The New and Reborn Trixie

Chapters

The day the Great and Powerful Trixie died
Trixie goes shopping with Twilight!
Trixie's errand!
Trixie visits Canterlot!
Kaito Stallion strikes!
Trixie in danger!
Trixie returns!
The curse of the black cat
New beginning
Epilogue
Trixie kidnapped - Twilight's one hour challenge!

The day the Great and Powerful Trixie died

Trixie took a long, deep breath, and then looked down at her report card. Math, A. English, A. History, C. She was expecting less for that; she was never very good at History. Geography, B. And finally, the most important grade out of all of them: Magic. A, with 96.5% scored on her final exam.

She looked at her report card with a big smile on her face, but it quickly faded as she looked over to her rival. Twilight Sparkle, the purple filly who, for the past year, has been a great source of stress for Trixie. Trixie’s special talent was magic, but no matter how high her magic grades were, she would always, without fail, rank second, with Twilight ranked above her. No matter how hard she tried, Twilight would always be above her. There was one thing that annoyed her even more, though.

“Excuse me, Twilight?” Trixie asked, slowly approaching Twilight, holding her report card tightly. “Can I…See you report card for a second?”

“Um…I don’t mind, but, who are you again?” Twilight asked, offering Trixie her report card.

“…” Trixie took the card, and studied it closely. Or, more specifically, she studied the Magic grade. This was the other thing that annoyed Trixie about Twilight. No matter how many times they spoke, or interacted with each other in any way, Twilight would never remember Trixie. It’s like she just forgot Trixie’s existence the moment it was no longer necessary.

“Um…You done?” Twilight asked, after Trixie had been looking at the card for over a minute. “Can I have my card back please? I’ve got a lot of studying to catch up on.”

‘Studying to catch up on!? You aced every subject! And you’re Magic grade…100%!’ Trixie gave Twilight her report card back and, without another word, left the classroom quickly, frustration clear on her face. ‘She did it again! Why? Why can I never beat her!?’

Trixie used her magic to levitate a log from a pile of firewood, and threw it onto the dying fire. Soon enough, the fire started to grow, and Trixie moved closer to it, as it was starting to get colder with the descending sun. It was getting dark. Or darker than it usually is in the Everfree forest. And she knew that dangerous animals were going to start hunting for food soon.

She would normally have started to build a shelter, but when she heard the loud crashing of foot stomps, and the unmistakable roars of a Hydra’s many heads, she quickly rose from her resting spot, and take refuge behind a nearby boulder as she poked her head out, looking for the nearby Hydra that was drawing closer.

Trixie opened the door to her house, and walked inside slowly, trying not to make any sound. It didn’t matter though, since her father was already standing there, at the doorway, waiting for her return. “So?”

“…Here’s my report card.” Trixie offered her card to her father, but he simply brushed it aside with his hoof.

“That’s not what I’m asking. Did you beat her?”

“I…” Trixie looked down at the floor, holding back her tears, and unable to answer his question.

“I see…” Her father sighed, and turned around. He began walking off in the opposite direction. “You’re useless. How long are you going to continue this?”

“But I still got the second highest Magic score in the whole school!”

“Second rank has no place in this family! I won’t accept failures in this house!”

Trixie was about to speak up, but the loud banging of the parlour door slamming shut stopped her. Now that her father was gone, she was finally able to let out her tears, although she had to be quiet about it. If her father knew that she had been crying, she would have had to spend the night outside. She ran up stairs to her room, closed the door, and jumped onto her bed. She let herself cry into her pillow, so that the noise would be drowned out. When she was finally finished crying, she looked over to her bookcase, which was filled with books designed to nurture and improve her special talent of magic.

“Useless…” Her horn lit up, and within seconds a bright flame appeared at its tip. She directed her horn at her bookcase, and allowed the flame to ignite all of the books on her shelf. It was a magical flame, that would only ignite what the user wanted it to ignite. “These books…They’re all useless! If I want to beat her…I’m going to need something stronger.”

Trixie grabbed the saddlebags lying next to her door, which contained her wallet and a small mirror, and made her way downstairs. As she opened the front door, she heard her father’s voice behind her. “And just where are you going?”

“I’m going shopping.” She said, facing her father with a look of frustration. “I need more advanced books if I’m going to defeat her.”

Her father walked away, and then returned a few seconds later, carrying a bulky pouch with him. “Here.” Trixie took the pouch with her magic, and opened it up. Inside it was a huge pile of bits. Trixie looked at her father with a look of surprise. “I’m willing to give you one more chance. Use this money, and beat.That.Filly. If you cannot, then I do not want you in this house any longer.” And with that, he walked back into the parlour, leaving Trixie alone again. Trixie closed the pouch, and put it into one of her saddlebags.

Trixie used her magic to create multiple images of herself, confusing the Hydra and giving her some time to think up an effective escape strategy. The Hydra roared and thrashed about, attacking each of the Trixie images one at a time. It wouldn’t be long until it hit the true Trixie, so she had to act fast. Her horn sparked, and within a few seconds the area around her became covered in a very thick smokescreen.

“Trixie will not go down so easily!” She used the smokescreen as a cover to send one of her clones running away. The rest of her clones disappeared, and she herself stayed in the smokescreen. As expected, the Hydra chased the illusion, believing it to be the true Trixie. The trick wouldn’t last for long, and even if she ran away now, she wouldn’t get far enough away to escape the Hydra before it realised her trick. Instead, she used the opportunity to strike at the Hydra from behind. “Let’s see Twilight do THIS!”

The Hydra turned around, and saw a huge blast of light behind it. The powerful flash blinded it for a few seconds. After it was finally able to open its eyes, it saw Trixie flying in front of it, with giant ball of fire above. It turned around and attempted to run away, but it was too late. Trixie threw the ball of fire towards the Hydra, setting it ablaze and causing it to thrash about in pain.

“Hmph! Simple minded fool!” Trixie used her illusion to get close to the Hydra, and when she was finally close enough, she was able to use a powerful tranquilizer magic on the Hydra. It required her to be in direct contact with the beast. Because it was intended for sick, not so powerful animals, it took more than one cast to work, but after the third casting, the Hydra finally collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. “There…Trixie…Got you…” Although she had beaten the Hydra, the running and the magic she used took its toll on her. She was breathing heavily, and had to sit down for a while to catch her breath. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry. The Hydra’s presence would keep most monsters away, and the Hydra itself wouldn’t wake up for at least 10 hours, so it was no threat to her, for now.

“Next: Trixie Lulamoon.” Trixie stepped onto the stage nervously, wearing the hat and cape that she had made herself last week. The hat and cape were both purple, and decorated with star patterns. She had made them after seeing a stage magician performing in the park near her house, which was also when she decided that she wanted to become a great show mare. For now, though, she had a more important goal in mind: Beating Twilight Sparkle.

The new school year had started, and in order to see how much each pony improved over the summer, each pupil had to go through a test in front of a few teachers, much like the entrance exam. Trixie was presented with a round object, just like the other students. It was some kind of purple ball with a strange device wrapped around it. It was a device for measuring somepony’s magic level. A Unicorn would levitate it with their magic, and the teachers would adjust it gradually with their own magic, making it require more magic to levitate it, until the Unicorn started to drop it. Once this happened, the teachers would be able to see how much magic the Unicorn possessed.

Trixie lifted it up with no problem, as expected of anypony in this school. The teachers were impressed when she had lasted for 10 minutes without becoming tired, which was currently the longest time this year. Once she had reached 13 minutes, she was starting to sweat and pant, but she insisted on continuing to the very end. Finally, she reached her limit at 15 minutes and 43 seconds. She received a loud applause and a high level of praise, but she didn’t care. When she looked over at Twilight, she could see the filly was also applauding, but it wasn’t a sincere applause. It was merely a formality; she was just following proper social etiquette.

“Next: Twilight Sparkle.” Finally, after a few more ponies had gone up, it was Twilight’s turn. Trixie would finally be able to see where she stood compared to Twilight. This was her last chance to impress her father. If she failed, she doubted she would have a home to return to tonight. But she didn’t care anymore. She had long accepted that she would never be able to impress her father, and over the summer, she had been making arrangements to leave her house. She had already managed to secure a job, despite still being a filly, as an assistant to her uncle, who worked at a small bar a few blocks away from her house.

She didn’t care about impressing her father anymore, but after spending so much time trying to outdo Twilight, she had developed her own grudge against her. Not just because she could never beat her, but because Twilight didn’t even consider Trixie a rival. She didn’t even notice Trixie. To Twilight, Trixie was just another pony who existed in the background. Somepony who would exist for one second when she spoke to her, and then disappear the next. She wanted to beat Twilight. No matter what, she would beat her.

“Amazing! 17 minutes, and she’s still not tired!”

Trixie was gobsmacked. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This filly who was only the same age as herself had so easily surpassed her best efforts, and was still going. This was impossible. After another 5 minutes, Twilight was finally showing signs of becoming tired. So she was pony after all. Even so, this was more than Trixie had ever expected. She expected Twilight to at most only beat her by about a minute or so, but this was completely unexpected. After 25 minutes and 37 seconds, Twilight finally had to stop. She had reached her limit. The applause for her was just as loud as it had been for Trixie, maybe even louder. Trixie, however, did not join in. She simply snuck away from the rest of the group, so that she could find somewhere to be alone and collect her thoughts.

“I swear…So help me, I will DEFEAT YOU, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Trixie stopped for a moment to take a rest. She had been walking around the Everfree forest for a while now, trying to find her way back to the campsite that she had set up. She had run quite a distance from the Hydra earlier, and had lost her way. She was looking around for anything that she recognised. But in her attempts to get back to the campsite, she feared that she had only gotten herself even more lost.

“Trixie is sure it was somewhere around here…Or maybe it was further back that way…” Trixie took a few more steps through the forest, and stopped when she saw something in front of her. A nest. And not just one, but a whole bunch of them. Dozens of nests, stretching through the trees ahead of her. She had stumbled upon a nesting ground, and she didn’t want to stay long enough to figure out what was nesting here. She quickly turned around and began running, only stopping for a second when she heard a sound nearby. It was a strange, high-pitched sound, that echoed through the trees. And it was one that sent shivers through her entire body, and caused her to run even faster than she ever had done before. It was the sound of a Velociraptor.

A rare species, that only exists deep in the Everfree forest. And also, an extremely deadly one. They are fast, agile, and intelligent. Trixie ran as fast as she could, using her magic to move obstacles out of the way and putting obstructions behind her, to slow down any pursuers. She kept her eyes in front, occasionally turning her head left and right to check for sudden ambushes.

She noticed a rustling in the bushes to her left, and stopped immediately. They had caught up to her, and if that was the case, then running wouldn’t help. She needed to think of something, and fast. She concentrated her magic to her horn, and quickly unleashed another bright light, similar to earlier, only this time, she also used a masking spell to cover her scent. Because the spells were put together rather hastily, they wouldn’t last for long, but she only needed a few seconds. She had spotted a cave nearby where she could hide, with a rock next to it just large enough to block the entrance.

Once the spells were unleashed, she heard the sounds of raptors communicating nearby. She also heard the sound of them retreating, though that was most likely a ploy to make her lower her guard. She didn’t fall for it; she galloped at top speed towards the cave, building up magic in her horn as she did so. Once she was inside the cave, she used her magic to move the rock, blocking the cave entrance, and giving her some protection. Just as the rock was being moved, she saw a group of 3 raptors charging at her, unleashing their high-pitched roars, but she had managed to finish moving the rock before they reached her.

Trixie entered the classroom a little later than usual, since she had overslept last night. It had a been a few months since she started living with her uncle, and working at his bar, but she was still not used to it. It was much different than living with her father. Not that she minded all that much, but she would have liked it if she was able to sleep better.

She noticed that all of the tables were pushed to the back, and that there were no teachers in the room. Everypony in the class turned to look at her as she walked in, and then the one standing up at the front, a colt named Newton, approached Trixie. “You’re late.”

“Trixie apologizes.” Trixie said, even though she didn’t mean it. “Tell Trixie, what is going on here?”

“Don’t you remember? This week, we’re working on our class’ Hearth’s Warming Eve play.” He levitated a script from a pile on a chair behind Trixie, and handed it to her. She took it and stared at it, reading the cover. “The role list is inside. You’ll be in charge of special effects, since you’re good at creating illusions.”

Trixie nodded, and looked at the role list on the first page. The colt turned back around, and moved back to his position, giving advice to two fillies at the front on how to play their roles. “Hold on!” Everypony turned back to Trixie, some of them looking annoyed at this second interruption. “Trixie would like to request a different role!”

“We already have all of the roles assigned, and your talents are needed for the special effects.” Newton responded. “If you wanted a bigger role, you shouldn’t have been late.”

“Trixie will still remain in charge of special effects, but she demands to be a tree!”

The class looked at her with mixed expressions of confusion and concern. Concern that she had gone mad. She made a fuss over being a tree? They had expected her to demand one of the main roles, but they never expected something like this. Some of the ponies were trying to hold in their laughter, whilst some were just letting it out.

Newton turned around and looked at Trixie with the same look of confusion as some of the other ponies. “You…Want to be a tree?”

“That’s right. You heard Trixie correctly.”

“Well…I suppose you could…But can I ask why?”

“Do you want to know?”

“I…Guess I don’t really care.” Newton sighed and turned back to the two fillies. “Fine then. You shall be “Tree #5”. I’ll just have to ask the costume designers to make another costume.”

A group of ponies in the back of the class groaned. Trixie guessed that they were the costume designers, or at least some of them. She ignored them, however, and continued her objection. “Trixie wants to be “Tree #2”.”

Another look of confusion swept over Newton’s face, and now, a look of annoyance. She was starting to bother him now, and the rest of the class backed away when they saw this. It wasn’t easy to annoy Newton, but when he did get annoyed, they knew to get away from his as quickly as possible. His curiosity got the better of him, and he looked at the role list in the script. At the bottom, he read the tree roles in his mind:

Tree #1 – Genki

Tree #2 – Vanilla Sundae

Tree #3 – Twilight Sparkle

Tree #4 – Strawberry Dessert

When he read the third name down, Twilight Sparkle, he grinned, suddenly realising what Trixie was getting so worked up about. He adjusted his glasses with his magic, and then turned the script back to the page that he was on before. “Very well, then. You can be “Tree #2”. Now, can we please get back to rehearsing?”

Trixie bowed to Newton, using one of her front hooves to keep her hat from falling off, and then proceeded to leave. “Trixie thanks you. Now, Trixie shall be in the library, reading over the script, if anypony needs her.”

Once Trixie was gone, Newton let out a small chuckle, but quickly regained his composure, clearing his throat before continuing. “That filly’s quite an idiot sometimes…Ah, perhaps I should have told her that Twilight’s in the library right now…” He looked back at the door, not really paying much attention to the two fillies that were practicing their roles. “Oh well, I suppose this may turn out quite fun.”

Trixie took a few moments to catch her breath, and then used some magic to create a light on the tip of her horn. “There. Now Trixie can see where she’s going.” She placed her ear to the rock at the cave entrance, and heard the sounds of raptors outside. It was still too dangerous to leave, but at least she was safe in the cave. Or so she had hoped. “Hmm…Trixie should probably check this cave out, just to be on the safe side.” She walked through the cave a little bit, taking caution at every turn. After a short walk through the cave, she saw a bright light up ahead. She deactivated her light magic, and moved further into the cave, towards the light source.

Trixie poked her head around the corner, and her eyes widened at what she saw. It was a huge pile of gemstones, of all kinds, filling a huge chamber within the cave. There must have been at least 1 million bits worth of gemstones in that cavern. And they were all shining and sparkling beautifully.

Even so, Trixie did not let her greed get the better of her. She realised that there was no way she would have been able to safely transport all of those gems with all the dangerous creatures about in the Everfree forest. There was also another reason why Trixie didn’t want to go ahead and take all of the gems, something in the back of her mind telling her that it was a bad idea, but she was too tired to think of what that reason was. She instead just simply entered the cavern, and found a place near the foot of the gems to lie down and go to sleep.

Once she was comfortable, and she felt the temperature inside the cavern increasing, and she heard the sound of roaring behind her, accompanied by the smell of smoke, she realised what that other reason was. Generally, Dragons tend to nest in caves full of gems, just like this one.

Trixie quickly opened her eyes, and slowly turned her around to face behind her. There, she saw a huge, brown Dragon, looking down at her, roaring and breathing smoke through his nose. The Dragon moved his head down, so that his face was close to Trixie’s. “What are you doing in my cave!? Are you here to steal my gems!?”

“Um, no, Trixie’s not. S-She’s just here to-” Before she could finish, the Dragon opened his mouth wide, and let out a loud roar, one that shook the entire cave. “Ok then, nice meeting you, but Trixie’s got to go now! Bye!” And with that, Trixie was off, running back through the caves, being chased by the Dragon.

Once she reached the entrance, she remembered that she had placed a rock at the entrance. She turned back, her back against the rock, and watched in horror as the Dragon approached her, seeing her cornered. He started inhaling, getting ready to torch the little pony with a huge breath of fire.

Trixie had to think fast. There wasn’t much time. She looked around for options, but could only think of one plan. It was risky, but she had to try it. Gathering as much magic into her horn as she could muster, she levitated the rock at the cave’s entrance, revealing a pack of Veolciraptors outside, which all turned to the cave upon hearing noticing the rock moving. Trixie quickly ran out, and dodged to the side, avoiding the fire breath unleashed by the Dragon. The fire moved quickly towards the raptors, hitting two of them, and causing the other three to flee.

Wasting no time, Trixie ran in the opposite direction of the raptors, past the cave entrance, and through the Everfree forest. The Dragon gave chase, following her through the air, unleashing fire at her, attempting to burn her to a crisp. Trixie managed to narrowly dodge each blast, but she knew that she couldn’t keep it up for too long. She eventually reached the edge of a cliff, causing her to stop. The cliff was far too big for her to jump off. She couldn’t even see the bottom. She turned around, and saw the Dragon land in front of her.

Was this it? Was this how things were going to end? ‘No. To hell with that! I…I still have a reason to live!’ The Dragon roared loudly, and prepared for another blast of fire. ‘I can’t die yet! Not until I beat Twilight! Not until…I make her acknowledge me!’

Before the Dragon could unleash its fire breath on Trixie, a group of three raptors jumped out of the bushes behind it, and attack in unison. The Dragon unleashed its fire breath upwards, screaming in pain. It then attempted to shake of the attacking raptors, and succeeded in killing one of them with its claws. The other two continued attacking.

Trixie took this chance to try and get away, however, another two raptors had started to approach her. She back up as much as she could, until she had reached the edge of the cliff. One of the two raptors got into an attacking stance, and pounced towards Trixie, letting out a roar that horrified her. She couldn’t use any magic to get out of this; she was completely drained. She moved as quickly as she could, somehow managing to avoid being pounced on. However, she did receive three, rather deep cuts, across her stomach, from the raptor’s claws.

Unable to keep her balance, Trixie stumbled off the edge of the cliff. She tried to act quickly, and managed to grab onto the edge with her front hooves. Unfortunately, the ground would not hold, and it crumbled rather quickly, causing Trixie to fall down the cliff, plunging to her death. “Twilight…I…”

Rarity walked up the path towards Fluttershy’s house with her friend Pinkie Pie bouncing alongside her. She was on her way to meet with Fluttershy for their weekly spa trip, and Pinkie Pie, who had nothing better to go, asked if she could go along. Rarity didn’t mind, but when the entire walk to Fluttershy’s house consisted of Pinkie Pie’s nonsensical ramblings, Rarity was starting to regret letting her come along.

Fluttershy spent the morning as she always did; she was outside, tending to all of the animals, waking up and feeding the daytime ones, whilst putting the nocturnal animals to bed. She was so absorbed in trying to get Angel, her pet bunny, to eat his breakfast that she didn’t even notice Rarity and Pinkie Pie approaching. “Howdy Fluttershy!”

“AH!” Fluttershy jumped up at the sudden sound of Pinkie Pie’s voice, and used her wings to slowly descend. She turned around to Rarity and Pinkie Pie. “Oh, hello there, Pinkie Pie, Rarity.” She was about to ask them why they were here so early in the morning, but then she remembered what day it was. “Oh, um, I’ll be ready soon, Rarity. There are just a few more animals for me to feed. Um, is Pinkie Pie coming along today, too?”

“Yep! I saw Rarity on the way here, and asked her what she had planned today, and she said that she was going to her weekly spa meet with you, and then I was like “Hey! Mind if I come too?”, because the more the merrier, right? And she said it was ok, and I was like “YAY!”, and so I came with Rarity to come and meet up with you, and now here I am!”

Fluttershy simply smiled as Pinkie Pie continued going on and on. At this point, she wasn’t even on the same topic anymore. “Um, then, if you don’t mind waiting…”

“Oh, not at all, darling.” Rarity said. “Your animals need your care. Please, take your time. We’ll wait here until you’re finished.” Sometimes, being generous was hard. She wanted Fluttershy to hurry up so that they could escape Pinkie Pie’s ramblings, but she knew it would be wrong to rush Fluttershy simply for her own sake.

Fluttershy grab a bag of feed and headed down the bank in front of her house, towards the small stream that passed by it. She reached the bottom, and started to feed a family of ducks that were playing at the bottom. One of the ducks was trying to draw her attention to something. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She turned her head to where the duck was looking, and saw somepony lying in the stream, with blood pouring out of them. She stared for a few seconds, and then let out a loud scream.

“Fluttershy!?” Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran up to Fluttershy as quickly as possible. “Fluttershy darling, what’s wrong!?” She turned her head to look where Fluttershy was looking, and saw the injured pony in the stream. She let out a loud gasp and, together with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, approached the pony to see if they were ok. Upon getting close enough to properly examine the pony, Rarity found that she recognised her. “Wait…Trixie!?”

Trixie lay there in the stream, a pool of blood staining the water red. Her injuries were no longer bleeding, but it was clear that she was in pain from the way that she twitching. Her hat was missing, and her cape had a few rips and holes through it. She was breathing heavily and irregularly, and looked like she was struggling to say something. “Twi…Light…It’s all…Your…” After she said that, she opened her eyes, looking up at three ponies, two of which were reaching down for her.

Trixie backed up suddenly, trying to get away from the three ponies, but instead tripped and fell onto her back. This caused Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were trying to lift her up, to jump back in surprise. Trixie looked at them for a few seconds, and then felt the pain coming from the injuries on her stomach. She then started to cry, like a young foal who had just received their first cut. She continued crying until she saw Fluttershy approaching her, and instead tried to back away again, tears still falling from her eyes.

“It’s ok.” Fluttershy said gently to Trixie. “We won’t hurt you. We just want to help you.” Fluttershy offered her hoof to Trixie, smiling kindly at the frightened mare. Trixie observed Fluttershy for a few seconds, and eventually decided to trust her, reaching out her hood and allowing Fluttershy to help her move. “Rarity, Pinkie, can you help me get her inside?”

“Of course, Fluttershy.” Rarity helped Fluttershy move Trixie onto a stretched that Fluttershy’s animals had brought her. Once she was set on the stretcher, Rarity and Pinkie Pie both moved the stretcher inside, whilst Fluttershy went ahead of them to prepare her first aid supplies. “My…She sure is…Heavy.” Rarity said, impressed that Pinkie Pie was able to lift up her end of the stretcher without any trouble.

Once they were inside, they placed the stretcher down. Fluttershy asked them to hold Trixie down while she tended to her wound. She started off by cleaning out the wound with some water, causing Trixie to flinch, but she calmed down when Fluttershy calmly assured her that everything would be alright. That still didn’t stop her from flailing about when Fluttershy applied the disinfectant. Rarity and Pinkie Pie managed to hold her down and stop her from moving enough to allow Fluttershy to continue working.

After she had finished treating the wound, she and Angel both started wrapping bandages around Trixie body. Once they were done, Rarity and Pinkie Pie let go of Trixie, allowing her to sit up as Fluttershy examined the rest of her body. She noticed a few bumps and small cuts on her head, but they weren’t anything serious. It was just a matter of administering a few plasters.

“There we go. All better now.” Fluttershy said as she placed the final plaster on Trixie’s forehead, just under her horn. “My, you were quite injured, weren’t you? What happened to you?”

Trixie didn’t answer. Instead, she looked around the room, stopping to stare at a box on a table in the centre of the room. She crawled over to it, and reached out her hoof, slowly touching it to see what would happen. “Hey! What’s up?” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared next to Trixie, causing her to jump back in surprise. Pinkie Pie picked up the box and opened it, revealing it to be a perfume box that Rarity gave to Fluttershy. “You wanna know what’s in this box? It’s just perfume! See?”

Rarity sat down next to Trixie. She didn’t like the showmare very much, considering their previous encounter, but she was still concerned about her, and wanted to make sure that she was ok. “Trixie, please, can’t you tell us what you were doing that caused you to become so injured and filthy?” Trixie stared at Rarity for a few seconds, and then turned her gaze upwards, looking at something in awe and wonder. “W-What is it, darling?” She tried to look up at whatever Trixie was looking at, and then realised that Trixie was staring at her horn. Without warning, Trixie reached out her hoof and pressed it against Rarity’s horn, the sudden action causing Rarity to jump onto her hooves and back away quickly. “What!? What are you doing!?”

Trixie pulled back her hoof, and her expression changed to fear again. Rarity’s sudden increase in volume shocked Trixie, and she thought that Rarity was going to hurt her. Instead, Rarity just stared at her with an annoyed expression on her face. Trixie, deciding that Rarity wasn’t going to hurt her, began looking around the room again, until Rarity spoke up again.

“Don’t just ignore somepony like that! That’s incredibly rude, you know!?”

Trixie ducked down and covered her head with her hooves, once again afraid of Rarity after she had started shouting.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three knocks at the door drew the group’s attention away from Trixie, who was still cowering under her hooves. Fluttershy walked over to the door and opened it, revealing her friend Twilight on the other side. “Oh, hi there Twilight. What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I’m sorry to bother you so early, Fluttershy, but I think I left my book here during my last visit.” Twilight noticed Pinkie Pie and Rarity behind Fluttershy. “What’s up? You having a party or something?”

“Oh, no. Rarity and I were going to go to our weekly spar trip today, and Pinkie Pie decided to come along.” She moved aside so that Twilight could see Trixie. Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar showmare, and she moved closer to get a better look. “And then…We found her, in the stream that runs by my house. She was injured, and we just finished treating her injuries.”

Twilight leaned her head closer, and Trixie moved her hooves away from her head, looking up at the purple Unicorn. “Trixie? Is that really you?” Trixie got up, and moved closer to the purple Unicorn, examining her closely. “Um…Hello?”

Trixie looked up at Twilight’s horn, and stared at it for a while. Remembering how Rarity scolded her when she touched her horn, Trixie decided to leave it alone, but still stared at it with the same expression on her face as before.

“She’s been acting rather strange.” Rarity explained, keeping her distance from Trixie. “I think she may have hit her head rather hard.”

Twilight looked at Trixie with concern, and moved closer to her. “Trixie? Do you remember me? Or anypony here?” Trixie raised her hooves slowly, and pressed them against the sides of Twilight’s face, scrunching her face up. Trixie laughed as she made Twilight’s face look funny, along with Pinkie Pie, who had started joining in. Twilight, however, was not amused. “Hey! Do you mind!?”

Pinkie Pie merely stopped, but Trixie, like when Rarity yelled at her, retreated back a few steps, and hid underneath her hooves. Fluttershy walked over to Trixie, and gently lay a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “Now now, there’s no need to be afraid.” She said soothingly, and within moments, Trixie had emerged from her hiding place and was looking at Fluttershy with a smile on her face.

“She’s acting just like a frightened little foal…” Twilight pointed out, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Wait! Could this be…Amnesia?”

“Am-what-a?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Amnesia. A condition where somepony loses either some or all of their memories. I’ve read about it before, but I’ve never actually seen it in real life.”

Fluttershy looked very worried at this point, looking down at Trixie with a look of sympathy. “Oh my. It sounds awful. Is there any way to cure it?”

“I’m not sure.” Twilight admitted. “To be honest, I only really skimmed over it while I was looking for something else entirely. We should probably get her to the Ponyville hospital.” Twilight then noticed a strange smell in the room, and quickly realised that it was coming from Trixie. “But, first…I think we’d better get her cleaned up…”

The other ponies then also noticed the stench, and back away from Trixie, with Rarity backing away the most. “Yes, quite right.” Rarity agreed. “It’s too bad, but it looks like we’ll have to cancel this week’s…Wait! I know! Why don’t we take Trixie with us to the spa?”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, worried for Trixie’s health. “She’s not exactly well right now, and she seems afraid of everypony…”

“Well it’s not like she can wash herself, now can she?” Rarity pointed out, looking over at Trixie who was attempting to eat a book. Twilight used her magic to levitate the book away from her, and, after realising that it was hers, put it into her saddlebag. “And who better to clean her up than professional spa ponies? I mean if we did, it might cause quite a mess, especially in your small bathroom.”

Twilight nodded her head in agreement. “She’s right. You’re bathroom’s too small for us to wash Trixie in…” She then turned to Rarity. “But let’s not go too far. We just want her cleaned up, she doesn’t need a hooficure or anything.”

Rarity pouted, and complained a little, but she caved in when Twilight pointed out that somepony would have to pay for her spa treatment bill.

“Alright, then let’s get going!” Pinkie Pie shouted enthusiastically, cart wheeling out of the house. Rarity and Fluttershy followed soon after, with Twilight trying to get Trixie to follow them.

“Come on, Trixie. Let’s go.” She walked through the door, and then turned to see Trixie not following her. She let out an annoyed sigh, and went back into the house, approaching Trixie. “Trixie…” Trixie looked towards Twilight, which a good sign. She seemed to realise that Trixie was name. Or, at the very least, she could tell when somepony was addressing her. “Come on, let’s go.” Twilight motioned with her hoof for Trixie to follow her. After a few more seconds, Twilight tried leaving the house again, and was happy when she looked back and saw that Trixie was following her.

Twilight and the others moved through the streets of Ponyville much more slowly than they would have liked. Whenever Trixie saw something that fascinated her, she would stop to admire it until Twilight could get her attention again, and whenever something happened that frightened her, Fluttershy would have to calm her down to make her continue moving. Rarity was starting to get impatient, but Pinkie Pie didn’t seem to mind that much. She was still happily bouncing down the streets of Ponyville with the rest of the group.

They weren’t that far from the spa now; it was just around the next corner. However, they had to stop yet again, when Trixie sat in the middle of the street, squirming and flailing her forehooves in the air. Twilight sighed, and approached Trixie, wondering what was wrong now. She noticed that Trixie looked panicked, and scared. Trixie looked up to Twilight, still flailing her hooves. “What’s wrong? Are you tired? Hungry?” It really was like Trixie had reverted to being a foal. There was no way to understand her, and what was worse was that ponies around her were starting to gather to see what was going on.

Pinkie Pie examined Trixie, gasped, and starting panicking. “This isn’t good! I recognise that expression!” Rarity and Twilight looked at her with curious looks, but let her continue. “I’ve seen it from babysitting the Cakes’ foals! She needs to-”

Before she could finish, the sounds of ponies backing away and letting out “ew”s and small giggles could be heard all around the group. Twilight looked over at Trixie, and back away herself when she saw a small, yellow puddle forming on the ground where Trixie was sitting. The blue Unicorn just sat there, with an innocent smile on her face.

It hadn’t taken Twilight too long to clean up the mess left on the street by Trixie. She did, however, have to spend time explaining to the ponies nearby that Trixie was suffering from amnesia, and that it wasn’t her fault. Unfortunately, because amnesia wasn’t well known throughout Equestria, particularly in Ponyville, many ponies misunderstood amnesia as some kind of illness, or a curse.

