your Majesty," I added.

"I bet you could throw me as far as the bedroom, Mikey," he grinned slyly.  I narrowed my eyes at him as Celestia giggled.

"What does that mean?" asked Trixie, a perplexed look on her face.  I rolled my eyes at her question.

"Maybe later I'll tell you, Trixie.  Discord, I would need proof of your sincerity if you're serious about helping us in that other universe," I intoned, eyeing him warily.  He might have been reformed here, but I still didn't trust him.

"You have my word as a dragonequus -- we are forbidden from lying, though we're given quite a bit of creative latitude with the truth," he stated cheerfully with a hint of a chuckle.

"Discord tells the truth, Michael.  I am quite reticent about allowing him to go, but I believe he may be able to convince his counterpart in the other universe to change his ways," the Solar Princess opined.

"Well, that's settled!  Let's get going, girls!" he chirped, gathering Trixie and me in his arms and teleporting us to the other universe.
> The Final Confrontation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                             ---------------------------------  Twilight Walker's Point of View  ------------------------

"I'm prepared to wait all night long, Twilight," Discord chuckled.  'But I want to see you wearing that sexy outfit you had on last time."  With a wave of his lion's paw, I was once again clad in black latex boots, gold bands around my mane and tail, strips of sheer white nylon tied with silver chain draped along my sides attached to the gold bands, and a gold circlet on my head.  "Much better!" he chuckled.  Trixie turned to me and smiled approvingly before subconsciously licking her lips.  I narrowed my eyes at the dragonequus and bared my teeth at him.

"You realize you won't get away with this," I hissed through clenched teeth, my eyes beginning to flare red.

"It doesn't matter whether I do or not, Twilight.  You're in no position to stop me from doing whatever I want!" he chortled.  Trixie sidled over to me and began running a hoof up and down the outside of my left hind leg, sending a shiver of pleasure through me.  I involuntarily moaned at her touch.

"Trixie, this is not the time or place for such affection," I gasped in exasperation.

'Trixie thinks you look very sexy like that!" she grinned as she continued to stroke my leg, the latex amplifying the sensation.  The dragonequus leered at me lustily, a glazed look beginning to show in his eyes.

Hmm.  This might be the distraction I need.  Keep going, Trixie, just a little bit longer...

My breathing became a little more ragged as the show-mare continued, though she had moved her forehoof to the inside of my leg, causing me to moan a little more deeply, the pleasure beginning to short-circuit my brain.  I silently hoped I could maintain my concentration, but the feeling was a little too intense for me.  It was at this moment that another dragonequus popped into the room with two Trixies in his arms.  He set them down gently on the floor and stared at his counterpart, who was thoroughly engrossed in watching the show-mare rub her forehoof between my hind legs.

"Well, well, well.  It looks like Mikey wasn't kidding," Discord chuckled, startling his counterpart.

"Uh -- uh -- what -- what are YOU doing HERE?!" the dragonequus shouted.

"I might very well ask you the same question, me," the other one replied flatly.  While the two of them were glaring at each other, I used the distraction to teleport to the room where the other human/pony Element Bearers were.  Jacob/Pinkie trotted up to me.

"Uh, Twiley, where've you been?  We thought you were gone for good!" the pink pony exclaimed as she gripped me in a tight hug.  She released me almost as quickly as she had hugged me, noticing the outfit I was wearing.  I blushed in embarrassment, noting that I had acted quite hastily in leaving the two dragonequi to stare each other down.

"No time for that, Pinkie, we need to gather the others.  The exec we've been working for is Discord himself," I replied, eliciting a gasp from the others.  "To make matters worse, another Discord has shown up with two more Trixies, making a total of three of them."

"Three Trixies?  What kind of crazy stuff is going on?" asked Rainbow.  "I like your outfit, Twiley," she added, grinning broadly.

"It's a long story, Dash.  Let me grab my amulet -- I'll be right back," I announced, then teleported back to the room Trixie and I had been sharing.  My amulet was still on the nightstand and I used my magic to place it around my neck.  I was disappointed it wasn't the tiara, but I was going to play a hunch, noting that perhaps the two Chaos Entities would cancel each other out -- I think.  I teleported back to the other room and gathered everypony together.

"I'm not gonna ask what day it is -- it doesn't matter now.  Come on, girls, we've got a dragonequus to tame!" I exclaimed.  They shot me nervous glances before Applejack spoke up.

