Reharmonized Reread 8

Greetings y’all, it’s time to partake in the grandest chapter in this arc. Other chapters certainly have big moments, but I believe you’ll soon agree that this one intentionally is set like a showpiece. Enough build; let’s dig in. We open, as is appropriate, with Trixie setting up the account as any oral performer worth their salt would; a bit of dramatization and a hook. The actual recounting opens to Twilight still gathering information and preparing for another attempt to help Trixie. With the visit to Zecora ending on a sobering note, Twi comes home to Trixie, apologizes for the intrusion she is about to commit, and casts the spell to enter her mind. Immediately we find Twilight in a cell talking to a white-coated pony across a table in a white room who is calmly reminding her how she got there. Said pony belittles and dismisses events of previous chapters as delusions and questions why they would involve Trixie as they’ve had no real interaction. Twilight resists accepting such claims at first before attempting to mentally outmaneuver her captor. The white-coated mare trips up by referring to only three friends and not knowing of Twilight’s status under Celestia. Twi bursts through the illusory cell walls, falls to Hoofington, and gathers herself again to find Trixie. She finds Trixie as a discorded filly in the embrace of something taking the form of her mother sweetly whispering words to reinforce Trixie’s despair. The initial attempts to reason with her are met with rejection that also allows Twilight to see more memories to help her understand Trixie’s journey. Finding herself in front of a giant vault door, Twilight hears inquiry from a voice on the other side. This voice ends up being Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower the Eighty-Eighth, Ruler of the Kingdom of Hoofingtononia, Trixie’s childhood imaginary friend. She explains to Twi why Trixie never made friends as a child and shows Twilight her last gift from Trixie; an Element of Magic. With all the pieces in place, Twilight asks for the Element to deliver to Trixie. Twilight flies, crown on her head, out of the gorge and up to Trixie and Loneliness at the top of the tower to share her revelations. There Loneliness conjures a stage set with an audience of heckling ponies to further batter Trixie; jumping onto the stage, pelted with memories of moments of shame and failure, Twilight offers Trixie her crown and memories back to temper the onslaught. Collecting herself from her stupor, Trixie is horrified at what she had become the last few weeks. Still reeling, Trixie works to recover with nudging from Twilight only for Loneliness to make another push. When Trixie is offered to return to how she was living before this, Twilight asks, "Trixie is THIS the kind of love you really want? The kind that winks out the moment the stage lights do?" Twilight then offers the Element she was tasked to deliver pleading that she can make real friends without losing her uniqueness. Loneliness trebles her assault, morphing from a draconequus into an Ursa Minor and impaling Twilight and breaking Trixie’s leg to prevent her from reaching her Element. Trixie reaches through Loneliness, reaches her Element, and Loneliness explodes twice clearing the detritus that was burying her heart. Twilight leads the now One and Only Trixie back to waking, together. We are then shown Diamond Tiara enduring a lesson from her tutor dripping with conspiracy. She escapes his watch and gathers her things to practice sewing with Rarity. She makes another mention of voices in her dreams and after arriving at the shop is prompted by Rarity to try mending her break with Silver. Diamond’s thoughts are interrupted by the voice urging her to attack Rarity. The accusation of trying to replace her mother with Rarity causes her to lash out, stab Rarity with the scissors, and Rarity to give a shocked outcry of worry. This awakens a memory in Diamond and at the prodding of the voice, Diamond flees out of the shop. If you’ve made it to this point and haven’t watched the audio adaptation, go here youtu.be/_RwdZs1mfkl and watch. Back? That was something wasn’t it? As of this writing, this is the most recent video and it certainly left me with anticipation of the next one. On to the events we just covered; touching base with Zecora was probably not on to do-list, but it makes sense doesn’t it? Zecora has been shown to be an alternate source of trained knowledge for Twilight and we really don’t know how deep a knowledge she might have. Her sober words of responsibility remind us that Trixie’s plight is not going to be solved with a snap. The fact that multiple passes at reaching Trixie are necessary once Twilight enters the mindscape, getting closer as she gathers more information from each rebuff, mirrors the process the other Elements have been through. What do I think Loneliness is? Considering we’re dealing with a nascent Element of Magic focused on stage magic and trickery, I lean toward something akin to something we’ll see much later. (hint: Party at Canterlot Castle) Princess Sparkling Dawn-Flower was certainly a treat and don’t forget about imaginary friends; they’ll come up again later. I listed in my Top 10 Moments video that the image we get of flowers in the waseland leading to a double explosion revealing statues that were buried in the sand, I admit didn’t remember all that when I was making the video, stuck with me and it is wonderful to breathe a sigh of relief with our two leading mares. Trixie’s worries of uniqueness stem from a source I can relate to; I decided to respond to teasing of weirdness in second grade with full embrasure. I think getting into the magnet program in middle school probably kept me balanced. Remember Twilight specifies Doctor-Patient Confidentiality preventing her from revealing what happened in her letter to Celestia; the author doesn’t forget. (or is reminded) Now we get our last look at Diamond Tiara for a while and a glimpse of some of what shaped her. Fortunately, we do get to see Diamond in a better light later on, but for now our guts can only move in sympathy with her confusion and panic. Join us again next time when we get to find out what Discord did in Canterlot while he was out. Did Celestia have some witty banter, did the guards have a chance, was Luna even there? Find out in the next chapter of the Reharmonization arc.