Twilight and Rarity both scolded Trixie for peeing in the middle of the street. They knew she couldn’t help it, but she still had to realise that there were things that she wasn’t supposed to do. Once Fluttershy calmed down the crying Trixie, the rest of the group took Trixie to the spa. She now needed to be washed more than before. Twilight volunteered to clean up the street by herself.

One final mop of the floor, and she was done. The street was very thoroughly cleaned. A bit too thorough, honestly. She had finished cleaning up the puddle left by Trixie a while ago, but she wanted to make sure that the rest of the street was just as clean. She couldn’t stand to see it so uneven.

Once Twilight was finished, she put the mop and bucket back where she had borrowed them from the janitor’s closet in Town Hall, and headed over to the spa. Her original plan was to go to the hospital and arrange an appointment for Trixie, but after cleaning that entire street by herself, she could use a nice warm bath, too.

She met up with the others in the spa. Rarity and Fluttershy were enjoying a nice conversation in the steam room, and Trixie and Pinkie Pie were washing up in one of the bathtubs. Trixie was watching Pinkie Pie playing with some bath toys. One was a pony, and another was a Dragon. Pinkie seemed to be making the pony and the Dragon battle it out (quite inaccurately, Twilight noticed), and it looked like the pony was winning. Trixie seemed to be enjoying the show, laughing and clapping her hooves.

Twilight climbed into the same bathtub, sighing as she entered the warm, relaxing water. “Well, it took longer than I thought, but I’m finally finished.” She looked over to Pinkie Pie, who was making the pony pounce on the Dragon to slay it. “How’s Trixie been? She hasn’t caused any more trouble, has she?”

“Nope! She’s been fine! A lot better than the twins!” Pinkie Pie shuddered at the thought of foalsitting the cake’s twins. Even though she liked the two foals a lot, and had gotten better at foal sitting for them the more she did it, they could still be quite stressful, most of the time requiring Pinkie Pie to cover herself in flour, or a pile of toys.

“Well, that’s good.” Twilight said, looking at Trixie with a relieved smile on her face. “After this, we’ll take her straight to the hospital. They should be able to help her out.”

Some time passed, and Twilight decided that they had been in the bath long enough. However, Trixie didn’t want to leave. She enjoyed swimming around in the small tub, splashing about and playing with the toys, and she didn’t want to get out. Twilight wasn’t giving her a choice, though. She used her magic to grab Trixie and pull her out of the tub. In doing so, however, she slipped on a bar of soap, lost her concentration, and fell down the steps leading up to the tub. When she opened her eyes, she saw Trixie on top of her, sobbing and rubbing her head in pain. “Oh no! Are you ok? I’m sorry about that!” She apologized frantically.

Trixie rubbed her head, and let out a few tears, on the very verge of crying. She stopped when she felt something strange pass through her body. It was a strange feeling, that didn’t exactly feel bad. She wasn’t sure if it was good either. She opened her eyes to the sound of Twilight yelping, and saw that their horns were mere inches away from each other. She realised that their horns had touched, and wondered if that was the source of the strange feeling. Curiosity taking over her body, Trixie moved her horn forward, and rubbed it against Twilight’s, causing the strange feeling to return, and loud gasps to escape both of the mares.

The sound of Rarity clearing her throat brought Twilight back to reality, as she looked over to her friends looking at the two mares. Fluttershy was hiding behind her wing, and was obviously blushing. Pinkie Pie looked excited…A little too excited. And Rarity was blushing, but still tried to look dignified. “Twilight, darling. I won’t question your personal preferences, but…This is a public area. You do realise that, don’t you?”

Twilight ignored the sarcastic remark, and tried to push Trixie off of her, but she was lacking the strength. “A little…Help here?” She managed to ask, her face turning bright red as she realised that other ponies were watching. Pinkie Pie grabbed Trixie from behind, and lifted her off, surprising the blue Unicorn and causing her to flail about a little bit. “Phew…Thanks, Pinkie Pie.”

“No problemo!” Pinkie said cheerfully, before putting Trixie back down on the floor.

“Well, then…” Twilight said, scratching the back of her neck with her hoof, laughing nervously as the crowd around the still remained. “I’d say we’re just about done here. How about we get moving?” Rarity objected, still having much to do in the spa. Twilight didn’t care, though. After all that’s happened today between her and Trixie, she was more than eager to finally get the blue Unicorn checked into the hospital.

She left the spa with Trixie, the other three still wanting to stay. After paying for her and Trixie, she made her way out of the spa, dragging Trixie along with her magic. She wanted to get to the hospital quickly, and not have any more incidents happening on the way.

Twilight finally made it to the hospital. After walking through the doors at the front, she lay Trixie down on one of the benches. Her ears dropped when saw the huge amount of ponies in the waiting room, which meant that she’d have to stay with Trixie for a while before she could get her checked in.

Finally, after at least an hour of waiting (which was not made any easier by Trixie’s apparent need to play with anything she found interesting), she was finally next in line. She approached the receptionist, carrying Trixie in her levitation spell. “Hi, I’m here to check this pony in. She was found injured this morning.”

The receptionist examined Trixie closely, seeing the bandages and plasters on her. “She looks like she’s already been treated.”

“My friends treated her injuries this morning, but-”

“Then I’m sorry, but unless she comes down with something, there’s not much we can do. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but we’re currently overloaded with patients here!”

As a matter of fact, Twilight had noticed that. She also noticed that many of them weren’t very familiar to her at all. But she had been so busy keeping Trixie out of trouble that she hadn’t had time to question. “Yeah, I can see that…What happened, exactly?”

“A fire broke out in a town a few miles down the road. Their hospital was burned down, so they’ve come to our hospital instead. But there are simply too many, and we’re running low on space. So unless your friend is seriously hurt, or ill, we can’t spare any of our resources for her.”

“But…She needs help, she has-”

“What seems to be the problem here?” Twilight and the receptionist turned to the approaching Dr. Stable, who was looking at the floating Trixie quite curiously. “Is…She ok?”

Twilight laughed nervously, and put Trixie down. Trixie didn’t seem to mind, and actually seemed to enjoy floating about. Twilight decided to try talking to the doctor instead. “Doctor, she needs help. She has amnesia!”

“Doesn’t look so pale to me…” The receptionist remarked.

The doctor sighed, and corrected her before Twilight could. “Amnesia, not anaemia.” He then leaned in close to inspect Trixie, although she made it hard by ducking behind Twilight. “And I must say, that’s quite rare. I’ve only ever encountered two cases of it before in my life.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up at that news. “So…You can help her then?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Twilight’s ears sank, and her smile was replaced with a frown. “But…Why not? If you’ve dealt with it before, then surely-”

“Because…It’s not something that medicine can cure.” He used his magic to hand over a clipboard that he was carrying to the receptionist, who then proceeded to call over a patient. Twilight and Dr. Stable moved to the side to continue their conversation. “Amnesia is caused when an individual suffers a shock to their brain…Or something like that. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure, with how rare it is in Equestria.”

“So…There’s no known cure?”

“No. No herbal remedy or magic will cure it. It is known, however, that amnesia usually tends to fix itself over time.”

“Over time? So…We just wait, and one day, she’ll be back to normal?”

“Again, not necessarily. There have been cases where ponies suffering amnesia recovered gradually, and some cases where it happened instantaneously. To be honest, all I can recommend is for her to just go about her life. There’s no guarantee that her memory will return, but that doesn’t mean she can’t still live a normal, healthy life.”

Twilight looked at Trixie with a look of sympathy. She couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be completely torn from your past like that. ‘Well, actually, I guess she wouldn’t even notice it…’ She thanked the doctor for his help, but then, a new problem hit her. Where was she going to stay? The hospital was full, and it’s not like she could just stay at a hotel or something.

“If you’d like, I can look after her at my house for a few days while we work something out.” The doctor offered, suddenly cheering Twilight right up. “I’ve dealt with children before, so I should be just fine.”

“Well, I mean, if it’s not too much trouble….”

“Of course it isn’t. I’m a doctor after all. Helping ponies is what I do best.”

“Then…I guess I’ll leave her to you, then.” Twilight turned to Trixie, who was playing with her own mane, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. “Trixie…” Trixie responded immediately, jumping to her hooves and running up to Twilight. “Listen, I’m going to leave you Dr. Stable for now. He’s a doctor, so he’ll be able to help you out.” Trixie simply smiled at Twilight, and she wasn’t sure if Trixie properly understood her or not. “Um…So…You be good now. I’ll…See you later, ok?” And after that, Twilight began to leave the hospital. However…

“Trixie, I said you’ll be staying with Dr. Stable.” Twilight turned to face Trixie, who was following Twilight out of the hospital. Dr. Stable place a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder, and tried to help her to understand. “Thanks again, doctor.” Twilight again began to leave, only to stop when she heard to sound of crying behind her. She turned around to see Trixie reaching out to Twilight, and struggling against Dr. Stable, with tears running down her face.

“It seems…She’s taken quite a shine to you…” Dr. Stable was trying to calm Trixie down, but somehow, she managed to free herself. She then ran towards Twilight, and latched onto one of her hooves. “Well, this is quite problematic…”

Twilight looked down towards Trixie, who was rubbing her face against Twilight’s leg, still crying, and looking positively frightened. Was she scared of being separated from Twilight? Did she really “take a shine” to her, as Dr. Stable put it? She reached one with one of her free hooves, and gently patted Trixie’s head, seemingly calming her down a little bit. She smile when Trixie looked up at her. ‘I guess there’s not much choice…’ She turned back to Dr. Stable. “On second thought, I think I’ll take care of her for now.”

“Are you sure?” Dr. Stable asked. “You know it will a lot of work, right? Like looking after a fragile young foal.”

Twilight lifted Trixie to her feet, and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Trixie responded by smiling with the same innocent face that she’d been wearing all day, and suddenly, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to refuse Trixie. “Yeah, I know. But, she seems to want to stay with me quite badly. And I don’t think we should force her to stay with somepony if she doesn’t want to.”

“You have a point…” Dr. Stable rubbed his chin with his hoof, and then turned around. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere just yet…” He left around the corner, and returned a few minutes later, carrying a small book. “Here. I’m sure you have plenty of books that can help you in your library, but this is a little more concise and to-the-point.” He handed Twilight the book, that was entitled “So you’re a parent now, eh?”.

“A guide to parenting?” Twilight asked, putting it away in her saddlebag. “Um, thanks…I guess it could come in helpful…” ‘I already have plenty of parenting books back at the library…Besides! It’s not like I’m going to be Trixie’s mother or anything. I’m just helping her out because she has nopony else to turn to…’

With a quick thank you and goodbye to Dr. Stable, Twilight was on her way, walking down the streets of Ponyville, with Trixie following closely behind. “…Boy, is Spike gonna be surprised…” She laughed at the thought of how Spike would react when he learned that Trixie would be staying with him, and behind her, heard Trixie laughing, too. “This might actually be quite fun. It’ll be like having my own pupil! I can teach you how to cook, clean, write, read, all the things everypony learns in school! And maybe even teach you a bit about magic!” She thought back to a particular event earlier that day, and sighed. “I guess the first thing I should teach her is how to use the toilet…”

Trixie goes shopping with Twilight!

A week passed by since Trixie moved in with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. It was certainly not the quietist of weeks. Most of it was spent by Twilight apologizing to everypony around town for Trixie’s behaviour, and scolding her whenever she got into trouble. After the first day, word of Trixie’s condition spread around the small town very quickly. While some ponies sympathized with the poor pony who had lost all of her memories, many unfortunately misunderstood her condition as a disease, or a curse, and tried to keep their distance from the confused blue Unicorn.

It quickly became obvious to Twilight that Trixie lacked common sense, and occasionally had to scold her whenever she did something that disturbed other ponies, such as tackle-hugging random ponies that offered her their kindness. The worst event that took place over the past week occurred when Twilight and Trixie were sitting at the park with Rarity and Fluttershy. Trixie spotted a young couple kissing in the distance, and tried to copy the scene with Twilight. She got scolded very thoroughly that day.

Despite all the trouble Trixie was putting Twilight through that week, Twilight couldn’t bring her herself to dump Trixie on somepony else. She felt sorry for the poor mare, and wanted to do whatever she could to help. Plus, when she saw the big, innocent smile on Trixie’s face, she would smile herself and just forget about each day’s events…Until the next big event happened, at least.

Trixie was a surprisingly fast learner. Maybe it was because she had already learned basic day-to-day actions before, but she was quickly picking up on the various things that Twilight was teaching her, such as how to eat properly (as opposed to just dunking her head into the food), and how to properly use the toilet (Twilight was thankful that that was picked up rather quickly by Trixie). By this point, Trixie was a lot calmer that she had been the previous week. She was no longer cowering from everypony whenever they neared her, and she was no longer reaching out and playing with things that grasped her curiosity. She now looked to Twilight with a pleasing look whenever she was curious about something, and Twilight would explain it.

She wasn’t sure if Trixie fully understood everything that she was saying, but at the very least, Trixie understood some of the things that Twilight said to her. She responded to simply commands, and she could partially communicate to Twilight through facial expressions. Most ponies didn’t understand them very well, but Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were able to understand roughly what Trixie was trying to say through the use of her facial expressions.

She was now trying to help Trixie regain her ability to speak, but it wasn’t going very well. Doctor Stable said that there was nothing wrong with her throat, but she may still be suffering from the shock of whatever happened to her, and so there’s no telling whether her voice will return or not, even if she does regain her memories.

Twilight woke up to a feeling that she had grown accustomed to over the past week. It was Trixie shaking Twilight from side-to-side. Twilight opened her eyes, and saw Trixie standing to the side f her bed, still shaking her. When she sat up in her bed, Trixie backed off, and simply smiled at the purple Unicorn, who, despite feeling annoyed at being woken up from her pleasant dream, smiled back. “Good morning, Trixie.”

Trixie didn’t respond, of course. She couldn’t, since she couldn’t speak. But her smile grew wider, and Twilight could tell that Trixie could understand her, and wanted to return the greeting. She turned around and began running down the stairs, stopping and slowing down when Twilight scolded her for running down the stairs yet again.

“Geez, she sure gets up early, huh?” Spike said, groaning as he sat up in his small bed near Twilight’s. He rubbed his eyes and let them adjust to the light. “How is she able to be so energetic this early in the morning?”

Twilight sighed. She got up and walked over to the mirror on the far side of the room, and began brushing her mane. Another problem caused by Trixie over the past week was her tendency to wake up early, and then wake up Twilight Sparkle as well, before rushing downstairs to wait for breakfast. Well, for the first two days, at least. From the third day and onward, Trixie began assisting Twilight in the kitchen. It started out with simple things, like handing her the ingredients, and shutting off the microwave and toaster, but now she was also in charge of making the coffee. Twilight liked that Trixie would be occupied whenever she was waiting for the water to boil. She would just sit there and watch the kettle, and then perk up in excitement when it ‘ding’ed.

“Well, look on the bright side, Spike. Since we started waking up early, we’ve been getting a lot more work done. Can’t complain about that.”

A loud crash from downstairs caused her to sigh, put down her hairbrush, and make her way downstairs, to fix whatever Trixie had broken this time. “Yeah, but most of our work is cleaning up her messes.” Spike pointed out as he followed Twilight, yawning from still being tired.

Twilight found Trixie amidst a pile of books, holding her knee and obviously trying to hold back her tears. Another thing that had changed over the past week. She no longer cried openly (or at least not as openly as before), but instead tried to hold back her tears, and then sob silently in a corner somewhere later. Twilight found that whenever this happened, it was best to wait a few minutes before comforting her.

Twilight walked over to Trixie and examined her knee. There was a small scrape there, that was bleeding ever so slightly. Nothing serious. Spike, as Twilight’s self-proclaimed number one assistant, was quick to fetch a box of plasters from the medicine cabinet.

After treating Trixie’s scrape, and enjoying a nice breakfast with her two room-mates, Twilight began to go over the day’s schedule that she had prepared last night. The first thing on the list was to go grocery shopping, followed by a visit to the blacksmith’s shop to have an oil lantern frame repaired.

She decided to have Trixie accompany her whilst shopping, and have Spike stay and organise the backs at the library. It was nice having two helpers, even if one was a little hard to control sometimes. She placed some saddlebags on herself and Trixie with her magic, and placed the broken lantern frame into one of Trixie’s bags. “Well then, Spike, we’ll be back later.” Twilight said as she opened the door.

“Alright! I’ll have this place looking better than ever by the time you get back!” Spike said, brimming with confidence as he placed a book into its appropriate location.

Trixie followed Twilight as she left the library, and stayed close to her as they moved down the streets. She was aware of the looks that some ponies were giving her. Some were afraid to go near her, since they thought that whatever she had was contagious. Some were still unsure of her, after she had invaded their personal space at least once during the previous week. Some accepted her with open hooves, and greeted the two as they walked by.

On their way to the marketplace, the two mares ran into Applejack and Applebloom, who were also doing some grocery shopping. Twilight stopped to talk to the two, and Trixie stopped right behind Twilight.

“Good morning Applejack, Applebloom.” She said with a bright smile on her face. She noticed the unusually high number of groceries in their saddlebags. “You two having a feast or something?”

“Eeyup!” Applejack exclaimed with a cheerful grin. “We’re gonna be visitin’ some of our family outta town for our cousin’s birthday this weekend, and me ‘n’ Big Macintosh’ll be in charge of the food there!”

Applebloom hopped forward, trying not to collapse under the heavy weight of the saddlebags. “Ah asked mah sister if ah could help her with the shoppin’! I thought it might get me my Cutie Mark, but…” Her voice trailed off as she looked over to her flank, which was still as blank as the day she was born.

Trixie noticed Applebloom staring at her flank with a depressed look on her face, and wanted to cheer her up. She walked over to Applebloom, and did what Twilight would do whenever Trixie was feeling upset. She raised a hoof, and began lightly patting Applebloom’s head, giving her a kind, gentle smile.

Applebloom returned the smile, and thanked Trixie for trying to help her. Applejack walked over to Twilight, and lowered her voice so that Trixie couldn’t hear her. “So, how’re things goin’? She got any of her memories back yet?”

Twilight shook her head with a frown. “Sadly, no. But she’s a fast learner. Even if she doesn’t recover, I don’t think it’ll be long until she’s able to get her life back on track.”

“Yeah, well, just make sure you keep her outta trouble. I’ve heard that she’s made quite a few ruckuses already.”

Twilight let out a small giggle as she remembered some of the more funny moments that Trixie had gotten into trouble. “Yeah, but she’s quick to learn from her mistakes. Like with Spike. When they first met, they didn’t get off to the best start. But now, it’s like they’ve been good friends for a while.”

“They didn’t get off to a good start? What happened?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. She had heard a lot of stories about Trixie’s behaviour (most of which were probably exaggerated), but she had yet to hear of any involving Spike.

“Well, when she first saw him, in the library, she…” Twilight thought back on the incident, and couldn’t help but let out another small giggle. “It must have been from the bath toys that Pinkie Pie showed her. She saw the similarities between Spike and the Dragon and attacked him.”

Applejack gasped. She knew that Trixie was being a troublemaker, but to hear that she had actually attacked someone. “He didn’t get hurt, did he?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, no. I stopped her mid-leap with my magic. And then told her that he was a friendly Dragon. I don’t know if she understood me, but she at least got that I didn’t want her attacking him.”

Applejack couldn’t help but laugh at the image of the scene running through her head. She then remembered the time, and decided that she had to go. “Come on, Applebloom. We should be getting’ back to the farm.” Applebloom ran over to her sister’s side, and the two of them bid Twilight and Trixie farewell, before heading back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight and Trixie continued walking down the street towards the marketplace. When they got there, Twilight took out her grocery list, and began moving towards the first stall. She stopped when she heard a familiar voice, and turned around to see a brown Earth Pony approaching her. “Hello there, Miss Twilight. Pleasant morning, isn’t it?”

“Good morning, Doctor. You’re up early.” Twilight said, waving her hoof at Doctor as he waved his at her.

“Well, you know what they say: “Early bird gets the worm”, or Auton in this case. I wonder, did you spot anything weird this morning?”

Twilight thought for a second, and then shook her head. “Nothing I can think of. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. Just curious.” Doctor pulled out a device that he was often seen carrying around Ponyville. It looked like a fancy pen that lit up at the end. He called it a “Sonic Screwdriver”, and could often be seen running around with it in his mouth. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m kind of in a hurry right now. Oh, it’s good to see you too, Miss Trixie.” He bowed to the blue Unicorn who he hadn’t even noticed until he was just about to leave. Before Trixie could wave at him, he had turned around and was galloping off in a hurry, pushing through a crowd of people.

“That guy has some issues…” Twilight jumped and turned around to see her friend Rainbow Dash floating behind her, laughing as Twilight scolded her for sneaking up on her. “So, how’s Trixie doing? She made any progress with her recovery yet?”

Twilight shook her head, and told Rainbow Dash that she wasn’t able to speak. Twilight was surprised at Rainbow’s acceptance of Trixie. Out of all of the ponies in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash’s ego was by far the biggest, and her pride was the most hurt by Trixie’s antics during her visit to their small town. But then Twilight remembered that Rainbow Dash was also a very kind pony deep down, and would, in her own words, “never leave her friends hanging”.

Rainbow examined Trixie, who was trying to hide behind Twilight. Despite Rainbow’s acceptance of the blue Unicorn, Trixie couldn’t help but be startled by her sudden appearances and loud voice. Rainbow noticed that Trixie was still wearing bandages around her body. “Hey, shouldn’t her injuries have closed up by now?”

Twilight nodded, and looked at Trixie with a look of sympathy. “Yes, they have, but…They were pretty deep, and well…They left quite nasty scars on her body.”

Rainbow copied Twilight’s look as she continued staring at Trixie. “Ouch, that’s gotta suck. I mean, that’d be bad for anypony, but she’s a showmare…” She noticed that one of the bandages was starting to fall off. “Hey, when did you last change these?” She asked, pointing a hoof at the bandages as Trixie continued hiding behind Twilight.

“Two days ago, but it’s fine. Rarity’s been working on a vest for Trixie, and we’re gonna go collect it later today.” Twilight felt a little guilty for leaving the task with Rarity so suddenly, especially when she had already asked Rarity to fix up Trixie’s cape and hat (which was later found in the same stream, more damaged than the cape had been), and especially when Rarity insisted that she didn’t need payment. But, that’s the Spirit of Generosity for you.

Twilight felt Trixie slightly nudging her side, and heard her slightly whimpering. She turned around and saw Trixie making the facial expression that indicated that she needed to use the toilet. Although she was fully potty-trained already, she was afraid to go without letting Twilight know. Almost as if she was afraid Twilight would lose her if she didn’t know where she was going, and that they would never see each other again. Twilight told Trixie that she would wait here, and Trixie dashed over to a nearby public restroom.

“Anyway, I’d like to stay and chat, but I gotta get these clouds cleared. Catch ya later Twi!”

And with that, Rainbow Dash was off, getting to work on her weather pony duties. After waiting for another minute, Trixie emerged from the restroom, and approached Twilight. “Alright, let’s get started.” Twilight said, checking her list. “First on our list is…Oranges.” She said, remembering that she was on her way to the orange stall before Doctor called out for her. “Come on, let’s go.”

Trixie nodded and followed Twilight happily. As they approached the orange stall, the stall owner, who was one of the victims of Trixie’s tackle-hug phase, contemplated whether she should duck away or not. But that idea was blown out of the window when Twilight greeted her. She greeted back with a fake smile on her face, whilst keeping an eye on Trixie, ready for anything to happen.

Thankfully, the day was much more peaceful than previous days. The worst that happened was Trixie playing around with some of the fruit stalls, dropping some fruit to the floor and causing Twilight to have to buy them (least she cause a big fuss which she was not in the mood for today).

When Twilight reached the blacksmith’s shop, she asked Trixie to wait outside. There were many things in there that she could easily hurt herself with, and felt it best that she didn’t go in. Trixie was sad. She didn’t want to leave Twilight’s side, since she was still afraid of being by herself in an unfamiliar place, but when Twilight told her that she wouldn’t be long, Trixie put on a smile and took a seat outside of the shop. Twilight took the lantern frame from Trixie’s bag, and walked inside.

Upon entering the shop, Twilight noticed that there was nopony at the counter. ‘Probably in the back.’ She thought to herself. She hit the bell on the counter a few times, and eventually heard the voice of the blacksmith who ran the shop. A large, buff Earth Pony emerged from the back room. His coat was a very dark black, and his mane and tail were both orange. His eye colour was a very attractive sapphire colour. “Hello there, Anvilfire.”

Anvilfire put down the hammer he was carrying, and walked over to Twilight Sparkle. “Ah, Miss Sparkle. I haven’t seen you in a while. So, what can I do for you?”

Twilight took out the lantern frame, and placed it on the counter. “I was wondering if you could fix this for me.”

Anvilfire examined the frame, and laughed at the simple request. “Haven’t seen each-other in months, and you come to my shop just for this?” He took the frame and placed it next to a bunch of other items, placing a label on it so that he knew who it belonged to. “Sure thing, but it’ll take a few days. Come back on Thursday, and it’ll be ready by then.”

“Great! And how much will that be?”

“Well…For this, 15 bits should suffice.”

Twilight levitated her bit pouch, and took out a few bits. She dropped them when she was suddenly shoved to the side by someone who had just rushed into the store. She looked up to see who had just been so rude, and saw that it was the Diamond Dogs, Rover, Fido, and Spot. They marched up to the counter, and Rover, the leader of the trio, slammed his paws down the counter hard, though Anvilfire didn’t flinch much.

“We’re here for our tools!” Rover shouted, his bad breath being the thing to finally make Anvilfire flinch and back away slightly. “It’s been one whole day! You’ve had plenty of time!”

Anvilfire stared calmly at the three ruffians that had just barged into his store. “Sorry, but I already told you that it’ll be at least another three days. Two if you stop bothering me and lemme get back to work.”

Rover slammed his paws on the table again, not satisfied with the answer. “We gave you lots of gems! You should have had our tools finished by now!”

Anvilfire sighed. “Yes, a lot of gems indeed. And that’s why I’ve put your tools as priority number one, and even pulled an all-nighter last night. But these things take time, and no matter how much you pay me, I can’t get the job done any faster than I’m doing it now.”

“Excuses! We need our tools now! How we supposed to mine without digging tools!?”

“You’ll just have to find something else to do. Now please, leave. The longer you keep me busy here, the less time I’ll have to fix your tools.”

Rover let out an aggravated cry, and then turned around and left, followed by Fido and Spot. Twilight finished picking up her bits, and placed them on the counter. “Well, that was rather rude.”

Anvilfire shrugged, and then took the money placed on his counter. After counting it, and placing it in the safe under his counter, he produced a piece of paper, and wrote a receipt for Twilight, so that she could collect her lantern when it was finished. “I can understand why they’re angry. It’d be like if I was without my hammer, or if a musician was without their instrument. But you can’t rush art, no matter how much you pay. If I repaired their tools too quickly, they’d only break again very soon, and we don’t want that.”

Twilight collected her receipt, and placed it into her bag. “Well, at least you got a nice payment from them.” Twilight remarked, looking over at the pile of gems in the corner. There were too many for them to be fit inside the safe, but he wasn’t too worried. Ponyville was a relatively crime-free town. The safe wasn’t even necessary really, it just helped keep his mind at ease while he was sleeping.

The door burst open suddenly, and Twilight and Anvilfire turned to see Lyra standing at the doorway, a panicked look on her face. “Twilight! You gotta come, quick! It’s Trixie!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. What had happened to Trixie? Was she causing trouble again? Was somepony giving her a hard time? The look on Lyra’s face suggested she was in serious trouble, so Twilight bolted past Lyra, and saw a large group of ponies gathered around the town hall. And in front of the town hall, standing on the stage and looking down at everypony, were the three Diamond Dogs from earlier. Only, they weren’t alone. One of them, Fido, held Trixie in a headlock. Trixie was struggling to get free, but she wasn’t anywhere near as strong as the large brute holding her hostage.

Twilight pushed through the crowd and attempted to reach Trixie, but was stopped by Rover. “Not a single move, or you’ll never see the pony again!” Twilight could have used her magic, but if her horn had started glowing, they would have just escaped by digging underground. Not to mention there’s no telling what they’d do to her if she tried anything. Rover pushed Twilight back, and turned to Anvilfire, who had followed her outside. “Bring our tools out right now! We’ll give you one hour!”

Anvilfire tried to reason with the Diamond Dogs, choosing his words carefully now that they had a hostage. “Please, I already told you that it’ll take at least two or three more days! If I don’t do the job right, they won’t last very long!”

“You’re just making up excuses! We want our tools now!”

Anvilfire was sweating bullets. He just couldn’t get through to these thick-headed dogs. He could go inside and just tidy up the tools a bit, and make it look like they had been fixed, but if they broke too soon, he would just have to deal with them again. Not to mention it goes every value he holds about being a blacksmith. But at this rate, Trixie would be taken away. If she were any other pony, maybe they could calm her down, and assure them that they’d rescue her soon. But Trixie was practically a foal mentally. She was scared, and confused, and had no idea where she was, or what she should do.

The Diamond Dogs began to leave, telling them to leave the tools at the Ponyville quarry within the next hour. Trixie was struggling against Fido, reaching out to Twilight for help, tears running down her eyes. Eventually, Spot had to help Fido carry Trixie away. She couldn’t stop them. She was helpless. She had no memories, and she couldn’t use her magic. She reached out towards Twilight one final time, took a deep breath, and…

“TWILIIIIIIGHT!”

Twilight shot her head up, and stared wide-eyed at Trixie. Her sudden screaming seemed to have startled the Diamond Dogs, causing them to stop for a second. However, they were soon carrying her off again, only this time, she was continually calling Twilight’s name. Twilight wanted to help her, but if she charged in without a plan, it would only put at greater risk.

“Hold it right there, you ruffians!” Everyone in the area, including the Diamond Dogs, turned to the direction of the voice. It came from a white Unicorn with a stylish purple mane and tail.

“Rarity!” Twilight ran towards he friend, who smiled warmly at Twilight, giving a look that told her that everything would be ok. Pinkie Pie was bouncing alongside Rarity, and the two of them moved closer to the Diamond Dogs, carrying bags that looked pretty heavy.

“What you want!? Don’t come closer, or you’ll never see your friend again!” Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded to each other, and threw the bags that they were carrying in front of them. “What’s this?”

“You said you wanted them, right?” Rarity said with a stern look on her face. She used her magic to open the bags, allowing a few pickaxes and shovels to falls out. “We’ll let you borrow these. And then, in three days, your tools will be ready.” She turned to Anvilfire. “Right?”

Anvilfire smiled at the Unicorn, thanking her silently. “Right!”

The Diamond Dogs discussed what they should do, and then finally reached their decision. They released Trixie, and took the tools that Rarity and Pinkie Pie offered to them. “Fine then, but this is your last chance! We’ll be back in three days! Have the tools ready by then!”

And with that, the Diamond Dogs left the small town with no further hassle. Trixie ran over to Twilight as soon as she was released, tears falling from her eyes. When she reached the purple Unicorn, she wrapped her hooves around her in a tight hug, which was returned by Twilight, who was just relieved that Trixie was safe.

“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!” Trixie continued shouting out Twilight’s name. It seemed to be all she could say. Twilight continued holding her for a few minutes, until she finally calmed down. Once she did, Twilight wiped away the tears from Trixie’s eyes, and told her that she didn’t have to be afraid anymore. Trixie responded with a big smile, happy to be re-united with Twilight once again.