"Um, this may be a dumb question, but how're we gonna defeat him without the Elements?"

"I think my amulet might be able to summon them from wherever they might happen to be -- if the six of us are together, we should be able to use our magic regardless of whether or not we have those amulets -- that, or mine will bring them to us, rendering that argument moot.  Let's go, please," I implored, motioning with a nod of my head to get them to follow.





----------------------------------------  Trixie Walker's point of view  -------------------------------

I didn't even have time to protest Discord's impromptu departure from my universe to the other one my counterpart was in -- and when I saw the other one, I knew there was trouble brewing.  I decided to bide my time and wait to see what would transpire, though I was quite unprepared to see my counterpart wearing a very sexy outfit and the other dragonequus with a leer on his face.  Watching the two of them face off against each other worried me, but not as much as seeing my counterpart teleport out of the room.

"Where did Twilight go?" asked one of the Discords -- the one behind a big desk.  "Whatever.  It doesn't matter, she's of little use to me now."

"Hmm, isn't that interesting -- it's not like her to chicken out and run off like that," my Discord mused, eliciting a chuckle from his counterpart.

"So, me, what are you doing here?" asked the one behind the desk.

"Trixie here told me about the problems you were causing her counterpart -- she told me her counterpart was in Twilight's body.  I had no idea she had that kind of fashion sense!" my Discord chuckled.

"That was my doing, me," offered the desk Discord, narrowing his eyes at his counterpart.  "But I still want to know why you came here and what you expect me to do about it."

It was at this point that my counterpart burst into the room with the Element Bearers, causing both dragonequi to express surprise.  One of them chuckled in amusement as the other one smiled confidently.

"Looks like my work here is done," my Discord laughed, grabbing my Trixie and me in his arms and teleporting back to my universe.  I wriggled in his grasp but could not break free.

"He didn't have the actual Elements, Discord -- he's going to lose," I protested.

"Doesn't need them, Trixie," he muttered as he set us back down in the Throne Room.  Princess Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her.  "Look, Celly, I know what you're going to say -- Twilight can take care of herself in that universe, she has the Element Bearers with her -- she should be okay."

"I certainly hope so, Discord," she replied with a hint of menace behind her words.  "You would have done well to ensure her success by staying long enough to witness her victory."

"What, and run the risk of being turned back into a statue?  No thank you, Celly!" he laughed and disappeared again, leaving me to shake my head in disbelief.

"Michael, would you be kind enough to return to ensure your counterpart's success?"

I hung my head for a moment at her question before she cleared her throat and repeated the question, this time with a little annoyance in her tone.

"Very well then, your Majesty, I shall do so, though it causes me a great deal of trepidation to do so.  Come on, Trixie, let's go," I stated flatly.  The show-mare shook her head as if to refuse my request, causing me to growl a little.  "I need you, Trixie," I offered plaintively, causing her to meekly trot to my side, worry quite evident on her face.  I tried to reassure her by placing my right fore-leg over her withers and whispering words of comfort in her ear.





-------------------------------------------  Twilight Walker's point of view  --------------------------------

We trotted down the hallway to the room Discord had taken us to.  I tentatively waited at the door for a moment and listened to a brief exchange between the two Chaos Entities, then barged in with the rest of the Element Bearers following closely behind.  I heard the visiting dragonequus say something trite to his counterpart and watched him take two Trixies with him as he departed.  This just left one Discord, the one standing behind the big wooden desk, who gazed at us with a look of bemusement on his face.

"I was wondering when you were going to gather enough courage to face me with all of you!" he chuckled loudly.  "You realize that without the actual artifacts -- no wait -- here, let me get them for you!" he laughed, teleporting them into the room, even being gracious enough to give us the right ones.  I felt an odd sensation as a tiara was levitated onto my head -- it felt as though Twilight herself was channeling the magic, focusing it through her horn.  I allowed her to take control, though I noticed the other Element Bearers were likewise glowing with magical energy.

"No!  That's IMPOSSIBLE!  That wasn't supposed to happen!" shouted a shocked Discord as we began levitating, our amulets glowing brightly with magic.  Everything for me went a blinding white and I had no idea of what happened next.  All I heard was what sounded like a scream or a wail of anguish and when I was able to see anything again, I was looking up at the ceiling of the office we had entered in order to face the dragonequus.

