Also Trixie is there

The dead leaves cracked under Twilight’s hooves as she raced through the forest, desperate to reach Rarity’s tower. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe, just maybe, she could reach her before Father Discord did. 

Please, please, please. 

A minute later, her sight landed on the secret entrance to the tower’s valley, hidden away from lost souls. She doubled her speed and pushed through the thick foliage, a great relief pouring over her at the sight of the massive single white tower in the distance. 

“Rarity!” Desperation choked her words and heart, her harried voice echoing through the valley with every trot. “Rarity?! Can you hear me?!”

Panic like no other flooded her no one replied. 

Please, no, no, no, no. 

If… If something had happened to Rarity… If Father Discord had taken her away for good… because of Twilight’s actions… 

Oh, Stars. 

She reached the base of the daunting tower and circled it, trying to find the secret door to no avail. It had to be there! She had seen it, gone through it, but it wasn’t! Father Discord had certainly cloaked it with a magic spell, one not even Twilight could hope to break. 

“Twilight?!”

Twilight’s heart flipped in her chest. 

“Rarity?!”

She circled back to the front of the tower and felt like she could cry tears of joy at the sight of Princess Rarity peering from the tower’s single balcony. She couldn’t see her perfectly from such a distance, but she seemed okay. Alive. Unharmed. 

“Rarity!” Twilight called out. “You’re okay?! Where’s Discord?!”

“He’s gone!” Rarity exclaimed despairingly, leaning over the balcony. “But when he comes back, he said he’ll frizz up my mane worse than if I went to the tropics!” Twilight faltered, thinking that wasn’t as bad as she expected, until Rarity added, “And he also said he’s going to take me to a new tower and lock me up in a cell for the rest of my life!”

Twilight gasped. “What?!”

“I know!” Rarity wept, covering her face with her mane. “There’s not enough water in the world to de-frizz my poor mane! And he said he won’t even bring me proper shampoo!” She uncovered her face, reaching down to the other unicorn. “Save me, Twilight! Save me!”

“I will!” Twilight promised, but her bravado faltered. “I just—! The door! It’s gone! I don’t know how to get up there!”

Rarity gasped. “What do you mean it’s gone?!”

Twilight rushed up to the tower, trying to feel for it with her hooves. “Discord must have enchanted it! It’s hidden, and my magic isn’t powerful enough to dispel the illusion! I could probably do it from the other side of the door, but— Ugh!” She moved back to see Rarity. “Isn’t there any rope up there?!”

“No, Father took it away!” Rarity gestured to Twilight. “Can’t you simply use your magic to fly up here?! Why don’t you levitate up here?!”

Twilight frowned. “Levitation doesn’t work that way, Rarity! I can’t use that kind of magic on myself!”

“Well!” Rarity harrumphed. “That’s silly! Have you even tried?!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course I’ve tried!”

A moment of silence followed, after which Rarity asked, “What about your steed? Can she do it?!”

“My steed?” Twilight whispered before realization dawned on her, and with great aggravation, she spun around to find none other than two-bit magician Trixie standing a few feet behind her. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

“I told you!” Trixie shouted, cloaking herself with her cape. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is no pony’s steed!”

“Why are you here?!” Twilight demanded, stomping her hoof on the ground. “Why do you keep following me around?!”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “You owe Trixie money, and I will be getting it one way or another,” she sneered. 

Twilight wanted to kill her. Truly. “For the last time, me exposing you as a fraud six years ago doesn’t mean I owe you the money you didn’t make scamming ponies! So, please, leave me alone!” 

Ignoring Trixie’s indignant huff, she turned back to Rarity, trying to think. There had to be some way she could climb up there. Something she could use as a rope or—I have it! 

“Rarity!” Twilight called out. “Let down your mane!”

“My mane?” Rarity called back, puzzled. “Why in Equestria would I do that?!”

“It’s long enough to reach the base of the tower, and I can use it to climb up to you!” Twilight exclaimed, prepping herself for the endeavor. “Come on!”

“What?!” Rarity’s shriek echoed throughout the forest. “You want to use my beautiful mane as a rope?! Have you gone mad?! I did not spend the entirety of last week getting rid of split ends so you could bring them back again!”

“Rarity!” Twilight said, exasperated. “It’s just hai—”

“JUUUUUST HAIR?!” Rarity was practically hanging off the balcony, shooting daggers with her eyes. “Of course you would say that! You think running your hoof through your mane counts as brushing!”

Rather than smash her head against the tower in frustration, Twilight took a deep breath and counted to ten. Once she’d reined herself in, she looked back at the princess and loudly pointed out: “If you don’t do this, Discord will be hurting you, Rarity! Your mane isn’t worth your life! Your happiness!”

“The reward money your parents put out!” Trixie helpfully reminded, only to scowl when Twilight shot her a dirty look. “What! Trixie needs to pay rent!”

“There has to be another way!” Rarity insisted, and though Twilight couldn’t see it, she could imagine Rarity cradling her mane like it was a baby. “There has to be!”

Twilight stomped her hoof. “Rarity, there isn’t! And—”

“I can’t!” Rarity wailed for all to hear. “My poor mane! I’d rather die!”

“At this rate, that’s exactly what will happen!” Twilight pointed out.

Trixie hummed, deep in thought. “Do you remember if the reward said she had to be aliv–” Crack! A magical muzzle now decorated her angered face. “Mmmphmmmph!”

“Rarity!” Twilight insisted. “Please! Just throw it down!”

“I can’t, Twilight!” Rarity said, despairingly. “My mane is all I have! I’m nothing without it! NOTHING!”

“I’m just going to use it as a rope! A rope! That’s it! It’ll be fine!”

Rarity was relentless. “No, no! What if—” She gasped. “What if I throw you some knives, and you use them to get up here? Like climbing stakes! Surely that will work!”

“That’ll take forever!” Twilight protested. “Discord might get here before I’m up the—Rarity! Rarity, come back!” But her cries were to no avail, for Rarity had already disappeared into the tower. Twilight sighed. Deeply. “For the love of Starswirl.” She felt something poke her and turned to look at Trixie, still muzzled. “What.”

Trixie pawed at the floor and then pointed at the muzzle. “Mmmph.”

“If you say anything stupid, I’ll make it permanent,” she warned, and with that, the muzzle disappeared.

Trixie cleared her throat. “I just wanted to say that’s very high up,” she noted, peering up at the tower. “Climbing that with some dinky little knives will be difficult. You’ll need to be as light as you can.”

Twilight frowned. “Yes, you’re right. The less I weigh, the better.”

Trixie nodded, pleased to have been told she was right. “And because I am so great and generous, I would be happy to help keep all your heavy valuables saf—.”

“No.”

“But–“

“I said no.”

*~*~*

Father Discord thought himself a clever draconequus-slash-father-slash-kidnapper. Sure, he hadn’t been the best parental figure he could have been, what with keeping himself young by sucking the power out of Rarity’s mane, but when it came to scheming and plotting, he considered himself the best. 

He was quite offended when he returned to his tower to find his daughter helping that unicorn thief into the balcony. Really! Even more betrayals! Running away from his nice tower was bad enough, but now this? Bringing girls into the home? Oh, no, no, no, that would not do.

He would have to be a spirit of his word. I can still use her mane even if it’s frizzy, he thought as he cast the spell before either mare could react.  

In retrospect, he would think afterward, maybe I didn’t think this through as much as I could have.