“Well, that sure was eventful…” Anvilfire said, scratching the back of his head as he stared in the direction where the Diamond Dogs had left the small town. “Sorry I couldn’t be much help, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, there wasn’t anything you could have done. I’m just glad that Trixie’s safe now.” She looked over at Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were both smiling at their friend, happy to see her smiling again. “Thanks, guys.”

“Don’t mention it, Twilight. We are friends, are we not?”

“Yeah! And friends help each-other when they’re in trouble! So obviously we’d come and help you if you were in trouble!” Pinkie Pie reached forward and pulled both Twilight and Trixie into a big hug. “And of course the same goes for Trix, too!”

Trixie managed to squirm her way out of Pinkie’s big hug, and Twilight managed to force herself free with enough effort. “But, where’d you get those tools? Mining tools aren’t easy to find in Ponyville…”

Rarity pulled Pinkie away before she could trap her friends in another big hug, and then answered Twilight’s question. “Most of them were mine. Before Spike started living here, and before I could use my charms to get cheap help, I had to dig up the gems I found by myself.” Rarity said, flicking her mane and posing when she said charm. “Pinkie Pie also had a pickaxe and a shovel to spare, so she helped, too.”

“They were from when I was the rock-farm with my family!” Pinkie explained to the other ponies. “I kept them as mementos!” Twilight suddenly felt guilty, and started to frown. Pinkie continued when she saw this. “Oh, don’t worry! I don’t need some rusty old tools to remember my family! And besides, my friends were in trouble, and I had to help! Even if I don’t get them back, as long as my friends are smiling, that’s all that matters!”

Anvilfire chuckled, and then began to leave. “Well, I’d better get to work then. Miss Sparkle, you’ve got good friends. Make sure you cherish them forever.”

Twilight smiled, and looked at each of her friends in front of her. “I will.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that friendship isn’t just extending kindness to each-other, and helping just your friends out. It’s about extending kindness to everyone, and helping out anyone that may be in trouble. Even if they’re not your friends yet, if you show them kindness by helping them out when they’re in trouble, there’s no reason why a friendship between the two of you can’t form.

Also, something amazing happened with Trixie today! She’s started talking again! She can only say one word so far: Twilight. But it’s defiantly a start, right? I’m going to do my best to help her out, and would appreciate it if you could find a certain item in my room. It’s a book that my parents used to help me learn to read and write, and I figured I may be able to use it to help Trixie, too. If you aren’t too busy, could you please find it and send it over to me? I’d greatly appreciate it.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

“…Trixie. Wake up. You’re going to be late for your first day of school.”

“Trixie. You----Congartulat---“

“DADDY! I EARNED MY CUTIE M---You don’t care…Do you, daddy?”

“You ran away from home?
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

“TRIXIE! RUN!”

Trixie's errand!

Author’s Note:

This story was done mostly as an experiment. Since I had never done a comedy/slice of life fic before, I wanted to see how I would do with writing one. While the reaction from the first chapter was better than expected – which made me very happy – I’m sad to say that, frankly, this doesn’t really seem to be my cup of tea. I’m just not really enjoying writing the chapters as much as my other fics, and I’m not entirely happy with how they turn out. In fact, to be honest, I’m not even sure if it can fit into the category of comedy at all. Hence I’m removing that tag from this story.

All that being said, I’m not gonna end it after I’ve already planned out a general storyline, but it’s not gonna be as long as I originally planned. Probably a few more chapters, and then I’m gonna bring in the climax.

For any Trixie fans out there, don’t fret. I do have another Trixie fic planned in my mind that I’ll do after this one, which I think I’ll be more motivated to work on. It’ll be a cross between MLP:FiM and Detective Conan, which I’ve grown super addicted to lately, and the first chapter will involve Twilight and Trixie working together (albeit through much bickering and arguing) to solve a murder case in Manehatten. Hopefully this one’ll go much better.

Anywhom, without further delay, here’s the third chapter.

“Big…Red…Ball…” Trixie finished reading the sentence in her book, and turned to Twilight with a hopeful look on her face, awaiting her verdict.

Twilight smiled and clapped her hooves together. “Good! You’re making fast progress, Trixie.”

Trixie smiled at Twilight, happy to hear that she got it right. “Thank.You.” She said, taking a moment to remember what to say when someone praises you.

For the past 5 days, Trixie had been picking up a few more words from Twilight and her friends. At first she wasn’t sure when to use each word, confusing everypony when she addressed them as Twilight, or saying goodbye when she should have been thanking them. But Twilight and her friends helped Trixie understand what to say in what situation, and eventually, were able to have partial conversations with her.

Now, Twilight was trying to help Trixie learn how to read and write. Trixie was once again showing that she was a fast learner, making quick progress through the book that Twilight received from Celestia two days ago. She still had much learning to do, but Twilight wasn’t too worried. With how much progress she had made already, she was sure that it wouldn’t be long until Trixie was back on her own hooves.

Dr. Stable had visited Twilight that week to check on Trixie’s health. She seemed to be just fine. Her injuries had more-or-less healed, and there were no problems with her eyesight or hearing. She had also grown more accustomed to living in Ponyville. Being surrounded by Twilight’s friends must have helped a lot. She was nowhere near as shy as she was during her first week in Ponyville, and she had stopped clinging to Twilight so much when more of her speaking abilities returned to her.

Trixie spent much of the morning practicing her reading, whilst Twilight and Spike made preparations for an upcoming trip to Canterlot, which involved packing, and writing a schedule of things to do when there. After that, they began creating the schedule for tomorrow. Twilight happily hummed a tune as she fit tomorrow’s events into her checklist without any trouble, while Spike was bored out of his skull, wishing her were helping Rarity right now instead.

Twilight’s head suddenly perked up when she heard a knock at the door, and was about to go and answer it, when Trixie stood up and rushed over to it instead. Trixie recently started assisting Twilight a lot more now, and was more than happy to perform certain tasks, like retrieving books for her, or answering the door whenever Twilight was busy.

She pulled the door open quickly, cheerfully greeting the pony on the other side. “Hell-o!” The pony on the other side was a grey Pegasus pony called Derpy Hooves. She was floating in front of Trixie, carrying a saddlebag filled with letters and packages. “Deepy!” Trixie exclaimed.

Derpy laughed and took out a package from her saddlebag. “Close. It’s “Derpy”.” She corrected as she handed the package to Trixie. “Is Twilight in? I need her to sign for this.” She said, dropping taking out a clipboard and dropping it to the ground. “Oops.” She said as she landed on the ground to pick it up. She dropped it again, groaning as she again reached down to pick it up. The clipboard was wrapped in purple magic, and levitated up into the air. “Thanks, Twilight.” Derpy said as Twilight appeared beside Trixie, signing the board with a quill pen.

“No problem. Have a good day, Derpy.” Twilight said, handing the board back to Derpy and waving as Derpy saluted and sped off to her next delivery. “Ah! Watch out for that-” Her warning came too late, as Derpy crashed into a house on the opposite side of the street. She somehow managed to stay in the air, and continued flying away in the same direction.

“So what’s in the package?” Spike asked as he took the package from Trixie and shook it a little bit, placing an ear next to it to try and hear what was inside.

Twilight snatched the package from Spike with her magic, and placed it on her desk, setting it aside for later. “It’s a few books I ordered from Manehatten. I’ve been waiting for them for a while.” She looked over to a letter that was sitting next to the package, and gasped suddenly. “Oh no…I forgot to ask Derpy to deliver this letter to Fluttershy…” She levitated the letter with her magic, and started pacing back and forth, mumbling about how if she didn’t deliver the letter, it would be bad, but if she went to deliver it, she wouldn’t have enough time to finish her schedule.

Spike offered to deliver it for her, but Twilight said that she needed him to help her, or she wouldn’t be able to meet today’s schedule. Trixie ran up to Twilight, and started bouncing up and down excitedly, grinning widely as she tried to find the right words, but she wasn’t sure what to say.

Twilight ventured a guess. “You…Wanna deliver this for me?” Trixie responded by nodding quickly, and ran up to the closet where her saddlebag was stored. “But…Will you be able to find your way to Fluttershy’s on your own?”

Trixie nodded again, and opened the closet, rummaging through it for her saddlebag and vest. Twilight wasn’t sure whether to accept Trixie’s offer or not, but she couldn’t think of any other way to tackle the situation. Eventually, she decided it couldn’t hurt to let her try. After all, a lot of Ponyville had already seemed to ease off around her, and she had learned some self-control over herself when in public, so she couldn’t imagine her getting into any trouble at this point. She had been to Fluttershy’s house in the past, so she knew where to go.

She gave in and decided to let Trixie deliver the letter for her. Twilight levitated Trixie’s saddlebag up into the air, and placed the letter inside. She started to levitate Trixie’s vest – which was the same purple colour as her hat and cape, and had the same star pattern – and attempted to put it on her, but Trixie backed away and shook her head.

Trixie lowered her head and closed her eyes tight. She started to make groaning sounds, and Twilight watched carefully. Trixie realised from watching other ponies that Unicorns – like herself and Twilight – were capable of using magic. She had attempted numerous times to try and use her own magic, but she never succeeded, since she simply couldn’t remember how to use magic.

Just like her previous attempts, Trixie eventually gave up when she realised that her magic wasn’t forming. She looked at her vest, that was still being held by Twilight’s levitation, and then looked down at the floor, a frown on her face as she shuffled one of her front hooves on the floor.

Twilight walked over to Trixie and gave her a comforting pat on her head. Trixie looked up at Twilight, and forced a small smile onto her face. She then stood up, and allowed Twilight to telekinetically put the vest on her, followed by the saddle bags.

“Alright Trixie, just go straight there, give her the letter, then come straight back. Understand?” Twilight asked, still concerned about sending Trixie on her first chore by herself.

“Yes!” Trixie responded cheerfully, making her way to the door of the library, and leaving on her errand.

Twilight watched her leave until she was out of view, and then closed the door, hoping that everything would be alright.

Trixie strolled through Ponyville with a cheerful look, humming a tune that she’d heard Pinkie Pie humming a few times before. She greeted a few ponies along the way, some of which greeted her back, and came to the first crossroad on her journey. She stopped to remember which direction she had to take, and then remembered that she had to go right. She turned right, but didn’t move.

Her mouth hung open when she saw a familiar blue Unicorn stallion walking towards her. She hadn’t seen him around before, but for some reason, she recognised him. He was a little taller than her, and wore an indigo cape on his back. He walked straight past Trixie, and started to move in the opposite direction. Trixie turned around and stared at him, trying desperately to remember where she knew him from.

“Daddy, I got accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!”

“Of course. I expect nothing less of a Lulamoon. But don’t think that the hard part is over.”

“Yeah! I’m gonna work real hard to make you proud of me!”

Trixie’s eyes widened, and she started to follow the blue Unicorn stallion, who was now moving further into Ponyville. “Daddy?” She said in a silent whisper, picking up her pace to try and catch up with him.

She followed the stallion around a corner, and saw him talking to an Earth Pony that she recognised. Her name was Bon Bon, and she was one of the first few in Ponyville to warm up to her. She had a very kind and friendly personality.

Trixie focused on the stallion, and caught a glimpse of his Cutie Mark when the wind blew up his cape. It was a slice of cake with a strawberry on top. She thought about it for a few seconds, and saw a brief image of her father in her head. His Cutie Mark…It was different. She couldn’t completely remember it, but she was sure her father’s Cutie Mark was different. This stallion wasn’t her father, just somepony who looked like him.

She sighed, and hung her head low, walking back the way she came. Her spirits were suddenly lowered. She had come to realise that she was once somepony else, through her dreams. She would see bits and pieces of her previous life, but whenever she woke up, she couldn’t remember them so well.

Here, Trixie thought that she had found somepony from her past, and was excited at the thought of talking with him. She wanted to know who she was, and what kind of life she once lived. But, it wasn’t to be. She dwelled on the vague memory that she had of her father, trying to engrave his image into her mind.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the pony in front of her until it was too late. “Ow!” She rubbed her head, and then opened her eyes to see who she had bumped into. She tried to remember the phrase Twilight had told her to use in this kind of situation…“S-Sor…ry?”

Pinkie Pie bounced up to her hooves, and helped Trixie up. “Oh, it’s fine! I should’ve been watching where I was going!” She noticed that Trixie was frowning, and she looked at her with concern. “What’s wrong? You look upset. Did something happen?”

Trixie wanted to explain to Pinkie Pie what was troubling her, but her vocabulary wasn’t quite at that level yet. She instead just latched onto Pinkie Pie and started crying, trying to find the right words to explain her sadness. “Who…” She let out a few more tears, Pinkie Pie wrapping her hooves around Trixie in a comforting hug. “Who am…I?”

Pinkie Pie laughed, and parted the hug. “Well that’s a silly question. You’re Trixie, of course! Who else would you be?”

“But…” She once again struggled to find the right words.

Pinkie seemed to understand Trixie’s concerns, and continued. “You’re Trixie. You live in Ponyville, and have a whole bunch of friends! You have fun everyday with me and Twilight and Rarity and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Fluttershy! Who cares who you used to be? The important thing is who you are now!” She looked at Trixie, who seemed to have stopped crying. “Did you…Get all that?” She asked, just now realising that maybe Trixie couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Trixie stared blankly at the pink pony for a few seconds, and then smiled. “Thank.You!”

Pinkie Pie smiled back. “You’re welcome!” She responded cheerfully. “So, you feel better now, right?”

“Yes!”

“Well that’s good, ‘cause I hate to see my friends all sad! Nothing makes me happier than when my friends are smiling!”

Trixie remembered the errand that she had to run, and wanted to get back on her way to Fluttershy’s. She ran past Pinkie Pie, who was still talking (almost singing) about how she wanted her friends to be happy, and started to run back to the crossroad from earlier.

She must have really been distracted by the stallion who looked like her father, because apparently she had travelled quite far from the crossroad, and couldn’t seem to find her way back. She wasn’t even sure where she was at this point. She started to panic, worrying about how she was going to find her way to Fluttershy’s home. Or Twilight’s, for that matter.

She heard a bunch of cheering and laughter behind her, and turned around to see a bunch of colts and fillies playing next to a building that she didn’t recognise. She looked around for any familiar landmarks, but was unable to recognise any of the buildings. Although it was a small town, Trixie had only ever visited a few places, when she was assisting Twilight with something, or going with her to visit her friends.

“Ok, class. Recess is over.” Trixie turned towards the familiar voice, which was at the building where all the young foals were. The pony’s name escaped her, but it was one that Twilight had stopped to talk to a few times, and to Trixie, she seemed like a warm and caring mare. In fact, she was the only mare who Trixie opened up to immediately.

She suddenly felt a lot better at seeing the familiar friendly face, and started walking over to her. She slowed down when some of the foals noticed her approaching. She had yet to interact with any children, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with them. If they were different from grown up ponies.

She was startled when two young colts addressed her. One was short, and had a pair of scissors for a Cutie Mark. The other was slightly taller, and had a snail for a Cutie Mark. It was the taller one who spoke first. “Uh, hey Trixie! When’d you get back in town?”

The shorter one spoke next. “You got any more stories for us? We’ve been really bored lately.”

A third foal approached the two. It was a young pink filly wearing a tiara, with a tiara shaped Cutie Mark. She talked to the two foals with a high and mighty attitude, as if she were on a pedestal high above them. “Why are you two acting all friendly with her? Don’t you remember how she lied about defeating an Ursa Major, and how you two got in so much trouble because of her?”

“Yeah…” The shorter one responded. “But her stories were still awesome, and her magic totally rocked, too!”

“She couldn’t even do anything against that Ursa Minor. What exactly about her magic “rocks”?”

The purple mare that Trixie recognised walked towards the three foals to break up the argument. “Ok, you three, class is in session.”

The three lowered their heads and walked towards the building, mumbling “yes, Miss Cheerilee”.

Cheerilee turned to Trixie, and her stern look turned into a warm smile. “Hello there, Trixie. Where’s Twilight? Did you get separated from her?” Her look turned into a look of concern as she asked that last question.

Trixie shook her head, and reached into her saddlebag to pull out the letter to Fluttershy. She showed it to Cheerilee, who looked at it with a puzzled expression.

“Trixie…This is addressed to Fluttershy.” Trixie nodded her head, and it became obvious to Cheerilee that Trixie was struggling to find the right words. “Do you…Want me to deliver it to her?” Trixie shook her head, and Cheerilee ventured another guess. “Are you lost?”

Trixie nodded her head quickly at this. “Lost! Yes!”

Cheerilee gave the letter back to Trixie. “I see…Then, would you like some directions?” Cheerilee didn’t wait for an answer before she pointed her hoof in the direction behind Trixie. “If you just keep going straight that way until you reach a signpost, you’ll find a road that’ll lead straight to Fluttershy’s cottage. It will be the same road with the café on it.”

Trixie stared blankly at Cheerilee, and then nodded slowly. Cheerilee explained again, but more slowly this time. Trixie seemed to have understood it better the second time, as she nodded more enthusiastically. “Thank.You.” She started to make her way in the direction that Cheerilee pointed, and stopped for a second to wave and shout: “Goodbye!”.

Cheerilee also waved towards Trixie, and then watched her walk off for a few seconds, worrying about whether she’ll be ok. She then made her way towards the class when she realised that she should be teaching them right now.

Trixie continued to walk until she reached the sign post that Cheerilee had mentioned earlier. She looked around for the café, finding it rather easily. She also spotted Applejack near the café, speaking with Rarity, and decided to say hello, since that’s what Twilight would do whenever she met her friends. She walked over to the two ponies, and, without waiting for their conversation to finish, shouted: “Hell-o!”

Rarity and Applejack were startled by Trixie’s sudden appearance, and Rarity was somewhat annoyed with her suddenly interrupting their conversation. “Trixie, you shouldn’t interrupt somepony when they’re having a conversation.” She said with a stern look on her face.

Trixie’s face dropped when she realised that she did something she wasn’t supposed to do, and Rarity sighed and told her that she would let it slide this time. Applejack stepped forward to talk to Trixie. “Howdy there, Trixie. Where’s Twilight today?” She asked when she realised that Twilight wasn’t with her like she usually was.

Rarity noticed this as well, and commented on it. “How strange. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without Twilight since she took you in a few weeks ago.”

Trixie pulled out the letter to Fluttershy from her saddlebag, and held it up to Applejack and Rarity. “Errand!” She shouted, her face once again lit up with a huge smile.

“Ah, goin’ out on yer first errand, eh?” Applejack said. “Ah can remember when Applebloom went out on her first errand. She was so excited, though mostly ‘cause she wanted tah earn her Cutie Mark.”

“Sweetie Belle was excited about her first errand, too.” Rarity said. “I think most ponies are, to be honest. It’s a big step, after all. It means you don’t need to be carried by your family anymore, and that you’re starting to become more independent.”

“Well, it’s a start, but I still wouldn’t trust Applebloom to start living on her own, away from me and Big Mac and Granny Smith.”

“Oh heavens no. Even if they were capable of living on her own, I don’t think either Applebloom or Sweetie Belle would be willing to. Little fillies like them need to be with their families until they’ve finished school.”

“Eeyup! Family’s one of the best things in this world! That’s why I couldn’t bear to be apart from mine!”

Trixie stared blankly at the two as she listened to them. “Fam…Ily?” She thought back to the image of her father in her head, and suddenly, her head started to hurt. “Family…” Another headache as she tried to remember her own family. “Ah…AAAAHHHH!”

Everypony in the area turned to Trixie as she collapsed to the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. Applejack and Rarity immediately knelt down to ask her what was wrong, but she couldn’t even hear them. There was a loud storm raging through her head, and eventually, she lost consciousness, lying asleep in the middle of the street.

“Trixie, you came in second in Magic class, didn’t you?” Trixie’s father asked her as the two ate their dinner. “What happened? Such a result is unacceptable.”

“Now now, Black Cat.” A white Unicorn stallion entered the room, levitating a bottle of wine towards the table. “I’m sure she’s doing her best. Isn’t that right, Trixie?”

Trixie nodded slowly to the white stallion, and Trixie’s father, Black Cat, grabbed the bottle with his own magic. “Her best obviously isn’t good enough then. But I’m willing to give you another chance, since there’s still the rest of the year left.” Black Cat poured some wine into his glass, and passed the bottle back to the white stallion. “Brother, you’re just as much an embarrassment as Trixie is. So it’s obvious you’d take her side. But the very fate of our clan rest on her shoulders. Second place means ruining the reputation that we’ve work so hard to build up.”

Trixie took a bite out of her food, sinking lower into her seat. Her uncle placed a comforting hoof onto her shoulder, and let out a soft chuckle. “So the Lulamoon clan’s having a bad generation. But there’s not much we can do about that. It’s undeniable that you’ve been a great leader, but now, you need to help Trixie. It won’t be long before she’s our new leader.”

Black Cat slammed his glass on the table, and stood up. “Is that a joke? Leave things to her?” Black Cat started to leave the room, but stopped to say one final thing to Trixie. “Do not disappoint me yet again. Even my patience has its limits.”

Trixie woke up in an unfamiliar room. She waited for her eyes to adjust, and noticed that there were flames all around her, and smoke in the air. “What? Where am I?” She turned around to see two silhouettes looking at her, laughing menacingly. “W-Who are you?”

“Trixie…Trixie…TRIXIE!”

Trixie woke up once again, this time in a more familiar room. She was still sweating and breathing heavily from her nightmare. “What?” She turned her head to see Twilight looking at her with a relieved look on her face. “Where is Trixie?” She asked, and then immediately corrected herself. “Where am I?”

Twilight was shocked by Trixie’s sudden use of third person. Had she regained her memories? She took a moment to consider, and then thought that, if Trixie had regained her memories, her reaction surely would have been a lot worse. “You’re at the library. You passed out on the street, and Rarity and Applejack brought you here. What happened? Are you feeling ill?”

Trixie tried to remember what had happened, when something struck her in the back of her mind. “Twilight…Have we…Met before?” Trixie noticed the look of confusion on Twilight’s face, and continued. “I feel like we have, but I’m not sure…I can’t remember…”

Twilight looked at Trixie wide-eyed. “Trixie…You’re speaking in full sentences.”

“…Yes…I am, aren’t I?” Trixie placed her hoof to her forehead, feeling a headache coming along. “I feel strange…So dizzy…I feel…” At that, she tilted her head to the side and fell asleep.

Trixie visits Canterlot!

Trixie looked around the room that she was trapped inside of. The windows had all been nailed shut, and the door was locked by various padlocks. She stood up slowly, and noticed that she was chained to a post. Her magic was being suppressed by an anti-magic ring on her horn, so there was no hope of freeing herself that way.

She started choking on the smoke above her, and crouched down low, remembering that in a fire, one should stay close to the floor, to minimise smoke inhalation. She noticed a body lying next to her, with blood pouring down from a large wound on the top of its head. She didn’t recognise the stallion, but he felt familiar. She couldn’t identify any key features about him, since he was nothing more than a shillouette. She was close enough to rummage through the dead stallion’s pockets, where she found a key to her shackles. The key to the anti-magic ring was nowhere to be found, however, so her magic was still out of commission.

Once her shackles were undone, she heard a loud bang behind her. She spun around quickly to see that the door to the burning room had been blasted open. Standing at the entrance was a familiar figure. ‘Father!’, Trixie exclaimed in her head. She was happy to see her father at the doorway, but just before she could say anything, her father said something that made her spirits sink.

“She appears to be dead.” She stared with wide-eyes at the figure of her father, looking just past her and towards the body behind her. She must have been too small to see when she was crouching down. There was a post in front of her, and it must have been obscuring her father’s vision. Before she could correct him, he continued. “Just as planned. Now we can get the insurance for this place, right, brother?”

She watched as her father took off down the hallway, and wanted to chase after him. But her body was frozen. If she had heard right, that would mean that…‘Father an uncle…Tried to kill me?’ Tears started to run down the young filly’s face, and she suddenly forgot about her dangerous situation. She just let out a loud scream, and started to cry in the middle of the room, the roaring of the flames blocking out her loud wailing. She heard a whistle in front of her, but simply ignored it. That is, until she heard the sound of the ceiling give way. She looked up just in time to see the ceiling collapse, but before it could hit her, a light shot forth from the door, catching the ceiling, and giving her time to escape.

Once she made her way outside the room, she saw two ponies – on Earth Pony, and one Pegasus – dressed in Royal Guard uniforms. They both approached the young filly, and started to ask her some questions. But the questions were being drowned out by the sounds of Trixie crying. Her own family had tried to kill her. Her own uncle, who she trusted more than anyone else. She looked back at the room that she was just in, and wondered if she should have just stayed there.

Trixie had been staring at the ceiling for about an hour now. She woke up in her bed, in the basement of Twilight’s library. After mentioning to Twilight that she wanted to be alone at night when she started to have nightmares, Twilight set up a bed in the basement for Trixie to use. Trixie had spent the last three days silently helping the citizens of Ponyville with their jobs. Apple bucking, baking, delivering letters, anything to keep her mind off her memories. She had been having nightmares at night, and wasn’t able to get much sleep. And her mind was plagued with terrible memories from her childhood.

Whether they be memories of her father, who seemed to shun her very existence, or of her uncle, who tried to kill her for some unknown reason, or even of school. She couldn’t remember what exactly was wrong with her life at school, but whenever she tried to remember, her mind would start to rebel, giving her painful headaches, as if to tell her not to remember.

She remembered something that Twilight had told the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had wished their Cutie Marks would just appear, regardless of what they were: “Be careful what you wish for”. This must be what she meant. Trixie wished for her memories to return, so that she could find her old friends, and introduce them to her new ones here in Ponyville. Then, they would have a party at Sugarcube Corner.

But, if this was all she had to look forward to of her old life, she would much rather forget everything all over again. She finally sat up when Spike entered the basement and told her that they would be leaving soon. Today was the trip to Canterlot that Twilight and Spike had been looking forward to. They were going with their friends to go sightseeing, this they all had some time off from their jobs, and had never really been all around Canterlot before. At least not as a group. Of course, Trixie had been invited too. Trixie agreed to go because she didn’t want to be apart from Twilight, but ever since her memories had started to return, she just wanted to be alone. She finally gave in and agreed to go, just to get Twilight to leave her alone for a bit.

She wandered over to the dresser that Twilight had placed in the basement for Trixie to use, and noticed how much of a mess she looked. She honestly didn’t care how she looked right now, since she had more important things on her mind, but her magic seemed to act on its own, lifting a brush and brushing her mane. Somewhere inside her, she couldn’t stand the thought of going outside looking like she had just suffered a nasty shock. She looked further down the mirror, and stood on her hind legs.

“How did I get these?” She asked herself, though it wasn’t the first time. When she was the innocent Trixie from a few days ago, she didn’t seem to take much notice of them. Even when Twilight insisted that she wear the vest to cover them up. Now, she could understand why. The scars along her body were horrifying, and sent chills down her spine just from looking at them. The worst feeling she got from them was the thought that there was something out there that could actually do something like this. And that she was in a situation where this happened. They weren’t burn marks, so she didn’t get them from the fire. They looked more like claw marks. ‘How close was I to being some beast’s lunch, I wonder?’

She slipped the vest on to cover the marks, not wanting to look at them anymore, and looked over at where her hat and cloak lay. She didn’t feel like dressing up today, so she just ignored them, and made her way upstairs. She saw Twilight levitating a checklist, checking off items to make sure that they were packed.

“Soap? Check. First aid kit? Check. Net? Check.” Trixie raised an eyebrow at the last item. Why would they need a net? As far as she was aware, their schedule said nothing about fishing or butterfly catching. “Double check the checklist? Check.” That one was odd too, but Trixie knew of Twilight’s odd habit of double checking her checklists, and even making that an item to check off on her checklist. So she gave it no thought. She was trying to think of possible reason for bringing a net along…And it was a big one, too.

She wondered if she should ask. But she didn’t feel like talking much. She was still thinking about her dream, and wasn’t in much of a talkative mood. But at this rate, she’d go crazy trying to figure out what the deal with the net is. She finally decided to just try asking Twilight why she was bringing a net. “Twilight?” Twilight responded with a simple “mhm?”, whilst helping Spike with his luggage, which was having a hard time fitting into his small bag. It was mostly snacks…Actually, it was almost entirely snacks, with the occasional ruby or sapphire in there. “What’s with the net?”

“The Princess asked me to bring it along.” Twilight responded, levitating a bunch of snacks and setting them down on the table. Spike was complaining, but Twilight had to be strict. “No, Spike. You’ve got plenty in there already. If you have too many, your teeth will go bad, and you’ll have to see a dentist. And I don’t know any dentists who are qualified to work on Dragons.” She turned to Trixie. “I don’t know why, but she wanted me to bring a net enchanted with my magic…”

Trixie looked over at Twilight’s saddlebags, where the net lay inside. “Enchanted with magic? How do you mean?”

“There’s just a little of my magic in there, ready to be shaped into whatever later.” Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof. “But, I do wonder what the Princess is planning, asking me to bring this net with me…Ah!” She turned around and looked at the clock, and then quickly levitated her saddlebags onto her back. “We can’t stand around here talking! We have to go, or we’ll be late!”

Before either could say anything, Spike looked over to Trixie, who was smiling devilishly. He could have sworn they still had plenty of time, and now he knew what was going on. “You set the clock forward, didn’t you?”

Trixie’s face immediately reverted to the most innocent face she could manage. “Spike, I’m shocked. To think you’d accuse me, your dear friend, of something like that.” She saw that the baby Dragon wasn’t buying it, and just dropped the façade. “Well, she wouldn’t leave me alone last night, so I just wanted some time to myself this morning.”

Spike didn’t say anything, but instead turned his attention to the snacks on the table. He watched Trixie lie down on a nearby cushion and close her eyes, and decided to sneak over to the table, and see how many snacks her could fit into his bag.

Twilight sat by herself at the train station with an annoyed look on her face, reading through one of the books that she had brought with her. When she arrived at the station, and realised that nopony else was there, she checked the clock hanging on the wall, and realised that she still had half an hour left before the train arrived. She wanted to go back and give Trixie and/or Spike – since she wasn’t sure which one of them had pulled the trick on her – but she decided to just sit down and read through her book while she waited for them. Hopefully, her annoyance would have died down by the time they arrived.

That did not happen. When she saw Trixie and Spike approach her, she immediately turned her head and glared at them. “Oh, there you are. I’ve been waiting for THIRTY MINUTES!”

Trixie and Spike looked away and whistled innocently, as if they had nothing to do with it. Trixie then noticed Applejack and Rainbow Dash approaching, and tried to shift the topic. “Hello Applejack, Rainbow Dash! You two looking forward to the trip today?”

Twilight wanted to give Trixie a piece of her mind, but decided to let it slide, not wanting to ruin the day by getting into a fight just before leaving. Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached the three who were already at the station. “Howdy Trixie, Spike, Twilight.” She tilted her cap at each one as she greeted them. “You bet I’m excited ‘bout this trip! I hear the grub in Canterlot’s the best around, but I’ve never actually tasted it before. Well, ‘cept from that one doughnut shop.”

“Isn’t that ‘cause everything in Canterlot’s so…High-class? Not to mention expensive.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well, yeah…” Applejack said. “But hey! If I can learn a thing or two from the food they have there, we could increase apple product sales greatly! We may even be able to expand sales to Canterlot! Successfully, this time.” She frowned when she remembered her less than satisfactory attempts to sell her food at the Grand Galloping Gala.

The group of four ponies and one baby Dragon turned their heads when they heard the sound of a train approaching them. They saw the train that would soon take them to Canterlot stopping at the station, and saw a few ponies leaving the train. “Oh no!” Twilight exclaimed as she rose to her hooves suddenly. “Where’re the others? Aren’t they here yet?”