I looked down at myself to see that I had been returned to my human form, completely naked, though I noticed the others had likewise been returned to their human forms.  I wearily got to my feet and tried to stand up, though my body was protesting this action, so I got to my hands and knees in an attempt to survey the situation.  Behind the big desk was a petrified dragonequus -- making me wonder why he had helped us defeat him.

"Trixie?  Trixie, are you here?" I called out as I searched the room for her.  "Gwen?" I asked, a trace of hope in my voice.

"Eeek!  Where are my clothes?  Why am I naked?!" shrieked one of the women who had been transformed -- I had no idea who it was, since I was not familiar with the human personae of the ponies.

"We were ponies until we defeated Discord -- looks like we've been changed back into humans," I noted dryly.  "Damn, I was starting to enjoy running around as Twilight."

It was at this point that two Trixies appeared in the room, catching us all by surprise.

"There you are!  I've been wondering where you've been," I offered cheerfully.  I saw one of them frown at me, the other one smile.

"Michael?  You -- you -- you won?" asked one of the two show-mares.  "Um, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, Trixie -- I've got nothing to go back home to," I stated despondently.  "I'm going to need some help."

"So where did Twilight go?" asked Trixie-me, still staring at my nudity.  The other Trixie sidled up to me to get a closer look.

"Michael told Trixie what he looked like as a human, but Trixie never thought she'd get to meet him like this!" she giggled.  I heard groaning coming from the others as they slowly regained consciousness, then expressed the same shock and disbelief at their respective states of nudity.

"Um, Mike, can you use your magic to fetch us some clothes?" I asked my show-mare counterpart, who giggled uncontrollably for a moment.

"Yes, of course!" came the response, then a flash of light from her horn resulting in all of us being clad in random clothing, which if nothing else, covered us up enough where we could manage some semblance of modesty.  Jacob managed to get to his feet and walked over to me slowly, rubbing his head.

"Um, Mike?  That's what Trixie called you?  Can you tell us what we're supposed to do now?" he asked.

"My guess is that we need to contact friends and family to see if they can assist us with whatever we need.  Perhaps we might even be able to access our bank accounts and take the money we earned while we were ponies and use it for what we need," I suggested.

"So what about Trixie?  She was still in here when we defeated Discord, right?  And what are we supposed to do about him?" asked Nick.

"Discord separated the human who was in Trixie's body a while back, Nick -- so I guess when we defeated Discord, she returned to her original universe -- my guess is that Twilight and the others returned to that universe as well," I mused.  "As for this statue -- I think Hasbro might be interested in showing it off ... maybe."  I turned my attention to the two Trixies.  "Trixie, thanks for helping -- though I owe a deeper gratitude to my counterpart.  You pulled me out of quite a few sticky situations, and for that I am truly grateful.  I hope to meet you both someday once again."

"The pleasure was all mine, Mike!" my show-mare counterpart grinned.  "Trixie, looks like we can give the Princess the good news."

"Um, Mike, can you put in a good word for me, too?  Perhaps she can visit or something, or maybe even bring me over there," I said softly, giving my counterpart a wistful look.

"I'll let her know, Mike, but there's still the possibility of a paradox.  I'm sure she'd be happy to meet you, though!" he chortled, before turning to his companion.  "Come on, Trixie, let's go home."

"Thanks for thinking of Trixie, Michael!" the show-mare grinned as she sidled back over to my counterpart and allowed him to drape a foreleg over her withers, then teleported away in a blinding flash of white light.

"I think this calls for a party," Jacob offered, a big goofy grin on his face.

"Ugh!  Maybe some other time, Jacob!" I grumbled.  "I need to find out if the calendar has been returned to normal as well."

I walked to the desk and looked at the calendar, noting that it had indeed been changed back, though I was unsure of what the actual date was.  I picked up the desk phone and heard a standard dial tone, so I made a call to a friend of mine, one I hadn't talked to in quite a while.  He confirmed the date for me and asked what had happened, though I responded by telling him that he wouldn't believe me if I told him.  We exchanged a quick good-bye and hung up.

"Mike, let me use the phone, please," one of the ladies asked.  I relinquished the phone and let everyone else use it before I made another call. but it was during this time that another exec came into the office and gasped in horror when he saw the statue behind the desk.

"Wait, I need my money," I said to him.  He turned around and walked over to me, a glare of disapproval on his face.

"Who are you?" he asked coldly.

"Name's Michael Walker, though I was in Twilight's body," I replied matter-of-factly.  His expression changed to one of puzzlement before he started laughing.