“We’re hereeeeee!” Rarity sang as she approached the group alongside Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Everyone noticed Rarity was dressed in a very high-class dress, though they weren’t the least bit surprised by this. Except for Trixie, who looked at her with a curious look on her face. “What? We’re going to Canterlot. What if we run into Fancypants? I have to look my best.”

“Fancypants?” Trixie asked.

“Her boyfriend.” Rainbow Dash said, nudging Rarity on the side with her hoof.

Rarity batted away the hoof and glared at Rainbow Dash. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s a friend, and a business partner.” She and her friends moved towards the train to board it. “Of course, that isn’t to say that if something were to happen between us, that I would be against it.” She said, giggling with excitement at the thought of Fancypants proposing to her.

Applejack and Trixie walked side-by-side as they boarded the train. “So, Trixie. This your first time on a train?”

Trixie looked at Applejack with an un-amused look. “I don’t know. I can’t remember ever riding one, so I guess so.”

Applejack smiled at Trixie and patted her hoof on her back. “Well then enjoy the ride! I bet you’ll forget all yer problems by the time we get there!”

“Oh really?” Trixie said, not at all convinced. “I highly doubt a train ride can be that much fun.”

“Twilight! This train is so awesome!” Trixie said, running through the cabin and skidding to a stop at where the group was sitting. She had a huge smile on her face that made her look completely different from the Trixie from this morning. “You have to come see the dining room! The view is amazing, and the food is so good!”

Twilight and her friends looked at each other with grins on their faces, and each were struggling to hold back their laughter. Trixie was like an excited little filly on her very first train trip, and they were happy to see her spirits lifted so high. “Maybe later, Trixie. It’s not even lunchtime yet.” She said, causing Trixie to frown. “Why don’t you go check out the rest of the cars? I hear the games room is-” She didn’t have to continue. At the sound of a games room, Trixie sped off down the cabin, easger to see what else the train had to offer.
“Guess she just needed a distraction to take her mind off of things.” Applejack said and she watched Trixie leave the cabin.

“Indeed. It’s good to see her energetic once more. I was beginning to worry about the poor dear.” Rarity said as she flipped a page in the newspaper that she was reading. A certain article caught her eye, and she spread the paper onto the table to show it to her friends. “My word! Look at this! “Kaito Stallion’s next target: The Royal Amethysts!””

Her friends all gasped and looked closer at the paper, checking to make sure that she had read it correctly. The Royal Amethysts were two necklaces crafted from amethyst gemstones, and worn by the previous Queen of Equestria, before the Royal sisters took the throne. Neither necklace was very valuable these days, but their historical value was huge. They sat in the Grand Canterlot Museum, with some of the heaviest security ever created.

Twilight looked at the picture with complete shock. She knew that Kaito Stallion was no ordinary thief, but to go for something this big was just insane.

The train made a stop at Canterlot station, and the group began to leave the train one by one. It took a bit of effort from both Twilight and Rainbow Dash combined to separate Trixie from the games room’s arcade machines. She was on a roll and didn’t want to leave. Finally, they managed to get her to leave the train, though she wasn’t too happy with having to leave her high score behind.

Once everyone in the group was present and accounted for, they began to make their way into the city, only to be stopped by the appearance of a large white Alicorn, with a long, flowing mane and tail. Twilight’s face took on a huge smile, and she ran towards her mentor to greet her. “Princess Celestia!”

“Twilight Sparkle. It’s good to see you again.” She looked at her pupil’s friends, and regarded each one with a slight nod. She turned to the one Unicorn she had never met before, and stared at her for a while. Something about this blue Unicorn felt familiar to her, but she wasn’t sure what. “Hello. You must be Trixie. I’ve heard a lot about you from Twilight’s letters, and I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Trixie bowed to the Princess and faced the ground, trying to show the upmost respect for her. “It’s an honour, Princess.”

“Please, don’t be so formal. Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine.” She said as she raised the bowing pony’s face with her hoof. “I understand you have lost your memories, correct? Well, Canterlot is a big city. Hopefully, you’ll find somepony you recognise.”

Trixie frowned at the thought of that. The only memories of her past were unpleasant ones, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet anyone she once knew at this point. Even so, she was comforted by the Princess’ soothing voice, and appreciated that she was trying to cheer her up.

“Princess, is it true that Kaito Stallion’s planning to steal the Royal Amethysts?” Twilight asked, turning the Princess’ attention away from Trixie and towards the librarian.

“Yes, unfortunately.” Celestia sighed. “But, this time, we’re going to get him. For sure.” She said, smiling at her subjects in front of her. “In fact, that’s why I’m here. We’re in a bit of a hurry to set things up, and I wanted to collect that item I asked you to prepare immediately.”

Twilight thought for a second, and then remembered the net in her bag. “Here it is! Although, I didn’t have enough time to enchant it…Sorry.” She said, looking up at her mentor with a pleading look on her face.

Celestia took the net, and smiled at her student. “It’s ok, Twilight. Although, the enchantment is pretty important…Do you think you could spare a few hours to do it now?”

Twilight looked at her friends, who all smiled at her and gave their approval. “Sorry, guys. I’ll meet up with you at Canterlot Central Park later, ok?”

“Yeah, no sweat Twi! We’ll just go look around for a bit until then!” Rainbow Dash said.

“You go do what ya need to do, Twilight.” Applejack said.

Twilight and Celestia made their way towards the Palace, leaving the rest of the group at the station. After the two were out of view, the group decided to follow a different street, where a bunch of shops were lined next to each other.

Pinkie Pie in particular was very excited about sightseeing, and was bouncing off ahead of the group. “Pinkie Pie, wait up!” Rarity yelled after her as the group ran to catch up.

Trixie was looking around at the familiar surroundings, and didn’t see the stallion in front of her until she bumped into him. “Sorry!” She yelled back as she continued running after her friends.

The stallion – a tall white Unicorn dressed in a black suit and wearing a pair of shades over his eyes, with a long, messy green mane and tail – turned around and looked at the mare who had just bumped into him. He grinned as he watched her run off, and then turned back around and walked down the street, in the opposite direction of Trixie. “Well well…The world’s just full of surprises.”

Trixie sipped at her coffee bit by bit, whilst her friends around her talked about the day they’d had so far, and showing off the various things they’d bought. Trixie was unfortunately not enjoying herself as much as she thought she would. The entire day, she kept seeing familiar sights and faces, but she was unable to remember exactly why they were so familiar, and trying to remember only resulted in a very painful headache forming.

Fluttershy took notice of this, and tried to cheer her up. “Um, Trixie, if you’re not feeling well…I could, I mean, if that’s ok with you…I could take you to the hotel we’ll be staying at, so you can get some rest…”

Trixie looked over to Fluttershy. “No, thanks. I don’t want to ruin your day. I’m ok, really.” She lied. Truthfully, she just wanted to lie down and sleep the day away. But she knew how much Fluttershy was looking forward to meeting the animals at the park, and she didn’t want to ruin Fluttershy’s plans.

Pinkie Pie reached over to Trixie and used her hooves to shape a smile onto Trixie’s face. After staying like that for a few seconds, Rarity had to ask: “Pinkie Pie, darling, what are you doing?”

“Trixie didn’t look very happy! I wanted to help turn her frown upside down!” Pinkie exclaimed as she smiled widely at Trixie. Eventually, she pulled her hooves away, and Trixie’s happy smile quickly turned into a look of un-amusement.

“Please don’t worry about me. I just forgot how to smile, but I’m sure I’ll remember soon enough.” She noticed that her friends were all looking at her with looks of concern and sympathy. She sighed and rose to her hooves. “I’m going to the restroom. Please excuse me.”

Trixie washed her hooves in one of the restroom sinks, and stared at her face in the mirror. She felt sick. Her headache was getting worse, and she her stomach was killing her. She saw movement in the corner of her eye, and turned around to see Twilight Sparkle standing there. Trixie looked at her with surprise. “Twilight? Why are you here? I thought we were meeting at the park later.”

Twilight walked over to Trixie and placed a hoof to her forehead. “Ok. You seem fine.” Twilight sighed with relief, and then began explaining herself to Twilight. “I finished early, and saw you guys sitting in this café, so I decided to come over to you. But then the others said that you weren’t feeling well, so I came to check on you.”

Trixie stared blankly for a few seconds, and then sighed and pushed Twilight’s hoof out of the way. “That’s just like you, always butting into another pony’s business.” She then realised something, and began correcting herself in her head. ‘No, that’s not right…She doesn’t care about others…But, she’s always trying to help others with their problems…AH!’ Trixie held her head with her hooves. Her mind was in chaos. Half was telling her that Twilight was a nosey pony who she could trust, whilst the other half was telling her that she was somepony she should stay away from…Somepony who didn’t care about how others felt.

“Trixie? What’s wrong?” Trixie fell to floor, and started groaning in pain. “Trixie!” Twilight tried to move Trixie’s hooves out of the way so that she could get a better look at her. “What’s wrong? Are you ok? Trixie!”

Trixie’s headache started to ease off, and she looked up at Twilight, who was looking down at Trixie with great worry. “I…I used to live here…In Canterlot…But, whenever I try to remember anything…AH!” She felt another shockwave of pain surging through her head.

“Trixie! Stop it! If remembering is too painful, then you don’t have to force yourself.” Twilight held Trixie in her hooves, trying to calm her down. “You don’t have to force yourself to remember everything at once. Just focus on your life now, and let your memories catch up to you at their own pace.”

Trixie looked up at Twilight, and felt her headache start to subside. “Why? Why are you…Going through all of this trouble to help me?” She felt a tear run down her face, but ignored it.

“Do I really need a reason to help somepony in trouble?” Twilight responded, as if it were obvious to anyone. “You’re my friend, Trixie. And I don’t want to see you be hurt. Please, at the very least, try to smile and open up more. Ok?”

Trixie stared at Twilight with her mouth and eyes wide open. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been for the past three days. She had been fretting over her memories, and despairing over the possibilities of who she used to be, that she didn’t even realise…“I don’t need remember who I once was…I have friends in Ponyville…Friends who will accept me for who I am, and who I can be happy with…” She didn’t realise that she was speaking her thoughts out loud.

Twilight nodded, and moved away from Trixie slightly, who was now much more calm than just a few moments earlier. “Would you…Like to go back to the hotel?”

Trixie thought for a few seconds, and then smiled at Twilight, rising up to her hooves. “No. I’m feeling better now. Thank you.” She walked past Twilight and began to leave the restroom. “C’mon! Everypony’s probably waiting for us!”

Twilight smiled and followed Trixie, happy to see that she was now feeling better.

Trixie stared at the ceiling above her. She could hear the loud snoring of her roommates, Twilight and Rarity, and was having a hard time getting to sleep because of it. ‘I don’t have to feel all alone. That was the old Trixie. The me who was abandoned by my family. But now…I have friends, who will always be there for me, no matter what. I should be grateful for that, and show them that I’m happy, so that they don’t have to worry…’ A thought crossed her mind, and she sat up, looking towards the desk that Twilight had used to write to Celestia earlier that day. ‘I wonder if that would make a good friendship letter?’

Black Cat looked up at the hotel in front of him, watching one window in particular. He watched as the light from inside shut off, and then looked down at a pocket watch that he was carrying. He opened it up, revealing a photo of himself and a blue Unicorn, both smiling into a camera, with a beautiful field of flowers behind them. “Trixie…So you’re back in Canterlot.”

He closed the pocket watch, and began to walk away from the hotel. “I wonder…How should I deal with you, my daughter?”

Kaito Stallion strikes!

It was 7pm in Equestria, and the group of mares (plus one dragon) from Ponyville were gathered at a nice-looking restaurant in Canterlot, along with many other residents of the grand city. Just around the corner was Grand Canterlot Museum, and in two hours time, Kaito Stallion would make his appearance.

The nearby restaurants couldn’t be any happier. Because of Kaito Stallion’s upcoming heist, ponies from all over the city were gathering to have their dinners at the restaurants, so that they could secure good spots to see the legendary phantom thief in action, and the Royal Guard – led tonight by Princess Celestia herself – attempt to catch him.

After making their orders, the group of friends from Ponyville sat and waited for their meals to come. “Man, this food better be good, considering how much it costs.” Rainbow Dash said, looking through the menu one last time, still shocked over how expensive this stuff was.

“Sorry.” Twilight said. “I know some cheaper places nearby, but they’re all full up. Guess there’re a lot of ponies from outside Canterlot here to see this attempted heist.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. This is the biggest theft of the century we’re talking about.” Rarity pointed out, sipping her drink carefully, to make sure that she didn’t spill any of it on her dress. “But still, I wonder how he’ll go about entering the museum in the first place? I mean the ground is completely covered by the Royal Guard, and the Princess herself is monitoring the air.”

“He’ll probably do what he always does.” Trixie said, gaining the group’s attention. “Most likely, they’re going to let him enter, so that they can spring their trap inside, and prevent him from slipping into the crowd. As for how he’ll get past the guards, a simple illusion to disguise himself as one of them is all he needs. If they were serious about catching him before he entered, they would have positioned at least one Captain outside. But they haven’t. They just need to make sure that he doesn’t enter through the air.”

The group stared at Trixie with equal looks of confusion and surprise. She realised why, and began explaining. “I looked through a few articles about him after you brought him up, and quickly became a fan.” She said, revealing a sign that she had brought along, reading: “Kaito Stallion, Steal My Heart!”. “Though I get the impression I was his fan before losing my memories. Anyway, I’ll be cheering for him tonight, so would you mind amplifying my voice with your magic, Twilight?”

Twilight facehoofed and sighed heavily, and then stared at Trixie with a frown. “Why would you be his fan? He’s nothing but a thief.”

“True, but what can I say? I like the way he works. His magic is awesome! And he’s so cool!”

“And he makes good, hard-working guards like my brother look foolish!”

“Then maybe he should try harder.” The rest of the group gasped and backed up on their chairs, looking at Twilight, who was now glaring at Trixie with an angry look on her face. “Um…I mean…I’m sure he’ll get him tonight?” Trixie said, noticing Twilight’s anger.

“You’re bet he’ll catch him!” Twilight shouted, slamming a hoof on the table, causing the entire restaurant to shush her angrily. She ignored them, and continued. “And if you’re going to be cheering for him, you can watch from somewhere else! I don’t wanna be standing any Katio Stallion supporters!”

“N-Now now, Twi.” Applejack tried to calm Twilight down, but Trixie interrupted.

“Fine! I won’t stand out in such a crowd anyway!” She said, looking at Rainbow Dash’s multi-coloured mane. “I’ll find somewhere where Kaito Stallion will notice me, then I’ll get his autograph! But I won’t get any for you.” She said, sticking her tongue out at Twilight. This only spurred on her anger more.

“Why would I want his autograph in the first place!? Except maybe for target practice!”

“You just obviously don’t recognise talent when you see it!”

“Oh, I recognise talent, and that Katio guy has absolutely none at all!”

Trixie and Twilight continued glaring at each other, until their food was brought to them by a nervous looking waiter. “E-Excuse me, miss?” The waiter was a green Pegasus, whose face was covered with bandages. He placed the food on the table, and backed away slowly. “P-Please enjoy your meals.”

The group simply ate their meals in complete silence, with Trixie and Twilight occasionally shooting angry glares at each other, leaving the rest of the group feeling uncomfortable.

The waiter from their table walked around a corner, slipping into a crowd of ponies. Once he was out of sight, he approached a certain white Unicorn stallion who was walking through the crowds, stopping just in front of him. “It’s been a while, Sawdust.” He removed the bandages from his face, and his entire body lit up with a dark blue glow for a single second. Once the glow was gone, he was no longer a green Pegasus.

“Black Cat…” Sawdust stared at the Unicorn in horror, and began backing away, but was stopped by Black Cat’s magic, which froze him in place. “Well well, first I run into Trixie, and then you. My, it’s as if our destinies are intertwined.”

Black Cat moved his head close enough to whisper into Sawdust’s ear. “I’ve already warned you plenty of times, so I don’t think I have to repeat myself.”

Sawdust grinned at the blue Unicorn, and turned around once the magic holding him was lifted. “Understood. Don’t worry, I hear ya loud and clear…” He began walking away, laughing menacingly to himself, which drew the attention of many ponies in the restaurant. ‘Don’t worry, Black Cat. I’ll take good care of your daughter. And I’ll save you a good seat at our wedding.’

Once the group finished their meals, Trixie did exactly as she said she would. She went off on her own to find her own spot to cheer Kaito Stallion. Pinkie Pie and Rarity offered to go with her, so that she wouldn’t be lonely, but she insisted that she would be fine on her own. That, and Twilight didn’t look so happy at the sound of more of her friends going to the supporting side.

And so, with that, Trixie travelled through the crowds of ponies all by herself, looking for a good vantage point to watch the heist. She was beginning to regret going on her own, because she was having trouble navigating through all of the ponies filling the streets.

She finally managed to find an open area at the edge of the crowd. She took a long, deep breath, desperate for some air. She felt like she was suffocation being surrounded by so many ponies. “Argh…How am I supposed to get Katio Stallion’s attention with all of these ponies around me?” She heard some rustling behind her, and turned to see a bush shaking. A white Pegasus clad in the armour of the Royal Guard emerged from the bush, and started slowly walking towards the museum. Trixie looked with her mouth wide open, and started to follow. “It couldn’t be…Could it?”

She saw the guard looking around for a few seconds, and then pull out a lock pick, and unlock a side door into the museum. “It is! Oh, this is going to be so awesome!” She said excitedly as she chased after the guard, and entered through the door just before it closed.

Twilight held her binoculars to her face, mumbling angrily to herself as she watched the museum from atop a nearby hill. Her friends were setting up a blanket and some chairs on the ground, so that they could watch the scene in comfort.

Applejack noticed Twilight grinding her teeth, and tried to calm her down. “Now now, Twi, you can’t expect everypony to agree with you on everything. It’s not like Trixie’s the only Kaito Stallion fan out there.”

Twilight turned to Applejack, showing the full level of anger on her face. “You think that’s what I’m angry I’m about? ‘Cause it’s not!” Twilight insisted, although it was obvious that it was. “I’m just furious that somepony would even think about stealing such historical artefacts. Who does that guy think he is?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s here!” Pinkie shouted, pointing up to the sky where Katio Stallion began to glide in towards the museum.

“Is he crazy!?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and the rest of the group, along with the majority of the ponies around, looked up at the phantom thief as he began flying towards Princess Celestia. “No way he’s gonna get past the Princess! He’s as good as captured!”

“It’s just an illusion, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said, munching on some popcorn that nopony remembered her even having.

“You sure?” Twilight asked with a sceptical look on her face. “I’m no master of illusionary magic, but I’m still skilled enough to see through most illusions that ponies cast.”

“Well obviously this is one of the illusions that you can’t see through. Look!” Everyone watched as Celestia shot a beam of golden magical energy towards the incoming thief, only for him to shatter into light. “See? Told ya so.”

“Huh, guess you were right…” Applejack said, staring at the light show in the air. “But…How did you of all ponies see through that?”

“I dunno.” Pinkie Pie admitted as she shrugged. “I just could. Illusions never fool me.”

Twilight looked amazed at Pinkie Pie. No matter how many times the pink pony did something completely unexpected, Twilight could just never wrap her head around it. For now, though, she had more important things on her mind. She shifted her gaze towards the main entrance of the museum. She saw some movement to the side, and looked through her binoculars to see Trixie entering through a side door. “What the!?”

The rest of the group jumped at this. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked.

“Huh?” Twilight turned to her friend, and tried to shake it off. “Oh, no, it’s nothing…Um, I have to go to the little filly’s room…” She said as she got up and started walking away. “I’ll be right back!” She shouted back as she changed her walking into galloping. ‘Trixie may be a fan, but there’s no way she’d actually assist in a theft…Right?’

Trixie walked through the halls of the museum carefully and slowly, keeping her eyes and ears open at all times. She was following as closely behind Kaito Stallion as she could without him noticing, so she wasn’t too worried about the guards noticing her. But she still had to be careful.

“There he is!” The sudden shout of a stallion’s voice made her jump. She peeked around the corner and saw a group of guards racing down the hallway. “It’s Kaito Stallion! Don’t let him get away!”

“That’s odd…” Trixie said to herself quietly. “Kaito Stallion went down the other direction, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he used an illusion.”

Trixie nodded as she realised why the guards were chasing after nothing, and then turned around when she noticed that someone was behind her. “Wha-” Her voice was stopped by a hoof to her mouth.

“Ssh!” She looked wide-eyed at the stallion before her. It was Kaito Stallion, who was looking down at her with a big grin. He pulled his hoof away when he realised that she had calmed down. “Hey there. This is a restricted area, you know?”

Trixie stared in shock for a few seconds, but then shook it off, and let out a small squeak. “K-K-K-K-K-”

Kaito Stallion looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. “Great, a fan-girl…You wanna just cut to the part where I give you my autograph? I’m kinda in a hurry.”

Trixie let out another small squeak, and pulled out her sheet of paper that she had brought along. “Can you make it out to Trixie, your biggest fan, please?”

Kaito Stallion laughed and levitated a pen up to the sheet of paper. “Sure. Here you go.” He signed the paper quickly, and even included a quick doodle of Trixie at the bottom. It was a quick picture of her face wearing the same stupid grin that she was wearing at that time, but slightly exaggerated. “There. Now you should move along, miss. If the guards catch you, it won’t be a joke.”

Trixie stared at the paper with a huge smile on her face, unable to form the words to express her gratitude. She noticed the picture, but didn’t care that it made her look silly. She was even more happy because Kaito Stallion had taken the time to draw a picture of her. She swore she would have this sheet of paper framed and hung onto the wall of her basement. ‘…I should probably think about moving out the library soon. It kinda sounds sad that I live in somepony’s basement.’

She finally found her voice again and was about to blast Kaito Stallion with “thank you”s, but she noticed that he had suddenly disappeared. She heard hoof steps moving closer, and decided that she should probably leave now. There was just one problem…“Where is the way out?” She asked herself, realising that she was quite a ways inside the museum.

Twilight waited until the guards had moved away, and looked around to make sure that nopony was looking at her. She moved closer to the side door that she saw Trixie entering, and used her magic to teleport inside. Once inside, she slowly started to move down the hallway, being careful so as to not alert any of the guards.

She used her magic to scan ahead through the hallways to determine where the amethysts were located. She finally found the shortest possible route to them, but her spell didn’t allow her to detect life-forms, so she had no idea if it was the safest way.

In any case, she began moving as quickly, but as quietly, as she could. After a few twists and turns, Twilight had to stop when she heard hoof steps nearing her. She noticing a wax sculpture of a pony nearby, and quickly stood next to it, posing in a similar fashion. Hopefully, the guards would be fooled by it.

“Man, I gotta tell ya, I’m getting nervous ‘bout the wedding tomorrow.” One of the guards said to the other as they moved down the hallway. “I don’t think I can do this. I’m getting’ cold hooves…”

“C’mon, don’t worry. Just think of the honeymoon that’ll come after.” The companion said, nudging his side with a hoof. “Still, to think you actually managed to bag such a hottie. Admit it, you used some kinda mind control on her, didn’t you?”

“Um, I’m a Pegasus?” The first guard said, flapping his wings a little bit. They both stopped when they saw a purple Unicorn posing next to a wax figure. Not on a pedestal. Shaking. And sweating. And breathing. “Ummm…Twilight?”

Twilight flinched, but still remained perfectly still. Or what she thought was perfectly still. The guards looked at each other with equal looks of confusion, and the Earth Pont guard tried to talk to her. “What’re you doing here? You helping us with the case?”

Twilight mentally facehooved when she realised that she could have just entered that way. She stopped posing and looked at the two guards, laughing nervously. “Hehehe…Um, yes, I am. And I was, um…Trying to catch Kaito Stallion off guard?”

The two guards seemed to buy it, and let her get on with her undercover work. They walked off further down the hallway, filling the silence with more idle chit-chat. Twilight on the other hoof began dashing towards where the amethysts were being held, along with the trap that she had helped Celestia to set up. She prayed that Trixie hadn’t been caught, and that she wasn’t doing anything illegal, besides entering a restricted area without permission.

Trixie hid herself in a nearby broom closet when she realised that guards were quickly approaching from both sides. She held her breath and tried not to make any sounds. She sat in the small, cramped room, waiting for the guards to pass by. Just her luck. They stopped outside to chat. ‘Oh come ON! You have GOT to be kidding me! Stop chatting and get back to work, you stupid guards! I can’t hold my breath forever, you know? What are they even talking about, anyway? Cake? Stop talking about food! I’m getting hungry here!’

“Stallions!” A loud voice was heard from outside, ceasing the idle conversation taking place between the guards. “Get back to your posts! Kaito Stallion could strike any second!”

“Yes, Captain Armour!” The guards shouted in unison. After hearing the sounds of hoof steps moving away from the closet, Trixie waited a few seconds before taking a peek outside. All seemed clear, so she opened the door, and continued sneaking down the hallway, only to be stopped by a voice from behind her.

“Bravo! Bravo!” She turned around, and saw a familiar white Unicorn stallion standing in front of her, with a messy green mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was a picture of a log being sawed, with sawdust falling from one end of it, and into a pile. He was wearing a pair of shades, so Trixie couldn’t see his eyes. “Truly, the Great and Powerful Trixie lives up to her reputation! Any other pony would’ve been caught by the Royal Guard by now! But then, I have to wonder, why don’t you just use your magic to escape?”

Trixie stared at this pony, wondering just who he was. He felt so very familiar to her, but she wasn’t sure. A pony from her past? “Um…Who are you?”

The stallion’s grin turned into a confused look, and then into a frown. “What? How cruel! I know it’s been a while, but you should be able to remember…” He lowered his shades, revealing a pair of menacing red eyes that caused Trixie to flinch. There was something about them…It was like…He wasn’t looking at another living pony, but at an inanimate object…A new toy that he was excited to play with. That was the feeling that Trixie got. And the familiarity rose even higher. She defiantly knew this pony. “Your fiancé.”

“My…Fiancé?” She asked, causing the stallion to nod. “What’s a fiancé?” She brought a hoof to her chin, trying to remember what that word meant, if she even knew it in the first place.

Sawdust realised that she wasn’t joking, but was confused by her sudden stupidity. “It means we’re going to get married, you and I.” He said, bringing a gasp and a look of shock out of Trixie. “Now, let’s go. It’d be bad if those guards caught us here. I’ll get you out of here. I am your knight in shining armour, after all.”

Trixie looked at the stallion as he put his shades back in front of his eyes, and extended a hoof towards her. There was a feeling in the back of her mind. Something nagging her to run away. She still couldn’t remember this stallion, but something was telling her that he was dangerous. She slowly started to back away, and Sawdust sighed.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let Black Cat hurt you.” He said, and then grinned at the still retreating mare as he moved slowly closer. “And besides, you belong with me. Since I know the truth behind your uncle’s death.”

Trixie stopped moving, as did Sawdust. She stared at the stallion with a look of horror on her face, thinking back to the dreams that she had. “My uncle’s…Death?” She asked, remembering that her uncle was still alive in her dreams. “But…My uncle…He didn’t die…In fact, he tried to kill me.”

“Huh? What’re you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?” He asked rhetorically, not expecting Trixie to actually respond, let alone by nodding her head and stating that she had lost her memories. “You…Lost your memories? You can’t be serious.” He started laughing quietly to himself, and soon, his laughter grew louder, and more menacing, to the point that it sent chills down Trixie’s spine. ‘Oh, this is PERFECT! Now it’ll be even EASIER to make her mine!’ Sawdust looked at Trixie with an – obviously fake – look of concern, and began to move closer yet again. Trixie couldn’t move. She was frozen in place from the fear running through her body.

Sawdust pinned Trixie against a nearby wall, and moved his face closer to Trixie. “I’ll help you remember. Remember everything. About how I’m the only pony who ever loved you…And how you tried to kill your uncle in cold blood.” Trixie’s breathing suddenly stopped as she stared wide-eyed at the stallion in front of her, her mind in chaos over what he was saying. Sawdust’s grin grew bigger, and he watched as the mare he had pinned down started to break down before his very eyes. ‘Gotcha.’

Trixie in danger!

Sawdust and Trixie made their way through the streets of Canterlot, passing through the crowds of ponies and moving away from the museum. Trixie kept a distance between herself and Sawdust, but whenever she started to slow down, Sawdust would turn to face her, causing her to pick up her pace again.

She watched Sawdust closely, staying silent as various thoughts ran through her head. ‘Who is this guy? How are we related? Is he really my fiancé? Did I really kill my uncle? There’s something I don’t trust about this stallion…He must be lying! He must be! I wonder where he’s taking me? The street’s getting pretty deserted here.’

Sawdust stopped suddenly, causing Trixie to also stop. He turned towards Trixie, and began to close the distance. “This should do. Now, let me help you remember everything…” His horn started to light up, and Trixie began to back away. “Relax. It’s a spell that should help bring out your sealed memories.”

“But…Twilight said that wasn’t possible…She tried it before, and it didn’t work.” Trixie said, shuddering as she remembered the horrible experience that came when Twilight tried to fix Trixie’s memories with her magic. It was not the most pleasant experience in the world, to say the least.

“Twilight? Who’s that?” Sawdust asked, but then continued before she could answer. “Ah, doesn’t matter. Trust me, this will most certainly work.” He lowered his still glowing horn towards Trixie’s forehead, who ducked down and closed her eyes tight as she feared what memories would emerge.

Trixie looked around at the white scenery surrounding her. Everything was white as far as the eyes could see. There were a few walls standing around in various areas, of various colours. There were black walls, with paintings of places or ponies hanging on them, blue walls, with blank frames hanging on them, and green walls, with no frames, and large cracks running down them. They were placed in a very random manor, and were too tall for Trixie to see over them.

“Hello? Is anypony here?” Trixie asked, walking forward a bit and looking around a few of the walls. She saw somepony staring up at one of the paintings on a black wall, and approached them cautiously. “Um…Hello?”

The pony turned around, and Trixie thought that she must have been looking into a mirror. The pony in front of her was an exact duplicate of her. She stared for a few seconds, until the other Trixie broke the silence. “What? You never see a Great and Powerful magician before?”

“Um…Are you…Me?”

“Indeed. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. The most powerful Unicorn in all of Equestria. I imagine you’re curious as to why you’re seeing yourself right now.”

Trixie nodded, still in shock and disbelief at seeing herself in front of her. “That’s right. And also, what is this place?”

“This is Trixie’s mind, of course.” The other Trixie said, waving her hoof around at the surroundings. “And right now, it’s in a state of complete and total chaos. But don’t worry. Soon, everything will become crystal clear.”

Trixie was about to ask something, but her duplicate began to walk away, before turning and signalling for Trixie to follow her. She was lead down a passageway of black walls, all lined up, with paintings on each one. She noticed that further down, there were blue walls being placed into various slots, with phantom images of Trixie attempting to find the right picture for each wall. “What is all of this?”

“Your mind is being reconstructed. It’s a slow, but steady process. However, you seem to be content with your current life with Twilight. As such, the reconstruction is going much slower than we would like.”

“I don’t need to remember anything. My current life is just fine. I have friends who care for me, and-”

“What about your old friends?” The two Trixies stopped, and the duplicate Trixie continued. “Did you not think that maybe, just maybe, there are some ponies from your old life who are worried about you, and want to see you again? For example, Sawdust.”

“Sawdust…The pony from earlier?”

“Indeed. He’s been looking for you for a long, long time. And to be honest, you need him.” The duplicate Trixie turned to face the real Trixie, and stared her straight in the eyes. “No matter how happy you are right now, it is only a temporary escape from reality. Soon enough, your past will catch up to you, and you will have nowhere to go.” She closed the distance between herself and the real Trixie, and pressed their foreheads together. “Nowhere…But to Sawdust.”

Trixie watched as her duplicate’s horn began to light up, and an image started to form in front of her eyes.

“Trixie! What are you doing!? Stop this at once!” Trixie looked down at her uncle as he tried to crawl away from her. She levitated a knife towards her uncle, and pressed the tip against his throat. “Please! Don’t do this! There’s still time! You don’t have to-”

“Isn’t that enough?” The image evaporated, and the two Trixies turned around to see a cloaked pony walking towards them. “If you’re going to fill her head with false memories, at least make them convincing. Trixie couldn’t have killed her uncle…Because she just doesn’t have it in her to kill another living being. You and I both know that better than anypony.”

The duplicate Trixie pushed Trixie aside, and walked towards this new visitor. “Who the hell are you? And how did you get inside Trixie’s mind!?” When the other pony refused to answer, the duplicate Trixie’s horn ignited, and a blast of magic was fired forward. “ANSWER ME!”

The cloaked pony’s own horn began to light up, shooting forth a blast of dark blue energy that clashed with the duplicate Trixie’s white energy. The two energies collided in midair, and evaporated, leaving behind a small smokescreen between the two ponies.

“How strange. I thought Trixie’s energy was light blue. By the way, what’s Twilight’s full name, miss fake Trixie?” Now it was the duplicate’s turn to be silent. “As expected. You don’t know. As for how I got in here, it was the same way as you, Sawdust.”

Trixie gasped and looked up at her duplicate, who then began to laughed manically and change shape. Soon, the stallion that Trixie had met earlier was standing in front of her, powering up for another attack. “Ok, so you got me. Yeah, I tried to break Trixie’s mind a lil’. But what’s it to you, anyway?”

The cloaked pony’s body began to glow, and he sighed very deeply. “Trixie, when you get outside, run as fast as you can. I don’t have time to explain, but you have to hurry. Whatever you do, don’t let yourself be captured by Sawdust.” The cloaked pony paused for a second, and then continued. “Or by your father.”

Before Trixie could ask what he meant, a huge flash of blue light began to fill the entire room, blinding both Trixie and Sawdust.

Applejack looked over at the clock tower near the museum. It had been quite some time since Twilight had left, and she was starting to get worried. “Ah! There he is! On the roof!” She turned her head towards the rooftop of the museum when she heard a random pony nearby shout that out. She saw Kaito Stallion standing on top of the museum, looking down at the crowd of ponies. Hovering in front of him was Princess Celestia, preventing him from escaping.

“Is it another illusion?” Rainbow Dash asked Pinkie Pie, who responded by shaking her head rapidly. She was too busy watching the scene and munching on her popcorn to answer verbally. “Then he’s as good as captured now, right?”

Applejack looked around her, trying to see if she could spot Twilight. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a large flash of light, and quickly turned her head to see what it was. She saw two ponies in the distance, and raised the binoculars that Twilight was using earlier to see who they were, since one of them seemed familiar. “Trixie!?” The group turned to her as she shouted that, and she watched as Trixie kicked the stallion next to her and began running away, the stallion giving chase after he recovered from her attack.

“What’ wrong, AJ? You look worried.” Rainbow Dash said, looking into the distance to try to see what Applejack was looking at.

“Is Trixie alright?” Fluttershy asked, bringing her own binoculars to her face and looking in the same direction as Applejack.

Applejack threw down the binoculars, and stood up suddenly. “Trixie’s in trouble! Rainbow Dash, you come with me! The rest of you, go find Twi and tell her what’s going on!” And with that, she started to gallop in the direction that Trixie was seen running in, with Rainbow Dash flying right behind.

Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, who were left behind, exchanged worried glances, before getting on with their duty. “Alright, girls…And boy!” Rarity started. “We must find Twilight at once and let her know that Trixie needs our help!”

Spike scratched the back of his head, and asked the question on everypony’s minds. “But…How’re we gonna find her?”

Everypony’s ears dropped when Spike asked that question, and they began discussing where Twilight could possibly be. Finally, the silence was broken by Fluttershy gasping the loudest she had ever gasped before. It was just enough to gather the attention of the others. “Up there!” Fluttershy said, pointing up at the roof of the museum, whilst looking through her binoculars.

Trixie ran through the deserted streets of Canterlot as fast as could. Of course tonight would happen to be the night where everypony was gathered in one area, thus leaving no guards patrolling the streets for her to seek help from. Her only hope was to find somewhere to hide. Anywhere.

She noticed a warehouse in the distance that looked abandoned. Looked like a good place to hide. She picked up her pace and moved towards it as fast as she could. She could hear Sawdust not too far behind, and was beginning to wonder if she’d make it in time. Luckily, she somehow managed to make her way inside before Sawdust could catch up to her, and quickly found a good hiding spot behind some crates at the back.

She sat down silently, and waited. She was wondering if she had actually lost him, but her hopes were dashed when she heard the sounds of hoof steps entering the warehouse. They stopped after taking a few more steps in, and then she heard Sawdust calling out to her. “Trixiiiiie! Let’s stop this nonsense already! I’m a busy stallion, y’know? We have a lot to do before the wedding. So come on out and accept my proposal already.”

She heard the hoof steps moving closer her hiding spot, and she curled up tight, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t see her in such a dark spot. Thoughts were rushing through her head. So fast that she couldn’t keep up with them all. ‘Is he going to kill me? Is he serious about us getting married? What’s with this guy? Is he insane? Does he have a grudge against me, or is he just a psychopath?’ She heard the crates behind her start to move, and suddenly, only one thought passed through her mind. ‘Twilight! Please help me!’

“Hey! Back away from our friend!” Trixie gasped when she heard a familiar mare’s voice coming from behind her, and dared to peek her head around the side of her hiding spot. At the entrance of the warehouse, she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both glaring at Sawdust, and getting ready to charge. Rainbow Dash stepped forward a little, and spoke up again. “Well!? Didn’t ya hear me!? I said to leave our friend alone!”

Sawdust looked at the two mares with a confused face, and then began his maniacal laugh that sent chills down Trixie’s spine. “Oh, I see. You two must be her new friends! Don’t worry, I assure you that Trixie is quite safe in my hooves!”

Applejack stepped forward, and tapped her hoof on the ground a few times. “Really? Is that why she kicked you earlier, and ran away with a look of complete horror on her face?”

Sawdust sighed, and used his magic to levitate a few steel pipes from a nearby pile into the air. “Well, it seems you insist on interrupting our beautiful wedding ceremony. So…I guess the only logical course of action is to kill you both!”

Trixie flinched at this, and watched in horror as Applejack and Rainbow Dash charged forward, attempting to subdue Sawdust. There was no question now. This stallion was insane. And worse than that; he was powerful. He was armed with dangerous magical and athletic abilities. Trixie knew that he meant it when he said that he would kill them, and despite how strong Applejack and Rainbow Dash were, Trixie couldn’t help but feel that they were no match for this Unicorn.

Not wanting to see her friends be killed because of her, she did the only thing that she could do. She had to convince them to leave her behind. It was the only way they would survive. “No! Don’t!” She shouted, emerging from her hiding place. “Just run! Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine!”

Kaito Stallion neared the edge of the museum rooftop, and slowly took a look down. It was quite a drop down. Even if he somehow defied the laws of physics and survived, he wouldn’t be able to get away from the guards that were waiting for him down below. Flying was out of the question with the Princess flying about in the sky. “Well, this sucks. Didn’t get the amethysts, and now it looks like I’m gonna get caught…”

He turned around to see a purple Unicorn running up to him, stopping just a short distance away. This was the talented Unicorn that set up the trap for him inside, forcing him to retreat to the rooftop. Now, he was surrounded. On one side, this Unicorn whose magic he couldn’t cancel, since he didn’t have enough information on her. On the other side, the Princess of the Sun. No way he could get out of this situation.

“Give up, Kaito Stallion!” Celestia shouted, lowering down the near the phantom thief. “There’s nowhere to run or fly to now. Just turn yourself in.”

Shining Armour walked up besides Twilight, grinning at Kaito Stallion, holding back to the urge to gloat over Kaito Stallion’s defeat. “Indeed. With the Princess on one side, and my sis on the other-”

“NO!” Celestia shouted, but it was too late. Shining Armour realised his mistake, and charged towards Kaito Stallion before it was too late.

“Thanks, Shiny!” Kaito Stallion said as he teleported past Shining Armour. He charged towards Twilight, who was preparing a holding spell. Just as she cast it towards Kaito Stallion, he used his own magic to cancel out the spell, and galloped past Twilight Sparkle. “Now that I know you’re related, it’s easy for me to cancel out your magic!” He explained, running over to the other side of the rooftop, and jumping off.

“Not good!” Celestia flew over to where Kaito Stallion had jumped, but was too late. He was already flying away, in three different directions. He was using an illusion to try and distract her, but if she focused her magic on each one, she could identify which one was the real one. “Left one…Fake. Middle one…Fake. Which means…” She used her magic to teleport the right one to her, but suddenly realised her mistake when the spell had no effect. “Oh no!” All three images of Katio Stallion disappeared. They were all illusion, made to cover his escape on the ground.

A series of fireworks shot up into the sky, which exploded in sequence, writing out a message in the night sky. The message read:

“I may have failed tonight. But rest assured, Princess Celestia. On my honour as a phantom thief, I shall return one day, to claim the beautiful treasure of the Royal Family.”

Shining Armour stamped the ground, mumbling under his breath how it was all his fault that Kaito Stallion had managed to escape. Twilight tried to comfort him, but was interrupted by Fluttershy’s sudden appearance behind him. “Twilight!” She jumped onto the rooftop, being followed by two Pegasus guards.

“At ease, stallions!” The guards stopped, turning to face Shining Armour. “She has permission to be up here! Go search for Katio Stallion! He can’t have gotten too far!”

The guards saluted, and flew off in different directions. Fluttershy took a moment to catch her breath, not used to flying so fast. Twilight approached her to ask why she was here. “Fluttershy, what’re you doing here? This area is restricted to civilians.”

“Twilight…Trixie is…In danger…” She managed to say in between pants. Twilight’s eyes widened at this news, and se let Fluttershy continue. “Hurry…Applejack and…Rainbow Dash…” She couldn’t talk anymore. She was simply too out of breath. She slowly pointed her hoof in the direction that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had run off in, and Twilight seemed to get the message.

Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash was knocked to the floor by a levitating steel pipe. They were now in the same boat. Both were on the floor, blood pouring from their heads, barely staying conscious.

Sawdust turned away from the two distractions, leaving them to die slowly on the floor, and made his way towards Trixie, who was shivering in a corner, looking for a way to escape. She tried to run over to a nearby staircase that led up to the catwalk above them, but was held in place by Sawdust’s magic.

“Come now, Trixie. Why do you keep delaying the inevitable? The two of us are destined to be together, and you know it.” Despite her resistance, Trixie was pulled close to Sawdust, who wrapped his front hooves around her. “You know you love me, Trixie. Just admit it already, and we can begin our new life together.”

Trixie tried to push him away from her, but he was too strong. “No…I…I don’t love you…” She, feeling another headache start to come around. “I…I did love somepony…” She said, wondering why her memories were returning at a time like this.

“Yeah, me!” Sawdust insisted, brining Trixie’s lips closer to his. “I’m the one you love, Trixie. And don’t you forget it.”

Trixie could only stare in horror as Sawdust moved in to kiss Trixie on the lips. Suddenly, an image passed through her mind. She couldn’t quite make out what it was, but it appeared to be a small Unicorn…A filly. Trixie was sure that it was a small Unicorn filly.

She closed her eyes, and screamed at the top of her lungs as magic began to erupt from her horn, engulfing the room in a very bright blue light, and forcing her and Sawdust apart. Sawdust watched Trixie’s magic display go on for about a minute, before it started to fade away. When it was finally over, he got up, and started walking over to the mare.

Trixie also stood up, and stared at Sawdust, her legs trembling from both fear and exhaustion. “I don’t remember who I loved, but I know this. I swore my heart to them, and it wasn’t you!” She said, causing Sawdust to stop in his tracks. “I don’t care what you say or do. I will never love you. Trixie’s heart belongs to only one pony!” She said, feeling like, for a second, she had reverted back to her old self. But there were still many things that she couldn’t remember.

Sawdust studied the look in Trixie’s eyes. Strong. Confident. Determined. Resolved. They were good eyes. They showed Trixie’s strength well. But, for Sawdust, it was unfortunate. It meant that, now, he had no hope of breaking. He’s seen those kinds of eyes before. And he hated them. He couldn’t bend somepony to his will if they wore eyes like those. And, if he couldn’t control somepony the way he wanted, there was only one thing he felt he could do.

“It’s a shame, Trixie…” He used his magic to levitate a nearby steel pipe, which was covered in blood from either Rainbow Dash or Applejack, and brought it near to him. “I really did love you…But if you say you’ll never love me…” He removed his shades and tossed them aside. Trixie could now see his eyes clearly. They were…Empty. There was no emotion in them. Absolutely nothing. This caused Trixie to freeze up yet again. Unlike earlier, where she was scared of the total lack of sanity coming from this pony, now she was completely terrified of the total lack of emotion coming from him. “THEN I’LL KILL YOU, SO THAT NOPONY ELSE CAN HAVE YOU!” He shouted, his eyes now showing some emotion. Well, just one. Hatred. Pure hatred, with no other sign of any emotion alongside it. He charged at the still frozen Trixie.

She managed to snap out of her panicked state, and used her newly awakened magic to levitate another steel pipe up to defend herself. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and she wasn’t going to make it in time.

Before Sawdust could complete his assault a beam of dark blue energy landed between the two ponies, stopping his assault, and causing him to look towards the beam’s origin. He saw the same cloaked pony from earlier looking down at him from the catwalk above them. “You again!? Who the hell are you!?”

The cloaked pony looked towards the entrance, and then teleported out of sight. “HEY!” Sawdust shouted out, running toward the centre of the warehouse, and looking around for the meddlesome pony. “SHOW YOURSELF! I’LL FREAKIN’ KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME!?”

“You’ll be killing nopony today!” The new voice startled Sawdust, who turned towards Trixie to see a large white Alicorn guarding her, staring down at the crazy stallion with an angry look in her eyes. “Drop your weapon! Now!”

Sawdust looked at the entrance to see three guards, one of which was wearing Captain class armour, cutting off his escape. He looked behind him to see two Unicorns, both dressed in medical attire, tending to the wounds on Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s heads.

He was completely surrounded. He had only one hope of escape…It was risky, but if he was going to get away, it was all he could do. Without hesitation, he used his magic to raise as many objects as possible, and sling them towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash, before galloping towards the entrance to the warehouse.

As expected, Princess Celestia and the Captain, Shining Armour, used their magic to protect the injured mares. This gave Sawdust an opening to use his teleportation spell and get past the guards. However, once he was outside, he was immediately slugged in the face by a hoof from a pony that he hadn’t seen.

He fell to the ground, but managed to recover fairly quickly, and he took a good look at his assailant. It was a purple Unicorn, with a striped mane and tail. “Who the hell are you!?”

“Twilight Sparkle!” She shouted, charging towards Sawdust and pining him down, using her magic to suppress his horn’s ability to use magic. “And that was for my friends! Don’t you EVER hurt my friends! Got that!?”

Sawdust watched as the three guards from earlier ran up to him, cursing out loud as he realised that it was over for him. At least, until he noticed a few cans of gasoline sitting next to the warehouse in the distance. A grin returned to his face, and when Twilight moved off of him to allow her brother to arrest him, he used his magic to explode the gasoline cans, creating a huge explosion that caught the attention of everypony around.

By the time everypony had turned back to Sawdust, it was too late. They watched as he charged towards a nearby chariot, and hijacked it using his magic. “Guards, after him!” Celestia, shouted, carrying an exhausted Trixie on her back and setting her outside. “Hurry!”

Shining Armour and his stallions wasted no time in pursuing the escaping fugitive. Celestia would have followed, but the earlier explosion had set the warehouse on fire. She had to stay behind to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash out of the warehouse, and douse the fire, before it spread to any nearby buildings. She told Twilight to move her friends a safe distance away, in case there was any more gasoline containers nearby that could explode from the fire.

Twilight and her friends had been invited to stay in the Palace for the night. Celestia felt it safer for them to be there, in case Sawdust were to return.

Later that night, news reached the group that Sawdust had lost control of his chariot, and fell off a cliff. They were still searching for his body, which had probably washed downstream, but they were certain that he was dead, since they saw him fall with the chariot.

Trixie remained silent for the whole night, with Twilight staying by her side, trying her best to cheer her up. Trixie appreciated her friend’s efforts, and actually asked Twilight to stay by her side, not wanting to be alone right now.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both resting up in the infirmary, with Rarity and Fluttershy watching over them. Pinkie Pie and Spike were moving everyone’s belongings from the hotel to the Palace, since they would be staying there for the night, and were planning to leave early the following morning.

Twilight fell asleep before Trixie, and Trixie just watched as Twilight slept peacefully next to her, not letting go of Twilight’s leg. She was feeling so tired, but she didn’t want to fall asleep. She was afraid that if she did, she would have another nightmare. Of her past. Or of losing Twilight, and the rest of her friends.

Despite her best efforts, she still fell into a deep sleep, he head resting on Twilight’s shoulder, and her hooves wrapped around Twilight’s leg. Fortunately, it seems the gods were smiling on Trixie tonight. She was able to get a nice, peaceful sleep, in spite of the night’s events.

Black Cat stood at the top of the hill where Sawdust had fallen down. He stared down at the ground below, and sighed. “That fool. I warned him to be careful around my daughter…Well, it seems in this case, it was her friends he had to watch out for…” He began to walk away from the site, using his magic to remain invisible to the nearby guards. “Amnesia, huh? Maybe I should visit Ponyville tomorrow…Just in case.”

Trixie returns!

“Well, Twilight Sparkle?” Sawdust motioned to a small clock on the table on one side of the room. “You have seven minutes left. You’d better think fast.”

Doctor examined the contraption that Trixie was chained to, and then looked at Sawdust. ‘If I could just get him to look away for a second, I can use my Sonic Screwdriver to free Trixie…But then he’d just shoot her…Damnit! We need a distraction of some kind…’

Twilight looked at the knife at her hooves, then back to Sawdust. “You swear you’ll let her go…If I do this?” Sawdust nodded, chuckling under his breath. Twilight wasn’t sure whether she could trust him or not. It was clear he had lost his mind, so there was no guarantee that he would keep his promise.

Even so, she didn’t have much time. She had to do something, or else Trixie would defiantly die. She began to levitate the knife with her magic, hoping she could cast a teleportation spell on Sawdust to move him away from Trixie without him noticing. Unfortunately, he was aware of what she was trying, and pushed his gun up against Trixie’s head once again. “I don’t think so, Twilight. Use your hooves, not your magic.”

Twilight stamped a hoof on the ground, frustrated that her plan was so easily seen through. She picked up the knife with one of her hooves, and stared at it for a while. Finally, she turned her gaze away, looking at Doctor, who was keeping his eyes on Sawdust, waiting for the right moment to act. She turned back towards Sawdust, and brought the knife close to the right side of her chest.

Sawdust struggled to hold back his laughter, and eventually failed, erupting into loud, maniacal laughter. “Well? You’d better hurry, Twilight. Before you run out of time.”

Trixie watched as Twilight held the knife against her chest, her entire body shaking and sweating as she rapidly shifted her gaze between Sawdust and Trixie. The look in Twilight’s eyes told Trixie that Twilight was actually considering driving the knife into her chest. She tried to speak up, but all she could manage was a faint whisper. “Don’t…Twilight, stop it…” Nopony seemed to hear her, and all she could do was watch as the purple Unicorn prepared to take her own life. ‘Damnit! Don’t you dare, Twilight Sparkle! If you take your life to save mine, I’ll never forgive you!’

“Now, Doctor!” Everypony in the room turned to the side to look at the source of a new voice inside the room. They were all surprised to see Princess Celestia standing against a wall, holding Trixie in her hooves. “Hurry!”

Sawdust moved his gun towards Trixie, and fired a shot. The bullet passed through her, colliding with the wall behind the Princess. “What!?” He suddenly realised what was happening. Somepony had performed an illusionary spell to draw his attention away from Trixie. “NO!” She turned back towards Trixie, and saw Doctor dragging her away, holding a still active Sonic Screwdriver in his mouth.

He attempted to point his gun at the brown Earth Pony, but it was blasted out of his levitation spell by a beam of purple energy. He turned around to see Twilight Sparkle charging towards him, throwing the knife behind her, and charging up her magic.

Sawdust nimbly dodged Twilights assault, and used his own magic to smash open a window. He ran toward sit and jumped out, grabbing hold of a tree branch, and slowly making his way down the tree to reach the ground.

Twilight saw Sawdust escaping, and decided to give chase quickly. “Doctor, take care of Trixie!” She shouted, making her way outside of the room and running down the stairs. The tower was too high to teleport down the ground, and she wasn’t athletic enough to risk climbing down the tree, so she had to take the long way down.

Once she was down, she ran out of the bell tower, but stopped when she saw two Royal Guards standing in front of her. “W-What the?”

One of the guards, a tall, cyan Unicorn, approached Twilight. “Miss Sparkle? We understand there is another with you, along with the hostage taken by Sawdust, correct?”

Twilight just stared in silence at the two guards. She was clearly confused, so the other guard, a short, pink Pegasus, started to explain things to her. “The Princess had a nightmare last night. She saw her star pupil in trouble, pleading for somepony to save…What was it, Trixie?” The Unicorn guard nodded, and the Pegasus guard continued. “It is rare for the Princess to experience nightmares. Usually, they are predictions of the future. And, not wanting to take any chances, she decided to come here personally to make sure that everything was ok.”

The Pegasus guard saw Doctor approaching from within the tower, carrying Trixie on his back. She immediately started to help Doctor with carrying Trixie to the hospital. The Unicorn guard continued. “When she sensed the abnormal air in this town, she used her magic to discover a barrier surrounding it, and then used her own magic to infiltrate without being noticed.

“Right now, she’s chasing Sawdust through the Everfree forest. We were instructed to escort you and the hostage to the hospital, to make sure that you were both ok.”

Now Twilight understood what that illusion was earlier. It must have been Princess Celestia, drawing Sawdust’s attention away just long enough for Doctor and her to react. She looked over at the Everfree forest. She wanted to help the Princess, and make sure that Sawdust was captured this time, but she was stopped by a hoof from the Unicorn guard in front of her. “I have to help her! Please, let me go!”

“Sorry, but we have our orders.” The guard smiled softly at Twilight. “Have faith in the Princess. She’ll capture him, for sure…For now, I think that other mare really needs her friends right now.”

Twilight realised that the guard was talking about Trixie, and decided that he was right. Celestia was the Princess of the Sun. There was no way she’d lose to just a single pony, right? And Trixie did need help right away. “Ok then…I’ll trust the Princess.” She said, leaving the area and moving towards the small town, the Unicorn guard following closely behind her.

Twilight walked into the hospital room where Trixie was sleeping, following Dr. Stable, with her friends walking alongside her. Dr. Stable instructed them to remain silent as they approached Trixie, who was sleeping soundly in her hospital bed. “Don’t worry, girls. Trixie’s condition is stable. She just needs her rest right now.” He approached the sleeping mare and checked her temperature and breathing, to make sure her condition hadn’t worsened in his absence. “There doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about, but given her previous condition, I think it would be best if one of you stayed here to keep watch over her.”

Twilight stepped forward and offered to spend the night in the hospital, watching over Trixie. Rarity also offered to stay, but Twilight assured her that she would be just fine on her own. “Well, if you say so, Twilight.” Rarity said, leaving the room with the rest of Twilight’s friends.

“Just don’t forget to get some sleep yourself.” Applejack said as she left the room.

Dr. Stable finished examining Trixie, and concluded that she was in good health. “Well then, Twilight, if there’s any sudden change in her condition, make sure you contact either myself, or one of the nurses, ok?”

Twilight nodded, and pulled a stool over to the side of Trixie’s bed. She sat down on it, and watched as Trixie slept, hoping that she would wake up soon.

Sawdust ran as fast as he could through the dark forest. He had heard stories about the Everfree forest, but never imagined that it would actually be so…Scary. He had to admit, the place frightened him. The abnormal darkness, despite it only being early evening. The strange chill that ran through his body. The way the clouds above him moved all on their own, and the strange creatures that he had passed by as he ran.

What scared him most, though, was the fact that Princess Celestia was on his tail. He had to try and shake her off, somehow. He tried obstructing her path as he ran, and scattering his magic into various directions, but it wasn’t working. He could feel her catching up to him, and it would only be a matter of time before he was captured.

He stopped when he arrived at a small clearing, starting to run out of breath. “Damnit…DamnitdamnitdamnitDAMNITDAMNIIIIIIT!” He shouted, taking off once again, but stopping when a familiar cloaked pony intercepted him. “YOU AGAIN!?” He attempted to blast the pony with his magic, but a gunshot to his hoof not only caused him to lose focus, dropping his spell, but also caused him to stop moving forward, and slowly back up.

The cloaked pony approached Sawdust, holding his gun up and pointing it at him. “I warned you countless times. But you never listen…You brought this fate upon yourself, Sawdust.”

Sawdust’s eyes widened, both in surprise and fear as he realised who this meddlesome pony was. He starred in horror as the cloaked pony stopped approaching him, and was about to turn and run away, when the sound of a gunshot rang through the air, and a blinding pain passed through Sawdust’s body.

Sawdust stared into space for a few seconds, his body shaking as it grew colder, and his hooves trembling. He slowly looked down at his body, and saw a red liquid dripping from a hole in his chest, He turned over to the cloaked pony, who was still pointing his gun at Sawdust. “Black…” He said, but stopped when he started to cough up some blood. He fell down to the ground unable to keep his balance any longer, and slowly, the world around him started to fade away.

Sawdust’s body had grown so very cold, but he didn’t even notice anymore. He watched as the last bit of light disappeared, his vision being filled by a deep, dark void. His breathing gradually slowed down as his body grew weaker, slowing to an eventually stop.

The cloaked pony stared at the scene for a few minutes, and then dropped the gun to the ground, slowly backing up as he realised what he had just done. “I…I killed somepony…” He heard hoofsteps approaching quickly, and snapped out of it, hurriedly running from the scene before the Princess arrived. ‘I’ve killed yet again…This time, though, I was able to see my victim’s face…’ The pony remembered the image of Sawdust falling to the floor and breathing his last few breaths, and he had to hold back his stomach acid as it worked its way up through his throat. ‘Even if it was to protect her, my only daughter…There’s no excuse for what I’ve done! I’m…A monster, aren’t I?’

Twilight walked into Trixie’s hospital room carrying a cup of coffee and a book with her magic. It was getting late, and Twilight wasn’t feeling particularly tired, so she decided to borrow one of the hospital’s books to read while she watched over Trixie.

She sat down next to Trixie’s bed, setting her coffee on the bedside table and opening her book to the first page. She quickly became absorbed in the book, but shifted her gaze towards Trixie every now and to see if she had woken up yet. After the fifth time, she decided to stop constantly checking, since Dr. Stable said it might be a few days before she wakes up.

Despite Dr. Stable’s prediction, though, Trixie slowly started to open her eyes, staring at the white ceiling above her as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the light. She let out a soft moan, her head killing her, and then turned over to see a purple Unicorn reading a book next to her.

She sat up in her bed, gaining Twilight’s attention, who shifted her gaze away from her book and stared wide-eyed at Trixie. “Sparkle…” Trixie rubbed the side of her head, but kept her eyes fixed on Twilight.

Twilight’s face lit up, and she immediately stood up and closed in on Trixie. “Trixie! You’re awake!” She noticed that Trixie seemed to be in pain, and she tried to help. She put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, looking at her with a look of concern. “Are you ok? Where does it hurt?”

Trixie grinded her teeth together, and glared at Twilight. She batted Twilight’s hoof away with her own, causing Twilight to look at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. “Don’t touch Trixie, Twilight Sparkle.” She climbed out of bed, and stood on the other side to Twilight. “Trixie needs no pity from the likes of you.”

Twilight was speechless for a few moments. She was trying to understand why Trixie was suddenly acting like this, when an idea crossed her mind. “Trixie…Have your memories returned?”

Trixie nodded, and then stretched her limbs to wake them up. “That’s right. It happened some time after Trixie was kidnapped by Sawdust. She remembers everything…Including you.”

“Me?” Twilight looked ever more confused, and tried to think of what she meant. “Trixie, have we met before? I mean, before our encounter in Ponyville?”

Trixie stomped her hoof on the ground, and started breathing heavily, trying to keep herself from shouting out in anger. “You still don’t remember Trixie? You honestly have no idea who Trixie is?” She walked closer to Twilight, her rage-filled eyes causing Twilight to move back until she hit a wall. “Twilight, let’s go outside. It’s been a long time, and Trixie wants to prove that she has finally surpassed you.”

“Trixie, what are you talking about? Surpassed me at what?”

“Magic, of course.”

Twilight looked outside the window, seeing that it was not only dark, but pouring with rain. She then looked at Trixie, who was a complete mess, and was obviously in no shape to be straining herself right now. “Trixie, come on now, you’re in no shape to be showing off right now. If you really want to compete, we can do so at some other time, but-”

“RIGHT NOW!” Trixie shouted, her voice causing the other patient in the room to wake up and tell her to quiet down. She took no notice, and moved closer to Twilight, her horn lighting up. “Trixie has had enough of being second to you, Twilight! She’s going to prove herself right now, and she’s going to make you acknowledge Trixie!”

Twilight saw that Trixie wasn’t going to back down very easily, and tried to think of some way to calm her. It was no use, though. Trixie let loose a beam of magical energy, causing Twilight to dodge to the side and witness the wall exploding next to her. Trixie was not going to listen to reason, and if she kept this up inside the hospital, it would endanger the other patients.

She had no other choice. She could use her magic to hold Trixie down, or to suppress her magic, but in Trixie’s state, the shock might be too much. She had to calm her down carefully. She used her magic to teleport behind Trixie, and opened the window at the far end of the room, jumping outside. Trixie followed her, and they ran a good distance away from the hospital, Trixie used her magic create an illusion of the ground in front of Twilight splitting open.

The illusion fooled the Unicorn long enough for Trixie to catch up and launch a series of rocks towards her with her levitation magic. Twilight prepared to shield herself from them, but stopped when she realised that they were just another illusion. She saw Trixie charging in, and prepared to dodge her assault. She was surprised, however, when the rocks hit her, and some actually stung. She noticed light cuts on her body, and realised that Trixie must have thrown real rocks as well as illusionary ones. Twilight actually felt embarrassed falling for such an old trick.

Trixie successfully managed to pounce Twilight whilst her guard was down, and attempted to put her to sleep using a tranquilizer spell. Twilight used her own magic to teleport a short distance away, causing Trixie to fall facedown into the mud beneath her. Trixie rose to her hooves, her anger rising as she turned to face Twilight, who was asking her to stop.

“Ever since Trixie first met you, she has respected you, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight fell silent as Trixie said that, and she let Trixie continue. “Trixie declared you her rival that day. She could see your amazing magic potential, even without those silly test papers. You were always above Trixie, and you were her source of inspiration. Every day, Trixie would work hard to surpass you. To prove to everypony that she was number one! Not you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Trixie charged up her next magical attack, and Twilight immediately began to charge her own. Once Trixie fired, Twilight waited a few seconds, and fired her own, making sure that the volume of the magical energy was about the same. The two forces met in midair. She recognised the type of magical energy that Trixie had used, and made sure that her own opposed it. That way, when the two forces met, they would cancel each other out, resulting in a very bright light that flashed for a second, but also minimised the destructive power to no more than a small crater in the ground.