"There's no way that could be possible!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"There's a reason we gave you human names when your company asked -- but your company insisted we change our identities to match the particular pony's body we happened to be in.  Sir, I really need my money ... please," I insisted almost stridently.  We waited a few tense moments while he pondered this information.  He sighed before he talked, though his words were measured.

"I'll have to talk to my supervisor -- we'll see what we can do for all of you," he answered politely before exiting the office.  I decided that being in the same room with the statue was starting to creep me out, not to mention the fact that I was feeling rather tired.  I told the others I was heading back to the room to get some more sleep, but was interrupted by Nick demanding I keep the statue under watch, should anything happen to it.  I looked around the room and took a seat in a chair and waited.  The others took sitting positions on the floor, likewise waiting for some response, though the phone ringing and being answered, then the requested person being given the phone interrupted our waiting.

After about an hour or so, another exec entered the office and noticed us sitting on the floor and me sitting in a chair.  He smiled at us and greeted us warmly.

"So, you are the ones who succeeded in turning Discord into a statue?  You are all heroes to this world, you know!  We will make sure you receive compensation for all the trouble you've been forced to endure against your will -- we will also re-establish your previous human identities as well as release the money you've all earned.  There will also be an extra bonus for all of you.  By the way, which one of you was Twilight?" he asked.  I raised my hand in response, eliciting a warm smile from him, before he remembered the other pony who had been assigned to accompany me.  "Where's Trixie?" he asked.

"She's gone, sir," I replied glumly.  "I miss her, too."  I looked down at the floor and noticed an amulet laying on it, so I got up and picked it up.  "This is the amulet Princess Celestia gave me to help augment my magic powers," I mused, eliciting a gasp from the others, including the exec.  "I wonder if it still works..." I said softly, letting my words trail off as I placed it on my chest.

Everyone watched in astonishment as I transformed before their eyes -- my human form gave way to that of the lavender unicorn mare, but then something else happened -- a pair of wings sprouted from my back and I became a bit taller.  From seemingly out of nowhere, golden hoof-guards attached themselves to my hooves and the amulet transformed itself into the golden tiara with the six-pointed amethyst star atop the center of it, relocating itself to sit atop my head.  Audible gasps emanated from everyone present.

"What?  What is it?" I asked.  The exec was the first to respond.

"You -- you've become Alicorn Twilight!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Great," I replied flatly.














FIN
> Epilogue -- Six Months Later
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     It has been a relatively quiet six months since the defeat of Discord -- my new status as an Alicorn Princess allowed me to revisit the terms of my contract with Hasbro, providing me with greater freedom of movement, contact with former friends and the new ones I made, as well as better and more favorable treatment.  I received periodic visits from my Trixie counterpart, who was suitably impressed at my ascension, as unlikely as it was.  Upon being asked where my Trixie was, I replied with great disappointment that she was no longer around, a fact which left me feeling quite depressed as I had become quite attached to the show-mare.  My Trixie counterpart informed me that she would have a conversation with Princess Celestia to see what she could do for me.

The party and celebration held on our behalf after defeating Discord was about as impressive as could possibly be -- and as Princess Twilight, I was allowed to meet with the U.S. President himself, an honor I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Meeting other very important people filled me with a deep sense of pride, though I tried my best to downplay the significance of my role.  It gave me a sense of deep satisfaction to know that I was held in such high regard by so many people, such that it seemed as though a smile had permanently planted itself on my face whenever I made public appearances on behalf of the company.

When I was not making appearances, I was given first class treatment all the way, regardless of wherever I chose to go or whatever I chose to purchase.  One of the things that truly impressed me was the fact that certain clothing designers expressed an interest in making custom clothing for me, which I graciously accepted.  Other services were provided for me, including the preening of my wings because that was something I was unable to do on my own until I was actually taught how to do it.

I kept in touch with my former Element Bearers, updating on Facebook whenever time permitted, though I had a tendency to spend quite a lot of time on several games between my public appearances.  I received many requests for certain favors, causing me to have security handle my mail for me and provide me with truly worthy causes which I tried my best to assist.  Being as powerful a magic user as I had become, I found myself able to help quite a few people with desperate needs, being proclaimed a saint by some, leading others to worship me.  At first I was flattered by this until rival religious zealots started acting violently towards my faithful, forcing me to disavow any religious following and give a public edict requesting the dissolution of any churches or religious practices with me as their deity or object of worship.