Trixie once again charged towards Twilight, using her magic to power up her leg muscles. She was starting to get worn out, but she wouldn’t stop just yet. She was determined to prove herself to Twilight once and for all. “Trixie won’t lose to you anymore!” She started to swing her hooves towards Twilight, enchanting them with a stun spell. One successful hit is all it would take to stun Twilight for a few seconds, making her an easy target for her magic.

Twilight noticed the faint blue glow around Trixie’s hooves, and used her own to improve her leg muscles, dodging Trixie’s strikes as she made them. “Trixie! Please, calm down! You don’t have to do this! It doesn’t matter if you’re number one or not, right!? We’re friends, after all!”

“NO!” Trixie shouted, stopping momentarily to catch her breath. “It’s too late for that, Twilight Sparkle! Trixie already offered her friendship countless times, but you…You were always too busy studying! You never even knew Trixie existed! So don’t go saying that Trixie is your friend now, when back at school you would refuse Trixie the friendship she desired for six whole years!”

Trixie continued her attacks on Twilight, who let one of them connect so that she could drain the magic out of Trixie’s hooves, rendering her spell unusable. Trixie flinched, and fell down to her knees. “Are you ok!?” Twilight asked out of genuine concern. She thought that simply deactivating Trixie’s magic would be ok, but apparently Trixie was in worse condition than she seemed to be in.

“Of course Trixie is ok!” She stood up quickly, flinching again from the pain in her legs. She shook off the pain, and continued glaring at Twilight, her face a type of anger that Twilight had never seen before. Although it wasn’t all anger. Twilight could see sadness and loneliness in those eyes, as well as…Pleading?

“Trixie, you’re obviously not ok. Come back to the hospital. Please. I’m worried about you.”

Trixie’s resolve almost broke when she stared at Twilight’s sorrowful face, but she shook her head rapidly, and kept her mind focused. “The only reason I even put up with that school, even though I had already chosen to become a showmare, was because of you. I wanted to prove that I was just as powerful as you, maybe even more so! But it wasn’t just for me! I didn’t need to convince myself of anything!” Trixie pointed a hoof at Twilight. “I wanted you to see how powerful I was. I wanted you to see that I existed! That I was your equal! If I couldn’t win your friendship, at the very least, I wanted to remember my name!”

Trixie charged towards Twilight once again, and surprised her by teleporting behind the purple Unicorn, and unleashing a shockwave of magical energy that knock Twilight down. Trixie charged some magic into her horn, but Twilight managed to recover in time and gain some distance by teleporting. Trixie let out a loud scream that echoed through the night, and charged forward, the light of her horn shining so brightly that it illuminated the darkness of the night.

Before she could reach Twilight, though, she crashed into something in front of her. Her movements ceased, and the light of her horn vanished. It took her a few seconds to realise what she had crashed into. It was a small barrier that Twilight had erected just moments after Trixie began charging in. Trixie fell down to floor, and remained silent as she stared at the ground.

Twilight tore down her barrier, and slowly approached Trixie. Once she got close to the mare, she tried to find the right words. But none would come. She didn’t know what to say to her. The two remained still for what felt like hours, but was really only a few minutes. The only sound either could hear was that of the rain crashing down onto the ground around them.

Eventually, a new sound was heard. Twilight watched as tears began to run down Trixie’s face, and as Trixie tried to hold back her sobbing voice as she wiped them away. “Why?” Trixie finally asked, thought Twilight didn’t respond. She was about to ask “why what?”, but Trixie continued before she could. “Why wasn’t anything I did ever good enough? Why did you never notice whenever I was standing next to you?” Trixie stood up and once again faced Twilight, only now, her face was no longer filled with anger and loathing. Her face was completely wet, from both the rain pouring down on her, and the tears running down her face. Twilight still saw that same pleading look in Trixie’s eyes.

“All I ever wanted…Was to be recognised by you…Why did…” Trixie wiped away a few more tears, and turned her head away. “Why did I have to fall in love with you!? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get you out of my head! But…I had to defeat you! I had to make you realise that I existed! So I pushed those feelings into the far corners of my mind, and spent every day studying and training so that I could surpass you.

“And yet, despite all of that, you never once noticed Trixie’s feelings! Why, of all ponies, did Trixie have to fall in love with somepony like you!? ANSWER ME, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Twilight stared at Trixie, completely speechless, as Trixie stared back at Twilight, waiting for something. Anything. But no words came to Twilight’s mouth. She couldn’t find the right words to say to Trixie. All she could do was stand there in silence, looking at Trixie with…‘Pity? You pity me now, Twilight Sparkle? Stop it…Trixie doesn’t need your pity…’

Twilight took a step towards Trixie, but before she could say anything, Trixie shouted three words that echoed loudly throughout the small town. “I HATE YOU!” Twilight was stunned by those three words, and could only watch as Trixie ran away from Twilight, disappearing into the distance as she made her way towards the Everfree forest.

Once Twilight could no longer see Trixie, she brought her hoof up to her chest, and then up to her face, feeling tears running down her face. “Trixie…” She took a few steps forward, beginning to walk slowly in the direction that Trixie had run off in. “You were the filly…I first wanted as my friend…” She said to nopony in particular. In her mind, she cursed herself for not saying them sooner, but then came back to her senses, and picked up her pace, running quickly after Trixie towards the Everfree forest.

The curse of the black cat

Black Cat sighed as he looked through his exam paper, taking in the mistakes highlighted by his teacher, and correcting them accordingly. “I see…Ionic bonding is defined as electrostatic bonding formed by a transfer of electrons…Damnit, why do I even have to know this stuff? I’ve already decided my future career.”

“It’s because everypony expects great things from you.” Black Cat raised his head to see his teacher beginning to leave the classroom. “Head of the Lulamoon family is a hard name to live up to. Anyway, I’m heading out now. Make sure you lock up when you’re finished.”

Black Cat nodded and watched his teacher leave. Finally, when he could no longer hear the footsteps of his teacher, he used his magic to produce a carton of cigarettes from his saddlebag, and walked over towards an empty window. He looked down at all of the students leaving the school, or sticking around to chat to their friends. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a small ignition spell. He put this cigarette to his lips and inhaled, then pulled it away and breathed out, emptying his mind as he just enjoyed this nice, quiet moment to himself.

“Those things will kill you, y’know?” Black Cat spun around quickly and saw a filly that he recognised from another class. She was just a little shorter than him, and she had the most beautiful orange coat that he had ever seen, along with a long, bright red mane and tail. She, like everypony else in this school, was a Unicorn. The school was Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, after all.

“What d’you want? This isn’t your class.” Black Cat said as coldly as he could. The orange filly walked into the classroom and made her way towards one of the desks.

“I think I left one of my notebooks in here…” She explained, searching the desk and pulling out a thin blue notebook. “Found it!” She said cheerfully, before covering her nose and looking at Black Cat disapprovingly. “Ugh, those things stink! How can you stand them?”

Black Cat shrugged and brought the cigarette to his lips again, inhaling slowly so as to savour the taste. “To each their own, right?” He said, breathing out a puff of smoke, making sure his head was pointing outside the window. “Well, if you got what you came for, you should go. The school will be closing soon.”

“What about you?” The filly asked. “I’ve seen you in here after hours sometimes. Should the next head of the Lulamoon clan be breaking the rules like that, and killing his body with those nasty things?”

“It’s none of your business.” Black Cat said. He then lost his grip on his cigarette and watched as it fell down to the ground below. “Ah buckin’ hell…I was enjoying that…” He started to pull out another cigarette with his magic, but it was stopped by another magic. He looked up at the filly, whose horn was glowing brightly as she glared at Black Cat. “What now?”

“You should respect your body more. One a day is plenty.”

Black Cat approached the filly, who had to bring a hoof to her nose to stop the smell of his breath from causing her to back away. “It’s my body. I’ll treat it however I want. And you should keep your muzzle out of it!”

“But-”

Black Cat walked over to his desk, and picked up his saddlebag. “Don’t talk to me anymore. Or you’ll regret it.”

Black Cat ticked off another item on his checklist as he examined the stands set up for the upcoming winter festival. His ear twitched as he picked up the sounds of familiar breathing nearby, and he let out a long, heavy sigh. “I told you to stop following me.”

The orange filly, whose name Black Cat later learned was Hawkeye, stepped out from her hiding spot around the corner of the school building. “Heheheh…You caught me again…You’re good! Your Cutie Mark should be an ear, or something!” She noticed the angry look on Black Cat’s face, and tried to change the topic. “Oh, right, touchy subject…Um…So, what’re you up to?” She asked, approaching the annoyed colt.

“What does it look like?” Black Cat asked rhetorically. “I’m in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly. And you’re in charge of the refreshments. Which is over there.” He pointed a hoof over to where the refreshments team was organizing the crates of snacks and drinks that had been delivered earlier that day. “You know, away from me.”

She moaned and kicked a hoof on the ground. “Those guys are boring. I wanna help you, instead!” She smiled at Black Cat, who turned his head away to hide the blush growing on his face. “Dar-ling.” She sung as walked up to Black Cat and stroked her head against his neck.

Black Cat immediately ran sideways a little bit, putting some distance between himself and Hawkeye. “I told you, I don’t feel that way about you. And you shouldn’t feel that way about me, either.”

“Why? Because the “curse” will get me?” She asked, snickering after mentioning the word “curse”. “Sorry, but I’m not gonna let some stupid “curse” ruin my first love. First loves are important to mares, y’know?”

“That’s why you should just forget about me…” Black Cat stared, looking at Hawkeye with a serious look on his face. “Everypony who gets close to me ends up suffering some kind of misfortune. Some have even been hurt before.”

“Such is the “curse of the black cat”…Right?” Hawkeye asked, still smiling at Black Cat. “You must’ve told me that story about, what, a hundred times now, right? And I keep telling you, I don’t care.” She walked closer to Black Cat, who tried to turn tail and run, but the look in Hawkeye’s eyes held him in place. “I love you. And I won’t let some dumb “curse” stand in my way. If necessary, I’ll defeat it, then we can be together.”

“You can’t just “defeat it”, you idiot.” Black Cat said, laughing a little at the amusing thought that his curse could be destroyed so easily.

“With love, you can do anything.” Hawkeye said as she leaned in close to Black Cat, reaching out her hooves and pulling him into a kiss. The two remained that way for a few moments, before Hawkeye finally broke the kiss and stared into Black Cat’s eyes.

“Why would you love somepony like me, anyway?” Black Cat asked, not sure whether to teleport away as quickly as he could, or stay in this spot and continue staring in Hawkeye’s beautiful eyes.

“Because my heart tells me to. And I listen to what my heart says.” Hawkeye responded.

Black Cat took in her words, and then put a hoof to his mouth as a snicker escaped his lips. “What kinda reason is that? That just sounds stupid.” He said, trying to hold in his laughter.

Hawkeye backed away and glared at Black Cat. “Hey! You asked me a serious question, so I gave you a serious answer!” She turned away so that Black Cat couldn’t see her pouting face. “It’s not my fault you have no romance in you at all.”

“You’re just an idiot.” Black Cat said, causing Hawkeye to turn back to him and stare at him with a surprised look on her face. That was not what she was expecting him to at all. “An amazing idiot…Fine then, you can help me out. But I’m warning you! It’s tough work.”

Hawkeye’s anger eased down, and her cheerful smile returned to her face. She saluted Black Cat, and with a loud, cheerful voice, shouted: “Aye aye, boss!”

Black Cat stood in front of the statue of Discord that was on display in the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. He picked up a plastic ring next to him and threw it at the statue, moaning when he missed. “This isn’t as much fun as before. His new pose makes it harder to land these on his arms…” He threw another one, and managed to land it on Discord’s goat horn.

“Nice throw.” Black Cat turned around to see Princess Celestia approaching him, her usual guard escorts not present this time. “Old friend.”

Black Cat stood up and looked at Celestia disapprovingly. “Please don’t call me that. I’m not that old.” He said, watching as Celestia picked up a ring with her magic and also threw it towards the statue of Discord. The ring flew right into Discord’s face, with a force that would hurt if weren’t stone, and would have shattered the statue were it not magical stone. “How’s Trixie? I hear she got into some trouble in the Everfree forest some time after I left.”

Celestia shook her head, her smile fading as her silence answer Black Cat’s question. Finally, she spoke her answer with words, too. “I don’t know. She might make it, but it’s not looking good. Only time will tell…”

Black Cat’s expression didn’t change. He reached into his bag and pulled out a carton of cigarette, pulling one out and lighting it. “I see…”

“I thought you quit smoking, Black Cat.”

“I have one every now and then. It’s better than drinking myself to death, at least.” He said, shuddering as he remembered one night in particular where he got so drunk that he actually came on to Celestia.

Celestia herself found the memory amusing, and giggled as she recalled the event. Her happiness died down, though, when she moved on to the main reason that she had called him here. “You…Killed Sawdust, didn’t you?”

Black Cat hesitated, and just stared at his cigarette for a few seconds, before finally bringing to his lips to smoke it. After he released a puff of smoke from his mouth, he turned to Celestia to answer her. “Yeah.”

“How did it feel?” Celestia asked, the serious, stern face of not a ruler, nor a friend, but just another pony-being, staring Black Cat in the eyes.

“…Not good. Not good at all.” Black Cat took another smoke of his cigarette. “When I killed my brother and his colleagues in that fire, I couldn’t see their faces, so I convinced myself that it was ok. That, if it was to protect Trixie, it was perfectly justified. It was the only way I could keep my sanity…After purposefully taking the lives of three ponies.”

“But now?”

“Now…” Tears started to fall down Black Cat’s face, and he had to turn away so that Celestia couldn’t see them. “It doesn’t matter who it is. A life is still a life, and I had no right to take his, or anypony’s, for that matter.”

Celestia inhaled deeply as she collected her thoughts, and then breathed out as she prepared to ask her next question. “What are you going to do now?”

Black Cat had had plenty of time to think about his next move, and had already reached a decision, but he still hesitated before announcing it to Celestia. “I’m…I’m going to turn myself in.” He said, dropping his cigarette to the ground and stomping on it to put it out. “I’m finally going to erase myself from Trixie’s life.”

Black Cat fidgeted in his seat as the chariot made its way towards the Canterlot hospital. His hooves were shaking, and his entire body was trembling as he feared the worst. Celestia placed a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Just relax. Everything will be just fine. Trust me.”

Black Cat shook his head and stared out of the window, watching as the hospital drew closer to the two. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re the only one immune to my curse. But Hawkeye…I should’ve just left Canterlot, after all.”

Celestia smiled warmly at Black Cat, and tried to calm him down. “Hawkeye is stronger than you think. Whatever may befall her, I’m sure that she will handle it. Just have faith in your wife, and try to think of a new name for your daughter.”

“What’s wrong with Meteor Shower? I think that’s a great name!”

“It’s a little…Well, didn’t Hawkeye have a great name for her?” Celestia asked, trying to avoid pointing out what was wrong with Black Cat’s naming abilities.

“Yeah. Trixie, or something. Kinda stupid, if you ask me.” Black Cat said, his trembling slowing as he began to calm down.

“I think that’s a great name. You should go with it.”

“Hmph. Typical. You always side with Hawkeye over me.” Black Cat said, leaning against the window on one of his hooves. The two started to laugh after a moment of silence, stopping when the chariot started to slow down. Once it had stopped in front of the hospital, the two stepped out, and made their way towards the hospital’s entrance. “Thank you, Celestia. I’ll try to smile when I see my wife.”

“That’s the spirit. Just keep on smiling, no matter what happens, and then others will smile too.”

Black Cat and Celestia waited outside the delivery room quietly, staring at the wall on the other side of the room, both of them breathing slowly and quietly. Black Cat was asked to leave when his wife’s condition started to take a turn for the worse, as they needed to bring in a specialist, who needed their space.

Black Cat heard a loud scream from inside the delivery room, followed by the loud sound of metal clanging against the floor. This did nothing to ease his worries. Celestia was also in a panicked state by this point, her own words of wisdom about keeping one’s spirits up meaning nothing to her anymore.

After what seemed like an eternity passed by, one of the nurses stepped outside and asked Black Cat to come in to the delivery room. Black Cat did so quietly, preparing himself for the worst case scenario. Celestia watched as Black Cat entered the room, hoping that everything was alright.

Black Cat was led to his wife, who was lying down on a bed, holding something against her chest. She was still breathing. That was a good sign. Black Cat stopped by his wife’s side, and hold on to her hoof tightly. “Honey…Say hello to our new daughter…” Hawkeye said slowly and quietly, her voice showing her weakness. She held the small foal in her arms up towards Black Cat.

Black Cat took the small pony into his hooves, looking down at her, completely speechless. It was his child. His very own foal, that he would be able to raise alongside Hawkeye from this point on. He held the young foal close to him, and finally found his voice again. “Meteor…Welcome to the family…”

Hawkeye groaned and let her head fall back, drawing her husband’s attention. “You’re not really going to call her that, are you?” She asked, staring up at the ceiling through half-closed eyes. “Come on, what’s wrong with Trixie. That was my grandmother’s name, you know?”

Black Cat let out a small laugh, but stopped when Hawkeye’s breathing grew noticeably heavier, and when she started to cough a lot. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you ok?” It was then that he noticed the lack of nurses in the room. The specialist doctor who was called in had the nurses leave the room, and stared at the family with a serious look on his face. “Doctor, what is it? She’s going to be ok, right?”

The doctor took a deep breath to ready himself, and then walked over to Black Cat, ready to deliver the bad news. “I’m…Afraid not.” Black Cat almost dropped his daughter when he heard this, but managed to keep his grip long enough to place her back in Hawkeye’s arms. “The delivery did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. And…She’s not going to last much longer. I’m sorry.”

Black Cat ran up to the doctor and grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat, shooting him a furious look. “What the hell are you saying? My daughter was just born today. This is the happiest day of my life. The day I become a father, and get to raise my little girl with the most beautiful mare in the world by my side! DON’T YOU DARE RUIN THAT FOR ME!”

Black Cat’s shouting caused the little foal behind him to start crying, which Hawkeye immediately tried to remedy by gently holding her daughter close to her body. The doctor carefully loosened Black Cat’s grip. “I’m sorry, Mr. Black Cat. I wish there was something we could do. I’m really, truly sorry.”

Black Cat’s breathing grew more rapid as he stared at his wife, whose face was turned away so that her husband couldn’t see her crying. He turned back to the doctor, and begged him to save his wife’s life. “Please! If there’s anything that can be done, then do it! If’s money’s an issue, I’ll pay any amount! Just…Please, don’t let her die!”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing that can be done!” The doctor said, bringing the cold hard truth of the matter down on Black Cat. “To be honest, we have no idea what the problem even is. She seemed healthy enough, and there’s no sign of infection and disease. It’s as if…There’s some unseen force just taking her life away.”

Black Cat turned slowly to look at himself through a mirror in the room. In particular, he stared at his Cutie Mark. Or at where his Cutie Mark should be. In its place, was a picture of a black cat, holding one paw up into the air. This was the mark that he was born with. The “curse of the black cat”. A one in one billion chance of somepony being born with this mark, and he just happened to be one of its victims.

The curse that forever ruined his life. For whoever got close to him, suffered misfortune. It started with kids from his class at school losing their precious items, or being injured by a series of “accidents”. It escalated into unexplained broken limbs that seemingly appeared from incidents that shouldn’t result in such damage, and sudden illnesses. It didn’t take long for everypony to link these incidents with a pony’s relation to Black Cat, and soon, everypony kept their distance, afraid of being his next victim.

“No…It can’t be…” He ran up to his wife, holding her hooves as tightly as he could. “You said you’d defeat this curse…You said your love would conquer it! Come on, don’t let it take you. Not now. Not when our daughter still needs you!”

Hawkeye looked up at Black Cat, and wiped the tears from his face. She forced herself to smile, but had to stop when a sudden shock of pain passed through her boy. “I’m…Sorry…It looks like…I can’t go any further…”

“Please, don’t talk! Save your strength! There has to be a way to save you, there just has to be!” Suddenly, and idea passed through his head. “Celestia…I’ll get the Princess! She’s a powerful Alicorn! She might be able to do something!”

Black Cat attempted to leave the room to ask Celestia for help, but Hawkeye grabbed a hold of his hooves, keeping him from leaving. “Please…” She said softly. So soft that Black Cat had to move closer to hear her. “Stay with me…In the end…” She gave her daughter one final hug, and then handed her over to Black Cat, who took her in his hooves. “Take care…Of our daughter…My final wish…Is for you…To raise her…Into…Into a fine young…Mare.” After the final word, Hawkeye’s breathing stopped, and her body collapsed onto the bed. The heart monitor hooked up to her registered no pulse, and the room fell silent.

The doctor in the room offered to take Black Cat and his daughter to another room. Black Cat wanted a few moments alone, which the doctor allowed, taking the young foal out into the waiting room.

Black Cat stared down at his wife’s body, tears running down his face and falling onto the bed sheets below him. “It’s not fair…” He slammed a hoof onto the table behind him. “IT’S NOT FAIR! What the hell did I do to deserve this fate!? Why can’t this curse just take my life!? Why does everypony else have to suffer!? WHY!?”

Celestia and Black Cat walked through the hedge maze of the Canterlot Sculpture Garden side-by-side. It had been a good number of years since they last spoke, and Celestia wanted to share a few more moments with her friend before he turned himself in to the police.

“I didn’t know what to do when my wife died.” Black Cat said. Celestia remained silent, and listened intently to her friend. “I didn’t want my daughter to grow fond of me. If she did, then she would die too. Of that, I was certain. But…”

“Your wife’s final wish?” Celestia asked, stopping to smell one of the flowers sticking out of a nearby hedge.

Black Cat also stopped, waiting for Celestia. Once they started walking again, he continued. “Yes. I couldn’t just refuse my wife’s last wish. She wanted me to raise our daughter for the both of us. And given my bloodline, I couldn’t risk leaving Trixie in the hands of just anypony.”

“There was always me.”

“You had enough on your plate. There was no way I was going to burden you with raising my child in my place.” Black Cat stopped to light another cigarette after the two reached a small gazebo in the hedge maze. “The only thing I could do was keep her at a distance…But still be there for her. I would buy her food, clothes, and toys, and enrol her into the finest school.

“And if anypony targeted her, I would just use my influence to silently scare them away. At the same time, I had to play the bad guy around her. I had to make sure that she didn’t grow up loving me. Even if it meant that she hated me, it was worth it to keep her safe.”

“But a life of hatred…Is that even worth living?”

The two ponies sat down in the gazebo. Black Cat took a big smoke of his cigarette. “It was my hope that, at school, she would make lots of friends who she would learn to trust and rely on, no matter how much she lost her faith in me as her father.

“That’s why I was happy when she showed such interest in this “Twilight Sparkle” filly. I never would have imagined that she was your pupil. Small world, I guess.”

“Then why did you make her compete against her so much?”

“She was already competing against her. It was obvious from the way she described their test results. It was my hope that Trixie and Twilight would eventually become good friends through their intense rivalry. I had no idea that Twilight didn’t even consider Trixie a rival.

“My biggest mistake…Was leaving Trixie in the hooves of my brother. I thought I could trust him, and that he would take care of Trixie when she had reached the age where I was no longer necessary. No longer a filly, not yet a mare.”

Celestia closed her eyes and silently meditated for about a minute, allowing the soothing wind and the gentle breeze to relax her as she collected her thoughts. “What do you want me to tell Trixie?”

“…” Black Cat stared up at the sky, and saw a few Pegasus ponies moving rainclouds around the sky. The two noticed that it was going to rain soon, and decided to start leaving. “Nothing.” Black Cat said as he walked alongside Celestia, flicking his cigarette onto the ground. “And, if it’s not too much trouble, I’d appreciate it if my imprisonment was kept a secret.”

“…Are you sure? That would mean that nopony would know what happened to you. It would be as if you just disappeared one day.”

“It’s fine. Nopony would worry about me.” He said, forcing a smile onto his face as he and Celestia exited the hedge maze. “I’d rather just fade away without a trace. That way Trixie will never find out the truth about me. If she did, there’s the possibility, however small, that she may start to hate me less.”

Celestia wanted to tell him that he was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him he was exaggerating, or that he was worrying over nothing. Because the last time she did that, his wife died, shortly after giving birth to their daughter.

She hesitantly nodded her head. “Very well then. I won’t tell her anything about you. And I’ll keep your imprisonment a secret. It will be on a need-to-know basis only.”

Black Cat smiled once again at Celestia, only this time, it was real. “Thank you.” He said, before turning his head away so that Celestia wouldn’t see the tears running down his face. “It’s funny. When Trixie returned to Canterlot, I thought that she was seeking to make amends with me. I never imagined that she had lost her memory, and was living a happy life with many friends.” He wiped his tears away, and once again faced the Princess. “I hope she finds happiness in that small town.”

Celestia wanted to tell him that Trixie’s memories had returned, but she was so happy with the thought that his daughter had forgotten everything about him, that she decided to withhold that information. At least for now. ‘Sometimes, it’s necessary to keep the ones we love out of the loop, or at a distance…It’s sad, but unfortunately, life is just cruel like that sometimes. You’ve suffered enough, Black Cat. I’ll let you have some peace of mind for once in your life.’

Twilight chased Trixie through the darkness of the Everfree forest, using her horn to light up the way. She could see Trixie just ahead of her, but was struggling to keep up. Neither mare was very athletic, but Trixie was defiantly the faster and more agile pony out of the two.

Twilight lost her focus when she heard a rustling in the bushes next to her, and tripped over a branch that was lying in her path. She brought herself to her hooves, and looked around to see if she Trixie was still in sight.

When she realised that the blue Unicorn had managed to lose her, she started to panic. Trixie was in no state, both physically and mentally, to be wandering around the Everfree forest right now.

Twilight continued heading down the last path that she saw Trixie take, and just hoped for the best.

Trixie stopped running after she scaled a small hill, taking cover behind a rock pile at the top. She poked her head around, and saw that she had managed to lose the pursuing Unicorn. “Damnit…Now what? There’s no way Trixie can return after she said that. Maybe Trixie should just move to Manehatten and change her name, or something…” Trixie pictured what it would be like to move the big city, and take on a new identity.

A life without having to worry about being abducted for her blood. A life without having to ever see her father again. A life where she would never see Twilight Sparkle again…

The first two thoughts sounded great to Trixie, but when the thought of never seeing the mare she loved ever again crossed her mind, tears began to well up into her eyes, and she suddenly wasn’t sure of what to do anymore.

The days she had spent with Twilight while she had lost her memories ran through Trixie’s mind, and she realised that it wasn’t just her feelings for Twilight that had grown stronger over those days. She had become friends with many of the ponies in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy. The pink one was a bit of a hassle, but they still had fun together. She had grown fond of Spike, too, and then there was Lyra, and Bon Bon, and Doctor, and Derpy.

She curled up in her spot, wrapping her front hooves around her back legs, and started to drown out her tears into front legs. “Mother…Why did you leave Trixie with that man? He never taught her how to deal with situations like this…Did you not love Trixie, either? Did you not want anything to do with her?”

A loud scream echoed throughout the forest, and Trixie recognised it instantly. It was Twilight Sparkle. And following the scream was a very large tremor, followed by the biggest, loudest roar that Trixie had ever heard.

Twilight looked up in horror when she realised which cave, of all possible caves, she had just walked into. She slowly started to back out, but it was too late. The large body of a full-grown Ursa Major towered over her, and it did not look happy.

It must have thought that Twilight was here to take its young away, and its maternal instincts kicked in. Twilight let out a loud scream, and immediately ran outside of the cave, running back into the Everfree forest. The loud roar of the Ursa Major shook the ground beneath Twilight, causing her to fall to the ground.

She had previously defeated an Ursa Minor by using her magic to put it to sleep, but that wasn’t going to work on something like this. It was far beyond anything that Twilight could deal with.

She looked up in horror as the large beast towering above her let loose another tremor-inducing roar, and swung down its claws. She had no time to react. Her legs were still shaking, and her mind was too un-focused to conjure up a spell of any kind.

She closed her eyes and waited for it to happen. As she did, images of Trixie ran through her mind, and all she could was lay there helplessly, repeating the words “I’m sorry” out loud, over and over again.

She felt something hit her face and body. But it wasn’t the claw of an Ursa Major, and it didn’t hurt at all. She also heard what sounded like groaning in front of her. Slowly, Twilight’s eyes started to open. When she saw the situation before her, her eyes shot fully open, and her mouth hung open in shock.

In front of her, hovering between an enraged Ursa Major’s claw, and a helpless Twilight whose body was still trembling, was the Great and Powerful Unicorn that Twilight had been chasing through the Everfree forest just moments ago.

Running through the blue mare’s body were four long, razor sharp claws, that belonged to the Ursa Major. Blood was pouring out of the wounds, and it was then Twilight realised that what had hit her was Trixie’s blood.

Trixie turned her head towards the purple mare, who was still lying on the ground, staring up at the showmare in horror, with tears running down her face. She didn’t like it. “Stop that…Twilight Sparkle.” She said, coughing up blood as she spoke. “Don’t send Trixie off with that face…Trixie…Trixie wants to see the happy face…That you always…Always wore…”

“Trixie…Why?” Twilight’s tears started to run down her face, and she slowly rose to her hooves, watching as Trixie’s breathing started to slow down, and her colour started to fade. “Why did you do this?”

“Because…I love you…Idiot.” Trixie said, smiling at the purple Unicorn, with her own tears flowing down her face as her vision started to fade away. “What, did your books not tell you? This is…This is what ponies do…For the ones they love…They give their lives for them…”

“Stop it! I don’t want this! Please Trixie, you can’t die! There’s still so much to do! There’s your birthday! We didn’t get to properly celebrate it!” Twilight forced a smile onto her face, but the tears running down her cheeks betrayed her attempts to act strong for Trixie. “Just wait ‘til you see what I got you! I know you’re going to love it! Oh! And now that your memories are back, we can share what we’ve learned over the years! It’ll so fun, so…Just don’t die…Please…” Twilight’s voice lowered into a whisper as Trixie’s eyes shut, and her breathing softened to a near-stop. When the Ursa Major retracted its claws, Trixie’s limp body fell to the ground.

“TRIXIE!” Twilight ran up to Trixie, completely ignoring the Ursa Major that was still towering over her. “Trixie…” It was faint, but Twilight could still feel a pulse coming from Trixie. Trixie was still alive, but in this state…“Please…Somepony…Anypony…I don’t care who it is, but someone, PLEASE SAVE TRIXIE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”

New beginning

“Is she still not awake?”

“It’s been 10 days. I’m startin’ ta get worried.”

“Oh, I feel so sorry for Twilight. She clearly hasn’t been getting much sleep lately.”

“Hm?” Trixie tried to look for the source of the sounds around her, but she couldn’t see anything. Wherever she was, it was pitch-black.

“Hey! She just moved!”

Trixie recognised that last voice. It was undoubtedly Pinkie Pie’s. She would recognise that hyperactive party mare’s voice anywhere. It stood out quite well. She realised that her eyes were closed, and tried to open them. It felt like she had forgotten how to do so for a while, and it required some effort to finally open her eyes even slightly. “Wha?” She saw the blurred faces of five ponies looking down at her.

“S-She’s waking up!” Trixie recognised this voice as the soft and gentle Fluttershy’s voice.

“Quick! Go get Twi!” This was Applejack’s voice.

“Right!” Rainbow Dash’s voice. She could guess by this point who the last pony was before even hearing her voice.

“Trixie? Darling, can you hear me?” As Trixie concluded. The last voice was Rarity’s. Her vision start to become more clear, and she could see her friends properly now. They were looking down at her with worried looks on their faces.

“Ow…Trixie’s head hurts…” She said, sitting up and stroking the back of her head with a hoof. Her friends all sighed in relief, except for Pinkie, who pulled Trixie into a tight and started cheering now that she was awake. “Ah!” Trixie put her hooves to her temples, trying to suppress a headache that was starting to form.

“Pinkie!” Rarity shouted, pulling the pink mare away by her tail. “Please, she’s just woken up. Can’t you express your happiness a little more…Quietly?”

“TRIXIE!” Everypony in the room was startled by the sudden entrance of Twilight Sparkle, who pushed the door open with some force and charged towards Trixie’s bed. “You really are awake! Oh thank Celestia!” She pulled Trixie into a tight hug, but was much more quiet than Pinkie Pie, so that the blue Unicorn’s headache didn’t get any worse.

“Wait a minute…Twilight?” Trixie pushed Twilight away and examined her closely. Indeed, this was the purple Unicorn that Trixie only moments ago – or so it seemed to Trixie – tried to protect. Except…There was one important detail missing.

“Calm yourself, Ursa Major!” Twilight turned around to see her mentor, Princess Celestia, emerge from the trees of the Everfree forest. “It’s has been a long time. And I see that you are still as quick-tempered as always.”

The Ursa Major roared loudly, causing Twilight to reflexively cover her ears. Celestia, however, remained still, staring the Ursa Major in the eyes with a calm look on her face. “I understand that my pupil entered your home without permission, but she did not know that the cave was yours. Therefore, I must insist that you sheath your fury, and return in peace.”

The Ursa Major stared back at Celestia for a few moments, remaining silent. It then looked back at Twilight, and started to raise its claw again. “I’m going to warn you one last time, Ursa Major.” Celestia said, freezing the Ursa Major in place. “If you do not fall back right now, you will have to once again face the wrath of me and my sister. And I warn you, we have become much more adept at wielding the Elements since our last encounter.”

Twilight realised that Celestia was bluffing. Celestia and Luna could no longer wield the Element of Harmony, since they were no longer connected to them. The thought that Celestia was counting on a bluff to scare off the Ursa Major terrified her. That meant that even Princess Celestia was no match for such a foe on her own.

Thankfully, it seemed to work. The titan of a beast turned around, and retreated back into its cave, stopping to give Celestia one final roar. “I understand.” Celestia said as she nodded towards the beast, which then disappeared into its cave.

“Princess Celestia…” Twilight finally found her voice again, but could only utter those two words as she stared at her mentor with admiration and astonishment in her wide eyes. Suddenly, she remembered the pony that she was holding on to, and panic returned to her face. “Please, you’ve got to help Trixie! If you don’t, she’ll die!”

Celestia walked over to her pupil and looked down at her. The image in front of her eyes was exactly as she had seen in her nightmare. She was too late to stop it. She leant down so that she could examine Trixie. A frown and a shake of her head made Twilight fear that the worst had happened, but then Celestia spoke up. “It’s…Not looking good. She’s very badly injured. But…As long as a pulse still runs through her body, she can be saved.”

Twilight’s face lit up slightly as she heard Celestia say that. “Then hurry up!” She shouted, not caring that it sounded like she was demanding something of her Princess. “She’s still got a pulse, so she can still be saved!”

“The problem, Twilight Sparkle…Is that saving her in this state requires a certain spell…Which carries a hefty price. And unfortunately, I cannot do it.” She saw Twilight’s shocked look that seemed to be asking her “why not?”, and started to explain. “I am the Princess of the Sun, and the ponies of Equestria need me. Luna is still not ready to take on my duties as well as her own, and so, my power is still needed.”

She let out a soft sigh, and placed a comforting hoof on her pupil’s shoulder. “As much as it pains me to say this, the life of one pony cannot even compare to the lives of many, no matter who it is.”

Twilight looked down at Trixie, sobbing silently as she held the dying mare closely. She could hear faint breathing coming from Trixie’s mouth. “There must be something you can do, right?” Twilight asked quietly, almost begging.

“There isn’t anything I can do…Buy there may be something you can do.” Twilight’s ears perked up, and her face quickly turned to look her mentor in the eyes. “Your magic may just be enough to save Trixie’s life with this spell. All you have to do is lend me your magic, and I’ll cast the spell for you. But, there will be a hefty price for this. Are you sure you want to-”

“JUST HURRY UP ALREADY!” Twilight shouted, starling Celestia for a second. “I don’t care what the price is! If we don’t do something now, she’ll die!”

Celestia saw the resolve in her pupil’s eyes. She wasn’t going to back down. Her mind was set. Celestia nodded, and her horn started to glow. “Then, prepare yourself, Twilight Sparkle. There’s no going back once the spell starts.”

Dr. Stable emerged from the ER room at the Ponyville hospital. He told everyone that Trixie’s condition was stable, and they all sighed in relief. “But, at this point, I can’t say if she’ll ever make a full recovery. She may remain comatose for the rest of her life, or she may wake up in a few days.” He sighed and wiped walked over to a nearby vending machine. “In any case, I encourage you all to visit her on a regular basis. Being surrounded by her friends and hearing their voices may be just what she needs to wake up.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stable.” Celestia said, bowing to the doctor, who wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Both he and the nurses around him started to freak out over the sight of their ruler bowing to a low-class city doctor.

“P-Please, Princess! There’s no need to thank me! Besides, it was your magic that really saved the day!” He then turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was following the nurses moving Trixie to another room. “By the way, is she really going to be ok? I mean, it won’t be too much trouble to give her a quick check-up.”

Celestia rose up and turned to her student. “She’ll be fine. Naturally, it’ll take time to adjust, now that her Essence is gone. But her health itself is in no danger.”

“So what is this “Essence” stuff, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked, floating up to Celestia.

“The Essence of a pony – or of any species, for that matter – is what gives it their unique traits” Celestia explained. “For example, a Dragon’s Essence gives a Dragon the ability to breathe fire, and its tendency to hoard and eat treasures. And the Essence of a Pegasus pony gives it the power to interact with the weather, and gives it enhanced speed, agility, and reflexes.”

Applejack looked down the corridor to the room that Twilight and the nurses from earlier had taken Trixie to. “So, without her Essence, Twilight is just a regular ol’ Earth Pony?”

“No.” Celestia corrected. “Earth Pony’s have their own Essence, too. One that makes them more in-tune with the land, and makes their bodies tougher and stronger than other ponies. Without her Essence…Twilight isn’t even an Earth Pony.”

“Twilight…Your horn…” Trixie stared at Twilight with a shocked look on her face, struggling to bring out the right words. “Your…Horn…” She repeated, moving her hoof forward to confirm what she was seeing – Twilight’s horn was truly gone. There wasn’t even anything on her head where it should have been. No mark. No protrusion, or indentation…Nothing. It was like she never had a horn in the first place.

“C’mon girls. Let’s give ‘em some privacy.” Applejack said, leaving the room along with Rarity and Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie had to be dragged out by Rainbow Dash. On their way out, they ran into Dr. Stable.

“Oh, is Trixie awake? Why didn’t you tell me!?” He shouted, scolding the group of ponies. “In any case, I’d better go and make sure that she’s ok.”

“Wait!” Rarity shouted, closing the door and blocking access with her body. “Don’t you know anything about love!? They need their room!”

“Rarity, Trixie has been in a coma for 10 days! Her brain might be damaged, or her organs may not be functioning properly!”

“Just give ‘em ten minutes, alright?” Applejack asked, pulling on one of Dr. Stable’s hooves. “Surely you can wait ten more minutes, right?”

Dr. Stable sighed, and finally gave in. “Fine. Ten minutes. But no more!” He said, taking a seat on one of the benches outside whilst he waited, looking at his watch to see the current time. He then looked over to the white Unicorn blocking the door. “Wait, did you say love!?”

Twilight sat down on the edge of Trixie’s bed and waited for Trixie to calm down before she started speaking. “So…Um…Do you…Remember everything?”

Trixie nodded her head slowly, but kept her eyes fixed on Twilight’s forehead. “What happened? Did Trixie fail to protect you?” She then realised that she was the one in the hospital bed, and remembered that she was actually hit by the Ursa Major’s claws. “No, Trixie’s sure that she made it in time…”

“I used a powerful spell to save you.” Twilight explained. “Well, the Princess is the one who used it. But I supplied my Essence to make it effective.”

“You WHAT!?” Trixie screamed, and then put held her hooves against her stomach as it started to hurt. “Why would you do something like that?”

Twilight looked at her as if the answer was obvious, but explained anyway. “Because I didn’t want you to die.” Trixie’s eyes widened at that, and she stared at Twilight in silence. “I care about you, Trixie. I couldn’t just give up on you when there was a way to save you.”

“You don’t care about Trixie at all! If you did, you would remember her!”

“You’re the filly who was going to play Roberto in that class play, right?” Trixie was stunned into silence. Twilight smiled at Trixie and continued. “I’ll admit that I don’t remember much about you. I…Didn’t exactly care about other ponies back then. I never remembered anypony unless I really liked them.”

“Yes. Trixie is aware of that. And that’s why Trixie knows that you don’t care for her.” Trixie said, turning away so that she was no longer looking Twilight in the eyes.

“But when you insisted on playing Roberto, after hearing that I would be Alison…I was actually kind of happy.” Trixie still didn’t face Twilight, but she continued listening closely. “That’s why I wanted you to come over to my house, and practice your lines with me. My brother always told me that I should try harder to make some friends, but I was never any good at that.

“So when you agreed to come over to my house, I was so excited. I was really looking forward to it. But then…You never showed up.” Twilight lowered her head and stared down at the bed sheets, shuffling her hoof against them.

“Trixie…Was involved in a certain incident…She had to miss school for a while.” Trixie turned to Twilight, who looked pretty depressed. “Anyway, you still had no right to sacrifice your Essence like that!” Trixie said. “How is Trixie supposed to prove that she is greater than you now? When you can’t even use your magic!?”

“I don’t care about any of that!” Twilight shouted, bringing her face up and looking Trixie in the eyes, with the sternest look that Trixie had ever seen Twilight give. “I don’t care which of us is number one. I don’t care if you’re better at magic than me or not. I just…I just want to be with you, Trixie…”

Trixie’s face started to turn red as she realised that their faces were starting to get dangerously close to each other. “Trixie waited long enough for your friendship, Twilight. She’s not sure if she wants it now…” She said, trying to keep her eyes from looking into Twilight’s.

Twilight’s face turned into a frown, and she back away. “I know I never paid much attention to you in the past. I know that, no matter how much you tried, I never even acknowledged you. But that was wrong of me, and I’m willing to correct that now.” Trixie looked Twilight in the eyes momentarily, which she realised was a mistake. Twilight’s ears were drooping down, her eyes wide and teary, and her lips in full pout. “Please, Trixie. Don’t leave me…Please?”

Trixie stared at Twilight for a few moments, and then let out a loud groan. “That’s not fair, Twilight Sparkle!” She shouted. “Fine! Trixie will forgive you, and stay here…” Twilight’s face started to light up, but then reverted back when Trixie continued. “BUT! There are two conditions! First, you can never use that face on Trixie again!” She said, trying to look away from Twilight.

“Ok…” Twilight said, taking a moment to force a smile onto her face. Unfortunately, Twilight wasn’t good at faking smiles, and her new face made Trixie fall back and laugh. “Hey! Stop that!” She shouted, turning her back to Trixie. “And? What’s the other condition?”

Trixie stopped laughing and sat up again. Her face turned red and she swallowed as she prepared herself for what she was about to say. “Trixie…Is no longer interested in us being friends…” Twilight turned around, looking at her with a confused look. “But…Trixie may be willing to…Become something more…If you want to, that is…” She said, her voice growing quieter as she turned her head to the side, trying not to look Twilight in the eyes.

Trixie felt a pair of hooves on the sides of her face, and her head was forcibly turned so that she was looking Twilight in the eyes. Before she had time to react, she felt her lips meet with Twilight’s. She stared wide-eyed at the purple mare for a second, and then slowly shut her eyes, letting her mind empty out as she savoured this moment with the mare that she loved.

“A-hem!” Both mares’ eyes shot open, and then pulled away from each other, breaking their short-lived kiss. They both turned towards the door, where they saw Dr. Stable walking up to the bed, and behind them, their friends, who were poking their heads in through the sides of the doorway. “Your 10 minutes are up. We need to perform some tests now, to make sure that Trixie is alright.”

Twilight picked up a book that was lying in a pile in her library. She read the title. “Trolling for Eggheads – Vol. 1”. “What’s this doing here?” She asked herself, and then tried to levitate the books in the pile into neat stacks. Nothing happened, as expected. She sighed, and began sorting through the books the non-magical way – with her hooves.

“You’re still not used to life without a horn?” Trixie approached Twilight from behind and used her magic to help Twilight sort out the books. “Well, Trixie supposes when magic is your special talent, it’s hard to get used to life without it…”

“It’s not too bad. At least I didn’t lose my passion for reading.” Twilight said, placing books into separate piles based on their category. “And I have you here for when I really need magic for something.”

“You make Trixie sound like a tool designed to make your life easier.” Trixie said, tapping a book onto Twilight’s head.

Twilight started to laugh to herself, and Trixie joined in shortly afterwards. Spike listened to them from inside the kitchen, adding a few ingredients into a bowl as dictated by the recipe book that he was following. He smiled happily as the two mares laughed together. It had been three weeks since Trixie was discharged from the hospital, and finally, everything seems to be back to normal. Trixie was still being distant over the past few weeks, but lately, she’s been putting more effort into getting along with everyone.

Spiked walked into the room where Twilight and Trixie were sorting out books to tell them that dinner would be ready soon. Before he could, though, he felt a sudden pain in his stomach, that started to rise up his throat. He let out a loud belch, accompanied by green flames, and a scroll appeared from them. Trixie picked up the scroll with her magic, and brought it towards herself.

“A letter from the Princess?” Twilight asked, surprised by the sudden letter since she wasn’t expecting any mail from Princess Celestia. “What’s it say?”

Trixie opened the scroll and began reading it in her head. She smiled and rolled the scroll back up, placing it on the table. “It seems the Princess has managed to secure a job for Trixie.” She said, turning to a confused Twilight. “Princess Celestia asked Trixie if there was anything that she wanted, as thanks for saving her pupil. Trixie requested the Princess’ help in finding some work on-stage. And now, the Princess has managed to secure for Trixie her own magic show in Canterlot.”

Twilight’s ears dropped down as she heard this, and she looked at Trixie with a sad expression on her face. “But…I thought you said that you were going to stay here…”

“Don’t make that face, Twilight.” Trixie said, using her magic to force Twilight’s lips into a smile, much to Twilight’s annoyance. “Trixie will only be performing on weekends. So she’ll still spend most of her here. And it’s not like we’ll be apart or anything.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, shaking her head to break Trixie magic.

Trixie grinned and turned to Spike. “Spike, could you go and get Trixie’s present for her please?”

“Sure!” Spike said, running off into the basement. He returned a few moments later with a small cardboard box. Trixie levitated it out of his hands and placed it on the floor next to Twilight.

“Go ahead. Open it.” Trixie said. Twilight pulled off the lid with her hooves and took a look inside.

“What is this?” She asked, seeing something blue with a yellow star pattern inside. Trixie used her magic to levitate the items out. Twilight watched as a blue cape with a similar pattern to the purple one that Trixie wore wrapped itself around her, followed by a blue hat placing itself on top of her head. “What the?” She examined the cape around her body, and then turned back to Trixie.

“Trixie would like you to become her stage assistant, Twilight Sparkle.” Trixie said, using her magic to retrieve her own hat and cape from the nearby closet. “She wants you to be by her side while she performs feats of magic the likes of which Equestria has never seen.” She said with a big smile on her face.

Twilight stared at Trixie for a few seconds, her eyes and mouth wide open. “Trixie…” She smiled at Trixie and walked over to her, rubbing the side of her face against Trixie’s. “I’d be honoured to assist you on-stage, “oh Great and Powerful Trixie”.”

Trixie wrapped her front legs around Twilight, pulling her into a warm, comforting hug. Twilight returned the hug. Spike made a gagging expression at the scene, and returned to the kitchen.

“Trixie’s first show is this weekend. So Trixie will have to work hard to teach you everything she knows by then. Trixie hopes you’re ready.” Trixie said, pulling away from the hug and levitating a pair of fake glasses to her face, entering “teacher mode”.

Twilight giggled and picked up a notepad and quill from her desk. “Ok, teacher! I’m ready!”

Epilogue

Trixie opened the door to Sugarcube Corner and stepped inside. She walked up to the counter, where Pinkie Pie was working. “Hiya, Trix! What can I get you today?” Pinkie Pie asked, smiling as widely as she usually does.

Trixie pulled out a small pouch from her saddlebag, and a checklist. “Trixie is here to pick up some cupcakes that Twilight ordered a few days ago.”

Pinkie Pie rushed into the kitchen for a second, and returned a moment later with a box balanced on her head. She bobbed her head forward to allow the box to fall onto the counter. “Okie dokie lokie!”

Trixie opened the lid and inspected the contents. “Alright, fourteen exactly, no extra cupcakes added, frosting is even…” She closed the lid and handed the pouch to Pinkie Pie. “These should do nicely. Thank you, Pinkie Pie.” She put the checklist away and picked up the box with her magic. “Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

Trixie pulled out an envelope from her saddlebag, and handed it to the pink pony. “Here. It’s an invitation to Trixie’s next show. It’ll be this Thursday. Will you be able to make it?”

Pinkie Pie opened the envelope and looked at the ticket inside. She then shot a confused look. “This Thursday? I thought you only did performances on weekends.”

“True, but this is a special performance for Hearts and Hooves day. It will be about the history of this holiday, and will star yours truly, as well as Twilight Sparkle.” She turned around and prepared to leave. “Trixie hopes that you can make it.”

Pinkie Pie’s smile returned as she pulled out a calendar from underneath the counter. “Of course I’ll make it! I’ll just mark it on my calendar and ask for the day off later!”

Trixie entered Rarity’s boutique, which sounded the bell, alerting Rarity to a customer’s entry. “I’ll be there in a minute!” Rarity shouted from another room. Trixie sat down on a chair that was in the room, and waited for a few minutes. Finally, Rarity popped into the room. “Oh, Trixie darling! I have your dress ready! Right this way, please.”

Trixie got up and followed Rarity into the next room, where she saw her dress waiting for her on a ponnequine. She walked close to it to examine it, and was more than pleased with the results. “You really are an impressive seamstress.” Trixie said, levitating a pouch out of her saddlebag and giving it to Rarity.

Rarity took the pouch in her own magic and examined the contents. She put the pouch down on a nearby table, and bowed to Trixie. “Was there ever any doubt?” She said, making her voice sound as much like Trixie’s as she could.

“Are you mocking Trixie!?” Trixie asked a chuckling Rarity. “If so, you’re doing it poorly. Seriously, you have absolutely no talent for voice acting, you know?”

“And you have absolutely no respect for such fine clothes.” Rarity responded, pointing to Trixie’s dress. “Honestly, what were you doing that got it into such a state?”

Trixie turned her back to Rarity to hide her face growing red. She couldn’t tell Rarity that she was wearing it when she and Twilight were in bed, getting passionate with each other. She instead tried to change the topic. “Anyway, here.” Trixie pulled out an envelope from her saddlebag and levitated it towards Rarity.

“What’s this?” Rarity asked, opening it and seeing the ticket inside. “A Hearts and Hooves performance by you and Twilight this Thursday in Canterlot?”

“Indeed. And you are invited as one of Trixie’s special guests to come and watch the show.” Trixie said, levitating her newly repaired dress with her magic. “So, can you make it?”

Rarity rushed over to her work desk and checked her calendar. She picked up a pen and put a cross through whatever was written on Thursday. “I can now!” She shouted. “Oh my, I can’t wait! Canterlot…Hearts and Hooves day…It’s like fate is telling me to confess to him!”

“”Him”?” Trixie asked. “Him who?”

Rarity turned around and laughed nervously to herself. “N-Nopony…Just rambling a little to myself, that’s all…”

Trixie raised her eyebrow, and then shrugged. She didn’t really care that much. She was in a pretty big hurry, so she decided to leave. “Well then, make sure your ready for a show that you’ll never forget!” She shouted enthusiastically as she left the boutique with her dress.

Trixie approached the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and knocked on the door. She waited for a few moments, and then knocked again, after no response came. “Hello? Fluttershy?” She looked into the house through the window, and saw that it was empty. She shrugged and decided to come back later.

“Hey, Trixie.” Trixie turned around to see Rainbow Dash fluttering about in front of her. “What’s up? Did you need to see Fluttershy for something?”

“Yes. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s up in Cloudsdale, visiting her parents. She’ll be back later today.”

Trixie pulled out the checklist in her saddlebag, and saw that the rest of her day was pretty much occupied. She sighed, and tried to think of a solution to her new problem. “Hm…I need to get this ticket to her somehow…” Trixie thought aloud.

Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of Trixie and asked her what she meant. “What ticket? What’s goin’ on?”

An idea struck Trixie. She pulled out two envelopes and handed them to Rainbow Dash. “Could you give one of these to Fluttershy for me? They’re tickets to Trixie’s show this Thursday.”

Rainbow Dash opened the envelope and looked at the ticket, and then gagged when she saw what the show was about. “”History of Hearts and Hooves day”? Seriously? Sorry, but I think I’m gonna pass. I can’t stand sappy love stories. But I’ll make sure Fluttershy gets her ticket, ‘kay?”

Trixie nodded her head and turned her back to Rainbow Dash. She had expected Rainbow to say no to her invitation, but she had come prepared. “That’s a shame. Trixie got you good seats, too.”

“Yeah, sorry, but it’s just not my thing…”

“Oh well. Trixie supposes somepony else might want to watch the play instead. Watch it in a special V.I.P seat with the Wonderbolts’ seats right next to them.”

“Yeah, I gues-Wait, the Wonderbolts!?” Rainbow ran around Trixie to face her directly. “Let me get this straight. Our seats are right next to the Wonderbolts' seats!?”

“Yes. It was difficult to secure those seats too. Trixie had to pull quite a few strings, y’know?”

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and started pacing back and forth whilst flying. “OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD!” She finally calmed down and stopped her pacing. “W-Well, it seems you’re going through a lot of trouble for this…Soooo…I guess I should at least go there to support ya…”

‘Victory!’ Trixie thought to herself, keeping her face turned away so that Rainbow Dash couldn’t her grinning. When her face returned to its neutral state, she faced the rainbow maned Pegasus again. “Trixie sees. Then, Trixie will expect to see you there this Thursday.”

Trixie looked upon the vast farmland of Sweet Apple Acres, looking for Applejack. She saw trees upon trees upon trees upon…Was that Fluttershy? Trixie squinted and looked at a yellow figure in the distance. “Oh, it’s Applebloom…Ah, and there’s Applejack right next to her.”

Trixie walked past the vast number of trees, all of which were bearing big, red, delicious looking apples. Just looking at them made Trixie’s stomach growl, and made her realise that she had actually not had her lunch yet today. “…Surely one or two apples couldn’t hurt. They won’t notice, right?”

“Eeyup.” Trixie stopped her magic before she started to pluck a few apples off of a nearby tree, and turned around to see Big Macintosh approaching.

“Oh! Um, heheh…Hi there! Trixie did not see you there…Good weather we’re having, huh?”

Big Mac wasn’t falling for her innocent act. Especially since he had just seen her try to take a few apple. He took a few apples from the cart behind him and offered them to Trixie. “R-Really? Trixie can have these?”

“Eeyup.” He said, smiling as the blue Unicorn took one of the apples in her magic and brought it up to her mouth. “That’ll be 5 bits.”

Trixie stopped the apple just short of her mouth, and glared at Big Mac, who just stared back with his hoof out expectantly. “…Fine…” She said as she levitated a few bits from a remaining pouch in her saddlebag, and handed them over to Big Mac.

“Much obliged.” Big Mac said, giving a polite bow to Trixie. “If you’re looking for AJ, she’s just a little further down that way.” He pointed a hoof in the direction behind Trixie.

Trixie nodded and began walking in that direction, bringing the apples with her using a levitation spell. “Thank you, Macintosh.” She said before bringing one of the apples to her mouth and began to eat it. ‘Hm…They still taste the same as before…Should Trixie tell them that she stole some apples when she was living in the Everfree forest…Nah, best not to make matters worse.’

Trixie approached Applejack, who was busy bucking apple trees, with Applebloom helping out by collecting the apples that fell down into wooden buckets. “Well howdy there, Trixie!” Applejack said with one final buck to the tree behind her. “What brings you out here today?”

“Trixie would like to give you this invitation to her show this Thursday.”

Wednesday came about relatively fast. Twilight and Trixie boarded the train to Canterlot early in the morning, needing to get there early to set everything up for the big show tomorrow.

The train ride was relatively uneventful, although Twilight found it hard to read her book that she was reading, since Trixie had fallen asleep and was rest her head on Twilight’s should. Since Twilight had to rely on her hooves to turn pages, she had to be careful while reading, so as not to wake Trixie. Eventually, she just gave up and rested her head on Trixie’s, taking advantage of the quiet, peaceful train ride to relax.

Once they arrived, the train conductor had to wake the two mares up. When Twilight and Trixie realised that they had somehow managed to move about in their sleep, resulting in the two being wrapped up in each other’s legs, they left the train quickly and quietly, both trying to avoid eye-contact with the other for a while.

When the two exited the train, they saw a tall, white Unicorn stallion waiting for them. “Big brother!” Twilight shouted as she excitedly ran up to her “BBBFF”.

Trixie walked up to Twilight and looked at Shining Armour with a look of jealousy as Twilight attacked him with a big hug. She then noticed Shining Armour’s wife, Princess Cadance, standing behind him. “Good day, Princess.” Trixie said, bowing to the Princess.

Cadance walked up to Trixie and let out a small chuckle. “Please, you don’t have to be so formal. And just call me “Cadance”, ok?”

Trixie rose to her hooves and nodded. “Sorry, Cadance…Trixie’s just not used to speaking with Royalty…” She turned to Twilight, who was still hugging her brother, and let out a small cough. When they didn’t respond, she used her magic to pull Twilight towards her.

“What the?” Twilight landed next to Trixie, who quickly locked hooves with the confused librarian. “Trixie? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Trixie just thinks we should stay together, so that we don’t get lost.” Trixie said, keeping her face neutral so that it couldn’t be read.

“…I’m not a child, y’know.” Twilight said, trying to break free of Trixie’s hold. “By the way, why are you two here?”

“We thought we’d surprise you.” Shining Armour said, moving aside to reveal his and Twilight’s parents. “When they heard you were coming, we decided to arrange this surprise for you.”

Trixie looked in horror at the two ponies walking up to them, and immediately released Twilight’s hoof, and straightened herself up. “So, you must be Trixie.” The stallion – Twilight’s father – said as he approached Trixie. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I hear you risked your life to protect my daughter’s.”

“Um, y-yeah…That’s right…” Trixie said, trying to be careful of what she said. “But, really, it was Twilight who saved Trixie’s life that day.”

“Yes, I heard…But she would’ve died that day if it weren’t for you.” Twilight’s parents bowed respectively to Trixie. “And we thank you, Trixie Lulamoon.”

Later that day, after Twilight and Trixie were done with their preparations for tomorrow, they went along with their parents, Shining Armour, and Cadance to a restaurant for a nice dinner. The restaurant was very nicely decorated, and had some pretty pricey meals on its menu.

Trixie was a little worried about going to such an expensive looking place, but when Twilight’s parents insisted on paying for everything, she quickly became excited, since she had always wanted to try some of the food at this particular restaurant.

“So Twilie, how’ve your studies been going?” Shining Armour asked as they sat down at their table.

“Pretty good. Obviously I’ve stopped my magic studies, but on the plus side, I’ve had more time to study other things. In fact, last week I was able to send two friendsip reports to the Princess.” Twilight said with a sense of pride. “How about you? Have your duties been keeping you busy?”

“Unfortunately.” Their father replied. “We were hoping to have a grandfoal by now, but I guess your duty as Captain of the Royal Guard comes first…”

“Dad, can we not talk about this right now?” Shining Armour said, slightly annoyed.

“But he does have a point, dear.” Cadance said, leaning her head onto Shining Armour’s shoulder. “Maybe we should ask Celestia if you can have a few weeks off. I feel like we haven’t had much time together, lately.”

“That’s right!” Twilight’s mother said. “You only get one chance at youth! Don’t let it pass you by, son.”

“The same applies to you, Twilight.” Twilight’s father said, turning to his daughter. “Don’t spend all of your time studying. Now’s the time to go out and really enjoy life, before you get old like us.” Twilight’s mother nudged her husband’s side with her front hoof. “Oof!…I mean, like me. You’re mother’s still got plenty of youth left in her.”

Twilight and Shining Armour shared a laugh together, suddenly feeling nostalgic from this little family get-together. It had been so long since all four of them had gotten together like this. Twilight turned towards Trixie, who was being unusually silent, and was just staring at the table in front of her. “Family is nice, huh?” Trixie said, causing the whole table to fall silent from the sadness in her voice.

Twilight learned from Trixie about her family’s past. About how her father never cared for her, and tried to kill her. About how her uncle had tried to sell her to the mafia. And about how she never knew her mother. She always assumed her mother abandoned her at birth, since her father never talked about her, and never kept any photos or records of her anywhere in the house.

“Trixie, are you ok?” Twilight asked with concern.

Trixie let out a deep sigh, and turned her head towards Twilight. She put on a small, honest smile. “Trixie’s fine, Twilight.” She said, although that was only half-true. “Really, don’t worry about Trixie. After all, she had all the family she needs right here.” She said, leaning her head on Twilight’s shoulder.

Twilight and Trixie ran a last minute check on everything in their backstage changing room, just minutes before it was time the show to begin. “Come on, Trixie! It’s going to start soon!” Twilight said as Trixie finished applying her makeup.

“Trixie will be right there. Go on ahead and ask them to wait a few more minutes.” Twilight nodded and made her way to the stage. Trixie waited until she was gone, and then used her magic to lift up her cloak and hat, and put them on. She then levitated a small, white box towards her, and opened it up, to make sure the content inside was still there.

Inside was a single gold hoof-ring, with a few gemstones encrusted in it. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then closed the box, and placed it inside her cloak. “Alright, Trixie…Let’s give them a show they’ll never forget!”

Trixie kidnapped - Twilight's one hour challenge!

“Ok, so we got the decorations…” Twilight checked off an item on her checklist as she examined the various balloons and streamers around the room. “Food…” She checked off another items as she examined a large selection of snacks of sweets set on various tables. “Music…” She turned to Pinkie Pie, who confirmed that the music was ready by nodding. “Great! Looks like everything’s ready for Trixie’s birthday!”

“How in the hay did you even find out Trixie’s birthday, anyway?” Applejack asked, placing her present to Trixie with the others.

“Princess Celestia looked it up for me. She said that nopony should miss their birthday, and we don’t know when, if at all, she’ll remember it herself.” Twilight answered, double checking her checklist to make sure she hadn’t overlooked anything. “It looks like everything’s in order. I’ll go and get Trixie.” She said, leaving Sugarcube Corner and heading back to the library, where she had told Trixie to wait whilst she did some shopping.

Twilight entered the library, and called out for Trixie. When she didn’t receive a reply, she tried walking further in, and calling out yet again. Nothing again. She looked around the library with a confused look. She made it clear to Trixie that she wanted her to stay here, and Trixie seemed to be so absorbed in her book that she couldn’t picture her leaving any time soon.