After the religious disturbances finally died down, Princess Celestia paid me a visit to check on my status.  She seemed pleased with my story, though somewhat troubled by the fact I was still under contract to the company and requested I depart with her to Equestria.  I replied by letting her know I was sorely tempted to take her up on her offer, but I needed some time to think it over.  I also let her know I missed Trixie and desired a pony companion, as being the only sapient pony on the planet had caused me some degree of depression.  She reiterated her request and informed me that my place was with her and not on a planet full of humans.  Considering the fact I had spent so much of my life as a human, I felt a strong attachment to Earth and told her this much.  Her response was that she was willing to give me as much time as I wanted and would wait patiently until I felt ready to leave.  I nuzzled her on her neck and gave her a very warm thanks for her offer, eliciting a similar nuzzle from her.  She also gave me an item so I could easily communicate with her whenever I wanted to, a gesture I deeply appreciated.

"Take care, Twilight -- please keep in touch.  I look forward to your return to my realm in the future," she offered warmly as she departed.

"And you as well, Princess Celestia," I replied, matching her warm smile with one of my own.

About two weeks after that visit, she returned with a pony accompanying her.  Upon seeing the azure unicorn mare, a very big smile graced my lips as I called out the show-mare's name.  Trixie trotted prettily to me and nuzzled me, her smile as wide as mine.  I returned her gesture with the same level of affection, a tear trickling down my right cheek.

"Trixie, I have missed you so much!" I cried as I reared onto my hind legs and wrapped my forelegs around her.  A few more tears flowed down my cheeks, though I noticed her reaction matched mine.

"Trixie was hoping to be reunited with you, Sparkle!" she chirped, embracing me with her forelegs as well.  I turned toward the Solar Princess, beaming a broad smile.

"Where did you find her?  Thank you so much for reuniting us!" I exclaimed, my voice nearly a squeal of delight.

"Twilight, I sincerely hope you'll reconsider my offer -- now that you and Trixie are back together, would you please accompany me back to Canterlot?  I have need of you back there," the Alicorn averred.  Trixie and I exchanged glances, hers one of expectation, mine one of reticence.

"I am willing to return with you, Princess, but I have several requests to make of you if I am to remain in Equestria permanently," I replied matter-of-factly.  The Alicorn maintained a serene smile and asked me about those requests, the most important one being that I be allowed to have Trixie stay with me.  She informed me that her intent was to assign the show-mare to be my companion, a fact which impressed and pleased us both.  I acceded to Celestia's request, a choice which pleased her and she wasted no time in taking us to her throne room.  She then assigned us an escort who showed us to the room we'd be staying in.  I asked her about the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville and was informed that I needed some time to adjust before being sent there, especially considering Trixie's reputation.  Trixie expressed trepidation at returning to Ponyville and pleaded with me to stay in Canterlot, a request I reluctantly accepted, much to the show-mare's delight.

The decision to remain in Canterlot Castle turned out to be a good one -- even though I had a rudimentary knowledge of the Castle, it was later shown to me just how little I knew the place.  Since I no longer had Twilight inside me, every day became a learning experience for me.  As for the requests I had made, many of them were fulfilled -- the condition was that I put as much effort into studying the lessons I was being taught with my full attention, but considering the fact that I had such a fascination with everything that was being offered, studying became a pleasure to me.  This was not lost on the Solar Princess, who commented with some degree of astonishment upon the disciplines I mastered.

As Trixie and I spent even more time together, she and I taught each other different things -- and as she got to know me better, she expressed a deep fascination to learn everything about me, though I requested the same from her.  Our love for each other grew so strong that eventually we got married.  Life in Canterlot was good, but I also expressed a desire to visit Ponyville from time to time, as well as travel around all of Equestria to gain a new perspective on the world.  Princess Celestia gave us many tours as time allowed her, and she showed us various places of interest.  I was deeply humbled by her willingness to show us everything and even give us little secrets regarding some places.

Sometimes I would get homesick and express a desire to see Earth once again, but given how much time I had spent on Equus, I figured that a return trip to Earth would show me that the place had become unrecognizable.  Resigned to my fate to remain in Equestria, I consoled myself with the fact that I had Trixie and that she had me.  Truthfully, whenever I did express such a desire, Trixie would comfort me in her own special way to let me know I shouldn't worry about my home world anymore.







FIN