“Looking for somepony?” Twilight spun around quickly at the sound of a stallion’s voice, and gasped when she saw Sawdust looking at her, a huge, menacing grin on his face. “What? Didn’t expect to see me so soon? Too bad for you the Royal Guard is so easy to fool. Just a simple fake corpse and a little bit of magic, and they wrote me off as dead, just like that.”

Twilight’s horn lit up, and she lowered her heads at Sawdust, preparing to fire her magic at him. “YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH TRIXIE!?”

Sawdust chuckled, and his body started to fade away for a second, fading back in just as quickly. “Sorry, Twilight Sparkle. ‘Tis just an image of my glorious self, being transmitted from somewhere nearby.” Twilight’s magic faded, and she turned her head up to glare at Sawdust, growling angrily. “Oh, and don’t worry about Trixie. She’s quite safe. For now.”

“Where is she!? Tell me!”

“Well that’d just ruin all the fun, now wouldn’t it?” Sawdust said. “Y’know, there’s only one thing I hate more than ponies I can’t control. Ponies who HUMILIATE me!” His grinning face turned into a face of anger as he returned Twilight’s hate-filled glare. “But, I’m a fair pony, so I’ll give you a chance to save your precious marefriend.

“The rules are fairly simple. One the game starts, you have one hour to find Trixie. Hint: She is somewhere in Ponyville. If you find her in time, you will be offered the chance to save her. If not, she will die. Simple, right?”

“You’re insane…” Twilight said, looking over at her desk, where there was a quill pen and a piece of paper.

“I know. It’s great. You should try it sometime.” Sawdust responded sarcastically. “I wouldn’t think about contacting the Princess if I were you. Or I may just go ahead and take Trixie’s life right now.

“Now, here are the rules. Rule number one: No magic. Rule number two: Only Ponyvillians may help you. This excludes Zecora and Fluttershy as they live outside of Ponyville.”

Twilight looked shocked that he knew those names, and he decided to explain things to her. “I’ve done my research on you, Twilight Sparkle. Star student of Princess Celestia, and bearer of the Element of Magic, right?

“Now, if anyone from outside Ponyville offers their help, regardless of who asked for it, then Trixie’s life will immediately be forfeit. I have an eavesdrop spell cast around Ponyville, so you won’t get away with it. Naturally, rule number three is that you can’t leave Ponyville.

“Well, that’s it! Good luck, my little pony!”

And with that, the image of Sawdust disappeared from Twilight’s sight, and she wasted no time in charging outside, beginning the search for Trixie. She took a look at the clock on the Ponyville bell tower, and saw that it was 15:45. She only had one hour. That wasn’t nearly enough time to search the whole town by herself.

She could have asked others for help, but there were problems with that. First, she didn’t want to put anypony else in danger. This stallion was completely out of his mind, and she had no idea what he was going to do once she was found. Second, they may not understand the gravity of the situation, and may attempt to break the rules, thinking that they could get away with it. She couldn’t monitor everypony and search for Trixie at the same time.

But she had to ask someone, so she began thinking of who to ask. Her friends were the first choice, but she wasn’t allowed to ask Fluttershy for help. If she were to ask all of her friends except Fluttershy, she might become curious, and attempt to find out what they were doing. And if she did find out, it would be all over.

At the same time, she couldn’t ask just one or two of her friends for the same reason. The others would become curious, and Fluttershy, again, may find out.

‘I could put Fluttershy to sleep…No, magic isn’t allowed. Damnit! What do I do!?’

“Bit for your thoughts, Miss Sparkle?” Twilight turned around to see Doctor Whooves approaching her, looking concerned at Twilight overly-panicked expression. “Did something happen?”

Twilight tried to think fast. Was Doctor a resident of Ponyville? It’s true he spent a lot of time here, but…She tried to remember the complete list of Ponyville residents that she had read over a few times when she had first arrived, and was happy when she could remember seeing Doctor’s name and face in there. She immediately grabbed Doctor by his shoulders with her front hooves, and began pleading for his help.

She explained the situation, and Doctor put a hoof to his chin, thinking of a plan of action for the two to take. “Right, so we know he’s somewhere in Ponyville…With just the two of us, it would take far too long to search everywhere.” He looked around himself, and began thinking of who to recruit. “Ok, leave it to me! I’ll find some ponies who can help us, and make sure they understand the situation.”

Twilight smiled at Doctor, happy that she had run into him. “Thanks, Doctor. Then, I’ll go search the Sweet Apple Acres farm.” She and Doctor agreed to meet up at this same spot 10 minutes later, giving Twilight plenty of time to search the Sweet Apple Acres farm area. Out of all of the ponies in Ponyville, he was probably the most intelligent one, and had proven himself an excellent leader in a time of crisis. A little odd, but still a brilliant mind. This thought helped to calm Twilight down greatly.

Sawdust polished a knife he was levitating in front of Trixie, grinning at her and humming a cheerful tune. “Wonder if she’ll make it. Oh, it’d be so funny if she made it just a few seconds too late, don’t you think?” Trixie, who was chained to a contraption of some kind next to a wall with her magic suppressed by an anti-magic ring on her horn, glared at Sawdust, and remained silent. “Well, I guess it can’t be much fun when it’s your life that’ll end, huh?”

“Why are you doing this?” Trixie asked, flinching as the knife pressed lightly against her neck. “If it’s revenge you want, then just take it out on me. Leave Twilight and the others alone.”

“Ooh, very brave, very noble.” Sawdust said in a sing-song voice, pressing the knife harder into Trixie’s neck to cause some blood to start trickling down. He pulled it away, and made his way over to a switch next to the contraption that Trixie was chained to. “But that Unicorn was almost responsible for my downfall. And she’s the cause of our love not working out. There’s no way I’ll let her get away with all of that.”

Before Trixie could ask what he meant, he flipped the switch next to her, causing an electrical current to pass through her entire body. Her body started to spasm uncontrollably, and she let out a loud scream as the pain passed through her. Sawdust wasn’t worried. He had the entire room soundproofed beforehand, so that, no matter how loud she screamed, nopony would be able to hear her.

After a few seconds, Sawdust turned off the current, and Trixie started to pant heavily, her head hanging low as she tried to recover from the electrical attack that had just occurred. “It’d be boring to just sit around and do nothing whilst I wait. This way, I can have some fun. And it gets things ready for if Twilight does manage to find us. Just imagine the look on her face when she sees you barely hanging on to dear life.” His face took on a huge grin as drool started to fall out from his mouth. “I almost want to just tell her where we are. But then, watching her squirm and suffer as she tries to find you is fun in its own way, too.”

Trixie coughed a little bit, and allowed herself to catch her breath, before slowly raising her head, and resuming her glare on the insane pony in front of her. “Twilight won’t break so easily. You’ll see.”

Sawdust flipped the switch again, and then turned off the current after a few more seconds of shocking his prisoner. “You talk too much. Please save your strength. If Twilight does make it here in time, I want to see you begging her to save your life.” Sawdust chuckled at the image he had just described, and then gave Trixie a few more seconds of shock therapy. “Hey, what d’you like better? The knife, or the gun?” Sawdust asked, levitating the two items in front of Trixie.

When Trixie didn’t respond, he prodded her a few times with the knife. Besides a few twitches when the knife pierced her skin, Trixie did not respond. “What, you passed out already? You’re no fun! C’mon! Wake up already!” He tried to wake her up by smacking her with his gun a few times, but she remained passed out cold.

He sighed, and walked up close to her, attempting one last thing to wake her up. “Hey, Trixie. I don’t know if you remember, but I once told you that your uncle died because of a fire you caused with your magic.” He couldn’t hold back his maniacal laughter as he leaned in and prepared to tell her the truth. “The truth is…You uncle tried to sell you to the mafia, but by some good fortune, the house somehow caught fire, killing both him, and the ones who tried to buy you.”

Trixie didn’t respond, but he continued under the hope that, even in her unconscious state, she could hear him. “That’s right! Your father preferred you didn’t exist! And your uncle, the one you trusted most in the world, tried to sell you as if you were just a business tool!” He laughed even harder, pulling Trixie into a tight hug. “I’m the only one that’s ever loved you! ME! And yet…Despite that…” He drove his knife into Trixie’s left foreleg, a little deeper than the prods earlier. This resulted in a small shriek from Trixie, but she still didn’t wake up. “You love HER!? Instead of ME!? DON’T FUCK WITH ME! IF YOU WON’T RETURN MY FEELINGS, I’LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS…TO BE TORN APART FROM THE ONE YOU LOVE!”

Sawdust threw the knife across the room, causing it to pierce the wall on the other end, and slammed his gun down onto a nearby table, panting heavily after finishing his hate-filled rant. Tears started to fall down his face as his breath started to slow down, but he simply wiped them away, and began laughing once again. “I’ll kill her…Your special somepony…I’LL KILL HER, AND YOU TOO!”

Trixie looked around the schoolyard, watching the many ponies as they played together in their own circles of friends. She brought the straw of her juice box to her lips, and began to drink her juice, still looking around at all of the ponies, trying to find a certain one in particular.

A group of two fillies and one colt approached her, one of them holding a ball with their magic. “Hey there.” One of the fillies, the light-green one, said to Trixie. “Are you alone? Do you want to be our friend?”

Trixie looked at the three foals for a second, examining each one closely. Neither of them were the one that she was looking for. She took another sip of her juice, and then turned to face the green filly. “Have you seen Twilight Sparkle?”

The three foals exchanged glances, shrugging at each other, before looking back at Trixie with confused expressions on their faces. “Who?” The colt asked.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Trixie repeated, turning to the colt. “She’s a student here. A purple Unicorn. She had the highest score out of everypony from the Magic test last week.”

The grey filly realised who Trixie was talking about. “I think she’s in the library. She doesn’t like to come out here very much.”

“The library?” Trixie asked, receiving a confirming nod from the grey filly. “I see. Thank you.” She said, walking off towards the library immediately.

Once she arrived at the library, she looked around the large area, seeing many of the older students searching frantically for books to use in their research projects. ‘I’ll be in the same place in a few years, won’t I?’ She eventually caught sight of the purple Unicorn that she was searching for. She was sitting by herself, reading a book with about 20 others stacked next to her. ‘What the hay? How much does this filly read?’

Trixie approached Twilight Sparkle, who didn’t seem to even noticed the blue filly stopping right next to her. Trixie realised she would have to gain her attention, and tried to politely introduce herself. “Good day, Miss Sparkle. My name is Trixie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said, extending her hoof towards the purple Unicorn.

Twilight said nothing, but instead just continued to read her book, completely unaware of Trixie’s presence. Trixie tried again. “Hello, Twilight. Are you busy right now? If so, I can come back later.” Twilight again didn’t say anything. Trixie got angry at this, and tried a third time. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” She shouted, gaining a collection of shushes from the ponies around her.

It worked, though. Twilight snapped back to reality, and turned to face Trixie. “Oh, did you want something? Sorry, I always get too absorbed into a book when I’m reading.” She said, a slight blush on her face as she giggled nervously.

Trixie cleared her throat, herself blushing when she realised how loud her voice was just a moment ago. ‘Well, whatever works…’ She sat down next to Twilight, and once again extended her hoof forwards. “I am Trixie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Twilight looked at the hoof, and then back at Trixie’s face, clearly confused. “Ok? Um…Can I help you with something?”

Trixie stared at Twilight for a moment, and then pulled her hoof back, realising that she wasn’t going to shake it. “You…Don’t recognise my name?” Twilight shook her head, and Trixie sighed. “I placed second in last week’s Magic test.”

“Ooh…Congratulations. Second place is pretty good.” Twilight said, smiling at Trixie. “But, why are you telling me this?”

“You placed first, correct?” Twilight nodded, and Trixie continued. “I wanted to see if…Well…” Trixie began to blush, and had to look away from Twilight in order to continue. “Would you…Like to be my friend?” Her blush grew brighter, and Twilight’s look of confusion returned to her face. “I mean, you’re clearly a very talented Unicorn. And I’m not too far behind, since I only lost by 2 points.” She made it a point to refer to the tests as a sort of contest between the two. “I think there’s a lot we can learn from each other, don’t you?”

Twilight considered her proposal for a second, but then returned to her book. “Sorry, but I have a lot of studying to do. I don’t have time for friendships.”

Trixie turned back towards Twilight, her eyes and mouth wide open, looking at her in disbelief. “Fine then, if that’s how you feel…” Trixie said, getting up and beginning to walk away. She stopped for a moment, and turned back to the purple Unicorn. “But this means we’re rivals, got that!? You’d better study hard, or one day, I’ll surpass you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight didn’t respond at all. She just simply continued reading through her book, once again lost to the world around her. Trixie turned around and began stomping angrily out of the library, ignoring the angry glares that were watching her after she had made so much noise.

Trixie groaned as she looked at the board at the front of the class. “SPORTS DAY!” was written at the very top, and underneath, a table with the various activities written at the top of each column. “Why Trixie!?” Trixie asked as she slammed her hooves on her table, glaring at the board. In particular, at her name, which was written under the “Relay” column. She had also been entered in swimming and acrobatics. Those two she didn’t mind. For swimming, she was only entered as a backup. And for acrobatics, she actually looked forward to it, and requested to be in it. But relay? She didn’t like the idea of running at all, and the relay races at this school were long. Each pony in the group had to run one lap around the field, and then pass the baton on to the next pony in their group. The groups consisted of four ponies from a certain class, and in this case, Trixie was one of those four ponies.

“Sorry, Trixie, but you need to enter at least three events. And you refused all the other ones.” The teacher said, pointing out that now, this was the only event that Trixie could enter. She sat back down in her seat, and held her head between her hooves, moaning about how unfair life was.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. She looked over at Twilight, who was panicking just as much as Trixie. She was staring at the bored, one eye twitching, her mouth moving up and down, and her hooves shaking. Even her hair was being affected; her mane and tail made it look like she had just suffered an electrical shock. Trixie giggled at the sight of her rival looking so freaked out. She enjoyed this sight the previous two years that this day came around, as well.

She also managed to get Twilight nominated into the one event she wanted to see her in most. Cheerleading. ‘Finally! Trixie failed last year, and the year before, but this year, Trixie is victorious! She will have to make sure to get a picture of Twilight during the event.’ Trixie thought to herself, wondering what Twilight would look like in a cheerleader’s uniform.

‘…In her current state, kinda scary.’ She noticed that Twilight was starting to nibble on the end of her pen, still staring at the board. Trixie noticed that some ink was starting to leak out of the pen, and wanted to say something, but Twilight was already a step ahead of her, placing down the pen and using her magic to wipe up the mess with her hoofkerchief.

Trixie noticed that she had been watching Twilight for about 10 minutes, and quickly turned her attention back to the board, where the teacher was busy explaining how Sports Day would work this year. ‘What’s wrong with Trixie?’ Trixie asked herself in her head. ‘Why does Trixie keep staring at Twilight every lesson? At this rate, Trixie will never surpass Twilight.’

“Trixie objects!” Trixie shouted, standing up and holding up the script that was in front of her. “Trixie’s talents would be wasted on Roberto! She demands nothing less than the heroine! Roberto doesn’t even appear that much on stage!”

Newton scrolled through a few pages of his own script with his magic. “Yes, but Roberto is…” He chose his words carefully. He wanted Trixie to play the role of Roberto in the class’ summer play because Roberto was a loud-mouth with an over-inflated ego. But if he told her that, she would definitely refuse. “He may appear less, but he definitely stands out more, wouldn’t you agree?”

A filly next to Newton stood up and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you don’t wanna play such a boring role like the heroine, right? The true spotlight will be on Roberto!”

Trixie sat back down and folded her forehooves. “Trixie refuses. Roberto simply doesn’t stand out. Not to mention the romance scene. Trixie refuses to give her first kiss to just anypony, even if it is only in a play.”

Suddenly, an idea hit Newton, and he grinned mischievously, scarring some of the fillies and colts around him. They knew what that grin meant. He was up to something, and when had that grin on his face, they knew he would soon be getting his way.

“Ok, we’ll skip over the role of Roberto for now…” Newton said, turning to Twilight. “And we’ll focus on the role of Roberto’s lover, Alison. Twilight, I think you would be perfect for this role.” Trixie’s ear twitched, and she turned her head to Twilight, who was reading through the script.

“Are you sure?” She asked. It must not have been very interesting, since she was able to keep up with reality. “I mean, I’m not a very good actor.”

“That’s why you’ll be perfect for this role.” Newton said. “Alison is a shy, timid girl who keeps to herself a lot. For somepony like you, who doesn’t talk or interact with others very much, it should be easy to play such a role.” Twilight considered it for a second, and then agreed to play the role, since all of the minor roles had already been taken anyway. She didn’t want a role that would require a lot of talking.

“Perfect!” Newton shouted excitedly. “Now, back to the role of Roberto-”

“Trixie will play that role!” Trixie shouted, surprising most of the ponies in the class. “Trixie has had a sudden change of heart. She would like to play the role of Roberto.”

Newton’s grin grew wider as his plan went exactly as he predicted. “Thank you, Trixie. Please do your best in the play, alright?” He watched as Trixie held the script up to her face and began highlighting her lines, mumbling angrily under her breath. She hesitated when she reached the romantic scene, where Roberto would have to kiss Alison, and Newton had to hold back his laughter. ‘This filly’s so much fun. I’m glad I was put in the same class as her.’

Trixie looked up from her script when she felt a hoof touch her shoulder, and was surprised to see Twilight standing next to her, covering the lower part of her face with her own script. “Um…” Twilight started. “Trixie, right?”

Trixie had gotten used to Twilight forgetting her name at this point. As had the rest of the class. There was one point where everypony would wear nametags, just for Twilight’s sake, but they discarded them when they realised they never spoke to Twilight that much anyway. “Yeah.” Trixie responded, still surprised that Twilight had actually approached her, instead of the other way around.

“Well, I thought that…Y’know, since we’ll be doing most of our scenes together…Maybe we could practice?” She raised the script a little higher, turning her eyes away as she waited for a reply.

Trixie had to really try hard to contain her happiness. Not only had Twilight approached Trixie and spoken to her, but now, she was offering to spend some time with Trixie. This may have been the big break that Trixie was hoping for. If she accepts, and she and Twilight start to get along, she may finally get Twilight to open up to her, and actually speak to her on a regular basis.

“Sure.” Trixie said, trying not to show her excitement in front of everypony. “You want to come to Trixie’s place after school, then?”

Twilight shook her head, and lowered the script a bit, feeling a little more confident in herself after Trixie accepted her initial request. “Um, I was actually wondering…If it’s not too much trouble, I mean…Would you like to come over to my house, instead?” Twilight was still uncomfortable with the idea of going over to somepony else’s house, and was hoping that Trixie wouldn’t mind going to Twilight’s house, instead.

Trixie did not mind at all. In fact, this made her even happier. The thought of going to Twilight’s house and meeting her family, and finding out how she lives outside of school…‘Why is Trixie so excited? She’s only going so that she can work on her acting for this play…Yes it would be nice to learn more about Trixie’s rival, but it’s nothing to get this excited over.’ “That would be fine, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight smiled widely, and quickly drew up a map from the school to her house for Trixie to follow. She told Trixie that she would be staying after school for library duty, and that she could go on ahead and wait for her if she wanted to.

Trixie arrived at her uncle’s home, and threw her saddlebags onto the floor next to the door. “Uncle, I’m home.” Trixie said, walking over to the kitchen to get a glass of water. “I’ll be going over to somepony’s house soon. I won’t be back ‘til later tonight.”

Her uncle walked into the kitchen from the living room. “Oh? You’re going over to a friend’s house?” He asked, approaching Trixie from behind. “Sorry, I should have told you. I’ve already made plans for you.”

“Well, cancel them.” Trixie said, drinking her water quickly. “This is important. It’s for the school play this summer.”

“This is important too.” Trixie turned around, just in time to see her uncle put her to sleep with a tranquilizer spell. “Good night, dear niece of mine.”

Trixie woke up in a dark, cold room, chained to a post, and with her magic suppressed by an anti-magic ring. She looked around, and saw a familiar pony next to her. “Uncle?” She called out. Her uncle turned around to look at her, and she then realised that behind him were two other ponies, dressed in black business suits.

“Oh, good. You’re awake. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye.” Her uncle said, leaning down so that he was eyelevel with Trixie. “You see, Trixie, the money’s been coming in slow lately, and I have a few debts to pay…That’s why, I came up with this great idea!”

“W-What do you mean? What’s going on?” Trixie asked, fear building within her as she noticed the suited ponies moving closer to her.

“It’s simple, really. I need money, and you’re a valuable Unicorn. Blood of the Lulamoon clan is rare to come by these days. Especially such powerful blood like yours. That’s why these nice gentlestallions here have agreed to buy you at a very generous price! Isn’t that great?”

One of the suited ponies took a seat next to Trixie, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Trixie’s head. The other took out a briefcase and handed it to Trixie’s uncle, and opened it and whistled at the contests inside. He gave one final farewell to Trixie, and began to leave. “NO! UNCLE, WAIT! DON’T DO THIS! IF I DID ANYTHING TO UPSET YOU, I’M SORRY! PLEASE, DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!”

Trixie’s eyes were overflowing with tears as she realised what was happening. She had been sold like some kind of item, and Celestia only knew what would happen to her from there. It didn’t help when one of the suited ponies took out a thin strand of piano wire, and the other one opened a box filled with knives and plastic bags.

She was terrified. She’d seen enough mafia movies to know where this was going, and she struggled as hard as she could to break free. It was hopeless, though. With her hooves and magic bound the way they were, there was no hope of escape. She closed her eyes tight, waiting for her end to come.

After waiting for what felt like hours, but was really only a few minutes, she opened her eyes slowly, and raised her head. She saw a bright orange glow all around here, and then noticed that the room was on fire.

Twilight met up with Doctor in front of her library, ten minutes after leaving to search the Sweet Apple Acres farm area. Along with Doctor Whooves, there was Lyra, Bon Bon, and Big Macintosh.

“Doctor, she wasn’t anywhere at the farm.” Twilight said, panting as she ran up to the group.

“I see…Then, let’s divide into groups and search different parts of Ponyville. It goes without saying that they won’t be just lying out in the open, so search for basements or attics or locked rooms. Somewhere where nopony would be likely to walk in on them.” Doctor said, producing a map of Ponyville and laying it on the ground. “Drat, I just realised something…”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Today’s a holiday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but, what does that have to do with anything?”

Big Mac stepped forward and explained. “Many places will be closed today. So it’d be easy to hide in a shop whilst the owner is resting at home.”

Lyra grabbed a twig, being careful not use her magic. They didn’t know the extent of their magic limitations, but they didn’t want to take any chances. She used the twig to point to locations on the map. “Alright, I think it’d be best if Twilight and Doctor searched the west side of Ponyville, and in particular, the spa and school are good places to start. They’re big, and completely empty today.

“Bon Bon and I will search the east side. Town hall was covered in ponies earlier, so I can’t imagine they would have gone near there. In fact, the kidnapper probably used that diversion to take her away in the first place. So we’ll search the area far from town hall.

“Big Macintosh, you know all of the really good hiding spots around Ponyville, right?”

“Eeyup. Applejack an’ I used ta play hide ‘n’ seek all the time when we were kids, and she never once found me.” He said, a bit of pride evident in his voice.

“Then, you search all of those areas. You’ll be alright on your own, since you’re pretty though.” She threw the twig to the side, and let Doctor pick up the map. “We have 45 minutes, right? Let’s go! We can’t waste any time!”

The group nodded in agreement, and split up into three parties. Twilight and Doctor began by searching the school area.

Twilight and Doctor stormed into the classroom, and scanned the room closely. It was completely empty. But they didn’t want to take any chances. They began to walk around the room, searching the storage closet and looking at the schoolyard from outside the window.

Twilight stomped the ground in anger when she couldn’t find any sign of Sawdust or Trixie, and Doctor tried to calm her down. “Now now, let’s just go search the next area. We’ll find her, Twilight. Just have faith, and keep your spirits up.”

“Yes, exactly as Doctor says!” Twilight and Doctor turned to the entrance of the classroom to see an image of Sawdust, and Doctor charged at him, only to fall through the image of Sawdust and crash into the wall of the hallway outside. “But do hurry, won’t you? I think our playing may have gone too far, and at this rate, Trixie might not last the full hour.”

Twilight stared at the image in horror. “W-What do you mean? You said you’d give me a full hour! You can’t just change the rules like that!”

“What can I say? I thought she was tougher than that. I’m not saying she’ll definitely die before the time is up, but you never know.”

“You…You…”

Sawdust grinned and began to fade away. “I’ll give you a hint. Remember…That I can hear everything you’re saying.” And with that, Sawdust faded away, leaving an angry Twilight Sparkle and a dizzy Doctor in the school building.

Twilight thought about the hint he just gave, trying to determine what he meant by that. “C’mon, Twilight…Think think think!” She yelled out loud, smacking a hoof against her forehead.

“Didn’t you say he could hear us by using an eavesdropping spell?” Doctor asked. “Was he trying to remind you of that?”

Suddenly, the answer hit Twilight. It was so obvious, and she couldn’t believe that she missed it earlier. “That’s it! For wide-range barriers, like the eavesdropping spell, the centre is the same as the point of origin! We find that, we find Sawdust!”

“Ok, sounds simple enough…” Doctor said, but sighed as he began to point out the problems with that plan. “But, you can’t see some barriers with the naked eye. And this appears to be one of them. Also, what if he moved after casting it?”

Twilight’s renewed smile stuck to her face as she began to leave the classroom. “He’s not a master at barrier magic. If he was, he would simply isolate Ponyville from the rest of Equestria altogether. Therefore, he can’t move too far from the point of origin, or he risks breaking the spell.

“As for seeing the barrier, it’s true we can’t see it with just our eyes. But with a Sonic Screwdriver…”

Doctor grinned as he got the message, and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. A frown then returned to him as he identified yet another problem with Twilight’s plan. “I don’t know what frequency to set it to. I’ve never dealt with this kind of barrier before.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she tried to think of a solution. “Ah-hah! I should have a book in my library somewhere that describes the spell! Do you think you can find the right frequency from that?”

Doctor wasn’t sure, but he nodded anyway. “We’ll only know by checking. Let’s go! We only have 35 minutes left!”

“Twilight, you in here?” Applejack asked as she opened the door to the library. She, along with the rest of the rest of the gang, entered the library, looking around for Twilight and/or Trixie. It had been far too long since Twilight had left to pick up Trixie, and they were starting to get worried. “Twi? Trixie?”

Rainbow Dash flew up into Twilight’s room, and came back to confirm that neither of them were there. Spike went down into the basement, only to come back and tell the others that neither of them were down there, either.

“Where could they have gone? I’m really starting to worry now…” Rarity said, picking up a few books that were scattered along the floor and shelving them with her magic.

Pinkie Pie hopped around the room, looking under tables and chairs. “Hey, you don’t think they’ve gone off and are throwing their own part somewhere, do you?”

Applejack looked inside Twilight’s downstairs closet, and saw the present that Twilight had bought for Trixie. “I don’t think so. It looks like something’s happened…”

Before they could discuss what could have possibly happened, they heard the library door open, and turned around to see Twilight and Doctor entering the library, both panting and sweating as if they’d just ran a marathon.

“Twilight!? Where in tarnation have you been?” Applejack asked, but was ignored as Twilight immediately began looking through her bookshelves. “Wait, where’s Trixie?”

“Spike! I need that book on advanced barriers! Quick!” Twilight shouted, still looking through the bookshelves.

Spike scratched his head and looked at her with a puzzled look. “Huh? Why do you need that all of a sudden?”

“JUST GET IT!” She shouted, startling the others in the room. She was obviously frantic at this point, although to Doctor, it was understandable, given that they only had 23 minutes left.

“Ok, ok!” Spike said, running over to the other side of the library. He searched through a bookshelf, and then took out a book. “Here it is!”

Twilight was ready to snatch the book with her magic, but managed to hold herself back, remembering the rules that Sawdust mentioned. She instead ran over to Spike’s side, and snatched it out of his hands with her hooves. She ran over to her desk, with Doctor running up next to her.

“Right, here it is!” She said, opening the book up to the page describing the spell.

Doctor nodded, and adjusted some of the dials on the side of his Sonic Screwdriver. “Ok, this should just about do it!” He said cheerfully. He and Twilight both left the library, with her friends following to see what was going on. “Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here…”

The Sonic Screwdriver lit up, and started buzzing, and soon enough, a large, green barrier was visible above the town. Twilight looked towards the centre of the barrier, and looked at what was underneath it. “The Ponyville bell tower!” She shouted, pointing a hoof at their destination. “Come on! Let’s go!” She shouted, running into the direction of the bell tower, with Doctor following close behind.

“You girls stay here! We’ll take care of this and be back lickety-split!” Doctor shouted to Twilight’s friends, though it was pointless, since they had started following him. He didn’t have time to stop and explain things to him, so he tried a different route. “Actually, we could use your help!”

“Really? What with? Is Trixie in trouble again?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying closely behind Doctor.

“Go to town hall and wait for our signal! Me and Twilight can handle this alone, but we need you girls to wait there!” The girls exchanged glances at each other, obviously not convinced. “Look, just trust me, ok!? This is very important!” He said with a pleading look. That seemed to convince Twilight’s friends, as they shifted direction and began running towards town hall. ‘Sorry, girls. I’ll explain later, but we can’t risk taking too many ponies there. Especially when Fluttershy, an “outsider”, is one of them.’

Twilight and Doctor reached the bell tower with 12 minutes to spare. They allowed a minute to catch their breaths, not wanting to go in completely worn out, in case they were suddenly attacked. Doctor opened the door, and led the way in.

The door slammed shut behind, and locked itself. They turned around and saw a magical aura around the door vanishing. They were definitely in the right place. They began ascending the spiral staircase of the tower, making their way to the top as quickly as possible.

“They must be in there.” Twilight said as they reached the top, reaching a single door. “Trixie!?” Twilight shouted as she slammed the door open. She saw Trixie sitting down, chained to some kind of contraption, at the other side of the room. Trixie raised her head, and looked at Twilight, but was too weak to say or do anything.

“Ah, it’s about time! I was wondering when we could start the grand finale!” Sawdust shouted, turning Twilight’s attention towards him. Doctor immediately stood between Sawdust and Twilight, glaring at Sawdust whilst trying to think of a plan to escape. “Oh, and you brought a spectator, too! How very kind of you! It’s always nice to have your greatest shows be witnessed by somepony, don’t you think?”

“We found you already, now release Trixie!” Twilight ordered. She would have just used her magic to hold Sawdust down, but since he was pointing a gun at Trixie’s head, that idea went out the window. “You said you’d release her if we found her in time!”

“No, I didn’t.” Sawdust pointed out. “I said I’d give you a chance to save her. And that I will.” He used his magic to levitate the knife that was sticking out of the wall next to Twilight, and brought it over to her. “You still have 8 minutes left. Now, take the knife, and run it through your body.”

Twilight and Doctor froze in place immediately, both staring at the levitating knife as it eventually dropped to the floor. Doctor turned back towards Sawdust. “Are you serious?” He asked, still trying desperately to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

“But of course.” Sawdust said, removing his shades and staring Doctor in the eyes, his insane, menacing glance causing Doctor to flinch and back away slightly. “Not in the throat or heart. Somewhere where you’ll die a slow, painful death.” He moved his gun closer to Trixie’s head, tapping it against her temple, to remind them of the situation. “It’s you or her, Twilight. I promise, no matter which of you dies, the other will live. Now, make your choice. You have 7 minutes remaining.”